RSSYakima DJ Jenifer Wilde is bucked by The Bull
Yakima Herald-Republic
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YAKIMA, Wash. -- Jenifer Wilde, a radio DJ with 92.9 The Bull, is the latest casualty in a string of cuts at Gap West Broadcasting.
"They're cutting it down to the bare bones," said Wilde, who was let go on Friday. "There is no morale. There are honestly a lot of very depressed people right now."
Last winter, Clear Channel Communications sold six of its Yakima stations to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Gap West Broadcasting. Since then, the number of positions has been drastically cut, Wilde said. In addition to herself, she said Weezy, a DJ on KFFM-FM, was also let go last week.
Already this year, Wilde said employees at Gap West stations have taken an across-the-board cut in wages, which she estimated at about 5 percent.
Numerous phone calls to General Manager David Roederer and Operations Manager Rik Mikals were not returned Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Bull offers country western, while KFFM provides pop music.
In the Yakima Valley, Gap West owns KIT-AM (talk radio), KATS-FM (rock), KFFM-FM (pop), KUTI-AM (country), KDBL-FM (country) and KQSN-FM (variety hits).
Ron Harris of Selah was the company's former operations officer until October 2008, when his position was eliminated. He said he'd heard about the onslaught of cuts this year and is not surprised.
The radio industry is losing revenue across the nation because the recession is forcing advertisers to make cuts, Harris said.
"They are making cuts where they have to," he said. "It seems that overall, nationally, that advertising is the first expendable thing they have in their budget."
To save money, Wilde said Gap West is buying prerecorded shows from other markets.
Wilde says for now, she'll concentrate on the future.
"When one door closes, another door opens," she said, noting that her 10-year-anniversary would have been Wednesday. "You have to look at it that way. You have to have a positive attitude."
* Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 or esnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.
I would challenge that if businesses felt like they were getting their money's worth out of advertising with the radio stations they would not feel compelled to cut back, despite the recession. It is on the station's shoulders to work even harder in order to retain great talent like Ms. Wilde. The station either cares enough to do so or is destined to fail.
Report ViolationThe demise of the Radio industry began with the deregulation of the radio industry back in the mid-90's. Radio was taken off Main Street and moved to Wall Street via de-regulation.
When Clear Channel purchased this group of stations in 1999, it was the beginning of the end of good Radio in this community.
I successfully managed these stations for nearly 13-years, and they produced HUGE cash-flow for the owner. Clear Channel brought in a bean-counter, and this group of stations has had no sales growth over the past ten-years...none...and thus they have whacked job after job. Clear Channel purchased the stations in 1999 for nearly $13 1/2-Million...sold them to Gap a few years ago for a fraction of that...
Who suffers? The dedicated employees of the radio stations...the communities, which the stations are supposed to serve.
Look what happens when we deregulate industries such as the Oil/Energy industry...the Airlines Industry...the Banking Industry...the Citizens get screwed.
As a person who successfully spent over 30-years in the Radio Broadcast industry, de-regulation is the worst thing that has ever happened to the industry. You'd never get me to go back and work for Corporate America...they are only driven by greed and could care less about the employees and the communities they are supposed to serve.
This is news?
Yes the economy is bad and yes it is an unfortunate thing when 2 people get laid off from the same company, but I still fail to see this is news worthy. I hope the 2 people land on their feet and put this behind them.
Must have needed filler.
aamodtdb,
What a load of garbage, with all due respect.
SJUAN2...
Your post said absolutely nothing...so, WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXACTLY?
If you want to challenge something I've written, then be specific, and not general in your comments.
I'll take on anyone and everyone in Yakima how the deregulation of the commercial radio industry has been bad for the community, and even worse for the dedicated employees of the industry. Again, I SUCCESSFULLY spent nearly 35-years in the Radio Broadcast Industry,and have had the opportunity to go back...however will not work in an industry that puts greed above the welfare of their employees...
It's like comparing the Costco model to the Wal-Mart model.
@aamodtb:
I have friends that worked in radio for years and have said the exact same thing as you. It is all about the money now and appealing to the lowest common denominator. I would listen to radio more if they didn't play the same 30 songs, no matter the format. Listening to the classic rock stations on the internet, I've heard loads of bands and great songs from the 70's that I never knew existed.
This article is newsworthy because it illustrates an entire industry on the decline.
Also, ignore the grumpy people at the end of the bar.
aamodtdb,
Alright, let me educate you. This will be common sense for most people, but for libs like you it needs to be spelled out.
If you haven't noticed, there are many more entertainment options for consumers to choose from than even a decade ago. People can go online to download music, or even listen to it for free on websites like Imeem.com. There's satellite radio, mobile dvd players, cd players, cell phone internet access, ipods, etc. All of these options are available in vehicles where most people listen to the radio.
For the economic illiterate, this means there is less demand for radio programs.
The newspaper industry is also tanking because of free online news content (and because of their liberal bias). Is deregulation to blame for this as well?
The movie industry is also being outdone by the video game industry. The new Call of Duty video game had higher sales in it's release than any movie in history. Is deregulation killing the movie industry?
I realize that it fits so neatly into your liberal world view to blame deregulation and evil corporations for radio's decline, but like I said, it's garbage.
I, for one, am not surprised by this news because the radio stations here in town have such poor playlists. I can now get stations from the Wenatchee area and they have a much better selection of music.
Also, everyone hates Radio advertising. ...Who turns on a Radio wanting to hear advertisements? I know I change the channel when the commercial breaks come on...So radio either makes money on advertising and loses listeners, or loses money on advertising to gain listeners.
sjuan2, you nailed it on the head. I was going to post the same thing.
Technology advancement in the past 10 years has given way to competition of the radio industry. People used to listen to radio programs in their homes and cars. That was replaced to being only listening to radios in their cars. Now, I would say a small percentage of people listen to their radios now that CD players, satellite radio, and auxillary jacks for MP3 players come stock in most vehicles (or at least inexpensive aftermarket add-ons).
You can look to the MPAA for government over-regulation in assisting them with music licensing and copyright infringement nonsense.
Advertisement has been cut across all channels of broadcasting. I am not surprised by the job cut, and hope this dj is able to find another job opportunity. Perhaps marekting herself in the pre-recorded radio ads that are popular now. This is a awful recession, worse than our grandparents ever seen. All of us have been hit by it.
There will still be a need for radio and djs, it's just the times we are living in. Good article and am sure even the Herald is affected by slow down of advertisement clients, I know I never got a return on my ad I placed in the paper recently. Some people are just not in the position to purchase a print publication and if your not technically advanced to test your online publication ads cross browsers, OS and other hi tech process, then you will lose readership. Changing and keeping up with technology is a good thing.
bornandraised,
"This is news?"
I had the same thought when I saw the headline. I can't help but think that the YHR's feud with 1280 KIT and certain city council members who work for them (Dave Ettl and Micah Cawley), at least partially motivated them to give it so much attention. I'm sure they're cheering about KIT's struggles, even though they're bleeding subscriptions themselves.
The YHR wouldn't be that petty would they? Well judge for yourself:
"It remains to be seen how well Ettl will fit into the council. He proved during the campaign to be thin-skinned when it came to even a whiff of criticism. We hope he becomes less argumentative and more cooperative when he steps into the council chambers. City residents will be far better served if that's the case."
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/11/05/valley-voters-never-should-be-underestimated
Dave is completely right! Slow news day?? Maybe..but the fact remains that almost all of the voices you hear on air in Yakima will soon (if not already) be piped in from other areas. Its called voicetracking. And the next time you call your favorite station and no one answers..its because they are "tracked out". This whole thing had nothing to do with Ettl and Cawley..Budget cuts..bottom line!From 47 employees to 18 in less than one year??? I would call that really bad management! What do DJ's give back?? SOme of them give a lot to the community..HOsting nonprofit events, mc-ing parades..Local traffic reports...Keep it local huh??? Not if Crap West keeps killing off their stations!
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