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Mickey Luckoff Resigns from KGO Radio
- Thread starter loukip
- Start date
weav said:
Farid is what he is -- a businessman. He could be running a big insurance company, a nationwide chain of restaurants, a network of hospitals. He just happens to run a business that owns radio stations.
If he ran an insurance company, he wouldn't care about the policy holders. If he ran restaurants, he wouldn't care about the diners. If he ran hospitals, he wouldn't care about the patients (or the doctors and nurses).
And he certainly doesn't care about radio stations, the people who work at them, or the listeners. That's not what his job is about. It's about making money. If he can make more money for the company without Mickey Luckoff (or Ronn Owens, or Ed Baxter, or Ray Taliaferro) at KGO, then he will. His job is not to please you and me, it's to build that bottom line.
BossRadioDJ said:
But a smart restaurant owner knows that he needs to care about the diners and serve plentiful portions of tasty food, or the diners will stop coming in, and he'll go out of business.
A smart insurance company CEO knows that he can't totally screw policy holders, or he'll lose business to his competition. (OK - this part of the analogy doesn't include health insurance companies, that seem to get away with screwing people).
Granted, KGO has problems with being AM only, and its aging demographic. Those aren't Fareed's fault. But unless he realizes that cutting live programming and firing his top-rank on air staff, and bringing in the same old syndicated talk hosts will degrade the "brand," make ratings tank, and bring down the value of the station - then he really is an idiot.
Lkeller said:
Somehow I think there is much more to this story. KGO does have problems. It recently started losing the 12+ beauty content but it has been out of the picture in the money demos for some time.
The station is very old-school talk radio, but as long as it worked, why change it? But, I think it had stopped working. I wonder if just some of Mickey's reaction comes from an inablity to accept the station needs to change and grow -- or wither and die.
Sure, Fareed makes it too easy to label him as a cheap talent-hating devil. He'll never love a radio station the way Mickey loved KGO.
It's easy to be nostalgic about the KGO of the past. But that's just it, the best days are in the past.
Perhaps Fareed's beancounter nature makes it easier for him to say, "things need to change here." Citadel in its current state is probably the wrong company to do this. But, that doesn't mean it shouldn't done.
Should one wish to see the future of KGO-AM, simply look to the past, specifically what happened to KRON-TV.
Citadel appears to be going in a direction with KGO-AM that Young Broadcasting did with KRON-TV.
Its rather sad to see great heritage media outlets reduced to lifeless husks of their former glory.
Perhaps this is a bleak outlook, and hopefully one that will be proven wrong in time. But the writing on the wall is pretty easy to see...
This could very well get ugly. Stay tuned...
Wolf
Citadel appears to be going in a direction with KGO-AM that Young Broadcasting did with KRON-TV.
Its rather sad to see great heritage media outlets reduced to lifeless husks of their former glory.
Perhaps this is a bleak outlook, and hopefully one that will be proven wrong in time. But the writing on the wall is pretty easy to see...
This could very well get ugly. Stay tuned...
Wolf
wolfdreamer said:
Im not sure the KRON analogy works. The Youngs were willing to pay waaaaaaayyy too much money for KRON, but believed they would make it work because they could make NBC back down. NBC not only didn't back down, they pulled KRON's affiliation. At that point, KRON's doom was sealed. All the cost cutting since then may have ticked viewers off, but it was probably necessary for survival.
Perhaps Citadel paid too much for ABC radio, or maybe it was the worst-recession-since-the-depression. I don't know the answer to that.
LA_Guy said:
Had someone in my employ acted like Mickey Luckoff I'd have done exactly the same thing. As a business owner and former employer of dozens of people I have noticed that once someone gives 2 weeks notice their performance usually goes down, and usually very fast. If there are "issues" then the person's presence poisons the workplace and makes everybody feel bad. It's best to get rid of them the moment they give their 2 weeks notice. Seriously. I've been there as a boss.
Actually, TARP is one of the best investments the federal government has ever made. The feds might actually make a profit on this venture. It was originally pegged at $900 billion, but only $300 was spent, and thus far, only $50 is outstanding. After AIG's reorganization the feds might actually come out with about $75 billion, making a profit of $25 billion. Not a bad deal at all.
Just talked to Michael Zwerling over at KSCO/1080 in Santa Cruz. He's devoting tomorrow's Saturday Special (10 AM to noon) to the developments at KGO this past week.
He talked to Mickey Luckoff this week, and has invited him to call in, too. The last time Mr. Luckoff appeared on KSCO (about two years ago?) the discussion was very lively -- if he calls in this time, it should be even more interesting.
I was invited to participate, but probably won't be available -- but I've heard who else will be on, and they will make it more than worthwhile to tune in.
Listen online at http://www.ksco.com/
He talked to Mickey Luckoff this week, and has invited him to call in, too. The last time Mr. Luckoff appeared on KSCO (about two years ago?) the discussion was very lively -- if he calls in this time, it should be even more interesting.
I was invited to participate, but probably won't be available -- but I've heard who else will be on, and they will make it more than worthwhile to tune in.
Listen online at http://www.ksco.com/
BossRadioDJ said:
Respectfully, what bs manual did you copy this info from?
You sound like you are saying that businessmen are all evil? I am not sure that is what you are intending to say, are you? So Farid is not respsonsible to his customers, his stockholders or ensuring his business is running at the maximum potential? It's to build the bottom line, huh? His main obligation is to have a "fiduciary duty" to Citadel stock holders. That means he must act, in every form and fashion, with integrity and concern that the company is being lead properly and that all areas of the company are maximizing potential and potential profit. Any one who is stupid enough to ever buy single stocks in anything has seen the radio stocks hit below rock bottom. It's best to always have a diverse portfolio. Same is true for running a radio company or any corporation --- but you have to make sure you are excelling in all areas. True, what happens with one person at one radio station may not make or break the company, but it is a sign of how the company is perceived and how it is run overall. In this case, good or bad, right or wrong, Citadel continues to not be performing at it's best potential and that is ethically wrong. The bottom line is important. But, it represents how a company is being run and this company (and many other radio companies) is/are NOT giving listeners, shareholders or employees the best performance.
Lkeller said:
But what you and so many other people fail to understand is that the listeners are NOT the customers! The listeners are NOT the customers. The advertisers are the customers. So, your analogy to diners and insurance policy holders breaks down. How many times must it be said that the customers are the ADVERTISERS?
If Farid can make money by running syndication and cheap local talent he'll do it. But his track record doesn't show he can do that. He ran Citadel into the ground. It's beyond me why the creditors kept him on as CEO and gave him mucho stock. That's got to be one of the stupidest moves ever made in business. At the time that Old Citadel went bankrupt the entire company was worth more in real estate than as a working company.
I disagree. The listeners ARE customers. Without attracting them to your product--good programming--you have no product to sell to the advertisers for money. The advertisers don't buy your programming...many don't give a damn about it, they just want your gross rating points at the right price, in order to pitch whatever goods and services they have to your listeners!
Most of the large radio chains are providing lousy customer service to both sets of customers right now, and it's really hurting the business.
Most of the large radio chains are providing lousy customer service to both sets of customers right now, and it's really hurting the business.
SFStatic said:
From Merriam-Webster, the definitive dictionary of American English:
"Customer
1: one that purchases a commodity or service "
URL: http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/customer
Commercial radio listeners do NOT purchase radio programming. The advertiser purchases it. If the advertiser is satisfied, then the radio station has done their job, while paying lip service to the "public interest, convenience, or necessity" clause in the Communications Act of 1934.
I disagree that stations are not providing good customer service. They (the radio stations that stay in business) are doing enough that the customers keep coming back over and over again, even though there are other competitors for the ad dollar such as TV, print, Internet, billboards, etc.
SFStatic said:
Let's distinguish here... The listeners don't bring money to the table so they're not the customers.
What the listeners bring here is themselves, their attention to be sold to the advertisers for money.
Think of this as fishing, and the listeners are the fish. The customers are back on shore.
Now if the radio station doesn't bait their hooks, so to speak, with adequate bait for the catch they're hoping to get, they won't get a big enough haul to get the money they want from the customers. That's what programmig is, at a commercial station: bait.
Tibbs2 said:
Respectfully, your fifth-grade education has obviously failed you. Respectfully, you should go back and read what I said even more slowly than you did the first time.
Respectfully, I never said anything about businessmen being evil. (Respectfully, perhaps it was the voices in your head saying that.)
I said that Farid could be running any business, but he just happens to be running radio stations. He didn't get into radio because he loves radio. And I said that his primary responsibility is not to his stations' listeners; it's to the company's shareholders. Simple enough for you, respectfully?
Mr. Luckoff: Sorry to see you go! Props to all your hard work over the years! And thanks to all the wonderful people that made Mr. Luckoff's job very easy to live with for those many years! To all the rest of you: Things Change! So what else is new? A New Day At KGO! It will take 35 years of hard work to match this mans record. (It'll never happen!) A lot of us will be dead and buried before that happens! Go enjoy life Mickey you don't need the stress anyway! CBS you've got a great open path to success with 106.9 FM now or with any of your other underperforming FM stations in the market! Don't Blow It! Oh! And by the way, Mr. (KGO) Swanson is still there you know! This may bring new success for KGO!
Perhaps we could respectfully agree that radio (like any free commercial medium) serves two groups of "customers." The advertisers are the paying customers, and radio listeners are the non-paying customers. Granted, the advertisers are the most important to please because they pay the bills and (hopefully) create a profit. But if compelling programming isn't offered to the non-paying listeners, people stop listening in ever growing numbers, and the advertisers have less and less reason to pay good money to advertise there. And advertising rates go down, correct?
I know this is painfully obvious, so I'm not sure why we're arguing.
I agree that Fareed is a businessman and probably doesn't give a crap about radio. So let's hypothetically say Fareed doesn't renew the contracts of the live local hosts and gradually transitions to syndicated programming to save money. It seems likely to me that the ratings will fall precipitously as well.
The bottom line question is: will a 2.0 rated KGO with cheaper syndicated programming make more money that the current 5.1 rated KGO that has to shell out a few million bucks annually to expensive local talent? I don't know that answer to that, but I would hope not.
It seems to me that the better plan would be to gradually transition to younger - but equally compelling local talk hosts as the current hosts retire, and try to snag an FM signal somehow. And I know others disagree with me, but I personally don't see the point of continuing with the two long news blocks in the era of NPR and the KCBS simulcast. KGO could save money by exclusively doing what they already do best - the talk part.
I know this is painfully obvious, so I'm not sure why we're arguing.
I agree that Fareed is a businessman and probably doesn't give a crap about radio. So let's hypothetically say Fareed doesn't renew the contracts of the live local hosts and gradually transitions to syndicated programming to save money. It seems likely to me that the ratings will fall precipitously as well.
The bottom line question is: will a 2.0 rated KGO with cheaper syndicated programming make more money that the current 5.1 rated KGO that has to shell out a few million bucks annually to expensive local talent? I don't know that answer to that, but I would hope not.
It seems to me that the better plan would be to gradually transition to younger - but equally compelling local talk hosts as the current hosts retire, and try to snag an FM signal somehow. And I know others disagree with me, but I personally don't see the point of continuing with the two long news blocks in the era of NPR and the KCBS simulcast. KGO could save money by exclusively doing what they already do best - the talk part.
Lkeller said:
The real issue is whether KGO averaging somewhere around a 2.4 in 25-54, and generally not being inside the top 20 stations is able to preserve the level of billing needed to support the kind of format it is doing.
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