The last time I started a topic about "The Fan" it got alot of great responses. My question this time is purely economic. How long before "The Fan" inserts a nationally syndicated host or two into their lineup? I am actually becoming more impressed with "The Fan" on a daily basis. But they are presently paying 10 hosts to get the job done. Is the money they are saving by having Kalena Bell on payroll going to be enough to continue this current lineup? I am trying to be patient but she seems completely out of her league. No inflection in her voice. She gives me the impression that she has no idea about what she is reading. She IS beautiful. But this IS radio. What are your thoughts regarding the economic future of "The Fan".
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Recipe for Di$a$ter?
- Thread starter pghfmradiosucks
- Start date
CBS seems to be leading the move nationally back to more live and local content. Aside from the Fan's lineup, I was actually really surprised when they added Rob Mangino to KD-AM over a syndicated show.
In the case of how many people the Fan is employing, it's only a couple more than B94 had, they cut payroll at 100.7 and Y108, and they are no longer paying music royalties for B94. You can't look at individual stations a lot of times with the big companies, you have to take their whole cluster for the market into account.
In the case of how many people the Fan is employing, it's only a couple more than B94 had, they cut payroll at 100.7 and Y108, and they are no longer paying music royalties for B94. You can't look at individual stations a lot of times with the big companies, you have to take their whole cluster for the market into account.
I'm still amazed that they're local and live during weekend graveyard shifts. They don't have any weekend personnel listed on their website, so the people doing those shows may be doing tryouts.
C
california
Guest
I think the FAN is pretty good so far, but man are you right about the BELL announcer. There is no excuse for such incompetance, especially considering all the unemployed radio folks out there. I doubt they are paying the big bucks to any of those folks. It ain't what she used to be in radio these days.
california said:
Random thought - maybe they're keeping her under contract to move her into a TV slot on another CBS property?
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
I still say that with all of the live shows on 93.7, plus the extra hire at 1020 and the doubling-up of jocks from
the former B-94 on 100.7...very soon the payroll accountants at CBS Corporate will be having a cow and the
pink slips will be a-flowin'
the former B-94 on 100.7...very soon the payroll accountants at CBS Corporate will be having a cow and the
pink slips will be a-flowin'
C
california
Guest
Excellent point PARTTIMER, and radio "talent" will work for almost any amount of money. Believe me, if there is an opening anywhere in radio, it can be filled in a second....talent really doesn't matter anymore,and working for a fraction of the old salaries is a way of life. A couple of years ago , I saw a list of jobs that were just "going away." At the top of the list was radio announcers. Only a handful of big ratings grabbers get paid the big money anymore. All businesses have evolved. The combination of technology and competition has seen radio talent, as a career, go the way of the do-do bird. If you were able to carve out a career and a good living in radio during the 60's, 70's and 80's, consider yourself lucky.
P
Pgh_Radio_Person
Guest
Part-Timer... even with cuts, they didn't save any money on star, in fact, they probably added about $100,000+ in payroll...
Bubba takes his AM salary to Star AM show (which was just a two person show--now 3)
Melanie takes her AM salary to mid-day
Scott gets a promotion to PM drive with some sort of APD bump in pay.
Zack is added to Nights (where they only played music before)
Bubba takes his AM salary to Star AM show (which was just a two person show--now 3)
Melanie takes her AM salary to mid-day
Scott gets a promotion to PM drive with some sort of APD bump in pay.
Zack is added to Nights (where they only played music before)
Not sure if this means anything or not but I noticed on the Sportsbyline page that they are listing 93.7FM in Pittsburgh as one of their affiliates. Is The Fan actually picking up programming from these guys? I haven't noticed any national programming in my listening, which admittedly isn't 24 hours a day but what I have heard has all been local to this point which made me wonder why they would be listed on the Sportsbyline affiliate page.
Could be, I notice that they are listed under the WRKZ call letters and not KDKA FM, though none of the names on their programming page ring a bell, save for Ron Barr, who was briefly carried on 1360AM when they did sports many moons ago.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
sorry, I did not mean to touch off a Jocks vs. Accountants battle on this thread 
1
1c1n3d
Guest
Parttimer said:
STAR Middays became STAR PM Drive so...
There are atleast 16 people in The Fan studio over 24 hours
3 Morning Hosts + 1 Producer [and maybe a board op]
2 Middays + 1 Producer [and maybe a board op]
2 PM Drive + 1 Producer [and maybe a board op]
1 Nights + 1 Producer
1 Overnight + 1 Producer
1 Late Late Night + 1 Producer
Also, I'm not sure how the music fees work, but I hear around 30seconds of music when they come back from commercial... is that short enough to not have to subscribe to anything?
Also x2, I see a lot of written content Copyrighted AP at the bottom - does that mean that they are playing for an AP subscription?
You're short a couple of people -- Jeff Hathhorn and Kalena Bell do updates two or three times an hour, although Jeff's cost is probably on the AM books.
Producers and board ops sadly don't make much money. At some stations that was a minimum wage proposition.
Music fees are either greatly reduced or eliminated for talk stations that only play brief parts of licensed music.
Producers and board ops sadly don't make much money. At some stations that was a minimum wage proposition.
Music fees are either greatly reduced or eliminated for talk stations that only play brief parts of licensed music.
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
Boss Radio said:
I once worked for a boss whom I swear laid awake at night trying to come up with ways to whack
one minimum-wage earner off of the payroll.
Boss Radio said:
Interesting this comes up during a discussion of whether or not The Fan will add syndicated talent. With that said, I stand by my prediction that CBS will soon supplant one host for most of its sports stations (if not only their new FM sports talk stations) for the overnight shift to save money. From which market the host will emanate from is anybody's guess.
J
johnsummers
Guest
Don't forget about the $$ they're saving on music licensing fees.
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