This is why Journal earns respect
Don Day | August 4, 2008Journal Communications acquired all sorts of stuff when it bought KFXJ nearly a decade ago. Equipment, a transmitter, the frequency and a small handful of employees.
Two of those folks – Rochelle Smith and Rockwell Smith (no relation) are still with the company, and each has proved themselves to be among the best things to come along with the purchase of KF-95. While The River bears little resemblance to the old KF-95, both Rochelle and Rocky continue to keep that independent, listener-focused spirit alive.
I was reminded of why Journal is so lucky by Rocky’s comment on the KGEM audio problem. He explains all the things he and Journal do for customers that are unhappy with hearing original hits (or more recently – oldies). As is noted with the recent KIGO example – the station could easily say “it is Qwest’s problem” and clam up, but instead they jump through hoops to make people happy.
As for the “other” R. Smith – Rochelle is often hailed for her extra work. Much of the station’s online effort, including the MySpace page with all the audio goodies is her doing.
You can buy a frequency, dump everything and try to rebuild it from the ground – but finding good people and hanging on to them (no matter if you hire them from the Internet or get them in a multi-million dollar acquisition) is what makes a radio company unique.
(PS: I wanted to put an old KF95 logo on this entry [the one with the music staff and the quarter notes], but I can’t find one. If you can send me a digital version of the logo, I’d appreciate it!)
While I agree with Don that Rocky and Roxx are awesome, I think the thing that sets Journal Broadcast Group apart is that it is a strong TEAM. It’s not just Rocky spending hours on a phone line or Rochelle’s Myspace work and all of the live in-studio mixes she does. Today for example, we have a big remote with J105 and Jason, a remote tech is not only setting up everything, including two inflate-ables, running the PA and Marti, etc. But he has taken it upon himself to be the “J-Bird” and run around being the mascot. No one asked him to do it. It’s close to triple digits out there! Or, Rocky going to the Knitting Factory to make certain a live “Sound Check” on the X goes off smoothly. And Shannon, the Journal Receptionist. I don’t have to tell any of you who have been in the business for a while what a thankless job that is. But she always is cheerful, answers the callers questions, appeases them, etc. And Kristine Simoni, Promotions Director-Goddess(she also came to Journal from KF95) Not only does she handle promotions for all the Radio and now, doing the same for KIVI TV, she also is the Mid-morning voice of J105! Or Jeff Hoffert, The Lead KIVI TV Engineer, who will go up and work on an FM Transmitter and thinks it’s cool that he is getting to learn about radio and goes over and above the call almost on a daily basis. Lastly, the guy that holds the whole thing together and frankly, I don’t know how he does it. Well, yes I do. He trusts the rest of us to do our jobs…
Thanks, Bob. It’s been a great ride!
Rockwell is one of the most fabulous individuals I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He has an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in countless aspects of the industry- especially engineering. He doesn’t mind sharing it, either.
Rocky is the first person to call in case of an technical catastrophe. He can fix it. If the problem doesn’t want to be fixed, he can rig it! With his small crescent wrench and a roll of electrical tape, he’ll make it work, without losing his cool.
Rockwell makes a damn convincing Santa Clause too!
It’s sad to see old-school radio engineers, like Rockwell, going the way of the dodo. The equipment has changed, and it is far more automated and computerized than in the old days. However, it doesn’t hurt to have someone around that understands the good old fashioned concepts of how this thing we call radio, works. There is still equipment used in broacasting that is not connected to USB ports or network servers.
Most everyone who is an engineer or “technician” today is a module puller/replacer. They just do not make engineers like they used to. There is a certain quality to being able to think and want to understand why things work the way they do. Rocky is old school. I also have to admire anyone who likes to take home old technology that most everyone else would have been more than happy to see hauled off to the dump, and give it a new life in the basement – garage. Over the past twenty or so years, I have had many encounters with Rockwell and they have always been pleasant ones. I hope that his
employer(s) will keep that in mind….And also THANK YOU for your many efforts on the Idaho History of Broadcastin website and other contributions!
Rocky is the man. Glad he’s still doing amazing work. He should tell you all his speeding though montana story.
Hey, good to see you here, Kallao. If anyone really wants that story, it’s on my website and can be found here: http://www.engineer-exchange.com/content/view/84/1/
Another interesting thing…
Both Rocky and Rochelle have interesting stories about the early days of KQXR 100.3 as Pirate Radio- before it became The X.
The story of the rise and fall of Pirate Radio is probably about as Bizarre as any in the industry, ever.