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Ch-ch-changes at 'CMF and 'PXY

Tell me is anyone really surprised at this announcement? I wonder if Wease is still complaining about his cramped studio on Mill Street now?
 
I think Entercom will be missing something else at these stations if they go the route of having a disc drive program these time slots at the two stations...LISTENERS!!!

Didn't the beating that CBS took in New York by going that route in 2005 and 2006 (followed by the resurgence of audience and revenue they enjoyed when Dan Mason reversed the Hollander brothers' decisions and brought the human touch back to their NYC station cluster) teach ANYTHING to the people running this business across the country? This doesn't look like a decision the local brass would have made, it looks a lot more like it's dictated by TPTB at HQ in Philadelphia. I wonder, how long will it take before they find out they screwed up? (I give it two books for the audience bleed to fully set in, one more for the revenue rot to start hurting badly.)

There's probably champagne flowing at 207 Midtown...since it looks like Entercom has made some moves that'll bail out Clear Channel's competitive position quite a bit. And if WPXY goes all canned after Scott Spezzano's show ends at 10 AM, not only Kiss 106.7, but WDKX will be big winners with the hit music audience. DKX will probably further cement its dominance in the 12-34 demos.

We're about to get a fresh reminder about how cost-cutting ends up backfiring on you in this business...
 
The Voice of Reason said:
Tell me is anyone really surprised at this announcement? I wonder if Wease is still complaining about his cramped studio on Mill Street now?
Click to expand...

Nothing surprises me about broadcasting anymore, however I am sorry that my old friend and colleague Marc Cronin is out of work along with another friend of mine who lost her job as well.

I just got off the phone a former co-worker who told me that he heard Wease making some comments on-air today about the mass firings at CMF and PXY and also had some remarks about his new work environment.

Am I the only one thinking that now is not the best time to be complaining, especially on-air, about studio space after several long-time co-workers are unemployed? Someone should remind Wease of the old saying; “Nobody is irreplaceable.”

My friend added that someone in Wease’s crew also took a verbal pot-shot against Scott Fybush.

As for celebrating at Midtown, those people should be more concerned where they will be broadcasting from in the near future once that building turns into Pae Tec's new HQ. I bet the folks at CC now wished they had moved their facilities out to Canal Park in Greece a few years ago when they has the chance.
 
I think Entercom will be missing something else at these stations if they go the route of having a disc drive program these time slots at the two stations...LISTENERS!!!
Click to expand...

Is it certain they are going the automation route? Perhaps they'll replace them with cheaper talent. There's always somebody willing to try and climb up the ladder by starting off at the bottom of the barrel.

I feel bad for all of them - I've been on the receiving end of the corporate cutting block myself. I've met Marc Cronin on a few occasions - very nice guy - I wish Marc and the others all the very the best in the future.
 
Stunning! Dave Kane done after 27 years. That has to be a record. At Chevy Tonawanda, NiMo or Moog, you walk away with a pension, or at least a piece of one after 27 years. Godspeed, Kane-O.
 
Finally! Thanks guys for picking up the phone when I needed a reference. Here's to living in the real world.
 
JimPastrick said:
Stunning! Dave Kane done after 27 years.
Click to expand...

That's a horrible decision. Of course it's based on salary. WCMF might as will flip format---seriously, Dave Kane is a Rochester institution. I wonder how fast he lands at Clear Channel? Today? Tomorrow? Monday? ;)
 
ThePickleReport said:
Dave Kane is a Rochester institution. I wonder how fast he lands at Clear Channel? Today? Tomorrow? Monday? ;)
Click to expand...

Most of us who know the man agree that Dave is not only a Rochester institution, but a decent fellow who devoted many years to help make WCMF what it is today. But the "shirts" at Entercom could care less. They are just interested in the bottom-line.....period. Hopefully Dave will land on his feet at another station outside the Rochester market. One other possibility is that someone local will be able to purchase WRMM, Fickle and the other FM station... re-hire Dave, Marc and some other top local talent and give Entercom a run for its money. It's a pipe-dream I know, but wouldn't it be nice if that happened?
 
Dream Team!

Maybe The Lake should pick up Kane-O for mid-days and take a real run at Rochester!

Oh, wait, that's an Entercom property to.

As Emily Litella would say, "Nevermind..."
 
One More Thing...

I'd also like to offer Mr. Kane and the company of former 'CMFers my condolences. It's a tough market out there, but talent does find a place to land. Sometimes, when you have nothing left to lose, you find the freedom to look for an opportunity that pays the bills AND makes you happy. Be creative, and look outside your comfort zone.

After 27 years, let's hope that Mr. Kane has invested wisely, and either has a nice reserve, or can think about retirement as an option. And, let's hope that there's a hefty severance package to help ease the transition.

For everyone else "in the biz", it's just another reminder that no job lasts forever, no matter how good you and/or your numbers are. "Saving for a rainy day" isn't just lip service for radio folks. It's either that, or marry well...
 
I too wish the best for Kane-O and all the now ex-CMF/PXY'ers. Nobody who reads this board is surprised at the stupid moves made by the suits but the timing of this and the personalities of those targeted still make it tough to stomach. I'll be amazed if CMF isn't adversely impacted ratings-wise. I know they'll have at least one less listener after today...
 
It's difficult not to feel badly and have a sense of sympathy when good, long-time radio personalities such as those in Rochester are terminated. Guys who've spent a good part of their careers, if not their lives, on the radio (at one radio station) in one market deserve better. Dave Kane and Pete Kennedy were the better known personalities who were let go this week, but even the second tier players deserve recognition for their service. I respectfully wish them well.

Speculation about what would happen to CMF and PXY as well as The Zone, Fickle and WRRM has, over the last year, generated more than a few threads on this board with various opinions posted.

And it is here that my post turns cold. Why is it that everybody here is surprised by what happened? Are we surprised because what was expected to happen actually happened? Are we surprised because albeit talented men who earned large salaries (reportedly into six figures) were released by Entercom once the FCC and DOJ (tentatively) approved their purchase of the CBS stations? Didn't Entercom execute staff cuts in its Buffalo cluster in early November?

The outrage and sentiment expressed over the firings is easy to understand and justifiable. The surprise, as if we were caught off guard, is that some didn't expect these cuts to happen. Perhaps some expected staffers in production, promotions, traffic and engineering to take the hit, but employees in those departments most likely do not make what air personalities earn.

Did not more than a few posters speculate that Wease would be taken down a few pegs salary-wise, if not summarily dismissed? Entercom's decision to make Wease and his crew work in the same studio that is to be used by the rest of the airstaff was the first sign that Entercom has no intention of kowtowing to him and his crew. Expect more to come, it wouldn't be a surprise if Wease was offered a deal that cut his base pay and shifted his compensation to performance-based parameters wherein Entercom would (handsomely) reward Wease for being number one or two, Persons 25-54. More than likely, the salaries of Kane and Kennedy will be offset by Wease's salary. In this regard, Kane and Kennedy may have been cut in order to sustain Wease.

Let me ask the question. If your were being paid $100k to do middays and the company that bought your stations offered you the choice of being unemployed or taking a 50 per cent pay cut, what would you choose? If you were doing mornings and the company offered you a choice of being unemployed or restructuring your contract to a performance-based salary, what would you do. I'm not debating whether the offer is right or wrong, fair or unfair. Rather, I'm simply stating a scenario that is faced by more and more on-air talent every year. It's a rhetorical question.

In Buffalo, Channel 7, owned by the particularly insolvent Granite Communications, recently presented similar pay cut options to it's anchor team. Some, including anchor Keith Radform, accepted the pay cut rather than stand in the unemployment line. We all know that John Murphy chose not to accept and is in litigation to determine the duration of his contract's non-compete clause.

It's not my intention to rain on the sympathy parade but to pull the curtains back on reality and show the situation for what it is. Not long ago, a thread was initiated with a four year old post lamenting the problems in the business. More than occasionally, posters who have left the business opine that the business is in dire straits these days and the wolf is at the door. Guess what? The wolf isn't at the door, he's in the house.
 
AndrewLawson said:
It's difficult not to feel badly and have a sense of sympathy when good, long-time radio personalities such as those in Rochester are terminated. Guys who've spent a good part of their careers, if not their lives, on the radio (at one radio station) in one market deserve better. Dave Kane and Pete Kennedy were the better known personalities who were let go this week, but even the second tier players deserve recognition for their service. I respectfully wish them well.

Speculation about what would happen to CMF and PXY as well as The Zone, Fickle and WRRM has, over the last year, generated more than a few threads on this board with various opinions posted.

And it is here that my post turns cold. Why is it that everybody here is surprised by what happened? Are we surprised because what was expected to happen actually happened? Are we surprised because albeit talented men who earned large salaries (reportedly into six figures) were released by Entercom once the FCC and DOJ (tentatively) approved their purchase of the CBS stations? Didn't Entercom execute staff cuts in its Buffalo cluster in early November?

The outrage and sentiment expressed over the firings is easy to understand and justifiable. The surprise, as if we were caught off guard, is that some didn't expect these cuts to happen. Perhaps some expected staffers in production, promotions, traffic and engineering to take the hit, but employees in those departments most likely do not make what air personalities earn.

Did not more than a few posters speculate that Wease would be taken down a few pegs salary-wise, if not summarily dismissed? Entercom's decision to make Wease and his crew work in the same studio that is to be used by the rest of the airstaff was the first sign that Entercom has no intention of kowtowing to him and his crew. Expect more to come, it wouldn't be a surprise if Wease was offered a deal that cut his base pay and shifted his compensation to performance-based parameters wherein Entercom would (handsomely) reward Wease for being number one or two, Persons 25-54. More than likely, the salaries of Kane and Kennedy will be offset by Wease's salary. In this regard, Kane and Kennedy may have been cut in order to sustain Wease.

Let me ask the question. If your were being paid $100k to do middays and the company that bought your stations offered you the choice of being unemployed or taking a 50 per cent pay cut, what would you choose? If you were doing mornings and the company offered you a choice of being unemployed or restructuring your contract to a performance-based salary, what would you do. I'm not debating whether the offer is right or wrong, fair or unfair. Rather, I'm simply stating a scenario that is faced by more and more on-air talent every year. It's a rhetorical question.

In Buffalo, Channel 7, owned by the particularly insolvent Granite Communications, recently presented similar pay cut options to it's anchor team. Some, including anchor Keith Radform, accepted the pay cut rather than stand in the unemployment line. We all know that John Murphy chose not to accept and is in litigation to determine the duration of his contract's non-compete clause.

It's not my intention to rain on the sympathy parade but to pull the curtains back on reality and show the situation for what it is. Not long ago, a thread was initiated with a four year old post lamenting the problems in the business. More than occasionally, posters who have left the business opine that the business is in dire straits these days and the wolf is at the door. Guess what? The wolf isn't at the door, he's in the house.
Click to expand...

An excellent post, except allow me to add one thing. While on-air talent making 100k a year or more are expected to take salary cuts, why is it then that management has no qualms about giving themselves double-digit raises and accepting extra perks? It's the on-air staff that brings in the money vis-a-vie their ability to draw an audience to a station thus the sales department can sell advertising time to clients. I've maintained that the days of six-figure salaries for on-air personalities are over with. While people like Wease, Tony & Dee and a few others still make good money, announcers hired today will be lucky to make 50k. And you are also correct that many people, including yours truly, predicted that once the CBS-Entercom deal was finalized, that there would be staff cuts. It's natural to feel bad for people like Dave Kane , Pete Kennedy and Marc Cronin, who spent most of their working lives helping to build WCMF and WPXY lose their jobs. But also take into account that a few people who hardly come close to making what those gentlemen did also lost theirs as well. As for the future, I believe that Wease's days are numbered at Entercom. He can bitch and complain all he wants about having no windows in his studio, or that he can't have his own seperate studio. That tune will soon grow tired and the executives at Entercom won't blink twice about showing the 61 year old former promoter-turned announcer the front door. Personality radio in Rochester, like other markets, is on life-support and those veteran announcers who are left hopefully have put aside a lot of money into their IRA accounts because they made need it.
 
Reality Show

Musings on recent posts:

1. Wease's days are numbered because he IS 61 years old.

2. If you've been at the same job for decades, and you make a big salary, you have a target on your back. That's true if you're in radio, on the line at GM, in the insurance game, a government worker, or a teacher. Everybody's trying to cut costs to improve the bottom line. In some cases you get offered a buyout. In radio, you get shown the door.

3. People that replace those "high-paid" people will make less - a lot less. Sometimes, the bottom line shows losses that exceed the savings. Sometimes, the replacements do well enough to show an uptick in the profits. The long term results are undecided.

4. Automation that replaces those "high-paid" people will cost less - a lot less. Sometimes, the bottom line shows losses that exceed the savings. Sometimes, the syndication does well enough to show an uptick in the profits. The long term results are that listeners feel no tie to any station, or even radio itself. The long term results are a looming shadow on radio as we know it. Radio is strangling itself.

5. People who work in the broadcasting industry will have some hard choices to make. A few people will make a lot of money. A few people will make decent money. Some people will make enough to get by on. A lot of people won't make enough to get by on. If you're in the biz, have a backup plan. If you're not in the biz, why would you subject yourself to that kind of uncertainty?

6. Is there a "next generation" of broadcasters? Only if there's a "next generation" of owners. The big question? "Will owners realize that talent is the product, not music? You don't need radio to get music."
 
Reply to "ThePickleReport":

Pete Kennedy was with 'PXY for 21 years, almost 22. I worked with him at the old Q92, before it became WBEE on April 2, 1986. After the format change, Tom Mitchell, former 'PXY PD, snatched him up.

He's a real great guy, never one of those swelled-head types. But then again, you know what they say abnout nice guys.

Same with Marc Cronin...another great guy to hang out with, as I have had the opportunity to do. But who cares about how nice you are these days? It's all about the Benjamins...and the Grants, Jacksons, Hamiltons, Lincolns, and Washingtons. The rich get richer; it's a never-ending cycle.

As for Dave Kane, yes I worked with HIM as well, and yes, another decent character who wound up getting the shaft. Doesn't matter who you are, when they want to kick you out, you're done. Simple as that.

At least they let Kane-O do a final show. When Entercom gave me the boot four years ago, they did it immediately. I had to make an appointment to RETURN to get my personal belongings...can you believe that? I was already there, but this was what they wanted to do! Yes, it WAS stupid!
 
Wease's days are not numbered because he's 61, they are numbered because Entercom executives will have no problems showing him the front door if his ratings tank, or if he continues to complain...on-air...about his windowless studio. Wease better wake up and smell the roses. The days are over where he is going to get what he wants; i:e: his own studio, trade-outs, and freebies.
 
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