More Cuts at Clear Channel

[justareporter]

Point missed A-G-A-I-N!

Broadcasting isn't like any**other** business! We are NOT Macy's, 7-eleven or McDonald's. We serve the public interest and do so thanks to a LICENSE.

What part of this is so hard to understand?

 

[kendro]

Point missed A-G-A-I-N!

Broadcasting isn't like any**other** business! We are NOT Macy's, 7-eleven or McDonald's. We serve the public interest and do so thanks to a LICENSE.

What part of this is so hard to understand?

Over 15 years of corporate brainwashing has an effect on common sense.
Someone will prattle about their media product and make some reference to advertisers and shareholders in reference to your post. They'll never understand that they peddle a service based on the conditions of licensure.

Some feel that the FCC has an agenda. The FCC is correcting itself and doing what it is supposed to do. That's not an agenda, it's their job.

 

[its time w (your name)]

Contrary to how some of us are being painted, I'm not "bitter," nor "living in the past," and I'm actually doing fine in and out of radio, thanks to gool ol American enterprise. Here's what I think we can all agree on:

1. The quality of the product put out by the corporations ... (grasping for the right word)....
SSSSSSSS-U-C-K-S! Dont take my word for it, ask any kid. I have no problem with working on an "old people" medium, but the distant future doesnt look good.

2. The industry is totally run by accountants, w/ help of consultants. And accountants dont make good artists. Although they have proven very good salesmen. They should get a medal for this. Consultants should just die.

3. A lot of us are finding other venues for our abilities. When someone does rediscover the need for human interaction, the stable will be slim.

I've recently declined 2 gigs--- one didnt pay, the other I just saw no future in. I dont even bother to send anything to Clear Channel. I dont voice-track. My last daypart was THE most boring job I ever had--- including teenager jobs. Selling newspaper ad was challenging, fast paced, and fun. So is buying & selling products & training people. Some other jobs would be fun if I didnt suck at them. And I LOVE college. Maybe you need radio. I dont. Reading liners & handing koozies to invalids doesnt light my fire. Its just a check, & not a good one either.


4. Correct me if... but for each month we measure who gets what slice of the ratings pie, right? But we never actually measure the pie itself. ("Woo-hoo 50 share!" But only Karen & Bobby are listening.) So we dont know really how many TOTAL are listening.

Believe me, I dont care---really, but my deepest intuition says: Whenever we do figure out how big or small the WHOLE pie actually is, advertisers will flock elsewhere like a hurricane evacuation. And there will come a point when the accountants in charge wont be able to spin it anymore to stockholders. And because of the bubble of spin already created by these charlatans, it wont be a gradual fall, either.

This is my objective opinion, just as someone who knows more about the art than the economics, but sees the suits working something--- I cant put my finger on it--- but they're working something all the time. Look at their faces & body language. God gave you common sense. I smell BS and so do you.

Wont matter much to me when the house does fall down. I already found my girl, which is why anyone works in rock n roll. And I'll be happily driving my tractor, not listening to you reading cards, living somewhere FAR AWAY FROM a major metropolitan area. Life is good. (unless you're a lying accountant)

 

[radiobop]

Re: More Cuts at Clear Channel...MEANWHILE at CBS...

Per All Access: "In HOUSTON, Smooth Jazz KHJZ PD MAXINE TODD exits; her duties has been absorbed by sister Country KILT PD JEFF GARRISON. Also out is GSM MURIEL FUNCHES."

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

Contrary to how some of us are being painted, I'm not "bitter," nor "living in the past," and I'm actually doing fine in and out of radio, thanks to gool ol American enterprise. Here's what I think we can all agree on:

1. The quality of the product put out by the corporations ... (grasping for the right word)....
SSSSSSSS-U-C-K-S! Dont take my word for it, ask any kid. I have no problem with working on an "old people" medium, but the distant future doesnt look good.

2. The industry is totally run by accountants, w/ help of consultants. And accountants dont make good artists. Although they have proven very good salesmen. They should get a medal for this. Consultants should just die.

3. A lot of us are finding other venues for our abilities. When someone does rediscover the need for human interaction, the stable will be slim.

Actually, I think the stable is already brimming to overfull with lots of bright, talented, technology-savvy people with loads of radio and sales experience, seeking to create themselves nontraditional voice roles. If City of License rules are reinstated and radio looks around to start hiring 24/7 staff in the spinoff markets again, they'll be getting a new generation of pros who have spent the last several years combining the marketing talents they learned in radio with the growing fields of pod and streaming. These folks won't necessarily come back for peanuts, since they've proven they can get paid better not devoting their lives to stations, but five years from now, if you haven't been paying attention to the online revolution, you'll be hard-pressed to get back in. The game has definitely changed, and the folks who have been resisting tooth and nail will be the people radio leaves behind in the future. What's the first thing a thousand laid-off radio people are going to do in 2008? That's right, they're getting Pro-Tools at home so they can work on their own projects on their own time and dime. Didn't you?

I've recently declined 2 gigs--- one didnt pay, the other I just saw no future in. I dont even bother to send anything to Clear Channel. I dont voice-track. My last daypart was THE most boring job I ever had--- including teenager jobs. Selling newspaper ad was challenging, fast paced, and fun. So is buying & selling products & training people. Some other jobs would be fun if I didnt suck at them. And I LOVE college. Maybe you need radio. I dont. Reading liners & handing koozies to invalids doesnt light my fire. Its just a check, & not a good one either.

Yeah, perspective always comes when the other shoe drops. We all went through it, trust me, kid. The first six months out of radio, it's like getting a good pair of glasses for the first time. What you loved was radio, what you hated was the business of radio and how they've made it impossible to just work doing what you loved. I believe that in the last several years, the climates in the Houston radio hallways have become fearful, uncertain, and in some cases, viciously competitive for most people doing those ever-dwindling jobs. It's not what made radio fun, and when you get out of the fishbowl, the stress is gone. For you, it was obviously the marketing and sales. For some of us, it was content or the listener interaction. Modern cyber makes everything about this completely available to everyone who wants to go seek out a paycheck for their talents. We don't actually need radio to do what we love, anymore.

Believe me, I dont care---really, but my deepest intuition says: Whenever we do figure out how big or small the WHOLE pie actually is, advertisers will flock elsewhere like a hurricane evacuation. And there will come a point when the accountants in charge wont be able to spin it anymore to stockholders. And because of the bubble of spin already created by these charlatans, it wont be a gradual fall, either.

Um, well, yeah, like Tim keeps screaming, it's a recession and radio's bailing out hard and fast.

This is my objective opinion, just as someone who knows more about the art than the economics, but sees the suits working something--- I cant put my finger on it--- but they're working something all the time. Look at their faces & body language. God gave you common sense. I smell BS and so do you.

You haven't seen rock-bottom, yet.

Wont matter much to me when the house does fall down. I already found my girl, which is why anyone works in rock n roll.

Okay, here's where our opinions differ, and I'm saying this very good-naturedly, so don't get p*ssed, but I gotta speak up. Maybe you worked "in rock and roll" for a year or so (the Point doesn't count, ever, as rock 'n roll, no matter how many ZZ Top hits from the crappy album they slip in---see, good-naturedly), but from the mid-80's when I began to a couple of years ago when I stopped fighting the cyber-revolution and drank the Internet Kool-Aid, I can honestly tell you that very nearly every person I worked with in rock was in it, like me, because they loved the music and wanted to play a badass radio show or bring a killer live gig for the listeners, so they'd enjoy it, too. The few jocks I recall whose only purpose was to troll the listener pool stood out and were considered kinda...anyway. So I have to disagree with your assessment, although I'm happy that it worked out for you. There's no better feeling than handing out prizes to a dedicated fan of the station who still wants to participate (although yeah, koozies and paper fans suck). It's a great feeling to see a few thousand smiling, happy faces rocking out at gigs because your station told them it was going to be fun. That's why most people I know got into rock.

And I'll be happily driving my tractor, not listening to you reading cards, living somewhere FAR AWAY FROM a major metropolitan area. Life is good. (unless you're a lying accountant)

Oh, it'll be good for them most of all, in the long run.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

John Hogan is calling for deep cuts in the Clear Channel budget a working budget not next years. I mentioned some time ago that I believed Clear Channel was in deep trouble and that I believed they were let's say not wanting to keep all of the empire they built even in Houston. This next round of cuts will dry up the productivity and slice again at morale. Lay offs or not employees will not be loyal. When you screw around with sales and their paystubs you really are nailing the nail into your company's coffin. I look to see some quik sell offs very soon!




Just my thought.

Okay, fine, back to the original topic. In the last decade, the business model has been to slash airstaff and marketing, while overhiring sales. The entire reason for conglomeration in the first place was to combine sales forces of multiple stations in a market, so as to wrench that market dry of every penny possible, from every angle available. This is the reason that there are some ten or so stations represented at a certain Chevrolet dealership every Saturday. This is the reason that any given handful of stations in that parking lot all drive their promo trinket vans back to the same parking garage. It was part of a business plan that allowed companies to go public, because they could say that any number of added sales positions helped to make a profit for their shareholders. Now that CC is no longer going to be public (if the deal goes through), they're naturally going to offload as many expenses as they can on the sales side, offer some great prize for those few who can truly produce, and restructure their management and station staff so that they can get through this deal on bare bones. This is because their stock price is currently below what they told the other guys in the deal what it was going to be. If it drops too low, there's a chance that the deal will not go through and Clear Channel will be faced with less desirable actions, like filing some sort of bankruptcy that ends up screwing its stockholders and pension-sharers...much like we've seen companies do in Houston in the past.

Now, some will tell you that I'm a doomsayer, and I honestly hope it doesn't come to all that, because a lot of good people would be really hurt by it. I'm just saying, I don't think it unusual that the Mayes family is parachuting out now. It's an election year in which many of the business practices which have been staples of their business model are under intense scrutiny. With GW on his way out, I think they're getting the hell out of dodge before the whole lid blows off. What's worse, I think they'll get away with it. Or, for the sake of terrestrial radio, I fear they won't. Imagine trying to do good radio with your station assets frozen in escrow pending congressional hearings.

I think economics professors will teach our future students about this period of American history that the Telecommunications Act was a horribly exploitative time that gutted the business. I'm not so naive to think this is even an end to the Mayes in radio, although if their fortunes fall, they'll suck the entire business down with them. So, in answer to the short-term morale loss of watching more and more good people get blown out, yes, it sucks, but yes, expect to see more of it from every company. Volcanos don't trickle, they explode to create new landscapes. If you're in the business right now, you need an asbestos umbrella---and your resume' in a fireproof box.

 

[InTIMadate]

Wow! What terrific doomsday imagery!

Things are much worse in TV and newspaper. Did you know that you’re in sweeps right now? Guess what, they’re not spending the usual millions in marketing dollars either. As for newspapers, there are thousands of employees and managers from The Wall Street Journal to The Tribune Co. heading home today wondering if this is their last Friday at the office.

I’m going to bet on radio. It still has 93% of consumers, nearly a quarter billion listeners each week. In addition, radio is tounting some pretty impressive traffic to websites. Not to mention that little partnership with Google that may result in the ability to buy radio without every talking to a sales person.

This will be my third recession and it always looks bleak at the beginning. Necessity is truly the mother of invention and I believe that this shock to the system will recreate our industry. The reason why rock radio could be so creative in the 70’s was because AM was still paying the rent. Remember when AM radio was dead in the water (1980’s)? All it took was one outstanding talent (Rush) to reinvent talk radio to focus on an affluent and unsatisfied slice of the audience. He inspired a boom that has resulted in AM stations being the dominate money makers in most major markets for the last 10 years and secured him a reported $250 million contract, all politics aside.

Look, I would love to see rock radio come back and rap head down the dark path of disco, Vanilla Ice and the Macarena. I do see signs of a rock music revival (Guitar Hero, The Jonas Bros, John Mayer, PPM ratings, etc.), but it will have to done differently than “Old Outlaw Dave.” It will have to be more accessible, more interactive. We might have to wait another five years before this new generation of axmen can show off their chops.

Finally, a message for justareporter: Check your facts!
Let’s take a quick look at how well the FCC has threatened the license of commercial radio broadcast operations for blatant violations over the past three weeks:

• The FCC renewed the license of Oldies KQBE/Ellensburg, WA, despite that fact that they were missing 24 quarterly issues-programs lists and an ownership report that are required in their public file.
  
  
• The FCC granted the license renewal for Talk WGCH-A, Greenwich, CT over the objections of five local residents who complained that the station was not adequately covering local issues and had not offered local coverage of snow emergencies in 2006. The Commission ruled that it will "intervene in programming matters only if a licensee abuses (the) discretion" to choose programming it believes best serves the community, and that the objectors had not shown that the licensee abused that discretion.
  
  
• The FCC rejected a appeal by KQQX, Steelville, MO, over an $18,000 fine imposed for EAS, main studio, and public file violations.
  
  
• The FCC rejected the appeal of a $5,600 fine for main studio violations at Spanish Religion KUOL-A/San Marcos, TX, The fine was imposed because the station refused to submit financial records from the other companies controlled by its owner, evangelist Paulino Bernal.

CBS, Entercom and Clear Channel spends more money annually on toilet paper and coffee.

Question: Excluding construction permits, do you know the last time the FCC actually yanked a license?

If you're a reporter,go Google and see what you find.[/list]

 

[rocknrollisdead]

I do see signs of a rock music revival (Guitar Hero, The Jonas Bros, John Mayer, PPM ratings, etc.), but it will have to done differently than “Old Outlaw Dave.”

dude! jonas bros and john mayer are rock music revival?!?! I want what you're smokin'!

Listen to your Ipod.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

What are you guys talking about, a rock revival? Rock isn't dead, it isn't even dead in Houston. In a little while, we're heading out to the first of what I am certain will be four standing-room only events this weekend, two of which will be CD releases from local artists. One of those CD releases is scheduled to span two nights in order to get all the guest bands in. Rock radio may be belly-up in the water, but we've already agreed that they're underserving the true market, anyway, right? The fans (and their wallets) didn't go away, radio just quit caring about what they do during lulls between tri-annual Buzzfests and Styx/REO concerts, I mean, Arrowfests.

We might have to wait another five years before this new generation of axmen can show off their chops.

Not me. I'm eating some spaghetti and heading out. You don't have to wait, either.

 

[its time w (your name)]

.try again later

 

[its time w (your name)]

Actually, I think the stable is already brimming to overfull with lots of bright, talented, technology-savvy people with loads of radio and sales experience

The stable is brimming with talented people who have been canned, & already found another way to get a check, and no young people who know the craft. Unless they hired you for your boobs or to be the girl-laugh track, remember, it took time for you & me to develop our sound & personality.

Maybe they will all come running back like little puppies. Hell, I dont know everything. I just know if I'm happy & I'm getting paid--- I'd rather be somewhere with a lake with no traffic.

...it's a recession and radio's bailing out hard and fast.

Radio's demise has less to do with a "recession"--(real or imagined,) and more with its own suckage.

Maybe you worked "in rock and roll" for a year or so (the Point doesn't count, ever, as rock 'n roll, no matter how many ZZ Top hits from the crappy album they slip in---

You mean "Take on Me" by AHA doesnt qualify me for some coolness shades? hahaha.... You're missing a page of my resume, but no big whoop. No offense, but I kinda outgrew that rock/coolness mindset. W about a dozen different formats under my hat-- they all "rock " to me. If you've only done one type format, you wont understand this. Call me whatever kind of jock you want. I meant "rock n roll" metaphorically.

And sure, I got into radio for the music & the interaction & the craft and all that blah blah blah....At one time I LOVED the art. Somewhere along the line, hearing the same songs over & over and being overly formatted lost it for me. The art is dead. Now we're playing ____ minutes of _____ ... another long set of_____ whatever....

The point is, either ego played a teeny little part in your initial career choice, or you're full of it. No normal person wants to speak to a crowd. At one time I needed to be on the radio. Now, I'd be happy on a tractor. I think a lot of us discover you dont need an airshift to live. That's all.

...although I'm happy that it worked out for you...

Yes! I trolled the request line & married KAREN! hahahahaha.

See, before you said that, I thought you knew me. Fyi, she didnt know what I did for a living, & after she found out, she still didnt think it was "cool." (too young for my format) The last thing I want is a groupie. Btw, you're not gonna like this, rock-jocks, but the most attractive groupie types are actually COUNTRY listeners, (although I'm guessing Spanish stations get some nice remote scenery.) Go ahead, joke if you need to, but nothing is hotter than corn-fed wholesomeness.

...Oh, it'll be good for them most of all, in the long run. ... (replying to my comment that life wont be good for lying accountants

No it wont, cuz theyre going to Hell!

 

[justareporter]

Somewhere in this thread-of-threads there has been lost the original topic. People are getting hurled out of the remaining few jobs left in radio at an alarming rate. Secondarily, what few people appear to be left are doing the job of their recenty departed co-workers and those of broadcasters in other markets (see voice tracking.)

For those too young (I apologize for the ageism remarks) to know better....being a broadcaster used to be a way to be creative, entertaining and get paid. Being "talent" could be a career...at least for part of your life.

Thanks to the Mays Family all costs are to be limited and "talent" is the most expensive and least necessary of all. How else do explain voice-tracking to other markets?

CC has single-handedly reduced what once was a thriving, creative industry to a bunch of 7-Elevens. They are all the same. Okay, not exactly but you get the idea.

And Timmy.....The FCC not granting a license to WGCH? I called a friend in Greenwhich. Did you know they do a three hour live and local news block every morning + a room full of local programming. Take a peek:

http://www.wgch.com/schedule.shtml

Okay, now that I have done your work for you let me also suggest that possibly the five who complained liked the guy who used to be the morning news anchor back in 2006 but who left (or was fired depending on who you ask) by management?

The FCC has a responsibility to enforce its license rules. You should say, "thank you."

 

[InTIMadate]

It's the economy, stupid.

Expect deep cuts, hiring freezes and more layoff at other radio and non-media companies. Although the Democrats and Republicans don't want to say it, we're in a recession and sending us checks are not going to fix it.

For the record, I was right: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4B05YX20081201
We've been a recession since last December and all the blood-letting was about profits sinking across the boards, not bad radio companies or our industry becoming obsolete.

Here's my next prediction: It will end in February of 2009. Although it might takes months for everyone to realize it.
Suggestion: Buy radio stocks the second week of January.

 

[andreajesus]

Somewhere in this thread-of-threads there has been lost the original topic. People are getting hurled out of the remaining few jobs left in radio at an alarming rate. Secondarily, what few people appear to be left are doing the job of their recenty departed co-workers and those of broadcasters in other markets (see voice tracking.)

For those too young (I apologize for the ageism remarks) to know better....being a broadcaster used to be a way to be creative, entertaining and get paid. Being "talent" could be a career...at least for part of your life.

well, i'm NOT too young (49-1/2) to remember when it used to be the radio business and when broadcasting used to be a way to create, entertain, and get paid and when one could spend the better part of their life doing their "talent", doing what they love... to quote Bruce Morrow 21 years ago, "now it's become the business of radio" - sad, very sad... but SO APPRECIATIVE of someone else who SO GETS IT!!

Andrea

 

[justareporter]

Andrea...I hope you find a great job in radio doing what you love.

 

[andreajesus]

Andrea...I hope you find a great job in radio doing what you love.

i hope so, too - i'm actually looking for work right now, so if you know anybody looking...

Andrea

 

[justareporter]

There is a listing on this site...and the other thing to remember is that moving is almost mandatory. Also, take a hard look at your skill set and ask what you can do with it ALONG (NOT INSTEAD OF ) radio.

 

[andreajesus]

thanks - appreciate the advice....

Andrea

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

Back to the discussion. It's a bit short-sighted to just throw one's hands into the air and say, "Oh, well, it's a recession." Failure comes from certain, trackable business models. The mortgage crisis didn't just happen for no reason. Banks made bad loans to high-risk borrowers, who defaulted. Gas prices didn't just rise to $4 this past summer for the heck of it. The stock market didn't just tank because the wind blew south by southeast. Same goes for the radio industry. It's in the hole that it's in because a relative few people got really greedy and decided they didn't care what the listeners wanted and that they didn't want to pay for the things that made it special in the past.

If I throw a lighted match into a haybarn, I can't shrug my shoulders and say, "Yeah, well, fire just happens."

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

By the way, where is Easy Money these days? I kinda miss him.