A note to Freebird Fantasia

[RCook]

I am Randy Cook of Randy & Spiff on 640 WGST. Freebird, it has been pointed out on a number of occasions that your posts have little or no basis in fact. I don't know what your radio background is, but you are so woefully ignorant of what goes on in corporate radio today that it shows everytime you hit a keystroke. You have no credibility, and you are the reason that most working radio professionals do not participate regularly in this board. It is moderate "roll your eyes" entertainment for most of us. I deplore the way you heartlessly torch people and radio stations, when you haven't the qualifications to make a Starbucks run for a Board Op. I only wish that [EDIT] I could rip you in the AJC to tell the world how coporate is making another mindless mistake. (Hoping that it might be pointed out to your wife and children).

Now onto my point.

You are wrong (again) in your claim that we were under contract with Clear Channel so they simply "parked us" on WGST because they were already paying us. Our contract and salary ended the day they released us from Lite. One week later they contacted us about the morning job on WGST. Apparently something they were thinking about for a number of weeks. After 5 weeks of interviews, homework assignments and demos they decided to hire us back.

New format, new contract, new salary. This is something that Rodney Ho has already corrected on his posts.

I have worked my ass off for almost 20 years in this market doing mornings. Why do we continue to get hired when the formats continually change? Because we move the meter in revenue and the target demo. Apparently something of value in most any business.

[EDIT]


[EDIT-inflammatory]

 

[taylorengineer]

Randy:
Don't take Freebird so seriously!
In fact, his digression into animal lore has been quite amusing....you guys might try that on the show.
As a long time pro you have seen first hand how much the business has changed.....and not necessarily for the better....for the listener and the station employees. Broadcast deregulation has been extremely damaging to every aspect of the business.....good for profits(shareholder value) but bad for the public(community service.)
Radio is obligated to provide service to the community FIRST. Profit is secondary to service - at least it is supposed to be.
Freebird's legitimate point is corperate broadcasters have not been very good stewards of the finite radio frequencies and have not done a very good job of serving the public. And their excuse is always based on "providing shareholder value"....the Holy Grail of profit!
ClearChannel is, however, no worse than any other large group operation....that is where Freebird has it wrong. To say Boy Bob at Cox, or Lew Dickey at Cumulus has the public interest at heart is ludicrous. They all are run by bean counters and research zoombies....not the folks who understand showbiz and entertainment.
Good luck on your new gig....there are lots of folks out there in radio land who love you like brothers. Glad to know it was a voluntary thing for you guys and not just another thoughtless action to save a dime or two.

 

[atlantainrearviewmirror]

if you guys can move the revenue needle at wgst..they should knight you and give you the keys to the castle...that wont be an easy task but wish you good luck.