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WBEB PD Chuck Knight Exits

WOW!! I wonder is this a start of a major shakeup at Entercom Philly?
 
Again, a respected programmer sadly loses a job as Entercom seeks to fit a great independent radio station into their narrow minded and one-size-fits-all corporate radio mold. Chuck Knight has forged an enviable career with the small guys -- Saga, Emmis, Jerry Lee -- mostly flying under the radar, with little attention or credit in the trades, all the while creating great radio in a format that most consider "not cool." Time and again, Chuck Knight has performed that job exceptionally and always earned the highest of respect from his staff as a programmer, a leader and as a human being. Thanks Chuck, and all the best in the future.
 
Ma Gee said:
Again, a respected programmer sadly loses a job as Entercom seeks to fit a great independent radio station into their narrow minded and one-size-fits-all corporate radio mold.
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That's one way of looking at it. Another is that Jerry Lee was looking to retire, and Entercom helped him out by solving his debt problem. Sam Zell wasn't a better option, as we saw with his ownership of Tribune. Sam would likely have taken the station to bankruptcy.

Had Jerry not got into debt, and had he come up with a succession plan, he could have kept WBEB independent. That's a real problem for the small guys. At some point, all of these small owners have to think about that. Otherwise, the only real option is sell to a bigger company.
 
I'm sorry that by my adding that preface, you may have missed my point. It's not so much about once again parsing corporate vs. independent, as it is simply trying to show some respect to a person who sadly ended up as collateral damage. Chuck Knight is a good guy. That's really all I wanted to say.
 
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Ma Gee said:
Sorry that you missed my point. It's not so much about once again parsing corporate vs. independent, as it is simply trying to show some respect to person who sadly ended up as collateral damage.
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No I get your point, but it's not Entercom's fault. And when you look at all of the small owners, you have to wonder what will happen when they all retire. Entercom was the best option available. The situation for your friend was going to be the same regardless.
 
Sorry but I have to disagree. There should be a place at the Entercom table for someone like Chuck. More an acquaintance than a friend. I worked for him for all of maybe 18 months. He was a PD who I learned to have great respect for. But I disagree with the thinking that you have to place your own people into situations like this one. I think there's a place for experience, for someone who has a grasp on the history of a radio station. Maybe it's my own version of "rose colored glasses" as I've just written elsewhere on RD. But, short of a situation where a format change is in order, I'd think a new owner would want someone with experience at the station to remain. I'm sorry. Perhaps too much of a pessimist here, maybe why I'm on the outside looking in with radio, it's just business, etc. But I've seen, time and again, new owners do just what Entercom appears to be doing resulting in that one time great radio station ending up on radio's scrap heap. I hope I'm wrong in this case. I appreciate your responses, Big A.
 
I think Entercom did a smart move by bringing back the name "B101" even if they added that .1 to the end of it. Everyone called it "B101" even after 4 years of "More fm". Who knows the real deal with Chuck Knight. Maybe he has another opportunity and that is why he is exiting. I'd say that he has done an exceptional job with WBEB over the years. I know that they have been down a bit in some of the key demos as of recently but not long enough to observe a trend of any sort. I think the Breeze is going to offer the best challenge that WBEB has ever had. Some of these soft acs have done considerable damage to the heritage ac in many markets, heritage stations like WBEB that seemed to be invincible. I personally would want a guy in there who has years of experience dealing with this market. WBEB is in an interesting situation because of WOGL. Normally you would respond by adding a few more 80s tunes and slightly reducing the amount of your uptempo currents. However, they can't do too much 80s because that is WOGL's bread and butter.
 
Ma Gee said:
Sorry but I have to disagree. There should be a place at the Entercom table for someone like Chuck.
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There probably is, but it wouldn't be the same gig as the one he had. Is that something he'd be comfortable with? Based on your post, I think not. That's as much his decision as it is the company's. He had to decide if he wanted to be a cog in a much bigger machine, and for some talented people, the answer is no. Entercom signed Jerry Lee to be a consultant. He's the one who knows the history and can share that with the company. They only need one person for that role, and they chose Jerry.
 
DOB said:
However, they can't do too much 80s because that is WOGL's bread and butter.
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And it's interesting that the new PD at B101 also oversees WOGL. So she will make sure there will be no cannibalization. Cluster programming is different from individual station programming. It's all about balance and knowing each station's brand and strength.
 
Ma Gee said:
Again, a respected programmer sadly loses a job as Entercom seeks to fit a great independent radio station into their narrow minded and one-size-fits-all corporate radio mold. Chuck Knight has forged an enviable career with the small guys -- Saga, Emmis, Jerry Lee -- mostly flying under the radar, with little attention or credit in the trades, all the while creating great radio in a format that most consider "not cool." Time and again, Chuck Knight has performed that job exceptionally and always earned the highest of respect from his staff as a programmer, a leader and as a human being. Thanks Chuck, and all the best in the future.
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Very likely what we saw also has to do with compensation... Chuck was making a Jerry Lee type salary based on focusing all his attention on one amazingly successful and profitable station. But from Entercom's perspective, too big an expense.

We've already seen many examples of this within the ranks of the well-paid CBS program staff folks who have lost jobs, mainly because they make too much!
 
DavidEduardo said:
We've already seen many examples of this within the ranks of the well-paid CBS program staff folks who have lost jobs, mainly because they make too much!
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And not just from Entercom, but also from other companies that bought CBS stations, not limited to but including Wilks, Beasley, and Regent.
 
Of all the big dogs in the industry, Entercom comes across as perhaps the least [money grubbing/cookie cutter/just plain cheap, evil bastards] but I don't have much experience with paying attention to how they operate when they take over. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt but the reality is that what we're going to see is: WBEB, longstanding independent overachiever, versus WBEB, a cog in a conglomerate's machine.

I don't know Chuck's story. I know I had a one-time interaction with him about four thousand years ago and I thought he was one of the nicest people on the planet. I wonder if I were programming WBEB and doing such an amazing job as Chuck, and the new bosses came and said "This is an outsize salary for the industry; we like what you've done but we can take a chance and pay someone less to program this station," I might say "Well, fine. Pay me what you'd pay that person because I still want to be PD of one of the best AC stations in the country." But I'm supposing they didn't give him the option. Just supposing.
 
And here it is. Back in July, when Entercom was announced as a buyer of "MoreFM", there were those who couldn't believe that things would EVER change at this uber-successful station. I predicted otherwise:

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/sh...om-buys-WBEB&p=6215457&viewfull=1#post6215457

As we've already seen, even the name of the station has changed, and now its PD is gone, being replaced by a new-owner-insider, tasked with programming multiple stations. This was simply inevitable from the moment that Jerry Lee sold to a corporate interest.
 
PDs, among other staffers, changed under Jerrry Lee’s ownership. The name changed under his ownership. Air personalities were let go. The music evolved. It battled competition.

The station was never frozen in carbonite. (Hi Star Wars fans.) It wasn’t realistic to expect that no matter who owns the station. But aside from wondering if the name change back was a tad hastily executed as the breeze began to blow, has there been anything all that unusual in the on air product? (Switching from Fox 29 to CBS 3 weather in the morning notwithstanding). Time will tell post Christmas, but even if they do something perceived as reaction to 106, let’s remember the fascination they had with the 70s when Sunny was shining.
 
HGN2001 said:
And here it is. Back in July, when Entercom was announced as a buyer of "MoreFM", there were those who couldn't believe that things would EVER change at this uber-successful station. I predicted otherwise:
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Things had to change... Jerry Lee paid pre-recession prices when he bought out his partner, and the debt on that was not sustainable in today's environment.

And this is as good a moment as any to do a little rant about the criticism or other stations and companies that got crushed by debt following the 2008 readjustment in the economy and radio. All of the broadcasters who took on debt before those events based their projections on decades of radio growth. Nobody, in any industry, predicted the failure of hundreds of banks, of Chrysler and GM and so many more. But constantly in radio discussion groups those companies that were similarly affected are vilified for believing that radio groups had to grow or perish.
 
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HGN2001 said:
And here it is. Back in July, when Entercom was announced as a buyer of "MoreFM", there were those who couldn't believe that things would EVER change at this uber-successful station. I predicted otherwise:

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/sh...om-buys-WBEB&p=6215457&viewfull=1#post6215457

As we've already seen, even the name of the station has changed, and now its PD is gone, being replaced by a new-owner-insider, tasked with programming multiple stations. This was simply inevitable from the moment that Jerry Lee sold to a corporate interest.
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People can argue and defend "Big Radio" until they're blue in the face. The fact of the matter is folks predicted this kinda stuff was gonna happen and it is happening. Whatever excuses one can come up with won't discount that it sure looks like WBEB is beginning to be treated like any other cog in a machine.
 
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