My opinions on radio

[frankberry]

I worked with Farid when he was the CFO of Infinity Broadcasting. He was the official accountant.

 

[Element9]

No, he (ed., Farid) was an accountant who got put in command of a major radio group without knowledge of the philosophy, spirit and creativity that is part of successful radio. He was the poster child for the Peter Principle, a person who had risen too high and ended up making lots of bad decisions because he was, well, an accountant and not a broadcaster.

According to Howard Stern, Farid wasn't all that bright as an accountant, either. Stern claimed that while Farid worked for Mel at Infinity, he actually overpaid Stern on a few occasions and Stern gave back the over-payment. Imagine that... the King Of All Media giving money back. Stern said he wasn't surprised that Citadel went down the toilet, "Farid was a putz," but he walked away with a $38 million platinum parachute. The company is in far better hands with Mary Berner calling the plays, but it's not out of the woods, and like most radio companies (Saga being one of the exceptions) it's facing serious challenges.

 

[TheBigA]

He was a poster child for corporate radio consolidation, "restructuring", and "cutting your way to prosperity."

Maybe for you.

 

[TheBigA]

I worked with Farid when he was the CFO of Infinity Broadcasting. He was the official accountant.

Exactly. If Mel had any confidence in him as a broadcaster, he would have made him his successor.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The simple fact is that he was the CEO of Citadel. Like it or not, he was a lot more than an accountant. Was he good at what he did? Maybe not for the company, but he did negotiate himself that $38-million dollar parachute. Many of the principles he espoused were directly out of the Clear Channel playbook. We all know how that turned out, too - and what iHeart is currently doing to the industry.