M
MikeShannon914
Guest
First off, I was a hater when hatin' wasn't cool. ;D
Russ would have to be a fool to not see this writing on the wall, even two or three years ago...and hopefully for his sake, he banked away money just in case. You just don't draw that kind of salary and see your contemporaries getting fired left and right for making too much money, and not worry about the same for yourself. EVERYBODY'S vulnerable, especially the more money you make...and no one's sacred anymore. And I don't see Russ popping up at ANY station, anytime soon, if ever. He won't work for the wages the industry pays now, and won't disgrace himself by taking whatever's out there. He's also damaged goods for now after all the bad PR around his alledged "incidents." That's a real tough spot to be in, to try to save face and ego and keep your value up, when there's no takers at your asking price. Don't believe me? Check the stock prices. NO big contracts are being written, and it will be a sad day when Dorsey's and Hal's and Jody's contracts come due...they'll either re-enlist at the going rate, or retire. But you never know the value of desperation...Russ now has two mortgages to pay, and trying to sell an oversized albatross in this market...?
And all that talk about going to XM, and when the RMS was tried in Austin...Neither worked or would have worked because Russ's calling card was that he was live and local. The Pleasant Grove references don't play well elsewhere...and if you take those things out, and fill it with whatever, you get something like the diluted Kidd Kraddick we hear now--where he had to take out all the local stuff to force the show to have universal appeal. It's just not the same product.
And considering when Ben-n-Skin started, don't you figure that 105.3 had planned to do this format switch earlier, but when Russ's legal issues came up, CBS probably decided to hold off, since dumping Russ at that point might have construed that they were dumping a person for being guilty before proven innocent. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen.
As for the new format, all I heard yesterday was a lot of voices that sounded barely post-pubescent. I know it's easy to hire kids for cheap and to perhaps find a real passionate one for every 50 you hire, but sheesh, don't staff the whole station with them. The Ticket gets away with Corby (? Colby?) being a kid because he's surrounded by vets who have a lot of fun at his expense. (And boy oh boy, did I accidentally call that one right on my Sunday evening post...that Fox Sports would be tied in with a new sports format at 105.3.
)
Lord love 'em, Russ played this schtick to the hilt, made a great living at it, was very successful with it (to a point,) but all things must end. And yes, sure, the haters are going to come out of the woodwork. Russ stepped on a LOT of toes to get where he got.
Russ would have to be a fool to not see this writing on the wall, even two or three years ago...and hopefully for his sake, he banked away money just in case. You just don't draw that kind of salary and see your contemporaries getting fired left and right for making too much money, and not worry about the same for yourself. EVERYBODY'S vulnerable, especially the more money you make...and no one's sacred anymore. And I don't see Russ popping up at ANY station, anytime soon, if ever. He won't work for the wages the industry pays now, and won't disgrace himself by taking whatever's out there. He's also damaged goods for now after all the bad PR around his alledged "incidents." That's a real tough spot to be in, to try to save face and ego and keep your value up, when there's no takers at your asking price. Don't believe me? Check the stock prices. NO big contracts are being written, and it will be a sad day when Dorsey's and Hal's and Jody's contracts come due...they'll either re-enlist at the going rate, or retire. But you never know the value of desperation...Russ now has two mortgages to pay, and trying to sell an oversized albatross in this market...?
And all that talk about going to XM, and when the RMS was tried in Austin...Neither worked or would have worked because Russ's calling card was that he was live and local. The Pleasant Grove references don't play well elsewhere...and if you take those things out, and fill it with whatever, you get something like the diluted Kidd Kraddick we hear now--where he had to take out all the local stuff to force the show to have universal appeal. It's just not the same product.
And considering when Ben-n-Skin started, don't you figure that 105.3 had planned to do this format switch earlier, but when Russ's legal issues came up, CBS probably decided to hold off, since dumping Russ at that point might have construed that they were dumping a person for being guilty before proven innocent. Talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen.
As for the new format, all I heard yesterday was a lot of voices that sounded barely post-pubescent. I know it's easy to hire kids for cheap and to perhaps find a real passionate one for every 50 you hire, but sheesh, don't staff the whole station with them. The Ticket gets away with Corby (? Colby?) being a kid because he's surrounded by vets who have a lot of fun at his expense. (And boy oh boy, did I accidentally call that one right on my Sunday evening post...that Fox Sports would be tied in with a new sports format at 105.3.
) Lord love 'em, Russ played this schtick to the hilt, made a great living at it, was very successful with it (to a point,) but all things must end. And yes, sure, the haters are going to come out of the woodwork. Russ stepped on a LOT of toes to get where he got.