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John Gales Leaves Nassau???

M

Ms_Milk_Maid_Mary

Well, I Hope the t-storms weren't to rough on my boyz around the valley!!! :-* We had some FUN yesterday up here on the farm in Sharon!!! Yee Haw! My big girlfriend at cc sure has been ridin' the lightning! Woo-Hoo!!! And now the lastest word from Mary's hot boy toy Don Dalesio, John Gales leaves Nassau-Barre-Derby! WOW!!! Word is he's heads off to start his own business! Good for him!!! Get the hell out of that sinkin' rat-trap! Who knows...Maybe Shirley can swing her golf clubs up the trail to the north and help steer the ship of dismay...or Well-done can get Norma-Jean to give a tip or two to the all mighty crew!! :p


Ms. Mary ;)
 
Seemed that Gales did good there, I wish him good luck in his new venture.
 
John did do very good things and is a great guy! Congrats on being out of mini-CC and best of luck with your new biz opp! My insider tells me he's one of the very few who had a clue at sinking S.S. Nassau.

PREDICTION: You will see a surprising departure or "reassignment" in Princeton from someone whose influence has been sadly minimized by the now 100% sales navigated S.S. Nassau. Then again, it is hard to walk away from six figures. How much sh** can she swallow and still look herself in the mirror is the real question.

The good ones leave the sinking, stinking ship...I hear more will disembark very soon!
 
WOW!!!! huge news out of Nassau Barre-Derby. According to my sources from the inside, Barre was the shining star in the Nassau Vermont stations, and has been hitting sales budgets all year at the stations that Gales was responsible for. That hardly sounds like a sinking rat trap to me.

Ms Milk Jugs Mary, if DD is your boy toy, then you have definitely been on the beach for too long. However, I would not underestimate his ability to steer the SS Nassau, as I heard he has a rabbit or two to pull out of his hat on this one.
 
Wheezer said:
PREDICTION: You will see a surprising departure or "reassignment" in Princeton from someone whose influence has been sadly minimized by the now 100% sales navigated S.S. Nassau.
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Not familiar enough with the company to know what you're talking about, but exactly how does this differ from 98% of the broadcast companies w/r/t sales running the show? The smaller the owner, the MORE sales runs the show. I've lost count of the stupid programming I've had to air over the years because it was either already sold or sales thought they could sell it.
 
John is one of the good guys---who truly gets small market radio. He is going to start his own venture and sounds like a great move for him. Who will fill his shoes? Look north toward Burlington and a current Market Manager.
 
I met Gales a few years back I think before he got into the sinking Nassau ship. He seemed like a good radio guy and certainly has the reputation to go with it. His life in Nassau was probably at the point where he was about to lose his mind. Although I'm not regularly not in the New England Market as much anymore I do keep up on what's happening in the corporate radio world and have friends who reluctantly remain in it. If this news about Gales is legit then just think about all the many GOOD people they and other corporate radio stiffs have lost over the years because "they" had the better formula. Being a buyer I see the situation all over the country and it seems to be more prominent in the smaller markets. The steps are the same everywhere...slowly bring in their own guys and burn out the guys who made the property attractive to purchase in the first place. Turn the stations into sterile jukeboxes and run them on a thin dime. Then of course you have the Nassau's of the world who's egos have totally changed the course of many successful stations and they can't understand why the revenues have gone down. Hey Clear Channel and Nassau....get the hell out of the smaller markets...you don't belong in them...give me a reason to buy radio for my clients again. Good luck to Gales and all those like him...the small market's will miss guys like you.
 
Radiowatch
I could not have said it any better. These big companies have sucked the life out of small market stations. It will take years for some of these stations to really get back into the game.
 
Dear Radiowatch,

Thank you for your Sunday morning sermon. It's too bad that you have no clue in what you are preaching from your pulpit.

If you watched Gales career, you would see that he was a sales manager in Rutland when nassau bought their Vermont stations. It was Nassau who recognized his talents, and promoted him to be general manager of their Barre stations. They promoted him again to oversee their Derby stations after they saw that he knew what he was doing.

The formulas that you speak of these Supergroups as having are hallucinations in your own mind and merely excuses by you and people like you who cannot adapt to change, and because of it are sitting on the sidelines. Both company's run their businesses LOCALLY.

Both Clear Channel and Nassau have used purely local guys; Tim Plante, Brian Collamore, Vince Aiello,and Tom Barney, John Gales, Glen Novak, and even Bob Frisch, and the list goes on. So I do not understand where you are coming from with your analysis.

If you are a buyer like you say that you are, you would know that radio revenues nationally have been pretty much flat since 2000, and in New England that reality holds true as well. You would also know that the auto sector, where radio traditionally found up to 30% of its revenues, has been in decline for the last several years. Combine that with the expense of new arbitron markets that Clear Channel and Nassau have invested into making jobs like yours easier, and other inflationary costs of running a business, and you have big challenges in small market radio. But I guess you already know that, because it sounds like you work at or run a big time ad agency.

Despite the business challenges, guys like Gales in Barre, and several others in Nassau and Clear Channel New England markets have both INCREASED REVENUES and INCREASED PROFITS during that period. So, Radiowatch, you should get your facts straight before you stand on the sidelines and start slinging inaccurate color commentary on the state of the New England small market radio industry. If you are as good as you think you are, you will do your homework and find that there are thousands of good people still doing GREAT things in small market radio in New England. That is largely in part because they have adapted to the environment around them along with their co-workers. Hopefully you will change your ways from "Radiowatch" to "Radio's ON ".

But then again,
Who REALLY Cares?
 
You all make good points on both sides of the issue. There is one irrevocable fact. Nassau paid too much money to Vox for those properties. They will NEVER be able to get the kind of revenues out of those markets (Barre-Upper Valley-Concord-Rutland) they need to because it isn't there. Think of it like buying a house. If you pay too much you'll never be able to sell it for the profit you want. Same with Nassau. They won't hold onto these stations forever. They have a 5-7 year plan to own, operate and grow them---then sell for a profit. Problem is they paid too high of a price for them and they now realize their exit strategy is going to be difficult, if it can happen at all. Why do you think the Goodradio deal to buy all the Clear Channel properties (including Burlington) is now blowing up? Same reason. The money people figured out they were paying too much.
 
Mr. DUBbonet said:
You all make good points on both sides of the issue. There is one irrevocable fact. Nassau paid too much money to Vox for those properties. They will NEVER be able to get the kind of revenues out of those markets (Barre-Upper Valley-Concord-Rutland) they need to because it isn't there. Think of it like buying a house. If you pay too much you'll never be able to sell it for the profit you want. Same with Nassau. They won't hold onto these stations forever. They have a 5-7 year plan to own, operate and grow them---then sell for a profit. Problem is they paid too high of a price for them and they now realize their exit strategy is going to be difficult, if it can happen at all. Why do you think the Goodradio deal to buy all the Clear Channel properties (including Burlington) is now blowing up? Same reason. The money people figured out they were paying too much.
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The "house" analogy is a good one. How many people bought houses (maybe even some contributors to this board) in 2003 when the market was red hot and now find themselves under water? Or bought tech stocks in 1999? Hindsight is always 20-20.
 
Good Luck John. I'm sure we'll "cross paths" again someday... ;D
 
Dear Mr. Who Really Cares...you my friend are a little naive and uninformed or perhaps work for Nassau. If not then you should talk to some that do. Increased profits and revenues?? Mr. Dubbonet said it all...the whole industry knows they way over paid for the stations they bought. Even with the cuts in personel they're not going to make it up...spent way too much money on everything. My understanding is that Gales did a great job with Nassau considering the enviorment he had to work in. My point is that guys like Gales are slowly being replaced and small market radio has changed because the corporate mentality has screwed it up. Take a look at that Concord/Lakes Arbitron Market...what a joke...how about the Lebanon Arbitron...another waste of money. If the Clear Channel guys were so adept in running small market stations than why is that they are selling them for way less than they paid for them? Sure there are lots of talented people in small market radio but they are no longer working as closely with clients the way guys like Gales were able to do under former owners. It's because they are all about the money now...it's no longer about the client with many of these stations. I didn't say ALL OF THEM...but many of them. I'm very much aware of the economic climate out there...and that's the point...in past times small market radio had the ability to face those challenges with hands on promotions, clever ideas and programming tweaks. Those days are going away.
Great discussion...let's hope there is change for the better in the future.
 
John Gales was & is a class act and will leave tough shoes to fill for anyone who takes over....but the problem with the big groups "staying local" is sometimes they get it wrong. Not every Rutland GM was a G-e-M
 
Is this topic about a great radio guy leaving to go work in a different media or another Nassau beating and nashing of teeth by anonymous nabobs of negativity?

Ownership rules have changed "what was" and how local radio is operated. Period.

Feel strongly about it? Work with your Congressional reps and Senators and get the laws changed.

A completely relevant point is that radio (Big, Mid Size and small markets) can't take business for granted. And perahps, after decades of Mom and Pop ownership (does anyone remember working for these small [1-10] station o/o broadcasters...talk about being cheap....geez, they wrote the book on cheap) today's group ownership business models can't reverse a preordained outcome for an industry littered with "old timer" knuckle heads who miss the "good old days".

Miss the good old days? Turn off your 21st century technology computer (are you listening to the radio right now as you read this?)...slice your phone and cable lines...toss your cellphone in the trash and go sit in front of the gigantic radio in the "palor" and listener to a FDR fireside chat.

To John: Best of luck working! Regardless of the media you work in- you'll be successful because you good and take pride in making the best product you can.
 
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