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Chief Engineer

I heard ads running on KTCK that Cumulus is looking for a new chief engineer. Its on their website as well.
 
AND of particular interest, the Cumulus ad states that YOU must supply your own vehicle:

Valid and clean driver’s license, must provide own transportation.

And, here are some of the diving distances from Victory Park to Cumulus transmitter sites:

-One way distance to WBAP-FM: 72 mi / 144 mi round trip

-One way distance to WBAP(AM): 37 mi / 74 mi round trip

-One way distance to KLIF(AM): 18 mi / 36 mi round trip

The add clearly says the applicant must provide "own transportation"? Really?

Vehicle depreciation, vehicle insurance, vehicle maintenance and gas associated with driving to those transmitters are all the legitimate cost of doing business and as such should be absorbed by Cumulus, not deferred in whole or in part to any employee.

Funny, back in 1996 I worked for an upstart Hispanic group in town - "Poco Peso Radio" - and they deferred all of those vehicle operating costs back to me. That was sixteen years ago. On average, I depreciated my truck 85,000 miles per year while absorbing all of their costs.

Wow, sixteen years later Cumulus has finally caught up to the business practices of "Poco Peso" radio.

Applause please.
 
JRZFM100 said:
Wow, sixteen years later Cumulus has finally caught up to the business practices of "Poco Peso" radio.

Applause please.

Perhaps it is appropriate. When Cumulus has finished gutting and destroying WBAP and all the other old ABC stations and when the whole house of cards comes crumbling down in an implosion of unsustainable debt......well, those amigos from Poco Peso might just be the ones uniquely qualified to buy WBAP on the cheap from under the nasty rubble and return it to profitability as SuperTejano 820. When that happens, that new chief engineer will probably be the one person with the station who still has a job with the new owners. Thanks to Cumulus, he will feel right at home! #CumulusFail
 
RRRRRRaaaaaaaa-day-ooooooooOOHHHH PESO, AQUI EN 820 AHHH-MMMAY
 
Critical feedback on professionalism in HR and Employee Recruitment practices for Cumulus -

This same exact position was advertised a few years ago, circa 2007~2009. Immediately when the ad posted, I sent an quick email query reply to the ad which included a PDF document entitled "Executive Briefing."

An Executive Briefing is a condensed one page resume commonly used by professionals in non-broadcast industries which lists professional achievements and credentials' mine listed the name of the previous Top-10 radio markets I'd worked in and my full academic credentials in engineering and management. My email noted that the briefing was being supplied in advance of a complete resume packet which was under preparation.

Within 25 seconds of receipt of the Executive Briefing, the Cumulus corporate DOE fired back an email with the most vitriolic sentiment I'd ever seen. He simply said in one line -

"You know *****, that is NOT a resume, OKAY?"

To which I replied in affirmation that the PDF was not a resume, but rather an "Executive Briefing" intended to demonstrate interest until my final resume product was available.

And since the DOE was right there, doing nothing, available to open and review incoming PDF's, I invited the Cumulus DOE to call me on my toll-free number, as to save the outbound toll charge for the call, knowing that Cumulus headquarters were still located in that trailer park (industrial park), certainly NOT Class A office space.

When you've served as market engineering manager in two top-10 markets, and give Cumulus your your employment history, academic credentials, and a toll-free inbound number to call and they absolutely refuse to dial a phone, it really does surface the underlying vacuum of professionalism in management. This is a process defect.

No professional in any other industry would ever treat a well qualified interested candidate that way. Especially when there is a shortage of Top-10 market professional talent to fill the CE position.

Of course I lost all interest in preparing a complete resume and never followed thru, not wanting to be treated poorly every day as a matter of routine practice.

This speaks for itself.
 
You did yourself a favor. I don't think the vertically challenged one at the other end of that email nor is short-sighted corporation he works for was or is the place to work for. Think of them as sort of a Wal-Mart with less benifits when it comes to employment. Thanks, but no thanks. Purchases within that group are brutal to get approval for. We aren't talking about stuff that matters that cost thousands. We are talking about 100 dollars of crap. #Cumeless FAIL FAIL FAIL
 
If someone does want to send a resume' to the Vertically Challenged One, be sure to make sure it's formatted to fit on the iPhone. Unlike a broadcast corporation, he seems to know how to run one of them, very, very, very well....
 
Is there any reason for any Professional Broadcaster; On or Off Air...(See the "KRLD Needs A Meteorologist" thread) to ever work for Cumulus? Ever?

Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
660 AM THE ANSWER
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
 
jondavidvox said:
Is there any reason for any Professional Broadcaster; On or Off Air...(See the "KRLD Needs A Meteorologist" thread) to ever work for Cumulus? Ever?

Jon-David Wells
The Wells Report
660 AM THE ANSWER
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX

Yes, if they need a gig and they are willing to bide their time to rebuild their career. If you do a good job under those working conditions, then maybe someone else would be willing to hire them. Like my mother says...."4.25 is better than NO.25!!!"
 
I spent some time with a Ticket/Cumulus employee a couple weeks ago and was told that they are working with absolute junk on the engineering and production side. Lots of good equipment was essentially pawned and replaced by used equipment that only a Ham radio operator could enjoy. It's the equivalent of Jim Abbott pitching with no hands. The engineers are virtually useless when working with what they have. The WBAP staff was appalled when they finally moved to victory park and many threatened to not even work. This person said that whoever gets the CE position will probably be severely underqualified because Cumulus is doing everything as cheap as they possibly can.
 
they are working with absolute junk on the engineering and production side. Lots of good equipment was essentially pawned and replaced by used equipment that only a Ham radio operator could enjoy. It's the equivalent of Jim Abbott pitching with no hands.

THAT absolutely makes me salivate.... wow that brings back some good 'ol memories of days gone by at Ray-dee-OH Peso (A Texas subsidiary of Poco Peso Communications, Inc.)

I've done more with one thin dime than most. We also had bailing wire and hey too.

And all kidding aside, one time our corporate office didn't pay a monthly electric bill for one of our transmitter sites and TXU went out to the site in Dallas and disconnected it from the grid at the electric meter due to non-payment. Our GM had to go to Kroger and use a personal check to get the station back on the air. Too embarrassing not to be TRUE!

So, I would be uniquely qualified for that gig. All that needs to happen is the Atlanta DOE would have to call and apologize for insulting my Executive Briefing.PDF. Hey, even the toll-free line I sent him previously is still operational.

One needs to ask, why does 'DFW Radio' need to hire a CE now that the re-lo is complete?

What happened to the prior, pre-re-lo CE?

How about the engineers that came from from Citadel, where are they now?

On a sad note, I drove by the Lamar building last week and noticed that the KSCS/WPAB sign was finally taken down from their long time former studios.
 
JRZFM100 said:
And all kidding aside, one time our corporate office didn't pay a monthly electric bill for one of our transmitter sites and TXU went out to the site in Dallas and disconnected it from the grid at the electric meter due to non-payment. Our GM had to go to Kroger and use a personal check to get the station back on the air. Too embarrassing not to be TRUE!

It appears that Cumulus also doesn't pay its bills (pun intended!): http://www.buffalonews.com/city/police-courts/courts/article922702.ece #CumulusFail
 
Unaffiliated Observer said:
I spent some time with a Ticket/Cumulus employee a couple weeks ago and was told that they are working with absolute junk on the engineering and production side. Lots of good equipment was essentially pawned and replaced by used equipment that only a Ham radio operator could enjoy.

And it turns out that the same thing seems to be going on with Cumulus in San Francisco.

See: http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2012/07/inside-kgo-newsroom-at-55-hawthorne-rl.html

From the article:

"The biggest gripe right now is that nothing works...and several on-air glitches have taken place in droves. Not just days, mind you, but at least three weeks. Dead air. Actualities that are either cut or simply cut out. Phone and tier lines that suddenly go blank. The anchors are steamed. The reporters are hung out to dry and the engineers look foolish. Just Sunday, KNBR was off the air for almost two hours." #CumulusFail
 
You'd think at this point they'd be willing to take 'what the cat dragged in' due to their wonderful reputation, lack of engineering budget, and upper management issues. They are quickly becoming the pinnacle of companies to NOT bother applying at.
 
Most of us are quite capable of making a living outside the radio industry and I will leave the business if there is no other choice than work for Cumulus.
 
Exactly Taylor. If the only choice is to work for a company that has as much compassion for their workers as Wal-Mart, or worse, then it's time to go do something else. I'm sure engineering isn't the only area they are beginning to have issues finding workers to fill open positions. In a nutshell they are corporate taskmasters that lack good central organization or resources yet have demands that are unreasonable.
 
I can deal with a company with leadership who lacks compassion. I can understand and respect an executive who is unyielding and focused on their fiduciary responsibilities to the company shareholders.
What I can't understand is a company with an enemies list. Cumulus has an enemies list and will go out of their way to cause trouble for people who have fallen out of favor. How does that enhance the profitability of the company or further it's goals?
 
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