Citadel Syracuse Shakeup Rumors

[RomeToupee]

Different sources are reporting that 95X PD Alexis has said she is leaving and Lite 105 PD Dave Allen has said HE is leaving.
Is this true and if so,what does it mean?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Top Six Possibilities

Different sources are reporting that 95X PD Alexis has said she is leaving and Lite 105 PD Dave Allen has said HE is leaving.
Is this true and if so,what does it mean?

Alexis has run out of excuses?

Dave Allen has run out of excuses?

Kevin LeGrett has run out of excuses?

Farid told Judy Ellis to "do something" to make it look like they're trying to increase revenues?

Judy Ellis has run out of excuses?

Citadel has come to their senses?

 

[ThePickleReport]

Different sources are reporting that 95X PD Alexis has said she is leaving and Lite 105 PD Dave Allen has said HE is leaving. Is this true and if so,what does it mean?

If that's true it means there is going to be some re-tooling going on in Syracuse. It's probably about time too because 93Q is pulling the weight of the entire Citadel cluster.

First, I'm still not totally buying into the demise of 95X. It's sick, but not completely dead, and it STILL needs a morning show whatever happens to it. Rumors have been pointing to a flip to Country which I think is risky even if Citadel thinks WBBS is vulnerable (and it might be). That will cost serious money to launch an in-format competitor to WBBS.

WLTI seems dead in the water. I think they need to find something to garner more cume there.
I put out a scenario in another post where I would move the rock format to WLTI's frequency and use the more powerful WAQX frequency to launch a new entity.

Then there's the issue of a budget. Does anyone see Citadel spending a lot of $$$ to re-launch even one station?

With all of the recent and impending (alleged) departures it makes me wonder.........if these properties might be on the block?

 

[BobRoss]

An article on cnyradio.com quoted Citadel management saying Alexis just wanted to step down as PD, but she is not leaving. Certainly not a decision you see every day -- makes you wonder why she'd want to give up the benefits of being PD. If the format flips, it's not as if she's going to be "immune" to the requisite house-cleaning just because she's not management anymore. But, for what it's worth, the article also linked to a job posting. If Citadel was looking to flip the format on 95X, you'd think they would mention that in the posting, rather than soliciting people with rock experience. (Unless it's a bogus posting to throw people off and the "real" ad is one of those "blind box" ads in the national trades.)

Next item: Dave Allen. He's been applying for other jobs elsewhere for years. If he finally landed one, good for him. You can't blame him for wanting out -- look at how Citadel has treated 105.9 like a red-headed stepchild for years. WLTI has the most pathetic radio station booth at the State Fair... a mostly-empty tent with a huge bottle of pennies. Not to knock the effort of helping sick kids, but the booth isn't a real "attention-getter." No big boombox with jocks broadcasting live all day like 93Q or 95X.

I've always thought WLTI could do a much better job, if only they hired one or two more jocks and made a strong, concerted effort to increase brand awareness. Even though an at-work station should be music-intensive, it shouldn't be 100% jockless after 10AM either. Yes, it's mostly background music, but listeners get sick of hearing "the voice guy" after every other song, repeating the same 12 or 15 liners all day long. And most importantly, there's only so many live remotes and other appearances you can make when your on-air staff consists of one person.

On the other side of the argument, jockless is better than being voicetracked by someone who already appears on 1 or 2 other stations. There's nothing cheesier than hearing the same person using 3 different names to appear on 3 different stations... as if listeners will never touch the dial and figure out the scam.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Peter Principle

Alexis is a confirmation of the Peter Principle. She reach the PD position, and has certainly displayed incompetence there. Her failing were masked for a long time by the dominance of Stern in the market, but her true abilities went on display with the demise of Stern - along with the "Ryno Incident".

I doubt that she's stepping down - and likely taking a pay cut - on her own. I'd guess that Citadel will attempt to hire a morning guy who's willing to drop down in market size in order to add PD to his resume. If he works out, fine. If not, they haven't really lost anything, right? 95X still has a lot of brand recognition. Retooling is a lot easier - and cheaper - than trashing it and starting over.

Light has been run on the cheap, and gotten the results that it deserved. The music list looks more like somebody's iPod than a radio station. I know that Dave Allen promotes his charitable work, but I've also heard some less than flattering things about Mr. Allen and his dealings with young female employees. Maybe it's time for new blood, and a new approach. I wouldn't be surprised to see Citadel take the station Classic Hits, which would at least focus the station on a particular sound and/or era.

 

[SeenItAll]

That would make Movin look like a winner! What about putting the ESPN on 105.9?

 

[ThePickleReport]

What about putting the ESPN on 105.9?

That would be interesting and I thought about that. But have you see WHEN's numbers? Yuck! Plus they have Jim Rome, Dan Patrick and a live afternoon show.

I don't think there is much sense in trying to compete in a city without a major league franchise. TK-99 has SU sports as well so sports is really too fragmented in Syracuse.