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Regent Head Rolling

O

OneDaySale

Good times at Regent Broadcasting lately if you have a solid contract.  If you don't better watch your back.  CJ Lee the most notable name in the list of new free agents in the Buffalo market has been let go from her shift at WJYE. No telling whether it was her pursuit of a tv job, or interpersonal minglings that got her the ax.  Whatever did her in, her seemingly air tight contract didn't hold water.  Taking her postion will be Alexis from neighboring WBLK, where she "enjoyed" board-oping the Tom Joyner show.  Taking over for her at the controls upstairs is Bob Hill who recently found out that AM-1230 WECK was being sold. One way to keep your full time job in radio is to have a desk that is so cluttered that no one will want to clean it if you get let go. WBLK smooth talker Al Wood has also been given the pink slip, no ryhme or reason other than budget slicin. Rounding out the firings are a promotions assitant at WBLK and the JACK-FM promotions director.  Say goodbye to one job, can you say "overworked" as Promotions manager/WYRK promotions director/Dean of Rock/Dean of Country, takes Jacks promotional reigns back.

WJYE who has taken the hardest pounding in the ratings, goes all voice-tracked sundays with full timers putting in their dues on saturdays.

With a cluster of radio stations that has a 4:1 ratio of sales staff to on-air talent its no wonder that Regent is all about job one....$$

cue led zeppelin "when the levee breaks"...
 
Lindy Korn is Listening

I'm surprised that CJ lasted this long. It will be interesting to see if CJ tries to extract more money from Regent in court considering her past liasons in the Rand building.
 
OneDaySale said:
With a cluster of radio stations that has a 4:1 ratio of sales staff to on-air talent its no wonder that Regent is all about job one....$$
Click to expand...

They wouldn't if management could figure out a way to automate the sales staff! I can see it now, place your order on line.
 
Rolling Heads

Gee, it's funny how the heads rolling aren't management or sales heads. I guess that some folks have a "Silver" spoon, huh?
 
One Day Sale .... what a great name. Only someone who has worked or currently works there would use a name like that!! Suffered through many of them myself.

So CJ is gone ... couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Great for Alexis who has a great voice and has always been enjoyable to work with.

The Jack promotions director, if it's who I think it is got screwed. Over 20 years with the company ....

Can't wait for the new WECK!!
 
I may be accoused of over dramatizing things a bit since layoffs and firings are so common these days expecially in broadcasting.....BUT I wish more owners would see what results from these moves and they would realize they are messing up peoples' lives.

It once was a sign of failure and shame for a company to have to layoff someone for financial reasons. Now it's just business as usual.
 
Hard to take delight in anybody's firing, including Dame CJ, although male personalities on the morning shows at WYRK and WJYE may be breathing a bit easier these days. You wonder if CJ will turn up at Star or Mix.

In case you might have missed the subtext of all this nastiness, Regent is serving notice on the market and it's certain that other Buffalo clusters are taking notice. Watch for more six day weeks and Sunday voice-tracking at other clusters. The next six months will be critical in the AC battle. There are two heritage AC's and one might offer that three AC's are one too many.

Entercom may have set the stage for making staff cuts just before the holiday when they began their anuual November staff cuts three or four years ago. Folks at Entercom had a saying, "If you make it through November, you're good to go for the Christmas party." Fasten your seatbelts, it could be a bumpy ride.

-9-
 
What's the expression? If you IGNORE history.....

Look at the widespread cuts Clearchannel is making around the country. Their solution to sagging numbers is to further degrade their product---just when you thought there was no room left for programming shrinking.

Brilliant. I think if the stockholders knew what little practical knowledge there was among the many decision makers at some of these mehalopolies, they wouldn't have bought any stock to begin with.
 
"Their solution to sagging numbers is to further degrade their product---just when you thought there was no room left for programming shrinking. Brilliant. I think if the stockholders knew what little practical knowledge there was among the many decision makers at some of these mehalopolies, they wouldn't have bought any stock to begin with."

And they wonder why radio revenue across America is DOWN 7% in the most recently measured month...advertisers can read rating books and see audiences rejecting programming-on-the-cheap and finding something better to do with their time (like their own music libraries, which always come commercial-free), so they don't make the buys they used to. Cheapen the product, you lose the audience...lose the audience, you lose the cash it generates. It's Buiiness 101, that the best way to lose money is to alienate your customer base. Why don't the geniuses in the radio management suites see that?
 
In the last ten years, radio, especially "music radio," went from being foreground to background. It went, in a majority of stations in markets large and small, from being active in all dayparts to active only in morning drive.

The recent economic news has been dreadful in all sectors: Home sales, new home building permits, automotive and energy. GM is losing hundreds of millions, gas prices are up 39% from a year ago. Where the average price of a gallon of gas was $2.20 last November, it's $3.10 at this writing. While the economy may have been holding up well, according to economists, the dam seems to have broken. The economic news seems to be getting worse by the day.

There's a ripple effect and it strikes directly at the business of radio, which is advertising. Just this week, Clear Channel cut staff in a number of markets. Third quarter performance at a number of groups is down significantly. National sales is off and local sales are not robust.

As we've seen, Automotive is one of the sectors that drives radio sales. The automobile industry is in a downward spiral. The Big Three are hurting and even Toyota's sales last month were only slightly above flat.

I am not overtly trying to paint a grim picture. The figures speak loudly and clearly for themselves. It's not glamorous.

Hard to argue that radio is not bland these days, but given the economic picture noted earlier, I'd suggest this blandness is not entirely the fault of Program Directors. There's a lot of pressure to show ratings gains immediately, leaving little room for experimentation or error. The fact of the matter is, good PD's know from experience and observation what works. If cutting the playlist from 500 songs to 380 songs and muzzling the jocks worked in Milwaukee, well, why not apply that reason to Buffalo or Cleveland.

Cookie-cutter radio exists in every format, in ever market because PD's do what they feel comfortable doing and rarely stray from the beaten path. There's another factor working against radio and it's been discussed here often: Technology is markedly different today than it was as little as ten years ago. Terrestrial radio stations face greater competition today from satellite radio, iPods-mp3 players, the Internet, video and computers, jockless Jack-Chuck-Mike and Bob. And there's another factor. Apathy. This is not 1995.

A station like The Lake, for example, could be charting new paths with active, creative and foreground programming. Instead, it's nothing more than a staid and very passive music machine. It's a good format and a number of people like it, but it will never be great. It's just "there."

More than other businesses, radio seems to be living hand-to-mouth. Unfortunately, there's a trickle down effect, which means more and more radio professionals will be living hand-to-mouth, if they're employed at all.
 
More than other businesses, radio seems to be living hand-to-mouth. Unfortunately, there's a trickle down effect, which means more and more radio professionals will be living hand-to-mouth, if they're employed at all.
Click to expand...

It's doubtful that the Mays family, Lew Dickey, Farid Suleman, Jeff Smulyan or Joe and David Field are living hand-to-mouth these days. Although, it is quite interesting that Cumulus' attempt to go private is facing some serious hurdles and Clear Channel buyers are re-considering their investment and may back out of that deal. I guess life is tough even when you have a platinum parachute. You'll pardon me if I don't shed any tears.

"It's the economy, stupid."
 
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