> Allan--
>
> Thanks for checking in.
>
> Seriously, the Fee defense here is getting a bit strained.
> You're basing your defense of him on the fact that other
> selected similar stations have failed. Well, one poster on
> this board has already excoriated me for comparisons between
> Q104 and other cities. (Which begs, if you're going to
> compare, why did you mysteriously leave out Star 100.7
> Pittsburgh, a sister station in every sense: owner and
> format. Because it IS successful and well programmed, more
> so than Q?)
>
> I shall similarly excoriate you for the same comparative
> fault.
>
> And richardhead had a point in his argument: we can and
> should judge Q104, and by extension, Fee, based on the
> Cleveland market. Fine.
>
> Q104 has not been "thriving" for 5 years. It sounds better
> now than it used to, but by no means was it thriving for the
> first couple/few years of Fee's stewardship. He's made some
> good hires: Jen Toohey being the best. But for every good
> hire, there's banalism on his part.
The fact that WQAL sounds better isn't a vote of confidence on Mary Ellen, either. Back then, I saw Q as having a tired and worn presentation. The bumpers were overused; the jingles were ancient; the music was, well, awful - one could stand only SO much Hootie, Alanis, and the Proclaimers during one day!
Allan swept the jingles and bumpers aside, but that was a gimme. Anyone could have done that. Since then, he started a "trial by error" basis of trying to give Q a facelift. (I even remember Sean Robertson on a weekend fill-in once!)
Which isn't a sin, but for an ALREADY underperforming station, that isn't going to work. Especially in a market like Cleveland.
> What independent and "talented" PD says, "well, the
> nationwide search directed by me discovered that the best AM
> co-host is...me"? Sounds positively Bushian (Cheney heading
> the VP search cmte.; Miers heading the Supreme Court search
> cmte.)
Don't get me started.
> What "talented" programmer goes through as many on-air hosts
> as Fee has in such a short period of time? Yes, I know
> Cleveland is the pass-through anymore to better
> markets--like Appleton, WI and Greensboro, NC. But nate81
> ran down the list--and it was extensive. Far too extensive.
>
>
> And you can't tell me that far-away radio prognosticators
> relied solely on the 12+ numbers when they come out with
> their declarations that Q104 was going to adopt a "Jack"
> format (dumb move, but regardless). That rumor, recently,
> and surprisingly, did NOT start on this board. (We have
> visions of heavy metal on 850, thank you very much.)
Yep. We started the infamous "CC buys 850, flips it to libtalk; 106.5 flips to the existing WKNR sports format" back in April. Obviously not true, but go figure.
> Davis, Legurski, and Gorman would struggle with Hot
> AC--mostly because they don't necessarily believe in such a
> format, nor do they have experience in it. Gorman, if I
> remember his writings correctly, and adopting my own
> extrapolations from my conversations with him, doubts that
> such a format has any staying power. It undergoes constant
> reformulations, because the listeners to such a format are
> the most fickle ever (25-40 females).
Going back to the quote that got the thread started:
"I am NO fan of Mr. Fee. That's obvious. While talented PDs like Jim Davis, Steve Legurski and John Gorman whittle away on the bench, Undeserving Allan has been WQAL's PD for five years now."
I have since been told that Jim Davis has a gig in Cleveland radio's version of Siberia - OM for brokered WERE/1300. But when he's given a chance, he's a damn good standards programmer. The reason why he's bounced between 1260, 850 and 1420 is due in some ways to a lack of faith by each station owner: WBBG with Jacor, WRMR/850 with AMFM, and WRMR/1420 with, tragically, Robert Conrad.
Oh, while Legurski worked at WNCX, I see him as a sports programmer. He should be at WKNR right now. Not Mike Luczak - who could surpass Fee as the worst PD in town...
> Also, none of those programmers are necessarily "company
> men". Each is successful and talented, and have track
> records to show for it. But they all gained their success
> in the pre-consolidation world, when you had to compete
> against each other. Now, all Fee has to do is defend his
> piece of the pie (not hard--he has one tangential
> competitor, Mix), and not take away any other company pie
> (WDOK and even 923X). It's not hard to program down. But
> it is hard to keep that sustainable.
>
> I've heard from others on the R-I boards that radio isn't an
> "art". Bullshit. It surely is an art--as well as a
> business. You can't just be "play the hits" and have done
> with it. There's more to that, and in that regard, Fee's
> programming "art" on Q104 is reflective of his AM
> show--mediocre.
The standards format is a wonderful format. It's an artful format. But it can't win in the audience age cume demos. Moreover, most standards stations (if they have survived with local programming) are starting to segue into a beautiful music/easy listening bend. Witness the latter days of WRMR/850 with "easy listening oldies."
I'd never expect Jim to program a HAC. In an ideal world, WQAL would go back to beautiful music with Jim as the PD. But it will never happen, due to a risk of undercutting sister station WDOK.
- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partnership Representative: LCCC Student Senate, Elyria, Ohio
Soon-to-be-webmaster - http://www.lcccradio.com</P>
