Jock profiles on a radio station's website..what's the point ??

I guess this topic would fit in here.

The jock pages on a radio station's website...what is the point of it ?? Now I can understand having the air talent schedule listed for listeners but really does the listener must know that the midday female jock is married with kids or that the night jock loves his Jack Daniels that is if such stuff is even true at all ?? About ten years ago I remember an announcer in my hometown whose bio on his station's jock page said he was married to a former Miss Pennsylvania and has 3 beautiful kids and they live on a farm. The reality was that he was living with his male lover ( it was an open secret in town that the man was gay ) and those three beautiful kids were three cats and the farm ?? Say a 3 room cheap apartment and oh yes the photo on his profile wasn't even him. What's the purpose ??

hamster said:

I guess this topic would fit in here.

The jock pages on a radio station's website...what is the point of it ?? Now I can understand having the air talent schedule listed for listeners but really does the listener must know that the midday female jock is married with kids or that the night jock loves his Jack Daniels that is if such stuff is even true at all ?? About ten years ago I remember an announcer in my hometown whose bio on his station's jock page said he was married to a former Miss Pennsylvania and has 3 beautiful kids and they live on a farm. The reality was that he was living with his male lover ( it was an open secret in town that the man was gay ) and those three beautiful kids were three cats and the farm ?? Say a 3 room cheap apartment and oh yes the photo on his profile wasn't even him. What's the purpose ??

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Every click counts when selling advertising for the station website. Clickbait is the word. Whether the click leads to worthwhile -- or even truthful -- content doesn't matter.

hamster said:

What's the purpose ??

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You give one negative example, and that's supposed to be the norm? What percentage of jock bios are fiction? 1/1000?

I agree. So one bad meal at a restaurant means you don't eat out at a restaurant again?

People want to feel connected to the announcer. Anything that makes a listener want to listen is good. Radio stations have jocks use social media to create this bond.

landtuna said:

In the "good old days" it was easy to meet your on-air hero.

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Most still do. Even in Phoenix. Go to any concert or event around town, you'll see several radio booths set up. And they still visit high schools.

I make a point to be very accessible, just as my influences were.

TheBigA said:

You give one negative example, and that's supposed to be the norm? What percentage of jock bios are fiction? 1/1000?

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The norm or not I will admit I do not know however back in the early part of the 2000s when I was on the air in the Hagerstown, Maryland market most of the jock bios from the various stations in the market at the time were actually at least part fiction if not totally. We used to joke about it. Jocks who were married were "single", jocks who were gay were straight, jocks who were fat were shown to be slim..actually my bio was false at least as far as the photo was concerned. Our consultant at the time told me directly that I was so ugly that I made Chris Burke from TV "Life Goes On" look sexy so my photo was replaced by that of one of our interns with my name underneath. For a time same thing happened to our midday gal. She was very overweight but the pic on the website that said it was her was actually a photo of one of our sales chicks. Just like what had happened to me our then consultant said her pic was unacceptable for the station website.

Reminds me of a girl I knew that sounded so mesmerizing on the air. If you didn't know her you'd be drooling as a guy listening. In real life she was very overweight, very intelligent and a very kind heart. My shift followed hers and I really valued knowing her. She got tons of calls from guys asking to meet her. Her standard line was "I'm more woman than you can handle", an example of her cool sense of humor. In fact, if I needed a female voice and knew where to find her, she'd be my first call because she was a person that worked well with folks, adapted to situations easily and really had talent.

hamster said:

The norm or not I will admit I do not know however back in the early part of the 2000s when I was on the air in the Hagerstown, Maryland market most of the jock bios from the various stations in the market at the time were actually at least part fiction if not totally.

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It really doesn't matter...radio is supposed to be theater of the mind. There was a time before websites and social media when listeners didn't know everything about radio stations. There's a famous scene in the movie American Graffiti where a group of teens encounter Wolfman Jack, not knowing they were looking at the guy they listened to all the time on the radio. Some DJs work hard at promoting themselves as personalities. Others stay hidden from view. Some adopt a false persona. Alan Freed became The Moondog. Murray Kaufman was Murray The K. And of course Bob Smith played Wolfman Jack. What's the point of a profile? It's whatever you want it to be.

TheBigA said:

...There's a famous scene in the movie American Graffiti where a group of teens encounter Wolfman Jack, not knowing they were looking at the guy they listened to all the time on the radio...

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You've combined two scenes. One scene has a group of kids sharing when they think they know about Wolfman Jack. The other scene is where Curt visits the station to make a dedication and Wolfman tells him he's not him and plays a cart to prove it. Then as Curt leaves he turns around as he hears Wolfman on the air again and sees him live on the air.

They're always good for the competition to goof on. I look back at my host page and cringe every time.

Back in the Fabulous Fifties my favorite station - KTKT in Tucson - used to publish a weekly flyer ranking the popular songs of the day. On the cover were photos of their on-air staff - every one of them a short-haired male in suit and tie. Although I can't be positive this many years later I believe they also used their real names. Wolfman Jack was the first DJ I ever heard (after moving to CA) who used an alter ego.

KYA in San Francisco also used to publish pictures of their DJ's and I believe they were similar: short haired males in suit and tie using their real names although I do remember a couple, such as Russ "The Moose" Syracuse adding a bit of color to his.

landtuna said:

Back in the Fabulous Fifties my favorite station - KTKT in Tucson - used to publish a weekly flyer ranking the popular songs of the day. On the cover were photos of their on-air staff - every one of them a short-haired male in suit and tie. Although I can't be positive this many years later I believe they also used their real names. Wolfman Jack was the first DJ I ever heard (after moving to CA) who used an alter ego.

KYA in San Francisco also used to publish pictures of their DJ's and I believe they were similar: short haired males in suit and tie using their real names although I do remember a couple, such as Russ "The Moose" Syracuse adding a bit of color to his.

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You'd think they would be able to link a public Facebook page these days?

After reading some of those jock profiles (back in the past, when they were actually on a radio station's website!), I realize now why my radio career never really took off. It was because of something that I had, and still have: a house! These dj profiles typically indicated that a jock spent six months in Albuquerque, six months in Phoenix, six months in Nashville (where I heard them), six months here, six months there, etc. I did not have enough "portability" to make it in radio!