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Jerry Kristafer out at 102.9 DRC-FM

A certain someone with WDRC-FM posts at this very forum. I'm pretty certain that she won't be able to comment on the matter. :(
 
One less reason to listen to DRC-FM. Terrestrial radio keeps shooting themselves in the foot and they're slowly drive people away to Pandora and other options.
 
The next move is to get rid of the "no-talent" music programmer...grahmn winters. I hear walmart's hiring.............
 
Who do you think 'DRC will hire to replace the legendary Jerry?

Not too many people know or have done morning FM Radio in CT like he has.

IMHO, I liked him better when he was on KC101.

Mike Stevens sounds too nervous & amateur to me.
 
amfmradio1 said:
Mike Stevens sounds too nervous & amateur to me.
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I never liked Mike Stevens as Jerry's side kick. He was much better when he was on 7PM-Midnite, but now that's Rockin' Ron's time-slot 6 nights a week and he sounds really good. I don't know who could take over for Jerry. Last time he was out Marc Sommers (later of the now defunct 96.7 The Coast in Stamford) took over mornings and some time later John "Caddy Man" Saville. I liked John Saville, but they won't bring him back as he's on 7 days a week on Country 92.5 WWYZ.
 
Lately, I'm reminded of Hyman Roth's "This is the business we've chosen" speech from The Godfather Part II when situations like this arise.

As career broadcasters, we all know the nature of our business. Eventually, we'll all be fired. It doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it easy. When I was budget axed, it hurt. However, I knew it was a possibility from day one. It's been happening since the 30's.

I think sometimes in New England we forget this. There seems to be "tenure" for older broadcasters whether they still have it or not. A lot of them hang on well past their "sell by" date.

Jerry is talented, but he's not the voice for a 25-54 listener base.
 
I have to say this.

What about Sebastian?

I used to work before him when he was on WCCC-FMs' "Sebastian & Diane" show in the late 80s' - early '90's.

They sounded great together, also when they were on WDRC-AM1360.

But, DRC-FM's music intensive format in the AM might not let Sebastian talk as much as he likes, as he likes to talk about Sports, etc. - but, at least he'll be on the air, & he does have a fan base in Hartford, where he's been for decades.

Listeners always want to hear what he'll say next!
 
I had a feeling this was coming, a few weeks ago I noticed morning show promos mentioning the Big D Morning Show featuring Mike Stevens and Kim Zachary, but no mention of Jerry.

I also noticed that Mike revoiced a number of DRC commercials which were voiced by Jerry.

Plus they phased out Jerreoparody a few weeks ago, which to me seemed like it needed to be retired, as no one would call in to play and on the air it was like they didn't care about the game and just because you called in you won even if you got all the answers wrong.

I do like the new game they are playing with the 3 song snips where you have to guess the 3 songs... I will however they would ply it 2 or 3 times during the show instead of just at 6:45 in the morning, it would make it a lot more fun and it would make it more exciting as the prize would get bigger quicker.

As far as Grahame Winters goes, while I have not been happy about a number of changes, I do believe what she is doing IS working. I am shocked and amazed the number of stores and restaurants I walk into that have DRC playing. This is something you would not have heard just a year ago. And I also find her on air to be fun and personable which is perfect for her time slot. I listen to her at work and for the most part enjoy the show.

Are there things I would change about DRC? Yes! But I still think its the best sounding FM in Connecticut. I hope Friendly Floyd and Rockin Ron stick on board, they both give the station a lot of personality.

BTW the DRC website is down with an Under Construction message. Lets see what the future holds.
 
I've also been hearing DRC-FM in many more places over the past few months. Not too long ago, it was only in Ocean State Job Lot and a local pizza place with a "Cruisin'" theme -- hoods and bumpers of classic cars of the '50s and '60s, that sort of stuff.

As far as a replacement for Jerry, I don't think Buckley would take Sebastian back yet again, and besides, he's got to be nearly as old as Jerry, right? So if they're looking for someone to connect with 25-54, aiming at the center of that range, he wouldn't make much sense. I wonder if they'll just keep Mike in that slot and not hire at all. He has a quirky, not really smooth sound, true, but then, so did Larry Wells and he stuck around for 30 years. Mike's local, familiar and still fits the sound of the station.
 
The good news about Sebastian is that his probation is over!

The bad news is that he's almost 60, his first one-year stint at WDRC ended after he made a joke about jai alai players that cost the station its ad buy with Hartford Jai Alai, and his second one-year stint ended when he suggested they ship GM Dick Korsen to the Soviet Union.

Granted, those incidents were almost 30 years ago at this point, but I think he's still got too much of an edge for that position.
 
I decided to listen to the morning show since I had fallen out of love with the station. Well, it didn't take long to remember why I pulled the preset! I like Mike and I'd say the show was OK, nothing to write home about, but OK.

The audio has gone from bad to worse! I listened long enough to sample a few songs and some announcing from Mike and the traffic gal. Very mid-rangey audio with no sign of presence or high frequency audio (and I made sure I had sufficient signal so it wasn't the blend circuit of the radio). I've heard news-talk AM stations with better fidelity! Somebody remind me again why Buckley would let an engineer like Tom Ray go? Maybe they should have him straighten the audio out (again) and lock the cabinet!
 
RadioCityBill said:
Somebody remind me again why Buckley would let an engineer like Tom Ray go? Maybe they should have him straighten the audio out (again) and lock the cabinet!
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Buckley didn't let him go, Clear Channel did. After CC bought WOR from Buckley. Scott Baron was (is) WDRC's engineer. Tom was WOR's engineer and Buckley's Corporate Engineer meaning he was over Scott Baron.
 
MarcB said:
Buckley didn't let him go, Clear Channel did. After CC bought WOR from Buckley. Scott Baron was (is) WDRC's engineer. Tom was WOR's engineer and Buckley's Corporate Engineer meaning he was over Scott Baron.
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CC didn't let Mr. Ray go. In fact, they asked him to stay. And as for 'DRC's audio, Scott's been fighting a CHRONIC audio issue for months. I noticed it this weekend jumping from clean & great sounding to ratty & flat. Believe me ... it's being worked on and knowing the type of Engineer Scott is, it's keeping him up at night. I URGE you to get the facts before you sit here and .... oh wait, for a split second I forgot who I was replying to. Nevermind.
 
The STL had been a chronic issue last year, I'm not sure if that's still the issue. I remember hearing about some 950mhz issues with possible interference on the Bloomfield-Meriden haul. I also know from personal experience that to call AT&T's fiber and copper service mediocre is being kind. You've gotta offer up your first born to get them to work on anything in a timely manner... and if they can't find the problem easily, they blame the user.
 
reelyreal said:
they blame the user.
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Seems like every company is like that. A couple weeks back COX Cable was having audio problems with the EWTN Catholic Network for several days. I contacted them on Facebook and told them that it wasn't just my TVs and that everyone in the neighborhood was having problems. They responded "Private Message us your address and we'll send a technician out to your house and your neighbors' houses."

Yeah cuz all of us in the neighborhood did something to cause audio problems to EWTN.
 
MarcB said:
Seems like every company is like that. A couple weeks back COX Cable was having audio problems with the EWTN Catholic Network for several days. I contacted them on Facebook and told them that it wasn't just my TVs and that everyone in the neighborhood was having problems. They responded "Private Message us your address and we'll send a technician out to your house and your neighbors' houses."

Yeah cuz all of us in the neighborhood did something to cause audio problems to EWTN.
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There's an entire neighborhood that watches EWTN???
 
CTListener said:
There's an entire neighborhood that watches EWTN???
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Nope. None of us do. My Mom and I noticed it flipping past over a 3 or 4 day period. My Mom called a few of her neighbors and asked them to check it out. My Mom believes even if she doesn't watch a channel all the channels that she subscribes to (it's called The TV Starter and TV Essential paks) should not have audio problems for 3 or 4 days.
 
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