Courtesy of Rodney Ho's blog:Steve Craig, the well respected mid day guy at 99X (who says he doesn’t read this blog), said it was okay to post this vent he emailed me yesterday.(Edited to remove text. For the full text, go to:http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/custom/blogs/radiotalk)This has been drawing many comments on Rodney's site at the AJC. I am not sure how to re-act. First, I think Steve has a few points then again I think he is being a company shill. Steve has always stayed above the fray and keeps to himself. For him to come out like this is either a words of wisdom from Obi Won or Steve dirtying his hands and getting into the thick of it per Cumulus. That said, some of it is pure hyperbole, then again so are The Buzz's claims. I understand a lot of this is just BS used to insight one side over the other in "The Great Rock Radio War 2006" (copyright The Real Other Neil) but some of the petty stuff has to stop. No one cares what Leslie’s age is, we all know she is over 40-years-old, guess what, so am I and I listen to 99X. Concerning Wally, it sounds like sour grapes. Then again, I think he added a lot to the morning show, his jingles were extremely creative.What does everyone else think?Oh, speaking of 99X, I requested Chumba Wumba about 600 times over the past 6 years, I wonder where it will fall on the all-request countdown? One last comment, please have a safe Memorial Day Weekend, even Chrissy Colandro.
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The Steve Show
- Thread starter TheRealOtherNeil
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First off, I don't agree with Steve's comment that "He single-handedly sank the stations ratings." If it sucked so bad, why didn't Leslie see it coming? She had the final say in what was going on, it's HER station after all. The ratings decline didn't happen overnight, and it certainly wasn't totally Chris' fault. Second, it's all fair in love and radio. You may not agree with Buzz's attacks on Leslie, but if the people don't like it, DON'T LISTEN. That's the beauty of free speech. And apparently whatever they're doing is working. Steve is defending his boss, and his friend, and that's cool with me, but 99x dug their own hole; don't blame it on Chris and Whip!
You may not agree with what Steve has said. And your right. All is fair in love, and radio. But it's low rent radio. As low as the once 99x may have sunk, the buzz any better.Whip, and company are a third rate pale imitation of a bad Howard Stern show. And as for Wally...sheesh..what a loser. The man has the laugh of a 13 year old little girl, and that alone makes me not wanna listen to him.
First, the all out personal attacks and assault that Whip and Williams have launched on Leslie Fram are clearly bitter and bush league. When the only people in the entire radio industry who can say anything bad about Leslie just happen to be three ex-employees it's pretty transparent. It's to be expected from Whip as he's a 45 year old no-talent. Williams, though is really disappointing. On message boards he comes off as a take-the-high-road kind of guy who's only interested in the quality of his radio station. Clearly, though, he is bitter and vengeful. The stuff thats been said about Leslie (about her looks, her age, giving out her cell number, etc) are reprehensible...even for Clear Channel. Steve Craig may just be defending his friend, but he also happens to be right.I worked for one of the large ad agencies that did business with 99X up until recently and was privy to a lot of inside politics through friendships with sales people, promotions staff, and even a few dj's. Here's what I learned....Leslie tried very hard to convince the powers that be (GM, owners, etc) that the direction 99X was going under Williams helm was wrong. She (and all the sales people) new he was taking the station into an area that was completely undesirable to advertisers...teen males. Advertisers want nothing to do with that demo and, unfortunately, it ended up also alienating the core that had grown up on 99X. As a result, revenue took a hit. Fred Toucher was also part of that plan. He was huge with young males on his night show but most adult males with jobs (and females) had trouble warming up to him. Eventually, his show got better and more accessible but the ratings/perceptual damage had already been done. HOWEVER, at least Williams did have direction, (albeit the wrong one). And that's more than one can say for the current incarnation of 99X. They seem to want to be all things to all people and, while there was a time a station could do that, those days are over. You need to pick young men, old men, young women, or old women. Look at the other stations on the dial. It's very easy to identify immediately who's going after whom. Not with 99X, though.TER said:
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The "Steve Blog" that was posted on Rodney's Site was pathetic... and I really like Steve. He and the rest of 99X is a wounded dog, hiding in the corner; but intead of fighting back like most cornered animals, they're just saying "don't hurt us anymore". The buzz's attacks on Leslie Fram is for an obvious reason... to help hurt the credibility of the brand that is 99X. She's been at the helm there forever, and IS that radio station. 99X and Leslie Fram are the same... old, tired, and has no new tricks. They are just pointing that out to listeners... oh, and it is working, have you seen the numbers? It's time to go out to pasture Leslie... sorry for all the animal anologies, it's a little much I know. 
Maybe some of the shots the buzz is taking at 99X is personal, but it IS a war... so anything is fair game in my opinion.
Maybe some of the shots the buzz is taking at 99X is personal, but it IS a war... so anything is fair game in my opinion.
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She was Director of Programming. Overseeing Q and X.RTibbs said:
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Correct...Director of Programming being the new, hip way of saying Operations Manager. I've seen many a relationship between an OM and a PD go south because the OM has final say on all programming decisions in the building. That sometimes does not set well with the PDs.TER said:
If she had final say over Chris why is it she had to go to management to complain about Chris' decisions? If she was his boss shouldn't she have set him straight or had approval on the Wally and Whip hirings. Maybe I am missing something but sounds like revisionist history on the current 99xer's. Everything that went bad was Chris fault we just went along with it?I am sure she takes full credit for the totaly phony, estrogen-popping Bert Weiss.
Teflon baby, Teflon. That's what it looks like Leslie Fram is made of. I've seen how people have spun this and because she's silent on the matter she comes out looking good. Of the 4 people in Atlanta that have spoken out about her 3 paint a very different picture of her than we are lead to believe. It's always somebody else's fault with Leslie. And she's gonna get out of taking the fall for 99X's demise because of Cumulus. It'll be interesting to see where she winds up, the alternative programming legend that she is, when the go country in Sept 1st.
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