LITTLE STEVEN'S KEYNOTE ADDRESS
RADIO & RECORDS CONVENTION
2005 - JACOBS MEDIA SUMMIT
Date: Thursday, July 23,
2005
Place: Renaissance Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio
Audience: 250 Program Directors
Fred Jacobs introduces 4-minute video bio.
At its
conclusion the Dovells' "You Can't Sit Down" explodes from the speakers as 5 Go-Go
girls come out of the wings surrounding Fred, much to his discomfort.
Little
Steven enters to thunderous applause.
He cuts off the music with a wave of
his hand, leans into the microphone and says "Ladies and Gentlemen, Fred Jacobs."
The music returns as the girls exit. A stunned audience applauds wildly as
Fred, very uncharacteristically, dances off with them.
Little
Steven: Well that was worth the price of admission alone.
(more
applause and laughter)
(paces with the hand held mic for a minute,
and then . . . )
I Love Radio!
(applause once again erupts)
And I feel nothing but love in this room because as I look around, I see only
two kinds of people.
Our beloved affiliates . . . and future affiliates.
(laughter)
So now matter what happens in this next half hour, remember
what I just said. It's just family talking.
And without any further disclaimers
let me ask the only important question that is on my mind, and I'm sure you've
been thinking about it also, especially lately.
(pause)
WHEN
DID THE FUCKING PUSSIES TAKE OVER?
(applause and laughter)
When?
Don't you look forward to the day when your grandson is on your knee and he
looks up and says,
"Grampa weren't you in radio once?"
"Yes, Grandson,"
you'll reply.
"Could I ask you something," he'll say.
"Of course, my love,
anything," you'll say.
"Grampa where were you WHEN THE FUCKING PUSSIES TOOK
OVER?"
(more laughter)
Where were we?
What happened?
Things are out of line and we're not leaving here today until we straighten it
out.
(applause and laughter)
Now I was going to wait for this
but we might as well get right to it since it is all everybody's talking about.
I have come to praise JACK not to bury him.
(laughter - uncertain
applause)
The guys at Infinity are friends of ours, as is everybody else,
we got nothing but friends you all know that.
And I've gotta say I'm proud
of these guys for having the balls to shake things up. Things needed shaking up.
And history will remember them in a very positive way when looking back at this
world changing moment.
Having said that . . .
Replacing 33 year old New
York oldies institution CBS-FM with JACK is like replacing the Statue of Liberty
with a blow-up doll.
(eruptions of laughter and applause)
But
again, change is good. And necessary.
With a little bit of luck JACK will
last 10 or 12 months because it is obvious people want something different, they
are hungry for something, anything.
So it could be 6 months before anybody
actually listens to JACK.
Once they do it is doomed for 3 obvious reasons.
At the moment it is replacing oldies formats but it is not an oldies format
in the true sense of the word.
It's mostly 80's, some 70's, some 90's.
Now it must be said that the oldies format is vulnerable because over the last
5-10 years it has, in a word, sucked.
It has sucked for a very simple reason,
somebody had the brilliant idea to eliminate the 50's and replace it with the
70's.
This was done by somebody uniquely stupid and deaf and ignorant and
a bad businessman on top of it all.
So naturally, everybody copied it and
the 50's disappeared virtually overnight.
Now let's digress and examine this
oldies thing for a minute.
Assuming you accept the fact that those overseeing
the oldies format these last 5 years - 10 years - are, in fact, stupid, deaf,
ignorant, and bad businessmen, let's deal with it.
As far as stupid, deaf,
and ignorant, when it comes to decades that matter, that matter historically,
in terms of influence, importance, and never-to-be-heard-again-quality - that
is the 50's and 60's.
Everything we do, everything we are comes from those
two decades.
You're gonna throw one away?
You're gonna replace Elvis,
Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Burnette, Chuck Berry, Bo
Diddley, Buddy Holly, Lloyd Price, and Fats Domino with, all due respect, Donna
Summer and the Bee Gees?
You're gonna replace primal, vital, timeless, forever
cool rock and roll pioneers with disco?
Disco?
You wanna know what disco
is good for?
Disco is for when you're drunk at a wedding with your old lady
and you want to act like an idiot and be John Travolta for an hour or two.
That's where it belongs.
Not on radio.
And to the issue of oldies being
bad business - all you hear - I'm assuming from sales people - is we must lower
our demo's.
The oldies demographic are getting too old - that's the rationale
for replacing the 50's with the 70's.
Now if all there was to sell in the
world were Fruit Loops, Play Stations, and sneakers - they might have a point.
But I got a little secret to share.
You know that age group - 35 to 65
- that nobody in sales seems to care about?
THAT'S WHERE ALL THE FUCKING MONEY
IS!
(laughter, applause)
I mean ALL the fucking money.
35
to 65.
Memo to sales team - SELL THEM SOMETHING!
And, by the way, if you
want younger people listening, you can get that done. And I mean kids, if you
want them.
Who is cooler?
Early Elvis or Elton John?
What appeals
more to kids, Gene Vincent's black leather attitude, Eddie Cochran's teenage frustration,
Little Richard's cry of liberation, and Dion's total Soprano's coolness - or the
Eagles?
You want wild? Put together the Sex Pistols, Audioslave, and the Wu-Tang
Clan - they aren't as wild as Jerry Lee Lewis in his prime.
But you have to
explain that.
Show it, illustrate, educate, sell it.
Alright - digression
over - so JACK isn't oldies so it must be some kind of classic rock/pop hybrid.
But JACK doesn't address the two biggest problems of classic rock.
15
years ago I said we're chasing all the personality out of rock radio and into
talk and sports.
And the ratings went with it.
We need more personality,
not less, and JACK has none. No DJ's means no personal relationship with the audience.
Eventual apathy is inevitable.
The other big issue classic rock must consider
is it must start playing new music again.
I've suggested it to my own affiliates
and I'll keep saying it every change I get.
We've got a big problem.
Look
around.
Pearl Jam does some business.
Dave Mathews - if he's rock at all
- does well.
Maybe Oasis breaks this year in the U.S.
Maybe Coldplay -
if they're considered rock.
But in a real sense, the last big band through
the door was U2.
That's 25 years ago.
Has anybody stopped to consider
that.
Basically when our generation stops touring, it's over.
That's one
reason why we started the Underground Garage format.
New Hard Rock, Hip Hop,
and Pop can be heard in various places, new Rock and Roll had nowhere to go.
We have played more new bands in 3 years than anybody since the 60's.
We average
30 new bands a year.
That's how many are out there.
And we are very picky
out of respect to our classic rock affiliates, we know we need to keep the quality
level high and we do.
But we can't sell records with 2 hours a week.
Someday
somebody will have the balls to put the Underground Garage format on 24-7 on broadcast
radio but until then, we only have 2 hours a week.
We need your help.
Rock and Roll is not just that museum down the street.
It's a living, breathing
animal that needs to be fed.
With new blood.
And I'm not saying you need
to do as much as we do, we're about 40% new and the rest from the entire 50 years
of history.
And by the way everybody told us you can't combine old with new
but of course you can.
As long as you're making your decisions based on musical
experience, good taste, and an effective, coherent emotional communication.
As opposed to your Ipod on shuffle.
(laughter, applause)
When
you properly combine old and new the old records give the new ones a sense of
depth, of belonging to an eternal continuum, carrying the flag forward.
The
new records give the old ones relevance, keeps them vital, connected to the next
generation.
And all testing and computer analysis and surveys don't tell you
that. It's all bullshit. When are we going to learn that?
(applause)
All that shit tells you is what people think they want right now.
Well
that's not the way great radio happens, or great anything.
You don't do a
survey before you write a song, or make a record.
We are drowning in an ocean
of mediocrity because sometimes you gotta have enough historical perspective,
and vision, and balls to say we have to combine short term want with long term
need.
And yeah you gotta sell it.
If you're playing cool stuff make sure
the audience hears it right - in the right context. That is everything.
If
to a punky consciousness the Ramones are sugar and the Ronettes are broccoli you
play the Ramones into the Ronettes and, because Joey learned to sing from Ronnie
and you can hear it, the Ramones become hollandaise and it works.
(laughter,
applause)
There is an art to this shit.
You know that.
It's the
corporate bosses that forget that fact.
But it's not just music - we have
this problem plaguing every aspect of our culture.
Yes content needs work,
yes marketing needs work, but it is the sales teams that need to be re-educated
and motivated and inspired and creative. And it's not happening because they are
being led by business oversight guys.
Content guys should be running companies,
marketing guys should be running companies, who put business oversight guys in
charge?
(applause)
Wall Street that's who.
Wall Street continues
to love and reward and worship short term success for some reason. As the culture
and the economy and all our fathers' and grandfathers' and hundreds of years of
hard work get trashed in a generation or two.
The tail is wagging the dog.
Wall Street should not be calling the shots.
When did Wall Street ever
write a song? Paint a picture? Make a movie? Play a song on the radio that changed
somebody's life?
(applause)
Where are the music people?
I
see lawyers, accountants, test marketers running the world.
Where is the emotional
connection?
Where is the passion?
This ain't about JACK or BOB or Moe
or Larry or Curly.
It's about you.
Everybody in this room.
You are
here because you are connected emotionally.
This ain't Harvard Business School.
It's fucking Rock and Roll!
(applause)
These Wall Street
cats couldn't have gotten us here. They react - they don't create.
They didn't
build this industry.
We did it.
And you're not here because it was a smart
business decision.
I know what you make.
(laughter)
(pauses
- slows down)
You're here because you loved it once.
And we've got to
find a way to love it again.
And communicate that love to our audience.
I am determined - together we will find a way.
The Revolution is on.
Thank
you.
(standing ovation - thunderous applause)