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ENN IS YOUR ONLINE EMMIS AUTHORITY
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Updated 3/15/21
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Caution , If you are
an FE proceeding could result in flash backs!
"Never have so few done so much to screw
so many"
A rework of a Winston Churchill quote
by an FE 4/20/02
A PAGE HISTORY, THE ORIGINAL
PAGE WAS LAUNCHED IN 1995 AS AN EMPLOYEE
LINK PAGE SO WE COULD FIND EACH OTHER ON THE WEB, MANY OF
THE ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN ON THERE FOR YEARS,THE FLAMING
LOGO,MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FUSE &THEME,EMAIL &WEB SITE
LINKS,THE TAPE OPERATOR PIC AND THE INTEL AD. UP TO 3/15/01 THE
ORIGINAL PAGE GOT A TOTAL OF A FEW HUNDRED HITS. ON 3/15/01
AFTER 18 YEARS OF SERVICE TO WVUE I AND MANY OTHERS WHO HAD EVEN
MORE YEARS OF SERVICE (AS HIGH AS 40 YEARS) WERE GREETED BY A
STATION SURROUNDED BY NOPD. THOSE WHO WERE CHOSEN FOR
TERMINATION WERE LED BY MINDERS TO THE BEAN COUNTERS OFFICE AND
TOLD UNDER THE GUNS OF PLAIN CLOTHED NOPD DETECTIVES ,THAT OUR
SERVICES WERE NO LONGER NEEDED. WE WERE THEN ESCORTED UNDER
GUARD OUT OF THE STATION. THIS TEN SECOND NOTICE BECAME KNOWN AS
THE EMMIS TAP BECAUSE THE MINDERS WOULD TAP THE VICTIM ON THE
SHOULDER AND TELL THE VICTIM TO FOLLOW THEM. WHEN THE M5 WENT
ONLINE MADELYN BONNOT BROKE OUT THE CHAMPAGNE AND THEN WONDERED
WHY NO ONE WANTED TO JOIN HER IN A TOAST, IT WAS POINTED OUT TO
HER THAT SHE HAD JUST LAID OFF PEOPLE WITH 20 TO 40 YEARS WITH
THE STATION. AFTER I GOT THE TAP ,I PULLED THE ORIGINAL PAGE FOR
A FEW WEEKS. MANY PEOPLE NEEDED IT TO CONTACT FORMER CO-WORKERS
SO I RE-LAUNCHED THE PAGE AT THAT TIME. MORE AND MORE I GOT INFO
THAT WAS OF INTEREST TO CURRENT AND FORMER WVUE STAFFERS SO I
DECIDED TO POST A FEW ITEMS THAT WERE EITHER HUMOR OR VERIFIED
FACTS. BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE PAGE HAS PROGRESSED OVER THE YEARS
THE SITE BECAME ORGANIZED IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. THIS
MAKES IT EASIER FOR THE LOYAL VIEWER, ALL THEY HAVE TO CHECK IS
THE MAIN PAGE FOR THE LATEST INFO. IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME
READING THIS BLOG, HERE ARE SOME TIPS...READ ABOUT THE M5 FIRST, THEN A GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF
CLASSIC FILM AND TV HELPS, NOW START IN THE ARCHIVES WITH YEAR
ONE AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT PAGE AND WORK YOUR WAY FORWARD, FE IS
SHORT FOR "FORMER EMPLOYEE" AND CE IS FOR "CURRENT EMPLOYEE".
EVERY EFFORT HAS GONE INTO VERIFYING THE FACTS POSTED ,IF YOU
FIND AN ERROR AND HAVE DOCUMENTATION TO DISPROVE AN ITEM A
CORRECTION WILL BE POSTED. THIS PAGE HAS BECOME THE VOICE FOR
THOSE WHO ARE TO AFRAID TO SPEAK OR THOSE FORCED TO SIGN THE GAG ORDER, IT DID NOT SET OUT TO
DO THIS BUT THATS LIFE. NOW THAT THE "FINAL SOLUTION" IS NEAR
THE ORIGINAL PAGE HAS REVERTED BACK TO A LINKS ONLY PAGE.
ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO BE REPORTED WILL BE POSTED HERE WERE
EMMIS SUCKS.
AS OF 5/5/08 EMMISSUCKS IS IN THE ARCHIVE
MODE
COLOR CODE FOR TEXT ,RED =
QUOTES FROM OTHERS, BLACK IS MY COMMENTARY OR
INTRO.
If you have info on the EMMIS , E-mail me
at emmissucks@worldnet.att.net
EMMIS GAG
ORDER LINK
WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO SIGN AS THEY KICK YOU
OUT THE DOOR
"I'll start being nicer when
everyone starts enjoying their job!" Ken Selvaggi
All The Emmis News Worth Posting
3/15/21 And it has been 20 years since Jeffler had the big purge
of 2000. Only a handful of FE`s now contact me periodically.
This is a good thing most are putting the Borg behind them. In a
bit of irony the WVUE cube that was dead last in the market
under A-Mess is now #1 beating the Goliath big W for the first
time in many decades. This shows how good management makes for a
good product. Emmis stock has rebounded to $2.32 a share
as of this posting. I also noted the number of employees is now
down to 350. Looking though some info I see the mane income
seems to be selling off assets including KSHE the radio station
of my youth Jeff drove into the ground. Emmis has dwindled to 8
US station , One EU and one magazine. Emmis is well on its way
out. I am surprised it lasted this long and I am sure Jeff is
ticked I lasted this long. I must ad we have a new page sponsor
Wilford Industries. Your WEBMASTER has made provisions that
EMMISSUCKS will continue for some time by funding it in
perpetuity in my will. It is not a lot to keep it going per year
and a small escrow account will insure Jeffs great grand kids
can find out what a sphincter he was.
3/15/16 This is the 15 year anniversary of the mass terminations
by the evil one. As far as I know all the FE`s are doing better
since exiting the hive. I get a few follow ups now and then but
not much traffic compared to the early years. I just checked the
stock price and it is 61cents so I have a $1.22 worth of stock.
I have not heard from any radio people in years, maybe no one
left? I see they now own about 24 radio stations and some other
crap. I also saw they are selling off the over seas stations.
The only one that bugs me is KSHE, they wrecked it. It was the
station of my JR High & High school years. It is now just
another POS. I see Jeff is still the king of the Borge yet his
photo is old. I had to dig to find any info on the hive as they
have become a"used to be" communications company. So your
Webmaster is still out there monitoring the fall of the empire
all be it a slow one. A note to other broadcasters, learn from
the mistakes of EMMIS and do not repeat what Jeff did.
3/2/14 Well it`s been 5 years since my last update and 13
years since I got the tap. It has been 6 years since the empire
got out of TV. The stock is now floating at $3 a share. I still
hold two shares maybe I will retire on the profits. I have not
heard from any one in radio people in more than four years. I
can only assume they are "happy in their work" A quote from
Colonel Saito of Bridge on the River Kwai fame. As I pen this
post it is playing on TCM and is what got me into thinking of
the empire. I do hear from about a dozen FE`s all are doing fine
but most still suffer from post Emmis stress syndrome. As for
myself I could not be doing better (I can hear Jeff vomiting on
that note). To be honest I would have been much worse off if I
had been one of the unfortunates who got stuck in the hive. As
stated before updates will be far between and only for breaking
news on the evil one. If you have a tip just email me. I now
have to watch Sir Alec Guinness blow up the bridge. Remember
tapping day is March 15th.
3/6/09 CUT CUT CUT...."NDIANAPOLIS
-- March 5, 2009: Emmis Communications is cutting 7.5 percent
of its workforce -- 91 full-time people and 14 part-timers --
and all employees will see a 5 percent pay cut. Chicago was
especially hard-hit, with seven people in the cluster out the
door.
With the changes, Emmis VP/Rock
Programming and KSHE/St. Louis PD Rick Balis picks up
WLUP/Chicago programming duties, while KPNT/St. Louis PD Tommy
Mattern will program Chicago's WKQX.
A memo to Emmis/Chicago staffers
from VP/Market Manager Marv Nyren said, "Facing the ongoing
challenges of a struggling media sector and turbulent economy,
earlier today Emmis took a series of steps to better position
it for shifting global and industry realities. Those steps
included a workforce reduction of 7.5 percent, which included
the elimination of 91 full-time and 14 part-time positions
across its Corporate, radio, and publishing divisions.
Notified employees received generous severance packages and
other support."
11/18/08 JEFF SPEAKS AND SPINS TV FAILURE.... In an
online article Jeff blames his failure in TV on Retrams fee flop.
Link to ARTICLE.Everything
was
to blame but Jeffs plan to run TV like he runs radio. He even
claims to have made money in TV. The stock holders did not see it.
Emmis stock closed at $0.40.
11/02/08 EVEN MORE CUTS.... Emmis cuts 20 more radio
jobs and another pay cut 3% for those earning over 50k. Stock at
$0.68
9/30/08 EMMIS BREAKS $1 MARK.... As the market
rebounds emmis sinks to an all time low of $0.94 a share only to
rally back to close at $0.97. Emmis circles the
drain.Going,going,going....
9/18/08 MORE CUT CUT CUT......Emmis cuts exec pay to
$15,000 per drone as the company continues its death spiral.
Drones cane earn more if they meet unrealistic goals. Stock $1.51
8/23/08 CUT,CUT,CUT....Emmis cuts 4.6% of publishing
humans and the remaining humans get a 2% pay cut. Stock $2.16
7/16/08 .. TP plays catch up. Days after my post the
TP catches up and even mentions this site .Dave did get one thing
wrong, this is not a "station based site, it is a company exposure
site.
"Tom Benson takes control of WVUE
Posted by Dave Walker, TV Columnist, The Times-Picayune July
18, 2008 12:43PM
Categories: Living: Columnists
Ted Jackson / The Times-PicayuneSaints' owner Tom Benson will
take control of Fox affiliate WVUE-TV Channel 8 from Emmis
Communications on Friday, July 18.
A new local media company
principally owned by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson will
take control today (July 18) of Fox network affiliate
WVUE-Channel 8.
The $41 million deal between
Benson's Louisiana Media Co. and Indiana-based Emmis
Communications Corp. was announced in May pending Federal
Communications Commission approval.
This afternoon, Benson is expected
to tour the station, substantially rebuilt since catastrophic
Hurricane Katrina levee-failure flooding, and meet with its
staffers.
Joe Cook, announced in May as
president of Louisiana Media Co., will be WVUE's general
manager, replacing Vanessa Oubre, who guided the station's
post-Katrina recovery.
A former WVUE general manager, Cook
engineered the WVUE purchase for Benson.
Except for a change in the
station's newscast-trailing ownership IDs, viewers will see
little immediate on-air difference in the Benson-era WVUE,
Cook said.
For WVUE staffers, the Emmis
ownership era was marked by off-air challenges and on-air
triumph.
Emmis bought WVUE in 1998 as part
of a multi-station, $307 million deal, and almost immediately
began purging employees, including veteran news managers and
anchors.
The reductions eventually grew so
sweeping that one of the tapped employees
established a website, www.emmissucks.com, to
track the station's moves.
Emmis began selling off its 16 TV
stations shortly before Hurricane Katrina, which filled WVUE
with chest-high floodwater and forced the station off the air
for two weeks and to a remote broadcast outpost in Alabama for
three months.
The last Emmis TV property to move,
WVUE has enjoyed robust evening news ratings - the revenue
center for local stations - since the storm.
WVUE is solidly the market's No. 2
news provider in late news, and its 9 p.m. newscast
occasionally challenges the huge 10 p.m. ratings typically won
by longtime local news leader WWL-Channel 4.
Asked what he watches on WVUE at
the time of the May announcement, Benson said, "Weather and
news."
Also in May, Benson said WVUE would
be the first of several media deals he foresaw for his new
company.
"Our plans aren't to just stop
here," he said. "We're planning to get into other media. Our
plans are just developing. We're going to be in the movie
business.
"This will all be part of this.
We're in an infant stage."
Emmis stock $1.77
7/16/08 ..ACORDING TO INSIDERS "TOM
BENSON WILL BE TAKING OVER WVUE TV-CHANNEL 8 ON FRIDAY, JULY
18, 2008" Emmis stock down to the $1.60 mark
05/05/08 EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA FINAL
EDITION
Well not quite ...For those who have not
heard WVUE the last TV cube under Borg control has been sold for
$41 million to Louisiana Media Co. LLC, A locally owned co.
headed by Tom Benson owner of the New Orleans Saints. Captain
Joe Cook took the helm as GM after Venessa Orbe (proboly spelled
wrong but who cares) "resigned" (got tapped). I did get the name
wrong for the new company,oh well. As I write this posting I am
playing a DVD of The Ten Commandments to get me in the mood.
After all my name was stricken from the records and now the
people are being set free. I received 36 phone calls and 375
emails letting me know VUE was sold. Many of these saying they
will miss this site. I want to thank all those who called and
wrote as well as the hundreds of FE`s ,CE`s ,board members, and
Emmis IT people who made this site possible. I also want to
thank you, the viewers of this site , you made it all worth it.
Your web master has endured threats to life and limb ,employment
threats and a campaign of fictional rumor and innuendo . A FE is
currently penning a book on the empire and I want to be the
first to buy it. Just for grins here are some of the many
subject lines of the hundreds of emails received,
"WVUE SOLD
Sinking 8 is now a Saint
You won congrats !!!!!!!!!!
Finally they put that dog
down.
Free at last, Free at last,
free at last!
We have overcome
Jeffs out of TV biz
The nightmare is over WVUE
is sold"
And many more. With all this as I stated
Emmissucks will now move into the archive mode. Weekly or
monthly post cease as Emmis TV has ceased to exist. The site
will remain as a testament to greed and incompetence destroying
stations and in the end the company. If you teach broadcasting
feel free to use the info as a training aid on how not to run a
TV empire. If your Jeff may god have mercy on your soul because
I do not think your FE`s or stock holders will. This is the
ultimate "I told you so" web site. It was a real honor to meet
and talk to so many of the FE`s from all over the US. My best
wishes to the freed WVUE drones. I hope to keep in touch with a
number of the repetitive contributors to this site. For the most
part you will no longer have to regularly check for updates, I
will only be updating when other divisions of Emmis fold and
when the main company goes under. Any one who has read one line
of this site knows I would be the last to host a written blog,
after all my spelling and grammar are not that of a journalist.
I want to end this obit with a few of my favorite tag
lines-modified for this last regular post. The truth has been
posted, You no longer have to row, So let it be written-so let
it be done, The band has stopped ,Resistance was not futile, The
floggings have ceased, And so it goes, The pod bay doors are
open, The M5 is shut down and I laugh at the inferior intellect.
05/04/08 ALLS QUIET ON THE EMMIS FRONT... Many people pondering who would buy the last cube.
One reader of this site suggested the new company be called
Cook-Benson-Broadcasting. The company stock seems to have found
its level at $3 a share. Meantime Jeff continues to suck every
last buck out of A-mess. The CE`s at VUE just want it to be over
and a number of possible replacement drones have asked your web
master what they should do? I say wait until VUE is sold, you do
not want to be last in and first out. No word from any radio
people if any still exist. The truth is out there.
03/27/08 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS OWNER SAID TO
BE INTERESTED IN WVUE.... I do not
know why but insiders say he was one of those looking at the
moldy eight. The author of "Imagine
it
this way...If you don't make your target numbers we will line
your entire families up against the wall and shoot them...it
is that serious" has
landed in San Diego. In only what could be called a flood of
email over 200 strong every one wanted to let me know were he
ended up.Thank you all for letting me know. I normally do not
follow people who have left the collective but I am sure his
fear and intimidation tactics will be continue at his new
station. I never met or worked for him but I did hear from
dozens of drones and received over 20 of his "memos". Its a
special person who makes the famous quote section of this site.
"The floggings will resume."
03/23/06 BUYERS TOUR N.O. CUBE... Emmissucks has heard that as many as five would be
buyers have been looking at WVUE. One of the more interesting
would be buyers being Captain Cook former GM. Not much else
going on the stock is hovering at about $3 a share. No more news
from radio but then again there may be no one left to send any
thing in. So let it be written, so let it be done.
02/06/08 ALL HUMANS MUST BE TERMINATED... Jeff continues the purge in what is left of A-Mess,
"Emmis cuts staff by 46
positions
Emmis Communications confirms that it has let go 46 staffers in
LA, NYC,
St. Louis, Austin and Chicago, but says that is the end of
payroll
reductions for its US radio group. Wall Street analysts say the
cost
cuts will help to counter a revenue decline from yesterday's
relaunch of
WQCD-FM NYC as Adult Rock WRXP-FM. Emmis' stock is up in today's
trading."
Stock closed at $2.90. "Sterilize..Sterilize..Sterilize...."
01/09/08 $2.02 Going,going,going... Jeff said "We
are always viewed as the canary in the coal mine," Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan told analysts, according to a
transcript. "And I was
driving in this morning thinking well, maybe this is the
perspective from the very bottom of the shaft." This from the man who gives others the
shaft on a routine basis. Emmis has become the turd in the punch
bowl not the canary in the coal mine. Give people what they want
and they will tune in. Emmis posted a 3Q loss of $1.2mil. A blog
on indystar has some interesting comments on A-Mess,
"Corporate radio like Emmis
and Clear Channel have destroyed radio. I was in the business
when stations were locally owned and operated. The DJ's were
actually in the same building and could play what they wanted,
music that people wanted to hear. Advertising was fun and
creative. Now, the DJ's "voice-track" their shows. That's a
fancy corporate radio term meaning it's pre-recorded. We had a
DJ in Denver voice-track for a show in West Palm Beach. And
corporate radio has forced out local advertising. Only large
corporations can afford a reasonable schedule of effective
advertising. Local advertisers can only afford overnights and
Sunday schedules. If you’re in the radio business, get out now,
while you still can. I was in radio for 15 years, and have been
out now for 6, and couldn’t be happier about it!"
"I think you said it best,
when a station loses touch with it's local base, people will go
elsewhere.
Right now over half the
schedule on 1070 is syndicated out of state stuff trying to
compete with XM and podcast, with just too many commercials.
Election night 2006, 1070
and 1430 gave us basketball games, totally ingoring an important
election.
The move to FM seems like
the final nail on the coffin. I miss the local 24 hour a day
radio I grew up with."
What humans want is humans
on radio. This is diametrically opposite to Jeffs plans to
eliminate all humans at Emmis. The truth is out there and I will
continue to post it!
01/04/08 $2.77 AND FADING FAST.... Happy New Year! from all of us at Emmissucks. This is
most likely the last year for the evil empire as decades of poor
management, greed and corruption finally catch up with the evil
empire. I laugh at the inferior intellect. Star Trek
"The Wrath of Khan"
2007ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 7
2006ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 6
2005ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 5
2004ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 4
2003ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 3
2002ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 2
2001ARCHIVE
OF
THE M5 YEAR 1
(Or how it all began)
Famous quotes from WVUE's
past and current management.
"I'd love to see you working
for the competition, the sooner the better" Joe Cook GM 2001 to 2005
"We are dedicated to NEWS"
Randy Bonagarten New head of TV operations for EMMIS,we shall
see
"Imagine it this way...If you don't
make your target numbers we will line your entire families up
against the wall and shoot them...it is that serious"
Ray Shonback 2001
"Quite honestly", "The Titanic had
a Band"&"I want to make this
a fun place to work" Madelyn Bonnot ,Sr. VP Operations
Emmis Television & GM 1998? to 2001 she missed the target.
"It's our people that make the
difference"&" I have no major
changes planned for WVUE"Jeff Smulyan CEO of EMMIS
These comments from the man who cut more people than all
previous owners of WVUE combined.
"It fell through the cracks"
& "We don't need a permit or
credentials for that" Elton Jones PM mid 80's to
2002,what he always says when he forgets some thing vital
"The floggings will continue until
moral improves" Al Volker late 80's
"only one hot dog per crew member
working the show" Phil Nye GM mid 80's when sold out to
Savoy Fox got ten to one on his investment.
" We do not pay you to think"&"I can clean up this news operation"
Andy Barton News Director early 90's, He vacuumed and dusted
more than managing the news operation
"Make no small plans" Just
small budgets (my embellishment) Peter Danois CEO of Barnham
Broadcasting , the smallest budgets ever in the history of WVUE.
This from a former employee, Peter also stated "I am a broadcaster and in this for the long
haul"this was in his intro to the staff ,he bailed with
a ten to one profit and got into an internet Co.,so much for
broadcasting. His internet company flopped. The Barnham sale was
the sale that sealed the fate for WVUE.
"I will make this station bigger
than WWL" Ed Quinn GM early 80's,he lasted less than
two years. Also known for "Thats
my VUE point what's yours?"
"We are right were we want to be" Jack
Long GM early "80s when WVUE was rated last in the market!
Evil mismangment E-Mails
Jeff jeff@emmis.com
Send your comments directly to the
mismanagers and use Anonymous.To
to keep your identity a secret. Thanks to frightened CE manager
who sent in a pro-jeff comment and he was afraid of Jeff finding
out he comminicated with your webmaster. It would have been
interseting to see what Jeff would have done to the guy if he
had not hid his ID ?
Other site's of interest To Emmis employee's (Or X
Eployee's)
Know of an EMMIS site send me the link
EMMISROBOT
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The fine print (like the car spots) Comments sent to this
page ( and its mirrors) can and will be posted unless a specific
request not to is included with the correspondence. Views
expressed in these comments may be edited for space
and to protect the senders ID. Views by submission are of those
who submit them, this site is a venue for such free speech.
Every effort goes into confirming info submitted, like any
human, errors can happen, If you have contrary info send it in and a retraction or correction will be
posted. Humorous commentary by this web mater is to add levity
to a bad situation. No one is forced to
find this site or read it. No original content on this site is
copy righted , I just ask to be notified if you plan to copy any
part of this site. Tax title and license not included. :-)
