LARadio  Archives - 7 Years Ago Today 

Big Changes at CBS/LA

(February 27, 2014) Today could be a big day at CBS/LA. All week there have been some significant rumors and stories that the CBS cluster, in particular in the sales area, will be announcing some big changes. The company has already experimented with some of the rumored changes in other markets.

Sales are always of great concern. Are we or are we not going to make budget? CBS has always been aggressive about making changes when they deemed it necessary. It wasn’t too long ago that the general manager at KROQ, Trip Reeb, was let go after enjoying much success, in fact, the Alternative station had experienced being the #1 biller in the country.

During a 2 ½ year period, the CBS cluster rotated five market managers in and out of Los Angeles. The rumored changes will not be with the cluster manager.

The point being that the company is not afraid to make changes.

The possible changes, perhaps being announced as early as today, will be in the arena of sales. To help cut expenses, some sales people (account executives) will be moving to a salaried position and eliminating commissions. With this change, to whatever degree, there will be a real restructuring of people and executives.

The role of the sales managers may also be altered.

Even though some inside the programming arena feel there is little room for further cuts, apparently there will be cuts. The cluster already demonstrated a few months ago by letting go the long-time evening personality at “the WAVE.”

With the economy the way it is and revenues where they are, these impending changes may be necessary and part of an on-going reassessment of how to do business better. We will know better as the day progresses.

Blackburn Leaves CBS/LA. Yesterday, Valerie Blackburn, Controller of the CBS/LA cluster and general manager at KFWB, announced that she was leaving the company, sometime in April. In a memo to the staff she indicated that the timing was right to do some traveling and reconnect with friends and family. When she was asked if there was more to the story, Valerie commented: “Nothing more complicated than I’m just ready to take some time off.  I’ve seen you do it a few times over the years, now it’s my turn!  Timing is good right now to do some travelling and reconnect with family and friends.  I’ll wander back to radio at some point – I’ll always be a radio gal.” Valerie has spent seven years at the CBS/LA cluster. Before joining CBS, Valerie spent seven years with Susquehanna Radio where she served as market controller before being elevated to director of business operations for the San Francisco market. Prior to that, Valerie held a similar position for 11 years with Jacor Broadcasting in Denver.

 

For 25 years, LARadio has tracked thousands of personalities who have entertained us in the Southland from 1957-present. These pages were never meant to be a life-time resume/bio but rather a snapshot of each on-air personality – where they came from, where and when they worked in Southern California, and where they are now. If you are on the listings, please update and make corrections as needed. A\B\C\D\E\F\G\H\I\J\K\L\M\N\O\P\Q\R\S\T-Z\W

Recently added to the LARP Passing Parade

LIMBAUGH, Rush: KFI, 1991-2013; KEIB, 2014-21. To fully appreciate Rush's contribution to contemporary Talk radio, it is important to take politics out of the analysis. Rush was a radio man first. He, arguably, would have been equally successful as Liberal. He died February 17, 2021, of lung cancer, at the age of 70. A year before his death, he announced he had Stage 4 cancer. The homepage on Limbaugh’s site reads: “In Loving Memory of Rush Hudson Limbaugh III The Greatest of All Time.” His show launched in radio syndication in August 1988 on 56 stations, and Limbaugh eventually became one of the most influential conservative voices in the media landscape. Fairly consistent over the years, he was heard on more than 600 stations, reaching 27 million people weekly. Clear Channel (now iHeart Media) carried his show on KFI and KEIB since the early 90s. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998. He also hosted a short-lived tv show, voiced a few episodes of Family Guy, and had a brief stint as an NFL commentator for ESPN in 2003. Born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Limbaugh began his radio career as a dj in 1971 and continued to work in the medium throughout that decade before joining Major League Baseball’s Kansas City in 1979, involved in group sales and special events. He returned to radio in 1983. A year later, he replaced Morton Downey Jr. on KFBK-AM Sacramento, which led to his syndicated program.

For 25 years LARadio chronicled the news of Southern California radio and the personalities who populated it. Alan Oda was editor for much of that time. With the closing of LARadio he opened a weekly blog, mostly about radio at ayodaradio.blogspot.com

After 25 years, LARadio came to an end in  2020 Read the final column by clicking the curtain