Daniels? Roll of Dice Wins New Sponsors

The next Arbitron ratings are not due out until August. But Dale Daniels, general manager of Clear Channel Communications Inc.’s four Northwest Arkansas radio stations, said it’s already apparent a recent programming gamble has paid off.

On Feb. 19, Daniels moved morning show hosts Jon Williams and Zach Arns from KJEM, “The Eagle” 93.3 FM, to sister station KMXF, “Mix” 101.9 FM. At the same time, “The Outlaw” Tommy Smith and Roger Scott — morning hosts from corporate cousin KMJX, “Magic” 105 FM, in Little Rock — were piped in to fill KJEM’s morning slot.

“Advertising has exploded for both stations,” Daniels said. He said the strategy was to give his company the top four morning shows in the market, after a year of rating Nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5.

Williams and Arns already had the No. 1 morning show locally, which until February drew a 14.5 percent market share among 25- to 54-year-olds. By moving them to KMXF, Daniels hoped to boost that station up from No. 5. He hoped to hold KJEM’s No. 2 overall spot with Smith and Scott’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast” — the No. 1 rated morning show in Arkansas with a 12.0 share among listeners 12 years and older.

Daniels would only say “a significant number” of new advertisers have been attracted by the switch. But the Little Rock jocks, in particular, can be heard daily doing many local spots.

“The feel we get, from the street buzz and listeners who call in, is that there’s a lot of local awareness about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast,” Daniels said.