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10 Questions with ... Mark Adams
December 11, 2007
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NAME:Mark AdamsPOSITION:PD/OMSTATION:KXJM (Jammin 95.5)MARKET:Portland, ORCOMPANY:Rose City RadioBORN:Ft. Atkinson, WIRAISED:Jonesboro, AR
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
KJBR/Jonesboro, AR (Nights)
KOY/Phoenix, AZ (Nights)
KKXX/Bakersfield, CA (MD/APD/Nights)
XHTZ/San Diego, CA (MD/APD/Nights)
KBOS - KBCL/Fresno, CA (Program Director)
WPNT/Milwaukee, WI (Program Director)
KZQZ/San Francisco, CA (Program Director)
KXJM - KXL/Portland, OR(Program Director/Operations Manager)1. Why Radio?
It came about entirely by accident. I had planned on becoming an attorney but this turned out be a great deal more fun. That, and I occasionally get a free T-shirt, which is sweet.
2. What's the biggest challenge facing radio today?
In a word, fragmentation. I don't necessarily feel our issues are so much a product of people no longer using the medium, as much as it is we're unendingly dueling with competitive technologies for time and attention in ways no one could have foreseen a decade ago. As I told a friend of mine outside the industry, "It's not that you're not listening to the radio anymore. It's that you're listening to the radio less often and for shorter periods of time. And that's because you're also listening to your I-Pod, and editing your Face book page, answering e-mails, chatting on IM, and playing X-Box 360 Live, watching your DVD's, watching last nights "Office" which you DVR'd while at work, and a million other things". Competing against other radio stations is one of the last things I worry about.
3. During your career, did you ever have a "I need to get out of this racket" moment?
I think I'm having one right now.
4. What can air personalities and programmers do to make them bulletproof?
Regarding DJ's, in my opinion, here are the cold, hard facts: Unless you're the primary reason people are tuning into that time-slot, (like an AM show, a talk show host, etc.) you're in a tenuous position. So, unless you possess that kind of skill set the best thing you can do for our own career security is expand your knowledge base. Become educated and involved in the business of operating a commercial radio station. My APD for Jammin 95.5 (Carrie Fisher) is a good example. She's my afternoon drive jock and she sounds very good on the air. But her value to the company doesn't only stem from her on-air work. She's important to the company as she has taken the time to learn internal operations, understands how we operate as a business, and is often asking herself the same kinds of questions that I do in my role as the program director. (Namely, how does this generate ratings or cash flow?) She can create and import a music log. She can program an audio vault. She can digitally edit a song. She can produce a commercial and e-mail an MP3 of the spot to an AE. She can edit her own Myspace and Facebook pages for the station's website. And, she's the PM drive jock. And every one of those things is important to the radio station. I strive to instill that same kind of understanding and awareness in everyone who works for me. The bottom line is that all of us, whether a DJ or a Program Director, are going to have to continue to work smart, become multi-faceted, and be able to embrace the changes that are going to continue to affect our industry.
5. Which would you prefer...earthquake or tornado?
Well, that's an...interesting question. Having been through both, I'd have to take the tornado. During an earthquake, and I've been through several including the '94 Northridge quake in L.A., there isn't a whole lot you can do other than clutch onto the nearest piece of swaying masonry and hang on for dear life. At least you can hide in the basement during a tornado and hope your home isn't blasted into a million pieces. Happily, I now reside in the Northwest where my only worry is being annihilated by an active volcano.
6. Where do you find joy in your job?
I still just enjoy the overall experience of hearing the end product of all our collective work on the air. A good sounding radio station always makes me smile.
7. Give me a few sentences on working with PK and the rest of The Playhouse?
"The Playhouse". A Haiku by Mark Adams.
PK. God, what now?
Complaint calls are incoming.
My hair is now grey.8. Are you looking forward to PPM coming to Portland?
Not particularly. I'm actually kind of hoping Arbitron will admit they've made a tremendous mistake, scrap the entire project, and work on incorporating some kind of accurate measurement device into emergent cell phone technology as they should have done from the outset. But that's probably just me.
9. What did you want to be when you were, say...12?
An astronaut. My, how far my aspirations have fallen.
10. What song, in rotation now, always seems to make you want to smile when you hear it on the station?
It's not on my station, but I love that Colbie Caillat song "Bubbly". I know, it ain't cool, but then again neither am I.
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