Morning zoo

Morning zoo

Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting.[1] The name is derived from the "wackiness and zaniness" of the activities, bits, and overall personality of the show and its hosts. The morning zoo concept and name is most often deployed on contemporary hit radio (CHR-Top 40) radio stations.

The morning zoo was named by KZEW (The ZOO) Dallas program director Ira Lipson in 1976.[citation needed] When Charlie Kendall was morning DJ his friend Scott Shannon visited and liked the phrase and vowed to use it when he programmed his next station, which happened to be Z-100 in New York City. When that station became a huge ratings success, the name "The Morning ZOO" was copied by stations across the USA.

John Gorman, former program director at Cleveland rock station WMMS, states the following regarding the "Morning Zoo" format's origin:[2]

We borrowed the 'Morning Zoo' moniker from our New York sister station Z-100, which borrowed it from WRBQ in Tampa, which borrowed it from a station in Australia.

The zoo concept developed and matured during the 1980s, with many elements of the zoo formula continuing as benchmarks of morning radio today. Currently, few of the original radio stations promoting morning zoo morning shows continue to do so, with many abandoning live morning shows in favor of satellite/syndicated offerings; others simply have retired the concept. However, while the name morning zoo is not in as much use today, the concept itself remains the general template for most morning shows across the country.

A "morning zoo" typically consisted of two or three personalities, usually capable of comedic discourse as well as competent delivery of news and service elements. Most zoo programs involved call-in "stunt personalities" (usually, but not always, created by the staff), on-air games and regular contests. All of these elements were in place on LaBella and Rody's show, for instance.

Perhaps the industry's leading example of consistent, long-term morning zoo programming can be found by studying the history of WHTZ Newark/New York's Z100. In Australia, it is heard on Triple M as 'The Cage', amongst other stations. The Don and Mike show originated as a Morning zoo show in at WAVA in the 1980s, and retained some elements of the format. KKBQ-FM in Houston had a highly successful run throughout the 1980s with its "Q-Morning Zoo" headed by John Lander until 1990. Scott Shannon was on hand for the shows premier in 1982. KKBQ (now country) reinstalled the format to its current morning show. Austin-based Dudley and Bob Show on KLBJ-FM regularly announce their 'house party' format[3], especially noted on Fridays.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, LG73 (call sign CKLG) adopted this format for its popular morning program, led by Dean Hill, from 1985 to 1993. Personalities of note included "Jon Bon Bichin'", "Constable Bob", "Uncle Angus", and "The Coach". The LG Morning Zoo featured a house band "The LG Morning Zoo Cement Heads", who recorded parodies of popular songs, such as "Yack Yack", a spoof of the Paul Lekakis hit "Boom Boom", "Change of Socks", poking fun at Cyndi Lauper's "Change of Heart", and "(Baby You Can't) Drive Your Car", mocking the provincial government's automobile insurance monopoly ICBC, to the tune of the Beatles' "Drive My Car".

In Quebec City, CJMF-FM 93.3 had "Le Zoo du 93" from 1985 to 1990. Not only the show still holds a number of records in terms of ratings and market shares (a quarter hour of 148 000 listeners), but it also skyrocketed the station to now unreachable numbers, with 573 200 listeners on a weekly basis (according to the BBM summer 1987 survey).

In the UK, Steve Wright (currently of BBC Radio 2) is famous for revolutionizing British radio by introducing the format when he started his Steve Wright in the Afternoon show on BBC Radio 1 [1]. Chris Moyles and Dave Vitty use the zoo format with great success. Their audience was measured at eight million listeners by RAJAR.

The format is used on stations of many different genres. Even Christian radio stations such as WAWZ in New Jersey have a morning zoo.[4]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • morning zoo — noun A morning radio show format with plenty of wackiness and zaniness …   Wiktionary

  • Zoo TV Tour — Рекламный флай постер британского концерта U2, прошедшего в 1994 году в рамках Zoo TV Tour Мировой тур U2 Места проведения …   Википедия

  • Zoo TV Tour — World tour by U2 …   Wikipedia

  • Morning Sedition — was a three hour radio program that premiered April 1, 2004 and ran until December 16, 2005, in the United States. It was hosted by comedian Marc Maron and New York radio veteran Mark Riley.[1] Prior to June 2004, the show was also hosted by… …   Wikipedia

  • Béres Zoo — Infobox Radio Presenter name = Béres Zoo alias = Béres Zoo imagesize = 180px caption = birthname = Zoltán Béres birthdate = birth date and age|1975|04|29 birthplace = Budapest, Hungary deathdate = deathplace = show = Béres Zoo a Délutáni Show… …   Wikipedia

  • Elliot in the Morning — Format Comedy, News Created by Elliot Segal Starring Elliot Segal and T …   Wikipedia

  • The MJ Morning Show — Infobox Radio Show show name = The MJ Morning Show imagesize = 250px caption = The MJ Morning Show format = Talk show runtime = approximately 4 1/2 hours (per episode, Monday through Friday) creator = MJ Kelli BJ Harris writer = executive… …   Wikipedia

  • MJ Morning Show — The MJ Morning Show The MJ Morning Show Genre Talk show Running time approximately 3 hours (per episode, including music and commercials) Country …   Wikipedia

  • Murray in the Morning — This article is about the former Sporting News Radio program. For the show hosted by Ken Murray, see KQMS (AM). Murray in the Morning was a radio program that aired on Sporting News Radio from 2002 to August 12, 2005. Hosted by Bruce Murray, T. J …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Zoo — The Oregon Zoo has the world s most successful elephant breeding program. Here are the females in the herd (from left to right): Chendra, Shine, Rose Tu. Chendra is the only Borneo Elephant in the United States, and Rose Tu is the only surviving… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”