HEADLINE: MISMANAGEMENT FORCED
WOFM TO CHANGE FORMAT
Published: Saturday, July 21, 1990
Section: LifeStyles
Page: D1
By JOSEPH PRYWELLER Staff writer
There's lots of speculation about Monday's demise of progressive
rock station WOFM (92.1).
Those who say the station's innovative, alternative rock format failed to muster listeners are wrong. It had plenty of support in the community. Those who say it died because it couldn't get Virginia Beach City Council to let it increase its power to 25,000 watts are only partly right. There's more to the story, and it goes back a lot further than May's City Council vote.
Put bluntly, the station suffered from a severe case of mismanagement. "The owners bled us to death," said Art Williamson, former operations manager and morning disc jockey. "The format didn't fail. The owners did."
Monday, WOFM changed its format to "Z Rock," a satellite-fed station playing heavy metal. The station's entire on-air staff was fired July 13, though they worked through Sunday. It leaves a void in the market. Locally owned record stores would advertise on WOFM because it gave listeners a chance to hear new rock music they wouldn't hear elsewhere. Rock and blues promoters liked WOFM because it played the music of lesser-known bands they were bringing to town.
"I don't know where else I can advertise blues music," said Michael Rau, a local blues-show promoter who works with Larkin's in Virginia Beach. "I'm left without any choices."
The sad thing is, it didn't have to happen. WOFM, which had shifted to playing almost entirely new music in November 1988, suffered from lack of attention from the beginning. Its owners, Detroit-based American Eagle Communications, let the station die on the vine, according to Williamson and some other former employees who wouldn't talk on the record.
"They pocketed all the money and didn't invest anything in the station," Williamson said. "It was really laughable if it wasn't so sad. We attracted listeners in spite of ourselves."
Williamson said he worked with a miniscule station annual budget of $70,000, barely enough to replace equipment and pay employees. The station was kept afloat through loans from the owners and employees, he said. The production room didn't have stereophonic equipment, only mono. It had only one reel-to-reel tape machine. The station never had the money to advertise or do attention-getting promotions.
During the past two months, most station employees weren't even paid, Williamson said. Employees stuck it out, hoping that WOFM would be sold.
"I've lost a lot of money this year," said Williamson, a radio veteran who modeled the format after the free-form programming he broadcast at rock station WOWI-FM in the early 1970s. "But we all stayed because we believed this format was working. People were listening."
It still was a shock for most employees. The owners, who had flown in from Detroit, said they wanted to cut costs some more. The staff - and progressive rock - were victims of the budget ax.
There's some hope the old format will return, maybe by the fall. A local group is reported to be interested in buying WOFM from its belt-tightening owners.
Former Program Director Sara Trexler and Rau are organizing a group called Friends of Progressive and Alternative Radio. The group wants to coax another radio station to change its format to progressive rock or gather a group of shareholders to buy a station.
Rock station WNOR (98.7 FM and 1230 AM) is considering adding a special progressive-rock show to take up the slack, said Program Director Bryan Jeffries, but that's still only in the planning stages.
"We're looking at contacting a few former employees of WOFM to see if they'd like to possibly do a special show here," Jeffries said. "We're also considering adding some songs that are half-rock, half-alternative to our format."
To contact Friends of Progressive and Alternative Radio, write: P.O. Box 3582, Norfolk 23514.
Labor Day break: Laborfest in Virginia Beach has delayed plans at public broadcasting station WHRO-FM (89.5) to start a second station. WHRO had announced it would go on the air with a second public station during Labor Day weekend. The non-commercial station will move classical music and fine-arts programs to 90.3 on the dial and call it WHRO. WHRV-FM, which will be located at 89.5, will offer jazz and folk music as well as public-affairs shows.
This week, WHRO said it would wait until Sept. 21 to introduce the new arrangement. For one thing, the Norfolk-based broadcaster wants to make absolutely certain that its transmission equipment is working correctly before coming on the air, said Operations Manager Lisa Murray.
WHRO also doesn't want Laborfest activities to interfere with news about the twin frequencies, Murray said.
"We want to really publicize it," Murray said. "We're afraid that Laborfest and the holidays will get in the way."
Rushing in: News-talk station WNIS-AM (850) will expand its popular syndicated talk show with host Rush Limbaugh from two to three hours. Starting July 30, the conservative, usually controversial Limbaugh will be heard noon-3 p.m. weekdays, instead of ending his program at 2 p.m.
Any time now: Pregnant WAVY, Channel 10, co-anchor Alveta Ewell thought her moment had come last Friday. Ewell, whose baby is due the first week of August, called in sick after believing she was experiencing labor pains. It turned out to be a false alarm.
She's carrying on with her duties. Imminent motherhood may be affecting her concentration. At the end of Tuesday's 11 p.m. newscast, Ewell mistakenly told viewers to make sure and watch the noon newscast on Channel 13. Co-anchor Terry Zahn quickly corrected her by saying the name Channel 10. Ewell used to work at WVEC, Channel 13, before coming to WAVY earlier this year.
Comings and goings: Classic-rock station WAFX-FM (106.9) has promoted some of its people to high-profile on-air spots.
Robert James, who had worked the overnight shift, has taken over the station's 10 a.m.-2 p.m. slot. Mark Mitchell, who had bounced around different air shifts, is the station's new 2-7 p.m. jock.
They replace Susan Barbour and Chris Blade, respectively. Both announcers left last month. WAFX temporary morning sidekick and news reader Rob Duren has left to take a job as a disc jockey in Charleston, S.C.
Copyright 1990, Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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