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KNUC Drops Fitz

T

TheBigA

Big shocker that Fitz has been dropped from Hubbard's KNUC. The news announced by Country Aircheck:

KNUC's Fitz In The Morning Ends:
fitzinthemorning2020.jpg
Hubbard KNUC/Seattle’s Fitz In The Morning is set to end in coming weeks with host Fitz shifting to focus all efforts on the nationally syndicated Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40 With Fitz. Morning co-hosts Claire Beverly, Drew Brownfield, Bryant “Ryder” Konold and Shade Giles have exited. “We look forward to writing a new chapter for [KNUC] next year and are working on plans now,” says OM Scott Mahalick. “We are glad to continue being the flagship radio station for CT40 With Fitz and look forward to him playing the hits for years to come.” Adds Fitz, “While I will dearly miss the daily interaction with my Seattle listeners, I’m truly excited to focus my attention on continuing the tradition of CT40 and bringing it into the next decade with fun, captivating new features, emotion and remembering the stars of yesterday while introducing the country stars of tomorrow.”
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Fitz "dumped"? Sounds like it's the other way around according to the pressers...

Either way it's not the first time Fitz has left a station in the lurch for something "greener".
 
TheBigA said:
Maybe you're right. But for the team that surrounded him, they have been dumped. Unceremoniously.
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Hubbard has been cutting positions like crazy, so it's not unthinkable that he and his team were laid off, and Hubbard spun this as him departing for other projects.
 
AceBiscuits said:
Hubbard has been cutting positions like crazy, so it's not unthinkable that he and his team were laid off, and Hubbard spun this as him departing for other projects.
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They're retaining the connection to his syndicated show. But the money for that doesn't come from Hubbard. So they aren't paying him or his team any more. Just continuing to carry his syndicated show.
 
boombox4 said:
So KNUC will only play him weekly? And consequently everyone on their morning show has been vacated?
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The syndicated show airs on weekends. He is the sole host. So the rest of the morning show has "exited" and the station will debut a new morning show in the new year.

What this seems to do is take the expense of him and his morning show off the station's budget.
 
And he'll have to promote all of this like crazy on facebook, you know.. often bragging to other radio people most of the time
 
TheBigA said:
They're retaining the connection to his syndicated show. But the money for that doesn't come from Hubbard. So they aren't paying him or his team any more. Just continuing to carry his syndicated show.
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Correct, my point is that the optics Hubbard is going after are that Fitz is leaving to pursue his other ventures while in reality he and his co-hosts were laid off.
 
Can't speak with any personal knowledge of this situation, but many station groups are requiring cuts to sidekicks and cohosts of morning shows. The occasional host is pushing back with the; 'if they go, I go too' mindset, with the result usually turning into the question; 'So does that mean you're tendering your resignation?' If the talent is under contract, the next phone calls are between lawyers.
 
Kelly A said:
The occasional host is pushing back with the; 'if they go, I go too' mindset,
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The doesn't appear to be the case here. The announcement came from Hubbard, and has quotes from Fitz. Everyone seems very chummy, except for the sidekicks who are out on the street.
 
TheBigA said:
The doesn't appear to be the case here. The announcement came from Hubbard, and has quotes from Fitz. Everyone seems very chummy, except for the sidekicks who are out on the street.
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In other words: Exercise an early-out severance.
 
I'm no expert, but I find it hard to believe that someone with the pedigree of Fitz would continue to put on a show knowing that a layoff is imminent. It sounds more likely to be a voluntary departure that Hubbard happens to be satisfied with, as they will be saving a big chunk of change.
 
How is the local Hubbard cluster sounding from a programming standpoint and how well is it executing from a sales standpoint since Ginny appointed her trust-fund baby son as market manager?
 
DN14224 said:
That's just silly. And it would undermine that "pedigree".
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It doesn't seem that silly to me. We've witnessed a ton of layoffs this year, and I can't think of any example where a host received a layoff, and then had the opportunity to continue their show for a number of weeks. We've seen legendary hosts like Marty Reimer depart from mornings at "The Jet" with no opportunity to say goodbye. I'm sure that many of these hosts had some indication that a layoff might be coming, but there has not been a situation where it became a RadioInsight story with a positive spin. It only makes sense for this move to be entirely voluntary.
 
TheBigA said:
So you're saying he volunteered to have the company lay off his whole team? Go ahead, make my day?
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There were serious contract disputes that happened while he was at Entercom. As some might recall, the morning team associated with Fitz changed drastically as time went by. At one point, the show had five or more chairs, but at the near end of the run, two were left.
 
fordranger797 said:
There were serious contract disputes that happened while he was at Entercom. As some might recall, the morning team associated with Fitz changed drastically as time went by. At one point, the show had five or more chairs, but at the near end of the run, two were left.
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What freakin morning show needs 5 people? my god.

Well, ok... 4 people to feed Fitz's ego
 
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