Looks like JP has all but departed WECK. Only the Breakfast with the Beatles show remains on the schedule on the website. He hasn't been doing his 6 hour shows this week. Other jocks shifts have been moved and at the moment, the 9 to noon slot is not staffed. My money is on Maria Genero filling that shift.
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Buffalo JP done at WECK?
- Thread starter Gasman471
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Perhaps you should talk to someone who knows what's going on with the situation instead of speculating wildly here.
It doesn't seem like speculation. The station website has removed him from the weekday schedule. Wasn't this JP fellow only hired a year ago as PD and midday host? Perhaps he didn't deliver the ratings the owner expected. The staffing carousel at WECK never stops spinning...
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Radiowaves
Guest
From what I heard is he is on a personal leave of absence for reasons regarding family. He will be back
T-Bolt, for a guy who thinks WECK is self-promoting all the time, you sure do your part to make that happen
Ever think the staffing carousel might be a good thing for radio? Ever think radio needs constant changes like that to remain fresh and different? Ever realize that WECK has a weekly cume only 10k less than WBEN and beats many FM’S with much better signals.
You should be licking the owners boots. He’s got a successful station. You don’t. Game over
Give us a list of all your success stories
T-Bolt, for a guy who thinks WECK is self-promoting all the time, you sure do your part to make that happen
Ever think the staffing carousel might be a good thing for radio? Ever think radio needs constant changes like that to remain fresh and different? Ever realize that WECK has a weekly cume only 10k less than WBEN and beats many FM’S with much better signals.
You should be licking the owners boots. He’s got a successful station. You don’t. Game over
Give us a list of all your success stories
Why change the website then if it's temporary? Constant staff turnover is something most successful businesses try to avoid...
If he's on an extended leave then making a change to the on-air schedule makes sense. The schedule SHOULD be current. He's still listed under "Personalities." People have lives outside of radio just as people have lives outside of any other job. The simple reality is that he's mostly off the air at this time but still working for the station. The only change in the website deals with his current hours on the air.
Some stations haven't updated their websites in years. WECK has older demographics that are more likely to LISTEN to the station without ever visiting the website anyway. Give WECK credit for attention to detail...
Come on people, just go back through the messages on this board to see the air staff has been anything but stable.
WECK is doing okay, the ratings are good for what it is no doubt. Just because it's doing well doesn't mean it's a pleasant place to work. I don't know about you but I like knowing if I do what's required, then I have a job. Staff turnover doesn't benefit anyone.
WECK is doing okay, the ratings are good for what it is no doubt. Just because it's doing well doesn't mean it's a pleasant place to work. I don't know about you but I like knowing if I do what's required, then I have a job. Staff turnover doesn't benefit anyone.
And most people only visit a station website if it offers something useful. Bios of the jocks and DJ lineups are not useful or interesting.
Really? So cutting expenses doesn't benefit the company or organization? Then why else would they do it?
In the long run it probably doesn't. Why do companies do it? Because they overpaid for stations in the first place and have massive debt that wasn't sufficiently reduced by creating "synergies," because the moves they've already made hurt overall revenue, or because the market for radio advertising has been adversely impacted by other types of advertising like online ads. Multiple major broadcasting corporations have tried to "cut their way to prosperity." That's how virtually all of the largest players in the game have ended up in bankruptcy, some multiple times.
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Radiowaves
Guest
Fortunately, WECK does not seem to focus on their website. It seems the only ones who care about the website are on this board
I see TV spots all the time with WECK promoting its voice-activated devices and its mobile apps. They also do major ticket giveaway contests focusing on only those platforms
It’s funny how it is assumed “ it’s not a pleasant place to work”. Really? From what I hear when I purchase media from various broadcast companies is that “everyone hates it here”, and they are not referring to WECK. That is such a silly assumption Mike. Can you give any examples? And even if you could, don’t you think that others feel the same way about where they work?
The world is changing. Employers needs change and employees lives change. Everything is changing. At least it appears WECK has the most live local jocks in the market, by far.
The owner expects results. I have talked to him while doing buys in the Buffalo market. He expects accountability and hard work from his staff. There is also a sign when you walk in the lobby that says “If you don’t love radio, you’re not welcome here”. Shula has actually walked away from buys I was trying to give him to “not screw his loyal clients” as he told me. That takes some nads. NONE of the other companies refuse buys but them. A few of his personalities do endorsements for us. They all seem very happy to me. They like it there. As long as you are doing your job the best you can, it seems you’re fine. Any owner would think that way.
It seems obvious that not many on this message board know the business of business, or how complicated it can be to lead many people with different needs and personalities.
If you want to focus on their website, have at it, but it appears that is the last thing on Shula’s mind.
This guy did not buy a dog, only to make it very successful because he is stupid. I read the Adam Pergament article regarding Genero and he was definitely hinting at other things for her. Perhaps that blends into plans at WBBZ. Who knows, but it seems he is an out of box thinker and a great marketer.
Back around 1996 and 1997 I had a website for KTNQ. It was the only one in the whole company, and I did it myself using the awful web tools available then.
Sure, it had stuff about the talk show hosts, all 16 or so of them we had locally. But that was fluff.
The biggest thing was an early message board, using the same format is the New York Radio message board Dr Sniffen runs. We had a separate board for every show.
But the biggest one was for our "Hablando de Deportes" (literally, "Talking About Sports") which could have hundreds of messages a day. Many were as profane as bar talk, and I spent a lot of time moderating. I moderated under my own name as Program Director, and listeners seemed to like the fact that the PD themself would respond to questions and criticisms and the like.
My point is that the site worked only because it was interactive. Today's station sites are generally not of any interest, but stations that do the equivalent of what I did at KTNQ 28 years ago by using social media get lots of action if there is serious talent and program department involvement.
I had to teach a lot of my staff how to use a web message board. Some did not even know how to use a computer, but nearly all learned and loved to use the boards and to post stuff about their shows. Two of the talents now have their own web businesses... the former aliens and occult overnight guy now makes living off internet stuff he learned back then.
Criticism of the WECK website is absurd. Social media has a place if all the talent and most of the staff takes part often. And "often" means several times a day, not once a week or worse.
The reason most groups 'overpaid' (as you put it) for stations was due to the assumption that radio and traditional media as a whole, would continue growing as a business into the future under the new market consolidation model. Was that a gamble that ultimately didn't happen? Sure, but it wasn't because of the model but the way Wall Street assumed that new (digital) media would eventually replace traditional media. This sentiment took hold in 2008 during the recession when traditional media values were slashed 60% or more. Just like what happened in prior recessions where home values suddenly dropped below what's owed on the mortgage, broadcasters who paid 4-14 X Cashflow, see their valuations cut in half. And yes, social media has cut into, and even changed how advertisers buy ads, but there is no way anyone could have predicted the future back in the day that any of this would have occurred.
I've been in senior corporate management at a couple of major broadcast groups, and never, ever, did any of us see cuts during economic downturns as a way to create prosperity. Quite the opposite. When a company has to cut staff or resources to meet financial expectations from shareholders to lenders, it feels like defeat.
And this is a great point. Websites aren't nearly as important, if at all, as back in the early 2000's. Mobile apps, where listeners/viewers can register for contests, find out what's going on in their community, or check local weather, are much more of interest to consumers on the go than sitting down and going to some individual station website.
I expect that some personalities do not enjoy having to shill for any advertiser an owner tells them to. Listeners aren't tuning in hear to what Dentist or Car Dealer some jock is promoting. It's no wonder that so many people have negative opinions about jocks on music formats. When all they do is blather on about themselves or pitch some product, that's hardly compelling content...
A number of studies show that consumers react more positively to conversational, personal endorsements by air talent than typical packaged commercials. Paul Harvey was the master of the endorsement. I've never had to "shill for any advertiser an owner tells them to." It's always been my choice whether I wanted to give a product a personal endorsement and there has always been an additional talent fee involved. Sometimes it's cash, sometimes it's trade. I'm sure that Tom Bauerle and others have gotten new paint, plumbing, garage doors, or even leased cars thanks to personal endorsements. These days you do have to pay tax on the value of whatever you receive for the endorsement, so goods and services really aren't free. Those rules are considerably tighter today than they were in decades past.
Agreed, but with the caveat that 12-13-14X cashflow was an insane valuation to pay, by any standard. Once prices got to that level, it became gambling, speculation, or hope for the "greater fool" not a sound business decision.
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Radiowaves
Guest
Here’s what is a sound business decision. Radio or TV are no longer long term investments that will increase in value. They cash flow businesses, that’s it. Current owners knowing they will never get what they want for the stations, should keep them, align expenses and revenue and pull money out for themselves as long as they can. Plus they do not have to pay taxes on a sale.
The whole 5, 5x broadcast bs is meaningless. Stations are less WAY LESS from what these multiples would say.
Find ways to cash flow and owners will be fine for a long time to come.
Control your top and bottom line and you will make a killing
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