10 Questions with ... Sam Weaver

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I am the Editor for Urban/UAC and owner of a radio talent coach/strategic advisor business (Radiocoach.biz) for terrestrial/internet radio personalities and programmers.

I have been in the business for over 45 years as a programmer and air personality. My format background includes Top 40/Mainstream, Urban, Country, Sports, Talk, and Rock. I have worked in Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Memphis, Greensboro and Kansas City. My list of 12 stations programmed includes WDIA/Memphis, the oldest Black-operated property, and KPRS-KPRT/Kansas City, the oldest Black owned-and-operated stations.

Besides numerous programming awards, other career highlights include teaching in the Broadcast Department at Columbia College in Chicago, comedy writer for the late Jerry Boulding's Highlights radio show, and hosting Westwood One's Superstars of R&B Concert Series.

1) Why am I interviewing myself?

It's my way of staying focused on what I believe to be important for the new year.

2) Do you think artists and record companies are in sync with audiences?

More artists, managements and record companies need to keep the focus on the new emerging music consumer and all the ways they get music. Every platform radio uses to reach its listeners is important; it all works together. Art and commerce has always clashed and for artists. I hope the new and emerging artists look back at musical history and re-apply it to what they are doing today. For example, I have noticed songs in all genres with too much verse and not enough chorus/hook. And what is it with the tendency for so many writers to title songs without regard to the chorus/hook. Consumers walk around singing the chorus and hook; earworms make music memorable, sells music and fills concert seats. I did mention music sales, although percentage-wise, is not as much as it once was, but we are still talking millions and millions of dollars -- world-wide. Catalogs/publishing is still big business. In terms of streaming, I believe the payment formula needs to be revised for artists. It's ridiculous; the current formula favors bulk and that points to large record companies and publishing. The business of music is driven by the artists and they deserve a larger share of the profits.

3) How do you view music services?

People today get their music in a variety of ways. It's up to terrestrial/traditional radio to incorporate those ways into one of the platforms, which many stations have begun to make part of their landscape.

Regardless of the musical political propaganda of who is better, every paid and no-paid form of audio entertainment is viable -- Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, Tidal and YouTube are important in the lives of consumers. I'm very curious to see what happens with Shazam now that Apple Music owns it.

4) Do you think voicetracking is good for radio?

Voicetracking is not new, it used to be called "Record and Playback." I am not against it, but I am against those who don't make it sound live and in the moment. I hear too many voicetracked shows that sound phoned in with minimal effort. It takes practice to make voicetracking sound in the moment. I wish more personalities who voicetrack to other markets were provided info to localize; not trying to fool anyone, just communicate a little better. No one should be able to listen to a voicetrack and know it's recorded. I used to know an air personality who would record the 3a hour of his overnight show and no one was the wiser because it sounded in the moment. I found out it was recorded by accident when I went back to the station late to drop off some memos, and before heading home, I went to the studio to say hello; I found no one there. You could not tell it was recorded; I never busted him on it with upper management, but I did let him know I knew. He confessed he did it every night to pick up take-out from Denny's restaurant.

5) Is Black radio progressing fast enough?

I will continue to say this until it gets through to everyone, people are aging into demos and bringing along with them the music they grew up with. For example, a person who was 15 in 1990 is now or soon to be 43. Those 1990s listeners grew up with R&B and Hip-Hop; we just used to daypart the Hip-Hop to evening or late afternoons and evenings. I think it's a mistake for anyone to have an Urban AC and a Throwback Hip-Hop within the same cluster. Ot's the same demo; why fragment yourself with the same listeners? By the way, because that 43-year-old Urban AC listener grew up with Hip-Hop, they are open to some of the current songs on the chart, too. And yes, there are plenty of female-friendly Hip-Hop songs; past and present. Research-wise, if your company or cluster had an Urban station in the '90s, dig through the files and look at the weekly feedback of respondents concerning Hip-Hop songs from back then.

6) Who are some of your influences past and present?

List of influences by category:

• PDs: Charlie Lake, Jerry Boulding, Buzz Bennett, Joel Denver, Tony Gray, Ken Dowe, Quincy McCoy, Jerry Clifton, Skip Dillard, Mary K, George Cook, Lee Logan, and Michael Saunders.
• GMs: Chuck Scruggs, Drew Horowitz, Nancy Cooper, Marv Dyson, and Charles Mootry
• Music Industry: Gerald Busby, Neil Bogart, Bert & Ilene Berns, Ronnie Johnson, Joey Bonner, Wes Johnson, Marthe Reynolds, Larry Khan, and Clive Davis.
• Owners: John H. Johnson, Mrs. Mildred Carter, First Media, Skip Finley, Mike Carter and Reese Poag.
• Morning personalities: BJ Murphy, Tom Joyner, Dr. Don, Donnie Simpson, Jeff Fox, Scott Shannon, AC Williams, Larry Lujack and the Deadly Dr. Bobby Brown
• Non-morning personalities: Jo Jo Kincaid, Ernie C, Zach Sang, Bill Lee, Ron Chavis, Walt Love, Yvonne Daniels, Bob Uecker, Cat Daddy, Chuck Geiger, Tom Joyner, Johnny Rabbit, Doug Banks, Kitty Neely.
• Production Directors: Terry Fox, Jerry Vigil, Robert 'Hollywood' Rhodes and Pat Garrett.
• Imaging and VO: Roberta Solomon, Jen Sweeney, Josh Goodman, and Angelique Perrin
• Affiliate Sales: Liz Laud and Debbie Greenbaum-Weiss
• Promotions Directors: Rich McCauley
• MDs: Myron Fears, Art Goewy and Rosalie Trombley
• Sales Managers: Bart Horton
• Radio Icons: Dick Clark, Frankie Crocker and Jerry Boulding
• Influences on programming thought: Richard Nixon, Phil Jackson, Malcolm X, Lyndon B. Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King, My Grandfather, David Letterman, George Steinbrenner, Harry Carey, Richard Pryor, Tony Soprano, Barrack Obama, Red Foxx, e.e. Cummings, George Carlin, Flip Wilson, Ken Dowe, Bill Veeck, John Wooden, Dave Chappelle, James Thurber, Vince Scully, Johnny Carson, Eddie Holland, and Vernal Beckman (8th grade speech teacer)

7) How's the future for radio looking for 2018?

The "Y" generation (Millennials) has grown up with computers, blogs, Facebook, podcasts, smartphones, Twitter, Macs, chat rooms, P2Ps, YouTube, iTunes, LinkedIn, Instagram and iPads; radio is used differently now. Instead of a new music fad, the Y generation received new audio and communication delivery systems. Music is being sampled in a variety of ways. Traditional and new media are finding ways to merge and appeal to this generation. Y's represent radio's version of "Custer's Last Stand," and will be the determining factor for the fate and future of both industries. Branding through new ways of looking at things is happening every day. The "Z" generation is making its presence known. They will use terrestrial/traditional radio only if it continues to update its approach to reaching listeners on other platforms.

Branding and new thinking are keys to the future of terrestrial radio. For the younger X and the entire Y Generation, instead of regurgitating the terrestrial station, online stations should be programmed independently to reflect the tastes of the consumer utilizing it. Add to old formulas and streaming has become a great tool to stay on top of consumer music trends; Shazam has been a great music indicator too. Connect Car is almost here and it's going to present a new set of challenges; good and bad.

8) What are the differences between programming in a PPM or Diary market?

The only difference is the methodology and frequency of releasing information. Presentation and programming is the same as it has been for years. The best stations are focused; the personalities are concise, cater to the perceived target audience, and market the station. What I have just listed should be how a station is programmed regardless of whether it is PPM or a diary market. PPMs methodology spits out information weekly and monthly; I have always said it's a great research tool to be used with media monitor to help shape a station. It should always be pointed out that research is never the problem, it's how it's interpreted and implemented.

9) How has the Urban audience changed?

It hasn't, there are new people growing up into the new demos and bringing their musical tastes and many of the artists are different than the Urban audiences of yester-year. It's not Luther, Whitney, and James Ingram ... it's Drake, Cardi B. Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled, Migos, Childish Gambino, Bruno Mars, Sam Smith and Rihanna. Hip-Hop has arrived at the point of splitting off with a generational divide for formats.

10) What do you think of the Charts and Formats?

Some redefinition is needed for chart labels and some formats. For example, let's look at Urban. The Urban Mainstream and Urban AC (UAC) charts should be renamed and reflect the demographics and lifestyles closer to the realities of today's audiences. I am not sure what the name should be for Urban Mainstream. It was great to see a non-Hip-Hop/Rap artist like Bruno Mars have so much success last year, but with exception of him and grandfathered artists such as Usher, Drake, Beyonce, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Rihanna, Mary J. Blige and The Weekend, it's difficult for non-Hip-Hop/Rap artists to chart on Mainstream. Oh, I forgot to mention PartyNext Door; they're another non-Hip-Hop/Rap act that's had success on mainstream, too. There should be room for other young artists like Kevin Ross, Major, and Daniel Caeser. The typecasting thing for R&B acts needs to stop

Too many Urban programming decision-makers are locked in on reflecting the mainstream chart. It's a catch-22 for record companies; only about half of the mainstream panels will seriously deal with a young R& B act. It was fun to see Childish Gambino break on Urban AC and then cut across to mainstream. The same thing is about to be attempted with Daniel Caesar. Record companies have been reluctant to take young artists to the Urban AC chart first because the odds of crossing the same product back over to Mainstream have not been good. Historically, an R&B act beginning at the Urban AC chart have been branded and be regulated to that chart only. The Urban AC has the taint of being labeled as the elder statesmen in the room, which is far from the truth. Ironically, many of the radio decision makers see the 18-34 demo research and are responsible for both the Urban Mainstream and Urban AC.

Hip-Hop has started to slowly be reflected more on the Urban AC stations and charts; (25-49 demo). It's 2018 and you would think this would have already happened with the aging process of the format and listeners aging into the target demo. I hate to beat a dead horse, but people transitioning into the demo, grew up with Hip-Hop as part of their R&B experience.

Definition-wise, maybe the Urban Mainstream stays with the same name and Urban AC loses the stigma of being 'older' and becomes simply Urban; incorporating Hip-Hop artists and mainstream R&B acceptable to the audience who have entered the target demo; including current performers. I just think the whole Urban chart thing and the musical taste of the listeners growing up into the demographics needs to be addressed as quickly as possible.