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WWW.EMMISSUCKS.COM

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Emmis is a unit of the Soylent Group

Updated 3/15/26

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Caution , If you are an FE proceeding could result in flash backs!

"Never have so few done so much to screw so many"

A rework of a Winston Churchill quote by an FE 4/20/02

A PAGE HISTORY, THE ORIGINAL PAGE WAS LAUNCHED IN 1995 AS AN EMPLOYEE LINK PAGE SO WE COULD FIND EACH OTHER ON THE WEB, MANY OF THE ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN ON THERE FOR YEARS,THE FLAMING LOGO,MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FUSE &THEME,EMAIL &WEB SITE LINKS,THE TAPE OPERATOR PIC AND THE INTEL AD. UP TO 3/15/01 THE ORIGINAL PAGE GOT A TOTAL OF A FEW HUNDRED HITS. ON 3/15/01 AFTER 18 YEARS OF SERVICE TO WVUE I AND MANY OTHERS WHO HAD EVEN MORE YEARS OF SERVICE (AS HIGH AS 40 YEARS) WERE GREETED BY A STATION SURROUNDED BY NOPD. THOSE WHO WERE CHOSEN FOR TERMINATION WERE LED BY MINDERS TO THE BEAN COUNTERS OFFICE AND TOLD UNDER THE GUNS OF PLAIN CLOTHED NOPD DETECTIVES ,THAT OUR SERVICES WERE NO LONGER NEEDED. WE WERE THEN ESCORTED UNDER GUARD OUT OF THE STATION. THIS TEN SECOND NOTICE BECAME KNOWN AS THE EMMIS TAP BECAUSE THE MINDERS WOULD TAP THE VICTIM ON THE SHOULDER AND TELL THE VICTIM TO FOLLOW THEM. WHEN THE M5 WENT ONLINE MADELYN BONNOT BROKE OUT THE CHAMPAGNE AND THEN WONDERED WHY NO ONE WANTED TO JOIN HER IN A TOAST, IT WAS POINTED OUT TO HER THAT SHE HAD JUST LAID OFF PEOPLE WITH 20 TO 40 YEARS WITH THE STATION. AFTER I GOT THE TAP ,I PULLED THE ORIGINAL PAGE FOR A FEW WEEKS. MANY PEOPLE NEEDED IT TO CONTACT FORMER CO-WORKERS SO I RE-LAUNCHED THE PAGE AT THAT TIME. MORE AND MORE I GOT INFO THAT WAS OF INTEREST TO CURRENT AND FORMER WVUE STAFFERS SO I DECIDED TO POST A FEW ITEMS THAT WERE EITHER HUMOR OR VERIFIED FACTS. BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE PAGE HAS PROGRESSED OVER THE YEARS THE SITE BECAME ORGANIZED IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. THIS MAKES IT EASIER FOR THE LOYAL VIEWER, ALL THEY HAVE TO CHECK IS THE MAIN PAGE FOR THE LATEST INFO. IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME READING THIS BLOG, HERE ARE SOME TIPS...READ ABOUT THE M5 FIRST, THEN A GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF CLASSIC FILM AND TV HELPS, NOW START IN THE ARCHIVES WITH YEAR ONE AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT PAGE AND WORK YOUR WAY FORWARD, FE IS SHORT FOR "FORMER EMPLOYEE" AND CE IS FOR "CURRENT EMPLOYEE". EVERY EFFORT HAS GONE INTO VERIFYING THE FACTS POSTED ,IF YOU FIND AN ERROR AND HAVE DOCUMENTATION TO DISPROVE AN ITEM A CORRECTION WILL BE POSTED. THIS PAGE HAS BECOME THE VOICE FOR THOSE WHO ARE TO AFRAID TO SPEAK OR THOSE FORCED TO SIGN THE GAG ORDER, IT DID NOT SET OUT TO DO THIS BUT THATS LIFE. NOW THAT THE "FINAL SOLUTION" IS NEAR THE ORIGINAL PAGE HAS REVERTED BACK TO A LINKS ONLY PAGE. ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO BE REPORTED WILL BE POSTED HERE WERE EMMIS SUCKS.

AS OF 5/5/08 EMMISSUCKS IS IN THE ARCHIVE MODE

COLOR CODE FOR TEXT ,RED = QUOTES FROM OTHERS, BLACK IS MY COMMENTARY OR INTRO.

If you have info on the EMMIS , E-mail me at emmissucks@worldnet.att.net

Many wonder what is the M5, to find out follow this link

EMMIS GAG ORDER LINK

WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO SIGN AS THEY KICK YOU OUT THE DOOR

"I'll start being nicer when everyone starts enjoying their job!" Ken Selvaggi

All The Emmis News Worth Posting

3/15/26 We now celibate 25 years since the evil corp giant purge and I am still here as are you, not so much for EMMIS. I urge you to go to their page and see how he spins what he did to the company. I am sure this thorn in his side still haunts him. On this anniversary I have heard from a bakers dozen of FE`s all are much better off and doing well. Will update in five years unless what is left of Jeff implodes

3/15/21 And it has been 20 years since Jeffler had the big purge of 2000. Only a handful of FE`s now contact me periodically. This is a good thing most are putting the Borg behind them. In a bit of irony the WVUE cube that was dead last in the market under A-Mess is now #1 beating the Goliath big W for the first time in many decades. This shows how good management makes for a good product. Emmis stock has rebounded to $2.32 a share as of this posting. I also noted the number of employees is now down to 350. Looking though some info I see the mane income seems to be selling off assets including KSHE the radio station of my youth Jeff drove into the ground. Emmis has dwindled to 8 US station , One EU and one magazine. Emmis is well on its way out. I am surprised it lasted this long and I am sure Jeff is ticked I lasted this long. I must ad we have a new page sponsor Wilford Industries. Your WEBMASTER has made provisions that EMMISSUCKS will continue for some time by funding it in perpetuity in my will. It is not a lot to keep it going per year and a small escrow account will insure Jeffs great grand kids can find out what a sphincter he was.

3/15/16 This is the 15 year anniversary of the mass terminations by the evil one. As far as I know all the FE`s are doing better since exiting the hive. I get a few follow ups now and then but not much traffic compared to the early years. I just checked the stock price and it is 61cents so I have a $1.22 worth of stock. I have not heard from any radio people in years, maybe no one left? I see they now own about 24 radio stations and some other crap. I also saw they are selling off the over seas stations. The only one that bugs me is KSHE, they wrecked it. It was the station of my JR High & High school years. It is now just another POS. I see Jeff is still the king of the Borge yet his photo is old. I had to dig to find any info on the hive as they have become a"used to be" communications company. So your Webmaster is still out there monitoring the fall of the empire all be it a slow one. A note to other broadcasters, learn from the mistakes of EMMIS and do not repeat what Jeff did.

3/2/14 Well it`s been 5 years since my last update and 13 years since I got the tap. It has been 6 years since the empire got out of TV. The stock is now floating at $3 a share. I still hold two shares maybe I will retire on the profits. I have not heard from any one in radio people in more than four years. I can only assume they are "happy in their work" A quote from Colonel Saito of Bridge on the River Kwai fame. As I pen this post it is playing on TCM and is what got me into thinking of the empire. I do hear from about a dozen FE`s all are doing fine but most still suffer from post Emmis stress syndrome. As for myself I could not be doing better (I can hear Jeff vomiting on that note). To be honest I would have been much worse off if I had been one of the unfortunates who got stuck in the hive. As stated before updates will be far between and only for breaking news on the evil one. If you have a tip just email me. I now have to watch Sir Alec Guinness blow up the bridge. Remember tapping day is March 15th.

3/6/09 CUT CUT CUT...."NDIANAPOLIS -- March 5, 2009: Emmis Communications is cutting 7.5 percent of its workforce -- 91 full-time people and 14 part-timers -- and all employees will see a 5 percent pay cut. Chicago was especially hard-hit, with seven people in the cluster out the door.

With the changes, Emmis VP/Rock Programming and KSHE/St. Louis PD Rick Balis picks up WLUP/Chicago programming duties, while KPNT/St. Louis PD Tommy Mattern will program Chicago's WKQX.

A memo to Emmis/Chicago staffers from VP/Market Manager Marv Nyren said, "Facing the ongoing challenges of a struggling media sector and turbulent economy, earlier today Emmis took a series of steps to better position it for shifting global and industry realities. Those steps included a workforce reduction of 7.5 percent, which included the elimination of 91 full-time and 14 part-time positions across its Corporate, radio, and publishing divisions. Notified employees received generous severance packages and other support."

11/18/08 JEFF SPEAKS AND SPINS TV FAILURE.... In an online article Jeff blames his failure in TV on Retrams fee flop. Link to ARTICLE.Everything was to blame but Jeffs plan to run TV like he runs radio. He even claims to have made money in TV. The stock holders did not see it. Emmis stock closed at $0.40.

11/02/08 EVEN MORE CUTS.... Emmis cuts 20 more radio jobs and another pay cut 3% for those earning over 50k. Stock at $0.68

9/30/08 EMMIS BREAKS $1 MARK.... As the market rebounds emmis sinks to an all time low of $0.94 a share only to rally back to close at $0.97. Emmis circles the drain.Going,going,going....

9/18/08 MORE CUT CUT CUT......Emmis cuts exec pay to $15,000 per drone as the company continues its death spiral. Drones cane earn more if they meet unrealistic goals. Stock $1.51

8/23/08 CUT,CUT,CUT....Emmis cuts 4.6% of publishing humans and the remaining humans get a 2% pay cut. Stock $2.16

7/16/08 .. TP plays catch up. Days after my post the TP catches up and even mentions this site .Dave did get one thing wrong, this is not a "station based site, it is a company exposure site.

"Tom Benson takes control of WVUE
Posted by Dave Walker, TV Columnist, The Times-Picayune July 18, 2008 12:43PM
Categories: Living: Columnists
Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneSaints' owner Tom Benson will take control of Fox affiliate WVUE-TV Channel 8 from Emmis Communications on Friday, July 18.

A new local media company principally owned by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson will take control today (July 18) of Fox network affiliate WVUE-Channel 8.

The $41 million deal between Benson's Louisiana Media Co. and Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp. was announced in May pending Federal Communications Commission approval.

This afternoon, Benson is expected to tour the station, substantially rebuilt since catastrophic Hurricane Katrina levee-failure flooding, and meet with its staffers.

Joe Cook, announced in May as president of Louisiana Media Co., will be WVUE's general manager, replacing Vanessa Oubre, who guided the station's post-Katrina recovery.

A former WVUE general manager, Cook engineered the WVUE purchase for Benson.

Except for a change in the station's newscast-trailing ownership IDs, viewers will see little immediate on-air difference in the Benson-era WVUE, Cook said.

For WVUE staffers, the Emmis ownership era was marked by off-air challenges and on-air triumph.

Emmis bought WVUE in 1998 as part of a multi-station, $307 million deal, and almost immediately began purging employees, including veteran news managers and anchors.

The reductions eventually grew so sweeping that one of the tapped employees established a website, www.emmissucks.com, to track the station's moves.

Emmis began selling off its 16 TV stations shortly before Hurricane Katrina, which filled WVUE with chest-high floodwater and forced the station off the air for two weeks and to a remote broadcast outpost in Alabama for three months.

The last Emmis TV property to move, WVUE has enjoyed robust evening news ratings - the revenue center for local stations - since the storm.

WVUE is solidly the market's No. 2 news provider in late news, and its 9 p.m. newscast occasionally challenges the huge 10 p.m. ratings typically won by longtime local news leader WWL-Channel 4.

Asked what he watches on WVUE at the time of the May announcement, Benson said, "Weather and news."

Also in May, Benson said WVUE would be the first of several media deals he foresaw for his new company.

"Our plans aren't to just stop here," he said. "We're planning to get into other media. Our plans are just developing. We're going to be in the movie business.

"This will all be part of this. We're in an infant stage."

Emmis stock $1.77

7/16/08 ..ACORDING TO INSIDERS "TOM BENSON WILL BE TAKING OVER WVUE TV-CHANNEL 8 ON FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2008" Emmis stock down to the $1.60 mark

05/05/08 EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA FINAL EDITION

Well not quite ...For those who have not heard WVUE the last TV cube under Borg control has been sold for $41 million to Louisiana Media Co. LLC, A locally owned co. headed by Tom Benson owner of the New Orleans Saints. Captain Joe Cook took the helm as GM after Venessa Orbe (proboly spelled wrong but who cares) "resigned" (got tapped). I did get the name wrong for the new company,oh well. As I write this posting I am playing a DVD of The Ten Commandments to get me in the mood. After all my name was stricken from the records and now the people are being set free. I received 36 phone calls and 375 emails letting me know VUE was sold. Many of these saying they will miss this site. I want to thank all those who called and wrote as well as the hundreds of FE`s ,CE`s ,board members, and Emmis IT people who made this site possible. I also want to thank you, the viewers of this site , you made it all worth it. Your web master has endured threats to life and limb ,employment threats and a campaign of fictional rumor and innuendo . A FE is currently penning a book on the empire and I want to be the first to buy it. Just for grins here are some of the many subject lines of the hundreds of emails received,

"WVUE SOLD

Sinking 8 is now a Saint

You won congrats !!!!!!!!!!

Finally they put that dog down.

Free at last, Free at last, free at last!

We have overcome

Jeffs out of TV biz

The nightmare is over WVUE is sold"

And many more. With all this as I stated Emmissucks will now move into the archive mode. Weekly or monthly post cease as Emmis TV has ceased to exist. The site will remain as a testament to greed and incompetence destroying stations and in the end the company. If you teach broadcasting feel free to use the info as a training aid on how not to run a TV empire. If your Jeff may god have mercy on your soul because I do not think your FE`s or stock holders will. This is the ultimate "I told you so" web site. It was a real honor to meet and talk to so many of the FE`s from all over the US. My best wishes to the freed WVUE drones. I hope to keep in touch with a number of the repetitive contributors to this site. For the most part you will no longer have to regularly check for updates, I will only be updating when other divisions of Emmis fold and when the main company goes under. Any one who has read one line of this site knows I would be the last to host a written blog, after all my spelling and grammar are not that of a journalist. I want to end this obit with a few of my favorite tag lines-modified for this last regular post. The truth has been posted, You no longer have to row, So let it be written-so let it be done, The band has stopped ,Resistance was not futile, The floggings have ceased, And so it goes, The pod bay doors are open, The M5 is shut down and I laugh at the inferior intellect.

05/04/08 ALLS QUIET ON THE EMMIS FRONT... Many people pondering who would buy the last cube. One reader of this site suggested the new company be called Cook-Benson-Broadcasting. The company stock seems to have found its level at $3 a share. Meantime Jeff continues to suck every last buck out of A-mess. The CE`s at VUE just want it to be over and a number of possible replacement drones have asked your web master what they should do? I say wait until VUE is sold, you do not want to be last in and first out. No word from any radio people if any still exist. The truth is out there.

03/27/08 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS OWNER SAID TO BE INTERESTED IN WVUE.... I do not know why but insiders say he was one of those looking at the moldy eight. The author of "Imagine it this way...If you don't make your target numbers we will line your entire families up against the wall and shoot them...it is that serious" has landed in San Diego. In only what could be called a flood of email over 200 strong every one wanted to let me know were he ended up.Thank you all for letting me know. I normally do not follow people who have left the collective but I am sure his fear and intimidation tactics will be continue at his new station. I never met or worked for him but I did hear from dozens of drones and received over 20 of his "memos". Its a special person who makes the famous quote section of this site. "The floggings will resume."

03/23/06 BUYERS TOUR N.O. CUBE... Emmissucks has heard that as many as five would be buyers have been looking at WVUE. One of the more interesting would be buyers being Captain Cook former GM. Not much else going on the stock is hovering at about $3 a share. No more news from radio but then again there may be no one left to send any thing in. So let it be written, so let it be done.

02/06/08 ALL HUMANS MUST BE TERMINATED... Jeff continues the purge in what is left of A-Mess,

"Emmis cuts staff by 46 positions
Emmis Communications confirms that it has let go 46 staffers in LA, NYC,
St. Louis, Austin and Chicago, but says that is the end of payroll
reductions for its US radio group. Wall Street analysts say the cost
cuts will help to counter a revenue decline from yesterday's relaunch of
WQCD-FM NYC as Adult Rock WRXP-FM. Emmis' stock is up in today's
trading."

Stock closed at $2.90. "Sterilize..Sterilize..Sterilize...."

01/09/08 $2.02 Going,going,going... Jeff said "We are always viewed as the canary in the coal mine," Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan told analysts, according to a transcript. "And I was driving in this morning thinking well, maybe this is the perspective from the very bottom of the shaft." This from the man who gives others the shaft on a routine basis. Emmis has become the turd in the punch bowl not the canary in the coal mine. Give people what they want and they will tune in. Emmis posted a 3Q loss of $1.2mil. A blog on indystar has some interesting comments on A-Mess,

"Corporate radio like Emmis and Clear Channel have destroyed radio. I was in the business when stations were locally owned and operated. The DJ's were actually in the same building and could play what they wanted, music that people wanted to hear. Advertising was fun and creative. Now, the DJ's "voice-track" their shows. That's a fancy corporate radio term meaning it's pre-recorded. We had a DJ in Denver voice-track for a show in West Palm Beach. And corporate radio has forced out local advertising. Only large corporations can afford a reasonable schedule of effective advertising. Local advertisers can only afford overnights and Sunday schedules. If you’re in the radio business, get out now, while you still can. I was in radio for 15 years, and have been out now for 6, and couldn’t be happier about it!"

"I think you said it best, when a station loses touch with it's local base, people will go elsewhere.

Right now over half the schedule on 1070 is syndicated out of state stuff trying to compete with XM and podcast, with just too many commercials.

Election night 2006, 1070 and 1430 gave us basketball games, totally ingoring an important election.

The move to FM seems like the final nail on the coffin. I miss the local 24 hour a day radio I grew up with."

What humans want is humans on radio. This is diametrically opposite to Jeffs plans to eliminate all humans at Emmis. The truth is out there and I will continue to post it!

01/04/08 $2.77 AND FADING FAST.... Happy New Year! from all of us at Emmissucks. This is most likely the last year for the evil empire as decades of poor management, greed and corruption finally catch up with the evil empire. I laugh at the inferior intellect. Star Trek "The Wrath of Khan"

2007ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 7

2006ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 6

2005ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 5

2004ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 4

2003ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 3

2002ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 2

2001ARCHIVE OF THE M5 YEAR 1

(Or how it all began)

Famous quotes from WVUE's past and current management.

"I'd love to see you working for the competition, the sooner the better" Joe Cook GM 2001 to 2005

"We are dedicated to NEWS" Randy Bonagarten New head of TV operations for EMMIS,we shall see

"Imagine it this way...If you don't make your target numbers we will line your entire families up against the wall and shoot them...it is that serious" Ray Shonback 2001

"Quite honestly", "The Titanic had a Band"&"I want to make this a fun place to work" Madelyn Bonnot ,Sr. VP Operations Emmis Television & GM 1998? to 2001 she missed the target.

"It's our people that make the difference"&" I have no major changes planned for WVUE"Jeff Smulyan CEO of EMMIS These comments from the man who cut more people than all previous owners of WVUE combined.

"It fell through the cracks" & "We don't need a permit or credentials for that" Elton Jones PM mid 80's to 2002,what he always says when he forgets some thing vital

"The floggings will continue until moral improves" Al Volker late 80's

"only one hot dog per crew member working the show" Phil Nye GM mid 80's when sold out to Savoy Fox got ten to one on his investment.

" We do not pay you to think"&"I can clean up this news operation" Andy Barton News Director early 90's, He vacuumed and dusted more than managing the news operation

"Make no small plans" Just small budgets (my embellishment) Peter Danois CEO of Barnham Broadcasting , the smallest budgets ever in the history of WVUE. This from a former employee, Peter also stated "I am a broadcaster and in this for the long haul"this was in his intro to the staff ,he bailed with a ten to one profit and got into an internet Co.,so much for broadcasting. His internet company flopped. The Barnham sale was the sale that sealed the fate for WVUE.

"I will make this station bigger than WWL" Ed Quinn GM early 80's,he lasted less than two years. Also known for "Thats my VUE point what's yours?"

"We are right were we want to be" Jack Long GM early "80s when WVUE was rated last in the market!

Evil mismangment E-Mails

Jeff jeff@emmis.com

Send your comments directly to the mismanagers and use Anonymous.To to keep your identity a secret. Thanks to frightened CE manager who sent in a pro-jeff comment and he was afraid of Jeff finding out he comminicated with your webmaster. It would have been interseting to see what Jeff would have done to the guy if he had not hid his ID ?

Other site's of interest To Emmis employee's (Or X Eployee's)

Know of an EMMIS site send me the link

EMMISROBOT PAGE

Seattle Mariners Site

News Blues

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