Thursday, January 12, 2012

1.12.12 Bee-otch of the Day: WKLT



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Name: Northern Broadcast
Age: 32
Occupation: broadcasting company
Last Seen: Minot, ND
Bee-otched For: proving that they put profits in front of both employees and listeners


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On this date 58 years ago, the greatest personality in the history of radio was born.

Howard Stern came from humble beginnings on Long Island, realizing that in order to succeed in life, you have to take a risk or two. In the long run, it worked. He went from making $96 per week working at a small progressive rock station in upstate New York to making $100 million per year on satellite radio. Yes, he did step down in his journey, when he went from Detroit to Washington in the early 80's. But, it was at DC 101 that he realized that he didn't want to be another loser in radio that's worked 35 stations in 30 years.

I'll betcha that his risk-taking worked, or else WKLT would have been one of his stops.

Last week, the Traverse City heritage rocker celebrated 30 years as a rock station, um, I mean, The Rock Station. It too, had humble beginnings broadcasting with 6,000 watts from a small building in downtown Kalkaska across from the police station to having two signals blanketing all of northern Michigan. Like most radio stations, KLT has seen its fair share of jocks come and go, but shockingly enough, it's only had two owners.

Northern Broadcast bought KLT in 1984 from its original owner, Roy Henderson, who now owns WLDR/Sunny Country 101.9 and a now-competing rock station, WOUF/99.3 The Wolf. The company is owned by the Gokey family of Minot, ND, who own a Pepsi distributorship. In an age of consolidation and stations changing owners every fortnight, NBI is still family owned.

Sadly, like the Clear Channels and Cumuluses of the world, they could care less about their listeners or even their employees. Case in point: Finster.

Just a few days after Christmas, the other half of KLT's top-rated morning show was shown the door while the other half, Omelette, wasn't. The official reason wasn't given, but many who have followed KLT over the years know the real reason: money. NBI has had a long, sad history of treating their jocks like shit, especially those who actually bring ratings to their stations.

Now, the morning show at KLT is called Omelette and Friends. Sounds like some program for pre-schoolers.

Back in the mid-90's, there was Tim Murphy. Murf was #2 in the ratings and had a devout following. However, he was shown the door. Why? Because one morning, he decided to talk trash about the now-former Arby's on Front St. He talked about how the service was slow, the employees were rude and how the food was cold. At the same time, the local manager of Arby's purchased ad time on NBI's stations. He told the station manager to fire Murf and that was that.

Oh, and Arby's purchased a whopping $300 of ad time.

Of course, KLT ended up with a burned-out former KSHE/St. Louis jock named Jim Ellis for mornings. He came, got ratings and got canned. Same went with pretty much every other morning jock that conquered (and Ellis came back for one more tour of duty in the early 00's; he died ~5 years ago) and got the boot due to so-called money issues.

What's funny is that they'll fire the morning guy, but the old and outdated Terri Ray is still around.

I find it funny that somebody with ZERO rock background can ever program a rock station. Then again, since throughout the 1990's, KLT was the only rocker in town - save for the classic rocker now known as The Bear - and even with bands like KoRn, Limp Bizkit and Nine Inch Nails ruling rock radio at the time, KLT had a license to suck by ODing on 1970's butt rock and Melissa Etheridge. 

True, KLT has even more competition from the aforementioned Wolf and Bear, plus Real Rock 105/95-5, they're still in the lead in the rock radio race. But, I think that's gonna change. I think the older listeners are going to go back to Bob and Tom on The Bear and the youngin's will go to Free Beer and Hot Wings on Real Rock (and people like me who realize that Howard Stern can kick all their collective asses will always have Sirius). I think NBI has once again buried their heads in the sand and put the listener last. Remember, this is the same NBI that killed off 106.7 The Peak for a crappy AC format and doesn't know what to do with The Fox. Thankfully, I'll give 'em credit for wanting to get out of the radio business. Sadly, now's not the time to sell (after all, Real Rock/The Bear and Big Country was re-sold back to the man who sold them in the first place in the late 90's for millions less than what he sold them originally).

Personally, if I owned KLT (and You FM and The Fox), changes will be made. For one thing, current GM Charlie Ferguson would be out of a job. I would get a morning show that people would be talking about and enjoy. Hell, I'd get Bubba the Love Sponge! Also, I'd cut back big-time on the 1970's butt rock and make it a mixture of new and classics. You FM would also go all-progressive talk and The Fox might go the alternative route.

But for now, KLT farted on the candles.
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