Young Adult Listeners Make ‘Junkies’ a Habit
WASHINGTON POST - Jennifer Frey - Wednesday, October 15
WHFS Quartet Ties WJFK’s Stern, Gains on WWDC’s Elliot in Ratings
Look out, donkeys, the Junkies are on your tail.
Less than one year into their morning drive-time stint on WHFS-FM, the “Junkies in the Morning” (formerly known as “the Sports Junkies”) are gaining popularity in the young adult audience that generally has been the domain of WJFK-FM’s “Howard Stern Show” and WWDC-FM’s “Elliot in the Morning.”
In summer radio ratings compiled by radio-rater Arbitron Inc., the Junkies found themselves tied for fourth place with Stern, with a 5.6 rating among 18-to-34-year-old listeners for their time slot and closing in on Elliot’s show on DC-101, which drew 8 percent of those listeners. Last summer, Stern commanded that audience with 11.6 percent; Elliot followed with 9.7. And WHFS-FM -- which took the Junkies from their evening slot over at WJFK and put them on the air last October -- was pulling in a lowly 2.1.
Urban-music stations WKYS-FM and WPGC-FM continue to lead the time slot in the young adult category, clocking in at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. And although John-Paul “J.P.” Flaim says he and the three longtime friends who make up the Junkies “would love to be Number 1,” there’s no question who their primary rivals are.
“We’re happy that we’ve closed the gap on our main competition, Howard and Elliot,” Flaim says. “We want to catch those donkeys. They’re within our reach now.”
For those who are not listeners, “donkey” is one of the Junkies’ favorite terms, one that can, occasionally be used with affection. Mostly, though, it means, as Flaim puts it, “an idiot.”
In this case it means the two guys who most closely target the same listeners as the Junkies: predominantly young white males. Guys like themselves.
All born in 1970, Flaim and childhood buddies Eric Bickel, Jason Bishop and John Auville grew up together in Bowie, and their show essentially sounds like four good buddies sitting around talking “guy talk” -- which means everything from the Redskins’ offensive-line woes to how annoyed Bishop was last night when his wife went out to dinner and stuck him with a screaming 2-month old during the Red Sox-Yankees playoff game. The change from their WJFK name of “The Sports Junkies” reflects the fact that the Junkies don’t focus on sports exclusively, though it is certainly one of their more favored subjects.
“The thing that separates our show from most shows is the natural chemistry the four of us have,” Flaim says. “We’re like longtime buddies hanging out at a bar, but with a microphone between us.”
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