"Skyrocker" Post Disappears Into The Ether...

Over the weekend, an exceedingly interesting post by one of my favorite radio people (writing under the nom de tableau "Skyrocker") appeared on one of my favorite radio boards.

Unfortunately, Skyrocker's comments apparently violated the rules of that board, and it was deleted, along with all links and replies, as if it never existed.

Since I ain't got no such rules, and since I asked Skyrocker politely, what follows is his original post:

My Story Is Your Story.

I have worked in this radio broadcasting swirl for decades -- maybe too long. More than that, I love it. Consequently, I feel more at home in radio as I do in my own skin.

Early on (we all seem to live by decisions made by our teenaged selves) I chose an all-California career path, informed from several years hitch-hiking across the USA, which was my personal Right Of Passage.

I was too late for a ride with Huck & Tom on their raft, so I made use of Route 66 and our nation's hiway system to get a good up-close look at our country's diverse regions. And quite an earful of our differences in audio preferences. Like its listeners, each radio station was different.

Way different.

Fortune was on my side in that I met "guides and spirits all along the way," in the form of weathered jocks, insightful program directors and great characters. Within my chosen state, I made my way up through the various California markets -- from the Monterey Peninsula, through small towns (Pittsburg, Fresno), medium markets (San Diego) and into San Francisco and L.A., learning and improving as I went.

I realized my voice wasn't as deeply textured as many of my contemporaries, so I learned to work it. I studied timing, phrasing, inflections -- not from any licensed schools, but from the masters themselves; in other words, like you, I watched a lot of TV. And, just like you, I learned.

I became intricately connected with the sound image of each station that brought me into play. They all had their own jingles, some their own production packages, or, when there was no budget, great shelves full of movie and instrumental music. I learned to use a razor and splice the music to fit my vision. I discovered images in my mind that mirrored the sound I was working with and brought them into my work.

Once, in the 70s, I wrote a magazine article about radio production ("Imaginative Radio Production," Broadcast Programming & Production, Oct. 1975), featuring cartoons I drew to illustrate my points. Many years later, as computers entered our lives, imagine my amazement when I saw these exact same images on the screens of wave editors. Ooh.

These days, broadcasting is going through a dark period. The bottom line has always been about profit, but NEVER BEFORE at the expense of the product. Once, one simply wouldn't allow themselves any vulnerability in the commercial marketplace. Apparently, not now. There seems to be an unquestioned assumption that the audience will always be there, no matter what.

No matter that their listeners are finding other outlets in which to listen, investing in MP3 Players, whereas the radio just came free with the car. Pay no attention to listeners who all now have computers that play music from either online or a collection on their hard drive. No matter that former radio hot-shot programmers are now designing channel after channel of mostly commercial-free music on satellite radio. No matter that, any day now, shareholders are going to be demanding to know where the listeners are and who's responsible.

Bad news.

And good news: This means that I can out program practically any radio station in the USA. I've worked with the best, radio geniuses that are simply no longer available. I have understood not only their visions but that which the listeners could percieve as such while being entertained. Compellingly.

Now, I, with a small cadre of pro friends, are willing to take on a very few projects. We don't need the money -- by now we've proved everything we needed to prove - to ourselves (hell, I don't even put anything on my web site other than an email and telephone number anymore: www.bobbyocean.net) -- we just love this stuff and we do it well. There's a lot of satisfaction in that.

And we play it to win. We think that'll impress the shareholders, too. Interested, call and learn more. It's not the budget buster you may fear, but it won't be inexpensive. Winning never is.
Just a couple stations, though.

Then - door closed.

More Osh things:

* The Bobby Ocean Sunday Radio Cartoon

* Bobby Ocean In The 93/KHJ Boss Blog

Image: Bobby Ocean by Bobby Ocean (2008), by courtesy of Bobby Ocean.

RIP: Frank Terry

Not a lot of details are currently available, but Frank Terry has died. The pioneering Boss Jock had been battling cancer for many years, and passed away on Wednesday (June 20) at his home in Sonora. He was 68.

Born Terrence Francis Crilly in Rapid City, S.D., on July 5, 1938, he moved with his family to Southern California when he was four years old, where his father became a sales manager at KFXM in San Bernardino.

In an unpublished interview for the book "KHJ: Inside Boss Radio," Terry said he got into radio because "I thought it might be a wonderful way to meet good-looking women, girls. And when I was in high school I actually got my first job."

That job, at KCSB in San Bernardino, began humbly — emptying waste baskets and mowing the station's front lawn — but led to an on-air gig as the teenaged host of a Saturday night show in which he played nothing but Elvis Presley records.

Following a three-year hitch in the Navy (as a telegrapher), he bided his time working for the Santa Fe Railroad (also as a telegrapher — although the railroad no longer employed Morse Code to communicate with trains) while waiting to enter college.

Fate stepped in, however, as a law requiring employers to hold jobs for returning veterans meant that his old position at KCSB had been vacant, awaiting his return.

In the early 1960s, Terry became Boss Radio architect Ron Jacobs' early partner in crime in the development of the format in San Bernardino (KMEN), Fresno (KMAK) and L.A. (KHJ), before moving to the Bay Area as a first-generation Big 610 Man (famously appearing in the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" documentary about the infamous Altamont concert) and a Country jock here at KNEW and KSAN, and at Froggy 92.9 (KFGY) in Santa Rosa.

You may post your thoughts about Frank Terry by clicking here.