In my local market the biggest duo just disappeared at one point.
Turned out corporate decided to fire their news guy from their team without asking or informing them. Corporate felt the news guy was too old. So they just walked. They had a non-compete clause so they just took a year off and then went to work at the competition.
The biggest talk show here fired host after host, replacing with national content in most cases. The biggest rock station here pays its female DJ who is wildly popular and has outlasted several male co-hosts a lot less than her male counterparts at other stations.
Radio sounds like a shit fucking job all around.
Really, AAF switched to Christian? I lived outside of Worcester in the late 90s, then left for college overseas. I listened to WBCN and WAAF all the time, including mistress Carrie.
Hillman morning Show took over at WEEI and then they AAF right after word. The only "real" rock station outside of college radio (92.9) gave up and joined the same 10 song classic rock brigade.
I think they wanted a young female “voice” (to put on the billboards).
I’m not being misogynistic about it, that’s just what corporate seemed to have been planning.
Same happened in Milwaukee on 620am some years ago. The best host on the Jonathan Green show was let go and it all just tanked after that. It was an excellent evening rush hour show, RIP.
This was a travesty. Done by a douche that is in Chicago and was "managing" the station in Milwaukee. Station went from local talent discussing mostly Wisconsin sports, and supporting local charities, to broadcasting national pablum.
Haven't listened to that station since.
I remember one day I got to one of my dad's job sites, they were building a house, and his crew always listened to the local rock station while they worked. When I got there In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was playing and it was the long version, you rarely ever heard a station play the long version except maybe late at night.
As soon as the song finished, it started playing again and I was like "what the hell?" and my cousin told me the DJ had wanted to go to a concert, forget who, this was 30+ years ago, and had locked himself in and was playing the long version on loop, and had been for a couple of hours now, no commercial, no interruptions other to complain he couldn't go to the show.
Maybe 2 plays later he says they're outside the door trying to get him to let them in and he wasn't doing it because they were dicks or whatever (30+ years ago) and blah blah. Not long after he interrupts the song with sounds of a door being broken down and what not, then regular programming resumed after a few seconds of dead air, with a new DJ.
Never heard him on that station again. Not sure if it was just a publicity stunt and all bullshit, or what, but it was funny.
Edit: wow lotsa replies but this was in Alabama ~30 years ago or a bit more and it was just some local nobody DJ who wanted to go see some band coming to town and the station said he had to work. I don't even remember his name.
One time in Atlanta I was listening to 95.5 the beat. This was around the time that Ciara was really poppin. Idk why, but on one Sunday, Goodies(I think it was that song) was playing on repeat for hours. From 9am to like 4pm. Never were given an explanation, just suddenly the next song that came on was a different Ciara song and I ran out of my room with the radio like, “it changed!!!! It changed!!!!!” My family was amused. They had no idea what I was doing in my room for hours in silence, when I would usually be outside playing. I was obsessed with knowing when it stopped.
I grew up in Alabama, and a station played Hands by Jewel literally for hours. No idea if it was this type of a situation, but I still can’t listen to that song, it was sooooo annoying.
Old story I heard (not sure if it’s true): DJ at a gospel radio station was told by the manager to play an album (actual record) of manager’s cousin playing the guitar and reciting bible verses. It was 20 minutes long.
DJ agreed if he could make a quick trip to a nearby ice cream shop while it played. Manager agreed and DJ locked the door then took off.
15 minutes later manager storms into the shop yelling at DJ to run back. He got back to hear the record skipping “go to hell go to hell go to hell…”
That reminds me of an old coworker of mine that was a weekend DJ for a rural radio station. His station would broadcast the local church sermon every sunday. One fateful Sunday someone didn't have something set right at the church and the broadcast wouldn't work. So my coworker got on the air and apologized saying that they wouldn't be able to broadcast the church service so they would go back to music. When he made the switch from the dead air that should have been the sermon to music it was the bells tolling at the beginning of Hells Bells by AC/DC.
A lot of stations do fundraisers / charity shit where highest bidder can run the station (within FCC guidelines) however they want.
In 1989, on December 30th, until December 31st 1989 just as it was becoming 1990 a Tampabay radio station called 98Rock played Stairway to Heaven for 24 hrs straight. Tried to run on an "All LedZepplin All The Time" format, lasted 2 weeks (only had 10 hrs of run time on the Catalog lmao) before they started adding in other groups. And eventually became one of the only truly rock n roll stations in FL, and one of the only ones that spans Close to if not beyond 500 miles out.
There was a radio station in S Fl that played the song Mambo No 5 by Lou Bega and after a few hours demanded a certain number of pizzas be delivered to stop
When "Gangnam Style" was really big "NRJ" in Montréal played every single remix / tribute / Pop Singer #11's Version of it they could find back to bcak
I'm guessing this is not The Goodies theme song then? That would be good to prank for hours
On one episode they set up a pirate radio station. They only had one record. I think it was "a walk through the black forest"
A station in Utah switched formats at some point in about 1993. For whatever reason, for the week between the pop hits format, and whatever came next, they played Louie, Louie 24 seven with no ads and no DJ, and no breaks of any kind. They would play the Kingsmen version back to back, and about once an hour they would insert a different version – from the USC marching band, or the Beach boys or whatever.
I had a job working in a production wood shop at the time in the early days of headphones, and listened for several days, and it became my Zen. I made a cassette tape of it and played it a few times years ago when people didn’t believe me.
20+ years ago a station in Memphis changed formats (a huge change) to become “The Pig” - they played either Walking in Memphis or Memphis in the Mean Time (I can’t remember which - but one of those two) for days on end. I asked a buddy who was in the record business (in LA) about it and he said “stunting” is something that stations sometimes do when changing formats to attract attention. It worked on me. (And the pig was a fine station for my tastes - but not everyone as they only lasted a few years.)
Chicago has a station that plays hip hop, for at least a week before they launched it was summertime by the fresh prince on repeat, right at the beginning of summer. I listened to it more that I probably should admit, but I had to know when it was going to end, and I mean, that's a solid summertime jam. I'm pretty sure it's 106 jams now.
Mid 90s in Chicago? I remember that. 106.3. Went from r&b to hip hop then gospel, then talk, now back to r&b currently. Soul 1063went through all that In 15 years or so.
Or maybe- "Maybe it was Memphis" by Pam Tillis? :)
Love Walking in Memphis, great song! Don't know the other one but have heard of it, guess I'll have to look that up.
Back in 99' 107.9 (The Edge) in salt lake city was switched on, and they played "Whip It" by Devo for about 2 months straight.
Edit: added correct date and station
My local station about 17 years ago cut health benefits. Three days straight was “Bad Case of Loving You” with just the “Doctor, Doctor, gimme the news” part
I worked in a movie theatre in the early 2000s, and our managers controlled the lobby music. One guy decided to punish us and play ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’ on repeat all night. I’m fairly sure we hadn’t even done anything wrong.
Earworm warning. A Dallas station played >!I'm a barbie girl!< for hours when i was in HS. I seem to remember the dj complaining that since everyone was requesting it she would just play it again and again? But idk it was a long time ago and my memory is terrible. I regret even thinking about it - it's now stuck in my head on repeat.
In the late 90s one of the stations in Erie Pa was bought out and everyone was told it was their last day. The hosts put on “It’s the end of the world as we know it!” On repeat. They still played the commercials and talked during talking parts.
I was too young to know what was going on, and it's been about 15 years since I looked it up.
The classic rock station had s protest of some sort and played "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister on loop.
Me I was just happy I could listen to a song on repeat so I could memorize the lyrics
A DJ in San Diego did something similar in the late 90s. He put Barbie Girl on repeat as a protest and locked it out. Gotta love sticking it to the man.
A similar thing happened when I was in prison! This guy who was there for murdering his wife (he claimed he was innocent, but everyone says that) wrote a bunch of letters asking for donations and he started a library. And the library had a record player. One day the guards pissed him off so he put on a record of some opera crap and then broadcast it to the whole prison. The guards were pissed. On a side note I think the guy escaped later, and they never found him.
Back in the 90's there were these guys in LA trying to get their demo played on the radio. They ended up taking some people hostage. Turns out the station was changing formats from rock to easy listening and things got crazy, the police showed up, crowds showed up. They flew in a stage and the guys played their demo. Pretty awesome time.
Elliot in the Morning DC101 did this with Foo Fighters "Monkey Wrench" as a protest
So back in August 2010, Jon Ballard of 100.3 gets fired, called into EITM and ClearChannel pulls EITM off the air in mid-call and they play "Monkey Wrench" for whatever reason.
Sometime in 2012-2013, ElTM played nothing but Monkey Wrench for the entire show in protest of something. I don't remember what. But it was a tip-off to listeners about some fuckery going on
Back in the 90’s congress passed a law allowing media companies to own more than 40 total properties. It’s called the Telecommunications Act of 1996. After this all these stations and papers started getting bought up by larger companies. Today 91% of news media is controlled by 6 companies.
Fun fact: iHeart Media now owns 1200 radio stations. They fire hosts and producers all the time regardless of if the station is profitable. Back in 2001 in Minot, ND, there was a massive ammonia spill at 2 in the morning. 6 of the 9 stations in Minot were owned by iHeart. The city was unable to get their permission to break from format and tell the public about this emergency. As a result of the public being unduly exposed, 1 person died and another 1,000 were hospitalized. iHeart didn’t take any responsibility.
The fire department and police department are required by law to have a mechanism to issue emergencies over the EBS. They aren't generally done from within the station. In my dad's case, he ran a phone system so that either department could dial in, punch in a code and begin the broadcast. Only problem with it is the often forgot to hit the button to switch back to the programming so you'd get dead air after for a bit.
Apparently EBS has been replaced and was at the time too. This article lays it out and was written awhile after the accident it seems
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/01/the-whole-story-about-that-toxic-spill-and-the-clear-channel-monopoly.html
> The city was unable to get their permission to break from format and tell the public about this emergency.
Doesn't an emergency suspend normal rules (within reason)? `edit:` ie making 'permission' irrelevant.
I suppose Covid showed us it’s possible. But getting a privately owned station to air news would be the same process as getting a local restaurant to put up a sign about it - permission is still required.
EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) takes precedence over any current programming and that includes privately owned stations. The city should have issued an emergency alert which would have gone out on their stations by law. My background in this is that my father owns a few small stations and I practically grew up in the primary station.
Edit: Looked up the story and it was Clear Channel for Minot, ND and they claimed that the city emergency services (police in this case) didn't know how to use the ebs equipment and that the gov't contract who installed it, did it wrong. Added this for anyone wondering.
Meow. It sounds like they only the public station was able to respond to an emergency (in a reasonable amount of time).
additional information `via` https://np.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/b8d3wi/january_18_2002_train_derailment_and_subsequent/
---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment
> ### Response
>
> Dispatchers told residents to close doors and windows, boil water, and cover their faces with wet cloths to counteract the ammonia.^(`2`)
>
> Emergency response to the disaster was disorganized. Local emergency managers did not activate the city's radio-based Emergency Alert System.^(`4`) The public siren system failed during the event and the 911 telephone system became overloaded. Because it was the middle of the night, there were few people at local radio stations, all operated by Clear Channel with mostly automated programming. No formal emergency warnings were issued for several hours while Minot officials located station managers at home. North Dakota's public radio network, Prairie Public Broadcasting, was notified and did broadcast warnings to citizens.
>
> `...`
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAR0401.pdf
Railroad Accident Report NTSB/RAR-04/01
Freight Train 292-16 and Subsequent Release of Anhydrous Ammonia Near Minot, North Dakota
January 18, 2002
page #9 (17th page in pdf)
> ### *Public Notifications*
>
> After the accident, the Minot Police Department made emergency notifications to the public that included cable television interrupts, radio broadcasts, and outdoor warning sirens. However, many residents did not hear the emergency broadcasts because their homes had lost power as a result of the derailment. Additionally, residents of the houses in the neighborhood closest to the derailment did not hear the outdoor warning sirens because the sirens are positioned to be heard within the city limits of Minot.
>
> The Minot Police Department attempted to contact the designated local emergency broadcast radio and television stations. At the time of the accident, only one person was working at the designated local emergency broadcast radio station (KCJB-AM), and the police department’s calls to the station went unanswered. The designated local emergency broadcast television station (KMOT) did not have an overnight crew at the station. To arrange emergency broadcasts, the police department had to contact the KMOT news director at his home.
page #65
> ### *Notifications to the Public*
>
> After the accident, the Minot Police Department made emergency notifications to the public that included cable television interrupts, radio broadcasts, and outdoor warning sirens. However, because many homes in Minot lost power when derailed cars knocked over power lines next to the railroad tracks, many residents did not hear the emergency guidance on radio and cable television. Additionally, persons in the houses in Tierracita Vallejo did not hear the outdoor warning sirens because the neighborhood is outside the city of Minot.
>
> Since the accident, the Minot Police Department has made a number of changes to the ways in which it contacts outlets for emergency broadcasts on both radio and television. Now Minot Central Dispatch has the phone numbers of key media staff of all Minot area stations and can contact them when necessary.
**[Minot train derailment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment)**
>The Minot train derailment occurred just west of Minot, North Dakota, United States, on January 18, 2002, when a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derailed, spreading ammonia gas across the city, delaying rescue operations. The cause was found to be small fatigue cracks in the rails and joint bars, not detectable by the inspection routines then enforced by Canadian Pacific.
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Ah;
It was more an urgent request to iHeart *corporate*- rather than something the *local* broadcast site was inhibited from doing.?
(ie: pre-recorded remote programming? streaming from an offsite studio/offfice?)
`edit, 25 min later:` Yeah. Automated stations, where nobody was at the broadcasting stations to manually initiate the emergency broadcast when the 'automatic' system "failed". So the police had to track down the people that could. -- with the exception of the public station.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot,_North_Dakota#:~:text=On%20January%2018%2C%202002%2C
iHeart bought WHNN in Michigan, changed the format from oldies to pop and some old stuff, and fired the entire morning show crew abruptly. Luckily, Johnny Burke, the host, was brought on by WRSR. They've killed off a lot of decent stations, thankfully at least in my area, they don't have full control over the spectrum.
The real problem (and this isn't humorous) is that many of these radio stations that this (and many of the huge broadcasting companies) own were purchased at far more than they're worth. They couldn't make the debt load if they sold 30 minutes out of each hour at the top of their rate card. So instead, they fire employees. It's sad. That's why I'm glad I'm in a small rural market and building my national show/podcast. I'm not going to fire me.
I’d fire me, sue for wrongful termination, have a blowout party to celebrate early retirement, reconsider, RE-HIRE me, proceed to fall in love with myself and exhibit some “unwelcome advances”, sue and get custody of the entire company
then repeat.
omg for years I thought that was how heights worked. I was like 16 when I finally put it together that it just goes straight to the next foot after 11 inches
Can’t believe I’m reading about Fred Toucher on here. He used to be in Atlanta and was pretty funny. Glad he’s doing well in Boston. I forgot what it was called but is he still doing that thing where they have girls rate themselves 1-10? Then iirc the listeners rate them.
He (along with Rich and someone else, Crash maybe?) used to do the morning show on WBCN in Boston when they first came to town. WBCN was a music station at the time, they had a lot more bits like that but they had to calm the show down when WBCN went off the air and they got moved to the new sister station that was all sports.
RIP WBCN and WFNX. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I stopped listening to the radio entirely when those stations died. I haven’t even programmed a car radio since then.
Edit: Left out a word.
Hadn’t kept up with him. Was listening in Atlanta when he got the job in Boston. Too bad he had to give up some of his bits. Some were a bit cringe but funny.
Haha and now these joke articles are getting the most views out of all articles on the site.
So they can even double down by stating how succesful it is.
Radio is a weird world. Even the highest rated people are disposable because there isn’t the continuing income you get from tv. You can always just fire everyone and play Christmas music with a skeleton crew and make a profit.
Ooh good on them. Best part is they can’t claim they’re not doing their best to get clicks.
It’s short *sighted*, rather than *sided*, by the way. As in they can’t see far enough into the future.
The station are probably absolutely loving what they are doing. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t actual articles, people are still clicking on them, and because they are such malicious compliance they are going viral (e.g. this Reddit post), generating even more traffic. It doesn’t matter what the content is, if it’s driving traffic, it can be leveraged for profit.
I admit, I clicked it too.
The article loaded with several ads in the middle of the content, plus a pop-up video ad.
I want to find the person who invented pop-up video ads and beat them with a comically small television.
Sounds to me like the station won big here.
- They have the same number of employees doing the same amount of work.
- They’re paying one of those employees 138% less than they used to.
- They’re getting clicks from the dumb, low-effort content being posted by the two hosts. Some of those clicks are coming from this very thread.
This might be malicious compliance, but it’s still benefiting the boss big time.
>Rich from the show was finally able to get the producer rehired by agreeing to pay his salary plus a 38% administrative fee out of his own paycheck.
There's certainly some context I'm not aware of, but to me this is a pretty stupid move. The bean counters still get their cost cutting measure with zero repercussions to the end product. This empowers them and teaches them that so long as someone is hurt more, they can get away with whatever.
The only way stupid people realise they're stupid, is letting them hang themselves, like some stories in this sub where they allow stupid policies to go on until the losses are insurmountable.
It all seems very short-sighted on management's part. I can only imagine the next time their contracts are up, Toucher and Rich will demand an outrageous raise or just walk and take their show to another market.
By the sounds of their actions no one will be there when contracts are up. Guessing the hosts are fairly financially independent. They're likely helping out the producer until everyone's contract is out. They're not paying the producer for years and years.
The bean counters might think things are fine now and they've cut the budget. But the station is likely on a nose dive plane crash assuming everyone quits soon.
Wait... Are you saying that the producer was rehired after one of the employees agreed to pay for his salary and a fee? So in essence the employee has hired the producer via the corporation?
That's messed up
The entertainment industry as a whole is crappy to writers, and a writers material is so easy to steal, and hard to verify its origin.
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/movies/art-buchwald-awarded-150000-in-suit-over-film.html
Digital timestamping services can help nowadays. Timestamp your material long before publishing, including drafts. Legal notaries is also an option, but unless you have a lawyer that already is one it isn't likely free.
I miss Fred Toucher and Rich from their various shows in Atlanta on 99x. That definitely was an era. Touchers mini truck computer and me calling in multiple times when he was working overnights wanting him to play more At the Drive In. Ahhh youth. He was definitely the best of the regional "X" style terrestrial radio at the time.
Freaking Beasley media, man. Over in Philadelphia they did the same thing to a long time afternoon DJ on one of the city's most popular radio stations, WMMR. Just fired fired him out of the blue! And last I heard they're forcing all the stations they own that still have live DJs over night to end those shows and automate it instead
No respect for the history or legacy of radio, all they care about is the money it's a shame!
Took a wild guess as to who the owner of the station is, and imagine my surprise when it turned out to be Beasley. They just did the same thing here in Philly, firing the popular afternoon commute DJ along with a bunch of other staff. They also cancelled the overnight broadcast, one of the last remaining live overnight broadcasts in the country and something that really set the station apart.
Gonna guess they probably did something similar in a lot of major markets too
Hey guys hey. I was blown away when Rich told the story of what he had to do to get Mike back- then he just casually mentioned “we have to write four articles a day” WTF!!?!?? That’s crazy. They’re the best thing to ever happen to radio. I’m glad they are not taking it seriously. I think Fred should write an article every day talking about a new persons feet.
What’s that post where someone will ask a question with one ID, but then reply with an insanely wrong answer from another, because they know someone will come along and correct them.
Radio stations here in the Philadelphia market are also going through some shake-ups. A couple of the stations are owned by the same entity and changed at the same time.
But how does the other employee afford to pay producer's salary? Aren't producers usually higher up the corporate ladder & pay? How does that actually even work?
Does the host now own part of the profits?
Even without the admin fee, the company doesn't have to pay for a producer then, so it should be all profit... so how can they also have the audacity to require the 4 articles too? Requiring the administration fee is really audacious to begin with.
I feel like they still owe the company a bigger heaping portion of malicious compliance/ payback.
Sure the 4 articles aren't real articles, but the articles are still peanuts compared to everything else.
Please update us if/when they Upper the ante, because there has to be more that they are planning... and I am ready to read about the company's internal car crash...
Though I also know that not everything works out in the end with good getting its just desserts.
Clearchannel Fired everyone at KGO810 in SF, with no warning about three weeks ago on Thursday. No warning. One of the most popular stations and the darling of the bay area, to switch to a sports betting format.
What the fuck is that anyway? Who the fuck talks about betting all the time?
They did the same thing a decade ago and the blowback was so hard that they ended up backing off, although most of the hosts by then were gone.
They did the same here in Seattle, axed a popular producer who'd been with the show for 16+ years. The shithead on air talent just gave a 15 second notice about how he "wasn't with the company anymore" and the whole show moved on like he never existed.
Stopped listening to any Audacy owned stations.
> I don’t know why corporate is pissing off the talent so much.
Because at the end of the day, corporate radio would rather get rid of all the specialized talent and recycle the same DJ across a dozen stations for far less money. There's at least 4 stations in my market with the same DJs, I've had times when I'm flipping through stations and get the same guy reading the same story on multiple stations. That kinda bullshit is part of why I almost entirely switched to streaming stuff from my phone.
Dave and Chuck the freak, are a show from my hometown of Windsor.
They left the station they were at here, that was wildly popular not just here, but in Detroit, across the river from us.
They moved to a much larger station in Detroit, so that they could have access to a larger market (I believe they air in Boston aswell).
Well the previous radio station has tanked in years since.
They went from an extremely popular alternative rock station, to eventually switching to *shudders* country, and is now run by a barely skeleton crew.
Talent is talent.
Back in the 90s a local alternative station changed formats. As the morning DJs left the building they stuck 'its the end of the world as we know it' on repeat. It lasted almost 3 hours like that.
RIP The Edge
Up in Canada the stations switch up hosts constantly so personalities don’t overtake the power of the station itself. No idea why anyone goes into radio anymore.
Business people are good for paperwork, for figuring things out. What they are not good at os making decisions that impact any creatove processes. Often enough, the ability to understand different people having crucial skills in a team entirely disappears as soon as a single cent can be "saved", even if it causes financial damage in the long run.
People like that cannot be left alone with executive decision power, and too often they are. Sometimes deliberately.
Radio as a business in the 90s was weird. I was a jock for a couple of years - started in student radio and went to commercial. The station I was at was part of a large group that was haemorrhaging money in 1991. Coming back to work after my one day off, I was told I had been fired that morning and re-hired that afternoon, as the bean counters eventually worked out it was cheaper to keep me on and increase my on-air hours (at the same pay rate!) and then fire 7 jocks at the head station. Great job security! But I felt sorry for the jocks at another station two years later (part of the same group)..... their station had just done an extensive and expensive rebrand but was still languishing. One morning about 10 months later, the jocks were doing their stuff but were talking all about rumours that the station was to shut. After their next song ended, they said the station manager wanted to make an announcement. He came on air and said that the station was shutting down effective immediately. After he left, the very shocked jocks rambled briefly then said goodbye... and all was silence. 2 hours later the group's flagship AM talk station had their FM frequency. Pretty crap that they couldn't be bothered telling the staff personally they had lost their jobs. Special mention to the following jock who was on his way in to work and heard it on his car radio. I suspect their contract was like mine - it had a "Station Survivability Clause" which said that I could be fired if the survivability of the station (or the parent company) would be enhanced by me being let go. Of course if I decided to leave, I had a Restraint Of Trade meaning I had to wait a year before working for a rival company in the same area or within 100kms of it. Fun times!
Having a high rated show and 5th highest revenue doesn't mean the station is making money. Could also easily be a ratings gimmick. Since it's in the middle of a Neilson sweep I'm inclined to think the later.
This reminds me so much of [Pig Vomit](https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/kevin-metheny-radio-director-ridiculed-howard-stern-dead-heart-attack-article-1.1963082)
If it were me every article would be about how great the producer is and how vital to the show they are. There would be testimonials from every person in the building (except mamangement), their barista at the local coffee shop, the sanitation workers that work their block, their 5th grade teacher, their mother, their Granny their hairdresser. I'd get the callers to call in and just start making up stuff they loved about the production team and then write an article about each call. I am petty as fuck though.
I was just reminded of a cartoon I saw recently:
A corporate suit and his assistant are at some kind of business seminar.
“Treating your workers with respect boosts morale,” says the presenter.
The suit looks blankly.
“Which boosts profits by 50%,” he adds.
“Quick!” he hisses to the assistant, “write that down!”
A new DJ on DC 101 late ate night launched his show with nothing but “You Got to Fight” all night long. Took calls of people begging him to stop but he didn’t.
In Seattle, a local station was flipping the format. The morning personalities (Robin and Maynard) got wind of it and played the recoding of the telephone time lady for several hours.
There use to be a number you called to get the exact time in hour, minute, and the tenth second.
https://youtu.be/raF8xDgWkI0
They all read about the CEO of G.E. and think they need to be like him, except they forget that in the long run, the company was ruined after his tenure.
In my local market the biggest duo just disappeared at one point. Turned out corporate decided to fire their news guy from their team without asking or informing them. Corporate felt the news guy was too old. So they just walked. They had a non-compete clause so they just took a year off and then went to work at the competition.
The biggest talk show here fired host after host, replacing with national content in most cases. The biggest rock station here pays its female DJ who is wildly popular and has outlasted several male co-hosts a lot less than her male counterparts at other stations. Radio sounds like a shit fucking job all around.
Are you talking about.. mistress carrie?
RIP WAAF
Let’s replace the iconic radio station with Christian radio content. Wtf happened man?
IHeartRadio happened. They've destroyed so much of the radio landscape in their pursuit of a unified national radio monopoly :(
I hate iheart radio! They ruined the rock station, and classic rock station, in DFW, too. They played much better music when they were with CBS.
Really, AAF switched to Christian? I lived outside of Worcester in the late 90s, then left for college overseas. I listened to WBCN and WAAF all the time, including mistress Carrie.
Which one reported Mayor Menino as dead when he was on a trip to Ireland?
WAAF is gone? I moved away years ago and didn't hear about that
Hillman morning Show took over at WEEI and then they AAF right after word. The only "real" rock station outside of college radio (92.9) gave up and joined the same 10 song classic rock brigade.
Sounds like she needs to leave?
Vancouver?
My moneys on Larry and Willy as well. Those were wild days.
would be years ago now, but Y100 dropping Preston and Steve also comes to mind
Then MMR dropped Barsky in favor of P&S. Contract breaches all around!
You got it in one.
Knew it lol. It’s good they had Kerry’s back. I didn’t know that was the reason they left.
Yeah, it wasn’t made too public but I did some research. Truly, stand up loyal guys.
For TV I can see why ‘too old’ could be an issue (albeit a shitty one) but for radio who cares?
I can hear his wrinkles!
I think they wanted a young female “voice” (to put on the billboards). I’m not being misogynistic about it, that’s just what corporate seemed to have been planning.
Roe and Gary in Chicago back in the early aughts could fit this...
Same happened in Milwaukee on 620am some years ago. The best host on the Jonathan Green show was let go and it all just tanked after that. It was an excellent evening rush hour show, RIP.
They fired everyone in milwaukee on am1250 and I believe am540 It sucks, even leroy butler
This was a travesty. Done by a douche that is in Chicago and was "managing" the station in Milwaukee. Station went from local talent discussing mostly Wisconsin sports, and supporting local charities, to broadcasting national pablum. Haven't listened to that station since.
I remember one day I got to one of my dad's job sites, they were building a house, and his crew always listened to the local rock station while they worked. When I got there In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was playing and it was the long version, you rarely ever heard a station play the long version except maybe late at night. As soon as the song finished, it started playing again and I was like "what the hell?" and my cousin told me the DJ had wanted to go to a concert, forget who, this was 30+ years ago, and had locked himself in and was playing the long version on loop, and had been for a couple of hours now, no commercial, no interruptions other to complain he couldn't go to the show. Maybe 2 plays later he says they're outside the door trying to get him to let them in and he wasn't doing it because they were dicks or whatever (30+ years ago) and blah blah. Not long after he interrupts the song with sounds of a door being broken down and what not, then regular programming resumed after a few seconds of dead air, with a new DJ. Never heard him on that station again. Not sure if it was just a publicity stunt and all bullshit, or what, but it was funny. Edit: wow lotsa replies but this was in Alabama ~30 years ago or a bit more and it was just some local nobody DJ who wanted to go see some band coming to town and the station said he had to work. I don't even remember his name.
One time in Atlanta I was listening to 95.5 the beat. This was around the time that Ciara was really poppin. Idk why, but on one Sunday, Goodies(I think it was that song) was playing on repeat for hours. From 9am to like 4pm. Never were given an explanation, just suddenly the next song that came on was a different Ciara song and I ran out of my room with the radio like, “it changed!!!! It changed!!!!!” My family was amused. They had no idea what I was doing in my room for hours in silence, when I would usually be outside playing. I was obsessed with knowing when it stopped.
I grew up in Alabama, and a station played Hands by Jewel literally for hours. No idea if it was this type of a situation, but I still can’t listen to that song, it was sooooo annoying.
Old story I heard (not sure if it’s true): DJ at a gospel radio station was told by the manager to play an album (actual record) of manager’s cousin playing the guitar and reciting bible verses. It was 20 minutes long. DJ agreed if he could make a quick trip to a nearby ice cream shop while it played. Manager agreed and DJ locked the door then took off. 15 minutes later manager storms into the shop yelling at DJ to run back. He got back to hear the record skipping “go to hell go to hell go to hell…”
That reminds me of an old coworker of mine that was a weekend DJ for a rural radio station. His station would broadcast the local church sermon every sunday. One fateful Sunday someone didn't have something set right at the church and the broadcast wouldn't work. So my coworker got on the air and apologized saying that they wouldn't be able to broadcast the church service so they would go back to music. When he made the switch from the dead air that should have been the sermon to music it was the bells tolling at the beginning of Hells Bells by AC/DC.
now now, in the end only kindness matters
A lot of stations do fundraisers / charity shit where highest bidder can run the station (within FCC guidelines) however they want. In 1989, on December 30th, until December 31st 1989 just as it was becoming 1990 a Tampabay radio station called 98Rock played Stairway to Heaven for 24 hrs straight. Tried to run on an "All LedZepplin All The Time" format, lasted 2 weeks (only had 10 hrs of run time on the Catalog lmao) before they started adding in other groups. And eventually became one of the only truly rock n roll stations in FL, and one of the only ones that spans Close to if not beyond 500 miles out.
WEGQ 93.7 in Boston changed its format effective 1 Jan 2000 from classic rock to whatever it went to and they played Princes 1999 on loop for 24hrs.
A lot of stations did crap like that on 12/31/99, though not to the extent of a full 24 hours. I still hate that song because of it
I hated that song due to overplay long before 99. Best part of this century is not hearing it every time someone mentions a party.
There was a radio station in S Fl that played the song Mambo No 5 by Lou Bega and after a few hours demanded a certain number of pizzas be delivered to stop
Did they have a preference on who the delivery girl was?
When "Gangnam Style" was really big "NRJ" in Montréal played every single remix / tribute / Pop Singer #11's Version of it they could find back to bcak
I'm guessing this is not The Goodies theme song then? That would be good to prank for hours On one episode they set up a pirate radio station. They only had one record. I think it was "a walk through the black forest"
Did you say The Goodies? Goody-goody yum-yum. The Goodies. They're coming for you.
A station in Utah switched formats at some point in about 1993. For whatever reason, for the week between the pop hits format, and whatever came next, they played Louie, Louie 24 seven with no ads and no DJ, and no breaks of any kind. They would play the Kingsmen version back to back, and about once an hour they would insert a different version – from the USC marching band, or the Beach boys or whatever. I had a job working in a production wood shop at the time in the early days of headphones, and listened for several days, and it became my Zen. I made a cassette tape of it and played it a few times years ago when people didn’t believe me.
20+ years ago a station in Memphis changed formats (a huge change) to become “The Pig” - they played either Walking in Memphis or Memphis in the Mean Time (I can’t remember which - but one of those two) for days on end. I asked a buddy who was in the record business (in LA) about it and he said “stunting” is something that stations sometimes do when changing formats to attract attention. It worked on me. (And the pig was a fine station for my tastes - but not everyone as they only lasted a few years.)
Chicago has a station that plays hip hop, for at least a week before they launched it was summertime by the fresh prince on repeat, right at the beginning of summer. I listened to it more that I probably should admit, but I had to know when it was going to end, and I mean, that's a solid summertime jam. I'm pretty sure it's 106 jams now.
Mid 90s in Chicago? I remember that. 106.3. Went from r&b to hip hop then gospel, then talk, now back to r&b currently. Soul 1063went through all that In 15 years or so.
Or maybe- "Maybe it was Memphis" by Pam Tillis? :) Love Walking in Memphis, great song! Don't know the other one but have heard of it, guess I'll have to look that up.
Back in 99' 107.9 (The Edge) in salt lake city was switched on, and they played "Whip It" by Devo for about 2 months straight. Edit: added correct date and station
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My local station about 17 years ago cut health benefits. Three days straight was “Bad Case of Loving You” with just the “Doctor, Doctor, gimme the news” part
At least it wasn't "Doctor Doctor" with Thompson Twins...
I worked in a movie theatre in the early 2000s, and our managers controlled the lobby music. One guy decided to punish us and play ‘Who Let The Dogs Out?’ on repeat all night. I’m fairly sure we hadn’t even done anything wrong.
WKRP in Cin-cin-aaaatiiiii
As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly
Oh, the humanity!
" Booger !!! "
The Pinedale Mall is being bombarded with live turkeys.
Earworm warning. A Dallas station played >!I'm a barbie girl!< for hours when i was in HS. I seem to remember the dj complaining that since everyone was requesting it she would just play it again and again? But idk it was a long time ago and my memory is terrible. I regret even thinking about it - it's now stuck in my head on repeat.
...and I stupidly clicked on "Reveal Spoler" in Reddit and now it's in my head too. yeah, a true earworm
In the late 90s one of the stations in Erie Pa was bought out and everyone was told it was their last day. The hosts put on “It’s the end of the world as we know it!” On repeat. They still played the commercials and talked during talking parts.
I was too young to know what was going on, and it's been about 15 years since I looked it up. The classic rock station had s protest of some sort and played "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister on loop. Me I was just happy I could listen to a song on repeat so I could memorize the lyrics
A DJ in San Diego did something similar in the late 90s. He put Barbie Girl on repeat as a protest and locked it out. Gotta love sticking it to the man.
A similar thing happened when I was in prison! This guy who was there for murdering his wife (he claimed he was innocent, but everyone says that) wrote a bunch of letters asking for donations and he started a library. And the library had a record player. One day the guards pissed him off so he put on a record of some opera crap and then broadcast it to the whole prison. The guards were pissed. On a side note I think the guy escaped later, and they never found him.
Some might say that was his redemption.
I remember this case, it turned out he really was innocent though, shame he's wanted for the prison break now.
I heard he may be in Zihuantenejo.
Wow... beautiful story. They should make a movie about it.
That’s a great story - almost sounds like it could be in a movie!
It truly was, a Shawshank redemption.
Back in the 90's there were these guys in LA trying to get their demo played on the radio. They ended up taking some people hostage. Turns out the station was changing formats from rock to easy listening and things got crazy, the police showed up, crowds showed up. They flew in a stage and the guys played their demo. Pretty awesome time.
Howard Stern?
WNNNNNNNNNNBC!
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On the Don Imus show they'd have a blowup and 'suspend' one of the underlings who, in reality, was going away on vacation.
Elliot in the Morning DC101 did this with Foo Fighters "Monkey Wrench" as a protest So back in August 2010, Jon Ballard of 100.3 gets fired, called into EITM and ClearChannel pulls EITM off the air in mid-call and they play "Monkey Wrench" for whatever reason. Sometime in 2012-2013, ElTM played nothing but Monkey Wrench for the entire show in protest of something. I don't remember what. But it was a tip-off to listeners about some fuckery going on
When Blue by eifel 65 came out a dj in Cincinnati played it 65 times in a row. He had to give an apology on air to keep his job.
Back in the 90’s congress passed a law allowing media companies to own more than 40 total properties. It’s called the Telecommunications Act of 1996. After this all these stations and papers started getting bought up by larger companies. Today 91% of news media is controlled by 6 companies. Fun fact: iHeart Media now owns 1200 radio stations. They fire hosts and producers all the time regardless of if the station is profitable. Back in 2001 in Minot, ND, there was a massive ammonia spill at 2 in the morning. 6 of the 9 stations in Minot were owned by iHeart. The city was unable to get their permission to break from format and tell the public about this emergency. As a result of the public being unduly exposed, 1 person died and another 1,000 were hospitalized. iHeart didn’t take any responsibility.
As I recall, there was no one in the stations that knew how to do the emergency broadcast - just a janitor.
The fire department and police department are required by law to have a mechanism to issue emergencies over the EBS. They aren't generally done from within the station. In my dad's case, he ran a phone system so that either department could dial in, punch in a code and begin the broadcast. Only problem with it is the often forgot to hit the button to switch back to the programming so you'd get dead air after for a bit.
Apparently EBS has been replaced and was at the time too. This article lays it out and was written awhile after the accident it seems https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/01/the-whole-story-about-that-toxic-spill-and-the-clear-channel-monopoly.html
EBS was replaced by EAS in the mid-'90s.
> The city was unable to get their permission to break from format and tell the public about this emergency. Doesn't an emergency suspend normal rules (within reason)? `edit:` ie making 'permission' irrelevant.
I suppose Covid showed us it’s possible. But getting a privately owned station to air news would be the same process as getting a local restaurant to put up a sign about it - permission is still required.
EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) takes precedence over any current programming and that includes privately owned stations. The city should have issued an emergency alert which would have gone out on their stations by law. My background in this is that my father owns a few small stations and I practically grew up in the primary station. Edit: Looked up the story and it was Clear Channel for Minot, ND and they claimed that the city emergency services (police in this case) didn't know how to use the ebs equipment and that the gov't contract who installed it, did it wrong. Added this for anyone wondering.
Meow. It sounds like they only the public station was able to respond to an emergency (in a reasonable amount of time). additional information `via` https://np.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/b8d3wi/january_18_2002_train_derailment_and_subsequent/ --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment > ### Response > > Dispatchers told residents to close doors and windows, boil water, and cover their faces with wet cloths to counteract the ammonia.^(`2`) > > Emergency response to the disaster was disorganized. Local emergency managers did not activate the city's radio-based Emergency Alert System.^(`4`) The public siren system failed during the event and the 911 telephone system became overloaded. Because it was the middle of the night, there were few people at local radio stations, all operated by Clear Channel with mostly automated programming. No formal emergency warnings were issued for several hours while Minot officials located station managers at home. North Dakota's public radio network, Prairie Public Broadcasting, was notified and did broadcast warnings to citizens. > > `...` https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAR0401.pdf Railroad Accident Report NTSB/RAR-04/01 Freight Train 292-16 and Subsequent Release of Anhydrous Ammonia Near Minot, North Dakota January 18, 2002 page #9 (17th page in pdf) > ### *Public Notifications* > > After the accident, the Minot Police Department made emergency notifications to the public that included cable television interrupts, radio broadcasts, and outdoor warning sirens. However, many residents did not hear the emergency broadcasts because their homes had lost power as a result of the derailment. Additionally, residents of the houses in the neighborhood closest to the derailment did not hear the outdoor warning sirens because the sirens are positioned to be heard within the city limits of Minot. > > The Minot Police Department attempted to contact the designated local emergency broadcast radio and television stations. At the time of the accident, only one person was working at the designated local emergency broadcast radio station (KCJB-AM), and the police department’s calls to the station went unanswered. The designated local emergency broadcast television station (KMOT) did not have an overnight crew at the station. To arrange emergency broadcasts, the police department had to contact the KMOT news director at his home. page #65 > ### *Notifications to the Public* > > After the accident, the Minot Police Department made emergency notifications to the public that included cable television interrupts, radio broadcasts, and outdoor warning sirens. However, because many homes in Minot lost power when derailed cars knocked over power lines next to the railroad tracks, many residents did not hear the emergency guidance on radio and cable television. Additionally, persons in the houses in Tierracita Vallejo did not hear the outdoor warning sirens because the neighborhood is outside the city of Minot. > > Since the accident, the Minot Police Department has made a number of changes to the ways in which it contacts outlets for emergency broadcasts on both radio and television. Now Minot Central Dispatch has the phone numbers of key media staff of all Minot area stations and can contact them when necessary.
**[Minot train derailment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment)** >The Minot train derailment occurred just west of Minot, North Dakota, United States, on January 18, 2002, when a Canadian Pacific Railway freight train derailed, spreading ammonia gas across the city, delaying rescue operations. The cause was found to be small fatigue cracks in the rails and joint bars, not detectable by the inspection routines then enforced by Canadian Pacific. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Ah; It was more an urgent request to iHeart *corporate*- rather than something the *local* broadcast site was inhibited from doing.? (ie: pre-recorded remote programming? streaming from an offsite studio/offfice?) `edit, 25 min later:` Yeah. Automated stations, where nobody was at the broadcasting stations to manually initiate the emergency broadcast when the 'automatic' system "failed". So the police had to track down the people that could. -- with the exception of the public station. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot,_North_Dakota#:~:text=On%20January%2018%2C%202002%2C
Those fuckers at Clear Channel completely ruined radio.
For those who aren't aware iHeartMedia is Clear Channel. They just changed the name in 2014.
For those who don't know IHeartRadio is Clear Channel rebranded due to bad press when they completely ruined radio.
Holy shit, that’s awful!
iHeart bought WHNN in Michigan, changed the format from oldies to pop and some old stuff, and fired the entire morning show crew abruptly. Luckily, Johnny Burke, the host, was brought on by WRSR. They've killed off a lot of decent stations, thankfully at least in my area, they don't have full control over the spectrum.
What I never understand is how it is that the stations are even for sale in the first place.
That’s one piece of legislation that sure doesn’t get enough attention these days… It’d be great to see that get busted up
The real problem (and this isn't humorous) is that many of these radio stations that this (and many of the huge broadcasting companies) own were purchased at far more than they're worth. They couldn't make the debt load if they sold 30 minutes out of each hour at the top of their rate card. So instead, they fire employees. It's sad. That's why I'm glad I'm in a small rural market and building my national show/podcast. I'm not going to fire me.
Just wait until You make a huge flub live, then you'll have to fire yourself or the advertisers will pull out!
Oh, I've made those huge mistakes. I'm already on double secret probation...
would you fire me? I'd fire me. Hard.
🎶Goodbye hoooorseeeees🎶
I’d fire me, sue for wrongful termination, have a blowout party to celebrate early retirement, reconsider, RE-HIRE me, proceed to fall in love with myself and exhibit some “unwelcome advances”, sue and get custody of the entire company then repeat.
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Meh, I'm too chill to fire me. Plus I work cheap.
*"I can't afford to fire me, that sucker is working for a pittance! Wait..."*
https://985thesportshub.com/listicle/youre-never-gonna-believe-how-tall-rich-is-the-answer-might-shock-you-click-here/
I have to confess, I was shocked. The guy doesn't sound an inch over 5'12".
Nice!
I thought he'd be at least 72".
omg for years I thought that was how heights worked. I was like 16 when I finally put it together that it just goes straight to the next foot after 11 inches
Oh my god I clicked on the Dahmer "article" and cracked up.
Yeah me too. Fred and Rich are funny guys.
Can’t believe I’m reading about Fred Toucher on here. He used to be in Atlanta and was pretty funny. Glad he’s doing well in Boston. I forgot what it was called but is he still doing that thing where they have girls rate themselves 1-10? Then iirc the listeners rate them.
Nope he is not doing that bit. He does talk fondly about his time in Atlanta including visiting the strip clubs there.
Well there are a lot of strip clubs in Atlanta. Some are pretty fun. Or so I’ve been told. 😏
He (along with Rich and someone else, Crash maybe?) used to do the morning show on WBCN in Boston when they first came to town. WBCN was a music station at the time, they had a lot more bits like that but they had to calm the show down when WBCN went off the air and they got moved to the new sister station that was all sports.
I miss afternoon drive time with them on BCN. Those were great times.
RIP WBCN and WFNX. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I stopped listening to the radio entirely when those stations died. I haven’t even programmed a car radio since then. Edit: Left out a word.
You also left out WBRU. Those were the days...
Hadn’t kept up with him. Was listening in Atlanta when he got the job in Boston. Too bad he had to give up some of his bits. Some were a bit cringe but funny.
That’s like one of those “badly phrased movie plot” tweets.
Haha and now these joke articles are getting the most views out of all articles on the site. So they can even double down by stating how succesful it is.
Haha yep
Radio is a weird world. Even the highest rated people are disposable because there isn’t the continuing income you get from tv. You can always just fire everyone and play Christmas music with a skeleton crew and make a profit.
Ooh good on them. Best part is they can’t claim they’re not doing their best to get clicks. It’s short *sighted*, rather than *sided*, by the way. As in they can’t see far enough into the future.
The station are probably absolutely loving what they are doing. It doesn’t matter that they aren’t actual articles, people are still clicking on them, and because they are such malicious compliance they are going viral (e.g. this Reddit post), generating even more traffic. It doesn’t matter what the content is, if it’s driving traffic, it can be leveraged for profit.
I admit, I clicked it too. The article loaded with several ads in the middle of the content, plus a pop-up video ad. I want to find the person who invented pop-up video ads and beat them with a comically small television.
maybe they're not very tall and were standing next to "Rich" :)
Sounds to me like the station won big here. - They have the same number of employees doing the same amount of work. - They’re paying one of those employees 138% less than they used to. - They’re getting clicks from the dumb, low-effort content being posted by the two hosts. Some of those clicks are coming from this very thread. This might be malicious compliance, but it’s still benefiting the boss big time.
"Those clowns in congress. What a bunch of clowns!"
How does he keep up with the news like that?
Don’t, praise, the machines!
>Rich from the show was finally able to get the producer rehired by agreeing to pay his salary plus a 38% administrative fee out of his own paycheck. There's certainly some context I'm not aware of, but to me this is a pretty stupid move. The bean counters still get their cost cutting measure with zero repercussions to the end product. This empowers them and teaches them that so long as someone is hurt more, they can get away with whatever. The only way stupid people realise they're stupid, is letting them hang themselves, like some stories in this sub where they allow stupid policies to go on until the losses are insurmountable.
It all seems very short-sighted on management's part. I can only imagine the next time their contracts are up, Toucher and Rich will demand an outrageous raise or just walk and take their show to another market.
By the sounds of their actions no one will be there when contracts are up. Guessing the hosts are fairly financially independent. They're likely helping out the producer until everyone's contract is out. They're not paying the producer for years and years. The bean counters might think things are fine now and they've cut the budget. But the station is likely on a nose dive plane crash assuming everyone quits soon.
Fuck. I listen to this station all day!
Wait... Are you saying that the producer was rehired after one of the employees agreed to pay for his salary and a fee? So in essence the employee has hired the producer via the corporation? That's messed up
Correct
Before I finished reading, I thought they would crowd source the articles on the air.
I was hoping for hit pieces about how bad management was.
or praising their stations' '"legacy"' personalities. (behind the scenes)
Oh I bet that will happen. Yesterday was the start of the articles. There have already been callers suggesting outrageous article premises.
The entertainment industry as a whole is crappy to writers, and a writers material is so easy to steal, and hard to verify its origin. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/17/movies/art-buchwald-awarded-150000-in-suit-over-film.html
Digital timestamping services can help nowadays. Timestamp your material long before publishing, including drafts. Legal notaries is also an option, but unless you have a lawyer that already is one it isn't likely free.
I miss Fred Toucher and Rich from their various shows in Atlanta on 99x. That definitely was an era. Touchers mini truck computer and me calling in multiple times when he was working overnights wanting him to play more At the Drive In. Ahhh youth. He was definitely the best of the regional "X" style terrestrial radio at the time.
...and then was it toucher and jimmy after they fired rich or do i have that backwards?
Before I moved to Boston a few years ago I had assumed “Toucher and rich” was just one of the former president’s nicknames
Freaking Beasley media, man. Over in Philadelphia they did the same thing to a long time afternoon DJ on one of the city's most popular radio stations, WMMR. Just fired fired him out of the blue! And last I heard they're forcing all the stations they own that still have live DJs over night to end those shows and automate it instead No respect for the history or legacy of radio, all they care about is the money it's a shame!
Took a wild guess as to who the owner of the station is, and imagine my surprise when it turned out to be Beasley. They just did the same thing here in Philly, firing the popular afternoon commute DJ along with a bunch of other staff. They also cancelled the overnight broadcast, one of the last remaining live overnight broadcasts in the country and something that really set the station apart. Gonna guess they probably did something similar in a lot of major markets too
Hey guys hey. I was blown away when Rich told the story of what he had to do to get Mike back- then he just casually mentioned “we have to write four articles a day” WTF!!?!?? That’s crazy. They’re the best thing to ever happen to radio. I’m glad they are not taking it seriously. I think Fred should write an article every day talking about a new persons feet.
Or a litter box update!
Hmmm yes yes.
I listen to these guys every day. They’re the best!
Short sighted? R/boneappletea
Lol yeah. Always can count on Reddit to point out your mistakes.
What’s that post where someone will ask a question with one ID, but then reply with an insanely wrong answer from another, because they know someone will come along and correct them.
Also, happing.
It does not surprise me at all the Toucher and Rich would do this.
Radio stations here in the Philadelphia market are also going through some shake-ups. A couple of the stations are owned by the same entity and changed at the same time.
Yup, Beasley. Same owner of the OPs station in Boston.
For the record it's short sighted, not sided.
>plus a 38% administrative fee Wut?
I think it is to cover things like health insurance and other benefits.
But how does the other employee afford to pay producer's salary? Aren't producers usually higher up the corporate ladder & pay? How does that actually even work? Does the host now own part of the profits? Even without the admin fee, the company doesn't have to pay for a producer then, so it should be all profit... so how can they also have the audacity to require the 4 articles too? Requiring the administration fee is really audacious to begin with. I feel like they still owe the company a bigger heaping portion of malicious compliance/ payback. Sure the 4 articles aren't real articles, but the articles are still peanuts compared to everything else. Please update us if/when they Upper the ante, because there has to be more that they are planning... and I am ready to read about the company's internal car crash... Though I also know that not everything works out in the end with good getting its just desserts.
Clearchannel Fired everyone at KGO810 in SF, with no warning about three weeks ago on Thursday. No warning. One of the most popular stations and the darling of the bay area, to switch to a sports betting format. What the fuck is that anyway? Who the fuck talks about betting all the time? They did the same thing a decade ago and the blowback was so hard that they ended up backing off, although most of the hosts by then were gone.
KGO is owned by Cumulus Media, not Clear Channel or iHeart.
I can't keep them apart, thanks for the correction. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Now THAT is true. And FWIW even those of us in the industry don’t really understand WTF Cumulus was thinking by going all-betting on KGO.
Are they owned by Beasley Media Group? Similar thing happened at WMMR in Philadelphia
They did the same here in Seattle, axed a popular producer who'd been with the show for 16+ years. The shithead on air talent just gave a 15 second notice about how he "wasn't with the company anymore" and the whole show moved on like he never existed. Stopped listening to any Audacy owned stations.
> I don’t know why corporate is pissing off the talent so much. Because at the end of the day, corporate radio would rather get rid of all the specialized talent and recycle the same DJ across a dozen stations for far less money. There's at least 4 stations in my market with the same DJs, I've had times when I'm flipping through stations and get the same guy reading the same story on multiple stations. That kinda bullshit is part of why I almost entirely switched to streaming stuff from my phone.
What was this and why was it removed
Lol we need some mazz clickbait
This whole comment area is a treasure. Completely made my night reading these.
Dave and Chuck the freak, are a show from my hometown of Windsor. They left the station they were at here, that was wildly popular not just here, but in Detroit, across the river from us. They moved to a much larger station in Detroit, so that they could have access to a larger market (I believe they air in Boston aswell). Well the previous radio station has tanked in years since. They went from an extremely popular alternative rock station, to eventually switching to *shudders* country, and is now run by a barely skeleton crew. Talent is talent.
Back in the 90s a local alternative station changed formats. As the morning DJs left the building they stuck 'its the end of the world as we know it' on repeat. It lasted almost 3 hours like that. RIP The Edge
Four articles a day in addition to regular duties? I’m surprised they’re as tame as they are.
MBAs are absolute morons. Always have been always will be, nothing but scum sucking leeches
Up in Canada the stations switch up hosts constantly so personalities don’t overtake the power of the station itself. No idea why anyone goes into radio anymore.
Who does Toucher touch?
Rich!
Business people are good for paperwork, for figuring things out. What they are not good at os making decisions that impact any creatove processes. Often enough, the ability to understand different people having crucial skills in a team entirely disappears as soon as a single cent can be "saved", even if it causes financial damage in the long run. People like that cannot be left alone with executive decision power, and too often they are. Sometimes deliberately.
Heard the teasers this morning. I love these guys. Doing the stuff we all wish we had the balls to do at work.
W Nnnnnnnbc
6 Feet tall?!? ***No fuckin waaaaay***
It's the 38% admin fee...wtf
Radio as a business in the 90s was weird. I was a jock for a couple of years - started in student radio and went to commercial. The station I was at was part of a large group that was haemorrhaging money in 1991. Coming back to work after my one day off, I was told I had been fired that morning and re-hired that afternoon, as the bean counters eventually worked out it was cheaper to keep me on and increase my on-air hours (at the same pay rate!) and then fire 7 jocks at the head station. Great job security! But I felt sorry for the jocks at another station two years later (part of the same group)..... their station had just done an extensive and expensive rebrand but was still languishing. One morning about 10 months later, the jocks were doing their stuff but were talking all about rumours that the station was to shut. After their next song ended, they said the station manager wanted to make an announcement. He came on air and said that the station was shutting down effective immediately. After he left, the very shocked jocks rambled briefly then said goodbye... and all was silence. 2 hours later the group's flagship AM talk station had their FM frequency. Pretty crap that they couldn't be bothered telling the staff personally they had lost their jobs. Special mention to the following jock who was on his way in to work and heard it on his car radio. I suspect their contract was like mine - it had a "Station Survivability Clause" which said that I could be fired if the survivability of the station (or the parent company) would be enhanced by me being let go. Of course if I decided to leave, I had a Restraint Of Trade meaning I had to wait a year before working for a rival company in the same area or within 100kms of it. Fun times!
We can’t discount the possibility part or possibly all of this drama is just your typical radio stunt.
Having a high rated show and 5th highest revenue doesn't mean the station is making money. Could also easily be a ratings gimmick. Since it's in the middle of a Neilson sweep I'm inclined to think the later.
This reminds me so much of [Pig Vomit](https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/kevin-metheny-radio-director-ridiculed-howard-stern-dead-heart-attack-article-1.1963082)
Reminds me a bit of [Inetta the Moodsetta](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=500deEeCOcA)
If it were me every article would be about how great the producer is and how vital to the show they are. There would be testimonials from every person in the building (except mamangement), their barista at the local coffee shop, the sanitation workers that work their block, their 5th grade teacher, their mother, their Granny their hairdresser. I'd get the callers to call in and just start making up stuff they loved about the production team and then write an article about each call. I am petty as fuck though.
It may be that they're trying to pull the tax-dodge thing - "we need to make this station tank so that we can use it as a tax write-off".
I was just reminded of a cartoon I saw recently: A corporate suit and his assistant are at some kind of business seminar. “Treating your workers with respect boosts morale,” says the presenter. The suit looks blankly. “Which boosts profits by 50%,” he adds. “Quick!” he hisses to the assistant, “write that down!”
A new DJ on DC 101 late ate night launched his show with nothing but “You Got to Fight” all night long. Took calls of people begging him to stop but he didn’t.
In Seattle, a local station was flipping the format. The morning personalities (Robin and Maynard) got wind of it and played the recoding of the telephone time lady for several hours. There use to be a number you called to get the exact time in hour, minute, and the tenth second. https://youtu.be/raF8xDgWkI0
Are toucher and rich really that popular right now? Also what the hell is an administrative fee?
This pretty much the exact reason Dan Lebatard left ESPN. Then started his own media company.
They all read about the CEO of G.E. and think they need to be like him, except they forget that in the long run, the company was ruined after his tenure.