Bob Summers outta there?

[TANKSBACK]

Bob Summers is gone from WROU after 17 years! I hope that I wake up and it's just a bad dream! He's a consummate professional and will surely land on his feet. Is someone at Mainline on drugs? Or did he resign for some reason? Good luck Bob!!!

 

[alans613]

WOW...This is a shocker to me. I just met Bob on October 3rd when I did the "FlyPod" on Fly 92.9. Great guy and super nice.

 

[workingindayton]

Main Line Broadcasting layed off several people in most of it's markets a couple of weeks ago. The story can be found somewhere on All Access. In Dayton they fired Bob Summers, a receptionist and a part-time board operator. In Springfield they fired WKSW's morning show personality Chris Daniels and an office employee. They also fired several in their Louisville cluster, including former Z-93 employee Big Joe.

 

[KyDXIn]

Main Line Broadcasting layed off several people in most of it's markets a couple of weeks ago. The story can be found somewhere on All Access. In Dayton they fired Bob Summers, a receptionist and a part-time board operator. In Springfield they fired WKSW's morning show personality Chris Daniels and an office employee. They also fired several in their Louisville cluster, including former Z-93 employee Big Joe.

Here is a link to the Louisville bloodbath. They canned Rocky Knight, a semi-legend of rock radio in this town. Its everywhere...

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,111334.0.html

 

[alans613]

Main Line Broadcasting layed off several people in most of it's markets a couple of weeks ago. The story can be found somewhere on All Access. In Dayton they fired Bob Summers, a receptionist and a part-time board operator. In Springfield they fired WKSW's morning show personality Chris Daniels and an office employee. They also fired several in their Louisville cluster, including former Z-93 employee Big Joe.

Sad, sad, sad. Big Joe was a helluva nice guy and it's sad to see him lose his gig. My wife knew Chris Daniels and said she was nice. I hope all these kind folks land on their feet somewhere. :'(

 

[gr8oldies]

With the wholesale slashing and burning of what few remaining on air positions there are, how can I.C.B. recruit students with a straight face?

 

[techie2]

With the wholesale slashing and burning of what few remaining on air positions there are, how can I.C.B. recruit students with a straight face?

Great point.

It makes me wonder why anyone would waste money on "HD Radio" tuners. Hell, there's no one left in the building to put content onto the existing analog stations! Might as well use an mp3 player and eliminate the middleman, when it seems like everyone's headed to "computer jukebox in a broom closet" status.

 

[marketweis]

With the wholesale slashing and burning of what few remaining on air positions there are, how can I.C.B. recruit students with a straight face?

Great point.

It makes me wonder why anyone would waste money on "HD Radio" tuners. Hell, there's no one left in the building to put content onto the existing analog stations! Might as well use an mp3 player and eliminate the middleman, when it seems like everyone's headed to "computer jukebox in a broom closet" status.

Some co-workers and I used to joke back in late 99-2000 after CC took over our group of stations that one day it would just be 6 mini-tower PC's to run each of our stations, featuring the services of one Otto Mation.....no bodies to be found excecpt for a front office person and sales. That "joke" doesn't seem so funny anymore as we keep moving in that direction.

 

[KFodor]

With the wholesale slashing and burning of what few remaining on air positions there are, how can I.C.B. recruit students with a straight face?

Since I teach radio at ICB, here's your answer:

I don't candy coat it. I tell them that radio was never an easy business to get into...and still was more difficult to move through the ranks, because competition was everywhere. And still is.

I tell them that the consolidation of the 1990's did, in fact, reduce the number of available jobs, especially the types of jobs most often used by newbies (overnights/weekends) to establish their careers. It also reduced staffing levels at small town radio stations.

I tell them a beginner's job in radio probably won't pay them what working a pizza route at Domino's pays. But, then again, it never did. I tell them I started my career in Wilmington, Ohio at a "Mom and Pop" station that paid me the princely salary of $80 a week to work a 6 and 7 day workweek. I drove to Wilmington 6 to 7 days a week from my parents home in Centerville. And that my next "big move" was to Dayton, to work part time in the News Department at WONE/WTUE (an actual pay increase, given the number of hours I got) for $5.50 an hour. I tell them most, if not all of them will start their radio careers part-time and they will need some other form of income to keep food on their tables in the beginning.

Are all of today's "corporate owners" evil? I tell them it depends on who you work for. There's are good owners and bad today, just as there were good "mom and pops", and bad "mom and pops". Some owners "get" the fact that you win with people, others think people are commodities and numbers on a balance sheet. Even so, I warn students that both good and bad owners often find themselves in a position to not be able to operate their stations as they might like, because of the pressures of having gone public on Wall Street.

I also tell them that I think the mistakes some companies made in going public, playing the game of multiples, and buying and selling like there was no tomorrow will eventually come to haunt them. But, because I am a believer in free markets, I also know the best time to get into a business is when it's at it's lowest price. So, I do think a day is coming when the buyers will come around and reinvestment will happen. This day may not be a happy one for some corporate owners, but I think we'll see it eventually.

I tell them my belief that radio will always be around, even though it may, or may not resemble the radio we know today. If you look at the history of radio, we were extremely local operations in the very early going (there were no networks, or wire services back then), the invention of radio teleophony brought about the ability to build a broadcast network and thus, radio became a local service with entertainment provided by network performers. Then, when television was invented, the network stars went off to TV and radio became more local again with the invention of the DJ. Now, we seem like we're in a world of both syndicated and local talent. Is this a pendelum swinging? Perhaps.

But, both are still that: talent. And those jobs are still available.

What you all don't "get" here when you raise subjects such as this is that, at the bottom line, you're not supposed to be a "radio DJ" (or talent). Or, a "radio" anything for that matter. You're supposed to be a "broadcaster".

I tell them to survive today, one must have the ability to wear multiple hats within a station organization, and be able to do all jobs well. I tell them they have to be able to be good "DJ's" just as much as they need to know how to gather, collect, report and anchor news. And, if they have good programming sense, they should be prepared to program a station (or 2 or 3) as well. Or, do sports. Or, sell air time. The more you can do, the less the chance you will be considered "expendable".

I tell them jobs are there and will continue to be there. Why? Because a lot of them are still in terrestrial radio, some of them are on satellite radio, and many more could very well be created if and when internet broadcasting is permitted to grow. And, if you are, in fact, a "broadcaster", you won't care whether the job is on terrestrial radio, satellite radio, or wireless. You'll still be communicating to the masses. But, I remind and caution them, all of this hasn't played out yet.

And, as today's crop of us baby boomers begin to retire, talented people will be needed to replace us whenever and wherever true "broadcasters" are needed.

Then, I tell them that if they believe in themselves, are willing to make the sacrifice in time, effort and energy, I tell them a broadcasting career is possible. If not, I strongly advise them to look for a new career path.

I tell them radio will never go away. There will always be a market for a business that provides entertainment free but for the cost of receiving it. But that other forms of broadcasting are either here or forthcoming, that will also produce jobs. My students just need to be ready for them. That's why at ICB, we're teaching how to be a DJ, a news reporter, a play by play person, a time salesperson. We also teach wave-form editing in commercial and audio production. We're in the process of working toward teaching computer assisted broadcasting full-on. I mean, why continue to teach carts and CD's (beyond a rudimentary knowledge), when voicetracking and being able to do a "show" while allowing the computer to do its' thing are what's really happening in a studio these days?

Not long ago, I had lunch at a Sonic restaurant. Coming out the speakers was "Sonic Radio Live", an in-house radio station, obviously delivered by internet connection. (You can look this up on the internet and locate the site). It had what sounded like a live DJ (could have been tracked, though) playing from a wide playlist of A/C family oriented hits from the 50's to today. The jock delievered the music in a high-energy, Top 40 style delivery. Perfect for a drive-in restaurant chain. Whoever the jock is, he sounded better than most of today's over-egoed liner readers on FM. Go ahead radio people, laugh at the guy. But, he's still a DJ and is "broadcasting" to a large, captive audience. (Last time I looked, Sonic is not a tiny burger chain.)

You see, at the end of the day, the job is not "radio". It's "broadcasting".

 

[JobyOne]

My wife knew Chris Daniels and said she was nice. I hope all these kind folks land on their feet somewhere. :'(




Worked with Chris Daniels twice, once in Columbus and once in Springfield. She busted her ass and was the most known commodity on the station in return for little respect or reward. Trust me, Chris, those stomach pains stop soon after you're out of the strip mall; mine stopped 2 hours after getting the axe:J)