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K-Rock to move to Roth after Stern is done

I think they'll do well

The reason being is that Pittsburgh is a Rock and Roll town.

I keep thinking the reason I read about "which Rock station will go JACK" on this board is a lot of the posters aren't rock fans. Let's just say that I have found a disproportionate amount of people crying about the changes to B-94 and "The Beat" and could never figure out why.

I believe the numbers for both stations went up greatly after the format changes. I know I went from ignoring those stations to listening to them.

Yet on this board, there was actually a thread stating that someone had "inside information" and that News/Talk 104.7 was a failure and they were going back to "The Beat" a month into the format switch.

Personally, I rejoiced when K-Rock came to be. As a Gen Xer whose favorite all-time rock station in town was "The Force" they played more "Headbangers Ball" stuff that I grew up on and now I'm hearing WDVE pick up on it. I have real choices now and I'm really enjoying it.

David Lee Roth? I never was a great fan- even when he was fronting Van Halen he was always SOOOOO annoying.

But then again, isn't that the key to Howard Stern's success? And won't the name David Lee Roth keep local sponsors?

I have seen WRRK survive through a morning show that didn't even relate to its format (Quinn) and now another one that really seems to be average at best in Bob and Tom.

I think K-Rock does enough of a rock mix that keeps the Gen Xers like me still feeling contemporary with the new stuff and maybe even an enlightenment with younger listeners- just like I was at one time with WDVE listening to 70s rock songs.
 
Re: I think they'll do well

> The reason being is that Pittsburgh is a Rock and Roll town.
>
>
> I keep thinking the reason I read about "which Rock station
> will go JACK" on this board is a lot of the posters aren't
> rock fans. Let's just say that I have found a
> disproportionate amount of people crying about the changes
> to B-94 and "The Beat" and could never figure out why.
>
> I believe the numbers for both stations went up greatly
> after the format changes. I know I went from ignoring those
> stations to listening to them.
>
> Yet on this board, there was actually a thread stating that
> someone had "inside information" and that News/Talk 104.7
> was a failure and they were going back to "The Beat" a month
> into the format switch.
>
> Personally, I rejoiced when K-Rock came to be. As a Gen Xer
> whose favorite all-time rock station in town was "The Force"
> they played more "Headbangers Ball" stuff that I grew up on
> and now I'm hearing WDVE pick up on it. I have real choices
> now and I'm really enjoying it.
>
> David Lee Roth? I never was a great fan- even when he was
> fronting Van Halen he was always SOOOOO annoying.
>
> But then again, isn't that the key to Howard Stern's
> success? And won't the name David Lee Roth keep local
> sponsors?
>
> I have seen WRRK survive through a morning show that didn't
> even relate to its format (Quinn) and now another one that
> really seems to be average at best in Bob and Tom.
>
> I think K-Rock does enough of a rock mix that keeps the Gen
> Xers like me still feeling contemporary with the new stuff
> and maybe even an enlightenment with younger listeners- just
> like I was at one time with WDVE listening to 70s rock
> songs.

Pratte4life-

How can anyone in their right mind say that 104.7 was going back to the Beat one month into their format? The BEST move for that frequency was the switch to FM Newstalk. That was a brilliant move and the format was much needed in our city. Not to mention, on the 104.7 frequency. It was starting to become a joke with all the renditions of Jammin Hits. I pulled our advertizing and dumped it onto other Clear Channel stations when it was Jammin Hits.

If it did not erode from the orginal Rock and Roll Oldies format it first was, it could've had a chance. Britney and 98 Dregrees killed the Beat format.

I was extremely happy when I heard the FM Newstalk go on the air. I listen to it a lot.

WRRK has become such a disappointment. From the songs to the personalities, it has lost a lot of its appeal for me. I also enjoyed hearing Bonny Diver.

WDVE is another disappointment. Except Michele Michaels. She can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

Mr. Music
 
Re: I think they'll do well

> The reason being is that Pittsburgh is a Rock and Roll town.

Probably, but not definitely. We've had this argument once--not again.

> Personally, I rejoiced when K-Rock came to be. As a Gen Xer
> whose favorite all-time rock station in town was "The Force"
> they played more "Headbangers Ball" stuff that I grew up on
> and now I'm hearing WDVE pick up on it. I have real choices
> now and I'm really enjoying it.

I'm not sure, though, that K-Rock is meant to be a "nostalgia" station, like oldies or classic rock is. It's nice that you've re-connected with your past, but in all seriousness, Pittsburgh has always had rock choices: DVE,The X, Channel 97 for the past 8-10 years or so...and then all those comers and go-ers in that time and previous: Double-X, The Force, WYDD, that AOR station in Greensburg (Z107 or something), plus the college sound and whatever can be DX-ed.

> David Lee Roth? I never was a great fan- even when he was
> fronting Van Halen he was always SOOOOO annoying.
>
> But then again, isn't that the key to Howard Stern's
> success? And won't the name David Lee Roth keep local
> sponsors?

Howard's success is the fact that (until recently, say February 2004), Howard's show was controlled chaos. It was the Zoo concept of large numbers of people in the studio, and antics, but it was led by Howard Stern and Robin Quivers--both of whom are very talented *RADIO* entertainers. Howard's been in this business for 30 years; Robin, nearly as long.

David Lee Roth is a former singer for a band who can barely talk--when he's sober. He's a talented rock artist (I suppose), but what are his radio credentials? Nada.

And therein lies the problem. Infinity wants to launch a national program, following on the bootheels of the second most successful syndicated talk show host (after Limbaugh), and the most successful syndicated morning show of all time with a has-been rock star.

I know what Infinity wants to do--they want to make as much money up front with this Roth thing--within the first few months--banking on the name keeping "fans" around. It will fail miserably. I predict the Roth audience will be gone after one book--but they will be there at first in droves to see what the hub-bub is about. THAT'S when Infinity will make its money.

Roth's name and hiring was certainly intended to keep sponsors buying up front. But they won't last, because Roth won't last. He's not Howard Stern--NO ONE can BE Howard Stern, because Howard's show is not just strippers and whatnot (though that's a big part). Howard's show is controlled by a radio personality who knows what he's doing by experience. Roth's show will be a free for all, without the knowledge.

That's deadly.

> I have seen WRRK survive through a morning show that didn't
> even relate to its format (Quinn) and now another one that
> really seems to be average at best in Bob and Tom.

Quinn wasn't hired for content (OK, maybe he was partly at FM 104.7)--he was hired because he's Jim Quinn. He was doing music as recently as the early 90s at B-94; surely Channel 97 would have hired Jim Quinn if they were rock and he wanted to do polkas. He's friggin' Jim Quinn! Besides, Channel 97's format--classic rock--is one of the aforementioned "nostalgia" formats that places listeners back in time and the playlist does/should reflect what they're interested in hearing. One of those constants to many listeners was Jim Quinn (though he wasn't on DVE, he was on...oh, let's see here, KQV, 13Q, B-94, some others which fail me now). So in that case, the personality was the draw, not the format or the music.
 
Re: I think they'll do well

> Howard's success is the fact that (until recently, say
> February 2004), Howard's show was controlled chaos. It was
> the Zoo concept of large numbers of people in the studio,
> and antics, but it was led by Howard Stern and Robin
> Quivers--both of whom are very talented *RADIO*
> entertainers. Howard's been in this business for 30 years;
> Robin, nearly as long.

But, for the first few years of Stern's career, he was developing his format. Now that the format is set, it won't take his replacement any time to have to re-invent the wheel. And, though Stern was in radio for 25 years, Stern in 2005 wasn't all that much better than Stern in 1995, or even Stern in 1985. That's not to say that Stern wasn't good. But he pretty much peaked early and stayed there.

> David Lee Roth is a former singer for a band who can barely
> talk--when he's sober. He's a talented rock artist (I
> suppose), but what are his radio credentials? Nada.

His credentials as a performer are excellent. With a good director (which one presumes that Infinity can afford) and handlers to shepard him through the rough spots, I believe Roth can be brought up to speed rather quickly.

Remember, Stern was inventing things as he went along. It takes a long time to experiment to see what works and what doesn't. Inventing a prototype takes a long time, replicating the second one goes a lot faster.

Stern had two jobs on his show. The on-air part, and the backstage prep and decision making. If Roth has good expereinced people handling the latter, it won't take much for him to learn to handle the former.

> And therein lies the problem. Infinity wants to launch a
> national program, following on the bootheels of the second
> most successful syndicated talk show host (after Limbaugh),
> and the most successful syndicated morning show of all time
> with a has-been rock star.

> Roth's name and hiring was certainly intended to keep
> sponsors buying up front. But they won't last, because Roth
> won't last. He's not Howard Stern--NO ONE can BE Howard
> Stern, because Howard's show is not just strippers and
> whatnot (though that's a big part). Howard's show is
> controlled by a radio personality who knows what he's doing
> by experience. Roth's show will be a free for all, without
> the knowledge.
>
> That's deadly.

Don't give Stern that much credit. He had a staff. So will Roth. And I think it's a safe bet Roth will be provided the best staff Infinity can provide. Even though Stern both starred and controlled, don't be surprised of Roth's show has someone else doing the controlling.

And face it, Stern wasn't all that great. How tough is asking women if they have implants, and bantering about lesbians?
 
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