Angry Kathy & Judy fans get in the holiday spirit
Jonathon Brandmeier isn’t the only would-be poet out there when it comes to delivering angry diatribes against clueless radio bosses. Just as his deliciously wicked comic/rap music video (titled “Johnny B. The Unemployed Radio Mo Fo”) was getting nationwide attention Wednesday, supporters of two other former Chicago radio stars were on a rampage of their own.
Fans of Kathy O’Malley and Judy Markey still haven’t gotten over the midday duo’s firing last May after an extraordinary 20-year run at Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720). Although they had little in common demographically with Brandmeier’s target audience, Kathy and Judy’s loyal legion of “girlfriends” was every bit as put out by the ham-fisted way WGN dispensed with them. It was a shameful example of station management’s ongoing disrespect and disregard for listeners.
One of the faithful, Laura Keene Hohm, not only established a Facebook page called “Petition to Keep Kathy and Judy on WGN,” but composed a parody poem in the spirit of the holidays. (The Tom Langmyer to whom she refers is the vice president and general manager of WGN. For the record, I emphatically do not believe that he is a “dim-witted louse.” But it does make for a nice rhyme.)
Here is “A Poem for All Girlfriends”:
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Tom Langmyer was stirring, that dim-witted louse.
He read Arbitron ratings, with nausea and fear,
Now knowing ’GN was too low to appear.
“What happened?!” he screamed, “We used to be first!
Then we fired the best, and hired the worst.
With Kathy and Judy, our ad sales were stronger.
But the fans that we had, they listen no longer.”
Now it’s been seven months, and things aren’t the same,
We’ve lost our close gal pals, it’s simply a shame.
We won’t soon forget, that dark day in May
When our two best girlfriends, they took them away.
No Speak Your Piece Wednesdays, no Sex Talk Thursday.
No Hanukkah stories from Judy, “Oy vey!”
And John Williams, we love you, please don’t get us wrong,
But the nine to noon time slot now seems so darn long!
So it’s Christmas and Santa is checking his list,
And he knows gosh-darned well that the listeners are pissed.
So though they were naughty, please treat them with class.
Give Corporate a pink slip and a kick in the ass!
Happy Holidays to all girlfriends!
Elsewhere on the media beat:
- “Heart & Soul,” a new series of quarterly specials on the culture of Chicago’s African-American community, will debut at 6 p.m. Saturday on ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7. It will be rerun at noon Sunday and streamed on demand at abc7chicago.com. Hosting the first episode will be Cheryl Burton and Hosea Sanders. Alternating hosts and contributors include Jim Rose, Karen Jordan, Charles Thomas, Leah Hope and Evelyn Holmes. Producer is Rubye Wilson.
- Dave Santrella, general manager of Salem Communications’ news/talk WIND-AM (560) and Christian talk WYLL-AM (1160) and operational vice president of the company’s stations in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Denver and Colorado Springs, has been promoted to president of Salem’s radio division. The move confirms a tip here Nov. 10. Santrella joined Salem in 2001 from CBS Radio all-news WBBM-AM (780), where he was general sales manager.
- Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, parent company of WCIU-Channel 26 (among other local outlets), has been named 2009 Multiplatform Broadcaster of the Year by Broadcasting & Cable magazine. It’s a new award given to the broadcaster “doing the best job of connecting with its audience via the multiple media platforms.”
- How fast, affordable and open should the Internet be? A Federal Communications Commission hearing on how broadband technology can help small businesses spur growth and reach new markets will be held Monday in Chicago. One in a series of hearings on development of a National Broadband Plan, it will be from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive.
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12 2009
blogs.vocalo.org
Uh, Rob? How about copy editing this sentence in your Weigel Broadcasting bullet point:
“It’s a new a new award given to the broadcaster “doing the best job of connecting with its audience via the multiple media platforms.”
Someone should put that poem in a podcast & upload it to YouTube! The internet is where all the radio & newspaper journalism are reinventing themselves. Instead of hanging out with friends & eating all the food that isn’t nailed down, I expect to see more of them doing podcasts & blogs in the near future. It’s also a way to stay out of the wife’s hair. LOL!
As for that sentence, “It’s a new a new award given . . .” they need an internet editor. I’m sure there are plenty of those around these days.
A blog is not a newspaper. Blog posts by their nature are frequently knocked off quickly, and often there’s no copy editor involved (although I don’t know how things work at Vocalo). The intent of many blogs is to give readers the writer unfiltered, and that unfiltered nature is one of the reasons why many of us enjoy reading blogs.
Which means: If there’s a typo or an awkward construction in a blog post now and then, let it go.
Kathy and Judy and their dismissal can’t be lumped in with Brandmeier (or Dahl), who were replaced with music. Give credit to WGN-AM for attempting to upgrade the quality of their format with another talk personality. Whether that’s been a success is in the ear of the beholder. Elsewhere, wrapped in the cloak of “PPM numbers”, station management made bold moves to…music you can access anywhere. Has anyone ever overheard a conversation about how great that 7:00 am music set was on a station? But it was inevitable since almost no one was building a young stable of talk talent to come in (cheaper) on the heels of Johnny, Steve, et al.
what about me?
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blogshakalaka
something about tiger, i’m sure, plus the bears or whatever. i just look at this comment as my morning calisthenics.
as for kathy and judy, i really like them. i once sat in for kathy, and judy was very nice to me. and i think, if i’m not mistaken, that kathy once said i was looking great on tv. they’re both very funny women and great conversationalists. i even had the honor of sitting in for them during what would be, unbeknownst to all of us, their last days at wgn. it was on a friday, and i said that they had gone to lake geneva for an extended weekend of mah jong play. nice slur.
having said that (pardon my larry david), kathy and judy should be grateful that they lasted so long. as the people meters have demonstrated, their audience skewed way outside the target demographic. and it’s likely that they were earning high salaries for years based on a fraud. does this mean they should make reparations to the advertisers who fell for the arbitron diary system? a great ethical question. we’ll take your calls on that right after this 10-minute block of news, commercials, weather, commercials, traffic, commercials, orion samuelson and commercials right here on wgn radio, radio home of millions of commercials throughout mid-america.
judy and kathy are two women i would enjoy talking to. let’s all have lunch and discuss david foster wallace’s “brief interviews with hideous men.” without commercial interruption.
I’M A JOHN WILLIAMS & GARRY MEIER FAN BUT I SURE WISH THE GIRLS WOULD GET HIRED BACK, BUT WHOS TO SAY THEY WANT TO. I’M SURE THEY ARE BOTH FINANCIALLY IN GOOD SHAPE AND ARE WITHIN RETIREMENT AGE. IF THEY GET HIRED ON AT ANOTHER STATION, I’LL BE LISTENING. I REALLY MISS “SPEAK YOUR PIECE”. MORNING DRIVE WOULD BE A GOOD SLOT…ANYONE LISTENING? RE: BRUCE WOLF…SOUNDS LIKE YOU WANT ATTENTION..WRITING LIKE THAT IS ONLY GOING TO BRING YOU BAD ATTENTION. YOU SOUND DUMB.
The Arbitron diary system had many problems, but PPM (however scientific it may be) has holes in it big enough for Orion Samuelson to drive a tractor through. Kathy and Judy’s dismissal is just another brick ripped from the wall in the dismantling of a great radio station. Yes, WGN needed to evolve its audience, and Garry Meier’s hiring was a smart move in that direction. But smart bosses don’t chase boatloads of revenue away while treating a local broadcasting bastion like FM chameleons that routinely jettison audiences as they change formats every two years. Tom Langmyer is a good guy who has enough outside interests to keep him busy till his contract is up. In the meantime, Zell’s overrated henchmen seemingly run the show — and run whatever’s left of WGN’s audience out of earshot.
Hickory Dickery Doc
The two girls known as The Kotex Mafia were cleaning my clock
When the clock stuck 2 I knew what too do
And boy were they in for a shock!
Put that in your book of poems.
Man I would love to see Kathy and Judy do a version of the Jon LaJoie song/video they way Brandmeier and his crew did. Can you imagine them rapping “I’m just an everyday unemployed normal m….” Now that would be something!
Hello again Robert Feder!
I must say this. Kathy and Judy fans on WGN have found out what old people have known for a long time. When you start to sag in the body, the ratings follow you in the sagging!
Corporate America does not like old people. It is true. The audience for broadcasting on the radio is made up of YOUNG people and they spend the money on their stupid pod things and television sets to watch young women fall out of their brassiers. Where are Christmas programs for families to watch?
All they think old are good for is sitting in our ROCKERS and passing GAS all day.
I must say this! I pass gas on all you young people who do not respect your elders. And on you WGN bosses. You have already smelled up the place so maybe you are too old to be running the show!
I’m surprised there isn’t a spot for them on Satellite Radio. There certainly is much worse talent on their that their target demo is listening too.
Guys
Let’s get on the clue bus here. Kathy & Judy were destroying the station’s ratings. It’s easy to get sucked into the fact they had passionate fans.
But facts are facts.
There are just too few of them.
Same for Brandmeier. He was getting a million dollars or something, but who was listening? These stations have a business to run. How can they do that if they’re expected to pay big dollars to talent nobody listens to?
I have no doubt K&J and Brandmeier are very talented performers. But commercial radio is not NPR. They have to attract a large audience and make money.
If Ford is not selling enough of a certain car, they stop making it. Should Sony keep making those old-style TV’s when everyone is buying flat screens?
Businesses are supposed to appeal to the masses and make money. Or nobody has a job.
Wow….oh would I love to be a brave as the girlfriends and johnny b……but no i wimp out. too bad. I listened to the girlfriends and johnny when i was in high school…..BRAVO
So has WFLD hired Lou Cannelis to report sports in the a.m.?
It seems to me that podcast technology — the ability to create podcasts and the ability to receive them — ought to be ripe for K&J to serve this disappointed fan base. I don’t know how well Steve Dahl is doing with his podcast, but the times I’ve listened it’s been good.
No doubt the big money isn’t there yet. Maybe not even sustainable wages. But webcast/podcast offerings will grow and, as this blog demonstrates, there is life after trad. media.
Well, let’s bide our time. Some brilliant, fresh-out-of-school MBA will come up with another half-witted measuring scheme and once again cause a media tsunami.
I like the ring PPM has to it. We might even call the next wonder system “BM” for “Business Measurement.”
Get Canned? You now can say, “I was canned due to my BM” instead of “I’m going to the can and have a BM!”
Finally, I am a 6′-2″ 275 lb. male and am proud to say that I am a girl friend! May K&J return triumphantly in the near future.
Kathy and Judy had a very loyal and strong following. Women are still underepresented in radio. WGN is still evolving. Garry Meier and Bill Leff are improving the station. It would be so interesting to audition different women for a couple of months – just to see what works ! How about Paige Wiser and Mary Schmick with faster paced interviews and more humor. Tryouts work to develop chemistry and rhythm.
I considered the girl-friends real friends from my days spent working in the same place. And I agree that their dismissal was done without class. However, they had made known their desire to make their exit sometime within a year of when they were fired. Management perhaps but foolisly (may have) felt that since their eventual departure was well known, it might be best to “off” them quickly and start rebuilding. The rebuilding in its first phase was a disaster and management would have been served better by keeping them on the air until they were ready to fill all of the time slots affected by their departure and Spike O’Dell’s.
Bob, you’ve been writing about radio and television long enough to know that a Program Director simply does not make programming decisions in a vacuum. Even though I am not critical of the decision to retire the girlfriends, you need to quit misleading your readers into believing that Tom Langmeyer had nothing to do with it. The General Manager is going to sign off on that kind of decision at any station. Kevin Matheny seems to be your scapegoat for criticizing WGN, but he’s not the only player here. The fact is that WGN has for years sounded like it was still in the 1970s. If poeople want to live in the past, get ahold of Bruce Dumont’s organization. Otherwise, that station has to come into the 21st century…or else.
I’m sure you get asked this all the time but will you bring back the ratings breakdowns? I loved how you took all the important blocks and gave the ratings for all the big (or not so big) stations in town. If your not going to do that can you help find that info online? I’ve been looking for ages and can’t find Chicago ratings info by time slot anywhere.
Lordy I hated Punch and Judy. Glad they are gone for they bored the heck outta me. But, I was always a bit surprised Johnny B came back in the first place. Still, I understand why he came back to town (it was mostly for his family). He always cracked me up (Sam). He wasn’t as constantly by turns angry and arrogant as Dahl, or Meier, or Howard Stern always were. JB you’ll be missed. K and J you won’t.
K&J your are sorely missed!! Bill Leff isn’t too bad but Gerry Meier is horrible. He’s rude and angry. I can’t stand him. I only hear him now when I can’t change the station fast enough.
A typical Tom Langmyer decision. The worst judge of talent by a program director or general manager in the history of major markets. He’s legendary for tanking KMOX in St. Louis by pissing off listeners and staff.
I’ll never forget the half-hour K&J spent trying to figure out whether Smithfield ham comes from a can–based not on easy “first principles,” but seemingly inspired by Descartes’ Discours de la méthode.
Ditto for me on Garry Meier being rude and angry. He’s way too aggressive for me and only functions well as a second banana. Lighten up, Gare; maybe I’m wrong and that’s how you convinced the WGN suits you’d make it. Personally, I can’t turn the dial fast enough!