• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Citadel-All time Low

J

jharmon

Guest
Congratulations to the braintrust at Citadel. This morning their stock is at 11 cents a share. When Fagreed Suleman, (any relation to Octomom) came into the company, it was 12 dollars a share.
There should be a law against his gross mismanagment. Makes you so proud to be a Citadel employee.
 
All of the media stocks are in the tank, along with all of any other stocks. Not to say that Citadel doesn't have some serious problems, as does everyone else in the media, but right now it all sucks. Not so sure you can blame Fareed other than he did what all of the other broadcast jukeboxes did.
 
Judy Ellis is Fagreed's wife and whoever is the regional GM of the month is coming to town? Is that a bad sign or is Judy trying to get some time away for her hubby? Does she have a history of cutting people out of the herd when she hits town?
 
Heard through the vine the regional GM of the month ;D barks the cuts down through the local GM. Local GMs have no say-so just do what they are directed. In the Lafayette market they even cut the newspaper subscription so what does that say as far as people? Judie is there to try and get the slumping stations back up in ratings and billing.
 
There is a huge difference between a woman who owns and operates the business and a wife who has been made privy to the books. The former knows, understands and builds the business. The latter puts her fingers in everything and wreaks havoc to the point of the demise of the business, without regard to shareholders, because she wants all the bling that hubby's company's money can buy for her. That is the norm anyway. Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" comes to mind. :-\
 
Just what every employee wants. To see the owner's wife go around and make decisions from a brain that married into money and hasn't a clue about the business, and making decisions that will affect livelihoods while acting out the part. Citadel has my sympathy. Clueless wives playing the role are worse than consultants with no brains but lots of statistics and stupidity to back up their decisions made out of desperation to hold their jobs longer by BSing the even more ignorant owners. Send a stud to her room while she's here and get pictures.
 
Skip - Silkie

Not taking up for Citadel or Farid because he's a clueless beancounter, but Judy Ellis is a radio pro. She's not just his wife, she's a former GM in NYC (long before she met Farid). She was an OM at WPLJ in NY. She's been in and around radio for 20+ years.

Now, her management style is rough. She demands results and, clearly, except for their Urban stations, Citadel in Louisiana is a train wreck. Maybe she's just now getting around to addressing problems in smaller markets. I don't know why she's here now but, I know she's not a bimbo or someone to be taken lightly.
 
Point taken, Buff. Her credentials slipped by but I think we've all known of meddling and honestly stupid owners' wives before. Let's see what her experience can do with the sewer line they own in south Louisiana.
 
There is a difference between a GM and the CEO's wife getting in the books. The chain of command does not typically have an inside track to the company's books. That said, again, there is a big difference.
 
nolaradiobuff,

Who do you think made all the brilliant Citadel programming decisions in Baton Rouge and New Orleans in the past several years? B103 to "Diva" then to "Sunny"; Rock 93-7 to "Red" and then back to a watered down Rock 93-7; The End to a country turd; Martini; Diva. All of those can be attributed to Judy Ellis.

Judy was a great sales person/sales manager who convinced Fagreed that she could run the programming end, too. In her wake, she leaves failed format flips all over the country - "Cool Pop", "Red Country", etc...

She should be commended for all her success in sales, but don't let that overshadow what her ego has done to Citadel's programming. BTW, Citadel's stock was over $30 a share when Fagreed took over...
 
My God...I did not know Judy and Farid were married. That explains a whole heck of a lot.

Dirty Frank is right on with his info on Judy. She visited the BR cluster (believe it was '03 or '04) and did not even know 93.7's format...yet she is the one who made the decision to flip the format to that abortion called "Red". The woman is absolutely clueless when it comes to programming (and so is Farid for that matter.)

As far as sales go... I DON'T believe she has a clue there,either. The sales dept. in BR has always been a revolving door for AE's. If Judy would concentrate on that area instead of jacking with programming, maybe they could make their budget.

As far as Judy being in the biz for 20+ years...means nothing. I know of plenty of people who have spent years in radio (in and out of large markets) who do not know what they are doing. She is one of the best examples, though.;)
 
I cannot think of a time when a business succeeded for long after a wife got her hands on the books, and decided that it was playtime. Not even once.
 
I'll take Noman and Dirty Frank at their words although, I find it a stretch to think that Judy Ellis played a hands-on role on anthing having to do with the formatics. She might have signed off on the format changes but, she wasn't building the clocks, hiring talent, manipulating the marketing budget, etc. Now if this were Dallas or New York or LA, then Yes she would be involved at that level. Louisiana is a fly on the giant a_ _ called Citadel.

I, too, know many people that have been in radio 20+ years and are brain dead. My point about Judy Ellis was that she was more than just Farid's wife. She actually has more experience in radio than he does.

Citadel as a company is brain dead and they're on life support. Judy Ellis is partially to blame, but there are more aggregious people than her.

As far as "Saving the Louisiana Properties", ain't going to happen until they, and Clear Channel, sell out.
 
Sadly, she was hands on. She named herself Regional VP of Programming over the area which included Louisiana. When Rock was looking to add a syndicated morning show in '04, she insisted that Stern and Mancow not be considered because "she" said that they were too controversial. Anyone who has listened to Stern in the past 5 to 10 years knows the guy has mellowed considerably. Mancow is more political than anything. It just goes to show how ignorant she is of what is going on. Now...keep in mind Judy said those guys were too risky...but she allowed Rock to put on Opie and Anthony several years later (and we all remember that sex in the church incident that got them fired). I would not be at all surprised if Judy were clueless about that incident as well.

As far as her having a say in a major market...I disagree. That is not her job as COO (or whatever title she holds). The woman has never been in programming in any way,shape or form and has no place dictating programming issues.

Citadel (with Farid and Judy at the helm) is brain dead. I totally agree. Hopefully, the shareholders will one day realize this as well and kick them to the curb.
 
Well I would think the end is near. The New York Stock Exchange kicked them off the big board, effective March 6th. They will be trading Over the Counter OTC from now on.

They stock closed at 14 cents today. They have to maintain a share price of $1 or above to play with the big boys and Fagreed and his wife Judi can't get it done, even if they fired everyone.

Of the Big Three "C" companies, Clear Channel, Cumulus and Citadel, looks like Citadel might drop first.

A lot of good people work this terrible company. Kinda sad.
 
Just to set the record straight on one point: Judy and Farid aren't married.
Click to expand...

That makes it all the worse. Gotta love these vulture investors who find it alive and flourishing and then kill it. Letting a girlfriend into the books is even more unforgivable.
 
Not a girlfriend. Not a wife.

Judy was a NYC Market Manager for Emmis before she was hired by Citadel and was hired because of her track record.

Having worked with her, I can tell you she didn't mandate anything that had to do with the programming of my station in New Orleans during my tenure there. Certainly, she asked questions and offered up suggestions. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool that the COO came to the market often enough that she knew all the managers in the building quite well.

Since I was only there for a year, I can't speak to some of the other programming decisions nor how they were made. I can say that I have a number of talented friends there who work as hard as anyone I know in this business, and I wish them all the best.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom