KISS FM in NYC Makes Another WTF Decision

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Just in case you can't read the small print, it says:

Raqiyah Mays

has just been fired from 98.7 Kiss FM's "DL Hughley Morning Show." Why? I was given a reason, but still not 100 percent sure...

Gosh Raqiyah. I know I've scolded you in the past on this blog for being a dummy....but I never wanted you to lose your job. You'll bounce back, I'm sure.

They could have at least let the coffin get cold. My gawd.

They aint waste NO TIME getting your azz off the website. Those bastards. On another note, what the FUCK is Kiss FM doing? Really. The only female that worked from sun up til sun down is gone? Who's gonna work weekends now? Who's gonna do free endorsements and $75 station appearances? Who's gonna wash the windows now? Ladies and gentlemen, KISS FM is about to self destruct in 3......2......

Urban Radio Nation Wins BLOG ENTRY OF THE YEAR....

URN wins. You were SO ON POINT with your latest blog entry, I felt compelled to share it with the world. If your post were a sermon in church, I'd have the holy ghost. In fact, I was in the middle of writing my next blog when I decided to check you out. You messed me up. I lost my train of thought and everything.

WBLS, New York's Urban AC Radio Continues it's Search for Wendy Williams' Replacement

Is 107.5 WBLS running a contest that never ends? A better question might be what's the point of all of this?

So far WBLS listeners have heard on the air the last six weeks: Jeff Foxx, Osei the Dark Secret, Chubb Rock, Adimu and this week the afternoon airwaves are being graced by Egypt Sherrod. Oh and let me mention the leading vote getter is none other than Salt N' Pepa. Hey it's what the people want...

Maybe a name from the past such as this famous New York disc jockey might be on the air next week. Well that's what they use to call them.

Which one of those two men pictured here am I talking about? It has to be Ken 'Spider' Webb, (on the left) the former morning man on WBLS and 98.7 Kiss FM, who currently host mornings on Soul Town on Sirius XM radio. Not likely... The other guy of course is Frankie Crocker, who unfortunately died in 2000 and is credited with coining the phrase and the format known as Urban Contemporary in the late 1970's. However today we call it Urban "Adult" Contemporary.

Now if Frankie was still alive he'd probably die all over again and spin in his grave over what the format has evolved into. I turn on Urban AC radio nowadays and I almost have to scream at what I'm listening to. I always thought contemporary means modern and current. (Think of furniture. Urban AC radio is like a combination of Early American, Colonial and Pennsylvania Dutch.)

I'm sure that relatively "new", "cool", and "hip" was the essence of the format when Frankie developed it. Frankie Crocker received a lot of industry buzz for incorporating a mass appeal format. He was crazy enough to put Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" in rotation at the station. Of course that would only work in NYC, but at the time Sinatra's song was "current." So that type of out of the box programming with a strong roster of talent led to WBLS soaring to the #1 spot in New York until 'KTU and Kiss FM came along.

But now we have an over researched format that continues to push music from the likes of Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Sade, and most recently, thankfully Maxwell. All in all there's nothing wrong with these artists, but the continuous dose of this ballad laden music is monotonous. Meanwhile we see the rise of the Rhythmic AC format, also known as "MoViN" in various cities around the country. That format has seemed to tap into something that can be regionalized to the taste of the audience.

For my money I need a jock who shares his musical taste with me as the listener. The same corporate playlist emailed to program directors all over the country each week has taken a toll on radio listeners. I say leave the programming to the on-air personality. That of course is heresy. But if music radio wants to get out of it's dwindling and eroding listener base; then a return of the local DJ who is allowed to share his musical taste with his or her listeners is the way to go.


For the most part WBLS does a more than average job of staying out of the Urban AC programming rut and they sound like "New York." WHUR does a good job also for what they are- "Sounds like Washington." But in all honesty I still appreciate Donnie Simpson at WPGC, who programs his show with such songs as Kool Moe Dee - How Ya Like Me Now, Maxwell - Pretty Wings, Jay-Z - Run This Town (w/ Rihanna & Kanye West), Mary Mary - God In Me, Anita Baker - Sweet Love. It works for me and many other Washington area listeners. I would love to hear Donnie on an Urban AC station.

Now WBLS just remember you're not a reality TV show, a talk/celebrity gossip show, or a refuge for Old School Hip Hop artists. You're "in a class by itself", a radio station that plays music. Maybe the contest will continue until they find a radio personality that can get more votes than Salt N' Pepa...

Egypt's Got Next

Wow.

Skip & Co have finally decided to let REAL radio talent take a stab at "auditioning" for Wendy's spot next week. Hip, hip, hooray. Maybe I do have a chance after all. Nah....who am I kidding. I don't quite understand the game of charades that they're playing. I'm sure they already know who they're gonna hire already.

Even in my darkest hour, I still can be happy for women in radio who continue to prosper. Knock 'em out the box babygirl.

Jack of all Asses - Another Amazing Job Posting

*sidebar* - To all of my NON INDUSTRY friends out there - - please take my word for it. The following job listings are utterly ridiculous.

I wouldn't be surprised if they accidentally left out, "toilet cleaner".

Cumulus Media of Danbury is looking for a radio "jack of all trades." You'll quarterback our production department, back up the traffic & continuity department, and voicetrack a shift on one of our music stations. Experience with audio editing software is a must. Working knowledge of commercial traffic systems would be a huge plus as well. T&R to Tim Sheehan, Cumulus Media, 1004 Federal Road, Brookfield CT 06804

Here's another:

Want To Cut Some Commercials? We need some fresh voices. We're a small station that wants a big sound. Will pay $10.00 for a spot. You won't get rich, but you can make a few extra bucks. Send me a sample. Radiogpm@yahoo.com

East 2 Midwest Bits & Pieces

Adimu Colon, after being missing in action for a really long time, resurfaced today on WBLS. I was able to stomach about 3 minutes of the staged, over processed, admiration of female listeners who claimed to" miss him SO HORRIBLY".

PS- BLS...fix your online stream in sucks.

Power 92 in Chicago has a Sunday program called "Teen Speak" where they are so graciously giving high school students the opportunity to get their feet wet in the radio industry. I didn't last past 2 minutes of the yelling, screaming and incoherent STREET speak. I'm in my 30's....but I aint THAT out of touch with today's teenagers. Power.....you get 2 thumbs down for that niggatry. Don't think that we can't see right through your 'efforts' to give these kids a chance. It's called free.labor. Get outta here with that bullshit.

An Epiphany...

Dear Andreas:

Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your letter let me know that I am NOT alone. Damn. I had the double check your e-mail to make sure that it wasn't written by me. It is EXACTLY what I went through during my last years in radio. I'd also like to thank you for NOT being silent. A girlfriend of mine told me the following during a radio industry conversation:

It hurts to be vocal. It hurts to be the squeaky wheel, because everyone else is going along to get along and Its hard to understand why the rest of the world is raging against the same machine. Story of my life.

So, so true.

Although I'm unemployed, Andreas - - YOU are EXACTLY the type of person that I'd like to work with. I pray that the opportunity will present itself....one day.

Thank You,

The jobless one aka ImOffTheAir

To friends, colleagues and those that should know,

As of today (September 8, 2009) I am no longer the Executive Editor of Music at BET.com.

Upon entering the position at BET I said that I needed one year to see what really went on inside the belly of the beast. I needed 365 days to sleep with the enemy and infiltrate the system. One year to see if they REALLY wanted change at BET.

As someone who has been critical of BET for many years, it surprised many that I would leave my post at HipHopDX last year to take a position at BET. But it was an opportunity I absolutely had to take. I could no longer be critical of this company without accepting the opportunity to change it when given. Although I was hired to bring about change, I was systematically shut down. I wasn’t hired to make noise, I was hired to be silenced.

The truth of the matter is that everything that you thought was wrong with BET is true.

Over the past year I’ve seen a lot to reinforce my position that BET is too far gone in the negative to turn into a positive. We have all always thought the worst, but to actually see it in action is another thing in its entirety. The unprofessionalism, the tom foolery, the favors, the misappropriation of resources, the bad ideas that reinforce negative stereotypes, the emasculation of men, the meetings that break down in full fledged cursing battles, the unpaid overtime, the tears from employees scared for their underpaid and overworked positions and ultimately the unwillingness to change are all harsh realities that I’ve witnessed firsthand.

That is not to say that there aren’t some good people who have sat in the offices of BET. Unfortunately, the good people are not in positions of power to instill any change. Instead, they work their fingers to the bone just to keep their jobs in this harsh economic climate. The other good people ran out of the door as soon as an another employment opportunity presented itself. To say BET was a revolving door would be an understatement.

I came in with a plan to provide balance and to deliver good music to the masses and help make BET relevant again - at least in the dot com world. Those attempts were shut down by out of touch executives who run a dot com but could barely turn on a computer. By those who judge their metrics by page views over absolute unique visitors (that‘s ad sales talk). By those who simply don’t understand the internet.

They brought me in because of my track record but never once took a look at my body of work. If they did, they would have known that I was the pen behind editorials such as “BET’s Coon Picnic” or were aware of the many times I have been critical of their award shows and programming. All they knew is that I played a major role in making a once unknown website into a online media outlet that surpassed theirs and they wanted a piece of the action. Too bad they never researched who I really was.

During my tenure I worked long hours and sometimes succeeded at bringing in decent content to try to reflect the change I wanted to achieve. But it wasn’t without opposition. While some interviews and content initiatives were able to make it through, many others were either shut down or met with ridicule. I offered ideas to incorporate the blog world and to spotlight new talent before MTV did. Those ideas were met with comments such as “This isn’t HipHopDX” or “You don’t know what you are talking about.”

BET is not about the quality of your work. Rather, BET is about the relationships you have with powerful people within the company. BET is not about challenging. Instead, BET is about accepting and saying “yes.” If you have known or followed me over the years, you would know that these are things that simply are not in my character and ultimately resulted in my removal.

For the artists and labels that I have worked with for years, I tried. I did whatever I could to achieve that balance many of us wanted to see happen. To the writers who wanted to writer for BET, I made an attempt but was never given a budget to work with.

Upon my arrival, I was told I would be given a staff. Not true. I had a staff of one to carry out daily operations on a website. I fought tooth and nail to accomplish the minimum (an embeddable player and a site people could navigate) and was constantly brushed off. It was a position that was set up for failure. But I endured as long as I could.

Alas, I have been removed from my position after infiltrating the system and the timing was perfect. I wasn’t let go because the site’s numbers were down. Not because I didn’t work hard. Simply because of a personality clash with an individual whose proverbial ass I didn’t kiss enough. Again, not about the work you do but about the relationships you keep and the sides you take.

I’d like to thank BET for covering the cost of my relocation to bring me to the great city of New York/New Jersey. I’d also like to thank them for putting me in close quarters with people who think like me and will hopefully work with in the near future. I’d also like to thank them for providing me enough controversial content that I observed firsthand and will make for many tales to be told.

I said it and I meant in: One year to either make changes or move on. I left HipHopDX on September 16th 2008. Today is September 8, 2009. Eight days short of a year. Most thought I wouldn’t even last that long. But in that year I’ve had my greatest fears about Black Entertainment Television affirmed.

There is so much wrong with BET that I’d rather not break it down in a single email.

It is pretty good fodder for a book don’t you think?

As of today, Andreas Hale is a free agent.

Help Wanted! Salary Pay: FUN!!!!

TalkRadioX is looking for new show hosts.

On the air since 2006, TalkRadioX is an all talk station that features a home grown lineup of shows. Currently there are some daily morning and afternoon slots available, as well as on the weekend.

There is no pay for hosts. But if you're looking to get on air and have fun let us know.

Send an email to dan@xxxxxxxxx

Dear Dan:

Fun don't pay the bills. GTFOOHWTBS.

Sincerely,

ImOffTheAir and I guess that's where I'll remain

My Sincerest Apologies...

I started out this blog with such a BANG -then I disappeared into oblivion. I'm really sorry. Truth of the matter is, I'm still unemployed - and it's literally killing me. A lot of sleepless nights...random heart palpitations and countless tears. Feeling this way doesn't exactly allow me to have a clear mind nor a desire to blog. I've applied to nearly every station from east to west coast and literally contacted everyone that I know in the industry. My efforts have been unsuccessful. Some days, I seriously don't know if I'm coming or going.

A few random thoughts:

* I still haven't noticed radio react to the rapid changes in the industry as it relates to technology. Why don't they just kill themselves already?

* Barry Mayo's salary has been publicly released via a recent SEC filing. $500,000 per year and a 50K raise next year. Sham.Fucking.Wow.

* I tried to warn y'all that the DL Morning Show was coming. It is the most God awful show I've ever heard. Why do they have 30 people on the mic? Why is the most experienced cast member the newsguy? Why must DL comment after every.fucking.comment? Can Bob do the news without you interjecting every 2 seconds? He's like that little annoying kid in class with ADD. And furthermore, you're not funny. Never has been. Never will be.

* Skip Dillard? What the fuck are you doing up there? Seriously? Salt and Pepa? Chubb Rock? The 90 year old Jeff Fox? I should get one of my 'boys' to kick your azz on GP....just because.

* A huge FUCK YOU to all of my so-called friends in the industry. Wanna find out how many TRUE friends you have in the world? Try asking them for a job or a recommendation. I've received a hardcore reality check. Do me a favor....seriously. Don't even show up at my funeral. Fake azz bastards.

* I made contact with some folks @ Oprah radio. They said they would call...but never did. I'm hurt...but at least I made that initial contact. I actually feel like I've accomplished something.

* KDAY in Los Angeles removed all of their syndicated programming. Hooray. Now go and program that station correctly and most importantly, make it work!

* The Brian McKnight show with Lenny Green sounds really gay. Maybe some women enjoy hearing 2 men go back and forth, talking all soft spoken and shit about irrelvant topics...but I don't. I hear that the ratings for the daypart in New York have really hit bottom. That's good for y'all sorry azzes. That was a dumb idea to begin with.

* There have been a bunch of "pick our next radio personality" contests lately. Particularly @ WPGC in DC and POWER 99 in Philly. More stupidity...although I would have definitely taken part at a shot to get a paycheck. Kashon nor Robert returned calls although I know them both very well. Both of y'all can kiss my azz on a hot, sweaty day.

* And on that note, Miss Jones has officially secured the morning show spot on Power 99 in Philly.


Although she's bit much to handle in person....I am really happy for her. She's pretty good on the mic. Love her or hate her....she knows how to do compelling radio.

* We all have a love hate relationship with Wendy Williams. Call her what you want, she is the Queen Pimp. She has successfully pimped the game. If the TV show was cancelled tomorrow, she would be ok. I'm proud of that chick. With her crazy azz.

* Charlemange The God has been doing exceptionally well @ 100.3 in Philly. A part of me can't help to wonder if Elroy is in his office pulling his hair out. (figurately speaking) Elroy likes manufactured, feel good, corny azz radio personalities that he can control. (hence the Miss Jones' firing) The God doesn't seem like "that dude". Elroy also will secretly wish death to anyone who says anything negative about his boyfriend, R Kelly. This will be interesting to watch. *sidebar* - Elroy...you can kiss my ass too. I'm thinking about writing a book about what a fraud you are.

* Instead of doing the writing....I've been doing a lot of reading. Urbaninsite used to be the shit. For some reason, they've fallen off. I used to spend hours on that site...and now on most days, I forget to even check in. Seems as though they have forgotten to stay relevant. They have let other sources of industry news sneak in through the backdoor. (hmmmmm....sounds like the state of the radio industry. How ironic.)

-UrbanRadioNation - Great site. Again, comparing it to radio.....it's totally ok to be personal and editorialize at times. That's how you connect with your audience. It feels like an ACTUAL person it writing the blog. Love it. He's been slippin' up a little bit with regards to the timeliness of the news....but he makes up for it with the quality of posts. I don't understand why people don't leave more comments though.

-RadioFacts - I visit the site daily...but Kevin Ross the owner can really be a pig at times. He's horny and it shows. Will somebody please give this dude some azz? He always figures out a way to interject some stupid ass comment about a chick's azz or who he would or wouldn't "fook". Stick to the Radio Facts please. Kev....don't get cute and try to respond to me either. You owe me $150 from 10 years ago for writing for your publication. I still have the bullshit azz e-mail with the compensation agreement and will scan it for the world to see...with your lying azz.

-AllAccess.Com - I've been actively logging on to this website for over 10 years. What can I say? They are simply marvelous.

Well.....I guess that's it for now. Again...I'm sorry for the MIA status. I hope things get better soon. Pray for your sister.