Clear Channel, inspired by the sight of dollar signs, may not even realize it but WLTW-FM, long the dominant ratings king in New York until recently is positioned to regain its dominance through the process of evolution. Stand still - you lose. Make on-going changes - you win. Valerie Smaldone lost yesterday after a 24-year run at Lite. Valerie who was probably the easiest personality on the ears in New York will pursue her show business interests which include acting and writing. You can also bet that the voice overs will continue, something she excels at. Clear Channel can justify its on-air staff changes because of the bite in Lite's ratings made by WWFS-FM, the old WNEW which 'Blinked' its way to become 'Fresh' and WCBS-FM, the old Oldies station masquerading as being back ("We're Back") although not being entirely truthful with that claim...
Since late 2006, Bill Buchner, J.J. Kennedy, Steven Roy, Al Bernstein and now Valerie Smaldone, all mainstays for years have been jettisoned but life goes on and so will Lite. The nature of radio is such that when you're hired at a station you're already thinking about your next station. Get them before they get you. It's the nature of the beast...
Already Arbitron's Personal People Meter (PPM) ratings for Thanksgiving to mid-December show Lite's annual Christmas music format drew about 6 million listeners a week, 8.2% of the audience. While Buchner, Kennedy, Roy, Bernstein and Smaldone are all good personalities, this is a music station after all and although I feel for them, life goes on, for Lite and for them...
The Lite may be flickering but it's not out...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1847] The Name Game: Yerba Buena (CA) is wisely renamed San Francisco otherwise Tony Bennett would be singing "I left my heart in Yerba Buena"...
- 1929] Inherit the network: 27-year old William S. Paley becomes CBS President, inheriting it from his father...
- 1938] Debuted on this date: The March of Dimes is established to fight Polio...1952] "Dragnet", a radio show since 1949 moves to TV. Here's a 9-minute clip from a 1952 episode: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jfkugbASxCY ...
- 1967] 'Happy Trails': Jack Ruby, 55, the man that shot JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies in a Dallas hospital of a pulmonary embolism. Whatever he knew died with him...
- 1973] The worst sale ever???: CBS sells the Yankees to a group headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million. CBS bought it for $13.2 million. In retrospect, this could be a worse deal than the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees...
- 1990] Curtains: Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. forces in Miami, done in by loud Rock & Roll...1997] Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time as host of NBC's "Today Show". This was his 10th anniversary visit back: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tk341r8zvog ...
- 1993] Comeback Kid: Backup Buffalo Bills QB Frank Reich overcomes a 32-point deficit to beat Houston 41-38 in OT in a Wild Card playoff game. It's the biggest comeback in NFL history. Reich did the same thing in College at Maryland as a backup to Boomer Esiason...
- 2000] No more Peanuts: The last new daily 'Peanuts' comic strip by Charles Schulz runs in 2,600 newspapers...
- 2005] Strange bedfellows: The President taps his father, former President George H.W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton to help raise tsunami relief funds. Strangely enough the two exes become friends but maybe not so much now...
- 2007] Laid to rest: Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford is buried in his home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan...
Music Memories:
- 1957] Recorded on this date: "I'm Walkin" - Fats Domino. In this video Fats and Rick Nelson team together to sing 'their' hit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=O4I2w-mMtnQ ...
- 1960] A really big shew: Bobby Darin and Connie Francis appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Don't know if this video clip is that performance but it is Darin and Francis doing a duet: http://youtube.com/watch?v=eWClgiOtPNg ...1964] The Beatles make their first appearance on U.S. television in a film clip shown on "The Jack Paar Show", not the Ed Sullivan Show, according to Jack Paar: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gJ8RfymgO8Q . The first known footage of the Beatles on a news show was seen on December 7, 1963 on the Walter Cronkite CBS Evening News, before Paar...
Commentary:
Gordie Brown adds to yesterday's list of words and phrases that should be banned: "The word 'different' always bothers me. We traveled through 15 'different' states-or-I taught English in 4 'different' school systems. Of course, otherwise they'd be all the same. Get rid of the word 'different' in this context. 'Going forward'. Does anyone ever go backward? 'Time marches on.' 'We'll be right back.' As in a talk show or news program. Nobody goes anywhere to come back from!!! Why not use something like, we'll continue after this...or ('name of program') will continue after this. When I was Production Supervisor at channel 68 in Boston back in the mid-80s, I would not allow any announcer to say 'we'll be right back'. Of course nobody was watching that new UHF station then, but I felt better. Guess that's 'it' for now. What's 'it?' Guess that's 'all' for now." I'll attribute the next two phrases which should be banned to Don Imus who wrote in a recent e-mail that he 'loves' radio guys who end a column by saying 'stand by' or 'stay tuned'. I agree although he was referring to my last e-mail to him at the time...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Eli Manning (27), Mel Gibson (52), Victoria Principal (58), Stephen Stills (63) seen here in action: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tIrZjql7rS8 , Bobby Hull (69), Dabney Coleman (76), Robert Loggia (78) and legendary Beatles producer George Martin (82)...
Timeline Countdown: 2 days until the NFL Wild Card Playoffs, 9 days until the Divisional Playoffs, 16 down and 3 to go for the Patriots, 17 days until the Conference Championships and 31 days until the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona...
