EMMIS M5 YEAR FOUR

LINK TO YEAR FIVE

EMMIS M5 YEAR FOUR ARCHIVE

1/1/04-12/31/04

12/27/04 EMMIS DOES IT AGAIN.... Apparently the lack of humans has resulted in even more ticked off viewers. Quite a few who got no response from WVUE have written your web master after trying to contact the empire. I do not watch them but I do hear when they screw up. This email seems to sum up what all the others contained.

"I am not a former Emmis employee.

I am viewer of HDTV. I purchased a nice HDTV in late 2004. I subscribe to Cox, and as you know, Both Emmis and Belo (Channel 4) have not reached agreements with Cox to carry their DTV signals. So I also purchased an HDTV OTA terrestrial tuner and an antenna to take advantage of the local stations that broadcast HDTV and DTV signals over the air.

Most of the time, I am able to view WWL and WVUE (as well as the other locals) with the OTA tuner. WWL is much more reliable with their signal. But all of the stations often have the sound out of sync with picture. I use the OTA to get the HD broadcasts of the NFL games that I can’t get on Cox because Emmis and Belo appear to be too greedy to work out a deal with Cox.

I am writing to tell you of my experience this past Christmas weekend with WVUE DTV.

For two nights, when I tried to tune Fox 8, the OTA tuner reported they were off the air. I had 95% signal strength. Beginning Thursday night, they came back on the air, but with picture only no sound. The local news at 10:00 was on – great pic no sound. And it was the same thing Friday morning. I began posting on WWL’s HDTV forum about this. Being an avid NFL fan and now hooked on HDTV, I was hoping it would be fixed by the weekend’s game. Friday evening came, and with company at the house, I had to watch the game with the OTA tuner for the picture and the cable box for sound with about a 2 second delay between sync of sound and pic.

I tried to call Fox 8 at the number on their website. Lo and behold, the number did not work, either – it would ring once and sound like something answered – then nothing. I emailed them and I still haven’t received a reply.

The FOX 8 OTA stayed the same all weekend – great pic – no sound at all – digital or analog. Other local OTA HDTV viewers who post on the HDTV forum at WWLTV.com also reported numerous problems with FOX 8 this past weekend. It is not my tuner – all the other stations are working correctly. It is not the network – Fox is sending a great HDTV signal for the games – the locals are not getting it done – they are not passing the HDTV on to the local viewers.

I just thought you would like to know. I sure hope that they get it together soon, because they are doing a great disservice to those of us who have invested in HDTV. It sure seems as if there is poor quality control at Fox 8.

When I found your website (Googled it), I was amazed. Feel free to quote this message on your site – maybe somebody at Fox 8 will read it and take heed.

Mike"

The only thing I can suggest Mike and the others is contact the evil one at jeff@emmis.com ,I do not think he will respond but it is worth a try. I am shocked Mike and the other DTV Viewers did not notice the other DTV problems with VUE-DTV. You do have a few more options, 1: do not watch them,2: contact FOX network and last contact the advertisers and let them know why you will not be watching them on WVUE. Personally I do not know how any one can put up with the trash the lack of humans and the M5 has done to the air product at WVUE. Good luck in dealing with the Borge. Resistance is futile!, but keep trying :-)

12/25/04 CHRISTMAS YEAR ENDER....As we close out another year free of Jeff and A-Mess all the FE`s seem to agree, "thank god I am out" it still amazes me to see a FE come to the realization of how bad Emmis was to work for. Believe me I have seen it many many times .If your an FE send me your success story so other can be inspired. Also FE`s please check the alumni page to make sure your email or web site link is up to date.

Although I have not been able co confirm this, I thought it would make a nice Christmas gift for those in the local cube. It has been reported that Captain Cook will walk the plank some time in February. He will definitely profit from the sale of his condo in the Jax Brewery. No word if he will stay at the helm of Emmis TV. A new captain has not been announced yet. I am sure they are assimilating one at this time. Captain Cook did accomplish his primary goal at the helm of the local cube, he got even with big M for her part in his "tapping" at WALA.

South TV News link has been dropped ,the site was closed under pressure from those who live by the second amendment.

Only a few have got the joke behind the new site sponsor.

As is the custom at Emmissucks, this years postings will be moved into an archive for the year.When you think you have it bad just check out the archives and see how poor management can be.This site has become one of the longest running sites dedicated to one mismanaged company. It is hard to believe it all started with one comment sent in and posted on the alumni page. To all the FE`s and pre-Emmis CE`s Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

12/21/04 MORNING NEWS?..... I had some info on the "proposed" morning news at WVUE ,but I could not confirm it. Now that other sources have confirmed "the plan" I can add a few items. A morning news has been proposed ever since I came on board WVUE in the early 80`s, back then the station made much more money than today. Cost v benefit just was not there.Now after being "Foxified" and "A-Messed" Jeff thinks it will work. Lets see, you cut the floor krew,cut your news engineer, cut most of engineering, gut most of the staff and now double your local content, typical Emmis. Some insider comments,

"Can you believe they are going to do this and they do not plan to add a photographer? The ND has asked for a "volunteer" to take the morning shift. So far no takers. I think (XXXX) is trying to convince (XXXX) or (XXXX) to take the shift. It has been bad enough since Emmis took control but now as you would put it, "the pace maker is yelling for ramming speed!!"

"God I made a mistake going to work for these guys."

"First they cut ,now they want two more hours of local news and are "just thinking" about adding a few more people. Give me a Fing break. They better hire a staff proctologist because they all have their heads up their respective (XXX). I need a better job, do you know of any?"

"What are they smoking at Emmis head quarters? I think Jeff joined Ricky Jackson for a lid or two."

Additionally there are plans to expand the number of "sky cams" to be used as fill for the poorly conceived pig. Other "network time killers" are being discussed. Many more staffers are upset at the total over load of work this will create. Centralcrapping and staff cuts were not sufficient for A-Mess ,Row till you drop seems to be the new montra. A personal note for Avis, I still have it, waiting for burger at Fudruckers in Harrah`s I dropped the change in a flaming 7`s machine.....RED7...RED7...and yes RED7. Cha-ching. Row well.

12/18/04 WIDE SPREAD TICKED OFF DRONES, I can not post the specifics because the drones are in fear of career lose and retribution by Jeff. Most report some terminations and re-allocation of duties to remaining drones. The poor remaining drones are now even more over worked. More "yes men" mid level mis-managers have been put in place to take note of any desertion in the ranks. This "downsizing" is going slow in hopes that no one would notice, oops I noticed with all the eamil on the issue. Jeff is now trying to get rid of humans with out even the M5 to take their place. I sympathize with the drones having to pull two or more or`s by them selves. While many companies try this on a small scale A-Mess is doing it wholesale. I guess it is part of Jeffs way to improve his HR relations.Let me just say, if you think you are alone in your destain for Jeffs employee relations ,your not.

Emmis changes plans and is now scrambling to get WVUE up to full power DTV to meet FCC June deadline. In what one CE said "this should get Jeffs sphincter even tighter" I think they will wait until after Feb 05 so the 04 books look better. The existing WVUE DTV still is exhibiting many problems, I am sure VIC will figure it out.

I ran into over 25 FE`s this past week, they were almost colliding with each other when I was bumping into them, cosmically strange? All continue doing well and are "glad to be outa there.".

Do not forget your new cover sheets on the TPS reports and do not touch Miltons Swingline!

12/12/04 ANOTHER WVUE FE HIRED BY ITS COMPETITION....It has been learned by your web master that a former front office type person will be joining the fight against the evil empire. It seems that most of those who built VUE are now in direct competition. On-again / off-again SouthTVNews.com is now shutting down again. I am sure the corporate pressure got to them. This site is the longest running page of its type running on the web. To quote governor Tarkin "Fear will keep the systems in line!" But the force is on the side of good. Bonus follow up,

" I am appalled that you did not link Jeffs "gift " to another evil company Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart abuses its humans, pays them slave wages, minimum health benefits ,if any at all. They force vendors to go off shore for labor and force vendors to cheapen the products to meet Wal-Marts price goals. It figures Jeff would patronize such a company. Now I can get off my soap box.

J.A.C.E.

I thought some one would make the connection ,and they did. You can also find out more by following the link in the link section on the "W" company. Evil patronizes Evil, they are a perfect fir for each other. Yet anther CE did the math on the "bonus",

Hello (XXX),

I do not communicate on the web normally so pardon any netiquet errors.As an accountant I thought you may be interested in the numbers. Smulyan is giving out $200 ,that breaks down to just under 10 cents an hour for a full time employees who works 2080 hours a year (over time and holidays not counted). As you have reported, Smulyan/Emmis used to offer $10.75/hr for MC operators at CCC, now he offers $10.56/hr so even if he gives out a 10 cent an hour bonus, he is still ahead by 9 cents an hour. Emmis does the same with its health benefits, they give out a 2 or 3 percent bump in pay and take it back by a huge raise in the employees portion of the health care cost. Emmis is good at playing with the numbers, after all they learned from the Enron accountants. This site is a never ending chuckle for me, keep up the good work. ( I am rowing at the slowest speed possible :-)

"be happy in your work"

12/11/04 JEFF GIVES OUT BONUSES... Once again after Emmissucks brings it to light the evil one tries to look good by giving out holiday bonuses

"Dear Emmis employees:

I am happy to announce that in the next week to 10 days, you'll receive a holiday bonus: Full-time employees will receive $200, and part-timers will receive $75. This expression of company gratitude was well-earned.

Though we must continue to closely examine budgets at all levels of the company, I believe it's important to preserve holiday bonuses when at all possible. While all media companies continued to struggle with sluggish growth this past year, your performance was rock solid. In every division and by every measure, we outperformed our markets over and over again.

Such performance will help us prosper in the coming year. Emmis produces the most compelling products in our industries, and we manage our properties better than anyone else. Thank you for investing your talents in Emmis. I wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season.

Jeff

MC CE "

This was sent in by the pro-emmis MC person. A more typical response was sent in by another CE,

"Thanks for the Holiday shame posting ,Jeff caved in and is going to dispense some cash. I`m sure it will not be in the same ratio with what he will give him self. Let us know when you find out what he gets. Excellent site , you need more photos."

I post what is sent in and what fits the theme. A fellow engineer found this and included a nice bit of commentary.

"The M5 proves they still need another 30 years to get it working. Sure the greedy will continue in a quest to lower the body count required for broadcast ,but at what cost? Lower quality, smaller audience, less ad revenue and eventual destruction of the industry."

I liked the steering wheel. Only time will tell if the bean counters will drive broadcast into the ground.

12/04/04 Bark Bites back...Chuck Bark lands ND gig at WBRZ after being forced to turn in his torch at WALA a few months back. Its to bad he did not get a gig in direct competition with a Emmis station. Another CE sent me the following internal memo from another "Centralized" company

"The computer systems of Sinclair Broadcast Group have extensive log files. Every email you send or receive and every website you visit is tracked and time stamped. Therefore, . . .

* We know if you use email to send jokes to your friends and co-workers.
* We know if you view porn.
* We know if you are using online dating.
* We know if you are using Ebay.
* We know if you order parts for the car you are trying to restore.
* We know if you do online banking.
* We know if you are planning a wedding, birthday or vacation.
* We know if you are looking for a new school, home, or job.
* We know if you play online games.
* We know how many people searched for Janet Jackson after the Super Bowl (97 searches).
* We know about your online betting.
* We know about your side jobs on company time.
* We know about your football pools.
* We know about your fantasy football.
* We know about your online photo collections be them wedding, birthday, vacation or very personal.
* We know about your fascination with all things; Pro Wrestling, Sports, Cars, Boats & Pez Dispensers.
* We know about you stock portfolio and your day trading.
* We know about your personal website.
* We know about your BLOG (Get a Life).

"We actively review the firewall logs to monitor email and Internet use. Inappropriate use of e-mail and the Internet risk infecting your computer and the network with viruses and other unwanted programs. E-mail is intended for business purposes only. The ability to access information via the Internet should only be used for business reasons. Your compliance with the Company’s Email and Internet policy is expected. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me."

I just thought you would find it interesting that these "centralized" companies are all paranoid about their M5 units."

It is the right of these companies to watch the computer networks , but you have to think where do they stand on free speech when they say * We know about your personal website.* We know about your BLOG (Get a Life). Speaking of Free Speech ,another web site covering news is under fire from those free speech advocates in the news business, South TV News has been under attack by the vary parties who make their living using the right to free speech. This site has also had both political pressure and verbal death threats levied against its web master for simply posting the obvious (tower lights out for months). A CE come to Jeffs defense, he sent in this

"I just wanted to let you know Emmis doesn't suck all the time. Mr. Smulyan recently gave us a nice gift for helping out during the hurricane. A Generous Amount gift card to Wal-Mart. That doesn't suck that is generous, he also included a letter he hand signed the letter read as follows:

Dear Emmis Employee,

When Trials and difficulties come, we discover what we're made of. I believe this unusually severe hurricane season has proved that you all are incredibly resourceful, self-sacrificing and unwavering in getting the job done. You dove into one of the most challenging situations a TV team can face, and I can tell you how proud I am of your performance. Please accept this token of Emmis' appreciation for all you've done for the entire TV division.

ALL the best,

Jeff"

So see, Mr. Smulyan does care about his employees. So this might not be negative or suck I hope you post it so people can see another side of Emmis.

Thanks,

MC CE

I was not able to confirm the authenticity of this memo but another CE wrote,

"Hey,

Can you believe how cheap Jeff is ,he gave us a gift just in time for Christmas and had the balls to lump in that this was also for manning our post during the rash of hurricanes. What a slug! He should have recognized us at that time, especially considering how little he pays us. I wonder what his year end bonus will be? I know you should not look a gift horse in the mouth but this horse is more like a jack ass. I hope you post this, I love the site. I just have to get a computer so I can check more often, going to the local internet coffee house is getting expensive.

LOL

Underpaid CE"

I will post Jeffs year end bonus when it becomes available. These two takes on Jeffs gift sorta cancel out. I think MC CE will sing a different tune when Jeff figures out how to replace him with a M5 unit and MC CE is given "The TAP". And some may think ,No way can Jeff replace me, wrong. They will spend millions to replace one $10.56/hr human, they have don it before and Emmis will do it again.
Have news on Emmis ,email it to emmissucks@worldnet.att.net your Emmis Authority.Row On!

11/28/04 THANKSGIVING POSTING... With the start of the holiday season beginning ,I and most FE`s have a lot to be thankful for,

Hi,

I called you at the station but I see your off. It is interesting that only after exiting the hive do we FE`s get holidays off. I was just talking with a fellow worker and told them how I did not know what holidays were until I turned in my torch. From time to time I forget how bad I had it at Emmis, then I look up your site for a reminder. It is impossible to tell a co-worker how bad it can be, so I always suggest they go work for Emmis or read your pages. I rarely hear any more complaints from those who check out Emmissucks. All those who do not work for Jeff- give thanks. You Rock! Row On.

Not working for Emmis is number one on my list, how about you? More info on the latest Parkervision melt down was posted on Newsblues,

"MILE HIGH MELTDOWN

Denver's award-winning "Westword" has a follow-up to the ParkerVision crash that wiped out KMGH-7-ABC's 10 p.m. newscast on November 16th.

According to KMGH news director Byron Grandy, "We had a major computer problem in the news control room about two and a half minutes into the 10 o'clock show that rendered the entire room useless."

Worse, a so-called mirror system, designed to kick in if the main ParkerVision gadgetry fails, swooned immediately thereafter, leaving staffers with no recourse other than to reboot. While this was taking place, the station screened a super-sized block of commercials followed by a newscast that had already been seen at 6 p.m. There's no news like old news.

By Grandy's estimate, more than twenty minutes passed before Channel 7's control room was functional again. At that point, rather than simply produce an abbreviated program and keep things on schedule, the crew started from scratch.

Grandy reveals that overnight ratings didn't show a huge drop-off after the glitch hit, with most viewers sticking around until the bitter end. (Either that, or they fell asleep with the TV on.)

Even so, he promises a full-scale investigation in the hopes of preventing another unwanted repeat. "We live and die by these computers," he says. "In this case, they really kind of stung us, and we're going to find out why."

Another fine computer system. You can see by the comment ,the only concern of such management is ratings/$$$. Any one who owns a PC can tell you how reliable they are :-) CWA challenges FCC settlement with Emmis,I hope they win , Emmis has displayed a total disregard for the FCC. This one was sent in by a FE radio person,

" JULY 16, 2004: NEWS: THE EMMIS SHOE FALLS AT KLBJ
The Emmis Shoe Falls at KLBJ
BY KEVIN BRASS

After 22 years playing the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith for Austin's hard rock faithful, Peg Simmons is still reeling from the abrupt end last month to her midday gig at KLBJ-FM. "It truly broke my heart," Simmons said. "I'm sad, depressed. I'm in the 'I suck' mode."

When Emmis Communications bought KLBJ-FM, KGSR-FM, and four other Austin stations last year, company President Jeff Smulyan told Simmons and the rest of the staff not to expect major changes in format or personnel, although he was quick to add to a reporter, "never say never."

At KLBJ-FM, for 30 years Austin's symbol of guitar-crunching rock, "never" and the modern realities of the radio business arrived in June, 12 months after Emmis took control of the stations from family-owned LBJS Broadcasting. In addition to Simmons, afternoon co-host "Powermouth Patty" Lotz was dumped, and station icon Johnny Walker – voted "Austin's Favorite Deejay" five times in the Chronicle's annual readers poll – was told he would move to part time in August and begin prerecording his nightly show. "

For more follow this link

I underlined a familiar Jeff lie. So much of this article is familiar it was deja-vo all over again. A word to the wise, if Emmis buys your station, don`t walk, run to the Kinkos and get those resume`s flying. A CE wrote,

"Are you going to post if Emmis give holiday bonuses this year? Only when you post do we get any thing. Coincidence?"

If some one tells me ,I will post it. Otherwise we will have to assume the normal Emmis gift ($0) Happy Holidays to all the FE`s and CE`s

11/21/04 THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM!.....PVTV Studio News system has been trashing news all over the nation. The Parkervision system ,now owned by Thomson (who also bought GVG and gutted it) the system is sold to stations by claiming to eliminate humans., sound familiar? KMGH is it`s latest victim. Note to would be BMW owners, come up with some P.O.S. and claim to eliminate employees, then sell it to greedy corporations. PS. it does not have to work. I bumped into a number of CE`s this week, it was odd to run into so many.One said,

"Things have become boring and paranoid around the station. With most of the pre-Emmis people now gone, I have almost no one I trust to talk with. I never thought I would call SF the good old days. I think if you have a pair ,your at a distinct disadvantage now."

Another CE said

" Do you guys have any openings? The knowledge gap at the station is becoming an embarrassment. Under A-Mess you must be an A-Hole to make management. From the GM who could care less for the station or the area ,the Chief Engineer who I would not trust with light bulb replacement and the other mid level lackeys who`s sole goal is to protect their do nothing jobs ,the average IQ has dropped by 50% or more since Jeff took control. Jeff could save real money just by firing a few of these dead weight mismanagers. I feel better now."

Stock still in the $18 to $19 rang as we head into the holiday season. Not much from the other cubes, all must be fine under Jeff.

Emmissucks is you on line Emmis authority.

11/13/04 FOREIGN,NOT QUITE LIVE AND JUST PLANE LATE... I could not resist this rework of another stations catch phrase ,had to make it fit the M5. Not much news from the hive this week. I guess even Emmis can have an off week and not screw up.

11/08/04 M5 SCREWS SAINTS...As if the Saints needed even more trouble the M5 shined last night. I did not catch it because I am not a football fan but I did hear from a half dozen fellow employees and a few emails and phone calls. This is one of the many,

"Last night after the horrible Saints game, WVUE did another horrible thing they JIP’ed King of the Hill. All we got was an intro, a couple national commercials that the M5 sputtered over and intermixed local spots that they tried to play but stopped after a second and jumped back to the national spot. WVUE and Fox should be embarrassed for WVUE’s actions, Fox promoted this Sunday night line up for weeks, and the seems to me that the local Fox affil wanted to screw the people in the New Orleans DMA. Thank God it was just King of the Hill. What if the ‘aints went into overtime and it lasted until 7:30 p.m. CST we would have missed the Simpsons.

My question is can the M5 time shift, or does Fox not provide a time shifted feed because of HD, or do the current news employees under orders from management are required to do the news at 9 and cannot do it any later to ensure Seinfeld plays at 10 p.m.

Also, I noticed that the Fox feed started showing its digital flaws on the analog side. I noticed that the one of the times that they went to a commercial and the video froze and began to pixilate and then the picture broke in half, obvious show of digital faults if you have something or you have nothing. I do not know if Fox uplinks the HD feed to the network and then the network down converts the HD feed to analog and digital feeds to the affiliates. Heck it may have also been VUE’s fault, seems that everything can be blamed on their end. Just thought you would like to know.

Finally, do you have anyone that we can send my complaints to concerning the matter of JIPing the Fox Sunday night Lineup, besides BigEasy or the Focus Forum in the Times Pic.

(XXXX)

Cut Off, LA"

Just an educated guess on my part is that most of the problems are with the M5 in Florida. VUE has no control over any programming. The M5 and CCC (central crapping command) determine what crap comes down the fiber to the WVUE transmitter. As I have been told by the drones at CCC, when they have a live dynamic show the M5 and its operators can not keep up. This can yield some interesting digital mixes of things that should never meet. The locals have no say in when a program is GIPed , that is either a FOX or M5 choice. As for digital break up and cuts back and fourth ,thats the M5. As for the viewer in CUT Off, if WVUE does not build out its digital by June 05, you may not have to worry about the M5 in the future.With WVUE there is no HD feed, it is all up converted, the M5 can not pass HD. As for complaints ,you could try

Jeff

jeff@emmis.com

MR BMW

addalia@wb18.com addalia@emmis.com JAddalia@emmis.com

But odds are they do not care. You can contact FOX ,The NFL and The Saints and they may put some pressure on Jeff and his band of mismanagement. You can find there web sites with any search tool. I feel for any one forced to watch the M5

Pull Up...Pull Up...

11/06/04 M5 UPDATE..... M5 unit at WVUE burped last weekend , causing a lose of signal for some time until Vic sent a human to kick the Tandberg POS that was the problem this time. No word how long they were off the air or if the FCC required shut down of the transmitter took place. M5 continues to show its reliability.

Election round up, I did not get to see any of the coverage, I was out working it. I did hear that VUE had to bring a ENG truck out to supplement the SNG truck ,rain fade. One nice thing that night, it was a puppet free zone.

WALA EX-ND seen interviewing in Baton Rouge?

"You live to serve this ship, row well."

10/31/04 BE AFRAID,BE VARY AFRAID....If you hold Emmis stock. Currently 18.70/share. Another FE sends word on his new career out of broadcasting,

"Just a brief note to let you know that I made it through my
(XXX) training with (XXX). We started out with 138 in our class
and graduated 89. I aced my final exam so I was proud of that. I did get
stationed in (XXX) like I thought. I go on 6 months probation so I'm not home
free yet but I'm a step closer. One step at a time. I just talked to a good
friend tonight that I'll end up rooming with. She told me that there'll be about
4-5 other roommates as well. My guess is that they'll all be women! :o) THANKS
EMMIS!!!!! "

You can not do worse than Emmis, I continue to hear from all FE`s (voluntary & involuntary). The M5 continues its standard screw ups. Many report chunks of black up to three minuets in length, commercials meant for other markets and even the wrong legal ID`s. Audio and video are still sub-standard. True "randomcasting". To this day FE`s continue to find out what Emmis fails to tell them here were Emmissucks.CE`s report,

"Things have settled down. I do not think Jeff could make it worse with out just closing the doors."

"We have gotten into a kinda beaten down routine ,I do not think it will get better or worse. We are in a holding pattern. I wish Emmis would just sell us."

" No new law suits, yet. How's that for HR. Jeff SUCKS!"

With the FCC build out nearing its "use it or loose it point" WVUE is still low power. In June if they do not increase power they will not be protected from other users. No word if they will opt for CH8 DTV or stay with the U.

Team America, a must see. No real tie in to Emmis except that it was obvious that the puppet master had nothing to do with this one, the quality was to high.

Be happy in your work.

10/23/04 WALA CUBE GETS NEW SPORTS GUY AND PORN STAR MOVIE EXPOSED... According to News Blues and Big Easy, Eric Richey has made the mistake of signing on with A-Mess. Eric is about to find out how bad news can get.

One of our viewers sent this in.

"By the way. The film Clayton Morris was in is titled 'Deception'
and he plays 'Reporter' I don't know where it can be bought. It may be out of print."

Whats next ,Breck hiring a leather weather girl? This person also sent in this quote from TV spy newsletter

"Emmis; most noted for, "Red carpet
brought out for interview, immediately retracted
upon hiring."

I have received a bunch of communications about the Daily Dud, Please no more. We all agree its is a typical Emmis product and it sucks. I will not waste any more time watching it than the 20 minuets I already wasted. If you have Emmis info ,it is all ways welcome. Emmis stock just above $18 and falling.

Row On!

10/10/04 EMMIS CONTINUES TO SUCK, YOU KNOW... A number of visitors to this site have reported that since all the newbees have been put on the air at WVUE ,the number of "you knows" has gone through the roof. After this comment I had to tune in my self

"I do not think you have looked at a FOX 8 news in some time. They must have hired a bunch of Valley Girls as producers, you know? I can not stand the constant ,you knows, that are being inflicted on the audience,you know? If I knew , I would not need to watch the news, you know? Just thought you should know :-)"

I only watch when some one points out some humorous stuff they are doing. The author of this was correct , the number of "you knows" was way above average. I do not know if it is scripted or poor adlibs. I do know it is aggravating. I compared a half hour of each of the four local news cast and this was the result, WVUE ,11 "you knows" all others combined 2 "you knows". By no means am I an English major :-) but these people make that claim.

More Buzz on the P.O.S. that Emmis is killing,

"In a new segment called "Buzz o bitZ" the daily buzz stringers make a mockery of the latest celebrity deaths. One thing is for sure these 4th rate stringers and porn star rejects sure as hell won't be missed when they are gone! And, they wonder why no real celebrity will do the show! This is your answer. Nail the cover on the daily buzz and drop that whole over paid group of low life scum sucking pond scum six feet under the ground. with the Maggats.

Buzz o bitz, W.T.F. ????? Jeff the grim reaper must have come up with this crap himself. Oh, wait he AIN'T that smart, gave him too much credit there.

Clear the set, the Monster Truck rally is on the way over to roll over this whole bunch of junk. YEE-HAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGR. RRRRRRRRRRRRR."

Emmis flash back, this was sent in from a KOIN FE,

"LATEST NEWS
March 19, 2001
KOIN Layoffs include veteran reporters

Three veteran reporters were among the estimated 20 people laid off last week at KOIN-TV.

The layoffs were attributed to a reduction in advertising revenue, introduction of new technology and the outcome of last fall's purchase of the Portland station by EMMIS Communications.

The reporters were David Schmitke, Mark Sanchez and Sandy James. Other newsroom staffers let go included one news producer, a studio technician and two photographers.

Companywide, EMMIS laid off 120 people. EMMIS purchased eight TV stations last fall from Lee Enterprises for $262 million. "EMMIS is trying to get its house in order ahead of the curve," said one KOIN staffer. "It wouldn't surprise me if other stations do this in six months."

They lied ,the real number was 35 victims, glad I was one of them, may Jeff burn!"

DARRELL GREENE update, his jump into news is going well, I can not say the same for his replacements in sports. Reports from all over the area agree, they are horrible on the air. What do you expect for $10.56 an hour.

Big Easy reports that the WVUE web site is suffering from "WEBSITE NEGLECT" it takes humans to update web sites. I`m shocked they did not mention that once again the evil empires web site ranks WVUE as market size 42 ,A.C. Neilsom down graded NewOrleans to 43 some time ago. Emmis is quick to correct the numbers when a stations ranking goes up , but dead slow when it slips. Lets note how long it takes the Emmis drones to correct the numbers.

Debatable coverage, the presidential debates once again give us that rare opportunity to compare the M5 to the other broadcasters and as one WVUE FE put it,

" I have not heard so much "I have a plan" crap since those unproductive meetings with VIC as he pretended to "have a plan" to fix every thing. As far as I can tell ,non of those plans were ever disclosed or put into action, much like what Kerry is planning. BTW the M5 still sucks compared with every one else."

This had me rolling on the floor with laughter. Have news on Emmis ,email it to emmissucks@worldnet.att.net your Emmis Authority.

1002/04 JEFF SPEWS MORE LIES... This chunk was sent in by a local radio broadcast pro who read it in "INSIDE RADIO"

"Jeff Smulyan says "Don't count American radio and TV out - and if you
don't believe that, ask anyone in Florida."
The Emmis chief opens his quarterly conference call with a salute to his
employees in storm-damaged markets in Florida and along the Gulf Coast -
and says the disaster coverage reminded listeners and viewers of the
importance of local broadcasting. Emmis topped Wall Street expectations
for its fiscal Q2, with earnings of 23 cents a share."

What Jeff failed to mention was that he has tried to eliminate local news and local programming by centralcrapping. I also must salute the worker drones who despite Jeffs low wages for them ,decided to stay for the good of other humans. The following contributor indicates Emmis is employing porn stars on the "Daily Buzz"

Hi, how are you? I wanted a laugh today, so I turned to a few minutes of 'The Daily Buzz'. WOW! Talk about low quality! I know there
are weather problems there. Yet, I can't believe that is why it looks less polished than a cable access show. There is a guy on local access
who sits and talks for hours to a camera until it cuts off by itself. He
is more polished than 'The Daily Buzz'!
I don't think Clayton changes his clothes much. What is with that? Does he know he is on tv? Have you seen his lame website? It is rarely updated,has posts missing and he seems to have deleted his guestbook. Which reminds me, he only returned to interact with his
fans in his guestbook when he saw that a soft core porn actress wrote him.
Did you know he was in a soft core porn film? Yup, with Amber Smith. Otherwise, he just ignored everyone who gave him anonymous love in his guestbook.
Andrea Jackson has never visited her site and Mitch English
only shows up once in awhile to post some inane thing promoting himself. I think they could save money by taking down those sites
and using it for the show.

Emmis hiring porn stars? Send in pics if you get them."Be happy in your work."

9/25/04 YOUR WEATHER AUTHORITY--NOT... The few VUE viewers during IVAN got a rude interruption, the Emmis powers elected to return to the normal crummy programming even though the hurricane was still ravaging parts of the WVUE ADI. Some of those ticked off ex-viewers wrote this site.

"How dare they call them selves "The weather authority" , I now will tune into CH6 for my weather. After being told by FOX8 "We resumed normal programming to pay the bills." leaving us still affected to get information elsewhere. Now elsewhere is our first choice. Nice site ,it explains a lot about FOX8."

"last time a storm hit us WVUE stayed on with out commercials until the danger passed, what happened this time? I called and was told to contact the corporate owners - EMMIS. I looked on the web and found this internet page, no more explanation needed.

During the last storm to hit our area,the M5 died leaving WVUE with no choice but to go wall to wall with news. Emmis showed its real colors this time. I wonder how they will spin it this time in the year end stock holders ? Stand by Jeff as hurricane Jeanne targets M5 !

Another site watcher sent in a link to the TV TECHNOLOGY article on centralcrapping. Some exerts from the piece.

Since many early attempts at centralcasting met with disappointing operational and financial results, the experts we spoke with said that the centralcasting business has virtually stagnated for the last two years to the point where many considered it a "dead issue."

"The trend in centralcasting over the last 18 months is strongly away from the central distribution model because of the high cost of telecommunications circuits and toward expanded digital master controls," said Brandt. "Central program distribution was conceived to save money. To date, it's hard to justify centralcasting because the ROI is so poor. Huge operating costs related to program distribution just don't balance operational savings. The capital expense associated with building a central program distribution operation is risky if the facility does not reach full capacity in a timely manner."

The high costs of maintaining reliable transmission between the hub and the edge stations is one of the main determining factors stations consider in choosing whether or not to centralcast, according to Brian Lay, director of product marketing for San Jose, Calif.-based Harris Automation.

Read the rest for your self.

Local Buzz a dud. I got board earlier this week and scanned the cable system and low & behold there it was "The Daily Buzz" on the local UPN station. Not having seen the pre Emmis version of the show, I can only comment on what I had the misfortune to see. A poorly produced P.O.S. aimed at MTV gen Xers . The on air types are stiff and fake, pretending to be casual. I would say the metro area agrees the show gets a dismal 0.2 -0.7 rating. Three more CE`s have contacted me on their plans to flee the hive, good luck.

A FE emailed,

" I think you should have another catch phrase for 9/19/01. "Judgment Day-The Rise Of The Machine." I know it is a bit T3 but it fits. Kudos, keep up the much needed work."

So let it be written ,so let it be done.

9/19/04 - 9:00am "A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY"... It was three years ago that the M5 became aware and took control of WVUE sealing the fate of the humans at the cube. How has the M5 done over the last three years, well it sucks. Although Emmis will not admit it ,the M5 turned out to be a never ending money pit delivering low quality and high recurring cost and a ridiculously long ROI. Even Jeff knows the true cost of the M5 ,that is why the project was halted after one hub and spoke system was finished. Not only has the M5 been a financial flop but it has failed in all aspects of good engineering practices. The video and audio are far below industry standards ,automation continuously screws up , location was poorly selected leading to many natural disasters damaging the hub, no working back ups and the management of the hub is "inept bunch of back stabbing egotist." not my words but correct any way. To be honest one problem did get fixed, the destruction of the opening joke in Futurama was fixed when the show was canceled by FOX. One other problem was indirectly fixed by the M5, the lack of parking at the cube. The entire broadcast industry now knows how big a flop Centralcasting is. While 9/11/01 will be memorialized by most of the nation ,9/19/01 will be remembered by all those screwed by Jeff and Emmis

IVAN hits spoke station WALA,

" Hi, I am running on battery power so I will have to make this quick. WALA the local Emmis station here in Alabama was severally impacted by IVAN. Power outages leading to studio shots in the dark , lose of transmitter, screw ups with our M5 hardware and more. The main point I wish to make is that if we had our old Chief Engineer and no M5 we would have fared much better, even in our old pest hole of a building. Some times new is not better. In this case it goes for the M5, the building and the hand picked captain Dunsol. I am sure you will get the Captain Dunsol ,I do not think many others will. Gota go battery dyeing. Good luck (XXXX)."

More KOIN exposure.

"Rose City News Watchers Are Really Seeing Red
Pete Schulberg
Portland Tribune
There's a running joke in the TV news business that when a local station
hires a news executive from out of town, the first order of business is to wave
goodbye to an anchor or two, blow out a few reporters, retool the news set
(before eventually scrapping it completely) and slap on bolder graphics.
Well, nobody's laughing at KOIN (6), because, once again, the joke turned out
to be true. And the changes just keep on coming.
Since station manager Dan Salamone arrived from Albuquerque, N.M., to run the
news department, Kelley Day replaced evening anchor Julie Emry and there's
been a revolving door for reporters. Suddenly, viewers of KOIN's newscasts are
being presented with a Portland skyline that seems crisper, as well as
graphics that look bigger and redder.
"They're the only red graphics in the market," says Salamone, who
acknowledges that no one watches a newscast because of the color of the graphics, but
points out that the red makes it easier to see them.
Oh, but there's more. Portland's CBS affiliate also has made a name change of
sorts with a subtle flip-flop. And that does have some folks chuckling. Gone
is "KOIN 6 News"; now it's (read carefully) "KOIN News 6."
The other night, Mike Donahue ? after years of saying "KOIN 6 News" ? caught
himself in midsentence and wound up mumbling something that sounded like
"KOIN Nix."
OK, it's still not as long-winded as "KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8."
"We wanted to brand the entire station," Salamone explains, "and we thought
it was awkward to say 'Watch Dr. Phil' each weekday at 3 on KOIN 6 News.' That
sounded a little weird."
And the best part is that in a cost-conscious era, KOIN won't even have to
spring for new letterheads. Employees can just insert the squiggly little
inversion sign to transpose "News" and "6."
It's also becoming apparent that KOIN is trying to change its image from that
of a relatively staid news operation to something flashier and hipper. That
means a bigger emphasis on the local news mantra ? "Breaking news!" ? and
more crime coverage.
But in the flash-and-trash sweepstakes, KOIN by any name is still not in the
same league as the Fox-ified KPTV (12) with its "10 O'Clock News." Every
night, KPTV brings you numerous live reports from the scenes of shootings,
break-ins and child molestation cases. There's no need for the "10 O'Clock News"
crew to be adding any red graphics, what with all the yellow police tape in
virtually every report.
And KPTV also is the champ when it comes to gimmicks that get viewers to stay
tuned to the crimefest.
Last Wednesday night, its very first news tease leading the news heralded a
story involving Hugh Hefner: "Superbunnies to Save the Day." Later, there was
another reference to the Playboy founder fighting off "evildoers."
Finally, after three teases of the story, we learned that a cartoon show was
in development that would feature Hefner and company as crime-fighting
superheroes.
I'm sure happy I stuck around to learn the real story on that. "

Last night I was out covering the election and saw many CE`s, all seemed to be surviving Emmis so far. Even the puppet Master was his normal cheerful courteous self. It is nice to have some constants in the universe.

Another broadcaster at the election site asked "how long are you going to continue updating the web site?" simple answer ,as long as it is needed and info comes in.

A few CE`s and some other general viewers of this page have asked for some email addresses of the Emmis oppressors. I do not have them all ,but here are a few,

MR BMW

addalia@wb18.com addalia@emmis.com JAddalia@emmis.com

Jeff

jeff@emmis.com

The purple one

brafford@wb18.com

Since there is interest in this info, I will be setting up a page with link so every one can find these when needed. You could say it is a public service.

To all the FE`s in the second wave of Jeff`s final solution, Happy freedom day, Free from Jeff, free from Emmis and Free at last.

9/12/04 M5 V IVAN UPDATE.... With the hurricane looking like it will miss a direct hit on the M5. Some at CCC are looking forward to the Emmis welfare system.

"Report from the storms path: Here is a thought provoker for ya. Charley, Frances and Ivan, all FE, and they are finally getting their well deserved revenge on Jeff SmulSuckingShit, that scum sucking predator pedafile Mr BMW, and most of all on the piece o crap M5! I seriously hope this one is on its way to the home of the M5. I can't wait, I kinda enjoy seeing the M5 hicup and blow a fuses every time the storm winds start a blowin'. What a rush, WHUSH! Stay safe and I hope it aint heading for the B.E. That would be a disater and a real disappointment for me. I enjoy and rely on the Charley, Frances, and Ivan welfare assistant program for CEs in Orlando. L.G. Lifes Good so long as the storms keep a commin'. Somebody must be up to some good voodoo from the B.E. for all these storms to keep rollin over the M5. Will this be the final blow for CCC, stay tuned to this station for more updates. "

A viewer of this page wrote "did you see the article in TV Technology on Centralcraping?"

Yes I did, and it goes into all the reasons why IT DOES NOT WORK! The article has comments from Clear Channel people and Sinclair people on the true cost of this white elephant central casting. Had Emmis done its home work, they would have not even tried this crap. The ROI on the Emmis/Floricrap system is now about 75 years. As was pointed out ,you can not justify replacing a $12/hour MC operator with a million dollar piece of junk and fiber lines running $8k a month and up. This does not even delve into the technical failings of the M5. Read it for your self in TV Technology and in the pages of EMMISSUCKS.

Another Emmissucks success story.

"I am looking for a new position and was considering an opening at WB18/Emmis hub in Florida. I mailed in my Resume` and have had one phone interview with some girl at the station. They are seriously interested in me and should be calling back soon. I will be turning them down , not just because of all the HR problems they seem to have ,but give me a break $10.56/hr. We have not discussed money yet ,I would not run the M5 for twice $10.56/hr. I think this site save me from making a vary bad decision. Thanks for the illuminating web site."

Another human saved, the author sent in some art

"even if one gets out ,it`s a victory" Von Ryan`s Express

9/10/04 M5 TARGETED BY IVAN... Even Breck`s self proclaimed weather authority is predicting that Ivan will hit the M5. First the M5 was hit by Charley, then lightning, then Frances and now Ivan. Note to Jeff and Mr BMW ,great choice for a hub! The M5 is still crippled from the first storm and lightning to the point that according to a local VUE CE " @^#%* is pissed at having to record shows and commercials from the M5 and then play them back. We are now having to do the master control functions with out a master control or the people to run it." I will note that @^#%* is one of the "minders" who gave so many the tap in 2001. My heart bleeds for this collaborator. Another CE was over heard telling a mismanagement drone " Vic screwed the up big time when he dismantled master control." Just shy of its third year of operation the M5 is showing some more real draw backs. While I would not wish a hurricane on any humans, if it has to hit any were ,the M5 is the perfect target.

WVUE cube logo update- It is back. That is once again a new old logo has been painted on the front of the station. How long will this one last?

M5 control drones now get even lower hourly pay. A smart human almost took a job at CCC but this human knew a bad offer when he heard it. The human is now working at a New Orleans station in master control. We all know that it is not WVUE. The person was offered the job after a phoner interview. When he heard that the pay rate is now $10.56 an hour he laughed and turned them down. Even the interviewer did not expect the human to take the job. After discussion with me and a look at this web site, he now knows he dodged a bullet . word to any one considering a new employer, search the web for official company info and unofficial employee run web sites.The position is still open, Any takers?

As IVAN closes in ,CCC drones have heard the order "Chain rowers."

9/05/04 FRANCES POUNDS M5.... Looks like the M5 dodged a bullet as hurricane Frances only delivers minimal winds and rain at the M5 location. Hope the humans did not get harmed trying to save the M5.

New sports drone premier tonight, after two phone calls I tuned in VUE to see. I hope he gets better. The phoners also did not think he was going to fair well as an Emmis drone. I do not know how D.G. will do in news but I think he was a better fit in sports.

Logo follow up, yes it is gone again, that is the Logo Captain Cook just had painted on the cube has been painted over again. Now the cube is just battleship gray (some say prison gray). I wonder if Cook just did not like it or is a relative getting paid by the hour?

Exclusively from your Emmis Authority.

9/03/04 M5 STRUCK BY FINGER OF GOD .... maybe a bit to much Heston but the M5 was struck by lightning during the last storm and is still under going repair. A few comments from CCC,

"You are correct, the M5 was hit one or more times by lightning. The cheap Ba#$^%&ards at Emmis did not prepare for this. I know I will not touch a keyboard or mouse if we get any weather in our area. Do you have any openings at your station?"

Sorry none at this time. Another drone said,

"The M5 was hit by lightning during the last storm and was severally damaged.
It/him/her/them have been smoking ever since. Self repairing droids, (R2s) have been dispatched and have been working feverishly to get it up and running as well as can be expected, considering it is the M5. The droids have been out to breakfast, brunch, lunch, another late lunch, and dinner each day since the first storm. BURPPPPPPPPP.
You know how those emmis big wigs work.

Looks like lightning will now strike again. This time hopefully the right corner office will feel the jolt BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. and start doing some work for a change."

The storm did have a side benefit for low paid Emmis drones,

"Since the storm my life actually improved very much. There was plenty of free food, ice and water rations giveaways in the area. Stocked up for 6 to 8 months now. It was like the welfare program I always dreamed of to subliment my emmis regulated salary."

When the NAB road show visited the New Orleans area the host brought up lightning protection and he asked the crowd of broadcast engineers "what spot on earth is hit by lightning more than any other?" only one Engineer replied "Florida peninsula" any one want to guess who that was :-). NOAA and some universities have permanent lightning study centers set up in Florida. One of the many faults we FE engineers told the hire ups at A-Mess about.

On another tack ,Emmis has sent a bunch of scouts to the French Quarter this week end looking for more management prospects. Sorry it is a vary inside chunk of humor. Your web master will be enjoying the Labor day week end off while Jeff throws chunk at the vary thought of labor.

We are all hoping lightning will strike twice.

9/02/04 M5 HELP ON THE WAY?.... In a bit of a shocker this web master has learned that WVUE has dispatched their satellite truck to Orlando to back up the M5. The guy who was told to go to Florida said "What can I do?" This as 2.5 million have been told to get out of Florida. Some local News directors were told by local emergency management " Do not send any one to Florida!" two of the four local news operations have ignored this advice.

This just in ( put teletype sound here) at 10PM CT,

"Lightning does strike!!!!!!!!!!!!! jinxs, jinxs, jinxs.

Yeah the WVUE satellite truck was already up on AMC 9 12184 HOR. 6510 SR

KU band in a 24 hour rain event, what a backup plan! LMAO
MR BMW will get another good car wash!"

More KOIN problems, I have received a few emails on the continuing Emmisification of KOIN ,but this one sums them all up.

"When will someone at Emmis figure out that it's not
changing logos or rehiring old anchors that brings in
ratings? The new news set, a vast improvement on
the old one and extremely, extremely expensive, and
all that research on bringing Julie Emry back (she and
Jeff Gianola were the #1 anchor team at ABC affiliate
competitor in Portland, KATU) wasn't enough to shift
KOIN into first place. Kelly Day, a "prima dona" of
extreme proportions, lost her anchor spot at KOIN
a couple of years ago when Emry was brought back.
Emry chose her family (as did Shirley Hancock) over
working both early and late news shifts at Hostile
Central, Portland. Day acquired employment at
KPTV, a Meredith FOX affiliate - which also owns
the Portland UPN station, KPDX. She achieved a
level of success there that dwarfed what she did
at KOIN, plus she finally figured out how to not
stumble over her words and giggle on the air
inappropriately. So now she's going back to the
place that done her so wrong before. What is
the saying, the best predictor of future behavior
is past behavior (do you think Dr Phil would be
mad if he knew what was going on at the Emmis
stations where he has his contract?) so we will
have to see if she lasts. The news leader is still
KGW 8 Belo. It's obvious if you watch. They have
happy employees. Happy employees do better
camera work. Happy employees do better control
room work. Happy employees have other happy
employees present who make the difference
between working alone with machines and working
on machines with other living breathing entities.
Happy employees can really get into the fine
tuning of their work and excel, rather than doing
three jobs at once and watching the machine
crash anyway. Kelly Day used to verbally assault
Emmis corporate while she was in the halls of
KOIN. She complained most loudly about insurance
benefits depleting. And she's going back. Somewhere
in there is either a plot for revenge or just plain old
desire for pain - receiving as well as inflicting...I
feel sorry for the drones who are left who have to
deal with her. Eye candy she is OK as. Well good
luck Ms Day, at least she's working all the evening
and late night news. Ch 8 keeps its logo, keeps its
news set, keeps its anchors, reporters, camera
people, cro's, everything. KOIN has shifted so much
that no one's sure what they're watching any more.
Oh yea it's KOIN News 6 now. Are we supposed to
be impressed? The DMA seems most impressed
with the consistent delivery of news by happy
employees that KGW provides."

I wonder how much they spent on their new set? Did they get smurf bricks? If any one has a screen shot ,please send it in.

WALA gets new ND and Emmis starts mole hunt for "insider leaks" to blogs. While Emmis monitors all the computer networks for any "not authorized" use , they are now looking over the logs and hard drives trying to find a smoking gun. BETV reports "Here's one thing we've learned about Emmis management...when they say something isn't true, it probably is."

8/30/04 DOES EMMIS SUCK?.... I have received quite a few Comments on a question posed by BETV to the out going Emmis hire NISCHELLE TURNER.

"BETV: Does "Emmis suck?"

NT: That's funny...contrary to popular belief Emmis does not suck. At least as far as FOX 8 is concerned. I have had four really great years at FOX 8. Not everything has been rosy, but anyone in the news business knows it's never all good. I've learned so much from the people in my newsroom...and I'm still learning from those people everyday."
That was the Q&A by BETV and here are some of the many comments I got by email ,phone and FAX..

"Whats with Big Easy? did they not do the math on Nischelle ,she only knows Emmis at FOX 8. She was not here for the good old days when people mattered."

" Does BETV think any one would answer that question honestly, it would be career suicide. I notice you do not stoop so low. I have seen a bunch of huge errors on that blog ,and this is another."

"I do not think any on air person would publicly say any thing about a past employer, not if they want future employment."

" You have done your best in keeping your sources confidential, BETV expects honesty and public identification, give me a break. I do not mind the fluff of the ten questions, but they should not try news in that area. If BETV wants info on Emmis sucking all they have to do is contact the former employees on your alumni page. BTW Emmis sucks as far as I am concerned."

This is a first for Emmissucks to get so much on a comment on another site. I do not put much in NISCHELLE TURNERS comment. She was covering her ass. After all the evil empire has been known to haunt those who say any thing truthfull about them. She may have even signed the gag order, if so this paragraph from the gag order would have prevented her from speaking the truth.

"9. Employee agrees not to discuss, or otherwise disclose in any fasion , the existance or terms of this Agreement with any individual or entity not party to this Agreement except as required by law or with Emmis` prior written consent.Furthermore, Employee agrees to refrain from making any negitive or disparaging remarks of any kind or character to any individual or entity not party to this agreement regarding any member of the Emmis Group for a period of two (2) years beginning on the Effective Date. Employee furthermore understands and agrees that any violation of this paragraph shall permit Emmis to terminate this agreement and seek repayment of any ammounts paid to Employee under the terms of this Agreement."

The consensus of over 120 FE`s (voluntary and involuntary departure) I have talked with after leaving the hive is, "THEY SUCK!" I will not disclose who,were or when in order to protect the victims.

For the full story on Emmis ,always turn to Your Emmis Authority .... WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM

8/28/04 HOSTILE TAKE OVER OF EMMIS PLANNED?..... A CE sent me this bit,

"It was announced today that Teracorp, O.C.P ,Upton Webber, The Umbrella Corporation, Ferrile Electronics,The Tyrel Corporation and Cyberdyne Systems are all considering a hostile take over of Emmis. The front runners are Teracorp and The Tyrel Corporation . Both of these companies think they can eliminate the remaining humans , including Jeff. Tyrel will use its replicants to replace the staff`s and Teracorp will use robots. Tyrel wants to "retire" Jeff and put their own semi human in place. The one thing that may put the brakes on all this is the $1.6 billion debt Emmis has."

At least one at HQ has a sense of humor and a knowledge of SCI-FI . The same CE told me ,

"are you aware that the actor who played Dr. Daystrom died last year? Official cause was stroke/heart attack and allsheimers. Some think the true cause of death was that he found out Emmis built a new M5."

Milton said "do not take my stapler."

8/25/04 LOCAL CUBE GETS NEW LOGO... Captain Cook spends a few bucks and gets the now OLD logo painted on the front of the station.

BETV posted an email under the heading "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE TRUTH " The sender of this email is not aware that some in the hive believe "EMMIS" to mean a small furry rodent. When Jeff took over from SF , he told every one it meant TRUTH ,but he has no idea what the truth is. Even the reception person at the local cube was keeping a small furry rodent plush at the reception desk. I personally just think Emmis is more rat like than truthful. Emmis still maintains it means "Truth" . You know when Emmis management is lying.... their lips move

Jeff`s replacement is found, according to a CE,

" I think I saw Jeff`s replacement hovering in the hall at HQ. The unit seemed to be looking for "The Jeff" two drones who approached the probe were vaporized."

Nice to see some at HQ getting into the spirit.

WALA Sports director Clay Miller is planning an escape from the hive and plans to work for the competition in the M5`s area.

More buzz on the Daily Buzz,

"Many people are upset that Ron Corning left 'The Daily Buzz',
that is because they didn't see another side of him. The side that took
advantage of some of his viewers. He would use them and then toss
them aside if they stood up for themselves or objected over his treatment of them.
Here are some examples:
A) There was a viewer that Ron talked alot about on the air. I think she became one of the people that worked on his first website.
I received an e-mail from her one night. She said she was not going to
work on the site anymore.That Ron was not what she thought he was.
I didn't understand why I received this e-mail, I had joined the site but had never communicated to her. I wrote Ron about the message. Even more odd, he replied at 11 p.m. on a Friday night, he wanted to see her message. I forwarded it. On Monday, he spoke about the girl. He seemed to hint to the audience that she was a stalker.
My gut feeling is she said or asked something that angered him.
B) Ron often would only reply to a viewer if he wanted them to see a show he was on or visit that website of his. He also promised gifts
to some viewers gifts from the show as a token of appreciation. He
would not follow through with these promises. I was one of these people. I wrote him and told him that I thought he was rude and thoughtless.
I then apologized twice,but he responded by saying I was not to
e-mail him again. I also was frozen out by two of the other hosts. I suspect he lied to them about the situation. After that, I found through
forums and other sources that I was not the only one he had done this too.
Ron complained about many things on the air, from viewers to the
look of the set. He seemed to hold himself above the job he was hired
for. Take a look at his resume, he rarely has stayed at one job for long.
I do not think it was Emmis that really caused him to leave. But
maybe it was for the best. I doubt with his lack of professionalism he
would of lasted. "

Kudos to you and the site. It is needed these days,"

I am sure A-Mess will finish off the buzz. This viewer also wrote

"As for Emmis, you better believe I am happy about not dealing with them. I can't go into it, but I work for a corporation that is rather like that. It is very scary to work for a company like that."

Tuesday is Soylent Green day.

8/22/04 ANOTHER VOICE FROM THE PAST...A FE from the early Emmis years wrote,

"I'm surfing the web and ran across your site! I love it! I completely
forgot you had this up and going. Gotta be (XXXX) - hey I hear you
bump into (XXXX) once in a while - punch him in the arm for me. Your
quote section is hilarious!

Link me up brother - hope all is well."

After my reply

"Glad to hear things are well! There were definitely some great people at
wvue in the short time that I was there. Doesn't sound like there are too
many left. Take care."

I did have to tell him that no one he new was left.

8/21/04 KGUN AIMS IN A NEW DIRECTION... Emmis hires Fernando Lopez to take the helm of news at this troubled cube.

NEWS BLUES reports "John Brown, a news anchor at Springfield's KSPR-33-ABC for the past five years, has been hired as an anchor on the awful Orlando-based syndicated morning show "The Daily Buzz." He starts Aug. 30."

WVUE in total lock down, that is they now have new electronic locks. The CE who alerted me said " I do not think they were installed to protect us humans, I think they put them in to protect the M5 and the empty cube. I also think Emmis wants to keep an eye on us. I checked my PC for company spyware and low and behold I found some."

Friday I caught the Newshour with Jim Lehrer on WLAE-PBS, they had a piece on Wal-Mart. You may ask what that would have to do with Emmis. Well I was amazed at how close Wal-Mart is to Emmis in employee abuse. The entire business model was frighteningly similar to Emmis. Replace people with technology, under pay the people you can not do with out and over work them. They will have the last half of this report on next Friday, I will be watching .

Emmis did cure the parking problem.

8/18/04 M5 UPDATE... A CE reports that the M5 was put in total control as the storm approached and WVUE supplied a back haul radar feed for the Orlando area. All humans left the M5 in control. This would explain the increase in screw ups. This has not been confirmed and I have been unable to contact humans at CCC.

It has been confirmed by me that Nischelle Turner will be leaving the hive. BETV reports

"Nischelle Turner solo-anchored WVUE's newscast AND sportscast. In a one-hour newscast, only a package on the Saints quarterbacks and a sound bite from head coach Jim Haslett made the cut. An e-mailer wonders, "...was Monday night the beginning of the end." Maybe so. Or maybe Greene just had the night off and Angel is gone (although her announced departure date was August 20th.) Whatever the case, it looks like crap to have a news anchor do sports...especially in New Orleans."

Pull up...pull up!

8/16/04 EMMIS FORKS OVER $300K TO FCC...

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The parent company of a Chicago radio station where shock jock Erich "Mancow" Muller has been targeted with dozens of indecency complaints has agreed to pay $300,000 in a deal with federal regulators that resolves the complaints. Jeff Smulyan, Emmis' president and chief executive officer, said the decree would allow the company to move forward."

For more follow this link

M5 screws up as storm rages, Viewers report that the M5 was in rare form. It was playing promos and spots on what one viewer said " Seemed like an endless loop of the same spot ,over & over & over." Many said the M5 was truly random casting when it sliced and diced Mad TV and The west Wing. One long time TV professional said " In my 55 years in TV ,I have never seen any thing like this. Who is running that place? " I have no idea. The M5 only had this to say "This unit must survive!"

8/14/04 HURRICANE HITS M5.... Hurricane Charley plowed into the M5 (located in Orlando) with winds of 100 mph. Damage is not known at this time. One has to wonder if Mr BMW stayed with the ship as the storm closed in. All the FE engineers told Jeff not to put the control point in Florida ,for this vary reason, "We told you so." The choice of Florida was a political one, pushed by the management at the now CCC ,in order to protect their jobs. If the location had been picked like the military picked the location for NORAD control ,it would have never been in Florida. The criteria should have been , a geologically stable site, A meteorologically safe site and a site geographically in the center of the proposed network to cut transmission cost. As every one knows non of this common sense was used. Now with more on the way ,it will be interesting to see if the hub survives a real hit. A note to all those $10 an hour drones, is it worth your lives? I would let Mr BMW run the place while I would run away.

I just got an email from a former MC/operational engineer. This was my first contact with this FE since we both got the TAP,

"When I got the tap, they did me the biggest favor they ever had in my 18 years of service. I had a lot of people praying for me at what was one of the worst times in my life and God answered those prayers. I took some time to reflect and stayed busy helping to build a house for Habitat for Humanity. It's a funny thing, while channel 8 never thought me knowledgeable enough to be anything other than a tape operator, the electrician deemed me knowledgeable enough to wire the breaker box for this house without any assistance. WVUE had a multitude of talented staffers but the management never really seemed to know how to best take advantage of the talent that surrounded them to stay competitive. And I believe this affected more than just my situation. For most people, it seemed to be a stopping point to someplace better as the years went by because most people who left seemed to always better themselves.
I now have an appointment to train in a new area of the company I currently work for. This training will begin next month and if successful, I could end up with almost 3 times the salary I had at WVUE. Thank you Emmis and WVUE but mostly all the people who kept me in their prayers during that difficult time.
This alumni site was interesting but I noticed it's lacking a few employees as CE's or FE's"

I am not perfect ,and I am sure I have missed a few for the alumni page. If you know of any - send me the info. No CE`s were or will be added to protect them from the wrath of Jeff. A viewer of this site said,

"I always love hearing about how corporate bigwigs are screwing up the works (I used to work for Clear Channel radio!). Anyway, I live in Huntington, WV, home of WSAZ, and I'm curious as to why there's practically nothing on your site about them. Is it because 3 is the "good witch of Emmis?" Or is it because nothing bad of note is going on there, or no one wants to talk bad about 'SAZ?"

As I told this human, I only post what is sent in, if Jeff is successful in his rain of terror at a cube, they are to scared to email. After all that is his goal.

This quote is for all those at CCC "chain rowers!" Ben-Hur

8/7/04 EVEN MORE KOIN CHANGE...Julie Emry co-anchor of KOIN tells Emmis to take their job and ..you know. NEWS BLUES reports on the number of other turn overs this troubled cube is having. After reading of the KOIN drones forming a class action ,another KOINER FE would like to join the litigation. Because the humans used anonymous emailers, I can not connect the parties. If the first group would like to have company, please contact me.

Some interesting post on the Daily Buzz Board "Emmis owns the show...Not sure if Acme still has any part in it, but Emmis is evil. If you put EMMIS and suck in google, you'll find a site that will tell you all you want to know about the company; and will also clue you in on why Ron probably left." I wonder what you find :-)

"Its difficult for me to say much about the choices EMMIS has made in reguards to THE DAILY BUZZ and keep my promise to my source of silence. But trust me...They polled people who have never heard of the show and asked do they want comedy with their news. Well, what kind of answer do you think they would give without even knowing anything about the format with THE DAILY BUZZ? The changes are not THE DAILY BUZZES fault, it's EMMIS, the company behind The Daily Buzz.I LOVE THE DAILY BUZZ, and I believe it's worth trying to save. But we need to address EMMIS."

Well it looks like A-Mess is killing the Buzz. In typical Emmis fashion. They terminated the crew in Ohio moved the show ,lock stock and barrel to Florida (a right to work for less state). Then the terminated crew was told they could apply for the jobs in Florida, if they wanted to work for peanuts. The people who made the Buzz are now gone.Emmis will replace a few of them with low paid humans. Quality and format will never be the same.

WVUE is looking for an IT Network Administrator, they terminated the guy who used to do this in 2001. The funny thing the person who sent in this tid bit pointed out was the email contact "wvue_hr@yahoo.com" a yahoo account, give me a break. BIGEASY is reporting that DG may take the mast launchers on air position leaving VUE with out sports. Emmis has been trying to kill sports since day one. VUE has been scaling back sports for four years.

I was at a local mall today (rare for me)and ran into a CE who said " You would feel right at home at fox8, Emmis has not put any money into the place since you left. I guess they did just enough to automate and fire every one. If you can believe it ,things have gotten worse for the working class. Some managers like it, they have nothing to do...Florida runs the place. I know were Emmis could save a few hundred thousand in yearly salaries. "

A CE pointed out that ,

"Here is a good laugh!

www.digitalrollout.com

WVUE,WALA,WFTX all now listed on the FOX engineering website. The modem was deliberately left disconnected so Fox Network can't monitor what CCC is REALLY doing. OAO Salute"

For those who do not know, FOX originally planned to go 480p low res for their digital transmission. The M5 was implemented based on this. Now because of consumer pressure ,FOX is working up to 720p. This will require higher bandwidth not available on the existing M5 distribution. Emmis has two choices ,first compress the hell out of the 720p and shove it threw the M5 and up-convert it at the transmitter end. That would look like crap. The second is to pay, yes pay for more bandwidth on the fiber lines. this would raise the operating cost even more on the M5 system. If FOX could check what Emmis is doing, they (FOX) would be pissed.

" Be Happy in your work."

8/3/04 BUZZ SQUEAL...As the pig is launched from CCC, insiders report,

"God forgive them, I sure will not. This was the pits, typical Emmis, not enough people, those who were brought in suck. Managers are already looking for scape goats. I thought partial birth abortions were illegal?"

The next comment contains some colorful verbage that I did not edit out, It would have changed the meaning of this post, so read at your own risk.

"Daily Buzz round up

Day 1 of A miss control from Orlando.

Clayton Morris utters the word “Jackass” on morning broadcast TV on Tuesday. OMG

Viacom stations including the N. O. outlet to start airing the show.

Viacom better prepare for fines with this bunch flunkys on the air under A miss control.

I hope Viacom realizes there is another Jackson on the cast of the DB.

While the stories were in the toilet, like discussing sex toys during breakfast time, the toilets were having problems in the building. To much shit to deal with from this bunch. Computer problems dominated and the show has set up a hotmail account to receive correspondence and complaints. claytonmorris60@hotmail.com

Let’s not forget to mention Central Crapping Mastermind Dir Joe Addalia made Mitch English give him credit on the air for all his wis-dumb.

Former D.B. director had this to say on a blog

http://thedailybuzz.proboards33.com/index.cgi?board=Today&action=display&num=1090378600

“Hello there. I happened on this site and thought I'd see what other people thought of the show. I was the original director for the The Daily Buzz and left this past April to continue freelancing and to be at home more with my family (you have no idea what a 3am job does to your home life!!!). Anyway, I think it's so cool that you like the show and can appreciate the humor that we tried to install in it! I hope the new management sees the opportunities that a new format in the morning can offer a younger viewer and allows that seed that was planted back in 2002 to grow a little bit. With some extra money and a little extra attention, a show like The Daily Buzz definately has it's place among the boring morning news programs. Unfortunately, I don't know if anyone with the new company has that kind of insight or that kind of patience. They want to make money without spending it..and that's a problem in today's television world! Any ways...The Daily Buzz was the best time I've ever had working in television and I miss the people that I worked with, but I'm glad I'm not there anymore. Seems like new management has other plans for our little breakfast show, and I doubt that I would have fit in with the news oriented style. Good luck to the Buzzers and I hope the new digs work out for them! Mitch, Andrea, Clayton & Dau ROCK! Peace out folks!”

So true about the making money with out spending any. Seems he was right.

Emmis was so cheap they took the set and rolled it down I-75 from Dayton to Orlando.

Long time veiwers on the DB fan blog also say they are finished with the show after Ron’s departure and the new A miss trailer park talk show format. They are also tired of Mitch and his fat ass shaking in Andrea Jackson’s pail white rapper wanna be face while they are eating breakfast. PUKE>>>>>>>>

Poor babys can’t take the 105 degree heat already and are complaining!

They are making on air pleas for love from the MCOs.
Rumor is the new EP of the DB has already been pondering job(s) in the Greensboro market to get out of this rotting ship before it is canned"

Once again Emmis will lower quality to maximize Jeffs income, may kill the show, may put humans out of work, but Jeff gets wealthier. More to come.

7/31/04-PM BUZZ from CCC...

"The daily buzz starts this week from sh(X)t-o-lando. Attention daily buzz employees if you are assigned to train someone from WKCF don't do a very good job unless you like putting yourself out to the pasture. Thats ALL for now. BUzz cut. OAO"

7/31/04 KGUN GETS NEW ND... some one did not do their research. Another viewer wrote,

"Hi Emmissucks, I have not seen any results of the strike at CCC. How did that go? Did they get Unionized? Is the Daily Buzz being produced at CCC?"

To be honest ,I do not know. No one has pro-actively sent in any info. If I hear any thing ,it will be posted. If I do not hear from the drones at CCC, I will ask a few. It could be that Jeff and his jack booted thugs have silenced the drones at CCC.

"Hey, Just a FYI. Blain is now on the job at WVUE, I will let you know if he becomes the teachers pet. Also because no one wants to work for Emmis, they have hired a few part time photogs. We old timers are a bit worried that what you posted some time back ,may come true. I do not think they will fire any more but those lost through attrition will be replaced by no benefits part timers. As bad as it was when you were here...it is worse now. "

No benny part timers have been part of the grand plan since day one. After all this is in keeping with Emmis commandment #3, screw your people.

"I am a new viewer of this site. I just looked at the robot page. He did not like EMMIS either. I just do not know how you came up with Emmisrobot for this old site? BTW no way would I work for those scum bags."

Emmisrobot comes from the email address that web master used to have. It is now defunct. Don`t forget the new covers on your TPS reports.

7/25/04

I was inspired by these guys to come up with the answers to the question "you know your a FE if...."

Your getting profit sharing

Your making a living wage

Corporate dose not ease drop on your phone calls

You refused to sign the gag order

Your boss actually works

Decisions are made based on research ,not greed.

Suck ups do not go far in the company

Now for the CE`s ,send in your answers to the Foxworthy question "you know your a current employee if ...". I will post the most humorous ones in the future.

For those who missed it , I have now resurrected the Emmisrobot web pages. This is an ode to the human who after dealing with Jeff and his M5 ,got out of TV. The robot only updated the site a few times and he or she had much bleaker view of Emmis than me. The info is a bit dated,but it does show how others think of Emmis. A permanent link will be in the link section on the main Emmissucks page.This page is stored on http://members.freewebs.com/ Long live the robot.

I just confirmed the following " Are you aware that Mike Longman is out of jail? He is now living with his father in New York." I knew he was out but did not know were he was. No word if he will try to get back into reporting, drugs or male prostitutes. I could not resist. I am sure he could fill some openings at Emmis corporate HQ, once again I could not resist.

Emmis tries to hide trouble at KOIN. A CE said that one of the many pending or planned law suits against the station and Emmis may be settled out of court ,avoiding some more public disclosure of the EMMIS problems. This is a LINK to the Portlandtribune article on the matter. Another law suit by female employees and FE`s is being planned ,this class action case will disclose the sexual harassment in news at KOIN. Another suit in the planning stage will involve both male and female FE`s and CE`s , this one is on a hostile work environment at KOIN. I have reported on these before and will continue to follow this as it unfolds.

Friday while configuring our DTV stream to carry the ABC gavel to gavel coverage of the political conventions , I and my fellow engineers had a chance to play with Jeffs folly. That is we got to see how much you lose doing more than one program stream over one six meg DTV channel. We were running 19 megabit HD 720P ABC feed. This allowed us to put a 3 megabit low res stream muxed into the system. The low res stream was bad, real bad. We elected to rais the bandwidth to four megs on the low res, this meant we had to reduce the HD side one meg. It made the low res tolerable and you could just tell the HD was affected a bit. Jeffs plan is to get at least three pay channels from each broadcaster ,that means each station will have to mux four low res streams. As we all found out ,that will suck. Viewers will not watch that crap on their new $1500 TV`s, they will find a HD signal to watch. The market is going to drive content providers to deliver true HD, Jeff may con some into trying his plan but it is doomed by its low quality and high cost.

Insiders report VIC is going to buy Panasonics "P2" systems to replace the aging Sony SX gear. I saw the demo/presentation and my fellow engineers and my self all saw the two major flaws in the system. VIC is considering this to avoid having to fix the stuff as it gets older. Seems as though he terminated a good deal of his staff a while ago :-) If he wants to keep his human count down ,he will have to buy new gear every few years.

Another local FE asked "Why did they paint over the logo on the studio?" It took well over a year for them to come up with the cash to cover the old logo. I thought they would put up a new one, but that must have been to pricey. At least they did not paint it Pepto Bismol Pink (remember the Quinn days) Emmis stock down below $20 a share.

7//17/04 MIXED BAG THIS POSTING.. Only the second viewer has correctly guessed the movie tie in for "There is another system!" . the correct answer is "Collosis The Forbin Project" a late 70`s SCI-FI thriller about two defense dept computers that take over the world. One was Russian (named Guardian) the other named colossus , the US machine.

A WVUE FE noticed his link on the alumni page went dark and sent me an update. First time hearing from this guy in over a decade. Do not forget to let me know if you move your site or email. If I can not find you after a search ,your link goes dark.

I got only the third email ever from a nano probe infected CE at Emmis. This partial human blames me for "stirring up hate" in the hive . Also this Emmis admirer said "their next gig could easily be worse." I and hundreds of other FE`s would find that hard to believe. Not one FE has found any employer worse then Emmis, only one has found a company equal to Emmis in how they treat their Employees. This Jeff worshiper did contribute one thing to this site. His confidence in Jeff was so high he used a Anonymous Email Account at Anonymous.To ,to contact this host. This is good source for CE`s to communicate with Jeff (Jeff@emmis.com), He can not trace the Email back to the drone who sends it. Of the three management types who have contacted me over the last three years ,not a one has debated the info listed. They tend to blame me for the problems with the humans in the hive, or just rant at how bad I am. If memory serves me, every one of those " anonymous employee surveys" pointed out these problems way before I left the hive. All those who have emailed me ,know exactly who I am but this one and the others wish to hide. Oh well.

Emmis Corporate corrects its DMA info on WVUE section of their site. Word is they did not do this as fast as last time because they did not want any one to realize how often they check this page. Thanks to the FE for keeping us up to date.

The Truth is out there ,and I will continue to post it. Row on.

7/13/04 OFFICIAL BUZZ ANCHOR REPLY... I should have used the "E" word but here is the question and answer.

"Ron ,
This is the web master for www.Emmissucks.com. Do you have any official comment on your departure?"

"Hey (XXX):

I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with how Randy Bongarten worked with me on my departure. He made me an offer to stay that made the decision to leave that much more difficult. However, I just felt like the experience of working at the network was something I couldn't pass up.

Thanks for checking in.

Ron"

Randy must have offered him a ton-o-cash and Ron still turned them down. I am sure Ron has now been informed on Emmis and he is probably thanking his lucky stars he decided not to go to A-Mess.

7/12/04 MORE BUZZ ON THE DAILY BUZZ...

"First there was CE current emmis, then there was FE former emmis, and now there is even NE never emmis.

Ron Corning the main man on the failing Daily Buzz morning show being aquired by emmis from acme announced that they could take this job and shove it, or some such thing along those lines last week during the show. Other subtle references to phrases on this site were tossed around during the final week of Ron's tenure at the DB. Ron had decided to escape the emmis tyrany before it even begins next month under emmis control in Orlando when emmis is finally scheduled to relocate the show from Dayton, Ohio to Orlando. Jeff lost a high stakes hand of old maid with acme execs last year and got stuck with the show. Ron's exit leaves emmis in even worse shape now with a show which is seriously struggling to find national sponsors and leaves emmis with little to no motive for relocation of a decaying daily buzz. ACME is really sticking it to A mess. MEEP MEEP. Ron will take the 2am to 5am shift at ABC WNN which has to better than the slave ship at A mess. http://www.roncorning.com/

Something tells me Road Runner Ron is a smart guy and him and others at the DB have been reading this page. Good for you Ron. Woo HOO.

Wile E. Coyote"

It sounds like Ron has visited this site, smart move not to get into A-Mess.

7/11/04 SPECIAL POSTING/PART B.... It has been confirmed that one of WVUE`s longest surviving employees was given the Emmis Tap. In what could only be described as age discrimination ,the now FE was denied training for the new transmitters while other younger employees were set up for training. Under the existing IBEW contract the now FE should have been the last one let go. This has been the case many times with the waves of terminations at WVUE. In a way I am shocked that no one has sued them over this. When the first batch was tapped in 2001 two of the terminated had much more seniority than those who were kept. Round two in 2001 was the same way, many who were not tapped were actually less qualified and had to be trained to fill the shoes of the tapped.

On another note a CE told me "check out the Emmis web site. They are once again fudging the numbers on our DMA." I checked and sure enough once again Emmis is cooking the numbers to make WVUE look better than it is. New Orleans is 42 and Emmis list it as a 41.

Although not confirmed ,it is rumored they have found a new sports drone for VUE. Some one who has not found this site? According to Big Easy the new sports drone is Eric Richey.

Also Big Easy reports that Kim Holden is now the new WVUE A.N.D. What was not reported is that up to this point Kim was best know for her part in launching a news mast on a live truck doing 60 mph on I10 a few years ago. She was "trying to view a tape." reported the photog who was driving. 200 pounds of mast ended up on the hood of the car behind them and the dish was run over by many many cars and trucks. The power amp bounced to the curb and survived undamaged, it is still in use today. ( A plug for Microwave Radio:-)

7/9/04 SO YOUR A LONG TIME CE OF EMMIS AND THINK YOUR SAFE.... This is not the first time I have received a comment like this

"My husband came across your website....very very interesting, but it did bother me a bit that it is so slanted toward your own New Orleans, etc. stations. I assure you, we have experienced similar things here in the Midwest as well! Even in the Emmis mecca of Indianapolis....where I, a 16-year Emmis employee, was tapped with no notice, no probationary period, no severance, and no insurance for my family beyond that tapping day. wow. long live the king."

I asked about the king comment, it is reference to Jeff. Part of my reply was "The site exist on the input of FE`s (former employees) and CE`s ( current employees). If those in Indianapolis.and the midwest are silent , I can not report on it." So if you want to be heard EMAIL ME , your identity will kept of the site and emails shredded to mil spec prior to posting. In a phoner with this FE I did find out she is doing well now after A-Mess, as most FE`s report.

Another two satisfied A-Mess employees are leaving WALA , a reporter and a WALA sports director. ALA has not only been under the M5 but all A-Mess replacement management. One FE I know said "It was not a great place before EMMIS, but after them it was hell on earth."

For what ever reason this site is getting a lot of new viewers. I can tell by some of the questions. While I do not have a FAQ section most questions can be answered by reading the background material (gag order link and M5 link) and start reading the archives from year one to date. This site has three plus years of info, it would be impossible for me to fill you in fuller than a long read of the past postings.

ANCHORMAN

Gota see it , I could not stop laughing aloud as did most of the audience at the first showing here at the Elmwood Palace Theater 20. The closest anchor guy to the Ron Burgundy character in the film I know is Ron Hunter (WVUE early 80`s). Bits and pieces can be found in a bunch of the 80`s anchors at VUE, but Hunter had the most. I found the Technical accuracy good, the Electrovoice RE15`s and 635`s in silver, The RCA TK76 E.N.G. camera, The RCA TK45 studio cams, The paper roll QTV teleprompter were perfect. These touches will only be noticed by a few in the audience but worked well. One area they did screw up was the "live trucks" , they just slapped a dish on the front top of ford vans. It would have been cheap to make some "golden rod" antennas and simulated mast to add realism to those shots. I would give it two mics up.

On a different tack , Kenneth Lay of Enron (another crooked E company) was indicted this week. Emmis used the same book keepers until the Enron story broke. I do like the possibility of a corrupt CEO ending up married to some big hairy guy named bubba in a small prison cell.

"You live to serve this ship, row well and live! (followed by rhythmic pounding sound)"

7/05/04 EMMISSUCKS IN THE NEWS...paper, I just got my second phone call telling me of a Dave Walker article in the living section of the metro areas only print news source. The article is on BLOG sites like this one.

"Operated by a former WVUE-Channel 8 off-screen staffer who . . . does . . . not . . . like . . . his former employer, www.emmissucks.com is a compendium of technical fluffs and very bad thoughts about the station's corporate owner, the Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications. Recent posts there coldly critique WVUE's new news set."

I think Dave missed a few things, this site lives on the input of CE`s who are fed up with Jeff and his boys. My first hand dealings with the hive ended in 2001. As for not liking the Corporate owner, yes I do not like greed at all cost, callus disregard for employees & viewers, discrimination of every type , and corporate politics taken to a new level. In a word EMMIS. I am not sure what he means by "technical fluffs", unless it is the reporting of the M5 screw ups. As for the cold critique of the new set, I think every one wants to know were the $500k went. This site just does not hold back. We ask the question you wish you could. EMMISSUCKS is still the online Emmis Authority.

7/03/04 $500K NO WAY!!!!!! It is unanimous, not one broadcast professional in the metro area can believe captain Cook paid $500K for what has been described as " Smurf Ghetto" , " Fisher Eight" and "Fox 8 Projects". I got over a hundred comments via email and more by phone and in person. For space reasons only a select few will be posted. Some of the thoughts on half mil dog are "Show me the money! I do not even see the $70,000 you see. Why did the news paper reporter not call them on this obvious lie?" ," I am going to retire, all I have to do is sell Emmis one news set." , "The set looks like $50,000. Pretty sad for 1/2 mil. GMs are salesmen and try to sucker folks, they are also the biggest suckers. I think they included the price of their new cameras in the 1/2 mill number. Pretty sad cause after their compression, they look no different than their old cameras." ,"I did not see a Doppler,I did not see a huge interactive network style set. What did they spend the money on?', " It is pitiful and ugly. Bring back the old one.", "These brick flats must be worth $100,000."," WVUE owes me $75, that is what I charge for an hour of my time. I sat through one of the 9 O-clock newses. I have not watched them in some time because there is nothing on FOX I would watch. Between the poor lighting, horrible color scheme and constant hammering about "The Weather Authority" ,it will be years before I watch them again.", " I hurled for ten minuets and then turned on CH 6.", " I live in the Quarter, I have never seen any bricks painted that color, nor have I seen any stone work like that. New Orleans tie in my ass.", "What ever Joe Cook is on, he should back off the dosage."and one I think sums it all up "It is amazing how much they will mis-spend on hardware. They will spend thousands to screw a human employee out of ten cents. Breck did not get his Doppler, he would have to show Jeff he could cut three humans before that will be considered."

Now for other hive news Chuck Bark FE-ND at WALA has left the hive. Officially he resigned but CE`s say "he decided to resign after meeting with Emmis big shots. It seems like he was made to fall on his sword as a scape goat for the poor decisions of EMMIS." I will point out he is one of the few pre-Emmis management types who has survived this long under the iron thumb of Jeff. Emmis post 14% sales gain but continues to flounder on the staggering debt Jeff has amassed.For more follow this LINK. The stock got a small bump and closed just shy $21 a share, down 22% from a year ago.

6/28/04 DOUBLE SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE REPORT... Is that news speak or what. First lets post some feed back on the $500k WVUE set. One FE said " it looks like the smurfs painted it." and " if they wanted bricks ,we could have given them our old set." another FE said "No way is that $500,000." A fellow engineer just laughed at the half mill. Some of the highlights are a $5k plasma monitor, a new $2k weather big screen, A new weather desk, A new news desk and background.According to a news paper article ,it is supposed to have more of a New Orleans tie in, I did not see that unless you count the smurf colored bricks. I think the old set was better proportioned. The lighting was horrible, Snell was totally washed out. There is no way that they spent $500k on this thing, I crunched some numbers and came up with a low of $70k to a high of $95k. The rest must be in kick backs and pay offs. Not one person who saw it could believe any one would spend over $100k for what they saw. If they did pay a half mill ,they got the shaft. One FE said "The money would have been better spent on a floor crew to run the studio cameras." I agree, but that would violate the Emmis prime directive. Tell the world what you think of the $500k beast,E-MAIL ME On another subject ,the WVUE promotions director has resigned to go into business for him self, some think the puppet master will follow him shortly. This was sent in from the sunshine state

"This is an emmissucks.com special report:

After the American Idol interference fiasco from WFTX-DT 35 it turns out that it has conveniently gone off the air ever since. See here http://fox4florida.com/hdtv.shtml
Was this really planned or really a direct response to a demand made from the Fox Network O&O WOFL-TV 35 in Orlando? When or if WFTX-DT 35 ever returns is to be seen.
For now stay tuned to emmissucks.com for more news from the frontline trenches.
This has been an emmissucks.com special report.
Had this been a (insert your favorite CCC stations call letters here) special report they would be in black for the next 5 minutes before finally dumping into the last commercial break and final credits. Then back to a 30 second black hole of dead air where the news update was originally scheduled."

This bit of info was not the only tid bit out of the sunshine state. A number of drones at many stations report that the management is implying that they can track personal use of computers even from home machines to blog,web pages and emails. One of these humans (not from A-mess) wrote

" I participate in a Blog on Florida radio & TV and read your site from time to time. My boss told a bunch of us that the company now is monitoring these sites and us . While they did not say they have tapped our home computer lines, the implication was there. Can they do this? Can I protect my self? I am emailing you from a internet cafe` just in case. "

There are some steps you can do for peace of mind. Buy and install a good virus protection software, this will stop some sniffer worms, next install a personal fire wall soft ware such as Zone Alarm , it is free for individuals. This will stop attack from them and others. Keep both these up to date. Can a company legally tap your home computer, NO ... they can and do monitor all activity on company networks, web usage, email etc. that is legal. I do not have a fixed IP so tapping me would be next to impossible. If you do not use a company machine you are safe, only the police with a warrant can tap an ISP. It is amazing how these broadcasters who live by freedom of speech ,try to quash it from there own humans.

" Bill of Rights
Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. "

6/26/04 $500,000 FOR A SET?.... In an article in the Times-Picayune news paper about Mimi Strawn , "A new "weather center" will be a primary component of a new news set -- estimated cost: $500,000 -- scheduled to debut June 28." No F-ing way would any one have to spend that kinda money on a set, or even two sets. The "Weather Palace" (what CE`s & FE`s call it) was built in the old Ron Hunter "Live At Five " studio "C'.Also at that time four news edit rooms ,the old dark room and production office were converted into offices for Bob and the weather drones, giving Bob more office space than any one else in the cube. I tuned in and saw the changes in the weather palace and it looks like some new paint and vainer was added. The current news set was built by Devlin Design Group at a cost of $160k ,of that $99,975 was for the white elephant monitor wall (now extinct). The weather palace was built by a local carpenter. Some insiders say the bulk of the new set money may be for a Doppler Radar, the "weather authority" has been with out a live radar since Vic sold the old working one for $3,000 in scrap ,back in 2000. The only other guess at what may cost so much money was sent in by another CE " They maybe buying real robots for the studio cameras, any thing would improve our production values, God knows they will never hire people to run camera."A number of people have continued to send in questions concerning Bob Brecks new hair. I took a look when this one was sent in " Why is Bob Breck wearing a road kill Nutria on his head? As much money as he makes , he could buy a hair piece and pay to have it combed." I did not want to go into this hairy subject but questions keep coming in. A recent one said " Bob paid to get his tupe combed, its about time.?". I did not watch the "transformation" so I do not know how he handled it. If he was smart he would have bought a few at gradually increasing levels of gray and work them in over a period of time. From what I hear ,this was not the case. If any one has more hair questions contact Bob at WWW.BOBBRECK.COM. While going to the EBAY live convention on Friday and today I ran into three FE`s and one CE ,all in the press room. One FE and the CE were working the show, the others were there just to have some fun. The odd thing happened on one of the Saturday greetings, A fellow news person saw us FE`s meet and asked me " Were you guys in the gulf war?" ,I was puzzled and asked him why he thought we were. He replied " when two people meet and greet like that ,it is normally because they shared a traumatic event like battle field experience." I broke up and told him we both worked for Emmis Communications, the other FE started laughing aloud. I gave him this web address. He is a veteran battle field correspondent taking it easy for a while in the states. Speaking of Ebay, when I was at the local cube I sold and bought for the company, making money and saving money on many equipment purchases. I created a new alternative revenue stream and was rewarded for this with the Emmis Tap. In accordance with Emmis policy at the time, I should have received 10% of what was sold because it was a new alternative revenue stream, all I got was the tap. Many others report the same of the empires promises. I will say this, I am doing Ebay for my current employer ,just for the fun of it. VUE has not made a trade since I left. Now for other hive info, WALA has been losing more humans, one to WWL. Not a peep from CCC, the minders may have put the fear of Jeff in them. The truth is out there, and I will post it.

6/19/04 AND NOW OUR SPORTS TEAM?...Emmis WFTX in Ft. Myers no longer has a dedicated sports segment in its weekday, hour long 10 p.m. newscast. When sports anchor recently left the cube, mis-managers elected not to fill the position, instead hiring another news reporter. In a quote from Newsblues the stations ND said “Given that Fort Myers doesn't have any big, major league sports team that needs constant coverage ... I think this is appropriate,” said News Director Jeff Roth, who was hired in March from Denver's KMGH. The station will continue to have a weekend sports anchor on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays because "those days tend to be heavier on sports news," More info on this at News-Press.This is why local drones are not convinced that the departing Angle will be replaced by a sports reporter, despite the ad on the corp web page. If the Saints leave ,it would be more EMMIS fuel to cut sports. Emmis is well known for killing news and sports, any thing that requires humans. "Row well and live."

6/12/04 RESPONSE FROM USDTV... I emailed the USDTV people to find out what they had to say on Jeffs plans to take them over, this is the no comment response,

* It is our policy not to comment on what others may have speculated about. It would also be inappropriate to comment about any offer that the company might have received.

* We have been overwhelmed by the positive response from broadcasters and consumers to our unique service.

* As we have stated previously, we welcome and encourage investment from broadcasters to participate with us in guiding and owning USDTV, but we plan to continue operating as a stand-alone company.

I hope this answers your questions.

Thanks,

Brent Petersen
SVP Marketing/Communications
U.S. Digital Television

914.779.9213 Voice
914.548.5250 Mobil

I looked at what the USDTV people have to offer the public and I would not buy it, basically eight channels for $19.95 a month. Of those I would only watch one. Jeff wants to offer 35 low res channels for $25. Not a good deal compared to cable of DBS. 7 of 10 reported

"I heard the Hewlitt Packard CEO, a woman none the less, publicly called out and bashed Smulyan for his plans to use digital for profit instead of public service. This all happened during a high profile meeting of the minds (minders) at one of the recent junkets."

I contacted the CEO of HP and have not received a response. Now to the local WVUE cube, With the "sports bimbo" (not my words) slated for termination at months end it is alleged that EMMIS will be cutting back on the sports staff ...permanently. This may mean re-allocation of the last dedicated sports photog to general news and leaving only DG and a producer left. If the Saints leave ,A-mess could even kill sports as a dept ,just as they have done elsewhere. Another CE said " If Blain gets any special treatment, you will be the first I let know." News drones are not pleased with how this could play out. A visitor to this site with a CE friend wrote,

" congratulations on getting the emmissucks.com.

One of my CE friends from the hive said s/he's afraid to read the file
because s/he isn't sure s/he really wants to know just what kind of
crappy situation s/he is sitting in. Her/His income for the position is
relatively low, s/he isn't using too much insurance, and s/he lately
is getting to spend plenty of time away from the office, working on
expensive transmitters that have nothing to do with digital. So for
now, s/he feels safe. However, after I told her/him about this site,
s/he told a bunch of other CEs at KOIN and notice all the new
emails you're getting from there. KOIN not being part of
Centralcrapping has made it feel like an island, oops let me be
more specific, a prison island. Now KGUN's found you, I guess
you'll get a lot more duplicate stories. I know an old Lee Ent. CE
at KGUN who's managed to survive a lot of storms. Hope s/he's
still keeping her/his head above the crap.

It is a bit of irony that the History channel is running an all day marathon of "The Great Escape" as I finish this update. Resistance is not futile.

6/5/04 KGUN DRONE IS DEAD ON TARGET... I could not resist the pun. A drone at KGUN designation 9 of 18 had a lot to say, for space reasons I had to trim down this email. " Hi Emmissucks, I do not know who you are and this is my first time contacting a web site. I have worked at KGUN for (XXXX) and have seen the effects of Emmis on this station and it is not a pretty site. I have gone threw a bunch of owners but these people as you say ,they suck. I have been trying to out wait them but I do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. I was told by a co-worker about your site, you have balls of steel. I would never be able to take the heat Emmis must be trying to put on you. When they took over things did change , management was first replaced and then in prep for central casting Emmis downsized some of us. The problem is they did not central cast or replace those who were terminated. We remaining employees now have to make up for the short fall. Jeff got his savings at our expense. I do not know who was the bum at CCC moaning about how hard they have it ,but let them try one of the severely under staffed stations. I have had enough , my resume` is now being mailed and I can not wait.The pre-emmis employees are grate but emmis has brought in a bunch of "yes men" and suck ups, pre - emmis people need not apply. I did not see the changes ,it was done dead slow and covertly. Now I look back and a job I used to love is like being chained to an ore. I like many other pre-emmis humans are now looking to bail out, any thing has to be better than this festering pest hole known as Emmis." Another satisfied A-Mess employee. A frequenter of this page asked "why did you not post when Mimi Strawn was appointed ND at WVUE?" Simple ,this site is a hobby first and next a voice for the oppressed CE`s & FE`s. Now for Mimi Strawn as new ND at WVUE cube. At first you want to congratulate her but then you realize her husband will now pose a serious problem for her. If he is hired ,will it be because he was the most qualified for the job? Even if that is the case , nepotism will always be in the minds of his fellow photographers. One CE asked " Will Mimi Strawns husband get a day shift? Will he get the newest gear? A new van? I thought we were done with this teachers pet crap when Brad left." If Mimi does play things on the up and up ,she may tick off her husband by over compensating. In any case Mimi will have to walk a fine line when and if she hires her husband. I am sure I will hear all about it. Well it is out, the year end TPS report from Jeff , just like last year it is poorly produced bunch of spin, it is hard to believe that Emmis has so many "professional" magazine publishers and puts out a report fit only for grade school. Last years front page slogan has been moved to the back cover, on the front is "Outperform" ,outperform what? Every stock I have has outperformed Emmis. If you say it enough maybe some one will believe it. One thing missing is Jeffs mug , no humans at all are pictured in this thing. I have turned it over to a CPA friend to see if he can figure it out , it took Jeffs accountants months to cook up this thing ,the average stock holder will never understand it. 7 of 10 reports on Jeffs folly ,

"Remember he originally said he wanted broadcasters to control his big idea, I guess he didn't have the brains for it, so now he is going after USDTV. I hear USDTV already has an extremely large subscriber base of about 200 subs nationwide and doesn't like the fact that Jeff, the 19th hijacker, is trying to hijack the idea USDTV created. Jeff is also talking about buying some tin cans and string to make the whole thing work with all the different transmitters located up and down the markets they have signed up for this.

Emmis, Partners Eyeing U.S. Digital: Emmis Communications Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said Thursday that he and his broadcast partners are considering acquiring U.S. Digital Television, a company that is offering over-the-air multichannel digital TV services in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.Emmis has been promoting the launch of a similar pay service that would also use the digital frequencies of broadcasters. "We'd love to bring them [U.S. Digital] in ... if we could buy them," Mr. Smulyan told reporters.In a luncheon speech hosted by the Media Institute in Washington, Mr. Smulyan also said 35 broadcast companies with more than 350 TV stations have become partners in the Emmis venture -- with at least that many other broadcasters considering joining the effort."This is a tremendous business," Mr. Smulyan said. When he originally announced the venture during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in April, he sai! d he had 11 broadcast partners, including Scripps, Clear Channel and Fisher Communications. He has since added 23 others, including Bahakel Communications, Granite Broadcasting Corp. and Pappas Telecasting Cos.Mr. Smulyan said he still hopes to launch the venture in the first quarter of next year. Under the basic concept, the broadcasters are proposing to pool digital spectrum to offer a package of HDTV and more than 35 cable channels to subscribers for about $25 a month over the air.
--Doug Halonen

http://www.tvweek.com/news/web060304.html#emmis

Jeff missed his true calling, used car or snake oil sales.And the band plays on.

5/29/04 M5 Update ... More info from CCC indicates that every time some thing runs long or is live , the M5 can not handle it. "we do not have enough humans to over ride and reprogram on the fly. A.I. had many more screw ups than you saw on WVUE, we just do not log them unless some one complains. If the stations do not complain, the advertisers do not complain and managers do not know...it never happened :-)" Sounds like the Emmis version of "don`t ask don`t tell. Another CI from CCC put it this way "Floricrap didn't like the fact that AI on FOX and specifically WVUE was running into overtime and all drones were too busy across the board on all Fox stations since attempts to breakout of Addalia crapomation had failed them as well as the viewers." On Friday the local SBE chapter hosted a mini NAB road show. One of the companies represented was an automation firm that bid in direct competition with Floricrap for the Emmis deal. The guy could not figure out how they lost, they were cheaper and better. The system seemed to have one draw back that Jeff would never go for, it required humans at each station to over see the system. Jeff is on a mission to eliminate all biological life forms infesting Emmis. (A bit of STTMP) I let the sales tech know why he lost the contract. After I asked him about Florical he said " When ever I am in a market with one of their automated stations, I tune it in for the screw ups." I told him about WVUE. Big Easy TV is advertising some thing about WVUE that will be posted on Tuesday. I can`t wait. We stock holders are still waiting for our Emmis year end BS. It seems to take a while to cook the books at EMMIS. They have been in a big kettle over a low fire for months.Stock is at $22. Emmissucks adopts a theme song, Johnny Paycheck`s "Take This Job And Shove It", we also recommend for any one considering working for A-Mess AC-DC`s "Highway To Hell". Don`t forget the new cover sheets on those TPS reports and Tuesday is Soylent Green Day.

5/27/04 M5 SCREWS UP A.I. IN TWO MARKETS... During the final portion of American Idol (a show I do not watch) the M5 screwed up a FOX O&O

"Emmis owned and central crap controlled WFTX-DT 35 Ft Myers caused co channel interference last night originating from the WFTX-DT 35 Ft Myers transmitter. This resulted in knocking out the over the air pick up of the American Idol finale by Bright House network cable in Brevard County/Melbourne, FL. The analog signal of WOFL-TV 35 from Orlando slowly faded out last night until it was overtaken by WFTX-DT 35 during the last 10 minutes of the finale. Fox owned and operated WOFL-TV lost a great number of viewers and had to apologize to viewers who directed irate phone calls at WOFL-TV for the unforeseen problem to their viewers in Brevard county, Florida. BHN and WOFL are now pointing the finger at the screw people company for co channel interference from A mess. The war is now on between next door neighbors WKCF centralcrapping and WOFL studios both located just feet apart in Lake Mary, FL."

Link to FLORIDA TODAY

Also according to locals watching VUE

"The M5 dropped a commercial dead in the middle of the winners song, the M5 just cut to the spot in mid sentence and rejoined the song in mid sentence. At the end there was a hole were the commercial was probably supposed to go,"

This was in keeping with Emmis commandment 1 "Take care of your audiences and your advertisers - think of them and you will win."

5/24/04 EXCLUSIVE -REVOLT AT CCC PLANNED.... A Few CE`s at CCC report

"If they can afford another manager then they sure as hell can afford raises too.

Let it be known here that some or hopefully all in MC will be staging a sick out on July 1st if salaries don't go up to a realistic level. Good luck with the daily buzz that day EMMIS.

BTW:Jeff is back in NY this week trying to sell digital pay TV scams to stupid (XXXX) investors.Let them know he is a fraud and a fony. "

While I admire the action ,I think the people company will just fire every one. After all according to a manager "people are lining up for the $10.75 an hour jobs". I would suggest a more stunning move, get organized off site and join a union. You will need to contact a national for help. I know Florida is a right to work for less state but you still can form a union . I would go after IBEW ,NABETor AFTRA for help and certification. This would tick them off. I personally feel you only need a union when you have poor management, well it is A-mess. 5 of 12 said " Jeff does not have to do the employee surveys any more, Emmissucks is doing it for him." Maybe I should send them a bill?

5/23/04 Thanks 2 of 3 & 3 of 3... I got some advice from 2&3 of 3 on web site set up, they were dead on.WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM is now active and I saved on hosting fees. Total cost of this dot com per year is less than what Jeff pays M5 operators at CCC for an hour. Both sites are identical ,you will get the same poor grammar and mis-spellings:-) It will be easier to remember WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM.

5/22/04 EXTRA-EXTRA-EXCLUSIVE...HOLD THE PRESSES...Emmissucks goes dot-com, yes it is true WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM is now owned by your FE web master. In a bit of a shocker I received a anonymous letter from Indy with a money order and some detailed instructions on how to buy a dot-com and how to set up the site. This benefactor also stated Emmissucks was not taken, low and behold he or she was correct.At this time I only have the web address and no host. I hope to have a host and be set up in a few weeks. The letter (odd that it was typed, not printed) stated that EMMIS was to cheap to buy up all the variations of the EMMIS name. I would love to be in the board room when this hits the fan:-) The benefactor also sent in a bunch of other EMMIS variations worth going after if emmissucks was not available, if any one wants one email me. Other companies buy up variations of there names so no one can do what I am about to.I let a few CE`s and FE`s know of this ahead of the posting, I got some interesting replies-" Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had I not signed the gag order, I would have it myself"," Give`em hell!","Were can I send my donation?"," Now they will kill you."," Great news on the new domain. That should kick Emmis in teeth With a better meta tag anyone who enters a search for emmis in an engine will see your site before the official emmis PR mop up site garbage." and my favorite "Now they suck on a higher level!!". A CI in Emmis HQ told me "Now you need a promotional campaign, this would be the perfect slogan {Ask me why "WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM?"}." I love it and I will use it, would go grate on a bumper sticker.Some may notice the header on the page has changed so we can take advantage of our new promotional slogan. Some CE`s in the M5 hub seem to be suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome according to some CE`s monitoring the blog noted in last weeks post. That is to be expected, one WVUE CE has shown the same symptoms. 7 of 10 had this to say "All I can say is since this came out the managers here have been a real comedy to watch. In fact, it might even be the next big thing in realty TV, sell out your managers and watch the weasels scurry around looking for crumbs, I mean clues. Fantastic to watch." Another CE said "Seems CCpro a MC supervisor is the (XXXX) the managers called out of the closet and the (XXXX) has been doing some extra kiss ass all this week to make sure he gets to keep his job here. That is why he is on the blog promoting emmis up the wazu to you and anybody dump enough to believe it."Not everyone in Master Control is young and inexperienced" as CCpro claims, Just about 99.9% are under 30." and "Nice of you to notice that the WKCF EEO report is a bunch of crap too just like central crapping. Don't appear to even have a author. Seems some people get paid to produce documents once a year with little to no valid data around here in between long lunches. Less paper trails less evidence to burn as they say at Emmis and Enron. If EEO is tied to license renews then WKCF should most definetly lose theirs.WKCF is void of all community outreach initiatives. No local community reporting at this station, no local public interest initiative at all, no internships, in fact since the 10 o clock news got canned almost 1 and a half years ago WKCF has been run as if it is a cable network broadcasting from a far and distant place to a far and distant place. In fact that is the way management likes it and hopes to continue it unless the FCC tells them otherwise. Soon they will be able to claim the daily buzz is a community outreach and claim that it will help promote tourism to central Florida which may even be the reason that Emmis wanted that piece of crap from acme in the first place. At WKCF, not even 0.01% of spots are tied to any local public interest or community calendar. About the only way you can tell WKCF WB 18 is broadcasting from the Orlando area is by the booming directions to car dealers lots at the end of each and every ad when the audio levels jump through the roof. " And now for some thing completely different. ( Monty Python) As predicted by this web master the WVUE has activated the new Larcan transmitter and word in the cube is the transmitter guy will be gone by the end of June. He has not been told yet. On the subject of the new VUE transmitter install, it has been described as "10 pounds of centralcrapping in a two pound box. A vary poor and rushed install ,the product of little or no planning, executed with out any regard to future maintenance or good engineering practices." typical Emmis. A CI said "the Emmis experts called in too plumb in the new transmitter to the old antenna did such a lousy job that the line does not seal and was leaking so badly that (XXXX) had to attempt to seal it with bondo. This entire install is held together with gaffers tape and chewing gum." Now back to the hub - some have reported that Mr BMW is attempting to "Fully automate the hub with Pathfire DMG and eliminate all carbon based employees. Those who have been saying that centralcrapping did not effect them except for more work for them may soon find out what it is like to get the Emmis Tap. Mr BMW will not be happy until he is the only one left here watching the M5 and surfing for more cars and porn." I did hear some of this from some humans returning from NAB. Also the NAB visitors reported Emmis was trying to recruit new drones using well endowed female drones, what ever it takes. A few commented on Jeff folly and uniformly say, will not work on so many levels. If you "Ask me why Emmissucks ?" I would say read on.

5/15/04 M5 Update.... wow, last weeks post got some attention. Emmissucks has gone over the 20K mark. A FE from KOIN wrote

"How stupid are they at Emmis, they are and have been sued over sexual harassment at a number of cubes. It is well know the California radio and magazine cubes have a "no one over thirty" policy. Emmis does not discriminate against any one group, with the Homofobe words from CCC ,Emmis now discriminates against all !"

What this FE does not know is that the FCC is tiering EEOC compliance to license renewals. You can see evidence of this on the WB18 page check out the EEO report for what apparently is a bunch of BS. This is what the Hellofungratefulboss said on a blog at LINK TO BLOG

"Hello ungrateful employees,

I encourage you all to take the "initiative" and move on from your "hopeless" situations.We will have no trouble finding more ambitious and energetic individuals to replace you who can actually listen, comprehend, and follow our instructions. There are always more qualified people willing and able to take your places. Enjoy your sorry and sad pathetic lives.If all of you had better attitudes you might actually be treated better. Unfortunately, none of you do so we will be grateful to get rid of you.Don't let the semis hit you on your way out of town. just hope your broken down old heaps can carry you all at least that far.

Good luck."

I do not know what the car fetish is with this mid level drone ,but it seems to be how he or she rates success. If you can read the entire Blog.One odd thing is how close "Hell of an ungrateful boss" quotes are to those of captain Cook "I'd love to see you working for the competition, the sooner the better". It is to close for coincidence, they must teach it at Emmis mismanagement school. Always remember any company is better to work for then Emmsi. CNN just had a piece on S.A.S. and how employee friendly they are. 60 minuets ,now CNN, S.A.S. continues to be on the other end of the spectrum from Emmis. A CE from VUE pointed out that the "WVUE cube now does not have any minorities or female members of the management" ,sounds like the "reverends " will be marching again. Some have decided to sue Emmis over the discrimination issues, others have asked me for my opinion on suing them. If you signed the gag order ,forget it. You gave up the rites to sue them for life. If you have a ton O money you may take the chance, they will do all they can to run you out of cash by delaying and stretching out the litigation. I have heard from three FE`s that just plain ran out of cash before the cases got to court. In my opinion the best way to get your justice is to file complaints with the EEOC,FCC and send them to the cube in question. They are obligated to place these in the public file for the station. When the station comes up for license renewal ,you or others can contest the renewal. If enough of these type of complaints are on file, the FCC could deny the renewal. You may not get any thing but the knowledge that some have heard what Emmis does. Part of 7 of 10`s comments on the posting was,

" Obviously, Hell of an ungrateful boss wants some people gone so he can make his elimination bonus by the end of the June. With the Daily Buzz coming soon Emmis wants to keep the drone numbers static and is looking for the noisy ones to eliminate so they don't contaminate the new recruits which they will pay even less than $10 and who won't be full time with benefits. The spelling is on the wall. This may be a tactic for Jeff to reduce the numbers further and eliminate all but the ! chosen one to run the entire show. "

2 of 8 said ,

"Last weeks special on CCC had the bitch on wheels more paranoid than ever. I had to leave and find a place out side to brake out laughing. The Mole hunt is on and all the managers are playing detective. I know you like movie quotes so here is one for them "Catch Me If You Can". I think they went to a supper secrete off site meeting to come up with a plan."

I love it, 2 of 8 has the Emmissucks spirit. A CE reports that,

"Hey...just thought I'd point out an incorrect statement on your website. EMMIS did not buy THE DAILY BUZZ from ACME. They are part owners only. ACME still owns half the show. (XXXX) But then again, I'm not really sure how it's going to work (XXXX) Who knows if Emmis will eventually buy out ACME though? But as for now, the show is being overseen by 4 board members. Two are from Emmis, and two are from Acme. In Dayton, one of the ACME board members is directly overseeing the show, until they hire a General Manager that will work for the board."

The statement by 7 of 10 was half correct, I checked the ACME web page supplied and the CE who wishes to remain a CI. This is why a chunk was cut out,it may have tipped the CI hunters. Back to the Blog mentioned earlier LINK TO BLOG a few of the participants do not think things are as bad as this page spells out. Some one stated that "You're generalizing based on one station's experiences. And I have spoken with some folks still with WVUE and they don't paint the horrible picture of the layoffs as you do. I am told WVUE and WALA employees were given 90 days notice when it was announced that the stations would be centralcasted out of Orlando." Even if I speak to a CE they will put on the "good front" until you get them one on one. Also there is a level of trust given to this Web Master that I do not think this blog contributor has. Not one CI/CE has been exposed by this site. With the level of paranoia and surveillance now in place in the hive, that is important and leads to truthful info. I also think this website has had a larger number of contacts than the blogger, to date over 700 FE`s,CE`s and CI`s. This site is still "The Emmis Authority". The blogger also acted like 3/15/01 did not happen, sorry but it did. It was only the postings of this site that embarrassed Emmis into giving the next waves of terminations a 90 day notice. It was the actions of this Web Master that changed the "must sign" rule for the gag order. Now all union CE`s soon to be FE`s are no longer "obligated to sign" that thing in order to get the contractually obligated severance. Over a year ago I was going to phase out these postings and it was only the pleas of mainly CE`s that have kept it going. I got over my destain for the evil one and now do this as a hobby and to provide a platform for the oppressed to vent. Even when the mid level drone wrote in ,they got the floor, they could not argue the facts so they resorted to name calling, but they got the floor. With the exception of the company site ,I have yet to find a pro-emmis site, I have found many not so flattering to Jeff and the boys. A recent FE has signed on across the street were flexibility will allow him to work. "Be Happy In Your Work."

5/8/04 CENTRAL CRAPPING COMMAND SPECIAL...

This posting will focus on the home of the M5

Most of this info was supplied by 2 of 8, 3 of 4& 7 of 10. First lets say that all is not running smooth in the hub, until two weeks ago only one source of info was at M5 control. The drones at CentCrapCom (CCC) are finding out how under paid they are, They are not happy with this.2 of 8 put it this way "Using even the lowest numbers you gave me, Jeff not only saves on numbers of humans to run the stations but he is paying us 40% less than one master control operator that used to run just one station. That cheap son of a bi@^, that scum su*#&!@ pig (long string of expletives deleted). You should see how much the non working managers make here. I could go to work for Burger King and in a year earn more than I do hear. I would have a better future." After I was informed what Jeff pays operators at CentCrapCom I was in shock, I thought the rumors had to be wrong, no they were dead on.Now I know why the ad for Floracrap operators never goes away.

Emmis Centralcasting Facility 1/Orlando - Is seeking an experienced full-time Broadcast Control Operator to work days, nights, overnights, weekends, and holidays. Must be computer literate, Florical experience preferred. Responsible for on-air programming and operation of
broadcast video equipment.

EOE. If you are looking for a fun and dynamic place to work, please e-mail your resume to cbynoe@wb18.com

What this ad should say is. "Are you a fool, do you want to work for jerks, you will work when ever we want you to while your managers only put in four or five hours a day, you will get ten bucks an hour while your bosses take in 100K or more a year, you may get ten minuets for lunch while your supervisor is out on a three hour lunch, you will be under the gaze of all while your boss hides in an office surfing the web for new cars and porn, you must take the blame for any thing that goes wrong with the M5, we will replace you as soon as we can with a computer ,you will not get any notice."

A tid bit from 7 of 10 indicates the blue haired one has changed to purple streaks and the purple one sports a number of body pearcings , tongue and others.

The purple one

3of4 said " Would you trust your operation to this bimbo, I would not trust her to work at DQ!" I can not post all that came in because it would jeopardize the CE`s. As I told a number of FE`s , the one nice thing about moderating this page is " getting to see all the info". Some may wonder about the pic sent in by 7of10,

"As you may or may not already know Emmis has purchased the Daily Buzz syndicated morning show from Acme and is moving the show from Ohio to Orlando in the coming weeks.
In an attempt to raise the already low moral at Centralcasting Emmis recently ran bumpers in and out of commercials sponsored by the employees of centralcasting.
They originally planned to deduct the 5 seconds of air time they made everyone take from their salary but they have a plan to deduct the cost later in the form of salary cuts."

A sense of humor still exist in the hive. 3of4 told me that,

"If they could automate even more ,we would get what you call the Emmis Tap. After reading your post on Jeffs folly I could not help but wonder ,Why would any one want 15 low definition channels when the trend is HD, has he not heard of HD Net, the guy who owns that is betting all on High Def ,high quality, just the opposite of A-Mess."

How true that is. 7of10 also pointed me to a cute pic with the following info on it,

"Dir of eng. Joe Addalia self proclaimed mastermind of centralcasting, the man who claims he, not mike mckinnon, came up with central crapping has many vehicles including the black BMW roadster convertible pictured.... notice the gold watch.The division of wealth here is to be noticed since few in centralcasting have even one new vehicle."

3 of 4 said he or she is a big Star Trek fan "I was researching some Trek stuff and ran into the M5 story page. I backed up a level to find "Emmissucks". I work for these fools and found it to be dead on. You owe me a set of kidneys, I laughed for two hours while I read from the year one to date. I did notice you did not have some M5 stuff and no good images from the series. I am including some for you to upgrade the M5 story page.After hearing what the other operators made , I was even more pi$$ed than before. If jeff believes in heaven and hell, I hope he knows were he is going. I thought it was just my take on Emmis, but after reading your site I see that the problem is this companies culture of greed and callus disregard for human employees. I feel better now that I have vented." I got a ton of stuff from 3 of 4 ,it took 40 minuets to download.

EXTRA-EXTRA ...we have heard from a fully assimilated drone from with in CCC. Unlike the others this one hides behind a slew of profanities trying to guess who is sending in information. Just like David Koresh and Jim Jones there will always be people who buy the company line even to the point of drinking Koolaid.

"Hello Ungrateful Employees and FEs,
Perhaps you should also post some pictures of the red haired fag which is one of your informant moles at WB18. Tell them they should not trust (XXXX) to work at BK. Burger King doesn't hire fags with AIDS.

http://www.(XXXX)

Tell the public that (XXXX) and (XXXX) make $10.75 an hour because that is what they are worth.They are lucky to have a job at WB18. Plenty of real human beings are lining up to fill their spot as soon as they kick off. Get your facts straight about us.

Helloungratefulemployees"

Well it looks like this drone has an ax to grind with one of his or her fellow drones and thinks just because he or she does not get along with them, they must be "The Mole". It is perfectly clear how many people are lining up for those $10 an hour CCC jobs, the ad never goes away.I turned his or her sign off into an email link. He or she used a third party emailer (yahoo) but you can try to communicate with this one if you wish. His or her comments confirm all is not well at CCC. I will say this, in the three + years I have been the moderator of this site, I have yet to get an email from a FE telling me how great Emmis was to them. I am grateful to be an FE and so are many others.

Now for some other news. Sinclair broadcasting reported a net loss available to common shareholders of $2.3 million, or three cents per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $3.9 million, or five cents per diluted share, last year.It seems as though Central Casting is not working for them either. On a Thursday morning conference call, analysts questioned Sinclair officials about whether the company is saving money on its centralized news program, News Central.Asked whether the effort has paid for itself, CEO David Smith said he didn't have hard data at hand, but said, "My gut is it's probably well beyond that." Launching the newscasts means Sinclair does not have to pay for syndicated programs to fill those time slots at its stations. For more follow this LINK .They are finding out what Jeff was even forced to, it does not pay for its self no less make a profit. 5 of 6 reports KOIN is getting a new weather guy. Some one did not do the research before taking the job. If you want us to do an expose` on your cube ,just send us the scoop.Remember Emmis is part of the Soylent Group and Tuesday is Soylent Green Day.

5/3/04 NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR EMMIS...

" FE WKCF-TV 10 clock news anchor Bud Hedinger now on MSNBC.

The WKCF 10 o clock news was abruply cancelled in september 2002 and entirely eliminated to be replaced by Sienfield reruns despite the 10 o clock news and Bud Hedinger being a ratings winner. Emmis wanted out of the news biz in Olrando and found the news just to costly to handle.

more details here
http://www.rogersimmons.com/tv/" Thanks to a CE for the tip.

5/2/04 JEFF GETS EVEN MORE... A CE told me to check ,so I did. Jeff got even more in 2003,he raked in $1,731,181 in total compensation including stock option grants from Emmis Communications- he has $2,934,400 in unexercised stock options from previous years. Compare this with the $901,125 he gave him self last year.If you do the math , he almost doubled his income. All this with a monumental corp debt and record low profits. Do not forget to put the new covers on your TPS reports.

5/1/04 ANOTHER ONE ESCAPES...This time it is a sales drone who leaves after five + years of Jeff to join in the fight against the borge at WDSU. Drone two of three goes back on the air after having nano probes and implants removed, I saw him on Friday and he did have the Ex-Emmis smile. Another FE from the second wave of VUE terminations is now a full timer in direct competition with VUE. More CE`s join the ranks of "Moles" sending in info on the hive. Only three cubes do not have moles at this time, most have more than one. If you would like to join in on exposing Jeff and the evil empire ,here are some guidelines. Never use a company computer to look at this site or to send email to us. If you can use a non home computer(internet cafe` or library). Use a third party email if you can. A recent FE sent this in,

" Jeff was spotted in Baghdad."

More comments on Jeffs folly rolled in " This may be Jeffs exit strategy from Emmis. He needs to come up with some scam in the next year and a half before the mounting Emmis debt comes due. He should try to get his own house in order before trying some ponsy scheme on the industry." and " He has yet to have one viable idea in his short stint in TV." If he did not try this crap, he would be caught by a news crew on Bourbon St. running a shell or rasso game :-) The blue haired one in Florida has changed to purple streaks. Moral at Central crapping command is dropping as they learn how under paid they are. NAB follow up, a FE who went to the show reported that Florical was not doing well " I asked them about Central Casting and even they did not want to push that stuff, they suggested master control automation instead." and " I did over hear a few conversations about EMMISSUCKS, I had to bite my tongue not to join in." We are all still waiting for Emmis to finish cooking the books so we can get our year end spin report from Jeff.

"Incidentally can you believe
Channel 8 I don't know if more people left in the last 4 months than were
laid off. One thing for sure they have freed up a whole lot money in the
ops budget."

Not just Emmis ,still A-Mess.

4/24/04 ALL AGREE JEFFS PLAN SUCKS!... Many have read and agree "it won`t work". Some base this on technical grounds, some on political ones, but most said " why would any one pay $25 for 15 channels when they could get 200 for $28 to $34 from a dish company?" I would agree ,no one will. This just in from "The Great One" one of the suppliers of the last posting on Jeffs folly

Marshaling the Troops
12 station groups endorse Smulyan's wireless wonderland
By Harry A. Jessell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/26/2004

Jeff Smulyan is a tired but happy campaigner. After three days of pitching his bold wireless-cable plan at the NAB show, the Emmis CEO can claim success. "It's been very gratifying," he says. "I haven't found one broadcaster who isn't interested."

Forget interested.

Think committed.

Twelve TV-station groups publicly endorsed his plan for turning digital TV stations into wireless cable systems, offering a low-cost alternative to cable and satellite (see B&C, 4/19). The power players in Smulyan's new frontier came from five Top 25 TV-station groups: Scripps (No. 15), Clear Channel (No. 16), Raycom (No. 17), Meredith (No. 18), and Media General (No. 20). (Emmis Communications is No. 23 on B&C's annual ranking.) Also backing Smulyan were six smaller groups: Barrington Broadcasting, Citadel Communications, Fisher Broadcasting, Granite Broadcasting, Nexstar Broadcasting, Prime Cities Broadcasting, and Sunbelt Communications.

"Jeff provided us with the traction we have been looking for," says Clear Channel Television President Bill Moll. "He brings credibility, a group of stations, and the leadership needed to unify the industry."

Echoes Ben Tucker of Fisher: "We are prepared to invest money as well as spectrum."

Of course, Smulyan knows his plan is embryonic. He must recruit more and larger broadcasters and parlay support into firm contracts. (He hopes to have signatures within 30 days.) His mission is revolutionary, giving broadcasters a second revenue stream—monthly subscription fees—in addition to ad dollars. But practical issues remain. He is mum on how the new company will be structured, when it will launch, and how much broadcasters will ante up. But he's clear he wants to be "the managing partner."

Smulyan's pitch: urging broadcasters to pool their capital and their digital TV channels in a jointly owned venture. With the channels, they would roll out wireless cable in markets across the country. At NAB, Smulyan argued that pay multicasting was their chance to cut out the cable and satellite "middlemen" who have created $350 billion in value on their backs. It's also an opportunity to forge a direct relationship with consumers, stunting the growth of cable systems that compete for local ad dollars.

As he sees it, cooperating digital stations in a market could offer four to six HD broadcast networks and 30 "must-have" cable networks for $25. Subscribers would buy a set-top box to receive and decode the digital signals. "This works well under 10%," Smulyan says, "but we believe consumer acceptance will take it beyond 15%."

Providing the backbone for the local services, the venture requires a capital investment between $500 million and $700 million over three to four years, he says. But it could generate revenues of as much as $6 billion within five years with margins "in the high teens to the mid 20s."

One twist: competitor USDTV, the pay-multicasting venture already up and running. Over the past few months, the startup launched its service in three markets: Salt Lake City; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Las Vegas. At his NAB presentations, USDTV chief Steve Lindsley declared himself in "violent agreement" with Smulyan on the pay-multicasting concept. Indeed, he sounds like him: "The game is now on for broadcasters to monetize their digital spectrum and compete for recurring pay-TV revenue."

Yet USDTV's service is more modest than Smulyan's. The USDTV package includes 12 cable channel and sells for $19.95 per month. So far, the soft launches have yielded 1,200 subscribers. But Lindsley expects that number to rise once his May marketing campaign begins. Unlike Smulyan, USDTV has definitive agreements to use broadcasters' digital channels. If it concludes additional agreements with broadcasters in the next few months, USDTV will roll out service in up to 30 markets and count 200,000 subscribers by year's end. Targeted cities: Los Angeles; Sacramento, Calif.; Fresno, Calif.: Dallas; Houston; San Antonio; and Norfolk, Va.

"These two guys have to consolidate their ideas," says Roger Odgen, senior vice president of Gannett TV, the eight-largest TV group. "If they come together, we will take a hard look at it." But a merger seems unlikely. Smulyan wants the venture to be "100% owned by broadcasters" and not include venture capitalists who may not have the necessary long-term commitment. "I don't see a third party controlling our destiny," he says.

Lindsley dismisses such concerns, claiming that venture capital has allowed USDTV to survive. Plus, he adds, broadcasters could be brought into USDTV in a way in which they would eventually "own and control it."

Still, objections to Smulyan's plan remain. Some station owners think getting broadcasters on board will be tough. Says Paxson Communications' Bud Paxson, "It's like herding cats."

His digital stations reach 65% of the 108.6 million TV, and he wants to exploit them. As many as 15 entertainment and educational entities, he says, have inquired about leasing the digital spectrum, offering as much as $1.50 per home per month. The best offer he has received from pay multicasters has been 30¢. "I don't think we have seen the right plan," he says.

Bishop Cheen, an analyst for Wachovia Securities, chimes in that cable networks will undoubtedly try to gouge the venture on license fees.

Smulyan isn't fazed.

He'll supply different levels of participation and says equity would be proportional to contribution. More importantly, he needs a big broadcast network to crack a major market. Of the Big Four, ABC is said to be the most interested, although execs there declined comment.

Second-tier station groups Tribune, Gannett, Hearst-Argyle, Sinclair, and Belo are talking to Smulyan and USDTV, but none is jumping. Sinclair has some spectrum deals with USDTV, but neither party would say how many markets are involved.

Ogden says broadcasters have to be cautious. "To make a long-term bet on something that is unproven can be a problem," he says. Multicasting is one idea; "there are more to come." (Gannett and other NBC affiliates have pledged to set aside one SD digital channel and work with NBC to jointly develop a local weather/news alert service.)

Clear Channel's Moll is more optimistic. He believes the large broadcasters will eventually come around and join him on the Smulyan team. Moll says, "I don't think it's that they said no. It's just they haven't said yes."

Greed will cause many others to lose as well, same way they did with Jeffs internet radio dud.

More trouble at KOIN but I can not get into it now. After a recent contact with another FE ,he said in part

"Incidentally can you believe
Channel 8, I don't know if more people left in the last 4 months than were
laid off. One thing for sure they have freed up a whole lot money in the
ops budget. "

One of many CE`s who have jumped on the band wagon put it this way,

" I was watching Ben-Hur and updating my resume`,all I could think of
is how Emmis treats us and how fast they would fire me
if Jeff could automate my job. I am not going to stay long enough
to give them a chance. The guy we got from you is showing signs of regret. "

You live to serve this ship, keep rowing.

4/21/04 NAB ALERT ,WARNING WILL ROBINSON!!.. I received a few pre release copies of an article that was published in Broadcasting & Cable , yes I said pre release. These were apparently sent in by people inside the magazine. I could not verify this until it was published.

"Can This Man Save Broadcast TV?
Emmis's Smulyan describes plan to profit from digital
By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/19/2004

After months of plotting in secret, Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan is unveiling a plan that he claims will resolve broadcast stations' greatest quandary: how to make money off their new digital signals.

Onstage and in meetings during the NAB show in Las Vegas this week, he'll lobby his fellow TV broadcasters to pool their digital spectrum in a bold effort to offer a new wireless cable service in cities nationwide. Under the plan, stations would offer subscribers a package of 15 or so of the most popular cable networks for $25 a month—a big discount from cable and satellite TV.

Smulyan's plan, unthinkable only a few years ago, turns a time-worn TV business model on its ear through a clever trick of technology. The cable industry was born in the 1950s by retransmitting local TV stations. Now, using new digital spectrum, broadcasters would retransmit the signals of cable networks—over the air.

"I want to preserve the future of over-the-air broadcasting," Smulyan told B&C last week in an exclusive interview, "and I think I have the answer."

The issue, he says, is greater than helping stations exploit their new digital real estate and to somehow recover the $3 billion they spent upgrading stations and towers. He casts the business as a way for stations to rise up against cable and, in the process, end their total dependence on a single revenue stream, advertising. Stations are feeling increased pressure these days from cable networks, which are diverting viewers away, and local cable systems, which strike at the stations' hearts with stronger local ad-sales operations.

Smulyan's quixotic quest faces an array of technology, business, and political obstacles. To succeed, he needs to build a partnership of major TV-station owners, a notoriously uncooperative and risk-averse crowd. Entering the biggest cities will require the collaboration of the big networks—particularly NBC and ABC—whose stations dominate large markets. CBS has already said it has no interest in other multicast plans.

Smulyan concedes that he has not settled on a business model or technology approach, and he plans to provide stations more specifics within 45 days. Existing multicast technology is still plagued with reception problems under certain conditions. Even if the system works well, it's unclear how many people will pay for a limited selection of cable channels.

Consultants hired by Smulyan estimate that 10%-15% of TV homes could be drawn to a low-cost service, and he estimates that three-quarters of the customers would come from existing cable and DBS consumers who consider their service too expensive.

For their part, cable and DBS operators see profits in more channels and features, not fewer. Smulyan shrugs. "There's a market for low-end product in any business you can name," he says.

Nonetheless, the plan is getting the attention of major broadcasters. Indianapolis-based Emmis is a relatively small player in TV stations (No. 23 of B&C's Top 25 TV Station Groups; see page 50) and is best-known as a radio-station group. But Smulyan talks about TV with the zealotry of an old-timer and is passionate enough to bring key players into the tent, even if he can't totally convert them. Big groups like Post-Newsweek and Media General have expressed interest. "We are very supportive," says Gary Chapman, CEO of LIN Television.

But broadcasters sold on the idea of retransmitting cable channels have other choices. One group, USDTV (see page 34), is well ahead of Smulyan in launching similar systems and faces similar obstacles. The Utah-based company, backed by a venture-capital group formed by ex-Wal-Mart executives, is leasing spare spectrum from stations in Salt Lake City and Albuquerque, N.M., and plans to launch in Las Vegas this week. At least two similar ventures are trying to get off the ground.

So why should broadcasters back the Emmis model over others? Smulyan preaches with fervor that the business should be homegrown, started by broadcasters, owned by broadcasters. He sees USDTV as an echo of a trap broadcasters fell into when cable systems started retransmitting their signals: permitting an outsider to stand between TV stations and their viewers.

USDTV CEO Steve Lindsley doesn't see much distinction between himself and Smulyan. "There is not really a significant difference between the plans," he says. USDTV's plan has always been to get up and running then asking broadcasters to buy in. "It's very important for the broadcasters to understand that our interests are allied with their interest."

But Smulyan's sermon hits home with some station owners. Jim Zimmerman, president of Media General Broadcast, says Smulyan's plan "allows us to maintain control of our spectrum."

Smulyan envisions broadcasters in each market launching a service charging $25 monthly for all local HDTV broadcast signals plus 12 to 15 cable networks such as CNN, MTV, or Discovery. The goal: to hawk the most popular channels, since most cable and DBS subscribers tend to watch a just a handful of channels regularly. Key to the plan is development of a low-cost set-top box that would decode the encrypted digital signals and display them on TV sets ranging from 30-year-old B&Ws to the latest widescreen HDTVs. Smulyan expects to sell it for $99 and claims they can eventually be produced in volume for just $50. USDTV's similar gear currently costs $250.

Under one financial model, stations would be paid retransmission consent fees of 40¢ to 50¢ per subscriber—an uncertain financial gain for broadcasters. In Emmis's biggest market, Orlando, Fla., where it owns The WB affiliate WKCF, TV stations sold $175 million of advertising last year. If a multicast cable system had secured 10% penetration, it would net around $12 million, to be divided among the national parent company and five stations.

Despite the naysayers, Smulyan argues that his is the best suggestion for use of the digital spectrum, especially given the lukewarm reception of affiliates to network ideas for starting local weather and news channels.

Smulyan says early conversations with broadcasters energize him: "The last 10 days have been the most satisfying in my 40 years in the business."

If any one believes this, I have some swamp land I need to sell. I passed this around the local SBE meeting and all had a big chuckle. All said it was doomed to fail for both technical and political reasons. The odd thing is Jeff is putting in low power DTV transmitters and talking about using this spectrum for other services. This from the guy who brought us the M5 ,SX NET and a failed internet radio plan.I am shocked that the NAB would listen to this BS, they got the same hype about the M5 and now all know it is and was a failure. Before that BIG "M" spoke to the NAB on how to retain employees. Some one at the NAB needs to start doing research on speakers. I have updated the WVUE alumni page and added a link to the bottom of this page. I just got an Email from inside the local cube ," I thought you may find this funny, WVUE -Your Weather Authority was shut out of an upcoming awards in the weather category, we did not get any thing for weather." Strange thing, each time I try to cut back on this page , Emmis and Jeff do some thing stupid. I started prep for this post on Monday late as Ben-Hur`s naval battle was just getting under way on TCM. As I finish The Terminator is beginning on Spike TV, karma or what? " Row well and live." from #41

4/16/04 Another drone exits the hive.... Adam Norris jumps across the street to join Bob and the growing number of FE`s at WGNO. Adam was screwed once by the hive ,he was terminated and then re-hired at a lower salary. The re-hiring was done by local news management to avoid losing a quality human, for more details check the archives. In what one CE described as a "stampede for the door" more Beta tapes are being dubed for resume`s than news stories. So many CE`s have had enough, they are getting out or seriously looking for the first time. One recent re-assimilation may be reversed as it is rumored that she has told her better half to "stay put for now". She may be joining him back in the lone star state. Captain Cook does not seem to be concerned when he was contacted while on vacation ,according to the Times-Picayune,in the article Snell says "We get our hour long newscasts on the air with more ease than we did with 40 percent more staff," ,not knowing the total context of this quote ,I will not comment but I will pass along some rebuts to it by some ticked CE`s. My Email, voice mail and even snail mail box were loaded with items like, "how dare he say things are easier,he should be out there doing the job of the three people each one of us covers for. Maybe he has been over paid for so long he has forgotten what it is like in the trenches.", " I do not know how easy his job is but I now shoot and edit many times what I had too before and put in tons of over time. At first I enjoyed the money but now I would like to see my family once in a while and get some rest." ," Give me $200,000 a year like he gets and I will not complain, until then he should just take his money and not speak for the working drones.", I must say the comment by John does not seem to be in character. I think he may want to put it in context or correct it for his fellow drones. Another broadcaster told me that " all the rest of the stations in town should set up a job fair in VUE`s court yard.". This broke me up for ten minuets. I picked up a new freelance client for my broadcast maintenance division and when I answered one of the many cell calls today he over heard me discussing things in the local cube. After I got off the phone he asked " Do you run that web site?" I filled him in and he broke up ,we all had a good one at Jeffs expense.Captain Cook told some CE`s that he does not plan to stay with Emmis after 2006, this is coincidentally the same time most of Emmises debt will come due. I am posting before my normal Saturday time because so much came in this week. The most humorous comment was sent in just after the Norris thing, " I think you will enjoy this ,working for Emmis is like working for ...

HELLJEFF

4/13/04 EXTRA-EXTRA EXCLUSIVE...

Keith Esparros current News director of the local WVUE cube quits to take job on west coast out of the hive. This is just one of many high ranking news humans escaping the evil empire in the last few months. I had a side bet with an FE that Keith would be next after Bob and it would be with in a month, he owes me a buck! it took quite some time for GB to convince Keith to come to WVUE and I am sure it did not take captain Cook long to convince him to look elsewhere.Good luck Keith, there is no way but up after Emmis. WVUE drone loses press credential for violation of rules on womens final four in New Orleans. With the cut backs on humans , non sports photogs have to cover sports, they do not always know the rules. Last one out ,turn off the lights!

4/10/04 WVUE DTV can be seen... if you have the appropriate gear. I confirmed what some viewers said about only keying the station ID on a receiver. So to see if I could get an image I fired up a receiver at the New Orleans WTC and got a picture. All us engineers watching broke up laughing. It seems as though Vic has not figured out ho to program his upconverter. Now we all looked at the signal quality (or lack of it), yes it is an upconverted M5 ultra low res image.The bit rate error was low indicating we got a good signal from the tuna can, we had to , we had an antenna at 330 feet, line of site to the VUE/YES stick and only ten feet of feed line feeding a broadcast reference receiver. The crap in the signal is the true look of the M5 in HD. Oh yes the audio sucked as well. So if you wish to see VUE in digital, put up a 300 foot tower, put a 28 element yagi on top of it, run 7/8 heliax down to a broadcast receiver and wa-la you to can get a crappy upconverted M5 feed, if you live with in ten miles of the transmitter. A CE from the local cube said ..

" I was just watching ABC and they had the movie "The Ten Commandments" on. I could not help but see the parallel to the recent goings on here at WVUE. Specifically the scene were Moses/Heston is before Pharaoh and Pharaoh orders his name stricken from all books,tablets and obelisk ,also that his name go unspoken. This is much like what is going on around here with your name. I will point out that a few thousand years later we all know the name Moses but few if any know the name of the Pharaoh.

Rock on (XXXX)"

While I would not compare my self to Moses , the scene does bring in some parallels. Jeff and Emmis have never learned "do not kill the messenger" as they continue to try to put presure on this messenger, your web master. They figure if no one knows of the problems with in the hive, there must not be any.Emmis 4Q earning call set for April 15 at 9AM eastern. Listen in to hear Jeff spin the numbers. As an anchor returns to the air on KOIN after breast cancer surgery, I wonder how long before the hive gets rid of her to head off any more medical expenses? KOIN is also looking for even more drones than I reported earlier, true signs of trouble for KOINers.Vanessa Oubre was mentioned in earlier emails is now the GM of WALA , Caption Cook could not wait to get rid of her. Some have wandered why no reports on big E and cable world, through back room deals he has managed to keep all his corruption behind an iron curtain. Not one word was said at city hall when the contact was renewed with out bids. I have updated the history section of this page ,take some time and read it over.Here's one for the CE who emailed on the Moses thing. So let it be written,so let it be done.

4/3/03 WVUE Launches DTV... but no one can see it. Thursday night VUE put there DTV QRP transmitter on the air. According to the people I know with receivers ,all they could get from VUE was enough data to cue the in box ID, no picture or sound. It seems as though 7.5KW does not go vary far.Vic may fix it ,just like he has in the past LINK .All Emmis is concerned with is satisfying the FCC.VUE will also be getting a Larcan solid state VHF transmitter replacement, One odd note is the current CE transmitter guy is not on the list for training, looks like they plan to give him the tap.This would be the norm for Emmis to can an older drone, yes that is age discrimination. More trouble at KOIN,

Shirley Hancock gave KOIN the #1 noon news. She co-
anchored the 5pm with Jeff Gianola, who is still head
male anchor at KOIN. AR&D's research showed that
Hancock's popularity might be waning. A comment was
made that she had the opportunity to also anchor the
11pm and if she had taken the opportunity, she might
have had a better chance. She had not taken the
opportunity because she was raising children and wanted
to be home with them. Too bad for her "bad career
decision" and Emmis let her go. She has a lawsuit
against the company that's being swept under the rug.
At least three other KOIN female employees have
visited Hancock's lawyer with complaints of company
sexism. Complaints were taken to corporate HR and
swept under the rug there, as well. Seems corporate
HR's policy is to take the complaint directly to the
manager who is being complained against and ask,
"Did you do this?" and when the manager denies, the
employee is told Emmis did nothing wrong...By the
way, the noon news has dropped to #2 and in some
cases #3 for midday news in the market (out of three
stations that do local midday news) since Hancock
left. Lots of viewers called in to complain.
Speaking of balancing career and family, another
of KOIN's survey complaints was that people with
families were chosen to work holidays before people
who didn't so lots of KOIN-Emmis children didn't
get to see their folks...So there's lip service given to
family values but in reality, your best way to get
ahead at Emmis is to sacrifice the rest of your life
and follow someone else's instructions; forget about
using your mind and talents, and forget about TV as
art, entertainment and information meant to be a
public service...

KOIN anchor weighs in on newscast practices..

In an article in Gazette-Times about general direction of news KOIN anchor Mike Donahue said,

"station owners have lost sight of what viewers want — and have tended to rely on surveys and consultants.

"The fact is that station owners have misread what you want. This mistake could prove fatal to this business that I love," Donahue said.

He added that the de facto journalistic rule of "if it bleeds it leads" has changed newscasts for the worse, and said it has been exacerbated since the 1980s by a toothless Federal Communications Commission, and network greed.

"At one time the airwaves belonged to people, to you," Donahue said. "News used to be the rent that the station paid to you, the landlord. Today, that's changed. That license that we have to use the public airwaves has been turned into a license to make money."

Crime news has become a mainstay of television news Donahue said, with over half an evening broadcast devoted to crime coverage.

He said research has found that the downside of that reliance is that viewers become increasingly cynical and withdrawn.

"Crime news creates a ‘mean world' syndrome," Donahue said. "It's not unusual for 50 percent plus of the news to be a crime story. Some crime stories are legitimate. But a lot of crime stories aren't. We could be doing more news that's of use to you."

While he spoke in general it was obvious he was targeting companies like Emmis. I got an email from a CE who wanted to know "Has the gag order changed since you got yours, and posted it?" Well I did not know so I took a poll of 20 FEs that left the hive over the last year or so. Of the 15 who responded the following was indicated " it is identical" and "not one word has been changed" so all the CE`s can go read it in anticipation of getting there own copy when they get the tap. Surfer dude is in town for final four and he could not be happier to be out of the hive. I heard from "The Dave" and he is glad to be out of TV. Another FE after hearing some of this at NOC said "are you not glad to be out of there?" I replied "always".

4/1/04 Emmis Stock at $65....Jeff scraps M5 for high quality human run stations. Emmis lowers employee health co-pays. Jeff shows concern for humans and issues a 10% across the board raises. Emmis cuts over paid managements salaries by 15%. If you believe any of this check the date.

3/28/04 The People Company Exposes... 92 year old rape victim , violated two more times by Emmis cube WFTX-TV FOX 4 when they showed her face in the clear on two different newscast. Follow this link for more info http://news-press.com/news/bonita/040324verdict.html the judge was ticked and has stated he will fine the next media outlet that discloses a rape victims ID. It is illegal to disclose a rape victims ID in Florida.Many people have been raped by Emmis this is just one more to Jeff. Info on other cubes is filtering in , " If you think KOIN has it bad you should try WALA , Jeff and his bunch built this cube with only a few drones in mind and no MC." also " Why do they not just sell some of the stations?". They probably will, from the emails it looks like KOIN is a good candidate. None of the M5 stations will be sold because it would cost to much to go back to standard control. Jeff sold A-Mess of radio last year so it is time for some TV this year. We are all waiting for our year end stock holders reports as the stock hovers at $23+ a share.Some have noticed the removal of two links from this site, they were no longer being updated.#41 says " Row well and live."

3/24/04 KOIN change... In this rare mid week posting we will look at the changes in KOIN`s operation since they were assimilated. It is vary simmular to the VUE time line except they never got to the centralcrapping stage. In the purg of 3/15/01 it was reported by Emmis that 15 drones bought it ,in fact it was 30 that got the Emmis tap. Over the years I have received a few tid bits from FE`s but none like the group of emails just in. In order to protect the ID of this drone I have had to bleep out some sections. A portion of this was confirmed through other sources but some is only from this one FE.

Does FE mean Former Emmis?

I just found your site today, when another former employee
(FE...) of KOIN in Portland, directed me to it. Her husband
had found it in searching the Web.

Gee, the standard Gag Order! I got one! (XXXX)

"Emmis never turns down unemployment
benefits." In the state of Oregon, if you accept a severance
agreement, you normally have to fight to get unemployment
because the state won't even put it through to the employer.
I presented all of my notes on what had happened to me, to
the Oregon office, and because I had situations well-
documented, (XXXXX).

My last official day on the job was (XXXX). Go figure.

Emmis fired KOIN's GM and brought in Lippoff from Orlando.
Lippoff was one of their main competitors in Florida, so what
better reason...if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Or get 'em to
join you. It's been said by Emmis top guys(XXXX) that
the Orlando property is their best. The same corp execs
tell each TV station that it is the best one that the company
owns. I've heard it from the Orlando people, the Albuquerque
people, and the Portland people. However, I heard it from
the floating pieces of crap themselves that Orlando is their
cherry.

Speaking of Albuquerque...Emmis also owns KRQE, the CBS
Affiliate in Albuquerque, New Mexico. FOX news in that market
is on at 9pm and former owner Lee Enterprises (who also used
to own KOIN - I worked for both properties) brought in Dan
Salamone from Detroit, who turned around the station's ratings
and took it up from constant #3 in the market, behind KOAT and
KOB. This was after Lee knew that it would sell its TV stations.
Now, after repeated failures to achieve news numbers in Portland,
Emmis has sent Salamone to the rescue. Research done by
AR&D (Audience Research and Development - I know they
also research Albuquerque; not sure which other properties)
went out of the window when Salamone arrived...research that
was argued against by employees who are also no longer with
the company...and the station is already seeing positive results
of listening to Salamone instead of AR&D. How is it that other
people tried to tell Corporate what the truth was for the market,
but yet, Salamone to the rescue? Mr. Salamone will not be at
KOIN for very long; maybe a few years, but it's not permanent.
Does that mean that Emmis will get the numbers, with Salamone's
help, to a level that makes KOIN sellable? When Emmis initially
bought KOIN, somewhere around 30 people were laid off. It used
to be a reasonably decent place to work before it became slave
labor. CE's of the station interestingly started setting up people
to fail so they would have someone to blame when the corporate
bean counters came around. The CE's who weren't willing to
find scape goats are now gone themselves and also interestingly,
the sheep drones who remain on board blame the exited masses
for the problems that they (we) were trying to fight!! Isn't that
having your cake and eating it too?? Can't last then, can it??
Will we get to see the fall of the Emmispire??

KOIN has also been selling/liquidating "excess" materials, like
old desks and computers, and the newsroom got a face lift...

Last time I saw such activity (temporary corporate execs being
brought in, facelifts) or should I say the last THREE times I saw
this kind of activity, the stations where I was working were sold
within two years. I believe KOIN is heading that way.

WOW that felt good...

thanks for taking the risk to make the site
keep my ID safe...thank you for that also
I don't quite have your courage... ;-)

KOIN is such a nice place to work now with Jeff in control that they need the following alcoves filled with drones.

Assistant News Director
Director Of Marketing
Marketing Intern
Meteorologist/Reporter
News Producer
News Video Journalist
Promotion Writer/Producer
Reporter

I did read the M5 stuff - I am a Trekkie too and I remember
the episode! I will be reading more, you can bet.

Thanks so much for the site. It feels better and I have to
agree that Emmis did me a favor by releasing me from
its evil clutches! Took a long time to recover though. Not
sure I am all the way recovered. Made it feel like an "evil"
world out there. I actually got smart in seeing that I was
the scapegoat and I brought it right up to my boss, one
of the CE's of KOIN (XXXXX) When
I brought it up to him, in classic Emmis fashion, he
denied that it was happening and proceeded to
ignore my work, then tell me I hadn't done any work.
Gee, what was ten hours a day about then?? He'd
say one thing to me verbally and then after I had
done what he verbally said (XXXX) he would EMAIL me something
contradictory to make me think either I was crazy
or couldn't follow instructions. This went on for
months before I (XXXX).

I was (XXXX) I believe that Emmis got shown research that
shows that people will buy more advertising from men
than from women. The sexism at KOIN is horrid. OK
I'll stop for now (or this could be too long again!) thanks
again, looking forward to more - I have the site bookmarked!

Sexism is the norm at Emmis, they have been sued many times for it and lost each time. As for setting people up ,that is also Emmis SOP .I always insisted in orders being put on paper or email format thus establishing a high level of plausible deniablility ( PD to those who know me :-). Speaking of email ,after 3/15/01 no one was left to shut down all the dead email accounts, I had my account set to auto forward all incoming email to my home address. It was fun to read a ton of stuff after I was down sized. I will not let them know how long it went on but let me say it was months :-). A few other FE`s had done the same thing and yep they got the free comedy material.

By the way, Vanessa Oubre who is the RD at WVUE is
also the Emmis Corp RD for the broadcast TV division.
She's exactly the kind of clone Emmis loves. When Ray
Schonbeck used to come out here and go on calls with
our sales staff, he would tell the clients that Emmis had
the best RD in the nation, Vanessa Oubre. Interesting
that KOIN had the best RD in the Portland market after
the Tribune guy went up to Seattle (and the Tribune
guy is a lot better than VO). (XXXXX) By the way, Ray S.
and Randy Bomgarten were the people I was talking
about when I mentioned big chunks rising to the top
and saying that Orlando was really Emmis' best TV
property. Ray was the one who fired Peter, the KOIN GM.
The only reason they let Peter say goodbye to us (Peter
called a station meeting as soon as Ray told him) was
because an article had appeared in the Orlando news
about David Lippoff coming to KOIN before they had a
chance to tell Peter he was fired, so they made a quick
trip on a Friday to let Peter know. They "were" planning
on telling him on Sunday and letting him clean out his
office so we'd all come back Monday to no Peter and no
goodbye.

The stuff I told you about Dan Salamone is news from the
hive. Salamone's arrival was after my departure. Also from
the hive:

KOIN has been at the bottom of the employee survey for
three straight years now. They didn't stop with the
thirty people they laid off in March (they did 15 in one
day but did others on other days - I guess that's how they
justified saying "fifteen...") - they have been continuing to
lay off positions and training those remaining corpses on
two to three jobs in addition to what they were doing before.
That's one reason KOINers are so dissatisfied. Being
micromanaged is up there. And one saying went, "A
rumor mill mentality is being created by upper-level
managers not revealing their plans." It used to be, they
would lock a few of us from KOIN up into a room, feed
us lunch, and show us the research and we were supposed
to keep our mouths shut except for revealing a plan and
putting charts up on the wall in the newsroom. Now,
they have revealed the research to the entire station and
talk like they actually want input, when what Lippoff
really wants is to have everyone nod at how bright he is.
Yeah right, that's why they brought in Salamone,
because Lippoff is so bright. But rather than admit their
mistake in hiring Lippoff (XXXX) they
leave him as VP of Emmis at the station and give
Salamone temporary news director, promotions
director and GM responsibilities. Well, at least Lippoff
is out of Orlando where he was in their hair...

I'm off to that page link you sent
(XXXXX)
again to follow the name links of FE's. By the way,
had a great interview this week for something totally
unrelated to the media...Before I go...

I am a devout fan (XXXX). So how do you stay a step
ahead of them - has it cost you any money to protect yourself?
I ask because I'm something of a crusader myself, even though
now I am still hiding, that's just while I'm strategizing.

Thanks for listening to the "brain dumps" in the three emails
I have now sent you. I felt for a long time like something
was wrong with me, I must be a bad employee. all of that.
It has cost a lot in anxiety, depression, medication, all of
that. I think the only other time I needed Preparation H so
much was after working for Citadel when I was in radio. I
had a bad supervisor who blamed a bunch of crap on me
that he did, and he got fired a month after he fired me, but
it was too late for me - these corporate/industrial people
have a way of supporting decisions made by managers
even when those decisions are obviously stupid. What
IS that! Lippoff is another in that tradition of corporate
supporting the guy who says they have funding problems
while taking corp execs to the best restaurants in town on
the station's dollars...

Sounds like it is SOP for Emmis to cover for the incompetent mismangment decisions.Any one who speaks up is terminated.The Ray Schonbeck mentioned above is the one who has a bone head quote immortalized at the foot of this page. As I have said before this site does not discriminate ,I will post info on any Emmis cube or HQ. Don`t think you were the problem, Jeff and his YES men seem to be the problem. I would love to hear from other FE`s from other cubes.

3/21/04 WVUE Founder dead .....The founder of the then WJMR died this past week.I met him at our 2001 SBE X-Mas meeting (photo on that site), I told him what the evil empire was doing to his station. He was heart broken and told me "What so many built over years was being destroyed by one greedy poorly run company." More moves in the hive as WFTX get a new ND. The FE who sent this in said "unlike the others who did there research and found your site, this guy obviously did not." I am not sure about that , some people are in it just for position and cash , no matter how bad the work enviorment. Noonan replacement at local Emmis cube by FE MS who just a few years ago took off for TEXAS with her hubby BS. She will be the first female AND, her hubby is slated to become a first time photog drone. One CE noted " This will be the first re-assimilation that was voluntary." Some people never learn. DEAL STRUCK between Emmis and WYES, number one rule Jeff, Captain Cook and Vic, don`t tell everyone of a deal when you have one of those infamous gag orders attached to it. The DEAL as I will refer to it will remove WVUE and its owners (A-Mess) from the 99 years maintenance contract that has been in place since the 12-8 channel swap. Some 60+ years were left obligating VUE to fully support WYES`s transmitter site. Now in exchange for major site improvements VUE will only have to maintain the tower and building. I will not go into the nifty gritty but I found it humorous that they attached a gag order to it and then told every one. What may have spurred this on was the transmitter roof in the VUE building leaking like a sieve causing one CE to be injured. The roof was put in place over four years ago as a temp after the original blew off during a storm. It was supposed to be replaced in a few months, typical Emmis to wait 4+ years. When told of the problem of leaks the mid level mismanagement said " I have a plan for that, we will change the wording on the old transmitter from "force air cooled" to "water Cooled". The ultimate in Emmis spin control. I just bumped into an FE from the early days of Emmis, He is happy to be out of there but also ticked at how they treat people. ENN your Emmis authority.

3/16/04 Special-Exclusive "Ides of March" Update.... I have received many well wishes on this anniversary of the beginning of Jeffs final solution to the people problem. Most were like this one

"Hey (XXX),

Thought I'd also wish you a Happy "Ides of March" Anniversary. After struggling with the first 9 months when being shown the door, we moved to a more beautiful state and a much larger and better company. I actually work for a real broadcast company as opposed to fake one. My family and I are much more happier. Thank You Jeff ;)

Keep giving those bas#^(*ds hell,"

A bunch more ended there comments with "and how are you doing?". Well to bring all the FE`s who have moved out of state up to date, here in brief is what I have done since my free police escort by A-Mess. For the first few months I took care of some family matters, then I got a position two blocks from the local Emmis cube, They ran into bad times after 911 and once again I was looking, It took me just one day to land a new position with a real large multi media company. The first thing I told them about in the interview was this web site. My reputation for honesty and quality engineering prevailed and bam I am still there. Also I am still posting this little online rag. And so it goes.

3/15/04 Freedom anniversary day update... It is hard to believe its been three years since I got the Emmis thank you tap and free police escort out of the cube but it has. In that short period of time the collaborators in the terminations of so many humans have them selves been terminated. Poetic justice if I do say so. The system has displayed every problem humans like me said it would and many more with no cure in site. I can not resist "I told you so!" as did many other drones. I do need to thank Jeff and his incompetent mid level drones for giving me and the others the opportunity to get a better employer and be free of Emmis. I did hear from a bunch of FE`s since the last posting. A few of these were face to face and it was an eye opener for some to hear and see what Jeff has been up to. It was the first time some of these FE`s had seen this site and I filled them in on some of the non posted items as well. One said

" I knew of your site, we all do, I was just afraid I would get depressed reading what Emmis was really up to. Now that I am out I think you have just touched on the tip of the ice burg when it comes to how poorly they treat the staffers. You also only skim the surface on how un-equal the distribution of profits and benefits actually is. If you only knew, I can not discuss it any further."

She did get a bit more detailed but it was off the record and I agreed not to post the info just in case the mole hunters could put it together.Another FE just sent this in,

"Hey (XXXX),

I was just telling my wife that the 3 year anniversary of our departure was coming up tomorrow.
I couldn't be doing better and have been for about 2 1/2 years now. Plenty of freelance work and so much free time to do whatever I feel like doing. I actually work an average of about 12 - 15 hours a week--total ! Also, I never, ever have to work a night shift or overtime again. All of my video equipment is totally paid off.
I take vacations whenever I please, in fact my wife and I are going to Australia for 3 weeks at the end of April. I don't miss that daily news grind one tiny bit. It's so good to be able to shoot video for a couple of hours and just hand the tape off for an editor to cut and then go home or wherever I want to go. Meanwhile earning a couple of days pay in just a few hours. It's great not to be a drone anymore!! Those guys at VUE have given me a huge gift so I suppose I should be thanking them.

Happy anniversary,"

Signature withheld to protect the FE.A FE emailed me concerned the the postings may stop or slow down,

"After leaving VUE under the Skippy Lansche regime I was at (XXX) years and now website sales manager for (XXXX).com I am a faithful reader of your site and get cranky when you don't post exactly once each week. But, even Emmis and what's left of the station can have screw up news every single week. I just like looking for it."

There are weekly screw ups, but it has become the norm for the M5 to have poor video, bad switching and total loss of signal. For example if I were to report each 10 min to 4 hour outage ,I would run out of web space. I will report on news worthy events. Quite a few FE`s and CE`s have told me that it does one good to read how totally incompetent Emmis is and that as one CE put it,

" They could shut you down in one of four ways, first would be to fix the piss poor Emmis management (never happen),next would be for you to have an "accident", or they could fire all human employees (possible) and last is just buy you out ( I do not know if they have enough cash for that one.)."

As I have said before ,this site is for all the CE`s and FEs who need an outlet to the world. There is one way this site could lose its input from CE`s and that is if they all want to go to the Emmis shower/gas chambers with out letting the world know what is going on in the various stalags. A word of advice to all CE`s ,don`t be sheeple ,go kicking and screaming. Given the chance run for the woods, it has to be better than the alterninitive.

3/7/04 ND Shuffle... Quite a few NDs are moving around in the hive. Check the net for details. DTV is progressing now that Jeff is sponging off WYES for antenna location. The antenna is up and feed line but the building has a lot of work left before the tuna can arrives. On the subject of the transmitter, no one locally knows how much power the VUE DTV will have, Jeff is keeping them in the dark. Some think 1000 watts some say as high as 7K watts. Vics excuse to the FCC this month will be " The transmitter is in the mail." A mid level drone from the east wrote "I can not believe what I am now getting wind of, Jeff Smulyan is exploring a regional chief engineer for all the stations under M5 control. This would eliminate local Chief Engineers, that basDFGRH!" I have no idea , it would make some kinda Emmis sense, local chiefs get a bunch of cash to do what? Jeff is making all those type of mismanagement decisions at high levels now. CMX is no more, it is being replaced with Pinnacle stuff. This seems to have puppet master all over it. More fed up drones chime in " With Bob leaving and things getting worse , I guess it is time for me to start looking." and " last one out turn off the lights." Many FEs are now finding out how bad it was under "A mess"

2/29/04 Leap Update...With an influx of new viewers to this site thanks to a plug in NEWSBLUES on the Noonan story, I got a bunch of inquiries. I will try to answer some of those now. First is some definitions, FE = Former Employee and CE= Current Employee. To find out what the M5 is ,follow the link above. A bunch of humor comes from movies & TV such as Ben Hur ,2001, Star Trek, X Files, Bridge on the River Kwi and more. The site is built in reverse chronological order so weekly visitors can get the latest info with out sifting through the entire site. If you are a first timer ,I would go to the year one in the archive ,start at the bottom of that page and read foreword. I did get some emails like this one

"Dear Emmis Sucks:

I do not want to identify myself, but I am wondering whether I should apply for the ND job at WFTX that Bob Noonan has turned down.

I am on the west coast and make a good salary, so I'm wondering how much this gig pays? Is there any way you can find out and let me know.

Thanks"

I gave him the same advise, read the site and go into any dealings with the hive with your eyes open. I also got this from a former News Person

"Hi,
As a human who escaped the TV News matrix back in 1997, I found myself
laughing hysterically at your website. TV news is a horrible industry in
which to make a living, unless you find some of the rare good managers that
haven't been corrupted or changed by the bad ones.

Interesting reading about Tony Theissen. I wonder if it's the same Tony
that I worked with in Cincinnati, at WLWT, back in the mid-80s. I was a
producer and he was on the desk -- a beginner but he was a great guy.

I began in news as a reporter and I loved it, but was sucked into
management because I had "people skills." I worked in news for 22 years,
and spent the last 8 of them as a news director in the (XXXX)
company, which is as bad as Emmis, it would appear. I wanted to treat
people well, and did, but when you're the ND in a bad company, some staff
members hate you just because you are hired by the company -- they've been
beaten down so long. I was forced out of TV -- thank God -- after (XXXX)
decided to gradually eliminate reporters and go to "one-man bands." I was
against the idea.

Now I'm the director of media relations at (XXXX) testing
company, and I love it. I have a staff of 5 and we're all friends. No one
is trying to get to the next market, and we're well-paid with great
benefits.

There is a life after TV. Escape from the Matrix! Open your eyes!!!!!!
Anyone who stays in TV long enough becomes Soylent Green!!!!!

Regards,
(XXXX)

The interesting thing in his email was the "one-man bands." comment. Emmis is now testing one man bands in there European cubes. It has become common in Europe to do this and Emmis loves any thing to eliminate carbon based employees. If I was a photog in the hive at this time , I would start looking. I did like how he worked in the Sci-Fi references. I did get a comment on VUEs coverage of Mardi Gras ,

"As one of the worker drones at FOX 8 ,I keep up with your page. We did many big remotes together. I must say that we still get the job done but it is no were near as smooth an ordeal as when you were here. Also the stuff works but it is no were near as nice a package as what you used too whip up. I am including two photos, one from the Popes visit and one from this years Mardi Gras. Yes they both work but yours was much nicer to operate. WGNO got a winner when they hired you. I dread competing with you on the street. I am also "looking"."

The "Pope Rack" from the late 80`s at Xzavier University, covering "The Pope"

I did not post the other pic out of fear it would have given the author up to the Emmis mole hunters. The remaining humans try but there are not many Broadcast Engineers who are also Journeyman Finish carpenters :-). The strange thing is all this hardware is still in the cube but no one knows were it is all located and how to use it. Sorry for the long post, this was the cut down version :-). "Living well is the best revenge."

2/25/04 Noonan update - special edition... Bob Noonan has changed direction and will not be taking the ND job at WFTX. Bob has taken the ND position at WGNO-TV in New Orleans. This is a quadruple hit for the hive, first VUE loses Bob ,second FTX loses him and third A-Mess loses him and last but not least he goes to work in direct competition with the hive. When I heard this in the morning I was in disbelieve and could not be happier that I would be working with Bob again. I wanted to post this as soon as I got the word but that would have beat the official announcements at both stations. Bob will start at GNO in two weeks. It will take that long to remove the Borg implants and nano probes. There are ten more drones I would love to see leave the hive, seven are actively looking. Stay tuned to VUE blues for more on humans freeing them selves.

2/24/04.Mardi-Gras update... Local cube continues to lose humans as Wolfram elects to leave the pack as of Friday. A number of CE`s have relayed the contents of a VUE in house memo concerning the remote crates I designed and built, in this memo staffers are warned not to call the crates "Bach Boxes" ,alternative names were suggested. As one CE put it " once again they are trying thought control but quietly we all will continue to reefer too them as "Bach Boxes". They also get pissed when any one reefers to one of your creations as " A Bachtronics product". We all think this is humorous because of the number of gadgets you built and are still in daily use." Another email said " I do not think we will ever have a "Vic Box"." and " It is amazing how just your name pisses them off, it is hard to keep a strait face. You must be doing some thing right ,ramming speed!". On Lundi-Gras two NBC network guys showed up on Bourbon for there live shots and I came into the Revelers Room (were all the media are set up) and these guys were admiring the "Bach Boxes", one of them said "thats a unique idea , how come the same remote box is at two stations?" I gave them a brief history. The second NBC guy said "You should sell those, you would make a bundle selling them to stations all over the country." I do not know about that but it does make my life easer to use a "Express Remote" than what has become the standard of the industry, a bunch of small boxes and a ton of cables assembled on site.Many of the gadgets I built will probably never be used again ,because no one left knows what they are or what they can do. McKinnon update, I did get some mail on Mikeies departure ,most were glad to see him go but one CE wrote "As an employee of an Emmis station in the midwest, I enjoy reading your website. However, you might want to check the facts on the Mike McKinnon situation. Mike was not fired. In fact, he has been planning to leave and start his own consulting business for months. I'm not really in the loop and I have known since November or December that he was "leaving". Funny thing is, one of his biggest new clients for his consulting firm is Emmis. :)" As I told him ,it may be the official company line that he is now a "consultant" but his future with Emmis has been in doubt since the M5 went on line and with even Jeff realizing the technical and financial failure of the M5 it is no surprise Mikeie was given the same "consulting" job as the last two GM`s of VUE. Only low level drones are terminated ,dept heads "leave to pursue other interest" and high level drones become "consultants". A rose by any other name... One FE said "Mckinnon as a consultant is like a blind person shading cameras or a deaf person running audio for news." after hearing of Mikeie as a consultant. I did not plan this posting and I was hoping things would calm down so I could do more on my telephone collection page,but every time I think things get back into the prison routine at emmis ,I get flooded with info. Remember this site is far all Emmis drones to vent so keep the data flowing. "resistance is NOT futile!"

2/2104 MIKEIE IS OUT-TERMINATED-CANNED... In what may be Jeffs only intelligent decision in eight years ,he has apparently given Mike McKinnon the Emmis boot. Mikeie came to Emmis VIA Big "M" from another large broadcast company were he was some sort of low level engineer. As one FE put it

"Check out Emmis Job Opportunities. Looks like Mikeie
is looking for work. VP of Engineering job open. I have
not confirmed that he was canned, but he is a moron.
HA HA HEE HEE."

Other CE`s report that he is out, one said "It`s about time, how many multi million dollar F$%K up`s can one guy get away with." even in Emmises internal news rag speaks of the M5 not working or even paying for itself. Mikeie is also known for other major technical blunders such as "SX NET". He had a tendency to buy crap that was not tested or vaporware. I only hope he got the Emmis customary ten seconds notice all others get. I am sure he will find a position commensurate with his skill, some were in the fast food service industry.

Strange move in the hive as Bob Noonan , assistant ND at VUE cube takes the ND position at WFTX Cube that was vacated when Tony Theissen had to turn in his torch. Bob was always the level headed leadership in VUE news, he knows news and how to get the job done and work with people. His lose will be hard too recover from ,FTX is getting a good leader. VUE cube gets new Sony studio cameras. This seems strange considering the relatively recent vintage of the BTS cameras. In what has become SOP for VUE the Bourbon Street Krew showed up the day of there first shot and started pulling cable. This gave them no time for problem solving ,and yep there were problems, phone lines installed in the wrong room, glitch switcher that would not work etc. When I heard the team asking each other "what does this switch do?" I could not resist.

This is one of many version 2 crate remotes I designed and built for VUE .

I let the gang know what the switch was for. One CE admired the version three I was running and this person said "we will never have any thing like that. VIC does not believe in custom built stuff." The glitch switcher on top was not repairable in the field and was removed. Because of the no humans policy at Emmis the photog was left to run the remote solo. So audio was set and then abandoned so he could run camera. Once again lowering cost and quality.

Night shots of Bourbon St, Right is down to the river,Left is up to Canal St.

Typical Mardi Gras, lots of T&A. As predicted by this site the FCC is cracking down on Emmis and the companies disregard for the regs. The were hit with a $21K in fines for indecent material on WKQX LINK TO FULL STORY interesting point is the lack of record keeping, just like the M5.Emmis stock down 8% after insider BONGARTEN, RANDALL D.dumps 19,200 shares. VUEblues ..News to amuse.

2/14/04 NEW PSEUDONYM FOR EMMIS... I got many comments on the termination of ND Tony Theissen but this one stood out,

"As a former "A Mess" employee, I have to say I love the site. But Tony Theissen got what he deserved. That guy may have been the worst news director in America.

keep up the great work!"

I did not know the Tony ND but many have said the same as this FE. What made his comment interesting was the PSEUDONYM "A Mess" for Emmis. This had quite a few FE`s laughing allowed. Not only does it phonetically fit but it truly describes the company.I also got this

"All the other sites have caved to the pressure and not longer post such commentary. It is too bad you do not cover the entire broadcast industry.

Ramming speed!!!"

He went on but he was comparing this site to newsblues, tedsturnovers and such. Other than Teds I think this is the only site dedicated to giving FE`s a voice. To all FE`s let it be known how the hive treated you, send us your take on A Mess.

2/10/04 SURFER DUDE CATCHES THE BIG ONE... Award winning surfer photog catches wave to new position out of the hive. He has been trying since Y2K. As he told me many times " I can not stand what they are doing to this place." I saw him a few months ago and gave him some advice on landing a new job, looks like it worked. A FE sent me some info on a site that also list Jeffs income ,in addition he pointed out some of the insider trades to avoid taxis. Check out Yahoo financial section / insider trading. Note Jeff give to a school he sits on the board of and then they sold the crap. Know of some back room deals they are doing... send it in.

2/8/04 FCC CRACK DOWN... With the wardrobe malfunctions of supper bowl and other on air people pushing the envelope of decency , the FCC will be cracking down even more than before. Emmis has had a number of run ins with the commission on this issue and they lost each time. While on vacation I was doing a freelance job when I heard a voice from the past. I had my head in a monitor at a local production house and I finally said allowed " I recognize that voice" I looked up and the FE turned around. I could not believe who it was. The only reporter who had to get SCUBA certified to cover A story. We caught up A bit and he said "I am glad to be out of the biz." and that he never experienced Emmis and from what he has heard they are poor managers.Vic has been overheard telling management types " We will make the DTV deadline, I have a plan." Yah sure.As Emmis nears its corp year end I was reminded of another one of Jeffs broken promises...profit sharing. What reminded me was just finding out how much I get for 2003. In total I got $0.00 from all my time in the hive, I will not disclose what I get now but it is not $0.00, cha-ching! Another reminder, management drones get profit sharing, despite the promises that all would get it or none would. You can tell when Jeff lies- his lips move. When the data on how much Jeff overpaid himself this year,I will post it. If you want to keep up , check out this site. http://www.aflcio.org/corporateamerica/paywatch/ceou/ceou_wkproxy.cfm The polls are still open for this months "excuse to the commission" so send in what you think vic will say this month. A CE told me "once again Emmis is improving the health care system by jacking up the copays and premiums while lowering benefits." He also said " I bend over many times for them, but I have been told it was the correct angle in the wrong direction."

Nice to see some pre-Emmis drones have not lost there sense of humor. " Be happy in you work."

1/26/04 M5 Update... Quite a few took my advice and compared the M5 to all others airing the State of the Union Address. The consensus is "The M5 sucks." no surprise here, some of the comments were..." I could not believe how bad it handles video, hair strands become a brown blob on the M5.", "levels were all off and resolution was half that of the other stations." , " Audio was not to bad ,but it was poorer quality than all others.", I can`t wait for the M5 in HD! A CE who recently saw The Terminator a few times sent this in "He can`t be reasoned with, he can`t be bought, he will not give up, his goal is to terminate all humans - he is the Jeffinator!!!"

I think this pic fits the previous comments.

The FCC is adding staff to investigate large centralized TV operations, this will be a 20% boost to the local field office. I can`t wait. I met up with an FE I have not seen since the purge of 01. He mentioned he had night mirrors about VUE. That is one problem I never had. He also said "I can not remember when I last worked at WVUE" ,I commented "when the M5 went online." the rest of the crowd ( about 30 humans) erupted in laughter. Row well and live from #41

1/19/04 Wrong doing By the hive Confirmed... Many CE`s and FE`s have inquired about Marry Zanakis the female ex-anchor at KHON who sued the empire for wrongful demotion & termination. I get two emails a week asking " how did she fair in her case? " I have not seen any thing in the trades so I emailed her to see how things were going. This is some of her reply.

"Aloha XXXX,
Emmis decided NOT to appeal the jury's verdict that found the company and it's supervisors violated federal law. You'll remember I sued under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that guarantees a woman be returned to her same position following 12 weeks of maternity leave. I believe they did not appeal because they knew they would lose. I am very happy about the outcome. From day one, my mind set and my intention were to drag these people to court and force them to tell a jury why they demoted and then fired a dedicated and hardworking 18 year employee. The judicial process is very difficult and very public. A very fitting way for them to take responsibility for their actions. Following the jury's verdict, more than half of KHON's newsroom employees have called to say "You're my hero, way to go!" I have a standing offer to write a book. I'm still contemplating that.
Mary Zanakis"

I hope this puts closure on this case of the evil one verses one abused drone. I cut out a small section out of this email because it may have inflamed the Devils Advocate (Jeff and his lawyers). If you were one of the many following this case ,feel free to send Mary a atagirl email...her name in the email reply is a hot link to her email. If she does write a book ,I will be first in line to buy it followed by many FE`s and CE`s. It is with deep regret that VUEBLUES notes the passing of Buddy Risotto from FE to RIP status. Buddy was well known by most of the local news people for his decades of service at WVUE. He was lucky never to have experienced EMMIS. He will be missed.

1/18/04 State of the hive address.... With the president scheduled for 8pm Tuesday state of the union address, this should give all Cubetalk viewers the chance to see for your selves what the M5 does to video and audio. In a series of articles in the living sections of the paper ,Dave Walker talked about his positive out look for digital television. there was one noted exception...WVUE. He pointed out the FCC admonishment and indicated that he did not think they would make the next deadline set for May. I agree ,Jeff has to do all that is possible to bring up the stock before the fourth quarter closes (end of Feb for the hive). The stock has taken a big hit since it peaked a few days back. Drones seem to feel some thing bad coming, I helped two more polish there resumes. An FE sent me a link to a new site but it does not have much on it "New Orleans TV NEWS" I will keep an eye on this one. Vics excuse to the FCC for this month is and I quote " The dog ate the new transmitter." This was courtesy of a CE. "The truth is out there."

1/5/04 M5 Update... As a new year begins surfer dudes camera may live but it will be intermittent at best. Sources say he will get a new one or take one from another drone. As one CE put it " The more you F$&K up the higher you go at Emmis." another CE said " He keeps this up and he will make management." other sources say Vics "no manuals or extender boards" policy is slowing the repair. Some things never change. Other drones report that a lack of humans is leading to lose of stories, one said " We have your crates but no one to run them." For those who do not know, I developed a compact remote system and built a bunch of the version 2`s for VUE. Only one version one was built ,it served well for five years but it was to big and heavy. It was dismantled for its parts. One of the first things I did at my new place out side of the hive was build a version three. It has much more in it than the version two,in the same size box.

This is a shot of the Version three in action for New Years 2003/ Sugar Bowl 2004. I spent a week on Bourbon Street covering both events for many stations and network.

This was the day time view, night time was X-rated so it will not be posted, its a tough job but some one has to do it :-). Emmis to Sell Interest in Argentine Radio For $7 Million, follow this link for more info. Emmis cans WFTX-36 News Director Tony Theissen , it was his Christmas gift from Jeff. Tony Theissen was in the hive for just over two years.

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