RANDY MICHAELS: Arrested for DUI

[illinimatt81]

What a great guy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...sted-for-ovi-in-ohio-20111014,0,3216678.story

 

[Dr Wayne]

Guess I would drink heavily if my stations were sinking fast.

 

[The Spy]

Shocking..what a "great guy"..

 

[RadioStarOne]

What no company supplied driver for Randy? And which last radio buddy he was drinking with ratted him out to the cops? lol...mmmm lol

 

[cyberdad]

I'm not a fan of Randy Michaels. In fact, I have no use for the guy whatsoever. My personal opinion is that his tenure saw serious damage done to both WGN radio and The Tribune newspaper. And if even a percentage of the stories of the crude "frat boy" culture he presided over at Tribune and elsewhere are true, he strikes me as downright scary. If not toxic.

But in this country, legally, we're all presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 

[[email protected]]

Will he ever grow up ? Or remain a childish BS'er for ever?

 

[HadYourPhil]

I was surprised to see how short he is!

 

[DToTheJ]

Feder has a photo of the full mugshot:
http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-cult...ight-out-stuck-in-the-mud-spinning-his-wheels

By the way, Ranjamin Homichaels is due in court on Friday... "Rapture Day," lol...

 

[musicfanpete]

I thought he was already drunk the day he launched the new format on 101.1!

 

[uncamark]

I thought he was already drunk the day he launched the new format on 101.1!

Why? What kind of advertisers was your precious Beavis-and-Butt-Head programming attracting? Tell me what advertisers want chroncially masturbating juvenile delinquents as their target audience?

 

[Thunderlips]

I thought he was already drunk the day he launched the new format on 101.1!

Why? What kind of advertisers was your precious Beavis-and-Butt-Head programming attracting? Tell me what advertisers want chroncially masturbating juvenile delinquents as their target audience?

Funny...but the advertisers you speak of spent more on Q101 than the format you clearly have a hard on for!! What, you never masterbated as a kid??

 

[Word!]

Question: Did the DUI make the news on FM News 101.1 ??? Or WBBM?

Oh i completely forgot FM News existed too since I've been out handling real business in the past few weeks!

 

[musicfanpete]

I thought he was already drunk the day he launched the new format on 101.1!

Why? What kind of advertisers was your precious Beavis-and-Butt-Head programming attracting? Tell me what advertisers want chroncially masturbating juvenile delinquents as their target audience?

First of all Mark, don't assume something and make a "you know what" out of you and me! Second of all, no I did not listen to the old Q101 alternative format, though I knew a lot of people who did and enjoyed it as much as anyone who enjoys whatever formats they like. And third, the precious "Beavis-and-Butthead" audience who used to listen to that station probably earned them A LOT more revenue than the new news format is!

Maybe you forgot, but the previous format earned a 1.8 to 2.3 rating the last few months. What is the rating of your "precious" news format earning now Mark? 0.2 (in a Dean Wormer voice!)!!! I don't even know how that is possible! You have to REALLY earn your way to run a full signal major market station down that far into the ground! I have NEVER seen that kind of a ratings disaster like this one in my life! Not even Randy's Hell/Hot 94.7 fell to this low of a benchmark.

So Mark, if you think this format has potential, that's one thing. But if you think a 0.2 share of 40 something women will outearn a 2.0 share of younger adults, then you REALLY must be drinking the Kool Aid!

And here's the topper. A Hot AC station from Milwaukee 70+ miles north of here, WMYX is earning a 0.1 rating in the Chicago market! How embarassing is that?!

 

[Word!]

I can't wait until Merlin Defaults on their loan. Only time will tell what would happen to WLUP once creditors take back the stations.

This reminds me of the epic fail of 106.7 with 50kw never had huge ratings and once it flipped owner/formats instantly it showed up in Arbs!

Even WYCA 92.3 was dormant until it shot above a 2share with WPWX.

There's no logic in pig brains.

 

[Ronn]

One question. Have any of you geniuses who love to criticize Randy Michaels (et al) ever held a job in radio? Other than all night in Racine? What have you done to benefit radio and the public? Now, go to your room. ;D

 

[cyberdad]

One question. Have any of you geniuses who love to criticize Randy Michaels (et al) ever held a job in radio?  Other than all night in Racine? What have you done to benefit radio and the public?  Now, go to your room.  ;D

Yes, no, and won a national Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists reporting award. 

I've tried to give the guy the benefit of the doubt to a fault.  He still comes off to me as crude personally. Professionally, my take is he's someone who's significantly lowered the bar of serving the public in both in print and broadcast media. 

Next question, please.

 

[radioman148]

One question. Have any of you geniuses who love to criticize Randy Michaels (et al) ever held a job in radio? Other than all night in Racine? What have you done to benefit radio and the public? Now, go to your room. ;D

I never worked all night in Racine, but I love to stop at A&W Root Beer whenever I'm there. ;D

 

[Roger That]

First of all Mark, don't assume something and make a "you know what" out of you and me! Second of all, no I did not listen to the old Q101 alternative format, though I knew a lot of people who did and enjoyed it as much as anyone who enjoys whatever formats they like. And third, the precious "Beavis-and-Butthead" audience who used to listen to that station probably earned them A LOT more revenue than the new news format is!

Maybe you forgot, but the previous format earned a 1.8 to 2.3 rating the last few months. What is the rating of your "precious" news format earning now Mark? 0.2 (in a Dean Wormer voice!)!!! I don't even know how that is possible! You have to REALLY earn your way to run a full signal major market station down that far into the ground! I have NEVER seen that kind of a ratings disaster like this one in my life! Not even Randy's Hell/Hot 94.7 fell to this low of a benchmark.

So Mark, if you think this format has potential, that's one thing. But if you think a 0.2 share of 40 something women will outearn a 2.0 share of younger adults, then you REALLY must be drinking the Kool Aid!

And here's the topper. A Hot AC station from Milwaukee 70+ miles north of here, WMYX is earning a 0.1 rating in the Chicago market! How embarassing is that?!

The difference is, Q101 was at their ceiling. A 2-share was the best it was ever going to see.

Yes, the product is mediocre on its best days. Yes, Walter Sabo's vision of pandering to women was a disaster (not sure how you hire a COO who hasn't operated anything since 1978, but I digress). BUT, I do believe there is room for news that focuses on a younger audience (not young...younger. 35 as a target is different than 55.). If they get that figured out, and then market the station once they do, the upside is certainly higher than anything KQX could have had.

Something no one seems to point out: WCFS, when it flipped to the BBM simulcast, dropped to a 1.0. Yes, I know that's better than WWWN, but it's only a 1-share, and it's the mighty WBBM!! /sarcasm

Where were the listeners that should be flocking to WBBM on FM? Even a VERY well established news product doesn't magically garner listeners unless you market it. In the beginning, it has very little to do with the quality of the product. The only people that obsess with format flips are radio nerds. If you never listened to Q101, though, how would you know it's not even there anymore and/or replaced with something else?

 

[musicfanpete]

One question. Have any of you geniuses who love to criticize Randy Michaels (et al) ever held a job in radio? Other than all night in Racine? What have you done to benefit radio and the public? Now, go to your room. ;D

Seriously, what does that have to do with anything? No, I don't have any experience in radio, and have never held a job in radio. But that doesn't make me any less qualified to comment on situations like this. I know a disaster when I see one, and I know that if drove away 90% of my company's revenue in less than two months, I would have been fired a long time ago!

Now, does this format still have a chance to turn itself around? Perhaps. But I know this kind of a start almost always ends up going nowhere fast, especially one as bad as this!

 

[musicfanpete]

First of all Mark, don't assume something and make a "you know what" out of you and me! Second of all, no I did not listen to the old Q101 alternative format, though I knew a lot of people who did and enjoyed it as much as anyone who enjoys whatever formats they like. And third, the precious "Beavis-and-Butthead" audience who used to listen to that station probably earned them A LOT more revenue than the new news format is!

Maybe you forgot, but the previous format earned a 1.8 to 2.3 rating the last few months. What is the rating of your "precious" news format earning now Mark? 0.2 (in a Dean Wormer voice!)!!! I don't even know how that is possible! You have to REALLY earn your way to run a full signal major market station down that far into the ground! I have NEVER seen that kind of a ratings disaster like this one in my life! Not even Randy's Hell/Hot 94.7 fell to this low of a benchmark.

So Mark, if you think this format has potential, that's one thing. But if you think a 0.2 share of 40 something women will outearn a 2.0 share of younger adults, then you REALLY must be drinking the Kool Aid!

And here's the topper. A Hot AC station from Milwaukee 70+ miles north of here, WMYX is earning a 0.1 rating in the Chicago market! How embarassing is that?!

The difference is, Q101 was at their ceiling. A 2-share was the best it was ever going to see.

Yes, the product is mediocre on its best days. Yes, Walter Sabo's vision of pandering to women was a disaster (not sure how you hire a COO who hasn't operated anything since 1978, but I digress). BUT, I do believe there is room for news that focuses on a younger audience (not young...younger. 35 as a target is different than 55.). If they get that figured out, and then market the station once they do, the upside is certainly higher than anything KQX could have had.

Something no one seems to point out: WCFS, when it flipped to the BBM simulcast, dropped to a 1.0. Yes, I know that's better than WWWN, but it's only a 1-share, and it's the mighty WBBM!! /sarcasm

Where were the listeners that should be flocking to WBBM on FM? Even a VERY well established news product doesn't magically garner listeners unless you market it. In the beginning, it has very little to do with the quality of the product. The only people that obsess with format flips are radio nerds. If you never listened to Q101, though, how would you know it's not even there anymore and/or replaced with something else?

Well if their upside potential is higher than Q101's, they better start turning things around in a hurry because they just lost another 30,000 listeners this past month. They only have 100,000 listeners more than Milwaukee's WTMJ, with the same rating! Not good!

I give you credit Roger That that you did not resort to name calling like that other poster, and I appreciate that. That's all I ask when debating a topic. However I do disagree with your assessment that WBBM's FM simulcast is a failure.

The reason the FM numbers weren't that great is because most listeners already listen to the station on the AM, except for the one's that can't pick up the AM signal downtown. That's what the FM simulcast was designed for. No one was expecting a 3 share on the FM, just enough new listeners to solidify an already strong product. The new station on 101.1 FM does not have an AM base to work with, so they need to hope they can even approach what the old Q101's numbers were. Btw, it looks like the FM simulcast of WBBM was combined on the latest monthly PPM numbers, which only increases WBBM's lead over second place WGN by a pretty wide margin,, and makes 101.1's situation look even more dire.

At a combined 6.6 share, I'd say WBBM's FM "experiment" has already proven to be a big ratings winner!