Mark Mays

[ShadowFan]

I guess someone forget to tell Mr. Smiley Face he was retired when Bain took over.

 

[TheBigA]

He won't be hurting when he goes. And the haters will need to find themselves a new enemy.

 

[ShadowFan]

John Hogan is still there...for now.

 

[TheBigA]

If you were an investment banker with $20 billion in debt, who would you suggest for CEO? Someone who's going to spend money, or someone who will save it?

 

[SirRoxalot]

All of you who are surprised that "TheBigA" is defending Mark Mays raise your hand.


Anyone?


Bueller?

 

[TheBigA]

All of you who are surprised that "TheBigA" is defending Mark Mays raise your hand.

"Defending?" How am I "defending" him?

I predict the person who replaces him won't be viewed as being any better.

 

[BabyDJ]

Mays is leaving because:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/201...age_and_ban_sodomy_outlaw_strip_clubs_an.html

I mean, how can Clear Channel operate in San Antonio if sodomy is outlawed?

 

[nolaradiobuff]

BabyDJ - That may be the funniest thing I've ever read!

 

[ShadowFan]

To BigA...is Apple 'saving' its way to profits and a huge price per share? Greed got the Mays family business in trouble...but they escaped with the loot.

 

[TheBigA]

To BigA...is Apple 'saving' its way to profits and a huge price per share? Greed got the Mays family business in trouble...but they escaped with the loot.

That's the American way. All in all, they're just another brick in the wall.

Let me know when CC starts making phones and computers.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Look, the guy's bailing before the next big crapload of debt comes due. Whoever takes the job next is likely to lead them through bankruptcy. How else can they compete with Citadel and others who shed their overwhelming debt by stiffing the shareholders and giving away ownership?

The Mays family already stuffed their pockets with cash. There's no upside for them in the coming financial nightmare that awaits. Look for Clear Channel to go outside radio for a well-paid bankruptcy specialist.

 

[TheBigA]

Look, the guy's bailing before the next big crapload of debt comes due.

Personally, I don't think he's bailing...I think this was part of the deal when Bain got into it. They kept him around for a transition period, and now he's done. It's all very predictable.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't often agree with him, but for the most part, I agree with this commentary:

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/06/mays-departure-from-clear-channel.html

Except that I think they WILL get someone knowledgable in new media to run the place. And the new media person will leverage the old media to promote the new. That will make the old media people unhappy, but that's the future. And somewhere along the line, they'll merge this company with a much bigger new media company. That's what they have to do.

 

[radioray]

"If you were an investment banker with $20 billion in debt, who would you suggest for CEO? Someone who's going to spend money, or someone who will save it?"

I would suggest a CEO who does not think that investing is the same as pure spending or sees all spending as a bad thing.

I would suggest a CEO who believes in music testing, sales training and motivational compensation packages.

I would suggest a CEO who understands that radio is show business and you need both the "business" and the "show" aspect in order to make it work.

Therefore I would suggest David Kennedy, former CEO of Susquehana (and NAB/RAB group head of the year winner) who is currently running FlyCast and is still young enough and full of energy to run a group.

Another good candidate would be Allen Shaw, former ABC radio head.

So there, that is my answer to your query.

 

[radioray]

"That's the American way. All in all, they're just another brick in the wall."

And unlike you, I am not about to act like I think this a good thing or something to celebrate or accept.

 

[TheBigA]

And unlike you, I am not about to act like I think this a good thing or something to celebrate or accept.

What makes you think I'm celebrating? Or that I think it's a good thing?

It's simply INEVITABLE. It's a fact. Accept it or not, it happened. Just like everything else. You can choose to put your head in the sand, but be prepared to have your butt shot.

In my view, it is the begining of the end for free-standing radio-only companies. If you're not owned by a diversified company, with other sources of revenue besides radio, it will be tough from here on out.

Therefore, be prepared for the changes that will come.

 

[radioray]

What is inevitable? I was respoding to your response to the following statement.

"Apple 'saving' its way to profits and a huge price per share? Greed got the Mays family business in trouble...but they escaped with the loot."

I do not believe such a management style has to be, nor should be, inevitable.

Your response

"That's the American way. All in all, they're just another brick in the wall."

Strikes me as a big fat "shrug" about something that is not right.

 

[TheBigA]

I do not believe such a management style has to be, nor should be, inevitable.

We don't vote for managers. You either choose to work under that structure, or you don't. Those who stayed there are just cogs in the machine. Exactly what Charlie Chaplin observed in his movie Modern Lights. There are lots of ways to work in radio without working for a big radio corporation. I know that first-hand.

The history of American industry has been built on families like Mays, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt. All greedy owners who built their fortunes off the backs of their employees.

Let me add that if you don't think Apple is greedy, you don't know much about how they work. And if you don't think they screwed a lot of employees, you need to read up on how the company operated before the iPod, when Jobs himself got screwed out of the company he founded.