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Anything NEW in Lubbock?

G

Garrett

Hey,
It's been about a year since there was anything major happening around here. Seems like last year around this time, we were talking about the GAP takover, and the KJDL AM/FM combo (1420 and JackFM 105-3).
Z102 sounds GREAT, really hitting the stride now, but that, and Kool98 are really the only OTA stations I frequent these days (It's mostly Sirius in the car these days).

So, what's happening? Anything new comming up?
(And please, if you can keep the "trash talk" out, thanks).
 
I heard there was a shakeup at one of the clusters today. I'm not sure who was fired but there were some people let go.
 
Lost 3...No need to mention any names, listen and you'll figure it out. To those that were shown the door today, if there is anything I can do for you...HOLLA!! You prolly have my number and I will do what I can to help you reach resources you may need to get to where you want to be. Peace! Sad thing is, these guys did their job and a great job at that! Economy is really f****ed up right now, and sadly they are the ones looking for gigs in an already overstuffed industry.
 
What happened today with GAP... made them just like all the other boys and girls in town. Now, all the stations are the same. Most of all the day shifts mirror each other either LIVE or VT'd. There are no stand outs anymore. Syndication in the morning... syndication at night. Whats funny is... you would have thought that the President of GAP was a little different. Small radio company... keep it as local as possible... I want our stations to be PERSONALITY DRIVEN! At least thats the BS that spewed from his mouth. Big or small... their all the same. That company doesn't even have a music service for their radio stations. They were more concerned about the stations WEBSITES! You think I am joking? Nope! It was said one time by the SUITS... that they wanted their websites to be used and visited like YAHOO & MYSPACE. At the same time... they can't even make it possible to place LOCAL NEWS on the front of a stations page. Half the news you get on those websites will sit there for a week at a time. Half the time... its news that doesnt even fit the format of that station in the first place! Once again... you think I'm joking? Nope.

Can you believe that they do not have a MUSIC SERVICE for their stations that play.... MUSIC? If you asked about it... you were told... "its coming, but heres this new thing we want to do on the website". That Gap corporate office in Dallas truly has no idea of what RADIO is about. They don't. Its not about the WEB! Its about the product on-air!

If your product sucks on-air... no one is going to give a damn about your freaking WEBSITE!
 
Gabba Gabba Hey! said:
What happened today with GAP... made them just like all the other boys and girls in town. Now, all the stations are the same. Most of all the day shifts mirror each other either LIVE or VT'd. There are no stand outs anymore. Syndication in the morning... syndication at night. Whats funny is... you would have thought that the President of GAP was a little different. Small radio company... keep it as local as possible... I want our stations to be PERSONALITY DRIVEN! At least thats the BS that spewed from his mouth. Big or small... their all the same. That company doesn't even have a music service for their radio stations. They were more concerned about the stations WEBSITES! You think I am joking? Nope! It was said one time by the SUITS... that they wanted their websites to be used and visited like YAHOO & MYSPACE. At the same time... they can't even make it possible to place LOCAL NEWS on the front of a stations page. Half the news you get on those websites will sit there for a week at a time. Half the time... its news that doesnt even fit the format of that station in the first place! Once again... you think I'm joking? Nope.

Can you believe that they do not have a MUSIC SERVICE for their stations that play.... MUSIC? If you asked about it... you were told... "its coming, but heres this new thing we want to do on the website". That Gap corporate office in Dallas truly has no idea of what RADIO is about. They don't. Its not about the WEB! Its about the product on-air!

If your product sucks on-air... no one is going to give a damn about your freaking WEBSITE!
Click to expand...
Nicely said.

If they wanted a webpage to be used like myspace or Yahoo!, then they are in the wrong business. Last time I checked, their business is broadcasting, not an Internet Search Engine or a Social Networking Website.
 
Gabba Gabba Hey! said:
What happened today with GAP... made them just like all the other boys and girls in town. Now, all the stations are the same. Most of all the day shifts mirror each other either LIVE or VT'd. There are no stand outs anymore. Syndication in the morning... syndication at night. Whats funny is... you would have thought that the President of GAP was a little different. Small radio company... keep it as local as possible... I want our stations to be PERSONALITY DRIVEN! At least thats the BS that spewed from his mouth. Big or small... their all the same. That company doesn't even have a music service for their radio stations. They were more concerned about the stations WEBSITES! You think I am joking? Nope! It was said one time by the SUITS... that they wanted their websites to be used and visited like YAHOO & MYSPACE. At the same time... they can't even make it possible to place LOCAL NEWS on the front of a stations page. Half the news you get on those websites will sit there for a week at a time. Half the time... its news that doesnt even fit the format of that station in the first place! Once again... you think I'm joking? Nope.

Can you believe that they do not have a MUSIC SERVICE for their stations that play.... MUSIC? If you asked about it... you were told... "its coming, but heres this new thing we want to do on the website". That Gap corporate office in Dallas truly has no idea of what RADIO is about. They don't. Its not about the WEB! Its about the product on-air!

If your product sucks on-air... no one is going to give a damn about your freaking WEBSITE!
Click to expand...

That sux, I'm in TOTAL agreement with you. Having worked there in the Pre-GAP days, I'm sorry to hear about this.
As a listener, I couldn't give a SH|T about what the web page looks like. Web pages are nice, sure, but its the sound that most listeners care about.

Couldn't have said it any better than you did.

And by the way, if they want the business model to be like Yahoo!'s, they need to take another look at their business plan. Last time I checked, Yahoo! needed a buyout to survive. So what they want is to go bankrupt?
 
I have to say one more thing regarding the decision by George Laughlin (President of GAP) to cut LIVE JOCKS in Lubbock and I would imagine many other GAP markets.

George spoke of LISTENER APPOINTMENTS, LISTENER ENGAGEMENTS etc... these are always being pushed on the JOCKS of GAP. It has nothing to do with radio segments etc... it was only, when it came from them, to do with the webpage. That's why they have that ridiculous WORD OF THE DAY crap along with other extremely ignorant NON RADIO things. Get those listeners to build their V.I.P. member points. Now, what's beyond comical about all of that... is the fact that by removing the live jocks... you have single handedly removed a ton of LISTENER APPOINTMENTS, LISTENER ENGAGEMENTS. For example... when he decided to cut the night jock on FMX and replace them with a syndicated night show... he got rid of 20 hours of LISTENER APPOINTMENTS, LISTENER ENGAGEMENTS per week. 2 hours Monday night, 5 hours on Tuesday night, 2 hours on Wednesday night, 2 hours on Thursday night, 3 hours on Friday night and 6 hours on Saturday night.

These cuts in GAP, at least in Lubbock, had nothing to do with ratings. Of course, as we all know... it had all to do with the bottom line. How much money is going out and how much is coming in? Once again, its just sad. Radio in Lubbock is dead. It has officially become just another automated market. What's sad about those who lost their jobs... is that they aren't getting into radio anywhere else in Lubbock. Not any time soon. Or at least, not at the level that they were. They will probably have to wait until GEORGE LAUGHLIN and GAP decide to sell off the stations... because you know that will happen.

When a CORPORATE SUIT says that he is looking forward to next year... looking forward to BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS... get ready for the axe to fall.

Alright, I'm done... I apologize about the rant.
 
No need to apologize, please go on. Its refreshing to hear someone from the inside talk about this stuff. Everything you just said is EXACTLY what I noticed when I came to Lubbock from San Diego and worked at KFYO the first time. In San Diego in 1998, there were full staffs 24hrs round the clock with people in the building doing work. Engineers were there and people were cutting spots at 2am. Only digital assist was used, all the music was on CD, the elements on carts. I came to Lubbock and saw the first generation of what you are describing now. I was SHOCKED. Skeletal promotion staff, and 6 computers running 6 stations most of the time. Running the control board became hitting the F-9 key.

And why all of this? Because they don't give a darn about Lubbock, and fail to realize the potential (You'd think someone else would do commercial Alternative in a college town)! It seemed for a short while things were getting better too. Everybody said "oh, when CCU comes in, things will get better." Then, "When CCU sells their clusters, it will improve." The new company had hope. An already existing radio firm from LA, run buy a CEO who supposedly had a long history in radio. And what's the first thing they are doing? Geeze, it makes the cuts under Gulfstar look like child's play. And of course, you're right. Those who are cut won't soon find work anywhere else in the market, as the other groups have to cut costs to compete, and market is saturated. Some will go to other markets, others will end up out of radio.
 
The overall problem here is that personality-driven radio is disappearing... some of it is driven by personalities being driven out of the industry by cost-cutting corporate ownership... the other factor in this is that radio listeners are not actively seeking personality radio.

Your average listener tunes in to the radio to find his favorite song. It that song is not playing, he is likely to scan around the dial until he lands on a song he likes.

Tune out factors for radio listeners tend to be excessive talking on music stations and heavy commerical loads.

It's awful that these great personalities lost their jobs, and I hope they can find a station and market they will fit into, but the truth is music radio is headed toward jockless formats with the added flavor being provided by the imaging. Who was it that said if radio becomes a vast wasteland, the listeners have themselves to blame? (I remember something like that from my Intro to Radio class in college).
 
I understand what you are saying. However, I do know that two of the jocks were very interactive with their listeners and that was a big part of their shows. So, in this case... the cuts simply came down to corporate greed. Knowing of the situation in that building... I would have cut the GM loose. He's over paid (as usual) and does nothing to earn that pay (as usual). I would have promoted the OM and given him a pay increase. By getting rid of the current GM, you would have cut at least 80K a year if not more from the payroll. (*** I guarantee you could not give me a list of 5 POSITIVE things he has done in the past 2 years for that company. I will give you even more of a time stretch... how about 3 years.) I would have taken 20K of that and given it to the OM. If business is that bad... I would dump the AMARILLO stations and quick. They drag down the rest of the company. They were basically a bonus from CC for GAP to make the buy anyway. You would be saving a minimum of at least 300 to 400K a year in salary by dumping them off onto some other company. Nothing positive came out of the cuts to the Lubbock market. Not for the listeners, not for the sales team who now has to sell the syndicated shows, not for the staff who were cut.

At this point I am just beating a dead horse. Its just BS.
 
BREAKING NEWS ... The oldest member of the trio that was let go at the GAP compound last week has landed a gig, in radio!! Congrats Jerry!! You're going to have a lot of places to go to fish down there.
 
Thats is very cool. He deserves it. He way to nice of a guy to be treated like that by Gap.
 
Great news! Congrats Jerry! Can you say where it is? Any news on the others?
 
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