Spirit of the Radio (Part 4): Z-ROCK!
Z-Rock was one wild 10 year ride. I had known the chairman of Satellite Music Network, John Tyler by for many years as we put the famous Q102 on the air back when it was in a trailer among the ruins of a defunct airport, with the original call letters KFWD in Ft. Worth.
Fast forward a few years and he was now running SMN ( Satellite Music Network) which was now carried on nearly 1000 stations. One of the 8 or so formats they created was Z-Rock, a struggling metal station with a couple of affiliates and even fewer listeners. It had the reputation in the broadcast industry as being impossible to sell locally as it appeared more about Cannibal Corpse than Metallica.
I had briefly joined Bob Pittman and Les Garland to create Radio Lisa, a National 24/7 Hard Rock station with Bob’s Quantum Media. It never took off but in hearing that , John Tyler called and invited me into SMN. I still have that Radio Lisa demo Garland and I did. It was pretty damn good.
I had come aboard as “Managing Director” and John Tyler simply said “ do what you gotta do.” So we instituted a complete remake from logo to musical POV to, well, everything. Except one thing. The staff. They were diamonds in the rough. Made a couple of changes but in all, the crew anchored by Metal’s Real Don Steele- a bad ass ex boxer made for radio, Mad Maxx Hammer, they were as authentic as it came. Names like Cross, Sharkman, Steve Fratt, Crankin Craig, Dowd and many others were developing fan bases amongst the Z-Rock Fans. They LIVED the lifestyle. They bled power chords. When I arrived, they probably wondered what the hell this Yes/Genesis/Moody Blues/Pink Floyd/Zep kinda guy was doing at their station. ( btw we did play lots of Zep and some of the heavier Floyd) but despite musical differences, we all gelled pretty quick. We bonded individually and as a staff. It didn’t hurt that I could party as hard as they did ( an era which I fortunately survived ), and that I was here to coach the team to success more than burden them with voodoo and Album Rock baggage. Our staff meetings were a blast, almost always held off site and well catered. As even homeless people had pools in Dallas, they were often held poolside and went for hours...because they were fun. My goal was to create a framework and a focus for their insanity to be liberated and prosper, contributing to an amazing sound
Some were afraid this was going to be Superstars. Nope. That was that. This is this.
Two different galaxies.
Among the first things we needed to do was to disassociate ourselves from some of
the satellite delivered perceptions. We weren’t some utility that small market stations could run cheaply. We presented ourselves as a superstation. Totally upfront that we were blasting from Dallas. Bad ass and Nationwide. Live and in your face 24/7 connected by a non stop 800 line and a “national ...and proud of it” posture.
We created a whole new generations of features ranging from “old stuff for an hour” to the ‘Z-Rock 50’ and beyond...way beyond. Production became a station trademark, led by Matt Wolfe, an eccentric production whiz who we later brought in to XM. In fact production was non stop. Drop ins, sick jingles and other whackdom. Between Metallica and an Iron Maiden tune, you might hear the 3 Stooges theme played at 78rpm. It was that lovingly bizarre. I played air checks of production dense 60’s top 40 radio to illustrate what fun and imagination were and how that energy can be rejiggered for now. They got it and generated an absolutely insane theater of the mind sound. The station manufactured gonzo radio fun, but always within the boundaries of what we were: The first Hard Rock Superstation. Back then we used slogans—and they oozed the image. Rock Be Rocked or step aside...crank it up and rip the knob off...among a catalog of others. In fact, we had a whole language that was created authentically and naturally rather than regurgitating the FM cliches or faking it. And the station was a family rather than simply a staff...and you could HEAR that 24/7. A rock Army.... on a mission.
Additionally, we created a new graphic image and merchandised the hell out of it. Had a dedicated merchandising manager who would travel to our markets and setup programs to sell our swag. Dog tags, camouflage shirts, beer holders, and other tools of the genre. A couple of affiliates ordered rolling papers . We also had a Z-Rock magazine. Not to mention a lot of live concerts and in-market rallies. This station was truly about fans...not just listeners.
Musically, it was pure. I was the first to admit I was not part of the musical movement, I respected and understood it, but wasn’t part of it. That’s where the program directors really shined. First Tracy Barnes, then Pat Dawsey. Both were super fans and while we had deep philosophical and directional discussions, these guys drove the musical execution . They lived it. I was there to provide structure and discipline, but mainly to create the environment for amazing radio during and between the songs....and on the street.
The musical opportunity was ripe. A confluence of the MTV driven “hair bands” with the darker more adventurous Metallica school, and other hard edged sub-genres were emerging into the younger mainstream. Timing was good.
Sone of the most memorable times were our station pool parties, anchored by a breaking band that would perform live. If anyone wonders what 80’s metal madness was about...it was here.
The affiliate count grew steadily. There were some AM’s that actually scored ratings, with a rapidly increasing number of FM’s in markets ranging from Fresno to Detroit. Z Rock was making some money, though convincing stations remained a challenge. The fear of turning the reins over to a national source was a roadblock we encountered as most larger market American stations were still invested in their communities back then. And Hard Rock/Metal didn’t have the best perception in the ad community, but the sharper local sales forces proved that wrong. The relatively narrow demographics didn’t help but Nonetheless, we were growing. Here’s a link to an early sales tape presentation with an imbedded air check
Our relationship with affiliates was unmatched. Our jocks constantly visited the cities and I was constantly on the road supporting the stations with seminars, agency luncheons etc... our National affiliate conventions were also a hit with our stations. You could say we were all in. In all due respect to some of the other well produced satellite delivered channels, it was imperative that Z-Rock was clearly perceived as a different breed. It all boiled down to being openly National but thinking like a local station. The locality being...the whole country. National radio that pretends to be local is painful. You hear that a LOT today. Gotta be upfront about it. You won’t hear a Howard Stern pretending to be local. I imported a ton of thinking about national radio from ZRock to XM
As Z-Rock was gaining momentum, SMN was sold to CapCities. A buttoned down company far different from the Wild West at SMN. I found CapCities to be very well run. Especially impressive was David Kantor, the new SMN President. A very smart guy who “got” ZRock. One of his first moves was suggesting we hire a rock star to be our morning person. Ozzy , Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper came to mind. Ozzy couldn’t talk very well. So it was between Ted and Alice. We had each do a two week 6-10am trial. They couldn’t be more different on and off the air. Ted was wild, FCC challenged and upon arriving he wanted to hunt. He was outrageous on the air and local police departments lined up after his show begging him to ride with them as they made busts. During the two weeks, I flew he and his manager Doug Banker, both armed, down to San Antonio for an event...crazy. Alice was simply a great guy who wanted to play golf, and hit restaurants with Shep Gordon who was buds with every chef and pitmaster in Texas, and journalist Lonn Friend who was his on-air sidekick. Both shows were great. Ted was a crazy man madly working the phones and Alice was a muso, loaded with great stories and rock n roll secrets. At the end of the day neither was signed, but that was one hell of a month in the hallways and on the air.
CapCities was then sold to Disney. Not a radio company and I always got the impression that radio was an afterthought. Z rock certainly didn’t fit the Disney image, though by this time I was overseeing several channels, but Z-Rock? You can imagine where that went... I left shortly thereafter to join XM. Switching satellites so to speak.
In the grand history of radio, Z-Rock was a blip, but one loud, disturbed and rather amazing blip that broke rules, created new ones and was one hell of a ride.