XV
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Section
THURSDAY
July 1,1993
Cornering The Market In Music?
WPEG-FM 98's Owners Agree To Buy WCKZ-FM Kiss 102 For $3 Million
/
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
It’s all over except for Fed
eral Communications Com
mission approval.
Broadcast Partners, Inc.,
owners of WPEG FM-98, has
agreed to by WCKZ-FM (Kiss)
102 for $3 million from Co-
mopas Media Group of Be-
thesda, Md.
'We bought it because the
FCC now allows us to own
two FM and AM stations in
one market," said Lee Sim
onson, vice chairman and
CEO for the firm. 'We like
Charlotte, think it's a great
market to do business in. We
felt from a financial as well
as an artistic standpoint
that it makes sense to own
two stations in a market we
like and do so well in."
Wayne K. Brown, president
and general manager of
WPEG and WGIV 1600 AM,
will serve as KISS' new gen
eral manager once the deal Is
closed.
"I'm excited the company
decided to make Charlotte its
first duoply (opertaing more
than one FM or AM station
within the same market). I
think it shows the compa
ny’s commitment."
Brown said the acquisition
of the station will not make
WPEG's job any easier.
"It certainly doesn't take
any pressure off of us. We
still have to pay our Inves
tors back the $3 million for
the purchase of the station.
It's going to require us to sell
the positioning of the radio
station."
Simonson said the agree
ment was reached Friday but
"we'd been talking for a long
time - at least a couple of
months."
KISS 102 has been up for
sale since Nov. 4, 1992, at
which time the station was
placed Into receivership to
Compass Media group. The
station was being run by EZ
Communications while
WEZC's sales associates
handled advertising.
"The station has been for
sale since we took it over,"
said Jonathan Schwartz,
president of Compass group.
"Our goal was to build it back
up to where It was and make
Brown
it a marketable station. We
moved it back to its old offic
es on Morehead Street and
started running it as a separ
ate organization."
According to Schwartz,
KISS 102 was down to only
two employees and monthly
sales of only $10,000. The
station currently has 15 em
ployees and bills around
$100,000 a month in adver
tising.
"It's now a profitable radio
station," Schwartz said. "It
started making profit two
months after we took it over
and has made profit every
since." ■
Schwartz said moving the
station back to its original
format of dance, urban, rap
and pop also helped. The sta
tion has much the same for
mat as WPEG, which made
the stations fierce competi
tors for market share. How
ever, both Schwartz and
Simonson agree the stations
are very different.
"Kiss is not as focused on
the African-American com
munity as WPEG is," Simon
son said. "Our Intrests focus
in on that community.
That's not to say we don't
want other listeners, we
want and enjoy having them.
But no other station in the
area has a mission state
ment quite like ours. So we
really don't go head-to-head
like WSOC and WTDR. It’s a
different constituency."
Still, the sale of the station
does help WPEG during what
some view as a tough transi
tional period. The station
lost its biggest draw — Skip
Murphy and his morning
crew — in February. Buzz on
the street isn't very compli
mentary of Murphy's re
placements — Porsche Ste
venson and Nate Quick.
Dana Terry was recently
added to the show.
Frankie Darcell, a very
popular mld-moming dee-
jay, left for Detroit in June.
Stevens replaced her tempo
rarily. Monica Starr has
now taken that spot.
Brown said that type of
movement comes with the
radio territory.
"Whenever you have great
talent, inevitably, they are
going to leave you. Unfortu
nately a lot of ours left at the
same time. But this station
has the talent to go out get
good people and train them
to become the best."
Since Murphy's departure,
WPEG has been No. 1 with
25-to-54-year-olds and tied
for No. 1 with WSOC-FM
with 18-to-34 year-olds, ac
cording to Brown.
Simonson said the sale will
not be final until FCC ap
proval, which may come in
late October or early Novem
ber. No thought has been giv
en to programming changes
for Kiss he said. "That is
something we will probably
look at after Intense re
search."
Schwartz has high praise
for Broadcasting Partners,
but doubts it will change
Kiss' format.
"(Broadcasting Partners) is
an excellent broadcasting
company. We think this was
a terrific buy for them and
an Important acquisition for
them.
"(Kiss) Is very successful at
what it's doing. As time goes
on, it's going to be a very dif
ficult decision to change the
format if that's what they
want to do."
Broadcasting Partners, Inc.
also owns WVAZ-FM in Chi
cago, WKQI-FM in Detroit,
KSKY-AM in Dallas, Tx, and
WYNY In New York.
The
Movie
Column
A.C, Turner
Son-In-Law ☆ ☆ 1/2
Starring: Pauly Shore, Carla Gugino, and Lane Smith
Directed by Steve Rash»Produced by Michael Roten-
berg*Rated PG-13*A Hollywood Pictures release*
Opens Friday in theatres nationwide.*Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Classic: ☆☆☆☆ Excellent; ☆☆☆ Good; ☆☆ Fair; ☆
Why?
I walked into this movie
expecting absolutely noth
ing about this flick to thrill
me. That's unusual because I
try to be as open as possible
when viewing a new film.
I housed prejudices about
the movie because I am too
familiar with Pauly Shore's
previous work. Shore's
"talent" has never lit the ex
citement flames of my MTV
screen.
In fact, I never, ever could
stomach his act for more
than two minutes. Every
time his face accidentally
invaded my line of vision, I
would wonder how someone
could get paid big money to
be nothing short of irritating
while hardworking people
all over the world could bare
ly make ends meet.
Hollywood Pictures' new re
lease, "Son in Law," which
features Shore, appeared to
offer more of the same dumb
space cadet antics that made
Shore rich.
"Son In Law" turned out to
be a testimony to how a well-
written script can make the
most stupid actor and most
bland premise seem funny.
Screenplay writers. Fax
Bahr, Adam Small and
Shawn Schepps composed a
work that came to life on
screen in a real yet hysteri
cal way.
The first portion of the film
was filled with relatively
short vignettes. Often that
approach comes across as a
choppy and sporadic begin
ning, but in this case it suc
cessfully established the
family's personality and the
main action.
Good writing alone cannot
make this happen.
From left to right: Pauly Shore, Lane Smith, Cindy Picket, Carla Gugino and Mason Adams.
The veteran cast of actors
(you'll recognize them but
won’t know their names) car
ried their characters out of
the shallow and into the deep
waters.
Lane Smith led the way.
Smith is an accomplished
actor and has starred in
"Final Days" as Richard Nix
on. Other credits are "Places
in the Heart" and "Weeds."
Smith can be proud of his
work in "Son in Law" because
his stoic father character
tickled the crowd until they
were forced to laugh out loud.
Mason Adams whose big
gest success came with his
See SHORE On Page 3B
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