Oh no! I enjoyed John Montone's unique delivery of the news. 1010 WINS will not be the same without him.
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WINS changes
- Thread starter AMRocks
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This one isn't too surprising. He'd cut back his schedule and was only working a couple of mornings a week.
John Montone is one of the Audacy all news outlets who have talent being removed for the various reasons.
According to this publication another Audacy Talent is leaving their San Francisco outlet Stan Bunger is leaving KCBS All News for retirement reasons.
Looks as though the former CBS all-newsers are finally seeing most of their long running anchors retire as most of them have been there for more than three decades and have really earned the retirement.
Despite the cuts at KNX, I don't think there's anything nefarious to the string of retirements. As it's been the case for all industries and workplaces, the pandemic caused many who contemplated retirement to commit to it. I take that to be the case at not only Audacy but elsewhere.
Despite the cuts at KNX, I don't think there's anything nefarious to the string of retirements. As it's been the case for all industries and workplaces, the pandemic caused many who contemplated retirement to commit to it. I take that to be the case at not only Audacy but elsewhere.
True it just happens to be that Audacy needed to cater to GenZ and have a post pandemic strategy to survive. It just happen to be that some of the talent have been around for three decades. In Stan Bungers case he had two separate stints at KCBS Radio one in the 1980's-1992 and the 2000-2021 stint.
Only the exits at KNX seem like they were involuntary. Audacy may be going through the rest of their talent rosters and sweetening the deal for some of these guys at or past 65 years old to finally retire.
Paul James posted elsewhere he wasn't pushed. Who knows with Larry Kanter but he clearly could leave at any time. Montone was working only part time and hadn't been out on the street since before the pandemic and noted in his Facebook Live today that he wasn't able to get back out on the street (didn't specify why) and it was time for someone who could be on the street every day to fill the role.
All three of them could have had a sweetened deal to exit and make room for younger talent.
It makes me think about how many comments I read about young people not being interested in radio. But it's been my experience when they get the chance to sit in the driver's seat, they get the bug just like anyone else.
I doubt any of these retirees ever thought they were getting a job for life. But that's what it turned out to be. They came into radio during a brief moment when the business was expanding due to the growth of FM and the licensing of Docket 80-90 stations. That's the only reason why there were so many jobs at that time. Had the number of stations remained where they were in the 50s, they might not have been hired.
So now we're at a point in radio history that's similar to the 70s, where radio is growing once again, this time in the digital area The younger talent coming in are knowledgeable in this new media, with online and social content included with on air. We're poised for a potential rebirth of radio as this next generation takes this 100 year old technology to the next level.
Yes, and there are young reporters working in radio news around the country. But as you've noted, many of the prior generation have held on, forever (I love Dick Helton on KNX but he's well into his 70s and working a decade plus past retirement blocks the career progression of the next generation.
Even at 1010 WINS, they have a number of reporters and anchors that are mid-career people working in weekend and freelance roles, who haven't had a slot to move into a full time position. If Audacy allows them to actually backfill the full time jobs (as I noted up thread ... that hasn't really been the case thus far), this would be a good move up for a lot of talented people who have been biding their time.
Always wondered why New York City had two all news stations in the first place. I nearly always listened to WCBS-AM as the WINS-AM signal is lousy at night for me in central CT. (It fights with CFRB-AM 1010 of Toronto.)
Audacy also owns N/T WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford. I was barely listening to them even in their last days with CBS and later Entercom.
Audacy also owns N/T WTIC-AM 1080 of Hartford. I was barely listening to them even in their last days with CBS and later Entercom.
WCBS-AM is more aimed at the NYC suburbs and WINS-AM is more aimed at the 5 boroughs. But this goes back to when Group W owned 1010 WINS and CBS owned WCBS-AM plus when the two former owners has competed against each other in New York and Los Angeles prior to the CBS, Westinghouse and the first Viacom merger.
"In the first place," there was WINS. They were owned by Westinghouse. Group W. They started a bunch of all-news stations around the country, including KFWB and WBZ. WCBS was a middle of the road station with Arthur Godfrey. WINS started in the news format in 1965. WCBS started two years later. They were competitors until Westinghouse bought CBS in the 90s. Both were doing so well in the ratings that the company let them co-exist. Not so in LA, where KFWB was an also-ran to KNX. The company sold KFWB.
And KFWB, which I always thought of as the better station, had a vastly inferior signal.
KFWB has 5 kw and 980, and a transmitter site that is in a lower ground conductivity area in, roughly, East LA. KXN is 50 kw at 1070 with a site in the areas best conductivity zone at Torrance.
KFWB just could not cover well the norther, southern and far western areas of the market.
Yes it is unusual considering they both ended up under the same ownership, but the reason is that they are both making money and there's no other format one of them could flip to that would be as profitable.
Both WINS and WCBS are in the top 10 billing stations in the country. You'd have to be half crazy to mess with either one of them.
That was true pre-pandemic? Is it still true now (reduce commuting, etc)?
Either way, if you can gently push some retirement age talent out of a top billing station and replace them with younger, less expensive talent, and use the savings to bolster other stations in your portfolio that are doing poorly, you'd probably do it.
They are also among the most expensive stations in the country to program. The net income is likely far less than a comparably billing FM music station.
Yes, both were Top 10 in 2020.
The problem is the overall cost of news. A whole staff on duty all day long, even on weekends. It's a low margin format, being affected by the aging of the listeners.
I don't doubt that's true, but what other format could you put on an AM signal that would generate a greater net income?
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