 |
| Paul Hosley |
KGO Radio ND and PG, Paul Hosley, has been fired.
There's not a lot of talking going on, but a look at the ratings, specifically KGO's and you have to fire someone. Hosely is responsible for much of the current gobbledygook.
MORE NEWS: Expect a few more pink slips as the abyss continues at 55 Hawthorne.
*Developing...
*Follow me on Twitter
Not a dollar spent to promote the product since last q1 LY. Ridiculous. You need to market the product. Cumulus arrogantly dismissed transactional agency business which is critical in a large market (duh). These guys are small market operators, that simple.
ReplyDeleteYou are incorrect. Money has not been spent for almost 3 years, since before Citadel took over. The commercials that ran on ABC 7 and NBC 10 were part of trade agreements. Same with the ads in newspapers over the years and most recently, San Francisco Magazine, which is owned by Cumulus.
DeleteNBC's actually on 11.
DeleteOk 9:19. Trade is marketing, right. My point is ZERO marketing since Feb I believe.
DeleteCumulus---> firing its way to success!
ReplyDeleteLOL! So true.
DeleteDoes this mean Jared Hart is now in charge!!?? Scary thought. I find it very amusing that the bean counters decimated the station over one year ago and now they blame this hipster Mr. Clean look alike. Will Lowenstein talk about the firing tomorrow or will he talk about the new Blackberry?
ReplyDeleteWait till he has the gadget guru on. Then we will here about the latest Blackberry.
DeletePaul Hosley was a hack. A half ass news director who was hired by Mickey Luckoff because he was at KCBS and Mickey wanted to pick his brain about their internal workings. He was fired soon after Mickey realized (along with the veteran News team) that he was average at best. Paul was hired back after Deidra Lieberman was given the GM position after Mickey was pushed out by Citadel. Deidra has only been in Sales and knows nothing about programming or News so she needed someone who she was comfortable with right away. Enter Paul Hosley again. When Cumulus took over and proceeded to fire on air staff and behind the scenes people, Paul was given the Program Director job of KSFO, something he had never done before, along with the News Director and PD of KGO. He was in over his head from the day he was hired and although a nice enough guy, was never respected by anyone besides the recent kids he has hired.
ReplyDeleteI worked at KGO for a long time and I can say that Paul never fit in there. I don't know anyone who respected him as the news director. We had wonderful people who were in charge of the news department over the years and had much success. Paul Hosley was not one of them. He was always a very pleasant man, but was not prepared to work at this very successful news organization. It didn't matter who our ownership was.
ReplyDeleteI worked at the station.
ReplyDeleteHosley is a bully, who'd text on air talent, while they were on the air telling them how shitty they were.
He never listened to the shows yet disparaged us all the time.
He has a temper and I often felt threatened physically while around him.
I know it's not nice to gloat but it couldn't happen to a bigger prick.
Maybe now they'll start correcting the mistakes they made December 1, 2011.
It is absolutely evident that you are a disgruntled former employee who, embarrassingly enough, could not cut it at KGO. Don’t make Paul a scapegoat for your professional inadequacies.
Deleteyou're the prick. maybe get better at your job. learn to take corrective criticism. he constantly gave me feedback about the on-air work i was doing, and gave me the chance i needed. treated me completely fairly. listened too ALL OF MY SHOWS. texted you on-air? SO WHAT? what better time than to fix YOUR problems? i have no issue with a program DIRECTOR telling me what's going wrong while it's happening. ever play a sport? it's called coaching.
Deletecompanies make tough decisions all the time, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason they made this one, i have to figure has nothing to do with paul's character, work ethic, or style. all things i would never question about him. it's a tough business, and a tough decision was made. i suggest you toughen up if you want to remain in it.
paul will land on his feet because he knows what he's doing, treats people fairly, is respected by co-workers, and as mentioned, has a strong work ethic.
-david weintraub
Paul took a beating after Cumulus made the changes to KGOne, but it really wasn't his fault. Those changes came from Cumulus management in Atlanta. However, he is responsible for the horrendous programming decisions since then. Tim Montemeyor? Candace DeLong? Ryan Scott? Shows you what kind of radio mind he really had. He also was responsible for upping Jared Hart to a minor management position which has destroyed relationships behind the scenes. Jared is disliked by everyone including long time staffers and even strained his relationship with mattress man.
ReplyDeleteRed state-based organization trying to operate in a super-blue progressive market. Epic fail!
DeleteOh for shame.
ReplyDeleteI guess they gots ta pay for Ronn's new contract somehow.
Next they will make low level workers take turns cleaning the bathrooms because the Janitorial staff have been fired too.
I listened to Montemeyor "Monty" last Saturday 1/26/13. Dude mentioned the call letters with nearly every breath he took. I was trying to figure out if dude was simply reminding himself of where he worked - or - a total hack kissing-up to grossly incompetent management.
ReplyDeleteAgree. That 80, 80, 80, 80, 810!
DeleteIs enough to bring anyone to drink.
I heard that Hosley was or is going to be served papers regarding a lawsuit involving the former Markeing Director. Rich do you know anything about this?
ReplyDeleteLee Hammer next? Stay tuned. A lot of people are wishing for the good old days of Bill Bungleballs.
ReplyDeleteHaven't listened since 12/1/11.
ReplyDeleteReports are that certain higher ups don't like bald headed, middle aged men with soul patches. Everybody knows that men who are successful are tall with a nice, full head of hair. Soul patch? Bald? Not working.
ReplyDeleteHey, "Anonymous January 30, 2013 at 10:01 PM?"
ReplyDeleteCome down here and say that sh*t in the newsroom, Mel.
-JLR
You know, anyone on here who has something negative to say about Paul Hosley is a WASTE OF SPACE. Paul is truly one of the most genuine and wonderful people who I have met.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I worked for him. So unlike you simpletons slamming the man, I have some FACTS to speak on. So say what you will, it just proves that you know NOTHING and are thriving off the evil words of others.
Paul cares about the people who work for him, he treats them with RESPECT, and, shocking I know, he tries to help everyone get better at what they do. When he isn't in boss mode, he is cheerful, funny and one of the GREATS.
Bash him all you want, you're the one who looks like an idiot. You CLEARLY have never even met the man in real life, because if you had, you would be shoving your head up your ass in embarassment for all the horrible things you've said about him.
Paul will be missed on a whole different level at Cumulus. I wish him nothing but the BEST and I know he will land on his feet. Personally, I'll be jealous of the next group of people who gets to work with Paul Hosley.
You could not be more accurate in your assessment of Paul’s character. I’ve known him for close to 30 years, and he’s as good as they come.
DeleteAGREED (with 8:42am)!
ReplyDeletePeople who don't know Paul have NO CLUE what a great guy he is. He handled stress with grace and certainly treated those in his employ with respect and dignity. A great sense of humor and a good boss. He will be missed.
Spot on! Totally agree!! PAUL IS THE BEST! And deserves to be treated with all the respect that he had given his employees over the years!!!
DeleteThis is like the reviews on Yelp. The truth lies somewhere in between. He had his detractors and his friends. He had his strengths and weeknesses. The only thing that is a fact, is that Cume-u-less is a crap company.
ReplyDeleteCould the new guy in as Ops Mgr do the "right thing" that Paul Hosely wouldn't do? That being get RID of Karel, the overnight mishmash, the cooking show, God Talk, Candice DeLong and the horrible Maureen Langdon and Monty? Please? Same with getting rid of Sussman, Morgan and the other woman on KSFO in the AM. Horrid. This would be a great start to respectable revival. The news format might then have a shot to succeed without the distractions. Probably getting rid of Jared Hart wouldn't be a bad idea either.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:01PM:
ReplyDeleteBe careful, Melanie. You don't want a lawsuit on your hands over your outrageous allegations, do you?
You have every right to disagree with him, but to suggest he's a hothead who threatened you is a clear fabrication. Everyone who's ever worked with him knows it, and I'd venture to guess that most of us would testify to it under oath.
I worked at KGO for several years and I can tell you that while Paul Hosley cared about news and seemed to get along fairly well with his staff, he also had a short temper and would blow up at times. Some of the anchors used to really get tired of him texting them with criticisms during their shows, and one employee was shaking their head after Paul reamed him out on the phone, screaming at him for not doing something Paul wanted done in just the right manner. I call that 'bullying' and I think it's a bad quality to have in a manager of people.
ReplyDeleteThin skins. This is a tough business. What's wrong with demanding excellence. Lot of kudos in favor of Paul on this blog. He worked well with the sales guys. Bottom line, if u can't market the station , u can change as many pd's and nd's as u want but NEVER GROW ratings.
Deleteok, so what you're saying is paul reamed someone in your presence, or at least within ear shot. how many times do you think paul spoke to that person before he reamed him? do you think he reacted that way first time? i would find that hard to believe. anyway. he's gone. lets all wish him the best of luck landing on his feet. i believe he has a family.
DeleteSome of you have posted facts about Paul; others don’t know what they’re talking about. The only ones who know what happened are in Atlanta. But here are some real facts:
ReplyDeleteKGO Radio has been on a decline way before Cumulus or Citadel came into the picture. This decline began when it was owned by Disney. Had it not been for Mickey Luckoff, the station would have crashed a lot faster than it did. One of the earlier postings said there was no money being spent to promote the station. That is a fact. Back when the station boasted itself as being the number one station in the country, it didn’t need to promote itself. When the broadcast pie began being cut up; with other stations chasing KGO and its type of program, the station still would not spend a dime on outside advertising. This went on throughout the Disney years. But even Disney would throw a carrot every now and then. The beginning of the end came with the sale of the radio group to Citadel. The other nail was driven in when Cumulus took over. The last gasp came when the boneheads decided and implemented the abrupt change; which took place overnight, in the station’s format. Did Cumulus spend one dollar on bonafide research before making such decision, did they know what the consequences would be of such actions and where they ready to pull out a full court advertising campaign when the change came? The answer is a resounding NO! It told its loyal listeners that they didn’t care. How do you introduce a new product to the market? The best example I can give is when the credit card VISA was introduced to the East Coast. At the time, Master Card was the only game in town. What did Visa do? For almost nine months, Visa ran an ad campaign like no other. Billboards, radio, TV, newspaper, magazines. They pounded the message across with one simple phrase: “Visa is coming”. When it was introduced, everyone had to have it.
The Bay Area market is a very finicky one. It’s not Chicago, New York and certainly not LA. Too many smart people live here. You can fool some of the people some of the time in other markets! But the Bay Area won’t be fooled. Now KGO is paying the consequences! But do you know what’s even worse? The idiots in Atlanta still don’t care! Maybe its time someone challenges KGO’s license when it goes before the FCC for renewal. Just a thought!
I've done some digging regarding Cumulus and radio for a number of months, and can only come to two conclusions. One which I somewhat believe, the other I would prefer not to.
DeleteThe first is that the news format is an easy turn-key-like operation for Cumulus. It takes hirings and firings to make it work out, but at the end of the day, assuming they can get a successful format into place, a lot of the parts become replaceable. By parts I mean human beings. If they can make this work nationally then they don't have to worry about fluctuations over time. In other words, they can expect steady revenues and expected sales from their news format, where as a host driven radio station can go up and down. Cumulus is pure corporate, as is the private equity group that has funded them. Dollars and cents.
The other thought is the owners are quite conservative, and would prefer a steady stream of conservative-based programming. They see no need to prop up a singular station in a largely liberal market even if it could be successful. I find this less believable, but it seems to make some sense since KGO was more liberal in its views than most talk stations. Sometimes a corporate boss will take care of his/her "baby" if it's a cause that is close to the heart, and liberal radio could be that baby. Yet here we had a largely successful station no one wants to see continue in its former ways even though it was successful. That tells me the people making decisions don't have a personal desire to see such a format succeed because it doesn't fit with their own beliefs.
This theory is more an emotional one, so it's hard for me to put a lot of stock in it. But on some level, I do believe it. For if a left-leaning talk station was actually successful here, the argument could be made they could duplicate it successfully in other major cities like NY, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. Yet there does not seem to be a desire to even suggest such a format even in the face of what I believe is an opening.
I don't want to get too far off topic, but the Air America Radio failure seems to have created this belief that "left-leaning radio doesn't work." I find that hard to believe for a variety of reasons, but a number of people I've spoken to in the past year have made that statement as if it is fact. Very short-sighted for SO many reasons.
I agree with the above poster that there's a need to spend money in order to make money. As I mentioned when I first started posting here a number of months ago, Cumulus is pinching pennies all the way down the line, hoping to pay back their investors, I imagine. Expect little change from them for a number of years until they do so.
As for KGO, it is a very boring radio station. I know a lot of you do not like the weekend talk programming, but at the very least it is actually talk radio that is different from the syndicated drivel that dominates the medium. I don't like eating unhealthy food, but when you're starving you take what you can get.
Interesting post at 10:19 PM.
DeleteMany things I was not aware of. I can't agrue with you regarding the downward spiral started when Disney gave up the Radio Station Group. That hurt. And I think many people saw the same.