A Change Coming to KGO

[michael hagerty]

Doesn't matter. So far you're only hearing Thompson's POV, and making assumptions from that. As I said, allowing him the opportunity to say goodbye was selfish on his part. The audience is not HIS audience. They don't belong to him.

Okay, so let's get this straight.

I tell the story.

You say "not true." And suggest you know what happened (the staff was all told).

I present facts suggesting otherwise.

You say "doesn't matter".

Beyond that, your opinion is your opinion and mine is mine. Thompson isn't saying he deserved to say goodbye, he's saying it would have been nice. I agree with him.

I have no idea who you are. You appear to be in the business, as am I. If your idea of how to treat an audience is "f** off, we're doing something else now", fine. That's on you.

 

[TheBigA]

If your idea of how to treat an audience is "f** off, we're doing something else now", fine. That's on you.

You're not addressing what I'm saying. You're simply doubling down on what you're saying.

The audience is not HIS audience. They don't belong to him. It's not his job to say goodbye to them.

 

[michael hagerty]

You're not addressing what I'm saying. You're simply doubling down on what you're saying.

Nonsense and you know it, BigA. I've spent seven days backing you up on this thread saying it's Cumulus' station and they can do what they want.

But----once we get past that, and down to whether it's wise, decent, kind or good business to do that, you and I differ.

 

[TheBigA]

But----once we get past that, and down to whether it's wise, decent, kind or good business to do that, you and I differ.

Nothing in a format change is kind or decent. I've been through a bunch. It's business, and business isn't kind or decent.

This format had 8 years to develop a working business model and it failed. The next format is using a different model.

 

[tbolt909]

If your idea of how to treat an audience is "f** off, we're doing something else now", fine. That's on you.

Most Radio corporations aren't going to be sentimental when making changes. Unless a host is retiring, most will not get a "Goodbye show". Formats get flipped, jocks get fired, and listeners wonder why. Before social media, jocks just disappeared.

Once a company has made the decision to fire staff or flip a format, they've moved on. They don't give a crap about the listeners or the folks they threw under the bus....

 

[TheBigA]

Once a company has made the decision to fire staff or flip a format, they've moved on. They don't give a crap about the listeners or the folks they threw under the bus....

You have to broaden this to ALL business. Not just radio. If you work in an at-will situation, you can be terminated on the spot. No goodbyes to anyone. A lot of people at KGO were terminated that day. Not just one.

 

[Larry]

But what still doesn’t make sense (to me) is why they didn’t do the format change at 10 AM. Why have Thompson go on the air for 15 minutes only, especially if he can’t say goodbye.

 

[tbolt909]

You have to broaden this to ALL business. Not just radio. If you work in an at-will situation, you can be terminated on the spot. No goodbyes to anyone. A lot of people at KGO were terminated that day. Not just one.

Yes, terminations can happen anywhere. Other jobs don't include having an audience watch or listen to your work, though. TV shows get cancelled and the people who liked them wonder why.

The way Cumulus handled this situation was awkward and slipshod. That's how they operate...

 

[TheBigA]

The way Cumulus handled this situation was awkward and slipshod. That's how they operate...

No more awkward than what happened at KEGL in Dallas. One day The Treehouse is there. Next day they're gone.

Yes, terminations can happen anywhere. Other jobs don't include having an audience watch or listen to your work, though.

You buy a product from a salesman, you expect that salesman to be there when you have a problem. I bought tires from a salesman, and when I went back for service, he was gone. No goodbyes.

 

[cc333]

You buy a product from a salesman, you expect that salesman to be there when you have a problem. I bought tires from a salesman, and when I went back for service, he was gone. No goodbyes.

We bought a car in 2014, and we got to know the salesman who helped us very well, and wanted to keep in touch.

A few months go by, and he's nowhere to be found.

We asked, thinking maybe he was fired, or quit and moved on to a different job, and we were told that shortly after he sold us the car, he died of a bee sting (he was deathly allergic). There were no announcements or anything, and had we not asked, we would've never known the difference.

So, sudden disappearances aren't always related to unannounced firings.

c

 

[tbolt909]

You buy a product from a salesman, you expect that salesman to be there when you have a problem. I bought tires from a salesman, and when I went back for service, he was gone. No goodbyes.

Is the place you bought the tires still in business? Was someone else able to help you? This is a weak comparison. People change jobs for various reasons.

Cumulus has a history of screwing up. KFOG in San Francisco is one example. When you alienate passionate listeners, they move on. It's no wonder that investors don't see Radio having much of a future...

 

[cc333]

Is the place you bought the tires still in business? Was someone else able to help you? This is a weak comparison. People change jobs for various reasons.

Yes, that dealership is still alive and well, and someone else was able to help.

I admit it is kind of weak, I think you kind of get my point.

What was my point? I'm tired and confused today....

c

 

[Rusty Muck]

But what still doesn’t make sense (to me) is why they didn’t do the format change at 10 AM. Why have Thompson go on the air for 15 minutes only, especially if he can’t say goodbye.

The top executives probably thought no one would care whenever the flip happened because, in their judgment, the talk format was a failure.

Therefore they can just wave away and dismiss the negative PR this all engendered because 1) little of KGO’s audience would want to listen to the new format, 2) the new format is not set up to get ratings and 3) the KGO people are mourning died through indifference by ABC and Citadel, there was nothing to save.

 

[Old Grey Coyote]

I haven’t worked in radio since the 80s, but I have worked for Fortune 500 companies and I have worked with public relations people before. The point of good public relations is to make it look like you aren’t being a dick, even if you are being a dick and in some cases you are actually forced to be a dick.

What would it have cost Cumulus to give Thompson 15 minutes to say goodbye and then have him read a statement explaining, that they value their listeners but they couldn’t afford to keep the format going, and here are the other Cumulus stations and podcasts you can listen to if you are interested. Sure, you will still have negative people who will whine and moan about how awful corporate radio is, but anybody who works for a living or has to make his or her own business go will understand. That is not just good public relations. That is good salesmanship.

They also mentioned on Thompson’s podcast that the sales department wasn’t informed of the flip and that advertisers were calling in confused as to when and on what shows there ads would run on. I’m an not sure if this is true or not. If it is, it would have been a good idea to put them in the loop and offer them alternatives on other stations or discounted spots on the new format. Not communicating with your customers is not a good thing.

 

[TheBigA]

What would it have cost Cumulus to give Thompson 15 minutes to say goodbye

Nothing, but that's not the point. They posted a tweet instead. You can see it at the top of this thread.

 

[Old Grey Coyote]

Nothing, but that's not the point. They posted a tweet instead. You can see it at the top of this thread.

Everybody is not on Twitter.

 

[TheBigA]

Everybody wasn't listening to KGO either. That was the problem

 

[Old Grey Coyote]

Everybody wasn't listening to KGO either. That was the problem

Everybody is not everywhere. That’s why good public relations people use multiple forms of media. More KGO listeners were on KGO than on Twitter.

 

[gr8oldies]

How often does a station allow a terminated or about-to-be-terminated talent behind a live mic? Yes, I was allowed to stick around one place.

I remember when Randy Michaels tried to raid WLW for talent on WGN. Mike McConnell, longtime midday host was at the end of his contract, and opted to move to WGN. He was told by WLW management that he could finish out his remaining couple of weeks if news of his going to WGN didn't leak. Well it did (it was the worst kept secret in radio) and he was not allowed to continue, except for the syndicated "The Weekend with Mike McConnell". Some listeners were upset that McConnell wasn't able to say goodbye, but the edict came from above local management, and no one was risking their own job to let McConnell have a goodbye show. As it turns out, all of the WGN management that hired McConnell was let go, and he only did one contract there, eventually returning to WLW, and has held the morning slot since Jim Scott retired.

 

[landtuna]

I have an anecdotal story that some here might find funny....in a black comedy sort of way.

Back in the mid-80's a few years after the earlier recession my company was in a cash flow bind. They decided to "lay off" a significant number of employees at my plant. So the suits created a list of all employees in that location. The people who would get the gate were identified with an asterisk by their first name. One of the astute suits noticed that approach was easily decoded and sent it back to HR to be modified. HR used White-Out (remember this was in the mid-80's) to cover the asterisks and passed that list around to the department managers. Well, you ought to know what happened next. The White-Out was as easy to detect as were the asterisks. This discovery got back to the suits who, understandably very upset. Plan Two was to catch people coming in to work on the Big Day. Some of us were told to go directly to a big meeting room and others were told nothing. When we got to the meeting room the Big Cheese came in and announced "Those of you in this room still have a job. If you're not here you have been laid off (fired)."

The day the World Trade buildings fell was the day I retired. I blew a kiss to the company as I collected my box of personal goodies (including all my letters of commendation and plaques) and asked the security guards to put them in the burn bucket on the way out. I've learned from current employees that company's lay off process hasn't changed since then except the hatred for that company has gotten much larger and outspoken. At least radio doesn't have that level of BS!