I grabbed these off www.allaccess.com which is an online industry magazine. These are the latest firings from Cumulus. I guess it is good to know that it wasn’t just this market but is sad that so many fine people are out of work. And this list is just from the last few days. I didn’t feel like going into the last several weeks and finding all the people they let go. And it isn’t just Cumulus. It is all the big Corporate Radio companies that are slashing jobs.
Downsizing At Cumulus/Houston?
ALL ACCESS hears the budget cuts have made it to HOUSTON, with Adult Hits KHJK (JACK FM) PD DAVE DILLON out.
More details soon.
ALL ACCESS has learned that the budget axe has fallen at CUMULUS/TOLEDO, with nine layoffs so far, including Alternative WRWK morning host KEVIN MURPHY. We hear WRWK will now be music intensive – no jock at all; Country WKKO middayer BILL MANDERS, a 38 year TOLEDO radio vet; Oldies WRQN night slammer BUDDY CARR; Country WKKO night crawler CRAIG SNYDER, who’s been with WKKO since about 1988; Hot AC WWWM afternoon driver DAVE FULLER and morning producer/Promotions Asst RYAN YOUNG; Cluster Traffic Mgr. TIM MCMAHON; WXKR/WTOD/WLQR/WRWK Promotions Director TOM STAUDT and Sports WLQR pm drive host MATT MELZAK.
Some are reportedly being retained for part-time.
Re-alignment of duties reportedly has WWWM/WRQN PD RON FINN going from doing live middays on WRQN to voicetracking the shift, leaving FINN to team with WWWM host LYN CASYE for WWWM AM drive. CASYE will also VT nights on classic rock WXKR.
Three Exit Cumulus/Youngstown
CUMULUS/YOUNGSTOWN parted ways this morning with 3 veteran air personalities, Classic Rock WYFM (Y-103) night time legend DAVE MESSERSMITH is out after 23 years on the air, and Country WQXK (K-105) night jock BURTON LEE and morning show co-host K-MAN.
YESTERDAY Top 40 WHOT reportedly let all part time air staff go.
Will all 3 stations will now run syndicated programming in the evening?
CUMULUS Classic Rocker KSAN (107.7 THE BONE)/SAN FRANCISCO eight-year veteran PD LARRY SHARP exits his post. Sister AAA KFOG PD DAVE BENSON will assume his duties.
Yikes. You know that Cumulus and other companies won’t be filling these jobs. They will voice-track, syndicate or just run music with station jingles. As long as the shareholders still get their money they don’t really care about the folks who have been in these markets for nearly 30 years! I thought my 15 years was a lot.
As for me I made my first trip to the unemployment office today. It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. With all the people who have been let go from their jobs this past week in Macon I thought there would be a pretty long wait. All in all I was there just over an hour and most of that time was spent filling out paperwork and then filling out an online form. I don’t really understand the need to fill out paper work and then do the same thing online but whatever. I was thinking that maybe I should get a job there since the gentleman that was supposed to be helping us was on the phone having a nice personal conversation. I was thinking does he think we are non-persons? That we are invisible and can’t hear him? He was so wrapped up in his conversation that I ended up helping one fellow fill out his online claim. I told him that it was first time there too but I would do what I could. So I pulled up a chair for a minute and walked him through some of the form. Maybe that got the guy off the phone because he hung up after that and started helping all of us that were confused as to what we were to do.
I am thinking that I am not going to qualify for much since I do work part-time. But at this point anything coming in is better than nothing. I find myself so hesitant to spend money. I had to buy gas today and was so thankful that the price has come down. I needed some groceries and went to Wal-Mart. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart. I don’t really know why. I think it is because it messes with my sense of order. Silly, I know but to me Wal-Mart is not orderly. It is too big, too busy and I just want to get in and get out. But I did find cereal that was cheap. Don’t buy it in the box, buy it in the resealable package. You get more and it is cheaper by nearly $2.00. Why is that? I can’t tell you the last time I have bought hotdogs but I bought them today. Well turkeydogs. Some veggies, milk, bread, eggs. You know, the basics. I seriously need to talk to Victoria. She still has a job with Cumulus and we have spent some time talking about how she shops smart. She uses coupons, discounts and she can buy 8 bags of stuff for the price of 3 bags of stuff. She needs to tutor me. I need to be tutored. I didn’t do to bad. I made it out of there for under 40 dollars.
Next week I am going to have to buckle down and really start looking for work. I have been auditioning for an on-line voice over company. You can audition for voice overs for radio ads, tv ads, website narrations, books on cd, things like that. I have got two jobs lined up. Yay for me! Hopefully I will pick up some more.
I have a friend who is trying to get some home improvement jobs lined up. He is good at ceramic tile, installing crown molding, chair rails, flooring. He has done work for me and we are going to try and line up some small jobs. I love doing small home improvement work. I love painting and designing a room. So he made up some cards and is going to pass them out. I even asked my neighbor if he would be interested in hiring me to scrape and paint the fascia around his house. It was rotting and he finally got it replaced about 5 months ago but he still hasn’t gotten it painted where new lumber was put up. So it is bare and exposed to the elements. I would be happy to do that job. For a fee.
So ends my first week of unemployment. I kind of took it easy this week although I was on the computer and auditioning for voice over jobs. Plus I went in every day to my part-time job. So thankful for Allen at COH for being so kind to me there and giving me some extra hours. I thank God that I have good people in my life. I have gotten so many nice comments on my myspace page from listeners. I appreciate that so much.
I guess if I get some time this weekend I will post Chapter 2 in my work biography. I have been reliving those days in my head for the past week. Now it is time to put them down on paper. Or in this case on the blog.
Do you have any money saving hints? I would love to hear them. Leave a comment.
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