Love It

[unemployed air talent]

No it ain't Christmas Music...but the jocks outside of morning drive sure suck!

 

[RADIO geek squad]

No it ain't Christmas Music...but the jocks outside of morning drive sure suck!

That's your opinion.

 

[Ferreri]

Possibly spoke too soon (or posted too soon). Would love to go back and change the subject from "Love It" to something less dramatic. Listening for a period of time has shed new opinions. Yes, still like the "forward motion" of the station and picking up the tempo, however, there is no warmth. And, in an effort to not say anything negative regarding the on air staff, the best tact is to say nothing. It appears that, at least, my expectations exceeded the present on air sound.

 

[beachguy3b]

No it ain't Christmas Music...but the jocks outside of morning drive sure suck!

Yeah, but they're working, pal. You have an excessively nasty disposition based on what you show here.

 

[Ferreri]

Many of us can relate to the feelings expressed by UAT. Having been through some unpleasant purges myself it is understandable the emotions that are being vented here. As in any life changing situation, a full gamet of feelings have to run a course. Anger is one of those feelings, followed by grief, and at some point, hopefully, coming to grips and moving forward. For now, this is a good forum for UAT to vent. The good news is, that in most cases, new doors and opportunities are opened. Get mad, yell, scream, and cry and then...get something better. A dear friend used to use the phrase; "It was a good run".

 

[unemployed air talent]

No it ain't Christmas Music...but the jocks outside of morning drive sure suck!

Yeah, but they're working, pal. You have an excessively nasty disposition based on what you show here.

Yeah, but the truth hurts doesn't it! I mean about the jocks outside of morning drive. And I have every right to have a as you put it "excessively nasty disposition" I was fired for no reason, just so some drunk could put his mark on a station...who also said that " If Mason doesn't play ball, I'll fire his ass too"! Now...you tell me who has the "excessively nasty disposition" ?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

From a viewpoint of the general public, it comes across as excessively cold to dismiss people the week of Christmas. Especially people who are practically publically fired. I would call it sadistic almost.

 

[RADIO geek squad]

No it ain't Christmas Music...but the jocks outside of morning drive sure suck!

Yeah, but they're working, pal. You have an excessively nasty disposition based on what you show here.

Yeah, but the truth hurts doesn't it! I mean about the jocks outside of morning drive. And I have every right to have a as you put it "excessively nasty disposition" I was fired for no reason, just so some drunk could put his mark on a station...who also said that " If Mason doesn't play ball, I'll fire his ass too"! Now...you tell me who has the "excessively nasty disposition" ?

Dear Unemployed Air Talent:
This is not that if Mason doesn't play ball, he'll get fired. This is "anyone" in radio can get fired. From the receptionist, engineers, promotions, sales, accounting .... Things are tough in TV, Radio and Print right now.

 

[beachguy3b]

UAT, welcome to 2009. I spent a crapload of my own money to move back out to California, and in the last 7 months have worked 2 jobs, 4 weeks each, because of the economy. Guess what? I'm not alone. I got out of radio just because of the things that happened to you.

But you know what? JoJo K is an old friend of mine, and the cheap insults from you and a few others here are wrong, regardless of what happened to you. Here's a hint: JoJo Kincaid didn't fire your buddies. He didn't CAUSE them to be fired. He's just a guy who lost his job in San Francisco, went home to Florida because his mom is old and ill, and was offered a job closeby that he took. Dumping on him is wrong. if someone in management screwed you, go for it. But your petty insults toward people who have done you no wrong, and your incredibly unpleasant demeanor do nothing to create a positive impression. In my experience, JoJo Kincaid was a great guy to work with- that's why, over 30 years later- I stay in touch. You're free, of course, to like his style or not. Personally, I love it, but then, I'm an old time CHR guy who loves the energy, the quips, the tight board. JoJo expends more energy in 10 minutes on the air than my tired old body has available in a day. He's a reminder of when radio was fun, when you went on the air to do more than "That was, and before that, and also, and we started with..."

If you dislike his style, fine- tell us what you dislike. But insulting him because he was offered a job and took it is wrong, and if that's who you are, then you have no sympathy from me for being on the street like MANY others of us.

By the way- when I worked with JoJo in 1975, the same thing happened to me. I made a real jerk of myself to a guy who came in when I got bumped from middays to overnights. He finally had this same conversation with me, and I felt like a real jerk- because I had been just that. He was right- like JoJo, he had simply been a guy looking for a new gig and he took one offered to him. Like JoJo, he wasn't responsible for what happened to the guy he replaced.

Last- remember, there are those who DO know who you are. If you think someone is going to see your posts, and put in a good word for you, you're mistaken.

Save your anger for the ones who have earned it, not for those who simply got hired. Did you never replace someone who was fired? Goodness knows, in 36 years, I sure did more than once.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

In Human Services when you are let go, the chances are they will abolish your position and divide up your cases as they did to me and others in Richmond. That means that one worker can have 200 family intervention cases and of course each family gets diminished services. They get to have less staff supposedly doing the same "quality" work. Then they send the remaining staff to "High Performance" pep rallies. In St.Pete, they just abolished my job and my clients now have no services unless they can afford a private counselor. I guess there are are lots of ways to bean count. In both cases, a client centered Director was replaced by an outsider who had no real ties to the staff and could begin "right-sizing" I had no JOJO to blame because the real analogy would be firing a DJ and replacing them with nobody. That happened when COX flipped WBBY to WXGL or WFJO to WPOI.

I was also part of an ongoing public relations program that included the Rays, WTAN, and WRXB. Without me and my supervisor ( who left) there is no longer any such program.

 

[BabyStringer]

If you dislike his style, fine- tell us what you dislike. But insulting him because he was offered a job and took it is wrong./quote]

This statement is correct. Insulting someone who took a job that was offered to them is attacking the wrong person. Scott Walker is the one at whom the anger should be directed. The problem, however, with the way the Q talent was fired is that it was mishandled. Scott Walker did not understand this Tampa market, did not understand the Q listeners, did not understand WHY we listened, and did not and still does not understand how we would react. If he had a "vision" as to station direction, he should have tried to make it work with the talent pool that was in place instead of just nuking the whole bunch, the week before Christmas. Some employment counseling would have been nice too.

As for JOJO and Tom Kincaid - I personally do NOT like their styles. For a forward-thinking PD, he certainly picked two people who sound like techno, corny DJs. My opinion is that they sound cheesy, fake, over-hyped and juvenile. Between my morning and afternoon commutes, I spend 2 to 2-1/2 hours per day in my car ... and I have nothing to listen to on the way home. I used to spend that drive home with old friends ... and now I feel like I am spending it with circus monkeys. Take some calls. LISTEN TO the audience. Having said all that, I do wish JOJO's mother well.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Tom Kent and JOJO Kincaide worked on stations way back in the day when the way they present was expected and desired. Tom Kent was on the same station with people like "Dick Wild Child Kemp". Listening to old airchex of WCFL people like Jim Stagg, you don't remember how fast they spoke until you hear them again. WRBQ used an AC approach for classic Top 40. Now they are reaching way back for people who had a style that fit when their music was new. Mullets were cool once and muttonchops. Rush does his news delivery with a Top 40 voice if you here him from a car in the next lane. my opinion is that JOJO and Tom Kent developed a style in the Rust belt when Top 40 AM radio pulled 20 shares. I think someone as great as Dick Biondi would be seen as poor fit on the Q as it had been programmed. Only time will tell if this will work. Meanwhile I still think the old Q people should be back on with somebody.

 

[BabyStringer]

Plus, perhaps the new JOJO should have changed his name before going on-air. I mean, really, his name alone reminds us of our beloved JoJo Walker and that started the new relationship with the listeners on a sour note. I can honestly say that I have not been in another market where new, replacement DJs have the same names as the DJs they replaced.

 

[beachguy3b]

From a viewpoint of the general public, it comes across as excessively cold to dismiss people the week of Christmas. Especially people who are practically publically fired. I would call it sadistic almost.

Tell me about. Happened twice to me, once on Christmas Eve. And last November, happened to me a week before Thanksgiving.

 

[beachguy3b]

Plus, perhaps the new JOJO should have changed his name before going on-air. I mean, really, his name alone reminds us of our beloved JoJo Walker and that started the new relationship with the listeners on a sour note. I can honestly say that I have not been in another market where new, replacement DJs have the same names as the DJs they replaced.

I have- and in places where it was not just first names, but the same name. Heck... there were two people going by the same name at the same time... ("JC") but on different stations.

 

[beachguy3b]

Tmy opinion is that JOJO and Tom Kent developed a style in the Rust belt when Top 40 AM radio pulled 20 shares.

Can't speak about Tom Kent, but JoJo Kincaid developed his approach while growing up in central Florida, and honed it in the south. I don't think he has worked at an AM station in a VERY long time. As well, his list of previous stations includes nothing but winners, in his CHR days.

 

[RADIO geek squad]

Plus, perhaps the new JOJO should have changed his name before going on-air. I mean, really, his name alone reminds us of our beloved JoJo Walker and that started the new relationship with the listeners on a sour note. I can honestly say that I have not been in another market where new, replacement DJs have the same names as the DJs they replaced.

I have- and in places where it was not just first names, but the same name. Heck... there were two people going by the same name at the same time... ("JC") but on different stations.

The new JoJo is in the afternoons, right. I believe from 3p-7p. JoJo Walker was in the morning show. So, I guess that does not mean that JoJo Kincaid is replacing him.

Does anyone know, did JoJo Kincaid come up with this name for Tampa market or did he have the same name in other markets? If that's the case that he had the same name, then we really should not be saying that he "replaced" the old JoJo and has the same name. Besides he's in another daypart, so that's not replacing neither.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

JOJO the K was on 13Q in Pittsburgh in 1976 using the name of JOJO Kincaide. Check out the WKTQ Tribute page. WKTQ was an AM rocker in the rust belt and was a huge success for several years beating out KQV until FM came along.

 

[BabyStringer]

Mea maxima culpa on not providing the Black's Law definition of "replacement" when drawing the parallel between JoJo and JOJO. For years, the name JoJo as in Walker has been synonymous with Q-105, so when we hear "JoJo" we think of Walker, not Kincaid. So, when we hear JOJO Kincaid announcing himself on the air, we are reminded of JoJo Walker and are reminded all over again of why we are displeased and unhappy with our new and improved station. If I need to be more specific, I'll suppose I can put Robert Shapiro on retainer.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Been reading this thread in Buffalo and feel a lot of sympathy for the people at Q-105 who were tossed and toasted on the brink of Christmas. That was a truly despicable maneuver, colder than January in Buffalo. And brothers and sisters, that's cold.

I understand that radio is changing at the speed of an Intel processor; I get that it's always been a business; but I don't get that established jocks who were part of Tampa were gunned down in a corporate massacre.

Like a lot of people here, I've sat sat on both sides of the desk. Been fired and unfortunately had to fire people too. Firing people is a disheartening part of being in management. If there's a manager who takes any delight in firing somebody, let alone a whole staff, he's a total 'hole. Many years ago, I was caught in the crossfire in a mass execution in Buffalo. By the grace of the radio gods, I dodged that bullet, but the whole experience sucked as I saw the lives of people I worked with unravel.

Being out of work, not having a place to do what you do as well as you do it, earn a living, perform, serve, entertain, create, have a sense of purpose and preserve your dignity sucks the life out of a person, especially if you're good at your job. From what I read here, there were a lot of good people who were sent packing.

I understand the sentiment of real broadcasters when they ask "what else can I do?" Talented as many of us are, it ain't like we can design rocket systems or perform heart surgery. From what I read, Boing is laying off engineers and scientists too. This keeps going and we'll all be working at call-centers, selling insurance or badgering people who are 90 days late on their credit card payments. Now that really sucks.

A few years ago, I met Mike Reeves and his wife when they visited a friend of mine in Buffalo. Really nice folks. Years ago, when I vacationed with my family at St. Pete Beach, Q-105 was the soundtrack of our vacation. Maybe folks who live in the sunshine every day don't realize how good radio stations and personalities can affect listeners who visit their community for a week or two. Radio becomes part of the total experience. If the experience is good and the radio is enjoyable, it's fun for the whole family. Yeah, I know that's a sappy "middle class" description, but it's the truth.

To the people who worked at Q-105 and are now on the growing unemployment line: Your vitality, joy, professionalism and dedication to your craft was appreciated by this visitor. I wish you well. It's ugly out there now and the fact is, people who have jobs today may not have them tomorrow or next month. We're all living one day at a time. We've never seen the business in the condition that it's in now... then again, we haven't seen the economy in the condition it's in now. Radio companies being eaten alive by their own greed and mismanagement, victims of the Ponzi scheme that they created. What's truly sinful is that some people at the top will get out with platinum parachutes while most of the men and women in the trenches will be victims.

As to the guys who were brought in to replace the staff that was fired at Q-105, they don't exactly have it easy either. Unless they're totally clueless, they have to realize that they face an incredible challenge to make a good radio station even better, a job that can't be done with smoke and mirrors, zippy liners and false exuberance. Most likely, it wasn't their decision to blow out the previous staff; the new guys were offered a job that they needed and took their marching orders from a suit in the corner office and did what they were told to do. Eat or be eaten. Kind of like the mafia. This is another unsavory part of the business and it looks like there's more to come. Whether we're doing News-Talk, Classic Rock, Country, Classic Hits or AC, we're all walking around with a target on our backs.



_________________________________________________

And just a note; good to read posters writing about of Dick "Wild Child" Kemp, an amazing talent in the style of the legendary Jack Armstrong. Kemp worked for a spell (way back in the day) at WYSL Buffalo and Armstrong at the 50 kW flamethrower, WKBW. Both guys left their mark on this poster. And 13-Q Pittsburg was a legendary radio station, too. The northeast rust belt produced some great radio in its day.