An Amazing Letter

This was sent to me by one of the biggest heavy-hitters in our profession: Mr. Dave Foxx, Creative Services Producer at Z-100 New York City. He wrote it after receiving a link to my website. (Bold, italicized print added for my own ego's sake)

Hi Greg...

You are part of a small cadre of very special people who do absolutely stellar work, but get almost no recognition for it. Freelancing is about the hardest thing in the world to do, especially right now as the mighty corporate giants are squeezing the dollars tighter and tighter. I have a friend in Southern California who is desperately trying to launch his own freelance business and can’t even get to first base. (It’s a long story...loads of drama, no payoff.)

Your production is absolutely brilliant. Good pictures...tight, rhythmic and flowing...all really working the USP. The voices were all clear without being overpowering...the characters rang true, if a bit silly sometimes...just excellent, excellent work.

The sad truth is, most of radio is now owned by people who have no soul. Their only interest is in the big bucks. In the last few years they have perpetrated the raping of this industry, all in the name of making a fatter bottom line. As a result, we no longer have any kind of ‘Farm Club’ system, where major market players can reach into small and medium markets to find the next ‘big’ talent. If you go into any market like, say Eugene, Oregon and listen, you’ll hear the same voices you heard three towns over, all voice tracking from LA or New York. No room for rookies. A couple of years ago, they pulled the biggest scam in radio history by reducing the amount of commercial time each hour, but then blocking all 60 second spots, so they could sell more 30 second spots. The number of messages our audience is expected to swallow each hour has gone from 12 to 15, to upwards of 30. (It’s not commercials the audience objects to, per se...it’s BAD commercials and the frequency of hype – otherwise, the Super Bowl would just be another Sunday lost to football.) Now they’re attacking the actual on-air presentations of stations, adding dead segues and limiting the length of the image works to a point where it’s has become almost non existent. They’ve turned their collective backs on the strengths of radio (local radio) to become more and more like the ‘competition’ of iPods and the internet. The world doesn’t need another juke box service, but they seem determined to make radio just that.

Anyway...without drifting too much further from the topic at hand, one of the big results is VO work is diminishing drastically. Many stations (I can name an even dozen right now), have fired their VO guy, telling the PD to use someone from their staff. With that, the need for excellent production is being pushed aside as well. Most radio clusters have one or two people doing all the production for a half-dozen stations, which saves money right now, but because they’re turning radio into another pure music service, the future just keeps getting darker and darker. They’re killing the magic of radio in the name of money. Soon, this business will just be another satellite service, only we can’t charge our listeners to make money. We HAVE to do commercials, which means we’ll never be able to compete with XM or Sirius seriously.

The net result is...freelance production, like the VO business, is probably going to slowly choke to death. Oh, neither one is terminal yet...but it’s getting pretty bleak.

All in all, maybe we should both just quit and go do something that’s still fun, something that still is magical and wonderful, like radio used to be. {sigh}

In other words...it’s not you or your work, my friend. You have an absolute A-Game. It’s the nature of the business in 2007, in which A-Game work is simply unappreciated by the people who pay the checks.

Will it turn around? God, I hope so. I’m VERY hopeful that someday we’ll all experience what Infinity just went through here in New York. Once the GM left, the next guy came in and said, “What the hell was he thinking?” K-Rock is back on the air...the way it USED to be. Hopefully, when the new owners-to-be of Clear Channel get into a position of power, they’ll say, “What the hell were they thinking?” And we’ll see a giant turning back of the clock. (I’m not holding my breath. The new owners are mostly banker types too.)

If you can stick it out...do. You’re work deserves to be heard. It’s that good.


L8R,

Dave Foxx
Creative Services Director
Clear Channel New York


101 Hudson Street 36th Floor
Jersey City, NJ 07302

Phone: 201.209.6251
Cell: 973.715.8277

Thank you Dave, for taking the time to write such an in depth letter.I most definitely am going to stick it out.
Now friends, what are WE going to do to get it through to the Radio Managers and suits that good radio is worth the cost?

What are YOU doing?

Here are some no-budget marketing techniques I'm employing in order to get more work/clients.

1. I read Internet trade sites, like AllAccess.com for any radio activity, like format changes and name recognition of former co-workers or superiors. If an e-mail address is made available in an article, I'll send a short greeting and go right into a pitch.

2. I'm regularly sending out e-mails to old clients, even those who haven't use me n a long while. A couple have expressed regret not having my name in front of them, so this proves keeping in touch does keep me fresh in their minds.

Any suggestions you'd like to share with the class?

Shining in a Storm

It seems I get the most creative and "bright minded" during the storms in my life. There are a couple of big squalls blowing around me right now, but the feeling of strength and stand-up-in-the-face-of-it determination is keeping me in the tower. Have you ever thought that if you give up, everything will fall to pieces?

I'm not going to let that happen.

Don't you either.