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The scene is the
early 70’s. I was attending a local meeting of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) in Atlanta.
NARAS, the organization that created the Grammy Awards, has
local or regional chapters in many cities including New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit.. The most
unexpected thing happened at that meeting. I was elected to
be one of two Trustees from Atlanta to serve on the national
NARAS board. HEY WAIT A MINUTE, I’M A RADIO GUY. I enjoy
all music, plus my friends in the Atlanta NARAS chapter;
however, to be a Trustee for NARAS??? NARAS is in the music
world which was definitely NOT my background. I had no
idea what to expect, but I accepted the election and waited
for the first Trustee meeting.
Soon I received
a 10 page agenda for my first Trustee meeting which I
believe was held in Memphis. I was comforted by the fact
that music publisher Bill Lowery, my good friend from
Atlanta, was serving as President of NARAS and greeted me
warmly at the meeting. He introduced me to the rest of the
Trustees. I’m guessing there were between twenty and thirty
Trustees at my first meeting, and they were all celebrated
music people.
I WAS THE ONLY
TRUSTEE WHO WAS A RADIO PERSON. Music guys dislike radio
guys because radio guys don’t play ALL -- and I do mean ALL…
of their new music; thus, I was greeted with a Trustee chill
by all but Bill and another Trustee. His name is Knox
Phillips. Knox is the son of the late Sam Phillips (yep,
Elvis, Sun Records, etc.). Knox told me “just relax, and
say what you think just as I do”. The meeting was called to
order by Bill.
The first item
on the agenda was the next location for the Grammy TV
telecast. It was clear that the New York Trustees wanted
New York as the site but the Los Angeles group wanted L.A.
I presumed we
were going to quickly come to a site location, but was I
wrong!!!! The morning came and went with arguments, and
debates as to which city was best for the site. You have
never heard such a boring debate!!! I remember what Knox
urged (say what you think) so I did : “Guys, lets vote for
a city, and then discuss what we really need to
discuss…which is how to make our TV-cast better….because,
Dick Clark’s Awards TV-cast is going to out-people us.
He is going to
have more of today’s singers and groups singing their
current hits, and I’m afraid that we are going to have (as
we have in the past) classical harpists, pianists, and opera
singers perform. That means that Dick Clark is going to
have better ratings than we do, and the Grammy’s will lose
image”. I received a heavy glare/stare from all the
Trustees except for Knox and Bill.
There was great
silence for ten seconds. Then, the groups from New York and
Los Angeles started the “best market” debate again. HEY, I’M
A RADIO GUY. WHAT AM I DOING HERE??? Then the L.A. group
became angered and frustrated at some comment (other than
mine) and stormed out of the meeting They left!!!. I was
flabbergasted!!! I looked at Knox and asked “Does this
child like behavior happen often at TRUSTEE meetings?”
I think it was
finally agreed that New York would be first, and LA would
host the following year. Then, a lengthy Trustee debate as
to whether the producer of the TV-cast should be retained.
This debate lasted till the next day. I once again opened
my big mouth pleading that we should make our TV-show more
contemporary, but was stared down. …make that shot down…. by
the Trustees again.
And, at a
dinner that night with some of the Trustees the only one to
have dinner conversation with me was Knox. I decided that
this Trustee stuff wasn’t for me.
I’M JUST A RADIO
GUY, NOT A MUSIC MOGUL. However, I gave it one more Trustee
meeting months later, and then gave my resignation.
I witnessed it
all because -- I WAS THERE!! As you can imagine since that
time I have refrained from joining boards or accepting
Trustee positions unless the subject is R-A-D-I-O!!!!.
NEXT WEEK: Nick
Trigony and Bob Neil….super radio professionals!!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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