Tony Gates Pulled From WLAV

[Jeff Cunningham]

Not sure if Michelle escaped the axe or not.
I could have sworn her name was still on the website yesterday, but looking a few minutes ago, I could no longer find it.

[Ben Zonia]

I remember that era, as I lived in West Central Michigan for a few years. JJ Duling was APD at WGRD-FM as I recall, and he was running the Carrier Current station at FSU, modeled after WGRD. He wouldn't allow the DJs to play "Boogie Nights" by Heatwave, though requested. I told JJ that WLS had already added "Boogie Nights", and suddenly, it was OK, since the World's Last Station was already on it.

I remember that WLAV-FM was playing deep tracks from Albums not generally associated with AOR, like the "Who Loves You" album by The Four Seasons, in some Dayparts.

[Bull Shannon]

Didn't he get suspended off the air not long ago? Apparently the thread on that died the last time this forum crashed since I can't find it. I wonder if maybe he put his foot in his mouth again and management decided he was done?

[andymuskegon]

everyone's all trying to figure out why the formats suck? no shit? could it have anything to do with bankers running the business?

[Honeyman]

Also in 1980, John Shepard brought in Mike Joseph to overhaul WLAV-AM. He changed to an all-talk format, really not done too many places back then. Joseph was the creator of the format used at WKNR, Keener 13 back in the 60s, and the Hot Hits format of the early 70s. Innovative man....and a complete asshole.

[georgetownt]

Tuned in Monday it was Rob Brandt and Michelle in the AM.

[SteveL]

Lew Dickey, John Dickey and Jan Jefferies ruined many stations owned by Cumulus with terrible programming decisions. Those are all radio guys.

Were hedge funds a big part of the problem? You bet they were. They overlent and failed to replace poorly performing executives.

I think two or three companies each owning hundreds of stations spread across dozens of markets has proven to be a bad thing for radio.

When I was at LAV in '90 or '91, they brought in Lee Abrams and his genius idea at the time was to play only brief hooks from songs because "that's the only part people really want to hear". After all, what better way to play more music than the competition? At the time, we were getting our a$$es handed to us by KLQ and he thought we would turn them into "Country Q" with this strategy. It happened, eventually, but certainly not because of anything he came up with.

[Jason Kragt]

When I was at LAV in '90 or '91, they brought in Lee Abrams and his genius idea at the time was to play only brief hooks from songs because "that's the only part people really want to hear". After all, what better way to play more music than the competition? At the time, we were getting our a$$es handed to us by KLQ and he thought we would turn them into "Country Q" with this strategy. It happened, eventually, but certainly not because of anything he came up with.

While the brief hooks were certainly annoying, I appreciated the music direction WLAV was trying to go during that short period of time. It felt inevitable that the station would go classic rock given its history. I felt that would be its death sentence. One can only rest on its laurels and saga for so long.

The classic rock they play now was new and interesting back in the day. The modern rock format they adopted and refined was new and interesting in its time. It felt like the station was reinventing itself and staying relevant--for a while. I wonder what kind of station they would be today if they stayed current instead of surrendering to the past.

[SteveL]

Wasn't 1991 the year WLAV briefly tried an Alternative Rock format? Was Abrams involved on that decision?

Of course, the main reason WLAV was losing so badly to KLQ was because 94.5 had an enormously popular morning show. WLAV put forth minimal effort in mornings until they stuck the (somewhat controversial) Mel & Frank in that time slot.

I am too young to remember the short lived Alternative Rock phase of WLAV, but I do remember the "97 Rock" phase somewhat. It seems every time my dad turned on the radio in the truck, WLAV in its 97 Rock phase was either playing Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots (always Plush or Creep, not one of their more upbeat songs), or Rush. An annoying amount of music repetition.

KLQ always seemed to be playing "Janie's Got a Gun" by Aerosmith or Great White (thank God the grunge and alternative scenes soon destroyed horrible bands such as Great White).

When Michigan Media took ownership of WLAV and flipped it to classic rock, it was a breath of fresh air, because immediately, the variety of music played on Grand Rapids area rock radio expanded considerably. Both 96.9 and 94.5 became much better stations, in my opinion, music wise. I do have to say, though, that I was no fan of the thick processing WLAV used during the mid & late 90's.

WODJ was another station whose processing during most of the 90's drove me nuts; the reverb was obnoxious and the audio sounded ultra muddy. I suppose they were trying to sound like an AM top 40 station from the 60s or early 70s.

You are right that KLQ was winning in large part because of their popular morning show. Our numbers were down to probably a two share before we made the switch to alternative. The 97 Rock phase was without Abram's direction and was in '92 so maybe my recollection of his meeting is off. I can tell you for sure that we were not playing any Floyd or Petty during that time but we were the first to play Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc. so I felt it was a liberating time to be in radio. It was a H*** disappointment for Adams to come in and pull the plug.

[Jason Kragt]

Don't forget Aris Hampers.

Happy Birthday (today), Aris!