Comments on: Fine. FINE! http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/ News, notes and the inside scoop on Idaho's radio industry & beyond Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:43:11 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Paul Gray http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-94897 Paul Gray Thu, 13 May 2010 12:35:29 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-94897 I tendered my resignation prior to the event ever occurring, as I worked out my last week on the air (my agreed departure was December 1 2004) We (the Monster) were raising Money and food for the Flathead valley food bank. This all based on a deal I brokered with Mid-day Talent Scott (also part owner in KOFI inc, Monster's Parent company) The hoax was he would come on and have a banter on air with the morning show(Dave Rae was the lead, also an owner) about how he was fattening up a turkey for harvest that Thanksgiving, the female of the morning show(Jenifer J) would act out raged so as to yank at the heart strings of the audience to give them a reason to rise up and save this poor about to die turkey. I came up with a plan live on the air as an alternative to killing the turkey: If the listeners of the Monster would donate the radio station's frequency in thousands we should be able to save the turkey, I also brought up the fact this would be the listeners turkey so they should name it. Several hours of relentless pleading listeners input (we are in Montana here) guys say kill women say save, the listeners finally settled on the name WELDON or WELL DONE. Understand this was with total approval of the GM an downer principles, I was the program director. My office was located on the lower floor of the building across form the police station in downtown Kalispell. I felt since we had such a great location we could also turn this into an NTR event meaning non traditional revenue so we got Big R on board to supply the feed and water bottle and the huge humane cage for a turkey that simply did not exist. This was old school theater of the mind radio at it;s finest. We spent hours calling around and finally found a turkey farm that would keep our secret, give us a turkey and agree to take him back in when the fiasco was over. Scott and I went to get the turkey, brought it to the radio station and put it on the second floor deck of the radio station with web cam and microphone and 24 hour monitoring audio and video to insure his safety and his participation at any time in anyone's show at the push of the turkey mic. Weldon became such a celebrity that people that hadn't yet heard of our 5 month old radio station would call, write the editor and stop by to capture the event on film. Our phone lines were so jammed at all times that when I cam on the air the two in studio lines were just not enough for me so I directed the front desk receptionist to transfer all business line incoming calls from the main office to the studio(not even possible in modern radio facilities). In doing so under my direction, the assistant to executive director of the local Parks and Rec made a call and immediately showed me her ignorance to the ongoing hype and was outraged by the fact we were as she put it "torturing a poor defenseless animal" for the sake of a radio promotion, I told her thanks for listening, we are just doing are job, trying to save the turkey, it is up to people like you in the community to end hunger in the Flathead valley this holiday season or sadly Weldon's life would end, but hey Scotty and Kathleen will eat well on the big day. She said she wanted to speak to the manager, I put her on hold and came back a few minutes later as the Program director and I was, but I was also afforded the rare luxury of being in a studio that was recording her, I told her I was recording her and she told me she better not hear this on the air like all the other calls I put on the air and I said you are not on the air, she was not, not until I edited the call and played it back about 45 minutes late under the pretense of it being live. I kept trying to convince her that if she would just listen she would be part of the solution instead of causing this big problem and she repeatedly exclaimed "I don't even listen to your radio station" I believe I ended the call with ...you will. I edited the call and played excerpts over the next three hours and again aired the entire call in full after promoting the fact that I would at 6:00 pm, I figured it was Thursday why not pump the Arbitron ratings number one day of the week by finishing strong in the last hour of drive time...you know by now this was not some accidental call that got out. It was icing on the cake of the promotion that needed to meet the pound quota within 24 hours. I then played the call and fielded calls throughout the hour much like the others, with listeners exclaiming that that lady on the phone complaining about he turkey was everything from a member of the deliverance cast to should take up a new homestead 50 feet under water in the middle of Flathead lake. Our weekends were largely automated due to a lack of staffing so I made 12 different legal IDs to be played at the top of every hour all weekend long with different snippets of her and the phone call making her, if you can believe it sound even stupider and of course she said her name Jennifer from Parks and rec a million times trying to wield leverage. Monday I came in programmed music did my job went on the air and Tuesday when I cam in the owner Dave Rae told me yesterday was my last day on the air, I said well according to our agreement in writing I would work on air till the day before thanksgiving which would have been Wednesday, he said this would be better and scribbled out my severance check and said I was welcome to stay in the building, just not on the air and could I teach Scotty how to run the Selector program to make sure he was up to speed to take over as the new program director upon my exit. I agreed, but told him he had no balls and I was a pro and would heed his direction. I did and exited...Tallest DJ you may remember why I left, your boss and my future boss had previously brokered a deal for me to come work for him at Bee Broadcasting since the monster in its first Arbitron ratings book was the first to unseat the heritage rock KBBZ in 18 years with a triple crown #1 12#1 18-34 and # 1 25-54, virtually unheard of and my show had a 56 share. Extremely rare. I crossed the street and took up the VP of programming post for Bee Broadcasting on a 1 year contract. upon my leaving the area the Monster was fined by the FCC, Benny Bee owner of Bee Broadcasting hired a FCC attorney out of DC that he had on retainer for me to submit a brief on my behalf and as an upfront an forthright act of truth telling to declare the fact that the owners and every employee was aware of what went down and that Dave Rae took advantage of my pre arranged departure to save face and commit perjury under oath to the FCC by stating he was unaware of this matter. 2000 thousand pounds of food raised for the Flathead valley and Weldon was relocated and my commute got shortened but in the end, they pleaded the case of ignorance due to a rogue out of state DJ. Now you know how it went down. I take responsibility and claim all my actions. Proud moment in promotional history. Sincerely Paul Gray I tendered my resignation prior to the event ever occurring, as I worked out my last week on the air (my agreed departure was December 1 2004) We (the Monster) were raising Money and food for the Flathead valley food bank. This all based on a deal I brokered with Mid-day Talent Scott (also part owner in KOFI inc, Monster’s Parent company) The hoax was he would come on and have a banter on air with the morning show(Dave Rae was the lead, also an owner) about how he was fattening up a turkey for harvest that Thanksgiving, the female of the morning show(Jenifer J) would act out raged so as to yank at the heart strings of the audience to give them a reason to rise up and save this poor about to die turkey. I came up with a plan live on the air as an alternative to killing the turkey: If the listeners of the Monster would donate the radio station’s frequency in thousands we should be able to save the turkey, I also brought up the fact this would be the listeners turkey so they should name it. Several hours of relentless pleading listeners input (we are in Montana here) guys say kill women say save, the listeners finally settled on the name WELDON or WELL DONE. Understand this was with total approval of the GM an downer principles, I was the program director. My office was located on the lower floor of the building across form the police station in downtown Kalispell. I felt since we had such a great location we could also turn this into an NTR event meaning non traditional revenue so we got Big R on board to supply the feed and water bottle and the huge humane cage for a turkey that simply did not exist. This was old school theater of the mind radio at it;s finest. We spent hours calling around and finally found a turkey farm that would keep our secret, give us a turkey and agree to take him back in when the fiasco was over. Scott and I went to get the turkey, brought it to the radio station and put it on the second floor deck of the radio station with web cam and microphone and 24 hour monitoring audio and video to insure his safety and his participation at any time in anyone’s show at the push of the turkey mic. Weldon became such a celebrity that people that hadn’t yet heard of our 5 month old radio station would call, write the editor and stop by to capture the event on film. Our phone lines were so jammed at all times that when I cam on the air the two in studio lines were just not enough for me so I directed the front desk receptionist to transfer all business line incoming calls from the main office to the studio(not even possible in modern radio facilities). In doing so under my direction, the assistant to executive director of the local Parks and Rec made a call and immediately showed me her ignorance to the ongoing hype and was outraged by the fact we were as she put it “torturing a poor defenseless animal” for the sake of a radio promotion, I told her thanks for listening, we are just doing are job, trying to save the turkey, it is up to people like you in the community to end hunger in the Flathead valley this holiday season or sadly Weldon’s life would end, but hey Scotty and Kathleen will eat well on the big day. She said she wanted to speak to the manager, I put her on hold and came back a few minutes later as the Program director and I was, but I was also afforded the rare luxury of being in a studio that was recording her, I told her I was recording her and she told me she better not hear this on the air like all the other calls I put on the air and I said you are not on the air, she was not, not until I edited the call and played it back about 45 minutes late under the pretense of it being live. I kept trying to convince her that if she would just listen she would be part of the solution instead of causing this big problem and she repeatedly exclaimed “I don’t even listen to your radio station” I believe I ended the call with …you will. I edited the call and played excerpts over the next three hours and again aired the entire call in full after promoting the fact that I would at 6:00 pm, I figured it was Thursday why not pump the Arbitron ratings number one day of the week by finishing strong in the last hour of drive time…you know by now this was not some accidental call that got out. It was icing on the cake of the promotion that needed to meet the pound quota within 24 hours. I then played the call and fielded calls throughout the hour much like the others, with listeners exclaiming that that lady on the phone complaining about he turkey was everything from a member of the deliverance cast to should take up a new homestead 50 feet under water in the middle of Flathead lake. Our weekends were largely automated due to a lack of staffing so I made 12 different legal IDs to be played at the top of every hour all weekend long with different snippets of her and the phone call making her, if you can believe it sound even stupider and of course she said her name Jennifer from Parks and rec a million times trying to wield leverage. Monday I came in programmed music did my job went on the air and Tuesday when I cam in the owner Dave Rae told me yesterday was my last day on the air, I said well according to our agreement in writing I would work on air till the day before thanksgiving which would have been Wednesday, he said this would be better and scribbled out my severance check and said I was welcome to stay in the building, just not on the air and could I teach Scotty how to run the Selector program to make sure he was up to speed to take over as the new program director upon my exit. I agreed, but told him he had no balls and I was a pro and would heed his direction. I did and exited…Tallest DJ you may remember why I left, your boss and my future boss had previously brokered a deal for me to come work for him at Bee Broadcasting since the monster in its first Arbitron ratings book was the first to unseat the heritage rock KBBZ in 18 years with a triple crown #1 12#1 18-34 and # 1 25-54, virtually unheard of and my show had a 56 share. Extremely rare. I crossed the street and took up the VP of programming post for Bee Broadcasting on a 1 year contract. upon my leaving the area the Monster was fined by the FCC, Benny Bee owner of Bee Broadcasting hired a FCC attorney out of DC that he had on retainer for me to submit a brief on my behalf and as an upfront an forthright act of truth telling to declare the fact that the owners and every employee was aware of what went down and that Dave Rae took advantage of my pre arranged departure to save face and commit perjury under oath to the FCC by stating he was unaware of this matter.
2000 thousand pounds of food raised for the Flathead valley and Weldon was relocated and my commute got shortened but in the end, they pleaded the case of ignorance due to a rogue out of state DJ. Now you know how it went down. I take responsibility and claim all my actions. Proud moment in promotional history.

Sincerely

Paul Gray

]]> By: codger http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8436 codger Fri, 25 Nov 2005 13:05:41 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8436 The FCC does not have any statutes against airing phone calls without both parties permission. The law has nothing to do with airing of the phone calls, the law has to do the recording of phone calls.....the law is not set up for radio stations, it's for the protection of the average person. The FCC does not have any statutes against airing phone calls without both parties permission. The law has nothing to do with airing of the phone calls, the law has to do the recording of phone calls…..the law is not set up for radio stations, it’s for the protection of the average person.

]]> By: busted if writing from work http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8431 busted if writing from work Thu, 24 Nov 2005 03:13:20 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8431 Ah...looking at 1419 huh...I guess that is cuz they have the MOST live jocks...that actually DO contesting... :) JK. Ah…looking at 1419 huh…I guess that is cuz they have the MOST live jocks…that actually DO contesting… :) JK.

]]> By: J Allen http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8424 J Allen Wed, 23 Nov 2005 18:48:21 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8424 Broadcast is regulated under federal FCC laws, not state. You still must comply with the FCC regardless of the local laws regarding broadcasting phone calls. The station would have been fined regardless of location. Broadcast is regulated under federal FCC laws, not state. You still must comply with the FCC regardless of the local laws regarding broadcasting phone calls. The station would have been fined regardless of location.

]]> By: tallest dj http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8423 tallest dj Wed, 23 Nov 2005 16:36:30 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8423 UPDATE: Paul Gray (an old friend from my Spokane days) hasn't been working for The Monster in Kalispell for over two years. I believe he was fired days after the incident. He is currently in Portland, to the best of my knowledge. UPDATE: Paul Gray (an old friend from my Spokane days) hasn’t been working for The Monster in Kalispell for over two years. I believe he was fired days after the incident. He is currently in Portland, to the best of my knowledge.

]]> By: Santa http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8422 Santa Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:38:15 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8422 Ahhhh stations that air phone calls with out permission......Maybe the feds should set up a sting at the bomb shelter at 1419 West Bannock. Ahhhh stations that air phone calls with out permission……Maybe the feds should set up a sting at the bomb shelter at 1419 West Bannock.

]]> By: codger http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8421 codger Wed, 23 Nov 2005 12:54:14 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8421 Too bad he still didn't live in Idaho, which is one of, I believe, only seven states that only requires permission from one of the parties to record a pnone call. Too bad he still didn’t live in Idaho, which is one of, I believe, only seven states that only requires permission from one of the parties to record a pnone call.

]]> By: The http://idahoradionews.com/index.php/2005/11/22/fine-fine/comment-page-1/#comment-8418 The Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:30:16 +0000 http://idahoradionews.com/go/archives/2005/11/22/fine-fine/#comment-8418 Ah, for the good old days when you could cold-call people and put them on the air without prior consent. Memories! Ah, for the good old days when you could cold-call people and put them on the air without prior consent. Memories!

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