But, we seem to be ignoring or missing the big broke elephant in the room: Westwood One is owned and operated by Cumulus, which is in severe debt. Westwood's goal by cutting it's fees to CBS, is to hope to at least make the same revenue it always had selling CBS but with paying the vendor (CBS) less, in order to hold on to more money.
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Buyouts at CBS Radio News in advance of Spin-Off
- Thread starter KMan
- Start date
But, we seem to be ignoring or missing the big broke elephant in the room: Westwood One is owned and operated by Cumulus, which is in severe debt. Westwood's goal by cutting it's fees to CBS, is to hope to at least make the same revenue it always had selling CBS but with paying the vendor (CBS) less, in order to hold on to more money.
What you've written about CMLS debt is true, but I don't think it necessarily drove the decision to renegotiate the CBS fees. The lower revenue they are getting likely drove the decision and CBS, looking at the data, concluded that they needed to reduce the fees to keep the business with the result that some of the higher priced talent would be offered a retirement incentive.
I like TOH news and I'm reasonably far from being 60. While there is less clearance of ABC Radio News, Cumulus did come up with a replacement product for it, Fox News offers it as does Townhall and AP. I hope this news, while sad in the respect that a lot of longtime and respected talent will be off the air, means that CBS TOH news and other reports will retain wide clearances for some time to come.
I like TOH news and I'm reasonably far from being 60. While there is less clearance of ABC Radio News, Cumulus did come up with a replacement product for it, Fox News offers it as does Townhall and AP. I hope this news, while sad in the respect that a lot of longtime and respected talent will be off the air, means that CBS TOH news and other reports will retain wide clearances for some time to come.
Love some of the discussion on the past few pages. I'll have some more thoughts of my own tomorrow or Friday.
Meanwhile, Dori Monson at KIRO had Harley Carnes on the air on Monday. Harley's newscasts aired during the Dori Monson show for a decade (Harley moved to the afternoon slot in a post-Christopher Glenn reshuffle in 2006), and Dori would often grab some of the more off-beat stories and discuss when he came back from break.
Podcast here, Harley is on at 20:45. http://kiroradio.com/listen/10013335/
Makes a couple points ... Harvey Nagler had protected Radio News from budget cuts from years, and apparently, when he knew the cuts were coming, he retired rather than have to make the cuts. Harley then noted that when Harvey announced he was leaving, he started thinking he'd be ready to go too.
He also said, about his job, and his unique style... "My job was not just to do the news and inform people, but also to entertain to the extent that somebody driving down the road somewhere, listening to KIRO, will say, I have to get back to that place to do this again tomorrow, or the next hour. Because you are offering them something that they are not going to find everywhere..."
Meanwhile, Dori Monson at KIRO had Harley Carnes on the air on Monday. Harley's newscasts aired during the Dori Monson show for a decade (Harley moved to the afternoon slot in a post-Christopher Glenn reshuffle in 2006), and Dori would often grab some of the more off-beat stories and discuss when he came back from break.
Podcast here, Harley is on at 20:45. http://kiroradio.com/listen/10013335/
Makes a couple points ... Harvey Nagler had protected Radio News from budget cuts from years, and apparently, when he knew the cuts were coming, he retired rather than have to make the cuts. Harley then noted that when Harvey announced he was leaving, he started thinking he'd be ready to go too.
He also said, about his job, and his unique style... "My job was not just to do the news and inform people, but also to entertain to the extent that somebody driving down the road somewhere, listening to KIRO, will say, I have to get back to that place to do this again tomorrow, or the next hour. Because you are offering them something that they are not going to find everywhere..."
But aging network products suffered the most, due to a sharper focus on 25-54 and, increasingly, 18-49.
Keep in mind that most national programming doesn't benefit from NTR, and national radio is competing more directly against other national platforms. While the metrics may not be comparable, the demos can be pretty startling. National radio really needs to look beyond the :30 spot, and just adding podcasts isn't going to make up for the difference. This may be one reason why CBS Radio is glad that CBS Radio News isn't part of its new company. They have a lot more tools in their arsenal.
Dan Raviv exited CBS Radio News this morning at the conclusion of the inauguration special coverage.
He indicated on Twitter that he has another gig lined up and will announce it soon. Doesn't sound like a buyout, just an exit.
This leaves CBS Radio News with just Steven Portnoy, Steve Dorsey, Cami McCormick (Pentagon) and Pam Coulter (currently at the anchor desk) full time in D.C. and no full time correspondent in New York (after Heather Bosch's exit to return home to Seattle in July)...
He indicated on Twitter that he has another gig lined up and will announce it soon. Doesn't sound like a buyout, just an exit.
This leaves CBS Radio News with just Steven Portnoy, Steve Dorsey, Cami McCormick (Pentagon) and Pam Coulter (currently at the anchor desk) full time in D.C. and no full time correspondent in New York (after Heather Bosch's exit to return home to Seattle in July)...
Maybe not dedicated to radio, but they have access to lots of reporters.
I specified that they don't have a dedicated radio reporter there.
Of course they have access to TV reporters. CBS Radio News, historically, more so than the other radio networks, has leaned heavily on repackaging TV reports for radio.
But its not the same as the radio desk being able to send their reporter out to cover a breaking story, filing dedicated live reports.
I'm sure if a major breaking story occurred, they'd be able to get a reporter to cover it. Even if it's one of their anchors.
One other thing they've done in the past is use WCBS reporters as stringers. I'm sure that will continue.
The fact is their budget has shrunk. That's what this thread is about.
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I know what the thread is about. I started it.
I'm trying to document these talent departures. No doubt their budget has shrunk. But it is unclear how that is going to affect the on air product.
I've noted before, and on this thread, more specifically, that CBS Radio was extremely top heavy with long tenured, 30 year plus talent that are nearing, at, or have continued working past retirement age.
When these guys, included Raviv, started, they were in their 20s, and have stayed at the network for decades.
As part of the cuts, CBS has eliminated two full time anchor positions. In AM drive doing the live one-minute top of the hour and bottom of the hour updates, and PM drive doing the updates at 6:30PM and 7:30PM Eastern Time.
What we don't know is how many reporter positions in New York and Washington are open, and will be filled with newer, younger, cheaper talent.
So far, we know that there are two Washington National Correspondents and a New York National Correspondent position open, as well as a White House Correspondent position that is open.
Regarding being about to get a reporter to send out if they need one, look at ABC News Radio's experience with that after they shuttered the Washington bureau. When they did it, they put out a press release about all these digital correspondents (positions, I generally support, because these are the guys that are going to be able to function across the multitudes of platforms that people receive their news) that would be filing for ABC from the Washington Bureau.
Until maybe two months ago, these digital correspondents have generally not been filing for radio. If ABC needed something covered, they'd send Aaron Katersky down from New York or fly Jim Ryan in from Dallas. Without a few dedicated voices for the medium, the priority just isn't there. Can CBS avoid that problem - to be determined.
Consider how NBC News is handling radio: A branding deal with iHeart. All profit, no expense.
CBS Radio News needs to find new revenue streams for its content. They just announced a deal this week with Amazon Alexa. That's a start.
Too bad about Dan. Hard worker. Already does a podcast, has a website, writes books, lots of options.
Well, they did make a hire to back fill the buy-out positions...
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...rehkopf-joins-cbs-radio-news-as-dc-based-corr
I wish they'd pick up another anchor and put Pam Coulter back on a reporting beat. She's a good anchor, but a better reporter.
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...rehkopf-joins-cbs-radio-news-as-dc-based-corr
I wish they'd pick up another anchor and put Pam Coulter back on a reporting beat. She's a good anchor, but a better reporter.
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