MARK DAVIS LEAVING WBAP

[arnoldevns]

From the way Mark's statement sounded last week, he had rinsed his hands of them...I have a feeling Mr. Davis is going the sponsored podcast route anyways, theres more money to be made..

Mark will be on a radio station.. not a podcast. You can't engage callers with podcasts.

 

[dismuke]

Word on the street: Davis has about 45 days to show Cumulus a better offer than they gave him and let them match it or take the offer they have left on the table for him and stay on WBAP.

Question: is such an arrangement with Davis off the air pretty normal in situations such as this? Or is it a bit unusual?

Seems to me that 45 days is an awful long time for a host to be off the air and such a lengthy absence could potentially work to diminish the potential future success of the program. A great many people regularly tune in to programing as a matter of habit. If during the 45 days a portion of the audience grows weary of the replacement host(s), they may very well check out other listening options open to them and form entirely new habits - habits which may endure even if Mark Davis does return. Seems to me that is a risk for both Cumulus and Mark Davis. If the situation described is indeed the case, wouldn't it make better sense for Cumulus to pay Davis on an off-contract interim basis to remain on the air while both sides figure it out before the 45 day date?

Perhaps this is a dumb question - I just have no idea how such things usually work.

It also occurs to me that if Mark Davis does return to WBAP there is a way that Cumulus could attempt to turn it to their advantage. There is, for example, a group which has started a "bring back Mark Davis" petition that will be presented to Cumulus. My guess is that WBAP and Cumulus are also probably receiving lots of emails, letters and phone calls on the matter. Seems to me that if/when it is decided that Davis will, for sure, return, Cumulus could take certain steps that would encourage local media to run stories on how there is this groundswell of grass roots activism being directed at WBAP to bring him back. That would certainly be positive publicity for Davis and perhaps increase his name recognition amongst those who have never previously listened. After a period of time, there could then be stories run about how WBAP relented and bowed to popular demand. If they did that, I am guessing that his first few shows back will have very good ratings - including curious listeners checking him out to see what the fuss was all about as well as former listeners from previous years who, for whatever reason, had stopped tuning in. In other words, a sort of replay of how Coca-Cola sales went way up after the New Coke fiasco and the company relented to public pressure to bring the original formula back.

 

[longtimelistener]

Word on the street: Davis has about 45 days to show Cumulus a better offer than they gave him and let them match it or take the offer they have left on the table for him and stay on WBAP.

Question: is such an arrangement with Davis off the air pretty normal in situations such as this? Or is it a bit unusual?

In this case I think it's part of his non-compete; originally put there by Citadel to give them a chance to keep him if someone offered him a better gig somewhere else after his contract was up.

 

[dismuke]

In this case I think it's part of his non-compete; originally put there by Citadel to give them a chance to keep him if someone offered him a better gig somewhere else after his contract was up.

I hadn't thought of that. What you say makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

 

[arnoldevns]

In this case I think it's part of his non-compete; originally put there by Citadel to give them a chance to keep him if someone offered him a better gig somewhere else after his contract was up.

I hadn't thought of that. What you say makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

That's exactly why they have that clause in the contract. In fact, it can be used to keep someone off the air from another station for that time if there's some dispute about whether or not the current employer matched the offer.

 

[Unaffiliated Observer]

I heard several Dallas Gold & Silver Spots with Mark this morning during Neil Sperry. I guess since they were already purchased they had to be ran.

Which leads to another question. Why wasn't Neil doing as many spots for his normal advertisers? Didn't he purchase that airtime or has he branched out in advertising?

 

[idiggraves]

Word on the street: Davis has about 45 days to show Cumulus a better offer than they gave him and let them match it or take the offer they have left on the table for him and stay on WBAP.

Question: is such an arrangement with Davis off the air pretty normal in situations such as this? Or is it a bit unusual?

In this case I think it's part of his non-compete; originally put there by Citadel to give them a chance to keep him if someone offered him a better gig somewhere else after his contract was up.

Well but is that non-compete in effect if he was working without a contract? And I'm not so sure those are enforceable anymore.
A good attorney can get you out of one if need be; especially if it's proven that Cumulus approached contract negotiations without good faith...shouldn't be too hard to prove. He'll be fine.

 

[chrisdanger]

Davis will end up walking away with a ton of cash like Carolla, thats all a foregone conclusion. The if/when of coming back to "free radio" still remains to be seen, as cumulus screwed the pooch on this one. I'm still betting on daily or weekly podcast/Ustream-type of show. I see him doing a glenn beck and going into business for himself, as he seems to have plenty of pull w/ local and national advertisers..

 

[ropertex]

From the way Mark's statement sounded last week, he had rinsed his hands of them...I have a feeling Mr. Davis is going the sponsored podcast route anyways, theres more money to be made..

Mark will be on a radio station.. not a podcast. You can't engage callers with podcasts.

Limbaugh once told a caller with an opposing view that a blog or podcast was the equivalent of being on several hundred broadcast stations.

 

[chrisdanger]

Limbaugh once told a caller with an opposing view that a blog or podcast was the equivalent of being on several hundred broadcast stations.

Makes sense, you have a much larger audience w/ podcasts. Carolla on average is avg 350-400k per his flagship podcast. His others on ACE are pulling similar numbers as well. Mark has a national name when it comes to the talkshow format, this would be a natural transition for him..he would need to sell ads and keep his listeners engaged to make ends meet, which I can see him doing..

 

[longtimelistener]

I don't think Mark has a big enough "name" to make any serious money doing podcasts. Adam Corolla does---does anyone know of anyone else that makes real money doing a podcast? I'm not being argumentative; I just don't know of anyone else besides Carolla.

 

[Unaffiliated Observer]

I don't think Mark has a big enough "name" to make any serious money doing podcasts. Adam Corolla does---does anyone know of anyone else that makes real money doing a podcast? I'm not being argumentative; I just don't know of anyone else besides Carolla.

Jay Mohr is the only other one I know of.

 

[chrisdanger]

I don't think Mark has a big enough "name" to make any serious money doing podcasts. Adam Corolla does---does anyone know of anyone else that makes real money doing a podcast? I'm not being argumentative; I just don't know of anyone else besides Carolla.

Jay Mohr is the only other one I know of.

Chris Hardwick (Aka The Nerdist) is doing pretty well for themselves as well...I see Davis getting into more a network-style podcast(i.e. multiple host under one banner) than a solo effort. He'll make money one way or another.

 

[TheRover]

What with Cumulus's move toward syndicated shows, I'm wondering what the odds are that IF Mark Davis is off for good, Cumulus will fill his slot with Geraldo Rivera. They're syndicating him out of WABC. His show is 2 hours, the same 2 hours as Mark's shift. Do you think it's more or less likely they would go to a syndicated show rather than a local show?

I like the idea of a "radio" person vs. some "TV" guy who likes to do radio. In the end, are we just going to have National TV talking heads as the only ones on radio Networks ???

I don't trust that model at all.

 

[Jay Weaver]

Mark will be subbing for Rush tomorrow, Thursday, April 19th and Friday, April 20th. A good chance to listen to him for a couple of days.

 

[woodyrr]

Mark is behind the golden EIB microphone at WABC in New York City.

Did anyone catch in the opening monologue: Mark was talking about a Marco Rubio gaff where Rubio had said "... if I make a good Vice President": A few moments later Mark referred to "the local morning show that I have had.

I wonder if, in his own mind, he has moved on.

 

[OHTBGH]

I don't think Mark has a big enough "name" to make any serious money doing podcasts. Adam Corolla does---does anyone know of anyone else that makes real money doing a podcast? I'm not being argumentative; I just don't know of anyone else besides Carolla.

Jay Mohr is the only other one I know of.

Chris Hardwick (Aka The Nerdist) is doing pretty well for themselves as well...I see Davis getting into more a network-style podcast(i.e. multiple host under one banner) than a solo effort. He'll make money one way or another.

Hardwick and BBC America have been working together as well. Got Matt on from Doctor Who on his show as well as Comic Con coverage. And I thought I saw the Nerdest doing a show on BBC A as well.

 

[chrisdanger]

Chris Hardwick (Aka The Nerdist) is doing pretty well for themselves as well...I see Davis getting into more a network-style podcast(i.e. multiple host under one banner) than a solo effort. He'll make money one way or another.

Hardwick and BBC America have been working together as well. Got Matt on from Doctor Who on his show as well as Comic Con coverage. And I thought I saw the Nerdest doing a show on BBC A as well.

He did a couple of one-off specials for BBCA, is now focusing on the podcast and the Nerdist Youtube Channel, which is putting together some fun programming.

Getting back to Mark, I can see him affiliating himself with a conservative podcaster network, more than likely charging people to listen/watch ala Glenn Beck. Seeing the aforementioned beck is in Dallas, what would the likelihood be that mark would join forces w/ him?

 

[ADC]

Mark did a syndicated show a number of years back which apparently didn't do that well. To be fair, it was on at a terrible time; late Sunday afternoon and often preempted by football. I think he's a major league talent and hope that he does something national once again. Perhaps Sirius?

 

[dismuke]

Mark did a syndicated show a number of years back which apparently didn't do that well. To be fair, it was on at a terrible time; late Sunday afternoon and often preempted by football. I think he's a major league talent and hope that he does something national once again. Perhaps Sirius?

Actually, he has had two syndicated shows. The other one ran immediately after his local program in the same time slot as the Rush Limbaugh Show. Talk about a tough time slot.

I wonder how viable it would be for him to host a quasi local talk show syndicated strictly within Texas. After all, our state has some very sizable media markets. Certainly any program he has on a Dallas/Fort Worth station will already have a built in audience from the get go. And his substituting for Rush Limbaugh has certainly given him a nice degree of name recognition amongst conservative talk fans in the state's other media markets. It could be a format similar to his WBAP program - a mix of local issues and national issues depending on how interesting things happening at the moment are. Sure, it would not be as local as his WBAP program was. But I am not sure how much of a stumbling block that would be. For example, Davis would discuss topics such as events at city hall in Dallas or at city hall in Fort Worth. But if you live and work in Plano or McKinney, what happens at Fort Worth city hall is probably about as relevant to you as what happens at city hall in Waco or Houston. Davis obviously chooses local topics that he thinks listeners will find interesting for underlying issues that are wider and deeper in scope than the particular municipality where the events happen to occur. I would think he would be able to do that with local issues in other cities in Texas as well while still keeping a local feel to the program. Perhaps such a program would result in a bigger audience than the one he had at WBAP - and, therefore, perhaps be in a better position to accommodate his salary requirements.