BJ Shea Exits KZOK Mornings
In a late weekend shocker, BJ Shea has announced his exit from mornings at iHeartMedia Classic Rock 102.5 KZOK Seattle
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BJ Shea, gone.
- Thread starter leethalweapon
- Start date
radioinsight.com
Well I’m certainly surprised. I thought he was a great fit for KZOK. I’ve heard that he’s updated his social media page, teasing an update to follow. It sounds like it (hopefully) was his decision to make.
To exit a station and announce it on a Sunday seems a little suspicious. Either he desired to exit on his own, or corporate forced him out for something egregious (I can't imagine BJ doing something completely off the rails to get fired so something major happened between he and management)
I think this says that there is more to the story, and I wonder if iHeart just thought he would go quietly.
If they screwed with his contract, I hope he sues them into oblivion. iHeart are a cancerous company to work for. Wish they would kill that part of Telecom 96 and bring back more regional ownerships, but it might be too little too late for that.
I’ve been a lifelong KZOK fan, but I don’t really find myself listening as much as I used to. BJ Shea absolutely gave me a reason to change my listening habits and come back for the first time in a while. I think iheart is dreaming if they think they can replace him with ease (I actually think they got extremely lucky when they got BJ in the first place). Obviously he’s a strong personality, but that’s part of what made him successful on KISW for so long.
But back to KZOK; it’s an absolutely soulless radio station in 2024. Almost completely voice tracked from other markets, bland imaging, relatively small playlist, etc. It’s almost bizarre, since 95.7 doesn’t seem to have these problems. They’re not live and local outside of AM and PM drive, but it seems like a lot more attention to detail is given, even on the weekends. Not to mention, the playlist is dialed in perfectly. Too bad they can’t share some of the wealth (lol).
Any sort of management feud with one of the best examples of morning talent in this market seems like the ultimate fail in the case of KZOK. They seem to perform well in the key male demographics, but who knows what will happen without a strong morning show. They’ve been extremely (and I mean ridiculously) lucky over there to have had strong morning talent for all these years. I’m not sure being a jukebox for Nirvana can maintain their stronghold by itself.
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They're very different radio stations. One is classic rock, the other is variety hits. They appeal to different demographics. Classic rock is more male, variety hits is slightly more female. They share some songs, but the presentation is different. Playlist size is about the same. iHeart classic rock stations tend to have strong morning shows, if you look around the company. So I would expect they'll replace him with someone similar.
You’re absolutely right about the demographics, but from the standpoint of a listener in the market, it’s pretty evident that a lot more TLC goes into 95.7. Even if the playlist is similar in size, it’s hard to tell when it seems like they hit the same 20 songs over and over again. To make a long story short, I listened for the morning show and not the music (despite being a classic rock fan, there’s only so much Nirvana and Guns N Roses one can stand).
KZOK has done extremely well with male listeners over the years, but I think a lot of that can be attributed to having a strong morning show. Even when iHeart started to cheap out, Danny Bonnaduce remained with the station and continued up until his retirement. Snagging BJ Shea was almost the perfect move to replace the void left by Danny, since he’s been a Seattle institution among male listeners for so many years.
They’re definitely going to have to get this right. Audacy and KISW seems to be well aware that talent is driving a huge chunk of their ratings. If that’s also true at KZOK, they’re going to need to find the right talent. I’m sure it’s doable, but it’s not as easy as snagging the guy who already was your biggest competitor in the same market for over a decade.
Chris Sargent is PD for both stations. So he co-ordinates how they're run.
That may be how it seems, but it's not how it is. Both stations shift songs around every week, and the songs they play heavily also change. The number of spins their most played songs get each week is exactly the same. The main thing is that whenever someone tunes in, they hear a big hit. Nobody listens non-stop all day, and they don't program for that.
The problem with heritage talent is it can sometimes attract only heritage audience. If the demos were going in the wrong direction, that would be a problem. Sometimes a host can age out of the demo. We don't know if that happened, or if the talent simply is going through his own change of life situation. That happened to Danny a couple of times.
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It’s too bad Chris can’t duplicate himself. He’s a great host and consistently does a fantastic job as the PM drive host on 95.7. But there’s only so much money that can be spent on talent. From my own perspective, the tracked hosts on KZOK have never done much for me (and it seems like I’m not the only one thinking it).
While I respect your opinion, I adamantly disagree that BJ aged out of the demo. I’m in my late twenties and don’t share that opinion at all. Talent is always in flux (and anyone working in any media position is welcome to leave on their own free accord), but I’m not sure that logic applies in this scenario. I’m curious to see what they do next to fill this void.
Perhaps the playlist itself on KZOK isn’t problematic, but many listeners would agree that it’s pretty predictable and repetitive. You may as well just pull up Spotify and stream what you want. The only motivating factor that would make me continue to listen to KZOK is for the morning talent. We always hear about how a morning show can set the tone for the rest of the day. Well, now they’re going to have to come up with something (and probably fast). I think it may be easier said than done…
I live in a location where 92.9 KISM comes in extremely well. It’s been a pretty darn good alternative to KZOK. Significantly more variety, talent that seems to care about their audience. It’s a nice change.
I didn't say he has, just that it can be a problem for people his age. He may also feel the same way you do about the music.
Some people want predictable and repetitive. That's what perpetuates monogamy. I'll point out that KZOK is a Top 5 station. They clearly appeal to a lot of people...just not you.
The question now is who do you get for mornings after nuking a morning show that was actually doing good and establishing itself, not to mention they just hired a new producer a few months ago. Do they go canned programming/syndicated and potentially lose market share or try to get a legacy talent on mornings. Bob Rivers is retired, Kent and Alan are retired, and let's not keep going back to Robin and Maynard, they're not coming back. They could try to bring back Chris and Dana, albeit I don't think Chris Collins was well welcomed in Seattle.
I’m curious to see what happens when the dust settles on this one. Maybe at that point we’ll glean more about what motivates people to tune into 102.5. They’ve been blessed with great morning show talent for years. Take that away, and who knows what will happen. The main point I’m trying to make is that the incentive to actively choose KZOK has dwindled year after year. Let’s see what they do next right the ship.
You bring up a good point here, because who knows what they will do next. Obviously there’s bound to be a flood of comments about long retired hosts on this thread, but I am genuinely curious about what their options might be.
Anything is possible, and there could be a great fit KZOK out there. But it will be an uphill battle. This isn’t a scenario where you’re picking someone who already has a very strong following in the market. This is starting from scratch.
Lately some iHeart classic rock stations have been hiring talent with sports background. They just did it in Boston a few months ago.
The co-host of the city's #1 morning show quit, and now hosts morning at iHeart's classic rocker WZLX. Ratings have gone up a full share since.
...I hear Mitch Levy is available lol
I did a quick search, and found a Reddit thread from St Louis about his exit from KSHE. Almost all of the comments were negative. It’s the internet (and you can usually take it with a grain of salt), but I’m not sure this is a slam dunk.
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