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KSFO PD To WMAL

T

TheBigA

Did you know that KSFO had a PD? Probably not. He was actually based in LA. Now he's moving to DC to manage WMAL.

The question is: Will he be replaced at KSFO & KABC???

radioinsight.com

KABC/KSFO Program Director Luis Segura Heads To WMAL Washington

Luis Segura is moving from Los Angeles to Washington DC to serve as Operations Manager for Conservative Talk 105.9 WMAL-FM
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

ramp247.com

Mr. Segura Goes To Washington

• Cumulus keeps it in the family and appoints Luis Segura as Operations Manager for News-Talk 105.9 WMAL-FM/Washington, DC, effective May 4. Segura, a 13-year Cumulus veteran, earns the transfer from his current position as Program Director of News-Talk duo 810 KSFO/San Francisco and 790...
ramp247.com
 
The KABC PD job was posted on Radio Insight a few days ago before this move was announced. My first reaction was “they have a PD?”

Isn’t KABC at this point basically a rack in a WW1 facility? I recall there was a post in another thread a few years ago suggesting that. My assumption was that maybe the ops manager in Ventura was babysitting the details.

Second reaction was about the posted salary range, 80-100k. Bet the PD there 40 years ago in the boom times made several times than that in absolute dollars. Consider what the entire KABC programming budget was then, with live & local talent across the entire week plus support staff.

The economics of the situation are dramatically different now & that’s what Cumulus management thinks the revenue can support. Not sure many PDs with any experience can afford to live in the LA metro with this paycheck.
 
garfradio said:
The KABC PD job was posted on Radio Insight a few days ago before this move was announced. My first reaction was “they have a PD?”

Isn’t KABC at this point basically a rack in a WW1 facility? I recall there was a post in another thread a few years ago suggesting that. My assumption was that maybe the ops manager in Ventura was babysitting the details.

Second reaction was about the posted salary range, 80-100k. Bet the PD there 40 years ago in the boom times made several times than that in absolute dollars. Consider what the entire KABC programming budget was then, with live & local talent across the entire week plus support staff.

The economics of the situation are dramatically different now & that’s what Cumulus management thinks the revenue can support. Not sure many PDs with any experience can afford to live in the LA metro with this paycheck.
Click to expand...

PD at KABC, at any time in the 80s, would have been a minimum base salary of $250,000 plus performance bonuses. Going back exactly 40 years to 1986---that's $752,267.50 adjusted for inflation, for the base.

You can't do L.A. at $80-100k unless you're a dual-income household with a partner who significantly outearns you. KNX pitched me on morning drive editor for a shade above that 11 years ago and I turned it down because my wife and I would have had to live in Palmdale to make it pencil out.

And if you are coming into L.A. from anywhere else with a family---and need a house of any significant size? Good luck. Even with a healthy chunk of change from the sale of your old house.

When KRTH hired Charlie Van Dyke to replace Robert W. Morgan in 1998, Charlie and his then-wife (a plastic surgeon) had five kids at home and a housekeeper.

KRTH paid Charlie well. He and I are still good friends, but in those days, shortly after we did a morning show together, we talked pretty much daily. As he put it the day he got the offer:

"It's not a s***load of money. It's not an obscene amount of money. It's an obscene s***load of money."

I don't know the exact amount, but top-tier morning talent in L.A. at the time was (thanks to Rick Dees) at least a million a year, and this was KRTH and this was Charlie Van Dyke.

So Charlie goes househunting with a seven-figure salary looking for a house large enough for eight people---and can't find anything that wouldn't be financially ruinous.

That was 28 years ago.

Ultimately, the solution was that KRTH built him a studio at his home in Phoenix, and agreed that Charlie would alternate between a week at home and a week in L.A. The family and the housekeeper stayed in Phoenix, and Charlie got a condo in Westwood for those weeks---which I'm sure was a number that would choke a horse in and of itself.
 
From the Insight article:

The immense benefit of keeping Luis ‘in house’ is that he will continue to offer expert counsel to our revitalized operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, as needed.”
Click to expand...

In other words, he'll be running three stations until someone is hired for the west coast.

The job at WMAL is very different from the situation in LA. They are an originating station for a couple of syndicated shows. They are usually a Top 10 station in ratings. His background as a show producer will be better utilized there than it was in LA.

As far as expenses, it isn't much cheaper than LA, especially if he wants to live close to work.
 
I listened to KSFO last night OTA from Los Angeles last night and compared it to KABC. Interesting note: KABC was running a repeat of a local show (I didn't realize they had any) and local news inserts and station imaging. KSFO was running some national show, during the breaks I heard multiple PSAs and then switching back to the talk show using bumpers with no station imaging. Sad. Of course, neither of these stations are my cup of tea due to the nature of the programming. The KSFO show was typical and the local KABC show was just silly to me.
 
I'm not aware of any locally originated programming that KSFO is doing. It's effectively a couple of satellite receivers hooked to a switcher hooked to the KGO (yeah, I know...) transmitter down by the Dumbarton Bridge. Obviously there's a bit more, they have to locally originate spots, promos, etc., but the closest thing to local origination is the AM drive Armstrong & Getty show, which originates in Sacramento. On a listeners-per-watt basis, it's a terrible waste. Can't imagine KABC is any better. So why does either station need a "program director"?
 
What exactly are the day to day duties of a program director for KSFO/KABC?

There was a comedy movie (I cant remember the name of), where there was an employee working down in the basement of a company. He was completely forgotten about by management. No one knew his name or what his job was, but was still collecting a paycheck.
 
TheBigA said:
The job description is posted at RadioInsight.

radioinsight.com

Program Director

Position Overview CUMULUS MEDIA | Los Angeles is searching for an experienced Brand & Content Leader (Program Director) who will be responsible for operating strong media
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
Click to expand...
Boy that salary is low for programming 2 stations, one in market 6 and the other market 2. Of course both of them are just slightly above being worthless.

It's like..."Hey, we'll pay you to keep the lights going on the Titanic before it splits in half and sinks".
 
So a Cumulus program director is the same as a Brand manager, a job title that encompasses most tasks including digital content. If the job description is correct, than whoever gets the job, has an opportunity to host a show, and do remotes!

Does this point towards more local content and outside promotions for KABC and possibly KSFO?
 
Weiserguy said:
I'm not aware of any locally originated programming that KSFO is doing. It's effectively a couple of satellite receivers hooked to a switcher hooked to the KGO (yeah, I know...) transmitter down by the Dumbarton Bridge. Obviously there's a bit more, they have to locally originate spots, promos, etc., but the closest thing to local origination is the AM drive Armstrong & Getty show, which originates in Sacramento. On a listeners-per-watt basis, it's a terrible waste. Can't imagine KABC is any better. So why does either station need a "program director"?
Click to expand...
The only local info given on KSFO these days is local traffic updates during certain hours but no local news or weather after Fox News TOH. Last originally produced local programming on KSFO was likely Brian Sussman until 2020 when he retired. Cumulus decided that was the end of locally-based right-wing talk programming at KSFO and moved A&G over from KGO as a replacement for the time slot.
 
KilowattKat said:
What exactly are the day to day duties of a program director for KSFO/KABC?

There was a comedy movie (I cant remember the name of), where there was an employee working down in the basement of a company. He was completely forgotten about by management. No one knew his name or what his job was, but was still collecting a paycheck.
Click to expand...
You're thinking of the legendary "Office Space". A brilliant spoof of the workplace in general, which my Director actually took his team to when it opened in the theater. Cool boss, eh?
 
michael hagerty said:
I don't know the exact amount, but top-tier morning talent in L.A. at the time was (thanks to Rick Dees) at least a million a year, and this was KRTH and this was Charlie Van Dyke.
Click to expand...
Heck, even the morning talent on Spanish language AM KTNQ was making over $1 million in 1995. The PD was making about half that.
michael hagerty said:
So Charlie goes househunting with a seven-figure salary looking for a house large enough for eight people---and can't find anything that wouldn't be financially ruinous.
Click to expand...
And that PD lived in a tiny townhouse that cost well over $1 million... not in Beverly Hills or "the West Side" but in plain old Glendale.
michael hagerty said:
That was 28 years ago.

Ultimately, the solution was that KRTH built him a studio at his home in Phoenix, and agreed that Charlie would alternate between a week at home and a week in L.A. The family and the housekeeper stayed in Phoenix, and Charlie got a condo in Westwood for those weeks---which I'm sure was a number that would choke a horse in and of itself.
Click to expand...
Add in the cost of commuting back and forth, and it's a huge amount. But LA radio billed over $1 billion in that era. Today, the figure is around half that before we inflation-adjust the dollars; then we get a 1995 morning show pay scale that would be the equivalent of about $3 million today.

What many don't take into account is that all those homes and condos are "jumbo loan" category finance deals where the interest rates and even the down payments are different than the way seniors buy houses in "The Villages" or "Sun City".
 
TheBigA said:
Did you know that KSFO had a PD?
Click to expand...

No.
That would be a good place to put someone in a witness protection program.

El Zilcho said:
What’s there left to program at KSFO? There’s no local programming there anymore.
Click to expand...

Weiserguy said:
Can't imagine KABC is any better. So why does either station need a "program director"?
Click to expand...

Someone has to pick the shows and deal with any unexpected consequences or occurrences, for example, a syndicated talk-show host who decides to run for a federal office. Yes, the syndicator may take care of that but that may also be an opportunity for changes in a line-up.
 
garfradio said:
The KABC PD job was posted on Radio Insight a few days ago before this move was announced. My first reaction was “they have a PD?”

Isn’t KABC at this point basically a rack in a WW1 facility? I recall there was a post in another thread a few years ago suggesting that. My assumption was that maybe the ops manager in Ventura was babysitting the details.

Second reaction was about the posted salary range, 80-100k. Bet the PD there 40 years ago in the boom times made several times than that in absolute dollars. Consider what the entire KABC programming budget was then, with live & local talent across the entire week plus support staff.

The economics of the situation are dramatically different now & that’s what Cumulus management thinks the revenue can support. Not sure many PDs with any experience can afford to live in the LA metro with this paycheck.
Click to expand...
True too in recent years whenever we hear about PD's, GM's and Market Managers like in the Audacy thread those positions have to serve more than one city around the country. The most notable example is when Audacy has a market Manager now known as regional VP that serves Sacramento and San Francisco. But where we are now im not surprised to hear this given the current state of running a major media outlet.


radioinsight.com

Audacy Restructures Market Leadership With Move To Regional Vice Presidents

Along with this week’s cuts at Audacy, Audacy has announced a restructuring of its market leadership as it does away with Market Managers. The new operational hierarchy will include Regional Presidents, Regional Vice Presidents, and cluster SVP/Sales. The new Regional Vice Presidents are: Dan...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com

Leadership Appointments

As an important part of this, it is a privilege to recognize and tap into the incredible talent across Audacy. Please join me in congratulating our new Regional Vice Presidents:

• Kieran Geffert (San Diego, Riverside, San Francisco, Seattle, Sacramento)

• Brian Rooney (New York, Boston, Hartford, Springfield)
• Dave Scopinich (Philadelphia, Washington, DC,
Baltimore, Wilkes-Barre)
• Michael Spacciapolli (Norfolk, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Rochester)
Click to expand...
thedesk.net

Scott Warren to oversee local CBS stations in San Francisco, Sacramento

Warren will continue leading innovation efforts, including AR and VR studios, across Northern California CBS stations.
thedesk.net thedesk.net

Even TV has to deal with this situation when the regional manager had to manage more than one DMA like in this one at Paramounts Sacramento and San Francisco division share the same regional manager.
 
Y2kTheNewOldies said:
Even TV has to deal with this situation when the regional manager (Scott Warren) had to manage more than one DMA like in this one at Paramounts Sacramento and San Francisco division share the same regional manager.
Click to expand...
So I'm guessing Mr. Warren is the programming genius who thought turning CBS Bay Area's streaming channel into CBS NorCal, and devoting three hours of SFBA airtime to the Sacramento station's morning show in the 8am-11am slot was incredibly astute strategy? Or was this Ms. Bari's brainchild?
 


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