Sunday, October 31, 2010

Luckoff goes postal on Citadel/Suleman with BFT; ramifications and Owens future

Mickey Luckoff essentially went verbal postal on Citadel and Farid Suleman in a one-on-one with the Chron's Ben Fong-Torres.

Here's a gem from Luckoff about Suleman, (Chairman, CEO) known in the industry as "FaGreed":

"Everything that the CBS people warned us about came true: total control, can't spend a dime, and you'd have to go through layers," Luckoff continued. "And then you found out that the layers were one person. He's something else. He has no regard for people whatsoever. He's apparently pretty damned skilled financially. To be able to overpay for the ABC Radio group, take the company into bankruptcy, come out of it, pay every one of his hand picked (board) directors $1 million each and get himself a $43 million package (in grants of stock) is unbelievable....

"And here we are, requisitioning pencils, driving 7-year-old news cars and going through all the pains of bankruptcy. You can see what that would do to morale."

And to embellish BFT, morale at KGO couldn't be any lower. And that's a shame because a once-great radio station has been turned upside down largely due to the incompetent inner workings of a corporate broadcasting albatross.

There's significant rumblings of an overall programming shake-up with a complete overhaul of the weekend, (syndication and heavy duty reruns) and at least two or three major voices leaving the 900 Front Street premises.

KGO's biggest star is longtime morning tonsil, Ronn Owens, who just won a Marconi award and celebrated his 35th year at the station.

A few weeks back, soon after Luckoff left, I asked Owens directly if he might be leaving, (he's signed through 2013) and he answered with a definitive "no--I like my job."

I believe Owens and don't in any way question his plans, but I also know the atmosphere at KGO has been dramatically altered and I wouldn't be shocked by the least if Ronn were to leave in the immediate future.

Here's why:

1. Owens makes a lot of money, (and conversely makes KGO a lot of money--even in these advertising-suppressed times) but Citadel boobs are fierce bottom-liners and they could offer Owens a negotiated buyout.

2. Owens is nearing 65, has 35 years in the book at KGO and there's abundant industry rumors that he's ready to retire.

3. With Luckoff out of the building and only a few holdovers left, now might be the time to leave and enjoy life with the wife and kids. (Owens is married to ex-KGO/KCBS anchor, Jan Black)

Nothing regarding Owens is immediate, but the same can't be said for others on the Monday-Friday schedule, including anchors and other talk hosts. It should be pointed out that the only other host that has a personal-services contract like Owens, is 7-10 PM talker, Gene Burns, who is thought to be nearing retirement.

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2 comments:

  1. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Luckoff? He's 75 for Christ's sake, he had a good run--now get over it. This is a business (in which he survived far longer than most)--I was unable to read the 2nd page on SF Gate website (evidently the Chron is blocking full stories online--a problem if you're out of state) but it seems some of Luckoff's anger should be directed at Disney for dumping the successful owned stations or at Cap Cities for selling ABC to Disney (NEVER a good fit). As far as Citadel, sure they're crap, joining the ranks of Infiniti, RKO-General and God knows how many others.

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  2. I'm glad Mickey is going public. It's not a matter of feeling sorry for him. But the loyal listening public is a big stakeholder in that station and deserves to know what is happening. Imagine what might happen if we were still in the days when a broadcaster holding a federally granted license to print money actually had to make a case for itself to get it's license renewed.

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