Let's be honest about Paul Barsky

[nova4ever]

If you aren't in Philly and read this board, you would think this guy Barsky is a radio GOD and ratings monster who is too radical to be on the air!! I know AS A FACT Paul and his workers post on these boards- so let's be honest, can we?

In 1981 or sometime like that Paul Basky was on WCAU-FM. This was pre-Stern and he did well with a wacky zoo show. That is true..

Years later, Barsky brought his zoo to Y100. He was fired and the people who replaced him have become local legends. For some reason, Barsky believes even though Preston and Steve have numbers Barsky could never get- he deserved better.

Barsky got hired at Max, and his "curiousity book" was quite good. The station didn't beleive in him or the format and flipped.

Barsky got the dream gig- at one of America's best stations WMMR! His ratings were in the gutter and morale was awful. He didn't get along with any of the jocks and wanted to be treated as a rock star. I know several people who work at WMMR and told me so. They decided to not renew his contract(ie:fired), so Paul goes moping to the press how "he was not able to do his type of show." Meanwhile, Barsky(excuse me Barsky fans) explain how the 3 or 4 shows that followed GOT BETTER RATINGS?? And Preston and Steve are #1??

So, He gets another dream gig- OM at The Point and has no success. The station under HIS LEADERSHIP bombs and they switch. Instaed of accepting failure, he sues the station!

FREE-FM, the biggest failure since Barsky on WMMR hires him! He gets NO RATINGS and when they switch he gets canned. Now Paul, excuse me Barsky fans- if he was soooo great- wouldn't he get numbers like Kidd Chris and keep his gig?

Someone explain why he deserves another chance- nobody wants to listen to him!!!

 

[MarcB]

Even as an outside I've been following Philly Radio long enuff to know that HOT AC does not work in Philly that's why MAX/MIX and The Point are no longer on the air.

Furthermore Barsky did not get fired from 94.1 FM. He's working there in a behind the scenes capacity, much like David Simpson at CBS in Hartford. He moved from HOT AC 96.5 to Disco formatted Z-93.7, when they blew up 93.7 for hip-hop David Simpson got an office job at CBS and occasionally fills in at CBS's LITE 100.5 in Hartford.

 

[nova4ever]

Marc,

Those are excuses. WHERE IS THE SUCCESS STORY??

 

[wprt949]

Barsky got hired at Max, and his "curiousity book" was quite good. The station didn't beleive in him or the format and flipped.

when barsky worked @ 95.7 the stations ratings where just starting to have an uptick then they killed it for jammin oldies eck

 

[mrslate]

"Barsky got the dream gig- at one of America's best stations WMMR! His ratings were in the gutter and morale was awful. He didn't get along with any of the jocks and wanted to be treated as a rock star. I know several people who work at WMMR and told me so."

I don't know who "told you" that, but as someone who was there, I can state emphatically that your information is dead wrong. Overall the chemistry in that building was about as bad as it could possibly be, lots of good people who simply couldn't work together, BUT I can say that neither Barsky nor anyone else that I recall, acted like prima donnas. Just wasn't the case. I found Barsky to be quite personable, and without attitude. Further, if you recall, WMMR was in a rebuilding process. I don't think many people viewed it as a "dream gig" at that time.

 

[Bill_W]

I do remember Barsky at Max. The ratings were going up when GM killed it for Jamming Old. GM promoted Barsky coming over to Max for longer than he was there and then they changed back by changing a vowel to Mix.Barsky was never allowed to do his show at WMMR. He was on the air from 6-8:20 am. At 8:20, they play the 20 songs and then his show was over. Maybe GM learned from this mistake. When P&S came over to WMMR, they brought the entire show over to WMMR. They play less music than they did at Y-100 and they they are on the air until past 10:30 every day. I don't think the P&S Show would have worked at WMMR when Barsky was there is they could only be on the air for 2 hours and 2 minutes every day

 

[Wexler]

Barsky jumped the shark when he lost Sherri Lee Stevens. She was the tension of that show and the talented one. I never got the Kim Jugga-lugga thing, and it appears that no one else does either.

For the Barsky apologists, how many times has he been dumped over the last 20 years, and how many excuses are you going to make for each time he is dumped? If I have to hear "Barsky's back" one more time...well...I'll just turn the dial, like everyone else.

Now, you want an interesting talk show, let Sherri Lee have her own morning show and call it "Sexual Chocolate"...cause she is beautiful, loves chocolate and is full of addeeeetttooooddd...(no racial pun intended, she really does love chocolate).

 

[nova4ever]

Wex,

Reading their posts is like talking to my 6 year old cousin. They(Paul) never can admit "All these stations and no ratings I must not do well"

Instead..

WPLY- "Yeah Preston and Steve did better- but I'm still nice.."
WMMR- "Yeah, every show past me did better- but it's their fault"
WPNT- "Yeah, I had no ratings, I'll sue."
WYSp- "Yeah, I couldn't beat Pierre- I deserve mornings.."

LOGIC??

 

[Kyle D]

Wex,

Reading their posts is like talking to my 6 year old cousin. They(Paul) never can admit "All these stations and no ratings I must not do well"

Instead..

WPLY- "Yeah Preston and Steve did better- but I'm still nice.."
WMMR- "Yeah, every show past me did better- but it's their fault"
WPNT- "Yeah, I had no ratings, I'll sue."
WYSp- "Yeah, I couldn't beat Pierre- I deserve mornings.."

LOGIC??

For someone who is so inconsequential, you certainly seem to have a "man-crush" of some sort on him.

I was an intern at Y-100 when Barsky was there and he was never anything but nice to me, so as others stated earlier, I don't think you have good info from your supposed source at WMMR. I've never heard a bad story about him.

The only station where I think you have an argument here is WMMR. He probably could/should have done better ratings wise while there. Every other station since Y-100 has been a disaster in one way or another, but none were because of Barsky.

While I disagree with your (Wexler) saying that Barsky losing Sherri Lee Stevens was when he "jumped the shark", I do think they worked very well together. I'd like to hear them again sometime.

 

[BRUSSTAR]

Barsky's WCAU-FM show, which ran from 1982-85, wasn't exactly what I'd call a "Zoo" show (especially in the beginning). How many people were generally even in the studio? (I do seem to recall it becoming more "Zoo-like" toward the end, though.)

Barsky didn't "bring his zoo" to Y-100. I'm unaware of any members of that show having been from the WCAU-FM one which ended eight years earlier.

As was earlier pointed out, Barsky was hired long before Y-100 decided to move toward Alternative (in 1994; Barsky was hired in '93-- Y-100 only had two morning shows in its twelve-year history). PD Eric Johnson brought Barsky in when the station was still very much CHR/Rock-AC. The fact that Barsky and his crew lasted four years after Y-100 had moved toward Alternative points to the popularity of the program. Promotion of the Barsky Show by Y-100 took a nosedive once the station became a "replacement" for WDRE with Jim McGuinn at the helm. His dismissal was of little surprise by those who had been watching the situation in Barsky's final year there. Preston & Steve did not "become local legends" overnight, but were able to successfully build upon their previous name recognition on the station and in the market. After Barsky was let go in 1998, P&S (then "PMS" as it included WDRE's Marilyn Russell) segued nicely into what many thought was really a temporary move. By this point, Y-100 and Max were duking it out and Barsky was highly sought after by the late Tom Milewski at Greater Media. Barsky was off the air for less than a year.

Barsky got hired at Max, and his "curiousity book" was quite good. The station didn't beleive in him or the format and flipped.

That is absolute nonsense; a borderline lie. Greater Media wouldn't have signed him to a very generous contract if it didn't "believe in him". The Max format change to Jammin' Gold was directly related to GM's learning of Chancellor's plans for "Jammin' Oldies 104.5" and its successfully "beating them to the punch". GM wanted another adult format to sell in tandem with WMGK, WPEN, and even WMMR (which was still largely an adult station at the time). Max had been treading water for nearly two years by that point, and was actually showing significant gains following the addition of Barsky and his new crew. The company believed in Barsky so much that it made room for him on WMMR. Admittedly there was also the fact that he was already under contract. But his WMMR show would be the first time Barsky would be charged with going after a pure male target in Philadelphia.

Barsky got the dream gig- at one of America's best stations WMMR! His ratings were in the gutter and morale was awful. He didn't get along with any of the jocks and wanted to be treated as a rock star. I know several people who work at WMMR and told me so. They decided to not renew his contract(ie:fired), so Paul goes moping to the press how "he was not able to do his type of show." Meanwhile, Barsky(excuse me Barsky fans) explain how the 3 or 4 shows that followed GOT BETTER RATINGS?? And Preston and Steve are #1??

Dream gig? Sorry, but if you were here in 1999, you'd know that no shift on WMMR was a "dream gig" at that point. The station was getting slaughtered by WYSP in ARB, and if I recall even Y-100 was starting to outbill the station. Ratings were in the gutter all around, not just in the morning (though Pierre's loyal audience stuck by him, as I seem to remember). As was already pointed out, Barsky's already short 6-9 AM show actually ended just after 8 as the station went into it's "20-song marathon" or whatever. Having followed Barsky since the 'CAU-FM days, I've always felt WMMR wasn't his best situation. He was going after an audience that was already happy with Stern or WIP.

The three or four shows that followed got better ratings (and I'm not even so sure about that statement) because the station overall had become significantly stronger thru a variety of changes both in-house and in the market overall. I hope that answers your question.

So, He gets another dream gig- OM at The Point and has no success. The station under HIS LEADERSHIP bombs and they switch. Instaed of accepting failure, he sues the station!

Leadership? I'm not so sure about that. I always thought the Ops Mgr. thing was really little more than a figurehead title. Neither Barsky nor anyone else there had a say in the Beasleys' decision to dump the format and jump on that "hip-hop". Much like at Max four years earlier, things at the Point were starting to pick up with Barsky in the morning drive. The station overall bombed because it was absolutely horrible all around (music, imaging, branding, even much of the on-air talent). The Kabrich "'80s format" all around was a snore. Barsky had the unpleasant task of having to undo more than two years of, well, mediocre bunkum.

As for suing-- if I moved my family across the country after signing a contract, and my employer tried to weasel out of the deal after just a few months, bet the house I'd be suing too.

FREE-FM, the biggest failure since Barsky on WMMR hires him! He gets NO RATINGS and when they switch he gets canned. Now Paul, excuse me Barsky fans- if he was soooo great- wouldn't he get numbers like Kidd Chris and keep his gig?

The Talk format on WYSP was a trainwreck from beginning to end. The fact that the guys doing shows there were able to maintain ANY audience for as long as they did is commendable. And to many, Barsky's was the only show on the station that wasn't completely juvenile (though it was at times too immature for me; I rarely listened-- but when I did, I thought it usually sounded fine). Barsky's show was the only one on WYSP I have heard ANY street talk about.

The fact that Kidd Chris is still there warming the seat and that the others aren't may have lots to do with contractual situations and future plans.

If you don't like Paul Barsky, and you think any Philadelphia station would be crazy to "give him another chance", make a cogent argument. Silly statements of nonsense, falsehoods, and manipulated "history", however, are unwarranted.

P.S. -- I absolutely agree with Wexler about Sherri Lee Stevens. To me, the Y-100 one was the best of the six shows he did here largely because of Sherri's proper balance and personality.


(edited for correction of grammar)

 

[nova4ever]

Well you guys made my point. There is never a success story, always blaiming the station. WRFF is doing great- why would they kill it?

Nobody explained why every replacement- Preston&Steve, Gram(sp?), Philly Guys(which was awful) got hiigher numbers.. Even Rocco(Ben Maxwell)!!!

Stop telling me "I heard he's nice" and show me success outside 1982!

 

[Rick_E]

Well you guys made my point. There is never a success story, always blaiming the station. WRFF is doing great- why would they kill it?

Nobody explained why every replacement- Preston&Steve, Gram(sp?), Philly Guys(which was awful) got hiigher numbers.. Even Rocco(Ben Maxwell)!!!

Stop telling me "I heard he's nice" and show me success outside 1982!

Well.....If all the replacements you listed had better numbers than Barskey why were they then replaced? I also believe those replacements were on for a shorter time. Yes, Preston&Steve were let go from Y100 & I believe WDRE, for a format change which is the same damn thing that happened to Barsky @ Max, The Point & YSP. Also for success after 1982 in Philly.....Y100 (I also agree this was the best w/Sherri) I also think the run on Max & The Point were a success, as short lived as they were.

Please stop shoving your hatred for Barsky down our throats. We get it, YOU do not like him. Mr Brusstar's post is correct (it is how I also remeber it)....your posts are worhtless attacks at someone you do not like. Just stop it.

 

[nova4ever]

Time for facts Rick or Paul??

Barsky was let go from WPLY because PRESTON&STEVE would bring in BETTER RATINGS. which they did!

GRahm(sp?), Philly Guys I and Philly Guys 2 all had better 12+ and male demos then Barsky. Preston and Steve have numbers he could only dream of. FACT.

Ben(Rocc) had bigger numbers than Paaul did. FACT

If he was kickin butt at WYSP_ wouldn't they keep him on and add a few songs ala Kidd Chris. Pierre destroyed him. FACT

So, why should he be given ANOTHER chance- when did he get numbers?

 

[Kyle D]

First off genius, not everyone here is Paul Barsky. You have now 'accused' two different posters of being Barsky. Just give it up.

Barsky was let go from WPLY because PRESTON&STEVE would bring in BETTER RATINGS. which they did!

Wow! They KNEW that P & S would bring in better ratings? No one "knew" anything. Don't you think if they KNEW that P & S would bring in better ratings they would have done it sooner? That might be the dumbest thing I've ever read on this board.

They made a decision that happened to work out. Stations make these types of decisions everyday.

GRahm(sp?), Philly Guys I and Philly Guys 2 all had better 12+ and male demos then Barsky.

Yeah, because 12+ numbers are so important. If you actually had access to ratings numbers to help make your point, you wouldn't bring up 12+. You'd show us the elusive "better male demos then Barsky".

Ben(Rocc) had bigger numbers than Paaul did. FACT

You speak, therefore it's so??

If he was kickin butt at WYSP_ wouldn't they keep him on and add a few songs ala Kidd Chris. Pierre destroyed him. FACT

No one was "kickin butt" at WYSP, hence the change.

They are keeping Barsky because he's under contract and they think they can use him elsewhere. If they didn't see him as a viable option for the company in this market, they would have bought out the contract up front and sent him on his way.

So, why should he be given ANOTHER chance- when did he get numbers?

How many times do you have to be told that, besides WCAU, he had excellent numbers while at Y-100?

If his numbers have been as bad as you say, he wouldn't continue to get jobs in the business.


Please invest in a "Spelling and Grammar Check" program before your next post.

 

[Wexler]

I'm not Barksy, although I did tape over my "Baskarama For the People" cassette, and I have been a contestant on "Blind Date-arama"...both true.

Anyone know what happened in Chicago? He went to Chicago for a minute too, right? Was it Chicago? Ohhh, I know, it's the windy city and the tower fell down and he had to move back to Philly, right? I think that was "Barsky's Back" volume 3?

 

[Starscream]

edit: never mind.

 

[mrslate]

Why all the hate towards Barsky? The guy has sustained a career in Philly for years. There must be some reason why he keeps getting signed to lucrative deals. It sounds to me like there are a lot of jealous people out there. As someone else stated, 12+ numbers mean nothing. Except for CAU-FM, Barsky was hired to attract male demos. Since I haven't seen any posted, I have to guess you don't have them. As for S&P doing better, good for them! Did you expect them to turn the station off after Barsky left. Unfortunately, those in the biz know that EVERYONE is eventually fired, and EVERYONE is beaten at some point. As my dad says, "it isn't how many times you get knocked down that counts, it's how many times you get back up." I also always found it interesting how people quote "sources" for their information. I can tell you firsthand that nearly every time I read a post like that, the information is wrong. Further, whenever people start tearing at someone's character here, the truth is they are usually speaking with no firsthand knowledge.

and no, I'm not barsky!

 

[johnyvico]

i for one never liked barsky, until he got to wsp , i must have been the only one who liked the lineup that wsp had , i wastn sorry to see stern`s show go, it hasnt been the same stern show since the late 90s , yes roth was a disaster , but O&A who i love dearly arent the same show they used to be either , i loved the Chemistry , that kim vinny and paul had , to me it was a show for people who are older like me (36) , i totaly got the kim dug a lugga thing . any hot chick who dates a hotter younger woman from another station is totaly hot , if you dont get chickes maken out togerher , then maybe you should turn in your man card . or listen to kiddie102. kidd chris was the best show on wsp till the stupid the rock is back junk . you want rock GET A IPOD. its the same rock songs you have heard for like 10 million times . i dont need to hear stairway to haven again . the need to bring back the real kidd chris show . i wish basrky and the whole staff well. CBs are just a bunch of losers . thank you janet jackson .

 

[JaMa]

This Barsky hatred is ridiculous. I am not the biggest Barsky fan, but some of you people sound really jealous. As someone said, there must be a reason he gets signed to all these lucrative, guaranteed contracts. He can't be that bad. If that were the case, I'm sure a lot of us wish we were that bad.

 

[seawolfe]

I hope barsky comes back to philly, the a.m. new yorkers suck , so does the rock , and kidd chris can be funny although somewhat childish, at least barsky talked about everyday events and not tv shows like LOST!! - bring back BKV