More Fuel To The Wease Fire?

[yugoidar]

In today's "Taylor On Radio-Info" newsletter, an un-named T-R-I reader, in discussing Clear Channel's hiring of Rover in Cleveland, despite Hogan's recent hiring freeze, suggests that there's "at least one other situation out there that will surprise people".

Could WHAM's possible hiring of Wease be the situation that he's talking about?  Time will tell...

[JohnGault]

Or you could read my prescient post on this subject. Top rated long term morning talent is still in demand, because it will influence billing. This was never in doubt. The only debate as far as I was concerned was whether Entercom would take the risk of losing. They have.

I am torn, on that. I root for all talent, especially local. Wease will be fine. I also wish the best for Tommy and remote control Sally. I think Wease shoud have taken them with him.

[yugoidar]

On the other hand, John -- Jerry DelColliano expresses another view on the demand for morning talent by America's leading (?) broadcasters.  Check out his comments here:

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2008/02/mourning-radio-show.html

[SirRoxalot]

The question never was whether Wease would be an asset for the right radio station. The question always was the level of compensation.

IF Clear Channel hires Wease for WHAM, he'll make about what Entercom offered him, not what he was making under the CBS regime. Clear Channel has a pretty good idea how far Entercom is willing to go, and isn't likely to pad that deal much. Secondly, Wease won't automatically bring "his" audience with him. Wease may find that he was the default choice for a lot of listeners who had a 'CMF habit, and who aren't willing to change the station - let alone find the AM switch - just to hear him. Clear Channel is probably smart enough to know this as well, and will structure a deal that's heavily padded with incentives instead of guaranteed money.

Clear Channel may be willing to offer a longer-term contract than Entercom because they'd be trying to build credibility with a younger audience with Wease. That takes time, and Wease is interested in more years of guaranteed money. If they choose to move him to The Fox, he'll be trying to build an audience, which also takes time.

One thing is for sure - Wease's days of $400K+ guaranteed contracts is over.

[Bob1370]

Everyone's assuming that if Wease comes to Clear Channel, he'll land at WHAM. Did it occur to anyone that he could end up elsewhere in the Rochester Clear Channel cluster? He's not going to bump Chet and Beth, they're too strong. Conceivably in afternoon drive he'd do a lot better numbers and draw a lot better demos than Limbaugh, but that daypart isn't going to permit a Wease-level salary, so you can probably forget that. But Clear Channel has a couple of full-market coverage FMs where he would be a more natural fit. His type of morning show could easily plug in at Fox 95.1 if it chooses to take CMF head-on, or even at Drive 100.5 if it chooses to take on Buzz AND CMF at once with a mix of newer music and foreground personality. CMF, PXY, the whole commercial radio spectrum in the market can be said to be vulnerable to a new serious player (with the exception of WDKX, WBEE and Warm 101.3, each of which are format-exclusive and doing what they do too well right now to allow a format competitor any breathing room).   

We've heard about Clear Channel's reported hiring freeze, but that's probably more PR for Wall Street's consumption than true business reality. They're already unfreezing for Rover in Cleveland within the next 45 days, and will they give up yet another major competitive opportunity in another of their more lucrative clusters? I doubt it. (I'll admit I don't take hiring freezes seriously because of personal experience. A Syracuse station hired me during a corporate hiring freeze in the midst of the even nastier 1973-74 recession...which taught me that hiring freezes are meant to be melted when strategically necessary.)

[Bob1370]

So many people are assuming that if Wease comes to Clear Channel, he'll land at WHAM. Isn't it more likely that he could end up elsewhere in the Rochester Clear Channel cluster? He's not going to bump Chet and Beth, they're too strong. Conceivably in afternoon drive he'd do a lot better numbers and draw a lot better demos than Limbaugh, but that daypart isn't going to permit a Wease-level salary, so you can probably forget that. But Clear Channel has a couple of full-market coverage FMs where he would be a more natural fit. His type of morning show could easily plug in at Fox 95.1 if it chooses to take CMF head-on, or even at Drive 100.5 if it chooses to take on Buzz AND CMF at once with a mix of newer music and foreground personality. CMF, PXY, the whole commercial radio spectrum in the market can be said to be vulnerable to a new serious player (with the exception of WDKX, WBEE and Warm 101.3, each of which are format-exclusive and doing what they do too well right now to allow a format competitor any breathing room).   

We've heard about Clear Channel's reported hiring freeze, but that's probably more PR for Wall Street's consumption than true business reality. They're already unfreezing for Rover in Cleveland within the next 45 days, and will they give up yet another major competitive opportunity in another of their more lucrative clusters? I doubt it. (I'll admit I don't take hiring freezes seriously because of personal experience. A Syracuse station hired me during a corporate hiring freeze in the midst of the even nastier 1973-74 recession...which taught me that hiring freezes are meant to be melted when strategically necessary.)