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10 Questions with ... Sam Weaver
January 11, 2022
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I’m the Urban/R&B Editor at All Access and owner of a radio talent coach/strategic advisor business (Radiocoach.biz) for terrestrial/Internet radio personalities- programmers and for those in other audio platforms such as podcasts and YouTube. I also advise independent music artists & managements on various projects.
I have been in the business for years as a programmer and air personality. My format background includes Top 40/Mainstream, Urban, Country, Sports, R&B, 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, on the Board of Directors for the Living Legends Foundation LLC, former member of the American Arbitration Association, comedy writer for the late Jerry Boulding's Highlights radio show, and hosting Westwood One's Superstars of R&B Concert Series.
I like beginning each year with a self-interview to voice my thoughts on a few things.
1) Is there a particular way you like to begin a new year?
One of my yearly customs is to revamp my list of people who have my back. The "Lifeboat" exercise has been a part of my knowledge base for a long time. It helps me to identify people I can trust on a personal and business level.
2) These days what do you think it takes to be a successful PD?
I think the terms, "sneaky" and "a job well done," can collide in the quest for higher ratings, more money to the bottom line, and bonuses. Regardless of PPM panel issues, diary placement, or an unusual alignment of the planets, a PD and his air personalities are held accountable for the fate of a station. I would never tell anyone to cut corners, but I do understand some of the things that can happen along the way to achieving. Tricks alone won’t help you win but could give you an edge over competition. You owe it to yourself to know as much as possible about “learning the methodology of the methodology” to winning. These days winning is based on what is considered a victory within a cluster of stations.
3) How has branding changed?
It used to be called self-promotion and branding was what was done to cattle and horses. Seriously though, in a few years I'm sure the term will morph into another word. Regardless of what's it's called, stay abreast of the best ways to do it for you and or your company.
4) What challenges do you see for this year?
Being able to plan for things in advance. Doctors and scientists are still gathering information on COVID and reactions of those exposed with or without all their shots. There are some business trips I've elected not to take over the last couple of years. Like many, just when I thought things were evening out, the Omicron variant came along and it's so transmittable. It put a hold on some business travel plans and events I was about to investigate. We're all facing the challenge of how to plot a course for a new normalcy for more than a month or two in advance. The rules of how to operate keep changing course as the virus continues to mutate."
5) Why do you think so many station websites look a little less than they should?
The web host is not usually the problem. These days most websites are designed for content management so the owners of a site can update. Many companies have great digital people at the top, but local maintenance is usually a staffing problem. With COVID and reduced staffs, updating and maintaining sites have become problematic.
6) Is there anything else that bugs you?
Listening to an air personality doing a poor job of interviewing someone. For short or long form interview, I believe in the late Larry King school-of-thought or at least my interpretation of it. Let the interviewee shine. Allow them to be the authority on the topic. An interview will take shape if you let your questions create a flow of conversation. When preparing for short or long form interview, always have a few prepared questions in case the interviewee is not the best. The key to any interview is listening. If you’re worried about what you’re going to ask next, you’re not paying attention. This is how you miss moments for follow ups.
7) What's the best advice you've ever been given?
I've been given a lot of good advice over the years, but in this moment, the one thing that stands out is something my grandfather told me, "Sometimes let the other person think they're in charge." While explaining this concept, he also said, "During a discussion, never rise to the level of another person's anger. No one can make you angry unless you allow it."
8) How do you see radio's role in 2022?
There's a difference between being a music service and connecting to listeners on an emotional level. Here's the recipe for the kind of radio I like; music, a pinch of information& entertainment, and a dash of "theater of the mind." I think it’s radio's job to accessorize the musical journey. Escapism is an important part of giving our minds a rest, even if it’s only briefly.
9) Do you consider yourself an information junkie?
Yes, I've always been big on knowing the history of a lot of things and how it relates to what we’re doing now. The Internet has made it even worse for someone like me. I find myself saving what I just briefly scanned and then continuing to scroll and look for more stuff. It’s very addictive, tiresome, and hard on the eyes. The non-stop influx of information keeps coming in waves. We get it in Google Alerts, see it in news and features posted prior to signing in for our email, and then there's all those alerts for things that we signed up for. It's too much temptation not to look.
10) Would you share one of your funnier radio moments?
When I was an air personality, a station's air conditioner went out during my Friday evening shift. The next morning, I headed back to the station to finish up some assigned production. And before I headed to the production room, I went to the studio to see if the talent on air had any news on the status of the broken air conditioner. I opened the studio door, and he was sitting in the chair in front of the mic stripped down to his underwear with a handheld fan aimed strategically. I started laughing and so did he. Then as we both calmed down, the studio door swung open and there was the General Manager with his daughter and several members of her Girl Scout troop in shock at the site of a grown man sitting in his underwear, no shirt, his headphones around his neck, and his shoes on. No one said a word until the air personality said, "Hi ladies, is this your first time at a radio station?
Bonus Questions
Is there anything about you that might surprise some people?
That I see radio's relationship with the consumer as a combination of politics, sports, and basic human want & need. Writing is my first love, a career in contemporary music radio was a fluke. My second love is sports play-by-play, I grew up listening to Jack Buck and Harry Caray. In college I did basketball play by play for a year.
Four years prior to the first recognized successful national daily show prep service, I had attempted to convince a couple of syndicators on the idea.
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