Another Round Of Layoffs At iHeartMedia

[anotherguyTN]

The average listener doesn't know that there's a chance the DJ on their local station isn't sitting in a local studio. I also don't think they care. Some don't even know the difference between local and national programming. I kid you not. Back 17 years ago I was involved at a small AM station. We carried the Dr. Laura show. One lady whom I worked with at my real job was a fan of Dr. Laura. Her mind was blown when I told her Dr. Laura was sitting in a studio somewhere in the Los Angeles area and not sitting at the local radio station's studio in Plantsville, Connecticut.


Co-worker: So tell me. What's Dr. Laura like in real life?
Me: I don't know. I've never met the woman.
Co-worker: But didn't you tell me you work at AM 990?
Me: I do.
Co-worker: So Dr. Laura is on AM 990. You work at AM 990, how can you not have met her?
Me: Dr. Laura is based at a radio station in Los Angeles. We pick her show up via a satellite dish we have at our studio in Plantsville.
Co-worker: Really? You mean Dr. Laura isn't sitting in your studio in Plantsville?
Me: I swear on it. If the radio station can't even afford to pay me, how can you believe they can afford to pay Dr. Laura's salary?
Co-worker: You don't have "Dr." in front of your name and that's why the station can't afford to pay you.

It makes you wonder if that ever happens with Rush, Dave Ramsey, etc.

 

[michael hagerty]

The average listener doesn't know that there's a chance the DJ on their local station isn't sitting in a local studio. I also don't think they care. Some don't even know the difference between local and national programming. I kid you not. Back 17 years ago I was involved at a small AM station. We carried the Dr. Laura show. One lady whom I worked with at my real job was a fan of Dr. Laura. Her mind was blown when I told her Dr. Laura was sitting in a studio somewhere in the Los Angeles area and not sitting at the local radio station's studio in Plantsville, Connecticut.


Co-worker: So tell me. What's Dr. Laura like in real life?
Me: I don't know. I've never met the woman.
Co-worker: But didn't you tell me you work at AM 990?
Me: I do.
Co-worker: So Dr. Laura is on AM 990. You work at AM 990, how can you not have met her?
Me: Dr. Laura is based at a radio station in Los Angeles. We pick her show up via a satellite dish we have at our studio in Plantsville.
Co-worker: Really? You mean Dr. Laura isn't sitting in your studio in Plantsville?
Me: I swear on it. If the radio station can't even afford to pay me, how can you believe they can afford to pay Dr. Laura's salary?
Co-worker: You don't have "Dr." in front of your name and that's why the station can't afford to pay you.

True story. I spent a little over six years (Nov. 2013-Jan. 2020) at KFBK, Sacramento, where Rush got his talk radio start in the 1980s. He left in 1988 for New York, but the station continued to carry the syndicated show to this day. Several times I'd answer the phone in the newsroom and it would be someone asking if they could talk to Rush when he got off the air. He'd been on from 9-noon at 'BK since 1985 and they just figured he's still our local talent.

Cycling this conversation back to the iHeart layoffs---I got whacked in the January round, where 1,500 people lost their jobs. Last week, the new round hit Sacramento again, with four very talented programming/air people out the door and very likely some behind-the-scenes people as well. And in between, there've been at least two additional rounds, including telling people who were furloughed in March because of the pandemic that they were now just plain gone.

 

[gr8oldies]

I consider this my "I ain't the Wolfman" moment. At the end of my time at an AM/FM combo that had been sold to Cox, I was the "lighthouse keeper" for the far-out-of-town AM carrying Westwood One AM Only/Adult Standards. A guy stopped by wanting to drop something off for WW1 morning host Jeff Rollins. This is where I explain that Jeff is not here, and that we use a network. I explained that the people you hear are all top talent, and as a 250 watt station we wouldn't be able to hire even one of these guys. However, when a couple of hundred stations like ours pool our resources, we can have these entertainers on the air, while the staff here focuses on local news and events. I guess he bought it.

It makes you wonder if that ever happens with Rush, Dave Ramsey, etc.

 

[mnradiofan]

Radio as a local medium is all but dead. Yes some huge markets will survive but say goodbye to local personalities. Too bad. R.I.P. markets 100 plus.

Not just markets 100+. Look at what Entercom did in Country and Alt. That will be coming to more stations regardless of market size. Regionalized or nationalized programming, and for the most part ratings actually went up!