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Read excerpts
from the forthcoming book, "Passing Thru"
�John
Rook�s talent caused me to get him hired out of the market. A
classy guy with
an abundance of ability, he�s a jewel�.
Ken Palmer - KIMN, Broadcasters
have named John Rook Program Director of the Year, he�s
considered the architect of WLS�s slick image. � Variety
(1969) �It
pleases me the rest of the country thinks as highly of you as I
do� � Bill Drake �If
we could find a dozen more John Rook�s, we would hire them� Hal
Neal Jr., President ABC radio. �What
a true professional John Rook is� � Walter A. Schwartz, VP
WABC �Yes,
that�s John Rook you are hearing on WABC.
Besides being a great director,
he�s also a pretty darn good air talent.�
Bill Gavin (1967) �And
then there�s John Rook at WCFL.
After a five year stint at ABC�s KQV-Pittsburgh,
Mr. Rook was brought to WLS in early 1967 as Program Director.
By mid 1968 WLS�s audience had risen to 4.2 million listeners
each week and was #1 across the board. Mr. Rook was approached by
Lew Witz of WCFL with an offer to cousel WCFL, and hopefully to
bring the station in contention with WLS. Six weeks later Super
� CFL knocked WLS out of the top position in the ratings war�.
� Broadcasting (1972) John
Rook pulled off a
miracle in Meaning,
he was only in WCFL has ever done in it�s many years of trying to beat WLS. � Claude Hall, Billboard (1972)
�Please
accept this token of ABC�s appreciation for a job well done.�
Leonard Goldenson, President ABC, Inc. Superjock
Larry LuJack described John Rook as �the greatest program
director of our time or any other time.�
ABC executive Bob Henabery is quoted as
saying that �Rook understood the importance of doing everything
right. He was a masterful Top 40 programmer.�
It's a pleasant surprise to find so
much interest in the history of both the music and radio
industry,
especially when others feature you
in their websites. Thanks!
John's Denver days... (click)
Pittsburgh and Chicago...
(click)
Rook's Daily
Clicks John's Archives of Commentaries ... No Knockout Yet - (read) Stop Media Monopoly: (read) Mel's Media Message (read) Darkness lights deregulation issue (read) Race to the Bottom -- (read)
Payola illegal, except for FCC chairman Michael Powell (read)
Damn! They were right! (read) Ted Turner jumps ship, warns against FCC deregulation (read) John Gorman Archives FCC's Powell dances to a new tune on
media monopolies � or does he really? "Clear
Channel�s disdain for ratings is a prescription for
disaster" (click)
FCC's Powell dances
to a new tune on media monopolies � or does he really? by JOHN
GORMAN -- "To
be a member of President George W. Bush's administration, you
have to be -- among other things -- an exceptional dancer. Take
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham for example. He's been doing
the Electric Slide since the massive blackout a couple of weeks
back. This week it's Federal Communications Commission Chairman
Michael Powell's turn on the dance floor ... " (read
The FCC,
that agency intended to promote widespread local
ownership of broadcasting facilities and equal-time
opportunities on the nation's airwaves, has caved in
completely to a handful of wealthy monopolists. What
gives? by
Jim Wright, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Localism's
Last Stand
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Guest Commentary
This is no surprise and I expect it will happen in some manner. Lowry Mays understands the greater fool theory. Foreign interests are lusting for a piece of US media and Lowry and Mel will be ready to unload their under performing properties.
Lowry also wants to invest in foreign stations. He attempted an ownership run at the both the Capital Radio Group and Chrysalis in the UK over the past two years. Both efforts, so far, failed.
We know radio is not going to perform the previously predicted earnings. If anything, business will get worse. Automotive will follow Ford's decision on not advertising new products on the radio - to concentrate on direct mail, TV and Internet. Lowry, Mel and the boys will plea to Congress that the only way for US media to survive is to include foreign investment - and they'll make the usual arguments about a world economy.
It's moves like this that will turn the US into what the UK was in the 50s to early 60s when the sun finally set on the British Empire. We're on our way to repeat the same mistakes of the Brits.
John Gorman
Please Mr. Hogan � Where�s the Beef ?
Clear Channel, the nation�s largest group of radio stations, have more than enough stages to develop new innovative programming. But, try as I may to find even one new programming format the Texas based company has given the nation, I couldn�t. Gobbling up Premiere Radio during the feeding frenzy sparked by radio�s deregulation was a smart move by the Mays monopoly. Without the talents created by Premiere�s founders, Clear Channel would have little programming of any kind today.
In a recent survey
naming the top fifty radio programmers of 2003, only a dozen Clear
Channel programmers were named. Imagine,
1,200 of the nations biggest facilities, but only a dozen directors
worth noting. Those who
are most responsible for attracting audience are saddled with
directing several stages in a single market, round the clock. More
than one programmer had expressed despair to me personally of the
impossible task.
So, I was surprised and pleased a few months ago when Clear Channel radio president John Hogan initiated telephone calls to me inquiring about my view of the radio industry. I immediately registered my concerns about any company who places far an away most emphases on sales and obviously in Clear Channel�s case�very little on product, or programming. With fifty years of radio experience to my credit, my concerns were dismissed as not important. I made it clear to him I wasn�t looking for a job myself
but could supply the names of several extremely talented, long time successful program consultants.
I should have known better. Having met many company presidents in my lifetime, only a few were listeners and they were the most successful of the dozens I have known.
Those who had long
careers as company heads, picked the best programmers possible to rely
on and understood without programming, their would be no sales.
Unfortunately for others who only wanted to hear an echo of their own
genius, their time on the throne was limited. John
Hogan was a gentleman, but he indicated he already knew more than I
could possibly know about radio.
Adding to my concerns
for Clear Channel, in a recent interview Mr. Hogan challenged the
question about a lack of listener choices in radio today.
I was stunned when he claimed the radio listener of today has
more than double the format choices, than were available before
radio�s deregulation. I
listen to radio a great deal and for the life of me I could not
imagine what new radio programming I was missing.
According to Mr.
Hogan, radio added almost 50 new formats in five or six years. In all
the previous years of radio�s history, programmers had only created
35 �or so� formats, he stated. But since then, programmers have
worked overtime to develop more than double the choices for listeners
to �more than 80�.
The information was
credited to have come from the NAB, but having searched the
resources of the National Association of Broadcasters, they advise no
such report came from them. Calls
to Clear Channel to provide the documentation for Hogan�s remarks
have gone unanswered.
We would love to
share the news of all these wonderful new formats. I would personally
like to hear them myself. But
no one seems to have any information on where we can find this report
backing up John Hogan�s remarks.
So we are prompted to ask, please Mr. Hogan - Where�s the beef ?
John Rook
The
Center for Public Integrity once again has done a masterful job
in explaining how radio deregulation is totally out of control.
"The
result is a radio industry where Clear Channel and other radio broadcast
companies own far more radio stations in individual markets across the
United States than was intended by Congress, despite years of warnings
by the FCC's own staff."
�Big Radio Rules in Small
Markets� is a must read.
I urge you to do so and suggest you also make others aware of
this excellent report.
Tell the FCC to deny renewal of Clear
Channel broadcast licenses
Clear Channel Communications, the radio conglomerate that has bought up
more than 1,200 stations across the country in the last several years,
currently has 63 stations up for license renewal at the
Federal Communications Commission. DC-based public interest group
Essential Information has filed a complaint with the FCC that alleges
that Clear Channel has broken the law on 36 separate occasions
(violations include animal cruelty, criminal mischief and defacing
public property) and therefore has demonstrated that it lacks the
requisite character to be licensed to broadcast over the public
airwaves.
A denial would be in accordance with the FCC�s own rules that
licensees who exhibit a pattern of illegal conduct should be denied the
privilege of broadcasting on the public�s airwaves. Even FCC Chairman
Michael Powell has said that Clear Channel �may have concentrated too
much� and that �there may be issues associated with that company�
which the FCC should consider scrutinizing.
To e-mail the commissioners:
Chairman Michael K. Powell: [email protected]
Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy: [email protected]
Commissioner Michael J. Copps: [email protected]
Commissioner Kevin J. Martin: [email protected]
Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein: [email protected]