An anonymous source forwarded this to me. It allegedly was sent by a Clear Channel employee to his/her colleagues.
This might be entirely fictitious. Then again, it might not.
I have removed any references that might identify the originator.
They are getting ready to unload a majority of the programming payroll in the company. Moved budget process to Jan so they could do it with Bain. If you work in a non-essential programming or talent position in a market beyond Top 25-50, please beware. This will also effect production, traffic, sales, IT and other positions where duties could be handled by one person.
Air talent – They are going to feed formats to above 25-30 top markets from San Antonio and other markets to start in 2009. PD’s and jocks in these stations will be let go. OM’s will program the entire cluster.
Make your plans now. They will not be paying giant severances as promised in July. That meant if you lost your job because of the transfer of power from Mays to Bain, you would be paid large. (Name Deleted) found this out last week and it’s leaking out from VP’s in the company. In (Market) where I was let go, this means all of those duplicate traffic positions, assistant IT, production people, traffic, news and promotions assistant will be absorbed by others. Most of the (Market) stations will be ordered to be voice tracked sooner than later.
Don’t let them call you into an office, you need to have the upper hand and have another job and quit on them before they blast you. Again this isn’t coming from me, I like the group there and don’t want to see them get caught in a whirlwind.
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It certainly sounds plausible, but plausible but doesn’t necessarily mean true.
The company I work for has recently made some changes (which I won’t detail), and of course the rumors are swirling as our stock price is, um… How do I put this politely? Abyssmal.
But where’s the breaking point? Of course Clear Channel (or any other company) isn’t going to increase compensation for increased duties and responsibilities.
Do they think the people in these positions are interchangeable and all possess the same skills and talents?
And when the market does eventually recover, is there going to be a huge talent vacuum that’s impossible to fill?
What troubles me most is that upper management seems to focus only on the numbers, and not on the product that generates those numbers. In my department (Production) I see reps too often killing themselves to sell the client a product. They agree to whatever the client wants just to get the check.
Let’s call that product a box. Unfortunately, they don’t worry about what’s INSIDE the box. They think if they fill it with cliches, adspeak, and Who-What-Where-When, they’ve done their job. As you know, if they filled the box with the answer to the listener’s question “What’s in it for me?”, they could start producing the ROI we all preach.
Writing a spot with a strong, effective sales message costs the sames as writing one with a crappy, cliched message. And with ad dollars tighter than tight, we need to deliver that strong message every time.
Alright Dan, sorry for the rant. I just don’t want to be replaced, or take on 10 other clusters for no more pay.
If this turns out to be true I will probably end up being a layoff victim. With the job market being so poor right now it’s not so easy to get the upper hand. I am at their mercy.
Quote: “Don’t let them call you into an office, you need to have the upper hand and have another job and quit on them before they blast you.”
Anyone who quits BEFORE they are fired is an idiot. Better to start lining something up now and let them fire you. If they ask you to sign something that lets them off the hook for severance that they have given others before you, refuse to do so. Either take what they are giving you or leave for another job but DO NOT quit. The above quoted paragraph looks like it was leaked to get people to leave before being fired, thus relieving CC of severance/vacation pay liabilities. Don’t do it.
…and leaves you unable to collect Unemployment benefits (which the company also pays into).