From: rrb@airwaves.chi.il.us (chi.general)
Subject: Re: Changes at WLUP (was What happened to Brandmier?)
Followup-To: rec.radio.broadcasting
Originator: wdp@gagme
Organization: _
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 03:41:41 GMT

[Moderator's Note:  This is a thread from a local Chicago newsgroup
(chi.general) where a discussion on WLUP has been going on.  It is
being cros posted, now, since it may hold some interest for radio fans
elsewhere.]   

>In article <1992Nov11.224027.9804@gagme.chi.il.us> wdp@gagme.chi.il.us (Bill
Pfeiffer) writes:
x sdc!kenk@uunet.UU.NET (Ken Konecki) writes:

>[AM-1000] was bought with the current format in mind, to be anchored by
>S&G, who already had substantial success at WLS for 10 years.  S&G did
>indeed put AM-1000 on the map, and did wonders for the viability of
>the entire band.  

[Ken]
x Were they really at WLS for 10 years?  That long?  I thought it was a
x much shorter timespan.  I still disagree with your statement that Steve
x and Garry put AM-1000 (back) on the map.  They have a loyal bunch of
x listeners who followed them everywhere they went.  However, before
x Kevin Matthews and Johhny B's simulcast few people, if any, listened to
x AM-100 from the time they got up till the time they went to bed.  It
x was only *after* the arrival of Kevin Matthes did the Loop AM gain any
x significant inroads in popularity.

[Bill]
Ken, I am not attempting to pit Mathews against S&G.  Mathews is a fine and
hilarious (genius?) talent. But here is a bit of history.

When S&G were re-hired by the LOOP, after their dismissal from WLS (and a
several month waiting period, enforced by their WLS contract) the 'LUP
mamagement folks, decided to purchace the ailing WCFL which was failing as a
Christian station, folowing several format changes since they dropped the
legendary 'Super 'CFL' top-40 format.  Actually it was not officially a
purchace, but a 'merger' of the existing owners with Evergreen Media, with
Evergreen being the controling entity.   That move was designed to give Steve
and Garry a permanent home and to create a new format of hip/comedy/rock/talk
in which S&G would be part owners and anchors.

Immediately upon the aquisition of control over WCFL, and before the calls
were changed to WLUP-AM, the LOOP began to simulcast the FM programming,
including Johnathon Brandmeier's morning show. The remainder of the day would
later consist of 'Beth & Tim' mid-days and Steve/Garry in PM drive.  It was
S&G who recomended Kevin Mathews, who was then working on a small FM (WLAV)
in Grand Rapids Michigan, to be hired as evening host.  

In the following months, Beth and Tim were experiencing slumping ratings, and
their style was not fitting the 'attitude' that the LOOP team (including
S&G) felt the station should have, especially in the critical mid-day slot. 
So Beth & Tim swapped places with Mathews and he became mid-day host. 
Later, B&T were canned totally, in favor of the carnival sportsman Chet
Coppick who was able to maintain the 'feel' of the AM LOOP while doing a more
than credible job of covering sports.

Larry King was brought in to fill the late evening slot, until the
re-broadcast of S&G took the station through the overnight.  Later, as we
know, King was ditched in favor of the bizzare Ed Tyll, who was recently
bumped by Schwartz, and then canned in favor of a Brandmeier re-broadcast.

People listen to the LOOP-AM because there was/is a chemistry between the
various personalities.  From Brandmeier through Coppick, and then on through
Tyll, the continuity was there.  The LOOP had created a totally new and
unique format, and it was working.  Obviously, Mathews and the others are an
essential part of that recipe.  All I am saying, and history backs me up, is
that it was S&G's proven track record, previous mega-success and ratings
draw, that prompted the LOOP management to aquire AM-1000 and to turn it into
a station that is revered and respected throughout the nation.  Mathews,
Coppick, etc, were added as extensions of the format.  No doubt that they
are much more than that today, but in the beginning, it was S&G who prompted
the aquisition of the AM, and it's format direction.

>After firing S&G, WLS went so far in the toilet, that they went
>to all-talk, where they continued their chicken-poop policies and wound
>up losing their heaviest hitters, and a good deal of their ratings as
>well.

[Ken]
x Steve and Garry were fired years before WLS went to all talk.  It was
x quite clear that management was changing direction for the big 89 away from
x top-40 music toward something else when the bought out Larry Lujack's
x contract.  It was the direction they chose to go that dropped WLS into the
x toilet not the firing of Steve Dahl and Garry Meier.

[Bill]
True... and also false.  It was, indeed, management bungling that brought
down the former radio giant WLS.  Among the worst bungles, though, was
getting rid of S&G.  WLS-am was already pretty much washed up as a viable
force in the pop/rock music world.  Defection to FM, and a drifting
format were sending listeners away in droves.  Steve & Garry, during
their tenure at 'LS,  were unequivicaly the biggest draw the station had,
including Lujack.  S&G's ratings were several times Lujacks.  Brandmeier, on
the Loop-FM was also blowing Lujack away.  In short S&G were, in effect,
subsidizing the whole operation.  However, they were treated not like heros,
but as liabilities, suspended often, forced to play too many (bad) records,
and saddled with restrictive censorship.  Still, they were the most popular PM
show among listeners under 45.  WGN still maintained the edge, but it was S&G
who led the masses BACK to the AM band, for entertainment they could not get
anywhere else. 

After WLS suspended S&G permanently (they were not fired, they were
suspended.  Thus they could not work for a competitor for a period of months),
.. they (WLS) continued to flounder around aimlessly until they landed on
their 'Hot Talk' format.  Later, it typical ABC-Cap Cities style, they fired
their heaviest hitter, Bob Lassiter, for doing what they hired him to do, and
lost another heavy hitter (Stacey Taylor) who saw the writing on the wall and
quit.  But this article is about S&G, not WLS.

>As for WGN, they had a 'unbeatable' winner with Wally Phillips in the
>mornings.  NOBODY could touch him.  He moved to afternoons and guess
>what?  The chemistry was altered and he is gone, WGN's morning lock is
>gone forever and the station is worse off for it.

[Ken]
x Except it wasn't WGN's decision.  Wally Phillips was tired of doing the
x morning show.  It was either move him to afternoons or lose him
x altogether.

[Bill]
True enough.  But it was also Brandmeier's (not the LOOP's) decision to
switch HIS show from AM to PM drive.  I only brought this up to illustrate
what can happen when a station's chemistry is abruptly altered.  As you point
up, Ken, people listen to the LOOP from morning till night.  They listen, not
for music, but for the personalities.  Air personalities on pop music
stations can move about the schedule with minimal effect upon listener
loyalty. However,  people get into a routine with their personalities at the
LOOP.  They feel like they  know these guys personally.  Same thing is/was
true of WGN.  Phillips was not only a Chicago institution, but to hundreds of
thousands of people, he was more like a friend with whom they woke up each
morning.  He was a habit with them.  A habit that did not translate to the
afternoons.  WGN and Phillips never regained what they lost, and I wonder if
something similar might happen to the LOOP-AM.   

I'll never understand why some managers and personalities in radio insist on
mucking with a winning situation.  All I can imagine is that they get too big
in the head and feel that the listeners will follow them anywhere.  In many
cases that does not happen, like the WGN example.  Once you force the people
to change their habits, a good many of them will develop different habits and
drift away to a competitor.  I still remember the billboard for WJJD-AM after
Wally Phillips moved away from his mammoth morning slot to afternoons.  It
read "LOST YOUR WALLY?  -- FIND OUR CLARK". An ad for Clark Webber, 'JJD's
morning man who began to sound a lot more like Wally after the switch.

I am sure the AM-LOOP will survive and prosper anyway, the core fans will not
leave, but I feel these changes will hurt them in the long run as some of the
fringe 'habit' listeners use this as an excuse to look elsewhere.  And, yes I
do think that S&G are getting the short end of a stick that they were
instrumental in creating.  Again, their core listeners may follow them to the
other end of the day, and another band, but many will not.  Those who live
outside the limited FM coverage area will have no choice.  To add insult to
injury, they are being replaced, not by an up-and-coming local personality,
but by a satellite feed.  I say that this adds insult to injury, not because
I feel Howeird Stern is inferior to S&G, Mathews and the rest  (although I DO
feel  that way), I say it because I think it stinks to replace a consistant
local winner with a non-local satellite feed.  I think Howeird SHOULD be on
the air here, I just think he should have been put on the FM, and that S&G
should have remained on the 50,000 watt AM.  I hope all this 'meddling with
success' does not backfire.  It would be a real shame.  

William Pfeiffer
Moderator - rec.radio.broadcasting - Internet Radio Journal

-- 
x Ken Konecki
x e-mail:kenk@sdc.com    -or-    ...!uunet!tellab5!sdc!kenk
x "Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery"

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