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

[RADIO geek squad]

I take that back..... the person in the building just found out.... it is true!

.. So, Bobby Rich, Bill, JoJo, Nikki, Mike Reeves and Rico?
all gone?

 

[RADIO geek squad]

Carl , Ray, Jennifer & Rita Ciccarello........Gone

Who is Carl and Ray? On-air? Which station?

Who is Carl and Ray?

 

[chillwill]

ray was an engineer and carl was a the driving instructor. It is ashame that all these people are loosing jobs or getting cut back for hours, it really isnt the CBS/Infinity old days anymore

 

[Kabrich]

I was probably out of line with the Reeves comment. It is just so annoying that this is happening. How is Mason going to have a fun morning show without the rest of the gang as support. It is just going to be another boring morning show for Tampa Bay. Randy... I have always regarded you as the radio Guru. Wish you were PD of this station. You could make it number 1 like the old days. Who will replace...Marvins...er Rico's show 10-3? Didn'rt know about JK. He was a great guy with a great set of pipes.

trust me when i say i am no guru....just ask the people who post on this board....of course they say I kiss management's ass, which is somewhat comical, as anyone who knows me knows that is the one trait that has NEVER been associated with me, but whatever.

Anyway CBS Management was asking about Mike Reeves endorsements earlier (ie, who do they have to get to cover) so I suspect Mike Reeves will be shown the door when he shows up this afternoon as well.

 

[chillwill]

seems as if there only keeping people who are capable of wearing many hats, it's ashame there is no industry union

 

[MsMusicRadio]

So what are we looking at here? Mason in AM drive alone and Mike Reives in PM drive and then auto pilot middays , evenings, and overnights. I guess the Eagle is so impressive we need two. Wow. I guess that makes Magic and the Point Tampa bay's personality intensive stations. Of course I assume everybody on QYK is safe? Please pass the barf bag. I still say just voice track the people from WCBS and you get the real deal at the least cost I assume. WOW! I'm so pleased my favorite stations just hit a wall. Good goin CBS.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

so if Mike Reeves goes too, Mason can be in an AM drive war with Dick Ring for the bragging rights of morning guy working completely alone and whose name was made up.

 

[Kabrich]

so if Mike Reeves goes too, Mason can be in an AM drive war with Dick Ring for the bragging rights of morning guy working completely alone and whose name was made up.

Dick Ring's name is Dick Ring.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I guess Cox Broadcasting would want him to use his real name. Meanwhile, what would a new Q line-up look like? Would they bring in other people for less pay like they on 104.7 in Charlotte? Keep one experienced person and use younger people for less? I don't know --------

 

[chillwill]

any new news as of anyone else out today. I guess the staff who is left after the first will be the ones they are keeping

 

[radiodork]

Well Q105's morning show has just lost any direction and creativity. Love or hate Mason, Bill drove that show and was the backbone for 20 years. But don't be surprised to see this crew come back together in some form somehow in the future. Wherever Mason goes, they will go. And as soon as the ratings tank with the solo Mason show, CBS will go back to the ratings excuse and cut him loose too.

It absolutely sucks, but through three different stations this group has managed to stay together. Somehow they'll do it again, although I'm not sure if traditional terrestrial radio is the medium.

And as for CBS doing this because of ratings and not because of money, I have to throw the BS flag. Q105's ratings weren't great, but they had improved over the past few books while the quality of the on-air product was good. Notice I didn't say "great", but "good" simply because it was live, local, personal, and mostly fun. Once Clear Channel maked its cuts in a few weeks, who will be left?

Ahhh... visions of Herb Tarlek by himself with a computer running the music. Oh wait... they're canning sales people too. Sounds like we have another boring classic hits station in town. Yay...

 

[MsMusicRadio]

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.

Maybe they will go to a Jack type format. Jack Miller was still on, so they could use his voice for "jack" or call it "Mason 105" if he is the only guy left and use him for snarky voice overs.

 

[Kabrich]

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.

Maybe they will go to a Jack type format. Jack Miller was still on, so they could use his voice for "jack" or call it "Mason 105" if he is the only guy left and use him for snarky voice overs.

The new GM worked with Jhanie Kaye in LA and thinks he walks on water. Expect him to do whatever JK tells him to from LA. Gary Bryan has been doing a solo morning show on KRTH for example.

Listen online to KRTH if you want to hear what Q will most likely sound like.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I have listened to KRTH and I like it. It would take a line-up of strong personalities. It certainly is not the New Eagle. Maybe Jhani can VT from LA. I actually think it might be a great station with a full airstaff. In that case , I think CBS could do this:

92.5-------Spanish as long as it works. If it doesn't----sports
94.1--------WLLD. Bring Churban and Orlando to the entire region.
98.7--------since there is no commitment to Smooth Jazz, move it here to die and then try Free FM,
Fresh, or Jack
99.5----------Same as always
104.7---------Continue as Classic Hits with new staff and new energy. VT personalities from KRTH, WCBS, or WOGL if a local staff cannot be reassembled. If it fails------Fresh or Jack

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I just looked at the K-EARTH website and I noticed some things.


1) The morning show includes a news guy, a gossip person, and at least one other person beside Gary Bryan
2) They a full staff 24/7.
3) They have "big names" like Charlie Tuna (week-ends) and Shotgun Tom Kelly (PM drive no less)
4) Jhani Kaye is on overnight. I know it's VT'ed, but at least it is a recognizable person with a name to match Jomama or Cowhead.
5) The have week-end personalities , specialty shows, and the 70"s at 7.

If this is the plan, why fire people who doing something close to this now? How exactly is this less expensive than what they are now doing or were doing?
KRTH sounds even more high energy than the southern fried Q105.

Since I am in no loops, any body have an answer?

 

[BackRib]

Or CBS is thinking of only concentrating on the top 10 radio markets and is looking to reduce the head count before the sale.

92.5-------Cumulus buys it and keeps it spanish
94.1--------CBS trades it to Cox for 97.1 so WSUN can have a decent signal
98.7--------Cumulus again...no changes
99.5----------Cumulus would love to have this station
104.7---------Cumulus again...no changes, more voicetracking.

 

[KOL]

Quite an interesting idea, Ms Music.

I also enjoy streaming K-Earth, CBS-FM, KOOL 94.5, and KFRC (oh wait... n/m) and understand the concept of 'trimming the fat', but did they need to cut into the bone? It seems as if someone from Cox infiltrated the CBS regime and threw a wrench in the works. ;D

After looking at the ratings section of this board the #s didn't look bad. I'd love to see the demo break downs to see the real story. Also, anything happen at 92.5 and Wild? And for my last question, why is CBS still holding on to 1010? Will we ever know?

Forget the Fresh or Jack cookie-cutter formats. Retain the heritage (I know, I know) and put some strong, LOCAL personality on 104.7 while expanding the Classic Hits playlist. Plus, utilize the jingle packages from the past 35 years and throw in some Charlie Van Dyke sweepers to change it up a bit.

And here's one of my unusual line up ideas of mine which I know will never happen, but fun nonetheless:

Wheeler back in the morning
Russ Albums in middays (prove to be interesting)
Mason back in afternoons
Jack Miller back in the evening

And as for 94.1 I'll save for another time.

Happy Holidays to all and our thoughts to those who were misfortunate to receive the crummiest gift from CBS this season.

 

[billalm]

You guys are dreaming. They're not cutting staff to replace them... they're cutting staff to save money. Just because they do it that way in LA does not mean they'll do it that way here. Totally different market and budget. As far as frequency swaps, I doubt very seriously that's gonna happen. Wild has always done well on 98.7 and will continue to do so. There's no reason to confuse people with a move to 94.1. Outside the metro doesn't matter when it comes to the bottom line. As far as swapping with Cox... they can't do it. Cox is over the limit anyway due to a the signals of 97.1 and 102.5. It's because of those 2 signals that Cox was allowed to have 6 FMs to begin with.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

If K-Earth is their model, how can they do that without people? I don't see how. If they plan on going automated, why not just VT from K-Earth. It would still sound better than WXGL----the New Eagle. As for frequency swaps , Radio One did a huge swap in Richmond Va. and it seemed to be very successful.

If there is precedent, CBS axed the whole airstaff at WQKC in charlotte except Holly Haze and brought in unknowns at I assume much less. They still didn't pull a "new Eagle".

Here's hoping Q doesn't do a COX.

 

[Parttimer]

I have listened to KRTH and I like it. It would take a line-up of strong personalities. It certainly is not the New Eagle. Maybe Jhani can VT from LA. I actually think it might be a great station with a full airstaff. In that case , I think CBS could do this:

92.5-------Spanish as long as it works. If it doesn't----sports
94.1--------WLLD. Bring Churban and Orlando to the entire region.
98.7--------since there is no commitment to Smooth Jazz, move it here to die and then try Free FM,
Fresh, or Jack
99.5----------Same as always
104.7---------Continue as Classic Hits with new staff and new energy. VT personalities from KRTH, WCBS, or WOGL if a local staff cannot be reassembled. If it fails------Fresh or Jack

KRTH is in LA, so the budget considerations there are going to be much different than Tampa.

I think sports will surface somewhere in the FM cluster, CBS has done that elsewhere lately, like Baltimore. Then they need to broker the AM. WHNZ does very well.