JAN JEFFRIES

[Willie Jones]

anyone hear of this guy for Cumulus? supposedly he's the person who single handedly is not only making the CHR's more conservative but also very stale...any truth to this?

 

[JbeJay]

anyone hear of this guy for Cumulus? supposedly he's the person who single handedly is not only making the CHR's more conservative but also very stale...any truth to this?

He is their VP of Programming for the format. His pre-Cumulus background includes a handful of major-market PD slots.

If "conservative" is what the audience wants and if that makes the station more successful, to my way of thinking that's a good thing.

What do you mean by "stale", Willie?

Jay

 

[CHRles]

As far as I know the first poster is correct to some degree.
Just compare the sound and playlist of Q-100 Atlanta prior to the Cumulus takeover to the way it sounds right now. While Q still sounds good, it's definitely sounding more conservative. Hello, where did all those Rob Thomas titles come from? Atlanta already has an adult leaning CHR in Star 94. Same is true for Tower 98 Toledo.

And don't you find it to be more then just a coincidence that 104 KRBE Houston and Q-100 now sound nearly identical?
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Stations.asp?c_let=KRBE-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WWWQ-FM

Z-100 NYC and KIIS-FM L.A. are both owned by Clear Channel but they sound radically different from each other. Channel 955 Detroit and Hot 99.5 are both owned by CC yet sound radically different, even though both have programmers who became famous for their work at Tampa's 93.3 FLZ. Chicago's Kiss FM and Dallas's Kiss FM are both owned by Clear Channel yet each has its own sound. So how is it that the only 2 major market CHRs owned by Cumulus sound the same???
KRBE and Q both upped the spins of their Recurrents after the Cumulus takeover (though KRBE has always been Recurrent friendly), and Q is a lot less supportive of the big crossover Hip Hop titles.

Tower 98 Toledo, Y-102 Montgomery, CK 105 Flint, KMCK 105.7 Fayetteville, and B-100 Quad Cities (Davenport) also sound pretty similar - all Cumulus stations. Most of them do have a playlist that actually sounds rather good for a small to medium sized market
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WWCK-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WTWR-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WHHY-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=KBEA-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=KMCK-FM

The only stations that haven't been affected much by the changes are 107.1 A1A Melbourne and 104.3 ZYP Huntsville as they've had a conservative slant for quite some time.
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WAOA-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WZYP-FM

Hot 101 Youngstown sounds pretty similar though much more messy:
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WHOT-FM

The most conservative sounding CHR/Pop stations in the cumulus chain are Z-102 Savannah and Q-94 Beaumont
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=WZAT-FM
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/stations.asp?c_let=KQXY-FM

Jojo's "Anything" seems to be played by every Cumulus CHR, yet only a handful of Clear Channel stations are airing it.
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Details.asp?sngcde=JOJOA+++

And which CHRs are playing Rob Thomas "Little Wonders"?...
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Details.asp?sngcde=THOMLW++

 

[spongebag7890]

CHR is not a conservative format.

And KZHT is all over JoJo's "Anything", but that station in itself has a very odd sound to it.

 

[pbf1]

?

CHR is not a conservative format.

Individual result may vary

 

[RadioMahn]

All Cumulus CHR's sound the same because they all add the same songs, which are decided by Jeffries. Local PDs have no say in the matter. It's doesn't matter that each station may be in a different competitive situation. Market demographic makeup has no bearing. Even supporting an act that's doing a concert in your town means nothing. Cumulus CHR's are a Jeffries' dictatorship, where the weekly adds fit all stations.

 

[jcolletta275]

All Cumulus CHR's sound the same because they all add the same songs, which are decided by Jeffries. Local PDs have no say in the matter. It's doesn't matter that each station may be in a different competitive situation. Market demographic makeup has no bearing. Even supporting an act that's doing a concert in your town means nothing. Cumulus CHR's are a Jeffries' dictatorship, where the weekly adds fit all stations.

Absolutely right. Look at Tower 98 Toledo's most recent faltering. When they had a PD who actually tried to do something right in going more mainstream to compete with Clear Channel-owned Kiss, they were within .1 12+ of the crosstown station before Jeffries stepped in and said, "Nope! Can't do that!" And last summer, for about two months, Cume-U-Less's WKFR in Battle Creek had a PD who actually listened to the station's audience and began to skew the playlist where it belonged: younger. What happened at the end of those two months? Jeffries caught on and fired the guy.

If you're looking for someone who knows how to run radio stations into the ground, Jan Jeffries is your man.

 

[tyradi]

Forcing your audience to like songs isn't the way to go.

 

[BootScoot]

Jan Jeffries, in my opinion, is the epitome of what everyone thought Clear Channel would do to stations. From what I've heard, he rules Selectors company-wide with an iron fist, dictating every single add and category change. Futhermore, he requires the PD's have all imaging copy approved through his office before sending it to v/o, based on what I've heard.

Has anyone noticed how virtually no Cumulus CHR stations play Carrie Underwood? Like it or not, it's a HUGE hit -- even Z100 in NYC plays it! After all, it is top 10. So, why do Cumulus stations only spin it during specialty shows? Well, rumor has it Jan Jeffries demanded a pop remix before he'd allow his stations to add it. The record company refused and Jan has since seen that the Cumulus CHR audiences are not going to hear this top 10 hit on its properties.

Anyone know the Cumulus-Teddy Geiger story?

 

[jpcgonebig]

Jan Jeffries, in my opinion, is the epitome of what everyone thought Clear Channel would do to stations. From what I've heard, he rules Selectors company-wide with an iron fist, dictating every single add and category change. Futhermore, he requires the PD's have all imaging copy approved through his office before sending it to v/o, based on what I've heard.

Has anyone noticed how virtually no Cumulus CHR stations play Carrie Underwood? Like it or not, it's a HUGE hit -- even Z100 in NYC plays it! After all, it is top 10. So, why do Cumulus stations only spin it during specialty shows? Well, rumor has it Jan Jeffries demanded a pop remix before he'd allow his stations to add it. The record company refused and Jan has since seen that the Cumulus CHR audiences are not going to hear this top 10 hit on its properties.

Anyone know the Cumulus-Teddy Geiger story?

Working for Cumulus twice, and once being an MD with them..I can vouch for the way Jan works. And what you said above me, is dead on the money! I hated working for that company the first time, then the second time. Now, I will NEVER work with them again. It took me 2 stints to learn my lesson. Me having an MD stripe with them meant completely ZILCH. MD with cumulus just gives you a right to give Jan feedback on tracks, no decision making. Do I sound bitter? Yes, because that was one of the most horrible situations I could have ever been in. And others are and were in the same boat with that company. People call clearchannel cheap and irrational in thier ways, but in all reality, CC looks like a complete angel and dream compared to CUME-LESS. Talk to any record rep and ask them about Jan, and see what they have to say I'm willing to bet money it isn't possitive.

 

[Willie Jones]

anyone hear of this guy for Cumulus? supposedly he's the person who single handedly is not only making the CHR's more conservative but also very stale...any truth to this?

He is their VP of Programming for the format. His pre-Cumulus background includes a handful of major-market PD slots.

If "conservative" is what the audience wants and if that makes the station more successful, to my way of thinking that's a good thing.

What do you mean by "stale", Willie?

Jay

what i mean by stale: moving slowly on music regardless of what each market needs independently. I understand the ramifacations of being too early on a song but when songs are working for an area and there is high demand, then it seems right to play them. Sitting on burnt songs and being reluctant to forge ahead.
The way listeners interact with radio is far different then in the past. Radio is no longer the main artery in which music flows to the masses. Seeing as though we are in the information age and people are in fact more informed, <"more" not to be confused with "better"> they are not as dumb as a lot of programmers think. I don't know the guy personally but you can't always use the same formulas that worked in the past . There is a time in life when people have to let CHR go. It's for the younger fickle crowd that have higher attention spans than their older counterparts. Everyone has a shelf life where at some point they lose touch with the format. Just like Rick Dees, Ryan Seacrest will fall from the top.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that Jan did his thing as a programmer but does it really make sense to govern markets with such an iron fist when there are no proximity connections?

 

[RadioMahn]

His physical age has nothing to do with it. I know programmers that are "old" as you say, that are cutting edge and as hip as anyone in the business. It's Jeffries' methods and philosophy. He programs with a degree of that AC " be safe" mentality. This serves you well to a point. But the fact is, CHR audiences want to hear what's new and hip, and you have to constantly strive to deliver, in each individual market.

 

[spongebag7890]

I wonder what would happen if CC did this. "No matter what, there's a Kiss FM by you!" Dear Lord.

 

[theairdownthere]

It took me less than a week to realize that Cumulus is the debbil. I quit and I'll never work for them again. If their "programming" drove me that battie after only a couple of days (not to mention lies told to me to get me to take the gig in the first place) I couldn't imagine how jaded a programmer who spent an entire career with Cumulus would turn out to be.