Tommy Austin coming as Ops Mgr For CC Portland according to All Access

First really good thing to happen to Portland radio in quite some time!!

(I thought he wore a toupee?)

Why did he leave the fist time again? Refresh my memory.

My dealings with Tommy were with a guy who really understood both the excitement/magic and the cold hard business of radio.

Perfect guy for the job?

Welcome back to Portland Tommy.

I first joined this board to defend Tommy, when many here blamed him for Z100's demise(although by the time I was accepted, the thread had died). I used to sit with Tommy in his office and listen to him describe how handcuffed he was. He wanted so bad to play Hip Hop... before Jammin' but couldn't. Nevertheless, to me he is a stand up guy and will do as well as he is allowed to. Good Luck Tommy!!!

"I used to sit with Tommy in his office and listen to him describe how handcuffed he was."

Just out of curiosity, how many PDs have you met who say "God, I really have no idea what I'm doing."

By the way, how's Sweet 98 doing these days?

The only thing I thought was weird was the final sentence on the R&R Website article that said he was looking forward to a new format on K103.

Does that mean looking forward to switching from being a CHR/Pop programmer to an AC programmer? Or does that mean that K103 will soon have a new format?

Reason, your 2nd and 3rd sentence have me completely baffled.

I used to sit with Tommy in his office and listen to him describe how handcuffed he was."


And he won't be handcuffed now??? Cheap channel has done a complete 180 since he left, Killing off all the talent and now voice tracking.

When Tommy Was at Z100 that station had a VERY SOLID line up of jocks and all the dayparts were live and local. That station sounded polished from start to finish.
As I recall, once Jammin came to town, Z100 increased the amount of hip hop music by A LOT.
Infact after Tommy brought CK on board, his show was almost entirely hip hop.
Jammin played better music, plain and simple.
While Z100 started adding a lot of hip hop to the night show, the other day parts were still playing stuff like Enrique Iglesias.
Kids wanted hip hop and Z100 wasn't delivering enough of it.

Agreed all around. Although the change to more Hip Hop...came to little to late after Jammin' had begun.You are correct that he couldn't program Hip Hop(for the most part)til after 9pm.

Back in the Tommy Austin Days of Z100 I also remember they had Rasheed Wallace of the Portland Trailblazers come in the studio LIVE on sunday nights and do an all Hip Hop show, where they played all the new Hip Hop music.
That was very cool, and you'll never hear that on a Cheap Channel station today. With Cheap channel today, they have taken all creativity out of radio, and would never allow something like that today.

As OM, maybe Tommy can do something about Z100's pitched up music!

Why did he leave the first time.?
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As I recall Tommy left Portland for another radio gig in the South...then went into the record business. Tommy is a solid programmer and knows both radio and records. He was a pleasure to work with when I was his Capitol rep back in the 90s.

Nobody remembers Sweet 98 in Omaha? The station had 24 years of heritage as a chr. Tommy landed the PD gig there after being let go from Z100. Sweet 98 flipped shortly after he exited.

What did Tommy have to do with the demise of "Sweet 98?"

---------------Tommy Austin To Segue To CC/Portland, OR---------------

ALL ACCESS has learned that CLEAR CHANNEL/ST. LOUIS OM TOMMY AUSTIN has accepted a transfer to CLEAR CHANNEL/PORTLAND, OR.

He will be the Operations Manager for the CC/PORTLAND cluster, which consists of AC KKCW, Talk KEX-A, Top 40 KKRZ, Talk KPOJ-A and Classic Hits KQOL -- plus he will oversee the programming of KKCW.

"TOMMY was the obvious choice for this cluster," VP/Market Manager ROBERT DOVE told ALL ACCESS. "He worked with us for four to five years in the '90s, so he already has heritage in this market. When this opportunity presented itself, he was a natural fit."
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Tommy Austin Z100 background:
Became Music Director in 1993.
Became Program Director in February 1998.
Left on July 1, 2003.

Newflyer, I think Tommy Austin refers to the entire last sentence. He'll be working with the CC cluster again but this time on K103, a new format compared to working at Z100.

Thats interesting that Tommy will be working closely with k103.

Hopefully he will ditch the voice tracked Lori Bradley and put a real LIVE air talent on the middays for k103.

Tommy definitely know's Radio, and it was a pleasure to work with him. Welcome back Tommy! Cocktails?

BTW...The show Rasheed hosted was called RAW, and it was a great show, in which I engineered/produced when live outside the studio. Good Times!

Beano: You DO understand that almost no PD/OM in America makes those decisions? Corporate tells a station how many live bodies (body) and how much money for salaries are alloted to each station/cluster.

And I don't think there are many major market players that would even consider the possibility of a live body on middays on a soft AC.

So it's official. I was never sure if K103 was Soft or Mainstream. What's the primary difference between the two and when did they change?

.....And I don't think there are many major market players that would even consider the possibility of a live body on middays on a soft AC.....

Maybe they ought to.

Semoochie,

In 2008, Soft and Mainstream AC are mostly interchangable. Many, if not most "soft rock" or "lite rock" formats follow the mainstream AC list.

Thank you! I know there used to be a difference but didn't realize that difference had evolved away.

Off the top of my head I can say that KPLZ and Warm 106 have live talent in middays.

KSSK AM and FM in Honolulu have live talent in middays.

I dont know about any other markets but thats 4 out of 4 in the markets I do know of...

Maybe the VT option is especially exploited in PDX?

KPLZ is a Hot AC, a different animal.

Actually there are quite a few soft AC stations that have LIVE midday talents.

So saying that there is no such thing, is false!

Beano, absolutely. My smaller market AC is live mornings, middays, and afternoons. (although our competitors are not, and yes, we beat the stuffing out of them!)

In Market #148 this guy who resembles Mr. Burns from The Simpson’s still believes in being live, local and heavy community involvement. The staff pay is well above average, there is low staff turnover, heavy music research, and with annual rafting trips down the McKenzie, moral is above average.

Funny thing….they have been the #1 biller or close to it for decades and consistently score high with Arbitron.

It’s really old-school management and programming done right. Unfortunately while corporate radio has noticed, they don’t seem to care probably because it's the 148th largest market and there are fires to be put out in the Top-25 markets.

Good luck Tommy....

For crying out loud....
I said not many Major Market

Not "no such thing"
Not smaller market.

...I said not many Major Market....

Maybe they ought to.

There still is large markets with Live Mid-days on them.