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November 14, 2019 9:10 am  #1


More Cuts at Bell Media

Host Rob Snow let go from CFRA

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/im-not-mad-im-not-bitter-host-rob-snow-let-go-from-cfra
 

Last edited by andysradio (November 14, 2019 9:10 am)

 

November 14, 2019 9:22 am  #2


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

That time of year again... traffic people in Owen Sound and Sudbury were also among the casualties.

 

November 14, 2019 9:52 am  #3


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

What do you mean just Bell Media?
Rogers also made some cuts
Teri Hart gone: 

"
I was let go from Rogers today. In 4.5 years I did amazing things. I met, worked & created with amazing people. I told my infertility story on @cityline I was a part of the incredible @bttoronto which was a dream. I’m so proud of the people who I’ve been able to teach and mentor"


Source: Twitter -
https://twitter.com/TeriHart/status/1194363510609891328



 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

November 14, 2019 12:26 pm  #4


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

 

November 14, 2019 1:39 pm  #5


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Forward Power wrote:

That time of year again... traffic people in Owen Sound and Sudbury were also among the casualties.

They have traffic in Owen Sound?

 

November 14, 2019 1:47 pm  #6


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

No cuts at Bell's Toronto cluster? That's certainly a Christmas miracle!  

 

November 15, 2019 12:22 am  #7


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Dial Twister wrote:

Forward Power wrote:

That time of year again... traffic people in Owen Sound and Sudbury were also among the casualties.

They have traffic in Owen Sound?

=12pxYou're kidding right?  Traffic, as in the people who schedule commercials.

 

November 15, 2019 9:34 am  #8


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Prod Guy wrote:

Dial Twister wrote:

Forward Power wrote:

That time of year again... traffic people in Owen Sound and Sudbury were also among the casualties.

They have traffic in Owen Sound?

=12pxYou're kidding right?  Traffic, as in the people who schedule commercials.

Traffic, as in automobiles, is what I thought too. But then, I have never worked in the radio business.

 

November 15, 2019 12:11 pm  #9


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Here is more on the cuts Bell made, it affects Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, nothing much in Toronto, but still it begs the question of timing, 40 days before Christmas? Really?


Here are some notable broadcasting people who have been relieved of their duties in various markets...

https://blog.fagstein.com/2019/11/14/bell-media-cuts-nov2019/
 


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

November 15, 2019 12:36 pm  #10


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Muffaraw Joe wrote:

Here is more on the cuts Bell made, it affects Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, nothing much in Toronto, but still it begs the question of timing, 40 days before Christmas? Really?


Here are some notable broadcasting people who have been relieved of their duties in various markets...

https://blog.fagstein.com/2019/11/14/bell-media-cuts-nov2019/
 

Cuts can come anytime, and let's face it there really is no good time. I was part of a large job downsizing in the Southam newspaper chain back around 1996. Involved a lot of newspapers and hundreds of people and it happened mid November just like this Bell cut.  And like usual in media, when you got the notice,you were done.  All notices were given out by 11:30, and by 12 noon you were out of the building.

 

November 15, 2019 1:40 pm  #11


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Muffaraw Joe wrote:

still it begs the question of timing, 40 days before Christmas? Really? 

How many days before Christmas, exactly, IS a better time for these cuts?
 

 

November 15, 2019 4:17 pm  #12


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Add BOB FM Lindsay's Dave Illman and Julie Corlett to the growing list of people nuked by Bell:

https://lindsayadvocate.ca/bell-media-lays-off-bobs-morning-show-team-dave-illman-and-julie-corlett/

Bell needs to stop firing people or laying them off.  Bell is the most disgusting, selfish, greedy, heartless, good-for-nothing company on this planet.  They are worse than Wal-Mart or Monsanto or Amazon, or any other massive conglomerate.  George Cope and Mirko Bibic (and every single BCE shareholder) should be ashamed of themselves for letting these firings/layoffs happen.  If Bell wants to boost their profits, maybe get rid of that pathetic excuse for a mental health campaign.  That'll save them a few million bucks a year.  Let's talk, my ass.

And don't you dare bring up that B.S. about pensions etc., because I really don't care.

Last edited by Forward Power (November 15, 2019 4:21 pm)

 

November 15, 2019 4:30 pm  #13


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Forward Power wrote:

Bell needs to stop firing people or laying them off.  Bell is the most disgusting, selfish, greedy, heartless, good-for-nothing company on this planet.  They are worse than Wal-Mart or Monsanto or Amazon, or any other massive conglomerate.  George Cope and Mirko Bibic (and every single BCE shareholder) should be ashamed of themselves for letting these firings/layoffs happen.  If Bell wants to boost their profits, maybe get rid of that pathetic excuse for a mental health campaign.  That'll save them a few million bucks a year.

What is it about communications companies that people on this forum seem to want to exclude from being run like a business? How is Bell not to be run like any other business, keeping track of profit and loss statements and maximizing their profits? Why is media in a special category that hiring and firing practices should be different than any other business on the planet?

I am genuinely interested as to why media companies should "be happy" with X profits and shouldn't want to increase those profits? If you ran the company, would you and your shareholders be satisfied with a certain amount of profit or would you squeeze out as much profit as possible by eliminating positions?
 

 

November 15, 2019 4:34 pm  #14


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Because any company that acts like Bell does is disgusting, selfish, greedy, heartless, and good for nothing.  Full stop.  End of story.

 

November 15, 2019 4:53 pm  #15


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Forward Power wrote:

Because any company that acts like Bell does is disgusting, selfish, greedy, heartless, and good for nothing.  Full stop.  End of story.

And I suppose ONLY Bell (and other media companies) act that way? They should exist in some kind of protected bubble, immune to current business practices? Again, without the hyperbole, I ask: what makes them special in this regard? Why should they function without squeezing out as much profit as possible? Should other companies follow suit? How about automotive companies? Restaurants? Schools? Landlords? Genuinely interested here.
 

 

November 15, 2019 5:29 pm  #16


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Somebody please back me up here... little help?

 

November 15, 2019 5:32 pm  #17


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Forward Power wrote:

Somebody please back me up here... little help?

Agreed. I, too, would like a little help with my inquiry about WHY media should be excluded in the ongoing search for the maximum profit line? 
 

 

November 15, 2019 5:33 pm  #18


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Well for one thing, when other companies cut there is no obvious dilution in the quality of their product. I don't shop at Walmart on principle, but since someone used them as an example, when they make cuts, the cheap t-shirts they sell don't get any more shoddy: they're just as shoddy today as they were before the cuts. When mega media companies cut, it means they replace the axed  performers with minimum wage earners just out of school.   It means hearing a 4-day old story at 0530 on a station that doesn't go live before 0600!    It means hearing a  newscast  word-for-word at 0400 that was read at 1600 the day before. and still claiming the station is "your home for Breaking News!"  So, Consultant, who if wasn't for in the inferior vocabulary i would suspect is Irvine, I submit it's their unabashed  hypocrisy that makes media companies different.


 

 

November 15, 2019 5:39 pm  #19


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

potentiometer wrote:

Well for one thing, when other companies cut there is no obvious dilution in the quality of their product. I don't shop at Walmart on principle, but since someone used them as an example, when they make cuts, the cheap t-shirts they sell don't get any more shoddy: they're just as shoddy today as they were before the cuts. When mega media companies cut, it means they replace the axed  performers with minimum wage earners just out of school.   It means hearing a 4-day old story at 0530 on a station that doesn't go live before 0600!    It means hearing a  newscast  word-for-word at 0400 that was read at 1600 the day before. and still claiming the station is "your home for Breaking News!"  So, Consultant, who if wasn't for in the inferior vocabulary i would suspect is Irvine, I submit it's their unabashed  hypocrisy that makes media companies different.

If you don't shop at Walmart, how are you basing your t-shirt analogy? Are companies that maximize their profits outside of media not deluding their product? Isn't it the responsibility of bean-counters to hire as cheaply as possible? Those timing errors can occur regardless of experience - human error happens regardless.
 

 

November 15, 2019 5:47 pm  #20


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

As to your first comment --- "but Hilary's emails!!!!!!"  2) It's "diluting" (see comment about Irvine's vocab) 3) They are not timing errors; that's their programing schedule,  therefore premeditated. Thank you, next!

 

November 15, 2019 6:14 pm  #21


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

potentiometer wrote:

2) It's "diluting" 3) They are not timing errors; that's their programing schedule,  therefore premeditated. Thank you, next!

Huh? Next? So programming/traffic errors NEVER happened before the cuts? And, by saying them are "premeditated", you are implying someone did them deliberately. Can that ONLY happen if they are short-staffed? Therefore, a full compliment is otherwise "perfect"? Next.....
 

 

November 15, 2019 6:16 pm  #22


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Thank you, next = what evs. So...  what evs.

 

November 15, 2019 7:14 pm  #23


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

I saw the newsroom shrink before my very eyes during my 35 years as an editor at the Canadian Press. When I started in 1974, there were so many people in the combined CP-BN newsroom one could barely move. But the jobs slowly disappeared. First to go were the operators who punched copy onto the wire. Next were the messengers who sorted copy and did other duties. Down the line CP and BN merged and more jobs went. Then the World Desk vanished and the Sports Desk was downsized as AP copy was fed directly on the wire with the computer doing the "editing." Online was automated and there went more jobs, including mine. The Cable Desk disappeared. The Writer position went next. So folks while some of these cuts are profit-driven, many are the result of automation. Machines are replacing people everywhere - drug stores, libraries, fast food outlets are all automating so it isn't just the media. One wonders 25-30 years down the road what shape the media will be in. Will holograms be delivering the news on TV? Will radio stations be using computer-generated voices to do newscasts, host programs? We'll just have to wait and see.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

November 15, 2019 8:51 pm  #24


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

I feel terrible seeing good people lose their jobs and it is true that losing quality people can dilute the product.
That said, the fact about companies, particularly publicly-traded ones is they are not there to provide jobs. They are there to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. That's their mandate. Second fact is, staff wages comprise the biggest percentage of company expenses. Therefore, when a company needs to increase the profit the first place they look is salaries. We may not like it but that's the reality, pure and simple. Nowadays the only companies that still care about their people to any degree are the independents.

 

November 15, 2019 10:36 pm  #25


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Of course you're right, kevjo.

Almost everyone knows the story of Conrad Black when he started out. He and his partner, the equally likeable David  Radler,while  in the process of   buying a newspaper would count the desks in the newsroom to determine how many people  were going to be  axed. That was at least 40 years ago. It's likely  there was some fat then and some culling could be justified.  (Easy for me to say. I wasn't there.) But there's no fat anymore.  Now when they cut, they're cutting bone.  When Black wielded the axe in those newsrooms the product didn't suffer.

One can quote bottom lines and shareholder value, etc, and one can make a good case, I guess. But it's like the old story of the doctor who says, "The operation was a success, but the patient died." 

 

Last edited by potentiometer (November 15, 2019 10:53 pm)

 

November 16, 2019 1:34 pm  #26


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

potentiometer wrote:

Of course you're right, kevjo.

Almost everyone knows the story of Conrad Black when he started out. He and his partner, the equally likeable David  Radler,while  in the process of   buying a newspaper would count the desks in the newsroom to determine how many people  were going to be  axed. That was at least 40 years ago. It's likely  there was some fat then and some culling could be justified.  (Easy for me to say. I wasn't there.) But there's no fat anymore.  Now when they cut, they're cutting bone.  When Black wielded the axe in those newsrooms the product didn't suffer.

One can quote bottom lines and shareholder value, etc, and one can make a good case, I guess. But it's like the old story of the doctor who says, "The operation was a success, but the patient died." 

 

You are absolutely right about there being  no fat left to trim. We've seen erosion in product quality in many areas and certainly it's become painfully evident in radio. But there's a difference between then and now. At one time radio was owned by people who knew the business and were passionate about it. The big corps today are not so concerned about a watered-down  product as long as they can keep the profits up.


 

 

November 16, 2019 3:11 pm  #27


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

kevjo wrote:

You are absolutely right about there being  no fat left to trim. We've seen erosion in product quality in many areas and certainly it's become painfully evident in radio. But there's a difference between then and now. At one time radio was owned by people who knew the business and were passionate about it. The big corps today are not so concerned about a watered-down  product as long as they can keep the profits up.

This isn't limited to the "big corps". This applies to local community volunteer-run stations as well. Take the one in Cobourg - it is run by someone that was fired from their previous radio job and romanticizes what radio should be, all the while keeping the gentrified product squeaky-clean because he's afraid to let the announcers be free of thought. Purile thinking like that is what keeps small town radio - small.
 

Last edited by TheConsultant (November 16, 2019 3:12 pm)

 

November 16, 2019 4:39 pm  #28


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Pick a lane.

 

November 19, 2019 9:10 am  #29


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

Re: the layoffs in Kawartha Lakes - the citizens are doing something about it...

Protesters want Bob FM morning show hostes brought back
 

Last edited by andysradio (November 19, 2019 9:21 am)

     Thread Starter
 

November 19, 2019 10:10 am  #30


Re: More Cuts at Bell Media

andysradio wrote:

Re: the layoffs in Kawartha Lakes - the citizens are doing something about it...

Protesters want Bob FM morning show hostes brought back
 

I noticed in the article the name Rick Ringer. Is that the Rick Ringer who was at CHUM FM in the late 70's?