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Best/Worst of Columbia

H

Hammer5

In light of the Free Times Best of Columbia coming up in the next few weeks, a thought ran through my mind.

What do you feel was the best radio decision made in Columbia? It could be a format change, strategy, anything...

Conversely, what was the worst radio decision made in Columbia?

Thoughts?
 
At the time, I wasn't sure about it. But now it appears moving The Morning Rush to WCOS was one of the best decisions. Another I wasn't sure about that worked out very well was Steve-FM. Moving 107.5 to Columbia to go all-sports seems to have worked. Inner City buying the rock stations, but still leaving them rock in a company that is primarily Urban. That was a smart decion.

Worst: Letting Glen Garrett go from WCOS. New 92 leaving country format. I'm sure I'll think of more.
 
Not sure how far the best or worse question is intended for, but here goes it... Best- signing on Hot 103.9 with it's balls to the wall Hip Hop format in 1999 it really made The Big DM really step it's game way up. Citadel signing on 107.5 The Game... Really enjoyed listening to it while visiting SC a few weeks ago. Worse- All the VT'ing that is now done on what was once really good "Local" stations IE WNOK, WCOS... I am sure I will think of more as time goes along... CC1
 
I've got a what the hell...why are none of the Inner City stations streaming? It's 2011! They need to get with the times.
 
Some of my best/worst in Columbia radio of all time:

Worst: WIS turning in their license for the FM on 94.5. If they had held on to it for a few more years, they could have move some of WIS-AM elements over to it at some point when FM's popularity was rising in the mid-70s.

Best: WCOS, WNOK, and WWDM finding success early on with their respected formats when FM became popular.
Worst: Having companies like Clear Channel and Inner City suck the life out them to the point where they are just shells of their former selfs.

Worst: Leo & Woody Windham's firing at WNOK in 1983. It caused the station's ratings to drop significantly and allowed WZLD to beat them.

Worst: WIGL's audio problems which made them unlistenable and allowed WCOS to remain on top for the Country audience.
Best: B106.7 giving Columbia it's first true AC on FM. WSCQ doesn't count as they had programs that made the station sound like a trainwreck.

Worst: WZLD's sale in 1984 to Universal Communications (part of Bresson-Hafler Media). Instead of staying the course doing balls-to-the-wall CHR, they wound up knee-jerking to everything that WNOK was doing to the point they wound up at the end of 1987 with a 1 share and no identity. Of course, going AC in 1986 didn't help matters either. Even Yes 97 (and Kicks 96 and Lite 96.7) had the same problems.
Best: Steve-FM (as already mentioned).

Worst: WWGO. Same problems that WZLD had. Knee-jerk reactions in programming=no identity.
Best: Fox 102 signs on, proving that Album Rock CAN work in Columbia.

Worst: WMMC's conversion from CHR-Crossover to Mainstream CHR in late 1986. The station's ratings dropped like a rock. EVEN Worse: WPRH's failed attempt at CHR in 1988-early 1989. Can you say 1.9?
Best: Oldies 103 (after stumbling as Magic 103.1).

Worst: WKWQ in their attempt to compete with WWDM. There's no way that a poorly programmed 3 kW signal licensed to Batesburg-Leesville could match a 100 kW well-programmed powerhouse. The frequency change from 95.3 to 93.1 in 1991 didn't help them at all and the station wound up broadcasting SMN's "The Touch" for many years afterwards.

Worst: WCEZ's conversion to Lite AC in 1989. For all good intentions you should not mess with a successful format. Even worse: WAAS with their ill-fated AC format.
Best: WARQ, proving that there is room for a Active/Alternative Rock station in the market.

Best: WFMV's sign-on as Gospel 95.3 in 1993, filling a much-needed hole for Urban Gospel in the market.

Best: WSCQ conversion from AC to Adult Standards in 1992. giving the area retirees a station they could call their own.
Worse: Capstar gutting the station to the point that the ratings dropped. Jammin' Oldies, here we come. Whoops, didn't work either so let's do Urban.

Robyn
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Worst: Leo & Woody Windham's firing at WNOK in 1983. It caused the station's ratings to drop significantly and allowed WZLD to beat them.
Click to expand...

Leo didn't get fired. He stayed on with Mark Plemmons and Pandora Reynolds.
 
After Leo went to Yes 97, McElveen let Randy Kabrick talk him into hiring Tk, Tk, Tk, Tom "Truckin'" Kent who promptly drove stake throught the heart of the station. Kent went to D.C. and then tried programming again in Raleigh and killed another top 40 there. Hiring Kent was the WORSE decision for NOK! EVER!
 
Footnote to the story: Tom Kent has gone on to form his own network and is heard all over America, mainly on oldies/classic hits stations. So did he dramatically improve?
 
Al Timiter said:
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Worst: Leo & Woody Windham's firing at WNOK in 1983. It caused the station's ratings to drop significantly and allowed WZLD to beat them.
Click to expand...

Leo didn't get fired. He stayed on with Mark Plemmons and Pandora Reynolds.
Click to expand...


Actually, Leo did get fired along with Woody. He came back after TK was let go.


Marti said:
After Leo went to Yes 97, McElveen let Randy Kabrick talk him into hiring Tk, Tk, Tk, Tom "Truckin'" Kent who promptly drove stake throught the heart of the station. Kent went to D.C. and then tried programming again in Raleigh and killed another top 40 there. Hiring Kent was the WORSE decision for NOK! EVER!
Click to expand...

I can see how the hiring of TK could and would be construed as the "worst' decision for WNOK, but I can also say that if it had never happened(and Tom's ultimate dismissal), then the complete overhaul of WNOK(which was sorely needed at the time)would've never happened as fast as it did. I hate that Woody & Leo got the axe(and later, Hunter Herring) because all three of them were very influential on my career, such as it is. But I feel somewhat indebted to Tom because he hired me on the spot upon walking thru the doors at WNOK the morning after Frank Baker fired me at WZLD for missing an announcers' meeting(which I had gotten permission to miss, btw).

Oh, and Mr. McElveen wasn't talked into anything...Kabrich merely suggested TK. He'd hired a focus group research group earlier that had ascertained that WNOK needed to revamp. Initially, he wanted to hire Kabrich, but Kabrich didn't want to come to Columbia. When it became apparent that Kabrich wasn't going to be persuaded to come to Columbia, Mr. McElveen asked for input on other possible programming choices. It was then that Randy suggested TK.

At the time, TK was an intense person whose managerial tendencies gravitated towards abrasiveness...not exactly a recipe that endeared him to staff. But, he was knowledgeable and he taught me a lot, just as Woody, Leo and Hunter did...plus, he was the first PD that I ever had that gave me responsibility...which I considered and still consider, a reward.

TK was always a great jock...just not a great programmer, and, truth be told, he's actually a great person.
 
Scott, thanks for backing me up. I had a microfilm scan of the article that ran in The State and it was mention that the reason that they were fired was that Tom Kent didn't like their accent as they used words like "y'all" and "buddy" on the air. I can't form an opinion about Tom personally, but that was a boneheaded move on his part and a prime example why a programmer from out of town should not come to Columbia to make drastic changes without getting to know the market as well as the radio audience first.

Another thing that popped into my mind was that one reason Leo left WNOK to what was then WZLD in 1987 was WZLD had offered the OM/Morning position to him as well as an small ownership stake (I think it was about 10%) in the station to come aboard. Leo stayed for about a year, then seemingly left radio for about 2 years before resurfacing at Oldies 103 in 1991. Does anyone know what happened with that?

Robyn
 
I'd like to see that article, Robyn. It's hard for me to believe that TK went public with critique like that. Not doubting you, but I'd like to see the article and who wrote it. I know Tom wasn't enamored with Woody and Leo's delivery and the show they did, but, as I recall, the focus group research recommended getting a new morning show. As you and many others already know, and as I have always said, "...the road in and out of Columbia is littered with the carcasses of PDs who came in and thought they were going to teach Columbia listeners what good radio was." I guess one could add focus groups to that observation as well. I CAN tell you this...Woody was the MAN and he knew what he was doing. And people can criticize the guy all they want, but the only guy since Woody who knew what he was doing as far as what the listeners wanted, and has done it consistently, has been Jonathan Rush.
 
Scott,

It may be awhile since I now live in Asheville and the only time that I can make to Columbia is to visit my folks. The State's electronic archive only goes back to 1987 AFAIK and everything else is microfilmed before then. Asheville's Public Library doesn't have a deep archive of that newspaper.

Question for anyone out there: Is there a source or a library that has back issues of Radio & Records, The Gavin Report, Hitmakers and other radio trades? I'll be the first to say that it's hard to find detailed information on station's histories and what's worse is that radio is an industry that doesn't keep records of its history.

Robyn
 
You can say what you want about Jonathan Rush, but the numbers seem to ahve gotten stronger at WCOS since he has been there and let's face it if Woody ever left WOMG, their billing would be in the toilet, he may be getting older, but to this long time listener of Woddy Woodham, he still has it.
 
Not everybody that is in radio is necessarily good at their job or jobs. Today it sometime seems that the cheapest person working keeps their job while the the better more experienced people are let go all in the name of money. I would think that most of your long time radio people would be very good at what they do as they have the years of either doing it right or not being there to do it at all, granted some are much better than others but if anyone has been in the radio business over say 40 years for example and doesn't have a string of complaints behind them and I do mean a string then they are probability pretty darn good at what they do, the ones that have none or almost none are probability some of the best in the business.
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Scott, thanks for backing me up. I had a microfilm scan of the article that ran in The State and it was mention that the reason that they were fired was that Tom Kent didn't like their accent as they used words like "y'all" and "buddy" on the air. I can't form an opinion about Tom personally, but that was a boneheaded move on his part and a prime example why a programmer from out of town should not come to Columbia to make drastic changes without getting to know the market as well as the radio audience first.

Another thing that popped into my mind was that one reason Leo left WNOK to what was then WZLD in 1987 was WZLD had offered the OM/Morning position to him as well as an small ownership stake (I think it was about 10%) in the station to come aboard. Leo stayed for about a year, then seemingly left radio for about 2 years before resurfacing at Oldies 103 in 1991. Does anyone know what happened with that?

Robyn
Click to expand...


..and I apologize for spewing mis-information. That's what I get for relying on heresay and fuzzy memories. I try to be factually correct and I'm sorry.
 
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