I noticed this morning that Lilly from The Wease show has been completely removed from their website as if she never existed (same thing happened with Anthony Caiazzo when he was let go last year). There was no indication yesterday that she was going anywhere. Does anyone know if she has left the show? Are the ratings down and is this possibly some kind of a shake-up? Its hard to believe they would think she's the problem if ratings aren't good.
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Shakeup on The Wease Show?
- Thread starter docgoblin
- Start date
Don't know anything about Lily leaving but I did listen to the show yesterday (Friday) and everything seemed warm & cozy. So if she has left it is pretty abrupt.
They were talking about a meeting with management after Friday's show to discuss the direction of the program. They were even asking listeners for their ideas and input (ironically, one listener asked for more Lilly!). I really think the ratings are not what they banked on when they brought him over (apparently the show is 6th in morning drive with adults 25-54). It would be a shame if they cut Lilly as some kind of a desperate move. The show is great with this crew. Her presence on the message board has been completely expunged though. You can access her specific page directly http://wease.fox951.com/pages/Lilly.html but there are no links to it anymore on the site and her last update was Thursday. I'd hate to see her go. I thought she brought a great dynamic to the show. You don't have too many women in radio that can go toe-to-toe with the boys like she does.
B
Bob1370
Guest
If Clear Channel is tinkering with the Wease show they're missing the point, and showing they don't get it.
There's nothing wrong with Wease's morning show. It's the rest of the day, which is clearly canned, voicetracked, dull and lacking in engagement with the audience, that's causing people to tune out. And we all know, when you cause tune-out in one part of the schedule, you can't always count on people to tune back in the next day no matter how good the morning show is. A weak overall schedule will pull down even the best morning show after a while.
WCMF has the opposite problem. Its post-Wease morning show still sounds like a bunch of sidekicks in search of a host. What keeps them afloat is strong personalities in middays (Dave Kaine) and afternoons (Brian Robinson).
Both of the classic rockers are vulnerable, neither one is in position to capitalize on the other's vulnerability if they keep playing the same hand. Fox needs to bring in likeable, live midday, afternoon and night hosts. CMF needs to bring a strong personality in to pull mornings together, and maybe resume live nights. The first station to figure that out wins.
CMF might find it a little easier to retool. They could move Robinson into mornings as the key guy while keeping the rest of the cast on the air in the second-banana roles they used to play with Wease; put Dave Kaine in afternoons; and bring in someone from the bench for middays, and they'd be on their way, eventually building to the point of going live again at night. Fox needs to recruit three new people to fill out their schedule, and give them time to build, in order to truly fix what ails them.
The first one to actually do it right can dominate 25-54 men and make the other guy spin the format wheel.
There's nothing wrong with Wease's morning show. It's the rest of the day, which is clearly canned, voicetracked, dull and lacking in engagement with the audience, that's causing people to tune out. And we all know, when you cause tune-out in one part of the schedule, you can't always count on people to tune back in the next day no matter how good the morning show is. A weak overall schedule will pull down even the best morning show after a while.
WCMF has the opposite problem. Its post-Wease morning show still sounds like a bunch of sidekicks in search of a host. What keeps them afloat is strong personalities in middays (Dave Kaine) and afternoons (Brian Robinson).
Both of the classic rockers are vulnerable, neither one is in position to capitalize on the other's vulnerability if they keep playing the same hand. Fox needs to bring in likeable, live midday, afternoon and night hosts. CMF needs to bring a strong personality in to pull mornings together, and maybe resume live nights. The first station to figure that out wins.
CMF might find it a little easier to retool. They could move Robinson into mornings as the key guy while keeping the rest of the cast on the air in the second-banana roles they used to play with Wease; put Dave Kaine in afternoons; and bring in someone from the bench for middays, and they'd be on their way, eventually building to the point of going live again at night. Fox needs to recruit three new people to fill out their schedule, and give them time to build, in order to truly fix what ails them.
The first one to actually do it right can dominate 25-54 men and make the other guy spin the format wheel.
Too many GMs have caught the "anybody can program a radio station" disease, not trusting or having sufficient confidence in their Program Directors to make the right decisions and get the job done. Legrett is notorious for tinkering with programming. It reportedly happens with Entercom Buffalo as well, as Commodore Reid is known to meddle with programming and engineering. The days of strong programmers, such as Bob Wood, Larry Anderson, John Rook, Paul Drew, Michael Spears and Jeff Kaye have passed. Now, every former sales guy who became a sales manager and was promoted to GM or RVP thinks he knows more about programming than the guys who came up through the ranks, studied the craft, built the clocks, learned Selector and even more importantly know how to select, direct and coach talent. GMs like Tom Langmayer may be the exception. Then again, he answers to a former programming guy who's the CEO of Tribune, who meddles in programming. Legrett, Reid and their ilk will never be confused with Randy Michaels, at least in the programming sense.
For what it’s worth (free = nothing on this board), I agree with Bob’s prognosis (particularly concerning the Fox in other dayparts)—but not with his prescription for what ails ’CMF.
Dave Kane, a midday institution, should stay right where he is. And, nothing personal (I’ve never met him), but Robinson should go—but not to mornings. (I’ve never been a fan of the sophomoric, way-too-long phoners. VoxPro, or whatever you now use, is great for editing phone calls—use it!)
Both stations, however, must deal with this: Classic rock as a format is stale and boring. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned AOR, where a station mixed true classics (songs like “Layla”) with newer mainstream rock? Airing songs by “new-ish” bands such as Coldplay, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down and many others would give overplayed Boston and Led Zeppelin much-needed rests.
Who remembers the days back when ’CMF mixed in the Human League and Soft Cell with AC/DC, Genesis, Journey, REO, Rush, Skynyrd, the Stones and the Who? At the very least, it made AOR—and radio, in general—more vibrant and exciting.
Dave Kane, a midday institution, should stay right where he is. And, nothing personal (I’ve never met him), but Robinson should go—but not to mornings. (I’ve never been a fan of the sophomoric, way-too-long phoners. VoxPro, or whatever you now use, is great for editing phone calls—use it!)
Both stations, however, must deal with this: Classic rock as a format is stale and boring. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned AOR, where a station mixed true classics (songs like “Layla”) with newer mainstream rock? Airing songs by “new-ish” bands such as Coldplay, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down and many others would give overplayed Boston and Led Zeppelin much-needed rests.
Who remembers the days back when ’CMF mixed in the Human League and Soft Cell with AC/DC, Genesis, Journey, REO, Rush, Skynyrd, the Stones and the Who? At the very least, it made AOR—and radio, in general—more vibrant and exciting.
Mike Saffran said:
That's a good question, and from what I can see, that's a problem in NYC at WRXP, where they're trying to do exactly what you suggest. The new rock folks feel the classic rock doesn't belong, and vice versa. I hear a lot of complains about classic rock being boring, but when stations experiment with deep cuts, the audience goes away.
Two quick points...
1) To Bob 1370's point - It seems some of the stations that carried Howard Stern (some would say a strong morning show) had good morning numbers that often fell off during the later day parts on the stations that carried the show. And, I can only assume that a fair number of those stations had, at the time, "live" mid-day and afternoon shows.
2) To Mike Saffran- Maybe the music on "Classic Rock" stations has become boring. But much like the "Oldies" stations of the past - what seems to keep those Classic Rock stations viable is the presentation. Buffalo's 97 Rock is a great example, where it seems there's always something going on programming and promotion wise to keep the station interesting, entertaining and a pretty strong ratings & revenue performer.
1) To Bob 1370's point - It seems some of the stations that carried Howard Stern (some would say a strong morning show) had good morning numbers that often fell off during the later day parts on the stations that carried the show. And, I can only assume that a fair number of those stations had, at the time, "live" mid-day and afternoon shows.
2) To Mike Saffran- Maybe the music on "Classic Rock" stations has become boring. But much like the "Oldies" stations of the past - what seems to keep those Classic Rock stations viable is the presentation. Buffalo's 97 Rock is a great example, where it seems there's always something going on programming and promotion wise to keep the station interesting, entertaining and a pretty strong ratings & revenue performer.
docgoblin said:
History is repeating itself. Wease always seems to have problems with female co-hosts. How many, over the years, have left the station because of his insensitive remarks towards them on-the-air? One person (maybe two) even sued the guy.
It think that might be the answer to your question.
Nobody who is happy with their job just walks out until they have another job waiting for them, were fired, or finally had enough harassment and leaves. Take your pick.
Lilly is very different from most women on radio. I've listened to her since she worked at XM on The Ron and Fez show. She is as crude as any guy you will ever hear. She stands toe-to-toe with any man she's ever been on the air with. I don't think Wease could say anything that would offend her.
Then the other two options is that she quit to work somewhere else and just didn't let the listeners of the FOX know about it; or she was fired by Clear Channel.docgoblin said:
Lilly was on the the pre show which was bits recorded last week. So she is not banned from the airwaves, least wise before this morning before 6:00. When I listened a little later on, the guys were explaining on what happened to Wease but did not mention her. She obviously was not there.
I hope everything works out for both Lilly & Wease. As far as former female co-hosts go....Stephanie Miller loves Wease. They only have nice things to say about each other.
I hope everything works out for both Lilly & Wease. As far as former female co-hosts go....Stephanie Miller loves Wease. They only have nice things to say about each other.
Lilly
It's been MANY years since I've been in town to hear Wease. But I wonder if these quotes seem to shed some light? Maybe, maybe not. Just sayin'.
HDBG
According to my very valid sources, Lilly's spot was eliminated for "cost cutting" reasons. Nothing has been said on the show, and if they are staying true to form, nothing WILL be said. It's like when someone dies on a ride at Disney. They hose it down, repaint, and go on like nothing every happened. Since she's a "free agent" now, might I suggest someone offer her a fabulous spot of her own somewhere? She's got a lot to say and she has a voice like butter. Someone needs to grab her up now!
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