Blogger 365 Day 237 - Watching from afar

     I don't spend a lot of time on here talking about my radio days anymore, in part because I no longer work in that field and while this platform (or other like it) would be a good place to promote upcoming events, whether that be guests who would be on the air or times when yours truly might be heard as either a guest or host.  But those days are long gone and while I am n longer involved in the business, I still follow my lace of employment, in part because for the last few years it was like an upcoming car crash, you just sit fixated on what you know is about to happen and aware that there isn't a single thing you can do to stop it.

     I actually could see the end long before it actually came, while I was still employed there.  For those not in the know, I was working for Renda Broadcasting at the time and they held three properties in Pittsburgh (1320 AM, 99.7 FM and 1360 AM).  I was working for the last of those stations, 1360 AM, whch was running a talk format at the time and I pretty much knew the gig was up for that station when there was only one local talk show left, Lynn Cullen (with little old me) on weekdays from 9am-12pm and our lead in was a nationally syndicated show (Laura Ingraham) that was being aired on a 21 hour delay.  When management cares so little for one of the most important day parts in radio (morning drive) that they are airing a show that is 21 hours old (a lifetime in a news/talk format) it isn't hard to see the writing on the wall.  So it came as no surprise when they eventually let Lynn go and basically just started bartering the airtime to anyone who would pay to be on the air.  Ron Morris was the sucker in that bet, combining enough ego to think he was good as well as deep enough pockets that he could pay to hear himself talk for 15+ hours a week.  The fact that Ron had cancer and was basically broadcasting on borrowed time didn't really matter, as long as the check he wrote cleared that was enough.  Of course Ron eventually succumbed in his battle with cancer and with his passing went management's lone way they believed they could make money with that signal.

     Down the hall at 1320 AM the format was older adult standards.  Think along the lines of Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, etc and you get the idea.  Manning the ship down there during mornings and afternoons were two mainstays in this market in Jack Bogut and Bill Cardille.  Combined I would not be surprised if they had a combined for 90+ in broadcasting in Pittsburgh between their stints on radio and television.  But there was no plan in place should either of them were to retire, no shifts were made available to talents to be groomed to one day take either of their places should they retire, so the only advertising business that station could generate would be based solely on what those two could bring in.  Renda Broadcasting has a sales staff to be sure, but that staff was asked to sell for all of the properties and it is more lucrative for a sales person to sell for the one FM signal (where the commissions would be higher) than to sell for either of the AM signals.  As a result most of the sales done on those stations were business that was driven by the on air talents themselves and the relationships they had initiated and  maintained over the years.  Needless to say, it came as no surprise when in July it was announced that 1320 AM was sold (1360 AM was donated as a charitable contribution, i.e. tax write off, after Ron Morris died) and the fates of those people employed there would be left to the new owners  and what they wanted to do with the signal (everybody was let go).

     Now we are up the the crown jewel, the FM station 99.7 and today I learn that even more people that I used to work with have been terminated.  After all, if there were people there who used to work for all three stations and now there weren't three stations, well then, I guess we don't need as many people do we.  Prime example, when I was there, one person, Ron Antill, was the program director for all three stations, as well as a co host of the morning show on the FM station, and he also assisted in the engineering and creative services (commercial production) for three stations.  Well obviously if there are no longer three stations his work can be rearranged so that others could be let go.  And so it is that more friends and acquaintances of mine are looking for work this evening.  It's sad and depressing and I've seen this day coming for the last 5 years now.