Friday, July 15, 2016

Some Cumulus/KNBR Underlings are Talking Strike

 Some of the underpaid staffers at KNBR/Cumulus are talking about a one-day strike --probably timed when the Giants come home--knowing how most of these things go down, chances are this display won't be effective as Cumulus has all the leverage but good luck, boys and girls...

21 comments:

  1. SO I READ THIS....Producer Ryan Covay said, “We love this community, we love this radio station and we love our jobs. Unfortunately, the powers that be at Cumulus know how much we love our jobs and they use that against us. I was started at minimum wage. I’ve never received a raise or vacation pay. I have never received a day of holiday pay. The only pay increase I have received was the mandatory bump to the San Francisco minimum wage.”
    YOU TOOK A MINIMUM WAGE JOB! WHERE ELSE DO YOU GET A RAISE AT A MINIMUM WAGE JOB OR A VACATION FOR THAT MATTER? YOU DON'T! IT'S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT. GOOD LUCK WITH THE STRIKE. I KNOW SOME KIDS LOOKING FOR COLLEGE CREDITS AND THEY WILL PUSH YOUR BUTTONS FOR FREE.

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  2. Career suicide (if you want to call being a board op or "producer" a career). No one will touch these people after this. What company would want to hire these nitwits and risk them doing the same thing to their company? They have been branded as trouble makers. All of them. There is no sympathy for clowns like this in corporate America. And that is what Radio, TV, Cable and Web is today.

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  3. I have an idea. Have camera's there to record Radnich and Lund and Kruger and all the rest drive right through the line into the KNBR parking area.
    THAT'S real. THAT gets on air people and execs to pay attention. Being filmed being anti union. The pay discrepancy is so huge,I think they have a chance.
    Fight fire with fire.

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    1. Not a bad idea.
      The sight of crossing the picket line is very powerful.

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  4. I hear that the broadcast and journalism departments at Chabot College have been notified and are standing by with backup board operators and call screeners.

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  5. Also-95.7 has had some major problems with their electronics.
    It gives you an idea what KNBR would sound like with no music,no bumpers,no..all the rest.
    Guys in a room mumbling..that's what it sounds like.

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  6. They better be ready to call their own bluff and be willing to relocate.

    Or read up on what Reagan did to air traffic controllers and REAL-IZE their place in the pecking order of the jobs in this world.

    I'm with 'em in spirit, but I'd bet the suits are more than happy to live with rookie growing pains of a new staff if these guys are willing to walk the plank.

    Ought not be that way, but...

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    1. This has always been the argument of the owners in broadcasting, there's ten of you out there. Truth is, there isn't. Young folk have zero interest in working in radio and only a little in TV. If you have the skill set to work in broadcasting, you can easily get a tech social media gig that pays more. A nice strike would teach Cumulus this very important lesson. I know this for a fact, because as an older broadcaster I know it was increasingly difficult to find skilled broadcasters who were willing to work in the smaller markets to work in the bigger markets as we once did. Cumulus needs to see what happens when all of their off-air people walk during a Giant's game and the managers have to try and run the board by themselves. Like all union actions it means they have to march out together and really push it to the wall. If they can't get to a full strike then a sick out will work as well.

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  7. Oh trust me, there will be problems. I'll see to it.

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  8. It's really hard to care for these guy's cause. All of them could get higher paying jobs in a heartbeat, but they want to be in radio. Radio doesn't pay unless you're "talent", and even then the money isn't great. These guys knew what they signed up for, no one is holding them hostage. These aren't coal mines are auto makers. They're working in an area where they could roll out of bed and find a job paying more. You want to work in sports, but you can't play that sports, then you better be the .0001% who is a GM, broadcaster, business leader, etc.

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  9. Hey guys,
    Why would you threaten to strike for 1 day?
    Now the Bozo's will have some stollp already trained to replace you for the day.
    Ya gotta hit them when they don't expect it.

    Get up and walk out right in the middle of raddys act, or whatever morning porrage KNBR spews.
    None of you will be there next year anyway...presuming your folks kick you out and you want a girlfriend.

    Remember the ABC Lockout.

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  10. KNBR is a joke all the way around.

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  11. They were fine men, with many friends. They will be missed.

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  12. This is an example of beating your head against a brick wall. Why are they so passionate about being able to suck Radnich's schlong and kissing Tolbert's ass? They're not that good. Apparently, these producers have zero self-respect for themselves. Can't you idiots see the writing on the wall? Watch management pull a Ronald Reagan and fire all of them like Reagan did to the air traffic controllers when they went on strike years ago. Management will turn this into a media event and audition for producers or go to SF State or CCSF and find broadcasting students jonesing for a chance like this.

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  13. You gotta love the corporate trolls here who blame the messenger, instead of a piece of shit penny company. It's about comparison. Workers, it sounds like, at KNBR are being under paid even by Cumulus standards vis a vis other workers in Cumulus' own SF cluster.

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  14. Where is SEIU?
    That clown outfit is noting but a bunch of talk. No action.
    If anybody needed their help it is over at KNBR.

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  15. Where is the labor movement here in the heavily Democratic bay area?
    As someone else suggested, the major unions are conspicuous by their absence.
    Labor, stand-up and be counted!

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    1. True. A strike isn't ten men in a row boat. Its other unions not crossing the line..electricians,plumbers,UPS comes to mind-wink.
      Cumulus gave in to Ralph not because they cared,but because of the huge negative publicity. The squeaky wheel gets the oil is true.
      You know, if KNBR people wrote KNBR sponsors- maybe anonymously- that they will not buy those products? More ears will hear then they think!

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  16. Cumullus will NEVER negotiate seriously with these dweebs. Most of them came straight out of college with little or NO professional broadcast experience, and got to work at a major market station. If they want to be paid better wages, they should either go to a union station that pays union wages, or leave town and try somewhere else. Cumullus hates the union, and they've done everything to try to eliminate its influence. Their mass firing of virtually the entire KGO new staff is evidence of that. After an ill-advised attempt to improve ratings and challenge KCBS with an all news format which failed miserably in the ratings, they decided to save money and hire a few talk show hosts, keep only a few sorry "we're happy to have jobs" news people, and go the way of most of the rest of their affiliates. Their higher ups in SF are ridiculous. Justin Whitmire is a tool. Lee Hammer is a joke, and Cumullus is truly worst of the predatory radio companies. Looking forward to when they declare bankruptcy, which can't come soon enough!

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    1. Cumulus San Francisco goes through market managers like a Chipotle burrito goes through me 2 hours after eating one. Do you really think Whitmire will be in the corner office in 6 months? As for Hammer, the guy doesn't make any money and is just a yes man. So he'll be there as long as he keeps brown nosing. If there is a strike, Hammer will be running the board. That will be hilarious. And as for the "dweebs" who thought it was a good idea to start a union at 750 Battery, I hope they hold on to their minimum wage jobs there because not one station will hire these instigators after this. Their names are all over the internet. This will follow them for their entire lives. The internet is forever. This is worse than your potential employer finding pics of you on Facebook taking bong hits. No company wants someone who is a shit starter.

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  17. Also- Does on air KNBR staff- and the infamous Lee Hammer want YOUTUBE vids of them blowing past a picket line? Vids of Krueger in his new Pacifica being anti union wont make the Auto company too happy. Especially if KNBR staff wrote to the company,etc,etc,etc.
    The contrast between those fine Euro cars and a cut edit to the 14 year long toiling producer's Ford Escort..might really make the on air people look greedy.
    Or maybe they just have a bicycle.

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