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Charlie Tuna Leaves KRTH
- Thread starter michael hagerty
- Start date
Same with KFRC until Dr. Don Rose....and to some extent, KHJ outside of Morgan, Steele, Tuna and Humble Harve. And every one of them was replaced without major trauma to the ratings at one or more points along the way.
You're right, but in the example I gave, it was.
I agree, but what would the purpose of that be? This is a station that is clearly reinventing itself. Not unlike what's already happened at KTWV. This is not a celebration of the past. This is a moving forward. It's not a big surprise, since CVD left earlier this year. It's been a long and gradual change, and along the way, the ratings have increased. The music has changed, the imaging has changed, and now the rest of it is changing. If I was Shotgun, I'd use every opportunity I have to say thank you to his listeners.
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That speaks volumes for their lack of trust in their employees. And especially for someone like Tuna who had a long and very successful relationship with a number of stations.
You're assuming that was the reason for this particular case.
From a programming perspective, goodbyes are negative in any form. It says that something is over, and maybe now is a good time to find a new station.
In this sense, it's no different from the "well, that's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow at six with another Morning Mayhem show on Q-102!" Again, telling people "it's over, move on, nothing to hear".
The worst is "I'm Chuck Up and I'll be back next weekend fro 3 to 7 on Saturday and Noon to 6 on Sunday". First, who cares? Second, it sounds like the station is going away for a week. Third, nobody cares about radio 7 days in advance.
It only takes one case of having a staffer "work out the shift" or "work out the week" and ending up with a slam, a swansong or something worse for most of us to avoid goodbyes from anyone. Worst case I heard of was a fired jock who worked out a shift and, as the last song was playing, he lifted up the lid on the board (when they had hinged lids) and pissed in it.
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Hot Hits
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You should have heard Beau Weaver's final shift at Unistar, telling his unwanted story about the Satellite Radio 'thing' and the owner of Sunbelt communications, C.T. Robinson, really unprofessional. Then Beau went on to be one of the most successful V/O guys in the industry. He didn't shower regularly but now he works from home so no one can smell him.
Was he known as "Shorty" from then on?
I did want to clear 2 things up, number 1 im not a long time friend of Tuna nor have i ever met him. Also the way the earlier post Charlie had posted seem to indicate it was a voluntary move on his part to Leave KRTH. That was cleared up today.
2. Shotgun is NOT on weekends, From what i gathered on his radio show he indicated he would be around on weekends, so that rumor about him being on-air is a mistake.
2. Shotgun is NOT on weekends, From what i gathered on his radio show he indicated he would be around on weekends, so that rumor about him being on-air is a mistake.
KM, I appreciate your comments. It's not often that the professionals and fans have agreed here over the years. However I think it is safe to say that although we acknowledge radio is a business that the dismissal of Charlie could have and should have been handled in a much *more professional manner. *To treat someone of charlies stature with no regard for his longevity, showing him no respect not to mention the utter lack of faith in him doing a first class final show is appalling. KRTH can do what they wish with their station. It is apparent they had no regard for their long time listener base - we have all come to accept *this. However from a human dignity perspective, I felt they owed Charlie - and Christina more. Maybe I'm just naive. When KRTH chose to change their format once jhani left, it was a move that was difficult for many long time listeners to accept. Not so much so for what they felt they needed to do to reinvigorate their audience and move the demo younger. It wasn't so much what they did, but more so how they went about it. David once referred to this as "steering the ship slowly", which I can appreciate. For many of us though, it would have been easier to tell the audience that they were going to change direction and do so in one fell swoop. Radio stations change formats, change personalities continually. It's part of the business. However for a legendary, and for the longest time stable station, the upheaval these last 2 years has been stunning. Just picture if you will, how the millions of listeners to WCBS fm in new York will feel when these same moves occur there.*
But in fact it WAS handled professionally. You want it to be handled emotionally. That's a different thing.
What no one knows is exactly HOW it went down. For example, was the union rep there to oversee the conversation? Did he receive everything he is entitled to under his contract? Or did he simply get an email saying he was done? We don't know. So before we start making judgments about how "professionally" something was handled, we need more information. And I don't expect we'll get it. That would be the professional thing to do.
Based on charlies very brief statement, his 48 year run on Los Angeles radio and reputation for being a first class individual, I believe he was owed more by his employer. I'm not debating professionalism vs emotion. I'm merely stating what I feel would have been the proper thing to do in this situation.*
You're right - we will never know what actually transpired. However based on what we know - *being told *that he was no longer needed by email rather than in person is an unprofessional way of doing business in my opinion.
You're right - we will never know what actually transpired. However based on what we know - *being told *that he was no longer needed by email rather than in person is an unprofessional way of doing business in my opinion.
Nowhere in his Facebook post does he say that he got the news via email rather than in person.
My apologies if the email comment was inaccurate. Since California labor law requires the employer to issue a final paycheck immediately upon termination, the implication was that Charlie was not in the building at the time he received the news of his dismissal. Whether it was an email, phone call or delivered by carrier pigeon, anything less than a face to face meeting with the person responsible for the actual termination, in my opinion is unacceptable and a poor way to treat an employee of charlies stature.
The post doesn't say it was not in person. Just that the final check would be sent by overnight. But I sense that you would say the same thing if it was in person.
You would prefer having him called into the office on a weekday, making eye contact with other employees as he walks in, being given bad news, and then leaving walking past all those people again? Is that better?
Look....there's no good way to get fired. That's just the reality.
You would prefer having him called into the office on a weekday, making eye contact with other employees as he walks in, being given bad news, and then leaving walking past all those people again? Is that better?
Look....there's no good way to get fired. That's just the reality.
You're right. There is no good way to get fired. The only point I am trying to make is that if this was handled properly, KRTH could have made this situation far better for both Charlie and his legion of loyal listeners. Bringing *Charlie into the office, explaining the reason for the change and then allowing him the option of doing a final show, or final weekend, would have made this far more palatable for all. I understand that is not the norm in most cases, but we are talking about a legendary personality here. And doesn't the radio station owe their listeners something as well. Stop. I already know the answer.
.So true. If it wasn't in person, they saved him a round-trip 40 mile drive from Tarzana, probably a total of two and a half or three hours in traffic, for five minutes of bad news. He's busy with his own business...that's time he could spend making money. And (speaking from experience), the face-to-face only really matters if there's a relationship with the person firing you. Otherwise, it's you, the new guy in a suit (well, probably not in radio) and someone from HR. Chris Ebbott's been there what...a few months? This isn't Ron Jacobs or Bill Drake, where there was years of history, good times and mutual benefit.
Living five miles further from work than Charlie does, I can tell you that I'd much prefer to get the news in the comfort of home, know that the check will be in my mailbox in the morning, and get on with more productive things.
But listeners do not age in one fell swoop, so a gradual change opens the door to younger listeners while being done slowly enough to accustom the users of the station to the new blend. Some will leave, and others will join; a dramatic change only scares away the existing cume before a new listener base arrives.
It has taken KRTH several years to complete the transformation, and they kept the 25-54 share they had and grew it. That's rather amazing and a testimony to Rick Thomas and the current crew at CBS. Most important, instead of losing billing, which is the normal effect of changing formats, they increased revenue. I would say that this is a case study of how to do a format shift.
Interestingly, CBS in LA did it again with KTWV, again with a subtly introduced change in the music mix and a gradual morphing of the imaging and style.
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K.M. Richards
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Well, you called that one, James.
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