http://www.usatoday.com/m...htm?csp=34

Clear Channel cuts 1,850 jobs, 9% of work force

The parent of Clear Channel Communications told workers on Tuesday that it is cutting 1,850 jobs as the nation's largest owner of radio stations grapples with the economic meltdown.
The cuts represent about 9% of the company's total work force and affect staff throughout the company, in radio, outdoor advertising and corporate offices.

In a company-wide email, Chief Executive Mark Mays told employees that the company is facing an "unprecedented time of distress." He also said, though, that "Everyone in our investor group, on the board, and in the executive leadership team remains bullish about the long-term growth prospects for Clear Channel."

The advertising market has been soft, especially for radio stations.

In the third quarter, company lost $86.1 million before discontinued operations compared to a profit of $253.4 million. The just-concluded quarter included $148.8 million in merger-related expenses and other one-time items. Revenue fell by 4% to $1.7 billion.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Clear Channel Communications | Thomas H. Lee Partners | Bain Capital Partners | CC Media Holdings
The steepest drop was in radio advertising, down 7% to $844 million.

Private equity firms Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners formed CC Media Holdings to acquire Clear Channel in July for $17.9 billion.

San Antonio-based CC Media Holdings trades over-the-counter. Clear Channel operates over 800 radio stations reaching more than 110 million listeners in 50 states.

I posted this yesterday. http://prince.org/msg/8/295398

It is pretty crazy. I hate it because I know people that work for them that got canned.

I feel sorry people were working over there only for its owners to constantly tell them to replay bullshit on the radio.

Timmy84 said:

Well, they were getting compensated for the repetitive BS. Whether it be cash or trips or otherwise.

When I worked in radio, our PD and GM got trips and expensive gifts and perks constantly because a record company asked them to ply some crappy song over and over.

You guys should really pay attention to how the radio stations are structured. Even on oldies stations. You can always tell when a particular company is paying for their music to get played. It's sickening. You might hear all Universal distributed songs in one stopset. That's crazy.

daPrettyman said:

No I can just imagine what they have to go through... it's crazy as fuck.

Ooops. Sorry. With all the stuff going on yesterday, I didn't see it.

I couldn't do it. I'm too hard headed. I would feel lower than a whore getting golden showers for money.



Oh, I've noticed that. And the DJs don't even know anything about the music they are playing. I heard one pronounce the group Chic as "chick". And what really turned my stomach was last week. They played Robert Palmer's "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On". Afterwards, the DJ told the audience that Robert's wasn't the original and the original version was done by a woman...."I think it was Whitney Houston, and she did a really good job of it".

that's not great news. ppl are losing their jobs.

vainandy said:

OMG. you know, most of the radio studios have internet access. I guess they don't know how to google.

Pronouncing Chic as Chick is downright rude.

That's like worrying about drug dealers losing their jobs.

Oh, thinking that Shitney Houston made a jam like "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" was THE worst. I almost wrecked my car when I heard that.

vainandy said:

You can best believe that the people that lost their jobs were not the ones in charge of feeding the public the big pile of garbage. Those guys still have jobs.

The big guys in charge are like the guys running these underage sex slave trades overseas. I would love to see those bastards begging for a bailout and Obama needs his ass beat if he gives it to them.

vainandy said:

I agree.

vainandy said:

Yeah. I feel bad for the workers losing their jobs over there, but that's just about it. Fuck Clear Channel.

I see it like this, if enough monopolies like Clear Channel eventually go broke, then individual stations can start popping up again and they can get jobs playing variety, and once variety gets in there, it could eventually lead back to actual music and not shit hop.

vainandy said:

Believe it or not, the little guy still won't succeed. Especially with the new ratings systems for radio stations.

I have a friend that works for KJLH in LA. They used to do OK in the ratings (for a small independent station) until the new PPM was announced at the ratings system. PPM is going to kill black radio and indie radio. That's probably why Indie 103 in LA went under.

^^^ The only places you can find black radio and indie radio is on satelite. There are only a few black radio stations in our state and most of that don't even promote music but are basically talk shows like Steve Harvey, Tom Joyner, Michael Baisden and Russ Parr.

We have NO indie station in our state or at least at the part of the state I live in as far as I know.
[Edited 1/21/09 10:42am]

Black radio? What's that? Most of the black stations these days, even the ones that aren't owned by monopolies play mainly shit hop. And who are the main people buying that shit and some of them are even flipping over and listening to "black" stations these days? It wasn't like that during the funk days.

vainandy said:

Many of the mainstream so-called "black stations" are owned by Clear Channel anyways, the ones we do have.

We have a black station that has been around since the 1970s as an AM station and is still around but moved over to FM in the early 1990s. I don't know if a big company bought them or not but they have Tom Joyner in the mornings. Their format is "soft soul" (translation: Shitney Houston type music and the artists she inspired of the late 80s to today). However, when they have their lunch time oldies hour each day, they will throwdown some funk and sometimes I've even heard a few vinyl pops every blue moon in some of the songs. Saturday afternoons, one particular DJ throws down the same way, but once he leaves at 5 p.m., it's the same old Shitney Houston type music.

I can't see them as being a Clear Channel type station because I can't see a monopoly letting them play the type of songs they play on the occasions when they do throwdown. I think their format during the week is so dull because years of Shitney Houston type music has made people's tastes dull.

vainandy said:

Believe it or not, it was like that in the funk days. The majority of black music has always been purchased by non-black consumers. Even during the funk days.

Black radio still exists. When I speak of black radio, I'm covering everything from gospel, r&b and shit-hop stations. They still reach the black consumer.

[quote]

daPrettyman said:

I'm not talking about Lionel Richie, Kool and the Gang, Michael Jackson, or Prince. I never met another white person who even knew who The Barkays, Lakeside, Cameo (before "Word Up"), or Zapp was. It also showed in the audience at their concerts. Very few white kids flipped over to black radio sometimes either. That's very common today though.

Timmy84 said:

Saddest part is that of the ones you listed, Tom Joyner and Russ Parr are the only ones that are black owned. They are owned by Radio One. Steve Harvey is a product of Clear Channel, Michael Baisden is a product of ABC Radio Keith Sweat is owned by Clear Channel, and Brian McKnight's new show will be through ABC.

I hate it that the small radio stations are struggling to survive and have to go to satellite programming. In a lot of small markets, you will hear big city programming. A lot of small urban stations and markets get their syndication through either Clear Channel in Chicago or ABC in Dallas. If you hear jocks named Bionce Foxx, Joe Soto, Hollywood Hernandez, Mel Devaughn, Dewayne Dancer among others, you are listening to syndicated radio.

You have to look and find an indie station. In today's media driven world, small stations have a hard time surviving. If you want to find one, I highly suggest that you look at the arbitron ratings in your area.

vainandy said:

You'll never get any black station to play music from Zapp (not "Computer Love" or "More Bounce" because of its hip-hop sampling), Lakeside, pre-1986 Cameo and other groups like Mandrill, the Ohio Players (when's the last time "Funky Worm" was played on the radio besides on special occasions?) or even James Brown because that's not "the popular format". Black music in its funk diversion was never popular with mainstream audiences the way people think it was so because of what has happened since the mid-1980s, is it any surprise REAL black radio has been struggling while monopolized and non-monopolized black stations have to play the same shit again and again and again? That's why kids today think R&B is "boring", lol.

vainandy said:

Man, here in Dallas, when there are oldies concerts with Lakeside, Cameo, Zapp, etc., about 10% of the audience is white.

I know in Mississippi it may be a little different, though.

daPrettyman said:

Yeah it's been going like that for a while and it's only getting worse because, of what you said about the world being more media-driven than ever these days. I hardly listen to the radio anymore because all they do is promote bullshit. Even the black ones. I just can't stand it. Radio used to be fun now I just play my CDs that have good music on it (like Donny or Marvin or Stevie). Hell, they hardly play DONNY on my radio station (only that one Roberta Flack duet, you know the one), they do play Marvin and Stevie but it's usually the same songs. Hell Isaac Hayes don't even get radio coverage anymore!

Only if those groups are performing here as part of an outdoor music festival. For instance, two or three rock groups perform, then afterwards, someone like The Barkays or The SOS Band might perform later into the night. There are those white people that kind of just hang around afterwards (usually because they are drunk and aren't ready to go home). If someone like The Barkays comes to a venue on their own, I'm usually the only white face in the place. Now, it's completely different with someone like James Brown (when he was living) or George Clinton. Those are groups that have been absolutely worn out over the years and gotten a lot of good press by white magazines like "Rolling Stone" over the years. At those type of concerts, the majority of the audience will be the artsy/fartsy type older whites or white college students who call themselves "exploring black music and culture".

vainandy said:

Exactly! And JB and Clinton were moderately accepted by the mainstream as it was, lol. You'd never see them going to see the Barkays or the SOS Band because they're not familiar with it, they only hear one or two black bands and then claim they know exactly what black music is, if all you think of black music is Michael Jackson, Prince, James Brown, George Clinton, Sly Stone, Little Richard and Chuck Berry, do some more research!

This goes out to not only white kids but black kids, young Latinos, Asians and others... there's more to music, especially of the black kind, then you think! ESPECIALLY the songs hip-hop artists have randomly sampled over the years!!!

Timmy84 said:

SNAP!!!!!

I feel u guys.