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WNCX PLAYING HOST TO OLD CLEVELAND NAMES

J

JNight

Guest
Since David Lee Roth is off this week, I noticed today that WNCX 98.5 FM in Cleveland is bringing back plenty of Cleveland names from our past to help air out their mornings, today it was great hearing stories from Alex Bevan, Ruby Cheeks and especially David Spero, I heard Tuesdays guest will include Steve Popovich, Len Boom-Boom Goldberg, and Maury Saul. And all this week they will bring back different guest who influenced radio and rock and roll in Cleveland in the early days.
 
Here is the PD story on the show.
I really wonder if David Lee Roth will be back...
Maybe they can bring in Flash, Ruby and Boom to recreate the morning zoo...
Blow some stuff up, tell some tokin jokes...bust some baboons...

just kidding.



WNCX plugs in local show for vacationing David Lee Roth
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Julie E. Washington
Plain Dealer Reporter
David Lee Roth is taking a one-week hiatus from his critically drubbed morning show starting Monday, but his bosses insist he'll be back.

Roth's vacation has been planned for weeks, said Tom Herschel, vice president and general manager of WNCX FM/98.5.

Roth has had the job for less than two months. What kind of job grants vacation time that soon?

"He's exhausted. He's a superstar," Herschel said. "I don't know why he's taking a vacation."

Classic-rock station WNCX will replace Roth with a program called "Five Cleveland Mornings." Bill Louis, WNCX midday host and program director, and musician Alex Bevan will co-host the show highlighting Cleveland's radio and rock history.

Starting Monday, "Five Cleveland Mornings" will be heard 6 to 10 a.m. Monday's guests include Artful Dodger front man Billy Paliselli, radio veteran Ruby Cheeks and Cleveland Agora owner Hank LoConti Sr. Other guests throughout the week include concert promoter Jules Belkin and radio veterans Ed "Flash" Ferenc and Len "Boom Boom" Goldberg.

Roth, 51, started his show on some of Howard Stern's former stations Jan. 3. The former Van Halen frontman is heard in Cleveland, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas and West Palm Beach, Fla.
 
The death knell for DLR?

> Roth has had the job for less than two months. What kind of
> job grants vacation time that soon?
>
> "He's exhausted. He's a superstar," Herschel said. "I don't
> know why he's taking a vacation."

I'm sorry, I respect Tom Herschel, but that line stuck out like a sore thumb to me. How can DLR remotely be "exhausted" - less than two months into the gig? That's a subversive death sentence I hear.

OA brought up a salient point in OMW recently that throws a monkey wrench into the "98.5 Free FM?" rumor mill. If judging by DLR's performance both on-and-off the air, the immediant future of the classic rock format actually looks decent. It's the "don't cut off your nose despite your face" principle at work.

WNCX could easily drop DLR, plug in a local show (I'd like Flash and Ruby myself, but c'mon... ;) and perform decently. Sure, they will suffer in the ratings without Stern, but DLR will make any successor look like the Messiah.

** And what's to say that IF WNCX were "Free"d, that WMVX couldn't flip to classic rock (rebranded as "The Fox", as in Cincinnati, Mansfield and Rochester, NY) to flank both WMJI and WMMS? A stretch, yes, but CC - instead of being afraid of CBS's FM talk move - could try to use the classic rock format as a weapon instead.

- Nathan Obral<P ID="signature">______________
WTAM/1100: An Abuse of Radio Power!</P>
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

> > Roth has had the job for less than two months. What kind
> of
> > job grants vacation time that soon?
> >
> > "He's exhausted. He's a superstar," Herschel said. "I
> don't
> > know why he's taking a vacation."
>
> I'm sorry, I respect Tom Herschel, but that line stuck out
> like a sore thumb to me. How can DLR remotely be "exhausted"
> - less than two months into the gig? That's a subversive
> death sentence I hear.
>
> OA brought up a salient point in OMW recently that throws a
> monkey wrench into the "98.5 Free FM?" rumor mill. If
> judging by DLR's performance both on-and-off the air, the
> immediant future of the classic rock format actually looks
> decent. It's the "don't cut off your nose despite your face"
> principle at work.
>
> WNCX could easily drop DLR, plug in a local show (I'd like
> Flash and Ruby myself, but c'mon... ;) and perform decently.
> Sure, they will suffer in the ratings without Stern, but DLR
> will make any successor look like the Messiah.
>
> ** And what's to say that IF WNCX were "Free"d, that WMVX
> couldn't flip to classic rock (rebranded as "The Fox", as in
> Cincinnati, Mansfield and Rochester, NY) to flank both WMJI
> and WMMS? A stretch, yes, but CC - instead of being afraid
> of CBS's FM talk move - could try to use the classic rock
> format as a weapon instead.
>
> - Nathan Obral
>


And add this: Drudge Report flash: DLR flagship WFNY (formerly WXRK) can't crack a 2 share in DLR's first two months. The last Stern book had gotten WXRK/WFNY nearly a 8 share. (not exact share, for obvious reasons...)

That, and with this week, may spell the end of DLR.

- Nathan Obral<P ID="signature">______________
WTAM/1100: An Abuse of Radio Power!</P>
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

>
> And add this: Drudge Report flash: DLR flagship WFNY
> (formerly WXRK) can't crack a 2 share in DLR's first two
> months. The last Stern book had gotten WXRK/WFNY nearly a 8
> share. (not exact share, for obvious reasons...)
>
> That, and with this week, may spell the end of DLR.
>
> - Nathan Obral
>


To play devil's advocate, any seasoned programmer will tell you it takes 18-24 months - with aggressive marketing - before a new AM show "pops". That's for a local show. Now with DLR...that's national, and the stakes are higher.
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

> >
> > And add this: Drudge Report flash: DLR flagship WFNY
> > (formerly WXRK) can't crack a 2 share in DLR's first two
> > months. The last Stern book had gotten WXRK/WFNY nearly a
> 8
> > share. (not exact share, for obvious reasons...)
> >
> > That, and with this week, may spell the end of DLR.
> >
> > - Nathan Obral
> >
>
>
> To play devil's advocate, any seasoned programmer will tell
> you it takes 18-24 months - with aggressive marketing -
> before a new AM show "pops". That's for a local show. Now
> with DLR...that's national, and the stakes are higher.

Chuck, there aren't any seasoned programmers anymore. They all got fired four years ago.

And no programmer nowadays has 18-24 months. If they did, MMS might have found a solution before.

Now, mind you, 18-24 is the CORRECT amount of time for new programming or a new format to show signs of staying power, but that's in the perfect world (you know, like it was back in the dark ages...10 years ago).

P.S. The FM 88.9 Alter-Nation/Sunday Oldies Jukebox Fund Drive is now up and running. So much fun on the air and hopefully to you listening at home, at work, or in the car, and it all goes to support great listener-supported, listener-responsible radio, great music from now and then, and great happenings all around Northeastern Ohio.
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

>
> To play devil's advocate, any seasoned programmer will tell
> you it takes 18-24 months - with aggressive marketing -
> before a new AM show "pops". That's for a local show. Now
> with DLR...that's national, and the stakes are higher.
>

Yeah, but if the show's a stiff, it won't pop in 18-24 years. Bad is bad and Roth is worse than terrible.
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

> Yeah, but if the show's a stiff, it won't pop in 18-24
> years. Bad is bad and Roth is worse than terrible.>


DLR is the worst-sounding major market air personality I've heard in 40 years.

He sounds like he's never been inside a radio station even as a guest. His awareness of what's going on around him is breath-takingly poor.

How on earth could CBS put such a wildly out-of-touch person in such an important position?

Howard Stern has never done much for me, but you've got to give Stern the credit he deserves: he made himself a multi-millionaire when just about everybody he worked for tried to make him conform.
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

>
> How on earth could CBS put such a wildly out-of-touch person
> in such an important position?

The only sane explanation would be that CBS felt that whomever followed Howard would be destined to fail.... that no matter how good the replacement might be, the audience would not accept him/her. Maybe this was just something to "clear the palate" and lower the bar. Put the "real" replacement on in 3-6 months. To quote late president Lyndon Johnson: "There's nothing like stepping in cowflop to make tripping on a stone seem like fun."


> Howard Stern has never done much for me, but you've got to
> give Stern the credit he deserves: he made himself a
> multi-millionaire when just about everybody he worked for
> tried to make him conform.

I was never one for Howard's act, but definitely credit where credit is due... he was BRILLIANT at what he did and literally defined the genere.
 
Re: The death knell for DLR?

> WNCX could easily drop DLR, plug in a local show (I'd like
> Flash and Ruby myself, but c'mon... ;) and perform decently.
> Sure, they will suffer in the ratings without Stern, but DLR
> will make any successor look like the Messiah.
>
> ** And what's to say that IF WNCX were "Free"d, that WMVX
> couldn't flip to classic rock (rebranded as "The Fox", as in
> Cincinnati, Mansfield and Rochester, NY) to flank both WMJI
> and WMMS? A stretch, yes, but CC - instead of being afraid
> of CBS's FM talk move - could try to use the classic rock
> format as a weapon instead.

I hope not. The Fox stations (there's a few in tiny Ohio markets like Ashtabula and North Baltimore) bore me to death with their 8 song playlists. WNCX is one of the few classic rock stations that gets it right - most of the rest have flipped to Jack by now.

I thought DLR sold a lot of Sirius subscriptions in Pittsburgh, until I drove up to Cleveland yesterday morning. Driving on 480 in not-terrible traffic, I heard Stern on various cars' Sirius FM transmitters (besides mine) consistently, all the way into the city. At one point, Stern could be heard at 88.1, 88.3, and 88.5 at the same time.

On an unrelated note - it's good to hear Howie Chizek & Joe Finan going head-to-head in afternoons!

Side note: I've read more than a few DLR interviews - the guy has a history of going on mountain biking trips while on tour and working as a paramedic nowadays, and after two months of morning radio, he's exhausted? Kinda makes his "this radio stuff ain't heavy lifting" line during his first show seem trite. Wonder if he's changed his opinion - apparently no one heard it, if he did. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by DrC on 03/02/06 01:57 AM.</FONT></P>
 
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