Last week, I recommended that radio folk might appreciate the look behind the show business curtain at “SNL” in the new Peacock documentary series chronicling their 50-year broadcast history both from a preparation standpoint and at how they’ve evolved with the times both in content and distribution.
Not surprisingly, I got a lot of feedback almost exclusively missing those points and instead complaining the show hasn’t been funny in 45 years and that anyone watching today is a liberal elitist welcome to America 2025.
Looking at my friend Mason Dixon! Teasing aside, another radio friend of mine, Fred Jacobs, also wrote about SNL this week, noting as Barrett Media hands out awards for best PD in multiple formats, Lorne Michaels (EP of SNL) may be the greatest programmer of all with his truly amazing ability to discover, nurture and promote talent in a creative environment thru the decades. It’s hard to argue with that!
I bring up “SNL” again this week because Peacock really is outdoing themselves in their retrospectives with the release of “50 Years of SNL Music” featuring an opening montage of artist performances beat mixed, pitch-corrected, and tight edited under the director of ‘The Roots’ Quest Love.
It is, to say the least, breathtaking and might just be the best “music promo” ever created. If you’d like to see it, we have the link on my morning show’s socials @robbyandrochelleradio. It’s well worth your time.
It reminded me what a lost art big, impactful imaging largely is that is creative, innovative, tightly edited, and edited again, that gives a show forward momentum. So much imaging like everything else on music radio these days is somewhere between just ok and white noise, does your imaging pop?
Are your promos grabbing the listener’s attention and creating a water cooler moment like Quest Love’s? SNL is an over-the-air legacy show like so many radio stations, owned by a big corporation; if we took a big swing like NBC/Peacock has been, we could be!
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Robby Bridges works for Press Communications where he serves as the VP of Programming for 99.7 and 107.1 The Boss. He also hosts the morning show ‘Robby and Rochelle’ alongside his wife, Rochelle. He’s been with the company/stations since September, 2021.
Prior to arriving in New Jersey, Robby spent decades working across the country in many top markets for many highly successful brands. Among them include Z100, WPLJ and Q102. He has also worked in Detroit, Boston, Providence, Portsmouth, NH, and served as an exclusive guest host for Scott Shannon on the True Oldies Channel.
To get in touch, reach Robby by email at RobbyBridges@hotmail.com.
