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WESTWOOD ONE SWINGS THE AXE AGAIN..

A

anderson

Guest
At 6pm on September 1, the Rochester Metro Traffic office will turn out the lights, padlock the door, and scatter its few remaining employees to the wind. Westwood One has been in the process of making some "sweeping changes" across the board, and started cleaning house. Rochester will be gone, Syracuse will have 1 part-time person doing limited morning feeds, Albany will be down to one person, and Buffalo may lose a few staffers as well. I've had a good ride for almost 12 years with them, and assumed that as long as people kept driving stupid, the work would be steady. It now seems pretty safe to assume that it's NEVER safe to assume...
 
At 6pm on September 1, the Rochester Metro Traffic office will turn out the lights, padlock the door, and scatter its few remaining employees to the wind. Westwood One has been in the process of making some "sweeping changes" across the board, and started cleaning house. Rochester will be gone, Syracuse will have 1 part-time person doing limited morning feeds, Albany will be down to one person, and Buffalo may lose a few staffers as well. I've had a good ride for almost 12 years with them, and assumed that as long as people kept driving stupid, the work would be steady. It now seems pretty safe to assume that it's NEVER safe to assume...
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Yes, the "assume" word is a dangerous word in many regards... I've resorted to using "presume" just so people can't lay the shopworn "assume axiom" on me. I wish you well. Hang tough.
 
Andrew said:
At 6pm on September 1, the Rochester Metro Traffic office will turn out the lights, padlock the door, and scatter its few remaining employees to the wind. Westwood One has been in the process of making some "sweeping changes" across the board, and started cleaning house. Rochester will be gone, Syracuse will have 1 part-time person doing limited morning feeds, Albany will be down to one person, and Buffalo may lose a few staffers as well. I've had a good ride for almost 12 years with them, and assumed that as long as people kept driving stupid, the work would be steady. It now seems pretty safe to assume that it's NEVER safe to assume...
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I am truly sorry to read that you will be out of a job within a few weeks. But a number of us have been in that position before in broadcasting and eventually we bounce back, as I'm sure you will.

Isn't downsizing wonderful? I mean look at the number of layoffs that have occurred in recent years and it always seems to impact, what is commonly referred to as the "average Joe", or “regular person." Seldom do you read of hear where a person making a six or seven figure salary is let go. And if they are it’s with a golden parachute attached to their backs.

The demise of Metro Traffic in Rochester brings up an interesting point. A number of radio stations provide the listening public with traffic reports during both morning and afternoon drive. So what's the plan now, drivers have to guess where the accidents are located? It would seem to me that traffic reports would be an iatrical part of programming, even if the station does not have a commitment to local news and weather.

When people turn on the radio in the morning they want to know three things. Weather conditions; where the accidents are on the roads; and if schools are closed. Not in that order. With the elimination of Metro Traffic reports, stations will have to find their own traffic reporters, like WHAM radio and R-News does. Well at least Mike O'Brien will keep his job.

Anyways good luck to you and don't be discouraged. Its tough being patient but eventually something will open up for you.
 
have anymore info about Metro closing offices in other nationwide medium markets? anyone? please let me know! I need such info! THANKS!
 
With most large and medium sized cities now having traffic cameras and traffic control centers it's pretty easy to gather information yourself with someone in the studio.

Don't about other markets, but Metro sold a lot of local and regional commercials and was taking business away from local stations. NC Lottery spend a bundle with Metro - and damn little with individual stations!
 
Andy, I am very sorry to hear about this. My best wishes go out to you as you seek opportunities elsewhere.
 
AXES OF EVIL

Don't know what's going on in Buffalo, but Clear Channel Traffic is in town now and as far as revenue goes, it must be a b*itch to divide the advertising pie. Sorry to see ANY person take a kick in the grapes. Metro Traffic in Buffalo does/did a pretty good job. Yet, consider the points made by previous posters.

Traffic in Buffalo is nearly non-existent. Even on lousy days, when the 290 or 190 is backed-up and the Grand Island bridges are aerial parking lots, Buffalo traffic is pretty mild by comparison to say.... Philadelphia, Boston, New York or L.A.

Sure, it may be comparing apples to oranges, but WNY drivers pretty much know where the trouble spots are as well as how and when to avoid them. Now, with computer generated-real time information such as on line traffic sites it's going to create more problems for the traffic people... of course, logging on may be a tad difficult (save for Blackberry Addicts) while you're mobile, but there's no doubt Metro is seeing more competition these days.
 
"Traffic in Buffalo is nearly non-existent" - to quote SpareChange - can be said about most markets in America today! Radio truly created the need for traffic report simply by having them In the late 70s, early 80s, there was usually one station in markets below 30 that carried traffic reports. Competitors thought it was cool, and a way to take some identity away from the full-service leader in the market.

With that completitive move came the traffic networks. Many started small - one or two markets. (In another life, I worked for a company that did Charlotte, then Raleigh, and Greensboro NC. They ultimately sold out to Metro.). Traffic was expensive to do then and it made the network concept necessary. Stations jumped at the chance to have traffic reports without the expense of flying planes!

Problem now is twofold:

1) Consolidation and technology make it easy to have your own, in house traffic reporitng "network" If your cluster has four or more stations it can be done inexpensively - particularly with access to traffic camera and police radio.

2) Networks stated off with the promise they would not sell to local advertisers in competition with local stations. The concept was find a national advertiser who wanted the whole market and would buy the tens. It wasier said than done and gradually, traffic networks have called on local advertisers.

Station clusters have figured they can do their own traffic for less money - and own all the avails!

I suspect that the reason Metro is pulling out is not because stations are dropping traffic - but because more are doing it themselves. What thay may mean is the stations not doing their own might be in the market for a local service! Maybe some of the former Metro folks with start one! Certainly worth look into!
 
XTalker said:
I suspect that the reason Metro is pulling out is not because stations are dropping traffic - but because more are doing it themselves. What thay may mean is the stations not doing their own might be in the market for a local service! Maybe some of the former Metro folks with start one! Certainly worth look into!
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Not to go too far off topic, but it would appear that what's happening with traffic now, is what's already happend with the music formatted stations.

It used to be cheaper to run sattelite radio on various stations, but the cost of local automation has become alot cheaper theese days, so the coast to coast music networks are not able to survive.
(In Canada, MediaNet pulled the plug a few years back, and they were the source for Country and oldies coast to coast there.)
 
Thanks to everyone for the concern and posts - all of us have been here before, and will again before we step away from the mic for the last time. Many of the previous entries ring true with the fact that this is getting to be the current trend in the business; stepping away from the satellite for more of a "hands on" approach to services and product. I'm just glad I treated all of my affiliates well, as it seems to now be working in my favor. The limited severance and advance notice have allowed me to fish the waters a bit and score a few bites within the market. I'll be sure to post my final landing destination here....unless one of my fellow radio hounds catches the wind and blurps it out before I do ;)
 
I'd take a bet Andy is headed for evening drive at Entercom's WBEE, replacing Weslea who moved to Middays/MD when Nikki Landry exexted for California.

Am I warm??? ???

No matter what... Best of luck to you Andy!
 
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