Huge exits and wondering why. They pushed out their IT guy a couple weeks back. Traffic director resigned to move south. Dick Bauerle (many years at Entercom) ends up at WECK. Another veteran salesperson reportedly leaving next week. Revenue way off...looks like a crisis brewing!
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What's going on at Entercom Buffalo?
- Thread starter Oldbloodandguts
- Start date
With engineering departments becoming IT departments there's no need for a "IT guy".
Traffic departments are increasingly being consolidated. A group will have one office with a number of people doing multiple station logs. They are loaded back in each station's digital storage system directly, and merged with the music log (unless it is a talk station, of course).
These are economies we wish we could have had available 50 or more years ago. It took technology a half-cenury to catch up with radio's needs!
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Buddy Shula
Guest
I can tell you from working at Entercom for 20 years, the IT guy was essential. He was the biggest unsung hero in the building. He helped with everything, all the time. Entercom has too many people, but it seems to me they are "manager top heavy". Too many chiefs, not enough Indians. If it were my company, which it may be someday, I would question why they have a manager for everything. I am talking from experience with this. They are way to manager heavy, and it is counter-productive. Entercom has the biggest revenue share of all radio companies in Buffalo, but that should not surprise anyone, they have seven freaking stations. Of course they should have the biggest market share. WECK bills more than three of those stations, almost combined!
Entercom is by far the best radio company in America. I have not been there is a year, but they were very good to me, except for a few people. Entercom likes to spend. They also make revenue, as they should with seven stations, but they are not efficient. They should be billing far more than they do.
So, I posed the question to someone that is close to their operation, Here is what this person shared with me: Entercom has lost an incredible "who's who" of talent in sales in the last couple of years. The top people (Greg Reed and Tim Holley) have always eschewed those who have left as unimportant. Now, the impact is being felt! These are staggering statistics: The local sales effort is UNDER budget by almost $900,000 through July. That's bad. However, they are even behind last year ACTUAL billing by almost 1/2 million! If that is extrapolated through end of year 2018, they will be behind last year by over 3/4 of a million dollars and missed budget by $1.5 million dollars! A publicly traded company will NOT tolerate such performance. Michael Doyle will have to jettison his fair haired boys .... Weezie will make sure of this or CBS will have it's way and can 'em all...the salad days for Entercom in Buffalo are history!
Those are all very interesting statistics. But the other question is how do they compare to everyone else in the market?
I can't WAIT to hear what Buddy "If it were my company, which it may be someday" Shula has to say about his former employer. Like the reason sales are so far down is because he left and bought WECK. (Which might be true, actually...)
Maybe you should focus on Cumulus. Could be a more affordable target. Opened last week at 26 and lost 20% of share value by closing bell on Friday. Out of bankruptcy, but still carrying substantial debt. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=f...dfVf09GgzyI#scso=uid_W9lkW_CpJo3ysAW70pYg_5:0
All three Buffalo cluster owners are having a rough go these days. The Street isn't being kind to radio for a number of reasons.
Maybe you'd like Beasley. They've been takin' a beatin' like a bad steak. Had a dead cat bounce, but they're down for the year. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=f...yhtXRWgj0#scso=uid_dtxkW-2sA8-GsQWOu4rIDQ_6:0
Truthfully all kinds of radio is struggling for a wide number of reasons. Pandora has been struggling for a while because it can't turn a profit. Every time they get a great revenue month, their earning slip because of higher costs. Meanwhile Spotify is stealing their listeners. Sirius keeps announcing subscription increases, but then other news knocks them down. They got sued last year for $100 million That'll set you back a bit. General Electric used to make radios, radio equipment, and they even owned stations for a while. Now they're in a lot of trouble. If you want to make money in stocks, I'd look elsewhere.
Buddy claimed on the boards recently that he will one day own a major FM station in town. The Entercom merger with CBS is not looking good on Wall Street and today it was announced that Entercom sold their Sacramento properties for $141 mil. They have a number of medium markets I’m sure they'd love to get out of. Shula claims to be tight with E’com’s CEO, David Field. Maybe he’s promised Buddy first dibs when and if they sell Buffalo. If so, all those top-heavy managers at WBEN/Star 102.5/Alt 107.7/KISS 98.5, etc that Buddy pointed out in a recent post could be looking for work shortly.
Wouldn't that be a shocker! Should be interesting to watch, one way or the other.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
WECK is the only station not struggling, and will be getting ever better. We are thriving as the value proposition in Buffalo radio. While Wall Street will command more from the three major companies in Buffalo, making radio unaffordable, WECK will be doing the opposite. Yes, I am working on a major Buffalo FM.....just FYI. Your correct, Wall street is not crazy about radio these days, and hey do not see how the future will be any better.
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Buddy Shula
Guest
I have no idea what the revenue numbers at Entercom, so I can't comment. I hope they are doing well. I am sure that me leaving Entercom did not help them, but they have lost others too. Overall, Entercom is the best radio company in the country, but as other companies, every day is a challenge. They have far bigger numbers to hit, to satisfy stockholders. I don't have that problem.
That particular market had been placed in their resolution trust prior to the merger, so it was inevitable it would be sold off. Entercom had some legal issues in that market where they actually ended up turning a license in to the FCC because of a legal challenge. It was really a matter of time. It's not completely because of the stock price. There are several other markets like that. Buffalo is not one of them.
Today’s sale announcement was for a batch of over-market-cap stations in market #4 as well as Sacramento. Since the merger/sale of CBS and Entercom, the combined group has been over the limits in both markets. The buyer has been running the stations since then, and is now finalizing the deal with a sale.
This was the general plan since the CBS and Entercom deal was announced, and is due to FCC rules, not finance, economics or revenue.
I wonder if David Field knows that he will soon be working for Bombastic Buddy?
If top producing sales reps are leaving Entercom Buffalo(Willingly or not), then the environment must be toxic. The CBS - Entercom merge has created a new company. The CBS regime still seems to have the power. The Buffalo market is lower priority and maybe it will be expendable one day. Based on some posters comments, real issues are happening there if revenue is drying up...
If top producing sales reps are leaving Entercom Buffalo(Willingly or not), then the environment must be toxic. The CBS - Entercom merge has created a new company. The CBS regime still seems to have the power. The Buffalo market is lower priority and maybe it will be expendable one day. Based on some posters comments, real issues are happening there if revenue is drying up...
What evidence do you have for that? From what I've seen, most of the people who were running CBS Radio have left.
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