August 3 is to be Mark Thompson last day hosting “Mark In The Morning” at KSWD as the station opts for a more music-intensive morning approach. Current morning co-host Gina Grad and afternoon host Andy Chanley (who previously hosted mornings) will take over the morning slot. Thompson states that he will develop a few speciality (weekend) shows for the station.
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Mark Thompson Exits KSWD Morning Show
- Thread starter david
- Start date
Wow. Having him back was supposed to be the KLOS back-breaker. But Heidi and Frank have more than held their own against Mark and KLOS has definitely been invigorated with newer overall playlist plus Jonesy's Jukebox.
Seems odd though that they would go for a more "music-intensive" approach with Andy Chandley in the mornings while having him develop some weekend programming which one would assume is more talk-intensive. If they wanted to go back to music in the mornings, they had their best ratings with Uncle Joe in that slot, so why not put him back there? Even more odd is I figured Mark's morning show-prep was going to get a lot easier and a lot more aligned with the total station because Mark and Brian talked a lot of NFL during the season on their show in the past and it would only be natural for management to want him to do some Rams/NFL tie-ins during his shows this fall, which can be easily produced, even with Mark still back in North Carolina.
Which brings us to the final point and the elephant in the living room. The way the show was set up in the first place was sort of making a square peg fit into a round hole. Mark was determined to keep his retired lifestyle in North Carolina, and he did his show from there, while the rest of his morning show cast was based in LA, and doing an awful lot of street-level publicity. Doing a morning show is difficult work even in the best of situations, but putting that constant distance/travel strain on Mark, the cast, and station management was not a situation that was destined to last. It is a lot more work for everyone and eventually something has got to give.
That's why they call it work. They got paid to do it. It's not supposed to be fun or a hobby. No one forced him to take the money.
When it fails to attract an audience, and when a station gets sold to new owners, the elephant in the room is "why are we doing something that doesn't make money?" That's what we have. So he still has sometime left on his contract, and Entercom is looking for ways to cut their losses.
But KLOS has lost its classic rock image, and seems to be trying to capitalize on the music listening decline of KROQ just as KYSR has done. KSWD now will have the music image in a field that they alone own.
Sounds like it puts them up against KCBS.
TeaPartyDude
Banned
Wow with the three hour time difference he could sleep in late, and do the show in his Jammie's and slippers.
I said this from the jump when Mark was given a morning slot on The Sound.
I also called that this would be a fleeting and flighty experiment.
I gave it 3 years tops... it barely cracked two or one, I haven't been listening or paying much attention really.
Over the last year, I've heard Gina Grad more on The Adam Carolla Show Podcast than I have on The Sound by a 10 to 1 margin easily.
Just burst Mark's ego and introduce Brian in the Morning to launch in September.
If I recall,when Mark started at KSWD less than two years ago, the ratings for the morning show improved. What happened? As another poster said,why not bring Joe Benson back to mornings? I guess they were counting on Mark's name and personality to really shine. Now with the morning numbers not what they expected, KSWD once again wants to go back to a more music approach in AM Drive.
She is a full time employee with the sound and still does mornings on the station.
That's good..
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