WHEN WILL THIS "PHASE" PASS?

In the mid 80's I got my first Programming job at KFMX in Lubbock Texas of all places! The station had been on since the early '80's and had some great personalities pass through the station. Dale Dudley and Loris Lane, (both legendary figures now at KLBJ in Austin), to name a few. Anyway, when I became Program Director, my first PD gig, we were the typical black T-shirt wearing M18-34 station that played heavy currents, everything from Dead or Alive, Cinderella to Sting and Kingdom Come. My G.M., (Scott Parsons, thanks Scott!), was also a first time G.M.

Our revenue was not what it should have been, and as the only Rock station in the market (remember those days?), we both felt there should be more revenue and ratings. What I remember is that our owner knew Jay Hoker, and that Jay had had success in both Kansas City and Cincinnati with Classic Rock. Jay was nice enough to come down and speak with us about the format and then he recommended getting in touch with Jacobs Media. Our owner, (too cheap to hire a consultant full time), organized a trip for Dave Lange (working for you guys at the time) to come to Lubbock. I remember taking a crash course into Classic Rock with Dave both at the station and at local restaurants for a few days. I become completely and totally sold on the promise of focused Classic Rock based radio station. It was my music and now someone was telling me why playing it was beneficial!

Well... Our owner did not end up hiring Jacobs Media, again too cheap, but I then had several meetings with Doug Gondek, at KCFX at the time, (he probably doesn't even remember) about clocks and I immediately (with Scott's approval) implemented a Classic Rock based station with only 1 or 2 currents an hour maximum, (Remember we were the only rock station!), and our numbers went to the highest levels ever! I eventually left to Program in Salt Lake City but Scott has remained very successful with that station to this day and now there are several Rock products in the little town of LubbRock, Texas!...

I remember speaking with two reps from PolyGram and Arista at an artist showcase in Dallas in the late 80's. They were concerned about how all the AOR's in Texas were starting to become Classic-based stations and they were having a tough time getting their new product on the air (how could someone not play Enuff Znuff but play Zeppelin?), and they asked me when this phase would pass. I told them when the ratings and revenue stopped. Well, here it is 20 years later and neither ratings nor revenue has stopped coming in!

Good Job Guys!!!

STANDING THE TEST OF TIME

Cox bought 105.9 in 1984, and, after playing around... And failing... With Top 40 for about a year, we went rock... Specifically Superstars II...  Copying KFOG’s recipe for their then success in SF. That recipe didn’t exactly work for us. While we got some “OK” numbers, we were really nowhere in a tough market which, rock-wise, already had the LOOP at its “Johnny B” peak, along with WXRT. When Cox hired Nick Trigony to run the radio group, he gave me the impetus and support to try to make things better.

The first decision that proved to be a key to our later success was the hiring of Tim Sabean as PD. I still think Tim is one of the all-time great PD’s, not to mention one of the most high-energy and motivated people I have ever known. The second fortunate decision was to go COMPLETELY Classic Rock... Not just dabble in it... And bring Fred in to help us build the product. Nick, Tim and I had known Fred from ABC, and knew him to be one of the smartest people ever put on this Earth. That completed the formula... And then the fun began.

We had a great run for several years... We beat the LOOP straight up a couple of times, WITHOUT a morning show... And consistently ranked in the top 3 or 4 stations in Chicago for Men 25-54. We ultimately brought in some great heritage jocks, most especially the spectacular Patti Haze... And made A LOT of money for Cox. I count that experience as a true highlight of my radio tenure, and will never forget the great times and the great people associated with it. And, yes, Cox still has a bunch of Classic Rock stations, and they continue to flourish in their markets. But, it took the Chicago success to prove the viability of the format... That it could stand the test of time and remain a consistent, money-making format.

I’m glad Fred and his great team are being recognized for the 20th anniversary of CR. But, Fred should also be recognized as one of the true visionaries of our industry all across the rock spectrum... A genius if there ever was one... A great guy, a great consultant, and, to me personally, a great friend, then and now.

Thanks for the memories, Fred!

JACK WHO?

The current craze for the Jack format is ill founded. It is nothing new and probably should be called "Fred" instead of Jack, as the inventor was Fred Jacobs, who 20 years ago invented Classic Rock.

"Celebrating X years (is it 25?) as a Jacobs Media client"

Ed Christian
President CEO, Saga Communications

A GOOSE BUMP MOMENT

I drove down to Fred's apartment in suburban Detroit with this huge list of albums and songs I had put together from my memory and experience on the air in the local radio markets. This was a list of stuff I loved, not a vetted, researched, well mapped playlist, just good music I wanted to present to Fred as possible library material for the station. We sat in his place and went over the list, talked about how and what to incorporate into the WMMQ music library, possible rotation sequences, frequency of airplay, and overall textural feel.

I was fascinated with the whole process, but most of all I was hooked. I couldn't wait to get it on the air. I drove back to Lansing, went to work on developing this great radio station I was sure would succeed and, with the help of people like Jeff Crowe and Brad Curtis, was soon rewarded with success. It was a "goose bump" moment when I first heard those same songs Fred and I reviewed at his place turn up on the radio... And spread like wildfire all over Lansing and beyond. I had no idea how big the format would become or how much a part of people's lives it would remain.

To you, Fred, and everyone at Jacobs Media, thanks for the memories, the opportunities and the chance you gave a little guy like me back then. I've never regretted the choice and never stopped learning.

Happy 20th, and continued success in all of your adventures!

A FORCE THEN & TODAY

How many times have we heard the statement "It won't last" or "it's just a fad" about Classic Rock since its inception twenty years ago? Hell... I'm sure I was guilty of saying the same things because I was programming AOR stations in the mid 80's and early 90's and these Classic Rock competitors were taking significant chunks of audience out of our hide.

One AOR station I worked for even decided it would go to court and sue the Classic Rock competitor over the name, "Classic Rock." We were the big dog AOR and we felt entitled to own every image.  How dare a flank attack occur!

But I knew the real truth...  It was a force then and it remains a force today.

I began programming a Classic Rock station in 1992 and have continued to marvel at the loyalty of the audience and of the customer base. It remains one of the strongest brands in our business. Let's all keep making it stronger!

WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT BOOK?

My Wonder Years included growing up with some fantastic radio in the New York area.  WNEW-FM was iconic with its deep commitment to rock and personalities who were integral to the fabric of the station.  Scott Muni held session every afternoon talking about music in a way few have equaled.  Jonathan Schwartz could talk about anything and make it compelling.   WPLJ was much more hit driven but no less committed to rock and the pop culture of the era with Pat St. John, Jim Kerr, Carole Miller and others playing “Rockin’ Stereo.”   Of course, rock was different then.  Stevie Wonder’s "Innervisions" was rock.  Linda Ronstadt was selling out Madison Square Garden.  I was at WABC during the waning days of Top 40, and one floor above, PLJ was the new cultural icon. 

My career had taken me to Detroit to resurrect a Mike Joseph CHR, WHYT.  I learned that one apartment building from mine in the same complex at 14 and Orchard Lake, Fred Jacobs who had been the research guru for the ABC-FM stations during my time there was toiling at his dining room table.  He was conducting focus groups around the country and developing a “what if” hypothesis that rock was fragmenting.  A large body of music was being ignored.  The baby boomers, the largest population America had ever seen, were being left behind. 

Around the same time, I had joined what was then Josephson Communications (and is now Saga).  We were looking to rebuild WMGF an AC station in Milwaukee that was stuck.  We fielded research and it was clear that some form of “oldies” was the way to go.  Sure we could play Gary Puckett, but this was the Midwest and we took a gamble that “oldies” was code for something more rock based like The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Boston. By then, Fred had a few early success stories in Dallas and Lansing.  We took the plunge and Classic Hits 96, WKLH was born.  In our first book we debuted with a 7 share and swept every key demo. 

It is important to keep in mind that oldies stations had not yet proliferated.  Classic Rock and Classic Hit stations were the first library based stations in most markets.  The naysayer’s were many.  “It is isn’t durable.”  “It will burn out.”  “What will you do next book?”  It is 20 years later and WKLH is still number one 25-54.  While tons of credit must go to President/General Manager Tom Joerres and Program Director Bob Bellini for outstanding execution, the credit for the vision into the future (or past) belongs to Fred who saw it, built it and innovated.

It’s been a long time since that long haired mad scientist was working at his dining room table and had he not come along we’d all be listening to "Hungry Like The Wolf" and wondering where "our" music went. 

YOU DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE AROUND LONG TO BE A CLASSIC

I remember researching the Milwaukee market in the Fall of 1985 and we found a significant appetite for 60’s and 70’s. We opted for the more subdued Classic Hits route figuring the appeal would have more balance and thus make us more friendly with the media buyers. I believe our Birch rating in 1985 was .7...  We used to kid around that we were that close to our creator smashing a fist through the studio window and shutting us down. We debuted WKLH Classic Hits 96 on January 26th 1986. I remember the date well as we were at a Super Bowl party with our staff watching that famous Bears team pummel the Patriots. It was at that party we announced the new Classic Hits format and little did we know we were soon going to be doing some pummeling of our own.

Back then, there were only two Arbitron books a year and when the Spring 86’ Book came out we were NUMBER ONE Adults 18-34,18-49, 25-54. A clean sweep in all three major demos. Of course, the naysayers were quick to challenge the format's longevity. And as you read this today WKLH and its Classic Rock format is NUMBER ONE Adults 25-54... 20 years later!

I remember in 1986 sitting with Fred Jacobs visiting our sister stations in South Central Illinois and talking about other Classic formats debuting. One in particular was WZLX in Boston and that they were going to let the music do the talking. Well, we had a little history with a very good morning show , Dave & Carole, and we decided that the Milwaukee Classic version would have personality in mornings. Good choice.  20 years later Dave & Carole continue to be an Adult market leader.

I also remember sending a note (remember when we would send mail... Before email!) to my partner and EVP of Programming for Saga Steve Goldstein and in the note I said with the library albeit large, but finite, the way this thing was going to stay fresh was with three things... Production, Production, Production. Playing Classic Hits of yesterday and today was also an assist to our longevity. When the Stones came out with "Harlem Shuffle" or the Moody Blues with "Wildest Dream," or new McCartney, Clapton, or Springsteen product came out, it allowed us to help keep those boomers in touch with the current year as well.

Some of the first positioning sales pieces stated: "The Beatles sold out Shea Stadium in 30 minutes, the Doobies sold out Oakland Coliseum in 50 minutes, The Who sold out Soldier Field in 45 minutes, The Stones sold out County Stadium in 40 minutes... We’ve got the Beatles, The Stones, the Who, The Doobies and other Classic groups...  Fortunately, we haven’t sold out... YET."

Or, I remember another sales piece that had pictures of the following: Classic Jeans (Levi’s) circa 1859, Classic Cola (Coke) circa 1886, Classic Watch (Cartier) circa 1904, Classic car (BMW) circa 1942... And then the KLH logo with the Number one ranking 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 with the copy line “YOU DON’T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE AROUND LONG TO BE A CLASSIC”

Classic Hits/Rock... Twenty years and still counting !!

ON THE GROUND FLOOR

I’m proud to say that KQRS was in on the ground floor of the Classic Rock movement in ’85 and ’86.  The songs that sounded sooo good on the radio actually produced big ratings... Fast.

It’s amusing now to recall the short shelf-life many in our industry predicted for the Classic Rock format.

Congrats to Fred and everyone at Jacobs Media for twenty great years!

FINALLY, MUSIC FOR ME!

So there I am, editing a music bed (with razor blades and grease pencil) for our embarrassing, locally produced TV spot in a studio the size of a shoebox in Madison, Wisconsin. I’d heard rumbles of something exciting happening a little more than an hour east on I-94 in Milwaukee.

Classic Rock was solidifying its foundation as a long-term, viable format all its own, but Classic Hits? Yet, both Fred Jacobs and Saga Communications VP/Programming Steve Goldstein were so emotionally invested in the station it was impossible to avoid being overwhelmed with enthusiasm for this still-evolving entity that was WKLH.

Even after I arrived, the chorus of critics was still boisterous, despite ‘KLH’s wildly successful debut and subsequent dominance. Pundits were still waiting for the "burnout". The media were still on "deathwatch." And while I was trying to convince Selector that Motown and Pink Floyd were indeed compatible in the same database, my most vivid memories about this format's future were interviews with the people it touched. We were recording vignettes of listeners recalling their feelings about the first time they heard ‘KLH. No one needed encouragement.

"Finally! Music for ME!"
"Where were all these songs?"
"Screeching ying-yang on those rock stations? No thanks!"

It was the seminal moment that cemented my confidence in this format.

Despite the fragmentation and turbulence around it, Classic Rock has become embedded in our lives, a virtual soundtrack to our experiences. Whether instrument of social change or catalyst of so many memories, we are forever linked to the power of this music. Congratulations on TWENTY YEARS!

 - Bob Bellini

THESE ARE GREAT SONGS

I am driving out of my typical suburban neighborhood this morning. I see two teenage boys, probably around 14 or 15. One of them is wearing a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, while the other has on the exact same black Led Zeppelin 1977 American Tour T-shirt I purchased at the Pontiac Silverdome (it was called Pontiac Stadium then) on April 30, 1977. While mine came from a Led Zeppelin concert I attended as a 15 year-old, I am guessing his came from Hot Topic (which makes it even more interesting). It struck me that I never see teenagers wearing Nightranger, Starship or Bryan Adams shirts. Those were the artists I remember being played on rock radio in 1985.

In spring of 1985 I was able to get four credits of independent study for my B.A. degree at Michigan State University. To get those four credits, Fred Jacobs kindly allowed me to be involved in the sign-on of WMMQ in Lansing, and wrote something nice enough to my professor to garner one of the few 4.0 grades I ever received.  Almost immediately following the sign-on of the station, Program Director Jeff Crowe gave me my first full-time job in radio (actually my first full-time job ever). It was a crappy facility, located 20 miles away from Lansing, in a town called Charlotte (rhymes with “car lot” as any local would tell you, not like the better-known Charlotte in NC).

The issue then seemed to be how long would people want to hear the same old rock songs over and over? Looking back now, the music I listened to was not on the radio. I wasn’t interested in Bryan Adams, Loverboy or Mr. Mr., and the Replacments, R.E.M. and the Clash were not being played on the radio (at least not in most places). However, there was this incredible body of music, from the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who that was only receiving sporadic airplay on rock radio. Most of it was relegated to lunch and Sunday morning programs. Once I began spending most of my waking hours either listening to or playing these artists on WMMQ, it began to dawn on me that not only were these songs far superior to most current rock being played on rock radio, but these songs were far superior to most pop and rock music, period. Perhaps the reason classic rock radio is not only still around, but has thrived, fragmented and grown, is because these are great songs.

The rest, as they say, is history. WMMQ was a huge success. Within a year, Classic Rock stations were signing on all over the country, and suddenly a lot of rock stations began defensively airing loads of Classic Rock.

Back to those teenagers in my neighborhood. It’s possible that it’s just trendy to wear vintage-looking rock T-shirts and that maybe they don’t even listen to that music. However, I bet if you looked at their iPods, you’d find that along with Good Charlotte and Kanye West, you will most likely find some music from Pink Floyd, The Doors, and Queen.

CAREER SUICIDE?

Classic Rock's 20th??? Lots of visceral memories:

"You can't program a Rock station without Simple Minds"...the ultimate turndown line from a very talented personality we tried to recruit in 1986.

"It may have worked in Texas but this is L.A.." ...yet another turndown.

"It'll last maybe three months and burn out"...a competing G.M.

"No one will support you"....a label exec...

"Who would listen to that ?...a prominent consultant....

...And on and on and on.

Some of the keenest minds in the business (at least they said they were) predicted career suicide for anyone signing on to this "Classic Rock" thing. Greater Media saw it differently, and near the end of September, 1986, KLSX became "L.A.'s Classic Rock." No one loved us except the people. Phones went off the hook, actual letters were written thanking us and, with all the naysaying and doubt of the industry, Southern California accepted "L.A.'s Classic Rock" as a friend and companion... It rolled really fast...

The next mental visual for me? The book clobbered the other rockers, triggering huge market changes. Hosting the former staff of KMET around Valentine's Day 1987 to say good-bye as The Mighty 'Met left the format and became The Wave. The graceful message from KLOS G.M. saying "I can make plenty of billing as Number Two." That's just some of the emotional stuff...An excellent ride... And thanks to Fred and Tom Bender and everyone else who laid the groundwork to make it happen.

At a time when Rock Radio was heading for irrelevance, Fred came up with a plan that not only revitalized Rock Radio, but radio overall by bringing disaffected listeners back as well as creating new ones. This new cume was a big part of what really was a revolution. Classic Rock also revived many a musician's career and gave the new Compact Disc format a real shot. It's radio that works for the listener and for the clients... And has for twenty years now. As radio battles with all the new alternatives, looking for the next Big Thing, that's an important lesson from Jacobs Media. It's all about compelling content. Congratulations!

IT'S WORTH A SHOT...

So, back when we were both younger and Fred had hair, he was the Research Director for the ABC-FM Station Group, and I was... As most years... At WRIF.  I remember talking to him about some focus groups that he had done for one of the stations and he said that they didn't turn out that great, but that he did trip across some interesting responses to older Album Rock material, which really resonated with the guys in the group. At that time, they were getting pretty fried on the steady diet of corporate rock.

As we chatted along, Fred said, "Just watch... A couple of more years, and there'll be a hole for AOR Gold."

A number of years pass, and I find myself in Dallas, Texas with a boss, Marty Greenberg, who wants to do something new and different with the station there. Driving around aimlessly, I found myself replaying that conversation with Fred, and thinking "What the heck? Maybe it's time...It's worth a shot."

A couple of (long) phone calls later, I found myself and Fred sitting in my apartment, tearing through every album I owned, tossing out song titles and trying to figure out whether each title "fit" with what we were trying to accomplish. And today, just remembering the story reminds me that radio's best ideas are found not in an auditorium test or a focus group, but when we take that knowledge and understanding of the audience and then go crazy and try to do things differently. Every innovation in this industry, and I'm proud to have been a part of Classic Rock, has come out of that conviction that there's a better way if we just bend and break a few rules and go beyond the conventional thinking.  It's called entertainment.

WHEN CLASSIC ROCK BECAME A FORMAT FOR ME

Classic Rock was not even on my radar screen, but then it wasn’t really on anyone’s screen yet.  It was August of 1985 and Coleman was doing focus groups for Q104 in Kansas City.  Back then, Q104 was a Top 40 station.  We were under attack by a second Top 40 station, so we did focus groups to see if they were making any inroads on our position.  We were doing the groups mostly with women between 18 and 34.  The groups were comprised of people who were either fans of Q104 or of one of a few competitive Contemporary Pop stations. We were not at all interested in Rock or KY102, Kansas City's leading Rock station at the time.

Not two minutes into the session, an unanticipated station became the buzz of the groups.  It was a station we did not even know about.  We wanted to talk about the pitched battle between the two Top 40 stations.  The 25-year-old female CHR fans wanted to talk about what they wanted to talk about.  So, they talked about The Fox - Kansas City’s new station.  

I remember being amazed at the awareness this station had generated, particularly with this group of people.  I later found out that The Fox had been on the air for only two months.  Because we were so focused on Q104, The Fox was not even in my focus group outline.

In a typical Coleman focus group, we ask listeners for their top-of-mind perceptions and impressions of stations before we do anything else.  What is this station about?  What comes to mind when you think of this station?  Usually, we get a laundry list of descriptions of stations.  Listeners say things like “it plays current music,” “variety” or “modern music.”

But, this is not what they said about The Fox.  There was nothing vague about people’s responses to KCFX.    “What is the Fox?” I asked.  “It’s Classic Rock” was the answer.  That simple!  “What is Classic Rock?” I followed up.   “It’s the best Rock groups from the 60s and 70s, all the great Rock that KY102 does not play anymore.”

That was a real learning experience.  Up until that point, those who ran most Rock radio stations dismissed the idea of playing oldies in their format.  These programmers said that real Rock listeners want current music or that if you play too much older Rock, the audience will soon grow tired of it and the music will burn out.  How little they knew about their own audience!

In other research that we had done up to that point, we had seen that stations playing a lot of older rock were able to differentiate themselves from their competitors, but it was not until the birth of pure Classic Rock that people got the idea that a station could play all Classic Rock. 

Shortly after this experience, we told Bill Sherard - who at the time ran a low-rated Country station in Washington D.C. - about The Fox in Kansas City.   Soon, Sherard adopted the format and put it on WCXR.  That station also soon zoomed to the top of the ratings 25-54.  As soon as that happened, the rest of the country followed very quickly.  From 1985 through 1990, many stations followed in the footsteps of Kansas City’s Fox and Washington D.C.’s WCXR.  Today, Classic Rock is one of the strongest-performing formats and Classic Rock music is year after year the best-testing music among all listeners 25-54.  Despite the recurring belief in some quarters that Classic Rock would soon run out of gas, it has not.  It is now 20 years old and still doing very well.  I still remember clearly the night the format was born...  Or at least born for me in a focus group done for a CHR radio station. 

I BECAME A BELIEVER

In the mid 80’s in Seattle KISW and KZOK, where I was music director at the time, we were duking it out for AOR bragging rights, trying to see who could out-rock whom. It was brutal. The owners of KZOK were not satisfied with the ratings and dollars that we were generating and pushed management to find something that could get KZOK out of the deadlock with KISW. We had heard of this new format called “Classic Rock.”  From the perspective of a guy who hung out with the record guys, this sounded like no fun at all, but in 1986 the decision was made, currents go by the wayside and we go Classic Rock... without Fred Jacobs.

We thought we had it all figured out. Just drop the currents and play a bunch of old stuff like Led Zeppelin, CSNY, The Rascals, Turtles, Raspberries, ? and the Mysterians... Whoops too deep! We experimented with several really bad versions of Classic Rock with the help of some consultants who shall remain nameless here. It wasn’t working. By 1989 I was the Program Director and struggling to fix the mess. Mike Fowler the new GM came to me one day and said “I would like to hire the ‘father of Classic Rock’ Fred Jacobs.” Great, I thought, another consultant to mess things up, “I don’t need that kind of help” I told Mike.

Fred came in the next week. At first I was a little resistant to his ideas, but it didn’t take long to see that this guy knew what he was talking about. Within a year KZOK was back in the top 5 beating KISW handily and eventually making number one 25-54.

I became a believer. I have spent all of the years since programming some form of Classic Rock or at stations like KFOX/San Jose, KXOA and The Eagle (KSEG) in Sacramento and most recently The Bone (KSAN) in San Francisco. Fred has been with me at each of these stations. All of these stations were rescued and achieved great ratings with the Classic Rock format. When executed properly and with the right tools and people this format can’t miss. I appreciate all the help that Fred, Paul, Bill and the entire Jacobs staff has given me over the years.

YOU WANT ME TO GO TO ANCHORAGE?

Yes, that’s where my consulting career got its jumpstart but it also marked the first time that we’d tried Classic Rock in a decidedly smaller market. At the time – 1989 – Classic Rock had definitely shown itself to be a powerhouse format in larger markets like New York, Detroit, L.A., D.C., Philadelphia, and Kansas City but it took a bit longer to introduce it to smaller markets.

Fred was so busy with these bigger projects that when a call came in from Tom Tierney, a station owner in Alaska, to flip formats and go Classic Rock he simply couldn’t handle it (nor was he wild about taking 10 hour flights). Convincing Tom Tierney that I was more than capable did not prove to be too difficult but finding a Program Director for the station was. Dave Moore (now programming Rock 105 in Jacksonville) was in South Carolina at the time but we both knew Dave from our days at Michigan State (he helped with the first station we ever did, WMMQ in Lansing) and he took on the challenge to move to Alaska. Dave drove all the way to Anchorage from South Carolina, and lived to tell the tale.

Dave’s programming experience and my consulting experience were both minimal at the time but we were both determined to make KBFX work. And work it did – within a book or two The Fox was #1 12+ and stayed there (more or less) for a few years running. Our midday jock, C.C. Rider, turned into a huge local radio star (and even won a Marconi!) and the hiring of morning man Rick Rydell soon after also proved to be big winner. (One other alum of KBFX? Q101’s Mike Stern whose first “real” job in radio was as the night guy at KBFX ,and trust me when I say that being the night guy in Anchorage qualifies as “paying your dues.” Jon McGann – now programming WZBA in Baltimore – also spent time up programming the Fox).

The Fox gave Dave Moore the big jumpstart his career needed, it gave me a huge dose of confidence when it came to constructing and consulting the format, it made those long plane rides over hundreds and hundreds of miles of snow and cold and mountains well worth it, and it showed that Classic Rock was not just a big market phenomenon, but a format that could (and still does) work and win big in markets of any size and in any part of the U.S.

WHAT IT'S NOT

I believe KCFX in KC was the first major market to station to air the Classic Rock format. East Lansing was the first station. Fred, Bill Newman (Hoker Broadcasting's GM), and myself spent many hours discussing what Classic Rock should sound like. I can tell you this, we had a very heated argument at one of KC's famous BBQ diners trying to define the format and what it should sound like.

We had already tentatively designed our FOX logo, which we ended up selling to many other markets that wanted to convert to Classic Rock. In the end, we decided that to really define the new format it would be about the music that we would not play (i.e. Elvis, Beatles, Elton John, etc.). In a very short time after the new format went on the air KCFX was dominant in the 25-54 male demos. Working with Fred Jacobs was a kick... 

Those were the best of times, not to mention my working relationship with Paul Jacobs in Detroit and Dallas. Although I'm involved in several non-radio projects - a consultant for a Hispanic TV network, land investment and development - I have come full circle. I have discovered and currently manage a rock band called Glass Closet. I guess we all return to our roots.

A NEW GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

One thing I will always remember about the beginning of Classic Rock is getting Fred Jacobs to dress up in clothes he wore 20 years prior. For public consumption. Not only was it a pretty remarkable achievement that he actually still fit in those clothes, but it seemed like a great way to illustrate the newspaper story I was writing about this crazy new format "The Big Chill" had planted in his radio muse. Of course, after cajoling Fred into those colorful denims and goofy little hat, we essentially ran a head shot - defeating my purpose and making Fred feel more foolish than he looked. Or maybe we're just used to him looking that way...

I actually felt that Classic Rock would be a winner from the get-go. From my vantage point writing about the music scene, I could sense the beginnings of a new generational divide. The counter-culturalists of the `60s did not hate the new wave of MTV rock and pop as much as their parents may have hated the Beatles, Stones, et al, but they were having trouble wrapping their arms, and ears, around the world of New Wave, punk, punk-funk, hair metal and the early traces of rap. You could sense a re-embrace of the music they grew up loving, especially since it was the soundtrack to an enormously popular film that was speaking to them in so many ways.

It was the first real indication that rock was beginning to segment, not into genre distinctions (which would come later) but in a generational way. There was now a body of Rock work that could be defined as "classic" and as the template(s) for styles, attitudes and sounds that would follow. Duran Duran was, after all, David Bowie and Roxy Music and T. Rex. Prince was George Clinton, Love, James Brown and the Beatles. That list goes on. But there was no doubt in my mind there was an audience with an appetite for those original touchstones, and Classic Rock was the vehicle to meet that demand. It will remain a format, probably forever; the fascinating thing will be to see what we consider to be Classic Rock 20 years from now.

A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

At the time I was at KLOS-FM Los Angeles, a mainstream rock station, and I saw what was happening around the country with MAJOR ROCK STATIONS.

This new format called “Classic Rock” started popping up around the country and was cutting big stations down to their knees.

The format was focused, and flanked stations with tried and true proven hits from rock legends like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and other Rock Monsters.

The format was based on familiarity. Radio companies were investing in supplying programmers the tools to really zero in on getting a direct competitor in the crosshairs. The combination of a well positioned station, with a unique music position, great programming, excellent production, a focused air staff, marketing, and Jacobs Media was a lethal combination.

The proof was WCKG-FM in Chicago. We took it from 19th to 4th 12+ and held it there for 4 years without a major morning show. We beat our direct competitor WLUP-FM, and that was no easy task.

I’ll never forget my first meeting with Fred regarding the project of WCKG. After spending the day with Fred, we were on our way to the airport I asked Fred before he jumped out of the car “do you think we can tumble the Loop?” Fred turned to me, paused, and said “It’ll be a battle…but YES!”

That was the turning point in plotting the success story of WCKG-FM and we never looked back.

To take it even one step further, apply this same formula for success to a situation with Howard Stern and you’ve got a format that becomes a “Weapon of Mass Destruction!”

WYSP-FM Philadelphia jumped to #1, 12+, a feat that was never accomplished at the time with a narrowly targeted music format. The combination of Howard Stern in the Morning, Classic Rock all day, and the Philadelphia Eagles gave us the keys to own every male demo for years to come!

So if anyone has any doubt about the format of “Classic Rock,” just think about the last two examples…and I could name at least 10 more!

- Tim Sabean

Tim Sabean - among other stations - successfully programmed KLOS, WCKG, and WYSP, before moving to Sirius Satellite Radio this year.

KANSAS CITY'S "PLASTIC ROCK"

I first worked with Fred when we signed-on KCFX in Kansas City as one of the first large market FM's in the country to go Classic Rock (1985, I think?). I can remember the confused reaction I got from most of the industry (music & radio) because they just couldn't understand how a Rock station could get by without playing any currents...

Some other personal memories include the listener who called the station one day to say he loved the music, but why did we keep calling it "plastic rock"!!?

And I remember the day Fred & I went to the Peaches record store in Overland Park, on Shawnee Mission, and bought $1000+ worth of albums (yes vinyl albums!) that we needed for on-air play and put it all on my credit card... The store manager was happy to have the sale but really curious what we were going to do with all those "old rock albums..." He was about to find out, along with the rest of Kansas City!

Congratulations on the Anniversary!

I KNEW WE HAD A HIT

Twenty years... It doesn't seem possible. I must have been a teenager when you developed the Classic Rock format. It seems so simple in retrospect-develop a format that plays nothing but familiar, high testing AOR classics, but it certainly seemed radical at the time and I remember almost every major AOR programmer lampooning the idea. Where are they now?

I was running Greater Media at the time and we had dramatic success with the format at WCSX in Detroit, so we decided to try it at our most important station, KLSX in Los Angeles. We switched from a soft A.C. "Magic" format at 4:00 PM on a Friday, with no warning, and spent all weekend dealing with calls from listeners complaining that a pirate station was interfering with our signal.

Bob Moore, the general manager of KLSX and the Sales Department loved the format, but none of us knew whether it would work or not. We were up against KLOS and KMET, two of the most legendary AOR stations in the world, and they, and the record industry, treated us dismissively.

Several weeks after the format switch and before we had seen any trends, we got one of the biggest orders in our history from a friend of mine who ran an L.A. ad agency that represented most of the independent car dealers in L.A. I called to thank him for the order and asked him why he bought us without any numbers. He told me that their dealers taught their salespeople to ask people what their favorite radio stations were while they were taking down their sales information. He said that by the second weekend we were on the air, we ranked among the top five stations in the market among potential new car buyers. I knew we had a hit on our hands.

As I remember, we beat both KLOS and KMET in the first book and several years later KMET became "The Wave" and dropped AOR completely. As a listener, classic rock remains my favorite format and I can usually tell by listening whether you guys are involved with the station. It's surprising that twenty years later, how many programmers there are that still don't get it.

Congratulations on 20 great years!

THE FIRST FM...

When you own an under-powered, suburban Class A that is getting its lunch served to it as the third A/C in the market, what do you do? You hire Fred Jacobs and ride the rocket to #1 in all male demos in less than a year!

That was the scenario in the fall of 1984. WMMQ-FM Charlotte/Lansing was in a “free fall” and the ratings proved it. I had seen the ads in R&R for “Good Times Rock & Roll”, so when my PD, Jeff Crowe, suggested that we meet with Fred Jacobs, it was a great call.

Getting started with Fred was just made with a handshake over lunch in early February 1985. He immediately started to work with Jeff on the music which we bought out of town, and Jeff dubbed to cart at his home. No details of a format switch from Soft Rock to Classical Rock & Roll were leaked to anyone.

At an after-work cocktail party at the Pour House Restaurant in early April, Fred was introduced to the whole station staff and the announcement was made. You could hear a pin drop. I think that was a Friday evening, and the strategy was to start playing The Stones’ “It’s Only Rock & Roll” continuously all weekend beginning after the station’s local broadcast of Detroit Tigers baseball that Friday night. Since the Tigers were coming off a World Series win, the station was very popular with these broadcasts.

By the following Monday morning the market was abuzz. Local TV, newspaper and water cooler conversation was rampant with the news of a Classic Rock format. People were exuberant, to say the least. It was an overnight success and the loyalty was amazing. The phones never stopped ringing. The morale boost was heart-warming.

New jocks were hired. A new higher tower went up, and new studios went in. All of this had been planned long before the format change, but it all came together nicely.

WMMQ was Fred’s first Classic Rock & Roll station, and he watched it closely…daily for the first few months and then eventually with the fine help of his brother Bill, and the renowned Andy Bloom. We were cooking in Lansing and the world was watching.

The news was spreading fast and new stations were coming on board: Jay Hoker in Kansas City and Bill Sherard in Washington, DC. The experiments started: “Beatles A-Z Weekends,” “Before and After Weekends,” “Future Classics.” It was fun, and the listeners loved it.

WMMQ was so popular and so revered in Lansing that the bus card “tails” advertising the new format on the Lansing City buses were being stolen off the buses when they were parked. It didn’t take much to motivate the station sales and air staff -- the marketplace was doing it for them.

Sometimes the stars just align perfectly. This happened to me in 1985 when my PD, Jeff Crowe, and I hired Fred Jacobs, and together we kicked off the first new format since, I don’t know: album rock? Thanks Fred, Bill, Paul, Andy and Joyce. You changed my life. You’re the best!

- Bob Ottaway

JACOBS BOYS RESCUE 98.5

So here we are with a great class B facility in Cleveland and we are fooling around with rock, top hits, AC what have you. Every PD has his own idea. All Norm and Bob wanted was something we could sell to advertisers. Is that asking too much?

So somebody says call Jacobs Consulting. They can’t be too bad. They make a living in that disaster of a town called Detroit.

But they ALWAYS recommend Classic Rock, don’t they?

So we hire them. The first thing they recommend is an expensive research study and THEN they recommend Classic Rock.

So we start doing well in many day parts but we are getting killed in the morning. So Jacobs says you need a sportscaster. Here’s what we want: We want a guy who sounds like he has one foot on the rail, is drinking beer, and arguing sports.

Immediately everyone at the station recommends Mr. Know It All - a freak of a guy who is driving every sports talk show crazy right from his home.  He is always on the phone contradicting the experts. So we call him.

Turns out he’s an unemployed type who stays in cigarettes by helping to mow the fairways at his brother’s golf course. Jacobs says PERFECT

We put him on the air. First day on he calls the top Catholic High School team a "bunch of scum bags." I say "Hey Mike, just read the sports news." Mike says "Hey Norm that’s my shtick and anyway the phones are ringing off the hook. He was right, Jacobs was right. I was wrong.

Mike Trivisonno aimed his vitriol at the professional teams from then on but the fans ate him up. He really helped the ratings and he launched himself into a radio career (Number One afternoons now on WTAM).

AND... He’d still be there doing the controversial sports news on WNCX if something else didn’t pop up: a chance to put Howard Stern on the air in Cleveland.

Jacobs liked the idea of Stern as a compliment to their classic rock, but they didn’t get the calls and letters from Rabbis, Priests, Mothers, and all variations of Stern haters. (We were one of the first non-Infinity stations to air him... and definitely the first in the conservative Midwest).

But with Stern’s talk-fest and Jacobs strict playlist... We survived and grew a valuable franchise. You guys were worth every penny

Thanks - Norm Wain

THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND...

Charlotte's FOX went on the air in early Spring of 1986 with Fred Jacobs as our consultant. We put John Boy and Billy in morning drive and added this curmudgeonly character named Bob Raiford, and one of the nation's most famous Classic Rock and Roll stations was born.

But, many people know that while the audience acceptance was almost immediate, advertiser acceptance of this new Rock format in a growing, but still unsophisticated, market like Charlotte was something less than stellar. The advertiser perception was that the Fox audience was comprised of young, blue-collar, "ain't got no money to spend 'cept on beer, maybe they got teeth... maybe not," 18-34 males. It was tough to kick-start sales in that environment. When we were deciding what slogan to use for the station, Fred helped us arrive at , "Only the Finest Rock and Roll" as opposed to "Charlotte's Classic Rock" or "The Best Rock," etc. That slogan was originally meant to convey "quality" to the listeners but the cool thing was, when our Sales Dept. discovered its value, we were able to dramatically alter the station's perceived value with clients by using it, and everything it implied, with our clients.

We created beautiful sales kits with upscale colors and materials and a killer Fox close-up photo on the cover. The Fox logo was cool to begin with and we put it in all the right places, including on a very upscale Fox-wear collection, including professional quality racing jerseys. Then we used the "Only the Finest" slogan as an umbrella for Dewar's-type profiles on the many young, successful Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, Business Owners, and Movers and Shakers we found in our listening audience. It was easy to ask them if we could take their photos and do short interviews on their likes and dislikes (including their "favorite" radio station). Our AE's themselves wore upscale clothing, drove upscale cars, and were well-trained in presenting high-quality sales materials in the most compelling and professional manner.

When the ratings started climbing and our sellers showed profile after profile of upscale, successful, and desirable listeners who were raving fans of this new phenomenon, a funny thing happened: the clients loved it and believed it! And they wanted to advertise with us! The monthly billing numbers back then moved from a takeover low of $40-50k a month (yes it was almost non-existent) to about $1/2 million+ a month in less than 18 months! The Fox and Classic Rock became the hottest thing on the radio for many years to come.

- Steve Godofsky

Steve Godofsky was the first VP/GM of WRFX/Charlotte, and is a Regional Vice President for Entercom today.