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John Gorman: An estimated 1,000 Clear Channel employees to be laid off Tuesday

J

jeffryan

...which coincidentally is Inauguration Day. Good choice for a day if you desire next to no press coverage of possibly the worst mass layoff in radio history. All media attention will understandibly be focused on Washington D.C.

To the remaining friends I have at 75 Oxford Street, best of luck to you all. Hopefully you guys are spared, but it's not looking good at all.

http://gormanmediablog.bl...nnel-skinned-in-game.html

The firings, which were expected to occur yesterday, will actually come to pass next Tuesday, the 20th. .... So as Barack Obama gets sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, Clear Channel managers will be sacking an estimated one-thousand employees throughout the chain.
 
So while the f ing teachers SCREAM about not getting raises on top of 95,000 for 181 days work; hard working people at C.C. 350 days a year are about to get the old PINK SLIP.
It's beyond SICKING! :mad:
 
Too many people in the country are in the same boat for this to produce anything but a yawn outside the radio world so the inauguration day ploy was unnecessary. Locally Colibri shut its doors on over 200 employees and paid them through Wednesday only. Bank Of America in Lincoln letting over 100 go from its investment division. Clear Channel owns over 1200 stations. Granted I doubt layoffs will come one-per-station but with that many stations I doubt you'll see any mass exodus from any one station. If you've been there over 3 years you get 9 months severance and unemployment for 6 months to a year. Put it towards tuition to re-educate yourselves.
 
Moonstruck said:
Clear Channel has always had some sort of stipulation when it came to severence that you get it if you keep your mouth shut but with the internet, who knows whose mouth is open anyway?
Click to expand...

Exactly. High level Clear Channel employees are leaking this info to the press. Why would they stop spilling the beans once they get laid off, provided that they are guaranteed anonymity by their reporter friends?
 
So what are we looking at in Providence? Naturally there's those off-mic people most don't know of unless you work there.
HJY: Unless they shrink the number of people on the morning show there can't be any change here. It would be suicidal. You can give up Shorts, Skidmarks, or a stunt boy but I think P&A are untouchable. Local middays could go. Nites are tracked already and I really don't have an opinion about Charles.
Coast: One-man station already.
B101: One local show already.
HJJ: Nothing local so Helen goes?
Where do you slash? Maybe weekenders will be a thing of the past on all 3 stations. Maybe one PD for all 4 stations?
 
There's no where to cut! Nowhere!
And,Getting rid of Helen would be suicide. What the hell is going on here?
 
And to think: when I tendered my resignation from Cumulus/Myrtle Beach 13 months ago to accept a management position with a nationally-based grocery chain, my co-workers thought I was making a big mistake. Some of us, radio-lovers as we are, had to be realists. While I'm sorry that an estimated 1,000 of my radio brethren will be out of work by this time next week, they should have seen this coming and prepare for corporate radio Armageddon.

I wish all of you well.........
 


Who is to say "who" and "when"? Could be Tuesday or maybe not!? I like most have no idea only what I see and read. Many CC employees have already been let go and probably more to come soon according to the trades. But how many would you have to let go at like 10 bucks an hour or so to amount to 400 million in cuts? No doubt some average salary people will go and have already but my guess there will be lots of the big boys making the big bucks let go as well if not already. Some of the CC suits make big money and I think Bain figured out it wasn;t necessary. Then you have jocks in some markets making major money to do say a four hour morning show and bascially nothing else!? Then there are some that are union and some with contracts. Who knows where it will begin or end. Who knows! Not a good time for radio...not a good time for CC and NOT a good time to be making BIG money! Like someone said earlier we will know by this time next week. Some clusters I understand are already cut to the bone with no budgets to speak of..The guy who took the grocery store chain job got out at the right time and he is right it will only get worse so for those of you who are lucky enough to get a good severence package (if they give any) plus unemployment whic for some in some states can be as high as 900 bucks a week that should give you some time to decide what to do. regardless or who or what it is a DARK day for the radio industry nothign or no one is safe from this in any company. If you somehow survive the AX man you are a lucky person...continue to focus and do the best job you can.
 
The Wall Street Journal said last night (after the stock market closed:) 1,500 terminations ... mostly from sales and administration. And ... a nationalization of format talent (Seacrest, Limbaugh, other Premiere talent.) Mostly in sales, as said previously.

Clear Channel operates on a 50% profit margin and has for years. That's 14% higher than other business sectors, including radio.

And, they expect (through Bain-Lee) to meet and maintain that figure.

Same with programming ... if it can add to the bottom line and cut expenses, through syndication, that's the new "synergy."

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123214134302591501-lMyQjAxMDI5MzEyNjExNDYxWj.html

It's about the Washington's ... and keep in mind, Inauguration Day or not, the 20th is "pay day" for many clusters in the Clear Channel pay structure (as is the 5th of the month.)
 
Cutting sales or traffic people from the so called "back office" is another "cut off nose to spite face" move from Bain and Co..its time to put MORE salespeople on the streets to tell radio's story..bet a lot of newspaper folk are going to sit back with a small smile on their faces as news of salespeople hitting the bricks hits the streets in various markets..

As for Helen Glover and WHJJ, aren't Quinn and Rose a four hour show? If so, you carry the other two hours of the show live, and go on the bird pretty much 24/7..hate to say it, but that's an option..

I'd like to hear more from "Boston Randy" as to how he found a way out of this buiness..God Knows, I've tried to find other employment--banks, the federal government, you name it..how does one crawl out of this foxhole that is bring over run?
 
Let's all hope for the best, since none of us have any control over it. My concern is mostly with the people who do this full-time and have families to support and mortgages to pay. We all know that radio isn't what it used to be, but I'm still grateful for the opportunity that they've given me.
If it IS the end of the road, it has been a pleasure being back at the B (B101). :-\
 
Re: John Gorman: An estimated 1,000 Clear Channel employees to be laid off Tuesd

Mr. Ambrose, I wish you well whatever happens. You have been a solid component on B101 for many years and also one heck of a softball player. Whatever team you're on is fortunate. All my best.
 
The more I think of it I just don't see where on air people in this market could be part of the fat-cutting. There just aren't enough of them on Oxford Street. Maybe HJY but even there they would be messing with success. If it happens I see it more affecting board ops, producers, production, traffic, sales.
 
Let's keep in mind that Mr. Gorman has had it in for Clear Channel for years, and he is quoting rumor and speculation. Having said that, I would not be surprised that there will be layoffs at CC and probably this coming week. They mention cutting back in sales.... if 1,000 sales jobs go, that's an average of 1-2 per station.... and at most stations, there are a couple of marginal salespeople that are not making their draws and probably can't be carried in this economic environment. The only thing that concerns me is the rumor that these decisions are supposedly being made in San Antonio. How would some accountant in San Anton' know who has a cushy list and just ambles over to the fax machine and takes orders, vs. someone who may not bill as much but consistenly digs up business, nurtures relationships beyond the agency buyer, etc.... or maybe that (on paper) marginal sales person who is just wrote five annuals and although it won't show on the books historically they've just laid in a nice base to grow on. As a salesperson who relies on commission only I should feel safe, but with these mysterious "metrics" who knows? Good salespeople are hard to find and if CC starts jettisoning real sales talent it will bite them in the end.... because those talented salespeople will eventually be across the street selling against them. In my worst nightmare, could they be that dumb?
 
"Good sales people are hard to find. They are harder to keep."

A marginal sales person will cost you more in the short and long run. If revenues aren't being produced, the station loses as expense costs rise. If a marginal sales person lasts long term, it is a smoke-and-mirrors effort that will make less commission income for them and still less revenues for the station. Then, the sales person ends up leaving the station anyway. That's why turnover is so high.
 
Speaker of Truth said:
I'd like to hear more from "Boston Randy" as to how he found a way out of this buiness..God Knows, I've tried to find other employment--banks, the federal government, you name it..how does one crawl out of this foxhole that is bring over run?
Click to expand...

My situation was easy to remedy. When I was downsized by Qantum/Myrtle Beach in 2005, I took a job as a 3rd shift stocker with Kroger. They promoted me to 3rd shift supervisor in a couple of months (with a substantial raise) and enjoyed it for a year. During this time, I did some part-time air work with Cumulus until they offered me a full-time gig in September 2006. Also, an associate athletic director at Coastal Carolina University asked me to be part of the football broadcast team.

During my time at Cumulus, things went from good to tedious (at best). In November 2007, the store manager of Kroger, who I had an excellent working relationship with, asked me to return as the assistant grocery manager. Weighing all the options and seeing the writing on the terrestrial radio wall, I decided to tender my resignation from Cumulus. Even though I'm still broadcasting sports for Coastal Carolina University, Kroger management has been extremely flexible in accomodating my athletics schedule for selected road trips involving football, women's basketball and baseball. It's allowed me to travel to Penn State for football, baseball at Georgia Tech & the 2008 Super Regionals at North Carolina as well as the Big South Women's basketball tournament in Asheville, NC.

The point being is: as air talent, many of us have, to a certain extent, a bit of an ego. Those of us who are able to put it aside to work regular jobs can survive without radio. Decent paying jobs are few and far between and, although I'm not making killer money, I'm doing just fine without being a full-time radio guy. It can be a tough transition but, in the long run, it's worth it.

Hope that answers some of your questions, Speaker of Truth. Be well and good luck!!!
 
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