Happy Larry Monty Bond Fine Python Anniversary
I had planned on posting all this on Friday, but our local internet provider went offline due to a leaf falling on their tower.
So I missed the window of opportunity to post anything – as my “personal” website is the last thing I have the time to get to. So I get to do it over breakfast today …
Friday was full of anniversaries …
Not only was it Larry Fine’s birthday (he would have turned 100 years old)
… it was also the date the first James Bond movie “Dr No” officially appeared in theaters …
… as well as the first airing of Monty Python’s Flying Circus …
I also did not realize last week when I tuned into WGST in Atlanta via Iheart for the early morning show that the station flipped formats from talk to spanish language sports ! What a shock ! Apparently it had been coming on for a while …
First – since I speak fluent yet rusty espanol … I would like to say to the new station, hablamos ingles es muy importante en los Estados Unidos … verdad ?
Next – this illustrates the volatility of the radio broadcast industry. This is nothing new. This is radio. I know it well.
The format change also illustrates how one entity can carry the whole unit.
How could a radio station decide to flip over completely when they have all the number one shows on their schedule? Simple – Limbaugh was sliding over to the rival Atlanta station WSB. It was a basic domino effect from that.
Interesting that WSB and WGST have been rivals since 1922 … even when radio was considered experimental at best. Both owned by rival newspapers. It has been back and forth with shows and sports broadcast rights for over a lifetime.
Competition is a good thing. But it’s a royal pain when it shakes up the sandbox you happen to be in. It does make us better even if it pushes us out of a comfortable situation into the unknown.
Competition makes us keep a sharp pencil.
I really miss those local guys on WGST during early morning drive time … I even miss “Mad Man” with his traffic updates even though I didn’t have to drive in Atlanta ! Wherever yall went ~ hope you continue to find success.
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Is someone picking on Big Bird ?
I remember listening to conversations with acquaintances who worked in commercial broadcasting as well as “public broadcasting” …
“Public” stations (PBS – government subsidized) always had new, elaborate equipment while the commercial stations (stand on your own by giving the public what it wants) got by with what worked.
My first radio gig when I was still a teen had a console converted from tubes to transistors that in order to keep the switch from the turntables in broadcast mode it had to be held by a rubber band … it looked like something from the set of the original Frankenstein movie …
While I agree we as a nation should help out those who had a bad bump in the road or help those who just cannot make it on their own to survive decently does not mean we should subsidize something that could never amount to anything on its own with the absolute overkill best.
If someone needs a ride in order to get to a job we do not need to give him/her a brand new Ferrari when a bus ticket will do nicely.
Category: Tony Rollo Blog
