Heather White

[ShaunB105]

Heather White is off the 1065 the Promise website now......I guess the rumours of a Texas move were true!

 

[John FL]

Corporate decisions, and not even radio-specific, have profound effects on people's lives for many years. If Heather does leave Jax, our hope that she would once again be reunited with Dave Scott or another former Cool talent becomes just a dream and not reality. I'll take this time to say to Heather, I enjoyed many years of listening and no one can take our memories away. Best wishes always, you have been missed greatly when you left WKQL.One of those corporate decisions I frankly never understood was why the WKQL calls replaced WWRR. The expectation was that perhaps with some minimal format updating, the overall sound and personality of the station would have been reborn. And that never happened. I don't know. There was some awesome talent on the old WKQL. Doc Brock conveyed a lot of high energy and he kept the pace of his afternoon drive show up while complementing the music he played. Gees, he didn't sound bad even spinning Christmas music. He could have done well playing classic hits or anything. Another great talent - gone.And then I have to think of Hoyle Demsey. He couldn't land anywhere in town? Why? maybe in this youth-oriented world we live in, he's perceived as being too old now. Just a guess that that was the reason but he's missed too and he could do well in a format like WSOS, WEJZ and of course WKQL.And so now we have a PD at WKQL who is doing two shifts to cover for Tom Murphy who is off for a few days. With programming duties, doing two shifts at opposite ends of the day to me is cruel and unusual punishment. Times must be tough where a station can't even afford to hire a relief DJ. And when we hear all the hype about the fact that they are making more money than when they were Arrow has to make you wonder why they had more jocks under Arrow when they were loosing money.I think the handwriting is on the wall that WKQL will evolve into something else. Otherwise, a lot of the talent I mentioned above would have landed there and of course Pat Garrett would be programming the station by now if the plan was to continue with that kind of format.And so Heather's leaving Jax just puts a "nail in it." Radio is in a sad state if you ask me.

 

[TommyR]

Re: relief jocks

AJ Davis? Steve Fox? Jenny Mills? All cover shifts on Lite or Gator, but never Kool or Sunny. Though Jenny may have cooked her goose when she did the Arrow Classic Rock cafe and told a caller on-air, "Briggs hates ELO, but he isn't here today, so here we go!" ;-)

 

[John FL]

Actually, Jenny's comments could easily be considered tongue-in-cheek. If ELO was in the music library, then ELO was fair game to be played as a request. I would't think or hope Briggs would be that petty.But my comment around the sad state of radio has to do more with wacky corporate decisions or lack of decision even. The fact that a guy like Briggs who has lots of responsibilities has to not only do morning drive but has to be on the air some 6 hours later and in effect has a workday from 5AM to 7PM says little for the support he and many others get in the PD position nowadays.To me, it sends out the wrong message. In the example of KOOL, while programming and other mistakes were made, one thing is perfectly clear. The station got virtually no promotion or marketing dollars and it's obvious many former COOL listeners don't even know they exist.Another sad state of radio is it apparently is so commonplace to see personalities come and go, that someone of the likes of Heather White who was in the Jax market for quite a while doesn't even generate response. I don't know what the purpose of a radio info board is if people don't participate.

 

[Promo174]

It's sad to say, John.. but, I think a lot of people left this board when there was some conflicts going on prior to the change over to this new setup.I agree with a lot that you have talked about. But, let's face it.. radio doesn't really have the type of managers and ownership that they use to have years ago. There's no real "enthusiasm" for the on air talent. Let's just play some music and a lot of commercials and make that monthly income look great. If we can get a computer to play the music.. why do we need a lot of REAL people? Let's just put them in a few key areas and not worry about the rest. Not a bad idea at all... for the owner... who doesn't have to pay a computer a paycheck. But, if you happen to enjoy listening to radio .. and, great LIVE talent ..... I think you can finish this sentence.

 

[brianv]

Indeed. My lovely wife starts her new position at 102.3 The River here in BEAUTIFUL Austin, Texas tomorrow morning.She joins her recent former co-host Gary Walsh, who is the PD of the station (a Clear Channel station), and she's really excited about the opportunity.We're all going to miss Jacksonville (it's been our home for years), but sometimes we have to take adventures, and this is a big one.The River is a Christian Contemporary station, much like The Promise, but the music is slightly different (a little bit more uptempo).We'll miss all our friends and family there in Jacksonville, and all our friends and "family" in the industry there, too.I'll probably be popping by every now and then to see what's new in Jax radio (since it's the only market I ever worked in, unlike my wife).Take care, everyone, and thanks for the kind words about my wife. I know she appreciates them! Brian V. (in Austin)

 

[ShaunB105]

BrianBest of luck to you and Heather in Austin!!!...I know you guys will be successful there and Jax will miss you!!You are both class actsLaterDerrick'Shaun B'