Next time, might I suggest a bugle?
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Bertolucci Out at KFI
- Thread starter HerbNero
- Start date
Once again: Where did I say ONLY?
Once again: Her job isn't going away.
Somebody has to run the company. The people who hold the debt chose him and approved his salary + bonus. Seems to me it's their right, since it's their money.
The bankruptcy wasn't a secret. Everybody who works there knows about it. They see the profit statements every quarter. They know the company is under water. If this was a big surprise, I'd understand the hostility. But everybody knows. These stations are bringing in less money than they're spending. How do you fix that problem, Mr. CEO?
It's very different. The Mays family sold it for cash to an investment group, and the buyers immediately took the company private, and saddled their new asset with debt. The buyers can do that because it was their money that Mays got. The buyer wasn't another company that was going to run CC. The buyer was an investment company that loads debt on its acquisitions.
It was a direct one-for-the-other exchange. Plus Lowry's son got to stay on as CEO of the new debt ridden company.
It's not a secret. It was reported here:
Clear Channel agrees to be taken private
Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation’s biggest radio station operator, said Thursday it has agreed to be acquired for about $18.7 billion by an investment group.
www.nbcnews.com
No defense of Pittman, but during the early days of Covid in 2020 with a ton of layoffs and lost revenue ,Pittman worked for no salaryDuring the bankruptcy, the filing disclosed that Bob would be getting his usual compensation and a $10.3 million bonus.
iHeartMedia Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. CEO Gets a $10.3 Million Bonus.
After failing to pay off its debt, and as Digital Music News predicted one year ago, iHeartMedia has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.www.digitalmusicnews.com
So...no.
I believe for about a year. That’s admirable. But his receiving a $10 million bonus during massive nearly annual layoffs is obscene.
Check the date on the article. The $10 million bonus was in 2018.
We are forgetting that Bressler, not Pittman directly, is behind the changes in local radio. They are obviously moving to a centralized model for programming.
It's unbelievable to think that a PD in LA for 24 years at a top 10 station survived that time because she was good at "scheduling". Is there another PD in town that lasted that long?
I think in this case it's safe to say that BigA didn't know what he/she/they were talking about.
I can think of one that got close---John Ivey was PD at KIIS-FM for 20 years. But Robin may hold the record.
And because of her longevity and success, I'm sure Robin Bertolucci was well compensated.
Which made her a target of the high priests of the spreadsheets at corporate.
Which made her a target of the high priests of the spreadsheets at corporate.
Or that you have comprehension difficulties.
At WOR, they dropped the morning show hosts & staff. At KFI, they kept all the hosts and dropped the PD.
A P.S. to this:
Robin's husband, Don Martin, was PD at KLAC. He's out, too.
Chris Berry, iHeart's Executive Vice-President of News, will assume interim PD duties for KFI and KLAC. Chris is based in Phoenix, but travels a lot and was in Boston for a few months when iHeart acquired WBZ. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in L.A. for while, maybe flying home on weekends.
I worked for Chris (well, let's be clear, if you're in any capacity in spoken word programming at iHeart, you work for Chris, even if you've never heard his name) from 2012 to 2020.
Before iHeart, he was GM at KSPN in L.A. for over a year, GM at WMAL, Washington D.C. for nine years, spent the six years before that as Vice President of Radio for ABC News, six years as PD at WBBM, Chicago, and from 1982-1986, he was a producer at KNX in L.A.
So, he's an experienced pro with an impressive resume'. From my experience with him, he knows his stuff. He's gone too far in his career to want to be a local PD again, but he'd be a great one at KFI.
Robin's husband, Don Martin, was PD at KLAC. He's out, too.
Chris Berry, iHeart's Executive Vice-President of News, will assume interim PD duties for KFI and KLAC. Chris is based in Phoenix, but travels a lot and was in Boston for a few months when iHeart acquired WBZ. I wouldn't be surprised if he is in L.A. for while, maybe flying home on weekends.
I worked for Chris (well, let's be clear, if you're in any capacity in spoken word programming at iHeart, you work for Chris, even if you've never heard his name) from 2012 to 2020.
Before iHeart, he was GM at KSPN in L.A. for over a year, GM at WMAL, Washington D.C. for nine years, spent the six years before that as Vice President of Radio for ABC News, six years as PD at WBBM, Chicago, and from 1982-1986, he was a producer at KNX in L.A.
So, he's an experienced pro with an impressive resume'. From my experience with him, he knows his stuff. He's gone too far in his career to want to be a local PD again, but he'd be a great one at KFI.
I think anybody who's read my stuff here for 20+ years knows I don't have comprehension difficulties.
You said what you said.
I know what I said. I'm the one who said it. I stand by it.
Although he will continue with Fox Sports Radio, syndicated by iHeart's Premiere.
THIS is corporate radio today. Go with the cheaper "generic" brand and forgo the quality. This is a huge example, but there are many. It's painful to watch the medium I love continue down this path.
There's a direct relationship between this and the 3rd Q earnings that just came out. One thing leads to another. And the reason earnings are down is because of the technological shift that started 30 years ago.
True enough.
For Mr. Berry it must be a labor of love especially at this point. AM was still nearly middle-aged in 1982 when he was working in it, according to the time line in the above post, some forty two years ago.
On another note; we all know that in the corporate world, Captains are the first to unload and/or bail with the treasures. Who will hold the bag with iHeart? I have always been amused at how Amb. Walter Annenberg was able to unload TV Guide (Magazine) onto Rupert Murdoch even around 1989. How did Murdoch make out when he unloaded it? I don't care to look it up. It may have ultimately helped Murdoch acquire WSJ at least in part.
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But this change has obviously been in the works for many months. To do a cut like this requires review of contracts, decisions on replacement programming and management and lots more.
They did not just discover that radio has declining audiences and revenues.
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