Westwood One adds new 24/7 Good Time Oldies format to replace Scott Shannon's TOC

[Lori Pollitt]

http://radiosyndicationtalk.com/2014...d-time-oldies/

WestwoodOne Likes Good Time Oldies
March 27, 2014 radiosyn Leave a comment

WestwoodOne has announced that it will add “Good Times Oldies” a new syndicated radio 24-hour Oldies format to its line-up of program services. “Good Times Oldies” will debut on Monday, April 28 and feature music from the golden era of pop, rock and soul-centering on hit music from the 60s and 70s -and positioned slightly older than traditional Adult Hits-formatted stations. This is the first new format since WestwoodOne and Cumulus Media Networks merged.

Good Time Oldies will feature a line-up of veteran radiopersonalities, including Jim Zippo, John Summers and Kevan Browning. Zippo is well known for his years at WDRQ Detroit, WEAM Washington DC, KQOL Las Vegas and KTKS Dallas. He’s also done mornings nationally for over 12 years. Summers marks 30 years as a PD/MD and air personality on such stations as BJ105/Orlando and WMMO/Orlando, and he currently does PM Drive on KLUV/Dallas. Browning joins from his current role on WestwoodOne’s Classic Hits format, after a long on-air and programming career with stops in Milwaukee, Memphis, Houston and Dallas.

“We are excited to bring this product to market,” said WestwoodOne President of Programming Kirk Stirland. “Good Time Oldies is a great strategic format, and our customers tell us often fills a void in their market.”

____________________

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.co...s-channel.html

Thursday, March 27, 2014
WWOne Cancels True Oldies Channel
To the surprise of no one...Westwood One has officially served notices that it's dropping Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel.

The 90-day notice went out Wednesday to some 100 affiliates that the syndicated music format would be ending at the end of June.

WestwoodOne President of Programming Kirk Stirland indicated that current TOC affiliates would get first refusal rights on the company;'s new "Good Time Oldies" format which debuts April 28. GTO will be hosted by Jim Zippo, John Summers and Kevin Browning. Zippo previously hosted oldies shows for SMN's "Pure Gold" format. Zippo can now be heard on CBS Radio's classic hits KLUV 98.7 FM in D/FW. Summers marks 30 years as a PD/MD and air personality on such stations as BJ105/Orlando and WMMO/Orlando, and he currently does PM Drive on KLUV/Dallas. Affiliated stations will have the option to either take the channel as a nationally branded format, or adopt their own localized imaging.

Shannon departed Cumulus' WPLJ in February and is now hosting mornings at CBS Radio's WCBS 101. FM. Shannon owns the rights to TOC and says he's currently exploring his options.

 

[R. F. Burns]

This is just publicity hype for a format that is going to babysit small market radio stations just like ABC Pure Gold did. If this was not the case, they'd hire better djs and pay them more money.

View attachment 226

http://radiosyndicationtalk.com/2014...d-time-oldies/

WestwoodOne Likes Good Time Oldies
March 27, 2014 radiosyn Leave a comment

WestwoodOne has announced that it will add “Good Times Oldies” a new syndicated radio 24-hour Oldies format to its line-up of program services. “Good Times Oldies” will debut on Monday, April 28 and feature music from the golden era of pop, rock and soul-centering on hit music from the 60s and 70s -and positioned slightly older than traditional Adult Hits-formatted stations. This is the first new format since WestwoodOne and Cumulus Media Networks merged.

Good Time Oldies will feature a line-up of veteran radiopersonalities, including Jim Zippo, John Summers and Kevan Browning. Zippo is well known for his years at WDRQ Detroit, WEAM Washington DC, KQOL Las Vegas and KTKS Dallas. He’s also done mornings nationally for over 12 years. Summers marks 30 years as a PD/MD and air personality on such stations as BJ105/Orlando and WMMO/Orlando, and he currently does PM Drive on KLUV/Dallas. Browning joins from his current role on WestwoodOne’s Classic Hits format, after a long on-air and programming career with stops in Milwaukee, Memphis, Houston and Dallas.

“We are excited to bring this product to market,” said WestwoodOne President of Programming Kirk Stirland. “Good Time Oldies is a great strategic format, and our customers tell us often fills a void in their market.”

____________________

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.co...s-channel.html

Thursday, March 27, 2014
WWOne Cancels True Oldies Channel
To the surprise of no one...Westwood One has officially served notices that it's dropping Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel.

The 90-day notice went out Wednesday to some 100 affiliates that the syndicated music format would be ending at the end of June.

WestwoodOne President of Programming Kirk Stirland indicated that current TOC affiliates would get first refusal rights on the company;'s new "Good Time Oldies" format which debuts April 28. GTO will be hosted by Jim Zippo, John Summers and Kevin Browning. Zippo previously hosted oldies shows for SMN's "Pure Gold" format. Zippo can now be heard on CBS Radio's classic hits KLUV 98.7 FM in D/FW. Summers marks 30 years as a PD/MD and air personality on such stations as BJ105/Orlando and WMMO/Orlando, and he currently does PM Drive on KLUV/Dallas. Affiliated stations will have the option to either take the channel as a nationally branded format, or adopt their own localized imaging.

Shannon departed Cumulus' WPLJ in February and is now hosting mornings at CBS Radio's WCBS 101. FM. Shannon owns the rights to TOC and says he's currently exploring his options.

 

[Lori Pollitt]

Pure Gold had approximately 250 affiliates in markets of all size, including New Orleans, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Austin, Midland/Odessa, Buffalo, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Anchorage, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Orlando...just to name a few, plus Armed Forces radio. That's a lot of combined AQH that created a lot of advertising revenue. Jim not only was am drive personality, but also the PD of Pure Gold and was in charge and oversaw all the budgets. Pure Gold was a $4.5-$5 million annual business.

Jim Zippo is a well known and respected talent, but of course I am biased. The trades such as R&R, Radio Ink, etc., commonly referred to him as "Legendary Jim Zippo." I can dig up the many trade publication PDFs we've saved, but I doubt that would impress you as you have chosen to be a "nay sayer" before this format even launches. I don't know who you are, but by your name I hope you haven't been burned by this industry. Radio has changed, everyone knows that. It doesn't pay the big bucks that it used to, but there still are a lot of talented jocks throughout the country that want to give radio their all and are producing good radio shows.

I welcome your feedback once the format launches and has had some time to get it's legs, until then why be so negative? Again, I hope it's not because you have been "burned."

Best regards, LP

 

[R. F. Burns]

Is it true or not true that Jim Zippo got fired from ABC's Pure Gold format?

Pure Gold had approximately 250 affiliates in markets of all size, including New Orleans, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Austin, Midland/Odessa, Buffalo, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Anchorage, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Orlando...just to name a few, plus Armed Forces radio. That's a lot of combined AQH that created a lot of advertising revenue. Jim not only was am drive personality, but also the PD of Pure Gold and was in charge and oversaw all the budgets. Pure Gold was a $4.5-$5 million annual business.

Jim Zippo is a well known and respected talent, but of course I am biased. The trades such as R&R, Radio Ink, etc., commonly referred to him as "Legendary Jim Zippo." I can dig up the many trade publication PDFs we've saved, but I doubt that would impress you as you have chosen to be a "nay sayer" before this format even launches. I don't know who you are, but by your name I hope you haven't been burned by this industry. Radio has changed, everyone knows that. It doesn't pay the big bucks that it used to, but there still are a lot of talented jocks throughout the country that want to give radio their all and are producing good radio shows.

I welcome your feedback once the format launches and has had some time to get it's legs, until then why be so negative? Again, I hope it's not because you have been "burned."

Best regards, LP

 

[Lori Pollitt]

Totally not true. Jim was one of about 40 jocks cut when the corporate bean counters came in and did not renew contracts with anyone making any kind of significant salaries. I think Bob Leonard was the 2nd one not renewed. Ask around, when contracts came up for renewal they just weren't renewed and instead talent was replaced making about 25% of what the former jocks made. Pure Gold was highly successful at the time, so it was purely a monetary decision.

Jim had been there 12 and a half years. He was the first big name true personality jock that was brought to satellite radio. R&R did a story about it. He served also as PD and over the years, his salary just got too expensive for them. Today, those kind of salaries don't exist in radio any longer.

 

[R. F. Burns]

The corporate bean counters were right. The djs didn't talk that many times per hour to make that much difference. Their main job was to push buttons and get all the tones right. The formats did just fine with cheaper djs. If Zippo's talent had any real value to them keeping affiliates, they would have done everything to keep him, but he and everyone else who left, made no difference to any of the 24 hour formats. I will get into some of the other things that you said that were fabrications in posts in the near future.

Totally not true. Jim was one of about 40 jocks cut when the corporate bean counters came in and did not renew contracts with anyone making any kind of significant salaries. I think Bob Leonard was the 2nd one not renewed. Ask around, when contracts came up for renewal they just weren't renewed and instead talent was replaced making about 25% of what the former jocks made. Pure Gold was highly successful at the time, so it was purely a monetary decision.

Jim had been there 12 and a half years. He was the first big name true personality jock that was brought to satellite radio. R&R did a story about it. He served also as PD and over the years, his salary just got too expensive for them. Today, those kind of salaries don't exist in radio any longer.

 

[Lori Pollitt]

RF- you really don't know what you are talking about. Go find someone else to argue with you. I can see you must have gotten burned and I was a sucker to buy into it. I won't bother to respond to any additional posts. Go pick on someone else, you're obviously just jealous.

 

[R. F. Burns]

This was originally a response to blatant publicity hype. This is not about jealousy. Now I'll address some of the other things that you wrote that were not valid. A majority of the medium market stations that used any of the Satellite Music Network/ABC 24 hour formats were rim shot stations that didn't put a competitive signal into their particular market. Full signal stations in the medium markets didn't need an automated babysitting service to run their stations. The rim shot stations did because their signal couldn't compete. The next issue is talent or lack of it. When it was still the Satellite Music Network, they specifically moved it from Mokena, Illinois, to Dallas because Texas is a right to work state and they wouldn't have to deal with unions and could pay employees minimally. It wasn't because the Dallas market has or had superior radio talent. It was about saving money and they knew it didn't really matter who they hired and what they paid them as long as they could run the automation, get the tones right and sound adequate for the few times per hour that they had to talk. When ABC took over, they figured out a way to get their operating expenses even lower by getting rid of anybody who made more than a certain amount of money for formats that babysat stations and they wouldn't lose affiliates no matter who they hired. ABC just corrected the hiring mistakes of the previous ownership. Next is the issue of Zippo being a legendary dj. I wouldn't throw around that term so loosely. Legendary djs mean djs like Dan Ingram, Bruce Morrow, Dick Biondi, Dr. Don Rose, Charlie Tuna, Robert W. Morgan, Larry Lujack and others of their ilk. Zippo and anyone else who was ever employed by any of those 24 hour formats is not on the same planet with any of those djs nor in the same solar system. Most of the legendary djs worked full time for an extended amount of time in either New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. In addition, the legendary djs didn't have their wives and girlfriends trying to get publicity for them. Last, but not least, if Westwood One had any faith that the new format would do well, they would have hired more than 3 djs. This means that over half the time, the format will be an automated jukebox. Then there is the issue about the age of an unsaleable audience for a format based on 60s music. Even the crappiest small market stations had to drop playing 60s music because they couldn't sell it because of the age of the audience. My guess is that Westwood One's attitude about this new format is that we're not going to invest much because we don't expect much. For the people who do want to hear 60s music, they have 10,000 other alternatives rather than hearing this format on a bunch of small A. M. daytimers with bad signals which is where this format is headed.

RF- you really don't know what you are talking about. Go find someone else to argue with you. I can see you must have gotten burned and I was a sucker to buy into it. I won't bother to respond to any additional posts. Go pick on someone else, you're obviously just jealous.

 

[Lori Pollitt]

As posted as a follow up in every other forum category you are commenting on regarding this issue, Mr. Burns...

Quote Originally Posted by DavidEduardo View Post


Not true as an across the board statement. I used SMN in the late 80's in several North FL markets, including Tallahassee which is definitely a medium market. And we had it on a signal licensed to Tallahassee, not a rimshot. In fact, we picked SMN after looking at successful affiliates in places like Pensacola, Albany, Dothan, etc. And we felt it had a quality we could not match locally at a very good price.



Stations in very competitive markets where the dollars were spread too thin used satellite formats as a way of saving money so they could remain viable as Docket 80-90 did its double whammy of dropping in new stations and allowing rimshots to move closer in.



I never found any of that to be true. The move to Dallas had a lot to do with costs, but also had to do with attracting talent... not as many people want to move to Chicago as to Dallas, due to climate, cost of living, crime, education, etc. And, for a "new technology" company, working without sometimes antiquated union rules was indeed a benefit.



No, they adapted to the reality of it being a business. In the mid-90's, stations started installing AudioVault systems and comparable hard disk storage systems and many found they could produce formats that ran unattended locally. And other entrants into the field offered interesting variants on remote delivery... ABC had to tighten up as the business model changed.

Remember, satellite was itself a replacement for tape delivered formats that ran on expensive hardware and which required some attention and lots of maintenance. Satellite was better... until a new "better" came along.



You are just totally off base here. You are naming talents from KHJ, KFRC, WLS and WABC... Top 5 market stations from the AM Top 40 days. There are plenty of talents who worked in the next tier of markets, such as Phoenix and Cleveland and Dallas and Houston and Miami who are just as good but who were not in a Top 5 market. Jim Zippo is one of them... and IMHO, every bit as good.



Who says that the talent on WABC was that much better than KELP or KDES or KRIG or KERN or WSAI or WGRD or KENO or WORL or WAPE or WSGN or KLEO.... and dozens more like it in markets like Saginaw and Mobile (the legendary WABB) or Jackson or Oklahoma City or Jamestown, SD, for that matter!



Now that qualifies for a cheap shot award. I think it is pretty nice that Jim's wife shares his love for his career and helps spread the word. It is hard for radio spouses... constant moves, changes of format, odd shifts, quirky management and all that... and it's really great to see Lori cheering for Jim (Hey, that's what she trained to do!!!!).



Morning, mid-days and afternoons, with the same team VTing the rest of the day and weekends. It is the model followed by many major market stations... except that some of those are only live in drives and automate middays, too. Welcome to technology and its ability to, when well done, be better than live.

Remember, when done by less than first rate talent, "live" is just "evil" spelled backwards.



Many classic hits, starting with WCBS-FM, play some 60's. And the press release says that the core will be 70's with some 60's and some 80's... that's the current definition of Classic Hits.

So, even if they are targeting medium and smaller markets or less than full major market signals, there is a client base for 35-64 in markets that are not agency driven. In fact, many successful suburban stations and smaller market signals are much broader in their 60's and 70's coverage because they sell to a different client base... one that often does not have the 25-54 buy restriction in mind.



This format was developed to replace the Scott Shannon produced TOC. Look at the impressive lineup of stations TOC had, and note that few are "small AM daytimers" (although some are) and the format got well into the top 100 markets or the fringes of that. It's a very viable satellite format and one that appeals to stations that sell direct since the clients are generally right in the target demo.

You do get today's "Misanthrope Award" though, so nice going!
_______________________


David, we can always count on your expertise. Thank you.

One thing of note that WW1 is promoting in Good Time Oldies that will be different from TOC is " The music is up tempo and the presentation is full of energy, and personality driven."

Scott Shannon is legendary and great, but I truly believe Zippo will bring a lot of FUN back to the format along with the other changes WW1 is incorporating into GTO.
____________________
Mr. Burns, again...let's just wait and see how the new format sounds. Enough of the negative arm chair quarterbacking. Obviously, you must not be working in real radio these days or you would have something else better to do with your time. I feel for ya. Hope things get better and you can get some relief from the bitterness you carry in your heart. Truly. It can't be pleasant for you to be such a grouch.

Prayers of peace for you, sincerely.

 

[eriedj]

Granted, this is exciting news, but how many forums does this Westwood One announcement need to be posted in?

 

[Robert Bass]

Granted, this is exciting news, but how many forums does this Westwood One announcement need to be posted in?

If the topic doesn't interest you, no one is forcing you to read it.

R

 

[firepoint525]

If the topic doesn't interest you, no one is forcing you to read it.

At one time, there was a policy against "cross-pollinating" here, but apparently, that doesn't apply anymore.

 

[eriedj]

At one time, there was a policy against "cross-pollinating" here, but apparently, that doesn't apply anymore.

That's what I meant. Didn't need the crappy attitude. But, that won't force me to leave on my first day. lol.

 

[Robert Bass]

That's what I meant. Didn't need the crappy attitude. But, that won't force me to leave on my first day. lol.

Welcome to the "shark tank", as David calls it.

R

 

[Radio25]

There is no question that Scott Shannon is a legend. But I have always been so surprised that his show had such a large station line up.
I think Westwood One is on the track and look forward to hearing it.

However, are they only offering the day parts of the three jocks announced?
The stations are going to need for Westwood to provide week nights, overnights and week end programming to make it truly a value to pick up.

I believe if they are 24/7 they are going to do very well.

 

[Lori Pollitt]

Sorry about the cross posting, didn't know about the rules. I was originally responding to 3 separate markets NYC, Atlanta and one of the Oldies/Classic Hits format forums that brought up the question about Scott Shannon's TOC being cancelled by Westwood One. I posted what I knew about TOC being replaced with Good Time Oldies, naming the 3 major dayparts with my hubby, Jim Zippo replacing Scott Shannon in am drive. In the Dallas forum I was offering congrats to Jim, John Summers and long time friend Kevan Browning. GTO will be a 24/7 format, the WW1 press releases, for the time being, only name the major day part jocks. I'm sure more info will be coming as the launch date is April 28th.

David Eduardo made some additional, insightful comments on the 60s, 70s, 80s Classic Hits format forum.

My favorite quote of David's to RF Burns was, "You do get today's "Misanthrope Award" though, so nice going!"

For anyone following this go to the Classic Hits 60s, 70s, 80s format forum. It's an interesting read and does clarify a few things.

 

[firepoint525]

Lori, I sincerely hope that all affiliate stations who sign on board are indeed required to carry it 24/7. Too many egomaniacal GMs want to do morning drive on their own stations while not giving a damn about the rest of the broadcast day!

 

[Radio25]

I question what is the problem of having a solid local morning show that can really relate to the audience , play games on the air with people in the
audience area, do some quick interviews with people involved in community events etc.

There are stations in Metro markets can do very well with the Good Time Oldies format from 10 am on but I would do my best to have a local morning show.
Now if management cannot afford a solid morning show host - then go the network.

 

[willdav713]

Pure Gold had approximately 250 affiliates in markets of all size, including New Orleans, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Austin, Midland/Odessa, Buffalo, Sacramento, Bakersfield, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Anchorage, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Orlando...just to name a few, plus Armed Forces radio. That's a lot of combined AQH that created a lot of advertising revenue. Jim not only was am drive personality, but also the PD of Pure Gold and was in charge and oversaw all the budgets. Pure Gold was a $4.5-$5 million annual business.

Jim Zippo is a well known and respected talent, but of course I am biased. The trades such as R&R, Radio Ink, etc., commonly referred to him as "Legendary Jim Zippo." I can dig up the many trade publication PDFs we've saved, but I doubt that would impress you as you have chosen to be a "nay sayer" before this format even launches. I don't know who you are, but by your name I hope you haven't been burned by this industry. Radio has changed, everyone knows that. It doesn't pay the big bucks that it used to, but there still are a lot of talented jocks throughout the country that want to give radio their all and are producing good radio shows.

I welcome your feedback once the format launches and has had some time to get it's legs, until then why be so negative? Again, I hope it's not because you have been "burned."


Best regards, LP

Any plans for Pure Gold to return to the Austin airwaves? Or any launch for the San Antonio area?

 

[Lori Pollitt]

Any plans for Pure Gold to return to the Austin airwaves? Or any launch for the San Antonio area?

Hope so!