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In 1976 I received a VERY special phone call in my Atlanta
consulting office. Our receptionist told me, “there is a Dan
Vallie on the phone for you”. I did not know Dan Vallie, but
I have a policy of answering or returning all phone calls.
It is a right policy. Good phone calls happen, and this was
one of them. Dan introduced himself. He was a DJ in those
days and I found out had recently moved from WSGA in
Savannah (working for the legendary Jerry Rogers) to WTMA in
Charleston, South Carolina. The phone conversation was very
clear…Dan loved radio and wanted to move forward!! I asked
him for a tape and resume. I liked what I heard and made a
mental note about this fella’ Dan Vallie.
We met in New Orleans a few years after that…. after Dan
worked and learned the business at WCOS in Columbia, South
Carolina, and WMAK and 92Q in Nashville. Suddenly, one day
Dan was hired by a wonderful young company called EZ
Communications. His assignment was to rework WEZB in New
Orleans moving it from a fading disco format to CHR. I know,
because I was the consultant to EZ…I WAS THERE!!! Dan was
what I thought he would be… a very confident programmer who
was going to be a super star. When writing this article Dan
reminded me our first meeting was in the GM’s office (Bob
Reich is an excellent GM), and I was wearing a blue suit and
tie…wearing cowboy boots (they were probably blue, too, as I
used to have dozen of boots to color match the suit of the
day). How lucky could I be??? A bright young programmer
ready to forge ahead in the radio world!!! Wow!!! The first
rating book was spectacular…WEZB was number one and stayed
number one for years. After a year or so, I assigned Dwight
Douglas of our consulting office to work with Dan and EZ
Communications…they were buying more stations. Dan and
Dwight were a great combo. They had another immediate rating
success at B94 in Pittsburgh. And what felt like overnight,
EZ Communications was the talk of the industry…they had
grown from a five station chain to the FCC limit of twenty
plus stations from Miami to Seattle.
It’s one thing to have a large group of radio stations, but
it is another thing to find excellent programmers for them.
How about the following Dan hired!!! Jim Richards (who is
Dan’s consulting partner today), Steve Kingston in
Pittsburgh (Dan Vallie had been promoted to be VP of
programming of all stations), Bill Conway now at KOIT in San
Francisco, Guy Zapoleon (who now is consulting), Bill Tanner
the legendary programmer in Miami (and a subject for one of
my future columns), Dave Dillon who is now at KOSI in
Denver, Jaye Albright (who is now a consultant), and Randy
Lane (who was with Dan in his consulting firm before opening
his own consultancy). What a programming dream team!!! This
was one great broadcasting company, and it was a pleasure to
work them!!!
After about a ten year very positive consulting arrangement
with Dan and the EZ Communications executives and
programmers, I was shocked to receive a letter from EZ
thanking us for all the years and hard work, but they would
not be renewing their contract. Dwight and I got on the next
plane to the Washington, DC, area where EZ was
headquartered. We had a meeting with Dan, and Art Kellar
(CEO) and Alan Box (President). Our thought was that we had
a great ten year marriage and we brought a lot to the table,
and that we should continue our relationship. We talked for
about an hour, when Art stood up and motioned to me to
follow him. We walked down the hall and he said something to
effect, “Well, we are just wasting time talking….let us
continue with our relationship. Now, gather up the guys in
the other room, and let’s go have some lunch”. These are
great guys. We had a laugh filled lunch. Then Dwight and I
jumped a plane back to Atlanta, a one year contract renewal
in hand. BUT, I knew then that this would be our last year
with EZ. It was pretty clear to me that Dan was going to go
on his own as a consultant, and it would only be natural
that EZ would be his first client. And, that is what
happened. And he has great success with his Vallie/Richards
consulting company….and his Mike Donovan in Charlotte and
Harv Blain in Chicago work along with Dan and Jim to fill
out the consultancy. They have worked for some fine firms:
Entercom, Infinity/CBS/Viacom, Bonneville, Citadel, Journal,
Clear Channel, Next Media, Regent, Sandusky, NewRadio Group,
and others. Quality people, and quality clients, I’d say!!!!
When EZ Communications was sold Dan and his (first
sweetheart) wife, Lavonne, moved from the DC area where they
had lived for 17 years…to North Carolina. They live (and
love it!!) just off the Blue Ridge Parkway between Blowing
Rock (“a quaint Norman Rockwell type village” Dan says) and
Boone (“a thriving town, always something going on, friendly
folks”). Their daughter, Jennifer, lives with her husband,
Wade, just 25 short minutes away from Mom and Dad.
Dan got interested in radio at age 16 when he and his friend
Bryan Rouse (now a sales manager for the Curtis Media
group---Goldsboro, North Carolina) listened to WISP in
Kinston. They heard an announcement on WISP which said “you
too can be part of the radio and TV broadcasting world” and
that sold both of them on R A D I O!!!
One thing about Dan I find more than interesting…he is a
Charles Dickens super fan. He reads the Dickens books over,
and over, and over (a TOP 40/CHR type of reader I assume).
I asked Dan if he wanted to leave a message or two to the
readers of this column. His answer was “yes” and his
thoughts are paraphrased below:
1. Radio lives on audio…yet only a small percentage of
stations are streaming audio, and all should be….it is an
expectation of the audience. The price is small to stream.
2. Radio should embrace HD…we need to keep moving forward
with technological advances.
3. Radio is a powerful medium and the industry seems to be
coming to that realization that we should price our ads
better.
4. Radio needs to market itself. Local radio is a great
thing and used by 95 per cent of the Americans. Yell it
often.
5. Radio is radio…terrestrial, satellite, internet…this is
an era of convergence. One day all will be received on the
same receiver.
6. Be prepared to respond to local emergencies
always…weather related, terrorism, or any emergency. It is
radio’s super strength and we are here to serve the public.
7. New talent exists. We should nurture it. Let us budget
for talent coaches, talent seminars…let us create a budget
for it.
8. I’ve always approached working in our industry the same
was as life… to be a participant, a player, not just a
spectator along for the ride.
9. Let us take what we do very seriously, but not make the
mistake of taking OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY…and let us keep
our sense of humor.
Well stated, Dan Vallie. I knew we had something in common
when you called that day in 1976!!! I look forward to seeing
you again soon!!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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