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10 Questions with ... Jeremy Nicolato
February 17, 2009
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NAME:Jeremy NicolatoTITLE:PD/morningsSTATION:KQXR 100.3 The XMARKET:Boise, IDCOMPANY:Journal Broadcast GroupBORN:MilwaukeeRAISED:All over America's Dairyland
BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
KOOL, KPTY, KFNN, KZON and KEDJ in Phoenix. WRMF in West Palm Beach and KWOD in Sacramento. And now ... here I am at KQXR in Boise.
1) What was your first job in radio? Early influences?
My first gig was weekends at KOOL 94.5 in Phoenix. I totally lucked into the job at what could be considered to be one of the top Oldies stations in the country. Just the right place, right time. Started out running the board, used all my free time to teach myself how to use digital editing equipment and learn the phone editing system (the wonderful Shortcut machine) and make myself valuable to the station. After about three months, they offered me my first full-time job producing the morning show. I had no idea what I was doing ... but I learned as I went along and somehow made it work.
2) If you were just starting out in radio, knowing now what you didn't then, would you still do it?
Absolutely. I have been doing this since I was 18 years old. I really don't know how to do anything else. I have seen too many great things and met too many great people in this business to abandon it because of rough waters.
3) What makes your station or market unique?
Boise loves to rock. Period. For a very long time, The X was one of the best and most-respected Alternative stations in the country. You can credit Jacent Jackson (now at WLUM/Milwaukee) for that. He did a great job turning this station into a force in this market. But, after Jacent moved on ... slowly and surely those great numbers went away.
It was because the station had took a turn towards being a "mainstream" alternative station ... and it wasn't working. Death Cab for Cutie and Fall Out Boy were driving more people away than they were attracting.
As much as I enjoy some of that music, it wasn't what our audience wanted to hear. Which is why we tweaked the station to fall into the Active Rock category a bit more. We added some Sabbath, Ozzy, Zeppelin and AC/DC to our more rockin' current tracks and re-launched as 100.3 The X ... Rocks.
No one else is town is playing current rock music; we've got it covered. We still play the "alternative" stuff in our specialty programming as well.
The best news is the 100.3 The X ... Rocks brand is building some momentum. In the Fall '08 book we returned to #1 18-34 with Men and Persons and went up to #2 with Men 25-54. There is still work to do, but with the book that most Rock stations had in this country during the fall, we were pretty pleased to find out the station is headed in the right direction.
4) How do you feel terrestrial radio competes with the satellite radio and Internet these days?
The truth is ... all three of us are in the same boat. We are all competing for the attention of people who have way more options for entertainment than before -- and those options continue to grow every day.
Satellite radio will always have its audience. It will never be a significant audience, but it will be there.
The Internet has plenty of options for fun and excitement, but if you plan things out correctly, your station can play a huge part in that medium as well.
Radio is going through a very tough time right now, but things will get better. We will rebound and we are still the highlight of many a person's mornings, drives home and weekends. As long as we put out the best product we can, do things for the community and continue to talk about and focus on things that matter to our audience ... we will be just fine.
5) What is the biggest change that you'd like to see happen in the business?
I would really like to see the return of the live jock. It's a pipe dream, I know, but what got most of us in this business was being able to call in to your favorite show and talk to the person running things.
It made me realize what an awesome job this would be. It made me passionate about the radio because I felt like I knew the person on the other end. I could even have a conversation with him if I wanted!
But with voicetracking, consolidation and cutbacks ... I'm not sure we'll ever get to that point again. It's a shame.
6) Who is your favorite air personality not on your staff?
Always been a huge Howard Stern fan. Love him or hate him, the man is a genius. He has made millions of dollars and been incredibly successful in this business because he does two things as good or better than anyone: He surrounds himself with talented, intriguing people and he finds ways to relate to his audience.
7) What's your take on current music? Is it as good as six months ago, better, or about the same?
As far as rock goes, this is a great time for music. In the last six months we have seen the return of rock giants like Metallica, Guns N Roses and AC/DC ... new music from established artists like Disturbed, Shinedown, Seether and Staind.
And the great new stuff from bands like Blue October, Hurt, RED and Saving Abel.
Right now is a great time to be a Rock station ... the music is fantastic and there is so much to choose from, you don't have to force yourself to play a stiff.
Now record sales for the format is something else all together...
8) What are your three favorite artists or songs of this year?
Favorite songs of the last year:
Sound of Madness -- Shinedown
No Jesus Christ -- Seether
Anthem Of The Used -- Vayden9) In today's world of multi-tasking and wearing many hats, how do you find time to show prep and what sources do you use?
It's tough, not going to lie. Trying to put together a funny and entertaining morning show ... putting together news stories ... finding audio and drops ... booking guests ... all of this takes time, and with no morning show producer in sight, it makes it even harder.
Factor in making music decisions, programming the station and monitoring everything to make sure it runs somewhat smooth, handling imaging and writing copy ... and it's even worse.
The quick answer ... long-ass days. You do what you gotta do to make sure things sound exactly how you want them to sound. It's as simple as that. Luckily, my girlfriend hasn't left me yet.
The only other way is to have someone to help you out when you need it. That's where APD/MD Big J comes in. He's my right hand man and he's there when I need him. He's been here for eight years, knows the market inside and out and that's a valuable commodity to have.
10) What is the best advice you would give to young programmers/promotion people?
Learn as much as you can while you can. Don't leave it up to other people to get you where you want to go. You must show initiative, desire and make yourself invaluable to your station. If you half-ass anything, it's probably going to be costly. Especially now.
Bonus Questions
Who would be your dream guest on the show?
Was able to speak with Joel Hodgson, creator of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 this year. That was a dream of mine. So now ... I will say Jack Black.
Name the artist/act (living or dead) you'd love to meet and why?
George Carlin. Had the honor of seeing perform standup about four months before he died. A true trailblazer and wordsmith. He made more sense than most people realize.
In your opinion, what is the greatest song ever that never made it as a hit?
"Nowhere Again" by The Secret Machines. Look it up and enjoy.
Besides your own, what format would you like to program and why?
Oldies. Believe it or not, I am a huge fan of that format. I never respected the music; hell, I couldn't even name the four Beatles when I started working at KOOL 94.5. Working at that station made me appreciate the music and realize that every band that I enjoy now was influenced by that music in some way. It's brilliant stuff.
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