LINK
TO YEAR SIX
5TH YEAR OF THE
M5 1/1/05 -12/31/05
12/27/05 YEAR ENDER... As we at emmissucks end 2005 and close in on the end
of our 5th year of publication I can report the empire continues
to crumble. I can now confirm Jeff West who was MIA after Katrina
is now officially gone from the helm of the moldy WVUE cube. Some
have asked "how is your rebuilding going?" ,just an
FYI.... I now have a first floor and kitchen. This will cut my
operating cost , no more pizza trailer :-). It will be some time
before I have any furniture on the first floor, just tried to
buy some things and found out every one else in the metro area
is doing the same thing. While most of the US thinks things are
back to normal down here, that is far from reality. If its not
on CNN ,it must be back to normal. VUE drones are none to happy
with the temp digs and a running joke is "lets pull some
file!" No word on the sale of the last cubes. The stock is
back down to its pre-buy back levels (less than $20 a share).
Hopefully the last cubes will be sold soon and this bad chapter
in broadcast history will be history. See ya next year for what
will most likely be the last year for continues updates. Good
luck to all those freed drones out there.
12/18/05 STILL HERE.... A number of viewers have asked "Are you still out there?"
,sure am. With the Emmis rain of terror coming to an end ,less
and less to report. With the official transfer of ownership of
some of the cubes to Company B , a number of Emmis management
has "moved on". Some now FE`s claim the promised three
months pay will be the last insult,
"I see you got
the word on Jeff`s promise. I think this is a ploy to make him
look good, after all your site has exposed him for the slime bag
he is. Yes we may get three months pay, but the low end companies
he sold us to may cut a good deal of the staff. Jeff did not do
us any favors, he is just playing up to the media. I hope you
did not buy his latest sham."
I emailed the person who sent this
in but they did not respond. If you use a "generic"
email, at least check the in box for a while. It was amazing that
all the "pro" Emmis emails I have ever received have
been to afraid to use their real email addresses. Afraid of what?
Me or Jeff? Most of the "non-pro" emmis emails use their
direct emails, some 650 unique emails in five years. As for the
promised bonus, I got more when I was tapped :-) Bet that still
chaps his hide.
I will continue to report on the fall
of the evil empire when data becomes available. As Borg implants
are being removed from recent FE`s only three cubes remain in
the collective. As it turns out, resistance was not futile.
12/01/05 GOOD BY BONUS FOR TV FE`s....
This has not been confirmed yet.
"Dear Television
employees,
This has been a difficult year, and I appreciate your patience
and professionalism throughout the sale process. Earlier this
year, we told you that TV employees would receive a success bonus
if sale prices for the division exceeded initial estimates. As
you know, buyers did indeed see a great deal of value in your
stations, and now I am pleased to be able to share the basic terms
of your success bonus.
The minimum bonus for each TV employee will equal three months'
salary; for sales staff, this will be based on a monthly average
over the past year. You will receive your bonus after the sales
of the first 13 stations conclude, which will likely be in January.
Emmis will mail a check to you r home address.
Please accept this bonus as an expression of gratitude and an
acknowledgement of all you’ve done to contribute to the value
of your station. During these past several years, I have been
so impressed with your talent, your drive and your commitment
to viewers, and I wish you every success in the future.
Best,
Jeff"
Take all you can get
,after all you got the corp shaft for years. WVUE back in NewOrleans
cube.This exclusive from the on line Emmis authority, Emmissucks!
11/19/05 FROZEN IN TIME... I got a call this morning at 7am telling me to tune
in WVUE , low & behold I saw,
frozen image and cartoon active audio.
This went on for over two hours. I guess this is a new type of
kids programming. The M5 will screw up till the end. "This unit must survive."
11/12/05 HE`S BACK ..... Breck is back in the metro area, via satellite from
an industrial park. Also VUE has rehired one of its former weather
guys and has an ad for yet another one. All this to keep Bob happy.
Plans are to move the news staff back to the Jeff Davis cube in
a few weeks. An insider tells this blog that they will have a
combined news room /set in the stations biggest studio ,"A".
This will be a temporary fix until the other sections of the station
are fixed. No word on if the drowned live trucks will be replaced.
Now for a bit of humor at Jeff`s expense.
Your web master has learned that Jeff likes to warm up his crowd
at high level meetings by doing a puppet act with a moose hand
puppet. I am also told the act is pretty bad and a second banana
tells Jeff when to quit because he is boring the suits. It is
odd that the big Jeff and the local (WVUE) Jeff are both puppet
masters. The party who leaked this said "At least the stock holders and drones did not
have to endure this act."
Facts are stranger than fiction.
11/06/05 ON VACATION???? At least thats the story VUE management is telling
the public while they try to placate Breck. How much will it cost
to keep him? How many will lose their jobs to pay him? Stay tuned.
VUE to move back to NewOrleans soon. They will move into the vacant
space were master control and other engineering space used to
be. You have to wonder how well they have done to protect the
returning humans. One put it this way,
"They did not
get rid of the asbestos over the last seven years, do you think
they will do anything to protect any of us FE`s as they try to
dump the station?"
I am sure Jeff will do all that is
needed ,if it does not cost to much. No word from the other remaining
cubes, all must be peachy with them. Emmis stock just under $20
a share, the buy back seems to be fading as investors see the
company going no ware. "Chain
rowers."
10/30/05 A LINE IN THE SLIME... Apparently Bob Breck is non to happy with his commute
to and from WALA. He (Bob) has told the powers at be that he will
walk if they do not fulfill their contractual requirements. Just
a few of his sticking points, "I
am contracted to work in New Orleans not Mobile AL!" and "
I am supposed to have help putting these weather cast together.". Bob`s line in the slime expires soon, lets see if
he follows through or caves. This Exclusive brought to you by
the Emmis authority, Emmissucks.Com.
10/22/05 NOT MUCH LEFT TO REPORT... Since most of the humans I know are gone and the few
who are left are busy trying to put some thing back on the air.
One resent FE sent in this,
" I think you
will enjoy this relic from the Quinn era ,it fits now more than
ever for both the station and the corporation!"
I fell out of my chair on that note.
For those who do not remember the "Neighbors In News"
and "Thats My VUE
Point, Whats Yours?" ,consider your
self lucky. Emmis is making plans to rebuild some thing for VUE,
what that is and how close to pre-Katrina that will be, remains
to be seen.The piles of smurf brick are down to just a few feet
and the water logged live trucks have been hauled off. One other
staffer said "Did
you notice the plastic covering the fence, looks like they do
not want you to see what they are doing?" could be? No word from CCC or
the 50th state on how the sale is going. "Be Happy In Your Work."
10/17/05 NEW ORLEANS CUBE CONTINUES
TO CRUMBLE... As the demolition continues
and the old VUE news dept is piled up to 17 feet high
on the side street and shorter piles
on Jeff davis ,your web master has learned that the current captain
of the cube may have caught a life boat. A few drones got out
just before Katrina and one let me know how bad it was getting
,we bumped into each other at the barber shop. Others have jumped
ship since the storm. It is rumored that the main weather guy
has give management an ultimatum or he will walk. It will take
some time if ever to get the old cube back to were it was pre-Katrina.
With the station up for sale ,you have to wonder how cheap Emmis
will be on the re-build, if at all. Some talk is on Emmis taking
the insurance money, shutting down news and running the place
from Orlando. Time will tell.
10/11/05 AS EMMIS SINKS INTO TV
HISTORY...They will go out with a flair
for the ultimate in stupidity.
These were their two front line WVUE
live trucks,
Note the water marks on the vans and
the street light pole. I guess the weather authority did not notice
the cat 5 storm heading for New Orleans. I addition the entire
first floor of the New Orleans cube has been put onto the curbs
in 15 foot high piles for trash pick up. This will include the
new over priced set, Brecks weather palace, the new cameras and
all those Bach Boxes I built over the years. In one feld swoop
Katrina did one thing I hoped for, removed all the gadgets I built
from use by Emmis.One CE put it like this,
"I do not know
how we will do Mardi-Gras or elections now, all the stuff you
made has been destroyed. Maybe VIC will build replacements :-)"
I do not think so. I am glad a few
of the remaining CE`s remember who made all those little gems.
I will also state my Express remote was high and dry along with
all my other ENG gear.
While yours truly was evaced to Baton
Rouge another FE and I had a running gag involving Ray Shonback
,only the two of us "got it" but many others wondered
what we were talking about. It is amazing to see the shock on
some peoples faces when they meet your web master in person. It
makes it worth while. When Emmis finally divest itself of TV this
site will remain but will only update when Jeff pulls another
big screw up.
I did get this from a reader of this
page.
"Did you hear
Big Easy is up for sale?"
Yes I did , I can understand why, producing
a blog is not easy and requires time and brings the rath of readers
and companies alike. Blogged free speech is not easy and requires
a great deal from the web master. For those who do not believe
this, feel free to give it a try.
I am rowing, but the finish line is
in sight.
10/10/05 I`M BACK.... Much to the displeasure of Jeff and his band of gypsies.
There is a lot to catch up on. First I now have a phone for the
first time in six weeks. I got back to my QTH (home to the non-hams)
and found some looters got my generator and a few other items
from my back yard. I now am sleeping in my living room with a
12 gauge. I got about 12 inches of water on my first floor, that
was just bad enough to destroy most stuff on that floor.
Now for some catch up on the evil ones.
I could not believe when received the info "Bosses use drones
to ferry personal shuttle craft out of harms way while leaving
two live trucks to drown in front of station." It was true,
I have the pics and will post them when I figure out my new digital
camera. The VUE studios are being gutted and some drones report
they were not given any chance to recover personal effects prior
to demolition. Typical Emmis. The weather authority is now with
out gear and down to one weather guy. Emmis has sold off most
of TV but still owns VUE the hub and one in Hawaii . You could
say the end is in sight for Emmis TV.
All New Orleans broadcasters got hit
by Katrina but the difference is how the companies respond to
crisis and employee personal needs. We all know how A-Mess has
responded.
I must say that it is vary strange
to walk the city streets and not see another human, I feel like
it is a movie set from the film "last man on earth".I
will be posting some pics. No one can describe the smell of death
and decay so I will not try.Civilization is hot water, milk,ice
and a phone line.
This unit has survived and is back
computing.
09/17/05 JEFF GOES AFTER NEW TOY
AS VUE STUDIOS SOAK IN SLIME.... Jeff
Smulyan, head of Emmis Communications and former
owner of the Seattle Mariners, has
submitted a bid to purchase the Washington Nationals baseball team. This was
passed along from Newsblues. God help them. Your
web master will be returning to the disaster zone this monday
after leaving the secure undisclosed location were emmissucks
data has been stored and the last few post have been coming from.
Home of the supper doppler 8000+ has power/water and sewerage.
I do not know about phone lines so it may be some time before
the next posting.
A high rankning WVUE Manager told another manager
"Why do they (Emmis) want the transmitter
back up, I no longer have a studio."
You could say the WVUE studio
is A-Mess. This seg out truly fits the disaster zone, Row On!
09/13/05 WVUE EMPLOYEE HELP?.....Emmis once again proves how they love the humans they
employ. I did not believe it my self so I held off posting this,
they(Emmis) gave the drones a $100 ,told them to leave all company
property (including there only means of transport) at WALA and
contact them (VUE managers) each Monday. Many of these one time
Emmis supporters are now openly advertising all over the net that
they "are available for employment". It took a cat 4
storm to bring out Jeffs true colors for some of these folks.
Bowing to public pressure A-Mess posted this;
a half assed way or pretending to care.
Your webmaster will be returning to the home of the supper Doppler
8000+ on Monday. It has been confirmed that the VUE studios and
news room are totaled. You can now add toxic mud to the aspestose
on Jeff Davis PKWY.The cheap P.O.S. transmitters did not get wasted.
Emmis will suck to the bitter end. Row on.
09//03/05 HURRICANE KATRINA HITS WVUE CUBE HARD... WVUE
and all TV stations are hit by cat 4 storm. WVUE newsroom and
new over priced studios total loss. Bosses use drones to ferry
personal shuttle craft out of harms way while leaving two live
trucks to drown in front of station. Transmitter slightly moist.
CE`s report having to give up company vehicles leaving them stranded
over two states. Drones told to call about pay each Monday. Odds
on reconstruction low to nil. Another viewer sent in this info:
"I know Emmis
is probably the LAST thing you'd care to think about at a time
like this, but this might make you smile. If you haven't already
heard...The FCC fines Emmis in EEO matter.
Hopefully this will take you to the broadcast engineering site...you
may already subscribe to it...
http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/rfupdate/20050902/#Emmis
So much for "the people company"."
Many have asked how your webmaster
has faired. After some interesting and frightening time I am well
and dry. Emmis sucks is being posted from a dry secure undisclosed
location until power is restored to the supper Doppler 8000 computer
site. I am sure Jeff wishes me well :-) The home of the supper
Doppler 8000 only got 12 inches of water and no wind damage. "This
unit has survived."
08/27/05 ANOTHER FE WISHES EMMIS
MISMANGERS WELL....
"Fall of the
Emmispire
Wow, I just got
caught up and read the last 2 postings.
I guess Emmis did a divide and conquer with its TV
properties.
I would just love to see the Evil Ones I used to work for
get what's really coming to them. Like the top brass in
Indiana, the top brass in Oregon has almost rubbed its
employees' faces in its nice cars, expensive dinners,
home upgrades. Hope those upgrades pay off when they
have to sell their homes. I could be sympathetic because
of what I went through, but since they agreed with
Emmiscorps to put me and a lot of others there, they
can get their just desserts. Sorry, Charlie. Sleep with
the devil, wake up in hot ashes. Play with the giant boot,
wake up a smashed bug. Treat your sailors poorly, go
down in the ship by yourself. Buy yourself a nice suit at
the cost of someone feeding his family, see how well
that suit nourishes you when your cabinets are empty.
Force a human to crawl home to his/her family and tell
them there's no job any more, be forced to do the same
with your family, only because you're so BIG, the fall is
so HARD. I could go on but I won't right now. Well...I
might...
Kind of gives a new meaning to LEVELING THE
PLAYING FIELD doesn't it? Except dept heads and
managers don't have any real talent, just business
degrees and the ability to be more machine than
human."
I have been getting
a lot of e-mail like this one. As for you web master ,I am moving
into Hurricane Katrina prep mode and depending on how bad it hits
our area I will return asap. Data for this site has been saved
out of state and the hard drives for the supper Doppler 8000 will
be removed and taken to a safe undisclosed location.
08/24/05 WARNING WILL ROBINSON!!!!!
I an not going to actively look into
who is buying Emmis cubes but if some thing like this comes in
,it will be posted.
"Hi (XXXX)!
While I am thrilled about Emmis getting out of TV, rather than
congratulating the new (Company
A) stations they now need
to be warned. It is time for them to get out their resumes and
be ready for more unpleasant changes!!!
ALL (Company A) television stations in Indiana are
hubbed! This includes WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, and WLFI-TV, Lafayette.
http://www.dxfm.com/WISH-TV/WISH-TV.htm http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-050325.html
They WILL hub WTHI, Terre Haute AND WLUK-TV, Green Bay. On the
same day (Company A) television agreed to $ 260 million
worth of Emmis TV stations, the (Company
A) board of directors approved
a new $200 million stock buyback program! http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=410&layout=-6&item_id=74832
They've also installed Parkervision at WANE-TV http://broadcastengineering.com/news/highlights/broadcasting_parkervision_dnf_controls/
This has allowed them to automate the newscasts so they have eliminated
all but a very few production people.
Jeff, living in Indianapolis, had to have known about (Company A)'s centralcrapping facilities even before he sat down
with (Company A) to discuss selling the stations. Once
again, he's put bucks ahead of people.
Once the FCC approves the sale, it will likely take about six
months or so for them to add servers, routers, and automation
control for WTHI in Indy. A few of THI's people may be asked to
work in Indy. Also, do not expect (Company A)
TV to upgrade the studios. Most of their stations are dumps...in
desperate need of new furniture, new paint, etc. Any "new"
equipment the stations may get will likely be WISH TV hand-me-downs.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially since this is
a time for liberated Emmis people to rejoice. Please warn these
people,...they need to know!
At least the drones of the
cubes bought by Company A have a chance to look
into this and make plans to vacate if needed. I was hoping this
sort of thing would not happen but to all those at WALA-10-Fox,WBPG-55-WB,WTHI-10-CBS,WLUK-11-Fox & KRQE-13-CBS
start prepping NOW! Another observant informed viewer sent in
this ,
"One could make the case
that Emmis was positioning WVUE for sale as much as 3 years ago
when they bid a ridiculous amount of money to get Wheel of Fortune
and Jeopardy from WWL. Those are highly valued assets that make
a station look attractive but don't necessarily result in cash
flow.
King World had no reason to want to move their shows off of one
of the strongest stations in the country except for the fact that
Emmis offered so much money.
If a good broadcaster does
their due diligence correctly they might be able to discern that
the program costs at WVUE now far outweigh the potential for making
money on these shows. The ratings will be decent but not WWL numbers.
Plus, the normal Fox audience and the audience of these shows
are not a natural match so the idea of adding these shows to help
other WVUE programming (i.e. Early News and Prime)is suspect.
I guess the station could sell
tomorrow but careful buyers may stay away from it."
Emmis will not go out
quietly ,but it will be gone.
08/23/05 LANDSLIDE OF EMAIL.... With no surprise my email box was loaded with bunches
of good tid bits,
"I guess it's
true,"what goes around comes around." It seems as though
the mismanagement ran not only at VUE but all the way to HQ. I
for one will miss this site and your postings. I had it favorite
placed! But strangely, I take no satisfaction at their misfortune
and I thought I would. I took the opportunity they gave me when
they let me go and took it farther than my wildest dreams. I now
have union representation as I've cleared probation, I've been
(XXXX) now for almost a year and the money is just extra.
But the real thing I enjoy most about my new company is that they
listen, they give you opportunities to better yourself and learn
new things, and they care. I just wish I could have found this
place years ago.
I'm now based in (XXXX) so all my trips begin and end there.
I'm still in the house in Slidell until my wife decides what she's
going to do about her job. Sadly, the management at her company
is reminding me of Emmis more everyday with the stories she tells
me. At their Christmas party last year they had assigned seating.
Now, today she tells me they've instituted a new dress code while
none of them are ever in the public eye. I don't know how much
longer she'll want to put up with it all.
I wanted to wish you all the best and say thanks for keeping us
all informed. Keep in touch."
As stated earlier this
site will not be going away. This FE is now out of TV and loving
it. A few notes from CCC came in,
" When will they
let us go? Do you have any ideas on who will buy us ? I know some
will be fired when they shut down the M5 ,but it will be worth
it. Glad you informed the planet about the evil ones. I am looking
up the address for the unemployment office for Mr BMW and the
purple one :-)"
another wrote,
"Glad to see the
limbs of the M5 being scattered!
What no one wants the hellmouth WKCF?
Ha HA ha HA ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Something tells me there will be some kicking and screaming
and the cops to get the eVILmis-managers to go "
Turnabouts fair play,
they used the cops in 2001. A co-worker asked,
"what will happen
to the CEO for screwing up so bad?"
Knowing Jeff and Emmis,
he will most likely get a raise and stock options along with a
bigger golden parachute. Newsblues reports Emmis is "Pleased"
with round one, gee you think they would say any thing but?
" I have been
reading this site for four years , I have never worked for Emmis
but I do work in the Television field. After a year of reading
I could not believe the postings so I decided to contact some
people I know inside Emmis. I ran an informal poll of these people
as I ran into them at various industry functions. Each and every
time I brought up EMMISSUCKS ,I was told the website was just
the tip of the iceberg, according to all these employees Emmis
is hell on earth and Jeff is the devil incarnate. I for one am
glad to see them get out the biz. Good luck I will be reading
the end of the empire in the pages of Emmissucks."
In an unrelated story
Newsblues reports the other M5 is being Dumped,
"DUMPING NEWSCENTRAL
During a mandatory
staff meeting yesterday, employees of Sinclair's WUHF-31-Fox in
Rochester were told that the station had entered into a joint
sales and news sharing agreement with Nexstar's WROC-8-CBS.
WROC will produce a
10 p.m. newscast for WUHF and will be responsible for ad sales.
"Fox 31 News at 10 will go on hiatus starting Sept. 1 and
will relaunch in November," according to Nexstar.
A little more
than 2½ years ago, WUHF fired its entire news, weather,
and sports anchor team to make way for Sinclair's Newscentral,
which is now being, effectively, dumped.
Sinclair CEO David
Smith used the occasion to lash out at Washington. "In today's
environment of increasing competition for advertiser's budgets
and with no regulatory relief from Congress, the Courts or the
Federal Communications Commission in sight, television broadcasters
must pursue other arrangements that will provide them an economic
benefit in order to continue to be viable, competitive and meet
the needs of their local communities."
Stay tuned as we continue
to report on the fall of the Emmis Empire.
08/22/05****SOLD****.... Think its a bit much?
I got word as early as 6Am this morning but had no confirmation
until 10Am. needles to say I can not post at that time, so here
the tally so far.
Sold To Company A for $260 Million
Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla:
WALA-10-Fox
WBPG-55-WB
Terre Haute, Ind:
WTHI-10-CBS
Green Bay-Appleton, Wisc:
WLUK-11-Fox
Albuquerque-Sante Fe, N.Mex:
KRQE-13-CBS
Sold To Company B for $235 Million
Ft. Myers-Naples, Fla:
WFTX-36-Fox
Tucson, Ariz:
KGUN-9-ABC
Omaha, Nebr:
KMTV-3-CBS
Sold To Company C for $186 Million
Charleston-Huntington, W.Va:
WSAZ-3-NBC
No Word On These Cubes Yet
New Orleans, La:
WVUE-8-Fox
Portland, Oreg:
KOIN-6-CBS
Orlando, Fla:
WKCF-18-WB
Honolulu, Hawaii:
KHON-2-Fox
KGMB-9-CBS
Wichita-Hutchinson, Kans:
KSNW-3-NBC
Topeka, Kans:
KSNT-27-NBC
Not since the Israelites were freed
from the pharaohs has such a cry of freedom gone out. I did not
think I was going to be posting so soon but as the counter hits
50K yours truly wishes all those just liberated "Good Luck"
. It is an odd mix of stations that have not announced yet, these
include the hub and some spokes of the M5. I had word from three
of the stations staffers of impending Meetings this morning. I
will remind all, Emmis is not gone yet and some mid level mismanagers
have indicated they will "get
even" on the way out. This seems to
indicate a scorched earth policy by some Emmis managers. Another
CE said "I hope Emmis
does not build the new master controls." This would be bad if Emmis were involved, after all,
they have proved they no nothing about TV. Emmis has bought the
low end of the low end for all its DTV build outs. On a local
level Vic not only removed all the gear from WVUE`s master control,
He had the place stripped to the bare walls and floor.WALA may
have room but the building was a true Emmis design, an office
building ,not a TV station. It will require a lot to bring it
up to standards. As for the other cubes, first more staff will
be needed and a lot of HR to remove the Borg implants. A lot of
talented humans will now have a chance to make it work free from
the hostile work culture of Emmis. All the Emmis Spywear will
have to be removed and it will take years to rebuild what Emmis
Destroyed in just a few years. I did hear from one soon to be
former Emmis management type,
"I first contacted
you as a cheerleader for Emmis. We were all told Emmis was in
it for the long haul and not to worry. Jeff himself told me "You
can bank on Emmis and our Television division." Little did
I know he was already making plans to sell TV. I am sure all of
us in management will soon be hitting the bricks with nothing
but Emmis as our last place of employment. I do not think that
will shine as an example of how well we managed our stations.
Jeff played us just as he played all the working stiffs in 2001.
Now even those of us who tried to make the best of a bad company
, will pay for his deceptions and greed. You were dead on about
Emmis. I may stay in broadcasting, I may be forced into another
field. Good luck to all the FE`s and soon to be FE`s."
Emmissucks will continue
to cover the fall of the evil empire with updates as needed. Others
will give you the numbers but only this site will give you the
full and complete story, AES & EBU.
08/20/05 MORE ROOM THAN FIRST REPORTED...
A WALA FE reports,
"While I have
no horse in this race and left WALA long before Emmis took over,
the one thing WALA DOES have is space. Hell, the place is half
empty. The facility was built to accommodate a Master Control
room and the former CE built enough extra unused rack space to
house the dreaded M5. The only thing they lack is the staffing
that they laid off before the move to the new building."
This info is now over
five years old so there is no telling how much of that room has
been used for the M5 and the other station they combined with.
The winner (if you
want to call it that) of the bidding has yet to be announced.
A number of well known financial mags reporters have contacted
yours truly asking "Do
you have any inside info?"
,no not any thing specific, Emmis is managing to keep a lid on
this one.
The drones from three
of the spoke stations indicate "unofficial
plans for master controls are being made." One station even reports compiling a list of humans
to run such a master control.
Last but not least,
I continue to hear from people "What will become of your
website when Emmis sells TV?" I actually spelled this out
a number of times but I guess I need to do it again and put it
on permanent post in the history section.
" Emmissucks started
as a voice for screwed employees and to tell the world how and
why Jeff and his band of gypsies were systematically eliminating
quality reasonably paid humans for low paid humans running poorly
designed and thought out automation. With Emmis getting out of
TV ,weekly updates will end. Updates will be made for ground breaking
news, such as the day the M5 is shut down. I never set out to
be the Emmis Authority but it started out as a way to vent but
after a few weeks it just became a interesting hobby/soap opera.
Many have enjoyed the weekly installments of "how the cube
turns", even folks with no interest Emmis have enjoyed how
greed and incompetence destroyed stations and in the end Emmis.
Will the site continue, in a word "yes" one CE from
HQ mailed me a note,
"I hope you
do not pull the site once EMMIS sells Television. You should leave
it so others can learn from all the massive mistakes made by this
company."
With this he or she
donated three years worth of registration fees. I have no plans
to pull the site. When there is no more news to report, after
the sale, after the M5 shut down and when Emmsi radio is sold
off or taken over this site will remain as testament to how greed
and incompetence do not pay."
EMMISSUCKS is the only
online Emmis authority using supper Doppler 8000+ technology.
08/14/05 THE END IS CLOSER... With the sale of TV announced, a stock buy back scam,
the stock price now hovers from $20 to $21 a share. Jeffs manipulation
seem to have worked to a point. More on the pending sale from,
"The Television
Business Report 8/12
Analyzing the bidders
for Emmis' TV stations
Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller is telling clients that Emmis
Communications is likely to get 1.15-1.25 billion from the sale
of its 16 TV stations, pretty much in line with the estimate RBR/TVBR
has stuck with from the time Emmis hung out the "for sale"
sign - - 1.1-1.2 billion - - and above the one billion figure
that's been speculated by others on Wall Street. Miller's analysis
sees two key markets in the sell-off - - WKCF-TV (Ch. 18, WB)
Orlando, FL and KOIN-TV (Ch. 6, CBS) Portland, OR. With 36-40
million in revenues and 20 million in cash flow, Miller sees WKCF
selling for 250-300 million if Emmis can get a multiple of 12.5-15
times. He notes that there are three potential duopoly buyers,
Cox Broadcasting, Hearst-Argyle and Post-Newsweek. For KOIN, he
estimates 28-30 million in revenues and 10-12 in cash flow, so
a "premium multiple" could bring 125-150 million. Tribune
could be a duopoly buyer and there are other major companies who
are regional players. He notes t!
hat Viacom might even be interested in buying the CBS affiliate,
but would have to divest a smaller market station somewhere to
stay under the 39% cap. The desert is also hot, Miller says, at
least as far as values for Emmis' KRQE-TV (Ch. 13, CBS) Albuquerque,
NM and KGUN-TV (Ch. 9, ABC) Tucson, AZ, which together could bring
115-135 million. Miller thinks it is unlikely that one company
will buy the entire Emmis group, but rather that there will be
two-to-six winners out of the three dozen or so companies who've
bid for some or all of the stations. "
The one interesting
thing brought up by this report is that no one wants the hub
and spoke stations of the M5 as a group. With this in mind there
is only two solutions upon a sale, 1 a lease management agreement
(LMA) to keep the M5 or 2 Destruction of the hub and the M5. Knowing
that the M5 system does not work technically or financially ,I
can not see any smart buyers keeping it. What will this mean for
the M5 group, terminations at the hub of all those drones needed
to run the M5. The spoke stations would have to build and staff
master controls. Most of the stations have the room for this but
WALA does not. Some have speculated that a Trailer would be used
until a real building addition could be built. Time will tell.
One thing for sure, a lot of mid level Emmis drones will be tapped
with in months of the sale. Irony, Justice or Karma ?
08/09/05 EMMIS BITCH SLAPPED BY
N.Y. ATTORNEY GENERAL... I want media
reports,
"Emmis, the parent
company of New York's WQHT-FM, will pay $240,000 to settle a probe
of the station's "Smackfest" contests. Contestants,
usually young women, took turns slapping each other for a chance
to win prizes. Emmis admits that the contest "was not our
finest hour."
Emmis normally reserves
bitch slapping for their own employees. Emmis closes bidding for
TV division, no word if any one bid for the entire hive. Emmis
stock down to $20 on all the good news. Emmis "The People
Company".
07/31/05 EMMIS OK TO WORK FOR-NOT....
Now that our station move is almost
over I get a day off and time for a post. Another VUE FE is now
working for us as a PA (As an engineer thats a power amp or pre-amp).
This PA worked the early years of A-Mess at VUE and got a real
foul taste of them.
A VUE photog recently told another
stations employee that Emmis was "not that bad" ,this
long time VUE photog (25+ years) was told by the non Emmis person
"you would not say
that if you were one of the many fired by them.". I was shocked to hear who it was
who said this. I wonder how this or any of the photogs would think
of the evil ones if they held on to TV long enough to execute
the one man bands they were playing with, thus firing all photogs?
Jeff has not given up his anti human policies and any thing he
can do to activate his final solution to the people problem. Unlike
most companies who view their employees as assets Emmis sees them
as liabilities to get rid of. To Jeff your nothing but raw material
for Soylent Green.
07/20/05 ITS OFFICIAL ,HELL HAS
FROZEN OVER.... in a rare if not unheard
of burst of honesty ,Ray Shonback in a meeting with WVUE
staffers a few weeks back admitted that Emmis was wrong about
centralcrapping and wrong about TV. He also admitted to not listening
to qualified TV people and that those humans were correct. I had
to wait until this info was confirmed because I just could not
believe it. I and all the others can now once again say,
"I Told You So"
You could say this was Jeffs one billion
dollar blunder. A follow up to the previous post, Jeff Baskin
is the one leaving for KOIN. I did not post the name until I could
confirm it. This seems to be the only way Jeff could move up,
barring Breck keeling over. Baskin will be the chief meteor guy.
If has read this page ,he knows how bad it is at KOIN.. The truth
is out there.
07/19/05 WVUE LOSES WEATHER GUY????
It was reported by local blogs that
VUE had more weather people than any one, now it looks like they
will lose one of the veteran weather gang.
Emmis station locked out of police
presser because of the biased reporting done by that station.
A telephone company employee reports
that
"WVUE is like
a ghost town, even I have to get an escort to work on phone equipment."
BELO just bought the
local UPN station and has also announced that they will break
ground on their new combined megaplex. I am sure no expense will
be spared. This will leave WVUE in the oldest physical plant in
town. I pas the construction site twice a day ,it will be interesting
to see what they build.
Speaking of new digs
,yours truly will be helping move another station into their new
home this weekend so no more post until after that is done. Row
on.
07/09/05 KOIN TALENT CAVE... In a squeaker the uninformed talent rejected NABET.
A CE at KOIN sent me the link to the OREGONIAN
online that started with this,
"On-air KOIN-TV
personalities reject union representation
KOIN-TV's on-air
personalities voted 11-10 against unionizing Tuesday, leaving
only off-camera workers at the CBS affiliate represented by a
union. The result was good news for management at a station that
is up for sale and lagging in its prime-time newscast ratings,
and where off-camera workers organized last month."
The KOINer who sent
this also said "if
any of the 11 who voted down the union had read your site, they
would be NABET now." He
also pointed out that AFTRA still has a chance to defend the reluctant
talent.
We continue to hear
that some broadcasters are interested in parts of the hive no
one is interested in whole empire.On the local front , we in the
NEW ORLEANS metro area brace for Hurricane Dennis impact. The
storm will most likely not hit us directly but we should get some
wind and rain. The "weather authority" is splurging
in O.T. trying to stay ahead of the pack on this one. For me its
back to storm prep. Emmissucks, is your Emmis Authority.
07/03/05 OTHER SYSTEM SCRAPPED!!!
In a stunning announcement Sinclair
has indicated that its much touted NewsCentral will be scrapped.
Apparently the system suffered from poor engineering huge operational
cost and was seen as a political tool. The one thing that did
in this M5 system more than all the others was $$$$. Sinclair
unlike Emmis,came to their senses and scrapped it.
This past week was a banner week as
I have been in contact with a huge number of FE`s from all over
the hive. This was not planned but it was fun to hear the others
take on the people company. One from FTX said,
" I knew we were
in big trouble with in a month of Emmis buying us, I got out (XXX)
years later."
This FE also told quite
a few interesting tid bits of how the M5 screwed FTX up and other
stations. It was interesting to see how my co-workers took his
info on A-Mess. Also we were visited by some automation experts
who just stopped by to visit, when the subject of Floracrap came
up boy did they have a lot to say, none of it complimentary. One
of them even interviewed with them and turned them down after
realizing how bad off they are. He met the purple one and was
unimpressed by her and the end product. This automation expert
told me that the NBC version of the M5 by Floricrap was quietly
replaced with another system. Floricrap never met NBC`s specs.
Now for some "sale"
news, yours truly has heard that at least five broadcasters are
interested in parts of the hive but none want the entire empire.
Discussions of how to break up the M5 controlled stations continue.One
of this weeks visitors said it best when he said,
"Emmis should
have never gotten into TV."
06/26/05 INFERIOR MARIO BROTHER....
A number of contributors have been
telling me of the "handel" they have hung on Mr. BMW.
Because of his lack of height and mustache he looks like a "Mario
Brother" from the video games etc. I will point out I have
not met or ever talked to Mr. BMW , these are from folks who have.
"Mr. BMW is not
even five feet tall, he has a figure that is reminisce of the
pilsbury doughboy but because he has dark hair and a mustache
there was an inside joke of him being called Mario for awhile.
"
" Have you noticed
that Mr. BMW looks like an Inferior Mario Brother?"
"Joe A. suffers
from a case of Napoleon syndrome but we at CCC just think of him
as Mario, I think you will get it."
Last but least this
week,
"Emmis management
was forced to take IQ test, the results were negative. Just thought
you should know."
"be happy in your
work"
06/19/05 BELIEVE.....I think not , as I read through the EMMIS 2005 annual
report. They still are touting the "top 100 best companies
to work for" thing on the back of the insert. In Jeffs "
The challenge before us" section he spells out doom and gloom
for radio and his attempt to beat it buy selling TV. For more
humor read it for your self.
M5 update... this is an update on how
the great place to work handles abused drones that speak up.
"I'm a former
Emmis employee. I worked at M5 for well
over (XXXX). In your ongoing soap opera you missed
some good story lines. That is unless I missed them
as I scrolled through looking for information
pertaining only to M5. How about this one? Employees
unhappy with crappy pay so Emmis hires a shakey guy
named Scott Blair and pay him well over $100,000 to
find out why everyone is so unhappy. Then he does
nothing but fire people for no reason for a couple
months before Ray asks him to resign.
This is the norm for
the people company ,they have an open door policy, that is if
you complain or point out a problem your kicked out that open
door. Emmis, a great place to work, NOT.
Emmis to spend $325,000,000.00
to buy back stock. They will be selling junk bonds to raise the
cash. Read more a www.emmis.com Thats brilliant, pile $325 million
debt on top of the $1.2 billion debt just to make the stock look
better. At Emmis perception is better than reality. "You live to serve this ship,
row well and live."
6/12/05 AWAY ALL BOATS.... As the HMS EMMIS continues to sink more and more managers
and department heads jump ship. While not every one in Emmis management
is an A-Hole , any buyer will not know who is ok and who is not.
This will result in most getting the tap. Emmis is not giving
up on its quest to screw its drones, there is talk of cuts at
some cubes to make them look better for a sale. Some drones have
asked if they should back off on the fight and wait for the new
owners, absolutely NOT! It could be years before a sale. A KOINer
said,
"Do you think
I should vote to certify ? or wait?"
This on air CE can only be helped by
AFTRA. AFTRA will set a floor for "talent" and you can
amend that with a PSC. With out AFTRA your at the beck and call
of Jeff and his anti human policies.
Other viewers of this page have expressed
there support on the continuing battle for truth and justice in
the hive. Quite a few of these are from humans that have never
had the displeasure of working for Jeff,
"I haven't walked
in your shoes either. I've never been "tapped" from
a job-I've been laid off before, but the companies that did it
were fair and honest. They also gave me great reviews / written
recommendations which were a tremendous help in finding a new
job.
I have had my friends let go from companies that were very unfair
/ dishonest. I even have a relative who lived in Texas and worked
for Enron! A friend of ours who works in Chicago was fired last
year after she wouldn't handle some "questionable" legal
matters for an accounting firm she worked at. She'd been with
the company 19 years and had an excellent record with the company
prior.
I'm happy that Emmis
is selling...hopefully this will be the fate of similar companies
as well! I don't know what people were thinking back in 96. I
still feel that no group should have more than 6 or 7 stations
at the most. The idea of a company reaching 37 percent of the
US audience is absurd!
How can there be free speech if the ideals of a large company
is what is dictated to their employees and that is past on to
the US (and in cases), world audience!
You have a lot of people
who appreciate what you do and many (including myself) who are
willing to come to your defense!"
This was edited for
space. I appreciate those who contact me to let me know they were
helped by this site. "If even one gets out ,its a victory."
A KOINer sent in this article,
"Today's Oregonian:
KOIN 6 TV's off-air production employees vote to join union Photographers,
editors, technicians and other off-air personnel at KOIN 6 TV
on Monday voted in favor of joining the National Association of
Broadcast Employees and Technicians -- Communication Workers of
America Local 51. The 26-10 vote will cover almost 40 employees,
subject to an agreement on whether part-time employees are included,
according to union local President Kevin Wilson. The union is
seeking to represent another 22 employees, including producers,
assignment editors, commercial production employees, the station's
information technology department and its chief photographer and
his assistant. KOIN employees contacted the union seeking representation
earlier this year because of issues such as unpaid overtime and
vacations that were canceled after travel arrangements had been
made. "We were very pleased with the outcome and are preparing
to negotiate a fair and equitable contract," Wilson said.
"We expect to begin bargaining in about 60 days."
Another union, the American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists, is seeking to represent the station's on-air employees,
including more than 20 anchors and reporters. A vote on that union
is scheduled for July 5.
-- Ted Sickinger"
Good luck KOINers in
your quest for a fair workplace. Another KOINer asked,
"Do you think
you need a UNION were you work?"
The short answer, No,
long explanation...As I said before "you only need a union
if you have poor management." I have worked for non-union
and union employers. I have been a member of IBEW, OCAW ,UBC &
IAMAW unions. My current employer is a old established firm who
know how to treat there employees, they do not need to fake "great
place to work" awards. And yes there are still broadcast
companies that do care about there people.
Another viewer sent
in this pic of Mr. BMW,
addalia@wb18.com addalia@emmis.com
JAddalia@emmis.com
Feel free to contact him and let him
know what you think of the M5. More info keeps seeping in on prep
to break up the M5 for the sale. Some one recently asked,
" How much do
you think the Emmissucks web site has cost Emmis?"
That is a vary interesting question
with out a good solid answer. This questioner also said if the
site affected the stock even by a few pennies per share, it cost
Emmis millions. Leaves one to ponder? Resistance is not futile
when the truth is out there.
06/06/05 NU DAY AT KOIN.... The NU is for NABET UNION as the rest of the country
remembers D-DAY ,KOINers are celebrating the certification of
NABET to represent the drones in a collective bargaining unit,
pun intended. As I told the KOINers that have been in contact
with me over the years "you only need a union if management
is poor" ,well they have Emmis.
"Nabet won the
election around 72% voted for the union."
This was despite the last minuet pleadings
of Randy Bongarten directly
to the staff
The AFTRA vote is in the first week
of July and Emmsucks hopes the on air types realize how much better
they will be under AFTRA rather then going one on one with the
evil empire.
More from KSNT,
"As a CE with
some understanding of what is happening at KSNT I know that
managers are dictated a "vision" from Ken S. A plan
is "developed" with Ken
that must be implemented and it often involves hiring or firing
based on his
direction. Topeka is what it is, a place for newbies to cut their
teeth, and a
place for us old timers to do good work at a place we care about.
Our former GSM and
now News Director learned the hard way. Our hope that the
new owners will see Ken for what he truly is and we can get back
to the good old
days."
I do not know any
of the players at KSNT and only report what is sent in. Ken S.
is the one quoted above "I'll
start being nicer when everyone starts enjoying their job!"It is my hope that all the good managers
who have been in hiding from Jeff will some how survive the upcoming
management purge.
All this Exclusively from EMMISSUCKS
your online Emmis authority, Row on!
06/05/05 AN ND`S NOTE TO THE HIVE... This was sent in from a KSNT CE,
"This is the e-mail
we got from Michelle Barlow Wed. night. She made the official
announcement after the 6pm newscast...
"This is a very hard thing
to write, but here it goes...
My husband and I have
decided that our time in the Midwest has come to a close. I am
leaving KSNT by choice to pursue some other opportunities in the
Southwest. Kansas has been very dear to us -- I am proud to say
that I was born in Topeka, but my heart is still in the Southwest
and has been for sometime now.
I will be working very
closely with Ken (Selvaggi, VP & GM) over the next two weeks
to fill the vacancies that we have. We have made great progress
over the last week and today.
I just want to take
a moment to tell you all how much I appreciate your hard work
and dedication to the people of Northeast Kansas. Stay steadfast
on your focus to be number one according to our plan and not what
the other guys are doing and you will succeed.
My last day will June
14, 2005.
My two cents: what
a bunch of BS! 35 people have either been fired or quit from the
news department since she took over a year ago and she's leaving
because she wants to "pursue other opportunities"? Please!"
By the number of terminations
and evacuations under this ND, she was loved by one and all.
No word on how the
NABET talks are going at KOIN and no word on who is running the
worst cube in the hive to work in. The number of job openings
is growing as the old guard leaves before they are "lunched".
WVUE is currently installing a low end high power DTV system in
an attempt to beat the July 1 deadline. The M5 continues to pixelize
the VUE stream, I do not know how they collect on spots that only
partially run. This pixelating comes and goes, some times a few
minuets, other for hours. One person said this,
"It has become
unwatchable. I only watch one show on FOX8 and that is totaled
by the automation. For how to lose audience tune in FOX8!"
No recent word from
CCC on how the new chain of command is going or how Mr BMW is
taking the end of EMMIS TV. Another FE asked,
" I do not think
Jeff and his gang realized how you would stick with the massive
wrongs they are doing. I remember your bet with (XXXX) over
a bogus radar ticket, you beat city hall and proved the police
were in error, it only cost you five times the cost of the fine
and you did that with out a lawyer! Emmis chose the wrong guy
to screw. Go go go!!!"
I will go to the enth
degree to prove a wrong and I will see the end of EMMIS TV as
the entire broadcast industry rejoices as the hive implodes. Away
all boats!
06/03/05 ABANDONING EMMIS...Thats the latest headline from NewsBlues as they report
on the exodus from the sinking ship A-Mess,
"Michelle Barlow
has suddenly resigned as news director of Topeka's KSNT-27-NBC.
She becomes the latest on a growing list of news executives who
have abandoned Emmis properties following word that the station
group was up for sale.
Barlow arrived in
Topeka from Forrest Carr's former station, Tucson's KGUN-9-ABC,
one year ago."
Another KOINer resigns
, Irene Mahoney A.N.D. jumped ship earlier this week. Many others
are now looking and a few have contacted yours truly. It is amazing
how web sites that called this one "caustic" are now
enjoying covering the train wreck of Emmis. Some other viewers
of this site have sent in a number of recent "job openings"
that have popped up since the TV sale announcement. This is a
direct indication of how many are grabbing a life boat. One of
the five mid-level types who contacted me said the following could
be posted,
" I did not always
agree with your postings but I also did not like a lot of what
Jeff Smulyan wanted us to implement as a matter of policy. Emmis
HQ micro manages the stations to such a degree that any friction
from a general manager is a death sentence. I had to bite my tongue
many times and go to an isolated spot and scream. I met with some
of the other GM`s and we all have been told a line of BS over
the last year or so as Smulyan positioned TV for a sale. While
I still do not totally agree with your site, I now see how you
and all the others feel about this poorly run media company. I
will be out one way or another in a short period of time. I will
continue looking in on Emmissucks for the real story. Good luck."
I got my buy back offer
from the hive and others also report getting this POS. We also
got the Indiana Hearing notice. Your Emmis authority will continue
coverage of the downfall of the hive as we issue our TPS reports.
05/29/05 ANY ONE BUT EMMIS... This from a former potential victim , a WNDU staffer
sent in this.
"Hi (XXX)! Here's
the latest info on the possible WNDU-TV sale. I am thrilled that
Emmis is going out of the TV business!!!!
----- Original Message
-----
From: John Affleck-Graves and Jim Behling
To: everyone@wndu.com
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2005 2:51 PM
Subject: Addressing the Rumors
To the staff of WNDU-TV,
Many of you have asked
recently about rumors concerning the sale of
Michiana Telecasting Corp. Rumors range from claims that potential
buyers
have already toured the station to "a sale has already been
made."
We understand the anxieties
and concerns that these and other rumors have
sparked and we would like to put those rumors to rest and let
you know
exactly where the process is.
First, no deal has
been made. Far from it, in fact. While several
broadcast companies have expressed at least some level of interest,
none
has yet received any specific information about the station.
Second, no potential
buyers have visited either the station or the
transmitter site. Some of you may have seen strangers in the building,
but
we assure you they were not potential buyers. Rather, they were
local
experts here to learn more abut the station in order to help evaluate
the
University's options.
Third, the University
has not committed to selling the station. It may or
may not happen. A number of considerations, including identifying
a
quality broadcaster as well as financial issues, would have to
be satisfied
before Notre Dame would be willing to sell.
There is no timetable
or deadline for making a decision. Information will
be distributed over the next few weeks to interested and financially
qualified companies, but if the University did decide to sell,
a new owner
could not be in place until the first of October at the very earliest.
This is the current
state of our evaluation process. If you have any
additional questions or hear other rumors, we are more than happy
to
address them. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience. We understand
these
are anxious times for all of you.
John Affleck-Graves
and Jim Behling
Jim Behling
President & General Manager
WNDU-TV/Channel 16
P.O. Box 1616
South Bend, IN 46634
(574) 631-1301
FAX # (574) 631-1637
e-mail: JBehling@wndu.com
"
Emmis getting out of
TV is the best thing for TV since Color!
05/23/05 ANOTHER ONE JUMPS SHIP... KOIN ND has turned in his torch,
" Dan Salamone
is leaving KOIN, after running the worst cube in the hive for
a year and some months. He has allowed the bad situation to get
worse. Any one who buys us would have no choice but to fire him.
We KOINers salute you for giving us a voice over the years. Hopefully
things will get better post A-Mess."
The rats are first to leave a sinking
ship.
05/21/05 M5 PIXELATES WVUE... Once again the M5 is heavily pixelating the WVUE air
product, I was emailed on Monday and Tuesday. I still saw the
errors this morning. No end in site. Many CE`s still in a party
mood after Jeff throws in the towel. One sent in some art,
"Darth Smulyan
losses control of the Empire."
Bob Noonan made the
correct choice in not sticking with Emmis (see 2/25/04 post) WFTX
cube becoming a really bad place to work as they lose more and
more management. Newsblues reports this,
"While Emmis seeks
a buyer for its TV station group, WFTX-36-Fox in Ft. Myers will
continue to operate under the interim hand of Don Ray, current
general manager of Emmis's WSAZ-3-NBC in Huntington, W.Va.
WFTX has been without
a GM, and News Director Geoffrey Roth leaves at the end of the
month for Pittsburgh's WPXI-11-NBC, where he'll be executive producer."
Geoffrey Roth turned
in his torch when Jeff announced the sale of TV knowing the new
brooms will sweep clean ,he jumped from the sinking ship. As first
predicted by Emmissucks, the systems are slipping through his
fingers. No buyers for A-Mess TV yet. The dark side always loses
in the end.
5/15/05 THE END IS NEAR OR A NEW
BEGINNING?.... The stock soured (almost
to $19 a share) on news of the impending sale and many drones
held private parties Monday night to calibrate the end of Jeffs
tyranny. As some put it,
" I hope you are
enjoying the announcement as much as this small group of humans
at (XXXX). Can you tell us when he will sell? Is he going to
sell all as a group or brake up the stations?"
"We the dowtroden
salute you for sticking by all of us in our fight for human rights."
"Another blog
called Emmissucks "caustic", that webmaster has never
worked for A-Mess and if he had he would know that you have been
kind in your post about (XXXXX). Those (XXXXX) have
wrecked more lives and stations than any other owner in TV history.
The Damage done by the "great place to work" will take
decades to fix, if it can be. My hope is that Jeff and that webmaster
have to work for some group as corrupt and incompetent as Emmis
some day. Stay with it till the end."
"This is shock
and awe. Ding dong the wicked which is dead. If Jeff makes money
on this ,there is no God. Emmissucks has been the only site that
has told the entire tale of the people company and its exploitation
of TV. You deserve a Nobel for fighting evil.
These are only a taste
of what I could post ,many more did not want their thoughts and
comments on the empire posted. The justifiable fear of reprisals
from Jeff is understandable. As for the other site that called
Emmissuck "caustic" ,they are in business of blogging.
Unlike Emmissucks they charge for access and they have not been
in TV for a quarter century. They do not know modern corporate
mismanaged TV like Emmis. They never worked for Jeff ,nor have
they walked in my shoes. BTW I am just having fun with this, its
not my JOB, I am not paid ,nor do I make any money from this information
site. Yet another CE asked,
"What will Emmis
do with the M5 stations? They can not be broken up. Who would
buy them?"
I have no idea, it
would take a lot to split the M5 group up, master controls would
have to be built, staff hired and trained. The leases on the fiber
line have six years left on them. There has been talk of master
controls being built in the spoke stations. Another viewer of
this site sent in this article.
"Journal has its
sights on Emmis TV
Just hours after the group went on the auction block, Journal
Communications CEO Steve Smith was telling a Robert W. Baird investor
conference in Chicago that his company was interested in buying
the Emmis
TV group. In fact, Smith said he'd called Jeff Smulyan before
last month's
NAB2005 and told him that if Emmis were ever to consider selling
its TV
stations, that Journal would be interested. "Our first priority
would be
to grow where we have radio," Smith said, noting how well
the Journal
Broadcast Group operations work in Milwaukee and Boise, where
it has both
radio and TV properties. "We think there are opportunities
because we know
the advertisers well and also have the ability to leverage costs,"
he s!
aid. How well do they match up? "They're in Omaha, they're
in Wichita,
they're in Tulsa. We're in Omaha, we're in Wichita, we're in Tulsa.
They're in Green Bay, we're already in Green Bay with television,
so
certainly it was an interesting announcement this morning,"
the Journal
CEO told the gathering. However, Smith also said there's still
a question
of where values are in the market today, although he said that's
less of
an issue in TV than in radio. "
The stock ended up
the week at $18 a share and falling. Those who were smart sold
the crap at 19. The market now ranks EMMIS debt as junk bonds.
Jeffs house of cards is coming apart as predicted. Many folks
kept telling me all week "did
you hear about Emmis?"
,many wonder why it took so long. I only imagine that all that
is wrong with Emmis management reached critical mass. Jeff has
slammed print radio and TV in the last year or so, this in direct
violation of one of those Emmis 11 commandments. If Jeff had only
lived the 11 commandments he came up with, he would have probably
done well in business.
Other CE`s are now
worried about how long it will take Jeff to dump TV, as we all
know, there will not be any more capital for the stations. They
will be in financial limbo ,unwanted step children with no future
at A-Mess. Yours truly will continue to document the fall of the
empire. No one in TV will ever get one of those diamond watches
from Jeff. I have my red Swingline, do you?
05/09/05 EXTRA-EXTRA EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL
REPORT!!!!!....If you think that is
a bit much for an intro here is the scoop, EMMIS to announce that
all of its TV stations are up for sale . The official announcement
is planned for 5/10/05 some time in the morning. I have not been
able to confirm this through another source but confidence is
high. This could spell the end of this site, our job will be done.
Some may say "what about radio?" ,with less than 10
radio contributors over the years ,it would not be a viable blog.
With the pending debt and litigation as well as labor troubles
all over ,Jeff is out of options. I do not think he will liquidate
in time to pay the debt. Meantime Jeff will continue to plunder
the company with self given stock options and a nice platinum
parachute. I can only hope that some large company with a realistic
plan and good HR buys the group of oppressed cubes. If this does
happen all the mismanagers will find out how it is to get tapped.
This just in.........
"Tomorrow morning
we are announcing that Emmis has
hired an investment banking firm to help us explore
strategic alternatives for our television business.
While we are open to a number of scenarios, this
decision likely will lead to the sale of all or
substantially all of our television business. In
addition, we are offering to buy back up to $400
million of our stock.
This has been the most
difficult decision of my
broadcasting career, especially in light of the
remarkable performance by our entire television group,
led by Randy Bongarten. Yet after much careful
consideration, the board and I have concluded that
this is the right decision for our company.
Our industries have
changed dramatically over the last
several years, and those changes have led us to two
conclusions. First, for Emmis to prosper, it must
lower its debt and position itself to explore new
growth opportunities. Second, in the future, the most
successful TV companies will be those that are larger
and more singularly focused on the challenges of
American television. What we are beginning today
ultimately will lower our debt and give the people at
our TV stations the chance to be part of an
organization that is better positioned to support
their long-term success.
We are dedicated to
finding a solution that not only
is best for Emmis but also is best for our TV
employees. While an outright sale of our TV stations
is likely, we have not closed the door to other
options. For example, we are open to working with
partners who would take a majority financial interest
in the TV group while we stay involved in management.
Additionally, we have encouraged Randy Bongarten to
explore the possibility of creating a company that
could buy all or part of our group. Whatever the
case, our goals are to find the best home for the
people of Emmis TV while, at the same time, maximizing
the value of our TV assets. They have proven
themselves to be the best operators in American
television, and they deserve the opportunity to
continue the good work theyve done in the last seven
years.
You all know how much
I love Emmis my entire
professional life has been dedicated to building this
company and helping it and its people achieve new
levels of success. That hasnt changed. I know that
what were doing today is whats best for this company
and everybody who works for it.
People inevitably will
ask whether todays
announcements means Emmis will be buying more radio
stations or magazines. Clearly, with a better capital
structure, we will have more flexibility to grow in
our current businesses, as well as to explore new,
related areas. While we believe that buying back our
stock is the most prudent investment we can make
today, we certainly will consider and pursue the right
opportunities for growth and value creation.
In the months ahead,
we will keep you apprised of any
and all developments that result from todays
announcement. Thank you for all you do for Emmis
Communications and for your continued hard work and
dedication.
Jeff "
Ramming speed!
05/08/05 CCC SHAKEUP....This just in from the home of the M5. Looks like the
purple one has lost some power as Ray Shonback issued this memo
to the drones at CCC,
"All,
Please join me in congratulating
Mike Flynn in his new capacity as Director of Centralcasting,
also Julie Brafford, in addition to her role as Operations Supervisor
she has taken on the responsibilities of Training Supervisor of
Centralcasting. Mike has been the Assistant Chief Engineer at
WKCF WB18 in Orlando and has helped develop and execute the centralcasting
concept. In his new role he will be able to expound on his vast
experience and knowledge to the benefit of centralcasting and
all the hub stations. Julies additional important position is
to utilize training to help focus talent and strengthen the centralcasting
staff. Her day to day knowledge is invaluable of the work ethic
she brings and will pass on to the centralcasting team and to
the future of the centralcasting operations.
Ray "
Or as all the rest
of say "This unit must survive" This brought to you
exclusively from Emmissucks, your Emmis authority
05/07/05 M5 UPDATE.... As moral in the hive plummets ,this great place to
work continues to try spin control as the National Labor Relations
Board gets involved in the worst cube in the hive to work for.
Other cube report serious HR difficulties and possible government
involvement. Your webmaster is forwarding this and other info
to the "great places to work institute"
Emmis sends in big guns to try to avoid
NABIT certification at KOIN. A-Mess will regret screwing the drones
at KOIN when NABIT comes in. Oregon is union state and Emmis will
have to deal with union work rules ,such as vacations and contract
hours etc. As one KOINer put it,
"Looks like Jeff
may have to treat us like humans and not like computers. I can`t
wait."
In an attempt to spin
Chuckies indiscretion, WVUE is putting him into a fat farm and
will air his progress, this is news? Emmis stock is still at $15.50
a share and share holders are not happy. Chain rowers!
05/03/05 EXTRA-EXTRA KOIN SHAKE
UP..... KOIN GM resigns, poor management
forced drones to seek help from unions, Employee surveys show
the real Emmis, not the great place to work. Two emails were sent
in on this one.
"Free at last,
almost. Our GM resigned. Emmis is trying to silence the decent
in this cube. The only way that will happen is for them to sell
us. I do not want to get my hopes up, Emmis may find some one
worse. "
"You may have
already heard this.....Nabet filed a petition for an election
to represent KOIN employees in news, production, and engineering
last Monday. Today, the Randy B had David Lipoff, the GM, announce
he was "stepping aside". Randy had been here last week
when the NLRB delivered the petition. He was here to discuss the
horrible results from the latest employee survey that Emmis did
a couple of months ago. He left on Wednesday. My guess is he went
back to corporate to get permission to can Lipoff. He must have
returned on Sunday to give him the news. In the meantime, the
corporate news guru will be acting manager. I know they will find
another zero to replace him but......DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!!!!.
"
Ramming speed!!!
04/30/05 EMMIS BY THE NUMBERS.....Let us look at how well Jeff has done with A-Mess.
The stock currently is at $15.50 a share, this is at a three year
low thanks to Jeff and the gang. Jeff did not take a huge raise
this year, instead he took huge stock options and sold them for
a few Million bucks. The company paid $100,000,000.00 on the debt
of the $1.6 billion.. Will Emmis make the balloon payment in 06?
I have yet to get the year end report, they are still cooking
them. It does not look like Emmis is a good investment. The stock
holders agree, read the comments on the Yahoo Blog page for Emmis.
As for local numbers, the morning dog on WVUE has fallen below
the stuff that used to fill the slots, some 30% below and going
down.
Chucky follow up, after his version
of mipplegate he was invited to explain his actions to the news
director. Insiders say the meeting lasted some were between an
hour and three. As of this time no FCC indecently charges have
been filed. The contributor of the last chuck pic also sent in
this one,
This was to much for DG, he knows bad
TV when he sees it. Be happy in your work.
04/21/05 CHUCK EXPOSED.....A viewer of this page sent in this with comment,
'This morning Fox 8
had too much Chuck on if you know what I mean."
VUE`s morning show
(note I did not say news) has reached "springer" status.
It is with deep regret that your web master announces that WD0GIP
is a Silent Key. I had a massive posting planned for this weekend
but it will be delayed. Stay tuned!
04/16/05 EMMIS KILLS ANOTHER NEWS
OPERATION.... In a report sent in ,the
Durango
Herald reports on Jeffs latest news shut down by Emmis at
KREZ. It was interesting to read on how the remote control in
the blind help screw up this cube.
The ratings on the WVUE morning show
continue to slip, the good news is less of Chucky is being seen.
One viewer put it this way,
"If I want useless
banter and contrived laughter ,I will tune in a morning radio
show. When I turn on news, I want a short snapshot of todays news
and info on rain and temp ,not a twenty minuet weather cast and
some audio guys hygiene problems. Back to CH6."
I get a bunch like
this per week. As for Emmis stock,it is down to $17.60 and falling
, investors do not anticipate any good news from the year end
report.Well its in, 2004, Jeffrey H. Smulyan raked in $1,706,726
in total compensation including stock option grants from Emmis
Communications.From previous years' stock option grants, Jeff
cashed out $3,730,000 in stock option exercises. He is going to
take all he can before the bubble brakes. Think about this when
you get your next pay check from the empire. The truth is out
there, and here.
04/09/05 WNDU STAFFERS IN FEAR OF
ASSIMILATION.... Normally I would not
post on a station outside the hive but WNDU-TV, an NBC affiliate,
in South Bend, In, owned by the University Of Notre Dame has hired
a brokerage firm to see how much they could get for the station.
Staffers of WNDU have contacted this site because of rumor that
Emmis may be looking into buying WNDU. A total of five NDU humans
have emailed yours truly and all fear assimilation by Emmis. The
current station is totally human run, no automation . These humans
fear job lose or having to put up with Jeff and his band of video
gypsies. These people currently make from $11 to $17 an hour and
think the corporate bean counters will find ways to cut down the
numbers. Speaking from what I saw happen when a local university
liquidated its TV operation, there will be cuts if the station
joins the private sector. Staffers told me that Notra Dame has
told them any sale would include a proviso to avoid a wholesale
slaughter. Don`t believe it...especially if A-Mess buys WNDU.
I have passed along to these humans the Emmissucks short list
of broadcasters I would not work for and a few bits of advice
on preparation for new owners and or terminations. I will post
more if assimilation is eminent.
The local paper did
a segment on morning shows ,in this column was this tid bit,
"WUPL had been
filling its early morning weekday schedule, to negligible ratings
result, with three hours of the slaphappy syndicated catastrophe
"The Daily Buzz, " two hours of which will continue
to air at 5 a.m."
Dave Walker agrees
with me on the Buzzkill, it sucks, after all it is from Emmis.
As Emmis nears its year end report ,the street showed its thoughts
on the people company by ending the week with the stock just above
$18 a share. As for Great Places to work, The institute has contacted
your webmaster by mail for future input on "Greta Places
to work". I have no idea how they got my address but I will
just point them to this site.
Do not forget the cover
sheets for your TPS reports.
04/03/05 MORAL IN THE HIVE PLUMMETS.... Quite a few cubes are now in open revolt against the
Emmis mismanagement. Currently the worst cubes to work in are
KOIN,
"Just as I thought it could
not get any worse, it does. The wheels want us to "look"
good in the eyes of corporate so they are playing with the staff.
Since we are the biggest flexible expense they are doing
every thing to cut our hours and make us cover for those who leave.
I think we have a hiring freeze but I do not know. Tell the world
KOIN is the worst cube in the hive to work for."
I got many like this from KOINers and I
must say it sounds like the worst of the hive. No vacations, no
over time , no replacements and more work. Pretty bad, KSNW would
be next,
"Huge numbers
of people leaving for various reasons related to Emmis and the
management they have installed. I can not wait for my chance."
Yep same old Emmis. Next would be WALA
,even with a New building built just for M5 style operation this
cube is having the standard mismanagement problems, BETV
reports it this way...
Unhappy Campers
"An insider at WALA tells
us that while numbers are up at the FOX affiliate, not everyone
is happy. The weekend producer quit last week after being told
he would have to move back to the morning shift, a shift he was
promoted from within the last year. We're told this is just the
latest in many moves by new news director Bob Cashen.
So far, he has moved a senior producer to the assignment desk
and moved the desk manager back to producing. Another producer
has also been moved. "Almost all the producers have been
told they will switch shifts or potentially lose their jobs,"
the insider says. "Cashen has said these moves could be temporary
-- but hasn't set a timetable in most if not all cases."
More has come in but they all seem to have
the same dislike in WALA`s direction under Emmis. Now for another
story of a brave selfless act that took place during the great
purge of 01. You could say this was the fourth hero of that dark
day in the hive. This drone a member of the WVUE Engineering team
heard of the massive tappings. He then approached the mismanagers
and offered to leave if one of the others with family to support
could stay. This did not sit well with the mismanagers. After
all the tappings were based on political and "other"
factors. The Drone was told "NO,
It is not just a matter of numbers."
The drone knew he would be in the next wave because of his comments,
he told me before that wave hit. He was correct. Emmis ,A great
place to work.
Newsblues continues to report on the decline of online blogs
related to the broadcast industry. It is strange that this site
is not listed in their blog link section? After all they got some
info from Emmissucks and this site is continuously updated ,unlike
many they have listed.
Doing the math on the WVUE morning
show. I gave it some time so my numbers guy could plot trends.
We will go in one hour blocks, first 7am to 8- before the morning
show they did a 1.6 rating and after, 1.6 ...this is with the
expected "bounce" of new people looking in.Not good
at all and trending down from there. Next 7am to 8, better news
here, they did a 1.9 before and a 2.6 after but that is also eroding.When
the morning show was discussed in the VUE-ABC days ,a two rating
point jump was needed just to break even with the added production
cost. That was when VUE got a bunch more per spot. After Foxifacation
it was said that it would take three and a half points to break
even. What ever numbers you use ,the morning pig is running in
the red. How long will the new captain let this continue? All
this from your Emmis Authority!
04/01/05 FLASH EMMIS SELLS TV....
Just after the Sarbanes-Oxley probe
of Emmis was launched Jeff announced the sale of TV at a tremendous
lose. Jeff also has indicated he may step down if the probe leads
to an indictment. Emmis to announce sweeping changes to improve
human relations. The running deep in the red M5 is to be scrapped
in favor of low cost human run stations. If you believe any of
this ,check the date.
03/26/05 EVEN MORE UNREST IN THE HIVE.... Just a few years after the rise of the machine and
almost all remaining pre-Emmis CE`s in the New Orleans cube want
out. It has been reported to yours truly through many street sources
that all VUE photogs talk about is leaving Emmis, even the Emmis
hires.now only speak of leaving. Even the small studio staff is
abuzz with folks polishing their resumes. For such a great place
to work , all the employees want to do is get out. Some KOINers
sent me this,
"From the Willamette
Week in Portland.
While the Bush administration
and national TV networks have taken heat for airing fake news,
Portland TV station KOIN also has fallen short, according to Columbia
Journalism Review. The magazine's current issue dings KOIN for
"repackaging" as news a city-funded video, narrated
by retired celeb newsjockey Walter Cronkite, to explain Portland's
effort to stop sewer overflows into the Willamette. In fairness
to KOIN, the segment, shown Christmas Day, does allude to its
being a city-funded video, but the distinction was probably lost
on viewers. Cronkite, in case you were wondering, donated his
services-though city environmental czar Dean Marriott did reward
him with a nice bottle of Scotch."
KOINers are watching the station fall
before their eyes. A large number of FE`s have sent in their tapping
stories and I will post them in time. Many fearful of retribution
of Jeff have asked me not to post their stories ,no problem. If
you wish to tell your chronicle of exit from the hive ,just email
me, even if you do not want it posted it helps to find out you
are not alone.
"Fellow FE,
With my 27 years of
devoted service at (XXXX) I was "Tapped". It was a
dark day in our cube as a bunch of us old timers were given the
boot so the cheaper new drones would be left. I got an exit meeting
with our GM who wanted to know if there was any thing he should
know before I left. I almost laughed but instead I said "you
fired my brain as well". What was in that brain cost them
in lost sales and clients :-). I am now on the other side of the
industry, I am with an advertising agency. It is much easer to
buy then sell. My territory covers a few Emmis stations, needless
to say I do not buy them unless the client insist. As others have
said in their postings, I am earning more with less hassles. Adore
the site ...full speed ahead!"
Chucky update from
some one who put up with the morning mess,
"like you I will
no longer waste my time on this "NEWS" show. This week
we were treated to all of chucks bodily functions. From his bathroom
phobias to his smelly shoes. I have no idea what this has to do
with news or why a news director would allow this to continue."
Many people have asked
the same question. I have no idea ,so I would call the ND and
ask her. 483-1501 or 483-1500. It has been reported that the M5
is generating less black then before but the poor switching and
below VHS video persist. A frequenter of this site sent me a fun
link so I have tied it to the "LAUNCH" button next to
the easy button on the main page, I think most will enjoy it.
Kimbo may even try it? A FE sent me this,
"In my discussions
with other former Emmis employees
I have figured out that you have four ways to leave Emmis
First is just find a job elsewhere and leave.
next is termination, this would include some notice ,from
the customary two weeks to a few months. This is not vary
common at Emmis ,they do not like to give humans time to
find employment elsewhere.
Next is the most used form of exit, the Tap. As you have
published this form of termination is instant and politically
biased.
This is reserved for most worker drones. Last is the Emmis Lunch
,the lunch is used only on mid level management types. The manager
is
invited to lunch ,this will be his or her last day at Emmis as
their boss
lets them know they have just resigned and should not return to
the station.
Some are given the title of Consultant.
Emmis....A great place to work."
With it being Easter
Weekend ,I recommend catching Ben-Hur when it shows. Row on from
#41
03/19/05 TREMENDOUS RESPONSE.... Not since the exclusive post of the now famous gag
order has this site had such a spike in its traffic.Now for some
more Tapping stories,
"Once upon a time,
there was an excellent performer. Everyone
was aware of how she helped contribute to the station's
financial arena with her skills at selling.
One day, a new general manager was hired. He spoke out
of both sides of his mouth and thus, became a true master
of the corporation's caste system. The girl realized she was
a slave, and in order to avoid a beating, worked twice as
hard and took on two other jobs. The new GM seemed to
be wanting to find at what point she would break, so he kept
piling on duties and making demands that someone outside
of slave quarters, would have found overwhelming. She was
kept so busy as to not have time to think about how this
was affecting her family, the very family that the GM said
was important but yet, kept her so busy, she didn't get to
spend time with. More of his double talk.
Reviews came out and the girl looked forward to a raise. Instead,
she was criticized for things she did not do. When she tried to
get the GM to tell her what she needed to do to improve, she was
given a talk on the ethics of performance, rather than the specific
duties she was supposedly lax on. She began to realize that
she was being set up for The Tap. Her department head became
someone she didn't recognize. He had never criticized her work
before, but with the new GM, he left her out to dry, even though
she was not guilty of the things for which she was being accused.
He had previously worked for a place that did something similar
and he had stuck up for the employees he knew did a good job.
He had been Tapped because of that and had decided from then
on he would lie and betray his other ethics too, if the big boss
said so. So the girl was tapped. The funny thing about this
story is, she used to be afraid that if she shared her story,
someone
would know who she was. But after she found A Miss Sucks Dot
Com, she realized that her story would be easily disguiseable
since it had happened to so many people. And she held hope
that she would know what karma would go back around to such
lying sacks of excrement..."
Yet another happy FE,
"I now get all
my Emmis news from your site. They screwed me in 2002. After (XX)
years with (XXXX) I was given a few minuets to clean
out my desk while my suppervisor made jokes with another manager
as they made sure I did not take any paper clips or ball point
pens. I was then escorted out. The only excuse I got from them
was "your job has been eliminated" ,funny thing is two
months later they hired a replacement. I was tempted to go after
them but what the hell, I was sick of the lies and back stabbing
so I was looking when I got tapped. I found a job with a competing
station two weeks later. I now enjoy kicking their asses. I do
have one regret, I did not get to collect any unemployment on
them. Keep up the fight ,we drones need sites like this.
Many FE`s now directly
compete with their former stations,
"Hi (XXXX),
I LOL at the ckucky
post. We had one of those guys at (XXXX). He managed
to suck up with the department heads and GM. Our guy had less
than two years with (XXXX) yet he canned co-workers with 30 years
service at the station. This guy actually volunteered to chop
staff and I think he enjoyed it. He did not tap me but I heard
from other FE`s about his actions. My boss did the dead when I
got the Tap ,we had a short meeting with the GM and they tried
to "GAG" me. Like you I got help and they paid even
with out me signing. All for one and one for all!
Yes you can fight the
signing of the gag order. I do not know if the gag order has changed
since Jan 2004, that was the last report I got. If your an FE
and you left after mid 04 check your gag order against the one
posted and let me know if it has been changed. A bunch more Tapping
stories have come in and they will be posted in a timely manner.
I also got a note from a viewer of this site and Big Easy,
"Emmis guy,
"Thought you would
find this humorous, I got a reply on one of my post on the big
easy blog board. This ahole thinks I am you :-)
"The signal problem
has been fixed at Fox 8 so no more going to black at important
moments.
To the previous writer......are you nuts?? The Fox 8 morning show
is way better than 6's. But I guess since your still carrying
a grudge for being "tapped" you would have nothing nice
to say about 8 even if the pope himself annointed it the show
to watch.
Are you not currently employed? Are you still unhappy in your
life? Even the testimoniels you printed on your web site sound
like other "tapped" FE's are happier than ever before.
Maybe its time you moved on with your life. Get over it....everyone
else has.
Who do you think wrote
this POS?"
I visited the message
board so I could read the string of post, vary funny. It was interesting
to see the time stamps on these management post on big easy, most
drones do not have time or computer access during the work day
but what else would a VUE manager have to do, Florida and the
M5 run the place. Mr BMW looks for cars and the WVUE managers
scour the blogs trying to defend the M5. One blogger corrected
the spelling of the person who sent me the link but that manager
did not dare correct the two errors in the above comment. I would
not worry about it, after all Emmissucks and your webmaster are
the cause of all the problems in the hive:-) Because this site
apparently has such power I am now going to give you the viewers
of this site limited control of the M5. I am installing my version
of the "easy button" click on it and the M5 will go
to black :-) It is located above the archive links.
"Another great
update! I tried to watch for Chucky today as I was waking up
getting ready for work, but my brain needed 5 minutes for "real"
news, so I
switched back & forth to WWL & DSU..."
"I finally saw
some other color on the "jaundice cam" when chucky dressed
up for St. Patrics day. It is amazing how poor the video is on
all VUE`s new cameras. The chucky cam is yellow and grainy, the
new traffic cams are blocky and jump like internet video. I guess
they fired all the technicians?"
Not all but enough
to cripple them
"When I read the
section on Bloggers like you being sued off the web ,I thought
I would let you know if you ever get sued by Emmis ,just let us
know and I will be on a plane with in 48 hours. I am sure you
could get two or three hundred who also would love to testify
in a case involving A-Mess."
This FE was not alone.
I got over 20 such emails. I have much more but it will wait for
the next posting."
Be happy in your work."
03/15/05 HAPPY TAPPING DAY!....For those who do not know or remember it was four years
ago that the NOPD surrounded WVUE as "minders" rounded
up victims for termination. Terminations were held all over the
hive as Jeff implemented his de-humanization procedure.This was
the day I was tapped. Some FE`s put my tease and the date together
and sent in some comments. Others were polled.
"Happy Tap day,
Just figured out what was going to be in the Tuesday post and
thought I would put my two cents in. I was depressed for the first
week or so after I was tapped but then things looked up. I did
not have to deal with Emmis or the A-hole managers and I landed
a job with (XXXXX) and it pays better and we actually
get profit sharing , not the empty promises from Jeff, real cash!
While I enjoyed the pre-Emmis co-workers , the post Emmis "yes-men"
made me want to puke. Emmis destroyed what it took 40 years to
build. I do miss the way it was - pre-Emmis but I would never
go back as the work environment will never be the same there.
Good luck to all the FE`s out there."
"Your special
post can only be about one thing, the great purge of 2001. I am
out of TV now and miss the people but not the crappy company.
The UNION severance and unplanned vacation gave me a chance to
unwind like I never had before. I decided that I would go into
(XXXX) and get out of poor corporate run broadcasting. I
am once again having fun at my job and making 5% more than VUE
paid me. Thanks Jeff."
"I am so much
better off then when I worked for Emmis, I make as much money
and look forward to work. The real poetic justice is Madelyn is
now working at one of the smallest TV markets in the country,
may all of the other architects of my demise left at WVUE suffer
a similar fate"
"Is the special
going to be on the slaughter of 01? I was out of work for (XXX) but then I landed a position at (XXXXX) . It
was an adjustment after (XX) years at WVUE but I think I ended
up with the best end of the deal. I did not realize how bad it
had gotten in the New Orleans cube. Keep up the site ,I like watching
this empire crumble."
Now a comment from
another tapped FE from another cube,
"Hello,
A CE told me about this site today. I am a FE. Yup, signed the
agreement/gag/order to get the severance. Had just finished a
double shift week (80+hours)..(salaried so no OT) job. Following
Monday was called in and informed my job had been eliminated...
quite frankly I was too tired to care.
That Emmis take over
scenario was very familiar... pretty much went down as described
for the station I worked for.
Overheard while Jeff
was touring our then under construction new facility:
Jeff to the project engineer "How much will the monthly maintenance
fee be?
Project engineer to Jeff "$10,000 per month"
Jeff to his lawyer buddy "How much is that a year?"
Favorite quotes from
the GM:
"I am an agent
of change!" (in context... any change good/bad.. didn't matter..
just change)
"You're gonna be walking around here with a gun to your head!"
(threat to employee)
"You're all a bunch of slot machines to me" (inspirational
speech to the sales staff) "
If you have a comment
on your tapping , send it in. A few viewers of this site and some
one who tuned in the VUE morning mess asked "Who is this "Chuck" person and why
is he on the news?"
This info was never going to be posted but since he is now a public
figure and people want to know ,here is some exclusive background.
Chuck came to WVUE
from WYES and The Great Chefs series. He was brought on board
not to long before the purge of 01 (time is relative to those
with decades of service). He seemed to be an OK person. As Tapping
day approached ( from about a year out) a few humans were asked
to tap some drones for reasons that just did not make sense. In
some cases the suggested cuts were border line illegal. The three
people asked to do this refused. Knowing this would hurt there
careers or even get them tapped ,they refused any way. All would
eventually be tapped before or on 3/15/01. These drones had the
moral intestinal fortitude to stand up to the evil ones. Now that
most of those who did the tapping are gone I can mention these
brave souls. I am the only one left who knows the identity of
all three who did this brave selfless act. Back to chuck ,he was
instrumental in the tapping of one of these three heroes and when
VIC decided to run away to Italy, Chuck accepted the duty of tapping
the Engineers on 3/15/01, including your web master. While I do
not think he enjoyed this task ,he did not turn it down. The three
did ,and they do not regret that decision, as one put it " I sleep well at night.". While I do not hold chuck responsible
for the tapping ,he did not make any friends that day and many
would not trust him as far as they could throw him. I do not think
any one who was tapped by him would recommend him for a job were
they work , as one put it "He
just can not be trusted." What
set chucky apart from the others who did the tapping that day
was the fact that he was not required to step in as executioner
,and if VIC had done his own dirty work chuck would not have been
asked to tap. I am sure he thinks " I was only doing my job" ,this was the same comment heard over and over in Nuremberg
1945-1949. I know what I would have said if they had asked me
to tap others, and I would have been tapped on the spot. I am
sure some will say I am picking on Chuck ,but if you become a
public figure your open to exposure. Unlike the falsehoods about
me spread anonymously by the hive , this info is easily confirmed.
Now for a Emmis wrap
up . The company led by Jeff went from $0 debt to $1.6 Billion
in debt today. By spending way to much to fast for TV stations.
His game plan, fire most of these stations staffs and reduce cost
to that of his radio stations . One problem ,its TV not radio!
The cost of eliminating the $10 to $20 an hour drones turned out
to exceed their pay. Also as we all know (and some of us foretold)
it does not work technically. The over all quality is just a fraction
of its human run stations, this when consumers are looking for
higher quality (DTV & HDTV). Most of those who tapped their
staffs have been tapped themselves. Moral in the 72nd greatest
place to work could not be worse. Even post Emmis hires are quitting
in droves, realizing the mistake they made. The stock has been
hovering under $20 for years, half Jeffs goal. Jeff sitting in
his $45 million tower has given himself raises each and every
year with out regard to performance. The company has been sued
for every type of discrimination known to man and lost most of
the cases filed. Emmis radio has been fined repeatedly by the
FCC for the actions of their DJ`s, recently HOT 97 wrote and played
a racist little ditty that has many in an uproar, the same station
just had a shoot out at its front door, two wrap guest had a beef
with each other. The company has been fined a number of times
for problems related to the M5 and received admonishment from
the commission for dragging their feet on DTV.This is a company
that loathes its human employees ,goes to great lengths to get
"awards" and spins the truth like no other. A few readers
of this site have said "
Are you really that pissed off at Emmis?" I like any human was a bit pissed at first but that
was short lived. Now, I just keep this blog to inform the world.
I do not like their business or moral practices and will not hesitate
in posting info on their indiscretions. The site continues to
serve the CE`s and FE`s . Most of the material is sent in by others
the empire is screwing or has screwed. The few who blame your
web master for the ills at A-Mees have never heard the saying
"don`t kill the messenger." The roots of this saying
go back to England when the crown had to make it illegal to kill
the town crier. Many did not like the news the crier would bring
(mostly tax hikes) so they offed him. I have had a number of email
discussions with other web masters of media blog type sites. They
all have experienced the same blame game from both inside and
out side the industry. It seems as though free speech is not permitted
if you work for an industry that lives on this concept. Many have
been sued off the web, others have just given up. #41 plans to
continue as long as even one human can be saved. Since the day
my life was threatened I have plans in place to keep the site
going even if I am gone or slugging it out in the courts.
In addition to the
anniversary of the slaughter of 01 it is also Soylent Green day.
Now for a close to this post. I wish to raise a cyber beverage
to THE THREE, Jolly good show.
03/12/05 SHORT NOTE AND TEASE...This will be a short posting. The M5 continues to get
worse, pissing off the few who watch any of the spoke stations.
A special posting is planned for this Tuesday 3/15/05 ...don`t
miss this one!
03/08/05 CHUCKY PART TWO... This morning I thought I would check on how the pig
was doing and caught it just as Kimbo tossed to Chucky for comment,
while he did not rattle off endless "NO`s" this morning
,he did use short sentences to say no or nothing. Just after the
cut back to Kimbo the M5 dropped in three seconds of black while
leaving some audio up. I think I heard the M5 say "This unit must survive!". I could not take more than five minuets of this so
I headed out to work. All day I got phone calls and emails asking
me to explain why WVUE is going to black all the time. Simple
answer THE M5.I prepped this while TCM is airing Desk Set featuring
EMERAC. I can not take any more of the morning show so I will
rely on others for info.
03/07/05 LOUISIANA CHARGES WVUE
WITH ILLEGAL PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION... At
least that`s what should happen after the launch of what they
are calling morning news. This poorly staffed and news free news
show had my email box full by 7:10am so I tuned in. After a fluff
segment on rap crap Kimbo asked Chucky a slew of questions and
he replied "NO"
to all of them. I am not making this up.
Chucky is the afternoon audio/video guy ,now running morning audio.
I guess Vic did not find a part timer yet. Any way after Chucky
had a minuet or so of NO`s they cut back to Kimbo who with the
look of a dear caught in head lights , said " We will hear more from chuck later".
"NO"
Do not adjust your set, it is that
yellow. I am sure they will call it the jaundice cam. I watched
about 25 minuets of this BS before heading out to work, I did
not see any news so I turned to WDSU.Some other thoughts on the
pig were sent in,
"I hope you get
this in time so you can watch the new morning show flop. If they
think this will compete with WWL they need s reality pill."
"Tune in VUE`s
morning mess, it is a blast. Never have I seen so many poor choices
for a show. I should have recorded this one for training purposes."
" Do you remember
when Jeff told all of us "We will do things wright or not
at all" , he missed this pig. I hope they do not run credits.
"I am a bit sad
you are not here, you would have given this disaster a ranking
of 20 squeals. And you were dead on they are trying to do this
the Emmis way, no humans."
We shall have to see
how this network time killer does in the ratings. I will be watching
the numbers and let all know. I do think DG was good and strong
but I do not think he will be able to carry this pork to victory.
My advice watch it for the fun of the train wreck and tune in
some one else for news.
03/05/05 M5 UPDATE.... The M5 continues to deteriorate as it chucks more
and more black holes in the spoke station feeds. MR BMW is blaming
AT&T and AT&T is blaming over load of the streams. The
result is even worse than normal M5 feeds, and yes it costing
Emmis in a lose of revenue. As one who told me put it,
"This pig is getting
really bad. I do not know how we collect on anything we air. This
can`t go on much longer before it implodes, do you know of any
openings for (XXX) out there?"
Sorry but no at this time, keep looking.
No one has guessed correctly on last weeks audio clue, keep trying.
I got a bunch of comments on R&R ,all were not flattering,
most were like this,
"Clear, Accurate.
To the Point."
KOIN slogan: "News That's To The Point."
Coincidence? I think not.
I laughed out loud at R&R. Wouldn't
you know, that's who hired the
national research company who told
KOIN that's what the viewers wanted.
I'm still curious about how KRQE is
a success story. One employee who left
KOIN to go to another station in the
same market tells me that KRQE is
a bigger factor in the ratings race
than it has been in a long time.
Is KRQE still succeeding or was it
because Salamone was the right
man for THAT job? Is KRQE still doing
well now that he's gone, and if so,
is it because of what he put in place
there? If Salamone gets a formula
to work at KOIN too, you know I've
theorized this before, especially since
Salamone said he wouldn't be in
Portland for more than five years:
if he succeeds, will Lippoff be put
back in control under Salamone's
formula while Salamone is then
transferred to New Orleans?
What if Salamone doesn't succeed
in Portland but KRQE is doing OK,
and what if Salamone doesn't succeed
in Portland but KRQE goes downhill
while he is gone?"
To be honest ,I do
not know Salamone & Lippoff ,but if Jeff likes them they must
suck.Now for a new segment, Were are they now? I will on occasion
post info on certain FE`s who have left Broadcasting after WVUE
or Emmis. Our first FE who was a WVUE photog for decades has moved
on to become a cabinet maker.He does not miss news but he does
miss some of the people.Vary few of those humans remain at the
New Orleans cube. And so it goes.
02/26/05 First word on cube KSNW,
it seems to be the same old Emmis pattern
....
"I had worked at KSNW
for nearly 10 years before Emmis purchased the station from Lee
Enterprises in Oct. 2000. For the first year things were ok...then
the wheels begin to fall off as R&R laid down their law. Their
interpretation of the research called for new station positioning
- "Clear, Accurate. To the Point."
I fought it, argued against it, etc...all to no avail. This was
going to be the way. At the time, KSNW was a solid # 2 in the
DMA and growing in the key demos. I took another opportunity across
the street and have never looked back. Since then, KSNW has turned
over nearly the entire management team (GM, GSM, ND, MD) and replaced
almost all of the on-air talent. Ratings have nose-dived. They
are now a distant 3rd in the DMA & Metro.
Which might explain the rumors I'm hearing. And that's really
too bad - I enjoy beating them!!! Although, as long as R&R
continue to call the shots from afar, they'll probably continue
to plummet."
I asked who R&R is and the drone reported "Randy Bomgarten & Ray Schoenbeck".It
figures it was those two clowns. Jeff wants a new toy, and others
to pay for it,
"Jeff Smulyan, chairman
and CEO of Emmis Communications, is making a pitch to own the
Washington Nationals.
The former owner of the Seattle
Mariners between 1989 and 1992, has made a $100,000 deposit to
bid on the team formerly known as the Montreal Expos. Smulyan’s
investment in the team is personal and is unrelated to Emmis,
which owns radio and TV stations and a publishing division.
Smulyan told the Washington
Post that he is discussing alternatives with several other interested
groups and investors and his investment could be part of an investment
group.
The Nationals were purchased
by Major League Baseball’s 29 owners for $120 million in
Feb. 2002 and are looking to get at least $300 from the sale.
"
More at MEDIAWEEK
Jeff loves to play "sports guy" and as before I
am sure he will wreck them as well. Jeff is looking for an exit
strategy from Emmis so when the bubble burst he will be safe,
the bubble is the balloon payment on the staggering debt Emmis
has. As I am prepping this post Stalag 13 is playing on AMC ,
truly inspirational. I continue to hear how the new WVUE news
management has become a bunch of total A-Holes since being elevated
by A-Mess. I guess I will always remember when they were human
,never seeing their borge side.Speaking of VUE news management,
one CE pointed out that they have posted a job opening for A.N.D.
on the Emmis web site, word is the launch commander lost her job?
The site still claims WVUE is a "42" DMA when it is
still a 43, also they have Captain Cook listed as commander. Lots
of errors on the Emmis web site.WVUE also continues to try to
fill the morning show and word is they are trying to get a few
sponsored segments to pay for the whole show, no takers yet. With
the stock still hovering between 18 and 19 bucks I was told to
check out a blog board on Yahoo in the financial section. If you
think Emmis employees (current & former) do not think highly
of A-Mess you may want to read for your selves what investors
think of the pig known as Emmis.Also on how many insiders are
dumping Emmis stock. I have an audio quote from "Another
System" click on the link to listen :-)
02/17/05 Jeff throws fit because
no one is buying his dog and pony show...
Multichannel News reports that
"Emmis Communications
Corp. Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan would consider selling his
TV-station properties, worth $1 billion, if the industry's competitive
position against cable does not improve, according to A.G. Edwards
& Sons analyst Michael Kupinski. Smulyan is urging broadcasters
to pool their digital spectrum and offer consumers a blend of
HDTV programming from TV stations and 30-50 cable networks for
$25 per month. Consumers would need to purchase $99 set-top boxes.
Smulyan told Kupinski that if TV-station owners don't rally around
his wireless-cable plan and fail to get cash from cable, he would
exit the TV business at some point."
Spots and Dots reports
"Emmis Communications'
CEO Jeff Smulyan told
analysts that he would consider getting out of the TV
business if the competitive position versus cable does
not improve. He has been one of the strongest supporters
of cash payments to broadcasters for carriage. He
also said that his efforts to create a wireless alternative to
cable have been slow to get off the ground. If that doesn't
work, and no cash payments are forthcoming, he would
consider selling his TV stations, he said."
The $1 billion would almost
pay off Emmises debt, you could say it would rewind the clock
back to 1998 for Emmis. Will he do it? Is it more bull or an attempt
at press for Jeff`s folly? Is hell going to freeze over? Maybe
the cost of now upgrading from low power DTV too high is giving
him second thoughts about TV? WVUE will have to replace all the
transmission line, The antenna and add more power amps, Jeffs
gamble on low power failed.
Exclusive info, another retirement
party for captain Cook will take place 2/18/05 in the evening.
Also an official statment that Jeff West has the con at VUE. Tuesday
is Soylent green day.
02/12/05 MARDI-GRAS IS OVER BUT
THE CIRCUS AT EMMIS CONTINUES...This was reported in
NEWSBLUES ,"Dave Bailey, vice president/general
manager of Emmis's WTHI-10-CBS in Terre Haute, has announced his
retirement effective March 4. Bailey began working at WTHI in
1966." Emmis does not like
employees who hang around that long.Also reported by Bigeasy and
Newsblues "Patrick Evans
has been hired as new weekend anchor at WVUE" also " BETV has learned weekend news anchor
Darrell Greene and assistant news director Kim Holden will be
the morning news anchors when WVUE debuts its two-hour morning
show (6-8 a.m.) March 7th. " WVUE
has tried no less then ten times to launch a morning newscast
since 1980, money always killed the project.
Emmis re-visited, not...A number
of FE`s have been contacted by VUE mis-management over the last
year or so in attempts to get them to come back as part timers.
All except one have turned them down outright. One did a short
visit and decided nothing had changed, he will not return. To
quote one of them " Not only
will I not go work for them, but I would not tell my worst enemy
to go to them." This past
week sheerly by accident four FE`s ended up in one of our studios
at once, and another was on a cell call. We all realized this
at the same time.Karma? We all have the same thoughts about the
people company.
M5 has a new wrinkle, some one
who wanted to watch WVUE( I cant imagine why) reports that the
system would flash a frame part of a computer display every few
seconds, this went on for hours. The viewer watched so he could
try to figure out what was being displayed. He said it was control
info from the M5, how this got into the program stream is any
ones guess. I wonder if it said "This unit must survive"
or "sterilize ,sterilize ,sterilize"
A number of visitors to this
site as well as FE`s have now contacted those "award"
people, this is just one of the emails on the subject,
"I wrote both the awards
people you featured on the site, since
you made that suggestion last time I wrote you. I told them
to access emmissucks.com to see the other side of the story.
I'll let you know if I hear anything back. I made it a point to
tell them that their credibility was at stake. We'll see. I hope
you will continue to direct others to do the same from those
anonymous email addresses. "
Feel free to contact those "awards"
people and let them know the truth about A-Mess
02/05/05 MARDI-GRAS
UPDATE.... As Carnival
comes to a close Emmissucks can exclusively report a new Captain
takes the helm at WVUE, Jeff West ,was some sort of sales guy.
Captain Cook may still "consult" from time to time.
Some of the crowd on
Bourbon St. from our position across from two of the Quarters
strip clubs. I deployed the Version 3 "Bachbox" once
again,
Version 3 in service
in the Revelers Room.
WVUE pressed into service
the old Version 2 " They are not allowed to call it"
Box. They could not set up with all the other media, they failed
to plan and had no support infrastructure. It seems as though
planning is a thing of the past under new management. They were
also forced to use microwave transmission instead of there normal
fiber line. I also met up with an FE from the late 80`s early
90`s and we reminisced about the good old days of VUE , pre-Emmis.
In addition I talked with a few FE`s who have come and gone since
my tapping day. It was amazing to find out things are getting
worse and some of the "new" news managers are partially
to blame. These humans were fine when I was there but apparently
they had their spines removed and replaced with Borg implants.
You could say they have gone over to the dark side.One of these
now FE`s who I warned just after he singed on ,told me,
"You were so correct,
what are your thoughts on
(XXXX)? I do not think
your web site goes far enough to warn potential employees. What
ever you do ,keep up the good work."
Emmissucks is planning
a special wrap up and Big Game report next week end. If you are
forced to watch the M5 for the game, let us know what it does
to it.
01/31/05 RAY SCHONBAK TO THE RESCUE
????....As reported by NewsBlues
,
"Donita Todd, VP-GM at
Emmis's WFTX-36-Fox in Ft. Myers, suddenly resigned last week.
The company sent Senior VP Ray Schonbak to the Cape Coral offices
to manage operations until a replacement is found."
I wonder if he will line them
up and shoot them if the numbers do not improve? Check Famous
quotes section for more details. Look out FTX here he comes.
01/29/05 LEST WE FORGET... 60 years ago the Russians liberated Auschwitz , they
may have to do the same with Emmis,
" With the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz I thought this would
tie into Emmis a bit.
Jeff is thinking of
a "new" look for HQ.
A birds eye view of
KOIN
We all need to shout
to the world and not go to the final solution quietly. I encourage
all to contact Emmissucks. This time we know better and have a
way to alert all.
The gates are open,
run for your lives!!! I am out with in a month or two ,good luck
and gods speed to those I leave behind."
I`m glad another one escapes. I normally
do not use the WWII material ,but with this anniversary ,why not.
As the soon to be FE states, let the world know about the empire
,send in your experiences with A-Mess emmissucks@worldnet.att.net
.Morning show update , A CE said the while WVUE NEWS is looking
for a few full timers for the show ,VIC is only looking for two
part timers to fill the audio and video spots. So far no takers.No
one has guessed the WWII Jap to Emmis tie in, so here is the last
clue.
"Be happy in your
work"
01/27/05 EXCLUSIVE-KOIN CANCELS
VACATIONS FOR DRONES....
"Just days
ago, Dan Salamone (Station Manager) and David Lippoff (Vice-President)
canceled all vacation time to it's employees. Many employees plan
their vacations well ahead of time and purchase plane tickets
and vacation packages. KOIN Mismanagers told employees that they
would have to eat the cost of their pre-planned and pre-approved
vacation expenses. Of course everyone at the station knows that
only the employees are affected by this policy and that Management
will be taking their vacations as planned. I predict that this
new developement will cause many employees to abandon this sinking
Titanic of a EMMIS Television Station."
I am sure this will
make Emmis a shoe in for Great
Place to Work 2005. Ramming speed!
01/26/05 M5 UPDATE, ITS BEEN A WHILE...
The M5 system is getting worse (if
that is possible). A number of reports from around the hive indicate
Emmis is overloading the centralcraps digital flow ,resulting
in even poorer transmission. Some Exerts from a DTV
blog were sent in,
"Does anyone know
how to file a complaint with the FCC concerning crap broadcast
like WALA??
I'm tired of contacting
Joe (ASSdalia) and (R) Fields over and over for the same problems.
I talked to Fields up at WALA. He said that the source of the
audio/video breaksups is in their fiber optic connection to Orlando.
Evidently they don't have the required bandwith to stream both
Analog Fox, HD Fox, Digital WB (he said WB-HD, i kept correcting
him but he didn't respond to it) and Analog WB. He said that to
either remedy the problem for the Super Bowl, or possibly for
the long run, of taking digital WB off the air. This is still
in discussion, honestly I don't think this will happen, but you
never know. Anyway he said he would stay in contact with me via
email til the problem was resolved.
I'm not going to trust
WALA to have this fixed for the Super Bowl, I'm anticipating having
to "move" to watch the Super Bowl error free."
There is much more
on these blogs but I do not have the space. Yet another Ethical
fopa from Emmis Radio. This was sent in Tuesday,
"NY radio station
apologizes over tsunami slur
NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters)
- A New York radio station apologized on Monday for repeatedly
airing a joke song that ridiculed victims of the recent tsunami
in South Asia and used racial slurs, saying the piece was in poor
taste.
New York FM radio station
WQHT, or HOT 97, ran the segment on its "Miss Jones in the
Morning" show. The piece used racial slurs to describe people
swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and
people watching their mothers die.
"You can hear
God laughing, 'Swim you bitches swim,'" was one line in the
song.
The hip-hop and R&B
station, known for its "shock jocks," apologized on
its Web site, saying it, "regrets the airing of material
that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to
our listeners and anyone who was offended."
WQHT's program director
and deejay Tarsha Nicole Jones, who uses the on-air name Miss
Jones, apologized on the program and said the segment should not
have been broadcast.
The piece drew wide
criticism from Albany to New York's City Hall, with many lawmakers
calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to fine
HOT 97.
"At a time when
virtually the entire world has come together to help in the tsunami
tragedy relief, employees of HOT 97 have come up with this song,"
said New York State Assembly member Jimmy Meng, a Democrat from
Queens. "We are disgusted and demand immediate action by
the FCC."
An FCC spokesman in
Washington had no immediate comment.
The piece was also
denounced by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations, which said it had received calls from Muslims offended
by the piece.
Station-owner Emmis
Communications Corp. issued an apology and said the seven-person
staff of the show has agreed to contribute one-week's pay each
to tsunami-relief efforts.
The incident is not
the first time HOT 97 has been accused of racism and poor taste.
The station made headlines when deejay Star, now at another radio
station, called Jennifer Lopez a "rice-and-bean eater"
and satirized the plane crash that killed R&B singer Aaliyah
in 2001.
Four weeks after giant
waves killed as many as 234,000 people across the Indian Ocean
region, workers are still pulling hundreds of bodies from the
mud and rubble each day and aid groups say they are struggling
to reach isolated areas. "
That morning on the
way to work I tuned in the Humans of the W&J show and low
and behold they were talking about this "hip hop" radio
station that wrote a song about the tsunami victims. They went
as far as they dared in stating the lyrics to this ditty. This
"song" sets a new low in radio. And yes the powers at
be had to know and approve it. I guess this passes as positive
ethics at Emmis. A FE sent in a bit of KOIN history showing how
the evil ones think,
"Rick Howard,
former news director, carried out all of what corporate
told him to do. He took the fall even with his own newspeople.
He
had different ideas but was told what to do. It was a lose-lose
situation for him. If he had played his own cards, they would
have
fired him for playing his own cards. He followed their orders
and
when their thinking didn't achieve the results they wanted, they
fired him - uh, gagged him and let him leave voluntarily. His
associate
producer April Thomas also got caught in that loop and got so
sick
over it with ulcers that she decided herself to go before they
tried to
gag her."
Exclusive.....Captain Cook walks the
plank last Thursday as he officially retires from the hive. His
main job is done, revenge on Big M for "helping him retire"
the first time. This move will make it so he can liquidate his
options and stock before the balloon payment is due thus maximizing
his take. No word on who will replace him at the helm. Big wigs
from HQ attended the "party". More if it becomes available.
"You live to serve
this ship, row well and live."
01/22/05 YET ANOTHER AWARD DUPED....
This time its the "
American Business Ethics Award™" Yep Jeff claims he got this one in 2003.
The CE who sent this
pic in said,
" Jeff has pulled
the wool over another one of those "good companies"
awards ,this time it was the "
American Business Ethics Award™" . I would like you to explore the criteria and tell
us what you think."
Well I did just that,
can you believe once again the company nominates itself and fills
out all the paper work. I wonder how many of these Jeff will find?
This takes "the fox guarding the hen house" up to a
new level. I have sent them an email, I will post any reply. A
viewer of this site sent in a link to this blog comment,
"iPod Threatens Broadcast
Radio
While Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan thinks satellite won't
be a threat to terrestrial radio, he does feel the iPod, and likely
all other MP3 players, are a bigger threat. Writing on the Emmis
website, Smulyan said, "Despite the buzz surrounding satellite
radio, I believe iPods are a bigger threat, because you have a
larger number of people with an alternative source of music. That
said, I can remember when people were predicting the death of
radio after 8-tracks came out. Despite continually evolving technologies,
nothing has replaced the local information and local personalities
we give our audiences. We know our communities, and we respond
to their needs. Over the holiday season alone, Emmis radio stations
raised $500,000 for charitable causes in their local communities
- I don?t see how satellite radio can match that reach. Sirius
and XM may or may not be viable businesses, but the reality is
that two of Emmis' stations reach more people then the entire
satellite industry, and those satellite subscribers still spend
much of their listening time with terrestrial radio."
"Either this is a bit
of realistic common sense regarding the excitement over satellite
radio or it will be looked back upon as another clueless comment
from a company that doesn't get it. As they say, time will tell
and with it, bring a brutal reality for some and a rosy future
for others."
If it upsets Jeff, it must
be good. I went out and bought an iPod. When a local radio station
lost its human based morning show ,they lost me. Radio with out
humans is nothing but CDs with commercials. You can cut out the
commercials and just play CDs in your car. If enough humans do
this, Jeff will be out of business.No one has guessed who the
Jap officer is so here is another visual clue.
Your webmaster is happy in
his work and thanks to FE Bob Noonan I found the Fudruckers in
Harrahs and have yet to pay for a burger there. You could say
they pay me to haul them out :-) (Red sevens)
01/18/05 INSTITUTIONAL REPLY... The Great
Place to Work Institute sent a reply to my email,
"Hello,
Thank you for sending us this
information. So you know, we take all
employee comments into consideration in our evaluation. If Emmis
decides to apply for next year's list, we will make sure to include
this
in our evaluation. All comments will remain confidential.
If you have any questions,
please contact me.
Regards,
Erin Bartulski
"Best Companies" Project Coordinator ebartulski@greatplacetowork.com
Your webmaster will send them a reminder and
links each and every year :-) Some CE`s and FE`s confirm "skewing"
the info sent to the "institute",
"Jeff made a trip
to the station where I worked. He met
with the big and middle managers. He talked to some
people about what they thought of Emmis. To his face
and in those days after initial layoffs and before we
understood the real agenda, while we were still really
trying hard to believe the pap, we said nice things.
Some of us were subsequently sent surveys "anonymously"
that said we could help Emmis be in Fortune Magazine as
a best company to work for. Our names were chosen
anonymously, it said. This would be maybe 2.5 years ago.
We weren't supposed to mention at all that we had been
chosen and were filling out a survey for Emmis.
Slanted from within, slanted from without. Noplace to
stand solid."
also another report,
"Hey,
I got one of those
random surveys ,soon after a visit from my boss. He asked me if
I thought favorably of Emmis. I do not know what they expect any
one to say. I knew the implication , so I lied through my teeth
to my boss and on the survey. Now I know what it was for, I regret
not telling the truth on the forms. I would still have to lie
to the boss, they fire anyone with a "negative attitude"
. I am not happy in my work."
The spin never stops at A-mess, row
on.
01/16/05 SUPPER COP FLOP....Since I did not have the full article ,a CE sent it
with some insight ,in case you didn't see the entire article.
"I loved the comment about
addalias bottom line, as if he is the CEO or something.
Why central crap traffic now?
The reason is because it took
him 5 years to figure out how all the pieces of shit work to be
able to speak to each other correctly! Oh BTW, the crap about
moving the file between hub and the spokes through the WAN is
total BULL SHIT. It doesn't work that way. More shell games from
A mess!
Emmis Employs a Super-Cop
Station group goes the centralization route
By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2005
While many station groups look
to standardize traffic systems, some are planning to centralize
them. The Emmis Communications Centralcasting facility, located
in Orlando, Fla., handles master control for five stations: WKCF
Orlando; WFTX Ft. Myers, Fla.; WVUE New Orleans; WALA Mobile,
Ala.; and WBPG Gulf Shores, Ala. Each station has its own Harris/Encoda
traffic system tied into a Florical automation system located
at the hub. Together, the systems handle playout of all SD and
HD programming.
Joe Addalia, Emmis Centralcasting
director of operations, says a program from Harris/Encoda helps
the traffic and automation systems speak the same language. The
station group works with content packaged as files, moving it
between the Centralcasting hub and the stations across a wide
area network (WAN). “Purge lists, dub lists, logs, as-run
logs and user reports are what keep the processes flowing,”
says Addalia.
The facility highlights the
delicate dance between automation and traffic. In addition to
on-air operations, the Florical system also handles programming
from other sources, including networks. It deals with as much
as 18-21 hours of syndicated programming on weekdays and nearly
80 daily satellite feeds.
The Harris/Encoda system does
require some manual intervention.
Addalia's bottom line: First
figure out the workflow. Then buy the technology that can do it.
“That's especially important with traffic,” he says,
“because otherwise the workflow is based on the system's
limitations.”
If you look at the archives
you will also find that Emmis has been trying to solve the traffic
problem since day one. Emmis continues to spend millions so they
can eliminate even one $10/hr carbon based drone.They continue
to explore eliminating audio people. Yep a great place to work.
01/15/05 EMMIS TOP 100....NOT!.. Fortune Magazine responds to my email,
"Thanks for your letter,
which I will forward to the editors and to the Great Place to
Work Institute, which compiles the 100 Best Companies to Work
For list.
Paul Bennett
Letters
FORTUNE"
As of this posting no further
comment from Fortune. This Email gave me my first clue as to how
such a sham could be perpetrated on the world. Apparently Fortune
has out-sourced its survey to Great
Place to Work Institute
. By doing this they no
longer have control. According to the web site ,the selection
process is not what you or I would think it is.
The Company Nominates itself,
if accepted "the company" who nominated itself "administers"
an employee attitude survey (Great Place to Work® Trust Index©).
We all remember when Emmis did this of all its employees, the
results were so negative ,Emmis stopped doing it. The company
who nominated itself now Completes the Great Place to Work®
Culture Audit©; this instrument asks for organizational data
as well as responses to nine open-ended questions about the firm's
workplace practices, philosophy, and work environment. Finally
The company that nominated itself Sends other relevant supporting
materials (employee handbooks, orientation and recruiting materials,
employee newsletters and videos, etc.) that give us a fuller picture
of why the company is an outstanding place to work. In a word
the great 100 list is a PR spin tool for any company willing to
"bend" a few rules and send in biased info to this "institute".
The institute does not investigate any thing. If they did ,they
would have found this site, the FCC filings, the law suits for
the various forms of discrimination Emmis is known for and much
more. I do not expect any other reply from Fortune, it looks like
they are just the PR agent for these "top 100" I am
sure the CE who sent in the info thought he was trying to show
us all that Emmis is great to work for. All he has done is show
us Emmis is good at skewing results and PR spin.The memo from
Jeff is the icing on the cake, he acted surprised. I wonder how
many people he had working on that project? Other CE`s & FE`s
who I told of this said,
"Are you F'ing kidding,
maybe the 100 worst to work for."
"Who ever did the submissions
on this pig should do my taxes."
"Doesn't any one research
what they are about to print. I will not renew my subscription.
I can not trust any thing they print. "
"You can quote me on this,
working for Emmis is like being locked up in a Goolog."
Much more of the same came
in but it would get lengthy to post it all. From another CE,
"Emmis Employs a Super-Cop
Station group goes the centralization route
By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2005
Abstract: While many station
groups look to standardize traffic systems, some are planning
to centralize them. The Emmis Communications Centralcasting facility,
located in Orlando, Fla., handles master control for five stations:
WKCF Orlando; WFTX Ft. Myers, Fla.; WVUE New Orleans; WALA Mobile,
Ala.; and WBPG Gulf Shores, Ala.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA496811.html?display=Special+Report
This part of Central crapping is far behind
what I predicted, to be honest this is the only part of the M5
system that made sense. Let the pink slips fly.
01/12/05 FIRST WORD FROM KSNT.,.. As those around the hive find out they are not alone
,one CE at KSNT-27 sent in the following,
"True story. GM at KSNT-TV
in Topeka when told that staff moral was in the
toilet and the crew could use a little positive re-enforcement:
"I'll start
being nicer when everyone starts enjoying their job!" Clueless.
And we wonder
why 30+ of our fellow employees have left in the past 15 months...
CE"
This dumb quote by
a GM is much like captain Cooks comment ,so it is now posted in
that prime place on this page so we all can admire the wisdom
of such a comment. It looks like KSNT CE`s are escaping the hive
in mass quantities. By my guesstimate that 30+ must represent
more than half the staff , that speaks volumes for the company
and management. The now FE`s found one thing Jeff does not want
CE`s to know, there are many jobs out there with much better employers.
And now more from KOIN,
KOIN is a Tapeless operation
for it's commerical playback. One night a very experienced and
capable MCR operator is on duty when the commercial playback malfunctions.
The MCR Operator can do nothing about it. The next day The Director
of Engineering (Lee Wood) walks into Master Control as he leaves
for the day and tells this operator to check his email. The email
ends up being a repremand for the malfunction the night before.
It told the operator that they lost several thousand dollars because
of this malfunction and Lee Wood puts the blame on the MCR Operator
who wasn't at fault at all. What bothers me the most is that The
Director of Engineering didn't have the spine to talk to this
operator face to face and instead he leaves an email and runs
away.
Employees at KOIN are on call 24/7 and make what little staff
they have left run the whole station. They bust thier butts during
Holidays and weekends. During these times, Management is nowhere
to be found. Only Management gets to work a 40 hour week while
making their staff slaves to the machine.
This sounds familiar , Vic
tends to leave the country just before terminations, leaving them
for his "collaborator". It must be taught in Emmis mismanagement
school, just after all their spines are removed and replaced with
Borg implants. In this case they blame the human for a M4 screw
up. No error I wrote M4, the system is not as bad as the M5.
First the New York Times, then
Sixty Minuets now FORTUNE Magazine,
"Dear Emmis Employees
Of all eligible U.S. employers,
FORTUNE magazine chooses just 100 as the best places to work for
in America. I am extremely proud to announce that Emmis Communications
has entered this exclusive group. Not only have we joined the
elite list of companies, we are one of only a handful of media
organizations to have ever made the cut. No other media company
is included in the list this year.
Those of you who have worked
for other media entities know first hand that Emmis is a different
kind of company. From the beginning we wanted this to be a pro-employee
company. The Eleven Commandments of Emmis outline the work environment
I envisioned for every station and magazine, but it is each of
you who translates those guiding principles into a living Emmis
culture where people are given the tools they need, the freedom
to try new things and the permission to have fun.
FORTUNE chooses companies based
largely on the results of confidential, anonymous employee surveys—so
this honor comes from and is a tribute to the sales people, editors,
engineers, programmers, assistants and everyone else who makes
Emmis so exceptional. This employee support is especially moving
to me.
What does this mean for you?
First, it will help your entity attract the best talent, making
your product and performance even better. We work in an industry
where moving around is common, but this distinction will help
solidify Emmis’ reputation as a destination employer. The
recognition will also enhance your entity’s status in your
community and within your professional organizations.
A million thanks for making
our company a great place to work. Look for Emmis in FORTUNE’s
annual special issue, available at www.fortune.com today, and on newsstands Jan. 17.
Jeff "
A pro-Jeff CE sent
this in using an anonymous email account and included this comment,
"A E-Mail sent
by Mr. Smulyan himself........Guess Fortune Magazine Doesn't think
Emmis sucks."
Not Exactly, all this
proves is that Fortunes reporters and editors failed to do some
basic research. Had they done their home work they would have
found ,This site, the law suits brought by EMMIS employees against
Emmis, FCC info and the Emmis smoking gun on how even Emmis knows
its CE`s think of Emmis...THE GAG ORDER! A link to this site and
my comments were sent to the editor at Fortune, I am sure there
will not be any response. I was going to post this stuff this
weekend but it is time sensitive. Resistance in not futile.
01/09/05 WHAT PASSES AS HUMOR BY KOIN MISMANAGEMENT... This just in,
"A young man crawls under
the fence at the transmitter site, climbs the tower and then plunges
to his death. When the body is discovered and removed, The Director
of Engineering (Lee Wood) laughs and makes jokes. He then tells
the employees to put a sign up at the site gates telling anyone
who wishes to kill themselves to go to the next tower over. He
says this with a giggle. It's awful to see management to have
such a low value on human life."
Carbon based life is cheap in the eyes of Emmis.
01//08/05B EVEN MORE "TAPPING"
AT KOIN....
"(XXX),
This afternnoon they laid off KOIN'S best director because he
wouldn't go along with the Vision. The Vision is total BS developed
by a has been GM and a wanta be News Director. It doesn't matter
if you do your job, you have to buy all the bullshit. They also
laid off a production person because he was not capable in graphics.
Of course he was not hired for graphics, but that doesn't matter
either. Lastly they canned the main weather guy. They can use
the three youths for the weather and save a real salary. All three
of their salaries don't add up to the former main guy. All this
because they are tightning the budget. They will make that 38%
return on all the CE's backs! Row On!"
I must say ,after hearing
from most cubes in the hive over the years ,KOIN has been the
worst hit by Jeff and his incompetent mismanagers. Why some one
has not "gone postal" I do not know. And yes I think
KOIN is even worse off than WVUE. For those CE`s who want to know
how Jeff thinks of its carbon based employees , read the gag order
(link on this site) pay particular attention to paragraph 9. Look
at it this way, the lucky ones are now FREE AT LAST!
01/08/05 EXCLUSIVE KOIN SPECIAL... In only what could be described as flood of data concerning
the continuing extremely hostile work environment at A-Messes
KOIN. Some of these were quite lengthy and have been edited for
space.
"Greetings. I
have an archive of Pete Schulberg articles that HAVEN't been
located in the 2004 postings, and news on how much the big changes
Dan
Salamone brought to KOIN "didn't" affect the Nielsens.
Also KOIN is
attempting to ally itself with the Portland Tribune, where writer
Pete
Schulberg works. I think they forgot that newspaper reporters
don't have
to suck up to advertisers the same way TV station management makes
its news drones compromise its standards for advertisers.
Emry pulls up anchor and sails (Article wasn't dated: I assume
July)
It’s an excellent reason for leaving any job if you can swing
it: wanting to spend more
time with the family.
But when local broadcasters up and quit, saying they want to spend
more time at
Little League practice and hauling around the kids, it's often
an eyebrow-raiser.
Usually, there are other factors. (I'm adding, a la Shirley Hancock.
Shirley wasn't
the only one who thought KOIN is a hostile work environment)
How many times has
a radio or TV personality, using the “family time” line,
high-tailed it over to another station within months or even days?
In Portland,
almost too many to count.
In Julie Emry’s case, it’s even more complicated. The
5 p.m. and 6 p.m. co-anchor
for KOIN (6) abruptly resigned her position last Thursday, even
though her two-year
contract doesn't expire until September.
“At this time in my life, with three kids, I don't need to
be chasing every ambulance
and be available for every show,” said Emry, who is married
and the mother of
10-year-old twin boys and a 14-year-old daughter. “People
are forced to work a ton
with a smaller staff.” Most of Portland’s TV stations
have experienced staffing
cutbacks in the past two years, as ad revenue fell after the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.
Discussions had been under way between KOIN management and Emry
about
expanding her four-hour workday agreement to include anchoring
the 11 p.m.
news with Jeff Gianola. (Note: Same with Shirley Hancock, who
stayed and
worked even after refusing the 11p news, and this refusal was
behind her forced
resignation.)
KOIN told Emry that it needed a single anchor team on its evening
newscasts
for promotion and marketing purposes. Gianola had been co-anchoring
the 11 p.m.
newscast with Mike Donahue, who now will do reporting in the field.
For Donahue,
dean of Portland anchors, this marks the second time he’s
been moved off the
anchor desk at KOIN. (Should we add that the all-male anchored
11p news was
gaining in ratings at an extremely high rate when the change was
made?)
Emry and Gianola were the anchor team at KATU (2) when that station
ruled the
ratings in the late ’80s and early ’90s. But after the
pair was reunited at KOIN in
September 2002, KOIN’s ratings remained flat and the station
was unable to topple
top-rated KGW (8).
Both Emry and KOIN maintain that if Emry had agreed to longer
hours, she’d be a
KOIN fixture now and in the future.
At the same time, it appears to industry observers and viewers
alike — if the
Nielsen numbers can be trusted — that the chemistry Emry
and Gianola had
at KATU has diminished by a notch or two at KOIN.
When Emry was hired by KOIN, I mused that once a member of an
anchor team
goes off the air, only to return several years later at a different
station, getting the
magic back can be a tough proposition. Viewer habits, tastes and
station
allegiances can change quickly. And in Portland especially, once
an anchor leaves,
for whatever reason, and then returns, it rarely works as well
as the original stint.
“We had a very fair offer on the table,” says Station
Manager Dan Salamone. “But
we have been looking at our options all along because we knew
there was a
possibility this would not work for Julie.”
Salamone says the station has been looking at a half-dozen candidates
inside and
outside the station to take over for Emry. In the meantime, Gianola
will fly solo at
5 p.m. and 11 p.m. and morning anchor Katie Baker will co-anchor
with Gianola
on the 6 p.m. newscast.
As for Emry, don’t count her out of television just yet.
Wouldn’t some of KOIN’s
competition feel just fine having a part-time anchorwoman who
wants to spend
more time with her family? Don’t bet against it.
NEXT ARTICLE, WRITTEN EARLY DECEMBER, AFTER NOV SWEEPS:
A new season sweeps clean
Has there ever been so much commotion during a sweeps period?
While the Nielsen
folks were determining what we watched this past month, viewers
were huddled
around the TV in amazement. And who could blame us?
Just dwell on these major TV developments:
• “Desperate Housewives” tries to become the best
reason to watch “Monday
Night Football,” with a pre-game locker-room seduction skit
starring “Desperate” ’s
Nicolette Sheridan and player Terrell Owens.
• Tom Brokaw goes away, while Dan Rather announces, “Me,
too!”
• The $2.5 million man, Ken Jennings, finally tanks on “Jeopardy!”
• NBC wishes that “Friends” had never left as the
peacock gets its feathers clipped
by CBS.
• The “Most Watched Video on Cable After the First 10,000
Showings” award goes
to the NBA melee in Detroit.
And hey, if CBS wants to get a household face to replace Rather,
how about Jennings
(that’s Ken, not Peter), or the guy who threw the cup at
Ron Artest? Besides,
Jennings could double as anchor and fact checker.
On the local front, the name of the game is “Catch KGW if
You Can.” It’s proving
just as difficult for both second-place KOIN (6) and third-place
KATU (2). (My note:
KOIN and KATU have fought over second place for years, switching
places often.)
Overall local news
winner
It’s KGW (8).
Once again, Portland’s NBC affiliate captures the ratings
prize in head-to-head
matchups during the dinner hour and 11 p.m. time periods.
At 5 p.m., KGW increases its lead over KOIN and KATU, capturing
almost twice
the audience of either competitor. With a 10.7 rating (translating
to more than
100,000 viewers) and a 22 share (the percentage of the audience
watching TV
at 5 p.m.), KGW’s dominance is as strong as it’s ever
been.
At 6:30 p.m., KATU managed to tie KGW for the top spot. But at
11 p.m.,
KGW wins again despite KOIN’s CBS programming winning the
prime time
(8 p.m.-11 p.m.) sweepstakes.
My take: KGW continues to take advantage of the huge “Oprah”
lead-in audience
at 5 p.m. (From me: But KOIN mgt knows that Oprah watchers are
not
news watchers, and it's not Oprah's lead as much as it is people
turning to KGW's
news at 5pm; the Oprah lead in was responsible for KOIN stealing
Ellen away
from her 10am slot on KGW, where she was stealing from KOIN/CBS
Price is
Right, and putting Ellen against Oprah at 4pm - guess that didn't
do any good
for the news either but it probably helped Price), but it also
has become the go-to
station for breaking news.
Over at KOIN, the Jeff Gianola-Kelley Day anchor combination,
complete with
altered news set and fancy graphics, hasn’t had much of an
impact — yet.
With ABC making strides in the popularity of its network programming
(i.e.,
“Desperate Housewives and “Lost”), this would be
the time for KATU to make its move.
Crime doesn’t
pay?
The crime story-infested
10 p.m. news on KPTV (12) may finally be wearing a
tad thin. Compared to November of a year ago, the prime-time newscast
has taken
a hit and lost close to 20,000 viewers from the more recent May
sweeps.
My take: There’s too much other news happening, both nationally
and locally, to
dwell on nonstop crime coverage night after night after night.
The big three networks’
strong 10 p.m. series also are having an impact.
‘Good Day’
shines
KPTV still shows strength
in the morning, finally knocking off KGW in the 6 a.m.-7 a.m.
local news time slot. (From me: KOIN now is calling the AM show
KOIN News 6
Wakeup Oregon. Not that Wakeup is "really" one word...)
But “Today” on KGW has come
back to barely regain first place from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. against
“Good Day Oregon.”
My take: KPTV’s morning team keeps the show light and bright
as it offers the news,
information and aerial traffic reports.
CBS hitting its prime
For the first time
since BF (Before “Friends”), CBS has taken over the
No. 1 slot in prime
time from NBC among the 18-49 age group. And once again, in Portland
and around the
country, CBS romped in total viewers. But the “CBS Evening
News” is still running in third
place, which raises the question — should the name be changed
to “CSI: The Evening
News”? My take: No longer do CBS execs have to explain that
it’s OK that mostly older
people watch their network. Give credit to the “CSI”
franchise and, of course, the staying
power of “Survivor.”
KOIN sharing helicopter (from another Schulberg article)
Teresa Burgess, general manager of KPTV (12), said her television
news outlet leases its
helicopter in partnership with KOIN (6). She could not recall
specific figures, but said,
“Outside of staffing expenses, in news it’s our biggest
expense.” (From me; Could not
recall specific figures?? Oh puh-LEEZ, she had to be seeing them
on her desk every day
for a year! The coleasing was the brainchild of Randy Bomgarden)
(And from January 7: Remember KOIN research showed that people
watch news most for
the weather. Portland does not have as high a population percent
of news viewers as most
other cities in the nation so the efforts there go to getting
non news viewers to watch, as
a strategy of increasing the share against KGW)
There’s no business like snow business
Three, two, one … salivate. That’s what’s happening
in Portland radio and TV newsrooms
as the winter storm countdown begins, giving stations the opportunity
to saturate the airwaves
with weather overkill. (from me: overkill is an understatement,
it was the lead story on KOIN
KGW and KATU on Monday and Tuesday as they predicted snow for
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
and now here it is thursday, and they have put off their top story
now to maybe sunday,
perhaps monday, or even tuesday or wednesday, at least below 500
feet which is where
Portland is...)
Never mind that we’re a little behind schedule. If you remember,
last year at this time,
KATU (2), KGW (8), KOIN (6), KPTV (12) and Northwest Cable News
were in the midst
of wall-to-wall coverage of the big snow of 2004. The weather
story broke all records for nonstop
coverage and succeeded in posting stellar ratings. (Me again,
excuse me, I can look out of the
dam window to see it's snowing, just keep me up with my soaps
or I"m taking the bus down
the street to rent movies) The fact is, when it comes to major
weather news, there is no other
type of local news programming that brings in more viewers. Mount
St. Helens erupting takes
second place in viewer interest to that first snowflake in east
county or the West Hills.
At the risk of divulging trade secrets, here’s a preview
of what we can expect (again) and what
reporters and videographers are prepping for.
Gorge screeching: The ability to shout live commentary along Interstate
84 near Troutdale while
looking unbearably cold and having your parka hood blow off, reducing
your carefully coifed hair
to a tangled mess. The goal here is to show how miserable you
are. Meanwhile, back in
Portland, it’s not nearly so bad and viewers are actually
laughing at you.
Sylvan sensationalizing: Being able to reach fever pitch reporting
on the snow falling while
standing on the Sylvan overpass and measuring the snow depth with
a pencil or ruler. At night,
it’s also important for camerapeople to set up enough lights
to blind any oncoming drivers.
Spinout spotting: Look
for the best examples of vehicles slipping down hills, SUVs getting
stuck in ditches and TriMet buses stalling. Then replay the video
20 times an hour to make
it look as if the situation is a lot worse than it really is.
Doppler doting: Give credit to weather radar for showing snow
and precipitation, although it
would have been nice if the warning could have come a whole lot
sooner. Every once in a while,
remind viewers they can get the same information by looking out
the window.
Obvious stating: All stations need to do is to quote Oregon Department
of Transportation
spokesman Dave Thompson, who told KOIN this week that “the
roads are not completely safe.
It’s winter.” But that’s not what will happen.
Instead we’ll be told to “drive safely,” “be
careful,”
“dress warmly,” “don’t drive unless you have
to” and “bring your pets inside” — several
thousand
times.
Kid gloating: Interview unintelligible children while they’re
throwing snowballs at the camera
and bubbling about how great it is that school has been canceled.
Maybe this year someone
can find a kid who actually misses school. If that happens, expect
a giant “Exclusive!”
splashed across the screen.
And there's an Oregon blogs talk site that talked about KOIN's
web site, interesting to note
that the response comes from a KRQE drone!!!
talk.orblogs.com, from various members of the site:
So KOIN changed its website, it seems. Except in both Safari and
Moz Firebird, it breaks and
gives a "reduced version" because the "site uses
advanced I-Frame technology which is
supported by most versions of Internet Explorer and newer versions
of Netscape." It instructs
you to "please use Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, or Netscapte
6.0 or later."
Lame.
I love the phrase "This site uses advanced I-Frame technology..."
They must have had their
engineers working around the clock to come up with that breakthrough!
It looks like they
want their reduced version of the site to work, it's just that
the "Local
Headlines" aren't working. (Some variables in the story URLs
aren't being replaced.) It might
actually be a better way to browse the site if it worked--sort
of like a text-only version. The big
frame method that you get in IE is not good.
Maybe an email to let
them know links aren't working on the lite version would help.
From KRQE:
Sorry for the trouble on the KOIN site. There's no team of engineers
behind the infrastructure,
just me. (from me: HELLO!!!!! Dammit A-Miss will find a way to
use centralcrapping if it kills
them which it is)
I initially set it
up with I-Frame to decrease load time for viewing stories and
other popular
pages. Unfortunately, I found very quickly that the way I had
encoded the I-Frames, they
didn't respond well in Safari and most Mozilla browsers (Safari
didn’t like a 100% width for
the frame) and we had CSS issues (Did you know Mozilla won’t
recognize CSSS elements
that include a numeral in the name?). Anyway, to make a long story
short I’ve gone back
to a flat, I-Frame free ASP page and will offer the I-Frame setup
as an option.
On the positive side,
the index page is now 1/5 of its original size. (He gives his
email
address at KRQE to write if there are more problems.)
(And one of the first complainers responds:)
Well, now I feel like a jerk. Sorry to be so harsh, Xxxx, the
major media sites seem like
anonymous monoliths with giant budgets and teams of people. I
forget that sometimes
that isn't the case. (Oh my friend, you had it right the first
time.)
Thanks for your input, Xxxx, and glad to hear you are listening
to your critics and making
things right. Bravo!
And Xxxx responds: No problem. I've learned that the day we in
the online media stop
responding to the public, especially, those not in the 95% group
of "average" or "Microsoft"
users, is the day we've failed in our duty. Thanks again for listening.
(Online media?? Oh
no, a drone displaying that he thinks - working for A Miss, you
don't let them know you
know how to think, it's too dangerous)
Other KOIN news not written about elsewhere:
5 KOINERS went to corp HR to complain about hostile work environment
and different
types of discrimination. The last of the five recently left the
hive. The first three were
beaten and pummelled and accepted invitations to leave because
the alternative
was clearly a longer, more torturous death. Upon leaving all were
gagged. The last
two slowly had their job duties shifted to others, which made
them lose their value,
and KOIN mgrs let them know how useless they were while pretending
to be
sympathetic. One of the two, plans had been made to get rid of
at least 1 year
prior to the HR complaint being made. So if you are A Miss employee
facing
discrimination and hostile work environment, it's probably because
they already cited
you for departure and you better look for another job before your
confidence is gone
and no one wants you: This is also a growing trend for those employees
who use
medical coverage. If personal trauma happens and you have to go
for therapy and
the therapist gives medication to you, you will be attacked by
your department head
in the very areas where you are most vulnerable. Try and save
your teeth before s/he
kicks them in. Get in as much insurance use as you can to get
yourself well because
soon, you won't have it. Your performance may still be top of
the line but you will
find criticisms of things you didn't do, so they can justify getting
rid of you. Either
that or the same scum mgt who discriminates against various employees
for
whatever reason their greedy little mind will come up with, will
get you for the same
stuff they are doing - watch those emails, they will be monitored.
Row on."
This from a KOIN CE,
Hey Emmis guy,
I have not seen any
more info on the crap Jeff and his band of carpet baggers are
doing here. The changes are not working. The team dose not seem
too have a clue about what the viewers want. They are like a pack
of wild dogs ,just pissing all over trying to mark territory with
out regard for real news or TV. I have never seen so many suck
ups in my life, Emmis must breed them.
Keep up the needed
work, I never thought at the age of (XXX) I would be looking for
a new job. I do not want to leave, but these people suck.
I am not happy in my
work :-(
A Recent FE said,
"They did me a
favor. Emmis is driving the place into the ground. The anti human
goal of EMMIS is making good people go bad. The remaining pre-emmis
staff is now so paranoid that all the one time friendships are
under strain. Inter departmental fighting is now the norm as people
try to protect themselves from the Emmis head hunters. May Jeff
burn!"
I was going to start
this posting with a totally different focus but you never know.
Emmis entered into an agreement with Bonneville to swap three
Phoenix radio stations – KTAR-AM, KMVP-AM and KKLT-FM –
in exchange for WLUP-FM (The Loop) in Chicago and $70 million
in cash, which Emmis is using to pay down debt. Emmis has owned
WKQX-FM (Q101) in Chicago since 1988.The closing of the transaction
is subject to several conditions, including approval from the
Federal Communications Commission, and is expected to occur in
early 2005. After the close of the transaction, Emmis will own
25 radio stations in eight markets. This deal is just another
in a long list of radio sell offs to pay on the huge debt Jeff
has acquired. I must applaud those about to be set free of the
hive, one of which sent in the info. To the CE`s at WLUP, start
packing ,pink slips are on the way. If any one at WLUP attends
jeffs "welcome to EMMIS" speech ,let me know if he has
come up with any thing newer than " I have no major changes planned for (insert call sign here)" A site
watcher caught the humor in the in one of the pics below.
"Were in the world
did you find that pic from Soylent Green? It does fit the Emmis
theme.What does the Jap have in common with A-Mess?"
Glad some one noticed,
the pic was sent in. We will see if any one else can guess the
other pics tie in with the Evil Empire. Send in the scoops!
01/01/05 HAPPY NEW YEAR.... As we start a new year of Emmis sucking I was reminded
of how bad it is in the hive. I ran into two FE`s at the big "W"
and the first one who got the Emmis "TAP" in 1999 ended
up working for the big CC radio company, he has told from time
to time that the big CC radio corporation was as bad as Emmis.
He has now moved to another radio company and said,
"The difference
is knight and day, I am finally with a company that cares for
its people. I could not be happier."
I and few other were discussing who
we would not work for in broadcast, the same four names kept coming
up, and yes Emmis was on the list. It was amazing that ten people
from differing broadcast histories had the same list. The next
FE just said "Jeff did me
a favor, I got out of that dead end job at a dead end company."
Captain Cook is ramping up his exit
strategy from the hive, he has to get out before the big balloon
payment comes due. After all you would not want to be holding
Emmis stock or options when the bubble burst. Thursday I saw Bridge
on the River Kwai on TCM and could not help but think of Emmis.
As we approach Emmis year end ,Emmis HR has some new toys they
want try out.
"It's our people
that make the difference"
This tid bit just
in from Central Crapping Command,
"Soooooo many
bottles of beer on the wall at the hub they spilled into the M5!
WVUE-DT isn't the only one with problems, out of curriosity I
called our local slave ship captain in (XXX) and he
says loose quote " some jackass with initials capital J.A.
in Orlando pulled some equipment to do something and FFFF'ed up
our digital for the week."
NMS, Your not very good at your job. Tisk, tisk what would jeff
say if he knew.
One viewer even posted this, "There is definately something
wrong with Fort Myers(Cape Coral) FOX HDTV(35-3). I have a Mits
62725 with built in HD tuner. Has worked fine since we got the
set 6 weeks ago. We've been away since 12/23 and got back last
night and FOX HD is breaking up every 10-15 seconds. Since picture
is great when it doesn't break up I suspect a processing probelm.
All other stations work fine."
"Be Happy in your
work!"
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