FreeTheCricket
12-09-2005, 11:23 PM
As a Cleveland resident, I have been "treated" to having "Rover's Morning Glory" here for the past three years. While I can't stand him, he is undeniably successful and has grown from a one market sensation to having multiple markets and being the big man at Infinity. Now, he's leaving Cleveland for Chicago. While I am glad to see him leave, I am also a little pissed that Cleveland won't get the recognition his show has brought us. He will still be on his station here in syndication, so we aren't actually getting rid of him, he's just leaving Cleveland.
Anyway - he is represented by the same agent that O&A have. They (Opie specifically) has been bitching about how Bob has been totally ignoring them lately. I bet he thinks that Rover is his big ticket to more money, and has hung the boys out to dry. I think he needs to be "corrrrected". Here's the post Rover put on his website describing his move:
An Open Letter to Cleveland Fans
As you may already know, it was recently announced that Rover’s Morning Glory will start originating the show from 105.9 WCKG-FM in Chicago. The show will continue to be heard live on 92.3X in Cleveland. Below is a personal letter from Rover that explains the situation and answers some questions.
An Open Letter to Our Cleveland Fans
I know that you may have been disappointed to hear that Rover’s Morning Glory will soon be based in Chicago. While many have been very supportive, some have accused us of “selling out” or abandoning Cleveland, so I wanted to take some time to address the issues and clear up a few misconceptions.
First, it was a very difficult decision to make. Everyone on the show considers Cleveland home, and you’ve been absolutely fantastic in the almost 3 years we’ve been here. As anyone who has ever met me personally will probably attest, I consider everyone who listens to the show part of an extended family. Not only have you gotten to know me through the years, but I have gotten to know you as well – we’re friends. We’ve literally shared everything that has gone in our lives together for the past 3 years. And that won't change - we'll still do that every day.
We all have great pride in Cleveland and for what you have enabled us to accomplish. Never before has a radio show been syndicated from this city. We would never turn our backs on that, or deny any of the support you’ve given us over the years.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions, complaints and comments regarding the move. I’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions I’ve received via e-mail over the past few days, and will answer them here.
Did you seek out a move to Chicago, or did Infinity suggest it to you?
We did not seek the move. Infinity approached us about relocating the show.
Who made the decision?
I did, in consultation with everyone else on the show.
Why did you make the decision?
There are a lot reasons, some easy to define, some not so easy.
* Resources: The fact of the matter is that a radio station in Chicago (the 3rd largest market in the U.S.) has many more resources available to support a large show like ours. That’s not to say we were neglected in Cleveland. But we ran up against walls when it came to expanding the staff, etc. For instance, Tom Herschel kept telling us he could only afford to pay a sports reporter $500/month to do three live updates per day, 5 days a week. Imagine trying to get a TV anchor to do this for $25/day. After taxes, that would be about $15. Or $5 an hour. Less if you include the prep time it takes.
* Expanded platform: The move will allow us to reach an even larger audience nationwide. The radio industry has a case of market snobbery – would Infinity (or any other company) syndicate us into major market stations based from Cleveland? Probably not. I was told time and time again by executives that “your show is great, but a station in <insert big city here> won’t take a show based in market #25.” I think that’s retarded – but unfortunately, it’s a fact of life in the business.
* Guests: As the show explodes onto the national scene, we’ll need to step up our bookings of major guests. We’ll have more access to these A-list guests now.
* Family: My parents and young sisters, who I am very close with, live in the Chicago area, and I was born there.
Back in March you said you would be staying in town for another three years. What happened? Did you know this was coming?
I fully expected us to remain here when we re-signed our contracts. In fact, I just purchased a home about 5 months ago – so we weren’t planning to go anywhere. We were as surprised by the situation as you.
Why are there more resources available in Chicago?
It’s a matter of economics. Essentially, it costs about the same to run a radio station no matter what city it’s located in. The difference is how much money the station can bring in. The population of the greater Chicago area is almost 8 million, while the population of the greater Cleveland area is about 1.7 million. Advertisers pay based on how many people they can reach with their message. So a 60-second commercial in a larger city commands much more money.
You say you’ll have more resources to help the show grow. But why can’t Infinity just take the money you’d have available to the show in Chicago and give it to you here? Can’t they just take the money they’re making on other stations and funnel it here?
To you and me, that would seem logical. Large corporations often have a different view of things though. Stations do not share revenue with each other, even if within the same company, so this would create a lot of hurdles and manager objections.
Are you making more money? If so, that could be why you made the decision.
Yes, everyone on the show will have their salaries increased. But in all honesty, it is probably little more than the cost of living increase.
How will the show change?
The only changes will be positive ones. We’ll have a larger staff, will be able to add some people to the show, more top-notch guests, etc.
When is the move happening?
January 3, 2006.
The Live Chat room and the Message Boards are down. Is that related to this?
Yes, in a way. The chat room uses a lot of the ressources of the web server. With the increased traffic coming in from all over the country, it would have slowed the site to a crawl. Therefore, we removed the chat room for a short while. Once our traffic gets back down to normal, we'll put chat back up. We're looking into various solutions to vastly improve the chat and message board features of the site in the near future.
Will you forget about the city?
Absolutely not. We’re keeping our studio here, and will make trips to originate the show from Cleveland often. In addition, we’ll continue to do local events like the Miss Morning Glory calendar parties…only now we’ll have one in each city! Time to road-trip!
How will we be able to get in touch with the show?
We’ll open Cleveland area codes to 1-866-YO-ROVER after the move so you can call toll-free (they’re currently blocked to force use of the local number only). Additionally, we’ll have a number that’s known only to Cleveland that will have priority status with the phone screener.
I certainly understand your questions and concerns. This was not an easy decision to make. Throughout all of this, all I’ve ever wanted to do is create the best show possible and entertain you every day. I hope you’ll continue to let us be a part of your daily routine for years to come, and I hope you have the same pride for our little homegrown show that we have for the city that created it.
We’ll make Cleveland proud as we take over the nation!
Thank you,
Rover
rover@roverradio.com
Anyway - he is represented by the same agent that O&A have. They (Opie specifically) has been bitching about how Bob has been totally ignoring them lately. I bet he thinks that Rover is his big ticket to more money, and has hung the boys out to dry. I think he needs to be "corrrrected". Here's the post Rover put on his website describing his move:
An Open Letter to Cleveland Fans
As you may already know, it was recently announced that Rover’s Morning Glory will start originating the show from 105.9 WCKG-FM in Chicago. The show will continue to be heard live on 92.3X in Cleveland. Below is a personal letter from Rover that explains the situation and answers some questions.
An Open Letter to Our Cleveland Fans
I know that you may have been disappointed to hear that Rover’s Morning Glory will soon be based in Chicago. While many have been very supportive, some have accused us of “selling out” or abandoning Cleveland, so I wanted to take some time to address the issues and clear up a few misconceptions.
First, it was a very difficult decision to make. Everyone on the show considers Cleveland home, and you’ve been absolutely fantastic in the almost 3 years we’ve been here. As anyone who has ever met me personally will probably attest, I consider everyone who listens to the show part of an extended family. Not only have you gotten to know me through the years, but I have gotten to know you as well – we’re friends. We’ve literally shared everything that has gone in our lives together for the past 3 years. And that won't change - we'll still do that every day.
We all have great pride in Cleveland and for what you have enabled us to accomplish. Never before has a radio show been syndicated from this city. We would never turn our backs on that, or deny any of the support you’ve given us over the years.
I’ve gotten a lot of questions, complaints and comments regarding the move. I’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions I’ve received via e-mail over the past few days, and will answer them here.
Did you seek out a move to Chicago, or did Infinity suggest it to you?
We did not seek the move. Infinity approached us about relocating the show.
Who made the decision?
I did, in consultation with everyone else on the show.
Why did you make the decision?
There are a lot reasons, some easy to define, some not so easy.
* Resources: The fact of the matter is that a radio station in Chicago (the 3rd largest market in the U.S.) has many more resources available to support a large show like ours. That’s not to say we were neglected in Cleveland. But we ran up against walls when it came to expanding the staff, etc. For instance, Tom Herschel kept telling us he could only afford to pay a sports reporter $500/month to do three live updates per day, 5 days a week. Imagine trying to get a TV anchor to do this for $25/day. After taxes, that would be about $15. Or $5 an hour. Less if you include the prep time it takes.
* Expanded platform: The move will allow us to reach an even larger audience nationwide. The radio industry has a case of market snobbery – would Infinity (or any other company) syndicate us into major market stations based from Cleveland? Probably not. I was told time and time again by executives that “your show is great, but a station in <insert big city here> won’t take a show based in market #25.” I think that’s retarded – but unfortunately, it’s a fact of life in the business.
* Guests: As the show explodes onto the national scene, we’ll need to step up our bookings of major guests. We’ll have more access to these A-list guests now.
* Family: My parents and young sisters, who I am very close with, live in the Chicago area, and I was born there.
Back in March you said you would be staying in town for another three years. What happened? Did you know this was coming?
I fully expected us to remain here when we re-signed our contracts. In fact, I just purchased a home about 5 months ago – so we weren’t planning to go anywhere. We were as surprised by the situation as you.
Why are there more resources available in Chicago?
It’s a matter of economics. Essentially, it costs about the same to run a radio station no matter what city it’s located in. The difference is how much money the station can bring in. The population of the greater Chicago area is almost 8 million, while the population of the greater Cleveland area is about 1.7 million. Advertisers pay based on how many people they can reach with their message. So a 60-second commercial in a larger city commands much more money.
You say you’ll have more resources to help the show grow. But why can’t Infinity just take the money you’d have available to the show in Chicago and give it to you here? Can’t they just take the money they’re making on other stations and funnel it here?
To you and me, that would seem logical. Large corporations often have a different view of things though. Stations do not share revenue with each other, even if within the same company, so this would create a lot of hurdles and manager objections.
Are you making more money? If so, that could be why you made the decision.
Yes, everyone on the show will have their salaries increased. But in all honesty, it is probably little more than the cost of living increase.
How will the show change?
The only changes will be positive ones. We’ll have a larger staff, will be able to add some people to the show, more top-notch guests, etc.
When is the move happening?
January 3, 2006.
The Live Chat room and the Message Boards are down. Is that related to this?
Yes, in a way. The chat room uses a lot of the ressources of the web server. With the increased traffic coming in from all over the country, it would have slowed the site to a crawl. Therefore, we removed the chat room for a short while. Once our traffic gets back down to normal, we'll put chat back up. We're looking into various solutions to vastly improve the chat and message board features of the site in the near future.
Will you forget about the city?
Absolutely not. We’re keeping our studio here, and will make trips to originate the show from Cleveland often. In addition, we’ll continue to do local events like the Miss Morning Glory calendar parties…only now we’ll have one in each city! Time to road-trip!
How will we be able to get in touch with the show?
We’ll open Cleveland area codes to 1-866-YO-ROVER after the move so you can call toll-free (they’re currently blocked to force use of the local number only). Additionally, we’ll have a number that’s known only to Cleveland that will have priority status with the phone screener.
I certainly understand your questions and concerns. This was not an easy decision to make. Throughout all of this, all I’ve ever wanted to do is create the best show possible and entertain you every day. I hope you’ll continue to let us be a part of your daily routine for years to come, and I hope you have the same pride for our little homegrown show that we have for the city that created it.
We’ll make Cleveland proud as we take over the nation!
Thank you,
Rover
rover@roverradio.com