No More Darren McFarland

[NashvilleRadioDiva]

My sources on the hill say Darren McFarland is no longer in the Zone.

[jetfli]

Traded him for ESPN?

[D Dean]

That is the cheapest ESPN EVER came!

[jetfli]

Still sad nonetheless. I hate to see anyone lose their job.

[NashvilleRadioDiva]

Still sad nonetheless. I hate to see anyone lose their job.

Agreed.

[scottwmro]

This is all a part of the Citadel Makeover!  My little AM station is a Citadel Media affiliate, and they are changing everything on our Hot AC Format. Up the road from me at WQKR-AM 1270 in Portland, whom is also a Citadel Media affiliate, got a call from Dallas, TX, where their music format is, and they were told that their Timeless Music Format is being shut down by Citadel.

My understanding is Citadel is filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and lots of staffers were let go last Thursday. Our format, Hot AC doesn't even have a Program Director right now, he was fired last Thursday.

My station does Hot AC because I wanted to be different on the AM Dial. When a person, say 30-35 years old comes to AM, it's mostly Religion, Classic Country, News/Talk, Oldies (which should be on FM), and Spanish Stations.

I was told it's a sin to play Current "Adult Top 40" on AM. Well, the way I see it, my station is paid for, just the basic utilities and taxes, and while I still have some youth left in me, I going to do what I want. There are only 4 "Hot AC" stations on the AM dial in the U.S. After 13 years of Oldies on my station (AM 1560) and competing with an FM Oldies station in Nashville, I felt it was time to make my change. Now, bear in mind my station is Religion on Sundays from 7 AM to 4 PM. After 4 PM, we go back to Hot AC, so we are not Hot AC 24/7. I am Hot AC 24/6, and Sunday Nights.

Damn, the minute I change my little AM to Hot AC, WRQQ-FM, Oldies 97.1 goes to Classic Rock. What a dumb move on Lew Dickey's part! There will be an Oldies Station return to Nashville on FM. I know the market has done without one for 3 years now. Just give Scott Shannon time to grab one of the FM's (not Lightning 100, too weak of a signal, and they are not going to change anything over there) and do it!

Heck if it was me, IMHO........I would take 103.3 WKDF, change the call letters back to WKDA-FM, get the Country Music OFF, and put on Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel on it. It would draw a huge amount of listeners and make tons of money. But they tell me I'm stupid and that won't work!

[ShadowB]

I hate to hear that Darren is no longer at the Zone. He was a hard worker and has been a good friend over the years.
~Kent Bailey

[Wind]

 Strange that Darren was cut right after ESPN was added. Makes me think more cuts are on the way to other live local shows.

[jetfli]

Strange that Darren was cut right after ESPN was added. Makes me think more cuts are on the way to other live local shows.

ESPN being added to the Zone was far more about ESPN looking for a place to land than about the Zone looking for late-night and weekend programming. Believe me, the Zone didn't take a financial hit for adding ESPN Radio. ESPN made them an offer they couldn't refuse just to get * some * of their programming back on the air in the market.

The loss of Darren was more about Citadel financial cuts. If you aren't aware of the state of the radio industry, and the state of Citadel specifically, look it up at Google News. As for other local shows, especially those "part timers" — they're around as long as the sponsors are.

[scottwmro]

Citadel owns the rights to ESPN!