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Herald: Cuts feared at Entercom Boston

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

David Field was to be there yesterday (snowed in, in Philly?) but instead will appear on Wed. and there's fear of cuts coming. Jason Wolfe claims the Howie reruns were planned weeks ago (yeah, I'll bet because they knew
they'd lose Noory, but I don't think they'll admit that?) It's a smart move for RKO I think because they
aren't spending money, yet can fill the overnight hours with (10 hour delayed) local content for those who may have missed it in its original airing (WTKK used to do these, as "Radio Rewinds"). Perhaps some people may tune in and their radios are set to RKO for when they wake up. Of course Noory's audience may be none too pleased but there are other AM outlets or sat radio for now, and then 1200 in April

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines...st_bad_news_to_weei_wrko/srvc=home&position=4

They mention the competition 98.5 is giving to EEI, plus the loss of Premiere product. Whether or not Field's visit results in (more) major changes, we'll see. (In addition to Carr reruns replacing Coast 2 Coast,
Rusty Humphries replaces best of Glenn Beck on Sat nights and Bob Brinker replaces Bill Cunningham on
Sun nights. We'll see if Premiere grabs Fox News and Rush and places them on 1200, too)

m_carney on Boston-Radio-Interest wondered if the next to go could be Finneran (did contract get renewed? he had started on 2/12 a few yrs ago), Meter (Metro Shadow doing sports flashes?), and Adams (since he'd be pre-empted by Sox/Celts a lot anyway). So, ESPN at night instead of local at the mighty EEI...? Hmm.
 
Mike Adams seems the most obvious cut, given how often his show is preempted (as mentioned by racoon) by Cs/ Sox.

Something seems odd though.
If cuts were going to be made it seems strange that the CEO would travel to Boston to do it...wouldn't the decisions just get announced (like Sheppard), or in the case of someone like Julie Kahn, wouldn't she be summoned to Philly instead of the other way around?

On the other hand, the one line all-staff email "Your presence is requested" is foreboding of bad news, just in what form I have no idea. Maybe it's across the board reductions in benefits/ salaries?
 
I'd be really cautious before accepting, prima facie, an article based on tips from Brian Baloney (the poster boy for disgruntled ex-employees) and, although not specifically stated but obvious to everyone who has heard his show, Howie Carr, the disgruntled employee.

Or, to put it another way, I won't be holding my breath for a mea culpa from Jessica Heslam when she turns out to be wrong.
 
I don't understand why 'EEI is having such dire financial problems. They still seem to have a lot of commercials. Are they charging a lower rate? Is the holding company (Entercom) doing poorly as a corporation? Aren't they broadcasting on about a dozen stations around New England? The satellite stations don't cost much to run, do they?
 
ArtSpooner said:
I don't understand why 'EEI is having such dire financial problems. They still seem to have a lot of commercials. Are they charging a lower rate? Is the holding company (Entercom) doing poorly as a corporation? Aren't they broadcasting on about a dozen stations around New England? The satellite stations don't cost much to run, do they?
Click to expand...

WEEI had to slash their spot inventory once the Sports Hub signed on. No more ten minute stopsets. That's gotta hurt. In a short period of time WBZ-FM is now out-cumeing EEI, so my guess is Entercom also had to cut their rate card. THEN you have to figure in the advertising slowdown due to the recession. WEEI is no longer the money printing machine it once was.

It's not the running of the satellite stations. I'm sure the local revenue they generate is enough to pay the electric bill and engineering costs. The Red Sox rights that Entercom grossly overpaid for a couple of years ago is absolutely killing them, along with all their high priced talent. It made sense when WEEI was running 25 units per hour. Not so much anymore.
 
Pretty tacky to speculate on other people's lives based on hearsay.

Here are the rules for corporate biggie visits to local media properties.

1. The big wheels don't breeze in to town to oversee the gassing of anyone below the level of general manager/publisher.

2. The big wheels do not have a GM/Publisher who is about to be gassed arrange a mandatory trip to the conference room for the multitudes.

3. Major changes in alighnment of properties are often announced by corporate suits in a visit to the local properties.

4. If the corporate suit comes in alone, the GM/Publisher stays. If the corporate suit comes in with a mystery figure, the GM/Publisher is toast. Make friends with the receptionist.

Smart bet: Rah rah rah. But hedge by putting a few quid on realignment of signals, including an FM presence for WEEI, or perhaps an RKO-EEI frequency swap or simulcast.
 
Oops. forgot this one

5. If the publisher/GM is connected enough in the local ad community to do some damage on getting sacked, a carefully orchestrated face-saving charade is always possible, where corporate suit comes to town, announces that GM/Publisher is going to some vitally important post at corporate, and the new GM/Publisher is introduced. A transition is promised. In reality, there is no transition, the GM/Publisher vanishes from the building and the sweetheart deal at corporate turns out to be a desk, a phone, and six months. This variation also applies to program directors, operations managers and regional poo-bahs.

So yeah, a face saver for the GM is also a possibility, if you're wagering make sure to put that in your perfecta box.
 
fmradio1 said:
ArtSpooner said:
I don't understand why 'EEI is having such dire financial problems. They still seem to have a lot of commercials. Are they charging a lower rate? Is the holding company (Entercom) doing poorly as a corporation? Aren't they broadcasting on about a dozen stations around New England? The satellite stations don't cost much to run, do they?
Click to expand...

WEEI had to slash their spot inventory once the Sports Hub signed on. No more ten minute stopsets. That's gotta hurt. In a short period of time WBZ-FM is now out-cumeing EEI, so my guess is Entercom also had to cut their rate card. THEN you have to figure in the advertising slowdown due to the recession. WEEI is no longer the money printing machine it once was.

It's not the running of the satellite stations. I'm sure the local revenue they generate is enough to pay the electric bill and engineering costs. The Red Sox rights that Entercom grossly overpaid for a couple of years ago is absolutely killing them, along with all their high priced talent. It made sense when WEEI was running 25 units per hour. Not so much anymore.
Click to expand...
So axeing Pete Sheppard was the solution? BTW thanks for the reply. I'm not a radio insider, I'm just related to a couple of them. What does spot inventory mean and what were ten minute stopsets. Were those the long blocks of commercials that they used to run?
 
Inventory - Airtime available for sale

Stopset - Commercial break. 10 minute breaks don't happen on music stations, but a talk station can (and for a long time, did) get away with it.
 
Yes indeed, I know about perfectas (and you can still bet them at the East Boston Oval) and the third class radiotelephone license with broadcast endorsement.

And I recall the typical Broadcasting ad for "situations wanted"

any format, 4 years exp., tight board, third endorsed, ready now.

Translation: desperate since graduating from college, worked on the carrier current college station, edited out the gaps on my aircheck and managed to get the broadcast endorsement on the third phone by remembering how to calculate power by the indirect method long enough to take the test and pass Element 9.

I also remember when every station had to have a "first phone" and they all for some reason had the ship's radar endorsement.
 
So for those of you too young to have had to go test actual knowledge of how radio worked, here you had 20 high school students in that cramped hallway outside the exam room. We were allowed to use calculators and slide rules, but the examiner would turn the calculator on and off a few times to make sure there were no stored functions. So here we are in the hall, with all these want to be radio stars from Graham Jr College who were trying to get a third endorsed.

Examiner comes out starts reading the results.... Smith..second pass, Jones second... pass, then there were the Graham students... Edwards.... third passed element nine...fail. That went on for a while. We were all thrilled having passed our Seconds, and got to watch the would you like fries with that college students cry because they couldn't remember e times i times power factor.

Then it all went to fecal matter, mail in third class licenses, then no third at all, No need for a First Phone anymore either, then the First and Second Phones got merged, screwing anyone who went through the process of getting a First Phone. It worked out great for the Second Class guys though. What was the modulation level for reference black again?
 
thirdendorsed said:
Yes indeed, I know about perfectas (and you can still bet them at the East Boston Oval) and the third class radiotelephone license with broadcast endorsement.
Click to expand...

We call them exactas in the 21st century, Father Time.
 
[Okay MRBIboredop, I went to Grahm (That's the way it was spelled) and I passed it all including element nine on the first try. Later went on to pass my first shortly before the 1st was done away with by the commission. I have built new stations from the ground up and rebuilt "toilets" into great sounding stations. I have never cried or asked would you like fries with that. :) Many great radio and TV people that are better than me went though Grahm as well.
 
So what happened with the big wig's visit?
 
It happens next Wed or Thu I think. The snowstorm that wasn't (what was advertised) may have pushed it back (Philly got it worse)

From the Herald, Thu the 11th:
>>Entercom bigwig David Field is coming to the Hub next week, sparking fears among some radio station employees that more layoffs and other cutbacks are on the horizon. An all-staff meeting is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday and employees got a one-sentence e-mail telling them their “presence” was requested.

(link is on the first post of this thread, see above)
 
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