radiorob2.0 said:
greg.hahn said:
KyDXIn said:
Can someone tell me the background on Kelly Carls and how he got control of the most powerful AM station in town? I'm just wondering how he got from point A to point B. Seems like years ago you would from time to time hear him filling in. I know his counterpart in Cincy, Darrell Parks, actually hosts a show on the weekends.
Kelly was PD of Sentry Broadcasting's 1330 WRRR in Rockford, IL in 1982 when they bought the FM I worked for, WYBR-FM 104.9. I worked with Kelly for about a month during that transition. (Now WNTA and WXRX)
He was a PD in Oklahoma City after that at some point, but I don't know which station.
By 1987 he had become the PD of KQFX in Austin, TX, a sister station to WRKA at the time. (It's now KHFI)
He came to Clear Channel Louisville as a program manager of some sort in 1988 or 89. He's been a PD for 28 years that I know of.
Did you guys really think he was going to let you pick his next talk show host?
Kelly Carls became WHAS PD around 1997.
Joe Elliott mentioned a reason for cancellation concerned branding. His program was out of sync with the conservative talk show line up. The new host follows the brand of the other non-sports caller intensive program.
Add me to the list who wished Joe Elliott the 9-Noon shift and now disappointed
So what was Carls' position at WHAS/WAMZ prior to 1997? He was definitely there, and he wasn't the water boy. He might not have been PD, but he was somebody important.
The Joe Elliott statement you allude to makes sense. Francene wasn't conservative, and competing stations were attacking WHAS with conservative shows. (Laura Ingraham, Mike Gallagher.)
I'm a Rush fan, but Francene was too much mushy milquetoast for me. If I wanted talk in the morning, it was almost always one of the other two, though I'd always listen to Rush rather than Dennis Miller. I'm betting there are lots of 50 year old guys just like me and it was starting to have an effect.
And here's the thing about Joe: He's pretty much a centrist too. I like Joe, but that wouldn't have switched me off of Laura Ingraham.
I'm betting Mandy was chosen because of her conservative leanings.