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From Radio Ink: Hendrie: “Radio Managers Ignore Talent.”

 

(by Ed Ryan)

For 21 years now Phil Hendrie has been broadcasting a unique style of radio theatre that, it’s easy to say, only he can pull off to perfection. He’s been doing it night after night, week after week, year after year. Most of you probably know that Hendrie artfully and without mistake, bobs and weaves, in and out of male, female and child-like voices errorless and for hours every night. He does it so seamlessly that some callers are duped into believing the voices are actual guests and their outrageous comments to Phil, the straight-man host, are real. Even after two decades Hendrie gets callers not only believing the routine but outraged enough to call in. Hendrie cannot get a caller involved, he just creates and adds him – or her – to the routine. Those that DO get the show belly-laugh as the caller unravels with rage and Hendrie eggs the guest (him) on while supporting the callers position. For those of you new to the radio business we would encourage you to give Hendrie a listen.

We’ve been living in a lifetime filled with political talkers, mostly from the right, launched by Rush and followed by many. Most consultants tell you if you are unique, you’ll have a place in radio. Stand out. Don’t be a follower, etc. etc. Hendrie is, perhaps, too unique for radio. And, his show is too unique to have others try to steal what he does. His characters have grown their own fan bases, some of them have their own Facebook pages and Twitter accounts which, of course, are all monitored by Hendrie. You would think he’d be a perfect morning man for today’s radio. You get a 3-5 person team for the price of one and no need for co-ed bathrooms. Yet, on most stations, Hendrie is heard from 1AM to 4AM.

Up until recently, technology has been a good friend to Hendrie. That may be changing. Now, he makes a significant amount of money online but worries that may be in jeapordy. Michael Robertsons DAR.FM ranks Hendrie as the 5th most recorded show behind Rush and several NPR programs. That’s good news right? A sign his show is popular. The flipside of that is that Hendrie has built up a significant online revenue stream with his backstage pass but now fans can record his show for free on DAR.FM and ditch the annual cost they pay to listen to the show. DAR.FM allows listeners to record the show and have it sit in the cloud for playback whenever it’s convenient for the listener. And, 1AM to 4AM, when the show is live is not very convenient. Now Hendrie’s fans pay an annual fee to listen to archived shows and watch him perform his comedy on Phil TV. If DAR becomes part of the mainstream what will happen to Hendrie’s extra paycheck? Can you say dwindle Bobbie Dooley?

Hendrie has thoughts on all these topics. He never worries about what others in the industry think and he’s never politically correct. That’s always a breath of fresh air for an interviewer. I had a chance to talk to Phil at the Radio show in Chicago. Here is that interview.

                                                 CHECK OUT PHIL’S WEBSITE HERE

– On the Radio Show panel in Chicago you had strong feelings about the radio industry as it is today.
The radio business is following to the letter the model of failure the auto industry followed. Trying to tear a dollar in half to make two dollars is not making better cars or better radio shows. You make cow dung while you’re chasing the art of manipulating the consumer into spending more for cow dung or inferior cow dung. And of course it is chasing down and mastering the art of passing your debt off to bigger and more distant entities until you are owned by people who could care about radio, they have a seat-cover company to run.

Radio will die the death of a thousand cuts unless it pays more attention to its product. And it’s not cow dung, no matter how fresh. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a business with more disdain for its own product than radio. These people are literally, troubled and disgusted and distracted by radio shows. Because it’s no longer anything you can hide from. The artist is doing his job. But the managers can’t sell it, can’t market it, can’t promote it, can’t pronounce it, can’t protect it. The talent shortage is at that level.

– Your thoughts on PD’s and GM’s and how they run their stations today?
Well this question follows what I was just saying. But let me give you the bottom line on these people. I have been approached by just about every heavy hitter in programming who wants to tell me how “brilliant” I am. Not one of them has put me on their stations and here’s why: To do that is to have to position my show properly, sell it, in other words do some actual work. Management has for years used the old stand-by argument that talent is the problem. Well, they can’t do that anymore. No can do, brother.

    FOR SYNDICATION INFO ON THE PHIL HENDRIE SHOW VISIT THE TRN WEBSITE

Now they’re getting push back from guys like me telling them to get off their ass and go out and get some business done. And if you can’t do that without hanging onto a ratings book or PPM like a security blanket then let’s hire some young guys out of college or wherever who are hungry and who can. But the management and programming guys don’t like that kind of direct talk from talent. Shoe’s on the other foot though now. Talent is hiring former managers and programmers. That’s where their future lies so they need to start seeing things from our perspective. 

How can they be better?
There was a window where they could have been. But, with the exception of a handful of people out there, (my guys at KFI, Robin and Greg) they can’t anymore. They are strictly order-takers. And they know it. Their primary concern is implementing the strategy coming from the Mother/Father computer at The Shareholder Complex.
 
I get the sense you are not a big fan of corporate radio.
That’s not true. All I’ve ever worked for are radio corporations and I can tell you the ones I loved and enjoyed working with. Cox, Greater Media, CBS, Clear Channel, Rounsaville Radio, Noe Broadcasting. I had great times at all of them. What I’m NOT a big fan of are lazy-ass corporate broadcasters going after the “low-hanging fruit” (code for ‘I don’t work that hard’) waiting for the order to come in or selling your talent out and booking these “embedded” inter-mercials that the audience doesn’t know from. It’s money, sure and it’s God-awful radio. The cashbox comes to mind. This was a device from the furthest rings of hell that squeezed more minutes out of an hour while turning the show into unlistenable drek. They are the people I referred to at the beginning…looking to tear a dollar bill in half and make two

– How much interaction do you have with listeners who get what the show is about?
I talk with a lot of them on Twitter but frankly I don’t do too much interacting with those active people who do Twitter or comment. There’s a reason for this. My time is best spent trying to improve my art, everything about it. That’s why I have listeners. It’s not best spent jaw-jacking with them. There have been some horrible and misconstrued reactions to me communicating with listeners. In communicating with one who had started a podcast I decided that I didn’t want him to do it anymore and asked that it be taken down..and I was nice about it the first 20 times I asked. But some people you can’t be nice to.

Why not take your show on the road to theatres?
I’m going to. It’s time, it’ll be fun and I’m eager to do it. I will most likely have to produce it myself but we can start small, a theater in San Diego or LA and then take it national and make millions upon millions and laugh and sing

You are doing very well with your backstage pass.
Thank God what I had fun doing on the radio found a loyal, sometimes cranky, rabid audience. They are possessive of the show, they are Kathy Bates in ‘Misery,” ready to break my legs if I screw something up. In other words they love the hell out of what I do and we charge a subscription price that’s do-able for them. We offer archives and the daily show. We throw in our video-casts. We have blogs. We have an uncensored comment section that has given voice to every kind of person under the sun. We have some merchandise. It’s real “Ma and Pa” and they have more direct access to me than ever before which creates all kinds of situations. Some real drama sometimes.

                       LISTEN TO A CLASSIC PHIL HENDRIE PODCAST HERE

– You are not real happy with your work being recorded and played back for free. You are in a unique position because you are one of the few successful radio personalities making money online. How can you combat this and do you plan to.
Yes, I plan to. But that’s for me to know and for them to find out. It’s outrageous. I had some clown tweet me that it’s like TVO. TVO is integrated into one’s system and is licensed by the concerned parties. No harm, no foul. It’s business. Along come a variety of companies in a variety of places with a variety of access to the different streams. And guess what? Not all of them are available. Well now how about that? They are not available because the parties that own them don’t want them made available for their own business reasons. Now we come to Phil Hendrie. Here’s a guy who is the ultimate victim of this because by speaking out he has made himself a target. Is there anyone in broadcasting speaking up on his behalf? No. Are there any high-powered, industry lawyers out there that want to advocate on his behalf? Hell no. The NAB maybe? No.

And here’s the OTHER good part. If I say anything about this publicly…I’m the a&*%$&! In the words of my close, personal friend Dale Dye “It’s a beautiful f*&%$+%& war.” However, the good news is this. It’s going to get better. We have a DMCA that is in force. And frankly, the US Pirate Party, a group that I thought at first would oppose what I’m fighting for, agrees with me. They want to streamline and clarify the process and I’m with that.

Feedback me about the Phil Hendrie interview at [email protected] or leave your comments below.

Pictured here (left to right) Radio Ink editor Ed Ryan, Phil Hendrie and Streamline Publishing Operations Manager Tom Elmo.

 

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Radio For Patriots By Patriots Show Log For Thursday September 29, 2011

Our show tonight featured Margaret Grey complaining about flight attendants and pilots makinjg passengers shut their cell phones off just to satisfy “a power trip.” Naturally no appearance by Margaret is complete with her complaining about Phil and his “male listeners pushinhg me down on a figurative bed and pinning my arms back..figuratively.”The following hour it was Ted Bell from Ted’s of Beverly Hills very upset that his restaurant got a 3.5 from the Zagat’s Survey…lower than Outback Steakhouse. Ted also complained about how his segment was being produced and then admitted his restaurant, while have great food, is filthy

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We Want To Thank YOU For Becoming A First Generation BSP Member! We’ve Got Good News But Times Out Friday At Midnight!

Countdown To October 1st

Whether you joined us way back in 1999 or right this minute you’ve become a part of our Phil Hendrie Show family and we’ve got some good news. On October 1st, our price is going up…..

But yours isn’t!

Our first generation BSP’s will continue to pay the same price today and on renewal that they have paid from the beginning. It’s our way of telling you we appreciate more than ever your support of the most unique and entertaining show in all of radio….we’d go through the list again of famous people that listen to the show but we don’t want to wrap our lips around our own horn. Suffice it to say, you know what you’re doing….
So if you have friends that have been on the fence about becoming BSP members let them know that now’s the time to sign up. Everyone with a Backstage Pass membership before October 1st will continue to pay our current price as First Generation BSP’s.
Since 1999 we have kept our prices the same through economic good times and bad, newer and costlier generations of audio and video (PhilTV in HD) cataloging and updating the largest radio archive in the world constantly and the transitioning of the site from a huge broadcast company to our own hands-on operation, one with the best customer service in the business among many other advantages.

If You don’t have a BSP already, on October 1st, 2011 we will inaugurate our first price increase in the 12 year history of PhilHendrieShow.com. Our monthly subscription will be $9.99, our six-month will be $44,99 (a 27% savings over the monthly!) and our 1-year will be 79.99 (a 33% savings over the monthly!) You will continue to have access to first generation, downloadable, highest quality audio of the Phil Hendrie Show, both in the archives and as a daily podcast. You’ll get our 6-day a week PhilTV in HD videocast as well as the five-day video archive. You’ll get our rare animated webisodes, video rants, archived TV appearances, TV pilots and you’ll hear all Phil Hendrie Show news before anyone else (Phil recently let his videocast audience know about his appearance in the forthcoming Judd Apatow film “This Is Forty” before anyone else) You’ll have your usual, uncensored exclusive access to the comment section in our news blog, something else no one in the industry has! You’ll find that even losers who claim to hate us can’t keep from giving us their money! But then again that was easy to see coming!

AND…..remember….unlimited access to the largest archive of any single radio show in the world, one we are continually updating and something no other show has successfully attempted. Along with this a search engine linked to keywords in the archives. This daunting but satisfying task is our gift to you, our Backstage Pass Family. When it is finished, we won’t be. We’ll continue to upload material so you can download it at your convenience!
To all of our First Generation Backstage Pass Members, remember your price stays the same as it’s been from the beginning, now and on renewal. Thank you for joining us whether it was back in ’99 or today. Let your friends and family know because on October 1st it will be too late to take advantage of our current rates.
And stay with us because one thing is for certain…we’ll continue to make history!

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Radio For Patriots By Patriots For Wednesday September 28, 2011

Herb Sewell says he’s a way better person than Michael Vick, Jeff Dowder talks about Toby Beau’s book “Otter: A Journey of Discovery” and Mavis checks in with a new spiritual song “Doin’ What I Oughta By Not Doin’ It With An Otter.”                                          “Hi Sailor”

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Occasionally, you’ll see this type of person in our comments section…….

a type known as “attention seeking…” Sometimes these people are seeking attention because of jealousy. If they feel Phil is getting all the attention they are supposed to get they respond with attention seeking behavior. They make everything into a drama, usually a poor-me drama having to do with Phil Hendrie and his radio show failing them. They prefer not to solve problems in their own lives but rather capitalize on Phil Hendrie issues and use them as a soapbox for gaining attention. They’ll also misappropriate Phil’s or others people’s statements, eg anything which can be misconstrued as politically incorrect, for control and attention-seeking.

“In every case they perceived they had a personal connection (with me) of some type that was broken and they can’t let it go.”

One of their more obvious traits is to show a lot of indignation, especially when challenged.  They are easily provoked and feign victimhood, claiming they have been used, lied to or insulted. We always know which posts will generate the most comments from these types. Also, they are often miserable as sin except when constructing a moment of charm in order to deceive others that are commenting.

Why?

Lack of self worth can be a cause. Some people think that they are overlooked and so they think that the only solution to restore their balance is to bring back the lost attention. The attention they will get in this case will provide them with reassurance and will help them think that they are worthy.
Arrogant & overconfident people seek attention because they have the feeling that they deserve to be in the center of attention and they haven’t been since they were babies. Because they aren’t mature enough they still think with their inner child’s mentality which makes them believe that they are the center of the world.

Understand that it is not possible to actually communicate in a mature adult manner with a disordered individual like this who’s emotionally undeveloped.

You’ll see some people commenting here asserting their independence even as they express needs. How do they reconcile that?  Their basic disturbance is the denial of feeling.  It is a defensive position.  Although they may be motivated out of feelings of hurt, they attempt to deny the hurt and represent themselves as the very opposite of what they actually are; cool, calm, strong, independent.  In this way they are guaranteeing that their experience of themselves and their interactions with others are based on untruths, lack of genuineness, and falsehood.  They are also guaranteeing that their true needs will not be met, since their inner needs are denied in order to present the cool facade.  It is a self-perpetuating disorder.

Phil: “Of the unhappy people you see in our comment section some are fans that feel I disrespected them, people that felt they had great business ideas for me and I rejected them, a few members of the broadcast industry (which is really disturbing) a female angry I broke off a 5 month on again-off again relationship and others who wanted some level of friendship or personal contact that I did not desire. In every case they perceived they had a personal connection of some type that was broken and they can’t let it go.”

Now, some brutally honest traits associated with the Internet attention-seeker you may see here. He:

lives in a 1-room apartment which hasn’t been cleaned for months – if ever
has poor personal hygiene
has poor table manners
has poor social etiquette
hasn’t changed the sheets on his bed for months, which are now best
described as crusty
has a bathroom, the state of which doesn’t bear thinking about
lives on pizza and beer/coke, the remnants of which litter his apartment
may have an unusual pet (eg ferret) which has free run of the apartment
is either significantly over- or under-weight
has a small moustache or other facial hair
has not held down any job for more than a couple of years, probably less
has no friends
has no life outside the Internet

Comment away everyone and please try and have respect for each other. We’ll do the same.