Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2007 > February
February 2007
3/1: Boortz debuts at No. 2 (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Blame it on Obama.
Neal Boortz’s latest tome “Somebody’s Gotta Say It” will land at No. 2 on the next New York Times non-fiction bestseller list dated March 11, 2007, according to WSB-AM programmer Pete Spriggs. Due to pre-orders, his book actually popped in at No. 29 on the list dated March 4, 2007.
The current book by Barack Obama (“Audacity of Hope”) prevented the local syndicated talk show host from debuting at No. 1 like his last book “The Fair Tax Book.”
2/28: Kincade on… Guiding Light?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a case of strange bedfellows, 680/The Fan’s John Kincade sports co-host ran into members of the CBS soap “Guiding Light” at a recent Thrashers game. They were there as part of some program to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the female-friendly show (going back to the radio days).
Kincade said he’ll appear as part of a March 9 episode featuring the Atlanta trip. He said the executive producer Ellen Wheeler also invited him to go up to NYC and appear on the show.
2/27: Dave Ramsey visits Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Jennifer Brett met syndicated talk-show host Dave Ramsey this morning while he visited “Good Day Atlanta” and Randy & Spiff’s new morning show. Ramsey and his aggressive debt-reduction advice took over for the Kimmer in November from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays on 640/WGST-AM. As noted below, it’s too soon to say how his ratings are so far.
Here are excerpts from her Q&A with him:
Q: Did you ever think someone could become famous giving advice like, “spend less than you make”?
A: It turns out common sense is marketable. If they ever wise up, I’m out of business.
Q: In many calls to your show, money woes seem like just part of the larger problem, such as family, marriage or health issues.
A: It’s never really the problem. It’s almost always a symptom. (On the show) the gateway we enter someone’s life is their checkbook. It’s a lot of life, a little bit of math.
Q: What irritates you in the world of finance?
A: Companies who have a corporate practice of abusing the consumer. Cash-advance, payday loan people who prey on the poor. Snobby bank executives who have the agenda to fee the public into oblivion.
Q: What’s the biggest tax-related mistake most people make?
A: The refund. A refund means you’ve prepaid and given the IRS an interest-free loan for a year. (Ramsey added that the mistake is compounded by “rapid-refund” loans, which charge extremely high interest rates).
Q: Why do you think the President’s idea to reform Social Security tanked?
A: There’s a percentage of the population that has the misguided view that Washington can solve their problems. (The current system) is a mathematical disaster. I’m 46. I’ve paid in all these years. Keep it and just let me out. I’ll still come out ahead.
Q: How’s the show doing in Atlanta (home to the famously frugal Clark Howard, whose show airs on WSB from 1 to 4 p.m. weekdays)?
A: We don’t have any ratings yet but we’ve got a good buzz (judging from the number of calls from the Atlanta area). I’m a huge Clark Howard fan. Clark is a friend of mine. I think he does a really good radio show. Our shows are really different. He’s definitely an Atlanta icon. If we could have a tenth of his ratings, we’ll be happy. I’m thinking by this time next year, we’re going to be smiling.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do with money?
A: Giving. It’s the most fun anyone can have with money.
2/26: Mitch Evans joins GST
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clay Hunnicutt, operations manager at Clear Channel Atlanta, just told me that Mitch Evans, formerly of 790/The Zone, 92.9/Dave FM and briefly at 99X, will take over as sports director at 640/WGST-AM. “I will be doing morning drive updates and sports” with Randy & Spiff, he said. “If there’s a sports story, I will be on with them during the show.”
Any Braves pre-game and post-game that Chip Caray or Joe Simpson can’t do, I’ll host the pre-game and post-game. Stu Klitenic is out but Mark Lemke remains.
He replaces some guy named Eric Page, who was cut in December.
2/26: Randy & Spiff debut on GST
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Randy & Spiff, formerly of Fox/Cool/Lite, have begun their new life as news/talk morning hosts from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.. No to the Supremes. No to Elton John. No to Rod Stewart. Except for a few seconds of bumper music after a commercial break, they are no longer playing music.
But yes to Phil Gingrey (R-Ga), their first interview at about 7:15 a.m. who bashed Democrats for their nonbinding resolution against the troop increase. And yes to a Libertarian think tank Cato Institute climatologist Patrick Michaels who questioned global warming and Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth,” which won an Oscar last night. And yes to frequent breaks for Wall Street Journal business reports, sports, news, weather and traffic.
“So I was in the middle of ‘Here Comes Santa Claus,’ then I got interrupted,” joked Randy Cook at 6:07 a.m. “Then I got interrupted. I didn’t know what happened. I was home for three months.”
They were actualy only off the air for a few days past two months. Their last show was in mid December right before soft-rock Lite 94.9 (playing all Christmas) abruptly switched to country station 94.9/The Bull. Actually, Randy & Spiff knew it was coming for months. But they were still under contract with Clear Channel Radio so the Powers That Be found the two men a new home. The pair have been spending the past three weeks prepping, getting used to the new rhythms of news/talk, which features longer segments than when they were on Fox (1989-2003), Cool (2003-05) and Lite (2005-06).
“We’re a saga,” Randy said. “We’re somewhere between an epic tale and legend. I’m settling on saga.”
They noted that the interminable Oscars seemed to take even longer than usual and that host Ellen DeGeneres did okay but wasn’t as good as Billy Crystal. (Who ever is?) They played one of her funnier moments when she had Steven Spielberg take a picture of Ellen with Clint Eastwood “for MySpace.”
“We had to pace ourselves. Now we can talk about things more in depth than on the other stations,” Spiff said after the show.
2/22: Zone/Bull promotion photos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a photo from Wednesday night’s Hawks/Zone/Bald Guys promotion. Catering to the bald guy demo, the Zone drew about 100 people. That’s a decent turnout.
And here’s a shot I took Thursday night at Park Tavern during a party for advertisers such as Home Depot, AllState, Six Flags, the Siding Doctor, Cowboys and Nash Chevy for the new country staiton 94.9/The Bull. From left to right, it’s the new Bull music director Lance Houston, country act Josh Gracin and Bull PD Clay Hunnicutt. Hunnicutt said he hopes to have a morning show by the time the spring Arbitron period starts in late March. He said he has three possibilities for morning shows up his sleeve and will have an announcement soon.
2/22: Ryan Cameron meets Prince
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is from my colleague Sonia Murray and will be in Peach Buzz Thursday:
Last week, Ludacris gave a shout-out to V-103 afternoon host Ryan Cameron in his Grammy acceptance speech, and that alone would make for a great “thank you” from a former intern. But for an encore, the Atlanta rapper-actor invited the V-103 announcer to dinner with Prince during the NBA’s All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. “It was absolutely the highlight of my career,” said Cameron, who returned to the airwaves Tuesday afternoon. “I’ve been trying to explain to people, it was like being a computer geek and not only getting to meet Bill Gates, but sit down and break bread with him. ”
Actually, the meal included corn chowder, a field green salad and sea bass. And not only were Cameron, Ludacris and Prince there, in a private area of The Rio Hotel (where Prince performs each week), but the dinner party also featured reclusive Dave Chappelle, part-time Atlantan Toni Braxton, actress Gabrielle Union and actor Hill Harper. The highlights? “With Prince, it was just his voice. How it resonated. It’s so low and just carries, it almost sounded like he had a microphone on. But of course, he didn’t.
“Everybody has been asking: Were both of them weird?” Cameron continued. “And they were totally the opposite. They were just as normal and as engaging as any person you would be having a conversation at dinner with — for two and a half hours. I mean we talked about family, ‘Happy Feet’…I got the feeling that if Prince didn’t have to go do a show, we would all still be talking.”
2/22: Ugly Betty/Britney sendups
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peach Buzz has been tracking B98.5 morning producer Will Gara’s efforts to win a trip to meet the cast of ABC’s hit show “Ugly Betty,” competing with 21 other DJs in a “Face for Radio DJ” contest. He dressed up like Betty on the show, eyebrows, wig and poncho. Listeners who vote can win a vacation to Cancun, Mexico. Will, with the publicity, has managed to move up to fifth place on the list.
Jocks in stations in Houston, Orlando, Cleveland and D.C. are ahead of him and are all truly, um, ugly.
Here’s where you can vote.
The hit freshman show, leading into “Grey’s Anatomy,” has turned ABC into an instant force on Thursdays after years of being an also ran that key night.
Meanwhile. 790/The Zone has been giving away tickets to bald guys during Wednesday night’s Spurs/Hawks game in hopes of setting some of strange “world record” of most bald guys gathered in one place at a sporting event. I guess if anything it will make for an amusing photo op I’ll post here as soon as I get it.
Steak Shapiro, bald president of 790/The Zone, last week stopped by a 680/the Fan radiothon. Typically, such a move is considered uncouth. But he gave $250 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, blunting criticism. But John Kincade of the Fan drew the line and prevented Steak from going on air. (Kincade’s emailed take: “I actually made the decision to not put Steak on the air. I understand his desire to get heard on the top rated and most listened to sports show in town, but I would not comply.”) The two stations are locked in a fierce competitive battle and Buck & Kincade’s show has been beating the 2 Live Stews (though it’s awfully close.).
2/21: Top 100 talk show hosts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talkers magazine, a trade publication, ranked the 100 “most important radio talk show hosts in America.”
The editor Michael Harrison has been compiling the list for several years and it’s fairly subjective. He writes that the goal is “to create a list reflective of the industry’s diversity and total flavor as well as giving credit where credit is due.” Factors include courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness. Most of those on the top of the list are syndicated and I am only referencing their local affiliate here in Atlanta below.
The top host is not surprisingly Rush Limbaugh, who has 20 million-plus listeners a week and has wielded more influence than virtually any other talk-show host this side of Howard Stern. He’s heard locally on WGST-AM. He was No. 2 last year. With Howard Stern off terrestial radio, Talkers dropped him from No. 1 to No. 12.
He’s followed by Sean Hannity on WSB-AM (No. 3 last year), then Michael Savage (also on WSB-AM and No. 4 last year). Dr. Laura, who has not been heard in Atlanta for about four years since WGST-AM booted her, edges up to No. 4 from No. 5 in 2006. (Side question: Does anybody want her back? Do you miss her?)
Opie & Anthony, who are heard on XM but returned to FM markets last year, are now No. 5 after being absent from the list a year ago. WGKA’s Laura Ingraham is No. 6, up from No. 7. She’s followed by another WGKA-AM staple, Mike Gallagher, who holds at No. 8. Our local boy on WSB-AM Neal Boortz, whose new book “Somebody’s Gotta Say It” came out yesterday, is ranked No. 9 again. And former WGST-AM talker Glenn Beck is No. 10. He’s heard on 720/WVCC-AM in Newnan and he is up from No. 14.
The only person I don’t know much about in the top 10 is Ed Schultz, a progressive talker out of Fargo but is syndicated and not heard in Atlanta. He was at No. 13 a year ago. Don Imus fell out of the top 10, tumbling from No. 6 to No. 14. Air America’s Randi Rhodes dropped from 10 to 13. Bill O’Reilly falls from 11 to 15. Weekend legal show on WSB-AM Bill Handel moves up from 23 to 17. Jim Rome (used to be on locally but no longer) drops from 17 to 19. WGST’s Dave Ramsey moves up to No. 21 from 23. Weekend WSB-AM show Kim Komando also holds at No. 24. WGKA’s Bill Bennett holds at No. 25. WGST’s George Noory holds at No. 28 and GKA’s Michael Medved holds at No. 29. WSB-AM’s Clark Howard holds at 27.
No. 60 is Bob & Tom. WDUN-AM’s Martha Zoller, who shows up often on CNN and Fox as a guest commentator, is at No. 88.
There’s an alphabetical list of hosts from 101 to 250, not ranked. The Zone’s The 2 Live Stews are listed there. Former WSB-AM and Air America talker Mike Malloy is on the list, too, and so is WSB’s Chris Krok. But 102.5’s Michael Baisden isn’t there, though perhaps he is not counted because he plays music.
2/20: Crash Clark writing a book
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former 99Xer Christpher “Crash: Clark is thinking of putting a book together about his life and he wants you Atlantan folks to help him out after more than 16 years on the air here. (He’s now at WBCN-FM in Boston with Fred Toucher and Rich Shertenlieb.) The party-loving traffic dude was fired and suspended multiple times at 99X for various infractions. His departure from 99X was very Crash-like. He allowed a gal to provide a Lewinsky on a random guy for 311 tickets at a local club back in December 2005.
Here’s the note he sent me recently:
Despite a bizarre childhood, a career path that included more turns than a NASCAR event and a faulty education, I’ve grown tired of hearing so many people telling me to put my life in print.
So, with the aid of a really cheap publisher and spell check I, Crash Clark am going to attempt to ignite every brain cell I’ve laid to waste and recapture the events of 18 years of radio insanity.
From the very beginning in 1989 at Power 99, all the way through traffic reporting, sports, morning shows, overnight shifts, those ever popular appearances and just plain hanging out in Georgia, it’s going down on paper.
Here’s where you, the listener, come in. With so many memories, some good, some bad, some just downright wrong and a few worthy of jail time, I’m asking you to share your stories. There’s a good chance we met at an appearance, a concert, in an alley way in Buckhead, at a charity golf tournament, or the unemployment line. I want you to share any and all stories to be included in the book. It’s sort of a tell all, sort of, created from all the things that have happened in those 18 years and all the things I’ve forgotten.
If you have a story, no matter how big or small, write it down and e-mail crashclarkstories@yahoo.com and I’ll certainly add my twist and give you credit, unless you wish to remain nameless to protect your family.
It’s been a hell of a road and this seems so much more fun than just writing up a will. So Atlanta, here we go, give me while, I’ll keep you posted and start e-mailing me your tales of Crash encounters.
If we’re lucky they’ll make it into a movie and Kevin Smith can direct it. No, maybe Brian Singer will and I’ll have all kinds of kick butt superpowers like the ability to hold a job.
See you in print, Crash Clark crashclarkstories@yahoo.com
2/20: Ages of radio station listeners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here is the median age of the listeners of various radio stations, according to the fall Arbitron book:
750/WSB-AM: 51.9 (50.8 in 2005, 53.2 in 2004)
WAOK-AM: 51.0 (57.7 in 2005, 47.5 in 2004)
640/WGST-AM: 50.0 (54.8 in 2005, 52.9 in 2004)
Eagle 106.7: 49.0 (48.8 in 2005, 47.7 in 2004)
Lite 94.9 (now 94.9/The Bull): 48.7 (47.7 in 2005, 46.8 in 2004)
Kiss 104.1: 47.8 (44.7 in 2005, 42.7 in 2004) This station has seen its audience age significantly in two years.
Smooth Jazz 107.5:47.8 (47.1 in 2005, 48.6 in 2004)
680/The Fan: 47.5 (41.7 in 2005, 43.3 in 2004)
Praise 97.5: 42.9 (42.9 in 2005, 42.7 in 2004)
790/The Zone: 42.6 (41.9 in 2005, 37.9 in 2004)
97.1/The River: 42.6
104.7/The Fish: 42.4 (41.7 in 2005, 41.4 in 2004)
B98.5: 42.0 (42.1 in 2005, 45.8 in 2004)
Kicks 101.5: 41.7 (41.1 in 2005, 38.3 in 2004)
Grown Folks Radio 102.5: 41.0 (42.1 in 2005, 42.5 in 2004)
Dave FM 40.9 (39.4 in 2005, 37.3 in 2004)
Star 94: 36.3 (34.3 in 2005, 35.8 in 2004)
96rock (which became Project 9-6-1 in mid-November): 35.0 (40.6 in 2005, 39.5 in 2004)
V-103: 31.2 (31.8 in 2005, 31.0 in 2004)
Q100: 30.1 (29.4 in 2005, 26.4 in 2004).
Viva 105.7: 29.9 (29.4 in 2005, 26.4 in 2004)
99X: 28.8 (30.9 in 2005, 26.3 in 2004)
105.3/The Buzz (now El Patron): 28.7 (23.4 in 2005)
La Raza 102.3: 25.0 (23.7 in 2005, 27.1 in 2004)
Hot 107.9: 23.1 (25.5 in 2005, 24.9 in 2004)
95.5/The Beat: 22.4 (22.9 in 2005, 22.7 in 2004)
2/19: Sirius/XM announce merger (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The two satellite radio companies XM and Sirius have announced a merger. It’s described as a $13 billion “merger of equals” in the press release.
It doesn’t say which name will survive but my bet is Sirius since Mel Karmizan of Sirius will run the shop.
Such a merger has been in the rumor mill for quite some time. The two companies now have about 14 million subscribers but neither is even close to break even, much less profitability. The hope is when they merge, they can create a cost structure that actually makes money. The question is whether the the Federal Communications Commission will accept a merger on regulatory grounds. The two companies will surely argue they are competing in the grand world of all listening options including AM/FM, iPods and soon, the Internet in people’s cars.
This move will also broaden options for customers who want to listen to, say, baseball on XM and Howard Stern on Sirius. It might mean higher subscription prices, though. How the programming will merge? It’s too early to say.
Such a deal, even if the two sides agree, could take quite a long time to get through the regulatory muck in D.C. And I’m not even sure how the technical issues will be straightened out.
The National Association of Broadcasters, repping AM/FM stations, of course instantly came out with a release opposing the merger, noting that the FCC threw out the Dish/DirectTV merger.
“When the FCC authorized satellite radio, it specifically found that the public would be served best by two competitive nationwide systems. Now, with their stock prices at rock bottom and their business model in disarray because of profligate spending practices, they seek a government bail-out to avoid competing in the marketplace.” the group noted.
2/17: Ken Batie obit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Holly Crenshaw did a lovely piece on Ken Batie, the former WCLK-FM afternoon jock who died in a car accident last Monday. Here’s the story link.
His memorial is today at noon. I unfortunately can’t make it.
2/19: Larry Wachs free of criminal charges
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Larry Wachs, formerly of the Regular Guys, is no longer under a criminal cloud.
Wachs lost his job at 96rock (now Project 9-6-1) in October because of a prank he pulled on sister station Viva 105.7’s morning hosts Yogi & Panda, taping their conversation in the bathroom, then airing it last October.
Yogi, whose real name is Juan Tapia, and Panda, whose real name is Jose Carias, filed a civil lawsuit against Wachs, Wachs’ former co-host Eric Von Haessler and 96rock’;s radio owner Clear Channel for invasion of privacy and negligent hiring. Clear Channel fired Wachs and Von Haessler soon after “with cause,” meaning they would not get paid the rest of their contract through March, 2007. Tapia and Carias soon dropped charges against Von Haessler, but filed a criminal lawsuit in Fulton County for alleged illegal eavesdropping against Wachs.
Christopher Taylor, who represents Yogi & Panda, emailed me to confirm that he talked to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office on his clients’ behalf, informing them that they no longer wanted to pursue criminal charges against Wachs, citing their “big heartedness.”
Assistant District Attorney Robert Wolf, in a letter dated Feb. 15, 2007, wrote to Wachs and his attorney Andy Head informing them that the office will not pursue the case against Wachs, noting that the conversation in question occurred in a public restroom and the victims no longer wanted to proceed with the criminal case.
“I’ve been vindicated,” Wachs said. “They were in this for political gain. They overplayed their hand and were sorely disappointed.”
Wachs had filed a civil counterclaim against Clear Channel and Yogi & Panda. The civil cases are still pending.
Wachs, in the meantime, is aggressively scouring the country for a good talk radio job while Von Haessler is looking at some non-radio opportunities locally. Yogi left Viva 105.7 in December and now works at a station in Dallas. Panda remains at Viva.
2/17: Remix show on Star!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Star 94 has been known for years as the soccer mom station, not a station for singles out to party. That’s more Beat/Q100 territory. In fact, night-time jock Nudge’s predecessor a few years back tried to do some club nights without much success. But Nudge is going to try to change that tonight with Star 94’s very first remix night starting at 11 p.m. after the Ryan Seacrest Top 40 countdown show.
Nudge is holding his party at Club Esso at 1599 Memorial Drive.
2/16: Live jock on the Bull
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lance Houston, the new music director and assistant program director at the Bull, started doing some live jock work Wednesday but has yet to ID himself. His boss Clay Hunnicutt dubbed it a “soft opening” until they get fully staffed. Lance will eventually do drivetime, 3 to 7 p.m. There’s no word on a morning show yet.
He came from a Montgomery, Ala. country station. Here was his bio on that station.
2/14: Former WCLKer Ken Batie passes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ken Batie, who was a dominant force as an afternoon DJ at WCLK for 15 years, died in a car accident Monday.
His funeral services will be held at the Martin Street Church of God and Christ at noon Saturday. The church is located at 148 Glenwood Ave. NE, Atlanta GA 30312.
There will also be a benefit jam session that night at the Sugar Hill nightclub at Underground Atlanta. Doors open at 8 p.m. with a $20 donation for a special memorial fund set up to help his two recently adopted children and his wife Lisa.
His show Hot Ice in the afternoons on WCLK was considered highly influential, said his good friend Khari Simmonds. He supported neosoul acts such as Maxwell and india.arie. “Ken singlehandedly changed the jazz scene in Atlanta and exposed us to such music,” said Simmonds, a jazz bass player.
He was taken off the air in 2005 as WCLK moved to a less radical focus in its music. He had since moved his work to his Web site www.hoticeonline. The radio station here has posted a memorial in his honor.
2/14: Radio ownership (updated)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clear Channel Atlanta has taken a lot of heat in recent months for all the changes it’s made. But what stations do they own and who owns the other stations in town? Here are the ownership breakdowns.
Cox Radio (Kiss 104.1, WSB-AM, B98.5, 95.5/The Beat and 97.1/The River): 24.2% share of listeners
Radio One (Hot 107.9, Smooth Jazz 107.5, Praise 97.5, Grown Folks 102.5) : 14.5%
CBS Radio (V-103, Dave FM, WAOK-AM) 13%
Clear Channel (640/WGST-AM, Project 9-6-1, 94.9/The Bull, Lite 96.7, Viva 105.7, 105.3/El Patron): 12.3%
Disney (Kicks 101.5, Eagle 106.7): 6.9%
Cumulus Media (Q100, 99X): 4.1%
Salem Broadcasting (Fish 104.7, news/talk 920/WGKA-AM and 1190, Christian talk WNIV-AM 970/1400): 3.6%
Lincoln Financial: (Star 94, 790/The Zone): 3.5%
Dickey Brothers: (680/The Fan, WALR 1340 AM-Hispanic sports/talk, WFOM 1230 AM sports/O’Reilly): 1%
Provident Broadcasting (J93.3) 0.8%
Davis Broadcasting (La Raza 102.3 and what used to be Sunny 100.1): 0.6%
Southern Broadcasting (WNGC-FM): 0.4%
As our regular Law Dawg blogger/copy editor/ombudsman noted, this does not add up to 100%. It’s more like 85%. Where did the other 15% go?
In a typical three-month period, metro Atlantans who fill out the 3,900 weekly diaries will pencil in about 130 different radio stations. But Arbitron has minimal qualifications to make its quarterly list and 100 of the stations don’t receive enough airplay to qualify.
Also, noncommercial stations are not included although I know WABE-FM receives enough airplay to show up if Arbitron did include them.
Sirius & XM still receive only a tiny percentage of the listeners, but I don’t know how much of a share they do get in Atlanta.
And Passersby, there’s not necessarily a correlation between actual blog comments and eyeballs. Like most blogs, this one gets far more eyeballs than actual comments. A typical month, this blog gets 150,000 to 200,000 page views by 50,000 or so individuals. I don’t expect every blog entry to get 100 comments. And as you’re probably learning, many of the comments don’t even deserve responses.
2/13: Dixie Chicks and country radio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The country radio audience disavowed the Dixie Chicks in 2003 after Natalie Maines’ untimely anti-Bush comments in London. Neither Eagle nor Kicks has played a single Chicks song since March 2003. In effect, the Chicks and country radio have mutually split up. And the Grammy awards the Chicks won Sunday haven’t moved the needle in any way.
Mark Richards, the operations manager at Kicks and Eagle, did a quick online survey of the stations’ fans and here are the results. Clearly, the stations are not going to be playing “Ready to Run” or “Cowboy Take Me Away” anytime soon:
Kicks 101.5:
2349 Listener surveys completed
Do the Grammys reflect your musical taste?
5.80% Yes
32.80% Somewhat
61.40% No
Does the Dixie Chicks’ success at the Grammys influence your desire to hear them again?
18.09% Yes
81.91% No
Are you “ready to make nice” and want to hear them on the radio?
18.95% It is time to bring them back
18.78% I don’t want to hear their music right now
48.32% I don’t want to hear their music ever again
13.95% don’t know why you took them off the air
67% do not want to hear them
EAGLE:
1316 Listener surveys completed
Do the Grammys reflect your musical taste?
2.53% Yes
26.76% Somewhat
70.71% No
Does the Dixie Chicks’ success at the Grammys influence your desire to hear them again?
11.66% Yes
88.34% No
Are you “ready to make nice” and want to hear them on the radio?
13.85% It is time to bring them back
20.20% I don’t want to hear their music right now
56.31% I don’t want to hear their music ever again
9.64% I don’t know why you took them off the air
76% do not want to hear them
2/13: Chris Krok one yr later
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chris Krok arrived from Minneapolis exactly a year ago as WSB-AM’s only local talk show host. And since then, his peers have dwindled: Denny Schaffer and the Kimmer were ousted by WGST in favor of syndicated fare. WAOK-AM is probably the only other place to hear anybody talk local issues for any length of time. (Neal Boortz really only has 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. before he goes syndicated.)
Krok, who does the 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. shift, did an email interview with me over the weekend. Here are some of his answers:
How do you feel about the show after one year?
I feel great. I’ve never been so happy in my talk radio career. WSB is a great place to work for, and they don’t tie your hands. I feel like we’ve made considerable progress, with six straight months of great ratings. We’ve made a great local connection with Atlanta listeners, who’ve responded wonderfully. So many local listeners have sent tip-offs on big local stories. So many people at the center of the stories have called in on their own. And so many people at the center of the controversy or story have decided to come to us first.
Greatest challenge in learning Atlanta vs. other cities
I thought the Twin Cities was tough (Minneapolis/St. Paul, market #16, 3 million people), with two major cities connected, with two major local governments and two totally different cultures. Was I wrong. This is a huge metro area, with so many counties and so many layers of government bureaucracies, like Fulton Police, Fulton Sheriff, Fulton Commission, then, within Fulton, local cities, like Sandy Springs and their police, government, etc. Oh, and don’t forget unincorporated Dunwoody, which is..depending on who you ask..simply in Dekalb..or is it also in Fulton a little?! Multiply this by 13-20 counties, depending on who you ask, and that‘s a tall task. There are so many metro counties and so many different roads (with almost no signs!)..there’s a LOT to learn about the Atlanta area, and I’m STILL learning!
What have you enjoyed most about Atlanta since you’ve arrived:
The weather is tops. Also, the beauty and terrain of the area. Also, being such a big area, the culture, sophistication and celebrity are a big plus, too. Plus most people tend to be really good, nice people. In Minnesota, they have a saying called “Minnesota Nice”. It’s a misnomer..the people here overall are much nicer.
Getting name recognition?
Definitely. I continued to be surprised at what I and others hear on the street. A Sandy Springs Priest quoted my show in his sermon a few months ago..a parishioner reported that to me. Co-Workers tell me about people who go nuts when they find out we work together. As I go about in my off air life, people recognize my name or voice, even though I really try not to walk around, telling people what I do when I’m on my own time. It’s all about word on the street, and I have to say it’s going great.
With the Kimmer and Denny gone from GST, that leaves you as the only talker on a mainstream talk station in Atlanta who talks local issues. Do you feel any extra weight of responsibility?
What’s funny is I don’t feel any extra weight. I was hired a year ago, and that was not the case then. So, this just happened on it’s own, and then one day someone said, “Dude, you’re the only local talk show host in Atlanta now!”. I think it’s sad that that’s the case, but I’m happy to take up the mantle of being the only local guy. They couldn’t have picked anyone better…since day one, I’ve ALWAYS been about local over national. I am a LOCAL guy..I’m so passionate about issues in OUR backyard, so this happens to be a perfect, natural fit.
What are your favorite stunts or moments so far?
As far as “stunts”, dressing up in a burqua (Muslim garb women wear, covering everything except eyes) and walking around Perimeter Mall before Christmas was one of the best. I LOVE taking big local issues, having a purpose and a goal, and going out and DOING IT! We’ve protested 50,000 illegal immigrants at Plaza Fiesta, and thousands again at the Capitol.
I’ve taken a tazer from Fulton deputies to show my support for them. And I’ve panhandled in Downtown to expose how much money you make and how easy it is to get away with it. These all have bigger points, which I bring up on the air after I get out there and do these things..there’s nothing like doing this. I believe that’s some of the best talk radio you can have.
Another moment that was so tough, but I’m so proud of: Getting the first live interview with the Cherokee County rape victim, who fought off and killed her attacker. That woman is such a strong, amazing person. She chose to give me her first live interview after she became well enough to talk. Nothing has moved our listeners and me more than that night of four hours of uninterrupted talk with her. I am still VERY close with her, and we’ll be doing lots more with her. One of my listeners is sending his Bronze Star he was awarded as an Army Ranger to me to present to her..Overwhelming emotion.
What are your pet topics?
Family and kids first. Studies show if you eat dinner with your family regularly, your kid is less likely to have sex, do drugs, etc. DO YOU THINK that’s because of eating dinner, as if it’s a CURE ALL??? NOOOO, it’s a SYMPTOM of a GOOD FAMILY!! Video games and videos don’t corrupt kids, their parents do. Kids aren’t victims of predators on the internet, they’re left alone to do what they want all night long without supervision and love, so they find love online with a perv. No kid should own a cell phone until he’s 18..you want one before, buy it yourself. ADHD is a myth with most kids..we’re drugging kids now to shut them up, without knowing long-term consequences..the only thing we have studied is its effect on rats, showing permanent depression. THESE are things I’m passionate about.
However, Immigration is a MASSIVE, consistent one for me, too, and I won’t stop until the problem is fully addressed and fixed. If you don’t read between the lines, you may never know how much it affects us…25% of people in the Roswell jail over the past ten years have been illegals..22% in Cherokee…25 people a day in this country die at the hands of an illegal, once every couple of weeks or more in Metro Atlanta, someone dies at the hand of an illegal immigrant: Most recently a man married for 9 mos with 6 kids on I-85 in Coweta, a Cobb County Deputy driving to work in the morning, and a pregnant woman and a man shot dead in Clayton. This is HUGE. The media rarely tells us how many of these people are illegal. You have to look for code words like, “driving without a valid license”, then investigate it yourself.
The “educator” I got booted from his job is Teodoro Maus, the former head of the Mexican Consul in Atlanta. He now heads the illegal movement for the state of Georgia. He called me and my listeners racist in an AP article, just for protesting his rally. I found out through listeners that he was on the payroll of Cobb Co. School District as a “Cultural Liaison”. We were told he was off payroll, but weeks later, a listener faxed me a document showing me he was still working as a volunteer, on a panel with new Hispanic parents in the CCSD. We exposed this and listeners and I put pressure on the CCSD, and they got him to agree to never work with CCSD again. A small victory, but an important one. Just the start of things to come.
How much time do you think it will be before WSB-AM moves you to a better time slot?
If they do, that’d be fine. If not, I’m more than happy in my current time slot from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Are you smoking more or less since you came to Atlanta?
Probably about the same…except, since I’m on for four hours (10pm-2am weeknights), I probably smoke a few more!! Still around a pack a day, depending on the day!! BUT..I’m still running!! 2.25 miles three times a week!
2/12: WCLK-FM update
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A reader inquired about the whereabouts of Jamal Ahmad, the afternoon jock at WCLK-FM 91.9. He left the station a couple of weeks ago. I reached him today. He said he simply wasn’t getting paid enough. (This is noncommercial radio.). He worked at CLK for 13 years, the afternoon shift the past year and a half.
WCLK in recent years has been struggling with fundraising, missing pledge drive goals. The growing strength of commercial rival smooth jazz station 107.5 hasn’t helped.
Wendy Williams, the general manager, is trying to find ways to broaden the appeal of the music mix and strengthen its radio signal. “We’re not so far in left field” as the station used to be, she said. Ken Batie, who was a popular jock there from the late 1980s through 2005, was a kingpin of experimentation and broke a ton of new neo-soul aritsts such as india.arie and Kem.
2/12: Radio racial breakdowns
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here are the racial breakdowns of listeners of various Atlanta radio stations, according to the fall Arbitron book. Arbitron breaks it down into just three categories: African-American, Hispanic and “Other,” meaning white, mixed, Native American and Asian American all blended together. Ages tomorrow or later this week, depending on radio news.
So we’ll break them down by stations first with majority black listeners, those with the highest concentration on top:
WAOK-AM (news/talk): 100% African American (92.1% African American, 7.9% other, 0.0 Hispanic in fall 2005; 97.6% African American, 2.4% other, 0.0% Hispanic in fall 2004)
Grown Folks radio 102.5 (mostly talk now, R&B music in 2004, 05): 95.7% African American, 2.8% other, 1.4% Hispanic (90.5% African American, 9.5% other in 2005, 91.7% African American and 8.3% other)
Praise 97.5: 95.5% black, 3.3% other, 1.2% Hispanic (93.5% black, 4.7% other, 1.7% Hispanic in 2005, 97% black, 2.3% other, 0.8% Hispanic in 2004)
Kiss 104.1: 94.6% African American, 3.7% other, 1.7% Hispanic (87.6% in African Americans, 10.9% others, 1.6% other in 2005, 94.5% African Americans, 5.1% other and 0.4% Hispanic in 2004)
V-103: 89.3% African American, 7.6% other, 3% Hispanic (92.9% African American, 6.2% other, 0.9% Hispanic in 2005; 90.2% African American, 7.6% other, 2.2% Hispanic in 2004)
Hot 107.9: 85.7% black, 12.2% other, 2.1% Hispanic (89.4% black, 8% other, 2.5% Hispanic in 2005; 86.8% black 10.5% other, 2.6% Hispanic in 2004)
Smooth Jazz 107.5: 72% African American, 20.4% other, 7.6% Hispanic (64.6% African American, 33.9% other, 1.6% Hispanic in 2005, 60% African American, 34.8% other, 6.2% Hispanic)
790/The Zone: 58.9% black, 39.3% other, 1.8% Hispanic (55.7% other, 41% black, 3.3% Hispanic in 2005, 69% other, 31% African American). Note the growing popularity of the 2 Live Stews has skewed the station from majority “other” to majority black.
Here are majority Hispanic stations.
La Raza 102.3: 96.8% Hispanic, 3.2% African American (100% Hispanic in 2005, 100% Hispanic in 2004)
Viva 105.7 95.4% Hispanic 3.5% other 1.2% black (100% Hispanic in 2005, 98.3% Hispanic, 0.8% African American, 0.8% other in 2004)
Here are stations with majority “other” (mostly white) listeners:
Eagle 106.7: 98.2% other 0.9% Hispanic, 0.9% black (96.8% other, 1.9% Hispanic 1.3% black in 2005; 95.2% other 3.4% black 1.4% Hispanic in 2004),
Kicks 101.5: 95.9% other, 3.1% Hispanic, 1% African American (92.5% other, 4% black 3.6% Hispanic in 2005, 92.8% other, 5.4% black, 1.8% Hispanic in 2004)
Dave FM: 94.2% other, 3.3% African American, 2.5% Hispanic (97.4% other, 2.6% African American in 2005; 90.8% other, 4.6% African American and 4.6% Hispanc in 2004)
96rock/Project 9-6-1: 92.5% other, 4.5% black, 3% Hispanic (93.7% other, 4.7% Hispanic, 1.6% black in 2005, 97.5% other, 1.6% Hispanic, 0.8% African American in 2004)
Star 94: 92.3% other 4.9% African American, 2.8% Hispanic (87% other, 7.9% African American, 5.1% Hispanic in 2005, 89.6% other, 6.6% Hispanic, 3.8% African American in 2004)
The River: 92.2% other 4.7% African Ameican 3.1% Hispanic
99X: 92.1% other, 5.9% Hispanic, 2% African American (92.8% other, 4.5% black, 2.7% Hispanic in 2005; 90.4% other, 7.4% Hispanic, 2.2% blac in 2004)
WGST-AM: 88.3% other, 6.8% African American, 4.9% Hispanic (89.6% other, 9.6% African American, 0.8% Hispanic in 2005; 89.7% other, 9.6% black, 0.7% Hispanic in 2004)
Lite 94.9 (now the Bull): 91% other, 11.6% black, 7.4% Hispanic (87.8% other, 6.1% African American, 6.1% Hispanic in 2005, 85.4% other, 11.1% African American and 3.5% Hispanic in 2004)
Q100: 82% other 13.5% black, 4.5% Hispanic (78% other, 16.5% African American, 5.5% Hispanic in 2005, 85.1% other, 11.5% Hispanic, 3.4% African American in 2004)
105.3/The Buzz (changed to El Patron about two weeks before the end of the book): 81% other, 17.9% Hispanic, 1.2% African American. That’s why the breakdown has as many Hispanics as it does. The previous year, it had 89.4% others, 8.2% Hispanic and 2.4% African Americans.
WSB-AM 80.5% other, 14.8% black, 4.7% Hispanic (87.4% other, 10.3% black, 2.3% Hispanic in 2005; 88.5% other, 10.2% black, 1.4% Hispanic in 2004)
B98.5 73.2% other, 20.6% black, 6.2% Hispanic (78.3% other, 15.2% black, 6.5% Hispanic in 2005, 78% other, 13.4% black, 8.6% Hispanic in 2004)
680/The Fan: 72.4% other, 25.9% African American and 1.7% Hispanic (84.4% other, 10.9% African American and 4.7% Hispanic in 2005, and 80.7% other, 17.5% African American and 1.8% Hispanic in 2004)
Fish/104.7: 71.4% other, 25.8% African American, 2.7% Hispanic (69.9% other, 26.9% African American, 3.2% Hispanic in 2005, 69.2% other, 26.3% African American and 4.5% Hispanic in 2004)
And here’s the most diverse station of them all, the only station without a majority of any particular race: 95.5/The Beat
The station had 41.5% African American listeners, 32.7% other and 25.8% Hispanic. It also happens to be the youngest skewing station in town. A year ago, it had 50% other, 43.5% African American and just 6.5% Hispanic. In 2004, it was58.6% other, 32.8% black and 8.6% Hispanic. Note that Arbitron way under-surveyed Hispanics in the fall of 2006 so a few Hispanics who loved the Beat clearly skewed the numbers.
2/9: Radio station gender breakdowns
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have three years worth of data from the Arbitron stats summary I picked up from the CBS Radio luncheon Wednesdday so let’s see gender breakdowns first.
We’ll start with the most female friendly stations all the way down to the most male friendly stations. I’ll note the majority gender only since obviously based on that, you’ll know what the other gender’s percentage is. Plus, I include the fall 2005 and fall 2004 gender percentage for comparison.) I’ll do racial breakdowns another day, probably Monday if there’s no news that day.
Male skewing stations tend to skew far more male than the other way around. Even the most female friendly stations draw more than one quarter male listeners.
Q100: 73.9% female (72.2% female in 2005, 70.1% female in 2004)
Star 94: 73.6% female (70.2% female in 2005, 74.4% in 2004)
Lite 94.9 (now the Bull): 70.2% female (66.7% female in 2005, 71.7% female in 2004)
Praise 97.5: 67.1% female (72% female in 2005, 62.8% female in 2005)
B98.5: 64.9% female (64.8% female in 2005, 69.9% in 2004)
Fish 104.7: 64.3% female (65.4% in 2005, 61.1% in 2004)
V-103: 58.3% female (58.2% in 2005, 59.1% in 2004)
Kicks 101.5: 54.5% female (54.9% female in 2005, 51.8% female in 2004)
Kiss 104.1: 57% female (51.9% in 2005, 55.1% in 2004)
Grown Folks 102.5 (which went almost all talk in summer of 2006): 56.7% female (45.7% female in 2005, 57.3% in 2004)
Smooth Jazz 107.5: 50.7% male (42.2% male in 2005, 40.3% in 2004)
WAOK-AM (news/talk): 51.9% female (60.5% female in fall 2005, 48.8% female in fall 2004)
Eagle 106.7: 53.6% male (61.1% male in 2005, 61.4% in 2004)
Hot 107.9: 56.1% male (49.7% male in 2005, 52.6% male in 2004). Hip hop must have gotten less female friendly.
WSB-AM: 59.3% male (58.9% male in 2005, 57.7% in 2004)
Dave FM: 59.9% male (59.1% in 2005, 53.6% in 2004)
95.5/The Beat: 59.9% male (45.3% male in 2005, 37.5% male in 2004). Big shift considering the music mix is the same.
Viva 105.7: 65.1% male (60.7% male in 2005, 71.5% in 2004)
The River: 67.9% male (no comparison in past years)
La Raza 102.3: 68.7% male (62.5% male in 2005, 69.2% in 2004)
99X; 70.3% male (61.3% male in 2005, 51.9% male in 2004). Considering the station is trying to become more female friendly, this is an interesting shift.
105.3/The Buzz (now El Patron): 79.8% male (75.3% in 2005)
640/GST: 80.6% male (73.6% in 2005, 72.4% in 2004)
96rock: 82.1% male (87.9% male in 2005, 82.8% male in 2004)
790/The Zone: 91.1% male (86.9% male in 2005, 96.6% male in 2004)
680/The Fan: 94.8% male (92.2% male in 2005, 96.6% in 2004)
2/8: WREK meeting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Wednesday meeting between Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Radio Communications Board, which represents Georgia Tech’s student-run WREK-FM, was mostly congenial. The GPB officials talked in mostly vagaries about a “partnership,” without a lot of specifics. They said they were amenable to whatever WREK was willing to give them since they are simply trying to break into Atlanta. (Public Broadcasting Atlanta airs WABE-FM.) There was a fair level of skepticism from the faculty advisors and board members about what GPB could offer the students besides possible internships at GPB. The students were generally pretty quiet. Some WREK alums who attended the meeting were even less happy about any possible changes.
Glenn Sirkis, one of the alums who’s protesting any changes, said after I left the meeting, the students who attended stated their opposition to any such partnership and I got this email from Jeremy Varner, the student who runs WREK:
“The students at WREK are very concerned by any possibility that WREK would no longer be student run. We are working very hard on making sure that control of the station stays with the students. As you noticed I was unable to attend the meeting due to work. I can say that as a student sometimes it can be intimidating to be in a important meeting with a bunch of ‘grown-ups,’ so sometimes you aren’t sure what to say. We are fired up and care very much about the issues. The students have been vocal on campus and the radio staion has received lots of support from other students.”
Jeremy Varner
2/8: Arbitron stats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I attended a luncheon at Maggiano’s for CBS Radio, featuring V-103, Dave FM and WAOK-AM and targeting advertisers. There, a consulting firm provided at treasure trove of Arbitron statistics, which I’ll parcel out over the next few days.
For folks who wonder how ratings work, here’s a basic summary of the rather primitive methodology. Arbitron calls folks around metro Atlanta looking for people willing to fill out a paper diary for a week describing their listening habits in 15 minute increments. People are paid anywhere from $1 to $20 for their effort. But like anybody seeking survey information, getting people to do this is getting harder and harder. Of people reached in the fall of 2006 in metro Atlanta, only 47.9 percent said yes. Of those, only 57.4% mailed back the diaries, which is actually more than usual in recent times. Overall response is was just 27.5%. It was in the mid-30s not that long ago. Young people ages 18 to 34 (especially men) are increasingly difficult to reach as more and more are dumping their landlines for cel phones only and right now, Arbitron can’t reach the cel-only people at the moment.
Another problem: they reached only 57% of the Hispanics they had targeted. So while the average diary user represented 1,022 people, any individual Hispanic represented more like 1,800 people, making those results more inaccurate.
Overall, nearly 4,000 usable diaries were used last fall, the most ever, representing about 4 million people.
The average person (12 years old and older) listens to the radio 18 hours and 43 minutes a week. Among blacks, it’s 22 hours and 41 minutes, Hispanics, it’s 20 hours and 12 minutes and among “others” (meaning whites, Asians, Native Americans and mixed), it’s 16 hours and 28 minutes. Overall, listening is down slightly from a year ago, when the avg was 18 hours and 54 minutes but up from fall of 2004 when it was 18 hours and 30 minutes.
In general, the typical person listens to about 10 percent less radio compared to a decade ago but 95 percent of metro Atlantans still check in on AM/FM or satellite at least 15 minutes a week.
2/7: WREK changes forthcoming?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a summary i received in an email of what’s going down tomorrow at Georgia Tech concerning the future of WREK-FM. The Georgia Tech Athletic Association, Public Broadcasting Atlanta and Georgia Public Broadcasting have all made proposals to take over part of all of the radio station, which is student run, and relegate the students to online and an HD2 radio bandwidth few people can hear.
More info at http://friendsofwrek.blogspot.com.
A summary of the three proposals are here.
Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is proposing to “lease” WREK’s main signal for 6 hours a day during the morning (6-9AM) and evening (3-6PM) “drive time” for NPR programming. This proposal is also described in the Sept. 29th Technique article and the Oct. 11 Creative Loafing article.
The Radio Communications Board, which is the Georgia Tech oversight board for WREK, will meet with GPB tomorrow to hear the details of their proposal.
WREK student staff and alumni are concerned about this proposal because they view this as an attempt to grab control of a student-run station since it would give 25% of WREK’s airtime to GPB for NPR broadcasting. WREK was founded by student in 1968 and they have operated it successfully for over 38 years.
The RCB meeting will be held at 3PM in Room 203 of the Flag Building (Student Services), adjacent to guest parking.
2/6: Kicks/Eagle Country Fair acts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The big Kicks/Eagle Country Fair at HiFi Buys Amphitheatre is set for Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19.
The acts on Friday night are BIll Gentry, Billy Currington, Jason Aldean and Gary Allan. (Three of the acts are from Georgia!)
The acts for the bigger Saturday night shindig are Eric Church, John Anderson, Gretchen Wilson and headliner Trace Adkins.
Tickets go on sale at Ticketmaster Saturday at noon with $10 lawn seats, $25 reserved seats and a few $50 gold circle seats. More details here.
Kicks “Country Club” members can get a password on Wednesday on the site for a presale Thursday.
Last year, Friday featured Jason Aldean, Pat Green and Montgomery Gentry and Saturday included Lonestar, Sara Evans and Dwight Yoakam.
The 2005 version included Big & Rich, Sugarland, Gary Allan on Friday and Blake Shelton, Billy Ray Cyrus, LeAnn Rimes and Rascal Flatts on Saturday.
2/6: Kicks raises $735K
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After raising nearly $1.2 million each in 2005 and 2006 for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Kicks 101.5 couldn’t get its listeners to kick in quite as much this year. The station’s radiothon last week raised just $735,000. That’s about 60 percent of last year’s total and an alarming 37 percent dropoff year over year. Promotions director Christy Ullman blames the bad. wintry weather Thursday for depressing fundraising that day. She said Friday numbers were on par with a year ago.
We can’t say how much of an impact the arrival of 94.9/The Bull in December had in siphoning off Kicks listeners and donations. The Bull is doing heavy TV advertising so there’s no doubt the country crowd is going to sample it. But we won’t know until April. when the winter Arbitron book comes out, how big a stampede the Bull made in its debut.
2/5: Randy & Spiff find home at GST
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Talk about survivors: Randy & Spiff have landed their fourth home in five years, this time at WGST-AM from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. starting February 26.
The lightherated pair, who started in Atlanta at oldies Fox 97.1 from 1989 to 2003, moved to Cool 105.7 for two years after Fox went way, then migrated to sister station Lite 94.9 for 18 months when Cool died. Then the hosts lost jobs again Dec. 18, 2006 when Lite became 94.9/The Bull, a country station. Now they will be going without music for the first time.
“It will be a learning curve but we’re excited about it,” said Spiff Carner.
WGST had been airing repeats of the Wall Street Journal report in the mornings since November, when the station dumped Tom Hughes. Randy Cook said GST approached them a week after they were dropped from Lite 94.9. The negotiations took about five weeks but the two sides came to an unspecified deal that was signed today.
Cook and Carner will spend the next three weeks preparing for the launch, lining up interview subjects and getting comfortable doing longer talk segments.
Cook said the pair will have to target a different audience that’s far more male oriented than the Lite crowd. “This means less about breast cancer awareness and more about Hooters,” Cook joked. Though they will be able to delve into politics more, they said they’ll keep it light. Carner said they won’t come off as angry ideologues.
Carner is recovering from an accidental dog bite from his 35-pound Welsh corgie, who took a major chunk out of his nose last Thursday while they were playing. “I’m here at GST with a big white gauze bandage covering half my face,” he said, jokingly adding, “They’re changing me so I have a nose for news.”
If you want to email a congrats to them, go to www.randyandspiff.com.
2/5: Morning shows on Bull/Project
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Currently, the Bull and Project 9-6-1 are without morning shows. I’ve heard not a peep about what Program Director Chris Williams over at Project 9-6-1 is thinking and he isn’t returning my calls anymore since the Chuck Deskins memo about not talking to the press. Clay Hunnicutt is allowed to talk to me since he’s operations manager but I haven’t heard back from him. The only rumor about the Bull’s possible morning show over at radio-info.com is the syndicated show Big D and Bubba out of Nashville.
Syndicated morning shows have worked well here in Atlanta for black audiences. Witness Tom Joyner on Kiss and Steve Harvey on 102.5. On the rock side over the past 12 years, syndicated shows have not worked: John Boy & Billy and Bob & Tom on 96rock, MJ on Mix/Max and the Greaseman on Z93, for instance.
Do you think Project and the Bull need local shows to succeed?
2/2: Top 25 of the past 25
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Big-time countdowns are usually relegated to holiday weekends. Dave FM is stretching theirs out over five weeks. They have had their fans vote for the 25 most influential artists of the past 25 years and have been playing one artist at a time each weekday.
Monday was Van Halen, a group Dave doesn’t actually play normally. But they played cuts pretty much every hour.
Tuesday was Peter Gabriel, followed by Depeche Mode Wednesday. Thursday was Pearl Jam.
Which acts are going to be there? Will they accept other acts that aren’t normally on the playlist such as Madonna or Prince? I can’t imagine they’d go that far afield. But here are acts virtually locked in: U2, R.E.M., Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, The Cure, Coldplay, Talking Heads, INXS, Indigo Girls (hometown gals), Tom Petty, John Mellencamp, Aerosmith, and Widespread Panic. Others that might make it: Sheryl Crow, the Cars, matchbox 20, Collective Soul (hometown), Beck, Radiohead, No Doubt, Stone Temple PIlots, the Smashing Pumpkins. Foo Fighters, Elvis Costello, the Clash and David Bowie had many of their hits in that late 70s/early 80s era. Will they qualify? I’ll revisit this when all 25 come out. I predict the top 10 to be: 1. U2 2. R.E.M. 3. Nirvana 4. Dave Matthews Band 5. The Police/Sting 6. Tom Petty 7. Coldplay 8. Talking Heads 9. Red Hot Chili Peppers 10. The Cure.
Since it’s the past 25 years, the Police barely qualify since only their Synchronicity album is within that time period. But the Police is a core Dave artist and they’ll likely merge Sting and the Police into that one.
Keep track of things here.
2/1: Sunny goes Hispanic
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not surprisingly, what was oldies Sunny 100.1 up in the northwest metro Atlanta, is as of today La Raza, a regional Mexican format. Davis Broadcasting of Columbus, which purchased the station, dumped the oldies format and is now airing a simulcast of what has already been airing for three years in the northeast metro Atlanta area at 102.3. That station, which covers Gwinnett County up towards Gainesville, used to be oldies as well. Sunny had been off air for technical upgrades the past 10 days or so.
These changes pretty much eliminates the traditional oldies format from most of metro Atlanta and adds yet more coverage for Hispanic music.
2/1: Viva upheaval?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Something strange has gone down over at Viva 105.7. The general manager, promotions director and some sales folks have been let go this week for reasons that I can’t firmly ascertain. There were rumors last night that they had all been arrested for embezzlement, but Clay Hunnicutt, the programming head of Clear Channel Atlanta, said that’s not the case. But he couldn’t comment on the status of the people let go.
Trade publication Radio & Records, which doesn’t provide a direct link to specific stories, got a hold of GM Ricardo Villalona and sales rep Natalie Miño, both of whom denied any wrongdoing. They said they were just part of an extended downsizing at Clear Channel Atlanta that has laid claim to on-air personalities such as the Kimmer and Randy & Spiff, sales staff, programming people and everything in between. Nationally, Clear Channel is preparing to go private and cost cutting appears to be rampant.
They did say they were escorted out by police officers and are seeking legal counsel. Hmm…
2/1: V-103 promotion protest
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A handful of Asian-American activists objected to a V-103 promotion Wednesday night at Shout restaurant in Midtown where listeners were competing for a trip to China by wearing traditional Oriental clothing. Frank and Wanda are taking 200 people to Hong Kong and Beijing in late February and were giving away a trip for two, worth $5,000 for folks who came in with the best costume.
Gabe Tungol, a 22-year-old Bates College graduate and Filipino-American who is trying to get active in Asian-American issues, said this promotion for a station whose audience is largely African American revealed cultural “misappropriation.” “The premise is based on a perpetuation of misinformed, denigratory racial stereotypes, and harks back to an era in which Yellowface was considered culturally appropriate,” he wrote in an email to the AJC.
“Were the situation reversed,” he continued, “and an Asian media source of mass appeal and influence asked listeners to show up in dashikis in order to promote a trip to the Sudan, with Asian Americans designated as the pundits of pan-African culture, it would rightly result in a severe backlash.”
Tungol and four other Asian Americans showed up a little after nine in the upstairs lounge at Shout, where about 80 people were congregated and 40 were in Oriental dress He signed in as a contestant and went up on stage as the 34th person out of about 40. He used his stage time to verbalize his objections.
He said he was offended that some people were in white powder and slanty eyes, shuffled their feet and pointed and giggled like geisha girls. When someone said this was merely “theatrical,” he compared it to blackface in the early 20th century. The crowd was mostly polite and a few applauded when they finished. One black man came outside as they were leaving and spoke with him and said he understood why Tungol felt offended.
Frank Ski, who normally talks about anything, gave me the unusual line: “I have no comment.” V-103 General Manager Rick Caffey said he wasn’t aware of the specific contest until after the fact but in retrospect, he said it probably wasn’t the best contest.
“We’ve learned a lesson,” he said. “We bill ourselves as the people’s station and we are for all people. My apologizes to anyone who would have been offended. That wasn’t our intent.”
Caffey said this opens up an opportunity for African Americans to learn more about Asian culture and the nuances among different cultures among Asians. “That’s what this trip is supposed to be about,” he said. “It’s like anything. We take feedback. Hopefully, it makes us better and makes us more responsive ot our entire audience.”
Everett Jenkins, an Atlanta real estate agent, who wore a red Oriental outfit he purchased at Rainbow Fashions to try to win the trip, said any offense was from a “point of ignorance.” The entire promotion and trip is a way for V-103 listeners to learn about Chinese culture, he noted. It’s not a parody or mockery of it. “We have no interest in offending anybody,” he said.
2/1: Clark/Neal faceoff over minimum wage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At noon today (Thursday, Feb. 1), WSB’s Atlanta syndicated hosts Neal Boortz and Clark Howard are going to face off on Neal’s show about the minimum wage.
The two often agree on many economic issues but in this case, Neal opposes any raise in the minimum wage. Clark supports it. I’m not sure what their arguments will be but in all likelihood, Neal will say it will cost jobs and constrain businesses while Clark will say it’s so low right now, any increase will help those at the bottom.
They do like and admire each other and are in friendly competition when it comes to syndication. Right now, Neal has more stations though I’m not sure exactly how many.
