Clear Channel's John Hogan orders further "cuts on the expense side"

[leethalweapon]

So they have frozen hire's, and various other budgetary items sighting no revenue growth. The question that needs to be asked is, have they accounted for the fact that they have sold out of markets, thus reducing ability to achieve budget targets? The only way I can see them achieving budget targets, is if they increase market share across the remaining markets where they operate. Freezing marketing and promotional budgets isn't too smart, particularly if there clusters are under performing.

Am I right?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Slicing and Dicing

One would like to think that they are budgeting only for the stations that they currently own, not the ones that have already been sold. I believe that the statement indicates that their existing stations are not hitting their individual budgets, and that revenues are lower than last year while expenses are up.

Cutting promotions, and especially sales positions, seems counterproductive. Then again, their decade-long attack on their own programming appears to have been counterproductive as well.

Expect more cuts as CC attempts to wring as many dollars as possible out of their stations while waiting for the final sale to go through. Then, the new owners will be looking for "savings" in order to pay for their acquisition. Not a pretty picture.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Slicing and Dicing

One would like to think that they are budgeting only for the stations that they currently own, not the ones that have already been sold. I believe that the statement indicates that their existing stations are not hitting their individual budgets, and that revenues are lower than last year while expenses are up.

Corporate budgets are the sum of division budgets. So if a cluster or station is sold, the part of the budget it represented is eliminated.

Cutting promotions, and especially sales positions, seems counterproductive. Then again, their decade-long attack on their own programming appears to have been counterproductive as well.

I don't read "no increases" as a cut. I read it as a "hold the line."

Expect more cuts as CC attempts to wring as many dollars as possible out of their stations while waiting for the final sale to go through. Then, the new owners will be looking for "savings" in order to pay for their acquisition. Not a pretty picture.

No different than when Warren Buffet's BH buys a company.

 

[pbf1]

Re: Slicing and Dicing

Cutting promotions, and especially sales positions, seems counterproductive. Then again, their decade-long attack on their own programming appears to have been counterproductive as well.

I don't read "no increases" as a cut. I read it as a "hold the line."

Perhaps you haven't read the e-mail to Market Managers, in which promotional and research budgets are being ZEROED. In which "no new sellers will be hired." In which "as positions come open, they will not be filled."

This is WAY beyond "no increase" territory. This is ZEROING OUT.

 

[leethalweapon]

Re: Slicing and Dicing

Perhaps you haven't read the e-mail to Market Managers, in which promotional and research budgets are being ZEROED. In which "no new sellers will be hired." In which "as positions come open, they will not be filled."

This is WAY beyond "no increase" territory. This is ZEROING OUT.

I would guess, that smart operator's in market where CC compete's will have an almost instant advantage. Is there any hint on a duration that these restrictions will be in place?

 

[gr8oldies]

In the market I'm in, a newcomer is marketing the heck out of a new format that has CC's heritage Hot A/C's bullseye in its sights..and CC can do nothing to market itself to maintain it's market share. CC may just be imploding.

 

[MACK184]

Outside of the largest major-market clusters, the typical CC, Citadel, Cumulus, Entercom cluster has 2-3 sales people that are doing well, 3-4 reps who are making it, and about 6-7 faces that change almost with the weather going around and around in the revolving door, with no real hope of success, living out their 90 or 120 day guarantees accomplishing little or nothing for themselves or for the company. I always wondered, "what's the point"? You're endlessly training people who have no real future, and about the time you're done with your training, you change faces. Without meaning to, CC may have hit on something good which will let the 5-7 reps who can do a decent job succeed better than ever, while not wasting time with the endless march of "Salesman X" who comes and goes.

 

[MickJ]

Outside of the largest major-market clusters, the typical CC, Citadel, Cumulus, Entercom cluster has 2-3 sales people that are doing well, 3-4 reps who are making it, and about 6-7 faces that change almost with the weather going around and around in the revolving door, with no real hope of success, living out their 90 or 120 day guarantees accomplishing little or nothing for themselves or for the company. I always wondered, "what's the point"?

That particular syndrome, the one where a few reps are making a lot of dough and every other sales rep position turns over constantly is a reflection of mismanagement. It is not inevitable but it is common. Basically, the long-tenured AE's convince the out-of-the-sales-loop management team that they have them by the short hairs. The game is rigged in favor of the veterans and when the newbies figure this out, they're gone. Radio sales management is still largely primitive and the systems are easily exploited by savvy AE's.