Radio Waves: Blazy & Bob Back Together

[BossRadioDJ]

In this weekend's Radio Waves, Ben Fong-Torres talks about commercial radio's fight to keep its listeners, the return of JV and Karel, as well as the reuniting of Blazy & Bob on 96.7 Bob FM:

And welcome back to Jeff Blazy and Bob Lilley, who've reunited for mornings on KXXX (Bob-FM, 96.7 in Sonoma County). "Blazy and Bob" were a popular team at KOME in San Jose from 1987 to 1994, when they broke up.

In case you're confused by the "KXXX" call letters, it appears somebody forgot to go back and fill 'em in; I think the station's call letters are actually KNOB. (The FCC shows that "KXXX" is currently unassigned; those calls once belonged to the dearly departed X-100 here.)

The whole darned Radio Waves can be found at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/07/DDG71651HV.DTL

 

[kinetic]

In this weekend's Radio Waves, Ben Fong-Torres talks about commercial radio's fight to keep its listeners, the return of JV and Karel, as well as the reuniting of Blazy & Bob on 96.7 Bob FM

Sometimes we joke about Hollywood's movie output, saying, "What, they've run out of ideas." Countless sequels, movies based on old primetime shows. This reminds me of that.
No disrespect to talents who made a big splash years ago but what, you mean to say that Wild couldn't find a decent morning show anywhere in the country to put on the air that they had to resort to a retread? That's not a knock on JV or on Blazy and Bob. It makes you wonder if someone didn't try to coax Larry Lujack to come out of retirement --or whoever.
I've no doubt there are fair arguments on several sides of this matter and while I don't mind that JV has come back, or that Bob Lilly is re-uniting with Jeff Blazy, inevitably the question I ask is whether there was no better alternative and that. Is the industry so bankrupt of new talent that we're left with doing our equivalent of "Charlie's Angels: The Movie"?

 

[SFStatic]

I would say yes, the industry is out of new talent. Consolodation has contributed to this to a huge extent. To boil it down, with all the voice tracking and syndication, radio has killed it's farm team. You used to go to a medium or small market and pick up someone with talent who had honed that talent to a decent degree before they moved up to the majors. This just doesn't exist anymore to the extent it did for decades.

It's not something that can't be reversed, but will take time and money. Not terribly likely in this business environment.

 

[WordLife]

I think stations going back to familar names is a way of possibly getting listeners back that they lost before.

I personally left 94.9 when The Dog House left, and have tuned back in since JV has returned.

 

[LKellerIII]

I think stations going back to familar names is a way of possibly getting listeners back that they lost before.

I personally left 94.9 when The Dog House left, and have tuned back in since JV has returned.

Name recognition carries a lot of weight in entertainment and politics. And in a time when radio stations are hardly advertising at all - even on the two big corporations' own billboards - bringing back somebody recognizable is an easy short-cut.

Look at all the blog and internet space (here and elsewhere) that has been devoted to JV's return. Some new guy or morning team wouldn't attract that kind of attention. It's free advertising.

 

[kinetic]

I think stations going back to familar names is a way of possibly getting listeners back that they lost before.

I personally left 94.9 when The Dog House left, and have tuned back in since JV has returned.

Name recognition carries a lot of weight in entertainment and politics. And in a time when radio stations are hardly advertising at all - even on the two big corporations' own billboards - bringing back somebody recognizable is an easy short-cut.

Look at all the blog and internet space (here and elsewhere) that has been devoted to JV's return. Some new guy or morning team wouldn't attract that kind of attention. It's free advertising.

I would argue that it's blog and internet space devoted to what people remember about JV and the Doghouse, or Bob and Blazy, etc. Who's going to tune in? The listeners that remember JV and who remember Bob and Blazy, and if it doesn't sound as good as it used to, they may not stick around. More importantly: This kind of internet chatter isn't happening among new listeners. The dissolution of the Doghouse not only turned away people like Word Life, it didn't attract new listeners. How long has the Doghouse been gone? Three years? Four? That's how many years of new audience growth the station lost? Those listeners went to other platforms to get their music; they won't be coming to Wild today just because JV is there. They don't even know who JV is. The point: Radio hasn't just decimated its farm team for radio talent; they've decimated its farm team for listeners, too.

 

[DavidKaye]

The whole darned Radio Waves can be found at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/07/DDG71651HV.DTL

I'm shocked, shocked I say! An entire BF-T column without any references, not a single one, to anything from 40 years ago! I didn't think he had it in him. This is cause for celebration!

 

[Madmansam]

I remember when Jeff Blazy was on ABC's first incarnation of KSFO in 1994, before their switch to All Conservative Radio in 1995. Jeff cohosted the Morning Show with CHARLEE SIMMONS.

 

[DyingMedium]

David...Shut up, wouldja? I would be shocked if you posted something useful.

 

[DavidKaye]

David...Shut up, wouldja? I would be shocked if you posted something useful.

I post tons of useful stuff here. In fact I've initiated some of the best topics on this board. This still doesn't affect the fact that BF-T usually posts creaky old tomes about radio of 40 years ago.

 

[Zeb Norris]

Blazy is already well known in the North Bay from his work at The Fox. If he and Bob get back together my guess is that it has to do with not having to work up chemistry from scratch, not an attempt to relive their South Bay days.

But I'm wondering what the definition of "popular" is. B&B were crushed by Perry Stone in the ratings back in the mid to late 80s. He was "let go" because KSJO couldn't SELL his numbers; the business community didn't want to be associated with a "shock jock". But he really did have incredible numbers.