KJEM Asks: How Big An Ol? Listener Are Ya?

Phil Stone and Brent Douglas, morning show hosts at Tulsa station KMOD-FM, 95.7, took over the vacant morning slot at Fayetteville’s KJEM-FM, 93.3 and Fort Smith’s KKBD-FM, 95.5, beginning Jan. 14. The two stations are both properties of radio industry leader Clear Channel Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas.

Stone, a 1973 graduate of Fayetteville High School, and Douglas are best known for their Roy D. Mercer character which has spawned the sale of about 3 million comedy albums, including the first in the series that went gold last spring. Douglas plays the voice of Mercer, a prank-calling redneck with a penchant for “whoopin” his victims’ rear ends and asking, “How big an ol’ boy are ya?”

The duo has worked together for 16 years and boasts Tulsa’s No. 1 spot in numerous demographics including adults aged 25 to 54.

“We try to walk up to the line that you’re not supposed to cross and leave it there,” Stone said. “We try not to come out and say what you’re not supposed to say.”

Stone and Douglas replaced “The Outlaw” Tommy Smith and Roger Scott’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast” morning show that originates weekday mornings from Little Rock’s KMJX-FM, 105. Smith and Scott were phased out gradually starting in early November when it became apparent they weren’t pulling the kind of ratings KJEM has become accustomed to drawing during morning rush hour (See radio list, Page 24).

Tony Beringer, Clear Channel’s Northwest Arkansas market manager, said callers indicated they wanted a more localized show. The “Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast” was syndicated “as is” to both KJEM and KKBD, but Beringer said Stone and Douglas will be simultaneously multicasting unique shows for each market.

The technology that makes the localized programming possible — Prophet System Wizard for Windows software and Clear Channel’s wide area network — was pioneered in 1999 by KJEM and Fayetteville’s KKIX-FM, 104.

Stone got his start at KJEM’s cross-town competitor KKEG-FM, 92.1, in 1975.