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Changes at the Sound?

Mimi Chen posted on Facebook a little while ago that there are changes coming to The Sound. She posted she doesn't know what all the changes will be, but says there will be a different morning show "for sure."
 
hate to see this...but at least they each have other work in place
 
Wow, it is not often I make a suggestion to help out a local station and actually have the suggestion taken. Here is what I wrote a few weeks ago:

>>Last side note since I am on the topic of the Sound. Please ditch the morning show of Larry and Sherry. They have been together for several months and each day sounds like it is their first, as they struggle to find something relevant to say about the day's current events while trying ever-so-hard not to interfere with the music. Either have a show or play the music (I prefer the latter) but the interaction between these two can be painful to listen to sometimes. Yesterday's bit where they used tape of some singer making his picks for all four NFL games this week and making their remarks between each splice of tape airing his picks, and then agreeing with his picks afterward with nothing else to say on their own was a great example of this. Better to play "Lay Down Sally" again than to muddle through that.<<


I take no pleasure in pushing these two (I'm sure) very nice people out the door, but every day seemed like a forced presentation that just wasn't working. Something had to change. To be fair to them, it is very hard to have a relatively serious music-based show (as is consistent with the presentation of the rest of the station day parts) with a duo on the mike who have to try to be entertaining without being intrusive, but not be Mark and Kim either. It was an almost impossible task to achieve.

The preferred outcome would be more of a shut-up and play the music approach, but they didn't go out of their way to leak this to the industry press in advance unless they have something bigger up their sleeves, so now is the appropriate time to start the speculation. So here goes:

What would be the biggest way to improve their station in the morning while capitalizing on the current travails of the morning show at cross-town KLOS, whose audience they need to steal in order to gain market share (since there is no organic growth going on in this format)?. Yes, get Brian who was unceremoniously dumped by KLOS at the last minute like yesterday's newspaper (after all those years!), and pair him with a new co-host (I've said before it would be better if the partner was female, to differentiate the show from M&B) and let them have at it. Brian would bring instant name recognition, part of a once-loyal audience, can probably be had for less $ than before, and much of listener gain would come at KLOS' expense. A very splashy move that will give them lots of pub.
 
Brian would be very expensive Channelflipper, he does not come cheap, i dont think Bonneville can offer him the type of salary he would want to do a morning show, and all M&B did was TALK, so if you prefer the latter, that idea is out the door, ::) ::)
 
Your new morning man at The Sound is none other than former KLOS afternoon jock Joe Benson. He starts Monday February 4th.
 
Wow, talk about tenacious longevity. Uncle Joe has been back flipping into constant employment for well over 2 decades. Sure he's been pushed to part-time/weekend status in the past but the guy never seems to be on the beach and if he has been it was a very brief visit.

How many dial positions has Joe been on now?
 
Robnoxious said:
Wow, talk about tenacious longevity. Uncle Joe has been back flipping into constant employment for well over 2 decades. Sure he's been pushed to part-time/weekend status in the past but the guy never seems to be on the beach and if he has been it was a very brief visit.

How many dial positions has Joe been on now?

he was mostly at KLOS, he has been around for at least the late 60's if im not mistaken, i could be wrong though, he has held numerous positions at KLOS and even hosted Sunday mornings show on KLOS, on the top of my head i dont remember the title or titles though.
 
36james said:
Robnoxious said:
Wow, talk about tenacious longevity. Uncle Joe has been back flipping into constant employment for well over 2 decades. Sure he's been pushed to part-time/weekend status in the past but the guy never seems to be on the beach and if he has been it was a very brief visit.

How many dial positions has Joe been on now?

he was mostly at KLOS, he has been around for at least the late 60's if im not mistaken, i could be wrong though, he has held numerous positions at KLOS and even hosted Sunday mornings show on KLOS, on the top of my head i dont remember the title or titles though.

I only recall Joe being on KLOS and KCBS-FM in its Arrow format, where he was the morning drive jock for several years. I could be wrong, but I have no memory of Joe being on either KLSX or KMET.

This choice represents an improvement to be sure, but it also is a doubling-down on the same approach the station has been using all along, which is to position itself as THE rock heritage station, whose roots are in the Sam Bellamy era KMET, with them carrying the torch for the full 45 - 50 year era of album oriented rock with much more intellectualism and historical perspective than KLOS, which has focused only on late 70s and 80s/90s rock, and only the most commercially viable material from that era.

By going this route, they need not change any of their presentation, and they stay away from anything like a wacky morning zoo product, which they probably feel would contaminate the music presentation for the rest of the day. They also are still content to have the older of the demo group as compared to KLOS, who significantly adjusted the playlist a few years back to reduce the age of the average listener. In short, you can still expect to hear "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" by CSN on the Sound but not on KLOS.

My earlier suggestion would have resulted in a formal declaration of war against cross-town KLOS, and would have moved the needle to KSWD. This hiring, not so much. Joe comes and goes from KLOS every few years, so it is not a terribly splashy hire. That said, with Joe and Rita there, can it only be a matter of time before Cynthia Fox is next?
 
ChannelFlipper said:
36james said:
Robnoxious said:
Wow, talk about tenacious longevity. Uncle Joe has been back flipping into constant employment for well over 2 decades. Sure he's been pushed to part-time/weekend status in the past but the guy never seems to be on the beach and if he has been it was a very brief visit.

How many dial positions has Joe been on now?

he was mostly at KLOS, he has been around for at least the late 60's if im not mistaken, i could be wrong though, he has held numerous positions at KLOS and even hosted Sunday mornings show on KLOS, on the top of my head i dont remember the title or titles though.

I only recall Joe being on KLOS and KCBS-FM in its Arrow format, where he was the morning drive jock for several years. I could be wrong, but I have no memory of Joe being on either KLSX or KMET.

This choice represents an improvement to be sure, but it also is a doubling-down on the same approach the station has been using all along, which is to position itself as THE rock heritage station, whose roots are in the Sam Bellamy era KMET, with them carrying the torch for the full 45 - 50 year era of album oriented rock with much more intellectualism and historical perspective than KLOS, which has focused only on late 70s and 80s/90s rock, and only the most commercially viable material from that era.

By going this route, they need not change any of their presentation, and they stay away from anything like a wacky morning zoo product, which they probably feel would contaminate the music presentation for the rest of the day. They also are still content to have the older of the demo group as compared to KLOS, who significantly adjusted the playlist a few years back to reduce the age of the average listener. In short, you can still expect to hear "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" by CSN on the Sound but not on KLOS.

My earlier suggestion would have resulted in a formal declaration of war against cross-town KLOS, and would have moved the needle to KSWD. This hiring, not so much. Joe comes and goes from KLOS every few years, so it is not a terribly splashy hire. That said, with Joe and Rita there, can it only be a matter of time before Cynthia Fox is next?

I'm happy to hear about and thrilled for Joe. With Jeff Gonzer having officially retired, he's the guy.
 
Is this the same Uncle Joe whose daughter Kate ran the Shady Rest Hotel in Petticoat Junction? :D

Joe Benson had a Sunday-night show on KLSX from April 1995 to September 1996. When he was on KLOS, his Sunday-night show was called 7th Day. He obviously thought the week started with Monday!
 
michael hagerty said:
Marv-L.A. said:
Uncle Joe never worked at KLSX, and I'm 95% certain that he never worked at KLSX.

Marv:

It's that 5% that'll get ya:

http://unclejoe.com/onair/hist.htm

Actually now that my memory is refreshed, I do remember that there was a little tempest in a teapot when Joe moved to KLSX because KLOS management refused to let him use the term "The Seventh Day" for his Sunday show on KLSX, claiming that the name of the show was KLOS' intellectual property. Like most issues of this sort, it blew over pretty quickly and everyone got on with life.
 
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