Jobs at WARM

[Seltzer]

2 posted on All Access.

Full time PM drive

and

Full time overnights.

Any takers? Proceed with caution.....

 

[bossjock 56]

The PM DRIVE position calls for HOT AC/AC background. Shall we end the speculation.....or could it be a smoke screen.

 

[Seltzer]

With the fall ratings period here, I doubt you'll see any format change. Still CHR is a possibility next year. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[Seltzer]

If you are considering this...here's something to consider....

Something kind of important was left out of the job description---------------Required sales calls.

Cumulus/York instituted a new requirement for all non sales personnel back in the spring (according to a source of mine well entrenched in the building)

A half hour to an hour's worth of sales calls every day. This idea was developed to save jobs. Since it was instituted, a high number of people have been shown the door anyway, or have left.

Speaks volumes of the character of the person doing the hiring that this fact was left out of the job descriptions. Fraud comes to mind.

Proceed with caution...

Talent & content does still matter. But not at Cumulus/York.

 

[real_radioguy]

WOW Seltzer.your source IS right, sales calls MANDATORY. They're not working but still mandatory.

 

[karlyle]

Would love to see the list of clients that the "full time overnights" position has to call....bars, convenience stores??? Not too many decision makers available at 11 PM or 6 AM....what has happened to this market?

 

[Radio Babe]

...So in "Cumulus World" the talent HAS to do the salesperson's job?....Do the salespeople help out with show prep and maybe some weekend tracking?

Why don't you have the talent call some prospective LISTENER'S?...There is a reason that jocks are jocks and sales are sales....

Either way it's a waste of energy..."Pissing in the ocean to raise the tide"?...

 

[bub]

Would love to see the list of clients that the "full time overnights" position has to call....bars, convenience stores??? Not too many decision makers available at 11 PM or 6 AM....what has happened to this market?

Aren't you forgetting the houses of ill repute? ;D

 

[HardCore]

The mandatory sales calls strike me as more than a touch insulting and potentially counterproductive. I mean, if I were a cracker-jack sales guy from WARM 103 with a knack for the cold call, I'd hate to call a business who has already been contacted by some awkward deejay who might not know the right words to say. The bad impression has already been left in that business owner/manager's mouth, and could cost me the sale.

What's more, if the jock should make an appointment, the real salespeople swoop in and nail down the sale. The jock gets what? A pat on the back? A satisfied feeling? Or does the GM come down and say, "Good job. Keep it up and you won't wind up like Kelly West." ?

 

[vetguy]

A WARM staff member still there who has had to make calls indicated that corporate had passed the word down to up sales or more bodies go. Mandatory sales calls were implemented by the local management in order to attempt to keep anyone else from getting fired. Another version of the story. Maybe Kelly would not make the calls?????

 

[Multiplexor]

....what has happened to this market?

They have a GM running the operations there who had previously worked there in sales during teh Chris Huber era, then left and found out that he was pretty good at getting copiers sold to businesses. While trying to be a nice guy, it unfortunately turned out that he is absolutely clueless as to how to run a station cluster. He essentially got the job there in the first place because NO ONE else wanted it.

It's a true SHAME what that group of once proud stations has become.

 

[real_radioguy]

I just hope that whoever they hire stays around for more than a month....IF the positions do get filled

 

[bossjock 56]

If more layoffs are being threatened.....why are they hiring two more bodies for WARM? Do they really need an overnite jock? Will AM drive continue to be a one person show?

 

[bl40modulimiter2]

Toerper was THE WSBA top gun when he was in sales. From what I know of him, he's a good guy. Maybe he's not a great GM or maybe he is. In this environment, if you're in management, you have to make unpopular decisions including corporate dictates if you want to keep your job. I sat on a board w/Todd and I think he's a pretty decent guy in a bad situation.

 

[grandoleopry]

Well said BL...and I concur.
All managers have to make unpopular decisions at
times, and many times those decisions are out of
their control at the local level and they are only
doing what is being passed down from corporate.
Like it or not the ONLY thing that matters to corporate
headquarters of any broadcast group is $$$.
Either you make money or you don't! To those who criticize
Gm's /Market managers I'd bet you dollars to donuts
you couldn't last a week in their job.

 

[promote_this]

Jobs have not been lost because the sales call initiative isn't working. Jobs were lost for other, non-related reasons. Does it seem fair? Heck, no. Sounds like it sucks. But that being said. . . the plan was implemented with the hopes that it would prevent a huge staff cut in the building -- and that has worked thus far. Calling the GM names and calling him an idiot -- just isn't fair. And former "insiders" should keep their prejudices to themselves.

 

[Seltzer]

Is it fair for an air personality to be hired and then told...."Oh by the way, you have to make sales calls." That's not fair. Little bait & switch going on.
I don't know if the GM is a good guy or an idiot. But, again, it shows how little value is given to air talent. Without programming, there is nothing to sell. Of course, with what WARM is trying to pass off as a morning show these days, the host probably has plenty of time to make the calls. Still, it's not right.

 

[real_radioguy]

The so-called "insiders" are not trying to ruffle feathers, just trying to alert people of what is (or was) going on over there. There are no idiots over there, just people who'll backstab you to get what they want and need.

 

[Tardis]

I'm not sure if anythng they're allowed to try locally will help as long as the loud sucking sound from Atlanta continues.
In the Cumulu$ world all that matters is how much you are able to send south.
In no way does quality of the product matter. And certainly not employee morale.

Remember this a company where a few years ago with CMI drowning in red ink, Lew Dickey took himself a bonus that would've paid my salary for about eighteen years.

Where in his first meeting with the staff, the Chairman of the Board made interesting comments.
One : "I just bought a bunch of used radio equipment. And employees".
Two : "You can have career with us. Not just a job. If you want a job.... we'll find you one."

And there's the ever popular one made to the Market Managers: "I can make a million dollar even without a signal on the air".

While I'm in no way a sales type, I can see the danger in having people who don't want to make prospecting calls, but being compelled to do so, having the potential of causing extenstive damage.

Truth is that those people don't know how to make money. Just how to talk investors out theirs.

 

[bub]

...it shows how little value is given to air talent. Without programming, there is nothing to sell.

BRAVO, Seltzer!!! It all comes back to CONTENT! As I've alluded in another thread, it's difficult to get credible ad rates for a station when you don't have a compelling air product to sell to begin with!

That's not fair. Little bait & switch going on.

Can you say, "Selling the sizzle without the steak?"

In no way does quality of the product matter. And certainly not employee morale.

Ergo, you get what you pay for.

And there's the ever popular one made to the Market Managers: "I can make a million dollar even without a signal on the air".

Then why do you own a radio station? What's the point?

Truth is that those people don't know how to make money. Just how to talk investors out theirs.

It's not that they don't know how to make money, they just don't know how to operate a radio station. They just get in their own way.