Cmon People!!!

[tk]

I saw the same "Worst Blunders" threads on the LA and Charlotte boards. Great response and real good conversation. But, on the East Tennessee board hardly any response at all!!! What is up with that? Especially with all the radio history in Knoxville, Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities?

Are we talking a handful of radio people posting on the board...have too many guys that remember died off? I just don't understand...really hard to believe when I know there are guys on here passionate about radio!!!

 

[Jeff_Cooper]

> I saw the same "Worst Blunders" threads on the LA and
> Charlotte boards. Great response and real good conversation.
> But, on the East Tennessee board hardly any response at
> all!!! What is up with that? Especially with all the radio
> history in Knoxville, Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities?
>
> Are we talking a handful of radio people posting on the
> board...have too many guys that remember died off? I just
> don't understand...really hard to believe when I know there
> are guys on here passionate about radio!!!
>

The majority of posters here either aren't in radio or weren't in the market when anything happened. I would venture a guess that most of the posters here are posting to increase their own "Q" rating and maybe bump the hype of their own show/station.

 

[BRice16]

> I saw the same "Worst Blunders" threads on the LA and
> Charlotte boards. Great response and real good conversation.
> But, on the East Tennessee board hardly any response at
> all!!! What is up with that? Especially with all the radio
> history in Knoxville, Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities?
>
> Are we talking a handful of radio people posting on the
> board...have too many guys that remember died off? I just
> don't understand...really hard to believe when I know there
> are guys on here passionate about radio!!!
>

I think the biggest thing is, alot of the "worst blunders" in ET have had a good side to them that wasn't there in other markets. For example, the switch of Oldies 102 and Star 93.1 back in 2000 killed Oldies and reduced the total market share that Journal held. BUT, trading in the 93.1 frequency for the 100,000 watt signal ended up forcing SS out of the Hot AC business (for awhile) by driving them to create "Team Sports Radio" and gave Journal a major Top 40 player with no competition until Wild debuted two years later.

With the trends of Oldies across the country, you could argue that it was a good long-term move because they would have lost that share anyway.

 

[wimzfan]

I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

I had been out of town on vacation and missed the posts about radio blunders in Knoxville. I've got several. I'm going to start with a couple that have been talked about alot on this board but newcomers may have missed them.

The first one involves The Mulls and WIMZ. When WIMZ (then WBIR) was still country The Mulls had a gospel show (I may be wrong but I think it was Saturday nights - or maybe Sunday nights) but anyway when WBIR went from country to rock in 1979 Rev. Mull and Lady Mull refused to end their contract early. They stayed for several months doing their gospel show on Rock 104. It sounded weird going from Led Zeppelin to gospel music.

Remember records getting stuck or skipping? I remember the old automated system at WOKI (100.3) messing up alot late at night.

One big blunder in the past few years was a thing called Cool 93.1. I remember they always got the weather reports wrong. I'd be driving in the pouring rain and the midday chick would say that it was sunny and clear.

WIVK made a mistake in the mid 60's and went from Country to Top 40 for a couple of years.

How about WKGN going Disco? (Ah Ah Ah Ah Stayin Alive!)

I remember CP & Walker during their U-102 days doing live remotes from Mad Jack's furniture. Mad Jack was always doing some crazy stunt to get people to come to his store. One time he dived off his roof onto a mattress.

Another big blunder within the past couple of years was Citadel threatening to change formats on The River. That created a huge uproar among fans of the station. They kept the format but got rid of alot of great air talents.

One more - and possibly the biggest of all time - WIMZ letting Phil Williams slip through their hands. That man WAS WIMZ. He and Billy Kidd were great in the mornings. Phil had been at that station for ever and why they didn't try to do something to keep him, I'll never know. That station took a ratings nosedive when he left.

 

[BRice16]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> Another big blunder within the past couple of years was
> Citadel threatening to change formats on The River. That
> created a huge uproar among fans of the station. They kept
> the format but got rid of alot of great air talents.
>

I don't think that Citadel understood that in AAA, the personalities ARE the station. Losing Shane and Sarah put the station at a big disadvantage. Granted, their salaries were more than Citadel were willing to swallow, but the facts remain.

> One more - and possibly the biggest of all time - WIMZ
> letting Phil Williams slip through their hands. That man
> WAS WIMZ. He and Billy Kidd were great in the mornings.
> Phil had been at that station for ever and why they didn't
> try to do something to keep him, I'll never know. That
> station took a ratings nosedive when he left.
>

IMZ made Phil a VERY significant offer to remain on the hill. He declined and it has worked out financally for the station in the long run. True, they don't get the same numbers with that awful show they run that they once saw with Phil & Billy, but their expenses are far less. They don't have to pay the legend six figures and they have Billy in the afternoon, a total of two fewer salaries.

 

[wimzfan]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> IMZ made Phil a VERY significant offer to remain on the
> hill. He declined and it has worked out financally for the
> station in the long run. True, they don't get the same
> numbers with that awful show they run that they once saw
> with Phil & Billy, but their expenses are far less. They
> don't have to pay the legend six figures and they have Billy
> in the afternoon, a total of two fewer salaries.
>
Now that I didn't know. They must have done something to really make Phil mad then. Didn't they suspend him for a few days right before he left for saying something on air? Anyway, atleast we still have him. I was starting to get used to Billy & Zane after Phil left. They did a fairly good show together - ANYTHING beats John Boy & Billy. Now sometimes when I'm desperate I'll listen to the old man talk but that's about it.

 

[BRice16]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> Now that I didn't know. They must have done something to
> really make Phil mad then. Didn't they suspend him for a
> few days right before he left for saying something on air?
> Anyway, atleast we still have him. I was starting to get
> used to Billy & Zane after Phil left. They did a fairly
> good show together - ANYTHING beats John Boy & Billy. Now
> sometimes when I'm desperate I'll listen to the old man talk
> but that's about it.
>

From what I've heard, it was just what he said at the time. He was bored with trying to maintain ratings period after ratings period and wanted to help build something. His longtime buddy Shane "Thin Lips" Cox came along with an opportunity to do just that. Dick Broadcasting also guaranteed him that he would only have to do one appearance a week (his SS contract said 3) and that he could be out of the building by 11am every day, all for just above what he made at SS (but not what he was offered when he told station brass he was leaving).

Billy & Zane maintained numbers until Phil's show started in late April, where the "Phil's Back" campaign took Knoxville billboards by storm.

Then the morons went with John Boy and Billy. I mean, good God, I'd rather listen to Bob and Sheri...

 

[Tony_Magoo]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> Billy & Zane maintained numbers until Phil's show started in
> late April.
>
> Then the morons went with John Boy and Billy.

At the time they let us go...the morning show had advanced in the summer book from the spring book to 4th 12+, 4th P 25-54 (+20%) and 2nd to WIVK M 25-54 (+40%). Plus, the 3 of us were hitting the streets very hard.

I was told we were being fired because of a performance issue. You be the judge.

I miss working with Billy and Zane.

 

[BRice16]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

>
> At the time they let us go...the morning show had advanced
> in the summer book from the spring book to 4th 12+, 4th P
> 25-54 (+20%) and 2nd to WIVK M 25-54 (+40%). Plus, the 3 of
> us were hitting the streets very hard.
>
> I was told we were being fired because of a performance
> issue. You be the judge.
>
> I miss working with Billy and Zane.
>

Seems like a money issue to me. They thought they could keep their core by spending next to nothing on JB&B while moving Billy Kid to afternoons. I suppose they did, but they'll never catch me lisening in the morning, and I used to listen to Phil every day, and continued listening to B&Z after that.

 

[wimzfan]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> >
> > At the time they let us go...the morning show had advanced
>
> > in the summer book from the spring book to 4th 12+, 4th P
> > 25-54 (+20%) and 2nd to WIVK M 25-54 (+40%). Plus, the 3
> of
> > us were hitting the streets very hard.
> >
> > I was told we were being fired because of a performance
> > issue. You be the judge.
> >
> > I miss working with Billy and Zane.

Tony, it is great to hear from you. I always wondered where you went after the show on WIMZ got cancelled. I thought you and Billy Kidd and Eric Zane had an awesome morning show. You all were great and made me laugh many mornings I didn't even want to get out of the bed. I really liked the segment that you all did where one of you would call a local business and ask for a person with an off the wall name and the other would go in the store with a tape recorder and record it being called out over the PA system. That was great. You were right, you all were always getting out and doing fun stuff that no other morning show would even consider doing. It was a big mistake on WIMZ's part letting you all go. Eric Zane went over to 104.5 The Bone with Free Beer & Hot Wings until their show got cancelled, then a few months later the whole station fell through. Billy Kidd is doing afternoons now. You had alot of fans here in Knoxville and we all miss you and wish you well. Take care!

 

[tenacea73]

Re: I'VE GOT SOME!!!!

> I remember the
> old automated system at WOKI (100.3) messing up alot late at
> night.
>

The overnight JL show came in from Nashville (where JL lived during much of his show) on Reel-to-Reel tape using different encoding equipment than all the other shows recorded at OKI. Consequently, his songs would abort early and resume later on. At least JL's intros were correct, being on the same tape as the music itself, all other shows used into and outro carts which were constantly getting off-sync. I also enjoyed how nearby lightning hits would launch about a dozen Instacart trays on-the-air simultaneously; great fun. The old IGM system was pushed to the max and did rather well considering what was expected of it.