Video Killed the Radio Star

N.O. is on some other stuff now!!

Top-rated radio jock C.J. Morgan dumped in favor of L.A.-based show
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Dave Walker
C.J. "Superstar" Morgan, a longtime fixture on the local radio dial, has been removed from his morning slot on WQUE FM-93.3 in favor of a syndicated show hosted by multimedia titan Steve Harvey.

Based in Los Angeles, "The Steve Harvey Morning Show" will make its "Q93" debut Monday morning.

Morgan was told of the change after his Thursday morning show, and was not on the air Friday.

Morgan said the change came as a complete surprise.

"For me, completely out of the blue," Morgan said. "I had asked from time to time if there was a possibility of the Harvey show coming into this market, and I was told that the city needed a voice during the rebuilding efforts and that it was important for me, as one of the few local morning shows, to be involved in the rebuilding effort. That's what I was told. That I was quote-unquote important.

"I was told that this is a corporate decision, that that was the direction the company wanted to go. I didn't do anything bad. I didn't do anything wrong. It was just that the company wanted to get behind the national Harvey show."

Harvey is syndicated to more than 40 cities by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, WQUE's Texas-based parent company.

"I want to make it clear that that alone was not the deciding factor," said Mike Kramer, operations manager for Clear Channel in New Orleans. "You can't ignore the success that Steve has had.

"We would've been foolish to turn a blind eye to that.

"The Harvey show is tearing it up in every market that it's in. It's hard to ignore that. We're in a very competitive world.

"Sometimes you have to make hard decisions based on competitive conditions and based on resources that may be available."

Kramer added that Harvey's show will have local news, weather and traffic breaks.

"On the radio station that is at the center of this discussion, every other (program), outside of mornings, is live and local," he added.

A native of Clarksdale, Miss., who attended Memphis State University as a music major (he performed in student operas there), Morgan came to New Orleans more than 15 years ago after a successful run on Memphis radio.

His aural calling card -- "Good MORGAN! Good MORGAN! Good MORGAN!" -- was a clarion of success. Morgan and his morning show doubled and sometimes tripled his competitors' audiences in teen and young-adult demographics.

"We were No. 1," Morgan said.

The addition of Harvey may be an attempt to broaden WQUE's demographic reach. The station's "urban" music format is heavy on youth-appeal hip-hop.

In the first local radio ratings released post-Katrina, the station retained its longtime position as the market's No. 1 overall radio outlet -- a surprise to many in the industry given the market's presumed demographic shifts since the storm.

Interim ratings reports since then show WQUE falling behind news-talk WWL AM-870 (owned by competing station group Entercom Communications Corp., based in Pennsylvania) and urban-adult WYLD FM-98.5 (also owned by Clear Channel) in the race for No. 1 in total audience.

Given Harvey's broad success as a stand-up comedian, sitcom actor ("The Steve Harvey Show" aired on the WB network for six seasons and is a continuing success in syndicated reruns) and movie star (he was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" saluted in Spike Lee's 2000 concert film), his radio show promises greater adult appeal than most of the other programming on the station.

In addition, his music mix -- Harvey is a celebrated proponent of "old school" in all things cultural -- will likely differ from the previous morning play list.

"Harvey does play music, but it's a limited part of the presentation," Kramer said. "The music . . . does not define the feel of that show."

By Friday, enterprising C.J. fans had created a Web site with a virtual petition protesting the change.

"At a time when most of the inhabitants of the Crescent City are clinging to the few things in their life that remain unchanged," the petition reads, "it seems unusually malicious that a media behemoth like Clear Channel . . . would pick 'Q93' 93.3 FM to terrorize, just to save a buck."

Morgan declined to take a similar tone, however.

"If I've touched people to a point where they feel it's important to try and keep (me) there," he said, "then I am truly appreciative."

Morgan added that he has no immediate plans to find another air shift elsewhere.

"I haven't spoken with anybody," he said. "I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off, spend time with my family, and let all of this kind of sink in."

Morgan said he was told he could "reapply" for another job at WQUE, but "it may not be an air shift" and "it's not going to be nearly at the rate of pay" he was getting two days ago.

The growing presence of syndicated fare on radio is not a new trend and "not a situation that's peculiar to New Orleans," Kramer said. "People who have lived here their entire lives may not be familiar with the inner workings of our business, and might not be aware of that.

"Though it may raise an eyebrow as to why we're heading in that direction, it has become more and more a reality of our business in recent years, the sharing of resources.

"Rush Limbaugh has had a great deal of success for many years. Is he local?"

. . . . . . .

TV columnist Dave Walker can be reached at dwalker@timespicayune.com.



I declare SHENANIGANS!!!!


-B