WKKX's ripping of Jimmy Elliot

[Adam X]

I heard a little of it when ESPN radio was down the other morning but they were hitting him pretty hard.

I know it has something to do with Derek McGee not getting his stuff played on WOVK but is there something else I'm missing?

Also anybody save the blog they were referring to that Elliot wrote?

[muthaluvfan]

You ask and you shall receive. Jimmy seems to be a little fired up in this blog.

Saturday, July 26, 2008
“The Entitlement Generation vs. The Music Industry”
"The Entitlement Generation vs. The Music Industry"
(Or, "How To Not Get Your Song Played On The Radio")

For years now, we've all seen or heard stories in the news about "outcome-based education", where passing or failing is no longer politically correct, and credit is given just for trying. Or sports teams where winning or losing is no longer important, and nobody ever gets cut – everybody makes the team, just for trying.


Regrettably, this same attitude appears to have entered the Music Industry – on the local level here in the Ohio Valley, at least.


As the Program Director and Music Director of a pretty rare entity in this day and age – a Radio Station that is both massively successful and one that will occasionally play local artists, provided they are able to deliver material at a high enough level – I've recently started running into a disturbing phenomenon: pushy, belligerent, "empowered" local artists who feel it is their inalienable right to have their material played on local radio, regardless of the quality of the finished product they've produced.


Guess what? The music business works pretty much the same way as any other business – and the Demo CD you submit and the other materials that accompany it are your resume.


Let's take this analogy a couple of steps further.


Would you show up, unscheduled, on the doorstep of any other prospective employer, demanding that a management-level individual drop everything and interview you on the spot for a job position? Of course you wouldn't – you would send a resume in advance, maybe call a few days later to confirm receipt of your materials, and then you would patiently play the waiting game. Maybe you'd hear nothing at all in response, ever. Maybe you'd get a form letter rejection. Or maybe, just maybe, you'd get a call to come in for a scheduled appointment – which may or may not ever result in your getting hired. At no point in that process is it rational to expect that a prospective employer is obligated in any way to respond to your submission, much less hire you.


If you're not hired, would you then get up on your little soapbox in some form of the media and blast this employer who did not hire you, publicly calling out, by name, the manager you feel has wronged you? And if you chose to do this, how would you ever expect to accomplish anything other than to violently, irrevocably burn that bridge forever?


If that didn't yield results, would you then maybe blog your little heart out and pump out mass mailings to everyone you know on myspace and facebook, urging them to harass that employer until you get hired? (In response to that particular undertaking this past week, allow me to give you a simple lesson in math – based upon our most recent Arbitron report card, there are approximately 48,000 people across Ohio, Belmont, and Marshall Counties who will tune-in to WOVK at some point during any given week; similarly, in an average fifteen minute span of time, there are approximately 3,000+ people listening to WOVK. That being the case, the twelve (12) total emails I've received, coming from a blatantly orchestrated effort, make me feel kind of sorry for you – its actually more than a little embarrassing that you could only rally that small a number of people to your cause.)


None of these unprofessional behaviors would be either successful or tolerated in any other business – they could only be destructive and counterproductive – so why would anyone think that they would be effective in the Music Industry? Would you harass bars and clubs when or if they book other local acts instead of you? Would you harass local fairs and events when or if they book other local acts instead of you? Then why do it to Radio?


In any given month, between national, regional and local acts, WOVK receives perhaps as many as three or four dozen submissions for consideration of airplay – but we'll only "add" maybe ten to fifteen of those songs each month. There is a very real point of diminishing returns when it comes to how many records we can play at any given time – if we play too many, then nothing would ever get enough spins to ever develop any listener familiarity.


As the Program Director and Music Director of WOVK, it is my job to decide what we will and what we will not play on the Radio Station. Am I right all of the time? Of course I'm not – but I'm right more often than I'm not, and the phenomenal, long-running success of WOVK is the only validation of my rightness or wrongness which counts.


As a voting CMA member and a 30+ year veteran of Radio, which includes playing a role in three different Number 1-rated upper Ohio Valley Radio Stations, dating back to the 1970's – and more than a decade spent quarterbacking WOVK, the most-listened-to Radio Station here in the Ohio Valley, year after year since 1992 – I've either had an incredible amount of plain old dumb luck, or I might just have some kind of clue about how to properly do my job.


I had planned on not naming any names in this piece, and I won't, but I have to take an excerpt from another blog and address its absurdity specifically: "The big country radio station in the area, 98.7 Country WOVK, was supposed to be the station who rallied behind local artists and helps create 'The Next Brad Paisley' yet they've refused to even consider adding my song..." What??? Supposed by whom??? When did this become our job??? Becoming "The Next Brad Paisley" is more a question of artist talent – those are huge shoes to fill, if they can be filled at all, and nothing a Radio Station could ever do would achieve that goal, unless the artist in question is bringing to the table the skills and the talent and the years of hard work necessary to make an attempt at filling those shoes. It is not our job to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.


OR, to keep things simple and objective and revisit my earlier analogy, why would anyone feel that any other business is obligated to help them make money?


In two simple sentences, let me explain how Radio works, as a business:


Sentence One: We create an on-air product that people want to listen to.


Sentence Two: Having done that, we then generate revenue by allowing advertisers access to expose their products/services to the listener base we have created.


Along the way, we also serve our local communities as best we can, within the limitations of our resources, and we have to do all of the above within the guidelines imposed upon us by the Federal Communications Commission, but that's pretty much all there is to it – and the same formula applies, regardless of whether you're talking about a music Radio Station, a talk Radio Station, a sports Radio Station, or any other kind of Radio Station.


At no point is a Radio Station obligated to serve as launching pad for the careers of aspiring artists – HOWEVER, if local artists are capable of delivering acceptable material, at a level that helps us accomplish the mission in Sentence One, that is all well and good, and we are delighted to help them expose their material, if we can.


I know, at this point, there are probably several people reacting to the last few paragraphs going "See??? Just like I always thought!!! The Evil Bad Radio Station is just in it for the money!!!" Well, guess what – we have bills to pay and salaries to pay just like any other company, so of course this is a capitalistic enterprise, to some extent. Welcome to the real world.


As I near the end of this, I have a few helpful suggestions for anyone who would like to submit their music to WOVK, for consideration of airplay:


1) If all you really want is a validation of what you already think, then please do not ever ask me what I think – I'm not a bullshit artist, and what you'll get is what I really think, whether you like it or not.


2) You never get a second chance to make a first impression. I know it is a cliché, but it's also very true – so if you're going to behave like a spoiled kid in Toys R Us when you don't get your way, that's probably going to influence how I view any future submission we get from you.


3) If your pop record flopped miserably, so now you've decided that a Country artist is what you really are, then maybe, just maybe, your song isn't getting any airplay on local radio because your Country record is every bit as horrible as your failed pop record was.


(Sorry, the last one and the explanation of the second one refer specifically to the individual whose behavior made this blog happen in the first place.)


And now, one final piece of advice that I've given countless local artists over the years, but only a few of them have ever stepped up and delivered on: Give me something that I can play on the Radio, and I will do so.


Music Submissions can be sent to:


Jim Elliott
WOVK Radio
1015 Main Street
Wheeling, WV 26003


Thanks for taking the time to stay with me through this whole thing – and for all of our sakes, let's hope that I never feel motivated to blog again!!!


J


Jimmy Elliott

[Arp2]

It got too technical in points and may have had "TMI," but I liked it.


And this situation makes the argument -- don't play the local stuff!


Although the times are probably going to change the following line*, it's still true -- if you can't get by the gatekeepers at the labels, who are all desperately looking to swing that gate wide open for talent that people want to hear and go see, why should you be on my air when I'm already rejecting well over half the stuff those labels are sending me 'cause it just ain't good enough?




* And what the heck are we going to do without label gatekeepers??

[lovetalkradio]

WKKX is pushing a lot of bad music and trying to force stations to play bad music. Another reason why KKX is taking Elliot to task is the musician in question is really good friends with one of the WKKX employees.

It's the first time I have read Elliot's blog, up to this point I only heard WKKX talk about it and make snide comments. Elliot makes a lot of since and it was WKKX who named the local musician he was talking about. So who is really at fault?

[Big Media]

Finally, a Wheeling thread that makes perfect sense, stays on topic, and isn't filled with posts by WKKX fanboys.

[AmpedNow]

Finally, a Wheeling thread that makes perfect sense, stays on topic, and isn't filled with posts by WKKX fanboys.

The thread is still young...

[lovetalkradio]

KKX pounded on Jimmy Elliot for one day and all of the sudden it stopped. Something tells me WKKX may have overstepped a boundary because normally KKX likes to pound on something or someone for weeks.

The singer in question is a friend of WKKX. knowing nepotism runs wild at KKX, my guess that singer will soon be employed by KKX. Because of the nepotism at KKX a job there is like working for the city, once your in you will never get fired no matter how bad you are. It's hard to fire friends and relatives.

[muthaluvfan]

Love talk radio I am pretty sure WKKX will say whatever they want, when they want. If you listened for one minute you would know that answer. They have blasted Jimmy every single day since the lambasting last week sometime.

The best part of WKKX is LOCAL ownership, most of the stations in this state don't know what that means.

[new guy]

Mr. Elliott........It just amazes me that you can sit there...act like you are above everyone......(boy...you must ego by being a PD in market.....what 263) of a station that picks the music for you. CC picks music and you DO NOT have a say in that....you're a friggin puppet....that's it. You do not care about local artists being played....except Brad...oh boy....which is selected for you.....name some local Ohio Valley bands that you play......maybe one.....two at the most.......wow....your station is soooooo cool.....as you say.......enough of your jibberish.......you suck and your staff knows it!

[Greg Goodfellow]

I was given a CD Monday morning by a Rob Campbell. It was produced in Nashville, and is a quality effort. We've been playing all the cuts. I just finished with "For All They Have Done," a real tribute to soldiers past, present and future. With our dog and pony show (WRSG), we can play what we think people will like. If it's good music, we'll play it somewhere! We appreciate the lack of restrictions-we're as close to 'no rules radio' as you can get. If Mr. Elliot would contact me, we'll probably play music his station can't offer-and I say that with all respect.

[lovetalkradio]

Heard the ratings or as WKKX like to call them "surveys" weren't kind to WKKX. Especially the morning show, broadcast, and SNL. Heard Kellas did very well.

Anyone verify/know this?

[lovetalkradio]

muthaluvfan is right. This forum is lucky to get 3 posts in a day and people are complaining that posting is happening? And mutha, you are correct about we are lucky to have a all local talk show but WKKX has to expand it's workforce and get away from employing long time friends or bringing interns who are just there because who mom and dad is friends with?

I think my rating question is legit. Although some may not see it because someone posted a useless post about posting useless posts.

Anyone have information on WKKX Vs. WWVA ratings? I did hear Kellas did very well as did Bloomdaddy. Heard the broadcast and SNL had very low ratings. Is it correct Jeffers did well between 6pm-8pm?

[Crusader1980]

I know most of you do not like WKKX, and that is fine. I see the value in what they do, and love the fact that they get great sporting events, and contracts you would think much bigger stations would win. OVAC games, The Friends of Coal Bowl series, Notre Dame games, the OVAC basketball championships, Bethany Football, Steelers Football, Legion baseball championship games, Beast of the east, any many more to come.

I hope that at least some of you will see that there is a need for local talk, and sports. I know you all know radio much better than I, but I am a consumer, not a talk/sports host, and I like what KKX does for the valley. Besides Howard, is there any local talk/sports anywhere in the Ohio Valley?
If so, not much. I love local radio. That is how radio was born, local, and helpful.

Thank you.

[Lester]

So I remove those posts... DAYS AGO... and you still feel the need to bitch about their "presence"?

Why do I even bother?

[Crusader1980]

I bitched? Dude, take a pill. That was an honest post. Lester, I'm a lib, your a lib, why are you so harsh? RadioRich was done for fun. Do you know what fun means?

Look, you and i both know this site has been getting slower for years. If I inject some fun, does that not help this site? Remember my post on a thread, not long ago?
There were more responses to it than any thread on this site in years. I wonder why? Because it was fun.

Lighten up Francis. Can't we have some fun?

Have a cocktail on me.

It's radio, it's not life.

[Lester]

Y'all Wheelingites really do have an inflated opinion of yourselves, don't you?

PS: Not a lib.

[Crusader1980]

I do NOT live in Wheeling. So your point is meaningless, kind of like this site. Your the one with the the ego problem, not I.
Damn, did you just suck on a lemon? Is there something wrong with levity?

Let us get the opinion of the readers here. Would more goofy, and fun stuff help, or hurt this website? Remember..."Blue Haze?"

WVB....We Violate broadcast Standards.....We are too serious.

[Lester]

And the mouth adds yet another useless post to the fray.

[Big Media]

I know most of you do not like WKKX,

We do not dislike WKKX. We do dislike any thread about WKKX because it inevitably turns into a shit storm of fanboys and flame baters just like yourself who, as if called by some cult leader, insist on coming on this site and spewing useless crap about Wheeling radio.

Every Wheeling thread turns into a shit storm. Period.

[derrickmckee]

And this situation makes the argument -- don't play the local stuff!

Although the times are probably going to change the following line*, it's still true -- if you can't get by the gatekeepers at the labels, who are all desperately looking to swing that gate wide open for talent that people want to hear and go see, why should you be on my air when I'm already rejecting well over half the stuff those labels are sending me 'cause it just ain't good enough?

* And what the heck are we going to do without label gatekeepers??

Hey guys. My name is Derrick McKee and I'm the artist in question. I wanted to respond to this comment and a few others just to clarify a couple of things. But first: I'm not trying to make any waves (that's never been my goal).

My direct response to Arp2 is this: I've never even tried to get by the gatekeepers at the labels. I've never been rejected because - at this time - I'm not interested. The reason I'm not interested is as follows:

As an undergraduate at WVU I wrote an extensive senior marketing thesis on opportunities for the independent musician, and then - a year later - finished a business plan focusing on a new model for independent record labels / musicians. In April of 2007 I won the West Virginia Business Plan Competition (http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?f ... rintview=1). I beat out 50 other teams over the course of six or seven months and then started working on my new LP, Drive Until Daylight, last summer. The album was released in March and in April the lead single was released to 110 Music Row Reporting stations. While Music Row isn't the most glorious of charts, it's the perfect starting place for a musician who writes, produces, records, releases, and promotes all of his own stuff. Truly DIY. I'll explain in a bit why I brought all of this up so as not to sound egotistical.

Throughout the campaign for "My Biggest Fan Is My Mom" I was played on 17 different stations throughout the country and was added to heavy rotation on 8 stations, with a few others pumping it up to medium rotation. Knowing that my hometown country station was owned by ClearChannel and therefore a bit trickier, I waited until I was charting to approach Jim.

Once I was finally charting I sent an e-mail to Jim asking for a 10 minute appointment and received no response. At about the same time I was booked for the return of Wheeling Jamboree, which was was supposed to be a huge concert promoted and broadcast on WWVA, WOVK's sister station. At that point I sent another e-mail along with a link to the track and received no response. 10 days later I followed up with another e-mail and said that I'd drop off some complimentary copies for the staff AND promotional copies for on-air giveaways. Who doesn't like free stuff, right?

Anyways, no response once again. At this point my good friends at WKKX... and yes, I won't try to hide the fact that almost everybody at WKKX from the owners to the on-air talent to the board operators are my good friends. So what? Well, they started mentioning the fact that I was getting airplay across the country from Georgia to Oregon to Oklahoma, yet I couldn't even get a quick "No thank you," via e-mail in my hometown. What's that take? 3 seconds?

It eventually became clear that I'd need to rally my fans to call (or e-mail) and request my song over and over if I wanted it to get added to rotation on WOVK. So, I created a MySpace and Facebook campaign and hundreds participated. I pulled contact information directly off WOVK's web site (public info) and encouraged everyone (in a halftime-style speech) to come to my aid and they did.

Eventually, I was on the air with Steve discussing the subject but never personally called out Jim. Steve did, but I didn't. In fact, I said "That station gets tons of submissions every month. It's possible he hasn't gotten to it yet." Soon after that the blog went up, the Watchdawgs found it and (like the good friends that they are) responded to it.

The reason I brought up the stuff about the business plan competition is because I truly BELIEVE that independent musicians - if they have the goods - can "make it" by running a smart business, by building on relationships, and by working their butt off. I've been living my plan for a year and I'd be lying if I told you it's worked flawlessly. In fact, it constantly teeters between absolute disaster and success. But the reason why it falls short at certain points isn't because of mismanagement or poor product. It's because gatekeepers at the lowest levels such as stations in a 263 market - not major labels - turn their nose up automatically at anything that doesn't have Arista or Capitol Nashville stamped on it.

To drive this point home, Jimmy Elliott ripped my album in his blog and said it was "every bit as horrible as my failed pop record" (which, admittedly, was pretty bad). Yet, he mailed every single complementary and promotional copy back to me with the shrink wrap in tact. Perhaps he listened through osmosis? (and that right there is the closest I've ever come to saying anything bad about Jimmy Elliott other than he's a non-responder).

He clearly didn't even give me a shot. Maybe because I'm one of WKKX's boys (and proud of it) and there's some sort of grudge? I'm not sure and can't answer that.

It should be noted that Bloomdaddy was kind enough to have me on his show and give away my CDs, despite me constantly appearing on the competition and promoting my concert at Thrills In the Hills that week. Like everyone at WKKX, he just wanted to give the local boy a shot and I thank him for that.

This is starting to get longwinded so I'll wrap it up.

Arp2, you're correct. A day may come when the label gatekeepers are irrelevant. Maybe we'll see a day when well-written, well-produced songs can surface without the backing of Nashville... but only if low-level gatekeepers will keep an open mind and give a young gun a chance to make a few fans and play a few shows his home region.

Maybe now's a good time to shut up and let my music speak for itself?

LISTEN: My Biggest Fan Is My Mom http://www.derrickmckee.com/MyBiggestFa ... rsion).mp3

Feel free to tell me it's no good or it's not your cup of tea. I'd just ask that you tell me why so that I can improve for next time.

Thanks for reading, y'all, and hopefully I'll see you out at a show sometime. We'll have some fun.

- Derrick McKee