Dallas Morning News Article

The Dallas Morning News

February 2, 1997

Edition: ARLINGTON MORNING NEWS
Section: BUSINESS
Page: 10A

Let it be: All-Beatles radio takes a turn for the worse

Author: The Associated Press

Dateline: DALLAS

Article Text:

DALLAS – Programming local radio stations made Tony Rodriguez rich, so it’s with a tinge of remorse that he proclaims the industry in the dumps.

Rodriguez would know. He’s been around broadcasting most of his 36 years, first watching his father help pioneer Hispanic radio in Dallas in the ’70s and ’80s, then inheriting the legacy with his brother in the ’90s.

Rodriguez saw things changing for the worse a few years ago.

Corporations were snapping up stations all over the dial, all over the country. A sterile, cookie-cutter product was the result. Local flavor was gone.

Soon, so was Rodriguez. He made big bucks selling two stations to Los Angeles-based El Dorado and became a consultant for them, freeing himself from the rat race that had dissolved into a reckless pursuit of profit with no regard to music or musicians.

“In general, local radio sucks. Let’s just boil it down to that conclusion,” Rodriguez said.

“Radio station owners are like art owners who never bother to look at the painting. They’re just concerned with the profitability of the art. They know it affects people, but they themselves don’t care. ” Rodriguez still had the urge to program, and an even stronger desire to prove Corporate America wrong. He thought there was a better way of playing the same game, and he wanted to shove it in their faces.

He got the chance last summer when his long-running attempt to buy frequency 104.9 FM finally was approved.

Rodriguez wanted to make a statement with the station. He wanted to do something big. Something bold. Something different.

His result: All Beatles, no commercials, no disc jockeys.

He expanded the concept from what the Fab Four did together as well as their solo work, cover tunes, interviews, outtakes and whatever else he could grab.

“I just want to freak people out and shake the tree in every possible way: shake the programmers, shake the listeners, shake what’s possible for radio,” said Rodriguez, his hair slicked back, dressed comfortably in black jeans and a T-shirt for a recent interview at his home.

Although Rodriguez didn’t know it, his idea wasn’t original.

Other stations tried it with little success.

Now, add Rodriguez to that list.

KTCY, known as “Fab 105” since it went on the air Aug. 10, will be switching to a black gospel format on Feb. 22, Rodriguez announced last week. The station will be run by his brother, who owns several other local stations.

Still, Fab 105 is going out with a bang.

The Beatles’ entire “rooftop concert” from the movie “Let It Be” will be played twice. Listeners also will be treated to the Beatles’ “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” concert. And, a “Farewell to the Fab” party is planned for the final day.

The six-month venture was covered in red ink. Rodriguez wouldn’t put a figure on it, instead saying it would’ve cost someone else about $5 million.

He said Tuesday he was giving up the station because it was time to start a sales department and, “I really didn’t have the heart to go back into the business trenches to do that. ” Rodriguez says he has no problem absorbing the loss. He lives with his wife of 11 years, Nellie, daughter Elesha, 10; and son Alex, 8; in a spacious home that backs up to a golf course inside a gated community.

Fab 105’s biggest problem was that it never made a dent in the ratings.

In the first ratings book it was eligible for, KTCY beat only one station. It didn’t register a pulse in the latest book.

The few followers were at least loyal, creating stacks of letters, faxes and e-mails top Planetcasters, the station’s Internet site.

“It’s amazing how many young kids e-mailed me,” Rodriguez said.

“You expect people in their 40s and 50s to say the Beatles rule.

You don’t expect that from 13- and 14-year-olds. ” He also connected with some of the glass-office types he was aiming at.

“I got a call from a peer who is an executive at a large broadcasting company and he said, `Tony, I really salute you for saying radio sucks. I agree, but in my position I can’t say it. ‘ “I think there’s a lot of radio guys out there who agree but can’t say it. It’s like the emperor wearing no clothes – you may know it, but if you work in the palace you can’t say it,” Rodriguez said.

Now that the station is nearing the end of its long and winding road, Rodriguez has no regrets.

“I always felt like it was electronic art,” he said. “I also am happy that a lot of people got what I was up to. This was never a toy for me – it was more like a statement that I wanted to make. ” With just a few weeks left, Rodriguez has a bit of advice for his listeners.

“I tell people you better enjoy it while you have it because I guarantee you this will never happen again,” he said. “It’s too crazy, too insane.

Caption:
PHOTO(S): (Associated Press) Tony Rodriguez has run KTCY FM (Fab 105) since it went on the air in August. The station will switch to a black gospel format on Feb. 22.