Lee Anderson said:
wdb2003 said:
Well I agree stations need to evolve. KIIS caters to young teenagers so yes it made sense to remove Rick Dees. But KOST is a AC station targeted towards adults. Bryan Simmons is not old he still fits KOST today. Its no seceret that Bryan was let go because of his salary maybe. Different direction my ###. Thats just Clear Channel corporate saying you reach your $$$ peak. What direction are they trying to go in they are still the only AC station in town. KTWV,KBIG and KJLL are in the same arena but KOST is pure AC. Nothing was wrong with that station so why tweak and fix it. Compared to the old diary for ratings how did KOST perform? Have they always stayed in the Top 10?
Take the dollar theory out of it, you then need to ask, how do you attract the younger end of the demo? It's all well and good to have 3.2 million people a week listening, but if most of those are at the top end of the demo and exiting, where do you take the station? I don't think some people realize that the format needs to evolve, as the audience who were listening to KOST 10 years ago, most likely aren't the same audience that is listing today. People also compare KOST to WLTW. Most of WLTW's talent has been replaced in recent years, and it hasn't harmed them.
You evolve the music, but not necessarily the talent. I've been told that Simmons was on the younger end of the FT staff, so it can't be age. This
is Clear Channel though and we all know how they feel about saving a buck, so it is logical to suspect that money was involved. But we're all overlooking things like personality conflict and just plain bad management, and I've heard enough about the KOST PD's boss to know that there could be many other reasons.
What happened to WLTW had more to do with how much money the staff was making and it would have made the KOST people envious to know just how much their New York counterparts were pulling down. Yes WLTW is doing well, they did have some dips afterward and have rebounded. They still own the AC arena in New York, but are not the super dominant ratings force that they once were.
So what I'm reading from Mr. Anderson's post is that you've got to rid yourself of older talent to attract younger listeners? That makes sense if they sound old, but that's not the case here. You could bring in one of radio's many Seacrest sounding jocks like Ty Bentli, but all you're doing is trading one voice for another as whoever they bring in will still be reading the same liners and talking about the same stuff as before. No, I have to think that if anything they want to distance themselves from KOST's heritage sound and do it for less dollars.
Lee Anderson said:
I love how a lot of people here think that KOST sounds bad, yet 3.2 million people a week still listen. Here's a thought. Stations NEED to evolve. If it means that veteran jocks are let go, then it is a price to pay for continued success. I ask you this, if KIIS had stuck with Rick Dee's instead of Ryan Seacrest, do you think it would be in the position it is currently in? Just askin'.
Yes, a lot of people here don't think KOST sounds very good now and if you listen to them for a while you'll hear why, especially if you compare the station now to how it sounded in 2006 or 2007. We could list all of the reasons why they don't sound very good now, but I'd like someone to tell me why they think KOST sounds good, and do they sound better, worse or the same without Simmons? Oh and those in the know will tell you that Dees leaving KIIS wasn't just about age. CC saved a lot of money letting him go and while Seacrest has the advantage of his other media jobs to help get big guests on his show, he is not a personality like Dees. He is not unique like Dees and you could argue that anyone could do a show like Seacrest with the support that he has. Oh and do you think that Seacrest would have been promoted to KIIS if he had not struck gold with American Idol?
The part that I find weird about all this is why there still is no replacement for Bryan Simmons? This really seemed like a sudden decision by someone who wasn't really prepared for it and if it was someone's idea to make the station younger, well that sounds like an age discrimination.
