JIMMY BARON PULLS IN WARREN SAVAGE FOR AN IN-STUDIO

[Insideradio]

So now I am Mike Wheeler, Larry Wachs and Chrissy Colandro? I hope Sally Field plays me in the movie.

I didn't get a chance to listen this week but it seems there was more buzz this week than any since Zakk started. Does anyone have audio?

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

 

[AMCM]

I didn't get a chance to listen this week but it seems there was more buzz this week than any since Zakk started. Does anyone have audio?

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

Let this post be marked. This is the most coherent set of sentences IYR has ever posted. HUZZAH! ;D

And what little I caught of Jimmy was rather boring. I went back to my iPod after 4 minutes.

 

[RTibbs]

I didn't get a chance to listen this week but it seems there was more buzz this week than any since Zakk started. Does anyone have audio?

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

Let this post be marked. This is the most coherent set of sentences IYR has ever posted. HUZZAH! ;D

And what little I caught of Jimmy was rather boring. I went back to my iPod after 4 minutes.

I think you are thinking of Inside Your Head who unfortunately has been banned from the board. I did see he posted on Rodney's AJC blog about Jimmy earlier this week as IYH Banned not Beaten.

 

[AMCM]

I didn't get a chance to listen this week but it seems there was more buzz this week than any since Zakk started. Does anyone have audio?

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

Let this post be marked. This is the most coherent set of sentences IYR has ever posted. HUZZAH! ;D

And what little I caught of Jimmy was rather boring. I went back to my iPod after 4 minutes.

I think you are thinking of Inside Your Head who unfortunately has been banned from the board. I did see he posted on Rodney's AJC blog about Jimmy earlier this week as IYH Banned not Beaten.

Ahh, my bad. Sorry, IYR. I did indeed mean IYH. Thanks for clearing that up, RTibbs!

 

[wooder]

I thought Jimmy turned in the best week of radio that's been on Dave FM since it's inception. Certainly better than Zakk and can't even be compared to Barnes and Firfer. Was he a bit rusty at times? Sure, but he's been off for two years so I cut him some slack there. But, from what I heard, the shows were funny at times, interesting at times, and even compelling (Warren Savage segment). He got good guests and, overall, the show just seemed to fit in with the station and the demo. Not sure about his support team, though. I do think he needed some slightly stronger help in the other roles.

 

[Uriah]

I thought Jimmy turned in the best week of radio that's been on Dave FM since it's inception. Certainly better than Zakk and can't even be compared to Barnes and Firfer. Was he a bit rusty at times? Sure, but he's been off for two years so I cut him some slack there. But, from what I heard, the shows were funny at times, interesting at times, and even compelling (Warren Savage segment). He got good guests and, overall, the show just seemed to fit in with the station and the demo. Not sure about his support team, though. I do think he needed some slightly stronger help in the other roles.

Better fit for sure. To your point on the support team: There's still a miss-match between Dave's "Music Matters Here" positioning and personalities that talk to each other at shift changes, laugh at their own bits, and ramble on about their lifestyle (weekend, hangover, opinions, etc.) Dave's personalities are like-able yet sometime come off sounding like they see themselves as The Show when it's the music and related content that, by positioning, must take center stage. It's a pretty typical jock mentality. Margo comes the closest to balancing music, personality, station-ality and lifestyle. She has interesting things to say, a one-on-one delivery and uses brevity to the listeners benefit.

Congrats, Jimmy B. good to hear you again!

 

[Insideradio]

I thought Jimmy turned in the best week of radio that's been on Dave FM since it's inception. Certainly better than Zakk and can't even be compared to Barnes and Firfer. Was he a bit rusty at times? Sure, but he's been off for two years so I cut him some slack there. But, from what I heard, the shows were funny at times, interesting at times, and even compelling (Warren Savage segment). He got good guests and, overall, the show just seemed to fit in with the station and the demo. Not sure about his support team, though. I do think he needed some slightly stronger help in the other roles.

Better fit for sure. To your point on the support team: There's still a miss-match between Dave's "Music Matters Here" positioning and personalities that talk to each other at shift changes, laugh at their own bits, and ramble on about their lifestyle (weekend, hangover, opinions, etc.) Dave's personalities are like-able yet sometime come off sounding like they see themselves as The Show when it's the music and related content that, by positioning, must take center stage. It's a pretty typical jock mentality. Margo comes the closest to balancing music, personality, station-ality and lifestyle. She has interesting things to say, a one-on-one delivery and uses brevity to the listeners benefit.

Congrats, Jimmy B. good to hear you again!

You sound like a PD! Boo! But you are right.

 

[wooder]

I thought Jimmy turned in the best week of radio that's been on Dave FM since it's inception. Certainly better than Zakk and can't even be compared to Barnes and Firfer. Was he a bit rusty at times? Sure, but he's been off for two years so I cut him some slack there. But, from what I heard, the shows were funny at times, interesting at times, and even compelling (Warren Savage segment). He got good guests and, overall, the show just seemed to fit in with the station and the demo. Not sure about his support team, though. I do think he needed some slightly stronger help in the other roles.

Better fit for sure. To your point on the support team: There's still a miss-match between Dave's "Music Matters Here" positioning and personalities that talk to each other at shift changes, laugh at their own bits, and ramble on about their lifestyle (weekend, hangover, opinions, etc.) Dave's personalities are like-able yet sometime come off sounding like they see themselves as The Show when it's the music and related content that, by positioning, must take center stage. It's a pretty typical jock mentality. Margo comes the closest to balancing music, personality, station-ality and lifestyle. She has interesting things to say, a one-on-one delivery and uses brevity to the listeners benefit.

Congrats, Jimmy B. good to hear you again!

You sound like a PD! Boo! But you are right.

I don't agree. Where "music matters" to me is on my ipod. There's nothing Dave can give me, musically, that I can't get a million other places. Maybe I'll buy the "less personality, more tunes" approach after morning drive, but before 10AM (or, I guess, 9AM in Dave's case) people want personality.....at least the majority of them. Those "more music" stations serve some people but the big morning numbers are with the Berts/RG's/Skis/S&V's of the world. It's just a proven fact. The River is finally starting to recede.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

Just my opinion, but I don't feel Jimmy really cuts it as a primary host. I thought he added a lot to The Morning X in the Barnes & Leslie days. But I see him more as a second fiddle and not the one who runs the show.

He'll certainly get buzz in the beginning because he's a local radio celebrity who has a following and has been missing from the dial.

 

[wooder]

How would you rate Jimmy's performance this week?

Just my opinion, but I don't feel Jimmy really cuts it as a primary host. I thought he added a lot to The Morning X in the Barnes & Leslie days. But I see him more as a second fiddle and not the one who runs the show.

He'll certainly get buzz in the beginning because he's a local radio celebrity who has a following and has been missing from the dial.

I can kinda see your point, Roddy, but I think some of that was that he didn't have particularly strong back-up players, so it was a WHOLE LOTTA JIMMY. I think he could learn to sit in that role very nicely and run the show if he was surrounded by another strong personality or two to balance it out a bit. Nothing against Yvonne or Denzil, but they just didn't sound like they had the chops to hang.

 

[RTibbs]

This is why I am pushing for the Zakk, Jimmy and Jane in the Morning show.

 

[Uriah]

Wooder: It's not a choice of less personality, more tunes - or only having the juke box, but true to position, River as the only other choice. As an air personality The Listener is the most important person, not you. Test #1: Count how many times Mara uses "I" in a 4-hour shift. Exception: Rush. His boasting is part of the brand.

Musically we have more personalized alternatives than ever and more are coming. Pandora is now offering an app for the new i-phone that gives you your own format - in car. Bye, Bye CD player.

Still at some point in a commute, at work, at the lake, etc. people turn to radio for companionship first then personality. Personality being defined as a like-able, interesting person. Someone you'd enjoy sitting beside you in a conversation. Not some blabbermouth that finds him or herself more interesting than you. Ex: Jocks who take two-minutes setting up a question in an interview.

Test #2: This one takes time and effort: Transcribe a morning show - every word. Give it to the "personalities" and have them edit it. When they READ how silly and redundant they sometimes sound it only takes one show to hear vast improvement.

 

[RR Piper]

I agree that Jimmy doesn't have what it takes to be the lead in a morning show and it sounded a bit like he wasn't allowing the other team members to chime in a lot. He kept cutting Yvonne off. The things she did get across were funny and pertinent (I heard her refer to his skin as "Ponce skin" -that's the funniest thing I've heard in morning radio in a long time). He seemed to be forcing things to move in whatever direction his thoughts were going. Even if it didn't fit.

 

[troone]

I'm a broken record on this topic, but I dont recall in the last 15 years (at least on white radio) that there has been a very successful music-based morning show without three voices in a traditional formula: point man, wise-guy sidekick and either a calming or unpredictable 3rd voice:

Jeff, Lorna, Dan Patrick
Rude, Beth, Hullinger
Barnes, Jimmy, Leslie/Rich
Wachs, EVH, Southside
Bert/Jeff/Jen
Moby/Deborah/Jim on Kicks
Marco/Shannon/ Phat Mikey (trash them if you want, but I'm certain there's a buzz in their demo. Not a lot of women post on message boards, lest we forget.)

Steve and Vikki is the only example of a popular show with 2 mics doing 98% of the talk. Probably forgetting an exception, but this is why Barnes & Firfer were DOA, why Zakk and Jane seem to get little buzz, why Mckee/Marcia Shipley never got going, why Mara and Dunham didnt make it. Dallas/Rhubarb never really caught on (but Dallas/BJ, Red Neckerson DID get ratings in the late 80s BTW)...Hey, even Jon Boy and Billy had the Rafe monster!

How tough is it to get a 3rd voice in the studio for $60k? If my theory is correct, he/she'd pay off in 2 months!

 

[Barbapapa]

Good point about 3 person teams but they do need to all be individually interesting though. I can't remember a thing about Colandro or what he sounded like but Jimmy seemed to be trying to incorporate him this week, whatever.
DaveFM hasn't had a problem with the number in their morning teams but rather one of them being a stick in the mud, the great Mara Davis was paired up with an inflatable doll or something and if I had to hear Barnes' sidekick drone and stumble through the news again I would start yearning for Johnboy and Billy.

Zakk and Jane are both pretty good with Jane standing out as exceptional, she's very good at keeping conversation moving and is compelling. Zakk is a good personality too even though it's not popular to praise new talant around here. I aggree with Tibbs, putting Jimmy with them would be a great show.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

I'm a broken record on this topic, but I dont recall in the last 15 years (at least on white radio) that there has been a very successful music-based morning show without three voices in a traditional formula: point man, wise-guy sidekick and either a calming or unpredictable 3rd voice:

Jeff, Lorna, Dan Patrick
Rude, Beth, Hullinger
Barnes, Jimmy, Leslie/Rich
Wachs, EVH, Southside
Bert/Jeff/Jen
Moby/Deborah/Jim on Kicks
Marco/Shannon/ Phat Mikey (trash them if you want, but I'm certain there's a buzz in their demo. Not a lot of women post on message boards, lest we forget.)

Steve and Vikki is the only example of a popular show with 2 mics doing 98% of the talk. Probably forgetting an exception, but this is why Barnes & Firfer were DOA, why Zakk and Jane seem to get little buzz, why Mckee/Marcia Shipley never got going, why Mara and Dunham didnt make it. Dallas/Rhubarb never really caught on (but Dallas/BJ, Red Neckerson DID get ratings in the late 80s BTW)...Hey, even Jon Boy and Billy had the Rafe monster!

How tough is it to get a 3rd voice in the studio for $60k? If my theory is correct, he/she'd pay off in 2 months!

In Chicago-
Johnny B.
Steve & Garry
Larry Lujack
Bob Collins
Wally Phillips
Doug Banks
Robert Murphy
Terri Hemmert

All were successful morning shows, wining their demo or target audience for years and had no third voice; in fact most didn't have second voices. In addition, if you have three voices it is not "music-based." How music does Q100 actually play in the morning? TRG play exactly zero songs per hour.

Barnes and Firfer failed because 99X sandbagged them (allegedly...wait for it...I have just been sued by Steven Duane Barnes). Mara and Dunham and zero chemistry..

While I appreciate your attempt, your theory is crap.

 

[troone]

Regional thing maybe. I dont know, Neil.

It occurs to me after re-reading my post that even Tom Sullivan played a not-so-minor role in S&V's best years.

The more I think of it, the more I'm convinced that three-voice teams have set the standard in Atlanta going all the back to McKee/Levitt. I guess Randy and Spiff could make the only argument against it.

Would Larry&Eric be as good without SS and Tim? No way. (The Hollywood Squares bit is as funny as anything I've heard in the last decade. Don Imus's 'Sids Kids'? ROLTFLMAO.)

 

[AMCM]

Bring back The Greaseman. I need another installment from The Hobble-Doo-Gee Handbook.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

I don't know if it was my radio, the signal processing or my ears need cleaning but Jimmy didn't sound the same this morning on DAVE. It's almost like he was different person. In addition, he had really bad guests. I guess last week was a fluke.

 

[wooder]

As I gave Zakk another listen this morning it became very apparent why Jimmy was better....Zakk's show is just boring. It lays there. Jimmy may not be the most technically smooth morning guy out there but he's also never sat in the driver's seat and hasn't been on the air in 2 years. I'm guessing he'd get better at the mechanics real fast. In general, though, he's always going to bring in more interesting guests, be funnier, have more compelling topics of conversation, and be better connected with the city. I can't believe the people at Dave aren't re-thinking their AM line-up at this point. Anyone know what kind of numbers Zakk and Jane get?