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10 Questions with ... Tony Bear
October 3, 2006
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NAME:Tony BearTITLE:PD, announcer, webmaster and chief bottle-washerSTATION:TonyBear.comMARKET:The World Wide WebBORN:PhoenixRAISED:Phoenix
Please outline your radio career so far:
80s -- KUKQ,
90s -- KOOL-AM, KKFR, KMJK (Phoenix), KHOT
00s -- KAJM, WFLM (PD, PM drive), KAJM (PM drive)1) How did you get your present job?
As to why I am no longer on terrestrial radio, I attempt to answer that on my blog (shameless plug for my website!). I actually had gravitated toward Internet radio last year because I saw it as an outlet for my programming philosophy. Out of 370+ R&B broadcasters on Live 365, in six months I am ranked number two and gaining on number one.
2) What format is your station?
I subscribe to the Jerry Boulding school of thought that hot urban AC is really the most mass-appeal format there is. And the success I've had with that proves that there is an audience for it. In looking at the landscape when I got started, I saw that there is already so much hip-hop on the Internet stations, and if it wasn't hip-hop the streams were love songs, old school and smooth R&B/neo-soul. What a yawner! So I position as "no moldy oldies, no musty dusties" and "fewer slow jams..." And so far I've proven that you can keep people on R&B if you manage tempo
carefully, and are careful in crossing-over some songs from the urban charts. Monica, Beyonce and Chris Brown get just as many or more spins on TonyBear.com as Jill, Mary J. and Babyface.
3) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
My first gig after college radio was at KUKQ, Phoenix' first urban/RHY/CHR. I was overnights, weekends, promotions director and club mixologist. And I was happy!
Early influences? The person I studied the most was Casey Kasem, and of course a lot of local guys. I remember one afternoon out of high school, camping in the lobby of a radio station and peering through the booth windows for about three hours, and the jerk -- uh, I mean, jock -- who was on-air pretended he didn't see me. One day I hope I see him on the street corner asking for coins.
4) What led you to a career in radio? Was there a defining moment which made you realize "this is it"?
When I stopped having to buy concert tickets and music. And when I walked in a club and everyone knew my name!
5) If you were just starting out in radio, knowing now, what you didn't then, would you still do it?
Mos' def'! But I would probably get into other markets sooner instead of putting my eggs all in one basket by staying in one market most of my career; you know, "see the world young man."
6) Where do you see yourself and the industry five years from now? How do you feel about the PPM eventually replacing the diary?
Five years from now the business will be entirely different that we are seeing now. Just like the way we do business now is vastly different from how we did it in 2001 (pre-9/11). The proliferation of New Media is creating a grave challenge for Arbitron, and an even more serious challenge for advertisers large and small to identify where they will get the most bang for their buck. I spoke with someone in Arbitron's Internet research department who admitted that they could not really identify the "best" way to measure Internet stations because the very nature of the Internet is 'anonymous'. How hard will it be to pin down someone's usage?
7) How you feel about programmers being made to wait on a record they hear until the research validates it? Elaborate.
The stakes are so high, and there are so many people in the game who don't really have the credentials to make good programming decisions, so the research part I've always seen as a necessary evil if the goal is to protect investment. But it's also a lot like hiring a fine artist and telling her to wait and not do any brush strokes until after you gotten some opinions. Bottom line is almost ANY record will find an audience if given the opportunity. And, conversely one bad record will not burn down a station as long as the station was programmed well from jump.
8) What is going to happen to the training of tomorrow's talent and programmers if the current trend continues? How do you feel about syndication and voicetracking?
The pipeline is definitely not being kept full right now, because who's got time to train (especially when you haven't been trained on how to train)? Syndication and voicetracking is a quick fix, but it's here to stay because it's a product of our technology-crazed society.
9) What adjustments have you had to make / what is your biggest challenge at doing Internet radio?
Well, in doing Internet radio I have to remember, "the world is my market" so to speak. My listeners are everywhere so I have to keep it interesting for a lot of people all at the same time, while generating support from local and regional advertisers who want to do business with anyone, anywhere. I have been most successful at selling "sponsorships" versus just selling spots.
10) How do you feel the current payola investigation is going to affect both industries? Are urban programmers going to be slower in adding and playing new music?
The nature of that part of the business is as old as Marconi. People will constantly just figure out new ways around it. The stakes are too high, and there's too much money in the pipeline for people to just walk away from it. Playlists have already succumbed to regional or national control for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that the research is a corporate function.
Bonus Questions
As you look back over your career ... any regrets? Missed opportunities?
Just that I should have hit more markets and chased more opportunities while I was a greased wheel.
What's been your biggest disappointment in Radio today?
Those companies and their PDs who equate "relatable" with "ghetto-fied" on-air presentations that demonstrate no skills at communicating. Oh, and I'm very, very disappointed that radio has stooped to airing the lowest common denominator of entertainment and remained focused on that for quite some time. What ever happened to "redeeming social value?"
What do you do with a song you don't like?
Leave it up to the audience.
What's the best piece of advice anyone's ever given you? The worst?
"Do what you love." Actually, it's that attitude that will drive you in to the ground!
Do you read.....everything? Books, Magazines, etc. Nothing? What's your favorite reading material?
Like most people probably 95% of my reading is on the Web. I'm definitely in it for the articles ...
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