14° - overcast at 11:17pmGood evening from Okemos. Been catching up on my reading tonight and checked into Jerry Del Colliano's blog.
Confession: I've had this love/hate thing with Jerry's writing since his Inside Radio days years ago (goin way back to when the newsletter was delivered via snail mail); reasons why not important.
I still read Jerry then and continue to read Jerry today.
On his blog yesterday, Jerry had a great post regarding his "new rules for PDs" - all that sound familiar to an era long ago. Here's some selected highlights from his post:
1. One PD per station. It used to be that a successful program director lived, breathed and experienced his or her one radio station 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This was an acknowledgment that the program director of a successful radio station is a specialist not a generalist. Consolidators anxious to get the most bang for the buck have spread otherwise qualified PDs beyond their core competency.
If you want great radio stations that can program to the available market (which does not include the next generation), then suck it up and pay for one quarterback per station. Stop with the shortcuts and you'll see a better return on your investment. And don't tell me about the handful of PDs who are programming more than one station for you -- imagine what they could do with one?
4. Give full authority to the PD to do his/her job. No meddling. No backseat programming. Leave your PD to either do what they promise or risk being replaced at the end of the year. Oh, no changing the rules in mid-stream.
5. Fully fund the programming budget. Too many PDs have no real budget or the budget they have looks like Swiss cheese. If you suspect that corporate is going to ask for further givebacks during the year, under budget programming by the percentage of cutback you anticipate. You can't expect a PD to do their job without knowing how much money they have to spend.
If you want great radio stations that can program to the available market (which does not include the next generation), then suck it up and pay for one quarterback per station. Stop with the shortcuts and you'll see a better return on your investment. And don't tell me about the handful of PDs who are programming more than one station for you -- imagine what they could do with one?
4. Give full authority to the PD to do his/her job. No meddling. No backseat programming. Leave your PD to either do what they promise or risk being replaced at the end of the year. Oh, no changing the rules in mid-stream.
5. Fully fund the programming budget. Too many PDs have no real budget or the budget they have looks like Swiss cheese. If you suspect that corporate is going to ask for further givebacks during the year, under budget programming by the percentage of cutback you anticipate. You can't expect a PD to do their job without knowing how much money they have to spend.
Jerry's complete post here. A great read; but depending on your situation you might get angry.
Congrats: To Fred Jacobs for 3 years of the JacoBLOG. One of my daily habits. And to Doug Podell on his appointment as Director of Rock Programming for Greater Media's Detroit classic rock/rock duo WCSX/WRIF. Thanks to Lee Arnold for the tip.
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