wcrzx said:
If you only knew what goes on behind closed doors. Is WKQL broken yes will it get fixed yes. There were other problems at Renda that needed to be addressed first.
It was apparent from Day One that the flip was ill-prepared and there was a total lack of direction. There is no excuse for that. I agree, none of us know what goes on behind the scenes. But there are certain expectations that should exist - broadcasting is a noble business and the word professionalism comes to mind.
Here was a format that should have been launched with little error. Renda's Oklahoma oldies station had a great track record of success. You would think that the exact playlist would have found it's place in Jax. Gees, they could have even resurrected the old Cool 96.9 Fire Cracker Top 500 list as a model since it represented in large part songs Jax embraced. But that did not happen. I heard from a reliable source that those at the local level decided to tweak it and introduce disco to the mix. Given the urgency to get KOOL launched from what we understand, I doubt there was extensive research done to justify this kind of programming. Big mistake #1.
KOOL had a clear opportunity to do things right the first time if you really think about it. The old Cool 96.9 was at it's best when the playlist was tight. Introduce too many different types of music and trying to be something you are not is not a recipe for success. Clearly Cox Radio wasn't interested in oldies but one thing is clear. The numbers went down trend after trend, book after book after Pat departed. And all the 70s played didn't suddenly substantially increase the 30 somethings share of the audience. There are ways of doing it but it takes very very careful selection of songs and positioning them correctly.
And so to this day, I still don't understand why Renda Broadcasting didn't look at what worked and what didn't when they made the decision they made. Taking the KQL calls was mistake #2. By doing that, they set expectations that the old Cool would be back in some form. All the great talent never made it to the station and it took quite some time to even get an afternoon drive host in Tom Murphy. But by then it was too late.
So when we hear the problem will be fixed, many of us are of the opinion the problem shouldn't have existed in the first place. Personally, I would love to see the station become something else. Apologies for the long post folks but this subject always gets me a tad spun up.
;D