To support the launch of the new Barrett Media, we’ve created a special series titled “20 Brands In 20 Days.” Highlighting successful stations across the country in various formats by conducting conversations with their brand leaders. Up next is Buck Owens Productions Brent Michaels. Brent is the PD of Country KUZZ, Bakersfield. The station we are highlighting today.
Jeff Lynn: Let’s start with the fact that KUZZ is owned by Buck Owens Productions. It’s a Buck Owens radio station, which, in my mind, and correct me if I’m wrong, makes you the keeper of the “Bakersfield Sound.”
Brent Michaels: I think about that stuff quite often. Are we honoring the Bakersfield legacy? I’m sitting here with a lot of Country music history. KUZZ is a current Country radio station, so I feel like if someone were to listen to it, what I hope they would hear first and foremost are, at least here in Bakersfield, the biggest current hits in the country right now.
We definitely take some time on a regular basis to still honor the radio station’s history, whether it be dipping back to the 90s more than some other radio stations or milestone dates like Buck’s birthday or the anniversary of his passing. We certainly note those.
JL: I know it’s going through a transition right now, but regardless of that, you’ve got the Buck Owens Crystal Palace right there, too, which you use for many events.
BM: The Crystal Palace is open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, with local live entertainment and national acts. As a radio program director, it is really cool to have a venue that the radio station works so closely with next door. It just allows us to give our listeners a different experience than probably most other radio stations.
JL: Talk a little about the stationarity and how you bring it all together.
BM: First and foremost, we try to represent what Bakersfield wants. I always say the chart is something. It’s not nothing, and it’s not everything.
If you were to see our songs in heavy rotation on a regular basis, they would not necessarily be the top seven songs on the chart. We still believe very heavily in local research.
We have a good base of research listeners, over a hundred. We also look at some of the other digital trends and what’s happening locally. If songs or artists break out, we, as a station and a programmer with full control over the station playlist, identify some of those artists that we think are part of the next generation.
We’re definitely a station that still believes in building artists. That’s really important for Country music. I know this particular year, if we’re to look at the last six months, there have certainly been a lot of new artists who have broken out, and strong singles have ruled the summer and spring. We still definitely try to invest in artists.
It really is trying to reflect our local community in a lot of ways. There are big events going on in town, or we just had a local win on a Gordon Ramsay reality show.
So, taking the time to celebrate wins in the community, we’re always trying to raise money for causes that are important to our listeners. We just want to be a strong reflection, a high bar that we’re always trying to look toward.
JL: One other quick question about music. Are the 90s playing a role for you right now?
BM: Yeah, absolutely. Our listeners have told us that they love listening to that.
There’s a 90s song every hour. We have other things. We have a feature every weekday morning, “90s at 9.”
It’s the chance to hear that one song that was big when you were in high school. It’s gained a lot of popularity over the last couple of years. We’ve found a lot of success with “90s Saturday Night” every weekend. That started during the pandemic.
We thought it would be fun that summer every Saturday night in the summer of 2020.
Then, it kind of went away on Labor Day. In 2021 same thing. We did it in the summer.
Frankly, we got the ratings back. They were strong enough for us to do it all year round,
JL: Let’s talk a little bit about your morning show, “Kenn & Ness.” Full disclosure here: Kenn McCloud was my Program Director long ago—longer than he and I would care to admit that we have known each other. But it’s a relatively new morning show. From a distance, it looks like it’s gaining traction, and those two work really hard.
BM: Kenn has been doing this for a very long time and has had success wherever he’s been.
Ness is relatively new to radio. She was working in a prison and got laid off. We just happened to be running an ad. She sent in a video explaining why she thought she’d be a great personality. We brought her in, and even after one conversation, we loved her.
It’s funny because she’ll tell you now that one of the things she told me that day was that one day, Post Malone was going to come out with a Country album. And it was going to take over the Country world. It was going to blow everybody’s minds.
Here we are three years later, and she was absolutely right.
She is so social media savvy, has a great personality, and brings a great balance in the morning. Then you’ve got Kenn, who is an incredibly solid anchor. His co-anchor is just somebody who loves the format so much. I mean this in the nicest way. It’s not overly polished. It’s real.
They’ve been on for a little over a year. They started in June 2023, so we’re about 14 months in. The listeners have responded in such a great way. It’s not easy taking over mornings at a heritage radio station. But the two have done everything that we could have possibly hoped for in their first year.
And we can still see it growing.
JL: Any final thoughts?
BM: I am very aware, and I certainly don’t take where I work for granted. We are very lucky to have ownership here that still invests in the station.
We don’t voice track ever. We have people here on holidays. Our ownership is committed to live and local radio, local talent, and providing a great experience for our listeners.
We still do local cash giveaways and try to bring artists to town so that listeners can connect the music they hear on the radio with the artists they’re then seeing in person. In the radio world, some of that stuff is becoming very rare; it’s not lost on me that I work in a very special situation.
I take that really seriously, and I always try to give as much back to our audience and the company here as possible because I know they’ve invested a lot, in both cases, in ownership and our audience. They’ve invested a lot in us and our team.
Listen to KUZZ here. Find them on Facebook and Instagram. Connect with Brent here.
Jeff Lynn serves as Editor of Barrett Media’s Music Radio coverage. Prior to joining Barrett Media, Jeff spent time programming in Milwaukee, Omaha, Cleveland, Des Moines, and Madison for multiple radio groups, including iHeartMedia, Townsquare Media, NRG Media, and Entercom (now Audacy). He also worked as a Country Format Editor for All Access until the outlet shut down in August 2023.
To get in touch with Jeff by email, reach him at Jeff@BarrettMedia.com.
