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“ Personalities INSIDE RADIO ”
Monday, July 28, 2008
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This Golden-Throat Chap’s The Platinum Standard
by Mike Kinosian, Personality Editor
Richly robust and resplendent tones reflective of one of the
industry’s most renowned morning communicators still forcefully
resonate.
Also audible is a slight tinge of his regional accent, although it’s
not from the locale with which he’s been famously associated for
the last half-century.
As synonymous with Dallas as J.R. Ewing and South Fork is the
real deal Ron Chapman albeit the spice flavoring his vocal quality
is from the Bay State rather than “Big D.”
We Now Conclude Our Broadcast Day
These days the quintessential wakeup talent does double-duty as
consultant/interim PD of Citadel/Dallas’ “Platinum 96.7” (KPMZ,
formerly Country “Twister” KTYS) and as Paul Harvey’s principal
morning fill-in. “I’m working harder than I have in a long time,”
Chapman remarks. “When things are running smoothly [at KPMZ],
I’ll step back and let the kids [take it over].”
As far as his own very early youth was concerned, Chapman
would fall asleep at night listening to WBZ/Boston in his parents’
screened-in back porch.
One evening, a personality on the legendary Beantown station
was discussing the moon and Chapman just had to roll over for
a first-hand glimpse. “From that moment, he and I were slapped
together like superglue,” Chapman comments. “The connection
between us was astonishing.”
Several years later, WHAV/Haverhill, MA (which also later
produced ABC-TV workhorse personality Tom Bergeron) signedon and Chapman made sure he was up at 3am to hear the station’s
test tones. “It was a big thing for me that our town was getting a
radio station,” he notes with great animation. “One of my earliest
Christmas presents from my parents was an Emerson radio, the size
of a woman’s purse. I lived for that thing. When I finished saying
my prayers at night, I’d [recite from memory WHAV’s] sign-off
[announcement]. That’s how much of a radio kid I was. I hung
around [WHAV] and did whatever I could. When I graduated from
high school [in 1953], WHAV offered me a fulltime job.”
Ultimately the hometown operation named Chapman its morning
man before he segued to WNHC/New Haven, CT, where he earned
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$82.50 a week as the 6-10pm talent. “When I was offered $175 a
week [to go to KLIF/Dallas in November 1959 where he became
Irving Harrigan],” Chapman cheerfully recounts “I packed my
Nash Rambler and got out of Dodge.”
Clobbering Clubber
Working in Boston – not Dallas – however was Chapman’s
foremost career objective. After all, the Hub is a mere 35 miles
from his home and the only market he cared about. “[Superlative
three-decade WBZ wakeup talent] Carl de Suze was always happy,
positive and up,” Chapman evaluates. “When I got to Dallas, I
looked around and thought this was the place I was going to be
Carl de Suze. I asked Jack Woods [PM driver `Charlie Brown’] if
he wanted to do the morning show with me.”
Thus was born “Charlie & Harrigan” and the pairing lasted until
January 1969 when Chapman was tapped to become KVIL/Dallas’
PD/MD/Promotion Director/morning personality. “Honestly
and truthfully, it was running and working scared every day,” he
comments of the more than 30-year tenure at the outlet he made
an Adult Contemporary cornerstone. “I have an inbred fear of
failure - especially in front of my contemporaries. We knew we
were King Kong in Dallas but the trick is holding onto it - that’s
tougher. For every Rocky, there’s a Clubber Lang. I’d teach my
guys Clubber wanted their job. There were good stations in Dallas
and depending on the era, some of them clobbered us.”
Largely under Chapman’s direction though, KVIL became a largerthan-life full-service powerhouse with major contests and big-prize
giveaways among its key programming components.
Money For Nothing
Nothing received more attention than the time Chapman
encouraged listeners to go their checkbooks and send KVIL’s Fun
& Games department a $20 check.
An on-air explanation was never given about what – if anything
- the station would offer in return for those complying.
Once ownership’s then corporate honcho Mel Karmazin was
satisfied this unique money request wasn’t an FCC violation, it
was cleared to air.
Even Chapman was shocked at what followed. “I expected a few
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hundred dollars from hardcore P1s,” he states. “On the first day,
we had something like $133,000 and got just as much the next
day. I wanted Huey Lewis & The News to do a concert [but] no
[Dallas venue] would be big enough to hold everybody [plus one
guest] who sent a check.”
Listeners apparently thought it was a new way to enter a contest
but Chapman pulled the promo and investigated how the money
could benefit local charities. “If someone wanted their check back,
[we’d return it].”
Remarkably only 2% did so, enabling KVIL to allocate $100,000
of the new-found funds to the Salvation Army-run medical clinic
across from Parkland Hospital; it also bought a refrigerated truck
for a local food bank. “We did several things around town that
still exist today,” Chapman proudly reports. “It was KVIL’s biggest
promotion and didn’t cost a penny.”
Heart-Stopping Proposal
In subsequent years, Chapman’s morning show demos skewed
considerably older than the rest of the station and he realized his
time on KVIL was drawing to a close so he switched to co-owned
Oldies KLUV in a similar capacity. “KVIL took a header and
KLUV jumped dramatically,” he notes. “A station at 96.7 – the
[frequency] I’m now overseeing – called `Memories’ [KMEO]
played romantic love songs that [were no longer on KVIL or
KLUV’s playlists]. It didn’t hit many homers but had a few groundrule doubles. I thought it could have had a pretty good piece of
the pie [but] pulled the plug too soon.”
Some could selfishly argue Chapman was also guilty of being too
quick on the trigger when, in June 2005, he exited KLUV after an
approximately five-year wakeup stint. “My wife and I bought - and
still own - a condo on a cruise ship,” he explains. “We’ve been
around the world several times. We got on that ship and took off.
Suddenly we weren’t near anything akin to radio. We broke away
and became international navigators - it was very nice.”
Retirement was short lived though following a meeting Chapman
had with Citadel Chairman/CEO Farid Suleman ostensibly about
doing a women-geared late-night ABC Radio talk show. “His
premise was most [nighttime] network shows are for guys,”
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Chapman remarks. “He wanted me to talk to women like I did in
the morning. Very honestly, I had some interest.”
Next step was a New York City charity dinner (for Autism Speaks)
where Suleman and several other ABC Radio executives shared a
table with Chapman. “They kept changing chairs to talk to me,”
Chapman quizzically notes. “When it was over, I asked Farid what
that was all about. He said he wasn’t happy with all [the Paul
Harvey fill-ins]. My heart just about stopped. He asked if I would
be comfortable substituting for Paul. I said if I could be put in that
chair, I would own it because I’m such a fan. I know every move
[Paul Harvey] has ever made.”
Compensated Storyteller
Initially given two days a week in early-April and then three,
Chapman has been on the air pinch-hitting for Harvey ever since
proclaiming, “It’s great fun to find kickers and get the timing
down. I’m not trying to impersonate Paul but will do his shtick
when there’s a really stupid story. I hope I’m paying tribute to him
and not ripping him off. Farid told me I’m the best storyteller he’s
ever known. That’s what Paul does – he tells stories. As far as I’m
concerned, Paul Harvey’s `the man.’ He invented so much in terms
of timing, inflection and use of dead air.”
Four weeks into his dream assignment, Chapman received a note
from Human Resources. “I was asked what [my salary was] and
said it had never come up. I was just honored to be doing it. I’m
now getting paid for that – but not for `Platinum.’ I want to make
it a success for Farid. I owe him that.”
Former presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee
have had on-air tryouts and Paul Harvey Jr. occasionally fills in
for his dad, still brokenhearted over the loss of wife Angel and
recovering from pneumonia and earlier cataract surgery.
In an on-air visit less than two weeks ago (7-17), Harvey informed
Chapman he’d slowly ease back into his routine. It proved to be an
emotional chat for listeners, Harvey and Chapman – who’d never
previously interacted with his idol. “The 15-minute show is an
energy marathon,” reports Chapman. “When that [one] is under
your belt, it’s time to sit down. I can’t imagine how Paul got up at
3am all those years to do the early-morning show, the 15-minute
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show and then record `The Rest of the Story.’ That is an amazing
energy drain. I’m honored to be doing this, and if asked, will keep
doing it indefinitely.”
Departed Dr. Fever
Patterned after Citadel/Minneapolis’ Classic Hits “Love 105”
trimulcast (on WGVX, WGVY & WGVZ), “Platinum” debuted
four weeks ago (6-30) and Chapman braced himself for negative
reaction from “Twister” partisans. “There were [several] hang-ups
when we said this was the new reality but there have been far more
positives,” he explains. “People stop me on the street to say they
like my new station.”
Daily Metroplex newspapers “The Morning News” and “Star
Telegram” did features on Platinum’s debut, as did ABC affiliate
KFAA-TV. “We were very lucky with [that exposure],” Chapman
acknowledges. “Most blogs will drive you crazy but the majority
of them have been very favorable to us.”
Since KLUV already exists in Dallas, using the “Love” moniker
on the former “Twister” was out-of-the-question.
Other handles were debated with Chapman ready to implement
“Cherish” but points out, “Several people in the chain-of-command
said no man would put a [button on his car radio] to a station called
`Cherish.’ I thought about `Gold,’ `Solid Gold’ and `Platinum’ which
is better than gold. I bounced it around and found no negatives. It
seems to have been very well accepted. No one here ever heard it
used before so we may be pioneers in that regard.”
Even though Chapman’s KVIL tenure outnumbered his time at
KLUV by better than six to one, there’s actually more emotion
involved for him competing against the Oldies outlet. “There
are some people there I really like,” he states. “If `Platinum’ is
successful, KLUV will probably be the station [most affected].
We’re trying to see if we can make a niche for ourselves
[however] we aren’t really competing against [another station].
We’re playing older oldies because KLUV has moved to a more
contemporary Oldies format. It has dropped many songs people
[still] want to hear.”
Finding someone with a market pedigree even approaching that of
Chapman’s would be close to impossible yet he adamantly maintains
he hasn’t given any thought of joining Platinum’s on-air lineup.
“Doing it takes protracted energy that requires a certain age and
conditioning,” says the 70-ish Chapman; KVIL alum Larry Dixon
handles mornings. “Johnny Fever, with his feet [on the console]
is dead or at least not getting ratings. I did my [four-and-a-halfhour] show standing up. When it was over, I was consumed. I was
[accustomed] to getting up at 4am and I’m doing it again but it’s a
different kind of energy. We’re here at 5am editing stories and rewriting others until 6:45am. There are days when I see funny things
or have an idea I’d like to use on-air but those are rare [instances].
I’m not sitting around wishing to put the headsets back on.”
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Monday, July 28, 2008
Page 3 of 3
Some combo programmers/air personalities have a clear-cut
preference and won’t contend they enjoy both in perfectly equal
measure. “I’ve always thought I was a very good morning guy
who could also program,” Chapman declares. “If I had to do
one, I wouldn’t have a job because I didn’t think I was good
enough at either. If I had both, I could hold onto a paycheck. I’m
a morning guy by trade, became a PD by necessity and got to be
pretty good at it. I don’t know many things about programming
and don’t want to.”
There’s No Crying In Radio
Freely admitting he “hates” studying research Chapman remarks,
“I’d rather have someone [else] look at Arbitron and tell me how
we’re doing. I [prefer] fun things like coming up with the next
promotion and writing the next great promo. Doing quarterly
reports isn’t my deal. Taking KVIL from the junk heap and making
it a dominant [Adult Contemporary] station in the country was
a [major accomplishment]. I don’t know that we did – but in a
way – we invented the AC format.”
Being an integral part of Dallas’ radio scene essentially since
1959 and getting to substitute for a genuine broadcasting icon
are more than enough to satisfy anyone so Chapman doesn’t
regret not working in Boston radio. “I could have,” he mentions.
“Jim Hilliard offered me the chance to do mornings at WHDH.
I thought about it but said no because I didn’t need to do that
anymore. That’s yesterday’s news.”
Their friends perceive Chapman and his wife – who’ve sold their
house and are moving into a high-rise - live like nomads but the
Texas Radio Hall of Famer emphasizes, “One of life’s great joys
is you don’t know what’s going to happen next. I have no idea
how long I’ll be doing this but I’m having great fun. I get to
do what I want and will continue until it stops being fun. If the
transmitter falls on me tomorrow, `Don’t cry for me, Argentina.’
What a ride it’s been.”
WHO: Ron Chapman
WHAT: Architect/Interim
Program Director
WHERE: Citadel’s KPMZ
“Platinum 96.7”/Dallas
HOW LONG: Debuted June 30,
2008
WHAT: Principal Substitute Host
WHERE: ABC Radio’s
“Paul Harvey News & Comment”
HOW LONG: Since April 2008
Published by INSIDE RADIO.com Monday, July 28, 2008. Written by
Personality Editor, Mike Kinosian for INSIDE RADIO and M Street Corp.
All rights reserved. No alterations to the content of this story are permitted.
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