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The Short-Term Future for Steve & Vikki

R

RoddyFreeman

Here's my prediction regarding the next year for Steve & Vikki:

Someone at Star 94 has a brilliant thought. How about a station that has Steve & Vikki in the morning and Cindy & Ray in the afternoon? Brilliant, the employee thinks, something that's never been done.

Steve & Vikki sit out their non-compete through 2010. Before Christmas, Star 94 decides to run some TV spots promoting the station. Star finds a loophole in Steve & Vikki's non-compete and ends the commercial with Steve & Vikki mentioning they'll be on the air in the new year. Cox sues Steve & Vikki, but the judge rules in favor of Star 94.

In all seriousness, could someone explain why B98.5 wouldn't let them stay through the end of their contract in June? Does Cox really feel more music would bring higher ratings? Does Cox think Steve & Vikki might have said something derogatory? (If so, that would never have happened; they're too professional and proved that at the end on Star 94.) Does Cox believe Steve & Vikki's value will be lower if they're off the air longer?
 
Lol Roddy. Money move. Steve and Vikki were just next in line. Having decent numbers clearly doesn’t matter anymore if business have no advertising dollars. If your contract is up in thins economy…so are you. Solo jocks, silly producers and more repetitive music is the future of radio it seems. Hope they find something else, they are pros even though they have been at it for a while.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Here's my prediction regarding the next year for Steve & Vikki:

Someone at Star 94 has a brilliant thought. How about a station that has Steve & Vikki in the morning and Cindy & Ray in the afternoon? Brilliant, the employee thinks, something that's never been done.

Steve & Vikki sit out their non-compete through 2010. Before Christmas, Star 94 decides to run some TV spots promoting the station. Star finds a loophole in Steve & Vikki's non-compete and ends the commercial with Steve & Vikki mentioning they'll be on the air in the new year. Cox sues Steve & Vikki, but the judge rules in favor of Star 94.

In all seriousness, could someone explain why B98.5 wouldn't let them stay through the end of their contract in June? Does Cox really feel more music would bring higher ratings? Does Cox think Steve & Vikki might have said something derogatory? (If so, that would never have happened; they're too professional and proved that at the end on Star 94.) Does Cox believe Steve & Vikki's value will be lower if they're off the air longer?
Click to expand...
Roddy--you KNOW you're not supposed to say anything negative about Cox without repercussions, right? Now the Cox fanbois will be clogging up this thread.
 
It's a now all-too-familiar story. Station hires a personality and content-driven morning show, immediately shuts down their successful formula, ratings underperform, then rather than let the show do what wins - fires the talent and pockets the salaries, claiming PPM says people just want music...even though a more music morning show has never won. Never. Not ever ever ever.

Jimmy Barron is going through the exact same thing right now at Dave, and the outcome will be the same.

Congrats to the Bert Show, who continues to keep reaping the profits, ratings and rewards of all the other radio owners and stations in town rolling over and throwing in the towel.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
In all seriousness, could someone explain why B98.5 wouldn't let them stay through the end of their contract in June... Does Cox think Steve & Vikki might have said something derogatory?
Click to expand...

Maybe they said the attire Jordan Graye was wearing made her look like she was wrapped in sausage casing... ::)

But seriously, to answer your question, this paragraph from Rodney Ho's article sums things up:

The pair’s contract is up June 30. B98.5 decided to take them off the air early because the soft-rock station had a deadline to give Steve & Vikki a third year. Management has chosen not to take the option.
 
MCMagicCracker said:
jabba17 said:
Roddy--you KNOW you're not supposed to say anything negative about Cox without repercussions, right? Now the Cox fanbois will be clogging up this thread.
Click to expand...

You mean the Cox employees.
Click to expand...

KnowsNews isn't going to comment on this. He wants to keep his job. He was on the air with a report from the field this morning.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
MCMagicCracker said:
jabba17 said:
Roddy--you KNOW you're not supposed to say anything negative about Cox without repercussions, right? Now the Cox fanbois will be clogging up this thread.
Click to expand...

You mean the Cox employees.
Click to expand...

KnowsNews isn't going to comment on this. He wants to keep his job. He was on the air with a report from the field this morning.
Click to expand...
I was actually thinking about Cabbage.
 
Randy Kabrich used to consult all of the Cox AC's, but I don't think he does work for Cox anymore except possibly some small projects for Bob Neil.
 
jaxradidio said:
It's a now all-too-familiar story. Station hires a personality and content-driven morning show, immediately shuts down their successful formula, ratings underperform, then rather than let the show do what wins - fires the talent and pockets the salaries, claiming PPM says people just want music...even though a more music morning show has never won. Never. Not ever ever ever.

Jimmy Barron is going through the exact same thing right now at Dave, and the outcome will be the same.
Click to expand...

You've hit the nail on the head with your PPM assessment. The only thing PPM has done is give consultants more work trying to convince clueless owners that they need them on the payroll. Want proof? Look at the top stations in Atlanta pre-PPM and look at them now. It's virtually the same, and nobody is doing anything that much different. People have ALWAYS said they just want more music in the morning and yet it's never shown that in the ratings.

Re: Jimmy. I agree, he's done a good job of developing chemistry with Yvonne Monet and turning themselves into a likable, entertaining show. Is Jimmy smooth with the mechanics? Hardly. But he's intelligent and has playful sense of humor with listeners that could do the station well if they stopped making him play a lot of music.
 
ok ok ok..im so very surprised no one else thought of this....lets see....the pd for cc atlanta is a very good and well known pd for AC formats.....can you say....steve and vicki take the non compete...the Bull goes christmas music in DEC and in Jan cc flips the Bull to an AC....enter steve and vicki am drive on the new AC cc station in atlanta......

just a thought.....
 
t969696 said:
ok ok ok..im so very surprised no one else thought of this....lets see....the pd for cc atlanta is a very good and well known pd for AC formats.....can you say....steve and vicki take the non compete...the Bull goes christmas music in DEC and in Jan cc flips the Bull to an AC....enter steve and vicki am drive on the new AC cc station in atlanta......

just a thought.....
Click to expand...

I see you haven't read my blog.
 
wooder said:
jaxradidio said:
It's a now all-too-familiar story. Station hires a personality and content-driven morning show, immediately shuts down their successful formula, ratings underperform, then rather than let the show do what wins - fires the talent and pockets the salaries, claiming PPM says people just want music...even though a more music morning show has never won. Never. Not ever ever ever.

Jimmy Barron is going through the exact same thing right now at Dave, and the outcome will be the same.
Click to expand...

You've hit the nail on the head with your PPM assessment. The only thing PPM has done is give consultants more work trying to convince clueless owners that they need them on the payroll. Want proof? Look at the top stations in Atlanta pre-PPM and look at them now. It's virtually the same, and nobody is doing anything that much different. People have ALWAYS said they just want more music in the morning and yet it's never shown that in the ratings.
Click to expand...

Which brings up another point, which is probably another thread...how consultants, even those that have been in the business a long time and billed themselves as "talent coaches," have stabbed talent in this industry in the back and sold them out.
 
This just in: Cox is now offering for either Steve or Vikki the opportunity to stay. New imaging will be running effective immediately: "B98.5 FM ... The new home of Steve or Vikki".

Other ideas being bantered around include having a contest where on 6/30 either Steve or Vikki are voted off by listeners off the B98.5 radio island, as well as other positioning statements:

"B98.5 FM ... The official listen-at-work radio station ... for those who still have jobs"

"Jordan Graye: Often imitated but never duplicated"

"B98.5 ... one McCoy is enough"

"B98.5 FM ... soft rock with an attitude"

"The New B98.5 FM now with ninety-eight and a half songs in a row every hour!"

"B98.5 ... 100,000 watts of flame-throwing soft-rock power ... now here's Delilah"
 
Actually Roddy, I'm not commenting because there is nothing to comment about. I've said it before on here; it's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize a decision when you've never been in the position to make such a decision.

This was a business move. You have two on-air personalities, each making a whole lot of money, and the company decided not to pick up the option on their contracts. That's all. No different than a football team cutting a star player rather than paying a ton of cash to keep him.

Steve & Vikki are great people to work with. But, given the current economy and the current state of radio, paying mid six figures to hold on to them was deemed to costly. Again, simply a business decision.
 
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