I'm not sure where to start. I doubt I'll be able to keep this blog under 4 pages, but I'll try to be as concise as possible. Yesterday 98 Rock cancelled 'Irresponsible Radio'.
It was cancelled because it was doing poorly in the ratings compared to the rest of the station. I called Justin Schlegel to let him know and he compared it to the cancellation of 'Arrested Development'.
Uh...no.
However, the show became something I was quite proud of. It started slowly and was very inconsistent. However, over the past 5 months we had established regular segments, regular characters, recurring storylines, regular guests, etc. Over the last 5 months it became very, very good. Sadly, no one heard it. I'm not surprised the show was poorly rated. My friends did not listen, they were not fans of the music which was 65% of the show. My wife didn't listen, she was busy running the house in my absence. Our boss didn't listen, he was more concerned with the revenue producing day parts. I am not being critical of any of these people. My point is that if the people who have a vested interest in me or the show aren't listening, how can I expect the masses to do so?
Thirteen weeks ago we went with the station again to Cancun for ''Spring Fling''. I was excited because I felt this was an opportunity to show the station what we were doing at night. The promotions people, the rest of the on-air staff, management would hear what we were doing. It went exactly as I had hoped. We had a great week of shows and everyone (including 2 hours of drive time) was able to hear what we had become. I was positive we had the best show on the station and I felt we had just proven it in front of the entire station.
However, the day we returned, I was informed that my pay was being cut. It came as a serious blow to my psyche as I thought we had just put ourselves in a much different position. My choice was to accept this or quit. Again, I am not being critical. Our job was to increase listenership. We hadn't done so. I agreed to the pay cut under the following conditions: I needed to know that the station believed in our show, and I needed it understood that if my pay wasn't returned by September 17th (1 year) that I would be leaving. It wasn't about the money, but if I was going to work 17 hour days and only see my wife and children on Saturday and Sunday I needed validation. Demotions and pay cuts weren't going to get me there, but the truth is I loved the show and believed in it. The program director told me that he also believed in the show and understood that I couldn't stay after September under the new salary.