Melanie Morgan's Off KSFO. What does it Mean? Part 1
"KSFO was unable to renew Melanie's contract because of across-the-board budget cuts mandated by our parent company" Hmmm. How passive voice of them. How... emotionless.
I'm going to write much more about this in the future but if there are any media people who want my comments, drop me a line. I have LOTS of things to say and a few questions that I'd like to get answers for myself regarding this "non-contract renewal".
Right now I'd like people to notice a few things about this.
Sure Citadel can talk about generic "across the board cuts" because they don't have to break out WHO was costing them how much money. And I'm sure Morgan's supporters may decide it is a conspiricy by the liberals to get conseratives off the radio, but Morgan has no one to blame but herself for the station losing money which led to her contract not being renewed. All her future employers might want to notice this.
It was the advertisers who chose to go elsewhere rather than be associated with her and her co-hosts. We simply reflected back to the sponsors what the hosts were saying on their dime. Smart companies like Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, FedEX, Borders Books, In and Burger and CSAAA all left KSFO when they realized that they didn't want their brand tainted by these kind of comments.
Why Morgan and not Rodgers, Sussman or "Officer Vic"?
It is curious to me that Morgan was the one whose contract was not renewed. Lee Rodgers, "Officer Vic" and Brian Sussman were also responsible for KSFO's loss of over 28 national and local advertisers in 2007 because of their violent rhetoric and anti-Muslim comments. Yes some advertisers were replaced, but a local ad might not pay as much as a national. Why are they still employed? Perhaps Citadel still sees them as an assets and not liabilities. Maybe they are paid less and are cheaper to keep.
More later.
UPDATE I
Josh Richmond of Insidebayarea.com asked for my comments on the story and I responded.
If you would like to see more of my thoughts check out this link.
And be sure to note how Morgan's Move America Forward PR person responded. As someone who directly benefited from Morgan using her position on the station as a cash register for Move America Forward, I'm sure he is disappointed in the loss of the source of revenue. Revenue that he uses to attack me instead of "supporting the troops."
And as for his comment, "I’ll never respect someone who lives in anonymity yet seeks to speak as a public figure." Please. There is a reason I use a pseudonym. We all know what Morgan, Rodgers, Sussman and "Officer Vic" as well as the management at ABC Radio do when they get the identity of someone -- character assassination, threating with death and financial ruin. I wonder if Morgan's PR person would like to offer the home addresses and real names of Lee Rodgers, Brian Sussman, "Officer Vic." (Who is neither an Officer nor named Vic, his name is Tom.) Is he willing to offer that info up? Because I'm sure Lee Rodgers would love for you to make his information public.
I'm going to write much more about this in the future but if there are any media people who want my comments, drop me a line. I have LOTS of things to say and a few questions that I'd like to get answers for myself regarding this "non-contract renewal".
Right now I'd like people to notice a few things about this.
Sure Citadel can talk about generic "across the board cuts" because they don't have to break out WHO was costing them how much money. And I'm sure Morgan's supporters may decide it is a conspiricy by the liberals to get conseratives off the radio, but Morgan has no one to blame but herself for the station losing money which led to her contract not being renewed. All her future employers might want to notice this.
It was the advertisers who chose to go elsewhere rather than be associated with her and her co-hosts. We simply reflected back to the sponsors what the hosts were saying on their dime. Smart companies like Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, FedEX, Borders Books, In and Burger and CSAAA all left KSFO when they realized that they didn't want their brand tainted by these kind of comments.
Why Morgan and not Rodgers, Sussman or "Officer Vic"?
It is curious to me that Morgan was the one whose contract was not renewed. Lee Rodgers, "Officer Vic" and Brian Sussman were also responsible for KSFO's loss of over 28 national and local advertisers in 2007 because of their violent rhetoric and anti-Muslim comments. Yes some advertisers were replaced, but a local ad might not pay as much as a national. Why are they still employed? Perhaps Citadel still sees them as an assets and not liabilities. Maybe they are paid less and are cheaper to keep.
More later.
UPDATE I
Josh Richmond of Insidebayarea.com asked for my comments on the story and I responded.
If you would like to see more of my thoughts check out this link.
And be sure to note how Morgan's Move America Forward PR person responded. As someone who directly benefited from Morgan using her position on the station as a cash register for Move America Forward, I'm sure he is disappointed in the loss of the source of revenue. Revenue that he uses to attack me instead of "supporting the troops."
And as for his comment, "I’ll never respect someone who lives in anonymity yet seeks to speak as a public figure." Please. There is a reason I use a pseudonym. We all know what Morgan, Rodgers, Sussman and "Officer Vic" as well as the management at ABC Radio do when they get the identity of someone -- character assassination, threating with death and financial ruin. I wonder if Morgan's PR person would like to offer the home addresses and real names of Lee Rodgers, Brian Sussman, "Officer Vic." (Who is neither an Officer nor named Vic, his name is Tom.) Is he willing to offer that info up? Because I'm sure Lee Rodgers would love for you to make his information public.
21 Comments:
Hey, good job. When I lived in the Bay Area, I did a similar monitoring of the Lee Rodgers on KGO. These were the pre-Internet days so things were different. But I had recordings of Rodgers being a right wing hatemonger even back then.
Keep up the good work, especially "following the money", showing how the Morgan-Rodgers wingnut show actually lost the station money. Which shows there's an agenda there, doesn't it?
could be that wingtards are generally misogynistic.
Melanie deserves the blame for her fate, but you deserve most of the credit for exposing her. Great job, Spocko!
I give you a little credit here:
http://backseatdriving.blogspot.com/2008/03/bay-area-local-spocko-collects-melanie.html
Keep up the good work, Spocko.
Hat's off to ya, Spocko. I actually do listen to KGO off and on, just to see how much crazier and stupid the right can get, and they never seem to dissapoint. They're obviously catering to an older, more xenophobic crowd, although I do believe that Melanie Morgan was probably the worst as far as their local talent is concerned. Brian Sussman comes in a close second, especially with his anti-Muslim tirades and overall stupidity. KGO is in an unenviable position of trying to maintain their listernship who eat this crap up while simultaneously coming to grips with the economic reality of major advertisers who don't want to be associated with their rightwing on-air BS.
Melanie Gorgon, I always called her. I picture that scene from Clash of the titans where she slithers out and the light crosses her face. Heh.
or you might say:
Hate Radio is Bad Business!
Hey Spocko--
Congrats.
I just had a little dust-up with a swarm of Ms. Morgan's shillophants way up here in the GreatWhiteNorth.
.
Rock 'n Roll!
Good job!
It's especially interesting when you consider that Lee Rodgers doesn't even live in the Bay Area. He's literally phoning it in from AZ. I would think he's paid more than Morgan was, due to his time at the station, as well.
Businesses are not moral entities and could care less about your politics or Melanie Morgan's activism.
As a general rule they don't care about politics...only how government policy may effect their bottom lines.
You give yourself to much importance and it shows how the arrogance of narcissism effects so much of the dialogue of both the left and the right of the political spectrum.
The left wants to create poverty, death and policies that mean cultural suicide, with support for those in life styles that produce HIV/AIDS and advocacy for infanticide through abortion, and euthanasia.
The right culturally advocates capital formation and wealth building policies which requires men to be free from government suppression of creative ingenuity. We support policies for life, but we will go to war against those who advocate National Socialistic policies, especially those who would rather goose-step to jihadist-globalistic movements like the members of the Democratic Party.
Seems to me betmo has the right of it. They fired Morgan because she's a woman and therefore more expendable than the others. It probably wasn't even conscious on their part, but you know, sexist behaviour, right-wingers, ho hum, don't stay up until 11 waiting for the film.
By the way, isn't the trool cute?! Who's a good troll? Who's a good widdle troll! Oh yes you are! Oh yes you are! Mikey-woogums want his tummy-wummy rubbed?! Does he? Yes? I'll go get the belty-welty sander.
(Thanks, Eli.)
Michael, you are confused! I'll give the troll a morsel, though its heart might be sealed shut.
The right wing is the cult of lies, corruption, war, slavery, and hypocrisy.
You folks worship Reagan -- a poor leader who already losing his mind when he said trees caused more pollution than cars.
The no child left behind tricks are really cynical when they claim ketchup is a vegetable for poor children. Sure the left has its problems but you have Larry Craig, who is looking for interns by the way.
Hey, is peace an awful lot to ask?
oh spocko, kudos for her demise!!
It's so good to see people fighting the right wing bias that permeates the corporate media.
They fired Morgan because she's a woman and therefore more expendable than the others
I don't think so. I think the station is telling the truth, even though they are also lying. How is that possible? They say she was let go because her contract was up, and that is certainly true, but they imply that there was no particular reason why they let her go instead of signing her for another round. That's the lie.
These people have contracts, and it would probably be possible to fire her, or one of the others, for what they said and for losing advertisers. But that would require management to do a lot fo work, build a case, and possibly take it to court. Lots of time, lots of money, lots more bad publicity. Instead, just quietly (relatively quietly) don't sign her up at the end of her contract. Whoever's contract is up, they go. Maybe the others will stay after that, maybe not, depends, depends on further bad publicity, how they react and conduct themselves after this. But the time the'll go is not in the middle of a contract, but when it's up.
The thing is, Clear Channel - it is systemic. Every talk radio station run by CC is not just conservative talk (I could live with that), but hate talk, to the right of rush limbaugh and akin to radio Rwanda....
This sort of thing needs to happen everywhere, as one person let go will simply be replaced by a few more careerists.
Even in extremely (what is considered) liberal markets, like Chicago, talk radio is 100% pro GOP and bush.
It simply boggles the mind the propaganda (on a level of a 5 year old) that is broadcast daily everywhere (literally, all across the continent) in the USA.
I read of your good work. Congratulations. I am impressed and appreciative of removing that bloated sow from the airwaves. Her wingnuttery was of a deranged variety.
Jeez, other Michael! Way to be wrong! If liberals are so much more harm from a business standpoint, why is it that the Red states are tax consumers while Blue states foot the bill? Could it be that smart money votes liberal?
What do you do for a living? Do you work?
i can tell you for a fact that melanie morgan was fired over one thing; money.
she cost ksfo too much money for the ratings she delivered and YOUR work cost the station so much money that they had to hold someone accountableand they couldn't find you.
you did a great job showcasing the train wreck coming the mouths of these "talents" and you were very very very effective. you don't even know how much money they lost do you? or do you? don't be afraid spocko. they've got absolutely nothing on you.
we're all waiting for part two.
J: Thanks for your insightful comment.
Migel: I believe you are correct.
I can't know how much money we all cost them. I do know at least 28 advertisers by my count.
Part II? Probably when Morgan shows up on KNEW or some other station.
What I do know is that the money that we cost them clearly wasn't enough because they are still engaging in some of the same violent rhetoric and character assassination. And I don't think people realize how powerful the threat of being sued is. I'm also not looking forward to being outed and having my real life reputation being a free punching bag.
And they know that. There is a disparity of power that they have and that they use and abuse.
As I've found out power doesn't like it when you cost them money, and they lash out. You think speaking truth to power is hard? Try costing power money. Scary.
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