Beanless Kevin Dropped at KROQ

[radiojomo]

Good analysis.

I think the general rule is that, when a station retains its format, departing staff is not allowed to do a swan song as it casts a negative feel to the daypart. Sometimes, though, when a station is changing format, the departing staff is allowed to say goodbye.

The best "farewell" I have heard was the ending of the rock format when EMF entered Los Angeles with it's English language "K-Love" (LA has both a Spanish and English usage of that name, with the Spanish one being commercial and not religious).

I think it's interesting that Mike Kaplan (who replaced Kevin Weatherly) had a role in bringing The Woody Show on the air to KYSR, and will now have a hand on developing the new KROQ morning show.

 

[TheBigA]

I think it's interesting that Mike Kaplan (who replaced Kevin Weatherly) had a role in bringing The Woody Show on the air to KYSR,

I'm sure that's why he was chosen. KROQ had a year to work on this. Bean made his announcement in March of 2019. So this wasn't a surprise. They knew the ratings were on a skid for a few years, and apparently they really crashed after Bean left. So it's time to reinvent. The intent is to build a show around people, not music. That's what Woody did. That's what several of the more successful morning shows have done.

 

[pjc1961]

Kevin Ryder got 5 minutes on air at KROQ on Wed. 3/18/2020 to say farewell.
Link below to article which includes embedded audio along with text of his statement:

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/kroq-kevin-ryder-tearful-farewell-speech-radio-audio-1203538522/

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Variety's Michael Schneider also did an interview with Kevin linked below:

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/kevin-bean-kroq-ryder-fired-interview-1203539684/

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The L.A. Times piece on the firing linked below:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainme...020-03-19/kroq-fires-kevin-ryder-morning-host

 

[TheBigA]

Kevin Ryder got 5 minutes on air at KROQ on Wed. 3/18/2020 to say farewell.
Link below to article which includes embedded audio along with text of his statement:

Good stuff. I'm sure there are lots of people who likely haven't listened in a while, and are now unhappy. But the reason this happened is a lot of people stopped listening, for lots of reasons. The music is dull, the talent has become old and stale, and the changes didn't help. I've seen this same story many times. When the ratings are great, the talent wants a raise and a chance to share in the riches. But when things go the other way, they don't want to take a cut. Did anyone add up the number of people who worked on this show? They were still staffing as though it was the #1 show in LA, and it no longer was. That's the problem.

 

[chrocket87]

I know Entercom really loves the Alternative format for some reason, but could there be a chance of KROQ flipping in the next couple years? Soft AC would be a decent hole to fill and when PBP contracts start coming up, FM Sports could become wayyy more attractive than the also-ran Alt-rocker.

 

[davideduardo]

I know Entercom really loves the Alternative format for some reason, but could there be a chance of KROQ flipping in the next couple years? Soft AC would be a decent hole to fill and when PBP contracts start coming up, FM Sports could become wayyy more attractive than the also-ran Alt-rocker.

While it is off its peak, KROQ is still one of the market's highest billers. And it is still a top 10 station in the sales demos.

Remember that LA is over 60% Hispanic, Black and Asian and another 10% other first generation immigrants from the Middle East, Central Europe, etc. These groups are not going to be soft AC listeners (and soft AC tends to be an older leaning format). This is also not a good sports market as attendance figures and the audience for the existing sports stations demonstrate.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Seems to me they did that when Bean left. They gave Bean an appropriate send-off. In Boston, Loren Owens stayed on at WROR after his team-mate Wally retired. Then a few months ago Loren was replaced. The February book was just released, and the station is #1. Obviously no one misses Loren. I predict the same will happen here. The show was Kevin & Bean. They achieved a lot in their time at KROQ, and got into the Hall of Fame. But when Bean left, the show was over. I think Kevin Kline is a talent who was waiting in the wings for this day. We'll see what he does with the opportunity.

This is the same phenomenon as when Mark returned to the Sound. He tried to retool the show with some old and new moving parts, so the show was not unfamiliar to the audience, but the dynamic that made Mark and Brian so successful simply couldn't be recreated, and the show always felt like a shell of the former show.

I believe that what led to the success in the first place was the completely different personalities of M&B which allowed them to play off of each other in an entertaining way. When Mark surrounded himself with an all-yes man team,including his daughter, the dynamic (perhaps some of that well known creative tension between M&B) that made the original show work was nowhere to be found, and ultimately, the new Mark show did not succeed.

 

[MarkW]

Kevin Weatherly is somewhat of an overrated programmer.

Yes, years ago, he was PHENOMENALLY successful with KROQ. No one can take that away from him.

However, over the past decade, and especially the past five years, KROQ's ratings were ho-hum. He seemed more interested in clinging to the past than properly guiding the station to a bright future.

Also, look at all the CBS Radio rock & alternative stations that earned weak ratings under his tutelage. Markets other than Los Angeles seemed to present a massive challenge.

I will say the CBS / Entercom Adult Hits stations all sound darn good, and I suspect Weatherly has played a significant role in that.

 

[TheBigA]

I will say the CBS / Entercom Adult Hits stations all sound darn good, and I suspect Weatherly has played a significant role in that.

Not sure you can give Weatherly credit for an outside format. Sure Jack gives local PDs a lot of latitude, but it is a formula. Gary Wall deserves credit too.

Entercom could see the writing on the wall a while ago. That's why they made Mike Kaplan the format captain for Alternative.

 

[MarkW]

Not sure you can give Weatherly credit for an outside format. Sure Jack gives local PDs a lot of latitude, but it is a formula. Gary Wall deserves credit too.

Wasn't Weatherly format captain for CBS Radio (and then Entercom's) Adult Hits stations? I may be mistaken.

I agree with you about Entercom seeing the writing on the wall. They passed over on Weatherly not once, but twice, for alternative format captain honors. Michael Martin received the nod originally. (He didn't do a very good job, IMO.) When Martin was reassigned in January 2019, Entercom went with Kaplan.

 

[Doctah]

Alt987 vs. KROQ

Curious from a music standpoint what the difference is between the two stations. I probably don't listen enough to be able to tell the difference, but their playlists seem pretty identical to me. What is Alt 987 doing better than KROQ? And what should KROQ and Weatherly have done to keep KROQ on top?

 

[hotpatrick2004]

But will Kaplan or as they called him on the Woody show on alt 98.7 Mike the show killer.

Will he do a good job? Woody always said mike was a great guy but a horrible program director. When I met the Woody show in person and I said he that just a bit y'all do about mike the show killer? They said no. He is a great guy but horrible at his job.

 

[MarkW]

I've always gotten the sense that Woody's ego is the size of Montana.

The fact of the matter is his show gets terrible ratings in nearly every market it airs outside of Los Angeles. 105.7 in Atlanta, 103.3 in Indianapolis, and 105.1 in Kansas City are all worse off than prior to adding the show. Look at what happened at KFOG in San Francisco; adding his show did nothing to help that station's abysmal numbers and it left the airwaves for good less than a year later.