WBZ Florida

[Pete Ferrand]

Steve Ordinetz replies:


> >My take is that the audience associates LaPierre with doing  a show 
> >in Boston,
 
> I think you're living in an era that doesn't exist anymore (if it ever
> did).  Most people today seem comfortable with technology 
> and, indeed think 
> much of this is cool.

I disagree. I think this isn't at all relevant to anyone's life, and
thus they're not the least bit interested in it. They don't really care
how it works.



> another.  Why are you creating a double standard...one for GL 
> and another 
> for everyone else?

I'm not. I'm suggesting there's a different standard for *every*
personality. Every personality and every radio station is a different
product, and thus they are properly all marketed differently. GL is one
of relatively few personalities that benefit by a tradition of having
listeners involved as we've discussed.



> 
> Again, I don't think anyone really cares.  What WBZ is marketing is 
> GL's knowlege & familiarity with the region, not necessarily that
> he is there 
> all the time.  

Yes, but they're also selling him as a human being that people should
feel comfortable with.


 
> but I can't say as I've heard any variation in his anchoring from one 
> week to another.  I think that's far more important to listeners
> than whether 
> he's right there in the studio with his co-workers.

A lack of variation houldn't be the goal, the goal should be to do a
good job, which he can undoubtadly do anywhere.



> >This starts to sound deceptive. Over the last year or two

 
> This is show biz.  Theatre of the mind and all that.  Yeah, it sounds 
> hokey

If you can't believe someone there's no point listening to them.
Ultimately CC may not care because they can replace these shows if
people stop listening for whatever reason. However, making up facts and
actions and broadcasting it as true is against CC policy and violative
of FCC regs. Never enforced of course, the citation's in the article. I
can also see advertisers picking up on that and not being real happy,
especially if he's voicing the ads. 


> Do you complain when you watch a movie and they use a stunt double?  
> That's just as "deceptive".  No, because it doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter in a movie because it doesn't pretend to be fact. Where
comics use their own life it's pretty clear what's true or stretched a
little and what's made up.


> To say that GL
> loses his cred
> because he's occasionally away is needless nit-picking.

As I've written, it's got nothing to do with whether or not he's away
but whether it's a big secret or not. 

-Pete
Enfield, NH