Tag Archives: The Loop

That MO FO Brandmeier

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When I was the PD of Nine FM we had a morning show issue.  We had to get rid of a morning show that didn’t fit the direction we were taking the station in but my GM wouldn’t allow me to cut bait until we had a solution.

Serving Chicagoland from the suburbs, we had the hurdle of being suburban stations which were held to Chicago standards.

I pitched an idea I thought would work brilliantly, especially since our variety format was geared toward gold pop-rock hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

I told Harvey Wells (the GM) I wanted to reach out to Jonathon Brandmeier’s “people”.  He laughed.  He didn’t laugh because Johnny was a bad idea, but because he and I both knew we didn’t have $2million a year to pay Johnny B.

At the time, Brandmeier was on the air in LA and just doing ok.  In fact as I continued to pester Harvey (I don’t give up easily) things changed and Brandmeier was off in LA and rumors were swirling about his return to Chicago to be near family.  I argued Brandmeier would be back.  If LA didn’t work, Chicago was going to work AND I’ve long felt that the rise of Eric & Kathy in mornings was directly related to Johnny B’s absence in morning drive in Chicago during E&K’s rise.

None of that mattered.  I didn’t want Brandmeier to do a live morning show.  I wanted his “best of” shows.  I wanted to play his best of shows in between the Cars songs and other pop-rock 70s & 80s songs we focused on.  These were the songs that were popular when Johnny was at his height.  I wanted to hire a team of interns and producers to cut up these “Bits of Brandmeier” so we could fit them in between songs in morning drive and eventually afternoon drive.

The Portable People Meters were on their way and I believed (and I still do) that stations with star talent should build their stations around those stars.  Music stations have nothing unique.  Anyone can play Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday, and EVERYONE did.  Top 40, Hot AC, Modern Rock, Rock, AAA, Alternative, AC and Variety WERE ALL PLAYING THE SONG.  The only formats that weren’t were Urban or Country!

So my plan was to convince Brandmeier’s “people” to license his “best of” shows to 9 FM so we could boast BRANDMEIER MORNINGS.  Then when the PPMs came I would also run BRANDMEIER in Afternoons.  Needless to say, Harvey didn’t buy into it.  While a smart radio station in Chicago did bring Brandmeier back….they failed to build a station around him and the audience he brings.

The result was, The Loop didn’t fit Brandmeier, and Brandmeier didn’t fit The Loop.  You would think the folks at Emmis would have know this since they watched this same movie play out with Mancow.  Your morning star has to be the star of the station, not just the star of mornings.

This all centers around my theory that if TV Land played re-runs of Johnny Carson’s tonight show opposite Leno and Letterman, TV Land would show huge numbers.  Upon further reflection though I’ve changed my tune and I believe Carson would have to air earlier on TV Land.

So if there was one PD willing to run the “best of” a top tier morning show that once was….is there one more?  Perhaps not.

The bigger question is:  Steve Dahl, Mancow Muller, Kevin Matthews, Danny Bonduce, Wendy & Bill, Eddie & Jobo, Drex, Eric & Kathy;  Where is your 24/7 stream of your “best of” shows?  Where is your flashback podcast?  I’d listen to commercials on a podcast to hear Steve & Garry from the 80s.

Heck, I’d even pay $5.95 a month.  I bet others would too.

P.S.  We ended up hiring Steve Fisher and pairing him up with Joey Fortman for mornings and they worked very well together.

“Nightmare Commute” – Chicago Tribune

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December 16, 2008 is the day many folks will remember as “the day traffic stood still” for upwards of 4 hours. Upwards of 4 hours. Now try as you might, you’d be hard pressed to gab on the phone to friends and loved ones for 4 hours.

You can’t watch TV in a car for 4 hours….safely.

You can’t read the newspaper for 4 hours in your car….safely.

But there’s always the good old RADIO.

So as radio faces the toughest times in radio HISTORY, you’d think radio would have seized this opportunity right!? I mean we all knew this storm was coming hours ahead of time.

I am happy to report that radio sprung into action.

The Mix in Chicago (WTMX) had a team of producers cutting up best of audio from Eric & Kathy’s show. They packaged it perfectly with voice overs from station voice John Pleasie (sp?) and billed this special 4+ hours of Eric and Kathy in the afternoon as The Mix Presents Eric & Kathy’s Polar Express! It was great! Instead of listening to 14 songs an hour and traffic updates that helped not, we were entertained in our cars and 4 hours felt like 45 minutes!

The Loop in Chicago (WLUP) went so far as to bring Jonathon Brandmeier back for a live afternoon show! I was flabbergasted when I heard Johnny B. taking phone calls and talking with listeners about the worst pot holes in Chicago, the BEST place to stop off for a beer, and the ultimate beef joints. Johnny could have told Loop management to piss off and he’s the MORNING guy, but he gets it. He knows radio and The Loop specifically are having a tough time and he’s their star. All they had to do was ask and Johnny B. was on the scene proving why he’s been a Chicago institution for decades, and why he’ll continue to be worth every penny of his big radio salary down the road, if he’s used properly.

Jack FM (WJMK) in Chicago was the real shocker though. I about flipped my car over when I heard Steve Dahl and Buzz Killman on in the afternoon! The ink wasn’t even dry on their pink slips and here they were, doing what they do best….entertaining Chicago in afternoon drive. It was an out-of-the box move by CBS Chicago management, but brilliant. If AC stations can flip to Christmas music and see a boost surely the PPMs will reflect this risk….and it’s really not a risk since they were already paying Steve anyway. What a great way to do some R&D! Steve was smart for making it happen even though he had to secure studio time in Florida to make it work. It’s times like these when you remember what you love about radio in Chicago.

Kiss FM (WKSC) in Chicago took an entirely different approach. They had their morning star Drex piped in from his apartment via the web while co-host Mel T. was in studio. It was another creative way of taking advantage of an opportunity to entertain to a captive audience during a unique time when the same old songs just wouldn’t do, and it worked brilliantly. The best part was they had chances to txt your snails pace time to the station to win secret santa prizes and they even qualified 12 listeners for a trip to Mexico! On my end of the speakers, a trip to someplace warm with NO SNOW sounded great! They said they had over 10,000 people register via text in 15 minutes! I bet their database exploded from this experiment.

Sadly, none of this actually happened. The talk stations talked. The music stations played music. To make matters worse, the music stations did lots of traffic updates which really didn’t help.

Wake up radio. If you’re just playing music when something big is happening in your audience’s life, you’re not connecting. Someone will, and there’s going to be a line of sponsors waiting to reward the mavericks who make an effort. There will also be plenty of room in the old media graveyard for those who try to keep on trucking with the same boring approach.