11.06.2006

 

Turn Out The Lite, The Party's Over: Buchner, Kennedy Dimmed At WLTW

Robin Taylor is spinning in her grave.

Today, Clear Channel turned out the "Lite" on not only longtime evening personality J.J. Kennedy, but longtime morning man Bill Buchner. This on the heels of WLTW releasing other household names over the past several months, like Steven E. Roy and Rick Sommers - whom both, if I'm not mistaken, have found new opportunities on the dial, and it wouldn't surprise me if Bill and J.J. returned to the air in some form.

Clearly, one can't help if the move was being made not by Jim Ryan, but by Clear Channel corporate. They've been known to call plenty of shots that resulted in the termination of a legendary presence on the radio (most recently, putting the 22-year-old rock format on WRDU Raleigh-Durham out to pasture). Some are speculating that it was a money decision to let Bill and J.J. go. (A possible sale of the percentage of CC shares to Google is said to be the motivator for all the recent bloodletting, errr, housecleaning in recent months.) Now, I realize the radio business isn't all chutes and ladders, but hell, if you're a valued employee of at least 20 years, you should be given the opportunity to take a pay cut to stay *on* the air!

Unless, of course, that's another hidden factor of the Lite cuts today. It's interesting if what some people are saying is true about wanting to take the station in a younger direction, with jocks that don't sound old. If that's the case, explain then why WAXQ recently resigned morning man Jim Kerr to a contract extension? Hey, I respect Jim Kerr, and do occassionally listen to portions of his show. He's still got it. But didn't they hire Leslie Gold & Co. - who would eventually be replaced by Kerr - in a desperate attempt to skew younger?

I again refer to the aforementioned flipping of WRDU here. Is there some kind of magic formula that can market classic rock to a younger demographic? Because if it doesn't exist, if age is part of the reason why Bill and J.J. left Lite, I can't imagine how many heads will roll at Q104.3. And I certainly don't wish that, nor is it the time to speculate on who will get the boot - hey, I have a job myself that I enjoy; I certainly wouldn't want outsiders telling me when I get the boot. But with all that said, you've got to say a prayer for the airstaff at the Q - whom, mind you, has been running promos telling the listeners "You made us Number One!" (in some unspecified demographic). Bob Buchmann has years of success programming the format, and shouldn't be asked not to continue his two-hour Monday-Thursday show. Ever. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water. And please spare the rest of the airstaff, from Maria Milito all the way down to Carol Miller, who was not fired, but the victim of a format change at the legendary WNEW in 1999. I'll never forget the conclusion of her final airshift, then weeknights 7 to 10 pm after Opie & Anthony - those were the days, huh? - and her voice cracking over the intro to Billy Joel's "Miami 2017 (I've Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)". Memo to Clear Channel management: Take a page from the WNEW scrapbook - and not the Scott Muni/Dave Herman chapter. These personalities are dedicated to the format, and should leave on their own terms. Given the business climate of radio these days, it may be a little too much to ask, but don't screw the Q like you did Lite in many listeners' eyes.

And to any concerned Q listeners reading this blog, fear not: I know of no such impending dismissals at the station. None. Luckily, I just have a tendency of jumping to conclusions, and sometimes making these predictions - but no, no news here.

I can confirm one tidbit of information, however:

According to colleague Matt Craig, he has confirmed - through J.J. herself - that her airshift is being replaced by Delilah, whose show is syndicated by - anyone? Bueller? - yep, Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks wing. I tell ya, how times change. Remember back in 1999, and a little internet rumor sprouted on Lance Venta's old Mid-Atlantic Radio Board, and spread to Allan Sniffen's board - or vice versa, I don't remember - that suggested the Delilah program - which at the time was catching like wildfire, and at the same time, heard on several suburban stations in the New York metro area - was going to replace J.J.'s popular "Lite At Night" all-request program? It didn't take long before Allan confirmed straight from the horse's mouth - Jim Ryan - that there are no such plans to instill Delilah anywhere on the WLTW schedule. Remember, this was 1999. Delilah was syndicated through Jones Radio at the time. Boy, how times change. You may recall back in July, the aforementioned Lance broke a story (see "Delilah Coming To 10X.X FM", 7.26.06) regarding a "pending New York City clearance" of her show. Was this really in the works for three months? Was there any reason to leave Marianne "J.J. Kennedy" Roque twisting in the wind for over a quarter of a year? Such is the radio business, I guess. That's the thanks you get for all your years of service.

And again, while I'm not predicting anyone's dismissal at Clear Channel New York, with such a one-two punch like this - and by the way, don't be stupid and ax Valerie Smaldone, Al Bernstein or Victor Sosa, either - it makes me wonder if they're going to voicetrack overnights? I believe there was some union contract clause that prohibits voicetracking overnight in the top 3 radio markets, so there really shouldn't be a problem. And Victor Sosa, currently holding down the overnights, is good at what he does, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did move up to another daypart, but especially after what's happened today, don't make it at Al Bernstein's expense. Or Valerie Smaldone's. Like the Q104.3 staff, they should be given the choice to leave on their own terms. The fact that now over half of the household names that made "106.7 Lite FM" what it is today - a billing monster, according to BIAFN - have not had that opportunity, has the entire New York City radio community, including myself, up in arms.

Look, Clear Channel has already made several cuts this year at its other New York stations - remember WKTU's Bill Lee, and Baltazar, and (the eventually hired back for afternoons) Goumba Johnny? (In fact today, All Access.com reports that longtime production director Valerie Palma has left WKTU.) Power 105.1 let people go this year - okay, so perhaps Star and Buc Wild don't really count in this instance. But when WLTW is consistently your money maker, you continue to shake it. Not shake it up.

If it ain't broke, bring in a traffic reporter to co-host the show with the longtime morning guy.

If it ain't broke, fire said morning guy.

If it ain't broke, replace the evening queen with one piped in from Seattle.

I know that in an era where we saw WCBS-FM "The Golden 101" get Jack-ed, the "Z Morning Zoo" being outsourced to Miami, and the place "Where Rock Lives" lose their lease to the likes of Tom Leykis, such drastic moves shouldn't surprise us radio listeners. Perhaps it's the connection we felt to these personalities, and the fact that they won't be heard on the radio again (at least on that frequency, in some cases) is just hard to accept. It's times like these where, if you're in the position, you have to thank your lucky stars that you're just a casual radio listener - or a half-assed observer like me - and not in the radio business itself.

In closing: Lite Mornings. Well, we know that Delilah is replacing J.J. and "the Lite at Night" (and if they start calling it "The Lite at Night with Delilah", they will really disgrace J.J.'s reputation). But whither mornings? Is Christine Nagy going to fly solo? Or is what some are speculating true that she will be effectively babysitting Whoopi, currently on WKTU? Okay, I know we're all a little loopy from today's transactions, but let's put this into perspective here: To launch Whoopi's show on WKTU, and less than four months later, bring it over to WLTW - not only will it confuse whatever audience it already has, but it'll really sully Lite's format, and by that, I mean the presentation that we've all come to know, listen to, and love over the past 20 years. When you have Whoopi and Cubby yukking it up, going into a Billy Joel song, coming back with more chit-chat, and then the Lite work day kicks off, you know what that sounds like? That sounds like Lite FM in Charlotte, maybe. That doesn't sound like New York's Lite FM. Also, where are Lite's listeners going to go if they don't want to hear Christmas music? They clearly don't want all them bah-humbuggers to go outside their cluster to PLJ. They've groomed KTU's playlist so that it might hold them over during that period. What's more, keep in mind that WKTU, as I stated earlier, just recently brought back Goumba Johnny and reunited him with Hollywood Hamilton for afternoon drive, so I don't think WKTU - in this incarnation, anyway - is going anywhere for a while. And when it does, the format wheel will land on Spanish, and rival WNEW - because it has to be a follower, not a leader - will compete with their own Spanish format.

Let me ask you: are the chances of WNEW picking up all these free agents and starting their own station to compete with Lite FM really that great? Smart move, sure, but as much as I'd like to see that happen, and all these WLTW castoffs get another opportunity, if the motivation didn't exist for WNEW to compete with 106.7 before, it shouldn't make any difference to them now. In fact, I'd venture to guess country would return to FM radio in New York before WNEW competes with Lite FM.

But I sincerely hope the same can be said for Bill and Marianne.

Oh yeah... Merry Christmas. I'm assuming you two will be looking elsewhere for your holiday hits.
Comments:
Kratoville is still there. I think Jim Ryan mentioned he's filling in on the AM show until a permanent host is named
 
My apologies - for some reason, I thought he popped up on a suburban station - probably thinking of someone else. I've since struck his name from the record. Sorry for any confusion.
 
Sounds like the CC virus has spread to NYC - a shame. Philly's legendary Donna Rowland and newly revived 104.5 WSNI took the hit over the summer for a more latino sound - just what the Philly 28-54 female listeners wanted, another reason to go back to B101. Word has it that Jimbo couldn't compete with the talented PM and his old boss at B101 ~ the clear victors.
 
Diamond Joe,

What ever became of Dave Herman?

I used to listen to him on WMMR 93.3 in Philly ... I loved his "Marconi Experiment" from the inaugural show.

I heard that he went back to NYC and left (WNEW?) with the late Scott Muni (and others?) in a Friday the 13th purge.

Thanks!

m.e.t.s.
 
Anyone know where Donna Rowland landed...?
 
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