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Bill Bannister Out at WRVR?!

C

CFKane

Just heard through Facebook that Bill Bannister is out at WRVR, after almost 30 years on the station...

My good friend was part of the carnage reported earlier, as Karen was let go from KQK. Having not been in the market for 5 years now, it's sad to watch from afar. 29 years of service, and he's already gone from the website, like he never existed.

Sure gives you hope for the future of this industry. "At Work Station" may soon have no one actually working at it. At least in the building. The "bottom line" strikes again... Hope it was worth it, guys.
 
They obviously let go the wrong people.
A good guess is that the sales staff was not making budget, so they could not get to their cash flow number.
Who is a fault?
Start by getting rid of the MM because he cant manage his sales manager.
Then blow out the Sales Manager since he cant move the needle with the sales staff.
But a 29 year vet?
Seriously?
Entercom has sunk to a new low. Does Napoleon sleep well at night?
 
spoken like a true jock. If Bill was at WRVR for 29 years his salary was probably way out of line in the accounting percents. Bill's worth every penny that he was paid but in the world of bean counters he was over paid. I'm not saying Entercom doesn't have their sales problems but I would see Bill departure more of a function of huge expense savings. You need to understand that a dollar in expense cuts reflect better on the bottom line than 3 dollars in sales. You're probably right on that the MM and SM should be replaced.
 
Molly, I can say with some experience, that even from a bean counter perspective, this was a little nuts. Unless the staff, specifically at WRVR received a GIANT raise of some sort over the last couple of years. I can assure you, by nearly anyone's standard, the air staff in all day parts were underpaid, especially the veterans. Even by local standards.

It's funny in a way that radio doesn't seem to understand why its getting killed in younger and pay demos by iPods, Pandora, etc. What separates local radio from these services? Primarily commercials, the amount of music played,(large playlists vs small) traffic reports, and the local air talent. You take away talent, especially good talent, and then look at the differences. With radio revenues tumbling down over the last few years, is that the time to "cut" what positively separates you from free, often better, and more personalized options?

Cuts are usually an easy answer. Rarely ever the best. Especially Long term. It's hastening the very problems its attempting to fight. Cutting a salary looks good for a minute. If you want to keep the beer flowing in the sales meetings, and the high fives going up when the Arbitron reports come in, cuts like this seem a bit ridiculous.

Especially when the sister sports station has added quite a bit of local talent, at nearly the same time it's cleaning out proven, strong veterans. Both of whom, have been measurable positive influences on the bottom lines for years! While 92.9 could be successful, it's hardly likely that it will bill to the same extent as WRVR, or even KQK.

So replacing a salary, with a slightly smaller salary, or none at all, looks good to the suits in Massachusetts . Those same suits are gonna be going to whatever MM or SM is in place in a year or two saying "Why are we down this year, from last year?" They will have forgotten they replaced a well known brand name personality with whatever voicetracker from Florida, so they can save a small amount, all things considered.

Is it any wonder the iPod, and Pandora are slowly winning? With folks like that making "gutsy" calls like they are, they deserve the win.

CFKane
 
I believe the appropriate sayings here are "penny wise, pound foolish" and "you get what you pay for". I would hate to be Entercom's receptionist in about 15 minutes when the calls start coming in.
 
Does anyone in radio ever wonder why sports and movie stars get the outrageous salaries? It's because they bring that much or more back into the organization. Bill has built an enormous amount of goodwill with clients and listeners over the years.

Entercom is going to regret this. Maybe not next week, or even next year, but they will regret this strategy.
 
Don't know if it's happened in Memphis, too, but Entercom has apparently eliminated all weekend positions in Austin and Boston.

Best of luck to Bill.
 
Charles Foster Kane said:
Molly, I can say with some experience, that even from a bean counter perspective, this was a little nuts. Unless the staff, specifically at WRVR received a GIANT raise of some sort over the last couple of years. I can assure you, by nearly anyone's standard, the air staff in all day parts were underpaid, especially the veterans. Even by local standards.

It's funny in a way that radio doesn't seem to understand why its getting killed in younger and pay demos by iPods, Pandora, etc. What separates local radio from these services? Primarily commercials, the amount of music played,(large playlists vs small) traffic reports, and the local air talent. You take away talent, especially good talent, and then look at the differences. With radio revenues tumbling down over the last few years, is that the time to "cut" what positively separates you from free, often better, and more personalized options?

Cuts are usually an easy answer. Rarely ever the best. Especially Long term. It's hastening the very problems its attempting to fight. Cutting a salary looks good for a minute. If you want to keep the beer flowing in the sales meetings, and the high fives going up when the Arbitron reports come in, cuts like this seem a bit ridiculous.

Especially when the sister sports station has added quite a bit of local talent, at nearly the same time it's cleaning out proven, strong veterans. Both of whom, have been measurable positive influences on the bottom lines for years! While 92.9 could be successful, it's hardly likely that it will bill to the same extent as WRVR, or even KQK.

So replacing a salary, with a slightly smaller salary, or none at all, looks good to the suits in Massachusetts . Those same suits are gonna be going to whatever MM or SM is in place in a year or two saying "Why are we down this year, from last year?" They will have forgotten they replaced a well known brand name personality with whatever voicetracker from Florida, so they can save a small amount, all things considered.

Is it any wonder the iPod, and Pandora are slowly winning? With folks like that making "gutsy" calls like they are, they deserve the win.

CFKane
Click to expand...

This post is so spot-on, I can't really add much. I also find it strange that Entercom brings Chris Vernon on board right around the same time they cut Bill Bannister loose. Let's put that under the microscope for a second. Bill has been pulling down ten shares in the WRVR target demo for three decades. Chris Vernon has been pulling down a whopping zero with his frat boy prattling. Not a .2 or a .1 -- ZERO.

Methinks the emperor is not wearing clothes.
 
Well I for one have always thought that change is good...leaves more room for someone new to take someone's place and skyrocket that time slot in the ratings. We really don't know the innerworkings of what really took place behind the scenes, do we? Any number of things could have been the cause of this happening. That being said, give me a call Entercom. I'll roll my R's for ya on good old WRVR anytime. I'd like to have that time slot before they give it to Thaddeus Matthews!

Old Tom G
"Still very drunk and still very pur-tee!"
 
Ron Olson is the only person that I can think of who has been at his station longer than Bill Bannister was at WRVR. Ron Olson has been at FM 100 since some time in the late 1970's. Bannister did a great job at WRVR because his laid back approach fit the format so well. I suppose if you're at least 40 years old and make at least $40,000 a year that you are vulnerable to job cuts.
 
snazzyjazzy said:
Ron Olson is the only person that I can think of who has been at his station longer than Bill Bannister was at WRVR. Ron Olson has been at FM 100 since some time in the late 1970's. Bannister did a great job at WRVR because his laid back approach fit the format so well. I suppose if you're at least 40 years old and make at least $40,000 a year that you are vulnerable to job cuts.
Click to expand...

Good old Ron Olson, son of Mr and Mrs Olson, on FM-100 since the MID 70's. From playing Jimi Hendrix to Gerry Rafferty to Michael Jackson to New Kids on the Block to Lady GaGa. AND the good thing is Ron never had to do a stint as a stable boy scooping up horse manure or work as a hired shill greeting people and sweeping up cigarette butts in Tunica. Good for you Ron! Oh all this talk just makes me want to go out and drink all night. So before I do, a toast to Ron Olson, son of Mr and Mrs Olson with over 35 years at the same frequency and probably lots of groupies to show for it. (glasses clinking) Here Here.

Old Tom G
"I'll toast to just about anybody as long as it's a double"
 
firepoint525 said:
Back on topic....

If Bannister had been with 'RVR for that long, then he evidently started there during the Quad 104 days! That should bring back some memories for some of you! ;D
Click to expand...

Can’t trust my memory 100% , but I don’t think Bill was ever at the Central Ave. studios, which would make him post-Quad.

I THINK the fulltime staff when we changed to WRVR was Butler, Maxine Todd, Steve Kelley, Skip Presson, and an overnight guy whose name I cannot recall. We were still at Central and Philadephia when the call letter change happened.
 
Bill Bannister is one of the Good Guys! Ditto Charles Foster Kane's comments on the previous page! All the best in the future, Bill!
 
The suits/bean counters are ruining radio. There is no justification on the product side for what happened at WRVR. There is no long term vision in corporate radio regarding local product development
 
Good memory Radiosaur! Bill was not in the old WRVR studios on Central. He joined us in the new building out east, '82 I think. A very young Ron Childers was doing part time/swing for us when the move east happened, and was "carting" up the music for the new studios. Bill is as close to a 30 year run as can be. Bill has nothing to hang his head about. He did great radio everyday, made a lot of money for both Viacom and Entercom and various other Com's and will benefit any smart radio operator. Change is inevitable and loyalty matters not in most businesses, sad but true.
 
BleedRadio said:
Good memory Radiosaur! Bill was not in the old WRVR studios on Central. He joined us in the new building out east, '82 I think. A very young Ron Childers was doing part time/swing for us when the move east happened, and was "carting" up the music for the new studios. Bill is as close to a 30 year run as can be. Bill has nothing to hang his head about. He did great radio everyday, made a lot of money for both Viacom and Entercom and various other Com's and will benefit any smart radio operator. Change is inevitable and loyalty matters not in most businesses, sad but true.
Click to expand...

Yep. I was the other part time / swing jock. Really good chance I know you.

In fact, I was the first one on the air in the Ridgeway studios, Midnight to 6 on a Monday morning. Not long after that, the transmitter failed. The auxiliary at the WDIA studio had not been maintained and failed as well, resulting in WRVR being off the air for about 72 hours. Engineering heads rolled over that one, and ultimately opened up the assistant CE position for me. Thus, a 20 year career was born.
 
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