VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeff McNeal · Guest

Hi, this is my first post to this forum. I look to exploring the various postings. I've been in voice overs in one form or another for nearly three decades. I'm looking forward to contributing what I know and learning from others.

Cheers,

Jeff

Deirdre · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:15 pm Post subject:

Good to have you aboard.

Thanks for joining the party!
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Jeff McNeal · Guest

Thanks for the warm welcome, Deirdre! It looks like you have a bunch of good folks populating this board. I'm looking forward to participating.

Bailey · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:48 pm Post subject:

Hi Jeff !
I thought your name sounded "somewhat" familiar. After "googling" your name, I see you hit all the hot spots in San diego. You even did some time at KFMB AM and FM. Did you hear that Tracy johnson is looking for a Morning show replacement on the FM side? 1 mil per year, for a 4 year contract.
Hope to see more of you on the Forum. Smile

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Jeff McNeal · Guest

Hi Bailey,

Thanks for the welcome! And no, I have absolutely no interest in ever returning to morning radio. I retired permanently from radio in 1997 and just do VO exclusively now, and frankly, I enjoy working from home far too much to ever go back. I'm too far removed from that industry to even consider going back -- even if a station wanted me -- which at this juncture, would be an extremely unlikely proposition. Besides, that isn't enough money, ha ha. I never did work at KFMB FM, by the way. Just the AM for a brief time. I left for personal reasons just about the time Tracy Johnson was coming on board, before he got Paul Palmer tossed. If you're interested, I have my entire radio biography online with some fun anecdotes about all the stations I worked at between 1978 and 1997.

Gregory Best · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 10:05 pm Post subject: Hi Jeff

I'd love to see your bio page and the inside scoop on old KFMB. I have been in the San Diego area since 1980 (when I left radio after 13 yrs). I too am a recovering radio personality. There have been a lot of strange goings on at the KFMB sations in the last decade. I hear there is a group of former KFMB'ers that meet for coffee and discuss the old days.

Glad you joined the board.

Greg

Jeff McNeal · Guest

Hiya Greg,

I provide an unvarnished look at my years in radio, so please understand that in discussing my past life in broadcasting, I can be pretty blunt. For what it's worth, I try to tell it like it really was, from my perspective, naturally. I almost wish I hadn't brought this up. If enough people read about my checkered past, I'll probably be asked to leave this forum. :shock: In the meantime, I'll be holding my breath and walking on eggshells... Hope you enjoy the read.

Gregory Best

Some days I think of the WKRP theme song about up and down the dial from town-to-town across the country. How true it was. It seemd like when you made friends it was time to move on to a strange new city. Some days I miss radio and then I remember how fickle the busines is. Boy, has the biz changed with voice-tracking and the huge conglomerates calling the shots. I'll stick to VO.

Greg

Deirdre · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 7:34 am Post subject:

I still do broadcast stuff every day, but I'm just an adjunct--a traffic reporter. It's OK when I get to schtick it up with the DJ, but I wouldn't go back to being a DJ myself unless the money was insanely great.

I wouldn't be doing the traffic thing at all except that it keeps me eligible for health insurance and pays for the ISDN line.

I swear, it's the easiest money I've ever made-- but I really don't like doing it.
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kgenus · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 8:02 am Post subject:

Hello Jeff. Although it's a pretty long bio, I seriously doubt it's any more checkered than the rest of us! I loved the pics of the "state of the art" production suite, times have certainly changed... a lot.

Kevin
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Jeff McNeal · Guest

Hi Kevin,

Yes, it's very comprehensive story of my time in radio. But if you want a very concise version, I've got that too, which would definitely be better for anyone casually curious about who I am, but not THAT interested in my life story! Sorry 'bout that!

Charlie Channel · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:17 pm Post subject:

Now you tell me ... after I read the whole thing!

However, I grew up in Venice, CA and enjoyed seeing the names of the personalities and stations I listened to as a youngster.

Welcome aboard!

CC

ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:02 am Post subject: Radio Days

Jeff McNeal · Guest

Interesting musings about KFMB. I was there only for a short time, but I remember distinctly feeling that everyone who had been there for years or decades didn't really understand what a bubble they were working in, and that things weren't always going to be so utopian. The fact that it was such a stable environment for so many, for so many years, was a real rarity in radio. At least for that market size. I was doing fill-in for Mark Larson and thought he was a very decent guy. In fact, I liked everyone I worked with over there. All very good people. I enjoyed poking fun at Paul Palmer (then GM) on the air and not having to worry about negative repercussions. I would have enjoyed staying longer, had fate not intervened with the personal matter that I had to deal with.

Bruce · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:09 am Post subject:

Another KFMB alumnus here, but from before your time. I was there from '74 until the middle of '76 doing graveyard and overnights as Charlie Rider. Talk about a utopian bubble. Bobby Rich was the program Manager of our personality-driven pop-adult music AM side (FM was taped dinner music then) but not really the Hobo Laughing

. We just all chipped in and made it happen. Bobby came up with promos and made sure every time slot was filled, Clark Anthony chose the music, I ran the contests and events, Hudson and Bauer did mornings and Marconi's old buddy Perry Allen was stirring up afternoons.

We were consistently #1 or 2 in 25 to 54. "The Mighty Kuff-mubb" was my fondest memory out of the dozen stations I worked. Then one day Bobby started up B-100 on the FM, and management felt we should have a traditional program director. They brought in Scott Burton, who had badly damaged KMOX in St. Louis, took KFMB and put the staff and ratings into a severe dive, and ended up doing the same thing to KTAR news/talk in Phoenix several years later. But that's a topic for "war stories day".

Anyway, it brought back fond memories to hear about "One of America's Three Great Radio Stations, 76 KFMB".

Bruce