*The master plan: guillotine central including names of on-air talent you wouldn't expect. Thrasher file complete with note-by-note directive.
*Implementation of "grand master plan" coming soon. Coincides with new Cumulus SF market manager named. Pinhead alert. (We've been down this road before). New plan dubbed "SFCode911810"
*Surprise exodus of "believers" on the weekend trail.
*Karel and one other weekend worker bee fuming; possibly because they're not necessarily part of the SFCode911810 model.
*Metheney has a black book that he takes with him everywhere, including the bathroom...hey, you know he once fired someone in Chicago who was using the bathroom. Maybe there's a connection. Yeah, the ratings are in the toilet at his core facilities: KGO and KSFO.
*In that black book in the first chapter, a KEY ally and on his way to the bay: Greg Jarrett. A triple layer of theories.
*Ronn is looking over his shoulder --Sussman and the sandpaper chick on high alert.
*Paul Giamatti is in town, what a coincidence.
*Newsroom staff and even the 810 AM shill are pacing anxiously as they should be. What a bizarre world.
*Developing...
*Follow me on Twitter
Pig Virus really does look like "Dr. Evil" from the Austin Power's movies doesn't he? That smiling face may seem "kinda nice guy" but some on Hawthorne, but don't kid yourself, chillen', he'll turn like a spittin' cobra as he turns the pages one-by-one of that black book. Be ware, and thank you for your service to the cloud company.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, since Clear Channel changed (officially) it's name to iHeartMedia today for all of its radio properties (only), not to be outdone, Lew and John Dickey may now change the name of Cumulus Media to "Dark Clouds Media"
.
Say it with me: Double yah ennnnn bee cee!
ReplyDeleteIs this why Jones-Lee couold barely contain her gigging during a news break this morning?
ReplyDelete"Metheney has a black book that he takes with him everywhere"...
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a shock, a senior manager has notes that he keeps private.
If Metheny (give it up already on the "Pig" nicknames, it's old and faded) carries his black notebook everywhere, then nobody else is peeking into it, and nobody else knows what the plans actually are. And as you've written before, everything is on a "need to know" basis. So unless the people in the "need to know" camp are risking their jobs to pass along info that they may be the only one to have been told, you and your tipsters are just talking out of your asses.
ReplyDelete*Something* will happen. What and when are TBD. That's all the facts there are to go on.
Also, Greg Jarrett's been working for Bloomberg lately, so he might be coming back to The Bay to help launch their new station. Which is unlikely to be 960AM, unless they're idiots, which they're not. My guess: look for it to be on 610AM, since KSFO is taking back the right wing deadwood in a week or two, and what would be the point if the station was about to be sold or LMA'ed.
Unless the big "SFCode911810" plan is to move the whole enchilada onto KGO. Wouldn't that be fun?
Why are you posting a photo of Lee Hammer?
ReplyDeleteThey ALL look like that.
1) Rich must be excited having predicted "changes are coming" for 2.5 years. Premature blogulation.
ReplyDelete2) Rich mentioned that a "30 year employee" thinks Kevin is a great guy. There are about 2 of those in the building. Any guesses?
3) Whatever Cumulus decides to do it won't work. Top down management, threatening employees, not paying employees (late checks; some people not being paid at all), making people fear for their employment, and treating them like they're lucky to have a job, all ways to ensure a poor work environment.
Everything in this article is basically a blueprint for the way Cumulus SF treats employees. Because of it they will certainly fail in their next endeavor, unless they figure out how to do it differently.
We're talking about a company that wanted to sell off used news cars to make a budget last year.
4) I am happy to be on the outside looking in, but feel a sense of sadness for good people who have few job options in this field and market. Too bad.
CBS & Entercom are the good companies! Strange.
If the KSFO morning crapfest gets replaced I might just go back to listening to the station again. An easy, yet major improvement could be simply placing an open mic that picks up noises at the ferry building or at any street corner in SF. Oakland would be great, but probably too intense for terrestrial radio.
ReplyDeleteRumor has it that Pig Virus has consulted with the Cumulus folks in Atlanta. He is clarifying the OK (on pages 45 & 46 of the black book) to apply for new call letters at KGO. Since call letters mean nothing in the PPM ratings world (it's what the little box hears, not what you write down,) a big change.
ReplyDeleteMetheny is applying for K - N - G - O to allow training for talent to say "Kay, ENNNNNNNnnnnn - GGGGGGGG - OOoooooo. Says that if they hammer that in to the little minds of the Bay Area, they can save on jingle costs and be "distinctive" in the market.
Pig Vomit will destroy both AM stations faster than they would have died a natural death. See page 61 in the black book.
DeleteCan you say: "KKKKKK GGGGGG OOOOOO!?" Good, because if you can you might have a future working at a certain radio station in SF!
ReplyDeleteDaily AM radio is dead in SF. Give it up. The stations are populated to a vast degree with zombies and characters from a Comac McCarthy novel. That is not to diminish or insult the talent and experience of those who have managed to hang on for decades, but those few are nearing the end of their careers and there is no one coming up behind them in the minor leagues. The farm system in radio no longer exists. The small stations where today's senior talent trained are now equipment racks repeating impersonal corporate group broadcasts via satellite.
ReplyDeleteThere is still an occasional audience for live sports, traffic (for the declining numbers of those relying on limited and typically outdated announcements), and the valuable breaking news coverage of fires, floods and earthquakes (assuming, as we learned to our detriment during the Napa quake, that a station has anyone on duty.) But what station has an identity to capture and hold listener habit? Is habit still an achievable road to success?
Sorry, but I don't have the answer. If I did, I'd be posting this from under a palm tree in Tahiti. Or maybe, if anyone knew the answer, everyone would be doing it. I do know that anyone who comes along and promises to make a station number one in six months would be hanged as a horse thief in previous era.
If the secret black book does not generate dollars, it does not make sense.
ReplyDelete