Rick Marino Out...

[junebaby62]

"Steve and Al", mornings on Mix 92.9.

 

[Jan Jeffries]

I've said it so many times... If you are on a baseball team that is not doing well, you don't fire the players, you fire the manager. Too many people in this business treat it like a business and have no clue about radio.
Like me.

 

[Evangelist]

If by "Steve" you're referring to Steve Edwards, former South Central Radio Group president and now "consultant," he was the one who pushed the hiring of Cathy Martindale. He had tried for a couple of years to get her to come on board. Her hiring came in the wake of several firings at that place.

Rob Michaels and Bobby Knight are smart, talented guys and deserve another opportunity to work here in Nashville or another market just as big or larger.

 

[kr0nic]

Okay, my guess..... Steve Dickert and Big Al Brock.......

 

[courier37027]

Okay, my guess..... Steve Dickert and Big Al Brock.......

Kronic, you may be onto something. As Dickert pointed out in a recorded image annoucement while at Cumulus,"Wherever possible we will hire local talent and staff." Those "local hires" were Bob & Tom, Big Al Brock and Randy Railey: Indianapolis, St. Louis and St. Louis respectively. Rick Marino would qualify under former OM Dickert's old Cumulus definition of local as North America.

 

[roadrunner]

I think the winner was Lulu, now on V. I could be wrong, but the winner had some on-air experience.

The winner was a woman named "Nikki" (or Nicki) who was a personal trainer? Lulu's been around for a long time and worked in other markets in Ohio and other places I'm pretty sure.

 

[deltas69]

i know lulu was at the party (102.5) as far back as 95 or so. she was there at the same time coyote did the power country thing. i did a few remotes with both at the time..i haven't listened to either station in years, so i don't know if she is still there or in town at all. she was very nice to work around at least when i was around her..

 

[BobSacamano]

Okay, my guess..... Steve Dickert and Big Al Brock.......

Well, I happen to know the Cumulus thing was about dumping the Oldies format, and Steve Dickert & Al Brock had little to do with that decision..

 

[Radio456]

...I've said it so many times... If you are on a baseball team that is not doing well, you don't fire the players, you fire the manager...

Nice analagy, but what about when the team is doing well? A trend that seems to have developed at South Central is they fire the players when they are winning. That must do wonders for morale. The only thing it points to is bad upper management.

It looked like Rick was pulling great numbers consistently for a long time. Did it get him any gratitude or reward? Obviously not...It got him fired.

I would imagine the people working at South Central must be constantly looking over their shoulder to see who's going to get it next. It's pretty obvious the management has no respect for the employees who give them their success.

That would be a very scary situation to be in...I feel for you guys.

 

[Evangelist]

Ah...it probably IS Dickert then.

 

[deltas69]

the Cumulus thing was about dumping the Oldies format if thats so..and i'm not doubting you at all..how can they justify the numbers ..oldies, as repetitive as it was was pulling twice the numbers the station is now wasn't it ? does the old rule of "bigger books = more $$$$ " not apply any more ? or are they simply looking at the bottom line and actually making more money with less ratings by not having any high dollar talent ? i stand stupified that someone is paid a large $$$ to make decisions like this.. ???

 

[jetfli]

does the old rule of "bigger books = more $$$$ " not apply any more ? or are they simply looking at the bottom line and actually making more money with less ratings by not having any high dollar talent ? i stand stupified that someone is paid a large $$$ to make decisions like this.. ???

You haven't been playing this game in today's corporate/cluster mentality, have you? With some corporations, a cluster/station striving to create quality radio is allowed to do so as long as they can prove they are making more money by doing so. Otherwise, it's just as you describe, fire the high dollar talent so that we can still make our corporate ROI formula. Same thing has happened all over corporate America -- the big boys don't care about turning out a quality product anymore, it's only about buying and selling companies and the number on the bottom line.

 

[BobSacamano]

Amen to that, Rick was pulling good numbers and making good money, but management's mentality nowadays has gone from "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" to "how can we do this cheaper"...The GM there has no respect for talent, and from what I hear is despised by almost everyone at 504 Rosedale

I think this one is gonna come back to bite South Central in the ass..

 

[deltas69]

according to the ARB summer 07 book..mix was #1 with a 6.9..and jack next door was #4 with a 5.7, with no jocks..so maybe this is what so. central is about to do..can everyone..and go jockless. and since apparently jack can pull decent numbers as is..why doesn't every station in town just let the computer play radio,? if every station was jockless..wouldn't matter to the listner..you want country..go here..want rock go there, and the bottom line increases.maybe this is where the whole industry is headed. way back..the original 92q did it with cart machines out in hendersonville with an all oldies format..and if i remember they did quite well..but i'll admit as far as radio today..i don't like it..don't understand it..miss it like hell..but glad not to be stuck in it as it exists, i could not put up with the B/S

 

[jetfli]

I think this one is gonna come back to bite South Central...

Sadly, probably not. The typical Mix listener is a median adult female, who as a group tend to be far more station/channel oriented. Mix also has a lot of office listeners, as Mix tends to provide a quieter sound for that purpose -- those dials won't change. The Wolf tends to cater to the same type of audience from the country angle.

Now the way to get these listeners' attention on Rick's behalf is for someone (such as Wolf, V, or a new flip) to make a big play for the audience by hiring Rick and splashing his name all of the place as the return of an old friend. Of course someone could have done the same with Coyote and Cathy, but no one went there.

why doesn't every station in town just let the computer play radio,? if every station was jockless..wouldn't matter to the listner..you want country..go here..want rock go there, and the bottom line increases.maybe this is where the whole industry is headed. way back..the original 92q did it with cart machines out in hendersonville with an all oldies format

By George, I think you've got it. Radio suits and the 20-something media buyers and ad agency account execs all look at radio as playing on the same field as the iPod. And you see that iPod tagging has now been developed for HD radio, verifying that line of thinking exists.

My opinion is that radio needs to start focusing on whatever it takes to present unique content, whether it's live personalities with music or niche talk. In fact, in today's age, maybe unique means to stop focusing so much on music -- far too long has radio tried to be a marketer for the music industry, with or without payola. Think about the Zone, how successful it's been billing-wise, with it's male audience -- I mean they have bigwig company execs tuning in, as well as the working stiff. And so much of it is sponsored, including shows, segments, and even mentions, and the audience doesn't care about the commercialism, in fact, they're going to the businesses to buy because George "sent 'em." Now imagine doing that with music... this new Britney tune is brought to you by... and the Feds would sweep down on their heads so fast with payola charges it wouldn't be funny. Radio needs to learn from its sports stations and figure out how to pull this off with other types of content.

 

[Evangelist]

During my time at South Central, we were always told that the format/music was the star and not anyone on the air. The numbers seemed to be consistent no matter who was in a given time slot. We also had it drilled into us that we were the Cadillac of radio stations, which was BS. I worked with good people over there but it was far from the best place I've worked in my career.

People have come and gone at 92.9 over the years. Honestly, I don't think Rick Marino's departure will significantly impact the ratings.

 

[romer979fm]

way back..the original 92q did it with cart machines out in hendersonville with an all oldies format..and if i remember they did quite well..

six reel-to-reels, three cart 'carousel' machines (36 carts each)...and one cart "audiofile" machine...(three stacks
of 15 carts...one head for each stack)...and two large format cart players for the 'time announce'...that was
'Sammy"...the 92Q Shafer automation. we added another 'audiofile'...but that was it. I have airchecks...and it
sounded ok for then...but now sounds extremely clunky and canned. i remember the legal ID* was included on the intro
of the power gold reel (16)...played only at the top of the hour...and had to be rewound after the last cut (Manilow's 'it's a miracle") to be certain the legal played the next hour.

*legal id in theory only...it was Bill Berlin mumbling "hendersonville' left channel-only inside the singing "WBYQ...(pause for city) 92-Q" jingle. story is Michael St. John at KX104 reported this to the FCC after we moved to 810 Division...and
when the FCC showed up in Hendersonville, they were not happy that we had moved to Nashville, although the move was approved. Steve McCoy was working a Saturday shift, and the filed inspector walked in via an unlocked back door
(not good)...and 92Q was cited for illegal legal IDs. lots of them. oops...rambling again...this should be in a nre thread, anyway

 

[deltas69]

i visited here once when jack hunter worked there aftere he left whin and was amazed at the "technology" , pretty sure mary glen worked there. johnny hawkins was working there, he worked briefly for whin also ..we were discussing turning 104.5 from the elevator music to all oldies(we were playing oldies from 6 to midnight at the time)..hawkins left went to 92 and next thing you know he and bob riche were doing it. we never could convince the ancient owners of whin to follow though on the idea and 92 rolled with it before we could and the rest is ..as they say..history..at least thats how my fuzzy mid remembers it..

 

[deltas69]

"The typical Mix listener is a median adult female" i guess this would mean since 97 is now the "TOWER"..MIX will soon be called the "CHICK STICK" ?? ;D

 

[Tibbs4]

Well, then one of those two sticks is in desperate need of Viagra.

You knew it had to go there eventually...


On a totally different subject, si, MGL worked morning with Steve McCoy in the early 80's
on the Q & 'MAK. 97.1 needs to be healed by Preacher Dan...for those who remember some
of the McCoy bits...CR?