OK, this is getting ridiculous. Let me address a couple of items and then I'm out!
1) From the beginning of my posts, I did mention that I am Zippo's wife and that I am, indeed, biased! I am his biggest fan, am proud of him and love to promote him.
2) Jim has been extremely successful in major markets, long before he became a syndicated jock. He did mornings at the "legendary" WDRQ (CHR) in Detroit and kicked Howard Sterns butt in the ratings. He also did mornings at WEAM (CHR) in Washington, D.C where he had tremendous ratings success, he built the CHR station KISS (can't remember the call letters) in Nashville from the ground up years ago. He was hired by a non-radio experienced owner and did the aerial topographical studies to determine the best site for the transmitter, applied to the FCC for the license of the station, secured the site for the studios and business offices, hired the GM, GSM, SM, Sales personnel, promotional staff, the Engineer, jocks and did mornings himself. He took the station from start up to #1 in less than six months. In a year's time the owner had a nice, proven product and sold the station. Jim was then lured to Dallas to KTKS (KISS 106.1) to do mornings. He's done mornings in Las Vegas, and other markets as well outside of syndication. Following KTKS (KISS) in Dallas, R&R did a story on how SMN owner John Tyler made a major move in syndication by being the first to bring a big name, personality driven talent to syndicated/satellite radio. Jim was the reason Pure Gold grew from a couple dozen stations to approximately 250 stations of all sizes (not just tiny markets or larger market rim shot stations...as David alluded to.) Jim also was the PD for Pure Gold and responsible for all the budgets and format grew in affiliation and revenue under his watch. He made BIG bucks there and was downsized for monetary reasons.
You (Avid) may not have heard of him, but a lot of people across this country have.
3) The trades have referred to Jim Zippo as "legendary" many times throughout the years. Again, that doesn't convince you if you haven't heard of him, but it is meaningful to people within the industry. His on-air presence and connection to the audience IS meaningful to the listeners he has made an impact on throughout all of Radioland. AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF MY POSTS...I ONLY ASKED FOR PEOPLE TO SAVE THEIR OPINION UNTIL THEY ACTUALLY HEARD THE NEW FORMAT, and that I...his wife and Westwood One are promoting the new format as something that will jump off the dial. Please remember, Jim Zippo is the jock Westwood One found most worthy to replace Scott Shannon. That also, is noteworthy.
5) Do you think "Wolfman Jack" was Wolfman Jack's real name? I had to laugh at the person who said something about how I had to use my maiden name because I wasn't truly behind him enough to use the name Zippo. Ha Ha! (See Jim's 1st Class FCC License with Radar Endorsement which is attached. Notice the signature.)
6) Jim was matched up in another syndicated format with other nationally recognized, "legendary" jocks Charlie Tuna, John "Records" Landecker, Eric Chase and Marty Thompson. Unfortunately the company doing the syndication was not properly funded and although it ran for awhile, all the jocks bolted because they didn't get paid. Rick Dees was also a part of the format, but he came last and left first. The others were willing to put sweat equity into the project and only bolted when they saw there was no chance of ever making any money with the format.
7) After getting "downsized" for monetary reasons from SMN/ABC Radio Network he, too started his own syndicated product that turned out to be under funded. We had investors lined up and start up money was released, but this was about the same time as the dot.com bubble burst and investors dropped out as the fear of loss from the collapse of the dot.com fiasco began, also one investor died. Again, I can dig up multiple PDFs of industry trades where they make reference to Jim being a legend, at various times throughout his career. Attached you will find one relating to the format Jim developed. Jim didn't let the under-funded and therefore not long running format stop him. He went on to do mornings at KQOL in Las Vegas, was successful there and then was brought in to be a possible back up for mornings at KLUV. He has remained there for over 7 years, happily filling in for morning drive as well as middays and pm drive, while doing a nightly 7p-11p show and working weekends. Last week alone he had 59 hours on his time sheet. He works more hours at KLUV than the full timers there work and is happy to do it. He also has been working p/t for Westwood One on their Classic Hits format.
Then, after the Cumulus/Westwood One merger took place Good Time Oldies was created to replace TOC and Jim was named to replace Scott Shannon. My excitement in this is that we are thankful to God for this heaven sent blessing. Again, we are hoping you will have the opportunity to listen and would welcome your feedback once you actually hear the format.
I think that's it. I truly do not mean to offend anyone with my comments or enthusiasm. Thanks for listening (reading.)
