Jack Swanson may have had a two-year plan to assist KCBS after Ed Cavagnaro was sort of told to take a hike, sure sounds reasonable. But Swanson was having a great time; not much pressure running a legacy station whose ratings were solid; who had terrific reporters; a tight format with virtually no competition; the CBS brand; and a very generous six-figure income to boot.Why would anyone want to leave that?
Swanson, a respected, veteran, hands-on manager took the position at KCBS when there was no mention of a company like Entercom taking over the CBS stations. There were rumors that CBS was intent on selling its radio division to pay for some of its non, less-profitable, divisions but it was only a rumor. Moreover, the thought of KCBS being sold was unfathomable; a successful station that was profitable to the tune of making millions of dollars and maintaining its solid news footing in the country's 4th-largest radio market.
Again, I ask: who'd want to leave that?!
Jack Swanson had it all. In addition, he hired almost ten more air talents from KGO, where he was the boss for over three decades; FACTIOD: there's NO WAY Swanson would have scrapped protocol and hire a bunch of KGO voices (full-time no less) if he was planning on quitting --less than three weeks no less. It would have looked tacky and Swanson doesn't play that game.
Another thing: Swanson's departure was leaked to me via an internal memo (which you saw Tuesday here); if Jack was leaving legit there would have been a press release issued more than a month ago. And Swanson would not have reacted the manner in which he did which was posting a sweet nothing on Facebook.
This is not an onerous affair. I want to emphasize that I like and respect Jack Swanson but I'm not going to run the company line. Already some of the kiss-butts at KCBS are spinning this as presented and it's simply not true. THE BS Meter is off the chart and 415 Media won't be a part of it. You want the press release news then stay tuned KCBS will put out the bull; you want the real story you just read it.
Anybody else hear Ethan Bearman's producer Crissy's, ignorant statements about the Asian man who got kicked off the United plane at the end of the 1pm hour today? "He was Asian and probably didn't understand the police..."
ReplyDeleteJack was the perfect unknowing decoy brought in to run cover, and make it look like everything was just fine.
ReplyDeleteJack was used...
And he knows he was used.
But he took the money anyway, and if you think Jack didn't have a single clue about the pending deal than Jack must be living in unicorn land....right?
"FACTIOD: there's NO WAY Swanson would have scrapped protocol and hire a bunch of KGO voices (full-time no less) if he was planning on quitting --"
ReplyDeleteNo Rich, he made sure to take care of many of his former employees before he left BECAUSE his two years was ending.
Much like last minute pardons and executive orders the last days of a presidency.
I've been listening to KGO overnight and still hearing Bachelor. The rest of their lineup is absolutely intolerable. I'm gonna buy a WiFi clock radio instead. Not cheap.
ReplyDeleteThere's probably a lot that no one really knows about the Jack Swanson situation. My guess is that Jack knew he might get let go after the merger, so maybe he gets some kind of retirement benefits this way from CBS, and the merger agreement calls for Entercom to retain full benefits for previous CBS employees. This, too, is mere speculation, but the real story might be something we don't know, similar to this. It's usually about $ in some way.
ReplyDeleteOf course he's leaving. It's no "shocker." He signed on for two years, he gave them two years. The guy is over 70. The company is changing hands. New management is coming in. He's barely ever in the newsroom and is mostly hands-off the daily content. Why should he stick around? Everyone knew he would leave in 2017. Hardly an earthquake.
ReplyDeleteAnd he stocked the station with people he likes as his legacy there. No surprise.
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