WGMR A Sellout Against Local Radio

[Broadcastress]

Ownership's sale of WGMR to out-of-town owners is a sell out not just a sale. Ownership talked many times about the importance, "the need" for local radio. The family would not have wanted this to happen. There were other radio people who could have bought this property but expedience took over. Employees of other related stations are concerned about what is next for them. This sale does nothing to help local radio. It will not serve the listener or the client.
Hey it comes to this: when money talks, principle and ethics sometimes walks.
A sad legacy to leave behind Mr S. You were someone that we looked up to.

 

[mock3]

Maybe we are all wrong. Maybe no poster on this board knows what they are talking about.

Maybe no one will be canned. Maybe more on-air positions will be created.
Maybe a brand new station with brand new format that is totally unique will appear on 101.1 FM.
Maybe WGMR will be live and local. Perhaps we have yet to see the best radio station ever.

It feels fantastic to punch the keyboard with this much optimism. I am going to do more posts like this.

 

[ameyer]

Since I am involved with this situation I have kept quiet. Most of you know what has been made public, but what none of you know is what has been going on behind the scenes. Now I am not going to give you details but I will not stand for this post. Mr. Simpson has weighed a lot of options in many many years about selling WGMR and after weighing all the options he made a choice he thought was right. I have worked for Cary and Ted for many years and there is no one in the Altoona/State College market that I would have rather gotten my start with. I thank them for that, and wherever the future takes me I know that I will always have them to thank. So go ahead and bash cause like I said you are all on the outside looking in...but don't ever say that Cary or Ted should be ashamed of themselves...cause you are very wrong...ask many of the people who post on this board. If you don't know the full story keep your damn mouth shut!

See Mock3 gets the idea!

 

[Harlow]

I am with you AJ.

I am fortunate to be an honorary Simpson.

Let me give you an idea of what Cary Simpson means to local radio.

In towns like Wellsboro, Coudersport and Tyrone that are in reality too small to support a full-time local station, He still provides a service to the community.

You can follow your local high school sports team, get the local news and even the local pastors come in and give a devotional message in the morning.

You may have the grand scheme of things, but go to the senior citizen housing in Tyrone and find out who makes sure they get to hear their grandson playing football or gives the people who can't get out a chance to hear the word of God, WTRN is their world.

The problem is State College and WGMR is not a local station. If it was, it would have focused on Tyrone as well. It has been said, there are too many frequencies for the market. WGMR put a good lineup together. Ace and TJ is a very respected syndicated morning show. Dave McCall is a great jock. AJ worked his butt off to improve and be solid on the air. Romeo is a good night show that is syndicated.

If you are so smart Broadcastress, offer Kerby Confer $3 million and I bet he will sell it already.

The day someone says something bad about the Simpson family is the day I go into attack mode.

There is no person in the world nicer than Cary Simpson. Both he and Ted have pulled my butt out of the fire many times when my back was up against the wall. They will always have my respect.

I love a board of has beens or wannabe's who have all the bright ideas in the world, but no avenue to do it.

Cary has built and operated these stations himself. It is a family business. I dare you to find a man who is closing in on 80 with grandchildren that he enjoys visiting, spending a day in the summer, setting up speakers so the town has a PA system for a parade.

Cary has forgotten more about radio than all of us combined will ever know.

Have any you been the President of the Radio Advertising Bureau? Have any of you been inducted into the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame?

Until you have, shut up about the Simpson family and figure out how to bring your bright ideas to life.

John Harlow
Proud to have worked at WGMR
Honorary member of the Simpson family

 

[Broadcastress]

Yes we are all happy that some people got their start with the company. But the ownership was asked or pestered by the forever people to sell WGMR for several years. The owner turned them away each time. GMR Ownership knew what would happen if forever got hold of it.

Now I am sure that there are a few people that feel they know the whole story. But if you check you will find that there are a number of people that know about what was going on including yours truly. Now do I still like the man....yes...but I feel sorry for him because I know he is aware how this deal will hurt local radio in State College.

Yes, yes nice fellow. Yes, yes a lot of people worked for him. Yes that's all good.

He gets a lot of atta boys for his efforts. But this is an aw sh*t moment that wipes out a lot of atta boys. Everyone in Central PA radio knows it.

A sell out is a sell out.

Ask some of the employes in his northern stations.

 

[Harlow]

I do know the real story. I know that you don't.

Yes, Kerby has asked Cary every year to sell WGMR and Cary always said no.

Times change.

Again, I love people hiding behind these nicknames. I use my real name.

Until you talk to Cary in person you will never know the real story.

Like I said, if you want to fix things, offer Kerby Confer $ 3 million and I bet he sells it to you.

 

[Broadcastress]

Many people know "the real story."
Everyone knows the real results. The guy who mny saw as an advocated for local radio sold to an out of town group. Local radio will be hurt by this sale. You'll get in six months or less.
Be cool!

 

[ameyer]

John let her go...I know who she is now, she let it slip and trust me she has no clue what the "whole story" is...she is as in the dark as the rest of them...Broadcastress there are only a few people that know the real story including yours truly...and a few others and I hate to tell you this but your name is not on the list...so zip it alright, you know absolutely nothing!!!!

 

[fryman]

Who is this "broadmistress" or broadcastmastress" person anyway? I have an idea but I could be wrong...seldom as that happens. She has apparently stirred a hornets' nest on the ol' website. Me? I use my real name. My parents are the Mann family from Windber and they named me Fry because when I was a baby, I loved french fries. Still do for that matter.

 

[ameyer]

No need to put their real name out here, but I know who it is and I am on to you...Fryman didn't I see you at the Grange Fair last year next to the Fry stand?

 

[Broadcastress]

Your like one of those broken records that you used to play. "I know. And I know I know, I think. I know no one else knows the way I know because.....I know the r-e-a-l story.
Shall I be blunt. You don't even know what you don't know. Some of the things you have said shows that you don't know the whole story. Stop and think why have you never went anywhere with your career. Yes you started out with GMR ownership. Then what. You stalled. You vegetated, you never progressed.

Many people know about the issues that came to play in this sale.

Bottom line it: it's a stinking sell out.


Now once your brain quits banging back and forth inside your head from reading this you may want to sit out the rest of the game.

Love your car!

 

[ameyer]

Hmm, well obviously you know nothing about me then...you want to play dirty we can play dirty...why don't you roll over to the station tomorrow and we can chit chat...how does that sound?

 

[ameyer]

Let me point out another thing...something you may not understand since you don't seem to think staying with the same company is moving up...Well sister let me tell you something, it's called loyalty...if you need to look it up I will wait.... ???......ok now that you know what the word means, there are lots of people who got their start at the jobs they are at now...for example Bolton Metal in Bellefonte some of those guys have been there 50-60 years...are they stupid with little brains? Nope it is called loyalty and hard work...you can 't measure success by the fact that you moved on...come on now...seriously success is what you make of yourself, what you do in your life that makes you proud of your accomplishments...would I be happy sitting in a plush chair driving a Porsche to work every day, the honest answer is no way, that's not who I am and not what I am about...Do I need to feel like the big cheese everywhere I go...nope, not in my cards either...cause I don't measure success by the chips on my shoulder. So go ahead and take cheap shots at me, I know that I am happy with the accomplishments that I have made cause Dammit I worked hard the past 7 years to make those happen. Yes somewhere down the line someone may see those attributes and say we want someone like that to work for our company...hard work and loyalty they pay off...

Does the WGMR sale stink...yeah it does to High Heaven...but don't sit and there and tell me I don't know anything...cause I am probably more in the loop than you would think. This whole board is a joke half the time with everybody throwing their weight around thinking they are better than everybody else...I mean seriously come on people. Voice your concerns and opinions, but don't tell someone who works within the company that they don't know what is going on...that just makes you look like an arrogant a**! And if you are who I think you are, you are not an arrogant a**...so bury the hatchet already will ya! I on the other had have no problem admitting that I am pr*ck more so however when it comes to thinks I am passionate about!

 

[jraynar]

Your like one of those broken records that you used to play. "I know. And I know I know, I think. I know no one else knows the way I know because.....I know the r-e-a-l story.
Shall I be blunt. You don't even know what you don't know. Some of the things you have said shows that you don't know the whole story. Stop and think why have you never went anywhere with your career. Yes you started out with GMR ownership. Then what. You stalled. You vegetated, you never progressed.

Many people know about the issues that came to play in this sale.

Bottom line it: it's a stinking sell out.


Now once your brain quits banging back and forth inside your head from reading this you may want to sit out the rest of the game.

Love your car!

personal attacks suck. not only do they take all the fun out of the board, they scare other posters away.

 

[fryman]

I haven't heard this many personal attacks since Joe Har-Hi was running "Two Way Radio" during the noon hour at WRTA. If we could get all these personal attacks on a radio talk show at one time, it would "blow out" the market. Either that or take them to the "squared circle" at the Jaffa Mosque for an intermission segment during professional wresling.

 

[Broadcastress]

Boys! Boys!
Let us all calm down and let cooler heads prevail.
This is not the time or the place for personnal atacks.
It's the time to recognize local radio will be hurt by this sale and that the ownership of GMR sold out what many know to have been his principals to people he often said he did not like nor would do business with. I mean after all politicians do it all the time: Say one thing, do another.
Why shouldn't an owner of a radio station?
Peace, out.

 

[ameyer]

That's funny cause if I am not mistaken you were the one making the cheap shots...am I right?

 

[jackandcoke]

Won't even try to interpret the spat above except to say that it is safe to say that this transaction has opened up some raw emotions.

Nobody likes monopolies, even when the monopolists are not hated. And with Forever now (pending FCC okay) owning 6 stations in their own right, another 3 through their shell company, and--quite legally--a 10th station booming in from the mountain next door, they are nearing monopoly. Just one small three-station cluster (not counting the repeater in Clinton County) and a standalone FM left in the entire State College market.

And it's the shell company that rubs everyone the wrong way--essentially a legal end-around. A way to control more than their fair share.

And, yes, the Simpsons made a conscious decision to contribute to the monopoly. Despite continuing to own 8 or 9 radio stations elsewhere in PA, collectively worth several million dollars, and having just sold another FM for a million or so, they chose to sell their best/biggest FM property to the company despised by so many around here. Many people spent many years under the impression that for Allegheny Mountain Network it wasn't all about the Almighty Dollar. In the end they were wrong.

Not a happy ending.

 

[Stranger]

I think the day is long past that we have a right to complain about monopolies and oligopolies, especially in an community that seems to treasure conservative values. Mass ownership is a direct result of the policies of an administration that has, until recently, ignored existing regulations in banking, imports, product safety, air transportation, etc and has done all it can to deregulate everything else, to the apparent cheers of a large number of Americans including many here in the Centre region. So while I have no idea of the ideological values of most of the other posters, I have to say that the transaction appears to reflect the kind of sentiment I hear on the street, which, summarized is "get the government off my back."


From an anti- monopoly standpoint, the argument isn't against Forever or it's "affiliate." They're just doin' what comes naturally. I, along with many of you, have been outspoken in my criticism of both Forever and 25-whatever as operators, so please don't misinterpret my statement. They're a mediocrity on their best day, and I have yet to experience their best day.

As for the sellers: I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to examine their bank balance, so I have no idea whether they need the money, but in any case, it's their stick and they can do what they want with it, especially these days. And if Cary is tired of fighting the battle-of-the-too-much-media in State College, who can blame him.

 

[jackandcoke]

I think the day is long past that we have a right to complain about monopolies and oligopolies, especially in an community that seems to treasure conservative values. Mass ownership is a direct result of the policies of an administration that has, until recently, ignored existing regulations in banking, imports, product safety, air transportation, etc and has done all it can to deregulate everything else, to the apparent cheers of a large number of Americans including many here in the Centre region. So while I have no idea of the ideological values of most of the other posters, I have to say that the transaction appears to reflect the kind of sentiment I hear on the street, which, summarized is "get the government off my back."


From an anti- monopoly standpoint, the argument isn't against Forever or it's "affiliate." They're just doin' what comes naturally. I, along with many of you, have been outspoken in my criticism of both Forever and 25-whatever as operators, so please don't misinterpret my statement. They're a mediocrity on their best day, and I have yet to experience their best day.

As for the sellers: I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to examine their bank balance, so I have no idea whether they need the money, but in any case, it's their stick and they can do what they want with it, especially these days. And if Cary is tired of fighting the battle-of-the-too-much-media in State College, who can blame him.

Absolutely.

Radio junkies tend to personalize radio stations--something akin to the way fans personalize professional sports teams. But ultimately it boils down to business. And, as they say, it's nothing personal--it's just business.

Here's hoping, though, that Mr. Meyer's loyalty isn't forgotten in all this. It's not uncommon for sellers to compensate key employees with a big "thank you" check.