Kevin here (and I have identified myself before under this post's name).
To: Radio 24-7, Doodical and whoever:
I stand by my earlier post. My purpose in writing it, despite how some of you would care to characterize it, was not to kiss the boss's rear end, but to tell a part of the Kiss Country story that should be told.
What I posted has been verified to me by a number of former WKSW employees, including one whom Nick Roberts fired.
Russ Shafer, as I noted, got it started. Nick was employed at the station from 1987 to 1997, when he moved to K-99.1 as Assistant PD. He was not the PD all that time, but was for about 5 years. When Russ left and Nick took over, he tightened the station down, added format clocks, imaging, tightened the library, added additional formatics, and no...Nick Anthony had little, if anything, to do with it.
Kiss Country went from a 0.2 share to a 2.7 share 12 plus in one book. Recently, Russ Shafer visited all of us at the Cox Building, and Nick apologized to him for doing all of these things before Russ actually left the employ of the station. Russ replied, "Don't apologize...it needed to be done and you were right to do it."
Nick took the station's imaging to new heights. Kiss Country back then sounded just as good as a CHR station in markets like Cincinnati, and Columbus, and were a step above the "average" country stations for that time in terms of sounding good to the ear. Listen to an old aircheck, then one of the station recently, there is absolutely no comparison. Period. And, his decision to "superserve" Clark and Champaign Counties was right, and done well.
Yes...the station cracked a 3 share more than once. The poster who suggested otherwise is wrong.
Once Nick left, Joby Phillips did a good job at keeping the station going. I never suggested otherwise. I only suggested a slow, but perceivable downturn once Radio One and later Mainline took over. And a good hard look, not just at Fall-this and Spring-that, but at all the books in the past couple of years would show it. Kiss Country was beginning to lose its luster. Anyone can cherry pick ratings books to try and make a point. But. you don't just look at one or two books, you look at it over a wide period of time. In the past year, mornings showed numbers as low as a 0.2 25-54...and a 0.4 25-54 in another book (with a weekly cume of around 4,000)....a far cry from the numbers you get from a station in the high 2's and low 3's. And I know all about diary distribution...I've programmed a couple of rimshots, remember? I never suggested Kiss Country did not pop a 2 share...it did. But in the past year or so, the numbers began to wobble more than usual and go down. The station ranked 7th 25-54 in Clark County in a recent book.
Oh yeah...and how Nick got the job with Cox: I guess I can tell this now, because it's been almost 15 years. Cox did a study way back when, and the results came back they showed Kiss Country beating K-99.1 in a number of prime perceptional categories. That's why Nick got the job. Who told me that? The guy that hired Nick, Gerry McCracken. Since that, he has showed that he is an able programmer not only at country, but at newstalk and other
musical formats. And this a guy who, prior to being hired at Cox, never had worked at a "big" station before (think Springfield and Bellefontaine).
And I will dispute anyone who says Nick (or for that matter anyone at Cox) is a lackey taking orders from afar. Decisions are made locally. Yes, you bounce the ideas off a person or two...but music decisions at K-99 (and Eagle) are made locally, programming decisions are made locally. I'm not saying there aren't people in the mix...but the final decision is made here. And now that the company is getting even bigger, there's a bigger need for decisions to be made locally. The folks in Atlanta have little time to micromanage everything. Nick is today, about as far from "yes man" as you can get.
So why do the Cox stations sound similar? Maybe because...it works? But, all of the stations are not the same. Look at the playlists...there are differences. And being in so many markets, if "personality" would kick their butts, why, in so many cases doesn't it happen? Yes...not every station becomes a big winner. But most do.
Oh sure, there's something to be said about the money and the marketing. That's fair. But all the money in the world would not save a poorly programmed radio station. And that's been proven over and over and over again.
Lastly: This was not a "rant", nor intended to be. And yes, K-99 will be around when Nick is gone. But, they'll miss him...just ask anyone who works for him...or those over him. He was a smart programmer then, and today. I simply thought it was time to chronicle the work of a guy who did really well with a "hometown station" that got him to the big leagues in a way few others in this business ever get the chance. Nick was a big reason that Kiss Country became as big as it did. And I defy any of you to dispute that. That's all. Sorry that it bothers a few people in town.
And, where is Roger Mackall working today? Go up the sales floor of the Media Center....
