Ch-Ch-Changes...

[Timmy]

radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/83906/cumulus-planning-major-salt-lake-shuffle/

94.9, being a smaller signal and doing as well as it is, is quite impressive! This will be interesting to see unfold!

[CAwasinNJ]

Are they completely crazy?

I trust Lance Venta, so if he says this is what he thinks is coming I believe him. It just makes no sense. If they think that they will combine Z-Rock with K-Bear and have the ratings be the same as the two individually they're delusional. It just doesn't work that way. Doing that in order to keep The End alive is just nuts. The End is on life support and has been for years. Why would you sacrifice a station with ratings in the 2's for a station in the 1's, especially given that one of the combined stations does have a bit of a signal deficit. It would make a lot more sense to "promote" Z-Rock to 101.9 (if you're going to move it anyway) and put the experimental station on the 94.9 signal.

I do think something needed to happen with 101.9. Sorry, but The End isn't working. I mentioned that in the last ratings message. I'm just not sure Classic Hits makes sense. There seems to be a lot of overlap in the early years that The B plays and the later years that someone like The Arrow plays. Are they going to be tweaking B too? Not really sure about how all this plays out.

[radioman101]

I'm convinced changes are coming... but not exactly this way. The THREE rock properties don't make sense now... so why have THREE tweaked rock properties. Cumulus needs to abandon its hope of running an alternative station. The 94.9 domains sound pretty generic... so that really could be anything. Classic Hits on 101.9... maybe in the style of Jack or Bob... where anything goes?

Any speculation to staff changes? Everyone blown out? Keep a few around but swap them up? By the ratings, doesn't seem like the best way to go - the jocks OBVIOUSLY aren't drawing anyone now.

[radioman101]

Could this be the beginning of BIGGER changes? Todd & Erin announced on their Facebook page today that they've been let go by B98.7.

[york]

Kid Kraddick has replaced Todd and Erin, also B98.7 has a fresh logo and webpage and they are also using the slogan "Utah's Hit Music Station" Are they moving more towards the "real" Top 40 direction?

[CAwasinNJ]

That sounds an awful lot like ZHT's slogan. Wonder what Clear Channel will think of that.

[Terry]

B98.7 is sounding much better now to me. They seem to have dropped the oldies and the crossover country stuff and have added more pop stuff. They sound to me like they've found a niche between Now 97.9 and Mix 107.9. Now if they can just avoid the rap crap I will continue listening.

As far as DJ's go, I don't care about any of them. And I don't know any of their names. I'm there for the music. There were some funny and interesting DJ's decades ago. I haven't heard any for years.

Yuh, they sound good. I haven't found a reason to change stations yet. "No DJ's, no commercials. This is a sample of the new B98.7"

[CAwasinNJ]

There's an article on Radio Insight about the B changes.
radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/84131/b98-7-salt-lake-city-shifts-to-adult-chr/

Is it just me, or is there a lot of crossover between what people are calling Hot AC, AC and CHR these days?

[henry]

B98.7 isn't a CHR. It's a crappily-executed Hot AC still.

How many times have they spun Macklemore? Flo Rida? NONE! It's still Hot AC playlists from 2003 with Fall Out Boy occasionally tossed in. They're using jingles KVFX in LOGAN used four years ago.

This isn't an effort to beef up B98.7 against the competition. This is a chance for Cumulus to strip all expenses from the station and move along.

First they came for Chunga.
Blew out "Country" Joe Flint with Legends.
Then Johnson and Johnson saw what was coming and fled to CBS Seattle.
Now Todd and Erin are out.
Up next? Mick and Allen.

The days of talented, locally-produced morning shows are over (at least for medium markets)!

[radioman101]

KBEE's new direction aside... just to correct a few things Henry just wrote....

- Chunga is back with Cumulus, after being unemployed for 16 months in 2010/11. Who knows why he's back though, he's not helping them in any way.

- Johnson and Johnson couldn't come to an agreement with Citadel management, and were unemployed for over a year before they landed in Seattle. So that's not much of a case of seeing what was coming.

I'd say the Todd and Erin move is one of many on the way. KENZ's floundering can't last. And ZRock and KBER are fighting for the same audience.

[CAwasinNJ]

A few other things.

When then-Citadel inherited 94.9, they had to spin off something to stay at the ownership cap. The two choices were 94.9 and 107.5 because of the signal issues. 94.9 had a built in audience of younger demos and 107.5 skewed much older. The choice was obvious and that's why 107.5 was sold. EMF was obviously not keeping a country format.

Even if someone went straight to Seattle from SLC, that's going from market 31 to market 13. That's a promotion and anybody would be lucky to be able to do that. I wouldn't blame anyone for taking that job.

[henry]

Circumstances aside, the days of local six-figure talent is over.

You think Chunga's return is anywhere close to what he made before? I bet he's making $14 an hour now.

Why do you think Citadel and Johnson & Johnson didn't come to an agreement? Because KUBL's budget was slashed and the numbers they were giving them weren't anywhere close to what they made before.

Sure, Bruce Lindsay just happened to be called as a mission president, and Michelle King just happened to retire. But they aren't replacing them. The industry just doesn't generate those kinds of salary wars anymore. I'll never know, but I'd bet Dave McCann and Mike Headrick's combined salaries are still less than they paid Bruce Lindsay. And probably less than half they paid Dick Norse.

Dickie and Angel Shannon ... did big-money talent replace them?

Todd and Erin are just another domino in the multi-decade collapse of local-talent radio.

Keep an eye on Radio from Hell -- that's another high-budget show which will either take a huge haircut or get blown out.

What's left, besides RFH? Mick & Allen. Frankie and DB. Jon Carter.

That's it! Only four high-budget shows left on SLC music stations.

[york]

Speaking of B98.7, What does Kidd Kraddicks death mean for Mornings at the "B"?