Monday, July 27, 2009

Dick Downes' Beaker Street Comments

Dick Downes and I have been enjoying e-mails back & forth to one another. Dick is a very interesting guy! I've been blessed to learn some things from him that I didn't know and THIS is the very reason I'm hounding him and folks like him before history goes away! Such as this insight about Beaker Street:

"I was the last PD who kept "Beaker Street." When I moved on, C. David Hamilton took my place and decided to end its long run. I can't really fault him, consistency is at the heart of any radio station. My thinking was that it wasn't hurting us in all-nights; and its multi-state (and country) audience probably helped us - but who knows for sure? Dave disagreed and it was his station at that point. But the die was cast. AM was dying - rapidly. KLAZ had been kicking KAAY's a** for months before I got there. I was able to stem the tide for a while and didn't really follow up on KY once I left, so I don't know if Hamilton's tenure was successful from a ratings standpoint or not."

I remember when FM started coming on strong...and, even though FM dominates the scene for music quality, it's admirable that Dick did what he could to keep KAAY alive. Thank you, Dick, we're looking forward to more insights as you have time to share!

I don't care what they say, but I STILL dial around the AM dial...FM, at times, has gotten quite sterile, what with consolidation...and, the other night, right at dusk, I found music coming in like gangbusters at a decent audio, until it faded into the noise. More on that later.

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

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