Radio Column May 26, 2006

Listening In

May 26, 2006

By Sandy Wells


“Fly Jock” Joyner joins new “Rhythm and Talk” KKBT-FM 100.3


Tom Joyner, the famed “Fly Jock” is returning to the LA radio airwaves on urban station KKBT-FM 100.3. Joyner is already listened to in 115 cities – including Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Miami, and Washington D.C. – by about eight million people. The Radio Hall of Famer is about to add one more big enchilada – Los Angeles.

The “Fly Jock” grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama. His father was one of the famed Tuskegee airmen of World War II. After getting his degree in sociology, he went into radio, first as a newsman, then as a successful music radio personality.

At one point in his career, he was simultaneously offered two jobs, one as a morning man in Dallas and the other as an afternoon DJ in Chicago. Rather than choose one, he accepted both. He maintained his commitment by flying between jobs, an accomplishment which earned him much publicity and the nickname, “The Fly Jock.”

Joyner currently resides in Dallas, but a KKBT spokesperson said Joyner is purchasing a house in Los Angeles and will be flying out here to do his programs on a regular basis. He also said the Joyner plans to do two extra hours exclusively for LA listeners every day. Angelenos last tuned into his program on R&B oldies KACE-FM 103.9 before the station was sold six years ago.

The Tom Joyner Show is syndicated by Joyner’s company Reach Media, which is owned by KKBT’s parent company, Radio One and is distributed by ABC Radio Networks. Joyner’s arrival headlines a major shift in KKBT’s programming designed to target an adult audience with a mix of talk and urban contemporary music.

Over the past several months KKBT management says it conducted market-wide research on the music preferences of urban radio listeners. They concluded that people who like hip hop music were already “getting enough of it from KPWR-FM 105.9 “Power 106,” KIIS-FM 102.7, KXOL-FM 96.3 and KDAY-FM 93.5.

In addition to Joyner, the new “Rhythm & Talk” format will feature strong “foreground” personalities such as Ananda Lewis, Michael Baisden and Free.

“This is the future of radio,” said 100.3 The Beat Program Director Tom Calococci. “[It’s] a proven musical formula combined with compelling, passionate, community minded hosts. It is the best of both worlds…great music and content.”

It’s also a move that puts it squarely in competition with Inglewood’s less-powerful urban adult contemporary station, KJLH-FM 102.3.


Steve Harvey joins KDAY-FM


Such is the bizarreness of radio that Steve Harvey, who would be anyone’s first choice to head up a black-oriented entertainment talk and music format such as the new “Rhythm and Talk” format on KKBT, will be taking on the new morning show starting next Tuesday at the struggling old school/hip hop station KDAY-FM 93.5. The TV/film star and comedian charged out of the gate with spectacular ratings on “The Beat” a few years ago. He departed in 2005 to develop his own national morning show.

Premiere Radio Networks launched “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” into national syndication last October. It is currently heard in 25 markets including New York, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.

KDAY, now part of Magic Broadcasting/Styles Partners, boasts former KIIS-FM general manager and Clear Channel Market Manager, Roy Laughlin as part of its new management team. He’s been working to boost the signal’s reach by combining two signals on 93.5 FM; one in Redondo Beach (KDAY) and the other in Ontario (KDAI).

“This 70 percent signal improvement for the newly syncrocast 93.5 KDAY and 93.5 KDAI has been in the works for over a year but was only completed a week ago,” said Laughlin last week. “The signal improvements are dramatic and exponentially improve this radio signal in the No. 1 radio market in the world.”

KDAY claims young Hispanics whose primary language is English prefer “Hip Hop Hits from multiple eras as their No. 1 music genre choice as do African Americans 18 to 49.”

The station predicts that by fall, its audience will be 40 percent Hispanic, 38 percent African American and 22 percent “Other/ Mixed Origin.”


John and Ken on TV


KFI-AM 640 afternoon talk hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou were interviewed by KNBC-TV reporter Conan Nolan last Sunday morning on Channel 4 News Conference. The subject was immigration.

Kobylt told Nolan about a million people tune in to them every afternoon between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and that most people listen for about 40 minutes. Chiampou said most of their listeners are suburbanites from Orange County and the Inland Empire.

“They are pretty much family people, he said. “They have taxes to pay. They have steady jobs. They have kids to raise. They have a lot of problems with the way things work in society and immigration is a big example.”

Kobylt added that the audience is mostly white collar, but the callers are predominantly blue collar. And the immigration issue is bigger than anything else.

“This is something that is affecting the school system in many towns. It’s affecting the emergency rooms in the hospitals It’s affecting the traffic enormously. The average person has to deal with the effects of illegal immigration morning to night. All the family members are affected.”

John and Ken said they jumped on the immigration issue back in January 2004 after President Bush announced he was going to push for an amnesty plan. Kobylt said that’s “when people went berserk.”

Kobylt said “You are not going to believe the backlash if the House passes an amnesty bill.”

“And it will all be good for ratings?” asked Nolan.

“That’s right, we always root for chaos,” replied Kobylt.