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Best in Muncie

The KZ 105 staff? You're dead on.

Here's a few to throw in there. Stan Atkins, Randy Tanner, E.Q. Kimble, Helen (can't remember last name) doing news also, Dr. Tom Gully on weekends, Paul Partezana, Don Barr, and I could probably think of a few others.

Most of these folks are out of the business. Randy Tanner is part of an ownership group of stations in northwest Indiana. Mike Davis was a GREAT guy, and SUPER connected, but the last I heard he was working for a big sign company in Indianapolis.

As for the market, I agree with you 100%. There's a reason that all of Backyard's stations put together aren't making as much as WLBC was in the late 80's and early to mid 90's.

Lindell is a waste of time. A joke. Again, if he ever loses his job THERE, he's cooked. People have ears. What with iPod, the internet, and satellite radio, I fail to see why anyone in East Central Indiana would spend one second listening to the voice-tracked dung coming out of Backyard Broadcasting.

If you want BIG laughs, ask Lindell to explain his theory of managing the stations. NO JOKE--he'll tell you with a completely straight face that WLBC-FM is a big battleship, and all the other stations are the little boats that support and protect it. I'm not joking.

Then you can tell him a properly manned rowboat from Indianapolis would kick his ass without having to bring its lunch.
 
I forgot to add Phil Carter. And the Helen in question was Helen Graves. WONDERFUL voice.

Megan Hunt is happily married with lots of kids. She got out of the biz after KZ and never looked back. Her boyfriend in college (a jerk) lived in my dorm--that's how I first met her.

She had TONS of stations--including Q95--BEGGING her to come to work, but I don't think she ever really took the radio thing too seriously.

The traffic manager at KZ now is the traffic director at WIPB-TV and she knows the whereabouts of ever former KZ employee, I think. From what I hear, they even have reunions from time to time.
 
Oh that is wild man. It’s great that former KZ staff are getting together after all of these years. Must have been a great place to work.

If you notice, when people talk about their favorite jock from the past they always have to add in a few more from the station where that jock worked. The reason being is good radio is a collective effort, and the station shined along with that jock. It's not about one person like at WLBC, but about many people like at KZ 105. They were fun and people responded to that, and still do. When people talk about WNAP, same thing. They can't mention a jock at the Buzzard without mentioning the adventures of another one that worked there. Your station has to generate a presence to the community in order to get those loyal listeners and to be talked about years down the road. Is this even remotely happening with WLBC? Well, here's the test; when you think about or talk about the good years of WLBC, do you think about 20 years ago or anywhere within those years? Or do you skip all of that and think about its power days in automation? Sad to say, but the automation years are more memorable to folks reminiscing about WLBC. THAT'S a problem. It’s a problem when people have fonder memories of Don Burton talking about sludge removal sandwiched between My Sharona and Heart of Glass then they do anytime when the station went live. When your station shines, that’s when real money starts coming in.

About Lindell’s take on managing stations, funny stuff. I have no clue as to what he may be talking about. The only thing I can think of is he probably heard the big-wigs in the know at BYB talk about competition and cornering the local market here. The smaller stations will be the protector of the big battelship, WLBC. Sounds like he took what he heard way out of context lol.

- Keith
 
That name Steve Lindell sounds familiar..Didn't he work in Dayton in the early/mid 70s? (WHIO-AM and the former University of Dayton-owned WVUD) or was that Steve WINdell or sombody to that effect?
 
Keith Kidd,

Man, thanks for your last post. Word, brother. I have to admit you're dead on again. A good station makes you remember everybody. And when I read the part about Don Burton and sludge removal I laughed my ass off. I'm still laughing, as a matter of fact. (Hello, I'm Don Burton, and this...is Comment...you may not think about sludge, but without its removal you'd think about it every day...)

The automation days are without a doubt more remembered than the Al Rent/Cathy Schreckengost era.

However, I got this speech BEFORE the station was BYB. Still the Sabre days or the one before that. The speech never fails to get a laugh out of me when I think about it. Maybe I should call Steve up and thank him for all the moronic stuff he said. You know, giving him props for the good times?


Kirkiefan,

I don't think Lindell worked in Ohio. I think he was Minnesota, then Arkansas.
 
I have a couple of things to say here...

1.) Grumpy Jumptooth or Keith Kidd: have you ever worked in radio, preferably as a jock or in management? I know Keith has a radio program, and from the demo I heard it sounds good, but that's not the same as being a jock day-after-day, year-after-year. From what I can tell Grumpy hasn't worked in radio. Perhaps he's a disgruntled dentist...

2.) You can slam Lindell and his management tactics all you want, but the fact of the matter is that WLBC, "the mothership" as he calls it, still performs well in the Muncie-Marion market. The station is holding its own, so to speak, against Indianapolis or Fort Wayne stations that bleed over into the market. You can pick up all of the MAJOR Indianapolis radio stations in Muncie and a few of the Fort Wayne stations as well (95.1 WAJI and 97.3 WMEE... both Hot AC stations...immediately come to mind).

No, before rumors start floating about, I am not Steve Lindell. He did, however, give me my first job in radio. He taught me a few things, and I have since moved onto bigger and better things. Lindell isn't the evil three-headed monster he's made out to be on this thread. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of the thread, isn't this supposed to be about the BEST in Muncie?
 
>>1.) Grumpy Jumptooth or Keith Kidd: have you ever worked in radio, preferably as a jock or in management? I know Keith has a radio program, and from the demo I heard it sounds good, but that's not the same as being a jock day-after-day, year-after-year. From what I can tell Grumpy hasn't worked in radio. Perhaps he's a disgruntled dentist...<<

I started working in radio in 1979 at the age of 16 at WIFE in Indianapolis doing overnights. Currently, I host mornings at one of the three all-talk sports stations in Dallas, TX--which is a TOP FIVE MARKET. "From what you can tell" doesn't amount to a heck of a lot, does it?

>>2.) You can slam Lindell and his management tactics all you want, but the fact of the matter is that WLBC, "the mothership" as he calls it, still performs well in the Muncie-Marion market. The station is holding its own, so to speak, against Indianapolis or Fort Wayne stations that bleed over into the market. You can pick up all of the MAJOR Indianapolis radio stations in Muncie and a few of the Fort Wayne stations as well (95.1 WAJI and 97.3 WMEE... both Hot AC stations...immediately come to mind).<<

Performs well? Once more, the COMBINED stations he manages make LESS now than WLBC did in the mid 90's. But that's just from the sales manager.

>>No, before rumors start floating about, I am not Steve Lindell. He did, however, give me my first job in radio. He taught me a few things, and I have since moved onto bigger and better things. Lindell isn't the evil three-headed monster he's made out to be on this thread. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of the thread, isn't this supposed to be about the BEST in Muncie?<<

Yes, and it's pretty much agreed that Steve is far from it. See, a message board is a discussion. Muncie radio is really bad and the major reason for that is the brainless person we're discussing at the moment. He runs these stations, you see. And he's highly talentless.

Can you imagine Steve on the air in even a top 75 market with that corny re-warmed over stuff?

The story of Muncie radio is the story of radio all over the country since deregulation. Cluster strategy means less billings for radio stations, and less quality for listeners. Particularly in the outlying regions.

Less billings mean less money. Less money means lesser talent rather than better talent. So, in outlying areas like Muncie, you have really bad talent running the whole show sometimes. In other areas, depending, you get a good guy--and you have great radio in surprising places.

Muncie, thanks to Mr. Lindell (Captain Corn and Cheese) that doesn't happen to be the case. When the big battleship sucks how can the little boats not suck, too?
 
GumpyJumptooth said:
My oh my... got a little defensive, didn't we? If that set you off, I would like to know how you react to criticism. Maybe you could tell us what station you work for and if your station streams. I would love to hear your morning show...
Click to expand...
 
Defensive? Where do you get that? From the same empty bucket as "what you can tell?" You cast an assumption and missed by MILES. You, frankly, are the one who should be defensive. For being totally inaccurate, and for defending someone who couldn't get a job outside Muncie if his life depended on it.

Hence, I gave you information demonstrating to you just how clueless you are. I'm at SportsRadio 1310 The Ticket. Yeah, it streams.

And YOUR info, oh Steve Lindell wanabee?
 
I work at W-WWW, "All W's all the time". I am also a disgruntled Dentist, but I only do that part time.

Thank you first of all CChase for the complement on the show, much appreciated. You are wrong though, I haven't painted Lindell as a three headed monster by any stretch. I like three headed monsters and for you to think I would disrespect them like that is hurtful. What I said about Steve was he ran us (meaning me and the producer) in circles for three months (maybe even longer) telling us he is interested in the show and led us to believe that he was gonna run it... and then totally dropped out of communication and was non responsive to our inquiries. ------, at least call and tell us to go to hell in that magical little radio way. I could have said a lot more than what I did about this situation. I thought I was being rather tame considering, and instead aimed my conversation in other directions concerning overall programming.

As far as being a jock day in and day out and that what I'm doing is not the same thing, well that's true. But are you saying that to imply that Steve can pull off what I am doing with Retroactive and that he can achieve what I am striving for with this show? I'll say to you just like you said to me, that kind of radio is different. Of course Steve knows that, thus being the reason for him wanting to air it.

I stand behind everything I said concerning programming and how the station HAS to generate a presence. This is true especially today. Management needs to quit worrying about a very chosen few listeners who might try to decide between WLBC and WAJI, and be more concerned about getting people to listen to the radio around here again.

- Keith
 
GumpyJumptooth said:
And YOUR info, oh Steve Lindell wanabee?
Click to expand...
I, much like you Gumpy, started in radio when I was 16. And it was Lindell who gave me my first job. Upon graduation from high school, at the age of 18, I worked Afternoon Drive at WLBC... I was #1. I was #1 in nights at WMDH/New Castle, where I was also the Imaging Director. Now I am in Poughkeepsie, New York (market #163) as Afternoon Drive host and Music Director of WBWZ. Also #1 here. Feel free to stream the station at www.star933fm.com. If you would like to critique my programming... my music playlist is available through Radio and Records. Oh, and I just turned 21. Feel free to call me a snot-nosed brat, or some other colorful term.

I see that your show does well. A couple of Marconi nominations (but no win? Maybe you should bribe the committee too)... three-time DFW Radio Personality of the Year... a couple of local awards... impressive (and I AM being serious here).

-Chris
 
I trust that we're done with the pissing match.

Back to the topic "Best in Muncie".... here's my list (in order)






:-[ Sorry, but if they turned off the transmitters, would anybody notice? (Outside of the power company?) I sampled Muncie's finest, the first week of September of this year and was very disappointed.

And no, I will not tell you who I am. Just that this former Hoosier has been in radio for over 30 years and I work in a top 20 market. In other words, my opinion is as worthy as a disgruntled dentist.
 
You know, it's like I said before and this is nothing against Chase personally here, but someone has to be number one. That’s just the way it works. Correct? Doesn't mean the choices are great, or that radio is great around here and that the number one slot is earned due to compelling radio. The bigger question you have to ask yourself is IF overall listener-ship were to increase, which it desperately needs to, would you still hold on to that position? You might I don’t know, that would depend on yours and the stations reaction to the increase and why the increase happened, but if it's between you and a tree stump, you are going to rank higher. Hands down…except if the person competing against the stump is Crazy Tony Robinson, in that case of course it would be a tie.

The topic here is the “best” in Muncie. What does that mean anyway? I’m assuming it means best DJ and/or best program here in Muncie? Radio around here isn’t compelling enough to do any comparisons, and hasn’t been in 30 years. That’s like asking “what’s the most awesome drink in Muncie, this glass of water or that one?” I think the discussion is deprived of practical significance.

I think Wazzie's list is acurrate and we need to look hard at it, and stare at it's contents and learn from it.

- Keith
 
How can someone be #1 in a market that isn't rated? Especially overnights?

And being #1 overnight in New Castle is like being the best hockey player on the surface of the sun.
 
While this is a recent development (the past 3 or 4 years) Muncie-Marion is Arbitron market #212. WMDH is a 50,000 watt FM station owned by Citadel. It has been a market force in that area for over 30 years.
 
GumpyJumptooth said:
WOKZ-FM (KZ 105) went on the air for the first time in January of 1986.
Click to expand...

The noted date of WOKZ's arrival on the scene made me think of the some of the background of how 104.9 made it to Muncie.

Originally the FCC assigned 104.9 to Marion, Indiana. In 1964 The Maddox family in Hartford City applied for the frequency to give Blackford county a radio station. That station (WWHC) went on the air in 1965. The FCC allocation table still showed 104.9 assigned to Marion even though the station was licensed to Hartford City. In the spring of 1976, Muncie Broadcasting (Robert Poorman and son Bill Shirk) sent letters to various stations around north central Indiana asking them if they would like to switch frequencies so Muncie could have the 104.9 frequency. One of the conditions of the change was that Muncie Broadcasting would pay for marketing and equipment changes needed for the switches. Good plan, except Muncie Broadcasting was NOT awarded the frequency. (I'm not sure who did, maybe someone out there has that story.) It took almost ten years, but in January 1986 the wholesale frequency changes occurred:

Here are the changes:
WWWO Hartford City (WWHC when letter went out) 104.9 to 93.5
WKHY Lafayette (WXUS when letter went out) 92.7 to 93.5
WZWZ Kokomo 93.5 to 92.7 (went to 92.5 in January 1995 under Mid America Radio ownership)
WOKZ Muncie 104.9 brand new

Just a bit of north central Indiana broadcast history for your information.
 
GM for OKZ-FM was Kirk Ray, who did a pretty good job at carving out a successful niche for a new station in the market, only to be unceremoneously fired by owners not originally from the industry.
 
Wow. A trip down memory lane.

Just one thing. I think the criticisms of Steve Lindell are really harsh and out of bounds to some degree.

Now, while some may have a valid claim that they don't like the sound, that's a personal thing. But Steve is running a group of stations. So he has to consider the hierarchy of those stations. Hence, the big battleship thing. The folks he's working for seem to think he's doing his job, and they're the ones with their own cash on the line. So they get to make the rules.

I've worked with Steve, and always found him to be receptive to new ideas and willing to listen.

Do I think Steve is really great at what I do now--news/talk/sports radio? Not necessarily. But the music thing? The serving the community thing? Yeah, I think he does a very good job in Muncie, Indiana.
 
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