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IHM RIFs hit YTown & Canton

MediaLover said:
Ron Verb is still listed on the website, but appears to be "unavailable" when visiting his page on WKBN 570's website.
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That's the giveaway that the personality is gone. Tony McGinty's page was doing that and the KDD website switched over to "Keith Kennedy" from "Keith & Tony" while Tony was still on the air on Wednesday morning.
 
schmave said:
But "guaranteed human" right?? They are a complete joke.
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No. Guaranteed "Human" means they don't employ space aliens...yet!

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I have a friend, who's kid just graduated college. They said that he was interviewed for a production job two weeks ago at WTAM. Last Wednesday he followed up and they said "now all decisions would be made after 7/4". Then Thursday came and all hell broke loose in the company. They asked for some advice.

I told them that traditionally one has to swallow that pride and work for at least one Piece of S... station or position before you can start getting respectable jobs in the field.

That being said, I told them to avoid iHM at all costs and look for indie radio stations in smaller markets, and/or TV stations anywhere who are about 5 years behind in massive staff RIF tactics. At least he fits the "replacing long-tenured-higher-paid talent with younger, 'cheaper' talent in the TV world category.

I wish him well.
 
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I wouldn't avoid iHeart at all as a fresh college graduate. Yeah, they may overutilize and underpay you. But if you're in your 20s and don't have a spouse/kids/mortgage, etc., a few years at iHeart will get you relevant experience and industry connections a small town mom and pop won't.

Then, if you truly want to stay in the industry, your 2-3 years at iHeart Cleveland (or wherever) running the board, working promotions, doing production work, etc., will give you a major edge if there's a prime opening at a smaller market mom and pop.

I'm in my 40s now and would never want the uncertainty of working for iHeart. Heck, I would never consider going back to radio as anything other than a fun side gig. But if I were in my 20s there's a chance I would be ready to move on before the company decided to move me on.
 
My guess is they would make Cincinnati the central control for the stations in the Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky region. They already have a major hub there already. What local shows remain will be done virtually. At the talents' expense, no doubt.
 
vw86 said:
These midsize markets all were completely gutted of any local talent. Akron/Canton, Youngstown, Erie, PA, Allentown, etc.

Except Keith Kennedy.
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Keith announced today (6/29) he's going to WMJI mornings, will track WKDD PM drive. Replacing Mark Nolan?
 
Mark wasn't part of the RIF as far as I'm aware. It looks like there are still podcasts of his show through yesterday.

"Mark & Keith In The Morning"?
 
So technically speaking the station on Freedom Ave in north canton is empty now? They could just wire WRQK /WHOF tower off Whipple ave and WKDD on Bellaire lane to the Cleveland studio and save more money! Is there anyone left in the building at this point? Ohh how the mighty Rock 107 and KDD have fallen .
 
And they might do that. Remember, the Cleveland facility has studios and production rooms that aren't tied to a single station. The studio where Mark Nolan does his show isn't necessarily the WMJI studio. Keith can do any and all KDD work from Cleveland, obviously, but he can also flip a few switches and go live on KDD from the same studio where he will be doing the Majic morning show.

1065 The Lake is just cloud space in a server closet. My guess is many of these medium and smaller market stations like KDD will follow suit.
 
vw86 said:
And they might do that. Remember, the Cleveland facility has studios and production rooms that aren't tied to a single station. The studio where Mark Nolan does his show isn't necessarily the WMJI studio. Keith can do any and all KDD work from Cleveland, obviously, but he can also flip a few switches and go live on KDD from the same studio where he will be doing the Majic morning show.

1065 The Lake is just cloud space in a server closet. My guess is many of these medium and smaller market stations like KDD will follow suit.
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Reminds me of the days when the Rock Hall's "generic" radio studio was up on the 5th floor, and multiple stations would use it when visiting. This was way before the current SiriusXM studio.
 
And here's something I noticed today.....flipping around the dial landed on Sunny 101 & moved on to WMJI. Both playing the same song. Flipped back and forth and same songs after that were the same on both stations. So ishart media is now running the Martha Quinn show on two stations that can both be heard in the same market. [Granted, WHOF may not reach Cleveland or its suburbs but WMJI can hit both Akron/Cleveland/Canton].
 


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