Comments on: More Media consolidation - Wease is out

By: rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:07:53 +0000

[...] affectionately known, by his friends, fans and the radio world in general, as Brother Wease, was let go from WCMF when the station was purchased by Intercom Rochester and negotiations broke down. The lone liberal [...]

By: Germ

Germ — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:13:21 +0000

I’ve taken 96.5 off all the truck radios at work. I’m mad as I don’t like the New World Order coming to my town and sticking it to me. It’s bad enough when our local Corporations (Kodak) do it to us. I’d like to tell CMF advertisers to forget about it, let’s draw a line in the sand. Let’s start a radio station. In the meantime I also listen to XXI the FM 88.5 is really good with no commercials (sorry wease) but I do pay the subscription so there! . Also, “the men’s room?” how lame, I get it …..flush it, wipe it, smell it, the list goes on and on, makes Rover sound like he has a brain. what is with the mass stupidity these days …..uuuggghhh, no one ever went broke underestimating the stupidity of the general public. Gosh it all rushes back like a reoccuring bad dream. Rock on Rochester, support local everything while we still have it. Germ has spoken.

By: rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate

rochesterturning.com: turning the tide upstate — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:00:13 +0000

[...] is such a loss for Rochester. Our last local, liberal voice silenced. As Joni Mitchell would sing, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know [...]

By: hep

hep — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:44:37 +0000

hey - he’s the talent. he is (was) in a position to negotiate his worth. we’d do the same if we were in that same unique position.

By: hep

hep — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:42:50 +0000

WDKX is still locally owned and operated. and WBER and 90.1 (forgot the call letters, the jazz station) are both local and volunteer operated.

By: hep

hep — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:41:42 +0000

there is virtually no local character on the broadcast stations due to the corporate consolidation anyways. virtually all of the programming is fed in, it’s not like the old days where local dj’s were spinning the records they wanted to play.

By: pat

pat — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 03:32:12 +0000

It took two parties to make this happen.

Perhaps “Wease” didn’t need to be so greedy, either.

By: Bigboy

Bigboy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:14:04 +0000

After many years with WHAM, I switched to WXXI AM for my news and its commercial free radio. Its amazing the difference.

By: stlo7

stlo7 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:15:43 +0000

right but the “market” had nothing to do with it it was profit margins by the station. Their prerogative but …

Wease wanted a share of the ad revenue (per a news10 report), the owners didnt’ want to share - so no agreement - and Wease is gone.

Profit margin over local content- loss of ad revenue that Wease helped bring in.

By: whtwtrdood

whtwtrdood — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:10:16 +0000

Stlo - I posted the same as you, just worded differently. In the opinion of the new owners, his current salary was too high. Rochester is a medium-sized radio market. I’m sure they compared his salary to that of his contemporaries in similar sized markets and determined he was over-paid. I would imagine they are looking long-term and realistically, he wouldn’t fit into those plans on his terms. He’s been on the air 20+ years, he’s pushing 60 (maybe older), and his contract came up for renewal. It’s an easy business decision to make.

By: stlo7

stlo7 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:40:25 +0000

What the market dictates? The market dictates salaries? A convenient statement that in this case is meaningless. How were Wease’s ratings?

Please - try again with more clarity.

The employer decided to improve their margins at the expense of local content.

By: Exile on Ericsson St.

Exile on Ericsson St. — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:01:18 +0000

Do you know the details of the contract negotiations at all? I’m curious.

By: Exile on Ericsson St.

Exile on Ericsson St. — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:00:30 +0000

That is interesting.

By: DragonFlyEye

DragonFlyEye — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:59:33 +0000

Anyone want to Pump Up the Volume? lol.

By: realgreecer

realgreecer — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:38:13 +0000

How about somone starting a pirate radio or an lp station. Otherwise wew have no local radio at all