Jay Michaels
Having worked in Texas most of his career at a variety of formats at stations such as Kiss 96.7 in Austin, The Edge in Dallas, and KRBE/Houston, current WROX/Norfolk PD Jay Michaels segued to Virginia three years ago and more recently became 100-percent involved in the day-to-day activities of 96X.
Since then the station has undergone a sonic metamorphosis, incorporating hit music from all shades of Alternative and has seen a significant bump, moving 3.2-4.3 Persons 18-34 in the Winter 2008 book, 4.6-5.8 Men 18-34, with a 12+ cume reaching 100,000 for the first time since 2004.
We touched base with Jay recently to find out how 96X was progressing and how the transformation occurred.
e-QB presents excerpts from the June FMQB magazine Modern Rock Up Close featuring WROX/Norfolk PD Jay Michaels
On the changes that were made and how the station has evolved since he took over as PD… The station was not playing all the hits that were out there. We wanted to make sure that we were covering all of the different genres of Alternative, Rock, Pop and Active. One of them that wasn’t on was “Hey There, Delilah,” and that was kind of a turning point. It was a Top 10 record and we weren’t playing it, so we really stepped up the hits on the radio station. Our last book was great. The cume for the station was the best it’s been prior to 2004. We’re seeing a huge response 12+ cume persons and that 18 to 34 cume. In the market we were fourth, which is tremendous.
On the station’s musical position in the market… 96X is your, I guess you could call it, Alternative Hit radio station. Most of the music on the station is exclusive to us, so we kind of just look at it as our own world. Obviously our cume is on the rise and share is on the rise. We’re up a whole share 18 to 34. In Men we’re up over a whole share as well. The station is a unique entity that plays hit music, and that’s just tremendous. It’s like being the only Hip-Hop station in the market. People can come to us and they know they’re going to hear the new Coldplay, Weezer, Paramore, Metro Station, Boys Like Girls or Linkin Park. We feel like we’re a real Alternative station. I think there’s only a handful of those left… We’re picking the biggest hits. There are certain songs, like the Metro Station, that is our third biggest callout record with men and fourth with women. You hear this song and it’s like: Well, this could be The Killers, but Alternative stations are not touching this record. Meanwhile, it’s one of the most downloaded songs in the country. Huge buzz on this band, and we want to play bands like that that our audience accepts and people care about. There are a lot of songs, if you look in the Top 25, that raced up the chart and then they stiff out in the teens. No one’s downloading; no one’s talking about it. Those songs we’re staying away from. We want to be a station that people can tune-in and be passionate about their music.
On how the rotations and clocks have changed… We changed the clocks. There was like gold, after gold, after gold. Now it’s current, recurrent songs from the 2000s. Then we do have those big ’90s songs, but it’s not a classical Alternative station. All those songs are heard on the other stations in the market. How many times can you sit through Alice In Chains or Bush? We do play them but we don’t over do it. For us, this is what we’re finding is working here. I know obviously that works for other markets, that classic Alternative, but really it’s a very exciting radio station to listen to.
On the station moving forward… One of the things is, obviously everyone talks about satellite radio and iPods and all that, and we feel like as long as we offer compelling local programming, people know they can tune into 96X for Mike & Bob or Mancow, plus they know they can hear the hottest new Alternative music. We want to make sure we stay on top of that. We want to make sure the contests are things people can’t buy. Very lifestyle oriented trips. The latest in electronics we giveaway from Wiis to iPhones — that stuff’s real important to our audience. We really want to make sure the station is very locally programmed. We can do that. We’re a small company so we really want to make sure that we offer that to people.
** QB Content by Mike Bacon and Michael Parrish **
Also in the June Issue:
Station Spotlight: KRXF/Bend, OR
For just over a year-and-a-half, there has been a station tucked away in Bend, Oregon dishing out Alternative music to its listeners. Due to the population growth in Central Oregon, Bend Radio Group was able to get a new FM signal and signed on KRXF “92/7 FM Local. Independent.” FMQB takes a look at this fledgling Alternative outlet.
Q&A with Kevin Martin of Candlebox
The wait is over! Fifteen years after the release of one of the seminal Rock albums of the ‘90s, it is very apparent that Candlebox is back. From the opening chord of “Stand” to the fading notes of “Consider Us,” the redheaded poster children of Grunge have unleashed Into The Sun – a dozen new songs that will have their old fans reminiscing about their favorite flannel, all while creating a new base of fans. FMQB caught up with frontman Kevin Martin for a conversation about the record and those Grunge days of yesteryear.
