Citadel Broadcasting bought these two stations from ABC last year. Did I say bought? I meant overpaid for a large stake in the stations. ABC Radio (Disney) still owns a huge portion of them and sucks up much of the profits if/when profits actually occur. Citadel revealed today that the company lost a whopping $848 million in the 4th Quarter of 2007. So changes had to be made according to CEO Farid Suleman. Who did he blame for these losses? Did he blame a President he supported who allowed the economy to tank? Did he blame a government who allowed deregulation of the radio airwaves, so accounts and shareholders can make artistic decisions for the company? Did he blame the radio industry for failing to grow with the changing times & entertainment outlets? Did he blame his upper management who make ungodly sums of money per year, yet consistently under-perform and under-deliver? Somebody has to take the fall for this bad fiscal quarter. In Farid's infinite corporate wisdom, he decided to fire people. Did he fire those truly responsible for these masses losses? Nope. He decided to fire radio staffers. Those working hard in the trenches for the company. Those who had little to do with the company's many problems. Radio personalities, newroom reporters, salesmen, sales managers, producers, assistants, engineers, weekend help and so on. Among those gone at WLS are News Director Jennifer Keiper, reporters Bill Cameron & David Jennings, co-host of the top-rated Roe Conn Show, Christina Filiaggi, weekend hosts Nate Clay & Jake Hartford, and many more. Some WZZN staffers are gone, too. It may be Monday before the full list of the today's unemployed is tallied and more firings may be on the way in the next week or so. Needless to say, most of the people who lost their jobs today did so due to mismanagement from above, not for any fault of their own. Those truly at fault? They are still gainfully employed and enjoying those fat holiday bonuses they recently received. Meanwhile, Keiper, Cameron, Jennings, etc. are wondering what to do next for income. The corporate axe fell on the wrong people.
Sad day for Chicago radio. Sad day for radio in general.
2 comments:
I feel bad for all those folks, with such a volitale economy - it's a very scary thing for everyone.
Good bye Jake. Thank you for making us laugh for so many years of Saturdays. Thanks to Jennifer, Bill and David for giving us the real Chicago news, not just something read from a piece of paper written by someone else who can't pronouce Chicago correctly. Bye Christina. Bye John. Thanks for the memories. WLS is now just a memory on my radio dial.
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