970 WFLA: Dan Ruth - Canceled!

[FiveStar]

It turns out there was no mystery to Dan's termination: Clear channel is squeezing every nickel they can as they head toward their final buyout. San Antonio is trying to make sure that everyone who wants to cash out their shares when the deal closes can take the cash. Otherwise some of them will have to take "stub equity" in the new private company. Multiply the seemingly minimal savings of canning a once a week host by 1200 stations and you see what's going on. I suspect that there we're all going to be very surprised at who stays and who grabs the cash and splits when the deal finally does close.

 

[Don62]

I notice WFLA's ratings are in a near- free-fall. From a 6.2 share to a 5.1 share.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRa...HPER=12.7&OPER=&NSD=7/1/2008 12:00:00 AM&CE=0

How much better was WFLA's ratings when it actually carried live- and - local shows?

Interesting how the station pretends to be NT, airing that stupid promo saying "call us, talk to us, share your opinions," and they hv lemmings saying "they so glad they got through."

I'm wondering what shows they're talking about because the station airs very few local shows, and their daily morning show doesn't take calls.

Probably just a canned CC promo they apply to all stations. The manager at CC probably never listens to WFLA or cares what it airs.

 

[FiveStar]

It looks like the impact is finally being felt. "Live and local" 24/7/365 was the image burned into the audience's mind for all those years. It took a while to do squander that, but it's finally happened. The attitude of the industry in general and Clear Channel in particular has been that news was an easy place to cut ("what do we need all those reporters for? nobody listens after 7 o'clock, what do we need live news for there?) The traditional wisdom now is that people are turning away from radio and other traditional media for news. Of course, they are! There's reason for audiences to turn to radio anymore. There was a great example on Saturday when Hal Lamb parlayed a phone tip about the Town N. Country massacre and WFLA and was all over the story hours ahead of everyone. That's the kind of thing listeners used to be able to count on round the clock and now they can't. WFLA and other NT's are giving the listeners hamburger and telling them it's steak. They've been getting by on their reputation for years now, but cutting the live news commitment in half and gutting a news staff that was as good as any in the country has finally taken a toll. However, San Antonio, just like the old Communist party never admits making a mistake and will no doubt use the lower numbers as the reason (self fulfilling prophecy) for further cuts.

 

[MisterNews]

I notice WFLA's ratings are in a near- free-fall. From a 6.2 share to a 5.1 share.
How much better was WFLA's ratings when it actually carried live- and - local shows?
Interesting how the station pretends to be NT, airing that stupid promo saying "call us, talk to us, share your opinions," and they hv lemmings saying "they so glad they got through."
I'm wondering what shows they're talking about because the station airs very few local shows, and their daily morning show doesn't take calls.
Probably just a canned CC promo they apply to all stations. The manager at CC probably never listens to WFLA or cares what it airs.

You can't go by those figures- they're Phase 1 (Spring) trends, probably extrapolated from a couple dozen diaries (about 1/1000% of the population). Meaningless. Lasts four BOOKS (one year) shows WFLA slipping from a (12+) 6.2 to 5.7... hardly a "free-fall". What's significant is that a powerhouse N/T in a major marker could have a 10 or 15 share, which this station has never managed (in recent years anyway). The issues could be transient population, the I-75 (as opposed to I-95) Factor, a decade of waning inertia, more and more diversion of cash from News to "Entertainment", and certainly a distinct lack of localism. Have you tried to find a phone number, e-mail address, or even a MAILING address on the website? They apparently don't want to hear from you (just please tell the advertisers you heard their spots on WFLA)...

Believe me- most middle news managers and line news personnel DO care about the product; their despair is palpable. It's ownership and upper management who have bought into the premise that radio is just a business and the one with the biggest cash flow wins.

 

[donhegel]

I can't sleep, Coast To Coast is scaring me, and this is the drivel that I find people talking about?

Daniel Ruth was cancelled because the ratings were TERRIBLE. You can look for a conspiracy, but the fact is that if you don't get the numbers then you have to go.

By cancelling Daniel Ruth, WFLA will get better numbers because white noise would get better numbers than Ruth did.

For the person who was looking for contact information on their website, I found it. Wonder of wonders, it was under "contacts".

http://www.970wfla.com/pages/local_contactus.html

I can see how that would have escaped you. This coming from the people who are so frustrated by how bad WFLA is that they come on here daily and give us a blow-by-blow of what happened on WFLA. I am sure that the station hopes that you all get diaries.

If you miss the amazing news staff that WFLA used to have, why don't you flip off 970 and turn on 1040 (if you can hear it... if you live next door to the tower). The exodus of these amazing newspeople has done wonders for that "radio station".

The newsroom is still staffed 24/7, so the idea that a big story like Hal Lamb's Saturday morning gem will slip through the cracks is ignorant.

And tell me that there is a better place in Tampa Bay to get morning news than WFLA's morning team. Also tell me where I can find that and I will start listening. But for now, Martin Giles and Gary MacHenry will remain my perfect source for news.

 

[MisterNews]

For the person who was looking for contact information on their website, I found it. Wonder of wonders, it was under "contacts".
I can see how that would have escaped you.

Okay I see it now. It was a drop-down text link under the "Home" heading (yeah that makes sense). I guess after seeing "Find cars in Tampa Bay" (ad), "Find lowest gas prices" (useful link), "Events Calendar" (maybe semi-useful), I thought "Contacts" was where to buy contact lenses. Follow that up with "Contests", Daily Prizes", and six more links of dubious value and it's no wonder it's hard to find. As I said, Contact information is not a priority: "Fun Stuff", "Photos", "Impossible Trivia", "Dining Deals", numerous banner ads, and all the other flickering flotsam on this confusing site obviously are.

The newsroom is still staffed 24/7, so the idea that a big story like Hal Lamb's Saturday morning gem will slip through the cracks is ignorant.

24/7, really? Wow, that's commitment. I had no idea that local news stories were being pursued by WFLA reporters at 3am, or 11pm, or even 7:15pm. Order some pizza! Break into programming!! (Well, no, don't do that.)

You've got spunk.

I HATE spunk!

 

[NewsStud]

Daniel Ruth was cancelled because the ratings were TERRIBLE. You can look for a conspiracy, but the fact is that if you don't get the numbers then you have to go. By cancelling Daniel Ruth, WFLA will get better numbers because white noise would get better numbers than Ruth did.

Wrong. And even management says so.

The newsroom is still staffed 24/7

Also wrong. Newsroom destaffs at night, and in afternoons on weekends. Board ops who also must do traffic reports are holding down the fort. That's cuz management says you don't listen to radio for news anymore.

 

[Don62]

If you miss the amazing news staff that WFLA used to have, why don't you flip off 970 and turn on 1040 (if you can hear it... if you live next door to the tower). The exodus of these amazing newspeople has done wonders for that "radio station".

What a cheap shot and a load of crap against a legitimate competitor.

How smug and condescending WFLA's owners are- going after "small" competition while they own nearly all of the big sticks and most powerful AM operations in the Bay area.

Crap Ch. owns 970 - 620 - 1250 - and selling off other powerful frequencies to religious or Hispanic broadcasting interests.

Where else can a real broadcaster compete? In cyberspace?

The FCC shouldn't allow one company (which could care less about its "workers") to own nearly all the properties.

Must be nice owning the market in AM radio. Then complain that no one listens to radio anymore.

 

[FiveStar]

I can't sleep, Coast To Coast is scaring me, and this is the drivel that I find people talking about?

Daniel Ruth was cancelled because the ratings were TERRIBLE. You can look for a conspiracy, but the fact is that if you don't get the numbers then you have to go.

By cancelling Daniel Ruth, WFLA will get better numbers because white noise would get better numbers than Ruth did.

For the person who was looking for contact information on their website, I found it. Wonder of wonders, it was under "contacts".

http://www.970wfla.com/pages/local_contactus.html

I can see how that would have escaped you. This coming from the people who are so frustrated by how bad WFLA is that they come on here daily and give us a blow-by-blow of what happened on WFLA. I am sure that the station hopes that you all get diaries.

If you miss the amazing news staff that WFLA used to have, why don't you flip off 970 and turn on 1040 (if you can hear it... if you live next door to the tower). The exodus of these amazing newspeople has done wonders for that "radio station".

The newsroom is still staffed 24/7, so the idea that a big story like Hal Lamb's Saturday morning gem will slip through the cracks is ignorant.

And tell me that there is a better place in Tampa Bay to get morning news than WFLA's morning team. Also tell me where I can find that and I will start listening. But for now, Martin Giles and Gary MacHenry will remain my perfect source for news.

The news room hasn't been staffed 24/7 for quite a while. Last local/live news is 7pm M-F. either noon or 1pm Saturday and Sunday. You can make the argument all you want that 970 is doing a good job, but why resort to disinformation to make a point?

 

[donhegel]

In the past 6 months, which story did the overnight reporter fail to break into Coast To Coast and report?

I think it is funny when people make claims of fact when they obviously do not know a single person that works in the Clearchannel building.

Because those friends would tell you that there is always someone in the newsroom, not just running a board down the hall.

 

[FiveStar]

Considering that I work (for now) in the building, I know that while there may be a corpus delicti in the newsroom after hours, that person is usually tending to the website, not staying on top of the overnight news. At other times, you have a morning producer playing catch up on the overnight beat calls and regular news flow. During morning drive, with Tampa news every 15 minutes it is brutally difficult to do anything but fill the newscasts.

At the times when there is someone doing "local" news they are also quite often multi-tasking by providing "local" news to Tallahassee, Orlando, Melbourne and Sarasota. The weekend shift is about the only one where the anchor doesn't have multiple market responsibilities.

It's no knock on the people in that newsroom to say that the quality of the local news operation isn't what it was. If YOU knew anyone who worked in that newsroom and they trusted you enough to tell you the truth (I doubt both counts. Either you're a know nothing or a corporate toady) they would tell you that.

WFLA is by far, the best local news operation in the Tampa Bay area and possibly the best in Florida. The real point is that the competition is a shadow of itself. Belittling those who speak the truth is just another example of shooting the messenger.

Radio news operations are being cut left and right and a lot of good people are being forced out. It's become a situation like the post nuclear war scenario Ronald Reagan described, where the survivors would envy the dead.

 

[scrubnurse]

While I didn't agree with everything Dan said, I thought his show was a breath of fresh air. He is clearly a highly educated man and a craftsman of words.

sn