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10/1: In studio with Project’s new show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Giant” Brian Carothers and Shaffee finished their first morning show today at Project 9-6-1 intact with no apparent FCC violations, no apparent tensions between the pair and me wasting several minutes of airtime.
Here’s Brian Carothers sitting in the same spot that Larry Wachs used to be during his first show at the Clear Channel building this morning:
And this is Shaffee, who possesses a gravelly voice (though not nearly as grainy as Scott Ferrall) sitting in “Southside” Steve/Tim Andrews’ old spot. Note the “99Sux” bumper sticker behind him.
Overall, it was a fairly soft opening with Shaffee and Brian still feeling each other out. Except for a 30-minute audition, the pair had spent virtually no time together. Shaffee in fact just arrived a couple of days ago and is staying in an extended-stay suite while he finds a place to live. Besides a segment called “You stink” in which they insulted a couple of sports teams (the Detroit Lions and the New York Mets, for instance), they didn’t do anything remotely gimmicky. They took a few calls and gabbed mostly about sports. They do plan to add an on-the-street person and find characters as they go along.
*”We’re the new show on the Project,” Brian said on air near the end of the show. “I really love being here. If you think this first show has been okay, tell your friends. If you don’t like it, I’m Sean Demery.” (That’s the host over at 99X.)
Brian, 27 and married, is much thinner than he looks in photos. He’s been in Atlanta the past two months learning the city and helping boss Chris Williams find his on-air partner. After 900 applicants and five in-studio auditions, 29-year-old Shaffee got the call after five radio gigs in eight years in Michigan. Brian himself has interned at David Letterman’s show and worked with now-XM radio hosts Ron & Fez.
Shaffee, described as a pro wrestler on the Giant Show MySpace page, doesn’t look like one. He said he’s been in a few wrestling matches but actually manages a wrestler named Sabu. His primary focus, though, is career. “We’re at the same point in our careers. This is our first shot at morning radio in a major market where it’s our show. This is what I’ve been working for since day one.” Like former 99Xer Fred Toucher (now in Boston), Shaffee first did a morning-style show at night in cities such as Flint, Detroit and Kalamazoo.
Chris Williams, the boss, used to be program director at 99X and when he wanted to create a more aggressive younger-male station, Leslie Fram resisted and he lost his job. He eventually joined Clear Channel and launched Buzz 105.3, a successful alternative rock station, then segued last year to Project 9-6-1. the station he probably wanted 99X to be. So far, so good.
“The circle of life continues for him,” Brian says. “Here he is several years later, with a show he wants on that’s young, fresh and real.”
“He was willing to take a chance on us without a proven track record in mornings,” Shaffee said. “That speaks volumes.”
There’s probably some financial pragmatism in hiring two newcomers with modest backgrounds to the table. With their experience, they are probably getting salaries that are a small fraction of what Larry & Eric of the Regular Guys were getting. And for now, they will be playing a lot of music, along the lines of eight songs an hour. They are ultimately going to have to earn more airtime over the next couple of years with good results, and if they are ultimately successful like the Regular Guys, the financial rewards could be substantial.
Brian says he’s heard good things about the Regular Guys and expects to be compared to them. “I know we’re not the Regular Guys. I feel bad about how they left here. But they hate each other. They’re never coming back.”
Brian has had time to check in with 99X’s morning show and other competitors. (“I like Rude [at the Fan] and Bert [at Q100] is hitting it out of the park.”). As for 99X’s morning show, he said he likes Rob Jenners and Sean Demery but thinks Leslie Fram is past her prime. “I feel like they’re being held back by one particular female,” he said. “I’d like to hear more Sean Demery. I feel bad for Jenners. He’s trying to sell an angle. They’re staring at him like deer in headlights.”
John Dickey, who oversees programming for Cumulus, which owns 99X, said he’d never publicly criticize any individual at the station, much less Leslie. “We’re trying to get better every day,” he said of the New Morning X. “It’s a pretty good show. It can always strive to be more compelling, more entertaining, more relevant. We are holding ourselves to an extremely high standard.”
He said he feels Atlanta listeners can now better differentiate the “clean witty” show on 99X to the younger, more “locker room” humor of Project.
Comments
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By LoveTheProject
October 1, 2007 3:21 PM | Link to this
Heard your segment this morning Rodney, well done, and pretty cool that you & the manager joked about you sitting in the lobby when they launched…I really wanted you to ask the host “what the heck are you talking about” when he kept going on and on and on and on about the obsolecense of printed newspapers. Duh.
Did anyone else notice Rodney sounds a lot like Topher Grace?
By Curly Howard
October 1, 2007 8:07 PM | Link to this
Tomorrow on my show, my special guests will be Larry and Moe. They will discuss how to ruin radio stations. Oh wait…Deskins and Bloomquist will be on the show. My mistake….Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk!
By jss
October 2, 2007 8:07 AM | Link to this
I miss TRG.
By Bud
October 2, 2007 11:33 AM | Link to this
Having Project 9-6-1 & 99X badmouth each other is like watching a cage match between two midgets. It’s funny and pathetic at the same time.
By Emit Kelly
October 4, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
About The “New” Morning X on 99x. Sad.
By onlycritter
October 4, 2007 3:24 PM | Link to this
You know — radio in this city really sucks unless you are a 16-year-old tennager (96.1, 99x), a 55-year-old woman (94.1, 98.5), a hick (97.1, 101.5, etc), or want to hear the exact same music by a variety of different “artists” (95.5, 103.1). I give up.
By Greg
October 4, 2007 4:01 PM | Link to this
This stinks. Who says we have to have live people in this studio for a morning show? It seems this station serch low and lower for some one to screw this up and they have done it. The big thing about the new project 96.1 was no morning show. Just good music. I liked it. I got all the traffic and news updates I needed. I don’t need two morons telling me their ideas on thing. I don’t care what they think. I can do that on my own. Why look for a winner when you can buy a winner. I know alot of folks don’t like syndicated show. That’s their right not to. As for me and alot of friends I wouldn’t mind if you got the Bob & Tom Show from Indy. But you just keep these two loosers and I will just find another station. Better than that. Let’s not listen to any of them and just load up the CD player or MP3’s and just tune radio out for good.
By Chief Wiggum
October 4, 2007 9:44 PM | Link to this
Greg, I totally agree with you.
Why should we be forced to have live people in the studio? We could have dead, or almost-dead ones. You know, like Bob and Tom. The ones who laugh uncontrollably at their own jokes. They also laugh uncontrollably at every comedian they bring in to prop up their show.
I used to live somewhere where all we had was Bob and Tom. It beats listening to “easy listening”, but not by much. They’re really awful, and they bombed last time they were on the air here.
By Greg
October 9, 2007 5:58 AM | Link to this
Thanks for the support Chief. You appyling for the dead person job? I agree you would make a fine one.