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Skip Edmunds out at Regent

D

Debaser

And a happy 30th anniversary with the station, Skip.
Apparently being a thorough professional isn't good enough for a company whose stock price is now less than $1.
This is the same management who told him many years ago that "creativity doesn't sell," so he should stop being creative and just stick to producing spots the way the SALES people envisioned them.

Good Lord, no wonder radio is in the crapper.

Another good an loyal employee kicked to the curb.

Watch for him to be replaced by one or two part timers who know which buttons to push to load spots into the computer (does WJYE even own one of those contraptions?).
 
I believe Skip joined WJYE back in the old WBNY 'Beautiful Music' days when all his tunage was on reel to reel tape.
And to think he was going to school to be a neurologist; he quit medical school to get into radio. I'll bet he regrets that now...
Beautiful voice.
 
Silver Stiletto?

Skip is one of the smoothest production guys in this market, and I'd pick him for my team ahead of a few people who are currently employed as production people. Those morons at Regent don't know how much they're going to miss him. I doubt that they're aware of how central Skip was to their product.

I'm sure that Skip's longevity - and resulting salary - played a significant part in this decision. Talk about penny-wise and pound-foolish. Skip is a lot more than a voice - he was quality control for the sales kiddies who churn through cubicle farms in this town these days.

Good Luck, Skip. I hope that you land on your feet ASAP.
 
Don't you people know that anybody with a computer, a word processor and an audio editing program can record commercials and be a Production Director? Dummies! Don't you know that clients sound much better doing their own commercials than any radio professional or experienced production person. Fools! This is 2008. Why pay somebody a full time wage when the production load can be spread over three or four other employees. Regent has some great sales people with terrific voices! The women in traffic sound great on commercials and the receptionist does really good character voices. Get with the program, you pathetic bleeding hearts. Regent is on the cutting edge. Buy stock now because it's going to skyrocket!

[/sarcasm]
 
What a business. Talent and experience is a liability. Better to have little talent and little experience. Back in the day, there were always those ex interns who'd been hired on as board ops for sunday God Squad and American Top 40. Now they're used as so-called talent.
 
Don't forget the cleaning guy. If he has a good voice, he can do just as good a job AND he' part time AND he empties the trash too!

What you are seeing is the McDonaldization of a former profession.

While the meek wait to inherit the Earth, the idiots are making much headway taking over more of radio than they ever have before.

Ask anyone without ANY radio experience how important experience is in this business and they'll probably give a similar answer to those who now run the show.

The average listener thinks they know how this all works. Sad thing is, now the decisionmakers have just as much insight as the listeners.

I have rarely seen a business so ethusiastically grasp the momentum of failure with both hands. Wall Street notwithstanding. Hey wait a minute.....do you see a connection!?
 
Debaser said:
And a happy 30th anniversary with the station, Skip.
Apparently being a thorough professional isn't good enough for a company whose stock price is now less than $1.
This is the same management who told him many years ago that "creativity doesn't sell," so he should stop being creative and just stick to producing spots the way the SALES people envisioned them.

Good Lord, no wonder radio is in the crapper.

Another good an loyal employee kicked to the curb.

Watch for him to be replaced by one or two part timers who know which buttons to push to load spots into the computer (does WJYE even own one of those contraptions?).
Click to expand...

There used to be a time when someone who worked for a station for 30 years would receive a bonus, award, or some recognition for their dedication and loyalty. Today however it appears that the only "reward" given to people with longevity is a tap on the shoulder and a box to put their belongings in as they are escorted out of the building.
I hate to imagine how many talented individuals have lost their jobs since deregulation started back in the 80s.
At the rate its going, managers at McDonalds will have more job security than people working in broadcasting; especially on-air talent.
 
If Skip is good with a paint brush, roller and trowel, a new career may be waiting. I'm kidding, of course. Trying to add a little levity to this sad thread.

It's very sad and telling when a veteran radio professional gets his or her walking papers, especially after thirty years at one radio station. Thirty years is a long time to invest in a career or what many once considered a career. If Skip had worked at Chevy or Ford or as a teacher or cop, he'd have a considerable pension waiting for him. Radio? Sorry. You're on your own. Hope you married a nurse, cop, teacher or somebody who works at Ford or Chevy.

Uncle Oskie used to deride me when I worked in radio, "Disc jockeys are a dime a dozen! Feh! Anybody can talk on the radio!" I'd respond, "Feh! Painting a house, anybody can do that!" Some time ago, I traded a turntable for a trowel, but 20 years later it looks like the big radio companies took a page from my cigar chomping, package adjusting Ukranian-Polish uncle. Scary. Very scary.
 
And they wonder why radio revenue is down, in proportion to falling listenership in key target demos. It's a simple correlation...diminish the quality of your product, you shrink your customer base, and your revenue and profit fall immediately thereafter.

Radio's not alone in this. GM and Ford went the same route in the 80s, and although they eventually did improve their product, it was too late to avert the trouble they're in now. The broadcasting business still has a little time to turn it around and bring at least some of the lost listeners (and the revenue accompanying them) back...but the window of opportunity isn't going to be open very much longer, folks...
 
Remember broadcasting invented the term "downsizing" long before it became a popular phase amongst the general working public.

I join others on this board and hope Mr. Edmunds finds suitable employment. 30 years at one station is indeed rare; especially in the current work environment.
 
Element9 said:
Don't you people know that anybody with a computer, a word processor and an audio editing program can record commercials and be a Production Director? Dummies! Don't you know that clients sound much better doing their own commercials than any radio professional or experienced production person. Fools! This is 2008. Why pay somebody a full time wage when the production load can be spread over three or four other employees. Regent has some great sales people with terrific voices! The women in traffic sound great on commercials and the receptionist does really good character voices. Get with the program, you pathetic bleeding hearts. Regent is on the cutting edge. Buy stock now because it's going to skyrocket!

[/sarcasm]
Click to expand...

I'm sure that you did not mean to insult "the women of traffic" some of whom had years of on air experience before they moved to traffic for job security reasons. Skip is the best because he recognized a good voice when he heard it and made use of it. Part of his goal was to make sure that he wasn't the only voice heard on the station. It was the only way he was allowed any sort of creativity.

And I'm sure the words "this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do" from Joe Chille are still ringing in his ears.

Knowing Skip, he's not worried about looking for a job ... he's probably already on a beach in Bora Bora.
 
For the record said:
I'm sure that you did not mean to insult "the women of traffic" some of whom had years of on air experience before they moved to traffic for job security reasons.
Click to expand...

The way I read it - VOR wasn't "insulting" anybody. Perhaps you missed the "/sarcasm" tag at the bottom of the post.

That being said - it's a shame that 30 years of work is rewarded by a boot out the door - no matter how "hard"it was for Joe Chille to do.
 
Rob Stutson said:
For the record said:
I'm sure that you did not mean to insult "the women of traffic" some of whom had years of on air experience before they moved to traffic for job security reasons.
Click to expand...

The way I read it - VOR wasn't "insulting" anybody. Perhaps you missed the "/sarcasm" tag at the bottom of the post.

That being said - it's a shame that 30 years of work is rewarded by a boot out the door - no matter how "hard"it was for Joe Chille to do.
Click to expand...

I didn't miss the sarcasm tag at the end, and as I said I'm sure Element 9 did not intend to insult "the women of traffic." Although I would like to add that "the women (and dare I say it ... men) of traffic" deserve more respect than they are shown no matter which station they work at.

And I'm sure if you asked Jay Moran, Mike McQueen or even Jon Summers they could probably recite the "Joe Chille I'm so sorry this is so hard for me to do" speech ....it's legendary!
 
Dateline, Chicago's Midway Airport... a damn fine facility by the way. You're correct, FTR. In no way was my post intended to denegrate the contributions of traffic women and men in any capacity. I think most posters got the point. If an employee isn't doing two or three jobs in their four station cluster, they're expendable. And if they're not doing two or three jobs, it's likely they soon will be.
 
At Least They Didn't Wait Until Christmas

So, they didn't eliminate the job, they just eliminated Skip. Gee, I wonder why? Salary? Unwillingness to produce schlock for sales kiddies who wanted to be "creative"? His standards for customer-provided commercials were too high? Unwillingness to work large amounts of overtime without being compensated because he was on salary?

Hey, here's an opportunity for you if you're willing to work for the modern-day equivalent of 13 pieces of Silver...
 
Sounds Like Grounds For A Lawsuit To Me!

SirRoxalot said:
So, they didn't eliminate the job, they just eliminated Skip.
Click to expand...
Why doesn't he sue them for age or gender discrimination?

I don't know the man, or his work, but if he was with the station for over 30 years, I'm guessing that would put him in is early to mid 50s. To eliminate the job is one thing. To get rid of him (unless he was a total screw-up) just because Regent wanted to save money sounds like discrimination to me. But then again I'm not a lawyer. Besides Regent (if they were smart) might have offered him some package to leave if he didn't sue them.
 
"Wanted: Production person with imaging abilities to create fantasy and illusion using audio as their tool."

What the hell kind of job ad is this? Is this code for "Production person needs to create the fantasy and illusion that their paycheck is worthy of being a tool for Regent?!" Aye aye aye!
 
yankee_rose said:
"Wanted: Production person with imaging abilities to create fantasy and illusion using audio as their tool." What the hell kind of job ad is this? Is this code for "Production person needs to create the fantasy and illusion that their paycheck is worthy of being a tool for Regent?!" Aye aye aye!
Click to expand...

De planes, boss... de planes!

Bwahhhhh-hahhhh-hahhhh.. I'm killin'! This is gold!

OK.

Guess it's kinda like the fantasy and illusion of Regent stock and radio in general these days. 'Course, it woulda been a tad more honest had Joe Chile used the words "smoke and mirrors" in the ad.

Feh!

I'm done here, next show at 11, try the smoked duck, you'll love it.
 
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