Radio Veteran No Longer Finds Place Nor Pleasure on the Dial at 1270

DETROIT — Veteran deejay Ed McKenzie resigned from station WXYZ here last week in protest of the station’s “formula radio” programming policy.

Rallying to McKenzie’s side was his long-time competitor and another veteran Detroit spinner, Robin Seymour, of WKMH who came out strongly last week for McKenzie and against “formula radio.” Seymour stated: “It’s a crime and a shame when one of the true deejays – one of the men who made the jockey a major factor in broadcasting – has to bow to the dictates of a program director.”

Although Seymour and McKenzie – two of Detroit’s key deejays – have vied for audience ratings for the past 11 years (they occupied the same afternoon time slot) Seymour said they have remained friends — their friendship dating back to the time McKenzie gave Seymour his first radio job at WJBK here.

Seymour has asked McKenzie to appear on his WKMH show this week to discuss the whole formula radio situation and his reasons for leaving WXYZ. Seymour said they will explore the jockey’s need for freedom of programming and speculate on whether the advent of “formula radio” has anything to do with the fact that no new name deejay (other than Dick Clark) has come up from the ranks in recent years.

Seymour said his station, WKMH, is now the only major Detroit station operating on a non-formula programming policy. The outlet did adopt a non – rock and roll format last year, but Seymour said the management dropped the policy last January, and pert record programming back in the deejays’ hands. As a result, the jock said WKMH’s ratings are already showing a small rating climb – the first rating increase for the station in some time.

The WXYZ “formula,” (featuring the Top 40 singles) was adopted by the station about a year ago, and WXYZ vice president in charge of radio, Hal Neal opined “Our interpretation of formula radio is that it is a step forward.”

McKenzie on the other hand expressed his opinion that this “formula” did not jibe with his interpretation of radio as “being intimate and friendly.” He stated that his ratings were dropping since the “formula policy” has gone into effect and that he would sooner “dig ditches or sell hot dogs” than go back to formula radio because “I can’t do something I don’t believe in.”

The radio station disagreed with McKenzie’s use of bird calls on the air and his “on the air” comment on office typing and the programming. The station also found themselves in disagreement with McKenzie about their new policy to boost the station on his programs, which the jockey termed `unnecessary.”

McKenzie’s 3 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. spot is being taken over by Mickey Shorr, who will have another replacement for his own Night Train program. Reportedly making between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in his 29th year with radio. McKenzie was Jack the Bellboy at WJBK before he changed to WXYZ radio in 1952. END

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Information, credit and news source: Billboard, March 16, 1959