On The Verge Of A Breakdown

[SpongeBob]

From: Bruce St. James

Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 1:10 PM
To: KKFR Mail List
Subject: The world as I see it...

I wanted to update everyone on the reality of the situation Power 98.3
is facing. While it is true that more choice is never good, let’s
review what we know about our new “competition”.

Nobody wants the PD job. They have been turned down by at least 3
people, and the current candidates aren’t even what I’d call the
“B” team. The only people interested are those that need a job,
nobody is leaving a good situation to come here. I talked to the latest
guy to turn them down and he said the more he talked to them, the worse
the situation seemed.

[EDIT]


[EDIT-post truncated because originating material is copyrighted. Emails and Letters are the intellectual property of the person writing them. Unauthorized use of copyrighted content is in violation of Radio-Info's TOS.]

 

[Ford]

Those are some fightin' words! And quite a lot of them. Bruce apparently put quite a lot of thought into this manifesto, and took time to craft this battle cry to his troops. It is a good effort, and well written.

But if I were a PD confident in my staff, my position in the market, and the prospects for success in the coming battle, I wouldn't write anything so verbose. My response to them would be simple:

"**** 'em."

Note to Bruce St. James: Spend more time programming, and less time writing.

 

[spongebag7890]

Yikes, someone's heated.

I do think the PC vs. Mac parody imaging Jamz is running is pretty funny though...

 

[halloaaryn]

First time poster. I dont believe this is real...

 

[azchica]

It is indeed real. I just can't believe that a grown man would write something like that. It sounded more like an adolescent challenging someone to a fight. Sounds like a man scared to me.

 

[KOHS]

It is indeed real. I just can't believe that a grown man would write something like that. It sounded more like an adolescent challenging someone to a fight. Sounds like a man scared to me.

Given the audience he is writing to, I was not surprised by what I read. Sad,really.

 

[john david clover]

Radio is all about passion, and it's dying or dead in most cases on the dial. I gotta admire Bruce for making a stand for his station and rallying the troops. He's got the passion.That's exactly what it takes to win.

 

[babylon]

Bruce has no passion for radio.Bruce is simply.....scared.

 

[radiopirahna]

Back in '96, Power 92.3 flipped to hip hop in reaction to 103.9 Arizona's Party Station signing on the air. Fred Weber hired Bruce St. James as the PD and they successfully won that battle by (a) hiring Kid and Ruben, and (b) having a flamethrower signal. Now Bruce doesn't have (a) or (b) and is in the same boat the staff at 103.9 was back in the day, especially if Riviera kills the Edge format and simulcasts Power on 103.9. I wonder how he feels about that. I say what goes around comes around and there's nothing you can do about that. It's just a matter of time.

 

[SDmbbrdm]

that's some nerve to leak that if it's true

 

[SpongeBob]

As for on-air, we will reinforce the things we are famous for and steal
anything the think is an advantage to them. We are the big dog and the
audience will think they stole it from us. It’s good to be King. Also,
any confusion we cause helps us. Power is the Hip-Hop brand in Phoenix,
has been for a long time. We will purposely muddy the water from time to
time as to not allow them to take that away from us. It’s Marketing
101 and WE have the advantage.

 

[KMGX]

As for on-air, we will reinforce the things we are famous for and steal
anything the think is an advantage to them. We are the big dog and the
audience will think they stole it from us. It’s good to be King. Also,
any confusion we cause helps us. Power is the Hip-Hop brand in Phoenix,
has been for a long time. We will purposely muddy the water from time to
time as to not allow them to take that away from us. It’s Marketing
101 and WE have the advantage.

Let the battle for 3% of the audience begin!

 

[halloaaryn]

Hip Hop is dying.....

B St.J sounds pretty desperate to me.

 

[SpongeBob]

So far, it seems Kid and Ruben will be the AM Show. Nothing
screams Hip-Hop like a 42 year old white guy who hunts javelina on the
weekend and owns a fishing boat. They want to make fun of us for being
the “old” Hip-Hop station and so far their staff is the age of our
audience’s parents. Hmmm. Add to this that he still has a chip on his
shoulder about kzzp who fired him. As usual, jocks have a foggy
recollection of how “big” they were and while he claims he was
“#1” on kzzp, his ratings were never near #1 and are about 55% lower
than the guys who replaced him. This brings up another issue…
Focus. The AM show thinks kzzp is their competition, the GM thinks Power
is. This should be fun.

 

[KMGX]

So far, it seems Kid and Ruben will be the AM Show. Nothing
screams Hip-Hop like a 42 year old white guy who hunts javelina on the
weekend and owns a fishing boat. They want to make fun of us for being
the “old” Hip-Hop station and so far their staff is the age of our
audience’s parents. Hmmm. Add to this that he still has a chip on his
shoulder about kzzp who fired him. As usual, jocks have a foggy
recollection of how “big” they were and while he claims he was
“#1” on kzzp, his ratings were never near #1 and are about 55% lower
than the guys who replaced him. This brings up another issue…
Focus. The AM show thinks kzzp is their competition, the GM thinks Power
is. This should be fun.

On one hand, when I see the pomp and circumstance surrounding Kid and Ruben as if they were the biggest morning drive show since Bruce Kelly, I get a bit of a chuckle. A guy (Kid), that speaks in a fairly articulate fashion, enough to where KTAR had him as a talk show host for several months, now goes to a hip-hop format where he will somehow turn on the slang seems a bit phony to me. Although, most radio personalties on CHR and Hip-hop formats are phonies, but that's neither here nor there right now.

The other side of the coin though seems just as funny; if people from Power 98.3 "Hip hop with all the static", weren't at all concerned about 101-5 JAMZ, then why would their program director allegedly write a memo lambasting the competition and why would a few people from Power bother posting here? If Kid is of little consequence to you, why write anything at all?

Again, I'm still perplexed why some on this board care so much about such a small share of the audience in a milquetoast market like Phoenix.

 

[rabbit_ears]

Again, I'm still perplexed why some on this board care so much about such a small share of the audience in a milquetoast market like Phoenix.

I think that, as small as the rewards may be, people here get excited about the concept of radio war, especially when it comes to CHR radio. [And yes, both Power and Jamz are CHR (CHR/Rhythmic) stations. They are not "Urban". An "Urban" station targets a Black audience; neither Power nor Jamz is doing that.]

On top of that, as mean-spirited as this is, many folks here seem to have something against Power and Bruce St. James. They want to see them shake in their boots, at least a little.

This is all becoming very reminiscent of this forum’s early days. The discussions were primarily slander-laden flamefests between fans/employees of KPTY vs. KKFR, and later KZZP vs. KKFR. Mr. St. James would post messages directly on the board, written in a manner very similar to what has been copied and pasted here in recent days, offering sarcastically & cleverly-worded arguments against whoever dared to challenge him.

 

[Sid Nancie]

Again, I'm still perplexed why some on this board care so much about such a small share of the audience in a milquetoast market like Phoenix.

I think that, as small as the rewards may be, people here get excited about the concept of radio war, especially when it comes to CHR radio. [And yes, both Power and Jamz are CHR (CHR/Rhythmic) stations. They are not "Urban". An "Urban" station targets a Black audience; neither Power nor Jamz is doing that.]

On top of that, as mean-spirited as this is, many folks here seem to have something against Power and Bruce St. James. They want to see them shake in their boots, at least a little.

This is all becoming very reminiscent of this forum’s early days. The discussions were primarily slander-laden flamefests between fans/employees of KPTY vs. KKFR, and later KZZP vs. KKFR. Mr. St. James would post messages directly on the board, written in a manner very similar to what has been copied and pasted here in recent days, offering sarcastically & cleverly-worded arguments against whoever dared to challenge him.

Let me get this straight, the definition of "Urban" in the radio business means "Black?" I never learned that in school. If this is true, then here's some food for thought. If both Jamz and Power are not targeting a "Black/Urban" audience, and both stations are SUPPOSEDLY targeting a Hispanic audience, wouldn't the stations technically be considered "Latino?" Just an idea.

 

[Intheday]

A. Power 92.3 was hip hop prior to Bruce, it was Steve Smith that started the hip hop. During that time Power 92.3 had 4 different pd's.

B. Kidd and Ruben were hired because they were the ONLY part of 103.9 "the party" that showed up in market research and the way to dispose of "party" was to hire Kidd and Ruben. Don't compete with a station destroy them. The station would fold if the strong point was taken from them and it did.

C. Many different people made Power 92.3 what it was until it was sold from TBG to AM FM and the rest is history. It was once a great station.

D. "Every person could be replaced and the station would remain a winner." Said by Fred Weber over and over.

 

[SpongeBob]

It seems that they think wattage is all it’s going to take to win. If
this were true, why are they on their 3rd format in 2 years (all with
the same wattage)? And why is KHOT #1 12+, 18-34 and 25-54 with less
than 40,000 watts? And think about this. The places where our signal is
weaker are not places we ever did well in when we had 100,000 watts. So
the folks in those areas already didn’t listen to the Hip-Hop station
and probably chose kzzp because it’s wimpier. So while you may be able
to hear them better, they are playing music and claiming to be Hip-Hop
in places that don’t care. In the places where Power comes in strong,
the Hip-Hop fans aren’t going to sit through the pop songs they play.
It’s a stupid musical position coupled with a stupid reason for
listening. Our fans don’t want to hear the new Fergie crystal clear,
and those that do are already listening to kzzp.

 

[KMGX]

It seems that they think wattage is all it’s going to take to win. If
this were true, why are they on their 3rd format in 2 years (all with
the same wattage)? And why is KHOT #1 12+, 18-34 and 25-54 with less
than 40,000 watts? And think about this. The places where our signal is
weaker are not places we ever did well in when we had 100,000 watts. So
the folks in those areas already didn’t listen to the Hip-Hop station
and probably chose kzzp because it’s wimpier. So while you may be able
to hear them better, they are playing music and claiming to be Hip-Hop
in places that don’t care. In the places where Power comes in strong,
the Hip-Hop fans aren’t going to sit through the pop songs they play.
It’s a stupid musical position coupled with a stupid reason for
listening. Our fans don’t want to hear the new Fergie crystal clear,
and those that do are already listening to kzzp.

Oh brother.

The 3rd format in 2 years argument is pretty ridiculous. CBS pulled the plug on a reasonably successful format in "The Zone" (a format which got higher ratings than Power I should add), only to replace it with FREE-FM, which is a loser in all but 1 or 2 markets it's on in. Now they went with a poor choice in Hip-Hop, but they have a big advantage on Power in so much as that they can actually be heard in the entire valley and beyond. So, your argument (to say the least) has a few holes in it.

Believe me, I don't like to defend CBS/KZON and their decision makers, but you have to be objective here.