John London Out At Free FM 106.9
DavidFJackson
photo and show info is gone from the Free FM 106.9 website, and his
blog on Blogspot.com has been deleted.
Did he get fired or quit last week?
D.J.
Travis James
him. I lasted through his 20 minute opener. That's all I can take. His
topic: Barry Bonds and his reality show on ESPN. If that's even
interesting, it's been combed over the past 2 weeks. He takes liberties
with the English language - manufactures words that would make George
Bush wince; mispronounces for effect (poor that it is).
Granted, he may have been called Sunday evening with a directive to
come up with a talk show in 24 hours, but still a weak topic and
nothing compelling in style to compensate for said weak topic.
DK has promoted himself as being ready to take over a talk show on the
spot. I wish someone would take him up on it.
DavidFJackson
referred to the Giants ballpark as "SBC" and said that fans love Barry
Bonds in San Francisco "and the Eastbay."
He also showed a tendency to mention place names repeatedly -- Marin
County, the Peninsula, the South Bay -- to make it sound like he's a
"local."
D.J.
cph...@gmail.com
Travis James wrote:
> Replaced (at least in the short-term) by Johnny Wendell. Never heard of
> him. [...]
Is this the same Johnny Wendell:
http://www.kfi640.com/johnnywendell.html
]
cph...@gmail.com
John Higdon
"DavidFJackson" <djac...@bayarearadio.org> wrote:
That's two, now.
I see "Free" is doing really well.
Inspired radio!!
--
John Higdon
+1 408 266 4400
DavidFJackson
> I see "Free" is doing really well. Inspired radio!!
Ah, but at least we aren't being charged for it.
...And it's worth every penny!
D.J.
sher...@mailcity.com
DavidFJackson
Boy, that sentence speaks for itself, doesn't it?
David Kaye
> DK has promoted himself as being ready to take over a talk show on the
> spot. I wish someone would take him up on it.
Heh...I s'pose I should be making the rounds with CDs. Thanks for the
vote of confidence. PDs, fans, enemies, and people who can make a good
"old fashioned" can reach me can email me at this address, but take the
"2" out of the address.
Bobinator
were let go from Free FM because of comments made last Thursday
regarding Penn Jillette's show.
More specifically, John London - who has been very bitter about having
Penn warm up for his show - publicly stated that he would pay someone
cold hard cash to "kill" Penn Jillette. He repeated this statement
numerous times and Cruz and Townsend did nothing but agree with
London's comments.
This public statement is an illegal act in the court of law and if Penn
were to take legal action, criminal charges could (and still may) be
filed against John London for publicly soliciting a hit on Jillette.
Imagine the publicity a hit like that would have provided CBS Radio. It
would probably be the ONLY HIT to come out of Free FM - otherwise.
------------------
My call to Jason Insalaco, KIFR Program Director, last Friday went as
follows (summarized):
ME: Hi Jason! How are things at the station?
JI: Things are fine. (No sense of any problems in his voice)
ME: Is John London OK? You are broadcasting a "best of" episode right
now. Is everything cool?
JI: Everything is fine. (Once again, no sense of any problems in his
voice)
ME: (I explained to JI that I am a John London fan and wanted to advise
him that several of us in Marin missed his show. After a few minutes
the call was concluded).
There was no indication of any problems and the call was completed as
stated above.
------------------
I can also just clue you in on one more tidbit of verified information.
The progamming department at KIFR (Free FM) does not like the Penn Show
and have been trying to sabotage their ratings here in San Francisco by
deliberately airing a previously recorded show during one of their live
show broadcast early last week. The suits at CBS Radio in New York
caught wind of this and Jason Insalaco was on the hot seat due to this
issue.
There sure seems to be alot of turmoil with this new format. Although
CBS Radio committed to the FREE FM concept for 2 years, I highly doubt
that it is going to make it that far with the talent that they have
lined up -- at least currently.
On a final note...
John Wendell --- aka Johnny Angel --- hosted a couple shows in the last
month or so for Free FM. He spoke of Barry Bonds and the steroid issue
several weeks ago when he did his show from a studio in Los Angeles. He
is no stranger to Free FM - however in my opinion is not cut out for a
3-7 slot currently. He is going to have to do alot better than to talk
about getting busted for having an online affair.
Just my $0.02.
Mike Ward
<djac...@bayarearadio.org> wrote:
The usual trade sites report that London is out, out, out...
apparently connected to "over the top" comments about Penn Jillette
last Thursday.
Here's how AllAccess has it:
CBS Talk KIFR (106.9 FREE FM)/SAN FRANCISCO afternoon host JOHN LONDON
was fired FRIDAY (4/7) along with producer DENNIS CRUZ and sidekick
CHRIS TOWNSEND.
CRUZ tells ALL ACCESS that the hammer was dropped after an on-air
incident THURSDAY involving LONDON's reponse to comments by syndicated
FREE FM host PENN JILLETTE. LONDON objected to JILLETTE's negative
comments about MOTHER TERESA ("a bad, bad person") and parodied
JILLETTE's free-speech stance by challenging JILLETTE's belief that
words don't hurt people and people should be able to say what they
want with an offer of cash for someone to kill JILLETTE. After someone
in the studio asked about torture, LONDON said "come on now, that
would be in bad taste." The show was replaced by a rerun FRIDAY and
the show was terminated.
KIFR's only official response for ALL ACCESS to the story is the
statement "JOHN LONDON is no longer with the station." On MONDAY,
CLEAR CHANNEL Talk KTLK-A/LOS ANGELES weekender JOHNNY WENDELL was
handling the afternoon slot on KIFR.
John Higdon
Mike Ward <mw...@iname.remove-this-part.com> wrote:
> The usual trade sites report that London is out, out, out...
> apparently connected to "over the top" comments about Penn Jillette
> last Thursday.
This is the most buzz I've seen on "Free FM" since it went on the air. I
guess if you turn it into a mindless zoo, then you will get noticed. I
submit, however, that it won't sustain itself for thirty years.
This is the mighty CBS?
David Kaye
> I submit, however, that it won't sustain itself for thirty years.
But that's not the intent. The intent is to make profits quarter by
quarter. CBS is no longer owned by the Paley family. Only companies
where one person or a family or close friends hold large blocks of
stock can afford to plan for the long term. If a company has to turn
to the outside, those outsiders want immediate cash flow. They're not
going to wait 30 years.
>
> This is the mighty CBS?
No, this is not the mighty CBS. This is the mighty Westinghouse by way
of Viacom. CBS is CBS in name and logotype only. The rest of the
company has been changed from top to bottom. Today's CBS has no
relation to the CBS of the Paley days.
It's like the KSAN of today is no relation to the KSAN of 30 years ago
or the KSAN of 50 years ago. There's a name succession, but that's it.
John Higdon
"David Kaye" <sfdavi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> But that's not the intent. The intent is to make profits quarter by
> quarter. CBS is no longer owned by the Paley family. Only companies
> where one person or a family or close friends hold large blocks of
> stock can afford to plan for the long term. If a company has to turn
> to the outside, those outsiders want immediate cash flow. They're not
> going to wait 30 years.
Then, with all due respect, they're in the wrong business. There's no
such thing as "overnight money" in broadcasting. Even the press releases
have indicated that they are going to give the format two to three
years. I doubt very much that they'll let this nonsense go on THAT long,
but they are paying lip service to the notion that it takes time to gain
traction.
rych withers
> John Higdon wrote:
>
>> I submit, however, that it won't sustain itself for thirty years.
>
> But that's not the intent. The intent is to make profits quarter by
> quarter. CBS is no longer owned by the Paley family. Only companies
> where one person or a family or close friends hold large blocks of
> stock can afford to plan for the long term. If a company has to turn
> to the outside, those outsiders want immediate cash flow. They're not
> going to wait 30 years.
>
Actually almost all of the Class A stock (the only class that has any
voting privileges in CBS and VIACOM stocks) is owned by National
Amusements which is pretty much all owned by Sumner Redstone. Class B
stock for CBS is currently paying a dividend of about 16 cents a share
per quarter as I recall.
A few years ago they merged Infinity, cbs, viacom and all into one
company called VIACOM, and the idea was that all this synergy would
drive stock prices up. Didn't happen. All my stock options were under
water. Then earlier this year they split VIACOM into VIACOM and CBS
stocks. Just recently they've offered to buy out employee class B stock
options with stock at a reduced rate.
rych
David Kaye
> Then, with all due respect, they're in the wrong business. There's no
> such thing as "overnight money" in broadcasting.
Doesn't matter to investors, who often have unrealistic expectations.
Either of two things happen: (1) they get dismayed by the lack of
immediate profits and they bail on the stock, or (2) they acquire
enough stock to force a vote to oust the current management. Happens
in any industry, not just broadcasting.
> Even the press releases
> have indicated that they are going to give the format two to three
> years. I doubt very much that they'll let this nonsense go on THAT long,
> but they are paying lip service to the notion that it takes time to gain
> traction.
That's a matter of buying breathing time until they can come up with
something that'll work. I really don't have an issue with CBS Corp.
They're at least *trying* other things, even though some of them are
lame. I'm still pulling for the successo fheir podcasts on KYCY.
David Kaye
> Actually almost all of the Class A stock (the only class that has any
> voting privileges in CBS and VIACOM stocks) is owned by National
> Amusements which is pretty much all owned by Sumner Redstone.
And his daughter, I believe. Totally forgot that they still had so
much stock. Even so, they're impatient investors. They (Viacom)
bought Westinghouse (CBS) and discovered the merger didn't bring
windfalls. Now, they're splitting it hoping the parts will be worth
more than the whole. I think Sumner Redstone himself said this.
But whatever it is, it's not the CBS that earned the name "Tiffany
Network". Today's CBS is the WalMart Network.
J. Michael Scott
rych withers wrote:
>
>
> Actually almost all of the Class A stock (the only class that has any
> voting privileges in CBS and VIACOM stocks) is owned by National
> Amusements which is pretty much all owned by Sumner Redstone. Class B
> stock for CBS is currently paying a dividend of about 16 cents a share
> per quarter as I recall.
>
> A few years ago they merged Infinity, cbs, viacom and all into one
> company called VIACOM, and the idea was that all this synergy would
> drive stock prices up. Didn't happen. All my stock options were under
> water. Then earlier this year they split VIACOM into VIACOM and CBS
> stocks. Just recently they've offered to buy out employee class B stock
> options with stock at a reduced rate.
>
> rych
Wow! Thanks for the history lesson, Rich. Now, what was going on when
I was there (Alice) in '01-'02 (after the Infinity merger) makes a hell
of a lot more sense to me.
Then again, my mental state is well, *slightly* more focused these
days...;)
And as proud as I was to have worked for what used to be the "Tiffany
Network", that's long gone. MUCH went south at #1 Embarcadero & later
at 865 Battery after the Westinghouse/Infinity/Viacom mazurka, and I
don't really miss having a giant eyeball for my company mascot anymore
("WHO is Number One?"). :P
Eric C. Weaver
> ... I
> don't really miss having a giant eyeball for my company mascot anymore
> ("WHO is Number One?"). :P
I always wondered if that's what inspired The Residents to take on their
eyeball-head costumes...
--
He worked in local radio, which he always used to tell his friends
was a lot more interesting than they probably thought. -- D. Adams
David Kaye
> How supposedly smart executives get sold on these ideas is another
> matter. I suspect it's because any change in control gives them the
> chance to cash out and also curry favor for the next time they want
> to make a big acquisition or to sell out.
Well, consider this: A new executive is brought in. They could just
stay the course, but then they're likely to get fired because they were
hired not to keep things the same, but to shake things up and make more
money for the company.
So, what do they do? They (1) cut back or they (2) merge or they (3)
sell off pieces. As far as they're concerned it probably doesn't
matter *what* they do as long as they do something. They can always
justify it to their superiors. "Hey, we had research that said a
merger of broadcasting and tire manufacturing would work. After all,
RKO General did it. But the market has changed, so maybe we should
spin off the tomato sauce company along with the billboards into a new
company and issue stock...."
norml
<mark...@myrealbox.com> wrote:
>
>I remember years ago, in the mid 1960s probably, that CBS actually
>had an animated logo where the eye would open and close. The first
>few times I saw it, it scared the youknowhut out of me (I probably
>would have been 7-ish at the time).
The version of this that I remember had an animated camera aperture
opening and closing. I think I have a 16 mm syndication copy of a
Schlitz Playhouse that has that logo at the end.
Norm