AMP's line up?

[Doctah]

I get the Stryker hire -- he's sort of a known commodity, as he was Ellen DeGeneres' DJ for a time on her talk show (targeting women, natch) and has also hosted some MTV shows. But if you've got Stryker, why would you hire another whitebread KROQ alum to go right after him? I'd think AMP would want to go young -- and with a young, nonwhite duo to contrast with JoJo -- in the evenings. McCabe is such a dull, uninspired hire, I'm quite surprised.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

You guys amuse me. A whole bunch of wannabe's and has been's going in and slagging off people who actually work in the industry. Just remember you don't really know who reads these boards. I find it quite entertaining to read poeples opinion on station talent, continually saying how bad someone is, or whatever. If any of you ever meet some of the people you constatly attack, I would like some of you to say the same things to these people in person, that you so gutlessly say on here. My money is you would be too gutless to say anything.

As to the question of people and formats. If you are a genuine professional, and you are hungry enough, you will grow in any format that you choose. If you want to specialize, thats great, but a true pro can rise to any challenge put before them.

Exactly!

There are quite a few on this board who have been or who are in management or at least who have many years of radio business experience. Many on this board know more times than not what is going to work especially in Los Angeles. Few of us would have created stations like Movin, The Sound, KDAY/The Beat, Radio One's final format for The Beat...and many other stations prior that we've discussed on this board. Those stations alone show that there is management and so-called talent that at best is short-sighted and at worst, just plain unqualified to be in this market (I'm being kind..which isn't my norm). If everyone can "rise to the occasion" then everyone would have a 100 share. Sorry, but you are both 100% completely wrong. That does make both of you 100% qualified to be in Los Angeles radio management, though... As for AMP, I'm quite disappointed. They've made some bad choices if they plan on going up against the top biller in the market. They'll probably go with an all music or more music morning show as well...same mistake CBS made with KKHR. It all repeats itself, just like Bush repeated Hoover's mistakes and Obama is repeating Roosevelt's mistakes.

To start with, I’ll leave the Presidential analogies alone, we don’t want to travel too far off topic.

As for radio, you make some valid points, but just saying “you’re both wrong” because we don’t agree with you is, well… wrong. While I can agree that management in this town and many others is sadly lacking in smarts, it has nothing to do with the fact that there are talented people who are versatile enough to be a success with more than one format. Myself, I’m not in management, but thanks for the insult anyway, guess it made you feel better. I’ve worked in programming for the bulk of my career. I’ve had successes in multiple formats, so I speak from experience. My disagreement with you is about your statements regarding that subject. I didn’t say that everyone can rise to the occasion. Again, you speak in generalities and make these blanket statements. I believe that there are a great many individuals that can rise to the occasion and I’ve seen many that have done exactly that. So I don’t agree with you, and you don’t agree with me, that’s okay, it’s a free country, so to speak.

To get back on topic, AMP may be making many mistakes with their staff, but it’s not always fair to judge someone on their first week, so I’ll give them some time to see how they do. I will admit that these first staffing decisions are a bit odd. Will they work? Maybe, maybe not. Can they beat KIIS? Probably not, but stranger things have happened and this is 2009, not 1984, so the playing field could yield some surprises. After all, did anyone expect KYSR to make inroads on KROQ? No, but they’ve had some gains, so it’s always a possibility.

Focusing on my original comments, these two picks do not represent A) the target demo for this station and the ethnicity of the youth of Los Angeles B) experience in the format C) smart programming. This is Los Angeles. This isn't a try out in Bakersfield. This is a station that is trying to knock down the #1 biller in the nation. Having already heard both on the air, they obviously do not know the music, they don't know CHR formatics (and you don't learn them on the job in Los Angeles) and they don't have the "look" or are part of the lifestyle of what is their typical listerner. I would have picked someone Hispanic especially to go after KIIS at night.

If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago. Nothing has changed basically. KIIS is still buying their listeners as they have for even longer than that. If you think you're going to topple KIIS without challenging Ryan Seacrest, you will be a failure.There have only been two stations that have challenged KIIS in over 25 years and one is gone, the other hasn't topped them in many years. Both had/have personality morning shows. The flash in the pan stations, like Pirate Radio, or the poor adult competitors to KIIS, like B100 or Movin and plenty more we could mention could never even come close to making a serious dent in KIIS. After these moves, and unless they are undone in the near future, it looks like AMP's got a long list of company in Los Angeles radio history to join.

I would not draw on any comparison between KROQ/98.7 and KIIS/AMP. Apples and oranges.

 

[CHRles]

I would have picked someone Hispanic especially to go after KIIS at night.

While you're at it, why not just have someone broadcast from Mexico in Spanish on Amp Radio, or from some barrio :
If you're a Rhythmic CHR in Fresno then go ahead and stick to some dumb racial profiling mentality. If you're a CHR/Pop station in L.A. don't get too caught up whether you're on air lineup is white, Hispanic, Asian, or black. Just pick the best of the best, OR folks you know and trust.
The Hispanic audience isn't just gonna be flipping the dial over to another station if they dont hear someone named Jose or Victor at night - it's the music and content that they'll pay attention to.

 

[AM FM listener]

I do see some similarities between AMP's challenge of KIIS and KYSR's challenge of KROQ. When KYSR set its sights on KROQ and became an alternative/modern rocker, KROQ was at or near the top of LA's billers and had a big-time morning show in Kevin & Bean. To date, none of KYSR's personalities come close to those of KROQ's in terms of experience and recognizability and yet, gradually, KYSR is sneaking up on KROQ in the ratings. I don't think AMP needs to match KIIS punch for punch. AMP can counter punch, come at CHR differently than KIIS and sneak up on KIIS in the ratings over the next year or two.

 

[calguy]

Focusing on my original comments, these two picks do not represent A) the target demo for this station and the ethnicity of the youth of Los Angeles B) experience in the format C) smart programming. This is Los Angeles. This isn't a try out in Bakersfield. This is a station that is trying to knock down the #1 biller in the nation. Having already heard both on the air, they obviously do not know the music, they don't know CHR formatics (and you don't learn them on the job in Los Angeles) and they don't have the "look" or are part of the lifestyle of what is their typical listerner. I would have picked someone Hispanic especially to go after KIIS at night.

If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago. Nothing has changed basically. KIIS is still buying their listeners as they have for even longer than that. If you think you're going to topple KIIS without challenging Ryan Seacrest, you will be a failure.There have only been two stations that have challenged KIIS in over 25 years and one is gone, the other hasn't topped them in many years. Both had/have personality morning shows. The flash in the pan stations, like Pirate Radio, or the poor adult competitors to KIIS, like B100 or Movin and plenty more we could mention could never even come close to making a serious dent in KIIS. After these moves, and unless they are undone in the near future, it looks like AMP's got a long list of company in Los Angeles radio history to join.

I would not draw on any comparison between KROQ/98.7 and KIIS/AMP. Apples and oranges.

You flip flop. First you say in a post that you can’t compare what’s going on today with what happened decades ago, and then you draw comparisons between KKHR and AMP. Make up your mind. Telling us that KIIS buys their audience is obvious, but the playing field when it comes to promotion has been leveled considerably since the days of KIIS giving away sports cars and big money as most of the huge companies that own radio stations now won’t ever spend that kind of money. Gannett got out of the business long ago. KIIS does it like everyone else now, all smoke & mirrors. What KIIS has is a morning host who got lucky when he scored the American Idol gig and an audience to build on that was handed to him by Rick Dees as well as a heritage that it continues to live off of. Plus it hasn’t had any competition in years. What’s more it has the home court advantage as a known brand that continues to dominate. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be beat, just that no one has been able to bring it all together to do it. If Amp can get their act together and is given the right promotion it may surprise you. If not, it’s as doomed as all the others that have come and gone.

As for the apples & oranges you speak of, I was explaining that competition can make inroads and if you look at the numbers you can see that 98.7 is putting some dents in KROQ’s ratings, and doing it with very little more than lots of music.

You keep mentioning ethnicity and how good and young the talent should look and while it’s true that the days of radio talent being heard and not seen is long gone it’s not a deciding factor. For me, it’s how the talent sounds on the radio as that’s his or her primary job. I’ll take a staff of great sounding hard working jocks over some good looking stiff any day. As for ethnicity, I would want an integrated staff so that the station itself as a whole can appeal to every race color and creed that falls within the demos I'm looking for. You’ll disagree for sure, but I expect you to.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

This just cracks me up. This shows what fools they are at CBS for picking someone like McCabe to go up against KIIS. "To get used to the AMPRadio lifestyle, Casey rolled out with our AMPtourage in our pimp’d up Rihanna stylin’ ride." To get USED TO the AMPRadio LIFESTYLE? Why don't you pick someone who KNOWS the lifestyle? This is Los Angeles NOT Peoria. You're not going up against any radio station, you're going up against the #1 billing radio station in the United States. Watching the McCabe video through this link makes him look like an even bigger buffoon http://www.ampradio.com/2009/03/casey-mccabe-pimped-out-in-amp-rihanna-ride/

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

The K-Rock staff does seem pretty adaptable to any format. Such was the case with Carson Daily. Hell, Kevin Weatherly himself came to program the country's premiere Modern Rock station after stints at CHR (most famously 104.7 KZZP Phoenix).

I'd say most famously at Q106/San Diego. Carson Daly has no CHR experience. Laying tracks for a syndicated CHR show doesn't show anything. The few left that have been there since Rick Carroll are really the ones who have experience in various formats. No more than any other station.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Focusing on my original comments, these two picks do not represent A) the target demo for this station and the ethnicity of the youth of Los Angeles B) experience in the format C) smart programming. This is Los Angeles. This isn't a try out in Bakersfield. This is a station that is trying to knock down the #1 biller in the nation. Having already heard both on the air, they obviously do not know the music, they don't know CHR formatics (and you don't learn them on the job in Los Angeles) and they don't have the "look" or are part of the lifestyle of what is their typical listerner. I would have picked someone Hispanic especially to go after KIIS at night.

If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago. Nothing has changed basically. KIIS is still buying their listeners as they have for even longer than that. If you think you're going to topple KIIS without challenging Ryan Seacrest, you will be a failure.There have only been two stations that have challenged KIIS in over 25 years and one is gone, the other hasn't topped them in many years. Both had/have personality morning shows. The flash in the pan stations, like Pirate Radio, or the poor adult competitors to KIIS, like B100 or Movin and plenty more we could mention could never even come close to making a serious dent in KIIS. After these moves, and unless they are undone in the near future, it looks like AMP's got a long list of company in Los Angeles radio history to join.

I would not draw on any comparison between KROQ/98.7 and KIIS/AMP. Apples and oranges.

You flip flop. First you say in a post that you can’t compare what’s going on today with what happened decades ago, and then you draw comparisons between KKHR and AMP. Make up your mind. Telling us that KIIS buys their audience is obvious, but the playing field when it comes to promotion has been leveled considerably since the days of KIIS giving away sports cars and big money as most of the huge companies that own radio stations now won’t ever spend that kind of money. Gannett got out of the business long ago. KIIS does it like everyone else now, all smoke & mirrors. What KIIS has is a morning host who got lucky when he scored the American Idol gig and an audience to build on that was handed to him by Rick Dees as well as a heritage that it continues to live off of. Plus it hasn’t had any competition in years. What’s more it has the home court advantage as a known brand that continues to dominate. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be beat, just that no one has been able to bring it all together to do it. If Amp can get their act together and is given the right promotion it may surprise you. If not, it’s as doomed as all the others that have come and gone.

As for the apples & oranges you speak of, I was explaining that competition can make inroads and if you look at the numbers you can see that 98.7 is putting some dents in KROQ’s ratings, and doing it with very little more than lots of music.

You keep mentioning ethnicity and how good and young the talent should look and while it’s true that the days of radio talent being heard and not seen is long gone it’s not a deciding factor. For me, it’s how the talent sounds on the radio as that’s his or her primary job. I’ll take a staff of great sounding hard working jocks over some good looking stiff any day. As for ethnicity, I would want an integrated staff so that the station itself as a whole can appeal to every race color and creed that falls within the demos I'm looking for. You’ll disagree for sure, but I expect you to.

As I tell everyone, you will need to point to specific posts that show any flip flops. None from me.

KIIS is still giving away cars. Do you think they don't? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06qfuE9hsU8 as an example. Paying Your Bills has been done by KIIS during previous economic downturns and proved to be a powerful tool to promote the station. I expect it will do the same now. What has AMP got to counter it? Concert tickets.

You've got two white guys back to back, totally new to the format and lifestyle, in prime positions where the younger end of your demo is going to need to be super-served. Negative. This is Los Angeles,[EDIT] not Seattle. I would have put a Hispanic on just to counter-program KIIS's aging white guy in the same shift. I've already said I've heard them both on the air. They don't know the music. That's quite obvious. They also don't know CHR formatics. That's quite obvious. Stryker has a bad habit of using "check it out" as a crutch. Make him some real hip. Would be nice if they had something about him on the website. Nothing.

As for inroads, go look at the early AMP ratings. Without jocks they're already doing ok. Putting these jocks on will only damage them.

KIIS has had more competition over the years than any other radio station (Power and The Beat being their biggest competiton...and many others including KBIG under AMFM, B100, KKHR...). I don't know what you are trying to claim. As for Dees, he had plenty of competion. Jay Thomas, John London & The House Party, Steve Harvey, to name a few. Dees peaked in the mid-80's. He was dragging KIIS down in the end even without a direct format competitor.

Watch the video of McCabe that I posted. He looks like a small town dufas new to radio. The whole video goes nowhere. It's embarrassing (as is their van for a Los Angeles radio station).

I'd like to know why AMP is claiming to be commercial free when in reality they had been playing adlets for NBC over the weekend. They seem to have adopted a new positioning statement today "All the hits, half the talk" (what does that mean?). They're also doing "Commercial Free Mondays". "We're over with those 10,000 Songs in a row" Stryker just said on the air (as he rushed his set). Then why is it still on the website?

[EDIT-inflammatory]

 

[SuperRadioFan]

They seem to have adopted a new positioning statement today "All the hits, half the talk" (what does that mean?).

I assume it means when they crack open the mic the DJs talk half as much as their competition. It's a positioner that makes about as much sense as "it's All About The Music". (You could say that about any station that plays music, duh)

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

After 5 PM they changed the website and removed 10,000 Songs in a Row and added a Stryker page.

 

[AM FM listener]

Somebody mentioned early ratings results for AMP. How are they doing? Any corresponding drops in ratings for KIIS, KPWR or KXOL?

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

I hope all of you who think that anyone can adapt to any format get a chance to listen to McCabe tonight. He's walking over the vocals, did a winner set and not only didn't time it out right but went over 4 or 5 seconds over the vocal. He doesn't know how CHR formatics at all. He has no energy for a night CHR jock. This is one of the must stupid choices in the history of Los Angeles CHR radio.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

AMP's digital billboards still say "10,000 Songs in a Row" on them as of this evening. Wow, they're on top of things at CBS just like Bonneville.

 

[calguy]

As I tell everyone, you will need to point to specific posts that show any flip flops. None from me.

Reply #31 on: March 16, 2009, 06:56:21 pm
Ten Q was 30 years ago and top 40 wasn't even 20 years old. Has nothing to do with today.

Quote from: 4UH8SIMBKAGN on March 21, 2009, 12:51:48 am
If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago.

So which is it? Is the past relevant or not?

 

[PapiYankee]

Hmmm, I heard one of the amp jocks refer to Keri Hilson as "Keri Wilson", then a couple of songs later He called Ne-Yo "N-Yo". I'm sure they'll eventually get it right but it didn't leave a good first impression

 

[AM FM listener]

As I tell everyone, you will need to point to specific posts that show any flip flops. None from me.

Reply #31 on: March 16, 2009, 06:56:21 pm
Ten Q was 30 years ago and top 40 wasn't even 20 years old. Has nothing to do with today.

Quote from: 4UH8SIMBKAGN on March 21, 2009, 12:51:48 am
If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago.

So which is it? Is the past relevant or not?

Impressive research, calguy....

 

[BC_714]

Nice job! The guy is a joke and needed to be called out on. Nice research indeed! He constantly flip flops. Aside from his racist tendencies. ;D Still waiting for KLOS to flip to FM Talk!!! hahahahaha! ;D

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

As I tell everyone, you will need to point to specific posts that show any flip flops. None from me.

Reply #31 on: March 16, 2009, 06:56:21 pm
Ten Q was 30 years ago and top 40 wasn't even 20 years old. Has nothing to do with today.

Quote from: 4UH8SIMBKAGN on March 21, 2009, 12:51:48 am
If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago.

So which is it? Is the past relevant or not?

Impressive research, calguy....

Very impressive when you take the entire posts out of context.

 

[calguy]

As I tell everyone, you will need to point to specific posts that show any flip flops. None from me.

Reply #31 on: March 16, 2009, 06:56:21 pm
Ten Q was 30 years ago and top 40 wasn't even 20 years old. Has nothing to do with today.

Quote from: 4UH8SIMBKAGN on March 21, 2009, 12:51:48 am
If AMP makes the same mistakes as KKHR, it doesn't matter what the year is. The same rules apply today as they did 25 years ago.

So which is it? Is the past relevant or not?

Impressive research, calguy....

Very impressive when you take the entire posts out of context.

That's your answer? Hey I just did what you said.