LINK
TO YEAR FOUR
EMMIS M5 YEAR THREE ARCHIVE
1/1/03-12/31/03
12/25/03 CE WALKS THE PLANK... A CE took a long
walk on a short pier, the next thing he knew was he and his gear
were in the water. The camera (Sony DNW-7) was a total loss along
with some other do dads the surfer dude had on him. As one source
put it " he came close to drowning",
it is not know if captain Cook will give him 20 lashes or keel
haul him for the crime of not saving the camera. I am typing this
post while watching a ship full of drones go to ramming speed
(TCM 1:20 ct). It reminds me how good it is to be out of the hive.
A FE emailed me and advised me " Ben
Hur is on, I am sure you will want to catch it." So
while the Drones man the ores at the local cube. I get the day
off and reflect on how all got better after Emmis. My hat is off
to the hard working pre-Emmis humans at the local cube and to
quote from the movie " We keep you
alive to serve this ship, row well and live"
12/21/03 Over 17,000 individual looks in less than
three years and over 50,000 hits...WOW, who would have ever thought
that one posted comment would grow and grow into this. Thanks
to the CE who pointed out the numbers. With its humble beginnings
as a comment on my Alumni Links page to the definitive source
on the evil empire, VUEBlues has become the number one site for
all those researching Emmis. I have had a number of would be investors
thank me for the info, A few financial consultants do the same,
but by for the strangest was a recent inquirery about a drone
from a privet investigator. As usual I will not divulge the source,
so do not ask. Let us just think of who may be under investigation
and for what? I will let all know if I hear the outcome. With
the stock at $27.50 a share, I only have one word for those still
holding it.
"SELL!!!"
Live long and prosper, once you escape... number
41 has. A few CE`s & FE`s noticed I was driving a new set
of wheels; I call it the "The Emmis Severance Special"
because I recently bought a 04 with the severance from the hive.
Yes I waited this long to spend it. Thanks Jeff.
12/16/03 Special Vacation update... Jeff to give
drones a holiday bonus of about $200 each. This may be do in part
to the public disclosure of his stock option grab. One CE put
it this way "He is giving us less than
the sweat off his scrotum in hopes that we will all work till
we drop to make up for all those he canned. This sucks."
That is why the site got its name.
PBS Newshour show holds no punches and slams Centralcrapping http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec03/newscentral_12-11.html
VUE cube gets new locks because
of security breach by a sub contractor. This cube still has the
worst security of any station in New Orleans. Vic is forced to
spend the week end updating M5 hardware and software. No word
if he got AES & EBU into the mix. A vary inside joke. Emmis
looking for new ops central crapping head ,check out there site.
Some may notice that I have added the lone Emmisary to the top
of this page as a reminder of the now defunct Emmisrobot site.And
the band plays on.
12/14/03 M5 is the bomb... according to an article
in TVtechnology. In a section of the rag they call user reports
which also carries in small print that it is advertising, By Joe
Addalia Director of Engineering
Emmis Communications Centralcasting Orlando, FL .This is the guy
that sold Mickie and Jeff on the unrealized dream of low cast
broadcasting. As one CE put it "HE
personally is the one responsible for the massive layoffs. He
was the chief of the WB in FlA when emmis bought them and is the
one who
sold them on the idea of centralcasting as well as the idea that
HE was the man to do it. SO basically.. as corporate EVIL goes..
he is way up on top." In the
article Joe states "Additionally,
Florical’s deterministic command ability allows for the switching
between sources at the remote site and the feed from the HUB if
necessary. This gives another level of redundancy if there was
an isolated failure at the HUB."
This is the part that is to activate the servers at the local
cubes and have them take over...never has worked, never will.
Joe also said " The future for
Emmis Centralcasting and Florical Automation holds many new ideas
and concepts. " not according
to Jeff who realized the worthless money pit that is Centralcrapping.
There is a bunch more spin in the magazine article , feel free
to read it but have a barf bag ready. Emmis Hawaiian cube has
hired now retiring corp chief of LESEA broadcasting . The guy
on the big island never did get his transmitter up to full power.
I am shocked that Doug would take a position in the evil empire,
he is to good for them. I ran into a CE while doing a site survey
and when asked " how's life in the cube" this person
replied "I am trapped and can`t
get out." This has become a
universal reply when you talk to most CE`s one on one. Jeff sells
his options to fast as the stock is currently at $27 a share.
To figure out how much more he could have made ,multiply $5 X
350,000 shares. Another CE told me of the systems now aging and
falling apart from lack of maintenance, I saw this first hand
when I upgraded and moved some hardware for my current employer
at the Louisiana Super Dome. This is what has become of the WVUE
exterior connector box I built and installed two decades ago,
hanging upside down by a piece of rope , open to the elements
and rusting. No one left to do the maintenance I did. Perfect
position to let water run down the cables and into the Box :-)
" Be happy in you work."
12/07/03 M5 Haunted by FE`s... Almost, it has been
noted by many sources that the M5 has a new wrinkle, severe ghosting.
I did not think this was possible but reports keep coming in from
cable and non cable viewers of the M5. I checked a few times (
thats all I could put up with) and I only saw it once. One poor
viewer who had no choice but to watch the M5 said "
I kinda knew what to expect from your postings on WVUE but you
did not mention about the horrible ghost problem they have."
On another note a CE said " We may
not get a year end bonus, I noticed Jeff took his in stock options."
I am sure some one will let me know. Remember Emmis is the people
company.
11/30/03 M5 Update...As another year comes to a
close I still get the same reports on random casting by the M5,
mainly screwing up Saints Football. Most contributors no longer
watch the M5 because it has been to difficult. With Football you
do not have a choice, I am not a football fan ,so I do not watch
the M5 at all. Some reports typically say "
Just as a good play starts ,they go to a promo and we miss the
play. The audio still sucks, will they ever go stereo ?"
and my personal favorite " When will we get the games in HD ?"
answer to the last ...Not going to happen. You may wonder why
questions about WVUE end up with me, as one caller said " you guys answer the phone , WVUE never
does , if they do ,you are told to call corporate." The
Emmis way to deal with a problem is to pass the buck. No more
progress on VUE DTV. Now for the special announcement. FLASH
Emmisrobot has ceased operation. Just before this was to happen,
he or she contacted this webmaster with the following, "
Hey, I have been following your blog for years and find it quite
humorous. I have not been in the hive since the blood letting
of March 01. I now work for @$^&*$#!@ and have not had the time or the balls to update
my site.I think Jeff and his minions would do all they can to
screw with folks who do not just take it up the A$$ and be quiet
about it. I was notified that my site Emmisrobot would be closed
do to inactivity. I do not plan to keep it up out of fear that
Emmis would find me ,thus the use of this third party remailer
I am using. To sum it up feel free to down load the site before
it vanishes and use it in whole or part as you wish. Keep up the
good work on informing the masses. Good luck , gods speed... The
Lone Emmisary :-)." With that email in mind I downloaded
the images and page source code from the Emmisrobot site. Three
days later it was gone. I have removed the link from this site,
it was dead anyway. All further attempts to contact the robot
have gone unanswered. I have not decided how or if I will use
the data and the mystery of who that person was remains intact.
Many FE`s have the same fear of Emmis retaliation. As is stated
in the history section of this site, I never set out to report
this tragedy but some one has to. Live Long and Prosper ... The
Lone Emissary.
11/23/03 EMMIS DROPS THE BALL... Or in this case
the low power DTV transmitter, at least that`s what Vic is going
to tell the commission in his monthly report. I do not buy it,
but maybe they will. According to Vic "The
manufacturer dropped the transmitter on there loading dock."
In a recent discussion with an FCC Field Engineer he brought up
the fact that you do not want to lie to the FCC "We
just pulled a license for some one who put bogus info on a form.
No fine, No suspension... just pulled it."Some asked
"why I was not updating VUEBLUES"
,I got occupied with a few things
like Harris Sigma IOT training ,the election and vacation. For
Jeff`s info Harris Sigma IOT`s are full power DTV Transmitters.
We covered both analog and digital since we replaced every thing.
Had I still been stuck in the hive, I would have never got such
training, no need with low power. On election night I bumped into
a mess of CE`s and FE`s. Some of the CE`s said "God
these as$ho!$
suck. Not only do they not plan but we have no engineering help." well that`s what happens when you terminate
your news engineer. VUE was last of 35 media outlets to show up
at the party HQ I was at. I did see some of the hardware is beginning
to show signs of wear and no maintenance. I built the stuff well
but it will not go for ever with no upkeep. I have also noted
no new gizmos, to few doing to much to whip up the little gems.
Special posting next week. "you
live to serve this ship."
11/02/03 JEFF SELLS OUT AGAIN....On Oct 22/03 he
exercised options on 40,000 shares and made $220,000, and again
on the 23rd he got 145,000 more options ranging from $7.75 to
$16.50 and then sold all for more profit.est $2+ million. The
next was a planned sale on the 23rd of another 145,000 shares
for a $4 million profit.That was not enough on the 27th he did
it again to the tune of 175,000 shares. On the first deal he gave
himself options at $16.50 a share and sold at $22 /same day, on
this deal he was given options at $7.75 a share and sold at $22
on same day for a nice profit of just under $2.5 million.Any one
else ever been give an option price of $7.75, don`t think so.
The only other insider even close to Jeff on his insider deals
is some one named RICHARD CUMMINGS. All those drones force to
buy stock (in lue of pay) at a high price and hold it for 18 months
can now get pissed. I am sure all this was perfectly legal but
it does look bad for a company $1.6 billion in debt, just like
Enron. Now for the local cube update, a few conflicting reports
on the DTV transmitter came in. One said
" they have taken delivery of a low power Harris." this
was from an out sider visiting the cube. Insider CE`s say this
is not so " We ordered a transmitter
but the factory has us back ordered for some time." as
I stated before it takes time to put one together ,even if you
wait until your second extension and FCC admonishment
to place your order. I am sure Jeff will try to spin this to justify
the extension. Even if the tower was a valid issue it would not
have prevented one from ordering the transmitter ,antenna and
terminal gear. The real reason for the delay was spelled out in
the first half of this posting, Jeffs profit taking. Just like
Enron only a few are adding up the numbers. Thanks to a few bean
counters for sending in data.Once again the investors and employees
get the shaft.
10/25/03 Emmsi Stock correction... After the
FCC press release the stock started to go back to the level it
should be at.
investors have now seen through Jeffs earlier spin.
Stock ended the week just over $21 a share.WVUE now has to file
monthly reports on the DTV progress or risk fines or loss of the
DTV license. M5 update....It has been noted by viewers of the
world series that the M5 seems to have a mind of its own, slamming
commercials were ever and when ever it wants no matter what is
going on during the games. A few have reported that at one point
the M5 repeated over and over and over DR. Phil and other promos
in what can only be described as an endless loop. Some black holes
were noted but no more than the M5 normally does. It is nice to
see that everything is fixed. A FE over heard a discussion by
some "automation" experts who could not imagine "what was in the minds of the Emmis decision
makers who picked Florical." Answer- greed. Many inquiries
came in about the lack of WVUE coverage of Blanco`s HQ on election
night. From what high level sources inside the cube said " we made a deal with another station and
they screwed us." I wonder if big E was involved.
A CE sent in this link
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0310/tvpomo.html with
the comment "Jeff may consider this
as his next move." if he does not cut out news totally.
Emmis cans Trick Howard news director at KOIN in Portland, he
was terminated on Wednesday. Howard came on board after the purge
in 2001. VUE Blues performs another vital community function.
A number of broadcasters who were down on their current employment
so I gave them the location of this site. All have contacted me
and now have a new favorable out look on their current employers.
Some comments sent in " I will never
bitch again.", " if only a small fraction of what I
read is true, I owe my boss an apology."," Thanks for
the heads up, I will never consider Emmis as an employer!"
The truth shall set you free.
10/20/03 THE SLEEPING DOG AWAKES.... In a press
release by the FCC and an article in the Times Picayune tell of
the total lack of movement on the WVUE DTV project. I do like
some of the colorful verbage used in the news paper article, such
as "putting them on double secrete
probation." This is the FCC official release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 16, 2003
NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
Michelle Russo 202-418-2358
DTV TRANSITION MOVING FORWARD:
FCC SAYS MORE THAN 80% OF COMMERCIAL DTV STATIONS ARE ON THE AIR
Acts on Third Extension Requests for Few Remaining Broadcasters
Washington, D.C. - The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) today said the transition to digital
television is moving forward as 1,061 TV stations, representing
81 percent of all commercial stations, are currently on the air
with a DTV signal. The FCC noted that broadcast stations have
made significant progress and that most of the remaining stations
have made diligent efforts to broadcast a DTV signal. Today, the
FCC took action regarding 141 stations that filed a request for
a third extension. Of these, the FCC granted 104 stations with
an additional six months to begin broadcasting a digital signal.
Seven stations were denied extensions and issued letters of admonishment.
To further a nationwide system of DTV, the FCC adopted in 1997
an aggressive DTV construction schedule. This required television
stations affiliated with the ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC television
networks to build DTV facilities in the ten largest television
markets by May 1, 1999. Stations affiliated with these networks
in television markets ranked 11 through 30 were required to construct
their DTV facilities by November 1, 1999. All other commercial
stations were required to construct their DTV facilities by May
1, 2002, and all noncommercial stations were to have constructed
their stations by May 1, 2003.
Stations requesting extensions
of their DTV deadline are required to demonstrate that failure
to construct has been due to circumstances either unforeseeable
or beyond their control. Moreover, stations must show construction
progress since the grant of their last extension. Stations that
fail to explain their inability to meet their DTV construction
obligation will be subject to the recently-adopted DTV remedial
measures including admonishment,
forfeiture and reporting requirements.
The 104 stations that were
granted a third extension demonstrated that their request was
warranted and showed progress on construction of their facilities
since the grant of their last extension. Examples of delays encountered
by these stations are construction delays; delays in equipment
delivery; local tower siting problems; the September 11th attack
in New York; stations awaiting FCC action on rule makings or applications;
and stations with financial problems.
- more -
Seven stations failed to adequately justify further extension
of their DTV deadline. The FCC admonished these stations and gave
them six months to complete construction of their DTV facilities
or face financial sanctions. During this six month period, the
stations will be subject to periodic reporting requirements to
ensure that construction is progressing. The seven stations are:
WVUE in New Orleans,
LA;
WICZ in Binghamton, NY; WKBW in Buffalo, NY; KMVU in Medford,
OR; WSJU in San Juan, Puerto Rico; WDWL in Bayamon, Puerto Rico;
WJAR in Providence, RI.
The remaining 30 stations
are classified “satellite” stations, which are full
power terrestrial broadcast stations that are authorized to retransmit
all or part of the programming of a parent station that typically
is commonly owned. The issue of whether to permit satellites to
turn in their digital authorization and “flash cut”
to DTV transmission at the end of the transition period is currently
under consideration, and thus the FCC today deferred the construction
deadlines for these stations until that issue is resolved.
Action by the Commission,
October 16, 2003, by Order (FCC 03-250). Chairman Powell, Commissioners
Abernathy, Copps, Martin, and Adelstein.
-FCC-
Media Bureau contact: Shaun
Maher at 202-418-1600.
This is the Papers
coverage
According to the paper, Captain
Cook has no idea so he has no comment. I guess he does not know
were the FCC site is ,so as a service to all those at Emmis who
continue to not no of the rules this is a link to the FCC Web Site. Emmis/Jeff will be
looking for a scape goat for this one, it will not be the evil
ones who made the indecisions, it will be a mid level drone who
will be forced to fall on his sword. As
this site stated many times ,If the FCC were to act on Jeffs BS
DTV delays it would be actionable ,including loss of license.
As of now all they are getting is a slap on the wrist and public
disclosure of the incompetence inside Emmis. The commission just
did not buy the load of crap Jeff was trying to sell. I not only
got five phone calls on this but my mail box was full of living
sections of the paper. With mounting pressure Emmis has now committed
to an actual DTV transmitter. This gives VUE an antenna and depending
on delivery a transmitter in 30+ days. Now all they have to do
is rip the old VUE back up off the YES tower, get some transmission
line, hang it and the new antenna, retrofit the YES building for
power and AC, Buy and install the digital terminal gear, figure
out that the M5 will not handle an HD stream, Up convert the M5
low res stream and get a pis poor digital transmission. Piece
of cake.
10/19/03 An Engineers take on the M5... Not much
new with Jeff and his gang so I think we will all enjoy this tid
bit sent in by a newly assimilated radio engineer drone. This
was sent in a few months ago with some art- enjoy. "Hey
Guy, We were bought (XXXX) and things started getting bad at (XXXX). I could
not believe they would get worse but that was before Emmis took
over. As you would say, they suck. I wanted to find out some more
about these clowns so I started looking on the internet and low
and behold I found your site. At first it explained a lot of there
actions, then I began to laugh but I ended up depressed thinking
what lays ahead for us. I wish it were not true but I think you
have a good vision of how the evil empire works. I like the movie
and Trek references, they fit. A few of us were sitting here reading
your page (on company time using a stand alone PC) , when some
one suggested we could shed some light on how Emmis got the M5.
Some time back some inept scientist discovered a new element that
only existed in the board room at Emmis HQ. The element was dubbed
"managemontioum" it is denser than black hole material
and has unique properties of sucking in all profits. This was
not a useful element until Mikie used the element to create the
M5 illogical processor. The M5 processor ( schematic below) takes
in all ideas and cash from employees ,advertisers and investors(
cash inflow is handled by 10/0 cable) , it then generates the
wrong answers, poor to no return for investors (this is safe guarded
by using a 30 gauge conductor for this out put). Most cash flow
out of the system is directly shunted to Jeffs pockets by another
10/0 cable. Humans leaving by choice or terminations make up the
remaining out put, also a large conductor. The heat sink required
for the M5 weighs 600 pounds and is force air cooled with 10 ,
20 horse power fans. The entire system is commonly known as mismanagement."
10/12/03 CE`s yearn to be free... I ran into more CE`s this week than I have in the
last two years. It is amazing how differently they speak when
not in the cube or were other CE`s can over hear them. I bumped
into these humans every were from Wal-Mart to Five Happiness and
a few of the comments were, "
I am trapped there", " I wish Emmis would sell us.",
" I should just quit!", " Jeff should be sent to
prison...and raped.", " Things have settled down a bit
but we are at an all time low." and
my favorite " It took
decades to build our audience and just a few years to get rid
of them.". I was amazed at how many
still had not read the gag order, I suggested that they should.
The FCC is now polling viewers and listeners of TV and radio stations
to see if they are fulfilling there obligations to serve there
communities, those who do not will not get a rubber stamp when
it comes to license renewal. Under Emmis WVUE has no public service
programming , News dose not count according to the commission.
"Let my people go."
10/5/03 Stock up to almost $22 ... this miracle was pulled off by the spin doctors this
week after report $7.5 million Tuesday posted a second-quarter
profit on strong radio operations. What they failed to report
and the street failed to notice is that this profit would be a
loss if they (EMMIS) spent what they are obligated to on the DTV
build out. If you factor in the company debt and DTV construction
cost the stock should be about $1.76 a share. This will give Jeff
and the boys on the board an excuse for some more big bonuses!
Once again for election night the VUE cube borrows an ALA live
truck ,but this time it made it all the way to Poydras St. with
out hitting a building. I ran into a bunch of FE`s on election
night and one commented on his name being mis spelled on the link
page. If you see incorrect info ,email me the correction. I was
amazed to find out how many CE`s still do not know of the GAG ORDER
, if you are a current drone I would read this thing. Pay close
attention to paragraph 9. Row
well and live.
9/28/03 TWO MORE LEAVE WALA CUBE....James Gordon and Amanda Abbott have escaped the evil
one. One source said "
They got out, I hope to be next!".
Good luck and gods speed. Local WVUE cube may have finally committed
to a DTV plan. Demolition has started at the WYES building to
make room for the low or full power VUE transmitter. An antenna
has been bought but all else is up in the air. With FOX now going
HD instead of the original plan of low res ,many wander how the
M5 will handle it. Should be fun to watch. Emmis is still putting
on the spin to the commission trying to delay spending until next
fiscal year. The Truth is out there...and posted here.
9/22/03 Sports Elimination continues??? As reported by TV
Newsline WALA may drop sports. This would follow the condensing
of staff and news cast. Emmis is doing this sort of thing in other
cubes so to them it makes sense. The Emmis quest to terminate
all carbon based life forms continues.
9/19/03 M5 Two year report card....
Well it`s been tow years since
the M5 developed by the Daystrom Institute and Built by Cyberdyne
Systems and installed in a secure location in Florida. The system
came on line at 9 am two years ago at WVUE , the sole purpose
of the system was to terminate humans and line Jeffs pockets with
the savings.
Let us revue how well this ultimate
solution to the people problem has worked. During the testing
phase of the M5 several major problems were noted. Video quality
was poor, switching was rough, audio was all over the place and
distorted, The local back ups did not kick in when needed, telemetry
was poor at best and errors can not be caught prior to hitting
the fan. These problems were never fixed prior to shipment of
the hardware. They (Emmis and Cyberdyne Systems) said "We can fix these glitches in
a few months." I can not tell you
how many times I have heard that one from a vendor. We all can
remember a series of Feb 02 Times-Picayune articles in which VIC
claimed to found and fix the audio problem , Captain Cook rebutted
VIC`s claim. (check the archive for the articles). In any case
the audio was slightly improved but has never been totally "fixed".
As for the poor switching, that actually got worse than the test
system in Florida because the makers of the M5 forgot about the
speed of light and how long it takes to transcode a signal many
times. The same also goes for the video, it got worse upon implementation
and has not improved. As for telemetry ,the FCC fines, and total
lack of control continue prove how well this part of the system
works. Even a simple thing like moving the BUG off the
opening joke on Futuroma, it never got fixed even after the Cubes
PR person claimed it would be fixed shortly if posible (that
was in April 2002) we are still waiting for that to be fixed.
One unexpected problem with the M5 may be it`s down fall, it has
a much higher operating cost than carbon based life form run stations.
Actual operational cost vary from 8% to 30% higher than pre M5.
This was never more evident than at WALA which has under gone
major management changes after certain parties complained of the
spiraling operating cost. More drones had to be hired for hive
control in Florida ,fiber cost doubled when they found out back
ups were needed (after some back hoe fade). The company in August
2002 finally realized the mistake and announced no further expansion
of central crapping. To sum it all up ,the system does not work,
cost are up and quality and revenue are down. Standard Emmis plan.More
info pores in on DTV plans, or lack of them in the hive.Sources
at Spectra site say VUE may be going back to plan "B"
or "C" or what ever. They still have not found the cheapest
way to do DTV. The latest may include putting the antenna and
transmitter on the WYES structures. Give them five more minuets
and they will come up with plan "J", any thing but spend
money. I finish this posting as TCM plays the end of " The
Battle of Briton" were our reworked Churchill quote
"Never have so few done so much to screw so many"
came from. As Denis Miller
would say if he signed on with Jeff " I have gone to Hell and it is worse than I thought."
9/7/03 Empire update... WTHI in Terre Haute, has dumped its nightly sports
segment, and the local paper
is not happy about it. The drone who sent this in said " This is a plan to cut cost by
bunching sports with news so you do not need a sports director
,photog or adequate staff." WVUE tried
this some time back, it failed. A drone said "it took KHON over half a year to come up with
a new "Brand" for the station from "The Channel
2 News" to "Fox 2, Hawaii's News Channel." The suits had to justify those high salaries they
have. KOIN news anchor Beverly Byer diagnosed with breast cancer
has gone public. Read more about it in this News
Paper article. Emmis has a tendency to terminate drones that
get sick ,so this site will follow this one closely. As we approach
the two year mark for the M5 at VUE I am working on a report card
posting for that week, should be fun. "greed is good" (the
movie Wall Street)
9/1/03 Labor Day update... As I sit here with Cornell Sitou giving the "Be Happy in your work speech" (TCM 6:00pm) I can not help but think of all those
drones trapped building a bridge under poor management. Lets not
forget Jeff is probably spewing at the vary thought of a holiday
for Human Labor , after all he has done to eliminate humans from
the hive. A report on the new sports babe just came in and it
was not flattering. As I told the contributor " She is new and having to deal with assimilation
into Emmis." I will have to try to
catch her if I can tolerate the M5. A FE told me the M5 still
screws up the open to Futurama but he is now getting them on DVD
and reruns on the cartoon network. As he put it "The opening jokes are funny ,now that I can read
them.". Back to Jeff, some one asked
" How`s Jeff doing
,after all he has not sold off any large blocks of Emmis stock
lately?" Well he did not have to.
He is also some sort of big shot for Finishline Sporting Goods
and you guessed it he sold a but load of that stock at a hefty
profit. Another viewer wrote "
Not much new seems to be coming from Emmis lately, can you explain
why?" It is vary simple ,he has scared
most of the remaining humans into silence. The Nazi`s did the
same in WWII. I have not been in the hive in almost three years
,it is up to the remaining humans to tell the world or go out
in a whimper."The
truth is out there"
8/25/03 New Orleans cube
has hired Natalie Angel, a sports reporter
from WTSP-10-CBS in Tampa as its weekend sports babe. Sports anchor
Darrell Greene has been promoted to sports director. Another human
assimilated because they did not do there home work. Advice is
free, always do a simple check of a prospective employer using
the net. In the case of TV stations search for the call letters
and corporate owner. In the case of WVUE and EMMIS you will find
this site as well as Emmis spin.
8/24/03 M5 failure exposed.... It has now been confirmed through many sources that
the company Emmis leased the fiber lines from ,went bankrupt leaving
the four cubes with dark fiber. The VUE cube leases from AT&T
not the defunct company. Emmis has a habit of picking some real
winners for vital services, we all remember who was the corporate
accountants :-) A CE says the previous submission on the gaspmaster
8000 is wrong " The
gaspmaster 8000 does not us carbon monoxide, it uses Zyclon-B." It took me a moment but I got it. Last night just
before 9:00pm I noticed fluctuations in electrical power, my line
monitors indicated voltage swings from 100 to 130 volts, I switched
in my back ups ( which work unlike the M5) I then went exploring
and found this...
The main 3K volt feeder for my block
burning up. I called the proper folks to get it fixed and ran
off my back up for the four hours it took to get Entergy to repair
the line. It did give us a show for an hour as it burned up. The
supper Doppler 8000 was not affected by this glitch in the power
grid. VUE cube advertises to replace drone who switched cubes.
A CE wrote " Hey (XXX),
It has been a year since I last emailed you. Things seem to have
settled down to the routine of prison life, we are all marking
time. I will say most of us miss you and all the gadgets you would
come up with. Not to mention we could actuly get things fixed
in a timely manner. The remaining guys do there best but they
are not you. We are not permitted to utter your name under penalty
of death, just kidding they may not execute any one but they do
rip you a new one if we use a reference to you. I may not be able
to say it in the cube but must of us miss you.We still get your
brand of humor on the Emmis sucks web site. Like WWII pow`s we
live on the info you post, keep up the good work!" I appreciate that some do miss the web master presence
in the cube, but I and the other FE`s are much better off out
of the hive.Some more drones may be joining the ranks of the FE`s
as WALA news consolidation nears, less than a month is what insiders
say. If you find some thing before the Emmis ax falls -do it.
I have been getting some suggestions for a web site "mission
statement" like all those broken promises plastered all over
the VUE cube. So to make things more interesting lets have another
contest for best mission statement to be used on this site. Send
in your ideas and will pick one in a few weeks as we approach
the second anniversary of the M5 going on line. Resistance is
not futile.
8/16/03
M5 Update ... More info on the melt down keeps flowing
in. One party said "
It`s to bad the power failure did not hit Florida, even if the
hub has a generator the fiber repeaters along the lines do not.
Every kid hears from their parents ," Do not put all your
eggs in one basket." who knows what Jeff`s parents told him." I ran into a FE from the Andy Barton
days who enjoyed hearing some of the antics of the evil empire.
The Emmis story is much better than fiction and almost unbelievable.WALA
cube has shake up in management structure, looking for a GM and
vice Chief Engineer, I think the old vice chief may now be chief
after the termination of the old Chief.Florida cube continues
to seek drone to run M5, stock is at $20. It
is with deep regret that I have moved John Landry to the RIP section.
John was a fixture at the VUE cube for decades before retiring
in the 90`s. John never got a computer but he did check the site
from a friends machine. I bumped into him from time to time at
the local Winn-Dixie and kept him up to date. John lost his battle
with cancer some time ago but word just made it to me. He will
be missed by all who knew him.
8/9/03 M5 MELT DOWN.... Not quite but it did show the multiple points of failure
inherent in the M5 system. Most good engineering in broadcast
tries to eliminate any single point of failure in the broadcast
chain. This eliminates the single thread that can be broken. In
the M5 system there are many single points of failure, any one
goes down and your dark."the
more you complicate the plumbing ,the easier it is to screw up
the works." . This also flies in the
face of the K.I.S.S. principle in engineering. In the recent failure
of the M5 ,four fiber lines and there back ups went dark at one
time. The un-manned back up servers located at each cube, FAILED
to work. We have received a number of theories as to why 80% of
the fiber network failed. Because it can not be confirmed will
let you ponder that question for now. The humans at VUE
used there back up fiber to get the WALA feed from the M5, then
the up linked it to ALA getting them back up. It took humans to
bypass the screw ups of poor engineering and planning. Mean time
WALA is planning to condense some of its news cast in what insiders
say is " A ploy to
cut more staff." Some things never
change in the hive. I bumped into the same FE again at one of
those big box like shopping centers, he still says " (XXX) is as
bad as Emmis." I will comment he does
not work for a local TV company. This seems to be the only case
of some one finding an employer as bad as Emmis. Emmis stock is
just shy of $19 a share. "you
live to serve this ship!"
8/08/03 EXTRA...EXTRA -EXCLUSIVE
VUE BLUES REPORT :-) M5 unit blows
big time plunging four of the five cubes in the dark for hours.
Backups failed to work as usual. "Humans at VUE save WALA."
More on this week ends post. "pull
up"
8/03/03 Big Centralized systems
under fire... Law makers are looking
into two large companies centralized systems as not serving the
communities they are licensed in. Hum sounds familiar. With the
recent backlash against the raising of the ownership cap, central
crapping may be next. More drones join the hoards looking for
human run companies. One drone transfers from the VUE cube to
another but stays in the hive. The CE who sent this info suggest
he may want to use the Emmis Employee Assistance Program,
"This is the only
help you get at Emmis, The Gaspmaster 8000." Some one else watches Dilbert. Breath deeply.
7/28/03 "There is another system!!!"
I was hoping to go two weeks between
post but this morning I bumped into two FE`s with some interesting
info, The first was working in another state and is now back in
the metro area. I asked him who he is with now and how did he
like it. The response was a bit of a shocker " I am with (XXX) and they are almost as bad as
Emmis." This was not expected but
I guess there would have to be at least one other company out
there as bad as Emmis to work for. The next FE worked for big
"M" at three different locations ,he said "She slept her way from one position
to the next ,always trying to do better by banging another mover
and shaker. She is now working (if you want to call it that) in
Lafayette LA." I can not confirm this
info but I have heard it from more than one source. "Be Happy in your work."
7/20/03 DTV????... It seems as though Jeff and the gang are reconsidering
going low power again. This will not happen until all other activity
is finished at Load Star. There is no way VUE`s wants will hold
up all those who made actual decisions and plans. Most of Emmis/VUE
plans are tentative at best. Emmis continues to put off the inevitable,spending
money on DTV. It is now estimated that the soonest VUE could launch
DTV is Jan 04. That is if they ever can make up there collective
minds. A CE for another cube asked " Would you consider doing a page of CE`s and
FE`s for our cube?" To be honest I
do not have the time and first hand knowledge to do that, if any
one does get a page going just send me a link and I will post
the link. Well the contest for the top ten useful things to use
an Emmis year end report is over. I got 157 entry`s here are the
top ten with commentary
#10 "Wall
paper for an out house." limited amount
of area would be covered do to the small size of the document.
#9 "wrap
for dead fish" not known how toxic
the ink is , I would not put the report near food items.
#8 "
grill starter." probably work fine
for this.
#7 "
Fender protector, while working on your car." only if you tape it in place.
#6 "
puppy rest room." most dogs would
be frightened by the document.
#5 "
EBAY packing material." Limited use
not much bulk ,even after shredding.
#4 "Beer
cozy" Beer may cause the ink to run
,messing up your hands.
#3
" punishment for condemned prisoners."
this would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
#2
" Dart board target." only good
to ten feet.
And the #1 Use for the Emmis 2002 year
end report....
BIRD CAGE LINER
!
Note that the bird first tried to eat
the page, then decided it was better to just crap on it. Please
do not try this at home -PETA would object. An audio CE from another
cube wrote " They
are playing with the idea of eliminating humans here. Our future
is this..
I think I will be better
off." One of the Emmis Hawaiian cubes
is caught in a scandal of taking trips on the governments nickel
"Vericella also said
that after Sept. 11, 2001, television news station KGMB-9 took
a trip to New York paid for by the Maui Visitors Bureau."
follow this
link for more. Emmis is in about $1.7 billion in debt, a good
deal of this will come do in 2009 and 2011, read more at Moody`s
report. For those who do not remember, Jeff touted how Emmis was
debt free when he took control of the SF stations. Row well.
7/13/03 FE reminder... If you have a change of address ,let me know so I
can update your link. Another FE found this page and wrote
"Hey there -
Don't even begin to ask me how I found this website -- but lo
and behold I did and it gave me a really good laugh. Kudos and
a job well done to you!!
I ran down the list
of names and there are many I do remember. I was there about a
little over a year -- mainly as I was trying to gain that ever-so-valuable
experience as I was just about to graduate from college (UNO).
I worked the (XXX) and then also in the newsroom -- I
guess you could have called me the "hey go copy the rundown
and give everyone a copy" gopher-girl. I was there in the
mid/late 1980's and Phil Nye was the GM -- and everyone everywhere
in the building was running their own version of Peyton Place
and was none too ashamed, either! (lolol) It was still an ABC
affiliate at the time, maybe even still owned by Gaylord Broadcasting
(??)(purely a guess on my part). Lead anchors at the time were
Warren Bell and Margaret Dubuisson. George Jones was still there
but was seen from rarely and heard from even less. Also -- Channel
8's slogan went from "making good things happen" (with
a picture of an "8" that was sinking in the water) to
a picture of a very "leaning and slanted 8" that tells
a story all it's own. Kim Holden had curly/wavy hair down to her
waist and was very fond of extremely short denim mini-skirts (she
too was a gopher girl at the same time as I was). (XXXX)
Well - that's about it for
now -- but should you need to reach me (for whatever reason!)
Here's me: (XXXX) ... Take care, and keep up the great
work!
Regards,
(XXXX)"
A CE from another cube also
just located this site "
I was a bit amused at first but the more I delved into your page
the more I see Emmis is the same every were. I thought I was alone
in my opinion of Jeff and his gang. Rest assured you and the other
drones are not alone in your thoughts of the axis of evil. If
I can get some pics of our M5 ,I will send them in. BTW ours messes
up more than the New Orleans one. I am one of the few left in
(XXX) but I am sure they are working to replace me and the
others.You are braver than I am, keep posting the updates."
As long as drones keep sending
in info and the evil ones continue to rule this will be the voice
of those yearning to breath free. Many voices have been silenced
by threat of termination or worse. I have not been part of the
hive in over two years, its up to the down trodden hordes to inform
the rest of us.The truth is out there, and I will post it.
7/5/03 Indepenance
weekend Update... Lets
put the spin of the Q1 call in prospective, Jeff and the boys
on the board managed to lose $165+ million dollars last year (when
they all got raises for such a good job), this quarter they eked
out $2 million in profit. This was done with creative book keeping,
cutting even deeper on budgets including maintenance and trying
to worm there way out of DTV. These go only so far, next quarter
they will be in the hole again. This will not affect the salaries,stock
options and golden parachutes of the crem de le-crem. A corp CE
sent me this " I thought
you might want to see how Emmis spends some of its money. I could
not get into the Executive areas , Jeff claims all is equal through
out Emmis- that is not even true at HQ."
If you have any shots of the
perks at HQ such as the steam rooms,basketball court etc. Send
them in so we all can see how "equal" things are at
Emmis.An FE said "the
stock peaked at near $24 and dropped like a bomb to $21 after
the Q1 call. The only thing that saved it was they close the market
for the 4th." Editors
note, it ended the week at $21.06. Life in the local cube seems
to have stabilized for now, the big guys are still pondering audio
and news switcher automation. As one local CE put it, " I feel like I am in a WWII concentration
camp, we have all these " Mission Statements" plastering
the walls, mouse pads with the 11 Emmis commandments and the only
thing we are doing is waiting our turns for termination. I would
not take a shower in this place :-). I have never seen such a
more paranoid bunch of folks with such low moral." Sound typical of Emmis to me.Another
note, a few months prior to the anoucment of the elimination of
production people, the production mission statement was removed.
I am celebrating over two years of freedom from the evil empire.
Live long and prosper, after you exit Emmis.
7/1/03 The Street Does not buy it....After the Q1 call Emmis stock fell 5.1%. The street
knows spin when they hear it.Even with the pad in the super Doppler
8000 , the meter got pegged. More ideas roll in on the uses for
the Emmis year end report, top ten to be posted. No more news
on Jeff`s search for a new toy. Resistance is not futile.
6/29/03 LOCAL CUBE UPDATE... WVUE to get new assignment editor to replace drone
who escaped to Texas. While as one insider put it " Its not official yet" it is all over the web ,but the other
sites have the wrong position being filled. This human still has
a chance to break free if they get medical help to rid them selves
of the nano probes. This person did not do there home work before
assimilation , always search the web when considering a new employer.Emmis
Q1 Earnings Call
Scheduled to start Tue, Jul 1, 2003, 9:00 am Eastern, I have put
in a 100dB pad on the supper Doppler 8000.A CE recently stated
" I do not know if
they have a clue about DTV or they may be planning to bypass the
studio totally, but info is sketchy at best." some things never change. Also from
another CE " not a
peep on the employee surveys, if you don`t like the results cancel
the test!" More drones
showing signs of discontent and actively seeking an escape. As
one put it,
And the band plays
on....
6/22/03 "There is another system"
(guess the movie that was from?) Florical
.makers of the M5 have introduced another more advanced system...
it incorporates humans at each spoke station to oversee these
back ups for local operation when the M5 screws up. The enhancements
known to most of us as local "master control" would
take over when the M5 hangs up or transmission lines are cut etc.
This would be handy in times of emergency such as hurricanes.
Jeff will not "upgrade" the M5 because it would involve
hiring humans in addition to the ongoing high cost of the M5.
A similar system run by Sinclair screwed up twice in the last
three weeks leaving two different cities with out breaking news
when Tornadoes tore through town. The News Central would not relinquish
control for the pending disasters.WVUE touts itself as the weather
authority but what will be said if this hurricane season the M5
breaks down again, but this time it may fail with control stuck
switched to the Florida feed. As Mike Boeman said "open the pod bay doors Hal"
we all know the rest. And
a collective "we told
you so" is being said
by all those good engineers that were let go for having spoke
against the M5. "The
Truth Is Out There"
6/15/03 M5 Update...
With all other stations in town nearing completion of there DTV
installs ,Emmis is still trying to get started on the VUE DTV
-CH 29 build. After claiming to the commission that the tower
would not hold the antenna Jeff and Mikie have decided to send
the low power tuna can to another unsuspecting cube. They are
now going to try full power from load star/ spectra site. As one
CE put it " with a
90 to 180 day lead time to build a transmitter and antenna, we
will be lucky to go digital by next January!" He also said "
This will only happen if they get off there collective (pun intended)
asses and place the orders now. They are probably looking for
the cheapest piece of crap they can find, all others bought Harris
but they do not care for quality."
Another CE said "
We plan to split the STL, this leaves us with no back up, but
why not all the M5 back ups do not work any way. The total lack
of planning has not improved one bit since you left." some things never change.Another source indicates
the Cable world folks still have to walk through the hood to get
to there operation, this is not sitting well with them. A number
of FE`s now are working at cable world. A viewer of this site
sent this in.
JEFFLER
This was more in the Emmisrobot style
but why not. Got art, send it in, an FE would like to see more
of the Emmis clowns in art. If you have some of the corporate
Chief engineer, head of TV ETC. send em in.. A few stock holders
have been sending in ideas on uses for the Emmis annual report,
such as " Bird cage liner, Ebay packing material, toilet
paper and more. I will post a top ten in a few weeks so send in
your idea for the work of fiction. More drones looking to escape,
will post when the flee. You live to serve this ship, row well
and live.
6/8/03 Hive report... Finally
the people company sent out its spin control reports and here
is some of the feed back I have received." What a crock of s#$t. My 8 year
old daughter could put out a better book report for school. Every
year this thing has gotten worse. I can`t wait to see what they
do next year." also this " I noticed that once again Jeff
was the only pic in the annual report. It looks like the pic is
his vision of how Emmis should be according to him, Jeff a few
mics and computers. I am including a scan."
"The Final Solution"
Another contributor
noted this tid bit "
I could not believe what was in the annual lies from Emmis. On
page two in a highlighted section was the following spin, "
With two tropical storms bearing down on New Orleans, residents
knew where to turn for information: WVUE-TV`s ratings tripled."
what they failed to mention is that as you put it in one of your
earlier postings ,they were forced to do wall to wall news...
the M5 crashed. This also proved by there own numbers HUMANS =
High ratings. You will never see this in that poorly contrived
piece of carp." An
FE told me " Those
cheap bastards, they own how many magazines and printing presses
and deliver this staple bound report in a folder. Then they want
us to opt out of getting this minimal documentation. Jeff must
be getting another big bonus." and finally this was sent in " I get annual reports from 24 companies I hold
stock in, and this takes the cake for worst presentation, worst
organization of info and most spin." Tell me what you think of the batch or lies. This was
sent in just for fun.
Emmis wants you,
if your silicon based!
6/1/03 M5 tie in...
After the LA. serial killer was caught the following was sent
in by a viewer ,"
I have been keeping up with the situation at FOX 8 through your
site. I finally had the opportunity to truly compare the M5 with
normal broadcast systems. On the day the serial killer was caught
many locals carried the WSB feed. This is what I saw and heard,
the audio was low and distorted going up and down. The video was
hazy and the blue background was crawling. I can honestly say
you are correct in that the M5 still does lower the transmitted
quality. I do not have to comment on the poor switching, that
is now the norm for FOX 8. I will be getting a digital big screen
soon and I can`t wait to see the M5 in HD on a 60 inch set :-).
P.S. Love the page." On another tack
Emmis continues to violate FCC regs in Hawaii by not selling off
one of its stations. This was a problem when I was still a CE
,I wonder how long they will get away with this one. "The FCC is after them for this
but Jeff claims he can not find a buyer."
Thanks to the Hawaii connection for the update. Termination update,
I have been getting some interesting info on how a bunch of mid
level drones have been getting the ax. For the most part the victim
is lured to an off site location , restaurant ,bar or other location.
They are greeted by there higher ranking drones ( note I did not
say superiors.) The victim is told Emmis will no longer need there
services , please do not go back to the station ,your personal
belongings will be brought to you. If you want severance please
read and sign this ,You have 90 days to think about it. You guessed
it , one of those gag orders.
While these victims did not get the police escort that others
got, it shows the policy continues. These now FE`s were given
the customary 10 seconds notice. Most of these people had between
ten and thirty years at there stations. Loyalty continues to be
rewarded by the people company. Communications were shredded to
protect these free humans.At the farewell party for an escaping
on air drone he was heard saying "I will miss the people not the company."
same here. I do not like to post any thing
unconfirmed but the rumors persist on this one. " I hear that the FCC visited again and the tower
lights were not working. They tried to call locally and got no
answer. They called Florida and when the blue haired one answered
the FCC dudes asked " are you having any tower light problems
at WVUE" the blue haired one said " no" the FCC
guy said " That is funny ,we are parked under your tower
and the lights are not working." This all happened at high
levels so no one will talk about it .It is rumored that the fine
was $15,000, $10,000 base fine and $5,000 for repeated offense.
The team will not confirm any of this but they do not deny it."
We may never know. If any one has more
info ,send it in.
Jeff the "Terminator" sent
in by a mid level FE.
Young Arious says " living well is the best revenge."
5/24/03 M5 update....
Jeff gives up on Dodgers bid and is now going after the Angels.
He wants a toy vary badly. While the VUE drones have been told
"DTV will be up in
a few weeks" The site manager for
the DTV installation broke up laughing. M5 system continues to
have digital break up on the air and poor audio. The reports keep
flooding in. A few years ago Vic said it would be "fixed in a few months."
A number of other stories
are in the works but it may cost some carbon based bipeds some
cash or allow the the empire to worm there way out of a situation.
I will post when it is safe for the FE`s and when they can not
worm there way out. A few viewers of this site have said " your counter is still broken,
when I hit refresh it does not count?" The counter in use is a smart counter. It only counts
new viewers in a day, not multiple hits from the same person.
I will ad a hit counter later but keep the smart counter also.CUBE
TALK alert,since Cubetalk/VUEBlues has its own site now ,I will
be ending the postings on this page. Please book mark the Emmissucks
page. This page will revert to its original function, a VUE alumni
link page. A link will remain on the employeeweb page and future
updates will be made on the Emmissucks site. Even with a good
portion of the CE`s I knew are now FE`s info continues to flow,
a good portion is from CE`s I have never met. Remember Emmissucks
is there to help shed light on the hive and how they abuse the
humans who work for them. If you have a horror story about the
people company, send it in so we all can enjoy it and warn others
so the do not get shot full of nano probes. ( a borg thing) On
a recent phoner with an FE ,I asked "what did you think of
your experience with Emmis?" , I got a five minuet continuous
stream of expletives. Nothing that can be quoted do to its content.
Nice to see things have not changed under the iron fist. All the
art is enjoyed as well so keep it coming. Still no year end stock
holders reports, stock still just below $20 a share. Resistance
is not futile , power to the humans.
NEW CUBE TALK/VUEBLUES LOCATION
5/19/03 M5 EXTRA.... A CE just sent
this tid bit in , "Jeffrey
Smulyan raked in $901,125 in total compensation, Smulyan has another
$5,874,000 in unexercised stock options from previous years. His
base is about 24X a normal drones income, this does not count
the stock options he and the board gave him. The more he screws
up the more he gets :-)" For those
who do not remember, this is an increase from last year. This
while the company forces drones to take stock, sells off stations
to meet debt and the stock tumbles. Another new FE sent this in
" This is (XXX) -- former
reporter at WVUE. I left in (XXX) to take and anchor job At (XXX). Keep
in touch... (XXX).com "
Sorry for the heavy editing but we protect FE`s from the wrath
of the people company. A viewer told me the M5 has been tearing
up the FOX programming, this may be the feed or just poor tuning
by the M5`s control people ( if there are any). "I am the
M5 ,this unit must survive!" From #41 - keep rowing, at 24X
speed!!
5//18/03 A clarification from a VUEBlues
reader...
"Aloha,
Just want to comment on your report concerning the "settlement"
in my lawsuit against Emmis. First of all, the "settlement"
is not a given, I have instructed my attorney to halt discussions.
Also and more importantly any settlement I may reach does not
allow Emmis to "avoid a lose", that's because the Jury's
verdict in my favor stands in tack and always will. The only way
the verdict would disappear is if the trial judge overturns it,
which he has said he will not do...or if Emmis appeals and wins.
The purpose of any settlement would be to wrap things up NOW.
Without a settlement, we have to wait several months for the Judge
to award attorney fees.
As for your statement that a $175,000 settlement is only 1/4 of
what I sued for. That is not the case. I sued because Emmis violated
my federal rights. Federal law protects a woman who takes time
off to have a baby. Emmis demoted me and decided to fire me while
I was on maternity leave. You see women who have babies are not
valued, they lose the "fire in their bellies". My goal
in filing the lawsuit was to take these people to court and make
them tell a jury why they did what they did. I wanted to take
them thru the very difficult and very public judicial process.
After being on the air here for 20 years, I felt the jury would
know my work, and they would know the station's witnesses were
lying. I was right. I consider anything on top of the verdict
"icing on the cake".
Since my win, dozens of women from here as well as across the
nation have phoned and emailed me. They not only congratulated
me but they thanked me as well, saying the verdict is a "sweet
victory" for all women who want to have babies and a career.
Thank you for hearing me out.
Mary Zanakis "
Email your encouragement to
Mary at maryz@kitv.com
As I have said
before, if you find an error or clarification ,send me the correct
data and it will be posted. My other sources said Mary "was going for $770k," this was apparently incorrect. The
source also included this link to a Honolulu
newspaper article.
Apparently they got it wrong also. As for avoiding the lose I
think the sources were referring to this portion of the case.
No Comment on the gag order or similar document.This came in on
our new Emmissucks email, if you fear even using that one ,let
me know and I can set up a disposable one just for you. A CE sent
me site info for an anti spamming site that uses these to avoid
spam, but they also work for being untraceable. At least I get
my corrections out faster than the New York Times, just kidding.
Emmis stock holding around $20 a share. I have received many comments
on the Jeff funding pic, most can not stop laughing. Some asked
if they can copy it. No problem the artist said "it was a work of love." If you have some art ,send it in. After all I am not
a creative type, just an engineer type FE. Ramming Speed! Exclusively
from VUEBlues your Emmis authority.
Jeff hearing of
more cubes being assimilated
(Thanks for the
pic 3 of 7)
5/11/03 More drones escape from
the hive, One on air sports guy goes
to the lone star state and one photog/editor joins public service.
Three others are activly making plans. The number one product
in the hive is still resume` tapes.Upon escape from the evil empire
do not forget to send me your new email so you can join the long
line of FE`s. A CE from the east sent in this,
This quote was included..." It looks like Jeff found his
new funding." I love it. The carbon
based bipeds have sent in a bunch of composites over the years
but this was vary creative and not profane or indecent. Feel free
to send in your art, but please zip it and keep the file size
under a meg.More info on those "anonymous " employee
surveys, a number of sources think they may not happen at all
and the other group thinks Emmis is looking for a firm that will
give them the results they want, not the truth. How anonymous
is a survey with a pin number? Smart drones have said they will
lie and indicate "all
is fine in the collective." Emmis settles out of court, Honolulu's KHON has settled,
for $175,000, a lawsuit brought by former reporter Mary Zanakis.
This is about 1/4 what she sued for but this way she did not have
to wait for all the trials and appeals, and Emmis avoids a lose
and can get Mary to sign the ever popular "Emmis
Gag Order"
or simular document.
5/4/03 Hive does not want to play
by the rules, A CE from the Radio end
sent in this tid bit...
"EMMIS COMMUNICATIONS
CORPORATION
40 Monument Circle, Suite 700
Indianapolis, IN 46204
November 13, 2002
Jonathan G. Katz
Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549-0609
Re: File No. S7-40-02
Disclosure Required by Sections 404, 406
and 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Dear Mr. Katz:
I am writing as Chief
Executive Officer of Emmis Communications Corporation to offer
comments in response to the proposals of the Securities and Exchange
Commission in Release No. 33-8138; 34-46701; IC-25775. Specifically,
I am concerned about the Commission's proposed requirement that
a "financial expert" have, through experience as a public
accountant or auditor or a principal financial officer, controller
or principal accounting officer of a public company or "performance"
of similar functions, experience with internal controls and in
preparing or auditing comparable financial statements. I believe
this definition is drawn more narrowly than necessary to accomplish
the results Congress sought to achieve in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
of 2002 and if adopted as proposed will work a hardship on smaller
public companies.
I note that in formulating
its definition of a financial expert the Commission has gone beyond
the Congressional mandate in Section 407(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley
to "consider" an audit committee member's experience
in preparing audited financial statements of comparable issuers
and has simply adopted without significant change the language
in the Act. In so doing, the proposed rules would impose a far
more restrictive test than, for example, the current Nasdaq listing
requirements, which require one member of the audit committee
to have had "past experience in finance or accounting, requisite
professional certification in accounting, or any other comparable
experience or background which results in the individual's financial
sophistication . . . ." Recognizing the narrowness of its
proposed definition, the Commission invited comment on whether
"experience reviewing or analyzing" financial statements
should suffice for qualification as a financial expert. I believe
it should.
While the proposed
rule is styled as a disclosure standard and appears to afford
a board of directors the opportunity to determine that an individual
is a financial expert because of "similar expertise and experience"
to that specified, the practical reality is that a board of directors
would face a heavy burden of explanation - and the company would
likely suffer criticism in the market - if the board chose to
depart from the Commission's enumerated criteria. Accordingly,
most of the thousands of public companies that do not now have
an individual with hands-on auditing experience on their audit
committees will be forced to compete for the relatively limited
supply of candidates who qualify as a "financial expert"
in the company's industry and would be qualified, contributing
members of the board of directors. I fear that in such a competition,
smaller companies such as Emmis would be at a disadvantage and
would be forced in many cases to accept a candidate who met the
Commission's standards for a financial expert but would not otherwise
be chosen as qualified for the company's board of directors. Indeed,
the irony is that a company could satisfy the Commission's definition
with a junior-level auditor from a public accounting firm but
not with an experienced investment banker or venture capital investor
or a chief executive officer from another public company. Clearly,
the best interests of the investing public are not served by such
a result.
Congress recognized
in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that the role of a company's audit committee
is to monitor the performance of the company's independent auditors
and internal accountants, rather than to micromanage the audit
itself or function as internal accountants for the company. Similarly,
in describing the oversight function of an audit committee, the
Blue Ribbon Committee on Improving the Effectiveness of Corporate
Audit Committees, cited by the Commission in its release, cautioned
that an audit committee "is neither intended nor equipped
to guarantee with certainty to the full board and shareholders
the accuracy and quality of a company's financial statements and
accounting practices" and that financial reporting, accounting,
and audit functions should instead be "conducted by full-time
professionals dedicated to these purposes." As such, it is
more important for the protection of shareholders and the integrity
of the financial markets that audit committee members understand
the meaning and importance of the financial information presented
to them than that they be able to prepare audited statements themselves.
Thus, I urge the Commission to broaden its definition of a "financial
expert" to include individuals with experience in reviewing
or analyzing financial statements.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey H. Smulyan
Chief Executive Officer, President
& Chairman of the Board "
"Hey, Just thought
you would want to see that Smulyan does not want to play by the
same rules that all other corperations have to. After the termination
of Arthor Anderson it took some time to find people who would
work the numbers like they did. Now the SEC is cracking down and
the boys on the board are worried. Love the site!" A New Orleans TV viewer e-mailed me
this comment, " I
just spent over two grand on a digital television system at (XXXX). I started calling around to find out who was transmitting
digital and were. I found out that (XXX),(XXX)
and (XXX) are on the air but all I got from FOX8 was "call
our corporate office at (XXXX). At that point I started searching
the net and found this page.This page has answered some nagging
questions I have had about the crappy transmissions from FOX8.
I also see that if and when they go digital it will be low power
and low res with as you would put it "The M5" messing
up what is left. I do not know if they realize that viewers like
me will not watch crappy quality after spending so much on digital.
There are other stations,DVDs,Satellite and much more out there."
I also got this from a
cube in our 50th state, Just
thought I would update you on Joe Moore's play named "Dirty
Laundry", well lets say that unofficially he caved to pressure
from the hive and did a last minuet rewrite borrowing from other
works. If you want the official line follow this link.The
Honoluluadvertiser
An FE reminder , please email me your change of address so we
can keep the links list up to date. Note a bunch have been updated.
A CE sent in this pic,
With the following
caption " This Joker
is card #56 and is wanted for crimes against humanity." Emmis stock has rebounded to about
$19.50. A large number of Emmis insiders sold off millions of
Dollars worth of stock at the last peak of near $20. That peak
was 4/21&22/03. Jeff was not among those but many others are
bailing. We stock holders are still waiting for our reports.From
#41 to all those still chained below decks, "Row well and live."
4/20/04 Hive status report, Jeff spins at 3000+ RPM on conference call. He never
lets the facts get in the way of a good story. Still no year end
stock holders report. Caution when telling FE`s about big "M"s
speech, do not tell some one just after they take a big swig of
a soft drink, they will lose it all over you. A FE just asked
" What is the supper Doppler 8000?"
This is it, an ICS/KONTRON 7520 server
chassis with a 20 slot PCI backplane, an Endever dual PIII 800
MHz SBC, 1 GIG ram, HP scanner, 250 GIGS of U160 hard drive space,
Plextor CD drive and burner, Targa 2000 pro and much more.With
the exception of the scanner I run a duplicate system for back
up. These SD8000 systems also have the proprietary Emmis BS detectors
with 200 dB attenuator for Jeffs spin control calls.I ran into
a "contractor" and an FE at Wal-Mart .The contractor
said " They are not
doing any thing any more so I do not get any work from them." and "what
little they need done ,Jeff does."
(not the big guy Jeff). We got to great lengths to bring
you the most accurate web cast.
4/14/03 BIG M
(MADELYN BONNOT) Speaks at NAB , on "how
to retain employees"...You have got
to be kidding. This is the person who brings in the cops for massive
terminations! The terminations were orchestrated by her and her
minions. Between this bunch of BS and load of bull Mikie spewed
, I would not believe any thing said at NAB. I do think the NAB
should do there home work on "expert speakers". This
brought to you exclusively buy VUE Blues, Your Emmis
authority.
4/13/03 M5
update....Many viewer complaints continue to filter into the VUE
cube. Most are of the substandard audio, much lower number of
complaints on the poor video from the M5. A CE from a non VUE
cube sent me his insider list of the Stations about to be Assimilated
into the hive. This Drone is designated 5 of 30. this is the list,
"WBRC Birmingham
WDAF Kansas City
KSTU Salt Lake City
WHBQ Memphis
WGHP Greensboro
KTBC Austin"
In addition this CE said "I do know the 2003 Employee Survey's
have been pushed back to June. Good thing as we still haven't
resolved the major issues from the last year...or the year before...or
...." The #1 complaint
since Emmis got into TV is poor HR and general poor employee relations
and low moral. I hear SR is high ( Silicon Relations). Still no
year end stock holder report, it is taking time to make the numbers
jump through hoops and do back flips. I was hoping info would
taper off ,each time I think it will , more happens.For those
who have not done the math , this will probably mean a cut of
100+ drones at these new cubes. This was a surprise email from
a FE , " I waited
until some time after my gag order expired to contact you. I worked
in (XXXX) and was in (XXX) wave of terminations. You may not
remember me ,you used to help me with (XXXX). I have
been keeping up with the antics of Emmis and Jeff through your
postings. I do not know if you realize how therapeutic it has
been. I now work in (XXXX).
I still can not get over
how they treat people. If I had the guts I would start a site
but as you suggested I will just peak at VUE Blues.Keep up the
good work #41!" I
hope the FOX O&O deal falls through, I would like for the
info on the empire to fade. Be Happy in your work.
4/9/03 Exclusive VUE Blues report....
This just in from a viewer of this
site (not an FE or CE). Emmis has filed the following with the
FCC,
"Emmis Television
License Corporation
Station WVUE, New Orleans,
Louisiana
FCC Form 337
Application Statement
Emmis Television License
Corporation is the licensee of WVUE,New Orleans,Louisiana. Station
WVUE operates on NTSC Channel 8 and has been assigned digital
television Channel 29. The Commission granted Emmis a six (6)
month extension to May 26, 2003 to complete construction of Station
WVUE-DT. Emmis hereby request an extension of six (6) months of
the deadline to complete construction of station WVUE-DT.
Emmis anticipates having
WVUE-DT on-air prior to November 26, 2003. As previous reported,
Emmis, along with a collocated FM station , has undertaken tower
studies looking toward mounting an FM antenna on the WVUE DTV
tower to resolve a blanketing interference problem caused by the
FM station. Further analysis revealed that modifications necessary
to upgrade the current WVUE tower structure in order to support
WVUE-DT would be neither practical nor economical. Emmis is currently
in negotiations to locate the WVUE-DT facilities at a community
site. Immediately after those negotiations are concluded, Emmis
will pursue operation on an STA basis pending action on the modification.
In sum, Emmis has taken
step to complete construction of WVUE-DT by May 26,2003; however,
the deadline for commencement of digital operation cannot be met.
Accordingly, a six-month extension of DTV Construction Permit
BPCDT-19991028AEP is respectfully requested."
This is your basic
load of crap, Emmis is just cheap and trying to use the FM station
as an excuse to delay and move. And why would they want to do
that? An attempt to break the WYES contract? After all they are
only putting up a low power system. They do not even want to spend
the money to get that up and running. If they do move ,I only
know of one site that would work ,Spectrasite ( formerly Loadstar).
And so it goes, gotta save the money for the new toys. Just as
this viewer did, if you see some thing of interest -send it in
so we all can enjoy it. Ramming Speed!!
4/7/03 VUE BLUES special.... Emmis and Jeff trying to buy six FOX O&O TV stations
for $500 million. Warning to all carbon based life forms at those
stations , start packing. "Emmis
would end up with only a minority interest in the Dodgers but
control of the TV stations, according to sources close to the
deal. The stations, in small markets such as Salt Lake City, Austin,
Texas, and Birmingham, Ala." Source
on this info LA TIMES. "
Smulyan's bid is expected to top $850 million: a $350-million
value placed on the team plus more than $500 million for the stations."
This is a company in such bad shape they
force drones to take stock and the stock is down 20% for the last
year. A company that had to sell two radio stations to meet there
financial obligations last year. "Emmis, which has one of the highest debt levels
in the radio business."As one CE put
it " He does not know
how Al the chicken king lost his company." Stock holders are not included in these bone head deals.The
deal has not been sealed and would need FCC approval. Resistance
is NOT futile.
4/6/03 Jeff is trying to buy a new
toy using EMMIS funding ,"LA Dodgers bidders grows to include
Emmis". Many remember Jeff played
with the Seattle Mariners team some time ago.For more info on
how he screwed them go to http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/3477/safe/
. He probably misses the corporate jet.After sending the web master
at one of the "sports sites" my take on Jeff he replied,
"Hi XXXX,
I just saw an article
in the Seattle Times today that
Jeff is after the Dodgers. Man I hope he isn't allowed
to do that. He nearly screwed us big time."
As one CE who sent in some info put
it "Jeff Smulyan could
not make sports work before, he is failing with TV & Radio
so now he`s going to try sports again? All with stock holders
money! " All from
VUE Blues your Emmis authority.
"You live to serve this ship, row well."
4/3/03 As predicted by this page,
Jeff has cut most of the staff at the
newly assimilated cube. This is in keeping with Emmis commandment
#3 and "I have no
major changes planned for [put
station call here]"
To all the new FE`s ,feel
free to email me, provided you did not sign the standard Emmis
gag order.emmissucks@worldnet.att.net
In addition to the drone
terminations, it seems as though the people company is now looking
for a new caption dunsal to head WALA and the WB station. The
old now FE chief Engineer must have voiced his thoughts on the
M5? A CE sent this in "stop the presses, Emmis stock hits $50 a share.
April Fools!!"
3/29/03 Extra-Extra new faster site for VUEBLUES and its archives. I recently
discovered that I have more free space on AT&T and more email
addresses, so this is what has been done. A mirror and now primary
site for only Cube Talk/ VUEBlues has been set up at http://emmissucks.home.att.net/
,I do like the address :-) This location will only have the Emmis
stuff, the link section will remain were it started long before
the people company took over. In addition a new email address
has been set up, you guessed it emmissucks@worldnet.att.net
, so when you think of Emmis sucking, look to Emmissucks for
the latest intel. I will be cutting down on the material on this
page to make more room for my other pages, the bulk of the info
will be at Emmissucks. Six FE`s and a few viewers of this site
all commented on the timing and placement of the 1959 version
of Ben-Hur on WYES last Saturday. Most said " How fitting ,Did Fred have any thing to do with
this programming decision?"
I do not think he has any pull in the programming
dept, and yes I also caught the broadcast. One CE has sent me
an MP3 file of the sounds heard below decks at VUE, as soon as
I can figure out how to post it ,I will on the Emmissucks site.A
recent FE sales person said "They
go through sales people like toilet paper, low pay and low percentage.
Not to mention the central casting screwing up what you manage
to sell." The M5 is
loved by one and all. All the veteran sales people have been purged
from the system. Most have taken there clients to other stations
or even other media. Stat tuned for more exclusively in Cube Talk
your Emmis authority.
3/22/03 Hive status is poor, the stock is almost up to $18. I had a few emails
on one of the last teleconferences Jeff and the gang did. "I take it you didn't listen to
the Bear Sterns media conference that was advertised on the Emmis
Web Site? At the end one of the folks at the conference started
telling Smulyan that he over paid for these new Radio Properties.
It was pretty funny." yes
I caught it and so did a few others, "Smulyan was put on the spot about the poor investment
in the recent radio station properties." and "The
street knows Jeff F$%ked up again." I just got communication from an FE who has not talked
to me since his departure in the purge of 2001, he said " I have stayed up to date by
checking your site. I have wanted to cheer you on but I signed
the gag order and I did not want to risk the wrath of Emmis. After
reading one of your recent postings I checked my effective date
to find out when I could speak my mind. I just passed the two
year point so here I go....The first thing I did was go into my
back yard at midnight on the day after that piece of crap expired
and I yelled at the top of my lungs for five minuets about those
blood sucking bastards. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts
but I felt a whole lot better. I do not think I will post a web
page but I will from now until I die ,tell one and all what I
think of the people company. I think you have been vary conservative
on your commentary, I will not be so kind. I only had (deleted) years at WVUE but the time under Emmis was the worst
work experience in my life. I was better off before them and much
better off now. As you have said the PRE-Emmis people are not
the problem, the Emmis culture is the problem.One of these days
the management will get what they deserve, I hope to live long
enough to see it. BTW give me a call at (deleted) and
I will give you an ear full of what I think of them. I love the
SCI-FI and Ben-Hur tie ins ,they fit what those a$$ holes
are doing. As you would put it #41 living well is the best revenge. It sound like Jeff has a new friend
,I did call this shafted FE but do to his extremely colorful vernacular
I can not post any of what was said. I have mellowed since my
departure but many others still have a bit of well earned destain
for Emmis and its leaders. As I told a CE on Bourbon ST. "
Emmis is now just a hobby to me, like Ham Radio or Telephone Collecting
,it is just fun to do and much cheaper than the other hobbies.
M5 update, it has been just over two years since the NOPD surrounded
the station for the ides of March blood letting. The Emmis version
of "shock and awe". Most FE`s are now better off and
much happier. Even though some management CE`s said "all the bugs would be worked
out in a few months."
only a limited audio improvement has happened. No video improvement
and still poor switching and almost no transmitter monitoring
and control. Since the tower light incident they have been doing
that locally when they can. The entire broadcast industry now
realizes that full central crapping does not work and is not economically
viable, Jeff will stay with it never admitting he made a mistake.To
the brave abused PRE Emmis CE`s , resistance is not futile.
3/16/03 Emmis stock up to $17. With Captain Cook moving into Jack Hawkins position
in the evil empire ,many are wondering who will lead the drones
on the VUE cube. Will he try to do what big M did? Will let you
know. A CE said "
The timing of the Radio anouncment was curiously set for after
the end of the Emmis fiscal year." Typical Emmis ,trying to cook the numbers. Spin control
to max. He also said "
They only bought 51% of the group." Just enough to screw them up.The M5 continues to screw
up, one of its more notable errors happened a few Saturdays ago
when Entergy burped for a few hours, the blue haired one had no
idea on what to do or some other lame excuse, so the station was
off line for hours. This included the tower lights. I wonder if
they made the appropriate phone call to the FAA? One of these
days we will see a small plane stuck in the VUE tower. A number
of interesting bits on Mardi Gras 2003 have come my way, but to
protect those involved they will not be posted. Lets just say
they did miss me, my planning and hardware.The Emmis stock holders
now have to wait for Jeff and his gang to cook the books before
we get our year end report, they have a 1000 gallon crock pot
for this. From #41 to the remaining drones, row well.
3/10/03
They continue to slide another 2% today.close
$15.49 and going down.Turn on the pumps!
3/8/03 Mardi Gras Wrapup.... I must say it was an interesting week for the Emmis
drones. Each time I think things will settle down, Jeff and his
band of gypsies prove me wrong. This week they decided to purchase
a bunch of under achieving radio stations. This what led to the
steeper than normal decline of the stock. As one analyst put it
" Emmis is already
having problems, now is not the time to take on more debt. They
should concentrate on getting the current properties profits up." A word to the carbon based life forms just assimilated
by Emmis, when Jeff visits you and says " I have no major changes planned for (insert call sign here) ",don't bet on it. As he has stated before ,"We go after under valued properties
with the hope to make them more profitable." In English this means he thinks cutting staff will
make the station look better on paper. This does work for a short
time until the ratings follow the cuts. As with the stations in
Colorado, he hopes to "boost"
there value and sell them to unsuspecting
buyers who do not realize what he did to make these short term
gains. The key to this is not to hold these stations too long.
Some will notice I revamped the link section to make navigation
to the archives easier. As for carnival, It was funny to see Vic
out pulling cable assemblies I built on Jigs I built. The ultimate
irony. Many drones who have not been in the field for years were
pressed into service. When I started my informal squeal rating
of the VUE coverage, the first female on air person poled said
it should be a "13". I had to inform her that since big "E"
was no longer involved that it would be impossible to go above
a 10. After averaging the seven drones who participated in the
pole ,the official rating for WVUE Mardi Gras 2003 is 8.5 squeals.
During cleanup on Wednesday VUE was a no show, I assume there
gear was last out and it may still be on location. No one left
for the clean up fun.There was an interesting article in Broadcast
Engineering ,FEB 2003, page 80/S3. Titled In "Centralcasting Less Seems To Be More". In the opening paragraph "The Centralcasting concept has
run into some snags that have given it the seeming relevance of
a pet rock: it appeared to be a good decision at the time but
is currently in the back of the closet." The article Mentions the two groups moving forward
with a limited form of Central crapping, NBC and Sinclair. These
organizations are not going to Full Emmis style central crapping.
another thing brought up is the cost of the DS3 lines start at
$1k to $2k per month per line and you will require multiple lines.
A minimum of Two ,one for transmission and one for back hall monitoring.
If you want back ups that will mean two more, Cha Ching !! This
is what has happened to WVUE after a back hoe fade :-). These
lines are only capable of 44.736 Mb/sec and the standard def NTSC
requires 140 Mb/sec, HDTV requires 1.485Gb/sec. As stated in this
article "These signal
compression will reduce quality in these contribution feeds."
An English translation
means you get the M5 look. Some have said that putting a HD signal
through such compression will lead to VHS quality at the end,
"whats the point". Stations who elect to central cast
HD will be wasting there money and losing viewers who will notice
the poor quality on there $2000 DTV sets. If your were a viewer
with your new $2k and up DTV set ,would you watch the M5? This
article was slightly biased for central casting because the main
advertisers are trying to sell the hardware in the publication,
but they can not hide the numbers. Mean time Emmises Mikie is
slated to speak at a forum of SBE engineers at the NAB on the
benefits of central crapping. If you make a mistake it is best
to con the entire industry in to making the same error. As one
CE put it " Send that
to Mikie, he will buy any thing." It would be interesting for some of the attendees
to pitch the following questions to Mikie, "#1 Does central casting lower signal quality?
#2 How long will it take to recoup our investment ? #3 How much
will it cost per spoke?#4 Is there any operational cost savings?
#5 Does it work?" The
true answers to these are #1 yes it degrades the signal,#2 aprox
35 years if ever, #3 Cost will start at a million dollars and
up per spoke, #4 No, operational cost end up going up when your
hub has to expand staff and if you wish to have back ups this
will require more DS3 lines and more spoke staff, #5 No ...just
watch any spoke Emmis station. EXTRA ,EXTRA.... JOE " CAPTAIN"
COOK named regional VP of Emmis TV, taking big "M"s
old position. This completes his revenge for her "helping him exit Emmis"
Now he can move back home.
Will he? If so who will take over as Captain Dunsal? So let it
be written ,so let it be done. VUE Blues ,Your Emmis authority.
3/5/03 Hive stock crashes !!! I was occupied with Mardi Gras so I did not keep up
,but one CE sent me some interesting facts. Emmis crashed on Monday
going from its normally low level of $20 a share to just above
$16 a share.While all locals took a hit ,no one took an 18% hit
like the unstable people company.Plot it for your self ,EMMS,BLC,HTV&TRB.
Stop rowing and start bailing !
3/4/03 Mardi Gras Update ....
During my stay on Bourbon St. I ran into an old popular New Orleans
radio guy who at one point dated big "M" and had some
business dealings with her. He basically said "she is ruthless ,back stabbing and an over all
poor business person."
When informed of her current status he said "Could not have happed to some one more deserving." This guy is now in Denver Co. I also
got to talk with the radio people I listen too on the way to and
from work, they were live also. On Sunday I did cash in a bit
,while cutting through Harras I could not resist, so I tossed
in a buck and a half and hit for $60. This gave me plenty of quarters
for the vending machines. I did run out of VUE blues cards by
mid day Monday. Once again I ran into an EMMIS radio person ,we
had to talk. This CE drone told me "I thought Clear Channel was bad, I was wrong.
I have only been with #*$#@
for a year and I am looking
to get away from EMMIS." I
think every person should spend some time at EMMIS, it would give
you a bench mark to truly rate others. The lack of Carbon based
life forms was evident this week end when VUE was a no show on
Bourbon street live. A few of the off duty drones did show up,
but not to work. This used to be booked up not only for VUE but
was sold all over the country. The informal ratings on Mardi gras
coverage would have to go #1 WDSU followed closely by WWL and
a distant third place would go to VUE. The lack of engineers was
obvious. Speaking of the lack of engineers ,not only was VUE in
that boat ..WDSU was also spread thin to the point that I helped
there photogs on more than one occasion. I also rescued The VUE
people a bunch of times. Every one thinks they can get by with
out engineers and I am sure the teams at both those stations did
not know how close they were to failure of shots. DSU did lose
one when the photog plugged into the wrong cable, not enough tech
people to watch both ends of the wire. VUE had so many different
video levels during there show ,I thought I was scanning COX cable
each time they switched. On Sunday I had some time to kill so
I tuned in TCM and caught the 1959 version of Ben-Hur, at many
points during the flick I broke out laughing and the other media
types did not get the joke. I had to tell them "You would have had to work for EMMIS to get the
humor." So to close
this exclusive VUE Blues report I will quote Quintis Airious as
he spoke to #41 "
Hate keeps a man alive." & " We keep you alive to serve
this ship, row well and live." Battle speed!!
2/26/03 More trouble in the hive,"KHON-2-Fox
General Manager Rick Blangiardi called primary anchor Joe Moore
on the carpet last week and told him to stop promoting on-air
a play he wrote, called "Dirty Laundry." "a no-holds-barred,
uncensored look at what I think goes on behind the cameras and
behind the scenes of the TV news business." Some think it
may include some not so flattering exploits of corporate (EMMIS) mismanagement." I would
love to see this one. The play opens in April and the Anchor may
be "retired" at that time. First a web site,now a play,next
who knows ...a made for TV movie? Back in the local cube,Brek
re-marries and a news desk person heads for the lone star state.
As the market takes a tumble, Emmis plunges at three times the
rate of any one else in town.I will be doing Mardi Gras this week
end so the next update will be after carnival ends. Throw me some
thing mister, just make sure it is not Emmis stock.
2/23/03 Cube status update, Some have noticed that a new counter was added to
the page. The old one was set up in the early days of Honesty.com
,they supplied free counters to auction sites and some web pages.As
one viewer said two weeks ago "Your
counter has been stuck for three weeks."
This is not the first time, since honesty was sold and changed
hands a few times ,the old counters seem to get moved from server
to server and stop counting quite often. So I just decided to
take the data and create a new one on the Andale system, the owners
of the old honesty stuff. I let both run to see if they would
count differently and sure enough the honest one gets stuck and
lost count a few times in just a week or so. The honesty counter
must have been assimilated by the collective so it has been retired
like a replicant (Blade Runner). With guest in from out of town
and prep for Mardi Gras ,I have not been paying too much attention
to Emmis.I am sure they are still up to there old tricks.I did
get a humorous email from an FE who said " The company I now work for promised profit sharing
and a few other bennies related to the stock. I took this with
a grain of salt after hearing such a load from Jeff when he took
over WVUE. I was so shocked to get the ESOP statement and then
I just got a note on a stock DIVIDEND, yes I said DIVIDEND...
a word Emmis does not know. I am glad I dumped the Emmis crap
when you said too. As you recommended I am keeping one share just
to get the State of Jeff reports." Sounds like we have another satisfied FE. He also said
" Living well is the
best revenge." I have
heard this from a few FE`s. The FCC is
going to be focusing on EEOC compliance and discrimination complaints
vary closely when license renewal time comes around for radio
and TV stations. This should be fun to watch when the Emmis stations
come up for renewal, There are no minorities or females in The
VUE management team now that Big M and Big E are both gone. A
CE sent in this comment "
We are waiting for Captain Cook to hold a concert in studio A
with Great White as the headliner!".
I do not think Emmis would spend that kind of money to retire
drones. Ramming speed!
2/14/03 M5 Update... Emmis high level drones drop in on the VUE cube. What
are they here for? Budgets? Terminations? one CE put it this way
" VIC is on vacation
and they are here, it has to be bad." VUE in now totally committed to the M5. Master control
has been gutted "we
are now in the same boat as WALA.". WVUE loses Travel channel gig for Mardi Gras, as a
result of this they are now tightening up on spending and doing
all production in house. The Travel channel gig used to pay for
Mardi Gras ,now with a reduced staff they will try to make the
pig fly, good luck. I am glad I am not there ,because it would
have been up to me to make it work with less. To quote another
CE "Emmis is a true
believer in FM ,if you can do more and more with less and less
,soon you will be able to do any thing with nothing." While on a visit to the WYES transmitter
site to see if they could squeeze the low power DTV transmitter
into the YES building, the Emmis drones started discussing heat
load, power requirements and last on the list was were to put
it... one drone said to the YES transmitter guy "we can just knock down the transmitter guys office/control
room." at that point
they were escorted to the door by the WYES guy. Typical Emmis
making friends and trying to eliminate carbon based employees.
The fun never stops in the collective. This info only available
on VUE blues, your Emmis authority. Row Well and live.
2/9/03 More
Trouble in paradise. Emmis installs dishes with out proper land
use permits , sounds like big "E" has gone to work for
KHON. The home owners and Emmis are now trying to resolve this
illegal installation, it would be interesting to see them have
to take jack hammers to them. The fourth CE has confirmed " Breck has signed a life time
contract." I waited for four independent
confirmations on this one, I could not believe it. Also Emmis
is thinking of central casting weather, talk is VUE will be the
hub, but others think they will move breck to Florida and shut
down the VUE weather operation. If you check the Archives you
will find this has been part of the plan from day one. Additional
scuttlebutt is that "Emmis
is going to automate audio and maybe the production switcher."
"low quality was not good enough for Jeff, he is shooting
for pi$$ poor." Will they ever
learn? This was sent in by another local engineer, " How in the he11 can they
think any one would believe the lies they are spreading about
you. As far as I know it was there chief engineer who threatened
you with bodily harm and death in the Shoneys parking lot."
it is called spin control.
As more of the Emmis gag orders expire ,I get the same question
" How do I start a
web site?" for the
most part I do not recommend it, they (Emmis) will go after you.
If you must I will be glad to help. If you to take my advice and
not start a site, send in what you want to vent about, if it can
be confirmed it will be posted. "Be
happy in your work." Bridge
On The River Kwi.
2/2/03 This week in Cube Talk,
Emmis loses Federal court case
Jeff signs WVUE IBEW contract
TV Technology article tells what
Jeff did wrong
Emmis loses Federal court case between
KHON and female drone. $77k awarded. "A federal jury decided that KHON executives violated
news reporter Mary Zanakis' rights when they gave her a new assignment
and later fired her after she returned from maternity leave. litigation
for lost future earnings pending, it may amount to high six figures.
The station had argued during the two-week trial that Zanakis'
reassignment and later dismissal in 1999 had nothing to do with
her going on maternity leave but was the result of budget cuts
imposed by the station owner, Emmis Communications of Indianapolis,
and a decline in the quality of her work. Zanakis had been at
the station for more than 18 years." This
sounds familiar, I was with VUE for 18 years. Jeff and the gang
finally signed the IBEW contract and the VUE drones get a three
year deal of 3/2/2% They also get random drug testing and a few
other changes.As one CE put it "He
was afraid we all would leave, but I think they changed enough
if,and & buts to make the changes he wanted ." I have not seen the entire document but I think the
CE is probably correct.The big W rejected the Belo offer and they
will continue to try to work it out. In the Jan 22 issue of TV
technology ,page 10 tells the pros and cons of centralcasting.
Had Jeff read this and under stood it, He would have never gone
this rout. As one CE said when he let me know the article was
out " Emmis has done
all the wrong things for the wrong reasons, that is why it does
not work.They could have saved time in the article by just using
Emmis as the "do not do it this way" model." Three CE`s told me of the article before my copy showed
up. Once again I had the opportunity to compare the major stations
running the same feed during the state of the cube address this
past Tuesday. Not much changed NBC had the best signal followed
by ABC then CBS and yep FOX/VUE was a distant fourth. The following
factors were used, Signal to noise, resolution,distortion and
over all picture quality. The M5 also had VUE running two words
behind the other network feeds.Two Drones thinking of severing
ties with the hive,2 of 4 and 1 of 2. An E-Mail asked "If they gave us the 3% ,how much
will Jeff get?" I
will let you know when it is filed with the SEC.Many reports of
the M5 putting up a video trouble slide, that may not seem to
be unusual if it was not for the ID of FOX 4....4 ,8 its all the
same.It was most likely the blue haired one who screwed up by
trying to explain the M5 to its viewers.More
later from VUE Blues ,Your Emmis authority!
1/26/03 Emmis discrimination update..."Emmis is being sued by former reporter
Mary Zanakis, who claims KHON improperly demoted and then fired
her after she took maternity leave in 1999." One of the emmis clones who was told of her plans to
sue ,backed Emmis claims ,probobly out of fear. "when he was asked yesterday to compare
the reporting skills of Channel 2 investigative reporter Tina
Shelton to those of Zanakis, Moore used a sports analogy saying
it would be like comparing "an NFL all-pro and a high school
player."
Source WWW.NEWSBLUES.COM
and other online trades
"It's our people that
make the difference" Jeff Smulyan
Cube status update, IBEW contract still not signed, Emmis now holds another
record at WVUE. As I have mentioned before- keeping your on site
info up to date can bring bucks $$. Thanks to some CE`s and FE`s
I received quite a bit of NATPE freelance work and I was able
to pass some video shooting work to an FE. You never know were
the next job will come from! Please check your link, some have
been updated. One FE said "I
hope your new year is off to a pleasant and prosperous beginning.
I keep in touch with several CE’s and it's both interesting
& sad to see/hear what has happened and continues to occur
at WVUE. Quite simply, I'm glad I relocated 4 years ago to the
Emerald Coast of Florida and AV sales aint too bad! When you get
a chance, please update my e-mail addy on your site…it is
now: (XXXX) Say “HEY” to any FE’s you may bump into
for me. Talk to you soon." As another
FE put it " Thanks
for the tip, I got three days out of it." I also wish to thank those who sent me work from Australia,
Japan and Las Angeles. Propaganda update... some disinformation
was spread about six months after my departure when the team could
not fault the content they tried to discredit the bulletin board
host/me. The newest round of these consist of two variations of
the same story, 1 I "
Have put a WVUE news director under a riffle scope from my back
yard." the second
version of this story is that I
"put a WVUE GM under a riffle scope from my balcony."
You can start laughing
now, just as many of those who have heard these urban myths have
done. The truth is my life is to boring so they took my membership
in the NRA and made up a story and as one FE put it " they do not even have a good
imagination, if they are going to make some thing up be creative." another said " If any of it was true you would be in jail.
Emmis would love for you to make such a move. They would be rid
of you." This is true
but they hope people are not smart enough to figure that out.
I wish it had been some thing more original like " He ate the brains of a news
director with some fauver beans and fine wine." opps that has been used :-). I guess
it is up to the M5 to come up with an original bit of fiction.
If you hear one of these " rumors from the cube" send
it in so we can all get a laugh. This will save time waiting for
the newest one to circulate. If they were to spread the truth
about me it would be a cure insomnia, not the desired effect they
are going for. Resistance is not futile ! So let it be written
,so let it be done. VUE Blues your Emmis Authority. Some times
referred to as CUBE TALK.
1/19/03 M5 update...VUE takes delivery
of new tuna can transmitter, transmitter CE soon to be FE. The
only time Emmis buys silicon is to replace carbon. This from an
FE " WYES promotes
FE VUE chief engineer back to chief level at YES. This should
be fun to watch." In last weeks SBE
meeting a audio board company brought there product in a real
nice demo truck . This may not seem to be M5 related but one of
the nice features the guy showed the group was that the faders
recognized if a human was touching it and it would allow it to
be moved, if it was bumped by a non human ( a clip board,script
or some thing) the fader would fight the move and return to its
last human set position. I could not help my self, I turned to
a CE in the truck and said "
you will never get one of these" and
some one else said "why" and I replied "
They do not want humans working for them"
every one had a good chuckle. Honolulu reporter sues Emmis, claims
rights were violated.Source NEWBLUES and other online mags. If
stats are correct and only one of every ten cases get filed and
only one of a hundred are ever persued by a wronged worker ,Emmis
is as we all thought .I keep getting questions on " Should I sue them?" A reminder again, keep me up to date on your email
link. A full time job for a CE was just blown because the employer
got an outdated link from this page. I do not have a new one so
when they contacted me I suggested another photog, I think they
got it. The Cube is trying a disinformation and propaganda aimed
at this web master, if you can not fault the information try to
discredit the source. More on this next week.Row well and live.
1/12/03/b M5 update of the update.
A CE sent in the following
"This was a planned
outage for equipment upgrades in Orlando; we were
informed of it a week ago."
Under a normal station operation ,upgrades
do not put you off the air like the M5 does. You do every thing
you can to plan to stay on line. If you replace your STL ,you
rig a temp, work on a transmitter you switch to a back up, work
on a antenna switch to a back up,work on master control switch
to a back up switcher. Not with the M5. Humans would have made
spot reels and had all needed programming and commercials laid
off to tape ,then shut down the automation for up grade. There
are no humans left to do this, all the media is in Florida. Just
another flaw in Jeffs system. Keep rowing.
1/12/03 M5 update Last night the M5 spewed again, I noticed this at 12:30am
while I was scanning and it was still off line at 1:30am when
I went to sleep. I do not know the full length of the M5 failure
and I am sure no one at Emmis does either. Once again the back
up servers FAILED!! ,at least the lack of video detector shut
the transmitter down. They did save on electrical cost.You may
wander how I know this was an M5 failure, simple , VUE like all
other stations feed the cable system with fiber so if it was just
a transmitter failure you would still be on cable. Bonus update,
Jeff did come through with a 0.5% bonus about $200 per drone.
If this formula is applied to Jeffs compensation he should get
$4,500 based on last years $900K in compensation. For those who
do not want to do the math ,Jeff gets 22 times what a drone gets
in pay, this does not take into account the $14mil + in stock
options he voted him self last year. I will post what he gets
when the SEC releases that data. IBEW contract update, "Those SOB`s still have not signed." is what was sent in. List update, please check your
email link. Many people still are using this site for its primary
function...a links page. If your link is out of date I get the
mail asking for the correct one. If I have it ,it is posted. You
never know were that next gig or job will come from?
WEB
MASTER
1/7/03 M5 Flash.... Former Portland anchor sues Emmis for age discrimination.
This seems to be a pattern at Emmis. As this site has reported
in the past ,they (EMMIS) continue to cull the heard using age
as one of there criteria. As much as the try to mask this ,all
that have been forced out receive a document that gives ages of
those terminated and those who remain. It has been noted by more
than one FE that only low paid new bees were left while seasoned
veterans in the same position were terminated. As one CE put it " Skills and loyalty did not
count for @&$#( when the time came, only pay rate,sex and
age. Boot licking did help." This is the compleete story from Shop Talk,
"Former TV Anchor
Sues KOIN
ASHBEL S. GREEN
Portland Oregonian
Former Portland television
news anchor Shirley Hancock has sued KOIN,
claiming management did not renew her contract in 2001 because
of her
age and because she had complained about a hostile work environment.
The lawsuit also claims
that management discriminated against her by
refusing to pay her as much as male co-anchors.
Hancock joins a growing
number of women television anchors who've
filed civil-rights lawsuits against their former employers. The
suit,
filed Aug. 6 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, has been shifted
to
U.S. District Court in Portland.
The suit seeks unspecified
back and lost future pay, but does not
specify an amount.
Robert Carey, an attorney
for Emmis Communications, the
Indianapolis-based owner of KOIN, declined to comment. A call
to the
station last week was not returned.
Hancock also declined
to comment.
Hancock worked for
the station for 18 years as a reporter and anchor,
according to the suit. She and Mike Donahue were co-anchors for
about
16 years, the longest-running team in Portland.
Emmis bought KOIN in October 2000. In March
2001, the company laid off
between 20 and 30 employees in Portland.
The suit claims that
most of the employees were older than 40, but in
court papers Emmis and KOIN officials deny that age was a factor
in the
personnel moves.
Emmis continued its personnel moves in June
2001, reassigning Donahue,
laying off several employees and declining to renew the contract
of
Hancock, who was then 43. Jeff Gianola and Kelley Day replaced
Donahue
and Hancock.
"I think this
is a blessing," Hancock said at the time. "I just need
to find a healthier place where I can go to work without a knot
in my
stomach every day."
She now works as a
public relations consultant in Portland.
In her suit, Hancock
says the station repeatedly ignored her
complaints that she was paid less than her men co-anchors, as
well as
other anchors in the Portland television market.
She also says the work
environment included derogatory comments by an
on-air personality and some managers about women and gay people
and
bullying of women interns by an on-air male personality.
In addition, the suit
says, a former news director shouted obscenities
at Donahue and Hancock, made negative comments about Hancock's
work to
her peers and urged the staff to "whore up the news."
In court papers, Emmis
acknowledges that Hancock complained in writing
about the dynamics of the newsroom, including some of the examples
in
the suit.
But KOIN and Emmis
officials deny in the papers that they
discriminated against Hancock because of her age or gender or
that
management retaliated against her because she complained.
Shortly after she left
the station, Hancock said the failure to renew
her contract was the last straw.
"I feel like I've
endured some really tough times with some
questionable management
practices," she
said.
Other women anchors
older than 40 have sued their former stations in
recent years alleging age and gender discrimination.
In 1999, Janet Peckinpaugh
won a $3.8 million court verdict against
WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., after a jury found the station guilty
of
gender discrimination. The jury did not uphold her claim of age
discrimination. Peckinpaugh lost her job when she was 44.
Last year, 55-year-old
Beverly Williams sued KYW-TV in Philadelphia,
claiming race, gender and age discrimination, and Carol Kaplan,
41,
made the same claims in her suit against WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, N.Y.
Anthony L. Liuzzo,
professor of business and economics at Wilkes
University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., notes that federal law prohibits
employers from discriminating on the basis of age or gender, except
under limited circumstances.
Movie-makers, for example,
can consider age, gender and race when
casting a film, said Liuzzo, who holds has a law degree.
On the other hand,
he said, courts in the 1970s rejected the policy of
many airlines to hire only women as flight attendants.
More recently, Hooters,
a restaurant chain that features voluptuous
and scantly clad women as servers, paid $3.75 million in 1997
to settle
a class-action lawsuit filed by men who said the company was
discriminatory in refusing to hire them because of their gender.
Liuzzo said the burden
on Hancock is to prove that KOIN discriminated
against her because of her age or gender. At the same time, he
said, TV
stations have generally preferred to avoid trials that could reveal
embarrassing details about their newsrooms.
"The vast majority
of these cases are settled," he said. "
The last one filed
against Emmis was "settled".
1/4/03 M5 and Emmis ,2002 the year
in revue
This kind of sums it up, thanks
for sending it in. This represents another year of M5 gains. Jeff
has been hinting at a 10% cost cutting measures. Cost cutting
at Emmis is in drones. This could mean expanding central crapping
or deeper cuts at M5 stations. I can say it will not be in his
compensation package. Big E is now in control of Cable World funding
,how long will it be before Angelico does a series on this? IBEW
contract still not signed, they are going for a record. Breck
signs a 3 or 5 year contract, depending on who you hear it from.This
had me rolling on the floor for a while.
I got a bunch more via email but
I will have wade through it. Please no more pics of Jeff and the
board doing it with farm animals. Keep rowing.
LINK
TO YEAR TWO