Interviewed By Donna Michele Ramos, Senior Staff Writer
Is Sacramento ready and primed for a new radio station? Lee Perkins and Paula Nelson believe it is and are ready to put their money where their mouth is.
THE HUB: Lee I know many of your fans wonder what happened to you and Andrea Gomez being on the V101.1 morning show. Can you share with us what happened?
Perkins: Sure, our contracts were not renewed and Clear Channel restructured their positions and a few others were eliminated too. But they reached out to all the community leaders before there could be an uproar. They were trying to save money and went with a pre-recorded show but it didn’t work and they actually lost money. So they went with Freddy Bueno for a year and now they have Big Al.
THE HUB: Typically, how long is a radio contract?
Perkins: Usually it is 3 to 5 year contract, but in some cases they opt for a 1 year contract. My original contract with V101 was one year.
THE HUB: What projects are you working on now?
Perkins: I do shows on www.1musicnetwork.com/contact_us.html; I’ve got 3 channels: Comedy, Talk radio and Old School.
THE HUB: Paula what projects are you working on now?
Nelson: I have an online thing too, www.Rejoice1240.com and The Yolanda Adams Morning Show; but soon I will bring a major radio project to fill the void in Sacramento. The right network through American Urban Radio Network; everybody in Sacramento has relatives in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco who miss the type of radio you can get in those cities. All radio stations are now owned by big conglomerates, but it’s an exciting time now; 2012 is an exciting time for what we are working on. We will be on the FM dial soon, stay tuned! Lee is lending his programming skills.
THE HUB: Anything to add Lee?
Perkins: Paula will be handling the CEO, general manager skills, no one knows Sacramento like her. We have one other person who is collaborated with us, Michael Mullins. We are still open to collaborating with additional serious investors.
THE HUB: Paula can you give me a brief summary of what you went through as the former owner of 103.5 The Bomb FM and Rejoice 1240AM?
Nelson: The first deal is always the worst deal; I raised $20 million to pay the investors but they wouldn’t take it. So they sold it for $17 million. That’s how I got the AM station, the money I raised financed it. But after I got it, I realized it is different from FM; it’s specialty radio, you need a talk format or a foreign language show. I got out of it, I didn’t make what I wanted but no one is now in this economy.
THE HUB: When will this new station go on the air?
Perkins: We are looking at the next 30 – 45 days. We would love to be rolling before November, to get the word out how important it is to vote in 2012. Time is of the essence and we are ready to move. Paula has been operating in a beautiful building, in an area where there is lots to do, so we are looking at operating from there.
THE HUB: What will be the format of your new station?
Perkins: We know what Sacramento likes and we know what’s missing. We are ready and will be filling the void.
THE HUB: How did you decide on this format?
Nelson/Perkins: Lee researched this format over the last 8 years and with both of our skills in radio, we have seen where radio is going and where it needs to go in Sacramento. Lee had the #1 morning show. Paula was the owner and operator of a #1 station KBMB The Bomb. The Bomb was part of a whole new generation, a generation that was raising The Bomb up; The Bomb was bringing it to Sacramento. We know what works.
THE HUB: Paula what have you learned to do differently this time around?
Perkins: I don’t know if I’d do anything differently, we’ll just build on what we know works. One difference is it will be heavily adult-oriented but kids will love it too. We are going to get both sides. We are excited to be here in Sacramento and excited about the future of radio in Sacramento, it will be fun again; Sacramento stay tuned!
For more info e-mail leeperkinsradio@gmail.com.
