Is 1260 WAMS For Sale?

[Keith Thompson]

Mike,

I've applied for several openings...and without saying too much, it's certainly an opening I'm aware of.

Thanks

 

[fred flintstone]

I agree. In any business, be it radio, or in industry you have those employees who are essentially clock watchers. They'll not give a second more than they absolutely have to give. Then there are the folks who like what they are doing and will go that extra mile without being asked, because they realize that sometimes that is what needs to be done or they want their work to be the best they can make it. Your example of covering that fire at that high school for WDEL is an excellent example. You didn't have to do it, but you did because you knew that the listeners to your station would be depending on your efforts the next morning and your co-workers and station owners also depended on your efforts, which made their newscasts better than they'd have been without your effort overnight. You may not have been paid a monetary sum, but you had and apparently still have the satisfaction years later, of that job being well done. That's something money can't buy. You had personal pride in yourself and in the work you were doing. To a person like you and those of us who have a similar attitude, the job is more than just a paycheck. Some people might think you were a chump, but my guess is, you were missed when you left WDEL, because you did go the extra mile, which seems to be the norm for those who were and are the major players in broadcast news (Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Harry Reasoner, etc, etc). None of the greats were clock watcher type employee. They went the extra mile. Think of all the places you've worked over the years, both in radio and out, folks like you are missed and the clockwatcher type aren't, because they usually were only looking out for themselves and wouldn't help anyone else and had an attitude problem to boot. As the ole expression goes, there are those who bless folks by their arrival on the scene and others who bless folks when they leave.

Mike From Delaware: Once again you twist things to suit yourself or you tend to misconstrue what you read (a fatal flaw in one who claims to be a "professional" journalist). This is not about going the extra mile or taking pride in one's work. Those are separate issues. Those famous names you mention got paid for their work. They hired agents to ring then last possible dollar out of their employers at contract renewal time. They did go the extra mile, which made them more valuable to their employers or to competitors, and they got still more money the next time around.

Don't you get paid in your day job? If you get more training and experience which makes you more valuable to your employer, don't you expect raises and promotions along the way? If you keep going the extra mile, don't you expect your employer to recognize that with something more than the "employee of the month" parking space? This illustrates why radio is a hobby to you guys, and many more like you. Nothing wrong with that but don't act superior to people who make their living in radio and do need/expect to be paid.

And sure, I bet WDEL missed TUX. They were getting a Freebie and it was over when he left (apparently because he couldn't support himself on what he made in radio). Sounds like they did not miss him enough to come up with some cash to induce him to stay. But they probably found someone else who "loves radio," and who is willing to work just to hear his voice on the air the next morning. This is why pay in radio is terrible. Why buy cows when milk is free?

Apparently you guys never took economics. Bottom line: Your work is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. If you sell your work cheap, how much pride in it can you have?

 

[MikefromDelaware]

>>Those famous names you mention got paid for their work. They hired agents to ring then last possible dollar out of their employers at contract renewal time. They did go the extra mile, which made them more valuable to their employers or to competitors, and they got still more money the next time around.

Don't you get paid in your day job? If you get more training and experience which makes you more valuable to your employer, don't you expect raises and promotions along the way? If you keep going the extra mile, don't you expect your employer to recognize that with something more than the "employee of the month" parking space? This illustrates why radio is a hobby to you guys, and many more like you. Nothing wrong with that but don't act superior to people who make their living in radio and do need/expect to be paid.>>

That IS my point, by going the extra mile, you'll have a better future with promotions than if you are a clock watcher who only see's the job as a paycheck. That's why Cronkite, Murrow, etc, were able to pull in the big bucks, they would go the extra mile. Now granted, not all employers are smart enough to value their employees who are the extra mile folks and will take advantage of them, but most in the industrial world will reward those types of folks. As only a mere part timer in radio, I can't say about radio employers, but based on the many unhappy fulltimers I've known over the 34 years I've only "dabbled" in radio it would appear that radio employers in general do not value their full time help. Those employers who don't value their people will see those folks move on to "greener" pastures.

So you mock me as being a hobbyist or mer part timer, but maybe folks like TUX and myself were smarter than all of you who apparently had unhappy careers working fulltime in radio as we were smart enough to pay our bills, etc, in other forms of employment and yet still get to have a minor league career in radio on the weekends thus satisfying that desire to do radio. Again, I do get paid for my "hobby" which is better than most people do, they have to pay to do their hobbies. So just maybe people like TUX and myself didn't fall off the "pumpkin wagon", eh.

 

[fred flintstone]

Based on the many unhappy fulltimers I've known over the 34 years I've only "dabbled" in radio it would appear that radio employers in general do not value their full time help. Those employers who don't value their people will see those folks move on to "greener" pastures.

No, they don't. And that statement most certainly included the Hawkins. Poor pay. Little support. Lousy tools to work with. Occasional compliments but nothing you could take to the bank.

So you mock me as being a hobbyist or mer part timer, but maybe folks like TUX and myself were smarter than all of you who apparently had unhappy careers working fulltime in radio as we were smart enough to pay our bills, etc, in other forms of employment and yet still get to have a minor league career in radio on the weekends thus satisfying that desire to do radio.

No mocking intended. I only meant to point out that you are in a different boat than the full timers and you may not fully appreciate their situation. And I don't dispute at all that maybe part-timers are smarter. You get the "kick" of working in radio and miss most of the BS, and you don't depend on it for your livelihood. Truth is, if I had it to over again ....

 

[MikefromDelaware]

Something for you to consider. Many people at mid-life have left their first careers and started second careers, generally in something they have a real passion for doing. From articles I've read about such folks and from some friends I have who did this, they seem much happier, lower blood pressure, much better outlook on life, etc, than when they were working like a "galley slave" to have that first "career" be it radio, law, or whatever. Then down the road later after you've gotten settled in a second more rewarding career, if you felt like it, you could become a part timer and possibly really get to enjoy radio, if it's not too late for you to be able to move past the bad times you've experienced during your career in radio. It's just a thought.

 

[fred flintstone]

Funny enough. Radio was my "second career." I started out in radio but after getting out of the service, I went to grad school and ended up as a market research consultant. Broadcasting companies were some of my clients. I did that for about 25 years before looking around for something else to do. I talked to a career counselor and based on those conversations, went back to radio.

My main point was that if you were full time, you might be angry and complaining, too. And some of the "bosses" you say were nice to you, might not seem so nice.

 

[MikefromDelaware]

So it would appear. That must have been a major disappointment, to have left a busy, highly respected, very profitable, probably a very stressful first career to enter into what was probably thought of as a fun career only to find it to be a real nightmare. I think I better understand some of your bitterness and anger, as that's not what folks doing the second career option are expecting.

 

[OldNumber7]

If I might chime in on this: True professionals in ANY job know their own worth, yet radio is lacking many of these. More than once I hired someone with salary requirements much lower than the company was prepared to pay. So I had the pleasure of giving the candidate everything he/she said they wanted while saving the company a bunch of money. That said, there are people for whom money is secondary to job satisfaction. If they like the work, they'll work cheap.
Let's face it: Radio these days is pretty easy. For most jobs you read liner cards, news copy from a wire or commercials from a script. You throw some switches and record things on a computer. Guess what? Zillions of people are very capable of reading aloud and recording things, so the pay doesn't have to be great to fill many radio jobs.
People attach a lot of underserved mysticism to radio. I've been hired to teach courses in audio production that spend a semester on the same stuff I could show a trainee at a station in an afternoon -- proof that radio AIN'T rocket science. But I'm sure you'll agree it beats the heck outta washing cars and flipping burgers, and actually pays a little bit better than both of those. Lastly, like any other field, the truly unique, gifted people will figure out how to command top dollar for the few opportunities in radio where talent really matters.

By the way, any discussion of WILM's historically low rates of pay for its anchors and reporters should include some mention of the atypical division of labor there. At least before Clear Channel, the payroll was traditionally swollen with far too many bodies and many doing next to nothing on a daily basis. Fewer people, working harder, could easily have commanded more money, comparable to base salaries for counterparts at WDEL.

 

[650AM]

How about turning this thread back to its original subject??
How much longer do we think 1260 stay off the air and really expect to return? How long have they been off at this point, 6-8 weeks? Gee.... they must really be having trouble erecting that new transmitter/tower huh?

 

[Radioeng500]

The station will remain dark until it is sold. We have several offers for the license.

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

Wow, someone is willing to pay that much for the license??

 

[Rockin Rob]

The station will remain dark until it is sold. We have several offers for the license.

Maybe you can clarify the posts of earlier. Is it just for the license or HALF of it, as some have speculated?

Also, its a shame that a station feels the need to go dark until a suitor is identified.

 

[fred flintstone]

Wow! The station is over priced if that's what they are asking for the full license.

Double Wow! The price is insane if it's for 49% of the license and the same fool who has been running it into the ground retains control.

My guess: The station is off the air because the owner ran out of money. Now he wants somebody to buy 49% to bail him out so he can keep changing formats and losing money.

re Middletown-Bear.
WNRK was a community station in Newark. I'm not sure what happened, whether they made money or why they started their pattern of flip-flopping formats. For a community-based format, Newark still makes more because it has more potential local advertisers than "the Bear area" (as some sexually repressed former PD insisted on saying because he thought "Bear, Delaware" sounded suggestive) which is mostly suburban sprawl with little real basis for a community identity. Middletown is growing but still in the middle of nowhere without enough population base or advertiser base to support local radio.

MFD: You may not be interested in the business side but the question of advertising support is crucial if a station is to survive. That has been WAMS' problem. The guy does "let's try this (format) for a while" without thinking about whether he can get anybody to pay the bills.

WCOJ has begun getting their act together under new management and it appears community based radio (with local advertising) can still work - but it requires good management who will support good programming and be able to sell it.

 

[PaulBWalkerJr]

I was originally told it'd only be for 49 percent of the license as the controlling itnerest wasn't too interested in selling, but apparently they've recieved an offer they just cant refuse.