Metro wants airborne reporter

[MikeShannon914]

Awww...who gave up their position at that wonderful, progressive and growth-oriented environment at Metro? Who's missing on the air/in the air these days? Just how many seats does that one plane hold? They forgot to mention, "Ideal candidate must be able to operate telescope and report on Houston traffic concurrently." Oh, and, "Must understand operation of parachute and have ability to execute emergency procedures on a daily basis. Mechanically-inclined applicants will be given special consideration."

From http://tvandradiojobs.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/classifieds.cgi :
"Metro Networks, A Westwood One Company, in Dallas/Fort Worth has an immediate opening for a full-time airborne traffic reporter.

This is a split shift position requiring the reporter to do airborne traffic during morning and afternoon drive. Ideal applicants must have knowledge of Dallas/Fort Worth roadways, must be able to deliver live authoritative yet conversational traffic reports in a concise logical manner. This position requires someone who can think on their feet, multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment. The successful candidate must have a positive, team-oriented attitude."


There's also ads for a morning news anchor and weekend/overnight anchors (unnamed stations, of course.) So have WBAP and KRLD both dumped all their news positions over to Metrosource? That's as bad as being a one-newspaper town. But hey, there's probably still a couple of unlucky souls employed at both stations that are making over $30K a year (and GASP--might be "full-time") who are ripe for a holiday dumping. Of course, in one particular case, shucking every possible person off the payroll is going to be part of the forthcoming bankruptcy proceedings. Might be time NOW to start airchecking some of your favorites if you want them to 'live on in infamy' in your cassette deck. :'(

 

[DFW_Radio_2000]

Odd...A great friend of mine was "let go" as airborne reporter a few months back by Metro (after 5 years in the sky), now they're looking for one?

Doesn't seem right.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Odd...A great friend of mine was "let go" as airborne reporter a few months back by Metro (after 5 years in the sky), now they're looking for one?

Doesn't seem right.

Yep, I bet I know who you're talking about. And it seems like they put a cap on when you can "re-apply" there if you quit or are let go. Marina Brett, for one, was told she had to wait a year, but thankfully didn't have to pursue them after all. And that's not a "non-compete" issue, it's something different. Sheesh, we didn't have any of that crap at Traffic.com. We were free to walk over to any competitor the day after the layoff. Now all I hear are stories about the T.com exes who are clamoring to leave Metro and come back.

And a caveat here before the one or two Metro fans write scathing rebuttals on here: If you work there, and that's the only traffic service you've ever worked for, then sure, you don't know any different. I've explained before on here how it all worked at Traffic.com and why, and I'm sorry you missed out on it. I was blessed with six pretty damn good years there, and I'll still defend their system and their management as superior to anyone else's. But that's just me.

 

[easttxtv]

So, Mike, were you able to get another paying job after the last one? (you may have said and I might have missed it (?) )

 

[MikeShannon914]

So, Mike, were you able to get another paying job after the last one? (you may have said and I might have missed it (?) )

I'm glad you specified "paying" there...I have LOTS of jobs that don't pay a red cent. I'm doing some property management for a realtor friend of mine, but it's just PT. Not much of interest out there right now, but a couple of things in the hopper that *MIGHT* work out and put me back on track. Things may get real ugly in the next 30 days or so otherwise.

And thanks for asking!

 

[bdabagia]

Awww...who gave up their position at that wonderful, progressive and growth-oriented environment at Metro? Who's missing on the air/in the air these days? Just how many seats does that one plane hold? They forgot to mention, "Ideal candidate must be able to operate telescope and report on Houston traffic concurrently." Oh, and, "Must understand operation of parachute and have ability to execute emergency procedures on a daily basis. Mechanically-inclined applicants will be given special consideration."

Man, that's a real case of the ass you have against Metro, innit?

Mike, I don't know you very well but I have a lot of respect for you, both for what you've done professionally and your many clever and witty posts here. But I have to say your ceaseless Metro-bashing is a bit unseemly. In the interest of full disclosure, I toiled at Metro for several years and left voluntarily. Now I feel no particular fondness for the company -- at least in its present configuration -- but I don't feel the need to proclaim to the world how rotten it is.

Hasn't it been quite a while since you had to personally put up with anything from Metro? Yet you continue to bash them here. You must really have been taken to the cleaners. Believe it or not, there are many Metro employees who are quite happy about working there. Unfortunately, their voices will forever be drowned out by the handful of ex-employees who can't get over what they think was a raw deal.

Let it go, Mike. You're better than that.

 

[MikeShannon914]

Let it go, Mike. You're better than that.

Yeah, I know, my case has about run its course. As I've said before, I know plenty of people over there, a few happy, many others not. But I'm looking at Metro as sort of a microcosm of what's wrong in radio AND in business these days (and if I can slap CBS around a little in the process, why not? ) On a personal level, Metro went to Citadel and made promises that they could do the very same coverage and very same quality for them as Traffic.com did, and for a lot cheaper...which is not the case, far as quality and coverage go...and the effort that our Traffic.com family put in to the Citadel account all those years was apparently unappreciated and not valued as much as we thought. That left a bad taste in my mouth, and I can easily direct that frustration and disappointment and resentment at a lot of folks who were involved in that transaction. (I usually keep it all in check, but given a mouthpiece to work with...well...) And the obvious thing, me and many of my Traffic.com family members are still without work and have no prospects. The few of them that are working at Metro now lost 15-50% of their salaries in the move.

Sure, it's business, it's competition, it's all about the bottom line, it's quantity-over-quality, etc etc etc, ad nauseum. But I still like to see those little shades of the old days where quality meant everything, you spent more to get more, and when you had people around who valued teamwork, hard work, dependability, accountability, professionalism, dedication, etc. Maybe my fault here is having it too good with Traffic.com. We were far from perfect, but did the job the best that any company could, and we never felt like we worked for a stockholder-driven, bare bones, POS company. It was about growth and progression and opportunity and stability. It was about McCarty giving each of us credit for having a brain and being able to do the job without micromanagement, or putting us through daily management drama.

For me, there was no cleaners to be taken to. Metro completely broke off communications with me right in the middle of setting up the interview last June. I didn't want to work there anyway, but when you're staring at $100K in debt in a one-income home, you find creative ways to sacrifice your pride. As things turned out, I desperately needed a break, and I got it (and then some!) The other issue was what they did to my former Traffic.com buddy, who applied and had the job locked up by email and phone, then got shafted when they judged his appearance in person.

 

[bdabagia]

But I'm looking at Metro as sort of a microcosm of what's wrong in radio AND in business these days (and if I can slap CBS around a little in the process, why not?

No argument here.

On a personal level, Metro went to Citadel and made promises that they could do the very same coverage and very same quality for them as Traffic.com did, and for a lot cheaper...which is not the case, far as quality and coverage go...and the effort that our Traffic.com family put in to the Citadel account all those years was apparently unappreciated and not valued as much as we thought. That left a bad taste in my mouth, and I can easily direct that frustration and disappointment and resentment at a lot of folks who were involved in that transaction.

I don't think you can seriously argue that WBAP's traffic coverage has gone downhill much, even with Metro's product instead of Traffic.com, considering the voices haven't changed and Monty and Laura are WBAP traffic. Overall, the whole WBAP-KRLD race became even more one-sided when Brad Barton involuntarily defected, and now (to an outsider's ear) it's turned into the Yankees vs Kansas City.

Sounds to me like the real villain in that paragraph isn't Metro -- it's Citadel. They went with the lowest bidder, and as we all know that ain't the best way to a superior product. Metro just did what many (temporarily) successful businesses do in undercutting the competition. Steal the deal and it works great for a while, but over the long haul they'll get tripped up. Meantime the Cooks can only do the best they can -- which is pretty damn good, better than anyone else in town -- and WBAP won't suffer much from taking the lower bid.

And then ... Citadel files for bankruptcy. Coincidence?

 

[BigB68]

Having worked for both services, Metro - in Atlanta, Tampa, and DFW..and Traffic.com 3 yrs.,
I got to see the good and bad of both. And those of us on here (who have been in both radio
families) know what the good and bad was. But we tolerated it the best we could in our
day to day activities. One of the things that pissed me off was what is currently the trend
with Metro - and that is doubling up traffic anchors to do news BS as well. IMHO - You
either got hired to do traffic or news. Not BOTH!. Personally I had NO DESIRE whatsoever
to get sound bytes for the news department from the local tv stations all the while trying
to make beat calls and do my traffic reports. That was freakin' insane!, and a cheap ass
way to do business. Saved them from hiring more news people. "hey - get the traffic guy
to do it". The issue with maintenance of helicopters/airplanes was also an issue that cost
me my job here in DFW. Besides 'BAP moving over to Traffic.com at the time, I refused to
fly in an aircraft that I was not entirely confident would not crash, or have problems. My
life (and the life of my kids dad) was too damn precious to risk it every damn day, and I
told "Office Max" that. That, and the fact I knew a little "too much" about the aircraft
problems tended to go over with management like a turd in a punchbowl, but I didn't care.
Lives were at stake here (mine and my dear friends/colleagues). And the flippant attitude
was not acceptable.

McCarty was great. A wonderful man. He was laid back and respectable. And the most
important thing was that he respected US. He knew we were all professionals and didn't
F with us. He let us do our job and didn't micro manage. When he was perceived as
micro managing he never was. It all came down from Corbett. I personally never had any
problems of a major variety with Tom. I made it a mission of mine to work into his grooves
and try my damndest to be friends with him on a professional level. I actually over time did
OK with it. My problem was with the mother/daughter crew we are all so familiar with. It
was a team that I entrusted for 3 yrs, became very good friends with, and then the "dynamic
duo" turned around and stabbed me in the back. For that, I will NEVER forgive them.

All in all though, I had, and will continue to keep, fantastic memories of those days. I had
many, many, many, more laughs and chuckles than anger....and THAT is a good thing.


Blaine Brooks

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

You're a lucky guy getting away from MetroJoke. The truth is, they did you a favor... Good luck on finding a REAL JOB soon! Crossed fingers for ya bro!