Big Pay Cuts at XM?

[KnoxHarrington]

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Bubba the Love Sponge (still the stupidest "shock jock" name ever) claims that XM/Sirius is making talent take big pay cuts.

"They've asked everybody to take a pay cut. With me, it was a take it or leave it offer. We decided to leave it." Stern also took a pay cut when his 5-year $500 million cash-and-stock contract expired last month, settling for $80 million cash annually. Bubba said he was offered $800,000 annually, 20% less than the $1 million he was receiving, and blames Sirius XM for paying big-bucks to what he calls "Hollywood people." Oprah Winfrey is at $18 million and gets Martha Stewart $7 million annually. Bubba says, "They paid an exorbitant amount for Hollywood people like Jamie Foxx with no (expletive) radio talent, so radio people like me have suffered. A lot of good radio people aren't getting an opportunity because of these Hollywood people ... You Hollywood (expletive) stay out of radio, and we'll stay out of Hollywood."

First of all, "Bubba", you might want to not make too big a deal about having "no fucking radio talent." You were on a show by retards for retards. Just complete garbage.

It wouldn't surprise me if XM was indeed cutting salaries, but I also have a hard time believing that everyone had to take that big a pay cut. My feeling is that XM gave "Bubba" a contract they knew he wouldn't accept, and told him that was it, so he'd hit the bricks.

And I'm calling bullshit on the statement that "Bubba"'s show was the #2 rated show on Sirius. No fucking way.

http://www.radio-info.com/news/bubba-the-love-sponge-says-talent-is-taking-big-pay-cuts-at-sirius-xm

[jauble]

It was number 2 all right.

edit: I would also like to see that asshole try to get in to hollywood.

[Tenbatsuzen]

And I'm calling bullshit on the statement that "Bubba"'s show was the #2 rated show on Sirius. No fucking way.


If Bubba was the #2 talent, they would not have cut his salary.

[Dash77]

I cant believe Bubba said something worth reading...

[Recyclerz]

If there was ever a better example of addition by subtraction I've never seen it.


On the other hand, if Mel is going to increase margins by dropping the non-marquee shows, I'm a little worried about our buddays... :glurps:

[PapaBear]

Stern also took a pay cut when his 5-year $500 million cash-and-stock contract expired last month, settling for $80 million cash annually. Bubba said he was offered $800,000 annually, 20% less than the $1 million he was receiving
So, it's OK for Stern to take a 20% cut, but Bubba is somehow above that? I'm glad I've never heard the guy.

[Tenbatsuzen]

If there was ever a better example of addition by subtraction I've never seen it.


On the other hand, if Mel is going to increase margins by dropping the non-marquee shows, I'm a little worried about our buddays... :glurps:

Drop Fez, call it the Ron Bennington Show, problem solved.

[Recyclerz]

Drop Fez, call it the Ron Bennington Show, problem solved.

You're just trying to get Fez to go off on you during tomorrow's show, aren't you? :wink:

I don't disagree with you but Ron has sounded pretty tired of doing a four hour show by himself lately.

[Tenbatsuzen]

You're just trying to get Fez to go off on you during tomorrow's show, aren't you? :wink:

I don't disagree with you but Ron has sounded pretty tired of doing a four hour show by himself lately.

I've listened to the show sporadically in the past six months. I couldn't care less what Fez does.

[Zorro]

If Bubba was the #2 talent, they would not have cut his salary.

They would have cut it but not by 80%. Enjoy oblivion...

[PapaBear]

They would have cut it but not by 80%. Enjoy oblivion...
20%

[spoon]

If Bubba was the #2 talent, they would not have cut his salary.

Radio hat alert!

[pennington]

So, it's OK for Stern to take a 20% cut, but Bubba is somehow above that?

According to this article, they wanted to cut his pay 80% (from $1 million to $200,000):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_media_siriusxm

[Melk]

According to this article, they wanted to cut his pay 80% (from $1 million to $200,000):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_media_siriusxm
That is still a really generous offer. I am not going to grade Bubba the Love Sponge's talent since I have never heard his show, but $200,000 is pretty good in this media environment. No offense to Stern, O&A, R&F, or Bubba, but the reason Sirius buys up non-radio people into exclusive, high-paying contracts is that radio talent doesn't have the same pull that TV, music, or other people have. If radio talent was a selling point, there would've been greater spikes in Sirius and XM's customer base when Stern, Bubba, Edwards, Brucie, O&A, R&F, and Bubba joined the station. Signing Oprah, Major League Baseball and the like insure satellite radio's visibility for years. Howard has 18 months to shill satellite radio and look where they are now? Satellite radio subscriptions jumped from 4-7 million collectively and that could be contributed to the acquisitions of the NFL and MLB and not just the shock jocks.

[pennington]

Signing Oprah, Major League Baseball and the like insure satellite radio's visibility for years.

The NFL and MLB contracts are arguably worth the money and will probably cost the same, or more, when they're renewed. But I think once Oprah's, Martha Stewart's, Eminem's etc. contracts are up, they'll take big pay cuts too.

[zildjian361]

Fuck Bubba,now they can give the money they saved to Scott Farell "Shake it up":thumbup:

[JPMNICK]

imagine the paycut fez is going to take next contract negations. what manager in their right mind would even resign him, unless they were going to lose ronnie as well.

[spoon]

Not as big as the cut Poo, Staples, Hawk, Rory, Dave and Earl took.

[JPMNICK]

Not as big as the cut Poo, Staples, Hawk, Rory, Dave and Earl took.

and wonderboy, jdubbs, el jefe

[TimTimSalabim]

That is still a really generous offer. I am not going to grade Bubba the Love Sponge's talent since I have never heard his show, but $200,000 is pretty good in this media environment.

Not so great if you have to pay your entire staff out of that $200k (which I've heard is how Bubba's offers work).

[hanso]

Will he make that with radioio?

[conman823]

Not so great if you have to pay your entire staff out of that $200k (which I've heard is how Bubba's offers work).

What "Staff" does he need besides a producer (which Siruis pays for) and a phone screener?

How many assholes doing Google searches do these shows need?

[spoon]

What "Staff" does he need besides a producer (which Siruis pays for) and a phone screener?

How many assholes doing Google searches do these shows need?

Ok, for some reason this really cracked me up. Perhaps bc it's true.

[hanso]

Spice, Jabberjaw, Manson, Ned & others.

[KnoxHarrington]

According to this article, they wanted to cut his pay 80% (from $1 million to $200,000):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_media_siriusxm

Wasn't Bubba only doing one actual XM-only show a week, while the other 4 days were a rebroadcast of his FM show?

Maybe if you're only giving XM 20% of the programming you used to, you shouldn't be shocked if they decide to give you 20% of the pay, you asshole.

[hanso]

Good point. However I don't feel that the other shows they have are any better.

[Fugitive]

imagine the paycut fez is going to take next contract negations. what manager in their right mind would even resign him, unless they were going to lose ronnie as well.

Fez is paid to keep as many pairs of ears listening as possible. You comment indicates he's got yours.

[JPMNICK]

Fez is paid to keep as many pairs of ears listening as possible. You comment indicates he's got yours.

So dud Dave and He made two percent of what Fez makes. I would listen to the show if Fez made no money. His salary means nothing to me

[oPant]

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Bubba the Love Sponge (still the stupidest "shock jock" name ever) claims that XM/Sirius is making talent take big pay cuts.



First of all, "Bubba", you might want to not make too big a deal about having "no fucking radio talent." You were on a show by retards for retards. Just complete garbage.

It wouldn't surprise me if XM was indeed cutting salaries, but I also have a hard time believing that everyone had to take that big a pay cut. My feeling is that XM gave "Bubba" a contract they knew he wouldn't accept, and told him that was it, so he'd hit the bricks.

And I'm calling bullshit on the statement that "Bubba"'s show was the #2 rated show on Sirius. No fucking way.

http://www.radio-info.com/news/bubba-the-love-sponge-says-talent-is-taking-big-pay-cuts-at-sirius-xm

I think he would have taken $800K. I read elsewhere that he was offered only $200K.
He only did one live show a week and they ran his terrestrial show the other 4 days.

[hanso]

I think he would have taken $800K. I read elsewhere that he was offered only $200K.
He only did one live show a week and they ran his terrestrial show the other 4 days.

You think he can make the same 200k with what he does now?

[Melk]

So Bubba was paid one million for a one-day-a-week program on top of whatever his local radio station was paying him? And he turned down an offer for 200K for ONE DAY? It must be great to be wealthy enough to say no to a share of 200K for 52 episodes (probably fewer due to holidays).

[Fugitive]

So Bubba was paid one million for a one-day-a-week program on top of whatever his local radio station was paying him? And he turned down an offer for 200K for ONE DAY? It must be great to be wealthy enough to say no to a share of 200K for 52 episodes (probably fewer due to holidays).

It's not without precedent:

For 15 years Garry Meier was half of one of the most successful of all on-air radio pairings when he co-hosted the "Steve & Garry Show" with Steve Dahl, who was recently dumped by WJMK-FM (104.3). Meier also teamed up for eight years with Roe Conn on the "Roe & Garry Show" on WLS-AM (890), but in a move that perplexed many local radio observers, Meier refused in 2004 to resign a multimillion-dollar contract to continue working with Conn. Meier has never explained why he walked away from that deal. In 2007, Meier briefly resurfaced on WCKG-FM, before the CBS radio station abruptly changed formats and call letters.

Meier says his main goal at WGN is to have fun. "I want to go in every day and enjoy why I got into this business in the first place," said Meier, who would not discuss specifics about his new contract.

Meier's agent, who is also his wife, was rumored to be pushing hard for a salary in the neighborhood of $1 million, but WGN management staunchly resisted. "I'm happy with what we ended up with," said Meier, who perhaps now realizes the economics of radio can no longer support million-dollar talent.

Local radio executives say top salaries for big-name morning drive hosts in the Chicago market now top out at around $500,000 a year.

1/2 MILLION is 1/2 LESS THAN WHAT MORNING DRIVE IN A BIG MARKET PULLED DOWN IN THE EARLY 80'S!

[Melk]

It's not without precedent:

For 15 years Garry Meier was half of one of the most successful of all on-air radio pairings when he co-hosted the "Steve & Garry Show" with Steve Dahl, who was recently dumped by WJMK-FM (104.3). Meier also teamed up for eight years with Roe Conn on the "Roe & Garry Show" on WLS-AM (890), but in a move that perplexed many local radio observers, Meier refused in 2004 to resign a multimillion-dollar contract to continue working with Conn. Meier has never explained why he walked away from that deal. In 2007, Meier briefly resurfaced on WCKG-FM, before the CBS radio station abruptly changed formats and call letters.

Meier says his main goal at WGN is to have fun. "I want to go in every day and enjoy why I got into this business in the first place," said Meier, who would not discuss specifics about his new contract.

Meier's agent, who is also his wife, was rumored to be pushing hard for a salary in the neighborhood of $1 million, but WGN management staunchly resisted. "I'm happy with what we ended up with," said Meier, who perhaps now realizes the economics of radio can no longer support million-dollar talent.

Local radio executives say top salaries for big-name morning drive hosts in the Chicago market now top out at around $500,000 a year.

1/2 MILLION is 1/2 LESS THAN WHAT MORNING DRIVE IN A BIG MARKET PULLED DOWN IN THE EARLY 80'S!
Bubba turned down 200,000 for a day. If Gary Meier received a million for a week of Roe and Gary afternoon political talk on WLS Talk Radio AM890 Chicago it would've been the same deal that Bubba is getting based off of days per week worked plus whatever his local Florida was paying him for the other 4 days a week. Meier was working on one of the top rated radio shows in the number three radio market in the US, in a better radio economy. Bubba is on Sirius/XM, where they don't even seem to care to compile semi-accurate data regarding what their listeners are listening to (I couldn't even check a box on their last questionnaire indicating a specific preference for the Ron and Fez Show) Even if he had to divide some of his daily salary to cover the expenses of the show, it is a generous offer for 1 day of new content per week.

Gary Meier was a fool for breaking up with Steve Dahl and he was an even greater fool when he broke up with Roe Conn. The guy is a co-host on his best day. Judging from the Robert Feder columns and other media criticism of the Roe and Gary break up, Meier is a henpecked fool who let his rude wife interfere with basic common sense. When Meier broke up with Dahl, Dahl later explained that his (Dahl's) alcoholism combined with the unfortunate fact that Meier's wife was a bitch led to their legendary breakup. I tend to agree with Ron Bennington regarding the fact that women can't "pussy whip" their guys, but Meier certainly surrendered a lot of his own personal control to his misses and it costed him twice.

I think that CBS Radio is still paying Dahl part of his contract to sit at his home in suburban Chicago and produce a daily podcast (called the Dahlcast) and retain his producers for the next few months. If any of you are interested in checking him out, it is at dahl.com. He is kind of like what Ronnie B would be like if he was lazier, more prone to anger, and more willing to discuss his personal life on the air. He isn't my favorite radio guy, but I listened to the guy every day as I drove to and from college during the nineties.

Getting back to my point, though: If "Special Delivery" were offered $200,000 grand per year to do their show one day a week, Sam and Dave would be howling at the moon with excitement (even if they had to divide the cost of the show equally). Since it is so much easier it is to produce a passable, streamlined, polished radio-quality podcast with the minimum of expense, more radio companies should just hire podcasters to ISDN-line their daily or weekly programs to improve the ratings of radio across America. They could probably save a lot of studio overhead this way.

[Pitdoc]

Getting back to my point, though: If "Special Delivery" were offered $200,000 grand per year to do their show one day a week, Sam and Dave would be howling at the moon with excitement (even if they had to divide the cost of the show equally). Since it is so much easier it is to produce a passable, streamlined, polished radio-quality podcast with the minimum of expense, more radio companies should just hire podcasters to ISDN-line their daily or weekly programs to improve the ratings of radio across America. They could probably save a lot of studio overhead this way.

Seriously? Dave and/or Sam is worth $200K?

[Melk]

Seriously? Dave and/or Sam is worth $200K?
I am not going to make that argument. My argument is that if a sane or struggling person was offered $200,000 per year for a single day of work for no more than 52 less than 8 hour days a year, he would be a dolt to turn it down.

[Fugitive]

I am not going to make that argument. My argument is that if a sane or struggling person was offered $200,000 per year for a single day of work for no more than 52 less than 8 hour days a year, he would be a dolt to turn it down.

Right. BTW, I heard the Meier WGN show once when I was in the area, and he jabbered on endlessly about some homeless guy who broke a window in a business near WGN and was arrested while standing in the street. You would have thought he'd stumbled onto comic gold. It was both annoying and sad.

The thing is, we've got two forces at work right now. 1) The bottom has dropped out of the market because all the stations run on syndicated shows, many of them right-wing political shows, the rest mostly tight playlist music shows delivered to the station by satellite, with drops to attempt to delude the listeners that there's a local connection. Ron mentioned that ruse recently. I know of a local station that doesn't bother with the satellite--all of their music is on the hard drive of a standard desktop computer with a program that selects the songs randomly and throws them up there. 2) The comedy format died when Stern got chased off by Bush and his FCC.

If you want to hear one of the last dinosaurs of that old format, check out Kevin Matthews on the WLAV Grand Rapids radio website. Matthews used to operate out of stations like WCFL in Chicago--he's correctly declared the Chicago market dead, moved back to his home turf, and makes it work by doing a "suit" job in addition to the on-air duties. Listening to that show is like time travel, it's something that doesn't exist anymore and never will again in a major market.

I also recommend the Steve Dahl podcast if you want to hear details of his house remodeling plans, minor league hockey games he's attended, endless stammering, and long-winded monologues about his boring suburban lifestyle. I saw Dahl and Meier live once in a downstate Illinois nightclub when Dahl was still drinking. His sobriety is comedy's loss--he was truly over the top funny back then--a mad, mean drunk who would black out during performances and have to be updated later on what he'd said.

[Melk]

Right. BTW, I heard the Meier WGN show once when I was in the area, and he jabbered on endlessly about some homeless guy who broke a window in a business near WGN and was arrested while standing in the street. You would have thought he'd stumbled onto comic gold. It was both annoying and sad.

That is primarily because Gary Meier is not really a comedian and he works for WLS AM-890, a conservative talk station.

The thing is, we've got two forces at work right now. 1) The bottom has dropped out of the market because all the stations run on syndicated shows, many of them right-wing political shows, the rest mostly tight playlist music shows delivered to the station by satellite, with drops to attempt to delude the listeners that there's a local connection. Ron mentioned that ruse recently. I know of a local station that doesn't bother with the satellite--all of their music is on the hard drive of a standard desktop computer with a program that selects the songs randomly and throws them up there. 2) The comedy format died when Stern got chased off by Bush and his FCC.
I agree, but disagree partly on the Stern point. He was less chased off-the-air by the FCC then he was chased off-the-air by cowardly corporate management (combined with a massive financial enticement by Sirius)

If you want to hear one of the last dinosaurs of that old format, check out Kevin Matthews on the WLAV Grand Rapids radio website. Matthews used to operate out of stations like WCFL in Chicago--he's correctly declared the Chicago market dead, moved back to his home turf, and makes it work by doing a "suit" job in addition to the on-air duties. Listening to that show is like time travel, it's something that doesn't exist anymore and never will again in a major market.
I have mixed feeling about Kevin Matthews. He just never evolved his radio show on any level. He is, like Jonathan Brandmeier, continuing to use the same old bits and format he had used for years and years. I remember growing the hate Matthews toward the end of his most-recent WCKG mid-day run, but I cannot recall why. If memory serves, he began spending his three-hour shifts talking about previous and forthcoming hunting and fishing trips. I also find his faux sidekick, Jim Shorts, to be incredibly lame.

I also recommend the Steve Dahl podcast if you want to hear details of his house remodeling plans, minor league hockey games he's attended, endless stammering, and long-winded monologues about his boring suburban lifestyle. I saw Dahl and Meier live once in a downstate Illinois nightclub when Dahl was still drinking. His sobriety is comedy's loss--he was truly over the top funny back then--a mad, mean drunk who would black out during performances and have to be updated later on what he'd said.
Haa haa. I do find his complaining and complaining about his stupid home life to be annoying at best. Recently, he complained about how he spent most of either Thanksgiving or Christmas simmering in bitter anger because his wife permitted his visiting son's dog to jump on the sofa. In a way, Dahl is like Fez if he were a little bit more articulate at explaining why he is upset about something. Dahl will get pissed off while attending a White Sox game if the food vendors don't pass his section frequently enough for his liking.

I am always intrigued by people who understand why they react to certain situations but don't realize that their reaction is ultimately a choice and not a metaphysical phenomena (Such as: Steve Dahl, Marc Maron, or Mike Schmidt [the podcaster, not the Phillies legend]). For example: The kind of person who spills paint on the floor, doesn't clean it up (because that would be the most sensible thing to do), doesn't ask someone else to clean it up (because that would be the next best thing) but expects the world to notice that paint was spilled on the floor and take care of it. It is a surprisingly common personality trait.

[Fugitive]

The REAL victim in the pay cuts is...WAVY GRAVY.

[hanso]

I miss The Axis of Justice show with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian. On the Faction.

It maybe still on for all I know as the promotion / scheduling sucks.

[KnoxHarrington]

The REAL victim in the pay cuts is...WAVY GRAVY.

Yeah, he's so broke now all he can afford is the brown acid.

[spoon]

I miss The Axis of Justice show with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian. On the Faction.

It maybe still on for all I know as the promotion / scheduling sucks.

That just sounds dirty and not right!

Do they advertise this show on AdultfriendFinder and MilfHunter?

:innocent:

[Fugitive]

Yeah, he's so broke now all he can afford is the brown acid.

He's lined up a job as a waiter at Denny's for the next Grand Slam Breakfast giveaway. He says he's still trying to serve breakfast for 400,000.