Do not miss what will happen on 970 AM at 2PM on August 8th, 2008 (08-08-08).

Let me guess: an all-Spanish Language 24-hour news station??? I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Andrew

The Olympics start on 8-08-08. Maybe they are going all-sports.

All Russkie. Russian Radio.

970.am lists this event as "The Emerson Address." If Rick Emerson does most of the speaking, I'm sure the words 'uuuuhhh' and 'eeeeerrrrr' will be among the most commonly spoken.

KOIN-TV buys AM970 and changes the calls back to KOIN, then goes all news, increases the signal to 25kW day and 10kW nights. Oh, I guess I was just dreaming...sorry.

It becomes KOIN, picks up the CBS network programing, rehires the orchestra and returns to a 40 share! Then, things are going so well, they move back to 940!

Rick Emerson and his crew insecurities may be irritating, how many times do we have to hear "greatest newsman ever" or "beautiful and talented" and his show could use some more diversity having a protestant, black or latino guy wouldn't hurt. I do find his geek interest a lot of times to be insincere and I don't think Tim Riley or Sarah Dylan have been carrying their weight as of late but I wouldn't want to see his show go. He really has the only "fun" format show on the radio and I hate to see it leave.

You can't fault them for self promotion. Smart personalities must promote themselves these days due to budget cuts in these internet days. Everyone on that show had their own personal website, MySpace, etc long before anyone else in the market. Granted, the crew is all white(although from different backgrounds), but Portland is a whitey town. It's not that Riley and Dylan are doing any less. They've just been focusing more on other cast members lately. Still, it must be difficult doing a four hour talk show every day knowing they may pull the plug on the station any minute. Hopefully, if they do they'll all be hired elsewhere, even if not together. They're all well known names and have been in town for a while now.

If Emerson goes away for while, it will not be from lack of effort on his part. He's worked VERY hard on his show.

I am an Emerson supporter and listen daily to at least some portion of the show. As an earlier poster noted, I would hate to see the "fun" format go away. But I have had enough of the adventures of their latest intern.

Being a AM talk radio fan, I don't like everyone on every show. Some characters are more enjoyable that others. Some you can identify with, some you can't. It's a tough balancing act. I do give Emerson credit for trying new ideas and his tireless self promotion. He sets an example for others on a tight or non existent promotional budget of how it should be done.

"The Emerson Address" was a 10-minute promo in which he asked why we need radio stations with Block Party Weekends, Getting the Led out, or stations that claim to play "everyting," since 4,000 albums are released every month (according to the address).
I don't normally listen to the show, nor do I know Rick, however I think he has a valid point.

I think someone should try a Reality Radio format. Put about 10 people on the air in a conference call and let them go at each other. A 7 sec delay of course and a board op that knows what the big red button is for. Change 5 of the 10 callers each hour. And have different themes during prime time. Experimental radio on Analog AM.

Or we could do a Ramsay's kitchen Nightmare type format and there all you would need is a constant bleep tone with an occasional break when someone actually uses a word that isnt "B@!(ch" or "F%$^K"

Does anyone really want to sit on the phone for an hour?

Unfortunately, a lot of what's on the "lifestyle" talk shows on otherwise music stations would probably qualify as "reality radio."

If you missed it, as I did, You can still hear a podcast of it. I thought it was quite good and made me laugh at times. Click on "08/08/08 Emerson's Address" which is down the page on your left: http://www.970.am/

Let's see.. "Why do we need a station with "Block Party Weekends" and "Get The Led Out"?
Wouldn't that be KGON?

Somebody must need it..it's the number 1 station
adults 25-54 once again in the latest Portland Arbitron ratings!

Whats wrong rick. Won't KGON give you a job. Note to board. rick emmerson once did classic rock years ago. Mabey the oversupply of coffee cuts in the break room has something to do with it. And bob thank you for the seven years you let me work for you on KGON.

Rick Emerson is Beta. Rick Emerson is Amiga. Rick Emerson is HD-DVD.

Yeah - there will always be those few outsiders who claim that it's the best, but truth is when one of the LOWEST rated stations complains about what the HIGHEST rated stations are doing, it's just sour grapes.

I listen to Emerson once in a while for 30 minutes or so at lunch and that's about all I can take. I always hope it's going to be interesting but it usually ends up being all about how far behind the schedule they are and on what topic Rick is going to do his daily diatribe.

The Emerson Address (which I only listed to on the podcast, thanks for the link) was nothing more than one of Rick's rants - the only difference here was that it was considered for a while before, took up multiple websites, and ended up making him look like a much smaller mind than most of his rants do.

I think I get at least part of it.
In terms of mainstay classic rock, it's all stuff everyone's heard before, and stuff the DJs have been playing day in and day out for years. Even the new songs are a couple minutes long, and once you've heard them once, they're also stuff you've heard before.

Emerson made great points. KGON is not interesting. It's the same BTO, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Fabulous Thunderbirds crap all the time. I used to like KGON, but everytime I try to listen it's the same songs. Maybe they're trying to break a record for most lifetime plays of "Crossfire" "Tough Enough" "Bad to the Bone" "Takin' Care of Business" and "Can't Get Enough". Hopefully they can turn those number one ratings into dollars and go to Music Milennium and buy a few discs thereby expanding their playlist.

Just because KGON is #1 doesn't make Emerson's point invalid. Nothing against KGON, I listen occasionally, but like other music stations, its all stuff we've heard before. Being #1 doesn't make it great quality. Big Momma's House 2 was #1 the week it came out. According to Jim has been on the air for years, yet Arrested Development can't last 2 seasons.

To appeal to a mass audience, things need to be dumbed down to an extent. Rick Emerson's show may cater to a smaller audience, but that is because it's not dumbed down. It's the type of show he wants to do, not the type of show someone else wants him to do.

These other stations play songs or shows that I'll tune into and tune out of, but Rick's show is something I listen to all four hours. The only time I'm not channel surfing is when his show is on the air. Other stations may draw the masses for ten minutes here or there, but most listeners of Rick's show tune in for the entire show (if they're near a radio) because its the only show like it in Portland.

Rick's speech was funny and pithy. However, I think the big news is actually about Timmy and Kristen, not Rick.

"Musicology - with Timmy Ryan & Kristen Bowie:

The music discussion show BY Music Geeks FOR Music Geeks! Every SUNDAY from 7-9 PM, on AM 970 The Talker!"

http://www.myspace.com/musicologyradio

Tomorrow evening, this local discussion show about music is debuting on 970. The first pair of guests will be Hal Blaine and Dick Dale!

Yup, Thats Emerson. Bash the other company all day then months later when you actually work for that company kiss their ass.

Anyone remember when back in the day he was making fun of KUPL and going on and on about how great the Wolf is?

Fast forward a year later and now he has suddenly switched.

Hypocrite.

Rick didnt write that speech. As much as he says people steal material from his show he had someone else write it for him.

I think someone else said it best with UUUUUUHHHHHH and EEERRRRR being the only words Rick knows.

So what time is this Musicology show on??

It amazes me that the Kgon listeners are so old and crusty that they just want to hear the same BTO songs for the tenth Millionth time. How many times does a person need to hear "More than a feeling" by Boston? 8,9, million times untill they finally start wanting to hear some new music. There is a lot of new music coming out from Classic rock artists that I would think the KGON listeners would want to hear. But I guess the ratings are showing that they want to hear "more than a feeling" for the 10th bazillionth time.

They don't even have to play new songs, they could play deep album cuts or major label artists that radio overlooked. There are plenty of rock bands that had top 40 hits that are shutout now. It'd be interesting to see if a classic rock station grew some nads and mixed it up a bit if good ratings could be incredible ratings.

Hey, MarvinTheMartian...ever heard of promoting your show over the competition? How is it "hypocrisy" to tell people your show is different or better than the competition? Is it hypocrisy for someone who used to work for Coca-Cola to then get hired by Pepsi and write an ad that says Pepsi is better than Coke?

And Mc74...Rick gave credit to the people who helped write that speech. UHHHH...ERRR...keep listening though.

dear rick-- i may be on the beach in vegas but the tony bennet song says it all. I wanna be around.....

Rick's speech was a rewording of the CBS corporate presentation done to advertisers early this summer.

ricks rant has nothing to do with my posts. there is history between rick and myself. the toes that were stomped on when he was rising to the top belong to the people who he will have to work for and with in the future. "I wanna be around......"

So even though you insinuate Emerson is taking it personally because "KGON won't give him a job" (like he'd want to go back to DJ radio), you are the one taking it personally. Whats wrong, Stevethedj...Rick Emerson won't give you a job?

Rick attacked me on the air about three times. As a favor to the boss I "let it slide" I would not work for rick. And have never asked him for a job either.

I'm assuming you are, or have been, on Portland radio so If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me who you are (or at least what station, or how he "attacked" you).

I've listened to Rick since 1999 and don't often hear him "attacking" other radio personalities by name on air...except Lars Larson.

IMO, whatever it was, whoever it was, whatever it was over... gotta let it go. Radio is such a close-knit business and they know so many people in the community and elsewhere (add to that, Portland is a very "connected" city) that you never know when or where holding grudges on them will come back to haunt you.

I think there are times when a good grudge is justified.

I have one, and I've made my peace with the fact that it may come back to bite me. So be it - I work hard and have made enough other friends and contacts in the industry that hopefully, it will counter the damage this one person might do. If I'm wrong about that, I'll live with it.

My dad always told me "He who has no enemies has no character." Trust me, it's very, very true.

"...and they all moved away from me on the bench, there..."

hi steve--it's 92 degrees and palm trees where I take my morning swim. It was fun.