Hits And Misses

9/20/1996

Alan Malamud died this week.  He wrote a daily sports column for the L.A. Times, so most of you won’t have the slightest idea who he is.  His column dealt with everything…but nothing specifically.  Sort of like this Editorial.

The industry was shaken last week with the murder of Tupac Shakur.  Shaken and certainly saddened, but were any of us totally surprised?  Tupac’s life and times were well documented.  The fact that he went down in a hail of gunfire, although tragic, is not out of character when one considers the environment in which he was raised and continued to live.

Tupac’s lifestyle contributed greatly to his art.  Would he have been as successful had he been born and raised in affluent Beverly Hills?  It’s doubtful that he would have possessed the cutting edge and the biting social commentary.

It is a fact of life and certainly a part of our business that artistic success does not always bring joy and happiness.  Artists are different.  If they weren’t, we could all sing and dance our way to the top of the charts.  But too often, the darkness of their character is the essence of their art.  Why should we expect a change because they become successful?  In most cases, success is the antithesis of what the artist is.

Life and lifestyles dictate an artist’s core…not success.  Jimi Hendrix was hooked on heroin long before he made it big.  Jim Morrison’s over indulgence began long before “Light My Fire.”  Kurt Cobain’s experiences with the dark side didn’t start with “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

It isn’t surprising that artists don’t change with success.  What is surprising is that we expect them to do so.  Because a person has a top-selling album, why do we believe that artist is suddenly more intelligent, more knowledgeable and more capable of dealing with life?  Is stardom, and the difficulties that go with it, the artist’s problem or is it ours…for expecting too much?

We all have baggage that we carry with us on life’s journey.  Unfortunately, most of us are incapable of leaving it beside the track when we board a better train.

Last week, the editor of Hits magazine took an uncharacteristic shot at KIIS Los Angeles PD John Cook…and, for that matter, former PD Steve Perun…when outlining the current ratings picture in L.A. by saying, “Isn’t it about time the station just played the hits instead of trying to invent their own?  We all hope John Cook would end the Steve Perun era of one-off Dance singles that are 6 months or more old, but instead he has moved the station even further from mass-appeal hits.”

If you read my Editorials, you know I have no problem with anyone stepping out and saying what they feel.  However, it would seem reasonable that the person being critical would at least have some basic knowledge of the subject or person who is the object of the criticism.  As a radio guy, it particularly galls me when someone with no programming background or expertise has the audacity to blast those who do.  John Cook said he wished he had a forum to respond, but I told him not to worry… we would be glad to provide it.  Lenny Beer can’t program his VCR, much less a heritage Top 40 station in the nation’s #2 market.

That said, let me comment on the specifics of the critique.  Hit’s is critical of Cook’s attempt to find records for his stations rather than just “playing the hits.”  In today’s marketplace, many times PDs must find the songs to generate the tempo that drives their stations.  Why does Hitz take a shot at Cook for “finding” records that fit the KIIS format, while praising Kevin Weatherly at KROQ and Michelle Mercer at KPWR for doing the same?  Maybe Hicks just doesn’t get it.

Heitz seems to have a problem with Dance music in general.  Earlier editorial comments have suggested that Dance records don’t build artists. I guess Madonna and Whitney Houston (just to mention a couple) don’t count.  With all due respect to Hacks, it isn’t the genre, but the artist who builds a career.  Great artists…from Bette Midler to Billy Joel to Guns “N” Roses to Mariah Carey…rise above the mathematics of any format to become stars.

Maybe Hets also doesn’t understand that a PD’s job is to increase the ratings of the radio stations…playing the hits that the audience might like.  John Cook has an especially difficult task.  With the methodology of Arbitron and the distinct demo, geo and psychographics of the L.A. metro, can a true Top 40 station carve a mark?  No one really knows.  At least John is trying to find out by playing as large a cross-section of songs as any Top 40 in a major market.  So what if he is leaning a little Dance?  So are a lot of stations…including the #1 station in New York, in case Heets didn’t know.

It sounds personal.  Fhits should be satisfied with John Cook at KIIS. The only person who could possibly do it better is me…and trust me on this one, Lenny, you would really hate that!

The death of Sunny Joe White last week gave us all pause.  Our industry has lost a few powerful souls over the past few years, but losing Sunny, Joe Ianello and Charlie Minor at so young an age made me reflect on more than just the personal loss of not having them as a continuing part of my life.  It turned my thoughts inward.

None of us know how long we’ve got left.  We want to think of our 40s as middle age, but I’m sure that’s what those above felt.  We all want to be an extended mix, but some of us will be edits.  Besides, what’s more important:  How long the candle burns or how bright?

I’ve always believed that I’ve led a charmed life.  The worst it has ever been is wonderful.  But in the past few months I’ve questioned how I’ve lived my life, how I want to live the rest of my life and how I want to be remembered.  Do I want to be remembered as the guy who used plastic army figures to fire a staff or the person who touched the lives of many and made a positive difference; as the guy who wrote a great novel or a trash flash like PAYOLA!; as a kind, gentle, open person who truly cared about those I encountered or as a funny, caustic, sarcastic bastard who shot from the hip; as a person who caused positive change or someone who caused trouble; as a caring, thoughtful person or an outlaw?

Judging from this column…all of the above.