Too Big For Their Britches
The Matter of America's Electronic Media
Thomas Adams
Copyright 2021 Thomas Adams
All rights reserved
First Edition
Fulton Books, Inc.
Meadville, PA
Published by Fulton Books 2021
ISBN 978-1-64952-992-3 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-63710-577-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-63710-576-4 (digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
For Mom and Dad, Bill & Grace, Heather, Lindsey, Sean and Seth.
Foreword
After working with Tom in radio broadcasting and having a friendship with him for over twenty-six years, I knew it was just a matter of time before a book would surface about the fascinating world inside the media. Im glad Tom, who is a brilliant writer and broadcaster, has chosen to share this world that started out one way and evolved into something that would make seasoned broadcasters of past generations frown with disgust. Being the son of radio celebrity Tom Adams of Miamis WIOD, he pretty much learned everything there would be to know about the industry. After all, his father worked with the likes of Larry King, Sally Jessie Rafael, Don Imus, Gary Owens, and Rick Dees. The author Tom has had the opportunity to perform most of the duties in radio, from morning personality, program director, GM, sales director, etc. Hes done it all. And I am proud to say I was with him for a lot of it. I watched him grow and share his enthusiasm for radio broadcasting. Tom takes you from the beginning of his radio career, demonstrating basic elements of copywriting, enunciating, talking over the beginning of a record, etc. Things that are common knowledge to broadcast insiders, but nonetheless, interesting elements to those not familiar with the inside workings of a radio station. But wait, this just in, we have breaking news! There has been a change in the way news is delivered and it is certainly not the way it was. Thats where this book gets interesting. News broadcasting has become opinionated, feeding the audiences what they want them to hear, instead of the plain truth. Now we see mainstream media promoting the cancelation of people for their opinions if it doesnt align with their own. Straightforward conservative news channels resorting to opinionating broadcasts to fight the scourge of mainstream media. Stories from older established media outlets that condemn the truth seeker and applaud and defend the liar. Tom has seen the media change before his very eyes and has written this book to open yours just a bit wider. He talks about mainstream media continuing to divide America on race when over half of this nation is a delightful mix of Black, White, Hispanic, British, German, Irish, French, Vietnamese, Korean, Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese, Palestinian, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. You name it, we have got it. Ive been in radio for over thirty-five years. Ive witnessed the change and often talk and even complain about the opinionated broadcasts in this new mainstream media. Tom has decided to do more than just talk about it with a few friends. He has responded with this book for the masses. Theres just too much emotion and anger with sourceless information added into a broadcast, that sways the viewer or listener to (right or wrong) adopt the broadcasters point of view. I also ask the question, Are they too big for their britches? You decide for yourself while you read The Matter of Americas Electronic Media .
George Coles
Too Big for their Britches
The Matter of Americas Electronic Media
Im a second-generation radio/television broadcaster. I was a toddler the first time my father took me to a radio station. He did what a lot of dads did in the early sixties, and do now, I suppose. He took it upon himself to quietly introduce me and gently invite me into a world he admired and consequently excelled at. Why, the mere notion that I, his firstborn son, might choose to be a radio broadcaster (like he had become) just kept him beaming with pride. That is what parents did in the sixties and seventies. They beamed. Among other things. But they beamed a lot. At five and six years old, I could see he liked to take me to the station.
My fathers given name was Alan Elsworth Adams (January 1927 to Fathers Day 1995). But when he stepped into is first radio station control room, he changed his name to Tom. His favorite radio and later television hero was Tom Mix. A handsome, rough-and-tumble do-gooder that rode the range. Arrested the bad guys. Gave the children the best advice. And swiftly became the entire female audiences love interest. I watched some of his movies (?). He was ah-ite. Came off as a polite tough guy. But lonely all the while. The women adored him, and the men wanted to be him. But he always rode out of town, on his steed. Sun setting. The lady he was just kissing not five minutes ago crying on the porch. All alone on that dusty trail. It was quite depressing to me, but Dad liked him. He thought since all the other guys had picked cool names, hed become KDROs Tom Adams (this years poster boy for reading is fundamental)!
My fathers fathers name was Paul Victor Adams. Great-grandpa Elsworth Adams and my great-great was James Adams. What Im getting at is he named me Thomas Alan Adams. After the radio name he had chosen. I never felt like I got a family name. It was no secret I got the tough-guy name for a radio career Tom Adams! I remember vividly being on the other side of the big glass window, looking into the control room where Dad was knocking out his show. I was fixed on him from my position in the production room. An exact duplicate of the control room. It had everything I needed. It could be patched into if the broadcasters had a lot of guests. From the production room, I would mimic my dad and do three and four-hour shows alongside him. I wasnt on the air, really. But to a kid? Hey, I was on the air! I had my playlist ready. I had my first hours forty-fives pulled and all my short announcements on index cards written out in the manner that I spoke over the air. My first lesson was how to speak over the microphone. I was to pronounce, each, and, every, word, as, if, it, were, an, individual! Thats how he had me practice. Say it with me, pronounce, each, and, every, word, as, if, it, were, an, individual! Your lips should be framing every word exactly right. Practice, practice, practice. Dad showed me how to rewrite basic information to fit the way I spoke. We called it copywrite. Softened by a rewrite to accommodate my personal (childs) delivery. I would help myself flow verbally. When I queued up a forty-five rpm record, I learned how to what he called walk the ramp right up to the post and nail the vocals. Vocational training at six, seven, eight years old. I was six, so that would have been 1965.
Those were my early days in broadcasting. Ive played major and minor roles in this business through those fifty-four years out of sixty years. Ive answered a lot of challenges and witnessed a great many changes. Ive always believed I had a pretty good handle on what it was, and is, to be a broadcast journalist, copywriter, production director, editor, program director, music director, engineer, general manager, owner and, most recently, instructor. With all that time surrounded by this incredible industry, I, for the life of me, could not possibly fathom what the people without that knowledge must be thinking. As they witness the current format and delivery of our nations broadcast media. Looking straight into the eyes of what our broadcast communications industry has become, its difficult for me to find the words to fully describe it. And Ive lived and breathed it for the better part of those years we discussed earlier. You will find it complicated. Exciting. Repetitive sometimes and downright cruel in others. If you stick around, Im sure most will be surprised at what this will reveal. To some, even shocked. So allow me to put down on paper crucial facts about what Ive seen this industry offer up to a nation of listers and viewers. Maybe clear up some misconceptions you may have gathered along your way. But explain to you where this beast came from and what its become in The Matter of Americas Electronic Media .
