John Hogan's email:
From: Hogan, John
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 09:31
To: Radio General Managers - All; Radio Business Managers
Cc: Radio EVP's; Radio SVP's ; Radio SVPP; Radio RVP
Subject: First Quarter Contingency Plan
Good Morning,
As you are undoubtedly aware, we are generating less revenue for Q1 than we budgeted and less than what actually ran last year. At the same time, our budgeted expenses for Q1 are up 4%. While there are a number of factors contributing to our revenue shortfall the fact is we are behind on our revenue plan, up over last year on expenses, and as a result we will be well below our budgeted Q1 bcf. As responsible managers, we need to address the shortfall not only by continuing to find ways to increase our revenue but also by implementing cuts on the expense side until revenue production improves.
No one anticipated how challenging Q1 would be for us and while the plans we put in place last Fall made sense then, clearly we are operating in a different environment and thus need an adjustment to our plan. The following Q1 expense reductions are to be implemented immediately in your market and correctly reflected to San Antonio by having your Market Controller access the Flash website under Reporting Events and complete the form titled "Q1 Contingency Plan". You will need to provide the expenses reduction amounts on the required form at the market level for the items identified below. This needs to be completed by no later than 7 pm ct today. If you should have questions regarding the logistics, please contact Jeff Rice or Katie Gingrich and they will help guide you thru the process. The Q1 expense reductions are as follows:
Q1 Expense Reductions
-all Research monies after 2/1
-all Advertising and Promotion monies after 2/1
-all New Sales Hire guarantees not already implemented effective immediately (do NOT hire any additional sales people effective immediately)
-any New Hires budgeted but not hired effective immediately (do not hire any additional new employees)
-any/all discretionary monies (i.e. travel, meals and entertainment, etc) for your market. If you can save it, do so
Additionally, you are not to replace any departing personnel without specific approval from your EVPO
I completely understand the challenges associated with implementing the above cuts. It will make your job more difficult and have some long term affect on your overall performance. It goes without saying that leading through these reductions will be challenging. If there were another better alternative, we would not be requiring these reductions be implemented. Unfortunately, there is not another alternative.
Please contact your EVPO for any questions you have on implementing the reductions. Please recognize that your team will need strong leadership and support while implementing and operating under these expense reductions. Please help them understand the necessity of implementing these cuts and the importance of figuring out how they can operate as effectively as possible in the reduced Q1 expense scenario.
Again, I realize this is a challenging task but I am asking for your help, leadership, and support to implement and then work with the resulting expense plan to the best of your ability. It should go without saying that at the earliest opportunity, that is when revenues begin to stabilize and increase we can reverse the expense reductions.
Thank you in advance for communicating the above to your teams and for your Market Controllers completing the information requests on the accompanying website. Please let me know how I can help.
John
John Hogan
Pres. & CEO
From: Hogan, John
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 09:31
To: Radio General Managers - All; Radio Business Managers
Cc: Radio EVP's; Radio SVP's ; Radio SVPP; Radio RVP
Subject: First Quarter Contingency Plan
Good Morning,
As you are undoubtedly aware, we are generating less revenue for Q1 than we budgeted and less than what actually ran last year. At the same time, our budgeted expenses for Q1 are up 4%. While there are a number of factors contributing to our revenue shortfall the fact is we are behind on our revenue plan, up over last year on expenses, and as a result we will be well below our budgeted Q1 bcf. As responsible managers, we need to address the shortfall not only by continuing to find ways to increase our revenue but also by implementing cuts on the expense side until revenue production improves.
No one anticipated how challenging Q1 would be for us and while the plans we put in place last Fall made sense then, clearly we are operating in a different environment and thus need an adjustment to our plan. The following Q1 expense reductions are to be implemented immediately in your market and correctly reflected to San Antonio by having your Market Controller access the Flash website under Reporting Events and complete the form titled "Q1 Contingency Plan". You will need to provide the expenses reduction amounts on the required form at the market level for the items identified below. This needs to be completed by no later than 7 pm ct today. If you should have questions regarding the logistics, please contact Jeff Rice or Katie Gingrich and they will help guide you thru the process. The Q1 expense reductions are as follows:
Q1 Expense Reductions
-all Research monies after 2/1
-all Advertising and Promotion monies after 2/1
-all New Sales Hire guarantees not already implemented effective immediately (do NOT hire any additional sales people effective immediately)
-any New Hires budgeted but not hired effective immediately (do not hire any additional new employees)
-any/all discretionary monies (i.e. travel, meals and entertainment, etc) for your market. If you can save it, do so
Additionally, you are not to replace any departing personnel without specific approval from your EVPO
I completely understand the challenges associated with implementing the above cuts. It will make your job more difficult and have some long term affect on your overall performance. It goes without saying that leading through these reductions will be challenging. If there were another better alternative, we would not be requiring these reductions be implemented. Unfortunately, there is not another alternative.
Please contact your EVPO for any questions you have on implementing the reductions. Please recognize that your team will need strong leadership and support while implementing and operating under these expense reductions. Please help them understand the necessity of implementing these cuts and the importance of figuring out how they can operate as effectively as possible in the reduced Q1 expense scenario.
Again, I realize this is a challenging task but I am asking for your help, leadership, and support to implement and then work with the resulting expense plan to the best of your ability. It should go without saying that at the earliest opportunity, that is when revenues begin to stabilize and increase we can reverse the expense reductions.
Thank you in advance for communicating the above to your teams and for your Market Controllers completing the information requests on the accompanying website. Please let me know how I can help.
John
John Hogan
Pres. & CEO