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Kevin Metheny Clear Channel with #1,#2 and 5 of the Top Ten Stations

R

Ronn

Metheny leaves 5 of the top ten stations in the market, including #1 and #2. Those are mighty big shoes to fill, and his shoes are probably walking into something pretty great.
 
Did he leave under his own free will or was he fired?

Did they say "please stay, Kevin," or was it "bye bye, Pig Virus?"
 
Chicago is nice this time of year...that would be a nice place to land... :)
 
His most recent contract just expired as of today. In fact, there were a few rumblings that this would happen months ago, so I'd be hard pressed to call it a forceout.

This also creates PD vacancies for both WMJI and WMVX. Kevin had de facto managed WMVX since Don Hallett left in 2006. Ditto with WMJI since Meg Stevens left. That leaves both stations totally up in the air now; especially given WMJI's horrific ratings showing... (and I do mean HORRIFIC... WMJI got murdered in PMD in their target demos, failing to draw in the top ten!!!)
 
It's my understanding that neither party wanted to re-new the agreement. I'm sure Kevin will end of up either with Tribune in some capacity...or perhaps with CBS Radio. Maybe eventually even in Cleveland once his non-compete expires. Who knows.
 
>> It's my understanding that neither party wanted to re-new the agreement. I'm sure Kevin will end of up either with Tribune in some capacity...or perhaps with CBS Radio. Maybe eventually even in Cleveland once his non-compete expires. Who knows. <<

Who cares? Let him go join that dumb @$$ Randy Michaels. One day Michaels is with CC, trumpeting how great radio is. The next he's at the Tribune, telling anyone who will listen that radio stinks and print/papers has a much bigger reach. Metheny would be in good company. All these guys do is stand at the helm and enjoy the scenery - the true work is done by the folks manning the oars.

The whole idea is disgusting so ... who cares? As long as he's gone ...
 
Clear Channel Cleveland is fortunate. They have hired Keith Abrams, former CBS Denver VP, as O.M. I am sure they had many highly qualified candidates to choose from. They landed the absolute best! Congratulations!!
 
LasVegasRadioJunky said:
Clear Channel Cleveland is fortunate. They have hired Keith Abrams, former CBS Denver VP, as O.M. I am sure they had many highly qualified candidates to choose from. They landed the absolute best! Congratulations!!
Click to expand...

Abrams, and his brother Kris, are both outstanding programmers, specializing in classic hits/oldies.
 
CC has themselves a winner with Beef. I've worked with him twice in other markets, and he knows radio. If management will listen and give him the tools he needs, Keith will deliver.

Kris is also a top notch programmer, maybe just a bit less intense than Keith.
 
Not to mention.......He has a slight advantage coming in to C-Town.....


He's the guy that hired and oversaw Dave Popovich during his tenure at KIMH, Denver.
 
scottvoicedude said:
Not to mention.......He has a slight advantage coming in to C-Town.....


He's the guy that hired and oversaw Dave Popovich during his tenure at KIMH, Denver.
Click to expand...

Having worked with Dave I'm sure he heard about the station, the market, and that he'll need to respect Lanigan and what the show is about, what Lanigan means to the station's ratings and most importantly the bottom line.

Plus... new VO talent, fix the music and look at replacing some talent outside of AM drive.

I hope Keith gets Jeff Laurence for the station VO. Jeff has the big voice, but is also versatile in reads if copy is written well.

I know Keith had Jeff on KOOL/Denver.

The station also needs to replace those tired jingles AND has been using the same talk-over beds (K-Earth package) since 1998! Two years is too long for those beds. They've been on the air for TEN!

WMJI hasn't sounded FUN in quite some time. Need to bring back the FUN quotient and make the station sound bigger than life like it did pre-2001.
 
They need to bring out the WIXY playbook -- let the jocks be entertaining and let them have some control of their playlists.

Too bad they couldn't get the call letters back. Currently they are in use at a country FM station in Champaign, Illinois -- WIXY 100.3FM.
 
thenetwork said:
They need to bring out the WIXY playbook -- let the jocks be entertaining and let them have some control of their playlists.

Too bad they couldn't get the call letters back. Currently they are in use at a country FM station in Champaign, Illinois -- WIXY 100.3FM.
Click to expand...

Would be nice, but many of us old timers would be disappointed because the "magic" couldn't be recaptured the same way we would remember.

But giving jocks some creative control isn't a bad idea.
 
I have known Keith since the days when he was over paid working for the Great Scott Stations, WKST in New Castle. You could tell even then he loved radio and had a talent on air as well as a programmer. Keith is one of the rare folks in this business that is good at what he does along with being a great guy to work with and for. Good luck Keith on the new gig.
 
thenetwork said:
They need to bring out the WIXY playbook -- let the jocks be entertaining and let them have some control of their playlists.

Too bad they couldn't get the call letters back. Currently they are in use at a country FM station in Champaign, Illinois -- WIXY 100.3FM.
Click to expand...

I disagree with letting jocks have control. Not even John Gorman who built WMJI, nor Denny Sanders who took it to the next level (first Marconi and R&R award) allowed jocks to play what they wanted. Yet the WMJI we all know and love still sounded great.

What both DID do was take cues from 60s Top 40 radio, in particular Cleveland (CKLW, WIXY, WHK) as well as KHJ/L.A. and put on PERSONALITIES who knew what content was right for the demos. Fun, entertaining and engaging personalties, the right music...being as selective as only have :00 intro songs out of stopsets/jingles b/c it sounded hot. Great care was put into the music, the presentation, etc.

WMJI needs:

fresh jingles
new music test
entertaining personalities outside AM drive (I'd bring back Scott Howitt)
reverb (only 4 percent wet)
revamped imaging and new VO
promotional juggernaut that it used to be needs to return
better web presence and use of the web
 
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