What Happened to Joe Centanni - Rochester Rock Remembers?

[Bill Myers]

I tuned into my favorite show every Saturday night on Legends102.7 WLGZ and was surprised to not hear Rochester Rock Remembers with Joe Centanni.
Anybody have any idea what happened? I see his name is obliterated from the website as well.
If it was canceled (qman), why? I thought it was popular.

Thanks for getting back to me anyone who knows.

Bill

 

[Desert Pete]

Good question. It's the only time that Legends has anything on it worth tuning in for. Qman is probably under a gag order so you probably won't get much from him (for those who've never been in the radio biz, that standard procedure). Scott Fybush ... here's a job taylor made for you. Find out and let us know. We're counting on you to get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, would you believe they found a jingle package that's actually worse than the one they had? Didn't think it was possible, but they did it.

 

[scooterodell]

Budget cuts. Unfortunate, but not something local management could do anything about.

 

[umtrr-author]

That's too bad. I enjoyed listening to that show-- excellent background to the weekly model railroad building sessions we've been having.

A lot of songs I either don't remember hearing, or had not actually heard before, since I'm a bit younger than the target time span that the show had.

 

[qman]

Since a couple of you shouted out to me it would be rude of me not to acknowledge you so hello my radio info brethren. And Pete, I knew i could count on you to say something negative about Legends. If it had been positive I would've had to check my pulse. Have a great day people.

 

[Desert Pete]

Budget cuts. Well, that's too bad. Joe loved doing that show so much I'm sure he would have probably done it for free. I really appreciated the time and effort he put into his research. I learned a lot about Rochester that I never knew.

Q, I just call 'em as I see 'em. Nothing personal, buddy. Remember that I've mentioned on more than one occasion that, talent wise, you and Mark are the cream that rises to the top over there. It's the station's crazy formatics and bad imaging that ruin a station that has so much potential. I mean, c'mon ... oldies mixed with standards? Jingles that are so old that they went up San Juan Hill with the Roughriders? And now, bits and pieces of imaging and jingles cut and pasted together ... at least that's what it sounds like. Such a shame.

 

[qman]

Pete, I've been extremely appreciative of the positive feedback you've given about me personally. It's helped me strive to improve my performance on the air. Might I suggest that you fire off an email to ourPD Mark Shuttleworth? He's always willing to accept suggestions and constructive criticism about Legends. His email address is on our website. From the bottom of my heart, I really DO thank you for your interest in Legends. I certainly do appreciate you listening and encourage you to continue to give us feedback.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Budget cuts. Unfortunate, but not something local management could do anything about.

Budget cuts?

I thought that most of the on-air staff were part-timers? So why would there need to be budget cuts for people, who I'm pretty certain, are not getting any health benefits or being paid large-scale salaries?

This is a statement that I posted on Facebook.

" Why is it that good people are being forced out of their jobs while incompetent individuals keep theirs?"

This isn't a slam against Legends but it's meant for all industries, especially broadcasting.

 

[scooterodell]

Budget cuts. Unfortunate, but not something local management could do anything about.

Budget cuts?

I thought that most of the on-air staff were part-timers? So why would there need to be budget cuts for people, who I'm pretty certain, are not getting any health benefits or being paid large-scale salaries?

Trust me, there are no large-scale salaries here. Part-time pay is still part-time pay, and it costs something. A lot of the people who are working over the weekends would do it for free if we could let them... but we can't. I don't know why.

We all have the "way we'd do things" if we were given the chance...

 

[qman]

Budget cuts. Unfortunate, but not something local management could do anything about.

Budget cuts?

I thought that most of the on-air staff were part-timers? So why would there need to be budget cuts for people, who I'm pretty certain, are not getting any health benefits or being paid large-scale salaries?

Trust me, there are no large-scale salaries here. Part-time pay is still part-time pay, and it costs something. A lot of the people who are working over the weekends would do it for free if we could let them... but we can't. I don't know why.

We all have the "way we'd do things" if we were given the chance...

Keep in mind also, that our weekday daytime dayparts are filled with full-timers.

 

[Savage]

It's New York State labor law. It's designed to prevent exploitation of vulnerable people, especially teenagers, from less-than-scrupulous business owners. If the business derives any benefit or receives a service from the presence of a person, they are "an employee" and must be paid at least minimum wage.

And of course the state (and feds) must receive their unemployment and social security taxes. And the workers must be covered with workers' comp and DBL.

Neither can Jumpin' Joe be "an independent contractor." If he regularly is on the premises and engages in gainful activity, he's "an employee." Why? "Because they say so."

 

[biggguy]

It's New York State labor law. It's designed to prevent exploitation of vulnerable people, especially teenagers, from less-than-scrupulous business owners. If the business derives any benefit or receives a service from the presence of a person, they are "an employee" and must be paid at least minimum wage.

And of course the state (and feds) must receive their unemployment and social security taxes. And the workers must be covered with workers' comp and DBL.

Neither can Jumpin' Joe be "an independent contractor." If he regularly is on the premises and engages in gainful activity, he's "an employee." Why? "Because they say so."

Gee, I wish I'd have known this when I was selling insurance for a major national company- I was on premises for at least 35 hours a week- in the field for nearly that long- and allegedly engaging in gainful activity (I did quite well for a beginning agent- or so I was told- just hated what I was doing)- yet, I was an "independent contractor"...probably a loophole for dealing with sales types.

Let me get back on topic here with wishing Mr. Centanni best of luck in his situation....

 

[Bill Myers]

...Just wondering if Mr. Centanni would take his show to another station.

Mr. Savage - could Joe find a home on your station? I don't know what other stations he could spin his Oldies show on. Warm? no.
CMF, the Drive, no. PXY, yeah right. What others are left?

What I enjoyed listening to that show was you never knew what he was gonna play next. Plus, the little oddities he would play. Old commercials, jingles, TV themes, recalling local history from way back when.
I mean, Mike Vickers has what they call an Oldies party on Sunday nights, but big deal. What's he playing? Just the stuff he's got in the studio and probably Joe's music. I doubt he took his stuff with him.
Just the 'safe' oldies and wha-la, an Oldies party. I doubt you'll hear The Ones, You Haven't Seen My Love or some of the other obscures he would play that were great songs. Ya can't get through to Mr. Vickers on the phone much past 9pm cuz that's when all the phone lines are blanked out and are 'busy'. Yeah, we use to punch up all the phone lines in our studio and make them 'busy' if 'we' were too busy eatin' a 12foot long sub in front of the control board or we just didn't wanna be bothered.
But for now, we're relegated to Saturday nights with Mark Shuttleworth (PD) hopped up on 2 pots of coffee or Mountain Dew or maybe even one of those energy drinks and runnin' such a tight board to the point of 'clipping'. (Too tight).
Question for some Buffalo jocks or Syracuse jocks, are there any local Oldie shows on your stations that can be listened to via www? At least till TWC puts an end to that idea with their greedy capping model.

Well, Joe may not have been the tightest board op or the most hopped up caffeine but he was original. I think that's what makes a radio show successful is it's originality.
I wanna hear, and this goes for the rest of the daytime jocks - no jock in particular, I wanna hear about the local pothole that everybody keeps hitting or the new store going up on the corner or the longest traffic light at xyz corner, I don't care about obama's new dog or the latest trouble that Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohand got into or what people think about the latest America Idol winner.
Hey, sorry for my rant. I'll exit the room quietly and ya'll can go back to surfin'. I'll leave my tip at the door.

 

[Savage]

It's ironic, all. Jumpin' Joe was indeed an employee of WYSL 2002ish to about 2006, and had stopped by for a visit not two weeks before his apparent demise at Legends. He was out doing a field drive of a used car before its delivery to a waiting customer. Joe is a good friend and we all wish him well.

Joe frequently lobbied for us to carry his show, and I'd be tempted - but there are practical problems. First, because of WYSL's commitments to various live sports, he would be pre-empted much of the time. Plus we have the special NRBMLC ASCAP-BMI license for non-music stations. I would have to check with the licensing agency to make sure that carrying a regular music program wouldn't cause us to lose this special licensing status. If it did, that would cost thousands of dollars annually.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Is it possible that Joe could put the show together at home, and market it to Legends as a pre-produced program? I realize that it means that the show is no longer live, but it's better than nothing. Perhaps he could find a sponsor and work out a barter agreement, or they could work out a trade agreement.

 

[Bill Myers]

Hey thanks for your insight Bob. Just a question about the license for music I respectfully wanna ask - what happened when you used to play music on your station back in the early 90's and when you had, I think you had some type of an Oldies show on the weekend. Or was the ASCAPBMI thing not an issue then?

 

[Bill Myers]

Is it possible that Joe could put the show together at home, and market it to Legends as a pre-produced program? I realize that it means that the show is no longer live, but it's better than nothing. Perhaps he could find a sponsor and work out a barter agreement, or they could work out a trade agreement.

Hi SirRox - Ya know, Joe started his show out by getting sponsers. I think one of 'em was a car dealership. Maybe all us posters could agree on a predetermined time and call Joe up at home and make requests and make his show sound live.
But Sir, doin' it at home, wouldn't that still fall victim to, ahem, Budget cuts? Unless, like you say he snags some sponsers.
I have an idea for one of his sponsers- we could all get together and call ourselves 'And The Stiffs Just Keep On Coming' board of directors - Over 500 strong..and still haven't run outta songs.

 

[heydaybegone]

Plus we have the special NRBMLC ASCAP-BMI license for non-music stations. I would have to check with the licensing agency to make sure that carrying a regular music program wouldn't cause us to lose this special licensing status. If it did, that would cost thousands of dollars annually.

RCS - what's a few dollars among friends? ;D

Actually, I respect The Savage post. He's in the same boat (no not held by pirates ---well maybe), that creates creative (didn't say stupid) survival stategies. Many forget the transparent financial aspects of this biz. Having done enough licensing audits in my tenure, I relate to the Savage situation. IMHO, he would have already been on this thread, changing the format, or this program, or whatever...if the time was right and greenbacks were flowing! (lord knows he auditions every post he makes - "keeping the dream alive")

 

[heydaybegone]

Is it possible that Joe could put the show together at home, and market it to Legends as a pre-produced program? I realize that it means that the show is no longer live, but it's better than nothing. Perhaps he could find a sponsor and work out a barter agreement, or they could work out a trade agreement.

Excellent Post!!
I see it as either they did or didn't talk about it. If they did, moot point. If they didn't, shame on Crawford.

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

Joe frequently lobbied for us to carry his show, and I'd be tempted - but there are practical problems. First, because of WYSL's commitments to various live sports, he would be pre-empted much of the time. Plus we have the special NRBMLC ASCAP-BMI license for non-music stations. I would have to check with the licensing agency to make sure that carrying a regular music program wouldn't cause us to lose this special licensing status. If it did, that would cost thousands of dollars annually.

You make a good point about the licensing, Bob. WBT, the big 50kw news-talker down here in Charlotte put a Saturday night oldies show on the air a year or so back featuring one of Charlotte's best known oldies jocks. They dropped the show not too many months later because the cost of playing music a few hours a week was more than the show could possibly generate in revenue. In other words, continuing to carry the show was causing them to lose money.