Jim Kurdziel
He’s been in the role of PD at Citadel Broadcasting’s WEDG (The Edge) for the past 18 months and already “Evil” Jim Kurdziel is garnering accolades for his programming abilities. FMQB recently caught up with Kurdziel for a one-on-one discussion on life at The Edge.
He’s been in the role of PD at Citadel Broadcasting’s WEDG (The Edge) for the past 18 months and already “Evil” Jim Kurdziel is garnering accolades for his programming abilities. He was named “Most Promising” Active Rock PD in FMQB’s 2006 Leaders poll and was also recently named as one of Edison Media‘s 30 Under 30. That’s high praise for someone who is just getting his programming career underway. And it hasn’t been the easiest of circumstances for Kurdziel to get his programming feet wet. He took over from a PD that wasn’t a good fit for the station and within his first few months into his first programming job, Citadel moved his dominant morning show, Shredd & Ragan, to afternoons to make way for the addition of Opie & Anthony. But he’s handled it like a pro, as S&R made the switch to PM drive without a hitch and Buffalo has become one of the premiere success stories for O&A syndication. FMQB recently caught up with Kurdziel for a one-on-one discussion on life at The Edge.
eQB presents excerpts from the FMQB August Magazine Rock Up Close featuring WEDG/Buffalo PD Jim Kurdziel
On making the mix of talk and music work on a singular radio station…
That’s the point, really. The most important part is maintaining a singular radio station. That’s very hard to do in this format, but it’s so important. The music is still the identity of the station. It represents our listeners and what they do. Opie & Anthony and Shredd & Ragan are the face of the station. They’re the ones who sell it. They live the lifestyle and they are the lifestyle. Our O&A imaging talks about The Edge as one station that they’re a part of. It’s the same thing with Shredd & Ragan. If you don’t create one brand and one identity, you’re dead.
On The Edge’s musical direction…
As a station, we have to play music that will make as many people as possible happy. That means huge songs and huge artists. Listeners don’t know what Active Rock is. Alternative? Ask someone on the street and they’ll tell you that Alternative happened in the early ‘90s and it’s old now. My point is that a great song is a great song. Period. It shouldn’t matter what chart will be affected if it’s what your listeners want to hear.
On O&A’s return to the market…
For The Edge, it’s been amazing. Obviously they’re much more than some syndicated show that you throw on because it doesn’t cost anything…. We do things here that maybe some other stations haven’t done, but it’s really to O&A’s credit. They’re doing great radio and Edge listeners are responding to it. We promote them. We believe in everything they do and we do some interesting local angles with them. I do believe that helps. But when it comes down to it, the product has to be there and O&A have a great product. They take great care in their shows and they care about the stations that care about them. As a programmer, I’m not sure that I really have the ability to make O&A succeed here. They’re doing that on their own. My role is to support them. And for me, it’s O&A on The Edge in Buffalo. That’s what I care about. How can I make them part of the station? How do I integrate them daily as if they were working in my building?
On Shredd & Ragan’s transition to afternoon drive…
They are an across the board success in every demo. Right from the beginning of their transition to PM drive, they were really smart about it. They knew that they weren’t taking their morning show and moving it to the afternoon. They decided that it was going to be an entirely new show and it’s paid off for them. It’s more about them and the relationships they have that make them work now… even when they were on in mornings, they never did the typical morning show stuff. They hated the terrible morning zoo stuff that the worst radio shows in America crank out on a painfully daily basis… With the afternoons, they’re minute-by-minute topical. It’s tough, but they’re great at it.
** QB Content by Michael Parrish **
| Also in the August Issue: |
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Up Close With KHTB/Salt Lake’s Roger Orton KHTB/Salt Lake City APD/MD Roger “Big Rog” Orton fell into the radio business in 2002 when he answered an ad for a Clear Channel sales assistant. Fast forward to 2007, where he eventually took over the afternoon drive slot and became APD/MD at Active Rocker 94.9 The Blaze. We recently spoke to him about the Salt Lake radio market, his on-air skills and even The Blaze tribute band. |
