KD Bowe, an afternoon host at Praise 102.5 for nearly a decade, didn’t like where radio was going. So in December, he voluntarily left.
“They wanted me to stay, but I didn’t want to,” he said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I wanted to scale. There was no real path to scale there. My idea was to make money with a production company and share the proceeds. They weren’t open to that.”
But he didn’t wander far geographically.
His new digital production company, Kontent Faktory, is now on the sixth floor of the same building in downtown Atlanta where he used to work at Praise. (Praise is part of Radio One, a media company that also owns Hot 107.9, Classix 102.9 and Majic 107.5/97.5.) He has 1,000 square feet of studio space for both visual and audio options. He can help shoot your video and break it up into social media-friendly segments. He also rents out the room to outside groups who need his studio.
In a broad sense, he said radio has become too bureaucratic and too centralized, lacking imagination, scope and scale.
“Radio was very good to me, but I needed room to grow,” he said. And Radio One treated him well, allowing him to say goodbye on the air.
Bowe has been in the radio business 30 years and an entrepreneur for more than 20. He has been doing voice-over work and has produced concerts and events for many years, often doubling his annual salary with his side hustles. But the pandemic killed off a lot of that extra work, so he decided to pivot.
Bowe is producing his own Facebook show and developing a podcast with Mz. Shyneka, a former Hot host who is now on mornings at Streetz 94.5.
He said he had enough clients from day one and was already covering his costs from the first month.
***
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Glenn Burns, the veteran chief meteorologist at Channel 2 Action News, has had to shut down his Facebook posts twice in 10 days because he felt the commenters were needlessly going after each other.
He said in a text that he never posted anything political. It was mostly weather forecasts and funny cartoons.
“People began attacking each other,” he wrote. “Some believe it’s a political forum. Some hate the weather. It turns ugly and then feeds on itself.”
He is now just posting weather graphics. No more humor, he said.
Burns thinks COVID-19 and the political atmosphere has people even more on edge than normal.
“Makes me sick inside,” Burns said. “Just trying to bring a little joy into people’s lives with information and a little humorous entertainment. I think most have enjoyed my posts. I do very well on FB. I understand people are frustrated, and I give them a little slack, but I cannot tolerate hate.”
***
Credit: Logo
Credit: Logo
The final non-holiday month last year of radio ratings from Nielsen saw the usual stations at the top, including WSB Radio, Kiss 104.1 and the River, all owned by Cox Media Group. Scott Slade was the top morning host among all listeners and among the 18-to-49 demographic. Kiss had a strong month overall and was tops among 18 to 34-year-olds.
Star 94, the pop station which shifted to a more dance-pop format in September, saw a slight uptick in ratings but remained behind the three other pop stations, B98.5 (4.7), Power 96.1 (3.0) and Q100 (a relatively weak 2.6).
1. WSB 9.7
2. Kiss 104.1 7.5
3. 97.1/The River 6.6
4. V-103 5.1
5. B98.5 4.7
6. Majic 107.5/97..5 4.6
7. Fish 104.7 4.5
8. 92.9/The Game 4.0
9. 94.9/The Bull 3.8
10. Praise 102.5 3.6
11. 90.1/WABE-FM 3.3
12. Hot 107.9 3.2
13. Power 96.1 3.0
14. New Country 101.5 2.9
15. Q99.7 2.6
16 Star 94 2.2
17. Rock 100.5 2.0
18. Joy 93.3. 1.9
19. (tie) Love 106.7, 680/93.7 The Fan 1.8
Top 10 morning shows
1. Scott Slade WSB 12.9
2. Toni Moore Kiss 6.0
3. Steve Harvey Majic 5.9
4. Steve Craig The River 5.4
5. Kevin & Taylor The Fish 5.2
6. Big Tigger & Morning Culture, V-103 4.7
7. Morning Edition WABE 4.6
8. Bert Show Q99.7 4.1
9. John Fricke and Hugh Douglas, The Game 3.9
10. Spencer Graves and Kristen Gates, Th e Bull 3.8
Top 10 stations among 25 to 54-year-olds
1. (tie) Kiss, River 6.9
3. V-103 6.7
4. Majic 5.9
5. WSB 5.8
6. WABE 4.8
7. B98.5 4.7
8. Fish 4.5
9. Hot 4.4
10. The Bull 4.2
Top 10 morning shows 25-54
1. Scott Slade WSB 7.6
2. Big Tigger’s Morning Culture V-13 6.8
3. Steve Harvey Majic 6.7
4. Toni Moore Kiss 6.1
5. Morning Edition WABE 5.9
6. Kevin & Taylor Fish 5.8
7. Bert Show Q997 5.5
8. Steve Craig, The River, 5.0
9. Rickey Smiley Morning Show, Hot 4.6
10. Spencer Graves & Kristen Gates, The Bull 4.3
Top 10 stations for 18-34 year olds
1. Kiss 6.9
2. River 6.7
3. V-013 6.3
4. B98.5 6.1
5. The Game 5.7
6. Hot 107.9 5.5
7. Fish 104.7 5.3
8. WABE 4.3
9. Majic 3.9
10. Q997 3.7
Top 10 morning shows 18-34
1. (tie) Morning Edition/WABE; John Fricke and Hugh Douglas/The Game; Kevin & Taylor/The Fish 6.9
4. Toni Moore, Kiss 6.4
5. Big Tigger & the Morning Culture, -103 5.7
6. Steve Craig, The River 5.5
7. Steve Harvey, Majic 5.2
8. Bert Show, Q997 4.7
9. Scott Slade, WSB 4.5
10. Tad & Drex, B98.5 4.1
About the Author
