Radio Radio etc...

Big changes this week at KFOG and KNBR and The Bone as the deal closes to sell the group to Cumulus Partners. (info link)

Will there be changes? I always tell people Yes! Without a doubt! I mean there are always changes all the time new owners or not. But of course they wonder about the new owners, will they make changes? Of course I don't know. The Susquehanna radio group in the Bay Area does really well, our staffing is pretty lean, and our sales staff makes money with it all. There is a really friendly "culture" there. I don't know what big changes people would want to make. But we'll see.

There has been changes at at least one other Susquehanna station pre closing. It is kind of a weird story.

Last week a friend tells me the 12 year morning guy at 99X in Atlanta quit because his new contract offer was 1/2 of what he is currently making. I said wow, that is a big cut, there must be more to the story. I read an interview and postings and saw the guy had put out a press release announcing he left and why.

Part of what Jimmy Baron said "However, Mr. Dickey’s initial offer was for a base salary of 55% less than I was currently making — an offer we felt to be unacceptable in the industry for a 12 ½ year veteran morning drive-time personality in Market #10 (at one of the premiere rock stations in the country). My agent also pointed out that, in fact, I had agreed to a 33% salary cut two and a half years ago when The Morning X ended."

But in the link above you get to see the numbers:

"...he confirmed what many in the industry thought: the new company Cumulus had offered him a huge pay cut, from around $315K to $150K. And it was clear Cumulus was not going to budge, so Jimmy is walking away."

So putting it together, if the numbers are correct he was making 420,000 a year 2 years ago.

Working on air is one of the few jobs where I think in general people don't make a lot more money than they did 10 or even 15 years ago. In fact I am almost sure "payroll" is waaaaay down for airstaff in 2006. One big reason is it just takes fewer people to be on the air these days. Because of rules changes you can have the station run on "auto" mode with nobody there babysitting it. In the "old days" you used to have somebody there, a "board op" to run things. Now not so now. Board Ops aren't paid much, most paid as little as stations can. They aren't allowed to talk on the air. Actually I do know of a board op that does get to talk, but the station decided they wouldn't increase the pay to that of a part time airstaff member. That was a few years ago, I thought it really sucked. I guess a board op makes about 10 dollars an hour, and a weekend dj on the air makes from 15 to 25 dollars an hour. They made the same back in 1985. How about that?!

So fewer people work on the air in radio stations, and I think pay has stayed about the same for those with jobs.

The guy from 99X made 315, was offered 150 and walked away. If he was there for 12 years he must have been good. 99X had a great reputation. He is up for a job at Free FM in San Francisco and spent some time here.

"When Lisa and I visited San Fran a few weeks ago we had the same reaction most people do...the city is gorgeous. It's exciting, beautiful, and truly world class. However, when one starts actually looking for a place to live, you get a healthy reality check. It is, after all, the single most expensive city in the United States. And it would require a vast lifestyle change from what we've worked so hard to create here in Atlanta. San Francisco living seemed a lot like New York to me. You either live in an exhorbatantly priced apartment in the city or you live in an exhorbatantly priced shack outside the city, with a fairly significant daily commute (until any day now when the next huge earthquake is expected to hit, and everything you own is destroyed)."

Well that pretty much nails it when it comes to living here doesn't it?!

But I'm not so sure about this statement:

"but I will tell you empirically that the offer Cumulus made me to stay would have made me the lowest paid 12 year veteran morning drive host in easily the Top 20 radio markets."

I don't think that's true at all. There aren't a lot of 400K jobs in radio. There's not many 150K jobs in radio.

I hope Jimmy gets a good job as his next gig. I can bet Free FM isn't going to pay a hunk of money to fill open slots, there are lots of really cheap syndicated talent to put on the air.

Not sure if I would have gone as public as he has about all this, but I wish him good luck.

Odd little connection, the PD at Live 105 used to work at 99X in Atlanta, I'm sure he knows Jimmy.