Name: terrestrial radio
Age: 100
Occupation: entertainers and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: firing the wrong people
Age: 100
Occupation: entertainers and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: firing the wrong people
----
As a kid, I wanted to be a radio personality.
But thanks to idiot owners who reward failure over greatness, I'm happy to remain far, far away from a microphone.
Yesterday, a myriad of programmers and jocks employed by iHeartMedia (aka Clear Channel) were all fired as part of restructuring by the media giant. Basically put, the company is now having their smaller stations be programmed and DJ'd via voicetracking by their bigger stations. Here in Grand Rapids, CHR giant WSNX is a prime example. Their morning show, Mojo in the Morning is beamed from Detroit. IIRC, their nighttime jock is Mojo's son, who is also VT'd.
The casualties in Grand Rapids included B93's Dave Conrad, who was with the station for 27 years. Rick Albin, who was a part of WOOD-AM/FM's morning show also exited, but remains at former TV sister WOOD-TV 8 as its political reporter. Sadly, the already bastardized WSNX 104.5 got the biggest cuts: afternoon jock Aly and weekend mix show host Choff are now jobless (though Choff is a regular mixer at several clubs in the area). I hope this does not affect WSNX's Sunday night mix show, Club 1045.
While many whose lives revolved around entertaining thousands behind the mic will now have to be put on hold, the sad tragedy is what happened with iHeartMedia last week: they resigned Rush Limbaugh to another four-year deal.
The pill-popping, prostitute-fucking lard-assed pile of shit didn't reveal how much his deal with the radio giant was. However, sources claim that he's worth an estimated half a billion dollars as it is. His last deal with the company was worth $400 million.
With iHeartless' cuts, it purely makes their competitors here in Grand Rapids, Cumulus and especially Townsquare look like they're in tip-top shape. But sadly, Cumulus Grand Rapids is a fucking abortion.
In the latest Nielsen ratings released last Friday, their highest-rated station, Classic Rock WLAV - a station normally in the top five in the ratings - only finished 11th with a putrid 3.0. Not long ago, the station changed their lineup to include the syndicated Steve Gorman Rocks! at night and Jackie Green middays. Green - who is openly a hermaphrodite - also co-hosts sister station 105.3 Hot FM's shitty morning show, The Morning Henhouse With Grey and Green.
True, Hot FM *should* capitalize on being live and local morning, midday and afternoons, but with a playlist more vanilla than WSNX's, it ain't working out in the ratings. They're in 12th place with a 2.7.
And even more embarrassing is that FINALLY, Nielsen is putting the re-born WKLQ 94.5, now as AAA "The Q" in the ratings. And sadly, what a joke: 13th place with a 2.0. Then again, name a AAA station that's in the top five ratings anywhere.
Being from northern Michigan, one lesson I've learned is that if a chain business closes, the rest of the chain will follow. Blockbuster closed all their stores just a year or two before the rest of the chain did. Toys R Us in Traverse City closed just before the rest of the chain went kaput in 2018. Charlotte Russe closed their Grand Traverse Mall location just before they went belly-up the same year. Well now, there's many terrestrial radio stations off the air, and many of them are full-powered 100,000-watt FMs. Hell, over the years, some stations were even silenced for good and for some stations, I wonder HOW they stay on the air with little-to-no ad revenue.
Ever been punished for something you DIDN'T do? That's terrestrial radio in my eyes. When I was a kid, my cousins in Detroit and Grand Rapids had awesome stations like 89X, Z-Rock and KLQ. Me? Pfffft. KLT didn't want anything to do with folks my age. They viewed my age bracket as punks. But thanks to better stations over the years like The Zone, Rock 105 and 95-5, plus SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify, KLT became TOTALLY worthless. The same company that owns KLT also had 106.7 The Peak. They destroyed that station and now, it's silent, awaiting sale.
And yes, don't get me started on KLQ. I hope Hanlon's enjoying the Carolinas.
Look, the other day, I was talking with a schoolteacher, who asked her class what a particular song was. I asked her what station she would put on for a bunch of elementary kids. I was expecting something like Hot FM or Mix 95-7, but nope! It was her random station on Pandora.
The reality is that in this age of social media and badmouthing, radio is like any other business. Ever been to a restaurant with poor service? You bitch about it on Yelp. You hope others will read your complaint and avoid the place at all costs, or at least management will read it to make good, positive changes. But, if you get a C&D order from management, all you can do is pray that karma will hit them on the ass hard. I know of a certain somebody down in Texas who did such a thing and now he's paying the price, hint, hint.
In the meantime, I hope that many of those fired by IHM will find new jobs and get back on their feet. I can count my lucky stars that I never got into radio since the job I'm doing now cannot be replaced by any computer or be done long distance from 200 miles away. I am needed.
How ironic that all this happens just days after the death of Rush's Neil Peart. At the end of "Spirit of Radio", he should have added something about the suits joining the salesmen.
Yesterday, a myriad of programmers and jocks employed by iHeartMedia (aka Clear Channel) were all fired as part of restructuring by the media giant. Basically put, the company is now having their smaller stations be programmed and DJ'd via voicetracking by their bigger stations. Here in Grand Rapids, CHR giant WSNX is a prime example. Their morning show, Mojo in the Morning is beamed from Detroit. IIRC, their nighttime jock is Mojo's son, who is also VT'd.
The casualties in Grand Rapids included B93's Dave Conrad, who was with the station for 27 years. Rick Albin, who was a part of WOOD-AM/FM's morning show also exited, but remains at former TV sister WOOD-TV 8 as its political reporter. Sadly, the already bastardized WSNX 104.5 got the biggest cuts: afternoon jock Aly and weekend mix show host Choff are now jobless (though Choff is a regular mixer at several clubs in the area). I hope this does not affect WSNX's Sunday night mix show, Club 1045.
While many whose lives revolved around entertaining thousands behind the mic will now have to be put on hold, the sad tragedy is what happened with iHeartMedia last week: they resigned Rush Limbaugh to another four-year deal.
The pill-popping, prostitute-fucking lard-assed pile of shit didn't reveal how much his deal with the radio giant was. However, sources claim that he's worth an estimated half a billion dollars as it is. His last deal with the company was worth $400 million.
With iHeartless' cuts, it purely makes their competitors here in Grand Rapids, Cumulus and especially Townsquare look like they're in tip-top shape. But sadly, Cumulus Grand Rapids is a fucking abortion.
In the latest Nielsen ratings released last Friday, their highest-rated station, Classic Rock WLAV - a station normally in the top five in the ratings - only finished 11th with a putrid 3.0. Not long ago, the station changed their lineup to include the syndicated Steve Gorman Rocks! at night and Jackie Green middays. Green - who is openly a hermaphrodite - also co-hosts sister station 105.3 Hot FM's shitty morning show, The Morning Henhouse With Grey and Green.
True, Hot FM *should* capitalize on being live and local morning, midday and afternoons, but with a playlist more vanilla than WSNX's, it ain't working out in the ratings. They're in 12th place with a 2.7.
And even more embarrassing is that FINALLY, Nielsen is putting the re-born WKLQ 94.5, now as AAA "The Q" in the ratings. And sadly, what a joke: 13th place with a 2.0. Then again, name a AAA station that's in the top five ratings anywhere.
Being from northern Michigan, one lesson I've learned is that if a chain business closes, the rest of the chain will follow. Blockbuster closed all their stores just a year or two before the rest of the chain did. Toys R Us in Traverse City closed just before the rest of the chain went kaput in 2018. Charlotte Russe closed their Grand Traverse Mall location just before they went belly-up the same year. Well now, there's many terrestrial radio stations off the air, and many of them are full-powered 100,000-watt FMs. Hell, over the years, some stations were even silenced for good and for some stations, I wonder HOW they stay on the air with little-to-no ad revenue.
Ever been punished for something you DIDN'T do? That's terrestrial radio in my eyes. When I was a kid, my cousins in Detroit and Grand Rapids had awesome stations like 89X, Z-Rock and KLQ. Me? Pfffft. KLT didn't want anything to do with folks my age. They viewed my age bracket as punks. But thanks to better stations over the years like The Zone, Rock 105 and 95-5, plus SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify, KLT became TOTALLY worthless. The same company that owns KLT also had 106.7 The Peak. They destroyed that station and now, it's silent, awaiting sale.
And yes, don't get me started on KLQ. I hope Hanlon's enjoying the Carolinas.
Look, the other day, I was talking with a schoolteacher, who asked her class what a particular song was. I asked her what station she would put on for a bunch of elementary kids. I was expecting something like Hot FM or Mix 95-7, but nope! It was her random station on Pandora.
The reality is that in this age of social media and badmouthing, radio is like any other business. Ever been to a restaurant with poor service? You bitch about it on Yelp. You hope others will read your complaint and avoid the place at all costs, or at least management will read it to make good, positive changes. But, if you get a C&D order from management, all you can do is pray that karma will hit them on the ass hard. I know of a certain somebody down in Texas who did such a thing and now he's paying the price, hint, hint.
In the meantime, I hope that many of those fired by IHM will find new jobs and get back on their feet. I can count my lucky stars that I never got into radio since the job I'm doing now cannot be replaced by any computer or be done long distance from 200 miles away. I am needed.
How ironic that all this happens just days after the death of Rush's Neil Peart. At the end of "Spirit of Radio", he should have added something about the suits joining the salesmen.
--
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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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