Author: Jim Feliciano

From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1981

WWWW-FM RUNNING ‘100 MPH’ AGAINST WCXI-AM TO WIN COUNTRY RACE IN DETROIT

DETROIT — Dene Hallam, program director at WWWW-FM Country 106 claims the station is making strides in the latest Detroit radio ratings, and going against the competition in the market WWWW seemingly “always goes 100 miles per hour,” he says. That was just about fast enough to earn WWWW a 4.4 share in the latest Arbitron report, up from an invisible share, following a surprise format switch to country in January, 1981.

Hallam sees his station pulling an upset over WCXI-AM, an established country station, as more significant than just an upstart beating the competition at its own game. “I think ‘adult 25 to 54’ more than ‘country’ in programming the station. We’ve actually increased the country share of the market, rather than just take away listeners from ‘CXI,” Hallam claims.

“The country share of the Detroit market has traditionally hovered around 5.0. Now country stations have about an 8.4 share of the Motown market. When ‘CXI came on the scene, it devoured WDEE (now a religious station). We not only beat WCXI, we expanded the market share.”

The strategy appeared to be working, since WWWW rated no. 2 overall in Detroit among adults 25-54, beaten only by giant WJR-AM.

Workaholism is Hallam’s secret method to rocket to the top of the ratings. It’s not unusual for him to work 12-hour days, and he hopes the rest of the staff keeps up individually in attaining higher status and recognition where the station has been heading overall. He visits Nashville periodically, calling on artists, publishers, record companies and media reps. Locally, Hallam pays calls on retailers, scoping out the country singles section, even talking to customers, seeing what sells.

“Country never sold that well in Detroit, now its starting to sell. The other country stations have been basically MOR personality stations. My big question is, ‘Can I induce my audience to buy? That’s what we’re here for,” Hallam claims.

Hallam, in stating, claims he always had the bottom line in mind when he’s programming the station, and “it’s producing results for clients already.” Good thing, too, since WWWW lost almost all of its advertisers in the format switch.

Some critics cite the lack of commercials as one reason WWWW trampled the competition in the ratings this time out. “Our commercial load was light,” Hallam admits. “But the music we play keeps people listening. Some critics say country music is doing well because it’s on FM. I feel it’s a hindrance rather than an advantage. In the North, in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Cleveland, AM bested FM in country. FM started to beat AM in the South two or three years ago.”

Subtle differences give a station the edge over competition, Hallam’s convinced. Updating spots, making them sound immediate, encouraging deejays to talk conversationally, and convincing listeners that the station has a family orientation are some of the things that give him that edge.

Hallam feels the evolution of a new artists should be through small and medium stations, with little or no competition. “In a big city station, you’ve got competition. People would rather hear Kenny Rogers than some Joe Blow. We play the hits. We make the hits, too. Because WWWW played it, Joe Dolce’s ‘Shaddap Your Face’ sold over 400 copies at one Harmony House outlet. We watch smaller markets, sales, make call outs. Sylvia, Charly McClain, Freddie Raven were added because they were doing so well wherever they played.”

Promotion, both on the air and through concert tie-ins, is a big element in WWWW’s sudden success. Hallam tries to get a guest deejay appearance anytime somebody comes to town.

“Last week we had Alabama, Charly McClain and Ronnie McDowell. I try to get ’em to sound like real DJs — so if people don’t like a particular artist, they’ll listen anyhow. The guest artists talk right up to the lyric, play music beside their own. We try to get a taped promo from everyone who’s coming to town. I’ll go just about any length to get it, too. For Razzy Bailey, we had to set up a three-way conference call at 3:30 in the morning. But we got it.”

On the air promotions include concert ticket giveaways, prize-contests, many tied in to Pine Knob and Meadowbrook concerts. “We try to think of the whole family,” Hallam says. “We’re in the middle of of ‘106 Days of Summer’ right now. If you win a pair of tickets in a giveaway, the DJ will ask if you got kids. If you do, you don’t have to hire a sitter. . . . we’ll throw in the extra tickets so you can take them too.”

“The twang’s out of country. The western’s out of country and western. There’s no similarity between Eddie Rabbit and Hank Williams, Jr., only an evolutionary tie. WWWW doesn’t play much music older than the ’70s. Music wasn’t that well recorded before then, and especially when it comes to country music from decades ago, and stereo makes it sound even worse.”

“We try to play what people would like us to play for them. I don’t kid myself that WWWW is the only station our listeners tune in. I want to get more service on the air, increase our library, get out in the community more. Right now, I’m programming totally on gut feel. If the announcers can’t execute, the ideas are wasted. The jock is the liaison between listeners and the program director. The jock’s job is to entice the listeners to listen a little bit more than they would left to themselves.”

“I’ve never worked at any station that’s adult targeted, that’s as busy with requests as WWWW,” Hallam claims. “We went on Joe Dolce’s new single, ‘Ain’t No UFO Gonna Catch My Diesel’ right out of the box and the phones are just burning up with requests.”

“I change the rotation weekly, and rest a song when it comes off the playlist rotation. The entire staff here is dedicated in going the extra yard. There are too many 9 to 5 program directors (and other radio people) in the world. The answer to our hard work is in the ratings.” END

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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 22, 1981)

 A MCRFB Note: According to the Country Radio Broadcasters website (www.crb.org/), Dene Hallam began his country radio career as program director on Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s WFEC in 1977. His country radio resume reflects he made stellar career advances while programming New York’s first Country station, WKHK, as well as WWWW in Detroit, New York’s WHN, KKBQ in Houston, San Francisco’s KYCY, WKHX in Atlanta and WDAF in Kansas City. Hallam returned to Atlanta in 2007, serving as program director for the ‘Moby in the Morning’ network until his death in 2009. He was 54.

Dene Hallam held the distinction being one of only two programmers to win Billboard’s Program Director of the Year in two different formats, Country and Top 40. While at KKBQ in Houston in 1995, Hallam won the coveted Billboard PD of the year award for Country. For more information on Dene Hallam’s passing, go here.