HISTORY's Moments in Media: Z Morning Zoo and Scott Shannon: History's Then and Now

And it was all invented about four decades ago in Tampa Florida On WRBQFM then known as Q105 two DJs named Scott Shannon and Cleveland Wheeler started combining comedy and news adding characters and created the Q Morning Zoo It was a huge hit and Shannon was soon hired away by a foundering station in the New York market as its program director charged with reinventing the station In the early morning hours of August 2 1983 37 years ago this month that station relaunched as WHTZ a new way to spell quothitsquot they said and better known as Z100 Its signature morning show was the Z Morning Zoo Shannon was the host amp8212 soon to be joined by Ross Brittain from the thenpowerhouse AM station WABC amp8212 and the quotmorning zooquot format had hit the big timeWithin 74 days the new Z100 programmed by Shannon and led by his daily Z Morning Zoo show had become the toprated station in New York Just as important Shannon and his zoo crew were even beating Don Imus who was until then the regular number one morning DJ in New YorkIt was the height of Top 40 radio the era of mass fandom for pop hits and morning zoo radio brought the same shiny pop sensibility to morning talk Shannon39s secret according to a definitive 1984 profile in New York magazine written by Tony Schwartz who amp8212 small world amp8212 would go on to ghostwrite Donald Trump39s The Art of the Deal and later become a prominent Trump critic was simple and twofold give the audience what they want and make the promotion part of the show In that sense he was presaging a lot of what would come later reality television selfaware media even social media influencersThe success of Shannon39s Z Morning Zoo led to rapid expansion of the format as it was replicated across the country WMMS in Cleveland an influential station that shared ownership with Z100 was an early adopter grafting the new format onto an existing morning show pair and calling it Buzzard Morning Zoo In 1986 Arista Records released an album of Buzzard Morning Zoo parodies and comic bits Through the mid1980s other morning zoos launched in Houston and Boston San Francisco and San Diego Richmond and Norfolk Virginia and Dayton and Cincinnati Ohio The Q Morning Zoo in Tampa kept going strong There were even morning zoo shows in Canada Great Britain and AustraliaIn 1989 Shannon headed west and launched what he called a quotpirate radioquot format on an LA station Z Morning Zoo kept chugging along just with different animals Soon enough Shannon was back in New York as a program director and morning host on WPLJ Z10039s longtime Top 40 rival Since 2014 he39s been successfully hosting a chatty but not very zooy morning show on New York39s WCBSFMOver on Z100 the show Shannon invented lives on hosted since 1996 by Elvis Duran and filled with schtick bits and song parodies But it39s not the Z Morning Zoo anymore When Duran39s show went national Z100 changed the name to avoid conflicts with other quotZooquotbranded shows in markets across the country Today it39s simply Elvis Duran and the Morning ShowClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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HISTORY's Moments in Media: Z Morning Zoo and Scott Shannon: History's Then and Now

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HISTORY's Moments in Media: Z Morning Zoo and Scott Shannon: History's Then and Now

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