Media Axe Falls - J. Michael McCoy
December 10, 2008
Media is something I know a little about. The good and the bad. (My first termination was from a radio station 40 years ago on Christmas Eve...maybe that's why the holiday scares me today?) I know that when the media starts to release people, who are good at what they do...you know programming is NOT involved. It's the pin-heads in accounting. But...this is different, I think.
Twice this week we've seen the axe fall here in Des Moines. The most recent was J. Michael McCoy from 98.3 WOW-FM (983wowfm). He's been in the business for over 20 years and most recently held the afternoon gig "Mac's World" where he was posting pretty good numbers. He also is VERY conservative, with a BIG "R" next to his name. (Here is the story from WHO-TV-13 Des Moines) Notice he says money was not an issue...he was willing to take a major pay cut to stay on. Anyway, I'll miss Mac...he's a good guy and I really mean that!
The weird thing is that Terry Peters, GM of Citadel Group (the big guns who actually own the stations) here in Des Moines is replacing Mac with Chris Bradshaw...who by the way, is very bright and very funny. And...very left.
Again, maybe I was ahead of my time? I went directly to Terry Peters two years ago to suggest to him that perhaps a more center or left-wing talk radio program might be a good choice for 98.3 WOW-FM. Why? Because across town at WHO - 1040AM it's all GOP all the time. (Well, other than the "God Show" from 4 to 7pm with Steve Deace each weekday.) I suggested to Terry that a more liberal show would catch on looking at just the voting numbers in the area. He told me, "Michael it's interesting but a liberal show will not work in this market or any market. Look at what happened to Air-America."
So...now they have one? Memo to Bradshaw: Don't re-arrange the furniture just yet.
I'm tellin' ya...I am a prophet...
Michael P. Libbie - Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications - Where we...as of today anyway, have a show airing on 98.3 WOW-FM each Sunday morning.