Musical Chairs at The Fan...AGAIN..wait till you read this!

[mediasup1]

But, surprise surprise, this has nothing to do with talent...REALLY! I buy a fair amount of media here and I don't post much, but this is stunning to me. There have been no less than SIX Local Sales Managers at 105.3 in the last six years...they average less than a year. AND NOW, the General Sales Manager there has been demoted to AE status. SEVEN managers in 6 years... There is a bigger problem here. And it starts at the top.

 

[UncleCharlie]

I have always intrigued by the LSM position at 105.3, there have been so many, they could form their own Happy Hour. An amazing run of former AE, 1st time managers, who, like Spinal Tap's drummers, all seem to spontaniouly combust.

 

[returnofbongo]

SEVEN managers...are you serious? Wow, that explains a lot. No wonder they can't keep money on the books. Who is the manager now?

 

[davideduardo]

But, surprise surprise, this has nothing to do with talent...REALLY! I buy a fair amount of media here and I don't post much, but this is stunning to me. There have been no less than SIX Local Sales Managers at 105.3 in the last six years...they average less than a year. AND NOW, the General Sales Manager there has been demoted to AE status. SEVEN managers in 6 years... There is a bigger problem here. And it starts at the top.

High turnover is fairly usual for stations with the poor and declining numbers that KLLI / KRLD-FM has had for the last half of a decade or so. Those that are good get snatched by better stations, and those that aren't, well, we know what happens to them. Interestingly, through 2007, this was not the lowest biller of the cluster and was on a bit of an uptrend from '02 to '07... starting the period at just about half what it had in '07.

 

[returnofbongo]

Once again, David chimes in with not much. Interesting to note, KLLI was on FIRE until they lost Stern. Someone can check, were the rating or revenue good in Stern's last year. Then the genius Spittle/ Henry team allowed DLR to be forced on them...Flame Out. then same dynamic duo allows O&A to be forced on them...Flame Out. They bring in Jagger and B&S....Flame Outs (sorry Jagger, pun not intended). This is not simply a ratings/ turnover story. This is bad management that has been allowed to destroy a franchise.

 

[scrtr84]

Once again, David chimes in with not much. Interesting to note, KLLI was on FIRE until they lost Stern. Someone can check, were the rating or revenue good in Stern's last year. Then the genius Spittle/ Henry team allowed DLR to be forced on them...Flame Out. then same dynamic duo allows O&A to be forced on them...Flame Out. They bring in Jagger and B&S....Flame Outs (sorry Jagger, pun not intended). This is not simply a ratings/ turnover story. This is bad management that has been allowed to destroy a franchise.

Damn, you beat me to it.

But yeah those are my thoughts, exactly. Rather than take the blame for a failure, the management weasles blame the product and change it. It's the weasles that need to be changed, first. Whatever happened to "three strikes and you are out?" Oh wait, I answered that question in another thread. Something about the words "logic" and "common sense".

 

[UncleCharlie]

"Those that are good get snatched by better stations"

David, you are clearly not familiar with this sutuation. That would be the story on the veteran AEs, but not the management. If my memory is correct, only one manager left for a "better" opportunity. The rest were terminated or went back to the cube they came from.

In the middle 2000's KLLI was the cash machine of the CBS Dallas Cluster, and named regional Station of the Year inside CBS. The loss of Stern rocked the foundation, but the station was strong enough to carry on, and had the on-air and AE talent to do it. Inept management aired a year of unlistenable programming, while it allowed the worst personalities in the building to run wild creating a hostile environment, that drove away several top AEs - the kinds with real skins on the wall - and replaced the AEs with people who came in from outside the business or outside the market. That total failure of management is what brought the down the house.

And the reign of terror continues unabated.....

 

[texasghost_01]

I think I have mentioned this before...I'm not in any kind of radio business..I just come on here when I see or hear a change coming up cause you guys will usually post about it which I like...

I just wonder though..in these tough economic times...I wonder what kind of a resume someone has to have to qualify them for a 4 hour show on the radio?

It was painfully obvious Pugs and Kelly did not do well on KLLI when they had an all talk format having to fill time with meaning conversations...now that they are on the Bone with the option of playing songs in between their useless chatter...it seems to work for them.

I just wonder with all that The Fan has been trying to do with putting "Skin" of Ben and Skin in the middle of the Mavs TV announcers...and now they are going to be broadcasting Rangers games..that they are biting off more than they can chew?

Having "Skin" on the Mavs play calling team is horrible in that he has no valid knowledge of the team or its players...he doesn't offer anything valuable in the conversations with Ortegal and Followell...except when either Ortegal or Followell makes a comment about a player...all Skin will say is...."yeah..he sure is". Wow..nice input there Skin!!

And now they have another albatross they just purchased...broadcasting a baseball team that is a horrible team at best..and that noone watches or listens to.

Talk show radio can work here in my opinion...it seems to work for WBAP..but when you have big name talents like Stern, Russ or Rush Limbaugh do something or say something that rubs PDs the wrong way and then have them say..."Oh we can't have loose cannons on this station!! Let's get rid of them and hire talent that will not be loose cannons."

Hate to break it to these radio stations..but loose cannons is what makes a show popular in my opinion.

 

[davideduardo]

Once again, David chimes in with not much. Interesting to note, KLLI was on FIRE until they lost Stern. Someone can check, were the rating or revenue good in Stern's last year. Then the genius Spittle/ Henry team allowed DLR to be forced on them...Flame Out. then same dynamic duo allows O&A to be forced on them...Flame Out. They bring in Jagger and B&S....Flame Outs (sorry Jagger, pun not intended). This is not simply a ratings/ turnover story. This is bad management that has been allowed to destroy a franchise.

Stern's Sirius deal, announced in October of '04 began in '06.

In the meantime, the revenue at 105.3 did not decline in '05... it increased by more than 10% and in 2006 it held, still higher than 2004.

And, by the way, things are not "forced on" local management. Companies, going back to when we could only have 7/7 in radio, did not let local management change format or make significant changes without the approval of the owner or the owners' representative. Attempting to find a replacement for Stern was, and is, a daunting task and one with no guarantees...

 

[UncleCharlie]

The CBS Dallas braintrust could have fought for and secured Adam Carolla instead of accepting, David Lee Roth, who clearly never had a workable plan. Instead they burried their heads in the sand.

 

[EbolaMonkey]

Attempting to find a replacement for Stern was, and is, a daunting task and one with no guarantees...

Uncle Charlie is right. Carolla was the easy choice.

 

[returnofbongo]

No question...Adam was the correct choice. Spittle obviously couldn't make that choice. Neither could David Henry. BONEHEADS. David Gleason, again, you are wrong. KLLI revenue was remarkable in 2005, it trailed in 06 after Stern's departure and tanked during DLR. Russ held his value, but that is about it.

And that is the point. An obvious choice was missed. Just like the musical chairs of local sales managers, it couldn't be their fault, each seems to have had less than a year.

 

[davideduardo]

David Gleason, again, you are wrong. KLLI revenue was remarkable in 2005, it trailed in 06 after Stern's departure and tanked during DLR.

Source?

The leading industry source disagrees with you.

 

[returnofbongo]

Great, we can all learn something. Prove it. And I don't mean doing what you normally do, throwing out non related info. You have revenue by month showing Q2 2005-Q2 2006 (Stern-DLR) then show Q2 2006-Q4 2007 (DLR-O&A) by month, put up or (i know it is too much to ask). Since we are on the subject, you are talking about the industry leader, show local as well as national and ntr.

 

[davideduardo]

Great, we can all learn something. Prove it. And I don't mean doing what you normally do, throwing out non related info. You have revenue by month showing Q2 2005-Q2 2006 (Stern-DLR) then show Q2 2006-Q4 2007 (DLR-O&A) by month, put up or (i know it is too much to ask). Since we are on the subject, you are talking about the industry leader, show local as well as national and ntr.

That level of data is protected by confidentiality.

However, the KLII revenue was:
01 8.5
02 10.0
03 11.4
04 14.45
o5 17.9
07 17.0
07 16.0

 

[greencougar7]

"And, by the way, things are not "forced on" local management(1). Companies, going back to when we could only have 7/7 in radio, did not let local management change format or make significant changes without the approval of the owner or the owners' representative(2)."
1) Too Laughable to comment on it other than laugh
2) True to a degree, most stations were locally owned therefore a LOCAL decision was made.

 

[returnofbongo]

Once again David, you have managed to do EXACTLY what I said you would do, put up numbers that have NOTHING to do with the claims you made. And by the way, your numbers are askew.

Again, it comes down to the basic point. Sans the ridiculous David Gleason, KLLI is horribly mismanaged. Horribly programmed and that is why they go through sooooo many managers. I don't care who you are 7 managers in 6 years is crazy.

 

[davideduardo]

Once again David, you have managed to do EXACTLY what I said you would do, put up numbers that have NOTHING to do with the claims you made. And by the way, your numbers are askew.

I did all that was needed to do... presented the revenue figures for the station. From the accepted and recognized industry source.

You just present vitriolic accusations.

 

[5515]

Man. You guys all got it figured out.

I like the fact that everyone is referring not only to the past years, but also to the current station... as KLLI.

It's actually KRLD-FM now.

I also like all the smack talk about management when the PPM ratings are steadily going up and the sponsors and advertisers are steadily increasing. Oh, and it really sucks picking up the Rangers. What a horrible decision. It's going to blow even more when they grab the Cowboys and KRLD-FM and AM have a hold on all the major Dallas sports teams. Yeeeeah... that's a horrible decision.
:


Yeah... carry on.

 

[davideduardo]

I like the fact that everyone is referring not only to the past years, but also to the current station... as KLLI.

I think the discussion has been about the station that, at the end of the day, got to the place where a change to KRLD FM.

I also like all the smack talk about management when the PPM ratings are steadily going up

As KRLD-FM it appears in a single week, only the most recent one. It appears with zips in the October, November, December and Holiday books. It has a 12+ 1.1 in the weekly, and a 1.5 in 25-54. Considereing that #1 KLNO had a 6.2, that is quite a ways down... although in 25-54 it's only 0.3 away from WBAP.

Yes, it is going up... from zero. But given the appeal to advertisers of the format, this is likely the kind of start anyone would have predicted with a new station of this kind.

and the sponsors and advertisers are steadily increasing.

That I would not doubt. It's a good foreground format and being on FM has many advantages.

Yeeeeah... that's a horrible decision.

In the long run, and with possible synergy with the AM format, they should have done this years ago.