THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200058
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
W KOC-FM program director Lauren MacLeash, who helped lead the station from a small middle-of-the-road outlet to a Top 10-rated, nationally influential alternative-rock pioneer, has left.
MacLeash will take over the same position with Minneapolis-St. Paul's KTCZ-FM next week.
Her departure won't change the popular ``Coast'' format, station personnel stressed.
``I don't think we'll change at all,'' said WKOC general manager Mark Kanak. ``We've been very successful and don't want to tamper with that.'' The Coast tied for 10th overall in a recent Arbitron Trends report and ranked seventh among listeners between the ages of 25 and 54.
MacLeash, who previously was programming director at classic-rocker WAFX-FM, has become something of a standard-bearer for the ``Triple A'' format. That format, ``adult alternative album,'' includes an eclectic list of artists (Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, 10,000 Maniacs, the Cure) as staples. She has been quoted in major magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Musician.
``Coast is a little more adventurous'' than some other similar stations, says Kanak.
MacLeash was singled out by KTCZ, another ``Triple A'' station, after a nationwide search. General manager Doug Brown says that MacLeash was deemed ``the most capable person in the country'' to help the station reach its goal of becoming a Top 3 performer in the Twin Cities. That market is significantly larger than Hampton Roads, with projected revenues around $100 million this year. By contrast, Hampton Roads stations pulled in about $36 million last year.
MacLeash's gifts for ``on-air imagery'' and ``on-air promotional presence'' helped her land the gig, says Brown. ``She's very good.''
It's not clear whether MacLeash will continue being an announcer, as she was at The Coast.
The Coast, meanwhile, should have a new programming director in place in about two weeks, says Kanak. Several candidates are being eyed, he said Monday, but he wasn't ready to name them.
He notes that music director Dal Hunter and other management members will ``keep it between the lines'' until a decision is made.
``On one hand,'' he says of Mac-Leash, ``she's gonna be very missed, because she's very talented. But will the wheels fall off with Lauren gone? No.'' by CNB