Need new rock station in Triad

[Christopher Chenn]

I'd still like to know if Howard was the GM who killed the chief Sam Mooney at TQR / SJS.

 

[RoundMound]

XRA started out with a bang! #1 18-34 out of the gate but I don't think it ever hit that mark again. Randy was very bizaar but that's what that format called for at the time. The real star of that initial wave of XRA talent was Steve Stone who has gone on to be a very impressive voice over talent. About 6 months after XRA launched, The End (dial position escapes me) launched out of Salisbury and skimmed some of the XRA cume.

The station actually launch in September of '94. Not more than a few hours after the deal was finalized, at around 5:10 in the afternoon, Howard, Randy, Engineer Ted and Craig Cochran walked into the Radio building on Main in HP with box's of CD's (placed appropriately in their Denon cases), carts with station imaging and new cart decks. Cat afternooner Dave Oakley was releaved of duty and listeners heard Clint Black into a Keith Eubanks ID for the rock alternative and into "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. In hindsight, a pretty neat thing to have been witness too.

I do know that the the day XRA launched, KRR called an emergency staff meeting and immediately added "Classic" to their imaging.

While we always remember past stations fondly, I don't remember thinking XRA was very healthy by the time the AMFM / CC merger happened. It's fair to say that it wasn't billing enough to earn it's keep.. They had to blow that sucker up and make room for great new stations like...

Country 94.5......

94.5 The Beat.....

and now La Preciosa.

Think XRA's lack of success had anything to do with the fact that there are few large universities in the 94.5 coverage area? UNCG, Wake, ???

 

[realradioplayer]

Round Mound I remember that day so well .... kinda of like people remember historic events .... I can tell you EXACTLY what I was doing when Kat Country Switched to The Rock Alternative .... I can't ever drive through that interesection and not remember the moment.

BTW .... The End Frequency from Salisbury .... 106.5 .... The Hilton Family Sold it off I guess to Voyager and Dick Harlow launced The End.

Anybody remember the Kiss Country transition to The Point (98.7) .... the first song was "where have all the cowboys gone" .... I thought that was clever.

Based on the ratings I heard abput today I would anticipate that somebody (WVBZ, WMKS) is gonna change soon.

 

[dittohead1]

The Buzzard CAN be saved, but not with JB & B in mornings. They will fly that sucker right into the gorund!

 

[RoundMound]

Here's a novel idea.... The End has been doing a successful PM Drive "Show" (2-Man) for a while and now 96 Rock is heading in that direction with Blade. Assuming VBZ won't break the JBB contract, think a good PMD show would pull that station up by it's boot straps?

 

[idontlookhowisound]

or tweak the format a bit. END is doing decent for having hardly any reach in the market. Active: the classics with the kick (ACDC, Zeplin) with the new stuff (Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin) - same "Buzzard" tude with all that TNA on the website (sex sells sadly..even if it's soft smut). It'll make KRR sound like stale bread.

And for God's sake do whatever it takes to silence JB&B. I'm for putting Matt Pencola and a hot chick in AM Drive and go from there.

 

[XTalker]

I'd still like to know if Howard was the GM who killed the chief Sam Mooney at TQR / SJS.

I believe Nemenz was GM at TQR/SJS when Sam passed away.

 

[XTalker]

While we always remember past stations fondly, I don't remember thinking XRA was very healthy by the time the AMFM / CC merger happened. It's fair to say that it wasn't billing enough to earn it's keep.. They had to blow that sucker up and make room for great new stations like...

There had been a lot of water over the damn. Clear Channel took over from Fairfield and killed most of the promotion budgets. Nemenz left, took Cochran with him to Vegas. Tom Hamilton became GM. Lots of sales turn over. When CC merged with AM/FM, Bob Nemenz (XRA Sales Manager) left.

I agree 100% about Steve Stone - what a great imaging guy! Boomer was a bit strange, but the AM show was good. Randy was a nice guy, a little on the strange side, but nice. The Dave was nuts - and enjoyed it!

 

[surfdude]

Steve Stone is 96 Rock's imaging voice. He's good.

 

[JimA]

http://www.stonevoiceovers.com/Steve_Stone_|_Voice_Overs:_Home.html

GREAT!

 

[chadd]

And Steve's one heck of a guy... I wholeheartedly recommend him! Produced him for Q101 in Chi. Sounds amazing.

 

[jimmah]

if you wait a little while, you'll hear a new sound at 100.3. big ape doesn't have a glue.watch who is right on this one. a guy i know, now in fla. who sold for xra said they cashed flowed almost 600k their first year. i think bob nemenz (any relation to the other guy?) won some kind of award for it.

Is this what you were talking about? I got an e-mail from them this morning that said they wanted help to build a better buzzard. The e-mail said to tell us what you think, tell us where to go, tell us what to do. Sounds like something is going on.