TV is 80% Bullsh*t the Other 20% Are Commercials - The Mass Media Dumbing Down of the Populace

I had always dreamed of working in TV. I studied television and cinema in my university days. I worked in the mass media for nearly 30 years. After 20 of those years, I finally woke up and realized what kind of brain damage TV was and we threw out our TV set. We haven't missed it once.


I remember when my mother-in-law protested our disposing of the TV and said, "If my grandson doesn't watch TV then he won't be able to understand what the other kids in school are talking about!" To which I replied, "You mean he won't be able to discuss the stupid crap on TV like the other kids in school do? Okay. That's a good deal."

I've said it many times before: TV is 80% Bullsh*t. The other 20% are commercials.


It's this way for just about everything: FM radio, am radio, TV, magazines, all print media are merely pages and screens full of advertising with blocks of fluff in between the ads. The public has become so dense that they fail to realize it... You think that, maybe, the public watches too much TV?


This is why pablum like the Grammy Awards, Academy Awards or sports like the Superbowl and World Series are touted as "important." They are not important. They have become a total and complete waste of time yet few see the problem.

It's okay to enjoy a game or some short entertainment but what people have lost sight of is that these things are not important at all. They are distractions from what's really important.  

I just received a mail from a long time reader concerning my recent post: The McDonald's Effect: Why Music, Literature, Cinema and the Arts Have Become Mediocre - Just Like Processed Cheese. He says:

I think about this type of stuff now and again,... mostly every time I turn on the radio in the morning.

Rather than playing some music, all the FM rock stations are yuking it up with some kind of comedy between songs. I can't stand listening to them - especially in the morning - the only alternative is to turn the radio off.

Again in the afternoon after the comedy hours are over they might play an up-beat song I like only to be followed by a very slow song. This happens Every Single Time! It's almost as if there's a law against playing two or more up-beat songs in a row so the population doesn't get fired up too much.

I might have mentioned this before, sorry. It just bugs me why things aren't better, and as you say, inspiring for the youth.

Well, for a short explanation watch this:

There is a reason and a plan as to why this dumbing down relentlessly continues. This is not Conspiracy Theory. The dropping of academic scores in America for the last 50 years is well documented. 


If you are interested in learning more, may I suggest that you start your search with the words "dumbing down Lew Rockwell," you'll find many articles there. It's a start.


Also, please read two articles I wrote about TV:


The Plug in Drug


The Plug in Drug Part Two 

The McDonald's Effect: Why Music, Literature, Cinema and the Arts Have Become Mediocre - Just Like Processed Cheese

I call it the McDonald's effect. The McDonald's effect is the action and mind-set of making things into a mass production type of set-up; into a boring, "this one same as the last one," process oriented system. Great if you run a factory in China. If you are trying to do anything unique and creative with your life and business, you'd better stop this.

The "process oriented system" reminds me of an old TV commercial I saw once. The owner of a hamburger stand was always thinking of ways to cut corners. He cut corners and cut corners... Finally, he came to the idea of using reusable plastic pickles because "nobody ate the pickles anyway."


Genius idea... If you are running a mass production, everything is the same as the last one, type of setup like McDonald's.


Pardon me, but I hate McDonald's (except the coffee) and think the food there tastes terrible.


I think that just about everything today, when it comes to music, literature, cinema or the arts seems to me to have become mediocre or is moving quickly in the direction of the McDonald's effect. In fact, when it comes to these "arts" it is much like what is happening to business; things are moving more and more away from individualism and creativity and more and more towards production. Everything seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper and more and more like McDonald's food. 


Everything in big business and big, corporate "art" seems to be moving from a "results oriented" base to a "process oriented" base. 


Results oriented means just that: the end product and how the end product is made is what is important. Sometimes it is very slow but the end product is intended to be unique or of very high quality.


Processed oriented means that making the largest amount of the end product at the cheapest price possible is important. Processed orientated businesses are like factories stamping things out of molds. They reward cutting corners and costs and quality to the minimum.


What I mean to say is that, it seems to me, there is nothing at all recently that is capturing the hearts and imaginations of the young people of the world. How can it? When everything becomes like McDonald's food, what's to capture hearts and minds?


Or is it just the way I perceive it as being? Read on and see if you agree with me...


The Harry Potter movies were fun in 2001... At least the first ones were. Now it's been ten years and, well, Harry at 18 years old is not nearly as cute as Harry at 8. Oh? The books? Oh those... Well, compared to say, Dickens or Tolkien, JK Rowling is 'pablum.'


The Star Wars movies were great, as far as comic books go, in the late 1970s.


Movies in the golden days of the 1930s and 40s up until the 60s were great. Today? Comic books from the sixties are turned into Hollywood "Hits."


Besides cinema, what else has become like chewing cardboard? 


Michael Jackson, probably the last of his kind, electrified the entire world with Billie Jean in 1982 and then self-destructed in 1993 with a rumored 16 million dollar out-of-court settlement for child molestation and entry into drug rehab... The he overdosed... That's been happening a lot recently.


And speaking of music and self-destruction, the other day the Grammy Awards were held. How many other people besides me view the entire charade as fake and plastic? Even when it comes to memorializing the deaths of former great performers, these types of ceremonies trivialize and cheapen things. Or, as my friend described the Grammy Awards, "...They turned everything into processed cheese." 


Today's movies, music, literature and arts all seem like they are rarely good. I think as a whole we are in a cultural funk. 


Though, do not misunderstand, there are individuals who I think are very good. And that is the key here: the individuals.


I remember when I was a child in the sixties, whenever a new major motion picture was released or a new album by a big star, like, say the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, it was a big deal. Today? "What release?" And, "are those guys still together?"


I work with many people in TV and radio and can tell you that I can count on two fingers the people who I know who do world-class work or even try to. The rest of the 99.8%? Why bother? They are all in the wrong business. They should all be working for banks and punching time clocks. 


I can't tell you why cinema or literature or music have become so much like processed cheese. I have a guess. But I can tell you why one part of the arts has gone to hell in a hand basket. I can tell you why the broadcast arts are so poor today. 


Some people will tell you that TV and radio broadcasting are so bad because of lack of money. But I think that is just an excuse. That is using the "which came first? The chicken or the egg?" Problem as an excuse for making a poor product that no one wants to buy.


Why don't the TV and radio stations have any money? Because they have no sponsors. Why don't they have any sponsors? Because they've lost all their listeners and viewers. Why don't they have any listeners and viewers? Because the programming is boring. Why is the programming boring? Ah! They'll tell you because they have no money.


See? It's an excuse. Here's the real answer:


1) The programming is boring because 99% of the people do a half-assed job.


2) 99% of the stations have been cutting corners for so long that when competition came up (like the Internet) they were caught off-guard. 


You really have to wonder how it is that some guy, somewhere, alone in his house could come up with better and more interesting content than a TV or radio station with hundreds of millions of dollars of staff and equipment could... But he did, they did, she did and the results are here for everyone to see. This is where the results oriented individual comes in: His primary purpose is not a processed oriented result. It is a results oriented outcome. He wants quality.


Let me give you an example that I am very familiar with. It is about the FM radio business... As far as #1 (above) is concerned, take the case of radio Deejays; 99.7% of them are lazy and do the minimum they need to do to get by. They make no effort to learn about new music; they don't go out; they don't read (or if they do read, they read music magazines! Ha!) They think it is not their duty to learn about new music and to bring it to the masses, so they don't. Most Deejays don't even go to stores or search the Internet for new music to play. They are puppets who are told what to play. Or, even worse, they are stuck in the past and continually play what they liked in high school!


Fools! Can you imagine, say, a fashion magazine constantly running articles and ads from the sixties? Sure, retro fashion might be cool, but at least it is updated. Old music is just that: Old music. It has its place but it will rarely capture the imagination of the youth.


In Japan, these Deejays learn new music from Billboard Hit CD compilations from the USA! Billboard? Billboard is a magazine that list things like the Top 40. If it is in Billboard, it is already old.


When Rock radio was new and exciting in the 1950s and 1960s, Deejays found new music and played it. Deejays were personalities. Today? Nope. Like I said puppets; people with no faces and no names.


Don't believe me? Quick! Give me the name of one radio program! Can't do it? That's OK. Most people can't.


It is pretty obvious by the state of radio today if this situation that has been going on for the last twenty years has been good for the health of the industry or not. I use the example of radio, but this has been going on in TV, cinema, literature and the arts now for decades...


The arts are like a once popular mom and pop hamburger shop. 


When the mom and pop hamburger shop was first started, it was delicious and very popular. All the kids and people loved it. It was always crowded. But as time went on corners were cut and costs lowered in order to increase the profit line. That made for smaller and smaller burgers and french fries. It made for Cokes with more and more ice in the cup. Along with the smaller burgers, cheaper and cheaper ingredients were used. The good taste began to disappear...


One day, the owners of the burger shop started noticing that their fan and customer base started shrinking. What did they do? Well, they began cutting more and more corners. Instead of coming up with creative solutions, they fell back into old fashioned thinking and continued to do the only thing they knew how to do: Make smaller and smaller burgers and cut more and more corners.


Soon, one day, they were barely holding on. They had 1/20th the customers that they enjoyed just ten short years ago. If it weren't for government or outside help, they'd surely be bankrupt.


Their answer to the problem? Cut more corners and make smaller portions. And the cycle continues today. 

Now you know why so many things have become so mediocre. It is obvious why, isn't it? Cutting corners and doing a half-assed job. But every once in a while someone like a Bukowski comes along... Someone with no money who is results oriented and art hiccups... For a moment at least...


Entertainment people can blame a loss of revenue all they want, but the cutting of corners and laziness began when the revenue was still good and they were king.


And that brings us back to the McDonald's Effect. Are you in a creative or sales oriented business? In today's economy, we're all in sales; and, if so, are you cutting corners and, when you stop to think about it, are you slipping into a process oriented behavior? If you are, you need to get out of that rut.


If you are doing any sort of creative or sales type of work, then you need to get out of the "punching the time card" type of mentality. You need to start working on results and not processes... Processes are for McDonald's or convenience store owners. 


Unless you already own a McDonald's, then you'd better stop thinking how you can create plastic reuseable pickles.  

When People Stop Caring - Stop! Quit and Save Your Life!

I wrote yesterday that artists and writers need to know that love and hate are the two sides of the same coin. It is great if many people love and adore your work. It is good also if people hate your work. If people love or hate your work, that is much MUCH better than if they don't care either way about your work.


If people don't care, that is death. If people don't care then you should stop. I've always believed that everything happens for a reason. It's like the advice a wealthy friend gave me once about a dysfunctionate company we were both at when he realized that that company was a waste of time and he quit. He said to me as he was leaving, "Save your life and stop. Start doing something else." 


Then he walked out the door. 

These last 3 days, I have had a feeling of depression somewhere deep in my heart and been under great stress. It's because of that letter I received from the president of the major Japanese broadcasting corporation that I wrote about the other day. This morning, I have decided that I have to take my own advice to stop working with poor management and dysfunctional people and leave that place of business forever.


I had to make a decision. I've made it. 


I should have done it long ago. That ridiculous letter from the president was just another in a long history of absurd things that have happened to me at that company over the years. When you read the story and understand the roots of the problem, you'll know why, as I said, that company loses so much money every year.


And don't think I am merely being bitter about this one station. That is not true at all. I have worked, and still do, with many other stations. I have never seen an organization run as ineptly as today's topic... (Gee, when I put it that way, I must be stupid to have stayed there so long, right? Agreed.)


I have worked in TV and radio since 1985. I have "worked" (in a sense) in the music business since 1978. If you wonder what that means, let me say that I have played music and, while not getting paid enough to support myself, I used to get checks and I was paid to perform. The most I ever received at once was about $1,100 in 1979 or so. Not bad.


When my son was born, I threw away my TV set. It was soon after the Iraq war had started and I was so fed up with the lies on TV. I had to work with TV people because of my job. But I decided that I didn't want to bring these people into my house (and in Japan you have to pay a monthly licensing fee if you own a TV) so I threw them out. I don't want to pay to bring liars into my home.


Soon after that, I quit having anything to do with TV. Even though I own a company that makes TV and radio programs and TV commercials, I do not do that myself anymore but, my staff have families and mouths to feed, I won't stop them from pursuing their chosen career.


Over the years, I have made many radio programs. By far the vast majority have been at a FM radio station in Tokyo. I have a love/hate relationship with this radio station and its people.


Fact is that there is only a couple guys there at that station who are kind and honest. Just a few. Sad.


I don't want to talk about that station too much (anymore) but allow me to spill my guts this time. Please let me give you an example of how people at that station operate. This one example is like many that have happened to me while working for that company. This event happened at least 12 years ago... But, today, it is the same. The names have changed but the way the station operates doesn't.


At the end of the nineties, I produced and co-hosted one of the most famous late-night radio shows in Tokyo. So popular was that show that sponsors approached us and asked if they could become our sponsors! That is extremely rare! The Program Director at that time told me that if I could bring in sponsors, then he would pay me a sales commission. So I did. I brought in the largest record chain in the world as a big sponsor.


The station was doing poorly and losing money. But I wanted to be a part of the "team" and to help out wherever I could so I decided that, after the record store chain became a sponsor, I didn't need a commission. I didn't need extra pay. I wanted to show that I was part of the family - hell, I wanted to be a part of the family - so I wanted to forfeit my commission and give it to the station to show them my heart's feelings.


When I went to see the Program Director to happily tell him my decision, before I could get a word out of my mouth, he rudely snarled at me, "We're not paying you any commission!" And with that he turned around and stormed away without letting me say anything.


I was shocked. I didn't want commission. I just wanted the satisfaction and happiness of telling someone that I was giving them something they wanted. I felt like the small dirty faced boy who looked up and handed the single yellow flower that he had picked to a lady and that person took that flower from him and crushed it under the heel of their shoe in the dirt. As doing so, the evil in their eye showed through, cursing from the snarl of their lips...

I was speechless... "Why was it so necessary to hurt my feelings?" I thought. 


It's a really sad situation when people are so dirty and despicable that they cannot allow people a small moment to share happiness. Have these people no compassion or self-respect? 


Like I said, that was many years ago. I feel like this sort of thing has happened many times. I have brought in many sponsors and yet, I am treated rudely. Forgive me for feeling sorry for myself....


Two days ago, I wrote about a president of a company who wrote me a letter that was just shocking. This isn't sour grapes. His letter wasn't really worthy of an adult and certainly not worthy of one written by a person in an executive position at a large company. I had been writing professional business correspondence to this president, but he wrote back to me a letter that looked like it was written by a 14-year-old complaining about his companies past inter-staff squabbles and fighting. I'm writing about business and he's airing his families dirty laundry out in public - and I hardly even know the guy! 


I couldn't believe it (you wouldn't believe it either. Refer to: Be Professional! Working at a Japanese Company - Any Company - Filled With Low-Quality Dysfunctional People and Management - Don't Do That to Yourself). 


I didn't add to that article one very important point; that this company president would write such an amateurish letter to me is even doubly more astounding when you realize that my company is a sponsor to that station and, while not a massive sum, we spend ¥900,000 (nearly $12,000 a month) on commercials at that station. 


Astounding!


Well, perhaps not so incredible when you look at the past record. I have to be one of the few who have brought sponsors, some huge ones, to that station and yet, whenever I hand them flowers, I feel like they crush them in the dirt in front of my face


Now? What can I do? If I go to war with this child-president, I have every right to cancel all the commercials immediately and without penalty. The story will come out what happened and this president will most likely get into big trouble at his company for writing such an idiotic letter. He could even lose his position if the news got out to famous advertising companies, which it would if we go to war.


But does that do me any good? No. Why?


Because, I can't act like a child like he does or they do. I have to act my age and control my emotions and not seek revenge. I have people working at that station who work for me. Those people are good people and they have wonderful families and mouths to feed. I can't do anything to hurt those people.


There are people on my side, at my company (and inside of our investor - one of the most famous companies in Japan) who are furious about this mail and they want me to take that company president to task. They have every right to think that. After all, if you were paying nearly $12,000 a month and then found out that the person you were paying that money to stated that he didn't want your business and said he didn't want to work with you, wouldn't you want to quit? Of course you would. It is natural and common sense that anyone would. Most people would cancel their cellphone or cable TV service for more minor infractions than that.

But, I can't act like a child like the broadcasting company president. I cannot be like that. So, like I said, I must take my own advice. And, at the same time, this is Japan, I must take personal responsibility for this problem. 

When a business dies or when a team or marriage ends, it is, in a way, a sad day. But, it is also a day for celebration. It is a day of freedom. The chains are removed and you are released. For me, that day has arrived. It is hard for my heart to let go, but let go is the only choice I have.

The other choice is war and war will hurt too many people I care about. I cannot go to war and damage this president; a pyrrhic victory isn't a very good victory at all, is it? The best choice is to be a mature individual and to quietly bow out.

Therefore, I hereby resign for ever doing any work with that company ever again. 

If you ever find yourself in this sort of situation, then take my friend's advice. Walk out the door. There is a better opportunity waiting for you. 

"Save your life and stop. Start doing something else." 

There is a reason for everything.

This was written for T.U. Thanks for everything you've done for me. I won't forget!

Want to be Rich? Sell People What They Want to Buy, Not What You Want to Sell Them

It's so painfully simple. Sell clients what they want to buy and you will be rich. 

You can tell by looking at this guy that he doesn't care about you or even what you want 

Ah! But easier said than done. Most salesmen do not get rich because they keep trying to sell people what the salesman has to sell, not what the people want to buy. How can the salesman sell people what they want to buy? How can the salesman know what people want to buy?


Simple. Ask them.


I meet salesmen all the time and constantly have to repeat myself when it comes to this point. No matter how many times I repeat it, it still bears repeating as sales people don't seem to get it: Sell people what they want to buy and you - and what you have to sell - will always be in demand.


It doesn't matter if it is a product or service, or even you, learn what the customer wants and sell that to them. 


I must be poor at explaining this concept to people. Why? Because, yesterday, with my own staff, I had to explain it again, and I've worked with that person for several months! I had to explain it again! Folks, this was at least the 5th or 6th time I've had to go through it.

"Have I got a great deal for you!"

Here it is again: Sell customers what they want to buy, and not what you want to sell them, and you will be rich. Does this sound like some sort of word game or Za Zen Buddhism? It isn't. 


Like I said, my explanation must be bad. Let me try again, this time let me put you into the head of the customer. Imagine that you are the customer in this next scene.


Here goes two examples. One is the example of a bad salesman. The other is a good salesman. Which, as a customer, do you prefer?:


Example A: 


You are the customer. You go into a clothes store because you want to buy a new coat. The salesperson approaches you. The sales person holds up a pair of bright red and white striped slacks and says to you, "Hello! Please buy these pants!" 


Do you buy the pants? Probably not. You probably run out of the store and think this sales clerk is nuts. You certainly don't like being approached this way. And you probably won't go to that store again.


Unfortunately, this is how most salespeople are approaching their sales job today. The honest sales manager and sales person will admit it.


Example B: 


You are the customer. You go into a clothes store because you want to buy a new coat. The salesperson approaches you. The sales person says, "Hello! May I help you find something today?" Do you answer? Do you say, "I'm looking for a coat"?


Yes, you do. Why? Because the salesperson has offered to help you find what you are looking for. The sales person knows where most of the merchandise is located so, if you are really serious, you will respond positively as it saves your time and is convenient.


This salesperson has asked what you want and you answer because you really do want something and you have walked into their shop to look for it.


It is so simple. Find out what the customer wants and see if you can fill their need. 


Aha! But it's different if I am a salesman and I go to the customers home or place of business. This is true. In the example above, the customer has walked into the clothes store for a reason. How does the salesman create communication and trust with a customer - when visiting that customer at home or work - so that they can explore what the customer wants to buy? Simple again. Ask. Create communication. Do not say, "Buy these pants!" Ask how the salesman can help the customer achieve what they want. 

"You don't need a new refrigerator! Buy this car!"

I work with a lot of mass media; broadcasting stations, both TV and radio, and magazines. They all have a problem. Under their traditional way of doing things, they are selling what they want to sell. They are like the sales person in Example A. All of these salespeople make appointments with clients and then go to see them and ask them to buy time slots in programs that have already been decided on. I can't name one broadcasting salesman - and I know several at many different TV and radio stations - who is out asking the clients what they want to buy and making the effort to fill customer needs. (Recently, though, I know a magazine who has been doing that and has begun to do very well doing so).


The broadcasting station salesmen are like used car salesmen in the United States; they are still selling their services they way they were sold 40 years ago: One way sales. Instead of creating open communication and having the ability to answer customer needs - and offer a flexible, wide array of services and choices, the broadcasting stations are still selling time slots on TV and radio. The great salesman will be creative and offer solutions to customers. 

Listen carefully and with an open mind, offer creative solutions

Are you still selling yourself or your services and products the way you were doing it ten or twenty years ago? If you are, then it should be obvious why your sales are bad. Is there any successful company in the world selling things they way they did twenty years ago? Not is the west and not in Japan there aren't.


Become a needs and solutions provider for your customers. Do some research on them. Go to their web page and see what they are doing for in-house promotions. See how you can support. Get information and knowledge. Talk to the customers and ask them what they want.


Find out what they want to buy and help them to get it. Brainstorm and offer creative solutions... Once you do and trust is made, perhaps then and only then, you'll be able to sell them what you want to sell them.


But first you have to find out what they need and help them get it.




This article was inspired by Kimitoshi, Youichi and Tom

Why I Don't Go To Concerts in Japan Anymore

This is an open-letter to music and concert promoters in Japan. I'm writing this for me, but you can be sure that there's lots of industry insiders who feel the same way I do (if they don't, they were brought up under rocks and households that didn't teach them any manners either, so forget 'em.)


Promoters of Japan, it's bullshit. It's bullshit how you handle "Guests" to your shows. I used to go to concerts all the time. But I stopped in 2005 or so. It doesn't seem that any promoters have the sense to think about why (or they don't care... That's fine too!) 


This post will be hard to understand for most people. But try, OK? This isn't completely and uniquely about the music business in Japan and concerts, per se, it's mostly about manners and common sense.


I have been a music industry professional for over 30 years. I have always produced and created Alternative and underground music shows. When new artists come out, I always play them first. When new artists come out and need a break, I always play them first in Japan. It's been this way since the mid-80's.


When artists needed a break and needed airplay, I gave it to them. Sometimes, rarely, these artists struggle and "make it" most just fade away.


When these artists come to Japan, I always get invited. I always get put on the "Guest List." I haven't paid to go to see a "Rock" concert in 30 years. The last time I remember paying to see a concert was a Jazz performance. 


I don't play Jazz music generally on my shows, so it is understandable that Jazz promoters would not treat me special. I don't "help" them.


It used to be that "Guest List" meant that you were a guest. Like in the word, "Guest" like G-U-E-S-T. That meant I could get into the concerts for free. I'd walk up to the door, say my name, and they'd let me in. I didn't have to pay any money.


Not anymore.


A few years ago, the venues and cheap-assed producers changed the rules. Now, when they ask me, or plead for me to go to a show, and tell me that I'm on the "Guest List" it costs me money.


Contradiction? Yeah. And that's why it's bullshit. And that's why I don't go to concerts anymore. Let me explain more.


Even though your name is put on the Guest List, in Japan, in the last 5 years or so, the claim is that the venue still charges for one drink. That one drink is usually ¥500 (about $6.00 USD). If you don't pay this ¥500 at the door, they won't let you in.


Get that? You are on the guest list, which means you get in free, but if you don't pay the fricking ¥500, upfront at the door, you can't get in. I don't get it. How could having to pay ¥500 be free? 


So much for being on the "Guest List."


It didn't used to be that way in Japan. I'll bet the foreign artists don't know this or they've been told, "It's the way things are done in Japan." Well, maybe it is, nowadays. But it didn't used to be that way. 


The first time I was "welcomed" to a concert this way was 4 or 5 years ago. I walked up to the venue and said I was on the Guest List. They checked and I was. I walked in. Soon the door attendants stopped me and said that I had to pay ¥500


I protested, "I'm on the Guest List!" They said that it didn't matter. I still had to pay ¥500 for one drink. I insisted that I wouldn't. I had never heard of such a thing. I insisted that I wouldn't pay. They insisted that I had to or I wouldn't be allowed entry. "Wow! I'm glad I'm on the Guest List! How warm and welcomed I feel." 


I was pissed off. Here's an artist whose music I played heavily for a few years and these clowns invite me as a guest, yet they want me to pay to enter!? What's wrong with this picture?


I turned around and walked out. 


¥500 (about $6 USD) is a paltry sum for sure. But this isn't about the money. It's about the principle. (I usually wind up with a drinking tab of over $50 anyway when I go to a show) so this isn't about the amount of money. ¥500? ¥5000? ¥50,000 it doesn't matter; it's the principle of the thing that matters. And that principle means means that "Guests" don't pay (unless, of course, you are running a hotel).


I didn't ask for any tickets to any shows. If I wanted them, I'd buy them. The promoters asked me to come, "as a guest" to a show. They asked me. I didn't ask them! Then they want me to pay money at the door? With the bullshit excuse that "it's the venue's rules"? No thanks. (I promote shows too. I know the venue doesn't decide this by themselves. It's a part of negotiations over venue rental price).


Think about that for a moment.


How about if the shoe were on the other foot? Say, your artist comes to the radio station and is a guest on my show. Can I charge you all ¥500 to get in at the door? No? Why not?


Oh, but I know that "your artist" is important to you - much more than I am of course and that's natural... As they make money for you... (OK. So let's even the tables: I don't play them anymore. You don't make money from their airplay or from my help selling their albums or their concert tickets anymore, agreed?) 


Or I start charging ¥500 at the door of the radio station to let you and your artist in... But! Aha! You can't trick me! You'll try to secretly pay for them at the door in order not to have the artist insulted (of course, who wouldn't be insulted?) But I will make that against the rules. Your artist will have to pay in person, from their own pocket, or they won't be allowed in. That's fair. 


So, this set-up, using the typical promoter's rationale and lack of common sense, seems a good deal. No? Why not?


You sure are hard to please. How about this option, then: If I have to pay ¥500 to get in to your show that you asked me to attend, then let's make it fair? How about I don't go to any shows at all and I don't play your label's music as favors anymore... That's fair. (And, actually, probably better for music in general and for everyone else.) Then, if I want to go see your artist, you sell me a ticket. If I want a drink, I'll buy one.


For my radio show that you guys always ask for support, on air plugs for your artist's shows, and for allowing your artist to be a guest on air (trust that there's lots of artists and labels who ask to be guests and we politely say, "No!") I can't charge you a measly ¥500 each to get in? Why not?


It's only ¥500 yen. No big deal, right?


At least, in the case of my radio show, I didn't ask your artist to be a guest on my show (it's a music show. Not an interview show. I don't really want any artists on it at all actually). If and when I do ask your favor to have your artist be a guest on my show, you can bet that your artist will treated as a guest and not be charged anything for entry... In fact, I always buy guests drinks.


Funny that. I always treat guests as if they were special! My, what a quaint and out-dated, old-fashioned notion! 


It seems doing favors for labels and promoters in Japan and being a "Guest" isn't a two-way street. 


So that's why I don't go to concerts anymore. 


NOTE: This is not an attack on any artists. I like the music of all artists I play. This is a complete attack on promoters.... On top of pissing me off about this pay at the door bullshit, they give me pressure to show up at the shows or give me shit after the show when I don't show up. Gee, it's wonderful feeling wanted and cared for.... How about used and bow-legged?


PS: I also think it's bullshit that the fans - the ticket-buyers, who buy tickets for entry, should have to be charged again when they arrive at the venue. People already pay exorbitant sums to go to concerts in Japan; sometimes paying $70 ~$80 (USD) or more for a show to see ONE artist and then the get hit for a ¥500 drink charge at the door? Nonsense! 


No wonder the music business in Japan is doing so poorly. It's run by idiots who don't know how to treat people (as in people with money who they need to make a living) properly. If they thought about it for half-a-second they'd realize that people don't like being treated like this. THAT'S why concert ticket sales are down!


UPDATE: Working at radio and promoting music (especially alternative music) is a low-paying crappy job (in spite of how cool people think it is)... So getting treated with the cheap-assed trick at a venue door is just like being kicked. My wife was just making fun of me about this article and saying that I might be perceived as acting like a bratty kid... If so, I don't intend that and I'm sorry for being, well, for being a bratty kid. 

George Williams on Cover of Bicycle Navi

IT'S BEEN A ROUGH WEEK BATTLING IT OUT WITH MASS MEDIA SENSATIONALISTS AND TWITS WHO FOLLOW THE PARTY LINE. F*CK THEM. I'M TIRED AND NEED A BREAK. MY DAD HAD A HEART ATTACK AND I'M NOW CHECKING IT OUT. PLEASE FORGIVE MY SPORADIC POSTINGS AS I'M IN A PLACE THAT HAS NOT INTERNET... IT'S LIKE A FLINTSTONES MOVIE HERE...

Well known Japanese TV and radio star George Williams is on the cover of Japan's best known bicycling magazine, Bicycle Navi, for the month of May, 2011. Congrats George!

You can see George Williams own multi-media webpage here and his bio and contact information here. http://universal-vision.jp/wp/?page_id=52

Write to: info@universal-vision.jp

Japanese Government Preparing for Broadcasting Companies' Bankruptcy

Last year, in 2010, for the first time in the history of this country, two major broadcasting stations were allowed to go bankrupt. Those stations were Radio-I in Nagoya and Love FM in Fukuoka. Those two events shook the Japanese broadcasting industry to its bones as the old school broadcasters have always thought that no matter what happened, the government would bail out the stations.

SELECTER - ON MY RADIO

"It's just the same old show... On my radio..."

There have been times in the past when stations got themselves into serious financial troubles, but, when push came to shove, either the Japanese government bailed the stations out or they guaranteed loans for the stations or arranged a group of companies to cooperate to buyout or support the station.

With the current poor economic situation and the Japanese government in debt over 200% of GDP, the well has run dry. There are no more funds to bail out these businesses.


This is actually the way things should be. The government should not be bailing out insolvent businesses as that just causes distortions in the market and causes management to continue with their incompetent practices.


A bankruptcy allows for the bad management to be washed out and replaced with new management. Bailing out a business (in this case a broadcasting station) or arranging loans, etc. allows bad management to continue in their positions and creates a false security for them. This creates a situation whereby the stations continue in their old and tired ways of failure.


I can give you a shocking example of this. In 2006, when a major Tokyo TV station took over a FM station, I was at a meeting where the guy who had been Program Director at that FM radio station for over ten years (ten years and lost $140 million USD) actually said to the TV station president - who had no become the president of the radio station;


"We don't have to get good ratings or make money as, even if we lose money, some other company will come in - with government support - and bail out the station and we'll all get to keep our jobs as we can't be fired under the labor laws (of Japan). So there's no reason to make any money." 


He said this like an excited boy who wanted his new friend in on his "secret." Both the new president of the radio station and I were surprised. No, surprised isn't the word I'm looking for here. I think my jaw dropped and bounced on the table top. It was a shocking admission.

If the kids want to hear new, cool music in Japan, 

it's not on the radio. They have to read magazines! 

The new president was also dumbfounded to hear this sort of thinking direct from the horse's mouth from a person in management. I had worked with this guy and that station for years and knew that they were incompetent and not interested in making money or getting good ratings. But I was completely surprised that he was so foolish that he'd so readily volunteer such information - so innocently - as if it were common sense - and as if it were useful knowledge. Did this Program Director actually think that the new president had bought this radio station for his fun and not to make money?


Of course, it goes without saying, that this Program Director was removed from his position quite soon after that.    


It had always struck me as amazing how someone like that could keep their job in the decade or so that I knew this gentleman. He was a nice guy, for sure. But a completely and totally clueless and incompetent businessman. 


As an aside, for those of you who live in Japan and have always wondered why, say, Japanese FM radio is so bad, then there's your answer: The management of these stations all think like the Program Director above; there's no reason to worry about your station brand, ratings, sales or making good programs. The station management only have to worry about protecting their own personal positions. This is how the situation is on the ground in these broadcasting stations. This is the reality for these people.


That's why, in a nutshell, Japanese TV and radio are so bad. It is also just one more symptom of why several of these stations will not survive the digital conversion. I've written about that here, here and here.

Now, if you read between the lines of the latest headlines, you can see that the Japanese Government is setting up the system for a collapse of radio stations.


The Associated Press reports: 


The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday it plans to allow one company to own up to four radio stations by relaxing its ordinance on the principle of banning multiple ownership of mass media.


The amendment is designed to permit a company to hold an entire equity stake in each of four radio stations, whether they are AM or FM stations.

The current ministry ordinance bans a company, which has a 10 percent or larger stake in a radio station, from holding more than 10 percent of shares in another station in the same service area.

On a nationwide basis, a company is allowed to hold a stake of more than 20 percent in no more than two stations.

The ministry decided to relax the principle in order to help radio stations as the widespread use of the Internet has caused many of them financial difficulties by eating into their advertising revenues.

The drafted amendment, which would also allow radio stations to merge with each other, is expected to be put into effect in late June after being examined by an advisory panel to the communications minister.


The Japanese government recognizes the writing on the wall. Most of these stations under the current system are insolvent and cannot survive much longer. The economy is so bad - and the Internet has changed the game so much - that industries outside of broadcasting (the ones that the government traditionally went to for money) are no longer able to afford it, nor are they interested in broadcasting anymore.


Traditional broadcasting is a dinosaur. All the FM radio stations in Japan are seriously bleeding money even now - even J-Wave in Tokyo. When digital broadcasting starts and they lose all their sponsors, they are dead. I explained that in detail here.

RAMONES - ROCK & ROLL RADIO

Well, actually, no. No one in Japan remembers any rock & roll

radio because Japan has never had any.

FM stations in Tokyo cannot survive past 2015 in their current configuration. The government can change the rules all they want to try to keep them breathing but the fact remains the same: Traditional broadcasting days are numbered. FM radio in Japan is already at death's door. 


TV stations like TV Tokyo, TBS and TV Asahi are not far behind.