REV Dr Phillip Phinn is not the only prophet in town.

Writing in his weekly Sunday Observer column on January 14 this year, Claude Robinson, the journalist turned senior research fellow at the Mona School of Business, UWI, seemed to have had a premonition about future happenings at RJR.

In his article titled ‘More heat waves coming to already hot radio market’, Robinson uncannily wrote: “One change (at RJR 94 FM) was the hiring of the imaginative and focused Judith Bodley away from IRIE’s second station, the fast improving ZIP-103… Then there was the re-branding of Radio Two into HITZ 92 late last year, although the target market is still not clear to me. At issue is whether the latest (All-Media Survey) numbers will spook them into knee-jerk changes or whether they will allow time for changes initiated last year to take hold.”

Prophet Robinson was not far off the mark. Unaccustomed to being number two in radio market share, especially in its seemingly impregnable morning slot, RJR-94 has found itself in the throes of changes that have stirred controversy inside and outside the station.

“As with any change, there has been mixed reaction,” Bodley, the programme manager, admitted. “Many of our listeners welcome the changes and are asking for more changes. Some of our listeners reacted negatively at first and then came around and there are some who simply don’t agree,” she said in response to Sunday Observer queries.

Over recent years, RJR has been making changes in response to Don Anderson’s All-Media Survey findings, the latest of which showed that for the first time in recent memory, 94-FM had been overtaken as market leader in the morning slot. That finding was complicated by demographics indicating that over 64 per cent of the listeners were under 35 years of age.

The survey showed IRIE-FM reaching a 30.3 per cent share, up from 25.2 per cent, while RJR-FM 94 plummeted from 19.8 per cent to just 12.2 per cent.

The 2006 survey listed the top 13 radio stations with national reach (in order of ranking) as: IRIE, 30.3 per cent; RJR-FM 94, 12.2 per cent; LOVE-FM, 9.0 per cent; FAME, 8.4 per cent; POWER 106 FM, 6.7 per cent; ZIP 103 FM, 6.6 per cent; MUSIC 99 FM, 4.8 per cent; HITZ 92 FM, 4.0 per cent; KOOL-FM, 3.0 per cent; HOT 102 FM, 2.5 per cent; KLAS Sports Radio, 1.5 per cent; NEWS TALK 93 FM, 0.3 per cent; MEGA JAMS, 0.3 per cent.

It is noteworthy that the three stations in the RJR Group (94, Fame and Hitz) have a combined market share of 24.8 per cent, down from 45.4 per cent in 2000. This compares with a combined 37 per cent to IRIE and its stablemate ZIP.

The changes at RJR were always on the cards, as it watched its leadership position being eroded by the relative newcomer IRIE-FM, which stunned radio planners with the success of its all-reggae music format introduced in 1990.

Most of the changes, however, have taken place largely under the radar, with occasional whispers of dissent, according to Sunday Observer sources with intimate knowledge of the workings of the 57-year-old station.

For example, Winston Ridgard who was Lester Spaulding’s only rival for managing director, left quietly, ostensibly to become head of the National Religious Radio Company, owners of LOVE-FM radio and LOVE-TV. Ridgard’s peers tell an intriguing story of a power struggle won by the affable but shrewd Spaulding.

Insiders say the list of people who slipped off air or out of the station with little more than a murmur includes Marie Garth who migrated to Florida; Janett Mowatt; Dorothy ‘Dotty’ Dean’ La Croix; Hector Dietrich; Hol Plummer; Henry Stennett; Lloyd Pusey; Jennifer Grant; Yvonne Wilks; Don Topping who is off air but still at the station; the late Neville Willoughby, and a host of others.

Importantly, none of them have claimed publicly to have been wronged by RJR.

“We tend to be very loyal to RJR. It was always like family for us,” said one of those named but who requested anonymity. “We have only the best interest of the station at heart. But some of these individuals have not always been shown the kind of respect that one would have expected, given their loyalty over the years.”

But the latest round of changes have not gone as quietly, and some have played out on air. Two days before she was due to join the morning slot, Tricia ‘Di Wild Child’ Spence pulled out of an agreement, went home and turned off her cellphone so she could not be reached by frantic station managers.

Spence, who previously held the afternoon slot, said she was not happy with the station’s decision to drop the popular Dorraine Samuels, half of the Allan Magnus and Dorraine Samuels duo that ruled morning radio before IRIE dethroned them in the 2006 survey.

“I’m not one of the media people who believe in trampling on colleagues. There is room for all of us,” she told the Sunday Observer. “And yes, I’d agreed but I gave the matter some more thought and decided that some things were okay and some things were not. Mi neva feel fi bother,” she said.

That put RJR “in a box of bricks”, in the words of deputy managing director Gary Allen, the man in the hot seat and who inherited the troublesome situation. Allen, who looks set to succeed Spaulding as managing director, has been outing fires and trying to keep the station stable, as the changes take effect.

“We thought she was on board. We had no clue that she was going to resign because we had had extensive discussions and she had agreed to do the morning show,” Allen said.

Spence’s departure threw things out of whack. Bodley, seeing the crisis at hand, with no Dorraine and no ‘Wild Child’ to join Allan, telephoned Paula Ann Porter that weekend.

Porter, a seasoned radio personality, had not long before resigned from FAME-FM to join Cliff Hughes’ outfit at Nationwide. But Nationwide radio was carrying out test transmissions for May 1 broadcast on RJR AM frequencies – another of the changes – and when she got Bodley’s call, Porter did

not hesitate.

Dorraine Samuels was given the 9:00 am to 10:00 am slot called Morning Coffee. She shortly after took vacation leave and was, at Sunday Observer press time, visiting China.

The changes also affected the Hotline, hosted by Barbara Gloudon and Dr Orville Taylor, with producer Tanya Powell-Edwards. The talkshow and hosts were retained but the hours were shifted from the 10:30 am – 2:00 pm slot to a new 10:00 am – 1:00 pm schedule.

Powell-Edwards, four years with Hotline, did not fare as well. She was off work one Friday when she returned home to find a letter and cheque from RJR, saying she had been made redundant.

The explanation given to the producer read: “…Over the past few years, based on the All-Island Media Survey, RJR 94 has seen a decline in its listenership, to the point where not only has it lost its number one status, but the rate of decline is constant. Various strategies have been deployed to counter the slide. But by the latest survey results, these seem not to have been effective.

“You are cognisant of the co-relation between the ratings and the station’s profitability and survival. We have, therefore, continued our search for solutions, which has led us to restructuring our operations. In doing so, some functions have been merged while others will be scaled down or made redundant…”

The National Workers Union intervened on behalf of Powell-Edwards, insisting that the redundancy was illegal. But before that, Allen, on learning of how the matter was handled, called the producer to apologise, and later repeated the apology at a staff meeting.

The station offered to withdraw the redundancy letter but when Powell-Edwards declined, the parties agreed on an ex-gratia payment.

“I am not in the least bit bitter,” said Powell-Edwards. “I have always seen RJR as just a part of my journey and what has happened has not dimmed my future in any way. I enjoyed working there.”

Allen, in a previous interview, had disclosed that because of the seniority of some of the people affected by the proposed changes, he and chairman Spaulding had got involved in the discussions, even though the changes were mainly of a programming nature, explaining to them the market conditions that were prevailing and the need for the changes.

“It should be obvious to everyone that we had to respond to this unprecedented fall in the market survey, and to what the demographics are showing,” he said.

Bodley also insisted that the changes were necessary, in response to scientific data and “are not personal in any way”. “I would like to assure our listeners and clients that our focus is on providing the best possible product in this diverse media landscape,” she said.