KLIF, Steve Nicholl

[DFW_Radio_2000]

I got a call from a friend who said KLIF PD Steve Nicholl died of a heart attack today.

Any validity to this?

 

[DFW_Radio_2000]

Nevermind, I found a story confirming...

http://www.ntsmediaonline.com/?p=17482

 

[dfaulkner]

God be with him & his family & friends & co-workers.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Man, what a shocker!! Very sad to hear that. I met Steve back around January, 1985, when I interviewed with him for a news position at KMGC-Magic 102.9. (Yes, they actually did morning newscasts!) I knew this green 19-yr old kid didn't have any chance of getting the job, but he still invited me in to talk, and to sit in for some morning newscasts so I could see how it all came together. It went a long way in giving me some confidence about getting in the door...and just a mere 17 years later, I started my first real radio job! I reminded Steve of that time a few months back, but he didn't remember. I had heard his patience was a little thinner these days, but he was VERY cordial to me back then...and had such a smooth and resonant radio voice. He'll be missed.

Um, can they somehow pin this on Krok?

 

[soundbite]

Unbelievably sad news. I knew Steve when we both worked in DFW in the 80-90s and then I got the chance to work for him at KLIF for only about about a year before I left radio. In those months we had some great conversations about news, culture and life in general. He had an inquiring mind, looked for the angles and thought outside the box.

Man, I'm gonna miss you.

 

[MikeShannon914]

More info on Steve:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/04/2164643/radio-boss-pushed-for-excellence.html

But no announcement for services yet. Let's just hope Krok would have enough class to leave the megaphone at home for the funeral.

And just to clarify, this is NOT the same person as Steve Nichols, late of ABCRN and a DFW broadcast vet and newsman during most of the same years as Nicholl was. Steve Nichols was also known as "Steve Nichols-Scott" on some stations (KIXK-106, for one.) Most of Nicholl's time in DFW was spent at Magic 102.9 (in the above article, Jack Schell mentions at least 1979-86 that they worked together.) Nicholl left the market and didn't return until KLIF-570 in Oct 2007.

 

[DFW_Radio_2000]

More info on Steve:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/05/04/2164643/radio-boss-pushed-for-excellence.html

But no announcement for services yet. Let's just hope Krok would have enough class to leave the megaphone at home for the funeral.

And just to clarify, this is NOT the same person as Steve Nichols, late of ABCRN and a DFW broadcast vet and newsman during most of the same years as Nicholl was. Steve Nichols was also known as "Steve Nichols-Scott" on some stations (KIXK-106, for one.) Most of Nicholl's time in DFW was spent at Magic 102.9 (in the above article, Jack Schell mentions at least 1979-86 that they worked together.) Nicholl left the market and didn't return until KLIF-570 in Oct 2007.

This Steve went to Miami, Philly then Portland before coming back to Dallas. He and I talked a lot when I worked there...He was a good person.

I've gone on record bashing him as a boss, but that was in terms of getting the staff to respect their work and workplace...He was a very good man and funny as hell.

I remember a funny story last October he was telling me earlier that week he left Cosco, walked out the door and a car was on fire in the first row of the parking lot. Someone close by said "It's been 10 minutes and the fire department still hasn't arrived" So Steve went inside, bought 3 bottles of Kirkland Signature bottle water to throw on the flame, because, as he put it, "I new it wouldn't do a damn thing, but Kirkland Signature was almost a buck cheaper than that aquafina crap."

Ahh, I wish more people had his sense of humor. He could find something funny in any situation.

 

[walkerradio66]

This breaks my heart! I've known Steve for many years and just talked to him over the weekend. I know Steve very well and he told me on many occasions that his job with the CumaBullies was unlike anything he's ever seen. He told me many times his Market Manager would do nothing but bitch and moan over everything and was never happy and had the "I know it all" attitude which caused Steve a great amount of stress. I only wish I would have told him to leave for a better gig after hearing all the horror stories the manager did to him and the station. Maybe if I could have talked him out of it he would have been ok. I hope Cumulus is proud! They lost a great man, a great PD and a great human being and his death is a direct result of the undue bull that group makes their pd's go through. I wonder how they sleep at night?

 

[little1]

This breaks my heart! I've known Steve for many years and just talked to him over the weekend.

When did you talk to him over the weekend? Because the Star Telegram story says this:

Mr. Nicholl had also planned to attend afternoon host Chris Krok's counterprotest of the immigration march Saturday in Dallas but didn't show up. Bennett said Mr. Nicholl had complained of not feeling well during the week.

[EDIT]

I know Steve very well and he told me on many occasions that his job with the CumaBullies was unlike anything he's ever seen. He told me many times his Market Manager would do nothing but bitch and moan over everything and was never happy and had the "I know it all" attitude which caused Steve a great amount of stress.

So the fact that his station sucked in the ratings didn't cause him stress, but having a market manager yell at him did? OOOKayy....

They lost a great man, a great PD and a great human being and his death is a direct result of the undue bull that group makes their pd's go through. I wonder how they sleep at night?

Funny, I know Mark Phillips from the Wolf, and he doesn't seem stressed at all. And I bet Jeff Katlin of the ticket isn't stressed either. Funny the difference programming a successful station can make...


[EDIT-inflammatory]

 

[radioaircheck]

Dan Bennett is the problem.

 

[Rock Chalk]

I think it's childish and very inappropriate to drag Dan's name through the mud at a time like this. Dan and I are both "Topeka boys"--he worked at WREN and I was at KEWI many, many decades ago. He's a good man. Is he perfect? No. Has he made mistakes? Yes. But that also describes you and me. I also know Mark Phillips and Jeff Catlin. Both are super guys and excellent PD's. But how do any of us know just exactly how Mark or Cat handle stress on any given day? Despite the success of the Ticket and the Wolf, I think it's safe to say both men have had their share of stress and worry.

No one knows precisely that caused Steve's death. But it is tragic and saying that Dan is the problem is insane.

Jason Walker

 

[dismuke]

I know Steve very well and he told me on many occasions that his job with the CumaBullies was unlike anything he's ever seen. He told me many times his Market Manager would do nothing but bitch and moan over everything and was never happy and had the "I know it all" attitude which caused Steve a great amount of stress.

Let's just assume for a moment that Nicholl actually did say those things. So the man shares his thoughts with you and now, when he is no longer around for you to get his ok, you just go spill what he told you - presumably in confidence - about other people on the Internet for anyone to see. What kind of friend does that?

Pardon me for wondering if you simply have an ax to grind and are exploiting the situation as a means of doing it though the mouth of someone the targets have regard for and is who is not in a position to clarify or deny. And pardon me for wondering if Nicholl actually said those things or, if he actually did, how enduring such sentiments are.

I only wish I would have told him to leave for a better gig after hearing all the horror stories the manager did to him and the station. Maybe if I could have talked him out of it he would have been ok. I hope Cumulus is proud! They lost a great man, a great PD and a great human being and his death is a direct result of the undue bull that group makes their pd's go through. I wonder how they sleep at night?

And Nicholl, in his capacity of program director, never put subordinates in a position where they felt stressed? How many important jobs are there that are free from stress?

I have never met any of these people and never heard of Nicholl until I read this thread. Maybe the people at Cumulus are every bit as bad as you suggest. Or maybe they are perfectly professional people who are simply doing their jobs and have somehow ticked you off at some point along the way. Either way, it doesn't matter. Using a man's corpse as a mouthpiece to get one's jabs in against people one dislikes is tasteless and inappropriate.

 

[little1]

Good points guys.
The thing that I saw was that he said he talked to him "over the weekend". Yet it's reported that he didn't show up for the march on Saturday. So know the window when this guy MAY have talked to him is probably Saturday morning. Just very conveinent that he(Steve Nichols) talks to him (the poster) within hours of his passing.

This looks like a guy who has an ax to grind with Dan Bennet, and used Steve Nichol's passing to voice his displeasure with the "Cumabullies", Dan Bennett, etc. Real classy.

And no disrespect to Steve Nichol, but we are talking about a station ranked about 30th 6+. Maybe they were doing really well in their demo, but that station could have been doing a LOT better overall. Maybe the market manager was trying to make it better...

Because I remember tehlast time I checked out Bolton's show. Listened to an interview for almost 10 minutes before I found out who Bolton was talking to. Hey guys, how about a reset "We're talking to Newt Gingrich here on 570 KLIF, Newt, next question is...."
Basic formatics, that somehow the host hadn't learned and the PD wasn't correcting. Maybe that' s why the MM is stressing the PD out.

 

[dismuke]

And no disrespect to Steve Nichol, but we are talking about a station ranked about 30th 6+. Maybe they were doing really well in their demo, but that station could have been doing a LOT better overall. Maybe the market manager was trying to make it better...

That is assuming that the market manager was doing anything at all out of the ordinary in terms of generating stress. Problem with arbitrary assertions is that, if one is not careful, they can cloud one's perceptions of people and events when no such basis for it exists.

The posting attacking Cumulus has to be regarded as entirely arbitrary. It is based on nothing more than the alleged testimony of a man who is not in a position to verify one way or another whether he even DID express such sentiments. And the assertion that Nicholl expressed such views is based on nothing more than the say-so of an anonymous poster.

The proper thing for fair, reasonable and responsible people to do when they come across such arbitrary utterances is to give them no more cognitive credibility than one would give a string of syllables uttered by a parrot.

That posting not only is an arbitrary attack on Cumulus - it also pollutes the memory of Nicholl. Like I said, I do not know any of these people. But I find the attack to be profoundly contemptible.

As for KLIF's ratings - I am not sure how long Nicholl worked there but that station's ratings have been in the toilet for years. That station pretty much became an also-ran when Rush Limbaugh signed on with WBAP. It is VERY difficult for ANY station and ANY program manager and ANY talk show host trying to appeal to a conservative audience to go up against a line up of Mark Davis/Limbaugh/Hannity/Levin. Bottom line is one has to take into consideration the context of what one is up against as that DOES have an impact on what one is able to accomplish.

At any rate, I am not even sure it is appropriate to even be discussing Nicholl's performance - especially considering the circumstances under which the subject was brought up. It really doesn't matter any longer, does it? And the man is not here to defend himsef.

 

[Faraway]

I've known Steve for many years. At various points, worked against and worked with him. We had our differences but I always had respect for his radio smarts. He was a very creative thinker. Since he arrived in Texas, we've exchanged the occasional call or email. The last one was right before the Texas primary. Never did I hear him even insinuate any issues with his employer. Wouldn't really expect him too, he was too classy for that. However, if the situation at Cumulus-Dallas is as awful as some of you say it is, I don't think Steve would have been working there. He could have found something else if he wanted to. Instead, the Steve Nicholl I heard was very energized by what he was doing and excited about the direction he was taking the station. Maybe he was just being a positive soldier, but I don't think so.

I just think it's very small of people to use this occasion to further their own vendettas against other people and companies.

 

[MikeShannon914]

On Steve's Facebook page, he described his job as, "Challenging 'the man' every hour, every day." That sums it up for me. He must have delighted in his job, or he would have retired. He was 63 already. I'm sure he could hold his own, and understood radio for what it is today. And I noticed that Tyler Cox was on his 'friends' list, and even if he took one page out of Tyler's programming book, Steve would have been just fine. Hey, we ALL have gripes about work, and the direction of this idiotic industry over the last few years has been overwhelming for everyone. (Paycuts, layoffs, doubling/tripling of duties, mergers, closures, even lack of raises or promotions---we've ALL been affected in one way or another.) But Steve obviously had perseverance and dedication and a passion for the business...or he wouldn't have still been in it, and he STILL sounded delighted to be a part of it.

Considering he had plenty of latitude and time in building and refining Magic 102.9 for at least seven years in the 80s, all the while knowing that the station would always be in the shadow of KVIL---then to shift over to the post-consolidation era of 'immediate results' and beancounting and sales-driven programming, I'd say Steve did a good job making the transition and never lost his faith in the biz.

I agree, no reason to put words in his mouth. The environment around Cumulus speaks for itself. Nicholl, apparently, knew how to rise above it.

 

[DFW_Radio_2000]

On Steve's Facebook page, he described his job as, "Challenging 'the man' every hour, every day." That sums it up for me. He must have delighted in his job, or he would have retired. He was 63 already. I'm sure he could hold his own, and understood radio for what it is today. And I noticed that Tyler Cox was on his 'friends' list, and even if he took one page out of Tyler's programming book, Steve would have been just fine. Hey, we ALL have gripes about work, and the direction of this idiotic industry over the last few years has been overwhelming for everyone. (Paycuts, layoffs, doubling/tripling of duties, mergers, closures, even lack of raises or promotions---we've ALL been affected in one way or another.) But Steve obviously had perseverance and dedication and a passion for the business...or he wouldn't have still been in it, and he STILL sounded delighted to be a part of it.

Considering he had plenty of latitude and time in building and refining Magic 102.9 for at least seven years in the 80s, all the while knowing that the station would always be in the shadow of KVIL---then to shift over to the post-consolidation era of 'immediate results' and beancounting and sales-driven programming, I'd say Steve did a good job making the transition and never lost his faith in the biz.

I agree, no reason to put words in his mouth. The environment around Cumulus speaks for itself. Nicholl, apparently, knew how to rise above it.

I agree with this 100%. I wish we could lock the thread and leave it at that. No more complaining or bitching about anything...Let's remember a fallen comrade.

For those of you in the business, he's one of us. He's done what we're trying to accomplish. Let's not forget that.

Those of you not in the biz, Steve was one of those people that made radio was a fun place to work.

Because of Steve, I will never forget to have fun in this job...Job? Naw, not a job. A job is something you have to do...Radio is a career. I've been in Dallas radio 10 years, and haven't worked a day in those 10. I'm sure he'd say the same.

 

[OHTBGH]

Amen!

- BGH

 

[MikeShannon914]

Well, are services going to be announced? Did Steve have any family here? I haven't heard a thing more about this anywhere.