N
normhill007
Guest
The big chains are sending out the grim reaper to chop air talent before Christmas, an almost unheard of thing in the past. At least then you could be sure the axe would fall after New Years Day. I wonder how long before the cuts really hit in NEPA-There's a lot of longevity, especially at Magic and KRZ, but the revenues that sustained talent are drying up across the country and I assume it's no differant in WB/SCR. Citadel is in big trouble, and Imus is a gamble to make investors happy. When WARM went talk, it was because we were skewing older, mostly because of Jim McNulty having high numbers in the coveted 65 to death demographic. Talk was supposed to bring in a younger audience????? Instead we got 2 hour shows on the notch babies, and callers who had us on one radio and Wilk on another and they would bounce from one to another with typical Hayna views of the world. Ron Allen almost had us back to what we used to be (and that included the ratings) but the suits pulled the rug out from under.
I always got along with Ron except for a bumpy spot in the beginning, and when he told Phil Condron that he wanted to program WARM or he was quiting, I got a call at 2AM from Ron telling me I was the new MD, and we'd talk in the morning. We decided to go to what WARM was in the past, Top 40 with the talent doing what we did best. And TOP 40 meant just that. Madonna's "Vogue" was #1 and I asked Ron what to do with it and he said play it, something Magic was afraid to do. The only reason I pulled it was because it made the compressor go nuts. Not an AM song. And slowly, everybody's numbers started going back up. Harry was back in double digits early morning. Mid-days were climbing. But my audience ran for the hills when Jim Mcnulty came on and his 65-death villed the void-then poor Terry was stuck with nobody as Jim McNulty's notch babies left and Terry had nobody for the 2-3 bloc. And of course, the suits blamed Terry. Jim McNulty was the sacred cow, and Kevin Lynn was there to work off what he owed from his Mexican Resturant that went bust..Chi-Chi's??? Chachi's..Whatever..After he worked that off he was shown the door and Jim McNulty was on his own. Bad Radio...Stan Neishel put together a "Jim McNulty Tribute Tape" with every "and---Uh--urp--snort--burp" that became the trademark of the "Snooze of Warmland"..It was hysterical. But in the end, it was money. Some bean counter got the idea that money would roll in if we went talk. Dream On...
I always got along with Ron except for a bumpy spot in the beginning, and when he told Phil Condron that he wanted to program WARM or he was quiting, I got a call at 2AM from Ron telling me I was the new MD, and we'd talk in the morning. We decided to go to what WARM was in the past, Top 40 with the talent doing what we did best. And TOP 40 meant just that. Madonna's "Vogue" was #1 and I asked Ron what to do with it and he said play it, something Magic was afraid to do. The only reason I pulled it was because it made the compressor go nuts. Not an AM song. And slowly, everybody's numbers started going back up. Harry was back in double digits early morning. Mid-days were climbing. But my audience ran for the hills when Jim Mcnulty came on and his 65-death villed the void-then poor Terry was stuck with nobody as Jim McNulty's notch babies left and Terry had nobody for the 2-3 bloc. And of course, the suits blamed Terry. Jim McNulty was the sacred cow, and Kevin Lynn was there to work off what he owed from his Mexican Resturant that went bust..Chi-Chi's??? Chachi's..Whatever..After he worked that off he was shown the door and Jim McNulty was on his own. Bad Radio...Stan Neishel put together a "Jim McNulty Tribute Tape" with every "and---Uh--urp--snort--burp" that became the trademark of the "Snooze of Warmland"..It was hysterical. But in the end, it was money. Some bean counter got the idea that money would roll in if we went talk. Dream On...
