According to the Citizen's Voice, Joe Reilly is keeping WHLM-FM jockless now. It's a shame that the local connection is gone. Great playlist, but I can put my CD player on random and get the same effect. I like a radio station with personality and local connections and most of that is gone now.
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WKAB, Classic Hits 103.5
- Thread starter dmer
- Start date
I see Mary Ondrako swallowed Reilly's entire load of coal insisting that most of the KAB staff walked out and left him! What garbage!! And of course Reilly's sock puppets keep coming on here and saying all the same. Face it, the guy couldn't tell the difference between the truth and the moon. He fired the people plain and simple. The people who got tossed out and who didn't have other jobs are collecting unemployment. You cannot collect unemployment if you walk! So Reilly got what he wanted all along..the place to himself for his giant ego to rattle around in. Of course it's all someone else's fault. And his ridiculous statement, that KAB wasn't a well-known set of call letters. I wonder who he will blame when it all collapses around him.
MACK184 said:
Kevin Fennessey maybe ;D
KAB was doing well in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton until Entercom moved 103.1 to the 102.3 tower. Since then the signal gets drowned out around Pittston. Then the audience shifted to fill the hole in Hazleton where 103-1 used to be stronger. Don't believe me? Look at the last Arb book before the new owner took over.
As per "great" operators. IMO Sure they're great if you can survive on minimum wage.
As per "great" operators. IMO Sure they're great if you can survive on minimum wage.
What bothers me the most now about WHLM-FM is that last year at this time you had WKAB with local connections to Hazleton and Berwick (and Bloomsburg to an extent) and well respected dj's from the area. WKAB was always at Hazleton events and very prominent in the city (along with WAZL on the AM side). Now they are WHLM-FM (I don't care that much about the calls) with no dj's and I have not seen them anywhere in Hazleton since March. Oh, they make a few remote visits for their ad dept now and again but not like before. I'm waiting to see if they'll be at Funfest at all. Basically they are an all Bloomsburg station now with no connection to Hazleton and very little to Berwick (except Berwick football).
I'm just sick and tired of new owners taking an otherwise good station, automating it and removing most of the local connections from it. Now WHLM-FM could basically be any station from Anywhere, USA. It's basically a cd player (admittedly with a much improved playlist) on random. I don't know Joe Reilly from a hole in the ground and I really don't know if the old dj's quit, were fired or executed (most are on WAZL-AM now). And I'm not saying Reilly needs to beg them to come back or anything. But at least take a look at some of what WKAB had that was good.
I'm just sick and tired of new owners taking an otherwise good station, automating it and removing most of the local connections from it. Now WHLM-FM could basically be any station from Anywhere, USA. It's basically a cd player (admittedly with a much improved playlist) on random. I don't know Joe Reilly from a hole in the ground and I really don't know if the old dj's quit, were fired or executed (most are on WAZL-AM now). And I'm not saying Reilly needs to beg them to come back or anything. But at least take a look at some of what WKAB had that was good.
hey, all. just thought i'd drop in and explain my side of the situation at WKAB. Joe Reilly took over
at the end of march, and they day he came in, there was a general staff meeting, and individual ones.
In my one-on-one, Joe and Carey Paul (whom i like and respect a lot) said they really liked my airwork,
but they were "closing" the board for a while and they'd have to lay me off; they firgured about 5
weeks or so. I said i couldn't guarantee Joe that i wouldn't look for work in that time frame, but then,
a bit later in the meeting, i said i was going to concentrate on songwriting full-time. That's partly true;
i was songwriting collaborator with The Badlees for 15 years. The other reason i offered that excuse was
i felt, at that time, if Joe were to call me back full-time, it would be for less than i was making at the time
of the station's sale, what with WKAB under the financial/revenue stress it was under at that time. In
hindsight, because of the financial condition the station was in only a few short months ago, i would've
probably been called back, 5 or 6 hours a week to voicetrack, with an hour a week for 'cellarful of noise'.
Needless to say, i couldn't afford to live on that, so i came back to WAZL.
I have no bad feelings or ill-will towards Joe, or his wife, or Carey, or anyone there. I miss my gig on
what is now WHLM-FM (by the way, probably the dumbest thing the current owners of WFYY did-ditch
a set of heritage call letters), and i miss doing "cellarful" but, hey, at least i have a gig. I do enjoy the
oscar peterson and ella fitzgerald and frank sinatra i play, though....
later,
naydock
at the end of march, and they day he came in, there was a general staff meeting, and individual ones.
In my one-on-one, Joe and Carey Paul (whom i like and respect a lot) said they really liked my airwork,
but they were "closing" the board for a while and they'd have to lay me off; they firgured about 5
weeks or so. I said i couldn't guarantee Joe that i wouldn't look for work in that time frame, but then,
a bit later in the meeting, i said i was going to concentrate on songwriting full-time. That's partly true;
i was songwriting collaborator with The Badlees for 15 years. The other reason i offered that excuse was
i felt, at that time, if Joe were to call me back full-time, it would be for less than i was making at the time
of the station's sale, what with WKAB under the financial/revenue stress it was under at that time. In
hindsight, because of the financial condition the station was in only a few short months ago, i would've
probably been called back, 5 or 6 hours a week to voicetrack, with an hour a week for 'cellarful of noise'.
Needless to say, i couldn't afford to live on that, so i came back to WAZL.
I have no bad feelings or ill-will towards Joe, or his wife, or Carey, or anyone there. I miss my gig on
what is now WHLM-FM (by the way, probably the dumbest thing the current owners of WFYY did-ditch
a set of heritage call letters), and i miss doing "cellarful" but, hey, at least i have a gig. I do enjoy the
oscar peterson and ella fitzgerald and frank sinatra i play, though....
later,
naydock
Mike...
Classy response to something that obviously could have been a very stressful time in your life. You are indeed "resplendent in dignity" and a classy guy. Not often have I had as many nice things to say about a guy in radio who I've only met just a few times. You're a real talent. Nice to see you've landed on your feet. I hope we get a chance to have a cup of coffee sometime.
Ben Smith
WGMF
Classy response to something that obviously could have been a very stressful time in your life. You are indeed "resplendent in dignity" and a classy guy. Not often have I had as many nice things to say about a guy in radio who I've only met just a few times. You're a real talent. Nice to see you've landed on your feet. I hope we get a chance to have a cup of coffee sometime.
Ben Smith
WGMF
Thank you Mike for the insight. I look forward to your songs, and your musical commentary. Again. thank you.
As per Carey Paul...who was paying your salary while you were standing in on the firings/hirings, shuffle of the staff at WKAB? It takes a strong/shifty man to be PAID to consult one station while helping his friend start another IN THE SAME MARKET!!!!!!!!! Welcome to NEPA!
As per Carey Paul...who was paying your salary while you were standing in on the firings/hirings, shuffle of the staff at WKAB? It takes a strong/shifty man to be PAID to consult one station while helping his friend start another IN THE SAME MARKET!!!!!!!!! Welcome to NEPA!
While I applaud Mike's respectful posting about his experience during the transition of ownership of 103.5, I can't help but chime in on the issue of the new/old call letters. When Reilly took over 930 AM and called it WHLM, there was no doubt confusion about the assumed association between 106.5 FM and 930 AM. Ratings diaries probably were, and possibly still are, filled with '106.5 WHLM'. Was it a mistake for the owners to drop WHLM and make it WFYY? Maybe. But one must admit, WFYY has been making great strides in the past few years, with their best move being bringing morning man Tom Morgan back to the airwaves. (By the way, the current owners of WFYY, who took over about 2 years ago, weren't the ones who decided to drop the calls; it was the former local owner who wanted to disassociate himself completely from WHLM's poor financial history and start with a clean slate.) And now that there's a WHLM AM and FM, there will most likely be even more confusion about who's listening to what. From what I've heard from former employees of WKAB, Reilly and Hopper (who immediately took over the golden accounts from reps who had been calling on customers for years) had a good old time letting all the experienced reps go one by one, literally laughing about it. As for the $3 spots on the old WKAB, who's fault is that? The reps were only following the instructions of their leadership. So the question still remains: Is causing confusion by adopting old call letters a smart way to do business?
Re: Comment from waunderlust
Just to set the record straight...Bill Lynett knew of my relationship with Joe Reilly and WHLM long before I signed on to do the WQFM project. When Reilly bought WKAB, I informed them of this, and, ultimately, that is why I no longer work for WQFM. There was a period of time between when they were informed and when they decided to end our association when I did work for both stations. At no time did I accept payment from Reilly while in the employ of WQFM.
Welcome, indeed.
Mike: Thanks for the kind words.
Just to set the record straight...Bill Lynett knew of my relationship with Joe Reilly and WHLM long before I signed on to do the WQFM project. When Reilly bought WKAB, I informed them of this, and, ultimately, that is why I no longer work for WQFM. There was a period of time between when they were informed and when they decided to end our association when I did work for both stations. At no time did I accept payment from Reilly while in the employ of WQFM.
Welcome, indeed.
Mike: Thanks for the kind words.
T
THEBIGONE
Guest
Hi, my name is Joe Reilly, I am the owner of WHLM AM and FM (formerly WKAB).
I had heard of radio-info but never paid much attention and was surprised when the staff of WKAB confronted me in a meeting to confirm or deny the rumor posted on radio-info that WKAB was going to change format.
After going on the board and reading this most recent dialog about WKAB I finally get the radio-info thing! It’s like being a star in a soap opera…very enjoyable.
I am a first time poster here so be gentle. How do you like the screen name? THE BIG ONE...now I know you are thinking that I am ripping off The Big One from WLW...However did you know that WIBC called themselves "The Big One" with a full page newspaper ad when they went to 50,000 watts years before WLW used the term. And yes I did rip off the term from WLW when I was building WTAM 1100 in Cleveland. I just think it sounds cool. And besides I weigh 300 pounds so I thought the name to be accurate.
I am writing becasue a comment came up questioning Cary Pall’s integrity and I felt compelled to post for the fiirst time. For those of you wanting to get to the point of this posting please skip to the last paragraph.
Our intention all along was to buy WKAB and keep the station intact, call letters and all. However, the plan did not unfold as expected.
Working in the market for the past 5 years has given me the opportunity to observe the players and to form conclusions that will answer some questions as to the current operation of WHLM-FM.
The story begins in 2000 as Berwick’s 1280 AM went back on the air. This caused a significant inventory increase of radio advertising in the Berwick Area. Additionally, In 2002 Bloomsburg’s 930 AM was powered up and back on the air full time. The supply grew again. In response to the competition, WKAB did not maintain rate and in fact WKAB’s rates were in decline for the past 5 years.
Basically, WKAB-FM cut the balls off of competitor Kevin Fennessy’s 1280 WFBS Berwick and drove him out of business ultimately at expense of WKAB as the station lost $171,000.00 in 2004.
Before we stepped into the door of WKAB Jan Banko told me weeks in advance that she had “no interest in managing the station.” Jan was upset. I felt badly for her situation as she gave her best years to a company that would soon fade away.
The week before we took over the GSM, Diane Considine and Hazleton sales representative John Cusatis resigned.
We closed WKAB’s board the day we took over to give us the opportunity to meet and to do some re-engineering. The original plan was to close the board for a short period of time. But that plan was to change quickly too.
The only WKAB employee in question was PD and afternoon DJ Tony Pacelli. I told Tony that my 30 year background in programming would minimized his role in this project and subsequently it would have not been fair to Tony or I as his position would have been undermined by my programming involvement. Tony was to be the only change.
We met with the rest of the staff in the conference room to answer questions and to briefly review a new philosophical direction and then to meet one on one to sign up the new employees.
Production Director and Morning DJ, Scott McAndrews was offered his current salary and benefits as an exempt employee. He agreed to the new deal.
Then we met with midday DJ Mike Naydock. Mike did not beat around the bush. The board was closed and he asked if he could be “laid off” to collect, as he wanted time to write music. I told him “Mike I can’t lay you off…you are not even an employee of Columbia FM, Inc. yet!” The intention was to bring Mike back; subsequently he landed at WAZL.
We offered veteran sales rep Jennie Walters her same deal. She retired. Sherry O’Brian was offered to stay in her current position as the traffic director and the evening voice tracker. The next day she resigned. She said that she did not want to commute to Bloomsburg. I hired senior sales rep Ginny Buckley at her current rate of pay and benefits. She was let go three days later. The last standing sales person quit the following week without notice.
I met with Bob Sacco, he had a place to go and he understood that his show did not fit the Classic Hits format. I wanted to keep L.A Trone but he was married to playing B sides.
After all is said and done we ended up with only one original employee, Scott McAndrews.
WKAB is consulted by Jones Media and for several years they had recommended that Scott be removed from the morning show. I reviewed research that showed in fact, the WKAB morning show underperforming every other daypart. Scott is a wonderful person but I was forced to make a business decision and put my personal feelings aside.
Now, the real reason why I write. There has been some talk about the integrity of Cary Pall as it relates to work he has done for both Shamrock and Columbia FM, Inc. Cary’s observational skills are impeccable. If Cary sez Shamrock was in the loop about our association then that means Shamrock was in the loop.
While Cary was consulting Q-92, I put promos on WKAB with local people commenting about local stations, including Rock 107’s listeners, critical of Rock 107. Cary had no idea that these promos were on the air. When it was brought to his attention by Shamrock executives as cause for alarm, he called me and asked if I would take the promos off the air. I pulled the promo’s no questions asked. Now you know. Anyone questioning the integrity of Cary Pall is ignorant...pure and simple.
I had heard of radio-info but never paid much attention and was surprised when the staff of WKAB confronted me in a meeting to confirm or deny the rumor posted on radio-info that WKAB was going to change format.
After going on the board and reading this most recent dialog about WKAB I finally get the radio-info thing! It’s like being a star in a soap opera…very enjoyable.
I am a first time poster here so be gentle. How do you like the screen name? THE BIG ONE...now I know you are thinking that I am ripping off The Big One from WLW...However did you know that WIBC called themselves "The Big One" with a full page newspaper ad when they went to 50,000 watts years before WLW used the term. And yes I did rip off the term from WLW when I was building WTAM 1100 in Cleveland. I just think it sounds cool. And besides I weigh 300 pounds so I thought the name to be accurate.
I am writing becasue a comment came up questioning Cary Pall’s integrity and I felt compelled to post for the fiirst time. For those of you wanting to get to the point of this posting please skip to the last paragraph.
Our intention all along was to buy WKAB and keep the station intact, call letters and all. However, the plan did not unfold as expected.
Working in the market for the past 5 years has given me the opportunity to observe the players and to form conclusions that will answer some questions as to the current operation of WHLM-FM.
The story begins in 2000 as Berwick’s 1280 AM went back on the air. This caused a significant inventory increase of radio advertising in the Berwick Area. Additionally, In 2002 Bloomsburg’s 930 AM was powered up and back on the air full time. The supply grew again. In response to the competition, WKAB did not maintain rate and in fact WKAB’s rates were in decline for the past 5 years.
Basically, WKAB-FM cut the balls off of competitor Kevin Fennessy’s 1280 WFBS Berwick and drove him out of business ultimately at expense of WKAB as the station lost $171,000.00 in 2004.
Before we stepped into the door of WKAB Jan Banko told me weeks in advance that she had “no interest in managing the station.” Jan was upset. I felt badly for her situation as she gave her best years to a company that would soon fade away.
The week before we took over the GSM, Diane Considine and Hazleton sales representative John Cusatis resigned.
We closed WKAB’s board the day we took over to give us the opportunity to meet and to do some re-engineering. The original plan was to close the board for a short period of time. But that plan was to change quickly too.
The only WKAB employee in question was PD and afternoon DJ Tony Pacelli. I told Tony that my 30 year background in programming would minimized his role in this project and subsequently it would have not been fair to Tony or I as his position would have been undermined by my programming involvement. Tony was to be the only change.
We met with the rest of the staff in the conference room to answer questions and to briefly review a new philosophical direction and then to meet one on one to sign up the new employees.
Production Director and Morning DJ, Scott McAndrews was offered his current salary and benefits as an exempt employee. He agreed to the new deal.
Then we met with midday DJ Mike Naydock. Mike did not beat around the bush. The board was closed and he asked if he could be “laid off” to collect, as he wanted time to write music. I told him “Mike I can’t lay you off…you are not even an employee of Columbia FM, Inc. yet!” The intention was to bring Mike back; subsequently he landed at WAZL.
We offered veteran sales rep Jennie Walters her same deal. She retired. Sherry O’Brian was offered to stay in her current position as the traffic director and the evening voice tracker. The next day she resigned. She said that she did not want to commute to Bloomsburg. I hired senior sales rep Ginny Buckley at her current rate of pay and benefits. She was let go three days later. The last standing sales person quit the following week without notice.
I met with Bob Sacco, he had a place to go and he understood that his show did not fit the Classic Hits format. I wanted to keep L.A Trone but he was married to playing B sides.
After all is said and done we ended up with only one original employee, Scott McAndrews.
WKAB is consulted by Jones Media and for several years they had recommended that Scott be removed from the morning show. I reviewed research that showed in fact, the WKAB morning show underperforming every other daypart. Scott is a wonderful person but I was forced to make a business decision and put my personal feelings aside.
Now, the real reason why I write. There has been some talk about the integrity of Cary Pall as it relates to work he has done for both Shamrock and Columbia FM, Inc. Cary’s observational skills are impeccable. If Cary sez Shamrock was in the loop about our association then that means Shamrock was in the loop.
While Cary was consulting Q-92, I put promos on WKAB with local people commenting about local stations, including Rock 107’s listeners, critical of Rock 107. Cary had no idea that these promos were on the air. When it was brought to his attention by Shamrock executives as cause for alarm, he called me and asked if I would take the promos off the air. I pulled the promo’s no questions asked. Now you know. Anyone questioning the integrity of Cary Pall is ignorant...pure and simple.
I read in the CV that WHLM-FM will now be run jockless permanently. Why is that necessary? There are other well known voices out there. I just like some personality. While it seems WKAB was run poorly from a business aspect by 4M, one thing WKAB did do well is maintain the local connection. I like the expanded playlist and WHLM even sounds more like the Mountain, another station I enjoy that we can no longer get in Hazleton, which is an improvement. But it's hard to be a local station when the station is faceless (or jockless in this case).
Re: Scott McAndrews, I enjoyed his show, despite what the consultants may have said. Stuck to the music and didn't blather on about nonsense like so many morning guys do. He was plagued by some technical and computer problems, but those really weren't his fault.
Oh, and whatever happened to Janis Lynn--she left long before the change in ownership? Just curious.
Re: Scott McAndrews, I enjoyed his show, despite what the consultants may have said. Stuck to the music and didn't blather on about nonsense like so many morning guys do. He was plagued by some technical and computer problems, but those really weren't his fault.
Oh, and whatever happened to Janis Lynn--she left long before the change in ownership? Just curious.
Damian: We agree. That is why Joe's intention was to keep Mike, Sherry, L.A. and Scott. As for the newspaper, I think they may be serving their own agenda by reporting that WHLM-FM will be jockless permanently. Remember, the newspaper is a competitor to any radio, TV or other media it does not own. It's going to take a little longer than originally planned, but I suspect you'll hear local voices on 103.5 fairly soon.
P
Punk
Guest
THEBIGONE said:
I figured any beef between shamrock and Cary had more to do with KAB using similar formatics to what Cary had helped install on Q. Phrases and the like. Rather than promos that mentioned 107 by name!
The quote from the Citizen's Voice was:
However, Reilly noted financial issues associated with WKAB coupled with staffing changes have set the station in a new direction.
The station will continue to feature classic hits and the playlist has been expanded, Reilly said. But he no longer plans to hire on-air talent. “We’re just going to keep on running jockless,” Reilly said.
Can someone elaborate on that a little more, as to what he may have meant. I assumed that meant permanently. ???
However, Reilly noted financial issues associated with WKAB coupled with staffing changes have set the station in a new direction.
The station will continue to feature classic hits and the playlist has been expanded, Reilly said. But he no longer plans to hire on-air talent. “We’re just going to keep on running jockless,” Reilly said.
Can someone elaborate on that a little more, as to what he may have meant. I assumed that meant permanently. ???
T
THEBIGONE
Guest
Damian,
Thanks for the Quotes from CV. I never did get a chance to read the article. I can see what you mean after reading my own words. It sounds like we have financial issues and can't afford air talent.
Our business plan is solid and we are in rebuild mode beyond what we originally anticipated.
My philosophy is simple. Assuming you are playing the hits to achieve your audience goals then the most important thing on the air are the spoken words. Basically, Bill Drake took talent and structured the talent to breathe life into a stack of songs, commercials and station promos. Unfortunately, since talent is precious and rare, radio people took big voices and made them into disc jockeys reading liner cards. What’s worse? Big voices that have no liner cards! Do you see the dilemma?
We have a very talented business manager, a very talented sales manager, a very talented programming consultant and a very talented engineer. We are not looking for disc jockeys we are looking for talent that can grasp the format. We are not looking for DJ's that blah, blah, blah about a bunch of nothing...we are searching talent who will love the music, the format and the community. The search continues.
In the mean time we are indeed...jockless!
Thanks for the Quotes from CV. I never did get a chance to read the article. I can see what you mean after reading my own words. It sounds like we have financial issues and can't afford air talent.
Our business plan is solid and we are in rebuild mode beyond what we originally anticipated.
My philosophy is simple. Assuming you are playing the hits to achieve your audience goals then the most important thing on the air are the spoken words. Basically, Bill Drake took talent and structured the talent to breathe life into a stack of songs, commercials and station promos. Unfortunately, since talent is precious and rare, radio people took big voices and made them into disc jockeys reading liner cards. What’s worse? Big voices that have no liner cards! Do you see the dilemma?
We have a very talented business manager, a very talented sales manager, a very talented programming consultant and a very talented engineer. We are not looking for disc jockeys we are looking for talent that can grasp the format. We are not looking for DJ's that blah, blah, blah about a bunch of nothing...we are searching talent who will love the music, the format and the community. The search continues.
In the mean time we are indeed...jockless!
Re: punk comments
Punk: (I use that term strictly as a referral to your screen name, not editorial coimment!) I can't comment on specifics due to my contractual obligations to Times-Shamrock. I can say that anytime a question arised from WQFM management, I did my level best to answer it, and, if possible, make changes to their satisfaction.
I will also say this. There are many precedents of situations where programming consultants, research companies, engineers and engineering consultants work with non-competing formats in the same market. I know of at least one that is in the employ of Times-Shamrock right now. I do not consider WQFM and WHLM-FM as competing formats...I don't even consider WHLM-FM as a player in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market with its current signal penetration (and, believe me, I've driven the signal of both WHLM-FM and WQFM/WQFN). I did not work at all with Rock 107 or WBAX/WEJL and made no effort to learn any of their systems while working on WQFM, specifically to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety.
Punk: (I use that term strictly as a referral to your screen name, not editorial coimment!) I can't comment on specifics due to my contractual obligations to Times-Shamrock. I can say that anytime a question arised from WQFM management, I did my level best to answer it, and, if possible, make changes to their satisfaction.
I will also say this. There are many precedents of situations where programming consultants, research companies, engineers and engineering consultants work with non-competing formats in the same market. I know of at least one that is in the employ of Times-Shamrock right now. I do not consider WQFM and WHLM-FM as competing formats...I don't even consider WHLM-FM as a player in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton market with its current signal penetration (and, believe me, I've driven the signal of both WHLM-FM and WQFM/WQFN). I did not work at all with Rock 107 or WBAX/WEJL and made no effort to learn any of their systems while working on WQFM, specifically to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety.
THEBIGONE... I like what I hear from your stations, keep it up.
I'll be dropping by with football guides soon
I'll be dropping by with football guides soon
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