Re: My Call to WTKK

["Dan Billings" <dib9@gwi.net>]

I was a call screener at WGAN from 1991-93.  I was once called snotty in a
newspaper article by a regular caller who I often won't let on when she
wanted to talk about something that wasn't on the agenda for that day.

At WGAN at the time, we didn't question people a lot, but we did try to keep
people to one call per week and try to limit calls to the subject, or
subjects, of the day.  If the phones were hot, it was also harder for
regular callers to get on the air and sometimes I would not put on callers
that I knew would not add much to the show.  The viewpoint of the caller was
not usually an issue, unless most of the callers were all on one side of an
issue and I was trying to get someone on with an alternative view.

I was also running the board while screening calls so when someone was
screened out, I didn't have time to be too diplomatic.  I didn't think it
mattered much.  People are always pissed when you tell them that they can't
be on the air.

Rush Limbaugh's show is tightly screened and he admits it.  Rush says it is
the job of the caller to make the host look good and that's what his call
screeners look for.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine