Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 30, 1982, edition 1 / Page 17
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October 31 V November 6, 1982 Durham's Morning Men: Music, News and Weather on the A.M. Side ...... .. . ;.. . CASH MICHAELS They wake you up as early as 6 a.m. if you happen to have your radio set right, and they get you going with a mixture of music, news, weather and the correct time. They are Durham's morn ing men those early robin radio announcers who often snatch you from the comfor table folds of a good night's sleep. "I'm a human clock," says WDUR's Alvin Stowe, who doubles as morning man and program director. "My basic job is to get people roll ing in the morning, to get them back into the world's mainstream without too great a shock." , Cash Michaels, host of WSRC's "Good Morning Show,", who was recently named program director, carries the description a step further. ' "I figure my job is to get people prepared for the tedium of the workaday world," he said, "to get them off on the right foot. I want to make them smile in the morning. Some of us feel a little isolated when we first wake up, and we need' an outlet to let us know that it's all right to go out of the house." All of Durham's an nouncers agree that their basic job is to give their listeners the motivation to get out there and face the world for another day. But they do much more. "We provide a mixture of hews, weather and music," said Rob Gringle, of WDBS's "The New Morning Show." "But there is a cer tain amount of repetition in our work. People are tuning in at different times accor ding to when they wake up, so we have to constantly up date information so that the time, weather, and other per tinent information can in clude them;" John Van Pelt of WDCG believes that he best serves his audience by "...trying to bring across a personable ap proach that is energetic l?ut not abusive." "We have news, current events, sports, and music every hour on the hour," he continues "and we also keep the people updated as far as the time is concerned." Serving the listener is the name of the game. "I would say that my show is basically service oriented," said Stowe of WDUR. "We present Telling Like It Was,' a program that deals with little-known facts of black history; we have the Carl Rowan Report,' dealing with how major political decisions will affect members of the black community; and even Howard Cosell, and his 'Speaking of Sports', show. I think, its good to be able to get folks going in the morn ing, and provide them with useful information at the same time." Cash Michaels of WSRC ALVIN STOWE sees service to his listeners a little differently. "I feel that I serve best by projecting a positive attitude to my audience. My wife and I both arise at 4:45 a.m.," he said. (Michaels' wife, Felicia Ledesma, is a news director at WDUR) "and we're basically trying to ac complish the same thing, to get people off on the right foot in the morning." He also believes that he should come across as a human being. "I don't want to be just an electronic voice on the radio," he said, "I'm a human being, and I love peo ple. I don't think a person should be in the communica tions business if he doesn't." - Each of the announcers agrees that their job is to communicate pertinent in formation to their audiences in a pleasant manner. According to Alvin Stowe, his target audience is the en tire community. "I feel that my program has something of interest to people of all ages, ethnic and economic backgrounds," he said. "If my program provides in spiration and information to one person, then I consider it a success." Michaels says, "We are a rhythum-and-blues station, so we automatically have the kids as an audience, but we've been pleasantly sur prised to find that we have gotten the Mom-and-Pop au dience, and the working peo ple." Van Pelt of WDCG has a simular philosophy. "As a 'top 40 station,' we know that we'll get the teen agers, but we would like to have more young adults and adults in our audience, and it seems that we 'are getting them." WDBS's Rob Gringle says, "We don't target any age or ethnic group. We just want to wake people up pleasant ly, and give them a positive attitude for the day."
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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Oct. 30, 1982, edition 1
17
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