Shareholders can't be pleased, especailly with Viacom's active shopping of CBS radio to PE firms. They flip back, after millions in missed ads and staff and liability insurance! Wasn't talk supposed to be the hot format? I don't know what sadder, the fact that CBS didn't see the writing on the wall after Stern left, or that they thought the solution to the departure of their one talk talent was to create an all talk format? Maybe they thought a claer talent would develop, who knows. Either way, what a total mess this botched experience was.
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So what genius cost CBS millions nationally on this failed experiment?
- Thread starter Brooklyndon
- Start date
Anyone who was at all stock market savvy would have sold their shares sometime in Q4 of 2005, otherwise you have yourself some pretty expensive toilet paper courtesy of Joel Hollander and the other brain trusts at CBS Radio. I'm just waiting for the FREE-FM in Phoenix to finally bite the dust... allegedly it will be soon.
Weatherly and Mason saved the frequency in New York...but can/will they do ACTIVE in Chicago or Dallas with those FREE (from ratings) FM? Two bad CBS holds Alternative in SF and there's already Active in Atlanta, Phoenix and San Diego or we could see a huge rock rebirth at CBS? Either way real rock is already happening. But don't start about Philly's Radio 104-5. poofy.
Freefall FM's are over everywhere, but then so are the people who brought them to us....over and out...of the building thank you very much.
Freefall FM's are over everywhere, but then so are the people who brought them to us....over and out...of the building thank you very much.
R
radiostar2010
Guest
bring the real rock back to philly cbs radio
KMGX said:
Radio is barely a double digit percentage of CBS's business... and probably has a minimañl effect on the share price.
crguy said:
Dallas is billing very nicely; LA is one of the highest billers in the USA. Neither of these is likely to flip from FM talk... just the badly performing ones (all the rest, of course)
A
automationasphyxiation
Guest
I believe Free-FM was meant to have a couple of meanings. In addition to be "free of charge", I believe they secondarily were alluding to "Free Speech", though ironically "Free Speech" seemed to go away at CBS during the final days of Free-FM.
H
Habu
Guest
Man,
CBS really screwed the pooch on this one... You really can't leave the nations largest market w/o a rocker... Thats just stupid, I do give props to CBS for finally pulling their heads out, and putting the beloved K-Rock back..
CBS really screwed the pooch on this one... You really can't leave the nations largest market w/o a rocker... Thats just stupid, I do give props to CBS for finally pulling their heads out, and putting the beloved K-Rock back..
I understood the Free FM name, but I don't think listeners ever got it! Certainly not the Stern connection. Just too inside.
Anyone think Dan Mason will make a big difference? I always liked him and he had a real passion for the news and news talk stations in the group. Should I hold onto my stock?
Anyone think Dan Mason will make a big difference? I always liked him and he had a real passion for the news and news talk stations in the group. Should I hold onto my stock?
DToTheJ said:
Krock wasnt loved post Stern because the station lost its identity. It looked like a piece of driftwood in the river just going with the flow. While Free FM was a terrible idea, maybe a break and a return will be the best thing that happens to it if it's promoted properly this time around. We'll see.
I find it absolutely hysterical that the folks who gripe on this board about the "same old, same old" boring radio are now so quick to jump on the "i told you so" bandwagon that Free FM was a horrible mistake.
We can probably all agree that Free FM -- in all it's markets -- was not a great idea.
But c'mon! At least CBS tried to do something different. Clear Channel would never take a chance like that, which keeps their shareholders happy, their listeners bored, and their employees nervous.
Yeah... CBS screwed up and it cost Joel his job (bummer, because despite his corporate missteps, he's actually a nice guy)... but at least they had the cajones to take their biggest stations and put something different on the radio.
So now we can all play Monday Morning VP/Programming...
But would you have had the balls to take the chances that Hollander did?
We can probably all agree that Free FM -- in all it's markets -- was not a great idea.
But c'mon! At least CBS tried to do something different. Clear Channel would never take a chance like that, which keeps their shareholders happy, their listeners bored, and their employees nervous.
Yeah... CBS screwed up and it cost Joel his job (bummer, because despite his corporate missteps, he's actually a nice guy)... but at least they had the cajones to take their biggest stations and put something different on the radio.
So now we can all play Monday Morning VP/Programming...
But would you have had the balls to take the chances that Hollander did?
Balls and brains are two entirely different concepts, and to be successful you need both. Hollander was missing the bigger half, as proved by his refusal to correct his mistake after a year and a half bad results.
Genius? Hollander? Hardly. The FREE-FM experiment was a disaster from the get-go and was basically a "knee-jerk" reaction after their "star attraction" jumped ship to the bird. The former morning guy was/is yesterdays' news. Putting all their eggs in one basket all for the sake of some overpaid prima-donna was foolish in the first place. It was as stupid as the WCBS-FM fiasco, two years ago. And it all comes down to one man's stupidity. Maybe the guy does have big "cajones". But when it comes down to the bottom line, they mean zero. He's still unemployed as well as many former WCBS-FM employees. At least now with WXRK (K-Rock) back on-line on 92.3, one of these missteps has been invalidated. Now, let's see if JACK goes the same way. (I sure as hell hope so....) Who knows?
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