It seems like there were many articles and people on local radio saying something along the lines of "good riddance" whenever wilks left somewhere. Their stations sounded alright, but there were a lot of disgruntled people about the company. I know they ran things cheap. Was it really that bad?
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How did wilks broadcasting have such a bad reputation?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Wait, what? Wilks sold the last of their stations in 2016: Wilks Sells the Last Of its Stations.
Why are you asking such a question seven years later?
Why are you asking such a question seven years later?
Was curious if anyone here had an experience with them as to why.
H
Harvey_Dogg
Guest
Likely it was an employee with a bad attitude and 10 screen names. It's all history now. But if you miss his posts? He's probably still at it. Check the McDonalds gossip board.
Never worked there myself, but I did hear from someone who had that they came in, presented themselves as radio geeks, and turned around said, "We lied. We're an investment firm."
Granted, that's not exactly an uncommon experience these days. Wilks had a reputation for being worse than most, but I don't know how if it was really any worse. I was told, after taking over the CBS properties in KC and Columbus, Wilks had a massive bloodletting the day of the company Christmas party. That's pretty cruel, but, again, it's not particularly rare among corporate operations. Just about every for profit business where I ever worked tended to let people go around the holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas were at the end of the year and the end of a quarter. That quarter tended to have increased business, which tailed off dramatically after January 1.
I was also told employees of the former CBS Radio properties saw their health insurance costs increase because going to a smaller company meant a smaller group discount. If that's rare, it's only rare because large operators buying smaller operators is the norm.
Wilks was definitely a slash and burn operator, but I don't know if it was any worse than any other slash and burn operator. There are plenty of those around.
According to the article Kelly posted, they were a private equity-backed company. This is standard operating procedure for private equity - come in, buy an often distressed company (whether it be a radio cluster or a retail chain or anything else), slash and burn and cut costs, sell the trimmed-down operation for a profit, repeat.
In some ways, Wilks was a little ahead of its time. Private equity had had its hands in broadcasting pretty much since the beginning, but, at the time, other companies viewed it as a growth opportunity. If their investments didn't work the way they wanted, there was no shortage of people wanting to take their places and willing to pay for the privilege. Wilks seemed to have viewed it as a short-term investment that it could cut to the bone and sell for a bigger profit. If it caused the operations any harm, someone else was going to have to clean up the mess. Today, private equity firms are trying to squeeze every last cent out of an industry that is no longer growing. Most haven't been as aggressive as the ones that operate iHeart, but we're seeing all the major groups sell their real property and almost panic trying to expand into the digital space.
About 20 years ago, I worked for a cluster that used the traffic and scheduling system Wicks provided. I have no idea if it still operates today or if it's still owned by the same people, but it wasn't a bad system at all. The company also sent someone in to provide training, and it was quality training by a knowledgeable staff member. Even back then, we'd heard of how bad Wilks was known to be. The Wicks side of the operation, however, seemed quite well-run and professional.
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