An
e-mail this morning from a college student led me to offer some lessons we can
learn from Rush Limbaugh, and a story about how I got arrested learning those
same lessons, long before Rush was on the air.
I wanted to comment about your
recent blog. I sure do relate to what you said about radio not paying attention
to developing future talent. I am 22 years old and have hosted and co-hosted a
talk show on my college campus. I am looking to get into the business, and am
sending out a new demo I created to various places. I feel because I'm young,
have done talk, and am unique, perhaps I'll be noticed. Would you have any
advice for going about getting noticed, or would you know anybody I could send
a demo to? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
-- Ryan V.
I've been in your shoes, Ryan.
One thing to understand, which is hard at 22, is that
most of us (not all of us) at a younger age THOUGHT we were very talented, but
our talent had not caught up with our belief in ourselves. I could not
understand why no one would hire me. Looking back, it was because I was green
and needed a lot more experience to be considered talented by others. Of course,
my persistence made up for my lack of talent, and that can work for you, too.
Keep pushing.
The biggest issue you face is that there are more
talented, experienced people out of work and lots of people for employers to
choose from. Why hire inexperience when you can get experience?
I know you don't want to hear any of this. I wouldn't have either. So how do
you get noticed?
Take a
Lesson from Rush Limbaugh
Let me turn your question around. If you were on a top station in town
doing your show and the PD said, "You have 60 days to either get noticed
and get your ratings up, or you're history," what would you do? It's a
real-life scenario that happened to me. I was told to get noticed or lose my
job. It was a career turning point because I realized that great personalities
are great self-promoters and masterful at generating controversy.
Rush Limbaugh on Fox, CNN, and Most
Other Media
Last night on Fox, Bill O'Reilly spent 15 minutes talking about Rush Limbaugh's
buying into the St. Louis football franchise. I don't know how important this
is to Rush personally and how far he will carry it, but he has all the major
media in America talking about him. Now that the buying group he was part of
has dropped him, Rush can milk this for another couple of weeks. No matter the
outcome, this is great for his show. It acts as a reminder for people to tune
in to see what he will say about it, and it will bring new listeners and
advertisers. It's not unusual to find Rush in the news with some controversy
like this a few times a year. It's great for business, and it doesn't happen by
accident.
How Do You Translate This to Your
Situation?
You don't have the experience, audience, or name to get the media talking about
you. Yet every day you see someone get their 15 minutes of fame via YouTube or
some viral e-mail. I cannot advise you about the specifics of what you should
do, but the goal is to get noticed, get hired, and hope that some visionary PD
will see you and say, "This guy has guts. Let's give him a shot." You
can be highly targeted (Rich Marston at WAYS/Charlotte once had himself
delivered to a car dealership in a coffin. When they opened the coffin, he was
holding a sign that said, "I'm Dying to Get Your Business"), or you
can go national.
Your job is to figure out how to create some noise
that will work to your benefit. If you can learn this lesson early in your
career, you'll be ahead of 85% of all talk hosts. Most of those who are
nationally syndicated are there because they are expert at creating buzz over what
they've said. They understand how to get people talking. Think about Michael
Savage being ousted by the United Kingdom and the subsequent legal battle, or
the White House criticisms of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh.
These guys are consummate masters of buzz. The rest of the pack seem to tread
water for their entire careers because they've never understood this principle.
How I Got Arrested
The principle of buzz really applies to everyone, whether on the air or off.
We're all in the business of persuasion, and the first rule of persuasion is to
get people to pay attention. Of course, it needs to be appropriate persuasion,
or it can backfire. As a green 20-year-old DJ in Florida I pulled a stunt that, thankfully, worked, but
could have ended my career.
Don't Lose
the License
My PD, Jerry Clifton, told me to get my ratings up at 96X in Miami (1974).
"I don't care how you do it or what you do, just don't lose the
license." I went on the air that night, told my audience I had been fired
and this was my last show, and proceeded to take over the radio station,
barricade the doors, and "take control of the transmitter." I vowed
to played one obnoxious song over and over "until management gives me my
job back."
Guns Were
Drawn
I did such a convincing job that the Miami Beach Police Department was
flooded with emergency calls, and police were outside the studios. When the
jock who was on before me (Steve Rivers) left the building, they cuffed him,
threw him in a cruiser, and then demanded that he open the door to the station.
I was about to do my next break when I heard a sound. I turned around to find
two Miami Beach cops with their guns drawn and pointed at my head. (I only wish
I had opened my mic to get the arrest on tape.) I was cuffed, arrested, and
about to be removed from the building.
Saved By
Quick Thinking
As I was being taken out of the building, I said to the cop, "It's ironic
that here you are, doing your job arresting me, and you're the one who will end
up in prison." He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I'm
licensed by the FCC to sit here at this federally licensed radio facility. If
you remove me, you're committing a felony." Again, I must have been
convincing, because we got the GM on the phone, he confirmed this, and they let
me go. (Meanwhile, there was an hour of dead air.)
Kids, Don't Try This At Home
The end result of my stunt (which I believe is now illegal, so kids, don't try
this at home) is that I went from being an obscure unknown to being someone
everyone knew. The Miami Beach police made us run on-air apologies every hour
for a week saying, "This station would like to apologize to the Miami
Beach Police Department for statements made by Eric Rhoads and Steve Rivers on
the air. We assure you it will never happen again." We made the newspaper,
the local news, etc., and I accomplished my goal of better ratings and going
from fairly unknown to fairly well known.
The Art of Buzz
Radio has always been the master of creating buzz through stunts and
promotions. The mark of a true pro is having the ability to do it well, get
others talking about you, and do it without causing damage or losing the
license. Hollywood also gets this, which is why they thrive on tabloid rumors.
It keeps the names in the news and gets people talking. If you want to be in
the media, you need to learn the art of getting noticed.
Eric Rhoads
Radio Ink
[email protected]
To comment on this blog, please click comments, below.
Chief Economist for S&P Joins Radio Ink Forecast Conference
A Message from Deborah Parenti, VP/GM of Radio Ink
In addition to keynote speakers Gov. Mike Huckabee, CNBC's Ron Insana, and
CBS Radio's Dan Mason, we have just confirmed David Wyss, the Chief Economist
for Standard & Poor's, to participate in a session called "Economic
Forecasting: Revenue Expectations for 2010." You'll hear insights from one
of the leading economists in the world.
The Radio Ink Forecast Conference is the premier industry forecasting event.
It's attended by an industry Who's Who and followed by the reception for the
"40 Most Powerful People in Radio." Forecast is now the largest
networking event in the radio industry, held in beautiful Harvard Hall at the
Harvard Club in New York. This conference is a must-attend, especially in these
tumultuous times. You’ll hear advice, ideas and, forecasts to lead you into 2010.
Limited to 200 people. (No exceptions. Each of the last eight years were at
capacity.) Register today to guarantee your seat: 561-655-8778 or go to www.radioink.com/forecastsummit.
Le jeu Pokemon y est super ! Au lieu de jouer avec un seul personnage, vous pouvez jouer avec trois. Chacun deux ont leur propres ont leur propres histoires à suivre durant le jeu. Les possibilités sont infinies dans le monde de POKEMON X. Les effets sont incroyables et bien meilleurs que nimporte quel jeu antérieur. Je ne vous en dit pas plus pour ne pas vous casser lenvie de jouer.
Posted by: comment avoir pokemon y gratuit sur pc | December 27, 2013 at 06:50 PM
On the internet gambling houses offer totally zero-cost roll slot competitions to bring while in new players. Usually the foregoing bonus is for the very initially deposit only but you can hit upon some casinos supplying this provide designed for as high so as 5 to fifteen bonuses. http://eppengine.com/zbxe/?document_srl=135307&mid=screen&sort_index=regdate&order_type=desc http://www.phildanawa.com/?document_srl=602627 http://cs.mju.ac.kr/?document_srl=667931 http://i-laboom.com/xe/?document_srl=565071 http://222.122.197.53/?document_srl=15011 http://www.hyosungwithus.com/zbxe/?document_srl=61284 http://byrepon.co.kr/repon/?document_srl=22918 http://kimnamsoo.com/?document_srl=59155 http://www.jinchul.kr/xe/?document_srl=209158 http://omegaz.com/xe/?document_srl=14018 http://aiesecskku.org/board/?document_srl=279053 http://www.utolabs.com/xe/index.php?document_srl=38077&mid=reform http://www.gnbhouse.com/xe/?document_srl=430011 http://vaneducare.com/vecs/?document_srl=211595 http://nmrl.mireene.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=689810 http://www.marpian.com/?document_srl=225607 http://calvary.joych.org/xe/?document_srl=75714 http://www.newman21.com/xe/?document_srl=71860 http://www.woovac.com/xe/?document_srl=417168 http://sogangusa.com/bbs/?document_srl=261700 http://www.mrminho.com/kr/index.php?mid=Data&liststyle=gallery&document_srl=442674 http://jaehoyunjae.net/jumotic/?document_srl=635197 http://hsbiosystems.mireene.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=537747 http://fmsound.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=8652 http://zimos.co.kr/eng/?document_srl=84698 http://whsos.ufree.kr/xe/?document_srl=42641 http://scce.knu.ac.kr/xe/?document_srl=407809 http://winled.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=58368 http://storyofsoshi.com/xe/?document_srl=70266 http://history.mireene.co.kr/zbxe/?document_srl=154764 http://kpressnc.com/xe/?document_srl=375034 http://kk-research.com/xe/?document_srl=1120636 http://www.jiri99.com/?document_srl=443633 http://ramga.net/xe/?document_srl=86975 http://rawysnap.hosting.paran.com/xe/?document_srl=558510 http://www.yoons.pe.kr/?document_srl=181669&mid=london&listStyle=&cpage= http://se.ce.pusan.ac.kr/xe/?document_srl=2293177 http://wowcnc.com/?document_srl=83838 http://asaph.kr/ppo_news/344886 http://www.virtualfitting.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=633649 http://eppscore.com/xe/?document_srl=27878 http://www.seilinc.com/xe/?document_srl=173648 http://www.mastas.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=48852 http://fmsound.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=8654 http://mip.dankook.ac.kr/?document_srl=22599 http://lederausa.com/?document_srl=24286 http://ptflute.com/zbxe/?document_srl=582460 http://tonic.eundong.net/?document_srl=22676 http://www.soulimage.co.kr/xe/?document_srl=385395 http://elmonterv.co.kr/11344
Posted by: http://www.bearkorea.com/ | November 08, 2013 at 04:30 AM
Just imagine, in this day and age, if there was a way to be positive and attract the kind of attention that the Becks, Limbaughs, O'Reillys, etc attract. Is there no way to be outrageously positive and attract attention (aside from being Barak Obama?).
Posted by: Bob Martin | October 23, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Great post Eric...we are by nature in the persuasion business...so with all the buzz of ppm why do people think radio needs to shut up and play more music...is that persuasive? listen to my station to hear more music? How about great talent that talk about relevant things...
Posted by: michael fischer | October 15, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Funny story, Eric. Reminided me of an episode back in the mid-70s, when I was working at KAGE AM/FM in Winona, MN. We'd decided to put Alan Barzman and Pat McCormick's syndicated comedy vignettes "From Studio B" on the air. I'd sold the exclusive sponsorship to a local lumberyard/home center, and we spent two weeks teasing the program by "building" the fictitious Studio B, with live updates several times a day, letting our listeners know how the work was progressing. Of course, we used the appropriate sound effects and "workers'" voices in the background to create the mental theatre. At the beginning of the second week of the tease campaign, a city of Winona building inspector huffed into the front office and demanded to speak to someone about the construction that was going on "without a proper permit." He left red-faced and we all had a great guffaw over the effectiveness of our little drama.
Those were the days...
Posted by: Rod Schwartz - Grace Broadcast Sales | October 15, 2009 at 03:43 PM
Great Story Eric!!
I wasn't sure what direction you were going in, but I appreciate the overall statement of drawing attention to yourself and not the message that it may actually have.
Rush is pushing it... but, that is why he is where he is.
Atlanta, GA
Posted by: Xan | October 15, 2009 at 03:18 PM