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Cumulus Macon

B

Braves1966

Guest
I have heard that Cumulus Macon is failing in a major way. I understand that sales are down and alleged office hanky-panky is going on between management and sales personnel. How much longer does manager John Rodriguez have? I understand, from people in Atlanta, that his days are very numbered. How could Cumulus allow one of their clusters to get so far out of control. There has been nothing but controversy and poor ratings since Rodriguez took over as market manager. Lou and John better wake up FAST!
 
Braves1966 said:
I have heard that Cumulus Macon is failing in a major way. I understand that sales are down and alleged office hanky-panky is going on between management and sales personnel. How much longer does manager John Rodriguez have? I understand, from people in Atlanta, that his days are very numbered. How could Cumulus allow one of their clusters to get so far out of control. There has been nothing but controversy and poor ratings since Rodriguez took over as market manager. Lou and John better wake up FAST!
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How long can it go? Maybe they are doing it intentionally to balance the books with other clusters. Maybe they want to lose money on this one. At what cost? Obviously the listeners expense. Let's face it, bad radio is bad radio, and the Macon cluster of this company is one of the worst run from top to bottom I have ever come across.
 
I promise you that the problems in Macon started way before John moved to Macon. And knowing John for many years and how devoted he is to his family, you might want to check your sources. A lot of people tend to spread rumors when they know absolutely nothing about what they are talking about.
 
rcombs said:
I promise you that the problems in Macon started way before John moved to Macon. And knowing John for many years and how devoted he is to his family, you might want to check your sources. A lot of people tend to spread rumors when they know absolutely nothing about what they are talking about.
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Oh as we all know, it goes way deeper and farther back...
 
Guys, I know you're going to say whatever you want to say on this forum, regardless of the truth, but I'm just asking one thing:

Give John a chance. In just a few short months with Cumulus/Macon, he's shown more interest and gotten more involved with the ENTIRE operation of the cluster than either of the two previous market managers. He doesn't appear (at least to me) to be focused on his next game of golf or his next cocktail, instead of the job at hand. So cut him some slack, okay? Is everything fixed yet that needs to be fixed? No. Can it be fixed? Yes, provided John gets the corporate bigs to give him some support.

I mean, I know you're going to trash Cumulus/Macon (and Cumulus in general) because it's an easy target, but if you're going to hang someone out to dry, consider making it someone who deserves it. The way I see it, Mr. Rodriguez is holding people accountable for doing (or not doing) their jobs; that's something that didn't happen much previously.

Oh, and Bravesd1966, the ratings are just fine. I don't know what your personal vendetta against John is, but he's been here for ONE BOOK! Considering the fact that Macon is a High-density Black Market, and that Urban stations usually do very well in such a situation, if you factor out the Urbans, Cumulus is pretty much dominant in the Top 5 in 12+, 25-54, etc. In addition, if you DON'T factor out the Urbans, there's WLZN (Blazin' 92-3) and WDDO (1240) which had good books.

Okay Braves1966, flame away! I've got my asbestos suit on.

David

But then again, why would you let facts get in the way of your posts?
 
Diamond:
Sorry but the issues we are seeing at Cumulus- even without the salacious gossip- are not being dealt with promptly. A good cluster doesn't need to advertise its advertising or beg for sales consultants. I think we'll see someone buy out Cumulus and haul off loads of junk to the landfill. We might see some new door greeters at Wal-Mart.

I think Kenny Bee and Charles, if Lowell Register doesn't saddle them with low-budget production, are going to clean 940's plow, sand it down, and weld a mailbox to it to stick near the driveway.
 
kturnerga,

I think I'd look fairly dapper in a Wal-mart greeter's vest.

I also think Kenny B. and Charles E. bring great credentials and talent to the new show, and I wish them both nothing but success, even in spite of the fact that they will be working for a competing operation.

The limiting factors in the show will be 1) Register's willingness to give the show a chance to develop an audience (believe me, just because Kenny did the morning show for 12 years on WMAZ/WMWR/WMAC, there will still be a ramp-up phase; he's been off the air for over a year, and people [at least SOME] move on), and 2) the signal issues with WPGA-FM. I realize they'll simulcast on macon.com and for the first hour on WPGA-TV, but you and I both know that the bulk of the listening for a show like that will come from in-the-car listening. Mix is a weak signal in Macon, especially on the north side, where a lot of Kenny's following will come from.

WMAC has its limitations too, no question. And aside from the fact that I work for Cumulus and work in the same building as WMAC, I have nothing to do with the operation of that station. So I think it will be an opportunity for both PGA and MAC to cultivate their own audience. I'm sure Chris Krok will build interest in his show, and Kenny and Charles will develop their own audience and following as well.

Should be interesting.

As to the other point about changes not being made fast enough at CMLS/Macon, I see more movement internally that you see externally, regardless of what sources you may have that tell you to the contrary. I think you're going to see some really good things come out of CMLS in the coming months... but I'm sure you'll find a reason to fault the company.

David
 
kturnerga said:
I think Kenny Bee and Charles, if Lowell Register doesn't saddle them with low-budget production,
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HA! Ask anyone who has worked with Lowell and they will tell you that his middle name is 'no budget'. He wanted WPGA to look as good as WMAZ, however refused to purchase the test equipment to get it that way. I tried explaining that channel 13 has things called waveform monitors, vectorscopes, frame syncs, time base correctors and proc amps so they can look that good. It went in one ear and out the other.
 
kyscott said:
kturnerga said:
I think Kenny Bee and Charles, if Lowell Register doesn't saddle them with low-budget production,
Click to expand...

HA! Ask anyone who has worked with Lowell and they will tell you that his middle name is 'no budget'. He wanted WPGA to look as good as WMAZ, however refused to purchase the test equipment to get it that way. I tried explaining that channel 13 has things called waveform monitors, vectorscopes, frame syncs, time base correctors and proc amps so they can look that good. It went in one ear and out the other.
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No Budget Low Budget, or whatever , hopefully his budgetary skills are better than his dinosaur DOS automation called The Phantom. I have one of those systems and no one will touch it. It is at best a new boat anchor once I buy a new boat. My manual typewriter is more reliable than this hunk of junk...
 
Speaking of junk...what's the deal with Cumulus' sales staff? I keep hearing how unhappy they are and how the door continues to revolve. The word on the street is that many of the Cumulus reps are being treated unfairly because of alleged inappropriate relationships between management and other staff. Why won't Atlanta investigate such behavior? A company cannot run efficiently if managers treat certain employees differently solely on personal interest. I hope Cumulus folds and all those at the top lose everything. Personally, I wish nothing bad for people like David Nolan, Paul McClelland, Laura Starling, etc. Quite frankly, they have been real troopers to put up with all the corporate B.S. that IS Cumulus.
 
It is quite obvious that you are either a disgruntled ex-employee or the friend of one. You are correct in stating that Cumulus may not be the greatest company in the world to work for. Even I have my complaints. But I will say that as long as you do the job you are paid to do, they usually do not fire you (there are some exceptions). Salespeople go through revolving doors at most radio stations. Here in Savannah we have 5 or 6 that have been here for many years while the rest are in and out, sometimes rather quickly. Clear Channel has the same situation here. It is basic Life 101...do your job or get fired.

I still don't understand why you keep bringing up the unsubstantiated rumors of infidelity. If you want to slander someone, how about doing without hiding behind a screen name like so many here do. If you have proof, then let it all out. In the 15 years I have known John Rodriguez, I have never known him to be direspectful to anyone and I can not see why you seem to be so determined to disrespect him as well as his wife and children in a public forum such as this. Has he wronged you in some way?
 
I can not see why you seem to be so determined to disrespect him as well as his wife and children in a public forum such as this. Has he wronged you in some way?
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Sour grapes + time for them to ferment in your belly = vinegar in your bloodstream!

... and ditto to rcombs... it ain't perfect, but if you do your job and don't endanger the license, Cumulus pretty much lets you do what they hired you to do.

TDO
 
Rcombs:
Salespeople come and go but why is Cumulus trying to advertise for them incessantly? Face it; we're in trouble down here in Macon.
 
do your job or get fired.
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And "do your job too well and get "fired". I have known a few sales people who were out busting their humps and pulling in close to a million bucks a year in commissions. The company we were working for at the time had the bright idea to "redistribute" the accounts. The sales person and clients both left the station eventually. This one partucular sales person I know left the company, and took her high paying clients with her over to Cox Radio. It's called cutting your nose off despite your face. That company is presently in danger of being delisted from NASDAQ....wonder why?
 
Apparently the right applicants have not come in yet. I have seen the same scenario everytime stations (not just Cumulus) run an ad for salespeople, kturner. 10 people will apply, 3 will be hired and 2 are gone within 3 months and the process starts all over again.
 
I've never met Mr. Rodriguez but my go to insiders tell me he's a real radio guy and is not like the past Cumulus market managers. He's a got a big job on his hands and has been dealt some tough cards to play (i.e. the 940 morning host caught with dope). Give the guy some time to lasso the problems. There's still some great folks on-air and off-air who work at Cumulus Macon. Are the recruitment ads annoying? Sure. But their corporate suits demand a dozen or more bodies pounding the pavement in search of ad dollars. And I must tell you, solid sales people don't grow on trees and past management didn't always respect the quality people they did have.
 
rcombs said:
Apparently the right applicants have not come in yet. I have seen the same scenario everytime stations (not just Cumulus) run an ad for salespeople, kturner. 10 people will apply, 3 will be hired and 2 are gone within 3 months and the process starts all over again.
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It is all so simple. You could have 1,000 salespeople, but if the product you are trying to sell is bad, no one is going to buy it.
 
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