The Legendary Footy

[The-Major]

The legendary Footy will be making a major announcement during the 7 AM hour this Monday morning on 'The Y-100.7 Morning Show'.I can only guess that he will be announcing his retirement from Y-100(.7) after over three decades. If I'm wrong with my guess then I'll be shocked !Another guess for me would be that 'The Yo Morning Show' will be the new permanent gig for MD & PD Michael Yo.THE MAJOR

 

[hurley]

Yep.. big announcement...can't wait to hear what it is.. all that's being said it that "It Will Change Miami Radio FOREVER!!!".....Speaking of Footy, I have never actually heard a "HINEY WINE" bit, if anyone has one, I would love to hear it, please mp3....Peace Out

 

[Radaioman]

I am going to say that Major is right, but I have to disagree with the second post. I don't think The Yo show is the long term answer. We'll see.

 

[The-Major]

I'm not so sure that a 'Yo Morning Show' is a long-term solution either. It could be. I think he would definitely bring in a younger crowd in the morning than 'Sonny & Footy' / 'Bobby & Footy' / 'Footy & The Chix @ Six' / 'Kenny & Footy' have done over the past 20+ years, but I think that he would also alienate some of the core older female fans of the station.Speaking of Y-100.7 I've been a loyal listener for almost 19 years now, and I don't think that I've ever heard so much voicetracking as they have now. I do like 'Brotha' Fred' though real early in the morning and during the weekends. It took me a little bit of research on the web to realize that he's actually out of Clear Channel's Austin Texas CHR-POP station. (He's the afternoon drive-time guy there.)Voicetracking / syndicated radio shows is also not a long-term solution to Y-100.7's current situation, but I guess that it's a good band-aid fix for now.THE MAJOR

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Voice tracking....Isn't it amazing how these big companies are using technology to save paying a local jock $10 an hour?Anyone that can stay at one station as long as Footy must be doing something right. I don't know him personally but wish him the best of luck.

 

[ScottBurns]

As The Major pointed out in another post, the difference in quality between Y-100.7 and WFLZ/Tampa is unbelievable. Part of the problem is instability in the history of the format. For many years, Y was focused on Ft. Lauderdale, not Miami. Furthermore, for many years, Y could not decide whether it was an AC station, a Dance/Rhythmic station, or a CHR station. Y needs a complete overall if it is ever to be successful.

 

[jcolletta275]

I can't agree with you more, Scott.Plus, what they need to do is go back and look at their most successful period in recent years: the late 90's. What did they do right back then as opposed to now? We've already gone over all of that, but if they're going to overhaul the station, they need to take a look at what they've done right in the past and how they can make it work for them now.

 

[The-Major]

I remember back in the late-1980s when Steve Perun was the PD of Y-100. They were a severely dayparted station back then. They played nothing risky during the daytime, and they were essentially HOT-A.C. (bordering on A.C.). But then right around 3 PM every afternoon they went ballistic and the party essentially began. I remember when Guns-N-Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" were frequently used as the 3 PM 'format switch' song back then. After 3 PM they were hardcore TOP 40.Y-100 was pretty much ALL HOT-A.C. (all the time) from 1990 to 1996. They bragged that you would hear all of the best hits 'without all of the hard rock and rap'. It really got annoying.Rob Roberts shook things up when he took over as P.D. early on in 1996, and Y-100 sounded very European for a few years during the late-1990s. They were very successful during this time. I mean we're talking TOP 3 or TOP 5 en Ingles en Miami !Fast forward to 2006 and Y-100.7 sounds like any given CHR-POP station in any given major U.S. city. They play everything nowadays, but they tend to go overboard on the R & B, hip hop, and rap - as if the're competing with 99-JAMZ or 103.5-The Beat. As far as I'm concerned the music is not particularly the problem (although they could mix in more rock that's on the charts). The problem is short and simple: They need personalities !THE MAJORP.S. - Scott - Where have you been ?

 

[ScottBurns]

Hey Major,I've been back to Hawaii, so I have been out of commission for awhile! Did you get to check out the radio scene on the islands when you were out there?You hit on a good point in your last post. And it's one that I have struggled to understand. Why has the personality factor been missing from CHR stations, nationwide, over the past several years? The last CHR station that really had personality - in all dayparts - was WFLZ in the mid-1990s. The beginning of the end of their personality was when Bubba the Love Sponge left in late 1996. Is it the consultants that have pushed out personality? Or is it the cost factor? Personalities cost stations much more money than liner-card readers... Any opinions?

 

[The-Major]

Hey Scott,NAH when I was in Hawaii I was busy being a tourist (and a cruise ship passenger), so although I heard a lot of great music during my vacation there it wasn't via the radio.That's a good question as to where all of the personalities have gone as far as CHR-POP radio is concerned. I could probably hypothesize about this issue for hours on end. Perhaps we could blame the lack of personality today on the overall downfall of the CHR-POP format itself during the mid-1990s. It recovered during the late-1990s when the 'boy band era' got going, but did it fully recover ? The demographics for a typical CHR-POP station today are much younger than what they were back in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Kids listen to CHR-POP radio nowadays. Do kids really want personality on their station, or do they want to hear their favourite songs played every 90 minutes around the clock like a continuous "Now That's What I Call Music XX" CD ? For those stations that have older demographics (and I'll speak for Florida's Y-100.7, 93.3-FLZ, XL-106.7, 107.1-A1A, and The Big Ape) you'll notice that their most popular local personalities (usually on during the morning shows) are also pretty much in their 40s and 50s. They got their starts back during the heyday of (let's call it) TOP 40 radio - the 1970s and 1980s. Creating new (young) talent does not appear to be a priority nowadays with the big radio corporations. Making as much money as possible in this increasingly competitive technological environment is Priority # 1. Meet me in the CHR-POP forum if you wish to continue this discussion at length. Everyone else that used to post in there has apparently gone into hibernation mode anyway. ;DBut I digress ... Back to Miami radio:The Winter 2006 book is out today, and Y-100.7 made a nice (expected) rebound. Without mentioning actual numbers the're nearly back to what they were averaging before the sudden panic set in earlier this year. I always thought that their poor Fall 2005 book was a blip (anomaly) on the hurricane season radar screen.THE MAJOR