Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 17, 2008 at 12:12:23:
THE DEEJAYS HAVE THEIR SAY
Radio station WVAZ-V103 shook off its past and never looked back
By William Hageman
Two decades ago, Barry Mayo reconfigured America's radio landscape when he introduced the adult urban contemporary format to the dial. He took WBMX-FM 102.7 and transformed it into WVAZ-V103. The rest, as they say, is history.
On the recent occasion of the station's 20th anniversary, some of those responsible for the station's success—on-air personalities Herb Kent, Troi Tyler and Ramonski Luv, program director Derrick Brown and Scott "Smokin' " Silz, production and imaging director—gathered in a studio and talked about life at V103, then, now and down the road.
Tribune: What were those early days like?
D.B.: It was a head-to-head battle [between WGCI and WBMX]. 'GCI had the upper hand. But Barry sensed an opportunity; there was no radio station super-serving African-American adults. All urban radio stations then were cradle-to-grave type stations, that anybody of any age could listen to. But Barry decided to target the station for the African-American adult. So that began the end of the station being all things to all people, and the station went from worst to first in its first ratings period.
H.K.: I was working at WGCI at the time, and they pooh-poohed it. I remember [WGCI president and general manager] Marv Dyson said, "It's not going to be anything." And the ratings came out, and 'GCI went down the tubes to 3's, and everybody's walking around with long faces. And 'BMX was just, whoa, gone.
DB: I was at Lewis University in the radio/TV program, and I was a huge WBMX fan. I was hurt. I thought, 'This guy took my radio station away.' Little did I know, 20 years later, that I'd be programming it.
S.S.S.: We all thought when 'BMX was gone, that was just kind of crazy, because that was the popular station in Chicago. I remember the big TV campaign that came along. They spent a fortune to promote this, V103. Obviously it worked.
T.T.: When I would come home to visit—I think I was in New York or St. Louis at the time—'BMX was just booming, I would hear 'BMX! 'BMX!' Everyone wanted to say the words. It was the coolest thing to say. They had this brand, if you will, of being this powerhouse adult station with all these classic songs. So I'm sure 'GCI was shaking in its boots.
R.L.: You'd hear this drop [for V103, while he was at 'GCI]. "This is the station that plays no rap." And I was big into hip-hop. So I was, "Let's crush these guys."
T.T.: I came over to V103, having worked at 'GCI for six years where the phone's just ringing all the time. I'm in the studio, and I'm looking at the phones, and they were not really ringing. Maybe one light was lit. I got up and went in the hall, "Hello, excuse me? Can I get an engineer here, there's something wrong with the phones!" I forget who, but someone walked in and said, "Troi, this is an adult station. These are grown folks. If you tell them to call ... they'll call. They don't just play with the phones." It's a wonderful thing being in the adult world.
D.B.: And just because you're an adult doesn't mean you don't like to have fun. V103 is a station for memories. That's how it launched. Because we played records that weren't on 'GCI and weren't heard in the market. Motown records, Al Green, James Brown, all those types. Even now, we're all about memories. Folks like to go back to when these [songs] came out.
R.L.: "What were you doing, and who were you doing it with?"
T.T.: Right.
D.B.: But now we're creating new memories, with Alicia Keys, and Maxwell and Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole. These are incredible artists that people are passionate about.
Tribune: Were there any kind of radio wars with WGCI? Friendly competitions or whatever?
R.L.: When Tom Joyner left to come to V, he sent Marv Dyson some black roses and a wreath. "You're all dead now." I remember that because I was producing his show at the time.
H.K.: In the Bud Billiken Parade, we compete. They just play their music so loud, it's just awful. We don't even want to be near them.
D.B.: There was a bigger rivalry when we weren't co-owned [both are now Clear Channel stations]. We have friendly competition, but it's not mean-spirited. We have different audiences. They serve the young, urban young adult end. We are a 25-plus station.
R.L.: Sophistication.
Tribune: How else does that show up?
T.T.: One thing about V103 being an adult station, it's community-driven. We concentrate on the community here. We broadcast live, registering people to vote. It was the most incredible thing ... our coat drives, we do food drives, health screenings, take-your-loved-one-to-a-doctor day. Our focus to do things in the community is paramount.
D.B.: We've been honored by the National Association of Broadcasters with their most prestigious award, the Marconi. We're a three-time winner.
Tribune: What's coming down the road, the next 20 years?
D.B.: The challenge now would be, there are other outlets for listeners to be entertained. Could be the Internet, could be iPods. There's still a role for local radio. An iPod cannot tell you what's going on in the community, cannot introduce you to great music. Can't re-introduce you to older songs. However, there is a way we're finding to integrate the Internet into what we do. It's a quick way to get news distributed to the community. You can listen to us online. [Listeners] can receive e-mail communication from us.
HK: And enlarging on what Derrick said, when you just play music—I don't care how good it is, just back to back—it's totally uninteresting. You go to your cable, go all the way to the end of the channels, and they're playing music. I look at it sometimes. I get bored easily. You have to have a jock in there, saying stuff. The music sounds better. An iPod would bore me to death. I'd find no joy in that.
DB: I'm with Herb. Music on a radio station, that's the meat and potatoes. That's why they come. The jocks are the spices. The seasoning.
Tribune: If there was one thing you could do—not necessarily change, but do—at the station, what would it be?
DB: We need to provide exclusive off-air content, and that's the Web. And that's the future.
TT: It'd be great to take the cameras to the workplace of our listeners and put that back on the Web. That'd be so cool. Have an office party. I'd love to do that.
HK: I'd like to do what I do seven days a week at V103 [he currently is on the air Saturdays and Sundays]. Be more competitive.
RL: Just be more in contact with our listeners. The video, virtual radio. The music is great, what we play. I had a radio station in my basement when I was about 12. I called it WBBK. I don't know where I got the call letters from. But my deejay name was DJ Ray Johnson, because my favorite deejay on 'VON was Jay Johnson. So the songs I'd play back then, I'm playing them now.
I had my little format. "Shake Your Pants" by Cameo was my first song. I'm playing that now. And I love it. We're living a dream.
(Chicago Tribune)