It’s been a year since Nixon left the confines of Central Pennsylvania where he was groomed on radio ever since high school. His first show was on Lehigh University’s WLVR and in college he became the PD at Millersville University’s radio station before taking an internship at WQXA/Harrisburg. As Nixon puts it, he “just kind of stuck around for the next ten years filling pretty much every position at the station at some point.” Now sitting in the PD chair at WKRL (KROCK)/ Syracuse, FMQB caught up with him for a conversation on programming Galaxy Communications’ Central New York powerhouse Rock outlet.
Most Promising Programmer:
Nixon
WKRL/Syracuse
It’s been a year since Nixon left the confines of Central Pennsylvania where he was groomed on radio ever since high school. His first show was on Lehigh University’s WLVR in the summer and during holiday breaks when they used community members to fill the schedule. In college, he became the PD at Millersville University’s radio station and took an internship at WQXA/Harrisburg and, as Nixon puts it, he “just kind of stuck around for the next ten years filling pretty much every position at the station at some point.” Now sitting in the PD chair at WKRL (KROCK)/Syracuse, FMQB caught up with him for a conversation on programming Galaxy Communications’ Central New York powerhouse Rock outlet.
eQB presents excerpts from the September FMQB magazine
Rock Up Close with WKRL/Syracuse, PD, Nixon
“KROCK has won and is winning where it is supposed to. I was lucky to come in and not have to fix a broken product. I did not look to make any major changes. As a matter of fact, our competition in the market made moves to adjust their sites directly at us, and we have still stood strong and won.”
“I have worked with our airstaff to allow them room to have some personality. I was not looking for a staff of comedians that need to do four-minute bits, but I did want a little of who they are as people to shine through. All of our personalities have a unique connection with each other. We talk about the others and carry it through dayparts. The idea is to create a family type feel so the listeners are and want to be a part of that family.”
“We are definitely the epitome of a hybrid station. We rock hard. We do not daypart a ton. KROCK plays the biggest songs on both charts as long as they make sense for the station. We never want to be too “wussy,” but we can without much hesitation play a Kings of Leon record. We just need to back that up with some core rock. The area is an interesting mix of college students with Syracuse University being so prevalent and blue collar rockers. We balance the two to create a product that if you are between 18–34 years-old; you are going to dig most of the time. The Grunge period is our “Classic Rock” and we work forward from there.”
“We are plugged in through the net and just try to be in our listeners pocket as much as possible. Basically, my theory is if listeners are willing to come to us, we need to be willing to go to them as well and share the experience of being a part of KROCK and these are a few of the ways we can work into their day to day life.”
“Being a local company has really enabled us to have a face-to-face, one-to-one feel with the community that a lot of companies lack. When we want something done, or a client or community figure wants something from us, they can walk right in and talk to the owner. That is a great advantage.”
“Besides SU sports our event side is tied into major community events such as Taste of Syracuse and Utica, Fireworks over Utica, The Hump Day Concert Series at the Inner Harbor where we bring in national bands to play free on Wednesdays all summer. It’s a great situation because we give something to the community and can expose our brands to hundreds of thousands of people a year.”
“As far as Michael Vick, he does make the Eagles offense pretty scary and for a while it stops the Philly fans from calling Dallas a team of criminals!
** QB Content by Michael Parrish **
The Drew and Mike Show was a top rated morning program on Greater Media’s WRIF/Detroit for 14 years before Drew Lane exited in September 2007. Mike maintained his stronghold in the Motor City with Mike In the Morning, which was still on top of the ratings. But on July 13 after a two-year absence, his old co-host Drew rejoined him to rekindle the chemistry that Detroit radio listeners have come to know and love. After their first week back on the air together, they spoke to FMQB about how things have changed in the past two years, as well as their plans to move forward.
** Interview by Mandy Feingold **
