WGN Radio Removes Meier; Prepares To Cancel The Game 87.7 & WGN.FM; More Changes
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Published on Thursday, 20 November 2014 15:30
According to a report on the Chicago Tribune's website today, due to financial struggles and low ratings, WGN Radio will be ending the failed sports station WGWG-LP/The Game 87.7. They also have removed (or are removing) popular show hosts Garry Meier and Jonathon Brandmeier, as well as ending/re-imagining the online WGN.FM.
WGWG-LP staffers were not told in advance of the station's demise. Most found out as the Tribune's report spread via social media. WGWG-LP midday host Ben Finfer was clearly angry and upset on the air today. He was openly furious at station General Manager Jimmy de Castro for not showing enough class or respectfulness to personally inform the employees in advance of leaking it to a Tribune blogger.
Well after news was already leaked publicly, de Castro sent an email to station staffers trying to soft sell the fact they were being fired in a matter of weeks.
In it, de Castro said "We built a bold brand in The Game, and we ventured to push the envelope of digital listening with WGN.FM. We got tremendous support from the Tribune leadership and reviews from listeners and peers that made us proud, but timing is everything. In this down market, the revenue cannot sustain these products without significant change."
Lastly, the soon-to-be-unemployed staff was told in de Castro's memo: "We can't thank you enough for your spirit of collaboration. We will keep inventing together." Considering many of the people reading that memo will not working with de Castro in 2015, it seems highly unlikely any of them will be "inventing" with him again.
There was no apology for not informing the employees first and allowing them to find out from elsewhere.
Only Alex Quigley, who in addition to being an on-air host is also in management, knew the sad news last night, but was forced to keep quiet. Even he was unaware that WGN Radio management was not going to first inform the employees before talking to bloggers and the press.
The station's final day on the air is scheduled to be December 31st. Many dozens of staffers of the sports station will be instantly out of work when the station ends. Many came from other radio stations hoping that the new sports station would be a success. Most were working at the station without contracts.
Since launching near the start of this year, WGWG-LP has yet to find an audience. The highest ratings The Game 87.7 has ever achieved was a lowly 0.6, and that was largely due it broadcasting Chicago Blackhawks playoff games that WGN-AM could not carry, as well as its non-sports talk morning show by Jonathon Brandmeier. For most months, the ratings were a 0.3 or a 0.4.
WGWG-LP is actually a low-powered television station that is being operated as a radio station. Across the country, there are a handful of low-powered television stations (LPTVs) that broadcast an analog signal on channel 6. The audio channel from that television signal can be heard on radios that are able to go as low as 87.7 on the FM frequency. (As this is not a normal frequency used before the past decade, many radios -- both new and old -- do not go that low on FM.) In recent years, many of these low-powered television stations have been operating as makeshift, commercial FM radio stations. These stations have been nicknamed "Franken-FMs."
Chicago's "Franken-FM" basically started on April 1, 2009. It had been around since 2003, first broadcasting on channel 55 before moving to channel 6. The original call letters were W55DF, before being changed to WLFM-LP in 2006. Realizing that its signal could be heard on some FM radios and that it was able to get past numerous FCC rules and regulations for radio stations, the LPTV station's owner -- Los Angeles-based Venture Technologies Group, LLC -- sought out radio operators looking for radio frequencies in the larger markets where it owned channel 6 LPTV stations. For Chicago, it first found a company willing to sign a lease agreement to turn 87.7 FM into a dance music station. That agreement fell apart, however. Instead, former WNUA-FM/95.5 Smooth Jazz General Sales Manager/Station Manager Patrick Kelley signed an LMA (limited marketing agreement) with Venture Technologies and launched an Americana/Alt-Country music station on April 1, 2009. Going by the branding of "The L," the station was slowly building a large listening audience, mainly from word of mouth and local "buzz." It became a popular source of conversation on this website's message board, as it played music that, for the most part, was not heard elsewhere on Chicago's radio dial.
Before the end of the following month, opportunity knocked and WLFM-LP answered. WNUA-FM, Kelley's former station, had decided to drop its Smooth Jazz format and flip to a Spanish-language music station. That same day, WLFM-LP flipped to Smooth Jazz, re-branding itself first as "87.7 - Chicago's Smooth Jazz," and later as simply "Smooth 87.7." By the end of 2009, Kelley was able to hire former WNUA-FM Program Director and top personality Rick O'Dell, and the station's popularity soared.
In April 2012, Merlin Media contacted Venture Technologies and outbid for the rights to program and market on WLFM-LP. By the end of the month, "Smooth 87.7" was forced off the air, replaced by Merlin Media's Alternative Rock format, branded as "Q87.7." They had the call letters changed to WKQX-LP. Like "The L" and "Smooth 87.7" were able to do, "Q87.7" programmed music not heard elsewhere on Chicago radio and was able to gain extremely respectable ratings and sponsors, especially considering that not all radios could even pick up the station's frequency.
In January 2014, Cumulus Media signed an LMA (with intent to purchase) with Merlin Media, taking over all of its stations: WLUP-FM, WIQI-FM, and the operations of "Q87.7." However, Cumulus had no desire to be part of the "Franken-FM" and gave notice to Venture Technologies that it would be giving up the station in February. The "Q87.7" format was moved to WIQI-FM, which then changed its call letters to WKQX-FM.
In February of this year, Tribune Broadcasting signed a long-term LMA with Venture Technologies to take over operations of WKQX-LP. They quickly had the call letters changed to WGWG-LP, so as to not create confusion with the newly re-named WKQX-FM, and to more closely identify it with sister-station WGN-AM.
Due to FCC regulations about newspaper companies owning radio stations in the same market, Tribune Broadcasting could not own or operate a new FM station in Chicago. (Tribune Broadcasting's main Chicago radio station, WGN-AM was grandfathered in.) However, this "Franken-FM" option allowed them to sneak past that restriction, since WGWG-LP is really just a low-powered television station.
Unfortunately for Tribune Broadcasting and WGN Radio, which programs WGWG-LP, the station has not obtained any of the success seen by "The L," "Smooth 87.7," or "Q87.7." Calling itself "The Game 87.7," the station offers sports talk, except in the important morning hours, when it offers comedic, non-sports talk. What made past incarnations of Chicago's "Franken-FM" so successful was offering a product that could not be found elsewhere, making it worthwhile for the audience to find a way to listen, even if it meant buying a new radio that could go below 88.1 on its FM dial. "The Game 87.7" offers sports talk which can be found on two much stronger and more established stations. Some of the programming and hires on WGWG-LP, especially in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends, has been questionable. Morning ratings have been fair, but afternoon and evening ratings hover just above 0.00. Most overall ratings have the station at 0.3 or 0.4. It gets beat on a regular basis by suburban and college stations with weaker signals. WGWG-LP has become the lowest-rated commercial FM station in Chicago.
The Game 87.7 has had the most disappointing launch of a new Chicago radio station in the last few decades, and that is including the ill-fated WWWN-FM/WIQI-FM's FM News 101.1 in 2011.
There is not yet any word on what will be heard on 87.7 FM, although some believe that WGN-AM will be simulcast on it temporarily until the station can end its lease with Venture Technologies.
The late morning show with David Kaplan and David Haugh may continue on past December 31st, but not on the radio. It will continue to be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Those details have yet to be fully revealed.
There may be some immediate changes heard on-air.
According to the Tribune report, WGN Radio would be removing Jonathon Brandmeier and Garry Meier immediately. However, Brandmeier strongly disputes that report and says he will be back on the air tomorrow. It is not yet known how long his show will continue on. With Meier, it would appear that his time broadcasting from Tribune Tower has come to an immediate end. WGN.FM this afternoon is rerunning yesterday's show. Meier's exit was confirmed by a line in de Castro's memo to the staff today.
Brandmeier has been heard on WGWG-LP, as well as on the online-only WGN.FM. Meier has been heard only on WGN.FM.
Brandmeier first joined WGN Radio as the morning show host on WGN-AM in December 2011. In September of last year, Brandmeier was moved online only on WGN.FM to make room for friend of station management, Steve Cochran, who then took over WGN-AM mornings. In February 2014, when The Game 87.7 launched, Brandmeier's WGN.FM morning show was simulcast on there.
Meier has been with WGN-AM officially since April 2009. He took over the then-vacant 1:00pm-4:00pm shift after host John Williams had moved to the morning show time slot a few months earlier. Meier earned the spot after he did a highly successful test run for a few days the month before. In April 2010, WGN-AM re-arranged its lineup and moved Meier to his current shift of 3:00pm-7:00pm. Meier had been able to turn in some of the best ratings for WGN-AM's afternoons in many years. In addition to delivering great all ages ratings, he has been able to deliver the highest ratings for the station in the coveted Adults 25-54 and Women 25-54 demographics. His podcasts were (and still are) the most listened to and downloaded podcasts currently on the WGN Radio websites. Despite his great success, Meier was removed from the airwaves and placed only on WGN.FM. WGN-AM's afternoon ratings have since sunk to new lows without Meier.
Brandmeier has been working without a contract, while Meier's contract runs through the fall of 2015 and has to be honored by WGN Radio.
WGN.FM will soon be no more, as well. In its place, WGN Radio will call the online station WGN Plus, supposedly broadcasting a wide variety of programming and some classic WGN-AM audio. The current brokered programming heard on WGN.FM is expected to remain.
While the news of the end of The Game 87.7, the end of the WGN.FM concept, as well as the possible exits of Chicago radio legends Brandmeier and Meier, is sad... it is by no means a surprise.
In May 2013, Tribune Broadcasting announced the hiring of Jimmy de Castro as the new WGN Radio President and General Manager. It was hoped that de Castro would usher in a new golden age for WGN-AM and some possible new stations. This was based on his openly expressing a desire to bring back past personalities and his past reputation for success on Chicago radio in the 1980s and 1990s.
The honeymoon period for de Castro's hire was short-lived. Questionable decisions, questionable hires, and questionable ways of dealing with the public have hurt the company that hired him.
Among the questionable decisions:
- A Program Director (with the title of Vice President of Content & Programming) was hired whose only programming experience was with a smaller market station for a few months.
- Morning show host Steve Cochran, who has no programming experience, was allowed to sit in on programming meetings and make decisions for the station.
- Steve Cochran was allowed to be heard often all day, taking over sports pre-game shows instead of regular hosts, and more. He was also allowed to show up late for work in the mornings, while other staffers covered for him.
- Garry Meier, the station's biggest star for years, was removed from the airwaves and placed online only.
- When angry Meier fans asked for reasons why Meier was removed or asked for his return via social media, the station responded with ignorant, sarcastic responses.
- Low-rated former host John Williams was brought back to the station in middays, literally phoning it in each day from Minneapolis, destroying the station's "live & local" credo.
- The station chose to exercise a clause in their contract with the Chicago Cubs organization to break their broadcast agreement. The station did not make a strong attempt to renegotiate the Cubs contract, so the Cubs found greener pastures with CBS Radio. Once the Cubs announced the new CBS deal, station management, along with Cochran, went out of their way to slam the Chicago Cubs. Management also treated fans upset that the Cubs are leaving their longtime radio home with disdain.
- Launching a third sports talk station in a market that loves sports talk was a fine idea. Unfortunately, it was bungled from the start, with no programmers with any sports radio experience working on the station's product.
Not surprisingly, because of de Castro's moves, ratings are hitting new lows and advertisers have been looking elsewhere.
De Castro reputation may never have been deserved in the first place. He began his radio career in 1974 as an account executive for a radio station in San Fransisco. From this simple beginning, he went on to become a manager, executive, and owner, especially after moving to Chicago in 1981 to run WLUP-FM. However, many radio insiders say that those working under de Castro, such as Greg Solk and Larry Wert, deserved the credit for WLUP-FM/AM's successes in the 1980s and 1990s much more than de Castro ever did.
Today's announcement of the ending of the WGN Radio sports radio and online experiments signals that WGN Radio is not on the solid footing it once was. The changes, along with the mass staff firings and releases are being done as a way to save resources for the struggling WGN-AM. It may also be the beginning of the end of the Jimmy de Castro era in Tribune Tower.
chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/7001-wgn-radio-removes-meier-prepares-to-cancel-the-game-87-7-wgn-fm-more-changes
