The iHeart cluster in Rochester has laid off three personalities, Julie Dunn, Mark Maira and Jeremy Newman (Newman had already planned to leave for Texas at the end of his contract this fall). There are now no regular locally originated shows on any of the cluster's five FMs. Dunn was program director for two of them, and also voice tracked for Y94 in Syracuse.
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Rochester Rochester layoffs
- Thread starter RetiredGuy
- Start date
WHAM AM is the only iHeart station in the top 5. None of their other stations cracks a 2.5 share. They're simply not competitive anymore in the most popular formats in the market.
They're probably counting on the other clusters to eventually make deep cuts and to also start sucking, which will make iHeart competitive again in the race for that lower bar.
They don’t care about ratings. It’s all about expense cutting to improve shareholder profits
They've tried cutting their way to prosperity before. Cutting people who create the reason to listen means lower ratings. Lower ratings mean less revenue. The revenue decreases more than the operating costs do, which mean less profit. Yeah, they'll get a temporary boost to their stock price from people who don't know the business or who haven't noticed their past performance. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of iHeartMedia's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $149.85 today.
It will take a while for shareholders to catch on. They've made several moves during the latest cost-cutting wave. They're switching to Audiograph with promises that you can target an audience more precisely, most likely based on online listening. They're pushing people toward their app and away from towers and transmitters. Maybe they're ahead of the curve on that. Maybe they're not as people are becoming more resistant to giving up their data. If you're going to listen on an app, why listen to iHeart? There are plenty of other sources with a lot fewer commercials.
They're cutting salespeople out of the loop by offering advertising through Amazon's ad buying platform. It's allased on numbers like all other digital advertising. It's very hard to measure how effective those numbers really are, and there's very little human interaction to establish relationships and guide ad buys.
Short term, Pittman and a handful at the top get to keep their cushy jobs. Long term, their properties get even more robotic, and they get an excuse to lean even more heavily on AI, perfecting their goal of saying nothing meaningful to local audiences. With luck, they can reduce their content to a dozen streaming formats and employ bots to create locally-targeted advertising to those who find AI slop appealing.
It will take a while for shareholders to catch on. They've made several moves during the latest cost-cutting wave. They're switching to Audiograph with promises that you can target an audience more precisely, most likely based on online listening. They're pushing people toward their app and away from towers and transmitters. Maybe they're ahead of the curve on that. Maybe they're not as people are becoming more resistant to giving up their data. If you're going to listen on an app, why listen to iHeart? There are plenty of other sources with a lot fewer commercials.
They're cutting salespeople out of the loop by offering advertising through Amazon's ad buying platform. It's allased on numbers like all other digital advertising. It's very hard to measure how effective those numbers really are, and there's very little human interaction to establish relationships and guide ad buys.
Short term, Pittman and a handful at the top get to keep their cushy jobs. Long term, their properties get even more robotic, and they get an excuse to lean even more heavily on AI, perfecting their goal of saying nothing meaningful to local audiences. With luck, they can reduce their content to a dozen streaming formats and employ bots to create locally-targeted advertising to those who find AI slop appealing.
You assume the reason people listen to music stations is for the local talent. The track record says that's not true.
The fact of the matter is the broadcast division of the company lost $100 million last year WITH all of those people still employed.
Strategically, the company is shifting from a broadcast company to a digital content company. According to their latest earnings report, digital content is responsible for over 45% of the company's revenue. In the announcement for the cuts, the company said:
So they're shifting resources from the money-losing broadcast markets to areas where the company has growth potential. They're not eliminating talent from their stations. They're replacing local talent in markets that were losing money with talent from stronger markets. As you say, they've made cuts before. They know what to expect from these cuts. It's already been factored into the decision.
Keep in mind that most of the stock is held by the equity partners in the company. Those are all the creditors who previously held iHeart's debt. In the bankruptcy, they agreed to transfer their debt to equity. So they know the business. The business owes them money. They're the ones who made this decision. Bob Pittman works for them.
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Here's Radio Insight's "comprehensive" list of all the cuts.
radioinsight.com
These are the names of the people who have gone public. There are likely other people who haven't said anything publicly. But the main thing you'll note is nobody at NY, LA, or Chicago. They bring in about $350 million a year in revenue. They're also union markets, where staffing is covered by union agreements.
The biggest market is Houston with one person cut. Other big markets are Miami, Denver, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. But it's mostly small markets.
Comprehensive List Of Those Affected By iHeartMedia’s Cuts This Week
iHeartMedia initiated a programming realignment today as it intends to scale its "new tech capabilities over the last several years".
radioinsight.com
These are the names of the people who have gone public. There are likely other people who haven't said anything publicly. But the main thing you'll note is nobody at NY, LA, or Chicago. They bring in about $350 million a year in revenue. They're also union markets, where staffing is covered by union agreements.
The biggest market is Houston with one person cut. Other big markets are Miami, Denver, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. But it's mostly small markets.
I'm well aware that arguing with you is foolish because you're simply not influenced by facts, but let me point you to the market in question. Check out the iHeart ratings over the last three years, and revenue. Now compare that to the rest of the market. Even Audacy, with all of their bankruptcy troubles are both outperforming and outbilling iHeart by a significant margin. When the product you deliver isn't of interest to an audience, that's the result. If iHeart is losing money on broadcast, it's their own fault. What they're offering as content isn't attracting enough audience, and "blessing" medium and small markets with "major market talent" isn't going to make radio more relatable or have a greater impact. Once again, let me ask: Why bother with iHeart's digital when there are a host of other options with fewer commercials and more listenable content?
The fact is that iHeart broadcasting lost $100 million last year. That was with the recently departed people still employed.
Tell me the comparative LOCAL revenue figures between iHeart and Audacy.
WHAM is iHeart's top rated station. It's primarily a syndicated talk station. None of the hosts are going anywhere.
You said they're cutting the people who create the reason people listen. Clay Travis is still there. Lonsberry is still there.
The fact of the matter is WDVI is getting killed by WBEE. Keeping two local hosts isn't going to improve that.
Was there a time when WDVI got higher ratings than WBEE?
All of broadcasting is losing money. Not just iHeart. All of broadcasting is laying off staff. Not just iHeart. The problem is people are in love with their phones, their computers, and the internet. That's not a new problem or one that's unique to Rochester. Spending more money on broadcasting isn't going to get people to stop using digital devices and instead listen to radio. That's just crazy.
WXXI lost $2 million in federal funds last year. As a consequence, they laid off staff. At least two people. When revenues are down, you lay off staff.
Ask the people who use it. iHeart's podcasts are among the most popular in the country. Their streaming service competes with Spotify, Apple, and the rest. It sounds to me like you're not at all familiar with their digital products.
Podcast Listening Climbs In October; iHeart, And NPR Lead As Audiences Rebound.
Podcast listening rebounded in October, with most top publishers posting month-to-month gains in both U.S. downloads and unique audiences, according to Podtrac. iHeartPodcasts led again with 180 million downloads and
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I love how you cherry pick and data that reinforces your point of view and ignore anything that doesn't. WDVI was actually trending upward. Can't have that, I guess. WKGS was actually competitive a few years ago. Not anymore. Ditto WAIO. Replace Wease with VT and syndication and the ratings sank. BTW, those were the winners in the iHeart portfolio. WVOR and WNBL are great examples of iHeart's "new" approach, and their numbers reflect it.The fact is that iHeart broadcasting lost $100 million last year. That was with the recently departed people still employed.
Tell me the comparative LOCAL revenue figures between iHeart and Audacy.
WHAM is iHeart's top rated station. It's primarily a syndicated talk station. None of the hosts are going anywhere.
You said they're cutting the people who create the reason people listen. Clay Travis is still there. Lonsberry is still there.
The fact of the matter is WDVI is getting killed by WBEE. Keeping two local hosts isn't going to improve that.
Was there a time when WDVI got higher ratings than WBEE?
All of broadcasting is losing money. Not just iHeart. All of broadcasting is laying off staff. Not just iHeart. The problem is people are in love with their phones, their computers, and the internet. That's not a new problem or one that's unique to Rochester. Spending more money on broadcasting isn't going to get people to stop using digital devices and instead listen to radio. That's just crazy.
WXXI lost $2 million in federal funds last year. As a consequence, they laid off staff. At least two people. When revenues are down, you lay off staff.
Ask the people who use it. iHeart's podcasts are among the most popular in the country. Their streaming service competes with Spotify, Apple, and the rest. It sounds to me like you're not at all familiar with their digital products.
Podcast Listening Climbs In October; iHeart, And NPR Lead As Audiences Rebound.
Podcast listening rebounded in October, with most top publishers posting month-to-month gains in both U.S. downloads and unique audiences, according to Podtrac. iHeartPodcasts led again with 180 million downloads andwww.insideradio.com
Citing podcasting is interesting. What are podcasts but REAL PEOPLE broadcasting on real topics of interest? It's funny that iHeart is so deeply investing in podcasting personalities, many of whom sound amateurish and yammer on interminably, while jocks who insert some local content and personality are cast aside in favor of bland, unrelatable generic content.
I'm familiar enough with their digital products. They certainly promote them enough, and a big part of the promotion is on the radio. Gee, I wonder what would happen if they actually promoted radio? I guess we'll never know.
All broadcast companies are not losing money and cutting people. You’re talking to one of them.
Folks, the companies who bought these radio stations bought for the wrong reasons. They bought for greed. They had no business being in this business.
To further that they should not be in the business, they bought stations at balloned prices. They did not have the foresight to really look at where radio was going vs other technologies
Revenue went down because listenership went down, due to other platforms. That kind of revenue is not coming back no matter how many sales people are on the streets. There is no demand for radio.
They are currently trying to find different models, HD, Digital, E-Commerce, but it is getting eaten up my more choices for the consumer.
It’s either bankruptcy or find a way to survive. Cuts are a lot easier than creating revenue.
Plus add in the stations are plummeting in value. Companies way overpaid. A radio station is no longer an asset, it’s a liability. If you bought a full power fm right now for free, and did not know how to operate, you would be filing bankruptcy. That’s with a free station. Why? Because there is no demand for radio, and the must have expenses to operate would bring you down.
If a 50KW station in Buffalo for a million dollars, I would have to think long and hard about it. It’s that bad. You need an operator who thinks more like an entrepreneur.
Listen, I am very proud to own two great stations. Seven frequencies in the Buffalo market, and we do well. At this point, to get another would be asking for trouble.
People still listen to the radio, but not to the amount that you would need to get businesses to get excited about advertising.
I can tell you this, WECK brings in almost the same revenue, if not more, than WBUF, WEDG, WHTT, WTSS, and not far from WGRF, WGR, WBEN , WKSE. YRK is a machine, so they beat me there.
A few years ago, out of desperation, became the practice of “low rates” . This started the avalanche of no revenue.
Folks, the companies who bought these radio stations bought for the wrong reasons. They bought for greed. They had no business being in this business.
To further that they should not be in the business, they bought stations at balloned prices. They did not have the foresight to really look at where radio was going vs other technologies
Revenue went down because listenership went down, due to other platforms. That kind of revenue is not coming back no matter how many sales people are on the streets. There is no demand for radio.
They are currently trying to find different models, HD, Digital, E-Commerce, but it is getting eaten up my more choices for the consumer.
It’s either bankruptcy or find a way to survive. Cuts are a lot easier than creating revenue.
Plus add in the stations are plummeting in value. Companies way overpaid. A radio station is no longer an asset, it’s a liability. If you bought a full power fm right now for free, and did not know how to operate, you would be filing bankruptcy. That’s with a free station. Why? Because there is no demand for radio, and the must have expenses to operate would bring you down.
If a 50KW station in Buffalo for a million dollars, I would have to think long and hard about it. It’s that bad. You need an operator who thinks more like an entrepreneur.
Listen, I am very proud to own two great stations. Seven frequencies in the Buffalo market, and we do well. At this point, to get another would be asking for trouble.
People still listen to the radio, but not to the amount that you would need to get businesses to get excited about advertising.
I can tell you this, WECK brings in almost the same revenue, if not more, than WBUF, WEDG, WHTT, WTSS, and not far from WGRF, WGR, WBEN , WKSE. YRK is a machine, so they beat me there.
A few years ago, out of desperation, became the practice of “low rates” . This started the avalanche of no revenue.
They replaced Wease with another very similar show with a younger host. It's not VT. But the rest of the day is a rock format, not unlike WBUF.
The two hosts at WDVI who were replaced were being beaten by syndicated hosts at WBEE. Same with the departing evening host at Rock 95.1. Hard to advocate for local hosts when they're losing to syndication.
Nothing funny about it. That's the difference between broadcasting which is measured by Nielsen vs digital measured by actual listening.
Isn't that what they do with iHeartRadio? It's promoting their local broadcast stations on devices people own.
That's because you put local sales first. You're probably the only one in town. iHeart is mainly going for national dollars in Rochester.
It would be interesting to see what happened if WBUF and WDVI flipped their signals to oldies. They'd never do it, but if you had format competition for your demographic, it would change your situation. You'd still make money, because you're the best at what you do. But your ratings would suffer a bit.
Entercom lost a lot when you left. You were more valuable than most of their local talent.
Thanks, Big A. If those stations flipped formats to Oldies, it would not matter. They still do not know how to sell it. Would it hurt our ratings? Possibly, but who cares, we do not sell with ratings.
Forget about National Sales. There is no such thing anymore, and there never will be again.
Knowing that revenue is what rises all tides, keep you expenses low, because the revenue ain’t coming back. When you have millions of dollars in just interest debt, not to mention the operation of the station, every large company will be in the bk line.
I don’t kid myself about what radio is and isn’t. Do what you can with what you have. In my case, we’ve developed some fine radio stations with a lot of hard work, but we also found that our “small” full-service ad agency has turned out to become quite big. All of these things in my orbit work in tandem with each other.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Forget about National Sales. There is no such thing anymore, and there never will be again.
Knowing that revenue is what rises all tides, keep you expenses low, because the revenue ain’t coming back. When you have millions of dollars in just interest debt, not to mention the operation of the station, every large company will be in the bk line.
I don’t kid myself about what radio is and isn’t. Do what you can with what you have. In my case, we’ve developed some fine radio stations with a lot of hard work, but we also found that our “small” full-service ad agency has turned out to become quite big. All of these things in my orbit work in tandem with each other.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.