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I'm taking the Easter weekend off from blogging.
Just One Bad Century will update all weekend, but this space will remain holy. I'll be back in the blogging seat on Monday.
Have a nice holiday weekend!
Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, co-host of Minutia Men, Minutia Men Celebrity Interview and Free Kicks, and the author of "The Loop Files", "Back in the D.D.R", "EveryCubEver", "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," "Records Truly Is My Middle Name", and "Gruen Weiss Vor".
"The Blackstone’s décor is from a marvelously stylized noir, and it tunnels down into this nearly unused facility in the lower lobby. A dramatic molding crowns over a sea of black and white marble, ebony wood walls, and a light quatrefoil wallpaper while melodies of a Pitchfork playlist call out softly from the unseen distance. It’s easy to sink into this surrounding, but don’t get carried away – the overhead lights are on a motion sensor and you might get left in the dark."
Don started in Chicago as an account executive at WLS in 1974. Five years later, he was the VP/GM of both WLS (890) and its sister at 94.7 and he soon moved to New York as VP/Operations for the proud ABC radio station group. He became President of CapCities/ABC Radio stations in 1986 and held that job for a decade – until he joined Steve Dodge and folks like John Gehron and David Pearlman at American Radio Systems. That was sold to CBS in 1998 (a lot of ARS folks had a nice payday), and Bouloukos stayed on with CBS until 2002. He left for a year, came back in Philly, and has been running New York for Dan Mason since 2007. Now we get to the retirement news – Don says “after 41 years, it’s time.”
The rough Winter’s generally over, and that drops CBS Radio’s all-news WBBM (plus its FM simulcast) to second place, 6.2-6.6-6.1. #1 is Clear Channel’s urban AC “V103” WVAZ, 6.0-6.5-6.5. Third place is held (barely) by Hubbard’s hot AC “Mix” WTMX, 4.9-5.0-4.9, ahead of Clear Channel CHR “Kiss” WKSC, 4.2-4.5-4.8. That’s the best share for Kiss since August 2012, in a format that often performs better in the warm Summer months. CBS rival “B96” WBBM-FM is off, 4.1-3.8-3.6. Cumulus has a winner in WKQX (2.8-2.6-3.0), restoring alt-rock to the 101.1 frequency it’s LMA’ing from Merlin. (That should convert to a purchase in 2015.) Top-rated talk station is Tribune’s WGN, 4.0-3.7-3.8 (praying for a decent Cubs season). Cumulus talker WLS stays in its range, 2.1-2.2-2.0. In sports, there’s CBS Radio’s “Score” WSCR, 2.6-2.0-2.0 and Disney’s “EPSN 1000” WMVP, 1.7-1.4-1.7. Tribune’s just-out-of-the-box Channel 6 audio “Game” XGWG (in Nielsen parlance) dips 0.6-0.6-0.3. Surging CHR “Kiss” attracts the most Chicago cume at about 2.35 million.
At CBS, Sumner Redstone doesn’t mind paying top execs (or himself). Like $66.9 million for President/CEO Les Moonves and $57.2 million for Redstone. The salaries for controlling stockholder Redstone and Les Moonves didn’t change much between 2011 and 2013. But some other things did. Two years ago, Moonves was being richly laden with stock option awards, worth a potential $27.3 million. Last year, that number shrank to $5.8 million – while his outright “stock awards” soared from $8.5 million to $26.5 million. Add in his base salary of $3.5 million, a huge bonus of $28.5 million, and a few other minor categories, and last year Moonves’ total compensation package totaled $66.9 million. He’s typically one of the highest-paid CEOs in the media sector and often among the highest-paid CEOs from any sector. (Media-company CEOs tend to make more than those in other industries.)
NBC News and Mr. Isikoff said the decision to part ways was mutual. “It’s a totally amicable departure,” he said. “I had a good ride at NBC, and I’m proud of a lot of what I was able to do there. But it was increasingly clear they were moving in directions in which there were going to be fewer opportunities for my work.”