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FHF: Tom Leykis caused KLSX to switch formats

R

Richard Pryor

Frank on FHF just now said that everybody at the company agreed to take a pay cut to keep broadcasting the FM Talk format except for Tom Leykis.

He says this is why they are flipping, all because of Leykis.


Any thoughts on what was said?
 
Probably not true. The employees at CBS Minneapolis were asked to take paycuts to avoid layoffs. People took the paycuts but they fired people anyways. It's all about the bucks.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
Most people who have signed contracts expect them to be honored. They're funny that way.
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That's all well and good. Leykis has every right to reject the pay cut, but it's clear that he doesn't give a damn about radio or the hot talk format and did nothing to save it. Listeners will feel the way they want to feel about that.

Frosty made a good point on the show. It's a compelling discussion but we won't hear it because the station is flipping formats.
 
That was pretty moving I have to admit. It's rare that you see personalities show so much emotion as FHF just showed at the end. I wish them well. :'(
 
The real problem was that everyone on this station was paid a lot of $$$. We all know about Leykis, but FHF were paid very well too as was Adam. Bob Moore told Frosty today that they were the top or near the top of the pay scale for an afternoon radio show (I think Dr. Laura takes the cake on being the highest paid afternoon host). Then include all of the support staff and you have a real heavy payroll. CBS just couldn't sustain this especially in this economic environment. Ratings have nothing to do with it. Ratings were strong and yet it's the economics that prevaled in the end. Ironically ratings worked against them. The higher their ratings went up the more pay they got as Bob Moore explained. They had performance based bonuses (something the banking industry should try). But this economy is affecting every sector of this country. Advertising revenue has dropped off dramatically and that is why this is happening.

Leykis mentioned it yesterday when he said he has a staff of three whereas if you had a music station you have one guy pressing a button and that is all.

What I don't understand is that you have guys like Dennis Prager or Hugh Hewitt who have next to zero listeners and zero advertising and yet they manage to stay on the air for a decade or two. How are these stations surviving in this economy?
 
westfield60 said:
What I don't understand is that you have guys like Dennis Prager or Hugh Hewitt who have next to zero listeners and zero advertising and yet they manage to stay on the air for a decade or two. How are these stations surviving in this economy?
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I have my opinions on that, but I've been flamed once today by calling things as I see them, and putting the words, "Salem," and "True Believers" in the same sentence will not win me any fans. As if I want any.

Meanwhile, 97-1 FREEEEE FM goes out as it came in: dysfunctional as ever, God bless'em.
 
Richard Pryor said:
Frank on FHF just now said that everybody at the company agreed to take a pay cut to keep broadcasting the FM Talk format except for Tom Leykis.

He says this is why they are flipping, all because of Leykis.

Any thoughts on what was said?
Click to expand...

Just Frank tryin to fan the flames one last time before the format goes down in LA, that's all...
 
Bull. Ratings and the collective cost are at fault. Leykis has nothing to do with it. By the way, would anybody like to see Leykis return to his old KFI shtick doing liberal, not hot talk? I thought he did a great job in the day, even when I was an ultra-conservative.
 
From the Leykis blog. Dig the "digs" at Frank Kramer, & secondly, what's Frank's real name (Leykis mentioned this a few times on the last show):

From Tom Leykis’s Blog

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=364022655

Yes. My blog is late. Sorry about that. I have been laid up since Thursday with the worst flu you can imagine. This is my first time out of bed since Thursday night. Yikes.

[EDIT]


[EDIT-Citation exceeds amount of permissible content under Fair Use standards and has been truncated as a result. Link courtesy of Radio-Info.]
 
elchupacabras said:
Bull. Ratings and the collective cost are at fault. Leykis has nothing to do with it. By the way, would anybody like to see Leykis return to his old KFI shtick doing liberal, not hot talk? I thought he did a great job in the day, even when I was an ultra-conservative.
Click to expand...

I would vote for that.
 
radioman148 said:
elchupacabras said:
Bull. Ratings and the collective cost are at fault. Leykis has nothing to do with it. By the way, would anybody like to see Leykis return to his old KFI shtick doing liberal, not hot talk? I thought he did a great job in the day, even when I was an ultra-conservative.
Click to expand...

I would vote for that.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd vote for that, too. Tom was syndicated to the Bay Area at that time -ironically on KPIX, our "FM Talk Station" that only lasted a couple of years. I thought his show was very entertaining. I remember he had a great intro at the top of the show that sold him as the "antidote" to the Limbaugh types and pointed out that he wasn't a "convicted felon" - a jab at G. Gordon Liddy, I presume.

This was not long after KFI canned Leykis for right-wing ex-LAPD Police Chief Darryl Gates. I guess the firing still chafed, because Tom would often refer to "KKK-FI."
 
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