Monday, June 15, 2009
Hello all,
My name is Matt Weber, better known among Chicago sports radio listeners as "Webby." I started this blog today, 6-15-09, because I've received a ton of text messages, calls, emails, etc. about my current employer (sort of) CSWebio.com, and I've been asked what it is that I'm going to do next. If you are reading this blog I'm assuming that you've heard all that is going on with the works of CSW so I won't bore you...I just want you to get the scoop from an actual insider and shed some light on what's really going on from MY perspective.
In 2006 I was an intern for the Mike North Morning Show on 670 The Score in Chicago, and I guess I did a pretty good job because Mike would give me airtime on a consistent basis and eventually got me hired at the station. I'd fill in when he or Fred Huebner were off, and I produced other shows on the station as well. When he turned down the contract extension that was offered to him by The Score in 2008, I made the decision to stay at the station and continued to produce Monday-Friday and consistently hosted every weekend. As all radio producers know, I wasn't making much money, but I kept at it hoping that it would eventually lead to me realizing my lifelong dream of being a full-time sports radio host in Chicago. After nearly 3 years at The Score, I received a phone call from Mike North who had just started his new TV show on Comcast Sportsnet. He invited me to a meeting at his house saying that he had an "opportunity" for me. Never forgetting everything that Mike did for me to help me get my foot in the door in radio, I figured that I'd "humor him" and listen to what he had to say. I had absolutely NO intention of leaving The Score, but I wanted to at least show him respect and hear him out. When I got there, I was presented an extremely detailed and impressive business plan regarding a new idea of Mike's (CSW) and was offered a 2 year contract to host a mid-day show for approximately 3-times the amount of money that I was making at The Score. Now I love The Score, it's the only station I ever wanted to work at, and when I was in school it was the only station that I applied to for an internship. There's NO WAY I would have left The Score to be a producer somewhere else, and there's NO WAY I would have left for less money than I was offered, but this SEEMED like a really good opportunity. I still didn't jump at it though. I talked with my parents, friends, people in the business, etc., and really weighed my options for quite awhile. I did know a couple of things for sure: Mike North had never let me down in the past, I was 100% confident in my abilities to host a good sports talk show, and I knew that if I didn't take this opportunity and the station ended up taking off, I would probably hate myself and would continue in the same "holding pattern" that I (and many others) were/are in at The Score indefinitely. I also figured that if after my 2 year deal came up and the station didn't take off, I'd at least have 2 years of experience hosting my own show and 2 years of "guaranteed money" that far exceeded anything that The Score could offer me at that time. After a couple more meetings and negotiations I decided to "take a chance." I'm still extremely young in this business, and I've already done more in Chicago sports talk radio at the age of 25 than a lot of people could ever dream of. (This is what I tell myself to keep from swallowing a shot gun right now
. I still don't regret "taking that chance." I think most people would jump at a "dream job" situation for 3-times the amount of pay that you were bringing in from your current employer. I was also contacted by people from The Score, ESPN, and other radio outlets expressing their interest in the new venture so believe me, I wasn't alone.
I gave The Score a month's notice and left at the end of March with a lot of sadness. I love nearly everyone who was/is there and it was really hard to say goodbye to a lot of friends, colleagues, and mentors of mine. Some of them were very supportive, and some of them I'm sure (and I know) mocked me behind my back. Part of the mocking was jealousy/envy and that's fine, but I KNOW that a lot of them were/are simply smarter than me and obviously knew that there was a good chance CSW would fail. All this did was make me even more determined to do the best possible shows that I could, and of course to prove everybody wrong.
In the couple of weeks prior to us getting on the air, man we were treated like kings! We had 2 "kick off" press release parties (all you can eat/drink.) We had a suite at the Sox game, shot some TV commercials, and were even given a $500 bonus just to show us how much we were appreciated. (This all before I even spoke ONE WORD into a microphone!!!) We had 1st class Webio merchandise, nice business cards, I mean the whole nine. I'd never felt so appreciated in my professional life. We were all led to believe that David Hernandez (CEO of NextStep Medical, among other ventures) owned 70% of Webio, and that Mike and BeBe North owned 30%. I didn't know much about this Hernandez guy, but North vouched for him and as I mentioned earlier, Mike had never led me astray before. All I knew was that this Hernandez guy had A LOT OF MONEY, and he loved taking care of his employees. I met NextStep people that raved about the guy, the North's raved about the guy, hell...Hernandez set my brother and I up (along with friends) in a suite at the Sox game for my brother's birthday. I loved the guy!!! Everything was going great...
April 6th was the beginning of the new and exclusive internet only sports talk site CSWebio.com! Man were we excited. We had good quality content, great guests, reporters at all of the games, top notch production...this was going to be great!!! We all knew that if given the proper time/backing, that there was no doubt this would take off. More and more sponsors were joining, week by week our listener ship grew, and hey...like it or not, we slowly became a viable alternative to your everyday sports talk in Chicago. I couldn't have been happier. I bought a car, paid off some past debts...I mean, for the 1st time in my life, I was being paid like an adult. (Like all producers/hosts should be paid in this business!) In the amount of emails that we'd receive on a daily basis alone, I knew that we were growing. We were all very excited until one fateful day...
I was at a Starbucks one afternoon in late May buying a coffee. I realized that I didn't have any cash on me so I embarrassingly handed the guy my debit card for a purchase of under $2. (We've all been there.) Anyway, he ran the card and after a brief moment told me that I had insufficient funds. Knowing that I had $800+ in my checking account, I asked him to run the card again...and again, the card was declined. Extremely embarrassed, I used my credit card to pay the guy and left. I proceeded to call my bank and found out that my last payroll check had bounced. Naturally, I was shocked. I immediately called CSW management and explained what had happened. They said that there must have been some kind of mistake, and that they would look into it immediately. Apparently this hadn't happened to anyone else so naturally they thought that there was some kind of bank error. Anyway, they immediately wrote me a new check and covered the subsequent charges very apologetically. A couple of days later, 5 other people had their checks bounce from that same pay date...roughly 1/4 of our Webio staff. The next day David Hernandez emailed a copy of a letter sent from his bank explaining that it was indeed a bank error, and that they deeply apologized. David wrote that he is switching banks, and that this would never happen again. That was good enough for us...I mean, only 6 checks bounced, there was a letter signed by a banker saying that it was their fault, and we were immediately refunded our money. No further complaints from me...
Over the next couple of weeks we'd joke around that Hernandez must be "laundering money" or that he had a money tree in his office or something, because he'd spend so much money on what I thought were unnecessary things. For example: Our paychecks would be overnighted to our individual homes. Now everyone knows that it costs about $15 to overnight a letter. $15 X 25 or so employees, every single week really adds up. I'd say, "Why doesn't he overnight all of the checks in one envelope to the studio so we can all pick them up at once, all the while saving thousands of dollars?" Some of his practices seemed like a waste to me. There were other weird details like that that I questioned, but every time I needed (or wanted) something, all I had to do is call and it was done...
One thing you have to understand...the Webio studios were in Morton Grove. Everyone who went to work in Morton Grove everyday (our PD, hosts, producers, engineers, interns, etc.) did an unbelievable job. I'm still completely proud of everything that took place under that roof. It was a lot of hard working people that had nothing to do with the "inner-workings of CSW." I mean, we'd go 3-4 weeks at a time without seeing David Hernandez or the North's (outside of remotes or special promotions.) I bet I saw Hernandez at the studios twice, and North probably 5 or 6 times during our entire time that we were on the air. We operated under the complete assumption that everything that needed to be handled behind the scenes under the roof downtown was being handled appropriately...
I went on being blissfully ignorant for a couple more weeks when again...(of course right before I'm meeting people for dinner) a payroll check bounced, and nearly $1000 was pulled from my account! Now it was very clear to me that all was NOT right in Denmark. I called my PD and wrongfully cussed him out about the situation!!! I was furious. He said that he would call me right back. When he did, he told me that he couldn't reach Mr. Hernandez and that I should try to reach him myself. Now I was really pissed. Why am I calling the CEO of this company because my payroll check bounced?...this isn't my responsibility, and why is this happening? I obviously was very concerned so I called Mr. Hernandez and left a message. I then proceeded to text and email him...still, no response. I later found out that 29 other payroll checks had bounced and that shit had totally hit the fan. The next day was Friday, and of course no paychecks came at all. So now I'm out 2 weeks checks, and I know that some of my co-workers/friends were out even more than that!!!
I met with the North's that night and they felt so bad for what had happened they gave me a check to cover my losses. (You've read how they now feel about David Hernandez.) After three days of not hearing from Hernandez, he finally met with us today (to all of our surprise) and fed us some lines about how he would refund us, and assured us that Webio would not miss a beat. He then left and of course...I've received NO MONEY, and then a bunch of stuff came out about how he is a fraud and a convicted felon (again, you've read all about this.) I'm sure I'll never hear from him again. (Which is a good thing for obvious reasons, but also a bad thing for I'm sure that I'll never be paid.) Obviously a lot of good people were hurt really bad by this situation. I believe in my heart that Mike and BeBe didn't mean for any of us to get taken advantage of like this, but the fact of the matter is that they vouched for the wrong guy. I also believe that David Hernandez is in big trouble, and that a lot more will come out regarding this situation in the very near future. There is no doubt that talented, hard working people will land back on their feet...I can only hope sooner rather than later.
As for me...I believe I'll be fine eventually. I'm not sure what the future holds exactly, but I believe that I'll be back in the radio business very soon. I can't say that I'm entirely sure what it is I've learned from all of this, but I know that I've definitely grown up. I think I've learned to be more skeptical (I didn't think I possibly COULD be more skeptical, but I guess so), I've learned to separate friendship from business, but most importantly, I think I've learned that if something seems to good to be true...it probably is.
Thank you to all for your kind words, messages, calls etc. Your support means more to me than you'll ever know. I guess I have to start getting my resume together but I guarantee that this isn't the last you'll hear from me!!! Be sure to check back because as things continue to surface from this mess, I'll continue to blog my thoughts right here on "webby files."
Peace the F
-Matt
Posted by WEBBY WORLD at 3:50 PM 3 comments
Labels: Webby and Freddy Show (Final Day)
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