Jimmy Baron's Blog on the firings at Cumulus Atlanta

[deadman]

Lew Dickey's pants are on fire...again! I shouldn't really care about this since I couldn't be happier to be out of the Johnson Ferry Building of Death. In fact, the only reason I do care is because a lot of people I've grown very close to over the years are being publically shat on virtually every day by Scum-ulus Broadcasting. In case you don't know, there were a total of 21 people fired by by Lew and John Dickey even BEFORE THEIR OFFICIAL FIRST DAY OF OWNERSHIP last week. And, while I'll admit it's naive to think there won't be some consolidation and job reduction when one company buys another, what has made this absolutely inconscionable is how these guys have tried to spin it to the local and national press, as well as the industry trades. For the record, they haven't fooled anyone. There isn't a person in radio who hasn't heard Scum-ulus horror stories. But I digress.Here's the latest from Billboard.com. More quotes from CEO Lew Dickey about changes at 99X and Q100."There were virtually no changes in sales and programming unless they were upgrades, Dickey said. Theres no reduction in head count or programming unless there were changes we wanted to make in personnel rather than head count reductions." In other words, what Dickey is saying is that all the 99X/Q employees who were fired were just people they wanted to replace with others, but staff size will remain the same. So to believe that statement you have to also believe that the Dickeys had been eyeing the work of the 21 people who were fired and determined that those people could be replaced by people better suited for those jobs (maybe there are 21 more Dickey brothers waiting in the wings for gigs ...G-d forbid). Really? You mean all 21 people who were canned were simply not good at what they did and are now going to be replaced? You mean the corporate big shots felt Programming Assistant Tracy McPherson wasn't pulling her weight and they needed to replace her? Or Steve Zielonka, who headed up the entire Freeloader Dept didn't meet their standards and they had somebody better? Had the Dickey's been monitoring the work of Sales Assistant Kristin Davis and Remote Tech Matt Courtoy and determined that there were better people for those gigs? I wonder who Dylan's new co-host will be on Q now that Jamie Massey's position will be upgraded. And how about 99X Music Director Jay Harren? Sorry Jay. Apparently you must have sucked because the Dickeys want to also "upgrade" to a better Music Director (at least according to Lew's quote). I know you've won industry awards and most radio and music insiders consider you as one of the best in the entire business, but Lew and John Dickey - neither of whom have ever owned a Top Ten FM station in their lives - have determined otherwise. Or is it possible that this was ENTIRELY about staff reduction? Again, I understand that a new company buys an old one and wants to change some things and even reduce overhead. That's just smart business...to an extent. But don't freakin' tell people you're not making changes in the number of people you employ when you know it's a big lie. And don't rub salt in the wounds of long-time employees, many who've worked for peanuts for years at a place they love, by publically saying you're "upgrading". Personally, I couldn't be more excited right now. Do I have some anxiety over my next move? Absolutely. But the Free FM shows I did in San Francisco and the one I did on AM750 WSB were, for me, the most creatively refreshing and encouraging hours of radio I've done in years. I'm genuinely pumped at the idea of doing something different and have some irons in the fire that could prove to be unbelievable. Plus, I'm fortunate in that 99X was very good to me for a long time, and that will enable me to lay low and sit tight for a while. But it kills me to see the people "behind the scenes", who worked their asses off for years, get publically kicked in the nuts by the new owners.

 

[atlradiofan3]

chill out dude before you explode.

 

[taylorengineer]

Lew Sr., Lew Jr., and David Dickey ran the HUGELY profitable AND Top Ten Kiss 104.7 in Atlanta. AND....these "idiots" sold the station to COX for $283 Million. That's MILLION.....283 Milion dollars US!!!!!!!Senior bought that outfit out of bankruptcy for 6 million dollars.....got a 50,000 watt AM station at the low end of the dial as part of the deal too!! WHAT IDIOTS!!Now, Lew JR. and David are worth over $100,000,000.00 EACH!!! I put all the zeroes in so even a disc jockey can appreciate the accomplishment. 100 million dollars......WOW!!Does Cumulus do visionary radio?? HELL NO!! But where is your example, save the non-comms, where ANYTHING original originates?? Cox? ClearChannel? Would you claim Jimmy Barron's morning show was culturally illuminating? Sorry guy....if you think that's cutting edge radio....your part of the problem!! A "People Magazine" culture gets Cumulus Communications. An "Entertainment Tonight" culture gets a ClearChannel Communications. A "Survivior" culture deserves the empty calories they clamore for from all the media....television, film, AND radio. Your only getting what you really want!99X is/was symptomatic of a larger issue.....a society AND culture in decline.

 

[wooder]

Lew Sr., Lew Jr., and David Dickey ran the HUGELY profitable AND Top Ten Kiss 104.7 in Atlanta. AND....these "idiots" sold the station to COX for $283 Million. That's MILLION.....283 Milion dollars US!!!!!!!Senior bought that outfit out of bankruptcy for 6 million dollars.....got a 50,000 watt AM station at the low end of the dial as part of the deal too!! WHAT IDIOTS!!Now, Lew JR. and David are worth over $100,000,000.00 EACH!!! I put all the zeroes in so even a disc jockey can appreciate the accomplishment. 100 million dollars......WOW!!Does Cumulus do visionary radio?? HELL NO!! But where is your example, save the non-comms, where ANYTHING original originates?? Cox? ClearChannel? Would you claim Jimmy Barron's morning show was culturally illuminating? Sorry guy....if you think that's cutting edge radio....your part of the problem!! A "People Magazine" culture gets Cumulus Communications. An "Entertainment Tonight" culture gets a ClearChannel Communications. A "Survivior" culture deserves the empty calories they clamore for from all the media....television, film, AND radio. Your only getting what you really want!99X is/was symptomatic of a larger issue.....a society AND culture in decline.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem like Barron's blog is claiming the Dickey's are bad or dumb businessmen. In fact, he even goes out of his way to point out that job cuts generally come with the territory of a takeover (and the proof seems to be in the pudding that they know how to make a buck). All he appears to be saying is what their reputation has always been: that they're cheap, less than honest, and not very sympathetic when it comes to their employees. On the other hand, you're absolutely right aboust society getting the type of pop culture it deserves.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Lew Dickey is not a radio person. He probably couldn't name the new afternoon personality on 96 Rock. Lew Dickey is a deal maker, and radio happens to be his vehicle for making deals. As the above poster said, the Dickeys have made many, many millions, and their objective is to make many more millions.What happens at the former Susquehanna stations will be interesting to watch. Remember, Cumulus owns only 25%, with an option to increase to 40%, but Cumulus is running the stations. The other owners are financial holding companies. So the pressure will really be on; Cumulus cannot afford to hiccup.Whether the scorched-earth policy that Cumulus is famous for will work in major markets remains to be seen.Regarding the Rob Roberts hiring, I'm curious to see how this will work. It's been quite awhile since either Leslie Fram or Dylan reported directly to someone in programming. And both certainly have their own ideas about what's right. Time will tell.

 

[TER]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't seem like Barron's blog is claiming the Dickey's are bad or dumb businessmen. In fact, he even goes out of his way to point out that job cuts generally come with the territory of a takeover (and the proof seems to be in the pudding that they know how to make a buck). All he appears to be saying is what their reputation has always been: that they're cheap, less than honest, and not very sympathetic when it comes to their employees. On the other hand, you're absolutely right aboust society getting the type of pop culture it deserves.

Wooder, you are absolutely right. Jimmy's point was, "just be honest!" "Hey, were making cuts, I know it's not easy, but it's just business!"

 

[taylorengineer]

Weasel words......so what's new?Did you really think they were going to come in and congratulate the 99X staff on their 2 share?? They should have blown out everyone except the engineers and IT guy. And maybe they should keep the receptionist......Lew/David grew up in radio.....Lew Sr. owned radio up north long before Atlanta. They are RADIO deal makers. And some mighty fine deals they have made!!My guess is Lew Jr knows who the afternoon girl at 96 Rock is......he probably has already dated her.

 

[FMFreq]

They fired an engineer. So even you harsh policy wasn't harsh enough.

 

[wooder]

...and the IT guy. Again, taylorengineer doesn't seem to get the point of Barron's blog or comprehend MY original post either. Like I said before, nobody (including Jimmy from what I can tell) is criticizing John Dickey for making cuts. It seems the criticism is that Cumulus isn't being truthful about it, and that they're handling it publically in a pretty callous way. I agree with Ter. If they had gone in, cleaned house, and followed it with a statement that they regreted having to do it but felt it was a business decision that needed to be done, people might be inclined to cut them more slack. But it appears (by Lew Dickey's quotes) that they're lying about it even happening, which really is a slap in the face if you're one of those whose been canned. And even taylorengineer has to admit Dickey's quotes from a couple of weeks ago where he denied Barron's departure from 99X was related to the sale was pretty outlandish.

 

[KWYJIBO]

Cumulus has a history of denying the truth. Back in 2000 when they were busted cooking the books they quietly fired the CFO, hired one of Bill Clinton's spin doctors and blamed it all on market managers. Here are a couple of articles on the subject:http://money.cnn.com/2000/03/17/com...nline.com/bym/news/mar00/cumulus18031700a.asp

 

[bluangel]

jimmy we hardly knew ye

 

[taylorengineer]

Woody,Agreed! The "proper" way to do it would be tell the truth.But this IS radio....home of weasels and weasel words. Showbiz at it's absolute lowest.....But look at the media in general....what a bunch of lying sacks o' s**t!!! Film, television, print.....it's all the same moral paradigm. What we get(read:Cumulus, Cox, ClearChannel) is what we deserve.If YOU don't like the way things are.....then set the wheels of change in motion. START with yourself! (Not to imply you are dishonest or lacking in character.....just change begins with ourselves.)

 

[littlejohn]

Well, look at the possibilities of CLear Channel vs Cumulus Media Partners....CC has mucho loot invested in their properties, and although they run lean and mean, they tend to consider the longterm consequences of their actions. It is, after all, their stations they're screwing around with.Now look at Cumulus, who has a contract ($4 million a year, according to Inside Radio) to run the Partner stations. Win, lose, or draw. And, they've a chance to increase their stake 15% if they do good. Supposing they don't do good, in fact supposing they do so poorly the partnership has to be dissolved. They still get a fourth of some very valuable properties at sale. What's a CLass C worth in Atlanta? Or a 50KW AM in San Francisco? Or the Dallas stuff? It is, for the Dickey familty, a no lose situation. That their actions are hard on the employees both current and past isn't surprising. Again contrast the two media families. Lowery, Randall, and Mark are old - line oil money from several generations back, and the lions of San Antonio society. Lew, Lew, and John are guttercrud scum from the wrong side of the Jeep plant in Toledo. Take the actions of both families in that light, and there aren't any surprises.

 

[seabass]

Lew Dickey's pants are on fire...again! I shouldn't really care about this since I couldn't be happier to be out of the Johnson Ferry Building of Death. In fact, the only reason I do care is because a lot of people I've grown very close to over the years are being publically shat on virtually every day by Scum-ulus Broadcasting. In case you don't know, there were a total of 21 people fired by by Lew and John Dickey even BEFORE THEIR OFFICIAL FIRST DAY OF OWNERSHIP last week. And, while I'll admit it's naive to think there won't be some consolidation and job reduction when one company buys another, what has made this absolutely inconscionable is how these guys have tried to spin it to the local and national press, as well as the industry trades. For the record, they haven't fooled anyone. There isn't a person in radio who hasn't heard Scum-ulus horror stories. But I digress.That's a surefire way to get another $300,000 gig.

 

[wooder]

Lew Dickey's pants are on fire...again! I shouldn't really care about this since I couldn't be happier to be out of the Johnson Ferry Building of Death. In fact, the only reason I do care is because a lot of people I've grown very close to over the years are being publically shat on virtually every day by Scum-ulus Broadcasting. In case you don't know, there were a total of 21 people fired by by Lew and John Dickey even BEFORE THEIR OFFICIAL FIRST DAY OF OWNERSHIP last week. And, while I'll admit it's naive to think there won't be some consolidation and job reduction when one company buys another, what has made this absolutely inconscionable is how these guys have tried to spin it to the local and national press, as well as the industry trades. For the record, they haven't fooled anyone. There isn't a person in radio who hasn't heard Scum-ulus horror stories. But I digress.That's a surefire way to get another $300,000 gig.

My guess is that claiming Cumulus radio is run by a bunch of creeps has never kept anybody in radio from getting another gig...except with Cumulus, of course. Then again, from what we're hearing, I can't imagine anyone wanting to take a gig with them who had ever worked for them before.