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mark and brian

Damn, my day just keeps getting better and better!

Nah, I'm just kidding. M&B are occasionally somewhat funny, plus they have the sexy-voiced Kelli Gates working with them, so they're not all bad.

The only radio duo in L.A. I can think of that rivals M&B in terms of longevity is obviously John and Ken (with Kevin and Bean a close second, if I have my dates correct). An L.A. Times profile on J&K last year said that Ken was 55, so the day of his retirement is probably nearing as well.
 
pjc1961 said:
Last Mark + Brian Show will be August 17, 2012. Mark retiring to Charlotte area near Lake Norman; may be available for contributing work from his home studio. Brian hopes to stay on in mornings; says Cumulus is working towards that.

http://www.radio-info.com/news/mark...s-at-klos-la-with-retirement-of-mark-thompson
Click to expand...

Wow. A 25 year run in LA Radio mornings is amazing. Even more amazing is he gets to go out on his own terms. That is rare for even the best of the best. Congratulations to Mark.

However, this is the day they have been dreading for years on La Cienega. It will be interesting to see what happens with the show and the station afterwards. Now is not the time to be scrapping successful formats on heritage stations, but the fact of the matter is that the morning show drives the station and has for years. That success can really be attributed to the contrasting personalities and skill sets of both Mark and Brian that play so well off of each other, which is why the show was always greater than the sum of its parts. "Working something" with Brian as a solo show or with another host is a gamble at best, particularly in light of the fact that Mark was always more of the "radio pro" and Brian less so the radio guy but heavy on the comedic timing and sensibilities. It would be an easier job (but a tough one nonetheless) to rework the show around Mark than Brian.

I haven't thought this all the way through yet, but to me the best idea may be not to try and replace Mark and do another two guys pairing, but to take a strong single female (like a Jamie White, without the disgusting factor - as in everything that ever came out of her mouth was crass and/or disgusting) and let her play off of Brian, who still leads the "single bachelor, good times" lifestyle, with the female in an equal role, not as a sidekick.

This is one move management can't screw up because the whole station rides in the balance. The Sound has been steadily gaining on KLOS for the last three years and stand to benefit the most from any hiccups. Of course Jack too. All it takes is just a fraction of the audience to fracture and KLOS could be running show in a three-horse race.

OK, everyone, get your funny format flip to Sports, Rhythmic, Talk and Dance posts going.
 
I've heard that Mark and Brian aren't very fond of each other? Do you think this retirement had something to do with that fact?

Does this make Kevin and Bean the longest, continuous running morning show in Los Angeles, as of right now?
 
It's all going to come down to what the Dickeys want. If they want Geraldo and Huckabee and redneck truck shows on FM in Los Angeles, then that's what they're going to do. Heritage, numbers, etc... don't mean a thing. The only numbers that matter are the bottom line and if it is cheaper to run their own syndicated programming instead of live jocks, then there's your 95.5.
 
I tend to agree with Westfield60's comment. I don't know about the year 1990, but at least very little relevance this millennium. No personal disrespect for their many accomplishments earlier in their career. 8)
 
I'm 31 years old and I love and appreciate classic rock. What has always kept me away from the format, though, is the staid presentation and a disconnect with the older hosts. My parents listened to Mark & Brian 20 years ago when I was listening to Power 106 or KROQ or other stations.

Wouldn't it serve KLOS to go a little younger with the hosts and make the format a little more relevant to the 35-54 audience? I know I'm a little outside the demographic but I'll be there shortly, and as of now, I avoid the format because while the music is great- the presentation is stale.
 
justpassingthough said:
I'm 31 years old and I love and appreciate classic rock. What has always kept me away from the format, though, is the staid presentation and a disconnect with the older hosts. My parents listened to Mark & Brian 20 years ago when I was listening to Power 106 or KROQ or other stations.

Wouldn't it serve KLOS to go a little younger with the hosts and make the format a little more relevant to the 35-54 audience? I know I'm a little outside the demographic but I'll be there shortly, and as of now, I avoid the format because while the music is great- the presentation is stale.
Click to expand...

This is what happens when you have success and longevity. Hard choices down the road. The guys who had the closest runs to Mark and Brian were Dick Whittinghill (30 years at KMPC) and Rick Dees (23 years at KIIS-FM). They were 36 and 31, respectively, when they started their gigs, owned the market for a lot of years...and then, one day, they were old guys. Actually, in Whittinghill's case, KMPC had been hiring possible replacements for 15 years, and tried but failed to toss him overboard six years before they actually did by offering the job to former rival Bob Crane, who turned them down.

Cutting either of them loose, though, was a risk. KMPC softened it somewhat by replacing Whit with Robert W. Morgan, who had been at KMPC for four years, had owned the market at KHJ and who wasn't exactly a kid at age 43. After the change in mornings, KMPC went through three formats in three years. You can't really blame that on the morning show change...the station had been trending down for most of the 70s. But when they found their footing...it was in nostalgia...where Dick Whittinghill not only wouldn't have hurt them, but probably would have helped (in fact, KMPC flipped after Whit and some other KMPC refugees started pulling numbers playing big bands on 1150).

If you go back and look at the posts to this board when KIIS dumped Dees for Seacrest, a lot of people said it wouldn't work. But it's been 8 years and the only question left is whether Seacrest has any limit to his energies and ability to succeed in whatever gig he's taken on now.

For KLOS? It's a much harder position to be in. If they lose 40 and 50 year olds who loved Mark and Brian, but don't attract as many 30 year olds from other stations, they lose.

Anybody know if and how much Jim Ladd's departure has hurt KLOS in the numbers so far?
 
michael hagerty said:
justpassingthough said:
I'm 31 years old and I love and appreciate classic rock. What has always kept me away from the format, though, is the staid presentation and a disconnect with the older hosts. My parents listened to Mark & Brian 20 years ago when I was listening to Power 106 or KROQ or other stations.

Wouldn't it serve KLOS to go a little younger with the hosts and make the format a little more relevant to the 35-54 audience? I know I'm a little outside the demographic but I'll be there shortly, and as of now, I avoid the format because while the music is great- the presentation is stale.
Click to expand...

This is what happens when you have success and longevity. Hard choices down the road. The guys who had the closest runs to Mark and Brian were Dick Whittinghill (30 years at KMPC) and Rick Dees (23 years at KIIS-FM). They were 36 and 31, respectively, when they started their gigs, owned the market for a lot of years...and then, one day, they were old guys. Actually, in Whittinghill's case, KMPC had been hiring possible replacements for 15 years, and tried but failed to toss him overboard six years before they actually did by offering the job to former rival Bob Crane, who turned them down.

Cutting either of them loose, though, was a risk. KMPC softened it somewhat by replacing Whit with Robert W. Morgan, who had been at KMPC for four years, had owned the market at KHJ and who wasn't exactly a kid at age 43. After the change in mornings, KMPC went through three formats in three years. You can't really blame that on the morning show change...the station had been trending down for most of the 70s. But when they found their footing...it was in nostalgia...where Dick Whittinghill not only wouldn't have hurt them, but probably would have helped (in fact, KMPC flipped after Whit and some other KMPC refugees started pulling numbers playing big bands on 1150).

If you go back and look at the posts to this board when KIIS dumped Dees for Seacrest, a lot of people said it wouldn't work. But it's been 8 years and the only question left is whether Seacrest has any limit to his energies and ability to succeed in whatever gig he's taken on now.

For KLOS? It's a much harder position to be in. If they lose 40 and 50 year olds who loved Mark and Brian, but don't attract as many 30 year olds from other stations, they lose.

Anybody know if and how much Jim Ladd's departure has hurt KLOS in the numbers so far?
Click to expand...

Can't be much. They play enough Doors music it's almost like he never left Broke on Through.
 
Looking down the road, like 10 years or so from now, as more and more of these heritage morning show hosts continue to retire/die, where will the replacements come from?

Does anyone know of any brilliant up-and-comers in other markets that could eventually jump up to a bigger market and slay?

I feel like there are no real 'farm teams' out there developing new talent...
 
I love reading these posts about how irrelevant Mark & Brian are. Guys...the March-May 2012 three-month average with A25-54, M-F 6-10am shows them tied for third in AQH rating in the Los Angeles Metro. Irrelevant? Maybe people need to pay attention to what's real instead of what their own opinion is.
 
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