C
ChiaHead
Guest
Sources now rate the chance of Wease going back to CMF at LESS than 50-50.
Does anyone have any other/different info?
Does anyone have any other/different info?
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It all depends on how long it takes Wease to figure out that he'd be lucky to get $200K, let alone $500K. You have to have other offers if you're going to negotiate. Where else is he gonna go?
Whatever's happening is going on behind closed doors. We won't hear about it until it's over, and then there'll be multiple sides to the story.
Whatever's happening is going on behind closed doors. We won't hear about it until it's over, and then there'll be multiple sides to the story.
B
Bob1370
Guest
You have to figure WCMF is banking on Wease eventually returning, otherwise they wouldn't still be promoting their Saturday "Worst of the Wease" reruns/greatest hits program, as they were this morning.
I was just checking to see what was going on...no disrespect to his crew, who do a fine job in support of him on and off the air, but it's not the same show, by any means, without him.
I was just checking to see what was going on...no disrespect to his crew, who do a fine job in support of him on and off the air, but it's not the same show, by any means, without him.
J
JohnGault
Guest
Whatever's happening is going on behind closed doors. We won't hear about it until it's over, and then there'll be multiple sides to the story.
Something we agree on!
JohnGault said:Whatever's happening is going on behind closed doors. We won't hear about it until it's over, and then there'll be multiple sides to the story.
Something we agree on!
Kum-ba-ya, My Lord, Chumbawamba...
Read 'em and Wease
If Wease thinks that he's going to get a better offer than Entercom's, maybe he'd better check out the latest edict from Clear Channel's John Hogan.
Highlights (from the Radio-Info news article) include cuts to:
"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 salespeople, effective immediately). All 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) for your market. Additionally, you are not to replace any departing personnel without specific approval from your EVPO."
Wease, $200K is better than a sharp stick in the eye. Your alternatives are dwindling. Maybe it's time to get your life in order and "make do".
If Wease thinks that he's going to get a better offer than Entercom's, maybe he'd better check out the latest edict from Clear Channel's John Hogan.
Highlights (from the Radio-Info news article) include cuts to:
"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 salespeople, effective immediately). All 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) for your market. Additionally, you are not to replace any departing personnel without specific approval from your EVPO."
Wease, $200K is better than a sharp stick in the eye. Your alternatives are dwindling. Maybe it's time to get your life in order and "make do".
In Los Angeles, Clear Channel just launched Kim Amidon, half of their successful morning team on KOST the market's leading AC station and one of the company's biggest cash cows. Market insiders say she was making about $250k per year plus sizable ratings bonuses. Read the account in The Orange Country Register. LA is market #2. Rochester is market #54 (and like Buffalo, slipping.) The clock's ticking on Wease. A little bit of perspective goes a long way. Clear Channel, Entercom, Cumulus, Citadel, Emmis and the other players would like to run their radio groups on a Wal-Mart platform. Put on your red vest and watch out for falling prices.
O
OttoM
Guest
Radknowski said:In Los Angeles, Clear Channel just launched Kim Amidon, half of their successful morning team on KOST the market's leading AC station and one of the company's biggest cash cows. Market insiders say she was making about $250k per year plus sizable ratings bonuses. Read the account in The Orange Country Register. LA is market #2. Rochester is market #54 (and like Buffalo, slipping.) The clock's ticking on Wease. A little bit of perspective goes a long way. Clear Channel, Entercom, Cumulus, Citadel, Emmis and the other players would like to run their radio groups on a Wal-Mart platform. Put on your red vest and watch out for falling prices.
Yeah, and in NYC, CC has dumped three very popular long-term personalities from market-leading WLTW. And now the 12-year PD is leaving to start a consultancy. It does happen.
As Rox noted above Wease's options just went from slim to none now that CC is in a budget freeze TFN.
BTW, Mike, guess you haven't been in a Wally World in a while. They dumped the red vests for blue polo shirts.
A
And Awaayy We Go!!
Guest
Didn't he call in and get on the air on the day after he found out they weren't renewing?
BTW, Mike, guess you haven't been in a Wally World in a while. They dumped the red vests for blue polo shirts.
Come to think of it, it has been a while. And as I was trying to remember the last time I walked through Wally World, it occured that some time, some where down the road, some 20 year old will ponder, "when was the last time I listened to radio..." An exageration, perhaps, but not too far off course.
S
slickkicker
Guest
I think he's toast. Someone here confirm that Buchwald is his agent. If so then he's toast with a capital T. Buchwald can take a stand in Rochester and then say "I stood by Wease" to his other clients. The dude is being used, perhaps more then anyone realizes.
We've now entered the post-Howard era.
We've now entered the post-Howard era.
J
JohnGault
Guest
Not Buchwald.
Re-agent
The guy's gotta eat, man. If he really had his boat repo'ed last year, I gotta believe that he hasn't invested the $4-Million + (think about that for a sec. - $4-5 MILLION) that he earned over the last 10 years wisely.
Whoever his agent is ought to advise him to take the deal. It won't get any better, and he has NO chance of earning $200K or more anywhere else on the planet.
The guy's gotta eat, man. If he really had his boat repo'ed last year, I gotta believe that he hasn't invested the $4-Million + (think about that for a sec. - $4-5 MILLION) that he earned over the last 10 years wisely.
Whoever his agent is ought to advise him to take the deal. It won't get any better, and he has NO chance of earning $200K or more anywhere else on the planet.
The Days of Wine and Roses are history
I’m curious as to what deal you folks are talking about? I haven’t heard anything about a “deal” between Wease and Entercom. All I’ve heard is that Entercom is sticking to its guns and not about to cave in to Wease's salary demands.
If you look at facts you will discover that there really hasn’t been a major outcry for this guy (outside of his fan base) to return to the airwaves, especially after it became public knowledge what Wease was reportedly pulling down for a salary.
It’s been over a month since he’s been on the air and tell me when was the last time the local media, besides Scott Fybush, did a story about Wease?
As a few people have mentioned on here nobody working for 25-30 grand a year is going to be sympathetic for a guy making 8 thousand dollars week for just talking on the radio.
Just take a look at what’s been happening in the industry over the past few years and in some cases few months. People, some in major markets and making far less than Wease, are being let go, not just in radio but television as well. This should send off warning bells that the “good old days” are history. It doesn’t matter how long a person has been employed at a certain station or what ratings they may bring, if the solution is to balance their books management is not afraid of getting rid of talent despite their longevity.
How this Wease/Entercom situation will play out is anyone’s guess. But if I were a betting man I would say that the longer he’s off the air the less valuable he is.
If this was a poker game I would say that right now the Entercom is holding the winning hand.
I’m curious as to what deal you folks are talking about? I haven’t heard anything about a “deal” between Wease and Entercom. All I’ve heard is that Entercom is sticking to its guns and not about to cave in to Wease's salary demands.
If you look at facts you will discover that there really hasn’t been a major outcry for this guy (outside of his fan base) to return to the airwaves, especially after it became public knowledge what Wease was reportedly pulling down for a salary.
It’s been over a month since he’s been on the air and tell me when was the last time the local media, besides Scott Fybush, did a story about Wease?
As a few people have mentioned on here nobody working for 25-30 grand a year is going to be sympathetic for a guy making 8 thousand dollars week for just talking on the radio.
Just take a look at what’s been happening in the industry over the past few years and in some cases few months. People, some in major markets and making far less than Wease, are being let go, not just in radio but television as well. This should send off warning bells that the “good old days” are history. It doesn’t matter how long a person has been employed at a certain station or what ratings they may bring, if the solution is to balance their books management is not afraid of getting rid of talent despite their longevity.
How this Wease/Entercom situation will play out is anyone’s guess. But if I were a betting man I would say that the longer he’s off the air the less valuable he is.
If this was a poker game I would say that right now the Entercom is holding the winning hand.
B
Bob1370
Guest
"If this was a poker game I would say that right now the Entercom is holding the winning hand."
I'd say in this game, both Entercom and Wease may be, in poker terms, drawing dead.
Entercom loses the main source of revenue for one of the principal stations in their buyout of the CBS Rochester cluster and clearly has no plan for replacing him--unless they're drawing down the cost base for a quick resale of the two stations they've stripped (CMF and PXY) and now plan to hold on to Warm 101.3, which they have left alone. (CMF and PXY together add up to roughly the same total ratings and revenue as, and a lot more cost than, Warm by itself--and I think they looked at the fall book and figured that out, and figured divesting four stations instead of three might make the FCC even happier.) If they are NOT playing out this strategy, then they are killing a cash cow for no good reason.
Wease, of course, hasn't got a real alternative in the market now that Clear Channel is going on a total cost-cutting spree, which in competitive terms will probably complete the slitting of its competitive throat in market after market across the country. They've already lost buckets of money in the process of downgrading the quality of their broadcast product and watching listeners and advertisers fly away. If Entercom joins the parade of mindless bean-counters, they can expect the same bad result. But that won't help Wease because if everyone's programming with hard drives and satellites, it won't matter to him that no one is listening and no one is buying ads on the "programming" that replaces him, because he'll still have no place to go.
Hard to imagine a game in which both players at the table, if they play the hand all the way to the river card, wind up losing the pot. But we've got such a game developing here in Rochester.
I'd say in this game, both Entercom and Wease may be, in poker terms, drawing dead.
Entercom loses the main source of revenue for one of the principal stations in their buyout of the CBS Rochester cluster and clearly has no plan for replacing him--unless they're drawing down the cost base for a quick resale of the two stations they've stripped (CMF and PXY) and now plan to hold on to Warm 101.3, which they have left alone. (CMF and PXY together add up to roughly the same total ratings and revenue as, and a lot more cost than, Warm by itself--and I think they looked at the fall book and figured that out, and figured divesting four stations instead of three might make the FCC even happier.) If they are NOT playing out this strategy, then they are killing a cash cow for no good reason.
Wease, of course, hasn't got a real alternative in the market now that Clear Channel is going on a total cost-cutting spree, which in competitive terms will probably complete the slitting of its competitive throat in market after market across the country. They've already lost buckets of money in the process of downgrading the quality of their broadcast product and watching listeners and advertisers fly away. If Entercom joins the parade of mindless bean-counters, they can expect the same bad result. But that won't help Wease because if everyone's programming with hard drives and satellites, it won't matter to him that no one is listening and no one is buying ads on the "programming" that replaces him, because he'll still have no place to go.
Hard to imagine a game in which both players at the table, if they play the hand all the way to the river card, wind up losing the pot. But we've got such a game developing here in Rochester.
S
SSSKub
Guest
As a few people have mentioned on here nobody working for 25-30 grand a year is going to be sympathetic for a guy making 8 thousand dollars week for just talking on the radio.
Reality check, please.
That alarm that you hear in the background? It's the wake-up call for jocks, sales people and even (perhaps, especially) managers. Clear Channel's "no hiring, no spending" edict may become the template not only for the first fiscal quarter, but for the entire year for a number of companies.
Those making big bucks, especially jocks, might consider adopting an austerity budget. Living over your head? Consider selling one or both of the motorcycles, cars, boat and the cabin at Rushford Lake. Management doesn't care about "the lifestyle you've become accustomed to living" or what you made last year or the year before. We're living in the "now." Heaven help you if you're making big bucks, especially if you're not #1 in your daypart; worse, getting beat by an imported show, or a Jack, Bob or Dick.
Lots of furrowed brows to go around. As Bette Davis said in the wonderful movie All About Eve, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride."
-9-
B
Bob1370
Guest
"We're living in the "now." Heaven help you if you're making big bucks, especially if you're not #1 in your daypart; worse, getting beat by an imported show, or a Jack, Bob or Dick."
But at the same time, station owners and managers have to wake up and smell the Arbitrons.
Howard Stern was the last, perhaps the ONLY, drive time syndicated show who ever saw a measure of real success in large markets outside his own home market. Unless he makes a return to broadcast radio (not likely), no one else will come remotely close to doing it, as no one has up to now. Put a syndicated show on in your drive time and you're consigning yourself to also-ran status with the weak billings to match.
And as far as Jack and his clones? Ask Joel Hollander, FORMER head of the CBS radio division, how well that worked out. Reliance on the Jack approach is a major reason why he's out of a job, and his successor Dan Mason has been busy re-hiring personalities for his stations. Syndicated, mechanized radio DOES NOT WORK anyplace inside the top 150 markets, PERIOD. People are used to something better, and if they don't get it, they'll turn off the radio completely and program their own iPods and CD decks because they can get the music they want without commercials.
Without value added, juke-box radio dies.
Maybe some jocks are overpaid. But managers who can them and try to mechanize their stations, driving away listeners and advertisers in the process, soon convince their bosses that those managers are even more overpaid, and find themselves replaced.
But at the same time, station owners and managers have to wake up and smell the Arbitrons.
Howard Stern was the last, perhaps the ONLY, drive time syndicated show who ever saw a measure of real success in large markets outside his own home market. Unless he makes a return to broadcast radio (not likely), no one else will come remotely close to doing it, as no one has up to now. Put a syndicated show on in your drive time and you're consigning yourself to also-ran status with the weak billings to match.
And as far as Jack and his clones? Ask Joel Hollander, FORMER head of the CBS radio division, how well that worked out. Reliance on the Jack approach is a major reason why he's out of a job, and his successor Dan Mason has been busy re-hiring personalities for his stations. Syndicated, mechanized radio DOES NOT WORK anyplace inside the top 150 markets, PERIOD. People are used to something better, and if they don't get it, they'll turn off the radio completely and program their own iPods and CD decks because they can get the music they want without commercials.
Without value added, juke-box radio dies.
Maybe some jocks are overpaid. But managers who can them and try to mechanize their stations, driving away listeners and advertisers in the process, soon convince their bosses that those managers are even more overpaid, and find themselves replaced.
J
JohnGault
Guest
BOB 1370, has it nailed. Very well said.
OK, just going by what I've read here...
Wease has a non-compete, which means taking time off to move anyway. Despite the impatience on this board, he would have had to know the day he didn't show up that it could be a year or six months or whatever the non compete is. His agent would know that too, from day one. I think Entercom could have struck a deal, but they thought there was no way he would stand his ground, so they hardballed. They got greedy, and are as surprised as all of you. They should reconsider and try meeting him at least halfway.
Given the dough he's made he has some equity and means, despite a healthy lifestyle. Lots of well off talent play poor on the radio to relate, to be more like the common man. Stuff like a repo, great radio bit, probably true. I know of a few NFL players with similar stories, bad with money. They won't starve. I'll bet Wease is not well off, but not down to his last TV Dinner either.
Soon we will see how much money this can cost Entercom. What will the fill in show do in it's first monthly extrapolation? Curiosity tune in might make it look ok, but let's be realistic. By month 2 (results will be in Mid March) the bleeding should start. Anyone who thinks there is a plan to do this is nuts. It is a standoff. I think the Drawing Dead poker analogy is fair (I had to google it as I don't play poker), but that if you give talent no respect AND require them to lose, maybe they would rather have a vacation and work for someone else who at least talks nice.
Interestingly, the Clear Channel sale, after it collapses, will go through with somebody, maybe about the time Wease is available. Very few long term thinkers left in radio, or on this board. Remember, radio has huge profit margins. Privately held companies are making money, Wall Street radio companies have been burning the furniture to stay warm for years, now they are throwing people into the fire. I predict some of those people will really want to work for human beings instead of stockholders. The recession will end late 2008 after mortgages have finished resetting.
I have no idea how this will turn out, as I've said here, but I believe in talent, and think Wease has a unique ability and value in Rochester. If he has another option (and eventually he will), and the means/will to wait it out (we don't know), he will work for what the market will bear, and whatever that is, everyone who makes less will resent it. Yawn.
As radio's business model contracts, the profit margins will shrink. These guys have to face that. Throwing out stars for cheap syndication won't work.
OK, just going by what I've read here...
Wease has a non-compete, which means taking time off to move anyway. Despite the impatience on this board, he would have had to know the day he didn't show up that it could be a year or six months or whatever the non compete is. His agent would know that too, from day one. I think Entercom could have struck a deal, but they thought there was no way he would stand his ground, so they hardballed. They got greedy, and are as surprised as all of you. They should reconsider and try meeting him at least halfway.
Given the dough he's made he has some equity and means, despite a healthy lifestyle. Lots of well off talent play poor on the radio to relate, to be more like the common man. Stuff like a repo, great radio bit, probably true. I know of a few NFL players with similar stories, bad with money. They won't starve. I'll bet Wease is not well off, but not down to his last TV Dinner either.
Soon we will see how much money this can cost Entercom. What will the fill in show do in it's first monthly extrapolation? Curiosity tune in might make it look ok, but let's be realistic. By month 2 (results will be in Mid March) the bleeding should start. Anyone who thinks there is a plan to do this is nuts. It is a standoff. I think the Drawing Dead poker analogy is fair (I had to google it as I don't play poker), but that if you give talent no respect AND require them to lose, maybe they would rather have a vacation and work for someone else who at least talks nice.
Interestingly, the Clear Channel sale, after it collapses, will go through with somebody, maybe about the time Wease is available. Very few long term thinkers left in radio, or on this board. Remember, radio has huge profit margins. Privately held companies are making money, Wall Street radio companies have been burning the furniture to stay warm for years, now they are throwing people into the fire. I predict some of those people will really want to work for human beings instead of stockholders. The recession will end late 2008 after mortgages have finished resetting.
I have no idea how this will turn out, as I've said here, but I believe in talent, and think Wease has a unique ability and value in Rochester. If he has another option (and eventually he will), and the means/will to wait it out (we don't know), he will work for what the market will bear, and whatever that is, everyone who makes less will resent it. Yawn.
As radio's business model contracts, the profit margins will shrink. These guys have to face that. Throwing out stars for cheap syndication won't work.
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