Blood Bath at ABC Radio (Citadel)

[OKCRadioGuy]

"Hmmm.  Maybe you haven't heard, but one of the channels is offering Kidd Kraddick.  Now he's not what he used to be, but he's got to be better than what was on there before.."

Kraddick lost it years ago when KEGL moved him off nights IMHO. He was truely one of the greatest night jocks ever IMHO but wasn't too great in afternoon dive and truly stinks in mornings.  Other than just being around so long people have got used to him, I don't understand why he has the numbers he does down there. Our chr here in okc tried him for a while with absolutely no sucess.  They were never so happy to pull his sat feed off in favor of a real local morning show...

[Bill Wolfenbarger]

This is Citadel's "marqee talent".  How is marqee talent going to make a small rural station sound more local?  The strength of satellite-delivered 24/7 music formats is that small rural stations can use them in conjunction with local talent to present a local feel 24/7.  Once you start utilizing famous national names, you've lost it.

It's not likely that a local listener will think that Kidd Kraddick or Ryan Seacrest or John Tesh is sitting in the studio down by the transmitter in Dumptruck, Iowa.

[Steve Eberhart]

...well, do those same people in "Dumptruck" think Jay Leno is doing his monologue down at the local TV studio?....
do they think the Dallas Cowboys are playing at the local high school when they watch a game?....
entertainment is entertainment - doesn't matter WHERE it's coming from.

[bleonard62]

You're right, Steve......I have been hesitant to chime in here, but, I have to answer some of the allegations about the lack of talent at the network. I have been in this business for 43 years and have a pretty fair resume that includes a #1 morning show in Philly, mornings at WLS in Chicago and practically a quarter century at ABC Radio network. In those 25 years, I worked with some of the most talented professionals I have ever known. Dedicated people who gave it their all on a daily basis. It seems that some of the posts here are coming from wannabee's who are neverwere's. Satellite Music Network/ABC Radio Network provided a valuable service to a lot of small and medium market stations by utilizing a good amount of very capable major market talent. I feel privileged to have worked with most of the people I worked with over the years. It's extremely easy to criticize something about which you know absolutely nothing.

[BenB]

wannabee's who are neverwere's

90-95% of the posters here

[donicus]

wannabee's who are neverwere's

90-95% of the posters here

Never been on radio, never wanted to be on radio. Just like listening to radio and reading whats going on in the industry.

[gr8oldies]

Got a DVD full that I gave my grandson on his first birthday

[Bill Wolfenbarger]

Yes, the networks have some great talent, but less than last week, and less than a couple of years ago because of cost-cutting by the networks.

Bob Leonard, Peter Stewart, Tom Kennedy, Jonathan, Lori, etc.  The list goes on and on.  The network talent in most cases was much better than we would be able to afford locally, but they are all believable to the listeners.  Most of our listeners actually thought that these talented people were part of our community in many ways.

Part of the reason it worked for us was that the talent was great, but people couldn't point to them and say they were national shows.

My reference to "marqee talent" was focused on names that are familiar across the country that in most cases are producing or voice-tracking a show that is obviously national, but appears on my local small town radio station.

If I wanted nationally-recognized produced network shows, I would have contracted with them directly.

Because we're in the Pacific time zone and have a local morning show, we only picked up 3-6am and I didn't think too much about it until I had a professional middle-aged woman the other day tell me how disappointed she was that "Richard & Lori" were not on anymore.  She explained that she gets up at 4:30 am and listened regularly.  Yes, entertainment is entertainment, but it had a local feel to it. 

[TheBigA]

Yes, the networks have some great talent, but less than last week, and less than a couple of years ago because of cost-cutting by the networks.

Things change.  So what you used is now gone.  Time to move on.

The DJs your listeners liked didn't die.  They're still alive and out of work.  What needs to happen is some enterprising person wake up and bring them together and put them back on the air.  It's not out of the question, it's not impossible, although they may have to sit out a non-compete.  If it's too expensive for your small station, I'm sure there are ten or so other stations who feel the same as you.  Give them a call.  This is how companies start.  Necessity is the mother of invention.

[PTBoardOp94]

Things change.  So what you used is now gone.  Time to move on.

The DJs your listeners liked didn't die.  They're still alive and out of work.  What needs to happen is some enterprising person wake up and bring them together and put them back on the air.  It's not out of the question, it's not impossible, although they may have to sit out a non-compete.  If it's too expensive for your small station, I'm sure there are ten or so other stations who feel the same as you.  Give them a call.  This is how companies start. 

A big thumbs up to BigA.

From what I've heard a number of Hits & Favorites affiliates are still very upset by the changes.  It'd need to get done in a hurry.