PD gig open at Sunny!

[JockFan]

Apparently the powers that be have relieved Chuck Knight of his duties. Not a big suprise considering the steady slide in the numbers. What took them so long is beyond me. I imagine they are celebrating at WBNS-FM. They finally beat Sunny 12+. WLZT is eating away at the upper end of Sunny's demo and The Mix and 'NCI are taking their younger numbers. This should be interesting.

 

[OHIODEAL]

I hope to hear no more changes planned for SUNNY 95 in the near future.If it ain't broken,don't fix it!

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

97.1 has a long way to go before they celebrate too much. They are still way below where they used to be. Hot AC seems to be up in most markets this book.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Apparently the powers that be have relieved Chuck Knight of his duties. Not a big suprise considering the steady slide in the numbers. What took them so long is beyond me. I imagine they are celebrating at WBNS-FM. They finally beat Sunny 12+. WLZT is eating away at the upper end of Sunny's demo and The Mix and 'NCI are taking their younger numbers. This should be interesting.

Chuck had a good run at Sunny...we worked together at WENS/Indy in the 90's & he went from there to Sunny. His parting words were that WENS was not broken & all that was needed was to keep it on track. Next PD turned it decidely 'hotter' AC & now it's country. Chuck wasn't the most exciting guy to work with, but he delivered. Sunny's loss IMHO...

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

...we worked together at WENS/Indy in the 90's & he went from there to Sunny.

Didn't he go from WENS to then-WYXR in Philadelphia for a year or two before coming to Sunny? I specifically remember thinking how it was the exception to the rule for a PD to come directly to Columbus from one of the largest markets.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Update to my last post: I just found an article that said Knight arrived in July 1996 from WYXR in Philly. WSNY was #1 12+ at the time.

 

[Radioboy989]

So Chuck Knight is a free agent...
John Symons is also free as I understand it...
93.3 is withering...

If Clearchannel wanted to get strategic, they could...

Wait a minute...what am I thinking...must be the heat.

 

[CatFM]

Why do they even need a PD? All of the larger stations I worked for had PDs who did nothing more than schedule the weekend air shifts. That was about the extent of their responsibility. Why? The stations were really programmed by either the National PD or the consultant. All the station PD did was answer the phone when they called and implement their directives. Otherwise, he was completely powerless to make any programming decisions. The only reason I can figure the GM paid the salary was to have a scapegoat he could blow out if the numbers went down.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Update to my last post: I just found an article that said Knight arrived in July 1996 from WYXR in Philly. WSNY was #1 12+ at the time.

I stand corrected...and wish Chuck well in his future endeavors...

 

[V.Riley]

Why do they even need a PD? All of the larger stations I worked for had PDs who did nothing more than schedule the weekend air shifts. That was about the extent of their responsibility. Why? The stations were really programmed by either the National PD or the consultant. All the station PD did was answer the phone when they called and implement their directives. Otherwise, he was completely powerless to make any programming decisions. The only reason I can figure the GM paid the salary was to have a scapegoat he could blow out if the numbers went down.

Just my opinion, but I think PD's should remain local. A play list that works in New York may not work in California, just like what works for Daytona, Florida may not work in Dayton, Ohio, or using the same play list in Columbus, Georgia as you do in Columbus, Ohio could be a bad idea. If Sunny 95 is using a general play list that is used across the nation, this may be why their numbers are going down. Again, this is just my opinion so what do I know, but I think a Radio Station should be responsive to the community it serves. Homogenized Radio is not something that sounds exciting to listen to.

 

[radiokiller]

I don't know much..I do observe that a PD is used as a scapegoat when he or she is working for a BAD GM and a bad programmer is gonna fail whether he has a great manager and air team or not..I also have noticed a bad PD will find himself out of work regardless of his/her circumstances eventually and he will find a way to break what was never meant to be broken. On the other hand, a freakin' great PD always manages to bring out the best in everyone and save even the crappiest on his ship because it's easy to fire and harder to manage. Yet, he/she likes the challenge and he/she is good at it?? I like working for those ppl..guess 'cause I'm pretty crappy and need a job! LOL

Good luck, Chuck.

 

[jakej]

Just want to make sure I got this right, CatFM -- basically, you're saying that PDs get fired for taking orders that turn out to be bad?

 

[CatFM]

Yes, that is exactly how it works in many companies. In reality, the PD is not to blame for the bad numbers because he had no say in any of the key programming elements, but the blame ends up with him, not the National PD or consultant who actually called the shots. I worked for stations where the PD tried to actually do the job he was hired to do, but the consultant complained to the GM, so the PD was fired. Why? Because it was the consultant's job to program the station, not the PD's job, so the PD was fired for not cooperating with consultant. If you have never worked in the business, ask around. This has been going on for years. I saw it happen here. Oh, by some amazing coincidence, the new PD just happened to be a good buddy of the consultant. Since the consultant gave him the job with the blessing of the GM, he was certain to be loyal to both. That is how the game is played. Are there any corporate-owned major market stations left where the PD really programs it? It's possible, but highly unlikely.

 

[jcmccoy]

When I was at Saga/Columbus, it was very apparent that the corporate PD, Steve Goldstein, micro managed the company. In fact, insiders on Sunny told me that he would often order the firing of announcers just to "shake things up". Believe me, I know that first hand. Just a hunch here, but I'll bet Chuck got the screws big time. He was a very good "radio" guy along with alot of others that were there. Goldstein just meddles too much.

 

[jakej]

Sounds like there's a whole host of can't-win situations for the poor local program director. Which brings up three questions:
1) Is Goldstein like Gonzales, and impervious to being fired himself?
2) Saga's B107-9 has had recent 12+ numbers remarkably similar to Sunny's in terms of their general direction (both stations' Winter and Spring '07 books being approximately 33% below their Spring '06 numbers), so how come one PD is gone but not the other? (I should add here that I sincerely like Bill Shannon a lot and would hate to see anything bad happen to him.)
3) I had a fantastic idea for a show to replace Tom Kent's 7-12pm syndicated stuff that aired on WODB, and I knew its days (nights) were numbered because Kent had failed to reach a new contract agreement with his employer -- but I only contacted Bill about "Rewind Rumble", and my fantastic idea ended up dying a horrible death. Since I now know it's someone else who likely calls all of Saga's programming shots, should I have just completely bypassed Bill to begin with and gone directly to Goldstein? And let him shoot me down instead? Guess it's not just local PDs who face can't-win situations; my life is apparently nothing but a nonstop series of 'em!

 

[ryan rafferdy]

When I was swing guy/Asst AM Show Producer there in the mid-late 90's...I got about 4 hours notice one day that I would be doing overnights till further notice...and Shelly Metz was no longer with the company...Don Hallet hired me...nice guy.

 

[jtmichaels]

I worked at WSNY also (for nearly a year). Left due to schedule conflicts. Many say Chuck Knight is a tough guy to work for. I'd agree to that somewhat...but he is a nice guy and had a good long run there. I will bet just about anything he was back-doored BIG TIME. He normally left things alone. It was upper-mgmt that always liked to shake things up.

When I left, I held on to some of the BEST advice anyone had ever given me in radio. That, along with what I learned from Jon Symons made me happy to have worked for that station. (BTW, just spoke with Jon a couple days ago via e-mail. He's doing well and writes "It's been interesting here [Chicago], but I'm sure I will find something challenging soon. Just weighing the options."

Not sure how they do it now, but 10 yrs ago they had a music director who chose the songs, which Chuck would approve. It was then entered into MusicSelector.