MICHAEL STEELE OUT AT INDIE

[RockTheGlobe]

you guys are freaking out over nothing. Max Tolkoff is a native californian - he's not gonna mess up anthing with Indie.

Max was born and grew up in New York. He's not a native.

 

[MoLarryMoLarry]

i disagree based on what Max did at fnx, not what the norm considers important to Arbitron.

true, diaries are most important, especially in the number two market in the world. but the fnx of the 90's, with max in charge, only increased a few tenths here and there in their book over several years. nothing competitive by any means, and it did help sales to generate a bit more revenue locally. but from a national exposure perspective, fnx creatively tied together big labels and national advertisers to rake in a ton of dough through sponsorships and time buys of creative and unique concert series, year-long giveaways, acoustic shows, etc. I also realize that it is who you sleep with, who's records you play, but year after year, FNX won station of the year awards, not for its ratings, but for its promotions. that gave fnx a national advertising awareness that yielded even more financial support from labels, promotional companies, etc. fnx had never experience anything like that, and still benefits from Max's insight today (ie the huge summer Snapple-exclusive time buy in 2006). he was smart in recognizing that building your TSL with a dedicated audience can sometimes be more important than building cume with a one that boucnes around the dial.

everyone reading this knows max's legacy - i'm not a fan of his - and its not from some super knowledge of alternative music, its from his ability to manipulate the competitive playing field into his favor. how he does that comes from his experience in the biz, sure. kroq will publicly not worry about Indie from a ratings perspective, but you can bet your butt they are concerned about max still some of their cache to break new artists, blah blah blah. Just ask BCN about it - Oedipus never cared about fnx's ratings, he cared about fnx denting bcn's image. but Max is very good at bullying the industry with a smile - what's the saying? 'tell them to go to hell but convince them look forward to the trip'.

i'll predict that Indie will not see tremendous jumps in ratings, but they will experience what the folks at fnx in the 90's experienced - a chance to build on their cool, hip alternative image that will continue to be recognized by artists, labels, and promoters who know and understand the importance of exposing their brand to unique and loyal radio audiences.

 

[scooty430]

i disagree based on what Max did at fnx, not what the norm considers important to Arbitron.

My only concern is if Indie begins playing crummy KROQ music in an effort to gain ratings. The second we start hearing Korn, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and other bands with cutely misspelled names, we'll know we're in big trouble.

 

[hamNcheese]

SO WHY DID HE GET THE BOOT?

:

 

[BACKnUSSR]

Kevin Weatherly is a very different animal than Oedipus. KROQ is much more defensive of it's image and Kevin has a lock on the labels and bands that deal in his world. No one is going to risk their KROQ relationship for the opportunity to play ball with Indie (and Michael Steele was LOVED by them). Max will have a hard time faring better...he's already 0-1 against KROQ by failing to move the needle at Y107.

 

[RockTheGlobe]

Kevin Weatherly is a very different animal than Oedipus. KROQ is much more defensive of it's image and Kevin has a lock on the labels and bands that deal in his world. No one is going to risk their KROQ relationship for the opportunity to play ball with Indie (and Michael Steele was LOVED by them). Max will have a hard time faring better...he's already 0-1 against KROQ by failing to move the needle at Y107.

I'm interested to know where you got your opinion that the labels loved Michael Steele. As far as Max goes, he was at Y107 for literally a month before Big City Radio yanked the format -- I fail to see how he was even given a chance to move the needle given his lack of time to build any kind of momentum, and any possible needle-moving results (either positive or negative) came out only in trend-breakout form and well after the station had already flipped to Spanish.

In the past few years, Max managed to move the needle on a small independently-owned station with maybe a quarter of the signal of the heritage market giant -- and that's less than a year after an upgrade from a signal that was around a tenth of WBCN's signal. He has been programming for many years, is well-known by the labels and has even worked on the label side.

I have no expectations that Indie would ever reach a 2- or a 3-share; its signal is horrible, and I will fully admit that KROQ is the 8,000-pound gorilla in the market (and the format, for that matter). That's not to say, though, that Indie hasn't built its own reputation or that Max couldn't make a difference there.

 

[TowerBuzz]

This thread is hysterical considering that so many alt purists freaked out WHEN Steele even GOT the gig. I distinctly remember people bitching that he came from Kiis and his claim to fame was that he brok Brittney!> NOw all of a sudden people mourn his passing?. Too funny. Max is a little old school and not exactly a cutting edge programmer but then again he's smart enough not to try to turn it into Kroq-lite. Honestly the GM wouldnt let that happen either.

 

[BACKnUSSR]

Oh I think KROQ-lite might be exactly what the GM has in mind. Obviously the PD change is a quest for better numbers....which would change the entire model the station was designed on. Max might be smart enough not to go there...but that's exactly why he was brought in.

 

[TowerBuzz]

Oh I think KROQ-lite might be exactly what the GM has in mind. Obviously the PD change is a quest for better numbers....which would change the entire model the station was designed on. Max might be smart enough not to go there...but that's exactly why he was brought in.

I doubt that because if they wanted Kroq-lite, Steele being a CHR guy from KIIS would have been exactly the guy to give it to them. Meaning KROQ is regarded by many as essentially a CHR that happens to play alternative, (not an insult I love them but that is the industry perception of the station that many share) Steele having programming knowledge marinated at KIIS would be THE guy to make a shift to the glossy-er, more commercial presentation. Again having been on the CHR side clearly he is a "radio man" first and foremost so Im guessing if they told him that they wanted to mainstream it etc he didnt disagree and walk out. It is an easy assumption to say the GM wants it more mainstream or whatever, most GM's would but again i dont think that's the goal because no one could out Kroq, kroq; in LA. Star is already there filling the KROQ-Lite position, and Max is honestly not the heavy hitter programmer that you think. Look at his track record, he has only really programnmed one station. You cannot even count Y107 because they flipped it some four months after he got there. His entire programming resume has consisted of wfnx, a station with a weak signal which as a result never got numbers.

We shall see. If anything Max would be brought in to make it skew older, as he's not going to have a clue about the current Indie music but he's part of the old wave demo wise and that is a niche that they could make good use of that Kroq can't deal with to any degree. Play the Stranglers, the Damned, bands of that ilk, not really classic alternative but older stuff that was never huge or that poppy. That allows Indie to keep their edge, and in respect to the format, that is what Max knows and could offer.