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Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Dave FM gets a new program director. Will this mean big changes?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dave FM enters its fifth year with its third program director Scott Jameson, from Indianapolis (yes, the home of Bob & Tom and formerly of the Morning Mess, now at Star 94).
The last PD Mike Wheeler made the ill-fated decision to hire Zakk Tyler as his morning man. Tyler failed miserably and was gone after just eight months. Wheeler lasted 18 months. When the ratings came in under the new people meter system, Dave FM’s numbers were even poorer than they were under the old system. That kind of sealed Wheeler’s fate.
But management still has faith in Dave.
Here’s a quick history:
Back in 2004, Dave FM arrived as a more mature, sophisticated rock alternative to 96rock and 99X and far younger than its predecessor Z93. The station hired Steve Barnes and Holly Firfer, in hopes of evoking a bit of the ’90s era 99X ouvre. The program director Michelle Engel had been successful at an ’80s station in Oregon. Rick Caffey, the GM who also ran V-103, touted his rock cred to me at the time. The station dumped the Elton John, the Eagles and other overplayed acts while keeping the “cooler” acts such as U2 and R.E.M. in its mix.
The music over the past five years hasn’t changed that much over time. It’s always been a smidge of 60s and 70s rock but heavier on 80s and 90s. The station also includes maybe 15 to 20 current rock songs by the likes of Mark Knopfler, the Fray or the Raconteurs. Not hard stuff, but “adult” sounding rock. But there’s far less 70s traditional rock stuff now than there used to be. (Go to the River if you want more of that.) A recent hour included Eurythmics, Yaz, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Jack Johnson, Greg Allman Band, Live, Verve Pipe, Death Cab For Cutie, Ryan Adams and Elvis Costello.
The station has become a decent go-to place for 30-somethings who had outgrown 99X and found 96rock too testosterone heavy. It never garnered huge ratings. 96rock and 971./The River would beat it regularly in most major demographics. In December, the station ranked 18th among 25-54 year olds.
But advertisers have liked the station because its listeners are typically more active than, say, those of B98.5 or 97.1/The River. Also, ad buyers demographically probably found the station enticing as well. And with Mara Davis, they had a great spokeswoman, too. I think those three factors have kept the station going in terms of revenue.
This smaller pool of active listeners, though, is also the type of folks who have iPods and iPhones and even satellite radios. While the B98.5 listeners is probably a harried mom who is using the radio as background while carting her kids from swimming practice to the soccer field, Dave listeners are the types who still go to concerts at Variety Playhouse and the Tabernacle and enjoy smart, engaging banter.
Dave’s biggest bugaboo was Z93’s bugaboo, too: a good morning show. The Barnes/Firfer combo never became hugely popular though both of them say they felt hamstrung by management wanting them to focus on the music. Barnes was ousted in 2006 and Firfer did a “temporary” music-focused show with Tim Orff. This was followed by eight months of Zakk and Jane, which was a nonstarter. Recently, Orff has simply been doing a mostly music mornings default show. It has generally had poorer ratings than middays and afternoons.
Devil’s advocate: does Dave even need to try to develop a good morning show? Perhaps. A strong morning show has proven to help drive stations such as Star when it had Steve & Vikki, Q100 with the Bert Show and the Regular Guys with Rock 100.5. But others have done just fine without a focus on the morning show such as Project and 95.5/The Beat.
Dave already has mid-day host Mara Davis as its primary personality on the show. Does it really need to find another given how difficult it is in this day and age to cultivate personalities? The talent pool has dried up over the years as radio stations focus more on syndication. And publicly traded companies seeking immediate results lack the patience to truly develop talent. It’s a major dilemma.
I’m curious to see what the new PD will do to help the station. Any good advice for him? (He officially enters the building Feb. 17.)
