• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Trouble At Atlantic???????

instigator said:
This message is for Sam Lit...on page three i asked you a few questions. You have not answered any of them...However "Up and Down" continues to insult you and you are quick to reply....Should i insult you and then ask so you reply? ???  Just kidding but i think my questions were valid can you take a moment to look them over and answer me?
Click to expand...

instigator said:
Sam , may i ask you a question? could you be more specific about your comments about Brett being a "wrecking ball" and his dealings with people. I know a lot of people at Atlantic and they have nothing but nice things to say about Brett...and Brett was only a part-time air talent at Equity so how much wrecking could he have tried to do there?

  Many people have talked on this board about the Arbitron book being reissued what did Atlantic do to cause this?
Click to expand...


Wrecking ball. As in single handedly wrecked the value and billing of that radio group, in what is probably record time. Also took the initiative to destroy the credibility of the rating measurements of that radio group, as diary's from households were tied back to his management. Thus causing Arbitron to cancel and reissue the South Jersey book.

And it's not over. Once the full investigation is complete Arbitron can strike those stations from their rating measurements permanently. Thus leaving that radio group without common measurements to justify their position in the market as compared to other radio stations in that measurement area. Say bye bye sponsors.

And what sponsor would believe anything or want to buy from a radio group that frauded out their audience estimates anyway.

And what about the sponsors that bought the false measurements. Think anybody want's their money back? What happens when they file a complaint with the state attorney general. 

I highly suspect this level of fraud triggers a violation of specific FCC statutes for holding broadcast licenses. And I suspect that this is paramount on the minds of the of the investors in New York. I'm sure right about now they are wondering about the past billing practices too. After an extensive audit of the books, look for more shoes to drop. One fraud usually uncovers many others. Very rarely are these isolated events.

I have seen many a broadcast license get revoked over practices even less egregious.
 
If these allegations are true that sam has stated in his post . Then the investors had every right to fire Brett on the spot. One question I do have to ask is why wasnt this reported in the main streem press. I wonder if there is a clause in bretts agreement with the investors if any neglegence occurs under his management does he lose his shares of stock. But I dont think it will matter anyway since atlantic wont be worth anything once an investigation is conducted and the group is found guilty.
 
DOWNBEACH FAN said:
One question I do have to ask is why wasnt this reported in the main streem press.
Click to expand...

The mainstream press in the AC/CMC market you speak of is the Press of Atlantic City. No one has ever accused them of being on top of things. And, if you've seen/read most of their articles on radio in the past couple of years, they seem to have a love affair with Paul Kelly and Atlantic for whatever reason. Not likely they'll carry the Arbitron story unless it becomes so big that they have to.

I posted a link to allaccess.com's article a few pages back on this thread, but I think that's as much coverage as it'll get. Kind of sad when you think about it, you would think that if someone were caught defrauding the Arbitron system in a given market, that someone (entity) would be made an example of.
 
WHY HASNT THIS WEB SITE RADIO -INFO .COM COVERED IT? If the claims are that big as alleged then I cant believe it wouldnt be an important news story. The press loves things like this . I know this market isnt that important compared to philly or newyork but have some trouble believing that some main stream news outfit wouldnt pick up a story like this. ???
 
No clue. Perhaps it's because it isn't that big. I do know that Arbitron issued an email to all of it's listed stations in the market (and I believe national advertisers and media buyers that subscribe to the AC/CMC market) stating what happened, naming the two stations and using the term "media-affiliated households." It also detailed the potential up and down turns for those two stations and others.
 
Investigations 101:

Investigations are very rarely publicized until just before that little 'ol indictment comes a flyin' down. There is very little if any information released to the press while investigations are underway.

Incidents such as the aforementioned don't just happen and then magically evaporate.

Arbitron doesn't forget. There's that rating book that was cancelled and then reissued. That cost them a bundle out of pocket. They'll attempt to recover their loses.
The sponsors that were ripped off won't forget. Being jacked up cost them a bundle out of pocket. They'll attempt to recover their loses.
Certainly the investors that took a bath won't forget. This will continually cost them a staggering bundle out of pocket. Unless they've got really deep pockets, they won't recover.

Regulatory bodies like the attorney General's office won't forget. Eventually they'll want to review all related documents. That will cost Arbitron & the investors again out of pocket and a big headache.

And then there's the FCC. That well tempered federal regulatory body. Certainly you've heard of them? They're really hard to miss. They've always got a license renewal coming down the pike. And then there's those handy dandy fines. And the band played on.
 
Reissues for media-affiliated diaries aren't usually all that scandalous. Some people get reprimanded or fired, the book gets reissued. No one goes to jail or has their license taken away. To my knowledge, the FCC or any other governmental body has never investigated a media-affiliated diary scandal.
 
I've learned to ignore Sam.... he runs at the mouth a lot... the fact of the matter is that Arbitron released a statement at the time saying that Atlantic Broadcasting is not to blame for the issue... but it's a total waste of time telling Sam something like that... just let him run his mouth until he runs out of steam... it's like a wind up toy.. .sooner or later that chattering will stop...
 
Up_N_Down_The_Dial said:
I've learned to ignore Sam.... he runs at the mouth a lot... the fact of the matter is that Arbitron released a statement at the time saying that Atlantic Broadcasting is not to blame for the issue... but it's a total waste of time telling Sam something like that... just let him run his mouth until he runs out of steam... it's like a wind up toy.. .sooner or later that chattering will stop...
Click to expand...

Nowhere did it say Atlantic was not to blame. The wording was 'Media Affiliated Households'. The meaning of Media Affiliated is in direct correlation to the stations it identified as subject to revision, which it listed by call letter. The full investigation just takes a little time. So be patient. All good things come to those who wait.

Industry insiders know the true story and what's going on. These things rarely are successfully covered up. So whine on. You wear it well.
 
I know nothing of the potential ensuing investigation that Sam speaks of, however I do know first hand that Arbitron's release said nothing of what Up and Down speaks of. To my knowledge, there would be three types of "media-related household" diary issues: 1) family/friend/neighbor lied to Arbitron and filled it out with out Atlantic people's knowledge, 2) same filled it out WITH Atlantic's knowledge, or 3) Atlantic person/people orchestrated the plan for family/friend/neighbor to fill out the diaries favorably.

Since A) Arbitron did NOT exonerate Atlantic from blame, and B) it was TWO different diaries, one would probably be safe to assume it was either 2 or 3 above.

As I stated in a previous post, I know second hand from an air-tight reliable source what happened, and will not give out the details unless Arbitron chooses to make it public. The reason being is that I don't want anyone (possibly Atlantic again) being able to learn from Atlantic's alleged mistakes and try to cheat the system.
 
This mess they (Atlantic) are in must be the fault of more than one of these owners who are in the building right?
I mean as much as Brett has been blamed for this, was he making ALL the decisions? Are there not 4 or 5 "working" owners there?
If they did not have any say in what Brett did as GM then that tells us even more about how bad of a GM he was.
Also wondering how many of Atlantic's clients/agencies will ponder about other ratings in their group once all this is investigated?
Still so many questions....stay tuned.
 
Looks like the "trouble at Atlantic" is about to be cleaned up. A source close to the action said, "Art Camiolo is the new G.M." I know Art and trust me when I say he is a no nonsense, well versed broadcast professional. He was at the helm of WZXL during the years when 'ZXL was a south jersey powerhouse. He managed Regan Henrys' properties throughout the U.S. and can only spell greatness for Atlantics' future. Look out Mr. Fischer, there's a new gun in town...Woo Hoo...
 
I know Art Camiolo, too. And he did then what he seems to be doing now, which by the way is the same thing "Mr. Fischer (sic)" is said to be doing: treat jocks like overpaid brats, fire easily, pay little.

The fantasy world that many on this board live in is truly hilarious. You think "good radio" is what these people are after? They're business owners, or managers of business owners. They want to make money, and keep as much of it as possible.
 
Who Cares said:
I know Art Camiolo, too. And he did then what he seems to be doing now, which by the way is the same thing "Mr. Fischer (sic)" is said to be doing: treat jocks like overpaid brats, fire easily, pay little.
Click to expand...


The only people that I recall Art firing; a jock who couldn't keep his knickers on and a sales person who didn't know how to bring the advertising bucks back to the office. As for money..it's market 136 for cryin out loud...contracts and performance bonuses are not the norm. If the little "brats" want more money, work in a bigger market ::)
When the Henrys' sold to Equity, Fischer fired the heart of 'ZXL..NOT Camiolo. But then again, you seem to know more about it then I do.....
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom