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Riviera Broadcast Group = Receivership/Bank Owned

N

nat king cola

Guest
Tim Pohlman and Chris McGuire are out as the bank steps in to take over Riviera Broadcast Group. Heard that the announcement to staff came Friday. I bet we have two more spanish stations on the dial very soon.

Nat
 
UGH - I sure hope we don't get more spanish stations,,,,,,please oh please
 
Update: Hearing that San Diego's Finest City Broadvasting is taking over. Does this mean that Rick Thomas finds his way back to Phoenix. What does this mean for Bruce St. James?
 
NAT:

Do you know how much they may sell for? How much did Tim and Chris spend for them?

RNUT
 
RNUT said:
NAT:

Do you know how much they may sell for? How much did Tim and Chris spend for them?

RNUT

KEDJ was sold to Riviera in '05 for $30M and KKFR's intellectual property was purchased a year later for about $8M (I don't know how much they purchased the 98.3 stick for). Veronis Suhler Stevenson is the bank that has always owned Riviera, Pohlmann and McGuire were just their management partners in the venture.
 
NOT a shock to anyone who's seen the inside of Rivera’s operation of his or her PHX cluster. Tim Pohlman's interest in saying he owned a radio station was strictly based on Vanity. He loved the "this is mine" scenario, the one that directly will lead to this fall. As a matter a fact, it would be a stretch to find any employee that enjoyed working under this ego. What blows my mind is what took this bank group so long to figure this out? I'm guessing it was Rivera’s overpriced Scottsdale party condo. Just look at the long list of mistakes made under TP.

1. Firing Mark Waters after initially hiring him as part of Rivera’s management team. Bad move, one it was NOT a mutual parting, as I know Mr. Water was emotionally tied to the brand and staff. Left a bad taste in his mouth and DIRECTLY lead to the JAMZ start up, which if it wasn't for JAMZ cutting into market share, TP might still be around.

2. Hiring Nat Galvin. Did the guy have a clue? As of yet he's proven only to be the liked leader of two failing stations, who's more interested in partying with staff then actually producing numbers. Another who's passionate about that beloved Scottsdale condo.

3. Handing over KEDJ to St. James. How one man can do so much damage is beyond me. He single handily held the EDGE's hand on their descent into the pits of 1.0 land! Changing the music & firing Chuck Powell (who in hindsight wasn't the problem) are two of the numerous mistakes St. James has made. Let's see if in the inner circles he keeps blaming it on Tim Virgin, which we all know isn't the case.

4. Hiring Rob Riddlemosser. Besides stepping on the face and pride of both the KEDJ & KKFR marketing/promotions staff and upsetting scores of programming and sales people. This hiring did little to achieve anything. He was a joke to many and his graceful or yet lack of a graceful bow out left Pohlman wondering what happened to his savior. Presher came through for TP once again with that genius.

5. Pohlman moving to Phoenix. The final straw as far as I'm concerned. NG did not look kindly on the arrival of Mr. Pohlman from what I hear and it lead directly to the exit of a friend who was a trusted assistant to both NG and TP. Once in Phoenix he tried to rule with an Iron Fist! Micromanaging NG, St.James and the whole staff. He absolutely became paranoid. Worried of spy's, questioning staffs loyalty and becoming increasingly involved in what employees were doing outside of workplace walls.

Bottom line the guy tried to be a bully and ended up getting the horns. Phoenix is better off without him! As I previously mentioned, if he only kept his word to Mark Waters I'm convinced Jamz would have never been born in the Phoenix market. TP gave MW all the motivation he needed and it looks the better dressed, better boss bald guy is getting the last laugh!
 
Mark Waters is an idiot. He completely screwed up KOOL and it's long running, legendary air staff, JAMZ is a joke and produces zero revenue. JAMZ is only on the air due to Waters wanting revenge for his firing from KKFR, and KMLE just hit rock bottom in the month of March with Tim and Willy posting a dismal 3 share. Less than a year ago and before T&W, ,KMLE mornings was at nearly a 6 share. At the same time, the two-faced bald one is still paying Pratt millions through 2011. Maybe MW needs another massage about now. CBS has a knack for hiring shady managers. Remember Jay McCarthy? Or how about Brian Ongaro? Looks stunning in prison orange.
 
Re: Mr insidethenumbers aka: bail out

bitter...? party of one? obviously your anger should be directed at cbs. i would be mad too.

fyi: do you realize that you are being bailed out by citibank??!?! how frickin bad is that????????? that's my tax dollars! citibank couldn't bail out a vending maching (or riviera's monthly revenue...which may be lower)

the only company who got crushed enough to have the "#1 pick in Fantasy bail out of the century"-CITIBANK- bail YOU out.

funny.

now go home and get your shine box....
 
wow,

This borad is amazing! Isidethenumbers no one can tell your from Riviera (or Citibank) What ever they are now... and is it possible that CHRRR is from CBS? Just tell everyone your names.
But the facts are the facts... Insidethenumbers your management team has drove 2 stations right in to the ground. Maybe it is your signal or maybe it is your Market Manager... does it really matter Mr. BIG TIME RADIO L.A just lost his company because of stupid personal moves. NG as Market Manager was the worst!
 
CHRRR is the founding & exclusive member of the David Eduardo fan club.

really
 
From what I hear, Pratt pretty much was the PD at KUPD and KMLE. He just didn't want the official title, but in many ways, he ran both stations.
 
From what I hear, that would be pretty tough to do. Kinda hard to run a station when you leave at 8:59 am and don't talk to the rest of the staff.
 
insidethenumbers said:
From what I hear, Pratt pretty much was the PD at KUPD and KMLE. He just didn't want the official title, but in many ways, he ran both stations.

From what you hear? Must have been talking to Pratt.

Back to the topic, the baseless hyperbole and ad hominem attacks are ridiculous.

Mark Waters is an idiot? I'm pretty sure it was not CBS Phoenix that declared bankruptcy. CBS could go, I suppose, but you can't blame that on one Market Manager in 15.

Jamz produces no revenue? I doubt it's much, but I'm sure Jamz produces revenue (I assume you mean cash flow). Which is more than can be said about Free-FM. Or KKFR, apparently.

The only reason Jamz exists is because of a vendetta? Seriously? Surely, Pohlman showing Mark Waters the door had to make Waters want to turn the tables. Actions do have consequences. But would CBS Corporate sign on if there wasn't a market vulnerability (now a fact)? Probably not. You give Mark Waters WAY too much credit. But lets assume - for argument's sake - you are right: CBS blindly followed Mark Waters and his quest for revenge. What he(or CBS) really should have done is kept Free-FM going and its associated negative cash flow. OR, flipped to ANYTHING BUT Rhythmic, out of deference to the handicapped. What?

Brian Ongaro was shady, therefore all CBS Managers are shady? That's a logical fallacy.

On the other hand, its sad to see gloating from what appears to be the CBS camp. Yet more good people are going to lose their jobs. :(
 
Wow. The orginal post has started quite the firestorm. Yes. Some good people will lose jobs- but those good people will find new ones. The losers always find their way to the bottom. The cream always rises to the top.

Scottsdale condo's, wreckless partying habits and bad hirings are hardly the entire reason for this Riviera debacle. You've got minor league signals trying to compete in the majors. Not only was there borrowed money..but it was all on borrowed time. Time has run out.

For the record, I am familiar with the receivership process. The bank will come in, appoint one of their own to come in to keep things running, all the while cutting all expenses (their losses) until they can unload it. Very much like a foreclosure.

There was some rumblings out of LA that Grupo was looking at it all. Is that the same group that took over Emmis' Movin stick? If so, add two more [signally challenged] spanish formats to the marketplace.

Can someone please add some rum to this coke?

The King of Cola's
Nat
 
Any truth to an pending liquidation sale @ Riviera Phoenix? This is amazing! A company that was so against voice tracking mid-days and late nights to save money, just to appear STRONG! A manager that was so against reducing rates, adjusting to what the market would tolerate just to appear SOLID. A company that was insistent it was on "concrete footing" has FAILED so miserably! What has become of the POWER HOUSE that once was? It's very sad if you recollect on the situation, sad that great fun broadcasters and behind the scenes folks have lost jobs and I forecast more to come! Any thoughts on what happens to Riviera Phoenix day parts? I'd guess who ever buys will bring in its staff. If the SD company, why not syndicate it's rock/chr AM, workday and overnight shows in Phoenix? Why not vt (as Riviera insisted not doing) to save the bottom line?

Staff has to be discouraged, St James I'm sure continues his search for jobs with anyone that listens. And upper management is sweating bullets after taking this right in the gut! Not only did Riviera get embarrassed by VSS/Citibank but also by CBS Phoenix who continues to alert agency buyers of the impending liquidation sale. Talent is forewarned of Bankruptcy Fillings as well. Contracts become null and void in the bankruptcy process resulting in non-guaranteed severance per the legal system. Trust me I have a TV acquiescence that going through it in Tampa at Ion Media. Where she was told this morning, she’s not guaranteed any form of separation pay. No vacation, no 2 weeks!

The stare down is over and Riviera has blinked.

Good Luck
 
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