Not Only Samantha Layne.................

[stoshman]

Three other people were also 'let go' from 99.9 the Hawk a few days ago, Tim Laubach from sales, Matt Markus from promotions/ESPN radio (one of the afternoon hosts) and Big John Andrews who by my calculations has been in the building for over 42 years; he's responsible for traffic continuity on espn radio, morning show board op and does the morning news on the Hawk............sorry if i missed any of the other duties these people perform.........Matt just got marrried and his wife is expecting from what i hear.............

 

[Seltzer]

Sorry for these losses as well.

Wonder if evolving to a more "OGL" style of Classic Hits is in the offing?

 

[Psychotropicsciencefare]

Laubach has always been dead wood. He's another one of Lincolns cronies. Big John. One of the nicest most loyal people in the business. Now his partner will actually have to quit playing games and work. Good luck to Matt. Tim, listen closely. The violins playin your song.

 

[LVListener24]

I had a meeting with a sales rep from WODE last week and he mentioned that on the week of June 2nd they'll be getting all new emails due to the new ownership (makes sense), but also the stations would be getting new logos and branding. Not sure if that is the public live date or just when they expect to inform the staff of some of the changes.

I found this site while I was looking for info about the station and the change in ownership, and thought I'd toss in what I was told as well. Starting to rethink my decisions, especially if the numbers they use to justify their prices are based off a brand that may be leaving, a morning show that now seems to be crippled, and with people calling for boycotts and listing advertisers to be contacted to complain to.

 

[RobM1981]

Who's calling for boycotts?

I'm not listening as much simply because, regardless of other opinions here, I liked Layne's style and voice. I'll agree that she was (is) ear candy (I had never seen her until I Googled her - so, yeah, she looks nice too...), but what's wrong with ear candy?

I'm not boycotting Rick Michaels - he seems like a good guy and can clearly do the job. It's just that I liked Sam's voice, and I related to her anecdotes far more than I did Rick's.

 

[LVListener24]

Who's calling for boycotts?

Check most of the comments on their Facebook page, almost all of them are pretty upset about it. Some stooping so low as to trash on 99.9's post about donating to Red Cross for Tornado relief efforts

"Boycott 99.9" Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/999-The-Hawk-Boycott-Bring-Back-Samantha-Layne/576908112348846

Article on situation along with a list of advertisers to contact - http://westeastonpa.com/99-9-the-hawk-loses-samantha-layne-on-morning-show/

Is this just a loud minority that can be ignored or the tip of the iceberg for WODE? Guess we'll find out as this continues on.

 

[RobM1981]

Thanks.

And I liked the article. "The only thing these corporate idiots understand is money."

Unbelievable. How can they be so dumb? We all know that radio - like any business - is supposed to be run like a charity.

Of course it's about money. Lassie was about money. The Three Stooges were about money. Monet painted for money. Star Trek, amazingly, was not created to fulfill the fantasies of Trekkies. Even porn, and I know this is hard to accept, is done for money.

I know that's not your opinion, I'm just reacting to the article. People are funny, that's for sure.

Which leads us back to the main question, and I agree with your closing sentence: was Samantha Layne worth whatever they were paying her? Will a boycott work? More importantly, will ratings fall with or without a boycott, and by how much?

I hope another local channel picks her up. I enjoyed listening to her.

 

[trixter]

TV: Networks may not renew your favorite tv show for next fall. You get upset. Radio: Morning teams come and go all the time. You get upset again. Reason: Ratings and money. Let's take ratings first. It is simple. You quit watching a show or you quit listening to your "favorite" morning show on the radio, the ratings will go down in the next survey period.
Money: Ratings go down, the value of the show sinks too. No one is getting their "bang for the buck" anymore.
Everybody is unhappy and so the show(s) gets canned.
So what am I saying here pertaining to Samantha Layne? The audience did not do their job by listening more often, listening as long, or just quit listening all together. So it is the audience that has failed Ms. Layne and therefore she has lost her job. Point fingers to the ones that USED to listen to her show. In the broadcasting business, this happens all the time. Time will heal and everybody will find a new morning zoo and/or latch onto a new reality show!