Heidi May & Randy Lundquist were let go of today. They were told their positions had been eliminated and their shifts will be replaced by voice tracking.
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Heidi May & Randy Lundquist out at KJR-FM/Oldies 95.7
- Thread starter radiobootie
- Start date
CC has been eliminating lots of good people this week. Yet another round of panic over a debt that is HOPELESS to recover. There will be more useless carnage of excellent people while the braintrust that owns the thing now scrambles to try to save their own bacon. They will not. In all likelihood, they will find a loophole like Suleman did and leverage it.
And yet some feel it's exceptionally necessary to protect the tax benefits of people with ethics like that. I still can't comprehend it.
I am very sad for my friends who are paying the price for this behavior. As we move forward in Seattle, we see that people trying to stop a highway tunnel have succeeded in putting this back to a vote, potentially damaging that project.
It is very hard to make progress. It is very easy to tear it down. The same can be said for company executives whose sole motive is to continually save their own bacon as the cost of everyone who has supported the company ... in this case for many many years.
Clear Channel can and SHOULD simply go screw itself.
And yet some feel it's exceptionally necessary to protect the tax benefits of people with ethics like that. I still can't comprehend it.
I am very sad for my friends who are paying the price for this behavior. As we move forward in Seattle, we see that people trying to stop a highway tunnel have succeeded in putting this back to a vote, potentially damaging that project.
It is very hard to make progress. It is very easy to tear it down. The same can be said for company executives whose sole motive is to continually save their own bacon as the cost of everyone who has supported the company ... in this case for many many years.
Clear Channel can and SHOULD simply go screw itself.
Clear Channel will ultimately lose. It might be a while as they have a stranglehold on some very popular properties in Seattle. If you listen to KJR FM right now which is: "Oldies", no it's not, it's "The Best Hits of all time!", no it's oldies!
no in reality if you listen to the station it is the Bob Rivers channel. BR Liners and endorsements all day long, every 15 minutes. It's ALL about Bob all day long. Firing Heidi is downright STUPID. This leaves how many females on the staff for paid endorsements? Zero unless you count Jodi and although I think Jodi is okay, she's no Heidi May.
In time we'll see this behavior erode the stations listenership.
Here is the real key area to watch. KJR FM last PPM were outstanding. This was before the arrival of Bob. I think these are still Jay Kelly's numbers. Okay, now you've got your Million dollar + show....Watch the ratings. Before Bob you had Kevin Ebi, a wonderful morning traffic/update guy and you had great music. The ratings went through the roof. So we'll see won't we? Do you think any am listeners went back to KVI when Bob started? I have no idea. It is just sad to see. CC does not care about any of it's employees. After significant cutbacks on sales commissions and obviously more terminations, CC had the gall to send out to their employees and to the media, their earnings statement for Q2. They were up and profitable! A sign they really don't get it. Does a more disgusting company exist? I don't think so.
no in reality if you listen to the station it is the Bob Rivers channel. BR Liners and endorsements all day long, every 15 minutes. It's ALL about Bob all day long. Firing Heidi is downright STUPID. This leaves how many females on the staff for paid endorsements? Zero unless you count Jodi and although I think Jodi is okay, she's no Heidi May.
In time we'll see this behavior erode the stations listenership.
Here is the real key area to watch. KJR FM last PPM were outstanding. This was before the arrival of Bob. I think these are still Jay Kelly's numbers. Okay, now you've got your Million dollar + show....Watch the ratings. Before Bob you had Kevin Ebi, a wonderful morning traffic/update guy and you had great music. The ratings went through the roof. So we'll see won't we? Do you think any am listeners went back to KVI when Bob started? I have no idea. It is just sad to see. CC does not care about any of it's employees. After significant cutbacks on sales commissions and obviously more terminations, CC had the gall to send out to their employees and to the media, their earnings statement for Q2. They were up and profitable! A sign they really don't get it. Does a more disgusting company exist? I don't think so.
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Abner Jenkins
Guest
A shame for Heidi and Randy to lose their jobs, but honestly, why is anyone surprised?
Jay Kelly was unceremoniously dismissed before Christmas.
This week CC prez John Hogan personally riffed three regional VPs - and one of them had to drive from Columbus to Cincinnati to find out he'd been axed.
KJR will be fine. I just hope Heidi and Randy won't be on the beach for long, but I fear that won't be the case...
Jay Kelly was unceremoniously dismissed before Christmas.
This week CC prez John Hogan personally riffed three regional VPs - and one of them had to drive from Columbus to Cincinnati to find out he'd been axed.
KJR will be fine. I just hope Heidi and Randy won't be on the beach for long, but I fear that won't be the case...
I'm flashing back to the 90's NAB's when President Eddie Fritts couldn't get his lips around Lowry Mays' you-know fast enough. This guy from Texas too-good-to-be-true as he's out there trying to get reg's changed so owner companies could bust those nasty per-market station limits to a number which is "much more reasonable".
Fast forward a little bit ... and you see ol' Eddie and the NAB were basically "played" once Telecom '96 was done and the Texas Tribe had exactly what they wanted.
I was SO spoiled by the Bullitt regime because they really instilled in us that being part of a media company was a community priviledge. Now, except for the smaller players, NO ONE subscribes to that mindset. "Shareholder value" is the only yardstick, and we've learned that the people at the helm of these companies are NO BETTER than Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and all the others who took the entire country for a ride and STILL believe everything they should own (not "do" own but "SHOULD" own) is their birthright, and there is no ethical qualm about doing it on the backs of thousands of people.
I'm VERY disillusioned that all this "you better feed the corporations with tax breaks to get the economy to grow" mind set is completely wrong. The corp's have learned that they are more profitable when they are "lean and mean" ... so why on earth would they want to go hire more people to add back to the bottom line when things seem to be working "just fine" the way they are. I'm starting to wonder that instead of hoping the big co's will "seed the economy" that maybe we shouldn't be penalized when they ADD to the problem? To some extent that already happens with unemployment insurance ... though most companies fight the claims when they RIF so they don't have to pay and the activity doesn't count against their insurance premiums.
Fast forward a little bit ... and you see ol' Eddie and the NAB were basically "played" once Telecom '96 was done and the Texas Tribe had exactly what they wanted.
I was SO spoiled by the Bullitt regime because they really instilled in us that being part of a media company was a community priviledge. Now, except for the smaller players, NO ONE subscribes to that mindset. "Shareholder value" is the only yardstick, and we've learned that the people at the helm of these companies are NO BETTER than Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and all the others who took the entire country for a ride and STILL believe everything they should own (not "do" own but "SHOULD" own) is their birthright, and there is no ethical qualm about doing it on the backs of thousands of people.
I'm VERY disillusioned that all this "you better feed the corporations with tax breaks to get the economy to grow" mind set is completely wrong. The corp's have learned that they are more profitable when they are "lean and mean" ... so why on earth would they want to go hire more people to add back to the bottom line when things seem to be working "just fine" the way they are. I'm starting to wonder that instead of hoping the big co's will "seed the economy" that maybe we shouldn't be penalized when they ADD to the problem? To some extent that already happens with unemployment insurance ... though most companies fight the claims when they RIF so they don't have to pay and the activity doesn't count against their insurance premiums.
Sometimes LBB, I STILL think the corporate radio industry will be the NEXT big industry crying for a government bailout. But mark my words, they won't get it. Because they will get a public uproar from HELL instead. Because we don't need to see the books, we can HEAR them. They have voicetracked/automated and homogenized everything to the point where there is little, if ANY reason to tune in anymore (let alone work in this industry. And that's not just "market forces at work". It's the bad decisions from bad management that have made commercial radio this way........
A few lucky ones on top get everything, the rest are "expendable".
It's no way to run any kind of business.......
A few lucky ones on top get everything, the rest are "expendable".
It's no way to run any kind of business.......
THIS is how they're paying for Bob Rivers by axing talented people like Heidi who I might say did yeomans work at KJR LONG before they hired Jay Kelly, she was doing just about everything when they didn't have an actual PD.
Then they let Jay go, now Randy & Heidi, nice way to thank loyal employees CC, or actually should I say Bain Capital which while i'm not trying to get political is run by Mitt Romney AND since it is a capital company is all about the profits.
Maybe they're positioning themselves for a sale? There's been word for a while that Bain wants to sell off assets from the CC portfolio and keep only the most valuable ones and even then it's only until they think they can get what they want for them.
So you bring in the big name talent in the market that appeals to your core audience, cut expenses everywhere else, streamline then sell.
Just sucks, pardon my language but it does, I wish Heidi & Randy the best!
Then they let Jay go, now Randy & Heidi, nice way to thank loyal employees CC, or actually should I say Bain Capital which while i'm not trying to get political is run by Mitt Romney AND since it is a capital company is all about the profits.
Maybe they're positioning themselves for a sale? There's been word for a while that Bain wants to sell off assets from the CC portfolio and keep only the most valuable ones and even then it's only until they think they can get what they want for them.
So you bring in the big name talent in the market that appeals to your core audience, cut expenses everywhere else, streamline then sell.
Just sucks, pardon my language but it does, I wish Heidi & Randy the best!
crainbebo said:
Very little reason to listen to KJR before; absolutely none now. Hope Randy and Heidi will get on the air elsewhere...like if KMCQ actually gets some live dj's!
Bongwater said:
Between traveling and waiting for the 'pitty party' here to wrap up, I was waiting to chime in..
Running a big group of stations nationwide, with hundreds, if not thousands of investors looking for a return on their investment isn't about Heidy and Randy in Seattle, but about running a business. And once again (here it comes, say it all together now..) radio is a business.
Now, will the outrage of a few politically left-leaning radio hobbyisis carry through to the true majority of listeners to the station? The answer is simple, no. Will KJR's ratings or revenue suffer because local talent is potentially being replaced with higher caliber talent? I seriously doubt it, but time will tell. I suspect however, if this move actually increases the station ratings with lower expense and better solidifies the demo target in the market, then most of you will simply go quiet, not willing to admit, yet once again, the emotional and somewhat dramatic reaction to a strategic change on the station worked as designed.
Sadly, this is the fallout from technology. We had automated, voiced-tracked stations in metro markets before we had computer-voice-tracking. It was just a bit more cumbersome.
In the 60's, we had IGM, Schafer, and others, most of them not using voice-tracking, but a few were able to figure it out.
Sometime in the 70's (yup 35 years ago), the late Chester Coleman impressed me with an aircheck of WGTR, using voice-tracking.
In the early 90's, when I was a peddler, I was shown the wall of CD players at KOIT, it was their "late-night shift". And there was the dual CD changers at KIXI in Bellevue, with Bob Liddle coming in once a week to voice his over-night shift.
And don't foget Pat O'Day's efforts in Seattle with reel-to-reel tape, cart machines, and hydraulics. I still have a few outtakes somewhere from Pat's voice-track shift just before Christmas. And Lan Roberts, from Hawaii, air-shipped his voice-tracks to Seattle.
Twenty years ago we were selling Arrakis Digilinks, and Satfires, to anyone who wanted one. These were primarily for using satellite-delivered programming, but some used them for primitive voice-track automation.
But it wasn't until relaxed regulations met improved technology that we saw the escalation to what we have today, with giant station owners like Clear Channel buying, not automation systems, but buying automation manufacturers!
What is really sad is that some medium and metro markets are operating with staffs not much larger than our rural market staffs... with ten or more times the spot rate. We use satellite or voice-tracking because we have to, the big guys do it because they can.
In the 60's, we had IGM, Schafer, and others, most of them not using voice-tracking, but a few were able to figure it out.
Sometime in the 70's (yup 35 years ago), the late Chester Coleman impressed me with an aircheck of WGTR, using voice-tracking.
In the early 90's, when I was a peddler, I was shown the wall of CD players at KOIT, it was their "late-night shift". And there was the dual CD changers at KIXI in Bellevue, with Bob Liddle coming in once a week to voice his over-night shift.
And don't foget Pat O'Day's efforts in Seattle with reel-to-reel tape, cart machines, and hydraulics. I still have a few outtakes somewhere from Pat's voice-track shift just before Christmas. And Lan Roberts, from Hawaii, air-shipped his voice-tracks to Seattle.
Twenty years ago we were selling Arrakis Digilinks, and Satfires, to anyone who wanted one. These were primarily for using satellite-delivered programming, but some used them for primitive voice-track automation.
But it wasn't until relaxed regulations met improved technology that we saw the escalation to what we have today, with giant station owners like Clear Channel buying, not automation systems, but buying automation manufacturers!
What is really sad is that some medium and metro markets are operating with staffs not much larger than our rural market staffs... with ten or more times the spot rate. We use satellite or voice-tracking because we have to, the big guys do it because they can.
Randy is still with Clear Channel, at least according to sites like this... http://www.rewind1033.com/cc-common/onair/randylundquist.html
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AQH
Guest
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
Exactly.
More importantly, I hope that Heidi May and Randy Lundquist, both good people, end up on their feet again.
Very sad when long-time local talent get let go. Had to be a financial move. Last book, prior to Rivers, KJR-FM was number two in the market 25-54 and number one 35-64. When the April book comes out I guess we will know. Some weeklies were rolling around the office and it looks like KJR is down while KMCQ is in the upper one share range and KVI is now showing up around a one share in most 35+ demos. I think the full April book is out sometime next week.
Way too soon to tell if the Rivers move works on an Oldies station, but KMCQ is now showing up (maybe they weren't encoding before) and KVI is now moving up slowly too, it might have something to do with adjustments at KJR, or just PPM weeklies. I wonder if now that KMCQ has actual ratings will it help them get sold or hurt them. I guess if you are commercial free and only pull a sub-two share that could be good or bad. Nice to see a bit of life in KVI. Hope the best for Bob Rivers and the best for Heidi May and Randy.
Way too soon to tell if the Rivers move works on an Oldies station, but KMCQ is now showing up (maybe they weren't encoding before) and KVI is now moving up slowly too, it might have something to do with adjustments at KJR, or just PPM weeklies. I wonder if now that KMCQ has actual ratings will it help them get sold or hurt them. I guess if you are commercial free and only pull a sub-two share that could be good or bad. Nice to see a bit of life in KVI. Hope the best for Bob Rivers and the best for Heidi May and Randy.
radioguy123 said:
This is real news, if it's the case.
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