CC laying off 20% of workforce on 1/5?

[SonoSational18]

What amazes me is that everyone outside of Clear Channel claims to be the proverbial fly on the wall who knows what's going to happen. I don't doubt that there may be layoffs. Tis the season and every major company has cut some people.... and so far Clear Channel hasn't. There still is some redundance and dead wood. There are also some very dedicated people that are likely to get whacked. My only concern is that this time the bean counters are going to make the decision based on "metrics". If payroll needs to be cut, that decision should be made on the local level. We'll find out soon enough whether the big Dallas pow-wow will be a pep rally or a wake. I hope that the Bain people are smart enough to realize that in order to build value you have to have product and people.

Radio has been at crossroads before. Think 50 years ago when television was supposed to make our business extinct. We re-invented ourselves. Again in the 80's when everyone had AM radio dead and buried, we fooled them again... AM stations are alive and well when done correctly. Clear Channel has the cash, the facilities, and the sheer size to lead the next revolution. While companies like Citadel are worried about being de-listed on the stock exchange, CC could make some extraordinary moves to re-vitalize this business. They have the resources. Do they have the vision? We'll see.... and I hope they do.

 

[Tibbs4]

Don't worry about "fixing" Dallasboyz. Medicine will be coming soon. Maybe we'll
read the post stating that someone had to help him load up his napsack and
remove his thumb from his mouth when he's laying outside the building in the
fetal position when he realizes what the 2009 meaning of "being promoted from
within" really means.

Us Wonderland 60's guys will see ya as we come order at the Drive Up window.
Do you know how many 100's of clones like you slither through with false egos
and security?

What a joke!

 

[stonesmarconi]

Bain is no more different than Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst when they bought SFX/Capstar.

 

[radioeye]

Bain is no more different than Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst when they bought SFX/Capstar.

When Hicks bought all those high flying broadcast groups it was a vastly different time that when Bain bought CC.

They both paid multiples that put pressure on future sales. Ultimately, CC came along to buy high flying Hicks and that deal made sense back in 1999/2000. In 2008, I still have a hard time seeing how the Bain deal to buy CC makes sense.

If you mean that Bain paid too much for CC, just as Hicks paid too much for SFX/Capstar.... your right. But that deal was didn't require going to court to sue the bank to fund it.

 

[Tibbs4]

...and therefore the moral of the story is another example of the FACT that they can't afford to buy these stations
and won't be able to pay for the stations. "Cash is king."

 

[Tom Wells]

Uh... Doesn't the canary always die in the mine?

They generally get the people and the canary out before death.

My neighbor in 1990 was an old Cook County (IL) Sherrif who had been a coal miner in southern Ill long ago.

He said you couldn't trust "them d**m canaries, you need a mouse in the mine. Mouse'll die a lot quicker."

 

[WKomm]

Sono - the biggest problem with your passionate argument - and it's good - is that the economy has tanked. We are skirting with a depression and economic gurus I follow are nearly unanimous is thinking 2009 will be extremely tough to get through for ALL of us. The expected cuts aren't due to innovation or thinning the herd or because someone is a mean guy - it's because there's no cash. I've had friends in sales in various markets saying that despite any glowing money talk, ad sales are abyssmal.

This rumor has been building over the last few months. I have no doubt it's true and if you read between the lines of the recently publicized rah-rah note from Mays, it seems to back up the rumors.

None of this is good.

 

[Bob_Hudson]

...CC could make some extraordinary moves to re-vitalize this business.

Yes and my cat could learn to speak French.

 

[yup]

That would be pretty hip if your cat learned french.

From SonoSational18..."CC could make some extraordinary moves to re-vitalize this business". Besides the fact that it is too obvious, we all know that will never happen. "Stay the course! We're behind you! (whoever is left) Our Management team will lead us onward in this difficult time! Now, if you'll excuse me I have to get my wife and my Mercedes waxed." To re-vitalize this business one would have to admit that just perhaps one does not have all the answers and that might make you less worthy of a massive paycheck.

 

[radioeye]

I seem to remember just a year ago that people were calling CC a CASH COW despite the obvious problems that everyone seemed to see on the horizon. Even a cow has to be fed in order to give milk.

 

[WKomm]

Mike - nice post and no argument but it's really an outline of a wonderland that doesn't exist. I don't claim to be a scholar but I'm a bright guy with a voracious reading habit and I've yet to come across one period in human history where an unbridled society or even a segment of one led to anything but failure. Business - including radio - needs regulation and oversight. Maybe radio more than most, considering the broadcast spectrum is a public resource. If I open up a hot dog stand, I'll pay fees and licensing. Buy a radio station and you pay zeeeero for use of the spectrum.

One small example of an industry that definitely needs oversight and reigning in.

 

[nightfly61]

Used to love those incentive letters Mark Mays put out: "If you haven't been fired yet please redouble your efforts to make us #1. Then we will fire you too." That's what it looked like between the lines anyway.
Don't forget the ungodly amount the CC billboard people make. I was once accidentally sent an email list of everyone's names & how much they made in the road sign dept. I knew I was in the wrong business.

 

[radioeye]

Mike - nice post and no argument but it's really an outline of a wonderland that doesn't exist. I don't claim to be a scholar but I'm a bright guy with a voracious reading habit and I've yet to come across one period in human history where an unbridled society or even a segment of one led to anything but failure. Business - including radio - needs regulation and oversight. Maybe radio more than most, considering the broadcast spectrum is a public resource. If I open up a hot dog stand, I'll pay fees and licensing. Buy a radio station and you pay zeeeero for use of the spectrum.

One small example of an industry that definitely needs oversight and reigning in.

Actually, the FCC does have licensing fees and radio does pay Ascap, Bmi and Sesac fee for music rights. There's even a movement to get radio stations to pay performance rights fees. There is no free lunch. If you want a new station, it's off to the FCC auction.

 

[Remaster]

Good luck to all tomorrow and hoping this thread is just another product of "Radio Infoism".

 

[Davie123]

The Mark Mays "New Years Memo" sounds ominous. He acknowledges the recessionary atmosphere that radio is in, and says "tough decisions" will be necessary in the coming months. We've all heard that expression before, usually just before the axe comes down.

 

[CCP]

Lots of voice tracking for other markets coming. Hopefully this will save some San Antonio jobs.

 

[blue67ccm]

Greed? You have to be kidding me.

Since when is a business a non-profit?

It's not.

For those that complain about the state of the industry, For those that complain about "greed", For those that complain because they aren't as far along in their career as they want to be; do something about it.

You come off like whiney babies. Of course it's "greed". It's capitalism.

It's not the responsibility of a CEO to look out for every single little man. Its the responsibility of the CEO to turn as much of a profit as possible. And if that CEO can't do it, someone will.

Stop blaming your shortcomings on someone else. You either don't have the talent or work ethic to be successful.

You know, I LOVE capitalism--but this mentality is what gives people the exact ammo to cry "greed".

Not everyone can make it on "talent and work ethic". I know, I've seen it. Many, many times, it's "who you know" that trumps all that by a WIDE margin.

There is a huge difference between greed and corporate responsibility. And those who see things as either "get all you want, it's the way of capitalism" or "any intervention equals government socialism" is simply forgetting one thing.

Accountability.

There's nothing wrong with calling top management on the carpet for golden parachutes, especially when they led the downturn of a corporation. There's nothing wrong with brown-bagging. And there's certainly NOTHING wrong with looking at "employees" as "people", and look at every possible way to cut back in a corporate environment before making families bear the brunt.

Layoffs are necessary, absolutely (and most unfortunately). But this line of thinking is so short-sighted, and diametrically opposed to what true corporate leaders need as an actual "vision" necessary to build long-term successful businesses, utilizing the best talent they can find.

 

[yup]

"There is a huge difference between greed and corporate responsibility. " RIGHT ON. Upper management will do whatever it takes before THEY will accept responsibility. blue67ccm, you are so right about it being "short-sighted". I think my Father used to call it "cutting your nose off to spite your face." It's self-destructive but they do not care because the golden chutes are already in place for them. They certainly don't care about what it does to the product as long as THEY look good by cutting overhead. (harming good people and their families in the process)

 

[Mr_Place]

So, has anyone heard any news about any CC layoffs yet today? It's already mid-afternoon on the east coast.

 

[blue67ccm]

Another smaller company made a few cuts here in Virginia earlier today, but no CC yet. I'm thinking it won't start until the GM's/MM's get back to their clusters.