observer8057 said:
Here’s a suggestion on how to “fix” KRTH. Pick up the phone and call Roy Laughlin. Tell him how much better you would do programming KRTH than Jhani Kaye. Your resume and insight are obviously so much stronger than his. I’m sure you could convince him that you can do a much better job than the current professional, successful guy who programs the station.
Jhani has a long track record of success. He has the experience. He has the brains. He has the talent. He understands the market. He understands targeting. He understands the audience. He understands the role and impact of PPM. He understands rotations. He understands flow. He understands talent–and works WITH them. He understands promotions. He understands programming. And he has the Midas touch in solidifying audience impact, as witness the success of every step of his career.
Be prepared to tell Roy and Dan Mason and all the suits in New York why your ideas and track record are so much better than Jhani’s. I’m sure they would be so glad to hear from you. While you’re at it, keep your computer locked on CBS New York so you can hear what you want. Meanwhile, don’t waste your time pining away about how much better you could make KRTH. I’m sure Roy is waiting for your call. Let us know how it turns out.!
Jhani (in his mind) is doing what's best for L.A. and is successful at it, yes. But compared to NYC, it's running way short. For years and years KRTH has presented L.A. with a very limited variety of big oldies and classic hits, too limited for our tastes.
The big thing here and the frustrating part, to be honest with you, is that we feel that L.A. is being cheated out of hundreds more, if not thousands of OTHER classic hits that KRTH refuses to play, because of it's tight playlist. KRTH's audience over the years since the late 80's have been duped into thinking (and getting used to) that these ARE THE ONLY OLDIES ON EARTH and therefore has accepted them as the only oldies, to their minds, that mostly ever exisited. And yes, they may be happy with that based on that theory, because of what people have heard and gotten used to for over 20 years on KRTH.
We know that more songs obviously existed and when one of these "rare on KRTH songs" get played, listeners will think: "wow, haven't heard that in a while" or "geez, I'd wish they would play more of these"
On NYC's WCBS, they rarely have to think that way, since they play them ALL to begin with. Great daily line-ups and by far, superior specialties.
Jhani could experiment a bit with the specialties at least and see what he could get away with. He'd be surprised at the results.
People always welcome changes and additions, not daily redundancy, repetition and boredom.
By the way, KRTH used to sound like a WCBS pre 1988 or so. Much bigger playlists and exciting and memorable themed specialties and weekends. Why they changed is a huge mystery beyond our imagination.