MichaelAngelo's Marketplace : Where is the Bumper Music????

MichaelAngelo's Market : Where is the bumper music??

Hi A&G Fans! This blog is especially for longtime A&G Fans. I noticed that a lot of you are concerned about the lack of bumper music going out to commercial breaks and want to know what is going on. Well, first a bit of radio history here. You see, bumper music was actually intended not as entertainment on a talk show but for an important function. It was needed to cue other radio stations that are carrying a radio program from another city that they are going to break or coming back from commercial.

The reason this was so important is because it used to be that all talk shows had to be staffed by a live person to perform the function of turning a program on and off in order to play local commercials. When first started in radio, my first gig was turning a syndicated program on/off twice an hour. Pretty boring..but I was in radio so I was happy to do it (plus I was young and stupid and didn't know any better). Well, in the year 2019, the technology is so advanced that across the grand USA, there are tons of small stations that rely on computers for going in and out of break. There is a relay that triggers the affiliates of a program to go to break. That's how our show works...after the guys say "your listening to A&G...boom...an electronic relay is fired off and everyone goes to local break.

Well, one of the challenges of growing a radio program is that you do have to please different companies and bosses. Everyone does things a bit differently, and it is a challenge to please everyone. The A&G show started on August 31,1998 and I started with the program on January 17,2000.It has been very fun to watch the show grow and all of us at the show sure enjoy everyone listening for all these years.

What is standard in the talk show industry has changed over the years. Joe and Jack were one of the very first guys that I was aware of that regularly made their staff part of their show. In fact, it was taboo and they took flack for it in the beginning. But being young and fearless, they continued to do it. Nowadays, it is very common for talk show hosts to talk with their producers on the air. No big deal at all.

Well, (WULL!) the current standard for talk shows in that you go to breaks with a sting instead of music. There are a couple of reasons for this: One, some listeners simply do not like hearing hosts like Joe and Jack talk over the music. We've had complaints over the years of "I want to hear Joe and Jack...not the music".Another issue is that we live in a digital world and companies are now doing everything they can to protect their music. There have been lawsuits over copyright infringement. It is very common for digital companies to only a short amount of music to be played. This is often too short to use because the host needs to speaker longer than the music allows.

Also, another issue with bumper music deals with putting together radio programs for later use. Best of A&G programs without music are much easier to put together and time out better for the hour. In radio, timing is everything. Many radio stations are automated and so programming must be timed out perfectly in order for all local commercials and news to be played correctly.

Another issue is with local advertising clients. They need air checks of their commercials in order to make sure they are being properly run. Well, the bumper music would often run into a live ad and that client may not be happy about that. Plus, the music being part of the ad makes it difficult to replay if needed at a later time.

I enjoyed playing bumper music out to breaks and whenever possible, tried to put humor in it. Sometimes I went too far and sometimes listeners would say I didn't go far enough. Unfortunately, as funny as the music might be......it also can be very problematic for show production. Bumper Music to start a segment does not cause any issues. I do miss the opportunity to create a cheap laugh or to offend someone. But rest assured I will continue to do my best to add humor to the show. Thank you for listening for all these years and please continue to listen...tell your friends... and feel free to send Marshall Phillips money for his gambling addiction. I enjoy breakfast every time he wins and that helps do a great show!Hope this gave you some insight into the disappearance of outgoing bumper music. I'm flattered that so many of you enjoyed me and my sick humor! :)- MichaelAngelo


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