Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 31, 2009 at 14:32:00:
Modern Rock Up Close: WKQX/Chicago and KPNT/St. Louis Program Director Tommy Mattern
On the heels of some major personnel changes at both stations and a philosophical and music overhaul at one, we caught up with Q101 and 105.7 The Point PD Tommy Mattern to get the inside track on what is surely one of the most unique - and welcomed - programming situations in the Modern Rock format.
eQB presents excerpts from the August FMQB magazine Modern Rock Up Close with WKQX/Chicago and KPNT/St. Louis Program Director Tommy Mattern
"Woody is a guy who has been on the station before with a lot of success. It's been about six years that he's been gone from The Point. When he got let go from Live 105 we were absolutely interested. St. Louis is a place that he always loved and he really enjoyed his time when he was here at The Point the first time around, and before that at Extreme Radio. So we're thinking third time's a charm, let's try it again. We were able to work that out, and we partnered him with Scott Rizzuto… It makes for a perfect pairing, and it's also great that Donnie Fandango was able to stay on as well."
"Tim Virgin is one of those guys who is highly regarded as one of the best in the format. Tim and I have a long history. I've known Tim since the early '90s back when he was doing nights at The Point, and I was actually competing with him when I was doing Top 40 at the time... The best thing about Tim, and the one thing that I really needed to do at Q101 was get more experience. I needed to get a heavy hitter. We've got a young and developing morning show with Sherman and Tingle, that segues into what I would consider probably the best, if not one of the best female jocks in the format with Electra."
"The good thing about St. Louis is I've had that team together for a lot of years now, so it's definitely a safety net. When I leave I don't have to worry about St. Louis... in Chicago it's been great because we moved Kyle Guderian up to Chicago as the Operations Manager. Nicole Gamboa is another one who's a huge help for me here. She'd been the Asst. Music Director for Q101 and The Loop for years now."
"Honestly I think my company and Rick Cummings looked at it in Chicago, and said: Listen. We've been struggling for years, it's no secret. We've taken the station in just about every direction you can go in the Alternative format, and we haven't had much success. They took a look at what Rick Balis was doing at KSHE and what I was doing at The Point and made that decision. We'd been pretty successful in St. Louis for the last ten years."
"We had a plan when we came up here, and it was really three parts: it was get the music right, get the imaging right, and work with the jocks to get them in-tune with the rest of the station. Those were our main objectives, and we really think that with the changes we've made musically we're on the right path... what you're going to see from me while I'm here is the fact that it's going to be a consistent Rock Alternative product day in and day out."
**QB content by Mike Bacon**