S
Scott Hamilton
Guest
WOW! I just found out about this board a few weeks ago and enjoyed reading some of the goings on in the market, but this thread has taken a huge turn for the worst, I'd say.
The only reason i'm going to post is to set the record straight on a couple of issues.
1. As far as Michael James, I don't know him, nor have I listened to him. I would not even dare to speculate as to the specific reasons for his firing.
I can tell you, however, that people get fired in radio for one of two reasons: ratings or attitude.
The better your ratings, the more attitude management will put up with. But there is a point where the attitude far exceeds the ratings. Because remember, this is small market radio, two ratings book per year radio. Maybe morning shows have higher status, but the rest of the dayparts can be pretty easily replaced, because the people listen for the music. If it was talk radio, you'd run the risk of listeners moving on. However, if it's a regular daypart jock, the listener is going to stay for the music they like. And, because of the Fall/Spring only market, the station has basically six months from the last book to get the listeners to "warm up" to the new jock anyway.
I'm sure I came dangerously close to being fired by Gary and Steve at 'ZXL multiple times, because I went from being a 25 year old kid to a divorced dad w/child support inside of 2 years, and only making $21,900. I wasn't happy, and I didn't really hide it at the station.
The problem was, Joe Ciapanna and I kept getting great ratings for our target audience, so to fire me meant to fire the show, which they didn't want to do.
So, again, I don't know what happened to Michael James, but those are the two reasons he would have been fired.
2. I'm going to side with Floridarocker's mode of thinking on the radio buys. This market is very susceptible to diary placement because of the small sample size. One book in the late 90's, 'ZXL, 'MID, 'JSE and DOX all went down considerably, while 'FPG and 'AYV went up big time. I forget the exact year and book, but the point is that all of the sudden the amount of people in the market that listened to any kind of rock seemingly abandoned that format for AC and Light FM. No way. It was book placement.
So, whether or not you think Floridarocker's right, the facts are that if he stops buying 'MGM because of Michael James' firing, regardless of the ratings, he really won't notice much, if any, fallout as long as he buys on another station with the same target audience (salespeople reading this will hate me for saying that, but it's true).
3. Meanwhile, let me just go on the record and say that Rich DeSisto was our mid-day guy at ZXL and the music director. He was there when I got there in '94 and he left in '97 to become a PD in W. Virginia. It is absolutely no surprise to me that he got work at 'YSP in Philly, or that he was hired as the PD for The Shark. He has a great voice and a great knowledge of both radio and rock music. The Shark will only benefit from having him there.
Barb LaRue was doing part time at ZXL when I did mornings. She has been in this market for quite some time, and is one of the nicest people, you will ever meet and has one of those awesome female radio deeper silky smooth radio voices. I think that's another great hire for the Shark!
4. Finally - seeing how people seem to hide who they really are on this board, and others try to figure out who they are, let me put the bio out there, so there's no misunderstanding. Not that it matters, I haven't been on the air in 8+ years, but if I'm going to post, I might as well put it all out there:
Aug 94-April '95; 100.7 WZXL mornings- Molly and Scott in the Morning
April '95-May '95; 'ZXL nights (3 weeks between when Molly left and Joe was hired)
May '95-Jan 2000; ZXL mornings - Joe and Scott Show
The only reason i'm going to post is to set the record straight on a couple of issues.
1. As far as Michael James, I don't know him, nor have I listened to him. I would not even dare to speculate as to the specific reasons for his firing.
I can tell you, however, that people get fired in radio for one of two reasons: ratings or attitude.
The better your ratings, the more attitude management will put up with. But there is a point where the attitude far exceeds the ratings. Because remember, this is small market radio, two ratings book per year radio. Maybe morning shows have higher status, but the rest of the dayparts can be pretty easily replaced, because the people listen for the music. If it was talk radio, you'd run the risk of listeners moving on. However, if it's a regular daypart jock, the listener is going to stay for the music they like. And, because of the Fall/Spring only market, the station has basically six months from the last book to get the listeners to "warm up" to the new jock anyway.
I'm sure I came dangerously close to being fired by Gary and Steve at 'ZXL multiple times, because I went from being a 25 year old kid to a divorced dad w/child support inside of 2 years, and only making $21,900. I wasn't happy, and I didn't really hide it at the station.
The problem was, Joe Ciapanna and I kept getting great ratings for our target audience, so to fire me meant to fire the show, which they didn't want to do.
So, again, I don't know what happened to Michael James, but those are the two reasons he would have been fired.
2. I'm going to side with Floridarocker's mode of thinking on the radio buys. This market is very susceptible to diary placement because of the small sample size. One book in the late 90's, 'ZXL, 'MID, 'JSE and DOX all went down considerably, while 'FPG and 'AYV went up big time. I forget the exact year and book, but the point is that all of the sudden the amount of people in the market that listened to any kind of rock seemingly abandoned that format for AC and Light FM. No way. It was book placement.
So, whether or not you think Floridarocker's right, the facts are that if he stops buying 'MGM because of Michael James' firing, regardless of the ratings, he really won't notice much, if any, fallout as long as he buys on another station with the same target audience (salespeople reading this will hate me for saying that, but it's true).
3. Meanwhile, let me just go on the record and say that Rich DeSisto was our mid-day guy at ZXL and the music director. He was there when I got there in '94 and he left in '97 to become a PD in W. Virginia. It is absolutely no surprise to me that he got work at 'YSP in Philly, or that he was hired as the PD for The Shark. He has a great voice and a great knowledge of both radio and rock music. The Shark will only benefit from having him there.
Barb LaRue was doing part time at ZXL when I did mornings. She has been in this market for quite some time, and is one of the nicest people, you will ever meet and has one of those awesome female radio deeper silky smooth radio voices. I think that's another great hire for the Shark!
4. Finally - seeing how people seem to hide who they really are on this board, and others try to figure out who they are, let me put the bio out there, so there's no misunderstanding. Not that it matters, I haven't been on the air in 8+ years, but if I'm going to post, I might as well put it all out there:
Aug 94-April '95; 100.7 WZXL mornings- Molly and Scott in the Morning
April '95-May '95; 'ZXL nights (3 weeks between when Molly left and Joe was hired)
May '95-Jan 2000; ZXL mornings - Joe and Scott Show