Did you guys happen to catch the 'bloodbath' at WLS...

Nice headline in the wake of the NIU tragedy too - you would think an Associate Managing Editor for Business would know better - even if he doesn't right the headlines - you would think he'd get final approval.

WLS dumps staffers in cost-cutting 'bloodbath'

By Jim Kirk, TRIBUNE REPORTER
Bloomberg News contributed to this report

March 1, 2008

In what staffers referred to as a "bloodbath" Friday, WLS-AM 890 laid off a number of staffers, including several news veterans, as owner Citadel Broadcasting Corp. slashed costs nationwide during one of the biggest advertising downturns in radio history.

Among those let go were station news director and Chicago radio news journalist Jennifer Keiper and longtime City Hall reporter Bill Cameron, sources said. Also among the group let go were news reporter David Jennings, a producer on the Don Wade & Roma morning show and various ad sales and support staff. Saturday morning host Jake Hartford was also shown the door, sources said.

Morning news anchor John Dempsey and afternoon news anchor Jim Johnson on Roe Conn's show were among those spared, sources said.

But stunned staffers were unclear late Friday what the station's commitment to local news would be going forward. Sources said that the station now would have to rely on more national news from Citadel's network group ABC News.

WLS, an iconic Chicago station with a long history of local news coverage, is one of a dwindling number of stations covering local news in a significant way.

Cameron, who has reported on everything from plane crashes to the 1980s City Council Wars to the John Wayne Gacy murders over the years, had joined WLS in 2000 shortly after his longtime employer, former all-news station WMAQ-AM, changed formats.

"It doesn't make sense," said one staffer, noting that many stations are turning to more local programming to keep audiences in an era when digital music players and satellite radio are stealing listeners.

But on Friday, Citadel, which bought former WLS owner ABC Radio last year, took drastic steps as a turnaround in radio advertising shows no sign of appearing. Citadel announced a wider fourth-quarter loss than expected, sending its share price to a record low on the New York Stock Exchange.

"The time for talk is over, and it's time for the walk," Chief Executive Farid Suleman said on a conference call. "We have our work cut out in a lot of markets."

Suleman said that Citadel, which owns 223 stations, would begin reorganizing its operations in major markets such as New York and Chicago, including management and station format changes. Suleman indicates in an 'out of the box' strategy, he will consult with long time Chicago radio listeners at Redacted to determine who the 'bloodletting' occurs to next. It's unclear what that means for management at WLS. Station manager John Gallagher didn't return calls for comment.

WLS was tied for 7th in the most recent quarterly ratings period among all listeners, according to Arbitron Inc.

For the past several years, WLS's news/talk format has included a mix of local and syndicated programming, including Rush Limbaugh's show. There have been persistent rumors that Citadel, which signed Don Imus to a new contract last fall, is considering bringing the controversial talk show host's show to WLS before the end of the year.

Bill Cameron's mid afternoon City Hall reports were an outstanding listen. He would usually drop in a sentence from His Honor in which he would make a complete fool of himself. Sad, another local listen is going to go "shuffle."

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.

Keiper and Cameron go and the ill-informed Johnson stays? That is a pretty clear sign that WLS is removing the "news" from their news/talk format. Objective journalism never really fit with their right wing wacko talk shows anyway.

You guys are right. WLS' news dept was one of the strongest in the city, and certainly it was the leader on the city hall beat.

Coast2Coast, the shift away from real news is already happening: just a few weeks ago, WLS decided to run Sean Hannity instead of staying with coverage of the NIU tragedy.

Any word on how this was covered on Roe Conn's show?

They will try and bring Christina back via Shadow/Metro service. I think the Roe Conn Show sounds a lot better without her. And it was even better without Jim today. Roe and Bill by themselves make a good show.

Martin, I think you're right. The show flows a little better without Christina.

I want to put in a good word for Jim Johnson: he's actually a very solid journalist, and I think he's done a good job transitioning to talk-show host. He does a good job keeping the show grounded, and that makes Roe Conn better.

I've had a few chances to talk with Johnson and he's just like he is on the air-- a good guy who doesn't take himself too seriously. That's a rare quality in that industry. So he gets high marks from me.

Hah! Making sure we read the whole thing, Grids?

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Boy have things changed! When I started at WLS in Oct 1979, we had about 15 fulltime newscasters(many of whom were on the street reporters),3 news assignment editors,the News Director(Bud Miller)and one fulltime sports director(me).
That was when the original ABC,a great Company to work for,owned it. Then in the mid-1980's. a so called 'merger' saw Capital Cities take over ABC and I can tell you first hand,that's when quality no longer mattered as the bean counters came in and wrecked it. The guy who ran the Company from a far was Norm Schrutt who I got along with fine,but he was a miserable guy to deal with.The News Dept was cut by 2/3 and he even eliminated the position of News Director! He wrecked the 'Big 89' format by putting on talk shows like Tom Snyder and Sally Jessie Raphael which chased listeners away in droves. He forced the jocks like Landecker and Winston to play music sets that would include(in order)REO, Glenn Miller, Beatles, McGuire Sisters, Beach Boys, Zeppelin, and everytime someone complained,he swore up a storm and said that stuff would be played,even if he had to go automated(kind of like today's Jack FM). It was the kind of music combination that even somebody on crack would have rejected! We were a joke,laughing stock. That allowed him to change the format in 1989 to talk.
The current WLS Management,John Gallagher and Kipper McGee are good guys who 'get it'. They brought the old WLS logo and jingles back a few years ago,but who knows what the future holds.
I wish those many there,whom I know well, all the best! This is scarry!
Gosh am I glad my Son did NOT go into this now awful business,but instead is a full time High School Teacher!!! He was interning at the Score in 2001 when Harvey Wells got rid of me. My Son saw a big part of the 'Dark Side' of this business then and wisely decided to go into another direction.

Les:

He is in the biz. He is the PA announcer for Willowbrook HS and he does a great national anthem also.

Good point(Willowbrook is where he teaches), but he doesn't have to answer to GENERAL MANAGERS or PROGRAM DIRECTORS! And that(for him)is a good thing!
And you are right about the Anthem. He's done it at Wrigley five times now.

Bean counters are often blamed when it's the lack of beans that is the problem.

However, I will defer to you in this case, Les, since you know this particular situation much better than I. Which is to say I know nothing about it.

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You know me like that.

Trust me Doc! You're better off(NOT knowing about this crap)!

I just don't like to see bean counters always blamed when it's more typically mismanagement that forces their hand.

Some of the finest people in the world are bean counters.

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You know me like that.

Whenever a station does well the talent says it's because of them.

Whenever a station does poorly the talent says it's because of management.

It's like that in every industry I guess.

A lot of what Les has stated, some on this board, and on his site, somewhat influenced me to not pursue broadcasting (radio) in college. By no means, did Les directly say "don't pursue it," but it was his commentary in addition to other observations that led me to believe I would be better off elsewhere. So I chose print journalism... now an industry that is dying, possibly even worse than radio. I can't win.

Les was the man that influenced me to collect media guides and not shower.

Truer words have never been spoken.

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.

I remember the old Cameron & Langford show on MAQ - those two were great together. Hopefully Cameron ends up at BBM and they shove Craig Delimore to the side.

case in point: Michael Bloomberg (seriously).

And yet you still use correct punctuation more often than not.

he is not a bean counter. i hate when the term is used loosely.

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.