Re: What's JJ up to?

["Chuck Igo" <Chuckigo@worldnet.att.net>]

Dan made several points, including:
>>You started the personal attacks.  I made comments about a radio station
owner and instead of just rebutting my points you began making comments
about my education, etc.<<

as i've told you publicly and privately, i admire your willingness and
ability to pursue further interests.  at no point should you take my
observations of your continuing education in anything less than a flattering
light.  you rock.  you da man.  so, yeah, you'll be a lawyer when you're
done.  and a republican (sigh).  but you still rock!  get it, Dan?  i admire
you for being able to chase after your brass ring, if this is what you want.
my brass ring is radio.  major market radio.  if i get hit by a truck
rolling out of my driveway today while heading for Western Ave to make the
insulting hourly wage offered me, i'll know that i achieved my goal: to work
in my hometown on the radio.  as a North Cambridge kid, i have done that.
it's a double-to-the-good thing.  my hometown is a major market.  so, i
don't know where you've drawn insult from our jests about putting your good
papers on the fridge.  if i thought what you were doing was beneath
admiration, i'd have never brought it up.


Regarding JJ, Dan offered:He is running things on the cheap
with few employees.  That may be out of necessity, but I think if Clear
Channel was running the Big Jab and WLOB the same way, you would not be
praising them.  I think we also agree he is not making any money.  So what's
the point?<<

the point is a Portland station at 98.9 FM being run by another corporate
entity, and surely i  jest.  and i know, "don't call you shirley."

that's the point, Dan.  corporate radio would run those same stations the
same way.  only they'd be making money on the venture in the long run.  i
doubt if JJ is breaking even.  again, he does what he does 'cuz he wants to.

then Dan asked the killer question:  (please stand back while i let this one
fly... and, Dan:  never ask the question to which you DON'T know the answer.
that'll get you, every time.)
>>Can you name any operators in Maine before consolidation that met the
standard you suggest?  I understand that there were a lot more jobs before
consolidation and that made it a lot easier to make a living in radio, but I
don't think most of the operators at the time were more benevolent employers
or that interested in keeping broadcasting fun.<<

Dan,
   yeah.  let's start with ALL OF THEM!  what the hell made you get into
radio to start with?  Ego?  if that was it, then it won't matter what i
write.
   WCSH Radio, bastard stepbrother of WCSH was a freakin' blast.  The
Thompson family let us do our thing and we had a great time doing it.
Professionals such as Dean Rogers and Dave Bailey and Jim Doyle.  It was
such a well run property that E.C. "Bud" Stiker purchased it and kept the
"family" atmosphere rolling.    WGAN was the same way, before
"consolidation."  Jean Gannett Hawley had no clue who we were, but Chuck
Sanford made sure that we all knew each other and worked well together.
Want to see the wedding photos?  i'll share them with you someday and show
you the Maine Radio table that included Cary Pahigian and Barbara Quill and
Bruce Stevens and Nick Seneca and Dean & Sharon Rogers.
    want me to keep going?  Dick Walsh may have been fairly tight with a
buck, but if you needed tires or your kid needed diapers or you and your
wife just needed a night out together, guess what?  Dick took care of it.
and it was another place where people did more than "work" together.  they
hung out together.  they watched each others kids.  they shared photos and
report cards.
   Biddeford. yeah, right under your nose, Dan, we had a real good time.
Dick Lutsk gave me "signing" privledges and direct orders to use them.
chinese food?  seafood?  drinks and fun at Flanagans?  all of that was on
Dick's direction: take the staff out to lunch individually as often as
possible, and collectively at least twice a month.
   and as far as programming goes?  with the exception of the Drake-Chenault
format on 94.3 when it was WYJY, every single program director was a, can
you imagine?, program director.  the music.  the contests.  the slogans.
the promos.  the talent.  the mission.   all at the hands of the program
directors, each chosen by their respective G.M.'s.    WIGY was probably one
of the most under-rated yet fun-to-listen-to Top 40 stations, ever.  never
the same thing twice.  WBLM?  nothing compared to it.  nothing.  long before
it was "Re-Mark-able" radio, it was remarkable.  WGAN was one of THE finest
examples of a full-service A/C format. (no less than 7 full-time employees
made the leap to Major Markets from THERE.  not with stops in-between.)
     Dan: asked and answered, albeit in abbreviated form.

- -Chuck Igo