Potpourri For 100

[Radknowski]

Almost makes you feel feel sorry for Wease... almost:

Money troubles lead to staff pay-cuts. Midday personality Neil Rogers' $1.5 million annual salary will be cut in half when his new five-year deal kicks in with Beasley's "Sports Radio 560" WQAM, Miami. Rogers tells The Sun-Sentinel there weren't many other options. "It was `take it or leave it.' I'm not happy about it but I don't expect people to feel sorry for me. I'm still doing pretty well." Rogers tried to explore other opportunities, including a jump to a Clear Channel station but says "They never put a dime on the table."

Poor Neil. Hmmm... I once heard that Neil many years ago worked in Batavia at WBTA. Or is this simply another one of those (sub)urban myths?
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And, is this what they mean by "more is less:"

Half as many salespeople but higher commissions.
It's one option under study at Citadel, where CEO Farid Suleman believes as much as half of revenues would come in anyway, with or without a salesperson. So they're studying ways to possibly reduce the number of AEs and pay those who remain higher commissions. Faced with little growth in radio dollars, Suleman says everything needs to be on the table. More from Citadel's Q1 conference call in today's Inside Radio.

Or maybe it's this...

Citadel: Cost-cutting is "ongoing." After a round of layoffs and programming cuts that led to the layoff of 2% of its workforce, CEO Farid Suleman says "This is going to be an ongoing process." The next focus is on back-office operations. Suleman also says every air shift must also be "justified." Citadel revenues were down 5% in first quarter, dragged lower by a 12% drop at the big-market former ABC Radio stations.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Is That What Smells?

Yet Citadel is still buying back stock and/or debt. Gee, I wonder where the money's coming from for that?

BTW, Farid is taking Judy Ellis with him as he steps in front of the bus. Check out this quote: "Judy Ellis has always said that 50 percent of our revenues would come in with or without salespeople". You can read more at Radio Ink.

 

[Element9]

First of all, you have to wonder if the man actually said this: "We as a company and, I think, as an industry overall is doing a great job in investing in interactive," Suleman said during his company's Q1 earnings conference call.

"We and... as an industry overall is doing a great job..." Huh? As to the content of the message, one can only wonder how it impacts Citadel's properties in Syracuse, Binghamton, Erie and Buffalo. Then you see something like this and begin to wonder:

From the 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission:
The Radio Network was notified that one of its key news talk on-air talent intends to terminate his agreement with the Company in June 2008. (Poster's note, this would be Sean Hannity, afternoon drive, WABC, NY.) The Radio Network is currently involved in contract discussions with this key news-talk talent, but may be unable to retain such talent. However, the Company does not believe that the loss of any single on-air talent or program would be material to the Company's overall business.

Once Citadel gave Imus that $5 million/year contract to do mornings at WABC, everybody else became expendable. Norton? Shredd & Ragan?

 

[SirRoxalot]

Imus=Genius?

Hey, if Farid puts Imus on an increasing number of stations, without paying him more, he considers himself more of a genius.

If the ratings on those station plunge, along with the revenue, Farid can still say "But our costs are lower!"

I'm sure that the other major groups are watching Farid with a mixture of amazement and amusement. He certainly is lowering the cost of talent at Citadel. Let's see how that works out in the long run.

 

[Bob1370]

"If the ratings on those station plunge, along with the revenue, Farid can still say "But our costs are lower!"

That was exactly what Joel Hollander was saying in 2005 when he was running CBS' radio division.

We all know what happened there, and what ultimately happened to Hollander once Les Moonves got a look at what he'd done.

Evidently Mr. Suleiman has learned nothing from the misadventures of his former colleague.

Disney will be able to buy that whole radio division and all the stations back for a song in another year. Then they can cruise in and gradually turn the thing around through re-investment in the product...but the total cost of the re-purchase and the turnaround will still be way less than what they orignally were overpaid for the spinoff to begin with. It's almost as if Bob Iger and the Disney brain trust knew this would happen from the start, and they're now just waiting to pounce.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Disney will be able to buy that whole radio division and all the stations back for a song in another year. Then they can cruise in and gradually turn the thing around through re-investment in the product...but the total cost of the re-purchase and the turnaround will still be way less than what they orignally were overpaid for the spinoff to begin with. It's almost as if Bob Iger and the Disney brain trust knew this would happen from the start, and they're now just waiting to pounce.

Do you really think they will do that? I hope so! NBC got out of radio and never looked back. KABC, KGO, WJR, WLS, and WABC deserve better than a bargain basement operator. I couldn't believe Disney kept all the "Radio Disney" stations. Most are DOGS when it comes to signal strength. WGFY Charlotte (5Kw) is a very small dog with fleas.

 

[Bob1370]

" hope so! NBC got out of radio and never looked back."

Actually, GE, NBC's former parent, did look back, repeatedly. Jack Welch has been quoted frequently as saying his one big mistake as GE's boss was bailing out on NBC's radio division instead of holding on and being in the game when radio enjoyed its post-1988 resurgence. He often said if he had it to do over again he wouldn't have sold the stations or the radio network brand name off. And his successor Jeff Immelt agreed, that leaving radio was something they wish they hadn't done...something that has had everyone watching to see if they might one day look for a chance to re-enter in a big way.

Which makes me think...if they still think that way, and still believe radio has another resurgence in it (which it does, if programmed right to appeal to the listeners who are out there today), could they be looking at the troubles at Citadel and casting their eye toward a bargain-price acquisition now? They were rumored to be at least kicking the tires when the Mays family put Clear Channel on the block but decided it was still over-priced and passed. Maybe time and circumstances have changed, especially now that Westwood One's hold on the NBC Radio brand has expired, the trademark's available again for any radio operation NBC/Universal wants to start...and some properties with a lot of potential for the future seem to be available at a discount to anyone with deep pockets (check out Citadel's undervalued stock price today), even if they have to do a hostile takeover to make it happen.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Bob, I don't see NBC getting back in radio anytime soon. There have been runblings of money problems. NBC put some of their O&O TV stations on the block outside of the top 10 markets. WTVJ Miami being one of them which is very close to being a top 10 market.

It was sad to get the tour of 30 Rock and see the area where WNBC radio used to be.