The cutbacks I referred to in my blog this morning go deeper than I originally reported.
Earlier today I told everyone about the death of WDFN as a local sports radio station in Detroit. XTRA/ San Diego made similar moves.
But, as the smoke cleared this morning it turns out the news was even worse.
On the local level, KFAN in Minneapolis dropped Chad Hartman, who had been in the market for around twenty years. He also had been the long time radio voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves up until a couple of years ago.
The cuts even hit FOX Sports Radio, the country's number two national radio network behind ESPN. Gone are Craig Shemon and James Washington, who did FSR's midday show. Andrew Siciliano and Krystal Fernandez, who did a great job hosting FSR Gametime Live at night, was cut loose too. As was Ben Maller, who had been with the network since its inception nine years ago in a variety of capacities, most recently as the host of The Third Shift on FOX.
Their replacements? Dan Patrick's show has been added to the FSR lineup from The Content Factory (Clear Channel and Premiere were in charge of syndicating the show to local stations). He will replace Shemon and Washington.
Petros Papadakis and Matt 'Money' Smith, the PM Drive team at XTRA Sports 570 in Los Angeles, will have their show syndicated on FSR.
And no replacement has yet to be named for Maller, though I believe John Fricke is filling in for now.
My quick analysis: More cost cutting moves by Clear Channel. Keep in mind that Clear Channel and Premiere co-own FSR.
- Since Clear Channel and Premiere already had their hands into the Patrick show, this was a natural. Clear Channel is not responsible for Patrick's contract. The Content Factory is. Therefore he is - technically - not their employee.
- Papadakis and Smith were already under contract to Clear Channel's Sports station in L.A. (which may not stay sports for long considering they just lost the Lakers to ESPN). They probably cost less than the Siciliano/Fernandez team.
- Maller's layoff is the one that puzzles me the most. He's a solid host who probably doesn't command a large paycheck. Fricke is knowledgable but he's more of a play by play guy than talk show host.
FSR had the chance to kill off Sporting News Radio, whose affiliate base is less than half of what FSR's is. They just let SNR back into the game.
Another weird and sad day in the radio business.
1 comment:
The Siciliano and Maller shows were unlistenable because they allowed annoying broads on 2nd mic to throw wet blankets on any fun traction that could've been maintained. Either host by themselves, or coupled with somebody who actually had any business being behind a microphone, would've been more than sufficient to continue their tenure. Andrew's token female cohost brought absolutely nothing to the discussion table other than inane cackling and contrived faux flirting, and Ben's token female cohost constantly undermined his style of viciously ripping the follies of athletes by insisting that he be sensitive and courteous toward their feelings. I'm not against a female presence in the broadcast booths of sports programs, by the way, because I readily acknowledge that somebody like Michelle Tafoya is a total pro at it.
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