A Day In The Life of XM: The Bob Lefsetz Visit

Bob Lefsetz, the mother of all Industry bloggers, visited XM. I’ve known Bob for many years. His blog is must reading for anyone remotely connected to music. He doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone in terms of his opinion. If he thinks God is an asshole, he’ll say it. Whenever I visit LA, we have a free form dinner somewhere and rant about the state of life. While Bob was an early believer in XM, he’s recently written some things that would lead you to believe that XM’s programming is sinking into the FM standard. There may be some things that might lead people to think that, but to us the evolution of XM, while complex, is absolutely not geared on going backwards! Bob was unsure of that. So we thought it might be time to have him visit us. So we wrestled with a few dates and came up with one last Tuesday. If he comes in and checks out the vibe and it’s lame---then maybe he’s right.

At first we were thinking “let’s put on a dog ’n pony for him”…then—Naaah! He’s WAY too smart not to see through that. So the “plan” was no plan. He visits…walks the halls and checks out the reality of a day in the life at XM. No show…no presentation…just a day at XM. Nothing more...nothing less.

So…he arrives. At first I take him to Eric Logan’s weekly staff meeting with managers of various programming departments. I got excused from this so I could be Bob’s host. After a quick hello, we wander the halls. Run into Jessie Scott from X Country…they talk about some Austin artist that played on a Springsteen album…then Jackson Brady from Real Jazz wanders over and it’s a Jazz rap…then Earl Bailey and he connect on Philadelphia Stories…then Ben Smith from Fine Tuning engages Bob on the virtues of his channel in 5.1. Perfect! This is all spontaneous. No one was “briefed”, no script..…they’re just talking their game. No hype…just excitement about talking about what they do.

We then wander up to the second floor for a tour of our 85 studios. We also have an amazing setup at Jazz@Lincoln Center in NYC and at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, but the 2nd floor here in DC is the creative command center. First we walk into “The Quincy Jones Room” (production rooms are named after masters of sound—from the Jerry Wexler room to the Stravinsky room to the Orson Wells room, etc…) “Audio Animator” Larry Whitt is there…amongst the Pro Tools, keyboards and Fenders. Larry gives Bob Production 101 and then we play “stump the star”, where artists are asked to pick ANY song, and we can then call it up and instantly play it. The only artist to beat us was Jon Anderson who wanted Ilhan Mimaraglu. We didn’t have it. Then Dylan stumped us. Odd. But he found a song we didn’t have! But Anderson’s worse than Bob Dylan in terms of challenging our data base! OK—enough of that. We walked…through Prod Rooms, Talk Studios, On Air studios and banks of databases. Then I noticed Eddie Kilroy from Hank’s Place was taking a break. We walked in. Hank’s Place is an amazing format. A few times a year Willie Nelson pops in and takes over…it’s loose…it’s decorated like a bar in Lubbock circa 1956. I’m wondering…how will a Jewish Lawyer like Bob relate to Eddie, an ex-Rodeo champ who oozes Red State swagger? Man—they hit it off. Why? Because Eddie is the real deal. No pretense…just passion. Then we run into 50’s guru Ken Smith…Ken waxes on about how the 50’s are the roots. The early R&B…the depth beyond Hound Dog…the spirit of early Rock and R&B. Then into our Performance Theater. Unfortunately it was a mix day with no artists; originally the Cars were to perform an Artist Confidential, but Elliott Easton broke his collarbone…but Bob was able to Q&A Jackson MacInnis, one of our top session engineers…He’s the guy Paul McCartney said “Good job mate” to after his gig at XM.

The tour continues. I’m feeling sorry for Bob because everyone we run into in the hall is SO happy to tell their story. It’s like the finger in the dike has been pulled out and all of this passion comes pouring out---into Bob’s ears. But he’s digging it…except when we go by a channel he doesn’t like. Walking past the “Big Tracks” studio, he boos. Hates the channel. Well, I can understand that. NO ONE likes ALL of our channels. That’s the point---If you create channels that have a distinct Point of View, some channels will be appalling…that’s the give when you do PURE channels. That channel is PURE. Pure CRAP in his mind…but I think if you were 16 and getting laid to Bryan Adams songs in 1986, you might think differently. Then again, we’ve got a zillion channels that cover pretty much every musical POV from that decade.

Into Deep Tracks for vinyl masturbation with George Taylor Morris...then over to Bluesville where Bob and Bill Wax talk about the future of the blues. Then into Soul Street where he and Bobby Bennett engage in a conversation ranging from early Motown to the state of Hip Hop. Now—I am actually getting impressed. I work with these guys every day and I forget what treasures we have running these channels. These guys and gals are INTO IT. They are SOOOO incredibly focused and passionate. I need to spend more time rekindling the musical relationship. Jim McBean, the king of Audio Animators, had an animated rap with Bob…

Then I think we scared him. Took him into meet Phlash Phelps and sit in on a few breaks. Phlash is out of his mind…in a good way. He is a whiz at the pace and intensity of what makes that channel soar as a Top 40 circa 1965. Along with Terry Young and Pat Clarke, they’ve really captured the spirit of Top 40 Forty years ago. He walked out thinking---What was that??!!

By now it was lunchtime. Over lunch Kurt Gilchrist wandered over to talk about the Decades channels in general, but wait—here comes Gary Hahn from our Marketing group, and Chris Walsh, the guy who oversees our artist videos. Bob launches into a tirade about XM marketing. He just saw remarkable passion in action and doesn’t think our marketing reflects that. After lunch…it’s back to the halls. Sonny Fox on comedy…Kate Bradley on The Loft…Coolguy from Liquid Metal...Tobi on XMU…Robert Davis on The Village…one after another, he asks a question and gets bombarded with emotion and buzz. During our hall walking, he asks some business questions. Time to unleash him on Eric Logan, our EVP of Programming, a CEO in training and a brilliant guy who actually understands the business side of XM which I sorta get, but is SO complicated and detail driven that it’s a godsend to have Eric on board since he understands programming and actually loves the business side. Hell, he was a “ costumed duck” at some hillbilly station in Oklahoma and now is a Senior Executive at an emerging technology company like XM. So I sit in for a sec and they go into this whole rap that is in some MBA code. I leave, though I’m impressed that Bob actually understands the code as they go on and on about CPGAs (Not the Canadian PGA as I first thought) and other stuff that I’d rather avoid.

Forty minutes later, I come back…they’re still talking.

Sixty minutes…still talking.

Finally Eric has to go to some meeting and I rescue Bob…but I think he was into the business rap. Back in my office we start talking airplanes. I want to take him on one of our Barbecue Runs. Trips I take with the Robert Friedman, CEO of the Red Hot and Blue chain. We hit it off. I want to run a BBQ chain and he wants to be a PD. We’ve taken some amazing trips, like the one to Memphis with Maxx Myrick our Jazz icon. Going to a BBQ place with Robert Friedman is like going to a Yes concert with me. We’re backstage looking at smokers. (Ribs not joints) Its weird eating Pork Ribs with a guy named Friedman who weighs about 120 pounds. On that particular trip we hit six places, a minor league ballgame, atrip down Beale Street and a long nap. Oh well…..Bob is definitely coming on a flight. I do my Eric Logan rap but instead of financials it’s instrument approach procedures…I smell a fresh victim with Bob next time he’s here. He tells me the guy who runs Guitar Center owns the same plane I have…we look him up on the FAA Data Base. Got his home address…guess I can use that next time I need an amp.

Then onto my XM rap. It's a 72 hour presentation that I condense into about 12 minutes. He gets it.

Bob sees the 1962 Gibson ES-175 in my office. I bought it in 1972 so I could sound like Steve Howe since that was his signature guitar. Didn’t work out…so I gave Bob some of my demos…that might be a big mistake.

Lou Brutus pops by with a package of stuff from his band the Dead Schlembeckers. Bob is starting to question our sanity which is a good thing.

OK—On to Dinner. We went to Tosca, an Italian restaurant near the Capitol. Buzzy enough for him to see the VIPs (Senator Feinstein was there), quiet enough to talk. George Taylor Morris (GTM) and Mike Marrone came with. Bob continued on his rage against the XM marketing POV…interspersed with dialogue about…everything. I can’t really disagree with everything he was saying…he made good points…and there were some things that made sense, but then again some that didn't. It’s a very complicated business. I say that a lot because it IS. It’s like no other business. People tend to think it’s easy…it ain’t. In any case there was a good dialogue. I took his thoughts to heart because he CARES. GTM drove him back to his hotel and got stopped by the Pentagon police for blowing a stop sign. Part of the DC experience. Those guys don’t look like terrorists so it was a nonevent. I drove Marrone back to XM…he was complaining that Bob was too jet lagged to record a show for the Loft. I think Mike wanted to do an all-nighter with Bob and record some stuff. Too bad this isn’t 1978 or they’d still be in the studio.

Next morning...more hall walking! I think he loved talking to Marlin Taylor. 71 years old…going on 30. Invented Beautiful Music. The passion of a true radio warrior. Proudly displayed photos of WDVR FM in Philly in 1963. An FM pioneer. On to a quick visit with our "new guy" John Clay who runs the 70's...Then some face time with Dan Turner, our SVP of Operations. I call him Mr. Wolf (from Pulp Fiction)…he gets things DONE...and has a bizarre collection of odd album covers--REAL odd on his wall, along with other whacked stuff. Dan has a good balance of insanity and Operational TCB. Dan takes him down to meet Marrone. They cut a show together. I pop in and ask some stupid question…but they’re INTO the show. I leave.

Around 2:30pm his car back to the airport arrives. We missed so much. He didn’t get to see our 5.1 demonstration, or the Slide guitarist Bill Wax had in, or about 150 other people that he would have dug talking to. But he DID see a typical day in the life of XM….hope he liked it.