Merry Christmas Newley Unemployed......... From Your CBS Family.

[meanspirit]

I guess this is when the music died. Mike Reeves was not on today. Q was the last music station ( not counting QYK) with any personality. I just moved my CD case to the front seat. I cannot see any station in Tampa Bay hiring old Q staff . Of course Cox hired Bubba against all previous trends of deleting personality, so I guess anything can happen. I just doubt it. will Q be the "New Q" for the next 10 years. This really s**ks. Oh well.

This post makes it seem like the guys fired from Q105 are on the same level of personality as Bubba. Look, I hate to see good people lose jobs. So, don't read this like I am not sympathetic. But to think that hiring any of those people and expecting their mere presence to turn a radio station with bad ratings around, like Bubba did, is crazy! On music stations, there are very few DJs who greatly contribute (positive or negative) to the ratings performance of their daypart. Putting voicetracked DJs in place of those that were let go will not effect ratings or revenue, which is all that matters. The days of having lots of people around just because of the status-quo are over. It's sad, but true. If I were a DJ at a station where most of my breaks included reading station liners, I'd be proactive about looking for another job.

Who locally/outside of mornings (on a music station) really contributes to a station's ratings in a significant way? Anyone have any names?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

The guys on Q did more than read liners. That is why taking Q apart is so disheartening. They were by far the most interactive of the stations that played classic hits/80's/AC etc. I think that any of the guys from Q would do something for any station similarly formated in the Cox cluster or WMTX. I have to disagree on this. You wouldn't want someone with Bubba's act on these stations. Nothing against Bubba, but I think Mason,Bill, JoJo, Marvin, Mike or whomever could do a great deal for WXGL/WDUV/WPOI/WWRM if they could be themselves. I assume if they all are let go there will be no takers in this totally uncreative market.

 

[chillwill]

word on the street is that the firing squad has put down the guns and are all done, but you never know

 

[MsMusicRadio]

This post is going into page 5. There are at least 2 other recent posts on Q105. This itself proves that Q105 had much more than it's "competition". I don't think 107.3 could generate this interest. I have no idea exactly what CBS (obviously) has planned, but for those who do, I guess it may be good news and good night. If Q goes to a bird feeder, that would leave The vaunted POINT as the only station of similiar format to appear to have local (not necessarily live) announcers for a full 18 hours of programming. I guess Coey, Joe, and Brian are now our personality intensive crew. Great Channukah present guys.

 

[tparadio1]

Eric Deggans has an article in the Saturday St Petersburg Times on the cuts and future of WRBQ

http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/article944032.ece

 

[BossJock1947]

Just heard, Beecher's last day is Dec 18th and word is the hammer will fall on the Q-105 staff on Friday..
Mason is said to be safe.

Yep....When I saw Scott Walker hired as PD....I figured they wouldnt screw with Mason's people until Xmas.....they didnt want bad press @ Xmas Wish Charity time.

They just let go of EVERYONE on the Q105 morning show except Mason.

Also Rico is gone.

Combine that with Marvin and you clearly have a large number of changes.

What Q-105 needs is the great talents and people skills of the one and only RANDY KABRICK.

 

[Studio20]

My God. The week before Christmas, no less.

Look, it's been years since that station took up one of my buttons on the car radio, but getting dumped the week before the Holidays? Wow.

BTW, doesn't Mason and....ok, in this case, Mason, take the week of and after Christmas off?

And don't they usually book some sort of Colorado ski adventure in January?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Maybe they will have a woman in a daily time slot

 

[dave.ross]

Maybe they will have a woman in a daily time slot

they did....marvin....lol j/k

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I was waiting for that. As I said before, it's too bad Ryan Seacrest works for CC. On that note-----why is Jhani Kaye not just plain old Johnny Kaye?> Anybody look into that?

 

[Kabrich]

Just heard, Beecher's last day is Dec 18th and word is the hammer will fall on the Q-105 staff on Friday..
Mason is said to be safe.

Yep....When I saw Scott Walker hired as PD....I figured they wouldnt screw with Mason's people until Xmas.....they didnt want bad press @ Xmas Wish Charity time.

They just let go of EVERYONE on the Q105 morning show except Mason.

Also Rico is gone.

Combine that with Marvin and you clearly have a large number of changes.

What Q-105 needs is the great talents and people skills of the one and only RANDY KABRICK.

Pretty sad when you last claim to fame is over 30 years ago....

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Obviously some of you ,like Mr. Kabrich, are in the field and know what is going on. I am just a fan who fell in love with radio back in the sixties when it was personality intensive and fun. Maybe Q isn't great now . I didn't hear it back then. But when your competition is a jukebox, any live bodies sound fantastic.

 

[barfly2]

It is really odd... I am listening on line and there are so many endorsement spots! It just seems weird to still hear them knowing the guys just got let go....

 

[Marv-L.A.]

As someone who has lived in LA his entire life and fondly recalls growing up listening to Mason Dixon, Jim 'Machine Gun' Kelly, Charlie Tuna, Charlie Van Dyke, Robert W. Morgan & The Real Don Steele on the beyond-legendary 93/KHJ, CBS appears to be as hell-bent on destroying some of their franchises as Clear Channel did last year when they took chainsaws to AC powerhouses KOST/LA (where Jhani Kaye essentially re-energized and reinvented what had become a rather sleepy format in 1982 or thereabouts, as the recently passed Bill Drake did at KHJ in 1965 with PD Ron Jacobs) and WLTW/NYC.

The bad case of 'beancounter-itis' which CBS & CC have is disgusting; radio appears to be committing suicide, as Country Aircheck and 'Country Countdown USA' host Lon Helton somberly pointed out in his publication last week.

This is obviously more proof of that.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I guess Clear Channel and CBS took a look at the COX properties and said if they could garner moderately good 12+ ratings with no jocks, robo-jocks, idiotic liners repeated for decades, and with a few exceptions, a totally boring product------WE CAN TOO. CBS still has some great stations in WOMX ( I am listening now), WOGL, WCBS, and KRTH. I think Tampa Bay is a large enough market to support this. We have enough COX outlets ( one over the limit) to bore any herd of rhinos sleeping in a mud bog.

CC ruined WMTX with 11 hours of Tesh a day. Nothing wrong with him per se-----but 11 F*****g hours?????????????? Give me a break.

CC created a truly great AC station in WTVR in Richmond VA. Right now they run Delilah and Tesh back to back. I would not use great anymore.

Meanwhile WOMX is playing Marvin Gay and they are plugging Dick Purtan in the morning. That would be like the late great Robert W. Morgan still working in radio in AM drive.

If CBS can keep this going in Motor City-------we deserve it too. I hope Scott Walker is reading this. If you do this here, I'll buy you a double latte at Starbuck's on N.Dale Mabry.

 

[Mike_Hennessy]

Love or hate Randy K. he would indeed do a better job of programming Q-105 than is happening now, provided he was given any resources whatsoever. As it stands now programmers are left to make bricks without straw. Just in case any of you aren't getting my point, this is no longer about who can put out the best product. It's about who can fill the time the most cheaply. Randy, perhaps you or someone else who knows the corporate meat grinder end of things can explain something: how was it that radio stations when I started in the late 70's could make money with live/local disc jockeys around the clock along with a viable news team and now stations say they can't make money when they've gutted news, gone to a majority of syndication and voice tracking?

I'm really not kidding. It's a serious question and I'd really appreciate an answer? How the heck did radio get here? I have my own theories, but I always was on the programming side and that only gives at best half the picture.

 

[Parttimer]

Two things:

1) The stations changed hands numerous times at inflated prices and there's massive debt involved,

2) "Make money" is a relative term. There weren't huge conversations about profit margins 30 years ago. Some properties are actually more profitable than they were, but in the grand scheme of stockholders and investment banks, it's less than they projected and that's all that matters.

 

[Studio20]

Why?

1)Sales people who naturally gamble and are more agressive say, than an entertainer or dj, went up the food chain and simply looked down at the bottom line.

2) It began with the Walkman, which morphed into the IPod. How many teens..or people in general do you actually SEE listening to the radio anymore?

3) "Another long set of the (insert generic format name here) on ( insert generic station here)" ..lump that in with the 10 or so other liner cards. ..and no, its not just Cox.

4) Something called "wireless internet".

5) Something called "satellite radio".

6) For better or worse, "Freedom of Speech" both on the right (Limbaugh) and the left (Stern)...not just political. While I did not want to sign a petition to "get rid of Howard, Bubba" et al, not everyone wanted to listen to some of the borderline porn that was on the airwaves.

7)Consolidation. As much as I was thrilled at first that I was on four area stations from time to time, something in the back of my mind told me this might be the beginning of the end.

8) Deregulation. Not to appear pompous, but the third class license did keep people out who had no business in this business. You used to have to know something about radio to BE on radio.

9) Closed circuit for the Bay Area. AM stations with night time power that makes in impossible for anyone a few miles away to listen.

there are many other reasons, and I dont have time to explain as the 73rd airing of "All I want for Christmas is y0u" means its time to throw the radio out the window.....

 

[Mike_Hennessy]

My personal pick as the worst of the worst things to happen in radio was allowing stations to be flipped. Instead of forcing owners to hold on to a property and make it profitable stations started changing hands so fast you couldn't keep it straight. I remember when 970 went from Media General to Blair to Sconnix to Jacor before anyone had time to change the letterheads. Consolidation certainly was a huge chain, but allowing stations to become a speculator's commodity instead of a long-term investment changed the whole game.

By the way, all the best to my friends and former colleagues who got the Christmas pink slips. You all deserve better and hope your next step is better.

 

[Don62]

By the way, all the best to my friends and former colleagues who got the Christmas pink slips. You all deserve better and hope your next step is better.

You certainly do deserve better, buying into the lie that radio would be a career.
Thankfully, my radio career after working in radio while in HS and college only lasted a year or so before I moved into the better-paying TV news.

Today's radio owners could care less about their workers. To them, especially if you work behind the microphone doing real radio broadcast work, you're nothing but a liability and a drag on their profits. They only want the easy way and want to pay all of their bills and mortgages, but refuse to let others enjoy the same work ethic.

If a robotic and boring computer can do the same, let's use that and to heck with any on-air staff. No one listens to radio now anyway, and no one need work in the field either. We will attend job fairs just for EEO and show. We really won't hire anyone. If we do, it will be for small PT wages.