On Air affiliates

[RonRoberts]

Let's not forget that the SYNDICATED Elvis Duran show's also going on WAKS in Cleveland.

And just because you can't determine who lost a gig, ya can't account or not account for that in some scorecard you're keeping.

Frankly, I've not kept a running tab, nor do I have the time to go searching back; but I will go on record as KNOWING more than two jocks have lost their jobs to the Seacrest machine.

Oh, and WFLZ, the outgoing midday host, Melissa Moran, was also the MD, I believe, was she not? And who are you, or I, or anybody, to comment on how valuable or invaluable "VibeGirl" was at WIHT or if she was just working a "cushy" shift-only gig? In politics, they call that "spin;"

Add WJJS/Roanoke, as well. Midday hostess Nicky moved to do mornings with Jay Styles. No idea if a former co-host left or if Jay was flying solo beforehand. That could go either way.

AT WFKS, that station has a VT'd jock out of Melbourne, Fl's WBVD from 10a-noon just ahead of Seacrest's three hours; looks like a whole shift there w/out a local jock. Dunno if anybody lost their job there (since they've been an autopiloted CC CHR almost from day one, anyhow).

And of course, the APD/MD/Afternooner at WFKS, in turns, does daily VTing for the Melbourne, FL station (WBVD) from 10a-noon ahead of the Seacrest 3 hours, too...another entire 10-3p shift auto-jocked.

At WAEB/Allentown, btw, the nights are voicetracked from out of market.

And the addition of Ryan in Harrisburg meant the axe for a PD in that cluster, according to All Access.

 

[porkythepig]

I've heard from a few CC PDs saying Ryan Seacrest is a mandate. Don't forget XL93's live midday host, Aimee, is moving. Ryan is from 11 AM-2 PM with Christal from the morning show tracking 10-11 AM and Rick starting an hour earlier in PM drive. If Amiee didn't leave on her own they would have either pushed her out or have her track the couple hours before On Air. On a CHR, middays isn't the most valuable daypart and its usually the first to get cut. It just looks better for CCGF that she left on her own and they were able to put Seacrest on before the book. But make no mistake that the new CC is mandating the elimination of any redundant or unnecessary staff members. Some people will come on here later and say that isn't true. But it is.

How long has it been since Scotty Davis moved to Indy? Yet they haven't hired a new afternoon guy at KDWB/Minneapolis. Heard that they are replaying Dave Ryan bits in the afternoon. There has to be at least 3 guys in the business that could do that job as well as Scotty did.

 

[The Truthsayer]

I was being sarcastic Roger. Its Grand Forks for God sakes!!! It not really even a market! So once again Clear Channel is pushing Ryan Seacrest because instead of voice tracking the middays with part time "talent", or lack thereof in GF or any other piss ant "market", they decided to go ahead and put Seacrest on for 3 hours. A full time shift was not taken away since its being replaced by someone who is a hell of a lot more compelling of a jock than anybody on this board is live or dropping in voice tracks. This where "COOKIE CUTTER" RADIO is good. BFD!

What would the average listener rather listen to: a jockless jukebox, a local no-name puker or a compelling celebrity such as Ryan Seacrest? Hey doctor_radio, how about you put Ryan Seacrest and/or Billy Bush on YOUR station to replace your midday jock? BTW quit playing the Hampster Dance Song, you guys need a consultant!

Which 3 hours would the locals choose?
3 hours of a local jock?
3 hours of Hollywood celebs with a celeb host?

On the TV side:
Local Talent Show?
American Idol?

I run Blair Garner's and Whitney Allen's shows on my station. Cumulus and Clear Channel are smart to mandate syndicated shows (Bush and Seacrest respectively) since the hosts are better talent!

 

[Beejus]

What would the average listener rather listen to: a jockless jukebox, a local no-name puker or a compelling celebrity such as Ryan Seacrest?

In my market... local always wins.

Bob & Sheri lost to a bunch of "local pukers" and an automated jukebox and were dropped.

John Boy & Billy lost to an automated station and "local pukers" too and were dropped.

Lia at night on Country knocked a station from a 40 share to a 6 share in one book and never made it back to double digits and was dropped.

GAC Nights is getting it's ass kicked by "local pukers."

Automated rock got better numbers than Adam Carolla.

The only "national" talents that get any scrap of decent numbers in this market are Mancow (and he's not lighting the world on fire) and Bob & Tom.


Terrestrial radio survives by being local. Pumping in Seacrest, while he is a good talent, takes away from the local factor, and that turns a lot of people off.

 

[RonRoberts]

Which 3 hours would the locals choose?
3 hours of a local jock?
3 hours of Hollywood celebs with a celeb host?

On the TV side:
Local Talent Show?
American Idol?

These aren't good questions for your argument. I, for one, would prefer a talented, local personality handling middays (or afternoons, as some "On Air" affiliates have chosen) instead of three hours of rehashed Seacrest morning show pieces reconstituted and put on an FTP.

Why? Again, it's all about the things Seacrest can't do: he can never appear at a station function or local event. During those three hours, he won't be promoting your station's promotions, promoting other dayparts or interacting with your listener either on the request line or your website.

Your listener also gets all that Hollywood shclub from Extra, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and E! (24/7 I might add). If you're a hit music station, play hit music.

Oh, and the TV show question... c'mon, you know full well a local talent show would draw a huge local rating. Uh oh, there's that term: "local rating."

Besides, who's tuning in to 'Idol' because of the host, anyhow? They're tuning in for - the performances - the same reason CHR stations tune in to their local CHR radio station.

 

[jsu5381m]

Does this Clear Channel mandate also include top 10 markets such as z100 New York or Kiss Chicago?

 

[Beejus]

Does this Clear Channel mandate also include top 10 markets such as z100 New York or Kiss Chicago?

Q102 in Philly isn't airing Seacrest... but they DID dump a very highly rated Booker in favor of piping in Elvis Duran from Z100.

 

[Roger That]

Let's not forget that the SYNDICATED Elvis Duran show's also going on WAKS in Cleveland.

And just because you can't determine who lost a gig, ya can't account or not account for that in some scorecard you're keeping.

Frankly, I've not kept a running tab, nor do I have the time to go searching back; but I will go on record as KNOWING more than two jocks have lost their jobs to the Seacrest machine.

Oh, and WFLZ, the outgoing midday host, Melissa Moran, was also the MD, I believe, was she not? And who are you, or I, or anybody, to comment on how valuable or invaluable "VibeGirl" was at WIHT or if she was just working a "cushy" shift-only gig? In politics, they call that "spin;"

Add WJJS/Roanoke, as well. Midday hostess Nicky moved to do mornings with Jay Styles. No idea if a former co-host left or if Jay was flying solo beforehand. That could go either way.

AT WFKS, that station has a VT'd jock out of Melbourne, Fl's WBVD from 10a-noon just ahead of Seacrest's three hours; looks like a whole shift there w/out a local jock. Dunno if anybody lost their job there (since they've been an autopiloted CC CHR almost from day one, anyhow).

And of course, the APD/MD/Afternooner at WFKS, in turns, does daily VTing for the Melbourne, FL station (WBVD) from 10a-noon ahead of the Seacrest 3 hours, too...another entire 10-3p shift auto-jocked.

At WAEB/Allentown, btw, the nights are voicetracked from out of market.

And the addition of Ryan in Harrisburg meant the axe for a PD in that cluster, according to All Access.

First, you said check All Access. I did. Not the blood-letting you suggested. I agree that it can't be determined.

I'm sure there are jocks that lost their jobs, but I'm also sure there are a lot that didn't. Just because you know two jocks that have, doesn't mean that you can infer that it's an across-the-board issue. THAT'S my point. Everyone's so quick to jump to "heads are rolling!!!" and make bad assumptions.

Yes, Moran was the MD, too. But that better helps my point than yours. Was she that valuable if Seacrest was the excuse to let her go? Just asking the question. Same for the girl at Hot in DC. If they're so valuable, why not move them around, instead of using THAT as your reasoning to make a change.

 

[RonRoberts]

You act as if those that have lost their jobs did something wrong or didn't do enough to warrant keeping their jobs.

Dude, the suits who make these decisions don't care; lol. If you think otherwise, then you're flying with blinders, man.

When the corporate mantra is to slash payroll and the option is "strongly encouraged" to carry the FTP'd jock-in-a-can your company's carrying, sometimes you have to do what you're told to do, even if that means letting a valuable employee go.

If Moran was valuable enough, at the time, to earn the MD stripes, then I seriously doubt she just lost value a the very same time "On the Air" was being heavily pushed. Dude, we're talking about 'FLZ here; they don't usually hire crappy jocks.

I never said there was (your term) "bloodletting." But I have seen some folks lose jobs with the advent of this "On the Air" phenomenon. I do, however, recall seeing, on more than one or two occasions, where somebody was either being phased out, moved to another station where THAT station was gonna lose a position, etc., with the oncoming Seacrest-in-a-can experiment.

 

[Roger That]

Dude, we're talking about 'FLZ here; they don't usually hire crappy jocks.

TOTALLY agree. That was kinda my point. They're printing money there, and Bubba aside, are still VERY dominant in most areas. You think they couldn't justify Moran in spite of Seacrest? I, too, think it's a funny coincidence. That's why, in my opinion, I question if she was the right fit for what Tommy wants. Seems like the addition of Seacrest was the excuse used to cut her, not the reason.

 

[porkythepig]

We're talking about radio. People get sent to the beach for budget cuts. I doubt Moran did anything to deserve it since she had the MD stripes and the fact we're talking about FLZ. People have lost their jobs to Ryan Seacrest. Not in every market but it's happened.

Instead of finding a replacement for Scotty Davis at KDWB, they're running Dave Ryan bits in the afternoon. How long has he been at WNOU in Indy now? There has to be at least 3 guys in the business that could do that job as well as Scotty did.

And the cloud people are doing something similar to Premiere/CC with Billy Bush.

 

[The Truthsayer]

Do you guys even UNDERSTAND why there are budget cuts, hence why people getting fired? You need to ALWAYS make money or else your stockholders go bye bye, and the company goes bye bye. Once the company goes bye bye then everyone's job will go bye bye. These few jobs being lost to Ryan Seacrest/budget cuts is better than everyone losing their jobs from going out of business.

Plus Ryan has talent and is a household name so people will listen to him, so ratings should go up. And it's cheaper. RATINGS = REVENUE

It's Business 101 people: make LOTS of money to appeal to the stockholders to keep your company in business!!

 

[Roger That]

Do you guys even UNDERSTAND why there are budget cuts, hence why people getting fired? You need to ALWAYS make money or else your stockholders go bye bye, and the company goes bye bye. Once the company goes bye bye then everyone's job will go bye bye. These few jobs being lost to Ryan Seacrest/budget cuts is better than everyone losing their jobs from going out of business.

Plus Ryan has talent and is a household name so people will listen to him, so ratings should go up. And it's cheaper. RATINGS = REVENUE

It's Business 101 people: make LOTS of money to appeal to the stockholders to keep your company in business!!

Unless you're satellite radio, which hasn't made a dime yet.

PS...Clear Channel has no stockholders anymore. They're a private company. Granted, that probably means a worse fate...bank guys running the company usually means even more bottom line importance than usual.

 

[Beejus]

Plus Ryan has talent and is a household name so people will listen to him, so ratings should go up.

Ryan's On-Air TV show was a complete flop. So don't be so certain.

 

[The Truthsayer]

Plus Ryan has talent and is a household name so people will listen to him, so ratings should go up.

Ryan's On-Air TV show was a complete flop. So don't be so certain.

Granted we will have to wait until the Fall Book until we see the picture of Ryan's success or failure. He has more talent than most small market jocks. My point earlier was that corporations want a quick profit because bankers or stockholders don't tolerate any loss. Therefore generating the most ratings (ratings = revenue) without spending a lot of money is the way to win. Listeners don't care about the precious "live and local" nor do they care about "cookie cutter."

 

[1900radio]

But some markets were dropping voicetracked shows for Seacrest. From what I've heard the cost is about the same, but for 2 less hours of show. So it's more than money.

 

[RonRoberts]

In Chicago, Billy Hammond lost his 11p-2a gig when Kiss made room for Seacrest.

Incidentally, I was in D.C. last weekend and heard how they air his show, there, anyhow; not impressed. Rolled right out of songs into the taped segments from his morning show, without so much as a station identifier, an "On AIr with R.S." I.D.... nothing. Just blew right out of a song and into Ryan and Ellen schmaltzing about something.

Really? C'mon... do we not at least have enough time to get R.S. to cut some station I.D.s to voicetrack over the tails of these songs before we dump into his canned segments?

I'd at least make the APPEARANCE that he was a part of my station staff instead of just some infused canned conversation. Maybe that's just me.

 

[TenInARow]

In Chicago, Billy Hammond lost his 11p-2a gig when Kiss made room for Seacrest.

Incidentally, I was in D.C. last weekend and heard how they air his show, there, anyhow; not impressed. Rolled right out of songs into the taped segments from his morning show, without so much as a station identifier, an "On AIr with R.S." I.D.... nothing. Just blew right out of a song and into Ryan and Ellen schmaltzing about something.

Really? C'mon... do we not at least have enough time to get R.S. to cut some station I.D.s to voicetrack over the tails of these songs before we dump into his canned segments?

I'd at least make the APPEARANCE that he was a part of my station staff instead of just some infused canned conversation. Maybe that's just me.

KISS here in Cleveland usually puts Ryan's local stab at the end of his breaks. It sounds seamless, as if he really is saying "96-5 KISS FM" at the end of his break. (As opposed to Open House Party for example, where it sounds like John Garrabedien or Kannon are using two different microphones in the stab and the break, and the inflections are different as well)

I've listened to Ryan's show on HOT online and noticed they were using imaging pieces rather than Ryan IDs, alternating them before/after his breaks. Haven't noticed them doing nothing at the beginning or end like you heard, Ron. Ultimately I like Cleveland's approach better.

 

[RonRoberts]

What I heard was just one Friday afternoon of Seacrest on Hot. So take of it what you will.

We run AT40, and go the added step of adding Seacrest custom station stabs before he speaks coming out of most songs, too. We run Kidd Kraddick weekdays, too, but take the added step of having them record song intros and track 'em in, too.

We also run OHP, but I don't hear a distinct difference in vocal inflection or processing from their stabs to their on-air breaks.

But I'm a BIG believer in trying to make these syndicated efforts as seamless as possible; I also believe in making these shows sound like they're on your station instead of your station tuning into their shows (if that makes any sense).