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NashvilleRadioDiva
Guest
My sources on the hill say Darren McFarland is no longer in the Zone.
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NashRadio
Guest
That is the cheapest ESPN EVER came!
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NashvilleRadioDiva
Guest
jetfli said:
Agreed.
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scottwmro
Guest
This is all a part of the Citadel Makeover! My little AM station is a Citadel Media affiliate, and they are changing everything on our Hot AC Format. Up the road from me at WQKR-AM 1270 in Portland, whom is also a Citadel Media affiliate, got a call from Dallas, TX, where their music format is, and they were told that their Timeless Music Format is being shut down by Citadel.
My understanding is Citadel is filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and lots of staffers were let go last Thursday. Our format, Hot AC doesn't even have a Program Director right now, he was fired last Thursday.
My station does Hot AC because I wanted to be different on the AM Dial. When a person, say 30-35 years old comes to AM, it's mostly Religion, Classic Country, News/Talk, Oldies (which should be on FM), and Spanish Stations.
I was told it's a sin to play Current "Adult Top 40" on AM. Well, the way I see it, my station is paid for, just the basic utilities and taxes, and while I still have some youth left in me, I going to do what I want. There are only 4 "Hot AC" stations on the AM dial in the U.S. After 13 years of Oldies on my station (AM 1560) and competing with an FM Oldies station in Nashville, I felt it was time to make my change. Now, bear in mind my station is Religion on Sundays from 7 AM to 4 PM. After 4 PM, we go back to Hot AC, so we are not Hot AC 24/7. I am Hot AC 24/6, and Sunday Nights.
Damn, the minute I change my little AM to Hot AC, WRQQ-FM, Oldies 97.1 goes to Classic Rock. What a dumb move on Lew Dickey's part! There will be an Oldies Station return to Nashville on FM. I know the market has done without one for 3 years now. Just give Scott Shannon time to grab one of the FM's (not Lightning 100, too weak of a signal, and they are not going to change anything over there) and do it!
Heck if it was me, IMHO........I would take 103.3 WKDF, change the call letters back to WKDA-FM, get the Country Music OFF, and put on Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel on it. It would draw a huge amount of listeners and make tons of money. But they tell me I'm stupid and that won't work!
My understanding is Citadel is filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and lots of staffers were let go last Thursday. Our format, Hot AC doesn't even have a Program Director right now, he was fired last Thursday.
My station does Hot AC because I wanted to be different on the AM Dial. When a person, say 30-35 years old comes to AM, it's mostly Religion, Classic Country, News/Talk, Oldies (which should be on FM), and Spanish Stations.
I was told it's a sin to play Current "Adult Top 40" on AM. Well, the way I see it, my station is paid for, just the basic utilities and taxes, and while I still have some youth left in me, I going to do what I want. There are only 4 "Hot AC" stations on the AM dial in the U.S. After 13 years of Oldies on my station (AM 1560) and competing with an FM Oldies station in Nashville, I felt it was time to make my change. Now, bear in mind my station is Religion on Sundays from 7 AM to 4 PM. After 4 PM, we go back to Hot AC, so we are not Hot AC 24/7. I am Hot AC 24/6, and Sunday Nights.
Damn, the minute I change my little AM to Hot AC, WRQQ-FM, Oldies 97.1 goes to Classic Rock. What a dumb move on Lew Dickey's part! There will be an Oldies Station return to Nashville on FM. I know the market has done without one for 3 years now. Just give Scott Shannon time to grab one of the FM's (not Lightning 100, too weak of a signal, and they are not going to change anything over there) and do it!
Heck if it was me, IMHO........I would take 103.3 WKDF, change the call letters back to WKDA-FM, get the Country Music OFF, and put on Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel on it. It would draw a huge amount of listeners and make tons of money. But they tell me I'm stupid and that won't work!
Wind said:
ESPN being added to the Zone was far more about ESPN looking for a place to land than about the Zone looking for late-night and weekend programming. Believe me, the Zone didn't take a financial hit for adding ESPN Radio. ESPN made them an offer they couldn't refuse just to get * some * of their programming back on the air in the market.
The loss of Darren was more about Citadel financial cuts. If you aren't aware of the state of the radio industry, and the state of Citadel specifically, look it up at Google News. As for other local shows, especially those "part timers" — they're around as long as the sponsors are.
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scottwmro
Guest
Citadel owns the rights to ESPN!
I say, GOOD RIDDANCE. I always thought he was a joke and imho, had no business being anywhere near a radio broadcast as an on-air personality. I always thought the biggest majority of his comments were assinine and inane and was only on the air because he was friends with George Plaster.NashvilleRadioDiva said:
You're entitled to your opinion. I've know Darren since Plaz first took him in and have watched/listened to him grow. There's nothing wrong with having friends in the right place, that's how many of us climbed the ladder. Let me ask you jwk, would you have taken a position with George if you had a chance. Sure you would. And Darren is wise enough to not pay attention to what we say about him. It's bad enough being married and out of a job at this time of the year without reading 'stuff'' and you know what I mean
I thought he did an okay job when I listened to the Zone many years ago in the "B.U.D." era... In fact, the last time I heard from him, believe it or not, was during last Sunday's Jets/Jaguars game on 1050 ESPN in New York. During a time-out, Bob Wischusen threw it to Darren for a live update on the Titans game from LP Field. I guess I won't be hearing any more of that, either...
I enjoyed Darren's work during Super Bowl week a few years ago in Detroit. He hustled for interviews.
However, I thought he too often interrupted hosts and guests. His cliche use, well let's say he could step up and bring it to the table with the best of them. He would also start a question with one of four Ws or an H, then divert into some long winded premise or preface, finally getting to question about thirty seconds after he started.
Twice in all the years on air I heard him disagree with Plaz. The Zone may as well voice tracked, "That's right, George," and sent him home for the day.
However, I thought he too often interrupted hosts and guests. His cliche use, well let's say he could step up and bring it to the table with the best of them. He would also start a question with one of four Ws or an H, then divert into some long winded premise or preface, finally getting to question about thirty seconds after he started.
Twice in all the years on air I heard him disagree with Plaz. The Zone may as well voice tracked, "That's right, George," and sent him home for the day.
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SwissVol
Guest
courier37027 said:
I don't know when it was that Plaster started to annoy me, but I think it was when he was critical of some athelete because George thought that athelete needed a haircut. I thought: Is this Guy serious?
First off, I am (like Scott) happy to announce my return to the board after hiatus. (a long hiatus)
As far as this topic goes, I agree that Darren was just alright and not great. You can even go on to say he was the worst of the afternoon bunch and was a easy target for expulsion.
Hey, he could have been worse....as worse as Coach Mac and then Thom Abraham when they each ran the Fan into the ground. You could have put me on 106.7 and I would have gotten better numbers!
Hopefully by letting Darren go they're clearing the way for Don West at the Zone....he was good at 560 but AM is AM: nobody under 30 hardly cares so he didn't get the audience that he deserved.
As far as this topic goes, I agree that Darren was just alright and not great. You can even go on to say he was the worst of the afternoon bunch and was a easy target for expulsion.
Hey, he could have been worse....as worse as Coach Mac and then Thom Abraham when they each ran the Fan into the ground. You could have put me on 106.7 and I would have gotten better numbers!
Hopefully by letting Darren go they're clearing the way for Don West at the Zone....he was good at 560 but AM is AM: nobody under 30 hardly cares so he didn't get the audience that he deserved.
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