WARM - True Oldies?

[masterg]

And the sad part is, that these "out of town jaspers" as Jim Loftus fondly called them ruined lives, careers, stations and institutions and then went on their merry way out of town after a brief stint of wreckage. There is a special place in hell reserved for all of them.

Funny, don't you think, that Loftus is now just that, an "out of town jasper?" Second time around as such, I believe. That aside, I agree completely with his assessment as well as yours. This "jasperism' isn't confined to radio, TV in this market has suffered greatly from it as well.

What you essentially have is someone who knows nothing of this market at all, and worse yet, has no interest in learning the market. They apply a "one size fits all" mentality to things, figuring what works in, oh, Lansing will work here; what works in Syracuse will work here; what works in Akron will work here. Sadly, it never does work here. This market is unique, but then again, all markets are unique. There are things listeners/viewers here will embrace that they won't embrace across the state in Erie. They'll reject what people as nearby as Reading love.

Yonk cites the latter days of WARM. Let me tell you a bit about the mid-years at WARM, when it was still big, but when the signs of decline were all around. The elephant had entered the room.

It was also the time when "home office" began sending its Jaspers up to straighten things out. Susquehanna's Jaspers came from WSBA in York; a station that could only envy WARM's numbers, and a station in a smaller market. There, in one sentence, you have the folly of it all. The Jasper In Chief was WSBA's PD Rod Burnham, a guy from a smaller market at a station with numbers considerably below WARM's, coming here to fix things. It was insanity, an insanity that continues in the broadcasting industry today. I can only assume other businesses suffer with the phenomena.

Sales-wise, Yonk nailed it; no conscience, no consideration for those who'll be hurt by completely arbitrary decisions. Firing your top earners, saw it myself. Being despised by subordinates, saw it myself.
Leading by intimidation and fear, saw it myself. The sum total of it is simple - ineffective leadership, if leadership at all.

That special place in Hell? Yeah, I have a few nominees of my own...

 

[scmidlapp]

The older demos are not the only reason people are tuning away from Magic. My wife and a number of her friends USED TO BE avid listeners, but not so much anymore. Their reasons for tuning away??? Well, they say the music is different than it used to be and they're sick and tired of hearing Frankie talk about his kid all the time.

 

[masterg]

The older demos are not the only reason people are tuning away from Magic.

Older demos don't cause anything, they are the result of something. People wouldn't tune away from a station because of older demos, older demos would indicate that people are tuning away.

 

[warm590]

Anyway- Phil- one live remote is a start, good luck with it!! ;D

BTW, I've found pd's and gm's that sounded so bad on the air, and they felt threatened by anyone who sounded better than them, so they wouldn't hire good talent, just bad...go figure...Also was fired because I wanted to bring more listeners in by some home made jingles, dated liners that gave the listener the year of the upcoming song, and 2 hours of doo wop at the end of my oldies show....the gm didn't think of it, so the idea was no good. Eventually they ate up all the food trades and got fired themselves....PS thanks for nothing, Bart Dickley...lost a job to his mediocre oldies show.....

Sure is awful being at the mercy of someone who doesn't know **it from shinola....

I feel better now, better cut back on the caffeine...

Still miss the good old days ;D
warm590

 

[yonkstur]

- Phil- one live remote is a start, good luck with it!!

Yes, and even though I'm just getting over my Yankee tantrum, the remote is a start. It reminds people that there still is a WARM. And one of the pluses is that they are playing the music of their time. To the credit of the people there now, the format has not been flipped. I don't care if its cheap, it hasn't been changed after 3 months like Greg Foster used to do with WARM News and the other person did when the Oldies first came on in 2002. Sticking with it in the world of Citadel is unheard of. Now I know it's scratchy, and you have one guy Scott Shanon all day long. But we are the only people caring about that. My brother in law (55 plus) tunes it in all the time. It was his station. By staying with the format, the WARM brand is still intact, if holding on by a thread. But we appreciate that thread. I listened the whole weekend. Pops and all. And there are those that did without complaint because they heard the jingles, and the old songs. And they didn't have the inner critique we radioheads have beating in our hearts. The result: they enjoy it for what it is, nuance free while we fret about the inside baseball stuff. Stick with it Phil. Fly like an eagle and avoid the turkeys. And try to get a simulcast on that wasted frequency, where JR resides.

Yonstur

 

[masterg]

Saturday the bride and I took a ride over to Lackawanna State Park via the scenic route through portions of Wyoming County. While listening to Sirius channels 6 and 7(60s/70s, how 'bout that?)I happened to catch a glimpse of a sight that once gave me goose bumps; there, about a quarter mile away, stood WARM's Five Towers of Power!

Although growing up with WARM, my wife had never seen them. Even now, she said, "Wow, is that really them?" Indeed it was. For many, what we were looking at was at one time holy ground.

To answer the obvious question, no, I made no attempt to tune in WARM. It never crossed my mind.

Any point in this? Other than the obvious irony, sadly, no.

 

[Au-Vox]

There was an AE at my station that was harrassed for making TOO MUCH money.

Case in point, a very successful sales rep who had just smashed his goals in May, June and July was called into the Citadel GM's office. This gentlemen, who also enjoyed a career as a band agent and a member of WARM's Sensational 7 at their peak was also having a projected great August. The day they called him in was the anniversary date of his start with WARM. 34 years. He thought he was being called in for them to commemorate his anniversary, maybe given him a gift certificate or plaque. Instead, they fired him. They told him he was being too negative and a drain on the new sales reps because he was telling them they weren't going to be breaking 60,000 grand after 3 months. He left, landed on his feet and has been successful in every endeavor that followed ever since.
It wasn't until Sept. of 2006 that I heard the real reason. I was a guest on WLYN TV to speak of my books and my blog. After the show, I ran into a WLYN staffer who was the "witness" at the execution having worked at Citadel at the time. He said the real reason they fired him was because he had too many "golden" accounts, (which I might add he cultivated going back to 1970) and that because he was making his goals too easily lately, he must not be working. So they took his accounts and gave them to a bunch of new reps. It took a year to get those people back on the air because everybody knew he got screwed and the new reps knew nothing about radio or business.
So instead of increasing business, they lose it. Citadel was great for telling you about their "Legends". My boss at WARM was one of those from Salt Lake City and within 8 months, the "Legend" was demoted/promoted, given the title of "New Business Development Director, lost his office to one of the spies who would actually tail us on our sales calls, (a most lovely ****), handed a Yellow Book directory and replaced by a newspaper editor! They have kicked to the curb talented, local "legends" and not bothered to celebrate them. Everyone from sales to on air talent to production (where they had a genius who had the spot in his head before an AE opened his mouth and had 30 years of experience under his belt and worked at two stations) were kicked out of the way.
And the sad part is, that these "out of town jaspers" as Jim Loftus fondly called them ruined lives, careers, stations and institutions and then went on their merry way out of town after a brief stint of wreckage. There is a special place in hell reserved for all of them.

Yonkstur

Yonk....You nailed it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MrRF]

It's sad those towers are in such decline. The family that owns the land must hate it still. Their grandfather signed a 50 year deal for peanuts to keep those sticks on their land.

Remember, all out of towners aren't " jaspers". Some smart managers take the time to learn the intricasies of the market and how to get the most out of the staff.

However colorful and entertainingly Yonkstur describes the " jaspers" he noted, I know from several reliable sources that he has described that moment in time accurately at that operation.

 

[NEPA_radiobored]

It's sad those towers are in such decline. The family that owns the land must hate it still. Their grandfather signed a 50 year deal for peanuts to keep those sticks on their land.

If it was a 50 year lease, then wouldn't the lease be up in the next few years if not sooner...Didn't WARM move out to Falls in the late 50's???