LINK TO YEAR TWO

THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR EMMIS PUT THE M5 INTO SERVICE

MUCH OF THE EARLY DATA WAS LOST BECAUSE I DID NOT KNOW THE SITE WOULD GROW

The ultimate goal of Emmis and JEFF

12/28/01 It was brought to my attention by a CE that once again VUE will try to do FOX FIELD for supper bowl. The last attempt at this was such a disaster that it took five years to settle the litigation. Last time BIG E was put in charge and of coarse he said "We don't need a permit" and as the result on day one of FOX FIELD the NOPD shut the place down and chained the gates. Second mistake was ignoring my request for a "rain plan" Day two -the sky opened up and the entire show moved to my location in the NFL experience. They blew two of the four days.This was back when VUE had people, I can not wait to see how bad it is with almost no staff.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana

12/25/01 Marry Christmas from VUE Blues. After the unmitigated disaster of a remote to cover the opening of the Pacific wing of the D-Day museum, a number of CE's asked if I could re-launch the Squeal Ranking page. After I got the TAP this info was not needed because of a lack of big event coverage. Now we are back in event season and since some insiders wish to feed this page the rankings again ,The page is officially re-launched. Follow the LINK to view what the few remaining humans have to say about the lack of planing and over extension of the remaining people. This bit of humor just in from a CE. If WVUE was an air craft equipped with a TCAS system the following alarms would have been heard in the cock pit, mid 1999 "terrain alert- terrain alert" end of 2000 "pull up- pull up" and of coarse end of 2001 "EJECT,EJECT, EJECT". All the smart ones will pull the red handle.

12/22/01 Holiday update ,I have attended a number of holiday parties and run into a few FE's from the office end of the building. I also ran into two office type CE's. I was amazed to find out that the sales team gets verbal abused by there higher ranking personal (notice I did not say superiors). Even though these folks are not covered by a union they are protected by federal law against such work place harassment. The bad thing is most has been done with out witnesses. I have heard bits and pieces over the last three years but I just got two stories of harassment that were confirmed by two independent sources. So I now know why the turn over in sales is so high. An M5 alternative ,many have asked how do you watch a show on FOX with out looking at the M5. I only look at two shows that air on VUE, 24 and Stargate SG1. 24 airs on the FX network three days after fox and I get tapes of Stargate SG1 from a friend who records it off Showtime. There you have it, I do not have to watch the M5 !!

12/12/01 Marry Christmas from Jeff, no bonuses this year. At least thats what the working people will get "$0". I will be waiting to see the year end corp report to see what Jeff gets for a year end bonus , I am sure it will not be $0.

12/8/01 not much new on the M5 ,it still butchering the VUE on air product. I bumped into two FE's today and one MC operator who is now retired can't believe he put up with them (EMMIS). It was over heard by a CE that the commish asked another CE if one of the FE maintenance guys would consider coming back ,no not me- no freaking way. The response from the CE was a bit of a chuckle.An update on the traffic software problem, no resolution yet so your safe for the moment. The FE's I ran into (one at Home Depot the other at Supper Wal-Mart) both had the same thing to say ,"the only time they tune in VUE is to watch a few screw ups" and then the change the channel ,as apparently the general public is also doing the same.

12/3/01 In keeping with the final solution Jeff has let the accounting dept go( terminated to you and me). This was done despite the rants on some in management that the staff has nothing to worry about. I reported before that the terminations would continue but at a slower rate, poof there you have it. The irony of this is that I had a discussion a few months back with one of the accounting victims and they said "no way ,we have to much to do.". I told them they were next. Insider reports put the VUE traffic dept next on the block. The powers at be have been working feverishly to get the remote software to work so they can centralize traffic. This should happen in the next 60 days or less.After traffic national sales will be next!After the poor showing in the November book ,corporate is thinking of killing the five and six, this would allow Jeff to reduce all full timers to part timers with zero benefits. Dastrom is do in 12/4/01 to view his handy work . As we get into event season it should be interesting to see if and how VUE will cover these major news events. Jeff made one and all sign a internet usage policy, If I get a copy I will post it.

12/1/01 An M5 update, the system still continues to have the same problems and more. Advertisers do not like that the spots all run butted together with no black in between, not to mention poor audio and video. Now with the end of the November book even the viewers have voted on the M5 and they say "it sucks". I got a look at the M5 in as one staffer called it "The Dastrom wing". Captain "Dunsal" was on his way to lunch, not much need for a captain if your in remote. It was eerie to see master control with no one at the helm. Dastrom is supposed to visit the M5 this week to admire his baby, I hope he has the same fate as the Dasrtom in the episode. Wile most of the local broadcast company stocks have rebounded to with in 5% of three months ago Emmis is still down by 30%. The powers at be still want to send people to Florida to show the blue haired one how to do TV but the remaining staffers are getting tired of this ,knowing they are training the replacements. The staff in Florida has grown quite a bit, defeating the cost savings by firing the local skilled work force. They now have all the problems of the M5 and the cost of a growing staff. I have not seen one thing that the makers promised of the M5 come true. I had the grim task to trying to watch the system when VUE aired Star Wars episode one, I got tired of it by brake two and ran down to Hollywood video and rented the disk rather then watch this crap.

11/23/01 I have run into a bunch of current and former staffers over the holiday and this is what came of these meetings. I ran into a guy few may remember for doing cross bow practice in studio A & B ,his first comment was "is BIG E still there and what is he doing?" I brought this guy we will call Dave (a hint to his ID) up to date on the rise and fall of "E". He was amazed it took 15 years for them to realize what a putz he is. It is amazing that after all these years this guy had this as his main question, BIG E leaves a lasting impression. Dave is now with US boarder patrol if you remember him,he was into that sort of thing. In addition to Dave I ran into a few of the remaining humans and they all told the same story, That not only are they being coerced into a 10% cut ( the stock deal) in pay but they have to cover all the positions cut by Jeff. Some drones report doing up to eight different jobs in one shift. The management team also expects the same quality level as when they did have people, I do not think so. Two CE's have said that lunch and even potty breaks are a luxury now. Being asked to cover three packages and two VO's is not out of the question and being pulled from one story to do another is the norm now, not enough people to cover a shift. I have also been contacted by a few FE's who confirm that the lucky ones are those who were "down sized".All those CE's contacted did have one common question for me" do you know of any thing out there for me?". The Team leaders do not seem to be turning around the moral problem. It does not seem like there is much for the CE's to be thankful for. The FE's are all thankful they are outa there!

ATTENTION!

11/20/01 Big Brother Jeff to install security measures to watch internet use on company machines. Please do not access this site from work! Jeff is watching. A few have already figured out ways around this but why bother.

11/15/01 {Exclusive} Emmis to force employees to take 10% of there wages in Emmis stock, This was announced in a mandatory meeting held today. This has yet to be approved buy the SEC (if needed). Union drones do not have to take this but it is being "encouraged". I was once told by a fellow alumni of one of his past employers that gave them "trade outs" frozen pizza,turkeys etc.,in lou of pay ,this is a real crock. This move is to make the cash flow look better than it is and palm off the stock on the staff to make it look like there is a demand for the carp! I wonder if the Electric Co. or VISA will take Emmis stock to pay your bill?

11/14/01 [Flash] Emmis stock down graded by market. As the stock fails to rebound market yupies have little confidence that it will. The makers of the M5 state that there is no single point of failure in the system, yet when one server died in Florida WVUE did not air any commercial spots for some time , rolling through the breaks leaving two min black holes were spots should be. As other people have asked ,how much do you charge for black and who do you bill for it? This means that 1) the server died 2) the local server failed to take up the slack 3) the remaining human in Florida was unable to work around these hardware and software failures. I wonder what the M5 has in store for the BIG game(Supper Bowl).They were correct, it took three failures to screw this one up this one. A year ago this would have led to the termination of the MC operator and the supervisor on duty. Now who are they going to blame? Not the person who came up with this mess. Another BIG meeting is scheldualed shortly to "Discuss" the problems. I smell more terminations coming. The team has been telling the remaining humans not to worry about central crapping ,they are safe, I have some swamp land to sell. WVUE to try to step into the 80's with a WEB PAGE, but just like the M5 it also does not work.The band has begun to play assuring the passengers in steerage that nothing to worry about ,just a little ice and water!

 

11/4/01 It Has been confirmed through a number of sources that VUE still is having problems collecting on any thing they air (commercials or paid programs) do to the poor switching and below VHS quality they now put on air.The clients did notice! After reading the Florical web site ,I think I understand. These are Microsoft computer geeks not broadcasters. Even true computer geeks know that Microsoft is crap for reliability. They claim to have no single point of failure, they are correct- it has many points of failure- to see them just tune in.The M5 has some new kinks ,it is screwing up data bits which manifest itself in constant audio "drop out" and video glitching and "blocking" ,so much for scrambling the numbers so many times. The few humans left are not happy campers...

On 10/29/01 the central crapping system really shined, They aired a Breast Cancer special,one thing wrong with it- it was for another market in the group.Opps, how much do you charge for spots that air in the wrong market? What about the wrong "bugs" and legal ID? I think they should rename this system to RANDOM CASTING! Also I have noticed a new special effect, at the beginning of a bunch of things you get get an instant replay of a few frames after they drop to black, Cool!

Well the suppliers of "share crapping" (as they call it) confirm what I have been reporting on the "Final Solution" for more inf read it for your self at http://www.florical.com/sharecasting1.html This is the page that spells out the elimination of local traffic and accounting. They are proud of the stuff they make, They do not have to watch it! There main site is at http://www.florical.com/

With the defeat of the Mayors bid for a third term this spells the end of Big "Es" cable world position in seven months. now they think some one will be stupid enough to put in for this short time job.

They do not have a Human Resources Dept or even one person :-) They were down sized a few years back.The new GM seems to be OK but I do not think he knows the mess he stepped into, It will takea lot to fix what poor planning and greed have done to VUE.

10/16/01 Reports from the segmented meetings indicate that even EMMIS now realizes that the M5 central casting system does not work, DAH!! After the first station was put online ,the complaints were ignored, after the second station was put in the same situation ,the big boys also brushed this off as more BS from the locals. After VUE was screwed up they (EMMIS) had to take a real hard look.They can not turn back and god forbid admit they made a mistake, they are stuck with Central Crapping. EMMIS thinks they can get it to work, The last time I heard this type of comment was from CONUS Communications when they said they would get the software bugs worked out of there SNG system ,That was 1986- I am still waiting to see if that gets fixed! I wonder how long it will take for them to realize that it will not work with a news station ,just a Dastrum had to learn in the Trek episode. Will they finally put the blame were it belongs, this is the second multi million dollar mistake this person has made (remember SX NET). He will probably get a promotion.

The good news is the terminations will slow down to keep the stations on the air. The bad news is they will not stop. Shortly two members of the 100K + club will be up for contract renewal ,what do you think the offers will be from the radio company?

They also re-affirmed the dedication to news, yah right. They have been trying to kill it since they took over. You think they will keep it in these hard times with NEWSES high over head? The word is the Five and Six will go, No time frame for the reduction but the begining of the next fiscal year has been mentioned. The warning rocket have been launched.

They are discussing alternatives to full time employees.

Well If you can read you will know why he got out, ignoring the drop after the attack on the WTC you can see a pronounced drop after the M5 was put on line.Compared to the other broadcasters in town EMMIS lost 50% of its value while the next worse performer only lost 25% over the same three month period. Every one took a hit after the WTC attack but it is plain to see the second dip in EMMIS after the M5 was put on line. Even wise investors know IT DOES NOT WORK.

 

As the good ship WVUE sinks into the gulf ,the (now X)GM held a party in the courtyard on Friday 9/21/01. With a turn out of 6 to 10 of the remaining staff the tone was somber, more a wake than a party. But never turn down free food and drink, get it while you can!

Back by request "The M5 train wreck"

Jeff Losses control! What does he know that you should know?

 

10/15/01 The M5 continues to screw up. I have been told by many and personal watched the following, Black holes, direct cuts from one spot to another,up cuts & jips, Audio all over the place but less distorted than before, Still crappy video, many varieties of color bars (if your going to put them up, leave them up long enough so we can adjust our sets) and many other short comings. Big M's final party was wild but sparsely attended, You can say one thing about her- as a general manager she knows how to party.I get calls all the time to "tune in" to see the mess. I never watched this much VUE even when I worked there, but it is fun and painful to watch. The best time to see the most screw ups is during local shows (NEWS and the Sports Sunday Show) and live events , can not wait to see them blow all the spots for "THE BIG GAME" . If you want a laugh tune them in for a few min.

 

THE INFAMOUS GAG ORDER!!!!

I have recently been contacted by a few FE's who did not have to sign after retaining legal counsel, my advise get a lawer if the amount is big enough , if not tell them to stuff the gag order.

 
 

A RECENT WVUE STAFFER BEING REPLACED

BY A BENDER UNIT

Well it happened at 9am 9/19/01, the M5 unit was put in control and staff let go. At this time Jeff let the cat out of the bag ,telling staffers of his plans to centralize traffic. All those in WVUE traffic can now pack you desk. This was EXCLUSIVELY reported on this page months ago!!! So far my info has been 99% on the money. The new sales head hunter has yet to start chopping, but some have taken it on there own to get out before the cops show up!! Despite the attempts by the management team info continues to flow from local and corporate. Another round of larger terminations is being worked out for March or April 2002(With the problems the M5 is having this may be delayed). Some leakage from the top and thus to me leads me to believe that the March event will be the "final solution" to the people problem.

Stay tuned, you have been notified!!!

Jeff Smulyan "Your NEXT!!"

 

                                                      

Back by popular demand ,The "Flaming Logo" This logo (with some minor mods) was on my main page from 1997-2001. This was a "Foxifacation" of the logo.Because of the influx of non VUE alumni I have received a few request for explanations of certain graphics. The "flaming logo" was placed on my web site after WVUE was converted to FOX .The logo has changed each time the station changed its logo but the theme has stayed the same, Bart shooting rocks at Homer with the sling shot and missing ,hitting the logo and setting it on fire.The mission impossible stuff was a reference to big M's mission statements she plastered all over the station, non were fulfilled.The staffer being replaced by a bender unit refers to the March terminations when all were escorted of the property by police.When the change over party (ABC to FOX)was held at Millionaire Hanger many staffers discussed this as the down fall of the station,how correct were we.

 

8/15/01 The NEXT round set for March or April! Delayed ????

 

The corp chief talks about how good it is to replace all the people, If you did not catch the episode ,rent it -it was so correct.The M5 has been working like a Swiss car. Ironically this episode aired on Sci-Fi network on 9/20/01 at 5pm.

 

Do not drink the "Koolaid" from the "FUN CLUB" at the next meeting,

6/10/01 It has come to our attention that many of those left did not believe that the March victims got 10 seconds notice, this is absolutely correct. In addition to the NOPD protection. Because of the dust this raised at corp HQ they now are giving the august bunch 30 Days, pretty poor for 20 to 37 years service. If you believe that you will get a "generous" severance package, you just bought another lie. You will get the minimum do you by the union contract or your PSC, not one penny more unless you agree to sign the GAG order in exchange for the two day outplcment seminar. Any one who does this is a FOOL !!! Also when you sell your stock ,keep the one share they gave you when they took over. This will give you the annual reports for as long as you hold it. They can't lie to the SEC. Much of the early postings were lost because I did not think to keep them. Some has been restored thanks to some viewers who copied the site and retained the info.

3/15/01 I got my ten seconds notice and free police escort from the station. The standard thank you from Emmis for 18 years of loyal service. Along with my self many others got the tap. Some were brought in off vacation just to be fired. Others were let go on sick leave and even one on Disability leave was terminated.

The staff before Emmis did away with most of them.

After Jeff and his gang of gypsies took over they held a meeting with all staff in studio A (the bigest one at WVUE). Jeff then toughted how grate Emmis was and tha "it is our people that make the differance." He also claimed " I have no major changes planned for WVUE" He is lucky he said that inside or god would have struck him down.

How it all began

April 2, 1998

Emmis Broadcasting Corp. announced Tuesday it will purchase four television stations from SF Broadcasting, a Fox-USA Broadcasting Inc. venture, and two other stations from Wabash Valley Broadcasting Inc. Emmis will pay SF Broadcasting $307 million for its four stations, including $257 million in cash and $50 million either in cash or Emmis class A common stock. In addition, Emmis will pay Wabash $90 million for the other two stations, Emmis said. The four SF stations are KHON-TV, Channel 2, Honolulu (Hawaii); WVUE-TV, Channel 8, New Orleans (Louisiana);WALA-TV, Channel 10, Mobile (Alabama); and WLUK-TV, Channel 11, Green Bay (Wisconsin). The two Wabash stations are WTHI-TV, Channel 10, Terre Haute (Indiana); WFTX-TV, Channel 36, Fort Myers (Florida). According to Emmis, the deals are expected to close within four months, pending regulatory approvals.

Reuters 03/31/98

 

Privacy policy, In order to protect those who were forced to sign the gag order or those still under the iron thumb of Emmis all submission will be deleted and shredded prior to posting. The company has attempted to squelch any and all free speech by current and former employees. "The TRUTH is out there" (from the X files) and I will post it . If you have valid info just send it. I have been getting quite a bit but all can not be confirmed so it will not be posted. I have been getting a lot of cute parodies of the EMMIS & WVUE logo's . I will post them on a LOGO PAGE. Please do not send Cyron files ,I can not open them. I just got two of these and they can not be used. send in PC photo shop compatible format.

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