You're creating a hierarchy that doesn't exist.
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KROQ
- Thread starter CassChopper96
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You're creating a hierarchy that doesn't exist.
KROQ was huge in the early 80s. Great example, the Spring 1982 Arbitron:
1. KABC 6.7
2. KBIG 5.0
3. KMET 4.0
4. KIIS-FM 3.9
4. KLOS 3.9
6. KROQ 3.7
6. KIQQ 3.7
8. KFWB 3.6
9 KHTZ 3.5
9. KJOI 3.5
10. KNX 3.5
The thing to remember is that, in the glory days of the 80s, KROQ had as tight a playlist as KIIS-FM---maybe even tighter. But the records themselves were totally off the wall. That was the unique thing about KROQ. KIIS was huge because it played the hit. KROQ played records like "Teenage Enema Nurses In Bondage" and MADE them hits.
What worked for KROQ was that all the jocks---Richard Blade, Raymond Bannister, Sam Frees, Darryl Wayne, Dusty Street, Jed the Fish, Freddy Snakeskin, Rodney----all of them---brought personality that fit the music and was unlike anything elsewhere on the air in L.A. There might not have been a standout superstar among them prior to Kevin and Bean, but there also were no "time and temp" jocks.
Having had the earlier discussion about listening, I know how old you were. You were hearing latter-day Wolfman, oldies-format Wolfman---and yes, he did do that. But that's not what made him a star.
Pre-American Graffiti, the show was there to bring you Wolf. The music was incidental---proved many times by XERB's schizoid music policy (a few months of gutbucket R&B and the next thing you know, he's playing Bobby Sherman records). Wolf's best ratings in L.A. were his year at KDAY, playing AOR on AM. Again, it wasn't about the music. It's hard to believe for people who only experienced Wolfman Jack after American Graffiti and the Midnight Special, but Wolf was dangerous. That's what made him a star.
Really? Isn't the whole point of this thread that KROQ is failing because of the music?
Some believe the music product isn't nearly as good as it used to be, some believe management is not going in the proper direction musically, but I have not heard anyone say the DJs (as a group) and their presentation is the problem.
I understand that this being a radio board it is frequented by DJs and the management that hires them, so this sentiment doesn't go over well, but the fact remains that music listeners tune into music stations for the music, not the DJ, and in most cases, the DJ is the most replaceable element of the station. Most DJs are completely forgotten within two weeks of their station exit, if they are even noticed at all.
Of course there are exceptions, such as K&B, Rick Dees, etc. where some personalities have made that special connection with the audience, which almost always takes years to develop. That is quite rare, and when it happens, those few personalities make big bucks because of that rarity. In KROQ's case they have had strong talent even outside of K&B such as Stryker, but his presence or lack thereof is not going to change the station's performance.
It's really quite simple. KROQ is a music station (no, not a lifestyle station) and if the music is subpar, the station is subpar. That is what is going on here.
I appreciate the history lesson.
That's what some believe. Everyone has an opinion. Some people don't like the music. Some say the station is failing because of Mike Kaplan. Some say the station has been failing for ten years. But I don't know that anyone is putting "personality above the music."
Excellent point.
My comparison is to a recipe made without one of the main ingredients. All the rest of the good stuff is there, but without that one element, the final dish fails to please.
Radio in decades past depended on the warmth, feel and coalescence of hosted music shows. Up for debate is whether that is a relevant consideration for people under about 35 today.
It is not an excellent point, it is a straw man argument. I never said both the cart and the horse were not necessary, I said putting the cart before the horse is no way to get to town. Emphasizing on-air talent over the music on a music station is just silly, but that doesn't mean they are unimportant, of course they are. Just not most important. I don't expect the DJs in the audience to like this point of view.
Again, KROQ most likely doesn't need to change its personalities, it needs to decide what demo they want to go for and act accordingly. As of now, they are confused as to who their target audience is and how to reach them, and it shows. KYSR is much more focused.
Once again, no one is "emphasizing on air talent over the music."
If anything, the opposite is true, especially at KROQ. Audacy is running a bunch of their alternative stations unhosted.
In another thread, discussion is ongoing about how Wolfman Jack was not dependent on the music but on his entertainment value.
There are extremes, of course. All music and nothing else, or, in contrast, all talent so that the music does not matter.
When Howard Stern was on a Washington, DC, FM he played music. But his personality had developed to where the music was secondary.
In the case of KROQ, it lost its music identity... music became secondary... when the morning show developed a life of its own that did not depend on music. As Alt took over the music position, KROQ was left as a station without a morning show anchor and with no remaining music value.
I've worked with three #1 morning show "talents" in LA myself, and there is definitely a point where it no longer matters which songs are played. The problem occurs at 10 AM sharp: the morning show is over and nobody who is listening had come to the station for music. We saw that when Stern went to satellite: the stations he had been on were mostly unsustainable without him as they had no other image other than "the Stern station".
That is KROQ's problem: it lost its music image a decade ago and they just did not get how important an element that was.
CBS did itself no favors by hiring horrible replacements for Stern and then syndicating those horrible replacements. In some instances, CBS created an even bigger mess by flipping multiple stations to "Free FM" branding.
WNCX Cleveland escaped that mess and excelled. KISW Seattle (Entercom owned) had an excellent post-Stern game plan and excelled. Too many of the CBS stations had a crappy strategy. Luckily, Hollander and his cronies were eventually shown the door, and Dan Mason and team did a good job reinventing stations that were in tatters, building a number of successful Sports radio brands.
WNCX Cleveland escaped that mess and excelled. KISW Seattle (Entercom owned) had an excellent post-Stern game plan and excelled. Too many of the CBS stations had a crappy strategy. Luckily, Hollander and his cronies were eventually shown the door, and Dan Mason and team did a good job reinventing stations that were in tatters, building a number of successful Sports radio brands.
It's funny how will stern left terrestrial radio they split it up with Adam carolla taking over some stations out west but it never really went over but his current podcast does well. I am guessing he had rules he had to follow on terrestrial radio on his podcast he can do what the eff he wants.
I disagree. Adam Carolla was a great radio host. He was once Dr. Drew's Lovelines co-host on KROQ. Put him together with Jimmy Kimmel, and you have the foundation of a great morning radio show. Perhaps make that the nationally syndicated show. The mistake CBS made was taking David Lee Roth and turning him into a talk show host. Terrible idea. He would have been a great music show host who kept his opinions to himself. So what I'm saying is that Howard's replacements weren't horrible, but the way they were utilized was a mistake.
My point is CBS's post-Stern morning drive strategy was a disaster. I did not say Stern's replacements and the radio medium were necessarily incompatible in all respects.
There's nothing that could've been done with Roth that would've made him a successful morning drive host in multiple large city markets on the stations that previously aired Stern. Thus, he was a terrible choice. Square peg meets round hole. As a nighttime host of a music-driven daypart on classic rock stations, he might've been effective.
Rover's sophomoric, lowest common denominator, very fake show was a terrible choice for WCKG in Chicago, the former WKRK-FM in Detroit, and other stations in the central U.S. The ratings are proof. WNCX Cleveland lucked out because their sister station in Cleveland was the flagship for Rover at the time, so they were able to escape that fate.
I never heard Carolla's morning show (other than brief snippets), but I do certainly agree he is a talented media personality and comedian. He was the one selection that had potential to succeed. The problem is - he was based on the west coast. That circumstance limited live morning drive distribution opportunities. If he were based in NYC and given proper support, the outcome certainly could've been much different. I suspect he would not have wanted to relocate to the east coast, though. I would love to know if CBS Radio brass ever attempted to make an inquiry along those lines.
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It's difficult to imagine anything lower common denominator than Stern, the King of All Crude Media.
There is no good strategy to replacing a legend. Consider what happened with Rush Limbaugh. And then look at KROQ after Bean left.
You can never replace staples like Stern or limbaugh or mark and Brian or Kevin and bean you just do the best you can.
I have always loved Adam carolla. So miss him on loveline w Dr drew. I think after Adam and even Stryker left that was gonna be a difficult show to carry on. They did but it wasnt as good. Especially Adam no replacing him
To be fair, KROQ gave up two and a half months after Bean left. Not exactly much time to try and reposition Kevin Ryder's new show. Ryder was going to leave at the end of the year anyway. They could have done a classy, well-managed handoff to Stryker & Klein, giving Kevin Ryder a few months of a victory/farewell tour. Instead, they bungled it. Not saying the ratings would have been any different, but they wouldn't have been worse. And they also wouldn't have pissed off a portion of the remaining audience
Relevant to this thread, Sean Ross looks at a few "intriguing" players in the alt space right now: https://radioinsight.com/ross/219031/ross-on-readers-spotlight-1-the-rock-of-the-universe/
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