A DEEPLY CLASSIFIED TWO-DAY BRIEFING OF CUMULUS HIGH EXECS IN SF LATE LAST WEEK, 415 MEDIA LEARNS
On Thursday and Friday of last week, Cumulus Media execs from NY and Atlanta met secretly in SF at Nob Hill's Fairmont Hotel, a meeting so secret even Cumulus officials here; top market managers; top broadcasting officials; top program directors; had no idea of the meetings and more importantly, were never told by the company that they were coming to the city for such a summit.
415 Media confirmed through several contacts that the meetings were held at a private location off the hotel where the execs stayed to maximize "ultimate secrecy" and keep the two-day enclave as confidential as possible.
The powerful high suits; 3 men and 3 women, 415 Media has learned, stayed at the Fairmont Hotel and left SFO early Saturday morning on direct flights to both Atlanta and NY.
What was discussed? "Everything was on the board.," said a veteran broadcast official here directly to 415 Media.
"This was NOTHING (contact's CAPS) routine and everything was on the table." Like what I asked?
"They wanted to know why KGO was still lagging and coming in with such awful numbers--not just radio ratings but the advertising dollars too (or lack of).
The source continued: "It wasn't just a KGO thing. They looked at ALL the stations and were concerned about all the bucks, every buck, from advertising to talent compensation and management allowance too. NO buck was left unaudited."
The easiest guess at first is that Cumulus' BK status makes something like this quite expected and not so unusual and that several of these secret meetings are a dime a dozen. Not likely here.
A KGO source told me directly that while the 810 AM news-talk outlet is performing as well as any station would and could under the circumstances, the absolute crack in its financials is deemed "outright unbelievable" --translation: even cash-strapped Cumulus and its pathetic budgetary actions is DUMBFOUNDED by KGO's plight.
KNBR didn't fare well either in spite of its overall fiscal health due in large part to its Giants and 49ers clientele but curiously, the numbers were not as vast as one would think.
The source: "KNBR is basically paying for KGO and KSFO but it ends up nearly making KNBR lose money and from a Cumulus standpoint, that can't happen."
Which might best explain why KNBR bit the head off KFOG earlier in the month and became KNBR-FM. Only in the short term, that ain't helping matters.
And it wasn't only money on the agenda during the two-day meeting so much more which I will EXPOSE soon.
*DEVELOPING STORY..
415 Media Tuesday 4: 01 PT
James Gabbert should look at KFOG-FM & KFOG-AM for purchase.
ReplyDeleteDump the KGO outlet, unless it's for pennies or free.
James Gabbert should bring back Aunt Ruby’s in San Rafael. Definitely some memories there.
ReplyDeleteThey wonder why kgo isn't performing? It's their own fault for ruining the station originally 7 years ago and then changing to "the next generation" crap several years ago then last March going, finally, to a format somewhat resembling the old kgo. Such mis-use and neglect of a legacy station and inept operation of the entire company and these accountant drones still don't have a clue? That's why scumulus is the way it is.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Cumulus Radio Sales concentrates almost exclusively on big agency ad buys. NOBODY is scrubbing the pavement locally to sell advertising to local businesses, even within SF let alone the station's larger coverage areas. If you listen to the ads that are on the air, they are all big companies -- mortgages, medical products, skeevy language-learning apps, dubious investment schemes, harry's razors, and stuff like that. Cumulus has literally lost the art of building a local audience and then selling that audience to an appropriate set of advertisers. This is a large part of why they're failing financially, regardless of the ratings. Ironically, ratings have less meaning in local advertising sales, whereas the big agencies will pay less -- or decline to buy -- if you can't show good ratings.
ReplyDelete3 suits and 3 skirts = a hell of a good time.
ReplyDelete"James Gabbert should bring back the Circle Star Theater, Playland and Sutro Baths!!"
ReplyDeleteC'mon people. Be rational.
KGO should just go to an all Guamanian 24/7 cooking and lawn bowling format, it would improve their numbers by leaps and bounds.
ReplyDelete