PLR PD Let Go

[caliv]

Funny that this turns into a "music" discussion as I heard the morning show actually play music...for the first time ever!
"love stinks" from J Geiles band.
It was awful....yet more entertaining than the usual lame banter those dudes have.

 

[SallysPizza]

CT Listener-unfortunately, song "over duplication" can tire a listener on a station (s). That's not always the PD's fault and it's most of the time a corporate thing. That's where gut instinct has got to come back. It's not about the music anymore, but like you said, what songs can get you to the next stopset without tune-out.

 

[amfmradio1]

Sabatino got screwed?

He's the one who screwed a lot of great Radio Hosts/Personalities - like Ron O'Brien, Large Dave & Bison, to name a few.

Dominant?

'PLR was dominant before he came in - under the guidance of PD John Griffin (aka Wiggy Wigmaster). Bring him back!

It was Cox' mistake to bring in Sabatino - he did nothing for the ratings or the morale of the air staff.

Clean house - Landry, Lapatino & Prodoti.

Revamp the music programming & the lame, boring, predictable presentation.

 

[videokilledtheradiostar]

Remember, in modern radio, the music is just something safe and ultra-familiar to fill time between the ads, so let's not hear about playing six more Skynyrd cuts or a half dozen more Genesis tracks.
[/quote]
The fm listener tunes out commercials. nobody wants to listen to commercials. PLR needs to jump start that stale AOR format. The corporate brass at COX in Florida seem to think what works in "Sunshine State" will work in "The Nutcracker State" WRONG! : :

 

[kms575]

Ed Sab got screwed. True, PLR has been slipping as of late, but Arb #'s in NH are iffy at best. They still have had quite a few dominant years under his leadership - to boot him out is a shame.

He was probably making too much money and as usual corporate comes along and has to cut costs. Payroll almost always gets the first hack.
PLR needs to expand their playlist. Bring back some good classic rock!

Tell me how an expanded playlist will make the station more attractive to advertisers. Will it draw a younger, more gullible/impulse-buying demographic? Will it double the station's ratings in that most advertiser-friendly demo overnight while driving away all the 50-plus baby boomers Madison Avenue doesn't even want to try to sell to anymore? Remember, in modern radio, the music is just something safe and ultra-familiar to fill time between the ads, so let's not hear about playing six more Skynyrd cuts or a half dozen more Genesis tracks.

What about having the listeners' interests at heart for once? This station has been a broken record for years now. Unlistenable.

 

[videokilledtheradiostar]

Ed Sab got screwed. True, PLR has been slipping as of late, but Arb #'s in NH are iffy at best. They still have had quite a few dominant years under his leadership - to boot him out is a shame.

He was probably making too much money and as usual corporate comes along and has to cut costs. Payroll almost always gets the first hack.
PLR needs to expand their playlist. Bring back some good classic rock!

Tell me how an expanded playlist will make the station more attractive to advertisers. Will it draw a younger, more gullible/impulse-buying demographic? Will it double the station's ratings in that most advertiser-friendly demo overnight while driving away all the 50-plus baby boomers Madison Avenue doesn't even want to try to sell to anymore? Remember, in modern radio, the music is just something safe and ultra-familiar to fill time between the ads, so let's not hear about playing six more Skynyrd cuts or a half dozen more Genesis tracks.

What about having the listeners' interests at heart for once? This station has been a broken record for years now. Unlistenable.

It's finally showing in the ratings. If another CT rock station had a signal like PLR they would have been smoked by now. Those once loyal PLR listeners are drifting away to other stations Lots to choose from! ;D

 

[kms575]

Ed Sab got screwed. True, PLR has been slipping as of late, but Arb #'s in NH are iffy at best. They still have had quite a few dominant years under his leadership - to boot him out is a shame.

He was probably making too much money and as usual corporate comes along and has to cut costs. Payroll almost always gets the first hack.
PLR needs to expand their playlist. Bring back some good classic rock!

Tell me how an expanded playlist will make the station more attractive to advertisers. Will it draw a younger, more gullible/impulse-buying demographic? Will it double the station's ratings in that most advertiser-friendly demo overnight while driving away all the 50-plus baby boomers Madison Avenue doesn't even want to try to sell to anymore? Remember, in modern radio, the music is just something safe and ultra-familiar to fill time between the ads, so let's not hear about playing six more Skynyrd cuts or a half dozen more Genesis tracks.

What about having the listeners' interests at heart for once? This station has been a broken record for years now. Unlistenable.

It's finally showing in the ratings. If another CT rock station had a signal like PLR they would have been smoked by now. Those once loyal PLR listeners are drifting away to other stations Lots to choose from! ;D

Lots to choose from? Which are they, pray tell!!

 

[radio monkey]

<<<<<it's finally showing in the ratings>>>>

Yeah if you are basing PLR's success on being #1 12+....

and okay amfmradio1/jack allen we all GET that you despise PLR and their airstaff. ENOUGH.

 

[Duggan]

He's the one who screwed a lot of great Radio Hosts/Personalities - like Ron O'Brien, Large Dave & Bison, to name a few.

Large Dave got screwed by Ed? funny I thought Ed sabatino hired him away from weekends at PLR to do afternoons at the FOX in Norwalk. Phew, hope I never get "screwed" like that.

As has been pointed out on this very board, Bison left to go to medical school. So again I'm not seeing the screwing. As far as Ron O'brien, I will admit ignorance to his departure.

Clean house - Landry, Lapatino & Prodoti

Why? You have named 3 people who probably have over 60 years combined experience at one station. I believe they refer to that as heritage. Name one other station that can boast a full time line up with that kind of consistency. Are you blaming the air staff for the content of the station? Then you truly are out of the loop as to how radio works in the 21'st century. If anything these announcers are a connection to the old PLR, and very well may be one of the reasons that some of the long time listeners remain.
Hell the Yankees suck, and have for the last few years, but as long as I can look at the shortstop position and see Derek Jeter, I will still connect to something positive about the team.

 

[wondergirl]

It's a real shame about Ed Sab. He was a hard worker and really loved wplr. What I heard was the management felt he had no control over his morning show and after repeated requests to fix it, he never did which were grounds for termination. I had a friend that worked their when Jack Allen(AM/FM) did sat nites and he was fired for having a couple of girls up in the studio not once but several times, which everybody knows thats a no no in the radio station world. To make matters worse they were beastly to say the least. I guess thats why AM/FM has sour grapes for wplr.

 

[JSB]

Sally's Pizza thank you for an intelligent post. Nice change of pace from the usual sarcastic trashing of the wanna be's.

Ditto thanks Sally's

 

[amfmradio1]

Don't know why you correlate poster "amfmradio1" w/Jack Allen.

I'm not trashing the whole airstaff, but I think Lapitino & Prodoti are boring.

I like Pam Landry, Wig, Evan Boyer (great voice) Glenn w/2 N's, & Chris Cody.

They'd sound better if the music had more variety, like I-95.

Large Dave Bell worked @Fox & 'PLR, & was screwed.

That's why he now works @I-95 (great music variety).

I do know Jack, & he was fired for having a couple of girls up in the studio.

How many times has Howard Stern had girls in the studio?

As far as your post saying that he had them there several times, he only had them there once - they called to see if they could visit, & their friend dropped them off @the studio.

At the same time, Sabatino brings a Little League type of baseball team to visit - so, it's ok for him to bring a baseball team to the station, but it's not ok for 25 yr. CT & MA (I-95, Magic104, WackyRock102, 'CCC) legendary veteran Jack to have a few good-looking visitors?

Who's calling the kettle black?

Sabatino has had a reputation for being a hatchet man.

Now the hatchet has gotten him.

 

[radio monkey]

Jack:

Rules are rules. You break them and you get fired.

legendary?

Every company has it's own policies. Before speculating on why and what happened in any given situation at any given radio station one would need to know what those policies are.

Most if not all radio "companies" heavily research their music playlists. The individual jocks and - in many and most cases - the Program Director him/herself - have no say in the playlist.

It's all well and good to say a station needs to do X and Y...I'm certain most staff members would agree. But like any OTHER job, you do what you are told and if you don't, you won't have a job much longer. The "good old days" of throwing on tunes are LONG gone.

Most people I know would give their left arm to have a full-time air shift on a station like WPLR. But those who don't seem to want to tear down those who do. Sour grapes. There is a lot to be said for those who have managed to keep those jobs as long as they have - and the ratings to back them up.

 

[CTListener]

Most if not all radio "companies" heavily research their music playlists. The individual jocks and - in many and most cases - the Program Director him/herself - have no say in the playlist.

It's all well and good to say a station needs to do X and Y...I'm certain most staff members would agree. But like any OTHER job, you do what you are told and if you don't, you won't have a job much longer. The "good old days" of throwing on tunes are LONG gone.

The Meriden Record-Journal did a story on Pam Landry last year. She admitted that she likes, and listens to, a lot more music than she gets to play on PLR, but yes, playlists are ironclad.

As far as the listeners getting tired of the music, I've taken my car to the same garage for nearly 20 years and PLR has been playing in the background while the mechanics work every single day. Sweet Home Alabama, Hell's Bells, D'yer Maker, Beast of Burden ... same old same old. So why haven't the guys risen up and demanded the station be changed? Maybe because they (gasp) LIKE those songs and don't mind hearing them every other day? Not everybody has an insatiable appetite for music; most have a limited number of favorite songs and happily live their working lives to that soundtrack.

Satellite radio has found this out the hard way; it thought it could attract 40 million subscribers by 2010 with nearly bottomless playlists. It's going to end 2008 with fewer than 20 million. Joe Sixpack (or The Plumber) doesn't WANT to hear the eighth track from "Eat a Peach." Why would he want to pay for it?

 

[kms575]

Most if not all radio "companies" heavily research their music playlists. The individual jocks and - in many and most cases - the Program Director him/herself - have no say in the playlist.

It's all well and good to say a station needs to do X and Y...I'm certain most staff members would agree. But like any OTHER job, you do what you are told and if you don't, you won't have a job much longer. The "good old days" of throwing on tunes are LONG gone.

As far as the listeners getting tired of the music, I've taken my car to the same garage for nearly 20 years and PLR has been playing in the background while the mechanics work every single day. Sweet Home Alabama, Hell's Bells, D'yer Maker, Beast of Burden ... same old same old. So why haven't the guys risen up and demanded the station be changed? Maybe because they (gasp) LIKE those songs and don't mind hearing them every other day? Not everybody has an insatiable appetite for music; most have a limited number of favorite songs and happily live their working lives to that soundtrack.

No, they're actually working! It's just background noise. I doubt they would complain if they heard something different either. And, for the rest of us, it would be nice to hear more of a playlist.

 

[CTListener]

Most if not all radio "companies" heavily research their music playlists. The individual jocks and - in many and most cases - the Program Director him/herself - have no say in the playlist.

It's all well and good to say a station needs to do X and Y...I'm certain most staff members would agree. But like any OTHER job, you do what you are told and if you don't, you won't have a job much longer. The "good old days" of throwing on tunes are LONG gone.

As far as the listeners getting tired of the music, I've taken my car to the same garage for nearly 20 years and PLR has been playing in the background while the mechanics work every single day. Sweet Home Alabama, Hell's Bells, D'yer Maker, Beast of Burden ... same old same old. So why haven't the guys risen up and demanded the station be changed? Maybe because they (gasp) LIKE those songs and don't mind hearing them every other day? Not everybody has an insatiable appetite for music; most have a limited number of favorite songs and happily live their working lives to that soundtrack.

No, they're actually working! It's just background noise. I doubt they would complain if they heard something different either. And, for the rest of us, it would be nice to hear more of a playlist.

But for most people, radio is "just background noise." It hasn't been a foreground medium for many, many years. If you're not listening to it while working, you're listening to it while driving, or while putzing around on the computer (What's that song in the background now? Oh, it's "Let's Spend the Night Together" on DRC-FM. Good tune, I'm not changing the station even though I've heard it a zillion times.)

Hey, I like deep playlists, too, and I like much more than oldies and classic rock. That's why I've got XM. But sometimes I just feel like listening to the old songs I grew up with, on local FM. That side of me represents the type of listener FM targets, and there are a lot more of "him" than there are of the other side.

Oooh ... "Burning Love"! I'm not changing the station now, either.

 

[wondergirl]

Jack or AM/FM
I know Howard Stern and you my friend are NO Howard Stern! For you to mention his name with yours proves how dillusional you are. If eddie had a little leauge team up for a tour, I believe he has the right to considering he is the PROGRAM DIRECTOR!, not a part timer trying to impress some bimbo's. You lengendary? Where are you working now? I believe the only people that know you are the ones on this radio board (which in my opinion) all work in the business. I met you once at a wplr promotion and you seem to be a nice guy, why do you spew all this hatred to fellow disc jockeys who are just trying to do the job and have fun doing it. Radio has changed and if you want to stay employed you do what you have to do...period! My advice to you Jack is to let this wplr thing go, take a walk outside breath deep and start all over. I still listen to wplr not just for the music but the jocks on the air I feel like I know them. I see how the music has changed but everything does. But listening to Pam Mike or Mike seem like they are my old friends. I hope they stay there forever!

 

[amfmradio1]

amfmradio1 here.

I spoke w/Jack today regarding your post, & he agrees that no one else is Howard. A lot of boring, male DJs' would have a lot more of an exciting show if they had a female in the studio (as long as they don't interrupt the DJs' work). Jack went to school & worked w/Fred Norris from the Stern show. So, it's ok for Sabatino to have a baseball team visit, but no listeners to Jacks' show? That's defeating the purpose of a rule that no one is allowed in the area when a jock is on the air. Sabatino tried to control people. He was instructed by upper management to control Chaz & AJ. He failed, & he was fired. Jack was not a part timer trying to impress bimbos. He had other full time gigs (104, CCC, etc.,) & was offered 7-12 before Prodoti took it. He's now working @a 100,000 watt FM Rocker in the South.

 

[Steele1080]

I don't know how many of you on this board are in radio, but a PD these days in radio has to sit in a lot of meetings, many of which they would rather not have to be in. They have to be in them because they are "ASKED" to be in by a higher person in management or they are in them so there is not one more lame ass sales promotion that gets on the air. There are already enough on anyone's air. They also have to be on many company conference calls, some of which get nothing done. They also have morning show meetings, consultant meetings, aircheck sessions with the other air staff, sit with the promotions and/or marketing director regarding the Spring or Fall Promotion. Add two more promotion meetings if they are rated Summer and Winter. Some still do the music log, some have an APD/MD. If they are a current based music station, they have to meet and talk to record people. Some are not as accessible so the APD/MD meets with them and then he/she meets with the PD. There are also client meetings they are sometimes asked to be in on when they are trying to get a new client on, do a big buy/promotion with a big client, etc. There are research meetings, especially if they are testing their library and it's a hug one, they've got to spend time deciding which songs they need to test. If you only get to test 400, which 400? If they are serious about their HD2/HD3 channels, they are also working on the programming for them. Somewhere in there they eat lunch. I used to be a PD and in this day and age, I am glad I am only an air talent/APD. My former PD was in so many meetings he was frustrated. He felt in many ways it got in the way of him programming the station he gets paid to program. So, unless you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, don't belittle what their responsibilities are. You may not agree with their vision for the station and how the station sounds, but they have a job to do and not a lot of time to do it in. I would hope that if they were to critique you on your job, you would feel the same way.

 

[Steele1080]

I don't know how many of you on this board are in radio, but a PD these days in radio has to sit in a lot of meetings, many of which they would rather not have to be in. They have to be in them because they are "ASKED" to be in by a higher person in management or they are in them so there is not one more lame ass sales promotion that gets on the air. There are already enough on anyone's air. They also have to be on many company conference calls, some of which get nothing done. They also have morning show meetings, consultant meetings, aircheck sessions with the other air staff, sit with the promotions and/or marketing director regarding the Spring or Fall Promotion. Add two more promotion meetings if they are rated Summer and Winter. Some still do the music log, some have an APD/MD. If they are a current based music station, they have to meet and talk to record people. Some are not as accessible so the APD/MD meets with them and then he/she meets with the PD. There are also client meetings they are sometimes asked to be in on when they are trying to get a new client on, do a big buy/promotion with a big client, etc. There are research meetings, especially if they are testing their library and it's a hug one, they've got to spend time deciding which songs they need to test. If you only get to test 400, which 400? If they are serious about their HD2/HD3 channels, they are also working on the programming for them. Somewhere in there they eat lunch. I used to be a PD and in this day and age, I am glad I am only an air talent/APD. My former PD was in so many meetings he was frustrated. He felt in many ways it got in the way of him programming the station he gets paid to program. So, unless you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, don't belittle what their responsibilities are. You may not agree with their vision for the station and how the station sounds, but they have a job to do and not a lot of time to do it in. I would hope that if they were to critique you on your job, you would feel the same way.