LINK TO YEAR THREE

EMMIS M5 YEAR TWO ARCHIVE

1/1/02-12/31/02


40 Percent :-)

 

12/26/02 M6 FLASH , no I did not make a mistake. Another greedy cooperation decided to try central crapping. Bahakel Communications which owns mostly radio stations and 9 or so TV stations tried to central crap, well it has failed with there audience. This has resulted in lower ratings and the biggie ,lose of revenue. Does this sound familiar? Some greedy CEO`s will not learn from the mistakes of others. This is why I opened with the M6. The last media mogul to hold out will have all the viewers and AD money!

"WOLO Centralcasting Doesn't Help Ratings

ABC affiliate still trails WIS, WLTX newscasts despite move to
Charlotte
By DOUG NYE The (South Carolina) State

WOLO's venture into centralcasting failed to generate much excitement
among viewers during the November sweeps ratings period.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the ABC affiliate's 11 p.m.
newscast managed to score only a 1 rating. A year ago that newscast,
then originating from Columbia, scored a 3. WOLO's 6 p.m. news went
from a 3 rating a year ago to a 2 this time around.

Overall, it was pretty much the same old story in the 11-county
Columbia TV market, with NBC affiliate WIS winning practically every
news time spot. The only exception came in the noon time slot, where
CBS affiliate WLTX won with a 7 rating, while WIS had a 6.

A rating is the percentage of households with TV sets. According to
Nielsen, there are 345,000 TV households in the Columbia market.

Thus, WOLO's 11 p.m. newscast was watched by 3,450 homes while at the
same time WIS's newscast, which had a 12, was watched by 41,400
households.

Chris Bailey, WOLO general manager, said his station isn't ready to
panic.

"I think the numbers went about like we were expecting," Bailey said.
"During the changeover, we had a number of different people doing the
newscasts, and I think that might have contributed to the numbers. It
(centralcasting) was a huge undertaking.

"I'm pleased with the product we're putting on the air. Now that we've
got things ironed out with our newscast, I look for us to grow in the
future."

WOLO's newscast began originating from the studios of Charlotte's WCCB
on Sept. 30. In the process, Bahakel Communications, which owns both
stations, eliminated WOLO's morning and weekend newscasts.

Rich O'Dell, WLTX general manager, wasn't surprised by WOLO's showing.

"I've said all along that it's difficult to have a truly local
newscast when you're doing it in a city 90 miles away," O'Dell said.

Although WLTX was second to WIS in most news hours, O'Dell said he was
encouraged by his station's showings.

"The numbers were up from the February and May books," O'Dell said."

Source... Shoptalk www.tvspy.com Other trades are reporting the same affect of central crapping , including News Blues.

 

1223/02 M5 update (place teletype sound here) ,it has been reported that the M5 is butchering the audio lip sync on sports Sunday. I was amazed any one was watching the one camera dog. The same sports guys do a better show on Cox, they use more than one camera. As one viewer put it " They have occasional lip sync." and "it is like watching a poorly edited hop n chop movie." ,I bet they do not even know of the problem, no one left watching the store. A few CE`s stopped by this week to say hi, there are some advantages to working in a mall :-) I just got this "Hi there, no picture of alumn Ron Hunter ? His daughter is a friend of mine and she couldn't even find a pic. of him online. If you happen to have a link to one please send it to me. Thank you. BTW....nice work on the website ! " Let me clarify , the section with pics is for the FE`s and CE`s with web pages. The other is a general email and link section. I did not know Hunter was still in our area. After talking to a number of CE`s it has been learned that more and more duties of the remaining humans are slowly moving to Florida. Will this mean more terminations? Only time will tell. Some CE`s who were happy to put in 18 hour days off the clock are now showing signs of being disgruntled, gee I wonder why. As one put it " I do not see it getting better here only worse. This is a artist conception of a new Emmis HQ.

Jeff seems to be thinking inside the box/cube. I know you will enjoy this one.I do want you to know your web site proves ,resistance is not futile!" No word as of yet on the promised bonus. Count down on cable world separation and some heated discussion on the parking issue has been over heard. I also got this from an FE ," I signed the gag order but it is almost two years since I did so, I was thinking of starting a web site like yours but with a perspective from the office end of the cube. Would I be in trouble?" If your gag order is like all the others I have seen ,you must wait the two years from the effective date (paragraph 9), They (Emmis) will not appreciate your site and you may get some heat from it. I keep hearing the same thing from even more FE`s , "I did not realize how bad it got until I was out of there"."you live to serve this ship".

12/18/02 Flash Update... Jeff promises bonuses for drones. Three CE`s now confirm that Jeff has stated that "employees will get a holiday bonus." As one put it " I am glad you posted what Emmis was planning to give, it shamed them into doing the proper thing. Your site is helping shed light on these roaches." We at VUE Blues will do all we can to help, this is no longer just my site-it is the voice of the oppressed. My first source on the new drones designation was incorrect ,"he is 15 of 12" (Emmis math). I will let all know if Jeff does not deliver. Keep rowing!

12/15/02 Update on the cube, I ran into the new drone on his first shoot for news. He did not know who I was and probably thought I was strange because I was chuckling. He does not have a clue about his assimilation into the hive. I think his designation is 8 of 12. I did not have the heart to tell him any thing but "Good luck". I did catch a few hours of the M5 this week, nothing new same old screw ups. I ran into two FE`s Saturday, one at Wally World (Wal-Mart) and one at Home Depot. Both were sporting the Ex-Emmis grin. One stated "It is nice to get new equipment and merit raises. I also get what is promised in benefits and compensation ,unlike Emmis." This seems to be a trend in FE`s. The other said " I do not like to think about them , of the 12 employers I have had over the years they were the pits by a mile." I do not have that many past employers but I agree. A CE e-mailed this " After seeing your post on the Santa Jeff ,I could only think of this. As all of us sit by a fire built of rolled up Emmis stock eating our holiday meals bought with food stamps , Jeff is cutting back on the caviar and wine. He may even have to buy domestic. My heart bleeds for him." Emmis "The People Company" They continue to drag out the contract signing ,row well and live.

12/9/02 As year two of the M5 approaches the end, the mismanagement team has yet to sign a contract with the IBEW drones. This is a move to try to sneak some salt and cinders into the deal and hope no one notices. A CE said the "corporate is sending a holiday gift for each employee."

Thanks for the pic.I liked the file name. Last year Jeff in a hollow move did not take a year end bonus, instead he sold millions in stock options ,thus earning even more for himself. This site will let you know what he does this year. We will also let you know his base compensation, did it go up? The M5 continues to screw up with no change in sight. Over a year ago Vic said "we should have the bugs worked out in a few months." The few viewers of the M5 are still waiting. Conus Communications made the same comment about there automation system in the late `80s ,it never happened and Conus recently folded. One CE recently said " I would not let Vic change the batteries in my flash light. " The count down until big E takes full control of cable world and its funding continues. A new greeting has now been adopted by FE`s , " row well " .

11/29/02 HAPPY HOLIDAYS from VUE blues, your Emmis authority. As Jeff ponders how to screw the CE`s out of a holiday bonus ,I am reminded of all the broken promises of holidays that were never granted and profit sharing that never happened. I will point out I and most other FE`s now get both of these :-). I will also let the cat out of the bag, most management types (dept heads, GM`s,FO`s and such) get some form of profit sharing but they do not want the drones to know because that would go back on Jeffs word that there would be no differences in benefits. Another lie from the big guy. I contacted another FE who has moved a few times since his departure but he said " Sounds like you haven't changed a bit, you crazy old bastard. Tell everybody I said hello and thanks for the website to keep up with all the FE's." He is doing fine. I bumped into a freelancer who said "since Emmis took control the small amount of business I did with VUE has gone to Florida" It figures. Cable World update ,it appears the big E will get control starting Jan 1 2003. All the funds will go to him and Emmis will only get the office space rent $93+k per year. If this happens Emmis will lose $300k in profit from the cable deal. One of my many emails on the subject said, " Elton and his cable boys are no longer employees of WVUE and will work for Elton's new non profit entity. Amazing that Elton lands on his feet. WVUE will get the rent money, doors will be locked between the buildings. No more tech support from WVUE." If all this happens I feel sorry for the CE`s in cable world. They will go from bad management to big E, under federal and local law big E will be able to drop many of the benefits now mandated under Emmis. Whether or not he does this is yet to be seen but we all remember who under paid the floor crew for two years and who suggested the robot pedestals, when it comes to screwing people big E is up there with Jeff if not worse. One cable CE said " I just bought some heavy bond paper and updated my resume'." Many years ago when cable world was being planed I suggested that the contractor use explosive bolts between the two installations and that a number of hydraulic rams be built into the VUE side so that when this pig went south we could blow the bolts and push the whole mess out onto Jeff Davis Pkwy ,I was on the money. I wonder were the cable people will park? How can VUE afford to lose $300K? Were will the money go? As the cable guy put it , "Elton has purchased one piece of hardware in anticipation of the change..."

You live to serve this ship ,row well and live! (rhythmic pounding sound)

11/24/02 It is time again for an M5 update. The M5 continues the same old destruction of the air product. I ran into a few FE`s this week and they had the X-Emmis smile :-). One FE gave me a number of updates for the link sections. Another FE sent me this ,some info was deleted with (XXXX) to protect the ID of this FE.

"The new job is a dream come true. I am very thankful to God to be where I
am. My first (XXXX) have been very rewarding and challenging (in a
positive sense). I am finally in a position that allows me to use my skills
to the fullest potential. In addition, we are a small company, so it has
been an entrepreneurial experience as well. Emmis is now just a bad memory
for me. Check out our web site: (XXXX).com and look at the people
who make up the company. We all have a common vision and goals. We all
realize that the company will only be as good as the people who work there.

I will be a part of this company as long as it is around and thriving. I
commute ten minutes to work. I'm home for dinner. I have weekends and
holidays off. I have more time for my family, and I am well compensated. In
other words, this job is a true blessing. God is good!

I hope all is well back in New Orleans. I check your web site often for
updates. Keep in touch."

Some one who has no ties to Emmis or broadcasting sent this in, "I just came across this site while researching some Star Trek stuff. I do not understand a bunch of it , but after reading about the Emmis Co. and the guy who runs it . I think you should rename him NOMAD after the probe in the series that wanted to rid the Enterprise of all the carbon based life forms infesting the ship." Not bad. IBEW contract update... Emmis may be caving on certain issues while they try to keep the humans until they can fix the M5. These are the 10% stock deal and even maybe a raise. I do not know how much the will get but I can say it took a tower crane. As one CE put it " Captain Cook has backed down to flank speed."

Remember you can`t here Jeff scream in cyber space.

11/17/02 Extra-extra WBPG is already under M5 type control ! Follow this link This is not good news for those under the M5. It was rumored that Jeff was trying to figure a way to get WALA out of M5 control. The new ALA has no MC or accusation hardware to speak of ,they are trapped with the M5. This is bad. As one CE who sent me the link said " It does not look good for us or the rest of the stations."

11/16/02 This is how I was going to start this posting ,"Things seem to be quite at stalog 8 this week", then I got two megs of email. Corporate proctologist is in town and they are going slow and deep. I did get this from a CE at corporate " I have heard whispers for some time about this web site. I did not put much into it , after three plus years with these slime balls I have decided to bail. I asked around and a fellow drone gave me the location. You have only touched on what these guys do to try to turn a buck. Up here they all suffer from a bad case of cranial rectal inversion. I am set to move to a better company and will email you once I leave these ( expletive deleted)." I can not wait. I also got this from an FE from the early 80`s, she did not have to put up with EMMIS. " I am a former WVUE employee (proud to have started my TV news career there) who just found the site tonight. I'd love to help clean up some spellings of name of both our living and late employees....give me a call and I could go over this stuff in 5 minutes.Think this site is a great idea..trying to help." I welcome any and all spelling corrections. Emmis buys another station for $11.5 million ,WBPG.

Emmis Adds Second Station in Mobile-Pensacola, DMA #63

Indianapolis...Emmis Communications Corporation has signed a definitive agreement with Pegasus Communications Corporation to purchase WBPG-TV, the WB affiliate in Mobile/Pensacola, giving Emmis a second station in the nation's #63 market. Emmis currently owns WALA-TV in Mobile/Pensacola..The purchase price is $11.5 million, and the transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2003, subject to receipt of various regulatory, network and other approvals.After the closing, Emmis Television will consist of 16 stations: WKCF-TV, WB 18 in Orlando, FL; KOIN-TV, CBS 6 in Portland, OR; WVUE-TV, FOX 8 in New Orleans; KRQE-TV, CBS 13 in Albuquerque, NM; WSAZ-TV, NBC 3 in Huntington/Charleston, WV; WALA-TV FOX 10 and WBPG-TV WB 55 in Mobile, AL/Pensacola, FL; KSNW-TV, NBC 3 in Wichita, KS; WLUK-TV, FOX 11 in Green Bay, WI; KGUN-TV, ABC 9 in Tucson, AZ; KGMB-TV, CBS 9 and
KHON-TV, FOX 2 in Honolulu; KMTV-TV, CBS 3 in Omaha, NE; WFTX-TV, FOX 4 in Ft. Myers, FL; KSNT-TV, NBC 27 in Topeka, KS; and WTHI-TV, CBS 10 in Terre Haute, IN.

I will be sending them a link to this page :-)

All the CE`s at WBPG can now pack, resistance is futile. You will get the obligatory visit from Jeff and he will say "I have no major changes planned for WBPG." I would not bet on that ! This is the perfect type station for Jeff to put under the M5.

This was posted in shop talk....

"From: Renzo Giromini renzo@unm.edu
RE: Engineering Safety Question

Maybe somebody out there can give me some good advice, or, hard data? I work at a station in New Mexico, and, am on an internal committee which has been tasked with many issues, among them a safety concern for our translator engineers. These (two) guys have drives of no less than 4 hours each way to our translator sites--that's a conservative estimate as the translators are typically not close to pavement. The Translators are at the end of a long drive, up (typically) treacherous dirt roads in high-altitude remote places. Then they get to work with the high-voltage gear. They go out alone--unless there is a tower to be climbed--in which case they pair up. While the Station is willing to pay for a motel room somewhere out there--these cats usually drive back to Albuquerque--no matter how exhausted--because their next maintenance crisis is again all the way over on the other side of the state. The committee I'm on has called for more staffing in this engineering area (used to have five before Emmis bought us). My Chair has asked for more hard data from me. I've been to the SBE site, and, it's pretty worthless. The OSHA site is so unwieldy I'm planning on just walking into their local offices and handing them a written query. What do ya'll know? What are your Station's translator engineer practices/procedures? Are you in the Rocky Mountain/Western Region? Do your guys usually go out alone? I've been in broadcasting a long time and know an engineering staff is "the stuff of life"--it's what keeps you on the air and keeps the bucks and your reputation flowing. And yeah, I know all the "shock-happy" jokes, too. But I'd really like to know if sending guys out on long drives, up hellachious terrain, to work on high-voltage gear, ALONE, is SOP. What say?
Thanks"

Maybe when they kill some one ,the feds will go after them.

Because the archive section got so big, I will now separate it in to one year blocks, An FE asked "how long are you going to maintain the site?" answer ,as long as it is needed.
Stock is still hovering around $20.Resistance is futile.

11/09/02 Flash person terminated for theft, strange?? Steam driven inserter has been taken down, now corporate proctologist will have to do the deed manually, hard and deep.This was sent in by an FE who just found this site, The (XXXX) indicates stuff removed to protect this persons ID.

"Well, well, well, as I read and enjoyed your website it began to dawn on me just who the author really was. The satire, the recollections, etc. I just knew, it HAD to be my Elmer ( an Elmer is a HAM that introduces a non HAM to the hobby and leads them through the licensing process.) that brought me into Ham radio years ago. How ya doin'? For some strange reason I was wasting time researching old Ron Hunter stuff via AltaVista and Google. Can you believe I went over 40 pages deep into Google return hits on Hunter? Anyway, in the middle of all of this your page came up. Needless to say I lost an hour reading everything, and laughing loudly and non-stop. Man, have you captured the spirit of that old pink building! (it has been some time since he saw the place,it is no longer pink)When I left Channel 8 I was aiming for a career in (XXXX). Well, I discovered I couldn't take the sight of blood, so I switched to a business major, got the degree, and went right back into television. I've been in cable for the past decade, but in Ad Sales (equivalent to Sales in broadcast). I've done Traffic, technical operations (playing commercials via an automated system), Financial Analyst (glorified accounts receivable and accounts payable, plus dealing with bad debt clients and ordering office supplies), and now I'm the engineer for a bunch of cable commercial systems in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. I guess this means I'm now doing your old job. Can you believe that? When I applied for a Traffic job at (XXXX) in 1991 I was aiming to find some work to help pay for going back to school. At the interview I asked what they had in the way of engineers to run the gear, since I was being considered so I could make it run in addition to normal Traffic stuff. I wanted to know that it could be fixed by competent people. I had worked with an excellent staff in Montgomery in the 70's, and you know what Ch. 8 had in the 80's, so I knew the importance of maintaining equipment. They told me they didn't have anyone, standard policy was to call tech support, diagnose with them, send the broken gear back, and re-install when the repaired item came back a day later. Now I fix it, or I call tech support (see above). Anyway, please add me to the list of FE's. Make my email address (XXXX). I don't have a personal website for anyone to visit. By the way, what's with police surrounding the building? What happened to Jay Tranchina, Fritz, and Ron Montilepre? Have you heard were George Jones went? What's the story on Elton's appearances on MTV (and I don't mean Elton John!)? I'm sure you've already heard elsewhere, but there've been local newspaper write-ups about the master control switcher at local TV stations being run elsewhere, and screw-ups airing as a result. And, what's up with Ron Hunter? He's the reason I found your site in the first place. Also, give my regards to Bob (XXXX).

I filled in this FE on all his gaps. I do get a few of these per month. While on the remote election night I ran into the NEVILLE, she is doing fine and I gave her a VUE Blues card with links so she and her buds can get caught up. A number of CE`s made some extremely humorous comments about Jeff and the gang but I do not feel safe in disclosing them knowing how the mole hunters are at Emmis. Once again Emmis stock is down by 7% for the week ,ending just below $20. All others did better but Hearst was close to Emmis in lose.If you plot back a year, Emmis is down by 22% all others are up by 20+ %. Wall street agrees,Emmis sucks.I got a follow up E-mail from the CE who wrote the one above, it contained this "In my first email I mentioned local newspaper write-ups regarding the Fox station being switched out of town. I was referring to WALA Fox 10 here in Mobile, and several weird screw-ups they've had on-air, and their excuses for it. It must be no surprise to you to hear it was blamed on an automatic switcher in Florida somewhere." I let him know that station was under M5 control. This is the third area I have received email from confirming the M5 sucks at all the stations. He also said "By the way, who named the auto-switcher "M5"? It sounds like your idea. Freeman Ballard once asked me if I thought "that dog would ever have its day?", referring to Ch. 8. Nope! Go to richsamuels.com and read about Ron Hunter while he worked in Chicago. Use Edit, then Find, enter Hunter in the box and then hit enter." I let him know I started calling it the M5 before I left, I will have to check out the site he sent on Hunter. I forgot about Freeman, he has been added to the RIP section. Once again I remind all ,that the primary function of the site is and was the Alumni Section, so keep me up to date on your E-mail or link.

E-MAIL ME AT

Another CE wrote in saying " Captain Cook is still strutting on the main deck ,but now he is screaming for ramming speed." Sounds bad to me. He also said " how in the world can so many incompetence stay in power at one station and corporation, It defies logic." If you look at the stock price over the last few years it makes perfect sense. The band plays on.

11/02/02 IBEW contract update, the corporate proctologist has other business so Emmis will bring down the new contract and insert it in a few weeks, no lube of course. The M5 still continues to screw up ,now that is the norm, a clean chunk of the broadcast day would be unusual under the M5. Emmis announces its spending for DTV ,it is roughly 1/8th what any other broadcaster will spend per station. Not only do the screw up when it comes to hardware but they ignore the FCC when it comes to there on air product, this was sent in by an Emmis radio CE...

"EMMIS RADIO LICENSE CORPORATION. Imposed a forfeiture in the amount of $21,000 on Emmis Radio, licensee of WKQX(FM), Chicago, IL
for willful and repeated violations of the indecency rules. Action by: Chief, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted: 10/31/2002 by Forfeiture Order. (DA
No. 02-2937). EB http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-2937A1.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-2937A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-02-2937A1.txt" Follow the links to the full documents on the FCC site. Thanks to the CE who supplied this info. "We told the management they were going to blow it and they blew us off." Sounds like what all of us anti M5 people said and we got the same reply from the team. I bumped into a few CE`s at the Hornets home opener, one said " We have been told to bend over, grab our ankles and wait for them to get around to us." More to come from your Emmis authority.

 

10/27/02 Hi all, A CE from Honolulu sent this in after finding my post on the Emmis discrimination settlement. " This is typical Emmis thinking,

EMPLOYEE TERMINATION EXPLANATION

Dear Employee:
As a result of the reduction of money budgeted for department areas, we are forced to cut down on our number of personnel. Under this plan, older employees will be asked to take early retirement, thus permitting the retention of younger people who represent our future and are cheaper. Therefore, a program to phase out older personnel by the end of the current fiscal year, via retirement, will be placed into effect immediately. This program will be known as SLAP (Sever Late-Aged Personnel). Employees who are SLAPPED will be given the opportunity to look for jobs outside the company. SLAPPED employees can request a review of their employment records before actual retirement takes place. This review phase of the program is called SCREW (Survey of Capabilities of Retired Early Workers). All employees who have been SLAPPED and SCREWED may file an appeal with upper management. This appeal is called SHAFT (Study by Higher Authority Following Termination). Under the terms of the new policy, an employee may be SLAPPED once, SCREWED twice, but may be SHAFTED as many times as the company deems appropriate. If an employee follows the above procedure, he/she will be entitled to get HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel's Early Severance) or CLAP (Combined Lump sum Assistance Payment). As HERPES and CLAP are considered benefit plans, any employee who has received HERPES or CLAP will no longer be SLAPPED or SCREWED by the company."

I know many FE`s got SLAPPED, SCREWED, HERPES or CLAP and still got the SHAFT by Emmis many times. Speaking of the SHAFT, I saw a bunch of square 75 footers being delivered to Jeff Davis this past Wednesday when I passed by after the SBE meeting. Not a drop of lube was to be seen, but the inserter was still on site for the 31st. With VIC on vacation again one CE said " It is going to be bad, he only takes off when people get fired or worse." Emmis the stock in week revue, Emmis down by 5+% all others on the market up by 2+%. The M5 continues to screw up, one Manager at another Station said" How can they put this thing in charge of a $80 million station, if it screws up who will the GM call on the carpet for an explanation? The M5? Who would get the blame? Who would you suspend or terminate? It does not make sense from economic or reliability terms." A MEN.

10/20/02 Nothing new on cable world yet. I bumped into three CE`s this week and all said the same things " I am working on getting out of this pit" while these folks now lash deck chairs together as a flotation devises ,one CE said " I have just a few weeks left, I will let you know first, then I will tell them." This would not be the first time a CE let this site know before the team was alerted. I guess they figure if the company only gives ten seconds notice, that is all they are due.With ten days left in the IBEW contract no one is talking, it must be real bad. The team has been giving away and throwing away a ton of older equipment. This was not the case when I was there, old gear was sold at a decent profit, another revenue stream they no nothing about. Speaking of revenue, Emmis reports they only lost $4mil this year as opposed to the $7mil last year. The main reason for this was not better sales or lowered operating cost,no it was the sale of assets (radio stations) that closed the gap. The real surprise was that operational cost have gone up since the M5 system was started. Sounds like another wise choice. I will note not one of Jeffs radio stations has been put under M5 type control. A Cablerep person is sentenced to a stretch on Jeff Davis, how long will they last?

10/15/02 More NEWS on Cable world, in a reply to my E-mail inquire on the city councils action, Rosalind Washington said

"Not only did the city council vote, but they voted on a resolution instead
of an ordinance. An ordinance would have required the approval of the
Mayor. This way (resolution) the council superseded the authority of the
Mayor.

Secondly, the NOMC was made aware that the process for creating a new not
for profit (elton) started 50 days ago while the vote took place less than
five days ago."

In a follow up phone interview Rosalind stated that "The fight is not over" and that they are "looking into legal action because of the way the council worked around the Mayor." Rosalind also said this was " New Orleans politics as normal." We had a nice chat and one of the things brought up was that all the money NOMC raised over the years will be forcibly handed over to big "E`s" non profit. At this point Emmis is only guaranteed the $93+k rent, the other half mil and other funds may be handed to big "E" ,sorry about that, the non profit organization for his, sorry again, there use :-). This action if upheld will mean the end of the Mayor authority and the elimination of competitive bidding on public contracts. Sounds like the city is getting more corrupt if that is possible. This info was EXCLUSIVELY brought to you by VUE Blues your Emmis authority, more to come!

10/14/02 Cable world update ,I got this "scuttlebutt going around the station is that the city council voted on Thursday in favor of eltons plan. that means elton stays, cableworld stays, roslin and her cronies look for another job. also, an office over at city hall closes down... media office of some kind to be taken over by eltons new non profit. what all that means remains to be seen. will all the employees over there remain fox8 employees or be transferred to and paid by the new non profit. will elton remain an Emmis employee or resign to become cable world lord? who knows..." I then located this ,"The New Orleans City Council today (10/10/02) designated New Orleans Access Television (NOATV) as the Community Access Group for New Orleans, for a one-year trial period beginning January 1, 2003, by a 5-to-1 vote. Voting against the recommendation was Council Vice President Oliver M. Thomas, Jr. District A Council member John A. Batt, Jr. was out-of-town and did not attend todays meeting. NOATV will replace the New Orleans Media Center.The performance of NOATV will be monitored on a monthly basis through written evaluations to the Council and the Administration. On or before June 30 2003, the Council will determine whether to extend the term of NOATV’s service as its designated Community Access Group. During this period, they will also explore alternatives to the provision of services and facilities in the community. This means big "E" has pulled a rat out his hat but it will be watched closely not only by city hall but by this site. How this will effect Emmis profits on the deal is yet to be ironed out. While the new mayor went after taxi cab drivers and brake tag stations, it seems as though the big ones get away. There goes my hope for real reforms at city hall.

10/13/02 All in all a slow week with respect to Jeff and his band of broadcast gypsies.A word to FE`s, if you see some info in the link section that needs correction ,let me know (e-mail addresses or name spelling) I did get a few interesting E-mails, one from a spoke chief " I knew I should not have taken this job but many promises were made and now broken. When Mike`s Folly spewed and all I got from corporate was "we are working on it". I wish that I would have found your web site before joining this bunch of ass clowns." I was tempted to cut out the last part of this one ,but it lost a lot. An FE said "They finally fixed the ranking on this market but they still have VUE`s old logo on the Emmis web page." Give them a few weeks They may fix it, they do not want to correct the errors pointed out on this site to quickly, it would show how closely they monitor it. Because of the recent storms the action on cable world has been swept under the carpet, I will post any development as the come along. During a site survey for the green monster a CE from another station (not VUE or GNO) said "You seem a bit bitter, I am glad you do not own a gun." I am no longer upset at the way they handled the situation. That in mind this site is much better than a gun and more fun.Last but not least, an incident happened on one of VUE`s live shots, the event was not note worthy for this site except for the fact that three CE`s then had a discussion that " if this ends up on the web site , some one will be fired !" The note worthy thing was the well founded paranoia Jeff has fostered.

10/7/02 EXCLUSIVE M5 FLASH UPDATE (is this news speak or what). The big one all the FE's said would happen did. I had to wait for confirmation on this one, the first email was short and sweet from one of the spoke stations " The system is down !!!". I had a hint of this but the next E-mail confirmed it,

"The M5 completely melted down on Wednesday...
the only reason they did wall to wall coverage of the storm that night
was because they could not do anything else...
there was no way to get comertials on the air..
the backups failed.
best part...
Jeff and all the Emmis gods were in Mobile for meetings that night
VUE ran wall to wall news... the other M5 stations aired either black
or Technical Difficulties slides.
Guess with Jeff in town to see it... the masters of the M5 will all get
big fat raises again ;-)"

I am sure this was not brought up in the conference call. As Florical said " There is no single point of failure". No the whole thing is a failure. As all those FE`s predicted both primaries in Florida died and the local back ups failed to kick in at each spoke. The Hurricane did not even hit the hub and it died. In reality the storm coverage saved VUE, wile the other spokes ran BARS and black VUE ran wall to wall news. The numbers they got were stellar. That is what Humans can do Jeff!! The one draw back to the high rated wall to wall coverage, no spots = no revenue, cha ching :-) Not to mention the loose of revenue at the three other stations under M5 control. The M5 works like a charm.This just in New photog drone quits two days before assimilation into the collective. Rumor is he found this site.

10/6/02 Emmis settles Honolulu age/racial bias lawsuit out of court, details are sketchy probably because of one of those gag orders Emmis loves. If they settle out of court ,they must have believed they would loose. After spread sheeting the M5 terminations ,I am suppressed more of these lawsuits have not been filed. VUE looks for freelancers to run live trucks during Hurricane coverage, it seems as though the M5 does not work well in the field ,especially if it has three feet of water in it. The IBEW contract expires on the 31st of the month, the company wants -10,-10,-10 and the union wants +4,+4 & +4, lots of luck on that one. The company also wants to eliminate certain provisions that would allow them to force covered drones to take stock in lue of pay, the 10% deal. The company also wants to eliminate the severance section so they can screw the few left as they terminate them.The following were comment from some CE`s , "They have chained our ankles to a 500 pound anchor and are handing us a company composed contract and telling us to sing or leave!" and "Management has brought out the big shaft and told us to bend over, and just like in the movie "Evolution" we are begging for lubricants and there reply is "no time for lubricants" and " Jeff got what he aimed for, he busted the union and now he writes the contracts , god help us.All the none union leaches will now find out why the union is necessary when you have poor management." The conference call with Jeff happened but do to our Hurricanes I will have to catch it as a recording. One FE said they claim broadcast cash flow is up but revenue is down.

9/22/02 In a meeting on Friday the remaining humans were told of the Emmis Hurricane plans. The staff was told to expect 12 hour shifts and of coarse the Emmis touches, No family or pets would be allowed in the station and each drone would be responsible for his or her food and drink. The company will not supply any thing. This changes a 40+ year tradition of taking care of your people at WVUE. This violates Emmis commandments 3,4,8 & 9. To sum it up, the few remaining carbon based life forms are being asked to come in bust your ass with your own survival supplies and protect the M5 wile leaving the families on there own during a killer storm. Typical Emmis.As one CE put it ,"They will secure our ankle chains to the deck so we have no choice but to row for our lives as Captain Cook walks the main deck yelling for ramming speed." I do not know if the captain will even stick around. Another CE said "They think I will come in ,I will call from Memphis." I will point this out, The staff that came in to cover the last storm under big M was treated to a thank you party after the danger passed, later most were terminated as an Emmis thank you.

9/19/02 M5 one year update, yes it was one year ago that the M5 located in Florida was put in charge of WVUE and the remaining operations staff terminated. The FE`s all report being better off out side the Emmis prison system. The CE`s moral is at an all time station low. The company (Emmis) has lost 50% of its worth. The station was sold to them for $89 mil is now worth $11 mil. The problems with the M5 continue, the audio is a little better. I did hear a recurring comment from most of the FE`s "I am so glad to be out of there". me too! I got a call from vendor today who was in town when I was on vacation and stopped by VUE to see me. He found out I was gone but he also said the place (WVUE)"was depressingly baron of people". He has been calling on that account for 25 years.I filled him in on Jeff`s plan.

GSM update, they may be re-thinking filling the position.

Cable World update.I listened all day to the city council meeting, and the only thing said was at 3:30 and I missed it. I was on the phone and it was done real fast( a few
seconds). I do not know if it was delayed, passed or what. I do know the scheldualed lunch brake of one hour ,lasted one hour fifty min. Was the extra time used to pass brief cases under the table? When more info comes my way it will be posted.

9/17/02 As promised this is the next article that was in the Times-Picayune

Shortly before WVUE got the contract I had the job of explaining to TWO of the losers why they would lose to the politics of the day. Big "E" spent the better part of a year inserting him self into the then Mayoral candidate. This peaked on election night when a staff proctologist was on hot stand by. For those of you with tape or film of that night ,check it out, I was there covering it.

In another article in City Business

This one goes in depth into some of the numbers , such as $550k to VUE for "TECH SUPPORT" (how can they give tech support when they terminated so many) $93,000 for rent (on space that was unused for 25 years) and this does not cover Electric cost and other maintenance items. The article does mention the now non existent parking (first on VUE Blues). Now lets crunch some numbers, lets say WVUE gets $700K from the city each year (if you read the article Emmis is raising the rent) for what. Four or five $40k per year operators and no maintenance engineer. If you did the math ,Emmis cost $200K Emmis profit $500K! This does not count Big "E`s" compensation.You have to ask your self ,were is the money going. To quote deep throat from the Watergate days, "Follow the money". If I had the $700K to run cable world it would be the best cable operation on the planet. We will all find out if the city and the new Mayor have done there home work on Thursday.More to come ,stay tuned !!!!

9/16/02 I just got a follow up article that was in the paper on 9/13/02,I will post asap.

Thanks to the FE for dropping it off.

Some one took the Dilbert cartoons seriously and sent this in.

I like it, now all I need is James Earl Jones saying "This is ENN". This contributor also said that " I just looked at the Emmis web site. The front page mentions Emmis culture, the only thing I see them culturing is mold and mushrooms in studio "A". We have the biggest ,best studio in this state and it is dark 99.995% of the time." It seems like that has not changed since I left.

9/14/02 This just in (put old teletype sound hear :-),

"They are looking for a photographer over here.
www.monster.com I feel sorry for the poor sap that
gets this job. About big E. If they go back and
check the payroll with the people Big E bills the city
for, someone might just take a ride to Tulane and
Broad."

I knew of the photog job and I have received many emails from CE`s and CW CE`s also implicating Big "E" in questionable deals with the City. For those who do not know the City (like me ,I had to call to get some info) Tulane and Broad is the location of New Orleans Criminal Court Building. I hope he gets the free body cavity search...hard & deep. A number of non Emmis people have asked about the "Commandments" ,I forgot that some would not be aware of them. Here is the official company line.

1) Take care of your audiences and your advertisers - think of them and you'll win
2) Be passionate about what you do and compassionate about how you do it
3) Be good to your people - get them into the game and give them a piece of the pie
4) Never jeopardize your integrity - we win the right way or we don't win at all
5) Believe in yourself - if you think you can make it happen, you will
6) Don't underprice yourself or your medium - don't attack the industry - build it up
7) Never get smug
8) Have fun - don't take this too seriously
9) Be rational - look at all options
10) Be flexible - keep an open mind
11) Admit your mistakes

Now you can see how they continue to brake these, you may also note that ENRON had a similar "code of ethics". "You seemed to have missed the fact that Sports Sunday now has A camera operator, but it has lost all its major sponsors, The logo is gone from the table and the bar is gone." I do not watch them so yes I did not see the changes. I know they lost the sponsors, I got a tip.

9/12/02 I received the copy of the cable world artical. Do to its size it will only be posted on the batcave site.

Thanks to the Times-Picayune for having the guts to pursue this even if it risk ad $$.This will never be first on FOX.This is only one of three investigations into cable world ops that I know of. Emmis has never fulfilled there end of the Tech support contract, it got worse when the fired half the maintenance guys. I am sure big "E" put spin on it. I got this from a CW/CE " if they manage to get him, I will die happy". There was more but it would have tipped off the mole hunters. I checked with our statistician and he said I was correct NEW ORLEANS is a 43 not the 41 Emmis has on there site, just like them to cook the numbers. I was also told we will be moving up to a 42 in January , the first move up in many years. With many years of HR being the number one complaint (what a surprise) on the "anonymous" employee surveys, Emmis appoints a new VP of HR. This seems to displace Carolyn Herald. With just a few days left in the IBEW contract, I was told "The pucker factor has reached 2000PSI". A large wood stump and wicker basket have been placed in the court yard.

9/9/02 Stop the presses, late update...After one phone call tonight I also got an email stating the same comment, "Emmis must be reading your page, less than one day after you posted the errors on there site , they corrected them." Well first let me welcome the boy's on the board- Hi guy's, I hope you enjoy this site as much as all the CE's and FE's do. It has become the treatment for P.E.T.S.D.,that stands for Post Emmis Traumatic Stress Disorder. I will point out one more thing they may have wrong on there site ,I believe we are market 43 not the 41 they have listed, I will have to check.Remember this even Emmis gets it's news from VUE Blues. WVUE has not learned the lesson that Emmis did, the new Emmis site is faster by ten fold than the old one (they got rid of the flash crap) .The VUE site is the slowest local site on the web, even with a T1.EXTRA! EXTRA! GSM not to be replaced, in another cost cutting measure the duties and responsibilities of the GSM have been forced upon three other drones,with no compensation. This means with one termination the gang has managed to screw four employees , well done in keeping with Emmis 3rd commandment.VUE Blues tease, It has been reported in the local paper (9/5/02) that after two independent consultants looked into the co-venture of cable world ,it would be better to move into there own building and can the upper management. In addition it was determined that Emmis has not lived up to there end of the contract.This would be a blow to VUE because they have been using cable world as a cash cow.This also spells doom for BIG "E", and if the rumors of an in depth investigation come true some one may go to jail. More on this when I get a copy of the article.And the band plays on. Remember that if you see some thing send it in so we all can enjoy it, I do not scour the paper or trades for Emmis stuff, I rely on viewers like you to keep us up to date.

9/8/02 Emmis replaces a few TV GM's in it's blame game. The M5 is looking for a new operator, no word if it was the blue haired one who got the ax. The new Emmis web site only has one reference to WVUE and it is out of date, still has big "M" in control. Stock still at about $15

9/2/02 Happy Labor Day from VUE Blues ,you Emmis Authority. I am sure that Jeff is projectile vomiting all over the oak and marble at HQ just the thought of Labor no less a holiday to calibrate Labor. He is working on ways to eliminate this problem. A word of Caution to all those employees who get verbal promises from the team, don't believe them. As time has progressed I have had a continuous flow of comments from FE's & CE's that " I was told I would get what ever, but when time came I got zip." And many promises of cash for services or goods also were later "forgotten" by the team. To date I have added up $100k in these comments by FE's & CE's. What ever you do get it on paper when dealing with them. You also better be prepared to sue and lose you job over the item. As one CE put it when he approached the team member on one of these broken verbal promises "What are you going to do, sue us...how long do you think you will last." An FE sent this in, just a bit of humor "Jeff needs to stop thinking out side the box and start thinking inside the cell." Emmis dumps Author Anderson, and post a bunch of spin on there web site to explain this move. This will not shield them if any "irregularities" are found .On Thursday, October 3, 2002 Emmis Communication will host a conference call to discuss second quarter losses. This spin control will be available on there site ,hear Jeff and the gang squirm. Emmis stock still hovering around $15 a share.

8/29/02 Exclusive (love the news spin) Emmis hand picked WVUE GSM Jeff Steerne is history, officially this person is now a consultant, deja vou just like BIG M. This is the EMMIS way of terminating carbon based life forms of high rank. We will never know the full truth because this level of employee is forced to sign the gag order. This one did not last long in the people company. " If we keep turning over sales people no one will buy from us" & " Is there any thing more they can do to screw up this station." Jeff is working on it.

8/25/02 An FE sent another memorable quote from BIG "M" who said this in an address at Freeman school of business at Tulane U. March 6 2000, "The Titanic had a Band". At the time she was Sr. VP Operations Emmis Television. Some may remember that I also said this when Emmis took over.If you know of a bone head Emmis comment send it in so we all can laugh.* A former Viewer of VUE wrote " I just got back in New Orleans and was wondering what happened to Channel 8? I noticed they are now FOX but even worse ,I noted there picture is fuzzy and full of junk. Then wile driving into the city I noticed the Ball is missing from there tower. This is like the lose of the spinning cow on I 10.Can you tell me what happened, I can not find an official web page for them?" This person has been gone for a few years, The crappy air product is the result of the M5, read the rest of this page for more info on the M5. The "BALL" was a ray dome for the VUE weather RADAR, as part of the EMMIS upgrade of WVUE to " Your Weather Authority" VIC sold the system for scrap, thus castrating the stations weather Dept. Now the only source of RADAR info for VUE is sat feeds from Kavoris and NWS. I was watching a piece on NBC Dateline about the ten year anniversary of Hurricane Andrew and all I could think of is Florida is a great place to put a HUB for the gulf coast :-) When this decision was made, the brain at Emmis HQ was out on loan to Enron. Emmis made a 5% gain on Thursday and lost it all on Friday, wile this may not make this stock a prudent investment for the long hall, it is perfect for day traders who like to gamble.

8/21/02 Live from VUE Blues,your EMMIS authority, I have now installed the Supper Doppler 8888...A sophisticated system to determine when management is untruthful. Some may say that is simple with Emmis, there lips move. Enron executive pleads guilty in deal to save his own ass, the dominoes are beginning to fall. This could lead to Arthur Anderson and there clients- like EMMIS.I got this from an FE from three years ago "I got out (voluntarily) just as these guys took over. After just one month I knew they were bad news, pun intended. I did enjoy reading all the info, it brought me up to date. I am now at (deleted) in Denver, add me to the list when you get some time. Feel free to quote me, Emmis is a low rent money at all cost operation, they make Gaylord look like the good old days."As the M5 continues to mess up, the stock has rebounded (yep it was lower) to the $17 hover point. NewsCorp declares $6.2 Billion dollars in the hole, The largest debt in Australian history.Yes thats billion! I would expect cut backs on the FOX quality shows :-). If the M5, the Cable Guys and Emmis do not screw with the VUE air product then FOX will. A frequent contributor said " I just bought a new DELL computer. After reading you last post on tilted E corporations , I am tempted to return it." For those who do not know DELL tilts its E.

8/11/02 M5 update, not much new as far as screw ups by the M5, just the normal continuous ones. On this subject Jeff has stated that do to technical and cost verses benefit reasons "Emmis has put expansion of central casting on indefinite hold". He did not comment on the existing crap, but with the long term leases on the fiber lines and millions in M5 hardware, they will have no option but to keep it running. A smart group would salvage what they could of the hardware, lease the lines to some one else and scrap the rest. Jeff of course will not ever admit the New Coke type blunder, a violation of Emmis 11th commandment. I got a call last Sunday just after Futuroma got under way, one FE and a CE said I would find humor in the episode, I did. It was like watching the history of Emmis as it took over VUE. I was told they still keyed over the opening joke but I missed that part. An update on that other defunct telecom company Global Crossing, an Asian concern wants to by the assets ( factories,buildings ,ETC.) for about .5 cents on the dollar.This is pending approval by the bankruptcy cort. Investors will not see any money, secured creditors ,lawyers and others get paid first. A fellow worker said "it must be some thing with the tilted E type logo, first ENRON, then WorldCom( as it falls the W looks like a tilted E) and EMMIS." I just got this from an FE,

" Your site gave me the best chuckle I have had in a while. It's amazing
not only the management (mis)quotes I remember from some of the people that
were there when I was, but how many of them I've heard since from other
equally insincere people. There must be a management quote book somewhere.

Since I left New Orleans I spent one far-too-cold winter in Maine before
3 years in Kentucky, followed by 4 years in Tampa. Went to Indiana to pick
up some management experience and stayed there 6 years before our owner
brought in EMMIS as a consultant. Suspecting they were setting it up for a
sale (they are) I got out while I could.

Came here about a year ago and I'm having a great time. My wife (who is
a WDSU alum) is producing our 5/530 pm block and my son (who was born in the
Big Easy)is now 14 (going on 40).

Sad to say I've only made it back to New Orleans once in all that time
(for RTNDA in 98), but since we are pretty close now we've been talking
about taking a vacation there next year.

Here's a link to my web page, Deleted to protect sender ,please add me to the list of "happily" former employees, and feel free to grab the .jpeg to use if you like.Great to hear from you, and thanks for getting in touch! BTW, anyone know whatever happened to Greg Buisson?

All the best.

I did let him know that Greg was the first Emmis victim ,in keeping with Emmis third commandment. A number of new links and names have been added to the list, check them out. If you know of another one ,let me know. The Weave & Fritz at the big W, send me your info.A viewer of this page said " you reached 10,000 hits!" He is correct , "do I win any thing" .Sorry but no, it was not a contest. I would like to thank Jeff and the members of the board who made this all possible.I would also like to thank them for showing me how bad it got under there guidance and as it turns out now being better off than I have been in years.

Emmis continues it's slide in the market. It is now below post 911 levels. and has gone as low as $11 in the last week.

 

8/4/02 I just got some interesting comments on the last post , " I work for (TV station deleted) and a bunch of us look in on your web site. We saw the screw up in our news room but we also noticed this we only on cable. When you first broke this ,we had a discussion on if you would find out and how you would handle it. Kudos you handled it with true journalistic integrity and honesty. It was an honest mistake ,Florida does screw them up most of the time. By the way you have an audience of over thirty hear, keep up the humor." and " You took care of that correction with honesty and thus have retained your credibility." Boy did I get a bunch positive feedback on this subject. The only negative item sent in was " You @&cked up!." On another subject ,I was watching one of those financial cable channels and after the arrest of the crocks at Worldcom they got into another bunch of crocks at the now defunct company Global Crossing. While the CEO of that company (Gary Winic) was selling off large blocks of stock and making millions as they forced the employees to hold the crap in there 401k or ESPP for FIVE years. Employees and stock holders lost there shirts... sound familiar. Emmis is down over 40% in two years and dropping."This is what the USAG has to say "Corporate executives who cheat investors, steal savings and squander pensions will meet the judgment they fear and the punishment they deserve." Attorney General JOHN ASHCROFT, on the arrests of two former WorldCom executives."

8/2/02 After the last posting I got info that the Doctors interruption of the 5 may have been a Cable Co mess up, so I made a few calls today and yep the cable guys were testing a cut over from the studio fiber feed to an off air feed for back up and they do not know how they got the doctor got on the system "they do not converge any were in the system". So we will give this one to the cable guys and take one off the M5 out of 10,000+. On the network side, there may be some errors in what Fox is doing, I got my Futuroma Tape today and it has some crap on it just like the other viewer said. The tape is from Newark NJ. Once again the M5 control would not know of such screw ups because they are occupied with four stations and do not get the cable feed (83% of the market).As I stated before" If an error is posted and some one or I confirm it, a correction will be posted," unlike EMMIS who's policy is "Deny Everything". On the other hand we had a half frame glitch happen yesterday while we were in network, On my way to master control I bumped into the operator coming to get me to see if this was on out end, I saw it and was on my way to investigate and one other person joined us after seeing the same thing. After checking our gear I called network and they confirmed a tape glitch on there end. The moral of this story is people = quality control, M5 = low quality. Another NBC station activates with Florical but only for automation NOT central crapping. ABC, Paramount and WB adopt "Path Fire" not central crapping.On the financial front the Emmis Corp continues to slip, I just did a two & one year plots of all the locals and as expected Emmis was down 40+ % while the others over the same period are up about 6%.

8/1/02 Today The M5 slaughtered the 5 by putting Marcus Welbey MD video with the News audio for 6 min at the top of the news cast. I would have missed it but for the three co-workers who ran into the shop laughing and had me tune in the M5.We all broke up and then we called others to watch. Then suddenly the blue haired one over-road the M5 and got the correct video. I asked the fellow workers why they were watching the M5 and they said " for the screw ups" News flash FE "The Prince of Darkness " joins TTNO as production photog/producer , TTNO still has openings for a news photog and MC operator- hint to current VUE CE's.Emmis to "centralize" operations of KZLA & KPWR, this has worked so well with all there other operations ,they will fire half these staffs and lower the quality at these stations to EMMIS level. Speaking of low quality, I heard a lot on the past week ends M5 screw ups of Futuroma "They did not have audio for the first part and then when they fixed that the video jumped all over. You have found alternate sources for your shows in previous postings ...any help with the only show I watch on the M5? By the way the still screw up the opening joke." I can only suggest getting a tape from a friend or relative in another city. Another person asked " What was wrong with them during Boston Public, the video had lots of horizontal lines and green flashes?" I can only say that that is a FOX network feed that goes through the M5, and with the M5 it is like watching a five hope sat feed. A CE said "The company has rented a 100 foot gravity fed cooperate shaft inserter to make it simpler for management to give it to the CE's." I did not get this bit of humor until I drove by the USS WVUE this morning. And so it goes...

Two life rings for those left on the USS WVUE.

7/27/02 As a reminder ,if you change your E-Mail address or web site let me know. Many alums are using the site for its original function, to stay in touch. I just got mail from an FE who stated "I miss the old crew. In spite of what Peter used to say our revenues were probably triple where they are at the station now. Love the site." Another FE thought they were not included, I have not put the list in any order yet. I will when I decide what type of order I want. A bunch of E-Mails and web pages have changed, take note. As Emmis stock now hovers around $15 a share it is plane to see that they are still losing at twice the market rate and when the market moves positive Emmis barely moves up. With most of the other broadcast concerns going with a Pathfire type distribution system, Emmis is locked into the costly error prone central crapping. The Finances at Emmis may force more sales, probably in Radio since that is the big loser now. The Emmis thought police continue the Mole hunt with the ever popular threats of firing , one CE said " I can hear the task master screaming for ,ramming speed" Another comment more in the M5 theme was "They keep asking for more power , and we are giving her all she's got, the engines are buckling."

7/25/02 Only one other post got such a huge feed back as yesterdays.

I did receive a bunch of pics, this one was the most generic and thus the hardest to trace the source. Thanks to all who sent in photos ,I have more than enough now. While many may have thought that the truck thing was the inspiration for all the email ,it was not -rather it was the way the management team tried to squelch the staff from communicating the incident to this site. A number of comments were made to CE's by the team, I can not quote them because it may help in the MOLE HUNT. The majority of these threats were like this, If this info or any pics find there way to that site some one will be fired!! This did not sit well with the gang and one of the wrote " Hello, We were never real close and I would probobly never had the incentive to find your web page and E-Mail you but these @-holes are trying to tell us what we can say and who we can say it to. I think they think we are inmates not people. I am so ticked and I will now start looking." another CE said " After hearing from our manager I could not get this out of my mind, You live to serve this ship.. row well and live.This was followed be a rhythmic pounding sound." some others said "We all would love to see some of the cable world people hauled off in cuffs, and you are correct we will not cover it or investigate it." After getting all the pics I can point out that they came closer than I thought to losing the M5 fiber feeds. Better luck next time:-) In addition to the sink hole problem there have been a number of killings in that block and one assault on one of the Directors. I have not even mentioned the other three streets that pass VUE. Some concern was expressed by one CE who said "With all the construction going on it will be a miracle if we do not suffer back hoe fade from a pile driver or other heavy equipment. When I told the wheels they said not to worry we have it under control."

7/24/02 With the stock dropping at twice the market rate, with the ratings falling and revenue down, VUE hits a new low by having the one year old sat truck fall into a sink hole out side of the station. While they sand bagged the new Mayor live on this pot hole problem, they failed to mention that 2/3 the blame would fall on them. First of all if big "E" had not screwed up on the parking lot issue the truck would not have been forced to parked out side the security zone. Next is if they had not terminated all the people who no the history of the station and its surroundings ,some one (like me) would have noticed (as I did when I passed by a few days ago) that the truck was put on a section of the street that has had nothing but problems for over a decade, including two such cave ins and one major phone cable destroyed.It is too bad this did not happen a few feet east of were it did,it would have taken out all the fiber lines feeding the M5!! I would not park my Toyota there no less a 12,000 pound truck. Total damage is not known yet but unlike what was quoted on air the truck cost $305,000, I know ,I ordered it. During another news cast when the city hall corruption story broke the M5 stopped the ROB piece mid stream and Snell said "our computer is stuck" I fell out of my chair laughing.With all the investigations going on ,lets hope they find there way to Cable World, I would love to see some of those folks led out in cuffs. Thats a story you will not see on FOX, maybe Angelico will get the hint. If I get a pic of the truck in the hole I will post it.Some of the comments sent in, "WVUE sinks to new low","We go to great depths to bring you the NEWS." and my favorite "We do not just cover the news, we make it"

7/21/02 Short update... I did not plan to update for a week or more but the M5 has a new bug, It glitches going into and out of weather alerts. I had ten calls on this one and tuned in the M5 when WWL ran an alert. Sure thing it is cute to see the systems degrade. While I am updating I will pass this on on , "I just watched the head of the NYSE call for a war on terrorism in the board room, lets hope they start with EMMIS."

7/24/02 With the stock dropping at twice the market rate, with the ratings falling and revenue down, VUE hits a new low by having the one year old sat truck fall into a sink hole out side of the station. While they sand bagged the new Mayor live on this pot hole problem, they failed to mention that 2/3 the blame would fall on them. First of all if big "E" had not screwed up on the parking lot issue the truck would not have been forced to be parked out side the security zone. Next is if they had not terminated all the people who no the history of the station and its surroundings ,some one (like me) would have noticed (as I did when I passed by a few days ago) that the truck was put on a section of the street that has had nothing but problems for over a decade, including two such cave ins and one major phone cable destroyed.It is too bad this did not happen a few feet east of were it did,it would have taken out all the fiber lines feeding the M5!! I would not park my Toyota there no less a 12,000 pound truck. Total damage is not known yet but unlike what was quoted on air the truck cost $305,000, I know ,I ordered it. During another news cast when the city hall corruption story broke the M5 stopped the ROB piece mid stream and Snell said "our computer is stuck" I fell out of my chair laughing.With all the investigations going on ,lets hope they find there way to Cable World, I would love to see some of those folks led out in cuffs. Thats a story you will not see on FOX, maybe Angelico will get the hint. If I get a pic of the truck in the hole I will post it.Some of the comments sent in, "WVUE sinks to new low","We go to great depths to bring you the NEWS." and my favorite "We do not just cover the news, we make it"

7/21/02 Short update... I did not plan to update for a week or more but the M5 has a new bug, It glitches going into and out of weather alerts. I had ten calls on this one and tuned in the M5 when WWL ran an alert. Sure thing it is cute to see the systems degrade. While I am updating I will pass this on on , "I just watched the head of the NYSE call for a war on terrorism in the board room, lets hope they start with EMMIS."

7/20/02 After last weeks post I got a bunch of E-Mail like this "I was watching the 9pm show last week when the audio was out of sync. It was funny because it seemed like they were going to let it go on forever. Claudia Coffey was anchoring--I bet she loved that. No need to save that for a demo tape, huh?" Over the last week keeping audio on air has been a real challenge for the M5, It is more like occasional audio. One FE dropped by to to a freelance shot and we had a blast catching up. Information has come to this site that VUE will be getting a "Hand me down DTV transmitter" it is unknown if it is full or low power, but it would have to be a real P.O.S. for some one to get rid of it this early into the DTV conversion. This pic was sent in by the source of this info.

The same person sent me this shot of the new automated camera they may buy.

In a July article in Broadcasting & Cable magazine the pitfalls of central crapping were examined. The first pic in the article was of the EMMIS Florida hub. They go into detail on how the cost of hardware,software and transmission do not defray the cost savings in personal. They also discus the real savings to be had by less costly low bandwidth not real time feeds to local servers that would be run locally with more control of the product. Most broadcasters are putting full central crapping on indefinite hold and exploring less costly central distribution systems. After years of "Beta Testing" ,full central crapping does not seem to work well. DAH !!

FLASH, VUE loses Cable World parking lot to the wrecking ball as Xavier builds a new six story dorm. This has displaced the Cable World people who are now using the small VUE lot and some temp parking. This of course brings back the parking shortage ,Jeff can fix this the same way he did last year :-) It seems as though big "E" in typical form must not have made a lease. I am sure it "slipped through the cracks". Rumor is the City may renew the contract with VUE for Cable World, this means big "E" must have photos of the new Mayor with farm animals.

On the financial front, the market took a huge dip this week. Most of the local broadcasters stock followed this trend. One exception to this was EMMIS, they dropped more than twice the market rate. As one of the financial guys on CNBC put it "Almost any company can do OK in a bull market , only corporations with sound policy and good management do well in a bear market."

This chart from the last week speaks volumes about Emmis, all the others locals did in the 7% dip that the whole market did. If you plot back a year,two years or even five the story is the same, EMMIS sucks as an investment !

 

7/14/02 This past week I ran into a few CE's. They seemed to be fine, but when I spoke to them individually the tune changed to the normal disgust for EMMIS.One of the people met me with the standard Emmis greeting " Another day, another $0.48." which the reply is "When did you get a raise" then "about November 1" and then "when do you expect to be laid off" and finally " any time now" One person handed me his resume'. With the stock still hovering around $20 a CE sent this in,

"In a city not to far away,

EMMIS WARS

Episode II the Clown wars

With the share holders being screwed ,while the evil sith continues to plunder the royal treasury as the Senate votes on laws to stop such action. The evil one and his minions have been gaining power but with the fall of so many other star systems ,people have become aware of such treachery. Many are now afraid of the dark side so they are unwilling to speak out to protect the republic. A group of Rebels is massing a campaign to spread the word of the rebellion and give hope to the workers. It may be to late for the smaller systems, there reserves have been depleted and clowns put in charge. The clowns seemed to having some trouble with the droids, they keep screwing up. Those who can are getting on board any ship heading out of the Empires control area."

M5 update,Just as I was about to report "same old things being screwed up, not better or worse." I got a few E-Mails that said " Should have seen VUEs 9pm last night, audio was about 1/2 sec ahead of the video for the first 20 min. Pretty funny." One viewer wrote " I just found Stargate SG1 on the SCI-FI channel, last show I had to watch on eight. Now I do not have to watch any more so I will not be able to send you updates." I also heard from an FE that they are now trying to fill the weather position, with of course some one cheaper. Tension seems to be increasing as the end of the IBEW contract nears. With all that has gone on with the stock market, I did some research and comparisons of the local broadcasters.No surprise here, Most have posted net profits of 3 to 7 percent, with one exception :-) They of course have lost money for the last two years as Jeff has received an increase in his compensation each year. Any drone with such a performance record would be terminated post haste. The once highly touted radio division is now the big looser in the revenue game and TV is not much better 0.1% profit :-) It seems as though the Jeff system does not work not matter what the medium. I encourage you to plot this for you self, Emmis ticker symbol is EMMS, Hearst is HTV, Belo is BLC and Tribune is TRB.

7/6/02 Emmis down graded by just about every one as stock hovers at $20 or below,

"Reuters Company News
Emmis posts wider Q1 loss, sees Q2 revs down

INDIANAPOLIS, June 25 (Reuters) - Broadcasting and publishing company Emmis Communications Corp. (NasdaqNM:EMMS - News) on Tuesday posted a wider first-quarter loss hurt by the cumulative effect of an accounting change, and said it expected lower revenues for the second quarter. The company reported a net loss of $167.82 million, or $3.28 a share, compared with a loss or $15.72 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. During the quarter, the company recorded an impairment charge of about $167.4 million, net of tax, related to the difference between the fair value and carrying value of some licenses and goodwill. Revenues fell to $136.81 million from $138.25 million a year earlier, and Emmis said it anticipated second-quarter revenues of $138.8 million, down 1.8 percent from an adjusted $141.4 million a year earlier. Revenues in key segment categories fell as well in the first quarter. Radio revenues dropped to $62.7 million from $66.1 million a year earlier and publishing revenues declined to $16.9 million from $18.1 million. However, the company said television revenues rose to $57.2 million from $54 million. For its second quarter, Emmis said it expects radio revenues to slip 3.7 percent from a year earlier to $68.2 million, television revenues to edge down 0.1 percent to $52.8 million and publishing revenues to tick higher 0.6 percent to $17.8 million. Emmis shares declined in morning activity on Nasdaq and were trading down $2.90, or 12.9 percent, at $19.60 in mid-afternoon trade. First-quarter results followed a difficult fourth quarter amid a tough economy. The Indianapolis-based company in April reported a fourth-quarter loss of 72 cents a share and revenues of $116.9 million. Emmis a year earlier posted a fourth-quarter loss of 48 cents a share and revenues of $117.4 million.Emmis shares in Wednesday afternoon trade were among the biggest net and percentage losers on the Nasdaq stock exchange. "

The following was sent in by a non Emmis viewer of this site,

"REMAINING USA CEO'S INCLUDING JEFF MAKE A BREAK FOR IT

Band of Roving Chief Executives Spotted Miles from Mexican Border (San Antonio, Texas: Rooters Business News) Unwilling to wait for their eventual indictments, the 10,000 remaining CEOs of public U.S. companies made a break for it yesterday, heading for the Mexican border, plundering towns and villages along the way and writing the entire rampage off as a marketing expense. "They came into my home, made me pay for my own TV, then double-booked the revenues," said Rachel Sanchez of Las Cruces, just north of El Paso, "and right in front of my daughters." Calling themselves the CEOnistas, the chief executives were first spotted last night along the Rio Grande River near Quemado where they bought each of the town's 320 residents by borrowing against pension fund gains. By late this
morning, the CEOnistas had arbitrarily inflated Quemado's population to 960 and declared a 200 percent profit for the fiscal second quarter. This morning the outlaws bought the city of Waco, transferred its underperforming areas to a private partnership and sent a bill to California for $4.5 billion. Law enforcement officials and disgruntled shareholders riding in an angry Posse were noticeably frustrated. "First of all, they're very hard to find because they always stand behind their numbers, and the numbers keep shifting," said posse spokesman L.J. Earp. "And every time we yell 'Stop in the name of the shareholders!', they refer us to investor
relations. I've been on the phone all darn morning." "YOU'LL NEVER AUDIT ME ALIVE!" is a common CEO response. The pursuers said they have had some success, however, by preying on a common executive weakness. "Last night we caught about 24 of them by disguising one of our female officers as a CNBC anchor," said U.S. Border Patrol spokesperson Eric Nels. "It was like moths to a flame." Also, teams of agents have been using high-powered listening devices to scan the plains for telltale sounds of the CEOnistas. "Most of the time we just hear leaves rustling or cattle flicking their tails," said Nels, "but occasionally we'll pick up someone saying, 'I was totally out of the loop on that.' " Among former and current CEOs apprehended with this method were Computer Associates' Sanjay Kumar,
Adelphia's John Rigas, Enron's Ken Lay, Joseph Nacchio of Qwest, Joseph Berardino of Arthur Andersen , JEFFREY SMULYAN CEO of Emmis Communications, and every Global Crossing CEO since 1997. ImClone Systems' Sam Waksal and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco were not allowed to join the CEOnistas as they have already been indicted. So far, about 50 chief executives have been captured including Martha Stewart, who was detained south of El Paso where she had cut through a barbed-wire fence at the Zaragosa border crossing off Highway 375. "She would have gotten away, but she was busy stopping motorists to ask for marzipan and food coloring so she could make edible snowman place settings using the cut pieces of wire for the arms," said Border Patrol officer Dee Bopp. "We put her in cell No. 7 because the morning sun really adds texture to the stucco walls."
While some stragglers are believed to have successfully crossed into Mexico, Bopp said the bulk of the CEOnistas have holed themselves up at the Alamo. "No, not the fort-- the car rental place at the airport," he said. "They're rotating all the tires on the minivans and accounting for each change as a sale.

FYI Jeff sold off 450,000 shares of stock in April !Jeff and other execs and institutions continue to sell while forcing employees to hold the crap. Sounds like ENRON to me.

6/30/02 Not to much this week. After president Bush and many others are calling for cooperate reform in how big business handles employees and stock holders, Tuesday Jeff went on one of those cable financial shows to explain why EMMIS sucks, I did not buy it ,nor did the commentator. A number of readers have been asking about certain authors, My policy has not changed " I do not divulge my sources and do every thing I can to shred any correspondence" A recent contact with a FE from 7 years ago was fun. Another viewer said "They are still screwing up the open to Futuroma" This does not surprise me. An Engineer at a radio station down the street from the VUE tower said " The tower light (mid level beacon) seems to work some time and other times not?" The powers at be are still trying to cut cost, they think they can do some thing to cut the expense of the WYES contract , lots of luck on this one. I am sure VIC will fix every thing:-)

6/23/02 After last weeks posting I got this " Hello FE, I was doing some research for a client on Emmis and one thing I do is search the web to see what others think of potential investments. After finding you site ,I took some time to look it all over and I have never seen such a humorous look inside a cooperate structure. I have passed the page location on to other analyst. I do want to clear up one thing you may not be aware of, it seems that Emmis has done what many greedy companies do.The corporate attorneys, accountants and management got together and made a simple actuarial analysis of the properties.That is they cut cost (people) hoping the savings would be higher than loses or fines.I do not know how much they lost in ad revenue but if they only get a $5,000 or $10,000 fine once in a while,it is still cheaper than staffing the station. Your site did accomplish two things, I will not recommend Emmis to any investor and by publicizing the safety issue you have voided there insurance if some one crashes into the tower. Since you are into movies and TV you may want to check out a Gene Hackman flick called "CLASS ACTION". This guy is not the only one avoiding Emmis ,

•
The most recent quarterly earnings report was significantly lower
than analysts' consensus forecast. Negative
•
Shares are being heavily sold by financial institutions. Neutral
for a large company like EMMS
•
Two or more executives, board directors or major shareholders -
including one high-level executive - sold a large number of shares
recently. Extremely negative

Source MSN stock scooter, he rates them at a low 3 ,he rates all the other local broadcasters as 8's or 9, 10 being prefect and zero being ENRON.

6/15/02 I just received an extremely lengthy email (10 pages) from the last CE I would have expected to contact me. Some of the info in this email is worth of the lead this week. " Hello (name deleted), It has been some time since we have talked. We all check your site to get the real poop on what these bastards are doing to us. The work environment has reached an all time low, this place is a morgue. All we need is the freezers. Our primary business has become Resume's and Resume' Tapes. As you have noted most of us are trying our best to get off the sinking ship before Jeff scuttles it. One of our CE's got in a wreck this Thursday (6/13/02) and it is believed that having our minds else were is contributing to a number of screw ups. The CE who rear ended a women will of coarse be blamed by management. This constant worrying about when we will all be fired has also contributed to a marked increase in sick time taken. Not only is EMMIS destroying the station, they are trying to kill the employees. Once again the minimum wage @ss holes & M5 in Florida missed a tower warning indicator and one of humans in New Orleans caught this one, but we are not sure how long it was out before it was caught. The blue haired one still does not have a clue. The ratings suck, the profits suck and management sucks. As soon as one of my two hundred resume's hits the mother load ,I am out of here. The lucky ones are all ready gone!" It is not to hard to believe It has gotten this bad but to hear it from this person was a shocker. On the subject of tower lights, the FCC posted its NOTICES OF APPARENT LIABILITY, NAL or fines. The following was included,

47 C.F.R. § 17.47 - Inspection of Antenna Structure Lights and
Associated Control Equipment
? Emmis Television License Corporation, New Orleans, LA. $5,000 NAL.
Other violation: 47
C.F.R. § 17.57 (Report and Radio Transmitting Antenna Construction,
Alteration, and/or
Removal). New Orleans, LA District Office (5/31/02)

While $5,000 is not the most they could have hit them with, it is only the earned spotless record the humans that used to watch the reactor ,that got leniency from the FCC. On repeat offenses the commission goes hard. Recently they awarded tipple damages to a tower company for the second lighting violations at three sites, a total of $110,000 was leveed. I guess its "no big deal". This morning as I was packing some EBAY items ,I ran out or bubble wrap, I just fond a new use for the EMMIS year end report, packing material. On the subject of the report, it was noted by more than one contributor - "the production values seemed to have gone way down on the reports. Only a few pages in color but Jeff still got his mug in them."

6/5/02 Weather Flash!!! One of the VUE weather team grabs a boat. "I submitted my resignation today effective June 14." This was the post that I pulled on 6/3/02. This person is one of the smartest software/weather guys VUE ever had. The impact of this will be huge on the WEATHER AUTHORITY. Would the last person out turn off the lights.Stop the presses, EMMIS finally send out the year end report. The theme "great media.great people.great service" , I do not know the spin doctor who came up with this one , but they have never seen or heard an EMMIS station, what people- they are dead set on getting rid of them. Service, give me a break - I still answer viewer comments & complaints at my new digs and one thing I have been told by the public on many occasions is " Channel eight tells me to call cooperate". No one left at VUE for customer service. And the Band plays on, until they are replaced by a CD player.

6/3/02 Important departure anouncment posting being delayed by request of party departing. This just in from a soon to be FE,"WKCF 18(WB Orlando ,Emmis station) to kill its only newscast and replace it with Seinfeld re-runs". The cutting of NEWS at Emmis starts, who's next?

6/2/02 Promotions person grabs a boat effective 6/7/02, one less life boat left at USS WVUE. FCC posted the citation records and you guessed it VUE had it's lighting issue mentioned, the more interesting thing was they were still listed as SF Broadcasting , sounds like some one did not do all the paper work after the sale :-) The M5 continues to screw up but know new effects since last week. Another comment was just received from a recent FE " It was just time to get out" (this person had 10+ years). A CE contacted me and said "you need to watch the new show on FX cable, THE SHIELD,you will under stand after you see it", I do:-):-)

5/25/02 More employees go for the life boats, four FE's in the last three weeks bail out .One of these was the leader of the FUN club , seems like camp VUE is no longer fun. A lose of four may not seem to be much ,but when you have so few left four is a bunch. If the mass exodus continues JEFF may not have to fire any more, there will be no one left to fire. Comments from two of the most recent FE's "I can not believe I stayed so long" & " I'm glad to be out of there". It is not known if all these were Voluntary departures but it is believed they were. Cable world update, with the election of a new mayor and the end of the cable world contract with VUE ,the departure of the the Cable World from VUE is almost a sure thing. Also big "E" will have to go find a real job, one he is qualified for. Some suggestions that have pored in for his next career path are, Proctologist and Hemorrhoid inspector.With his experience in this field some think he may become an assistant to JEFF! Some have posed these questions to me "how much does it cost you for the site" answer $0.00 and "How much time do you put in updating the site" answer about five min a week. Most of the material is sent in, all I have to do is cut and paste what is needed wile stripping any thing that would give away the sources of the material. All must remember this is just the venue for all those who are afraid to speak or who by the gag order can not voice there info.A bunch of FE's have asked " I have not received our year end stock holder report, have you" it may be time to contact the S.E.C. For clarification I will be putting quotes in RED , I saw it on another site and it seems like a good idea for clarification. Jeff used to write off the corp jet to the sports teem, I wonder how he hides it now? Wile the the workers eat kibble with out bits and walk to work ,HE is being limo-ed to the "jet" so he will not have to put up with lines at the air port. Other media corporations cut salaries at the top, had wage freezes and took other measures to limit staff reductions, Emmis did none of this... but cut staff. Jeff got around the bonus issue by selling stock options of more than 14 million $$$$. To all CE's and FE's , you can help with the data base, know of an email address or name I have missed.... Send it in. I just got a few more from another FE.

5/19/02 Oh well just got an email from the NBC guy and he says " I was wrong , the crap we are using is Florical" He also stated now over ten stations are under M5 control. This is not good news for the local NBC outlet. I do not know if Hearst has chosen Florical but it would make sense to go with what your network chooses.Two additional emails say this info about NBC is on the Florical site .In the May 17 TV TECHNOLOGY, PAGE 75 confirms that Emmis now has four under the M5. A CE from Florida just sent this in, "We now control four stations". CE's report that the new gear (now a few years old) is breaking at a higher rate than can be fixed, thats what you get when you terminate the people who fix stuff.

Emmis hub in Florida, I changed the hair from purple to blue :-)

After meeting a bunch of VUE CE's at local "newsers" There seems to be one general fear, the end of the IBEW contract on November 1,02. The remaining CE's now realize one of the criteria for earlier terminations was union membership. This was no accident , it laid the groundwork to put Emmis in the power position for this upcoming contract. Some may think "why not dissolve the union" this is much more difficult then just having the company write the contract. They can eliminate the severance section, put in a provision for the Emmis Gag order,put in a provision for stock in lew of pay and cut salaries. Because the union ranks were targeted the next contract will just be rubber stamped by the few remaining members. So all the CE's who thought you would not need the union remember what I always said " A union is only needed if you have poor management" What would you call EMMIS? If Emmis is sucesfull they will be able to cut what little is left with no cost, you have to admire there planing.

5/7/02 I got so many emails on this subject it must be posted. EMMIS policy of "pushing" payments to suppliers has reached a peak. The company gas cards all got shut down for some time now. This has happened before but not for this length of time.This policy has forced some vendors to yank open accounts and switch Emmis to COD. Even the electric power to the studio was cut once for failing to pay the power company! The next time you see a CE pushing his van ,it will bring a whole new meaning to "there goes that news van". After a CE saw the last installment ,they listened to the Jeff carp and sent this in,

This chart shows Emmis and the other local broadcasters stock change over the last two years. For the most part they show steady growth, even with 9/11/01. The one exception to this is the purple line that looks like some one in v-tac.This is not a company with a plan ,that is why Jeff continues to dump the stuff. Speaking of Jeff here are the stats that should make all those who got the stock shaft feel better. Jeff got $ 782,324 in basic compensation, $119,400 in other compensation and the peasta resistance $14,200,000 in exercised stock options. So wile your in line at Wal-Mart with your Louisianian Purchase Card ,think of Jeff having to put up with domestic wine.

5/5/02 After the last airings of black from the M5 a CE sent this info to me,

M5 RATE CARD

Because of the operant high demand for Black ,the following rates will apply as of 5/1/02

30 seconds of Black = $1

1 min of Black = $1.50

1/2 hour of Black = $40

More discounts on larger blocks available, call for details. If we manage to get your spot on the air its free!

I finally listened to the fourth quarter BS by Jeff ( available on the EMMIS page). In the 53 min diatribe by the MBA's I heard every PC MBA buzz word you can stomach. Mixed in with this BS was a few small truths that will continue to haunt the worker bees. It looks like they will extend the stock instead of pay deal after the December cut off date. The company has gained 14 million on the backs of the drones, they have now turned the steam back up at HQ. In a comment reminiscent of Jack Long, Jeff said " I am pleased with our position" . They are still trying to spin off TV and find a "financial partner" for TV. The street has little confidence in any of this ,the online analyst rank Emmis the lowest of any local broadcaster.. check it out at MSN, Netscape and Yahoo. Stock holders have yet to receive our year end reports on Emmis.Of course there is never a dividend on Emmis stock. A note to all CE's and FE's, if you want your link updated please email me when you move your email or web site. Many FE's continue to find this site and use it to contact old friends. I just heard from an FE from 14 years ago and we got caught up.

4/30/02 "M5 tie in" From the TV show. I was hoping to go two weeks but we all have our crosses to bare. Other then the M5 transmitting black for 45 min + on the morning of the 21 and continuing to posterize,mess up audio,video and switching not much has improved or gotten worse. Flash!! the big guy sells 300,000 shares of stock,major institutions are dumping (Yahoo,Netscape and other online financial sources) just as I have been telling FE's to bail, better hurry now. When Emmis bought the four SF stations for 305million, the WVUE segment was said to be 89.5 million. Most thought this was to high including me.Now here we are just a few years down the road and they have driven the cash flow so far down ,the station is now estimated to be worth just under TEN million. A whopping loss of 85% ,WOW!! This does not play well for the way the manage there assets, a savings account would have at least earned a profit over the same time frame. They used to quote a 40% profit margin as there goal. (thats the mission inposible joke at the top of this segment) This was never attained and now the core investment is all but gone. I would encourage all to check this data for your self before making any financial decisions. I touched on the high turn over in the old time sales team in an earlier posting, I now know why they all left, that was the Emmis plan to reduce the commissions and salaries of those who built up the client base. It did back fire when a bunch of those long time clients moved some or all the AD $ to other outlets. These plans were hatched in those super secrete off site meetings. The one thing I like about this site, is I am getting the chance to put the pieces together to get the big picture. Extra... Loral Skynet announces deal to help Hearst "central cast". OH NO will no one learn from others mistakes. How much centralizing they will do is un known but a pilot system has been running in the north east. WDSU benefited the most from the M5 but I think WWL will benefit the most from DSU doing this. It all depends on how far they go. The last station in this market to hold out will get the viewers and AD $.

4/21/02 I was hoping these updates would get shorter and less frequent but I do not control the DATA flow just as no one controls the M5. New hire update, the main factor in choosing this person over an FE was cost ,the new guy was had for a 25% or more savings over the FE's rate.This does not send a good signal the the CE's who are at top of scale or above, you may be next just to make room for a low paid replacement. Forget about contract protection, they know how to work around that. Once again the only concern at EMMIS is $$$$.An FE from some time back just found this page and reported getting flashbacks that reminded them of how bad it was at VUE. Chief Engineer of WFTX (one of the spokes) an open opponent of the M5 central crapping "resigns" ,that is what it is call at that level of Emmis. If any one wants to be a Captain Dunsal for the M5 go to the Emmis home page jobs section. In a sort of related note,some LEAKS at the chief level say they can no longer send any thing in, they are in fear there home systems may be tapped, I under stand. One did also say "keep up the page we love it". WVUE wins more AP awards than the other local stations. This proves what I said before "the pre EMMIS humans are good hard workers who are only handicapped by poor management". Even with this grist stone around there necks they manage to excel. They will benefit there next employers greatly when Jeff executes the final solution. Because the local humans only control a small segment of the day this has had no effect on improving ratings or cash flow, more on this next update. Futurama Bug problem still not fixed, the M5 is in control. NAB talk was more into ATM networks and delivering program and commercials via fiber or satellite to local servers were people would have time to check, correct and over see smooth running of the automation system. Unlike the M5 these systems will have real savings and high quality capabilities. Because they do not have to provide a back haul and real time feeds ,the fiber cost will be less and they can use the bandwidth so they do not have to compress as much. If there is a feed problem to the local severe ,the people will be able to detect it and get a re-feed before it hits the fan, unlike the M5. This will also eliminate one thing they will never fix on the M5, the propagation delay between the air signal and the control operator (not unless they can figure out how to get electrons to move faster than the speed of light.This new system seems to have the best of both worlds and none of the M5 problems. All are wondering why we have not received our end of year EMMIS reports, some have suggested that Arthur Anderson is to occupied with ENRON.Some work arounds to the flaws in the M5 system have been put in place, these all involve more man hours by the few left to monitor what they fail to see in Florida and that pesky speed of light issue.Local brakes for NEWS are now run from the VUE studio.Since they do not have an MC operator this means some one like the director for the news cast may be given this extra job? If I find out who got the shaft on this one it will be posted. The powers at be must be upset that the concerns voiced before the M5 was put on line have all come true.As close as the cost v savings is at VUE ,it is deep in the red at the other spokes. If you have a small low paid staff it did not make sense but JEFF did it any way.In the same area ,it is amazing that traffic has not been " centralized" this would be the easiest and cost effective thing to start with, no video just slow speed data links needed to do this.The real big flaw to the M5 could come in next hurricane season- an ANDREW type hit on the hub( located in Florida) could take out the pod of five stations. Talk about all your eggs in one basket.

With all the terminations of people with decades of loyalty to there jobs and stations not one incident of verbal abuse or threats of bodily harm was ever leveled at any one at EMMIS. Even though many of these abrupt terminations have been at some of these former employees worst possible time in there careers, all were business like with or with out NOPD present. Some of these terminations required EMMIS to call victims in off vacation, disability leave and days off. The same can not be said for a mid level manager who showed up at this weeks SBE meeting and proceeded to verbally abuse this web master and conclude his abuse with threats of bodily harm to this web master. There can only be one explanation for this, pressure from above to blame the locals for the problems. This of coarse seems strange to me since the info comes from #*%sed insiders and any one with eyes and ears can see or hear the M5 screw ups or spot tower lights that are out. As I told this person "don't kill the messenger". One engineer put it this way,"Thats pretty bizarre what happened today, when he asked if you wanted to get him fired, you should have replied that you would give him the same deal that you got from that wonderful company." I do not know if he thought his intimidation would make it to this site, but he did this in a public parking lot in front of others. As much disgust that I have for the way I was let go, verbal abuse and physical violence never entered my mind, there is no point to it. As for the site , the history section says it all. Arrangements were made to keep this site going if some thing strange happens to me, like a meteor strike or some thing. For the most part this is what I normally get when some one finds this page...

"I heard you no longer work at channel 8. What happened? I was shocked to find that out." "I have been working various temp jobs for the past two years since my departure at that hell hole they call a TV station. Been going to school again too. " "I thought it was a scream and really wanted to have the chance to sit down and take a good look at it." " They pissed me off so badly. Especially when I found out who lied to (name deleted) that got me fired. But, c'est la vie. I am much happier now so really they did me a favor."

4/10/02 M5 update, many viewers seem to like the posterization effect. A small demographic group of 60's & 70's acid heads have started tuning in after turning on the lava lamps, black lights,mirror balls and dropping a tab. They do not care what is on as long as it has the effects. This may also appeal to ravers.

New hire update, they did not get the guy from outa state they got an old WWL alumni who should start by months end. It should be a real culture shock to go from the gravy train to the poverty at Emmis. I am sure this will be his first Enemis. More hardware seems to be failing as it begins to age, I wonder if the commish will buy the books and extenders now :-). Some non VUE types have asked about the Nick names, they are equivalent to a military pilots call sign. These are given out to new staffers as they bring some thing to mind by the few old timers left. I will post some of these in the alumni list. If you a curious about one email me.VUE just reported on the massive layoffs at L/M Rocket plant, I am surprised they could keep a strait face, There was never coverage of the EMMIS cuts. Just as they did not report on the Emmis gag order wile reporting on how bad it was for the Harras Casino to do the same! One of the NBC guys sent this in...

Dave: I need a promo placed here HAL,

HAL: I am afraid I can not do that Dave,

Dave:HAL put the promo here,

HAL: NO Dave I will not put in the promo ,

Dave: Fine HAL I will put in the promo,

HAL: I do not think so Dave- you do not have a switcher or control,

Dave: HAL PUT THE PROMO IN NOW!!!,

HAL: This conversation is over Dave.

4/8/02 NEW M5 video effect, knowing I like Stargate SG1 a number of viewers called to let me know the M5 now "posterizes" the video. Many years ago I paid extra for this effect in an SEG, I wonder if Emmis had to pay for this effect.

4/7/02 SPECIAL EDITION... I did not plan on updating this site for at least a week but the tremendous feed back has prompted me to do this update.On the subject of "BUGS" many viewers agreed and contrary to the VUE spin doctors claim to try to fix the problem ,nothing was done. I got four calls just minuets before Futurama started so I tuned in to see, and on cue the M5 keyed a full color bug over the open to the show obstructing the opening joke. The BUG that was used may not even be considered a legal ID, the info needed for a legal ID was almost unreadable on a 30 inch set but the FOX 8(not legal ID) was huge.Given a week since the article in the paper LINK you would think that the promotions person could get this fixed,NOT. The M5 is in control and nothing will get in its way.A staffer from another station saw the comment from the commish and said "if your a private pilot like I am, tower lights are VARY IMPORTANT!!! The FCC and FAA also consider this to be important, a normal fine for such a lack of monitoring is $10,000. I wonder if they will let Emmis use the M5 as an excuse.As many CE's put it "the M5 does not even know when or if we are on the air". As for remote monitoring and the emergency stand by local server, these have not worked since day one and Emmis does not care. I am sure the FCC logging and EAS requirement are also not being done correctly,the FCC will have to fly to Florida to check on these. On the tower light fault , EMMIS is as predicted trying to blame a local person not the M5 system were the blame belongs.A number of CE's now report they are putting in as much six hours of unpaid time a day , trying to keep up. This of course will be rewarded with a termination notice from Jeff. As was reported by EMMIS ROBOT they will burn you out and through you away. An FE floor crew member just wrote and asked" I just fond out we worked under wires shedding asbestos fibers in the studio, should I get a lawyer?". If you are concerned I would get a doctor and a lawyer. Now only a few on air types are exposed, the cameras are remoted.

4/6/02 EXTRA EXTRA.... FCC inspects WVUE transmitter and finds the dead beacon and who knows what else.When a CE asked the commish about the inspection the commish said " It was not a big deal". This was the first FCC WVUE transmitter inspection in over 20 years.It is amazing that despite the valiant efforts of the remaining humans the management team continues to mess up and blame one of the hardest working staffs in local TV. The drones do not have any say in these screw ups but Jeff's team will all ways to blame them. The remaining humans still hope they can turn the station around if they can get out from under the iron thumb of Emmis. It may be too late, we shall see. My hope is that these quality skilled people find new homes were they are appreciated, like all the other FE's have done.

In an article in last Sundays TV Focus a viewers complaint was rebuffed by a VUE spin doctor, for more on this follow this LINK.

4/4/02 Emmis to institute Performance Reviews (De-valuations) as a basis for raises and terminations, They have found a way around paying severance if they can build a paper trail Jeff can terminate you for cause with "$0".For those who do not remember the last time this was tried let me remind you. The TEAM had this idea in the late 80"s but it was used as a tool to promote a few "PETS" and all others got below par evaluation. The IBEW contract will be up in November,it was the worst contract in the US, I wonder what they will get now. The mole hunt for the leaks continues but the team seems to have missed again:-). With so many real targets it is amazing how bad there aim is. Wile the drones are forced to take stock the big guys sold a but load of there's in order to make a ton of cash when the stock price got artificaly inflated by the sale of the radio stations and rumor of TV sale. Now that this has settled down the stock is dropping back to its "ENRON" level. As promised before another parallel to ENRON, they both use the same auditors(Arthur Anderson) After doing some research Jeff located them by how fast they could shred documents and how well they could cook the books. If Jeff buys a house in Florida look out.

3/30/02 Well it's been a year since the re-launch of this page with the "VUE BLUES" section and we have had 8,000+ hits. The pressure by the thought police continues to try to cut off the flow of the TRUTH ABOUT EMMIS to this site. It has had three effects,1) it has made some CE's afraid to talk,2) it has made the CE's mad that there constitutional rights to free speech have been scrapped by Jeff, 3) more mail than ever sent to this site. The commish had to go out of state to fill the maintenance position he was posting in the paper. No one in town will work for the people company. Offers were made for part of EMMIS TV but they were to low so it looks like Jeff will hold onto TV for now. I and many others are waiting for our year end stock holder reports to read how much Jeff took in wile he cut all others. Yes I will always keep a share of Emmis crap just to get the reports. As predicted by this site Emmis stock is slipping again, down to $26. I told all I could to sell when it hit $30 and I was correct, it peaked only after the sale of some assets. Things seem to have slowed down on the final solution, got all the way through March with out any one having to turn in there torch, although a few have voluntarily left ,leaving a one person promotions Dept.This will help slow the forced terminations, but they will not stop. I wonder how long it will be before the blue haired one in Florida notices the top beacon on the VUE tower is dead, it's only been two months now :-). Maybe they need a pair of binoculars in Florida. All the hardware they bought to replace people seems to be starting to need some care as it now reaches two to three years in age, not many left to fix stuff. I have a Jeff solution to this, more terminations? It fixed the parking problem VUE had. The effects of Emissizing WVUE were felt today when they failed for the first time in years to cover the CCC road race live, I wonder if they got any tape? I got an E-Mail from of all people an ex-ENRON employee who wanted me to know "we had a Jeff in charge also", will the parallels between the two companies never end. I am waiting on another document that will show another parallel to ENRON.

3/16/02 Well it's been a year since the NOPD surrounded WVUE and I got the tap. So by popular request this is a state of Stalog 8 one year after Jeff started the final solution. First lets address moral of those still left, the only way this could be lower is if they clime the STL tower and jump. Now lets examine the stock, It has rebounded just lately do to talk of sale of TV and a bunch of radio. This will not last and I have urged those still holding it to dump it before it falls again, it has started to do so over the last few trading days. Now lets look at ratings, they of coarse are down sign on to sign off, this was a boom to WDSU. Next lets look at the FE's, for the most part they have all moved on to better positions, it would be hard to go down from Emmis! Lets look at the management team, most have been terminated to make room for the shut down team. Now its time to look at how this has effected the stations income and its impact locally. Needles to say the income is down and with far less people less taxes are being paid, less hardware is being bought hurting local vendors and of coarse less taxes again. As for the conversion to DTV, plans for a low power stop gap measure are in place but no construction has even started on this lame excuse for DTV. Harassment has become the way at Emmis as more people leave ,leaving the poor CE's to pick up the slack. In Ten days this site will celebrate one year since its rebirth and almost 8000 hits. As one viewer recently told me" I was thinking of investing in EMMIS but after looking at your site I will have nothing to do with them". I also got an email from an NBC staffer in Texas who told me they have called the central crapping system they use "A HAL9000" but he liked my M5 analogy better. He told me that they are having the same problems and much more. The crap they use is not from Florical it just acts that way.

 

Jeff seems to be avoiding all as he tries to get out of TV

3/11/02 The last of the VUE long time sales persons grabs a life boat. Tired of the Emmis prison system ,this sales person with 20+ years in the market has moved to TTNO effective 3/12/02. VUE has never had this high a turn over in sales, could it be the harassment by the management team?

3/10/02 The M5 has a new wrinkle, I have been waiting for this one. Now that the central crapping has been on line for five months ,it was time to see if the minimum wage blue haired ones in Florida could keep up with the database management. The answer is NO. Now not only do the spots and programing have the "M5 look" but now they air old expired spots or spots intended for other markets. No word on the possible sale of the TV division yet, but word is capital for VUE this year will be $0.

3/6/02 I recently had the opportunity to talk to a few FE's from HQ, you would not believe the perks they have in INDY, How about steam rooms with etched glass doors, An indoor basket ball court with a big E in center court and much more art ,oak and stone. They have cut back on the steam by ten degrees :-). Sounds like ENRON all over again. Remember this when you see the insurance premium go up by 30% this month and you see your 10% mandatory stock purchase. The new VUE GM seems to know he has a short term job to shut down the VUE studio, he has not bought a house in the metro area and he has not put the residence out of state up for sale?? The talk at mid level management at the VUE studio is Jeff may be trying to unload the station to raise money and cut his lose.

3/3/02 March madness update. Its that time again, time to cut for the new fiscal year. The trades seem to think Emmis (TV division) is ripe for a buy out since the FCC ownership cap is going away. I would urge any one thinking of buying the central cast group (30% of the TEN Jeff owns) to rethink and do your home work. First you must keep the three linked because of the long term leases on the fiber lines and a lack of staff at the spoke stations. This does not even address the 99 year transmitter support agreement that WVUE has to maintain all of the WVES transmitter site and crew. Speaking of WYES, the comish had a meeting with the big guys at WYES trying to put the VUE DTV transmitter in the YES building, DENIED! Emmis continues to try to cut the DTV conversion cost to zero. First they will be the only NEW ORLEANS broadcaster to put a low power DTV transmitter on the air, now the do not want to pay for a new building to house it. I wander if they will bother to beef up the tower for the new antenna? I got word that Pat has left,she had enough of the people company, another long time VUEer forced out by the greed. I ran into "Hans" at the Nagin site Saturday night, he is still working for the big W. I also ran into Bruce from sales, he is GSM for an Emmis competitor,GO Bruce. I also ran into the active crew for VUE using the portable systems I developed, they may not have wanted me but my ideas and systems continue to work and help the news operation. They did notice the improvements that I have now made in the version 3 crate :-). As far as the M5 goes, it still continues to screw up ,last week the phone company switched in FOX NEWS CHANNEL instead of the correct M5 feed, opps. Although this was not an M5 switching error ,it was because of the system that this error happened. When the blue haired one was called in Florida ,no one answered the phone ,maybe they fired all the people in Florida? " I am the M5, this unit must survive" from Star Trek.

2/24/02 A CE at one of Jeffs labor camps has been watching this site and he put his reesearch in an email to me. My research agrees with most of this data. Only time will tell but many CE's should read this and pack.

 

Lets think about just WHO Jeff was talking about.....

Jeff owns TV in 10 different DMA's

I did not believe it but research shows that EVERY one of them does some
sort of newscast.
Even the WB affiliate in Orlando has one show.... though it is farmed out
to another station.

So to the best of my ability... 9 stations have news departments.

Honolulu is the hard one to figure...
There are 4 news stations in that market.
Both Jeff's stations there do news, one is CBS the other FOX.
So we can figure that in a worst case... they may combine or do away with
one news room.
KHON NEws people... better pack your bags.

There are also 4 news stations in Orlando... but one is a Spanish news..
and as I already
stated... WKCF news is produced by another station...
ALso... this is CentralCrapping central.. so all the minimum wage workers
there should be
safe for the moment.

In Portland.. Jeff owns the CBS affiliate, and the FOX there only does one
late news,
so for the time being KOIN.. you are safe..

New Orleans also has four news stations... Jeff's is the FOX.
Here it comes down to the battle between Ratings and GREED.
If (as Jeff said) New Orleans can not support 4 news operations...
it comes down to WHO GOES FIRST...
If it were purely up to ratings points.. then WGNO (the ABC affiliate)
would be in trouble.. BUT.... Emmis is in SEVERE "SAVE ME THE MONEY"
mode.. While Tribune (the owner of WGNO) seems to be in better
financial shape and better managed.
Jeff will not wait for the market to decide between WVUE and WGNO..
he will cut VUE in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Mobile.. AND Green Bay
Again Jeff owns the FOX affiliate and they do a full day of news casts
including morning shows.
I did not research ratings here.. because like NEw Orleans, Ratings will
not be the deciding factor.
Watch out WALA and WLUK drones.

Omaha NE.
Jeff's station here is the CBS..
The Local FOX there only does ONE late news show so is probably
not that much of a threat to the CBS affiliate.
KMTV... You guys look to be OK for now.

Ft.Meyers.
Here again Jeff owns FOX...
BUt it is just the reverse of Omaha..
Jeff's FOX only does one late night show.
It could go either way...
They are number 4 in the market..
but they only have one show (and presumably a smaller budget)
They shoot on VHS.. so I imagine they do have a low cost operation.
Jeff MIGHT let them stay a while longer.

Terre Haute..
Here CBS is Jeff's station.
Add to that that there is not an ABC affiliate in the market.
ANd the FOX affil.. only does one late show..
I think WTHI people will survive.

Tucson
Jeff owns the ABC.. there are 4 news casts in the market.
BUT.. one is a spanish news.
So really only 3 english speaking news casts.
KGUN... You should also survive.... but keep looking!

To boil it down a bit....
OF Jeff's 10 stations...

Market------------CALL-------AFFILIATION------Will they make it?
Honolulu -------- KGMB -------- CBS ---------- Should be fine
Honolulu -------- KHON -------- FOX ---------- ????? ANybody's guess..
Orlando --------- WKCF -------- WB ----------- No news operation...
Portland -------- KOIN --------- CBS ----------- Should be fine
New Orleans ---- WVUE -------- FOX ----------- Pack your bags.
Mobile ---------- WALA -------- FOX ----------- Pack your bags.
Green Bay ------ WLUK --------- FOX ----------- Pack your bags.
Omaha --------- KMTV --------- CBS ------------ Should be fine
Ft. Meyers ----- WFTX --------- FOX ------------ ? QUestionable... if you
keep quiet enough you might slip thru the cracks and survive.. If you don't
ask for anything in the way of capitol or salary increases.
Terre Haute ---- WTHI -------- CBS ------------- NOthing to worry about.
Your CBS and only have 3 newoperations in the area.
Tucson --------- KGUN ------- ABC -------------- Nothing to worry about...
only 3 newsopeations in the DMA.

SO.. to wrap this up..
OF Jeff's 10 stations... 3 are due for the AXE any day now...
If you are working for WVUE, WALA, or WLUK, you are soon to be unemployed...
Two others are questionable..
If you are at KHON or WFTX... you should be sweating bullets now.

Anyone at the five other stations can breath easy... FOR NOW...
You will be gotten to in the next round of cuts.

 

2/23/02 The END is near, The mandatory meetings turned out to be pep rallies to force the CE's to be happy. The floggings will continue until moral improves. These meeting also established a level of PD for Jeff, when the AX falls they can say they did all that was possible to avoid any one going "postal". To hedge there bets corp is planning "private armed security" for the next round. This is an attempted to to prevent the leak from the NOPD they had last year, opps it did not work. In an article in Broadcasting & Cable (2/11/02) ,Jeff spills the beans on the final solution.

LIVE AT 11? MAYBE NOT FOR LONG

As profit pressure mount, some experts consider local newscasts to be endangered

Emmis chief Jeff Smulyan commented:

"I believe local news is important. But the reality is that ,as business gets tougher, the commitment gets tougher. I would like to have full news departments in every station. But can you sustain four or five news department in every market?" three he says ,may be more viable.

This confirms the final solution is at hand for WVUE, and it will not be pretty. After the pep rallies were held a memo from the GM was sent out. I received five copies but because there were three subtile variations in these ,I can not post the entire memo, it would provide them with a way to narrow down the leakage. I will post quotes that were identical in all copies so no one group can be traced.Anyone who expressed anything in the very least negative to the company was "in their last days","I'd love to see you working for the competition, the sooner the better" ,This comment was sent in by three CE's "I too would love to be working for the competition, the sooner
the better." WVUE is seeking NEW drones, this may be an attempt to fill some positions as soon as they fire the people who hold them now. This just in from a FE who gets the early paper,

In the Times-Picayune Sunday Feb. 24th, 2002, classifieds, NEW TODAY, FOX 8 WANTS YOU ! Fox 8 is seeking a Broadcast
Maintence Engineer. Qualified candidate will have an AA in Electronics, or equiv., and a background in TV Broadcast Maint.
Excellent benefits. WVUE is an EOE. FAX resumes and cover letter to Cheif Engineer, 504-483-1813, or mail to 1025 S. Jeff Davis
Pkwy., NOLA 70125

As one CE put it "not one person here has not said some thing negative about Emmis, including JOE" Because of the pending doom ,I will put the gag order link HERE so the CE's can review what they want you to sign on your way out. For the few who may survive Emmis is once again changing (another word for cutting) medical and dental benefits. Many CE's are not waiting, they have kicked into high gear in looking for a good employer. I just got an e-mail from a CE at KSHE, "I found your site and you only scratch the surface as to what Emmis is doing company wide", They SUCK". A CE from HQ only sent this pic that as they put it ,sums up our feelings to the greed here,

2/19/02 Big shots from Emmis corp comming to visit on 2/20/02, could be technical or planning for the final solution? Or worse... Stay tuned.

2/14/02 POST MARDI GRAS report. First time in two decades that I got to stay home on Fat Tuesday and watch the "fun" on TV. This is what I noticed, WWL had a audio buzz in there main shot- probably do to video deviation in the microwave, WDSU had a bit to much chroma -not to bad, The M5 sucked in both audio and video on both travel channel and VUE coverage-the video looked like both shows were shot through cheese cloth, Although WGNO had less volume then its competition -it was cleaner,they did have an audio glitch on lundi gras.

This just in from a KOIN CE, "we beat Jeff's new internet security" ,I caution CE's once again-they may not be able to trace to a user ,but they can trace to the terminal by using the smart switches they installed and then having a local thought police come and tap you on the shoulder. So my advise do not use the company system at all, forward your e-mail to home were you are in control.

Jeff sent the VUE gang a mess of pizza as a thank you for supper bowl coverage, There was nothing wrong with this ,but he forgot how many people he cut and the few remaining humans could not finish it off in a week. Talk about being out of touch with your staff. One CE said this was a combo of the missed Christmas bonus and pay cut ,he also said he was going to mail one of the pizzas in for the federal taxes he owes :-).

Here is one for the books, management in an attempt to find the leaks has decided to spread dis-information to specific departments. I have caught two of these bogus tid bits in the last week. It is not hard to filter the BS from fact, you just have to cross reference your info. Let me help the thought police, WVUE has 81 leaks, some will note this is more leaks than employee's, this is correct. Many relatives of CE's also send in info. A number of contractors also send in info and yes even advertisers feed this site. I am not even including plain old viewers who send in reports on the M5. Even Emmis HQ has two leaks, Jeff not all your drones are blind and happy.It is amazing that a company who's vary name in Yiddish means truth ,would go to such extremes to stop the truth about them from getting out. Maybe a company name change is in order, does any one know what is Yiddish for liars? It is also unbelievable that such a company would attempt to take away Americans constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of the press. I will also help big brother by letting him know that info comes to this site from most of his TV empire and even some of the radio people. As an example, I was working a live shot on Bourbon St. Saturday and a visitor to the balcony had an Emmis key chain, so of course I had to get into a discussion about were they worked for Emmis and what they thought of them. This person works in radio in the mid west, after I asked ,this person went on for an hour about how pissed they were that Emmis got into TV and that even the radio side has become a prison. I then asked this person if they had heard about this site ,the CE said yes, then I told this person that I am the web master- the look on this persons face was worth a million bucks. They then pleaded with me not to publish any thing that could be traced back to them, I will not risk a drones job, but I will say this person and others in radio are not happy campers. Many ask why there tid bit does not make print, if it can not be confirmed it will not be posted, this prevents Jeff from tracing a source and makes sure the info is valid. I will post this open note to the powers at be, every time you attempt to squelch the free flow of info, my email gets over loaded. Americans do not like being told who they can talk to and what they can say. To quote Princess Leia from STAR WARS "The more you tighten your grip, the more falls through your fingers".

2/11/02 special update... Sports guy re-hired as producer. What did Jeff accomplish ,a cut in salary and no contract for the poor guy. You guessed it, they through the guy back on the air. So the people company just screwed another employee, I am sure the sports guy is happy to do the same job for a lot less. Emmis has purchased a new cooperate shaft, it is a 52 foot pneumatically operated model, all CE's bend over to make it easier for for insertion :-)

2/11/02 In a rebuttal article posted in the Times-Picayune

 

To contact Dave click here

The new GM has contradicted his Chief engineer. Despite both these claims, the problem is not cured- it's just better then before.The M5 continues to trash the video and audio, not to mention the poor switching. A perfect example of this was last nights 9 PM news, I had so many calls I had to watch. After the mess known as news was slaughtered ,I had the displeasure of watching the Sports Sunday show.A brief history ,this show started out years ago as a high quality show with three studio cams and operators, a camera crane, a studio audience ,celebrity talent and big bucks advertisers. What aired last night was pitiful shell of a show. I confirmed the following is what occurred last night, One of the two remaining sports guys (JT) did a one man band, to quote a CE,

"Yep.. Sports sunday is one camera no one operating it.

Sports guy goes in.. clips on mic.. turns on lights and talks
.
after.. turn off the lights before you leave.

ultimate Emmis."

The best thing about the show was the comedy piece by DG.

Along with the lose of production values ,they lost the big bucks clients. So much for higher profit margins. I am sure this will be the next step for all news cast, the on air people better ask how to run the lights and audio before the few remaining humans are Terminated, note I did not say direct- no need when you only have one camera.I can only guess at what a director would say for a one camera show "stand by cam 1,take cam one,going to cam one, your hot cam one, were in break cam one ,coming back to you cam one." My HAM TV operation uses two robo cams and one fixed camera, this now means I have higher production values at home then sports Sunday, only if the FCC would let me sell spots :-). The real ultimate Emmis will be like MAX HEADROOM, computerized anchors. Jeff told the troops when he took over the station "we will not do some thing if we can not do it well" another lie from the big guy.

2/10/02 In an article in the Times-Picayune 2/8/02 the following was claimed,

I don't think so, according to insiders in Florida and New Orleans ," The problem is SYSTEMIC" not a single piece of equipment. Lets explore the problem, pre M5, a tape would have been shot or delivered to the studio and it may have been edited once - passing it through transcoders only twice for one edit session. Post M5 a tape is shot and edited (two transcoders) then it is sent to Florida (two more transcoders in and out of fiber). In Florida it may be played with again (two more transcoders?) now it is sent back to New Orleans, you guessed it two more transcoders. Digital can be great if you keep the same numbers through the system, the M5 does not, it crunches the numbers up to 8 times ,losing some thing at each step.

 

2/8/02 FLASH... Don't you love how I use the news buzz phrase, one sports guy gone( As predicted) more to follow. The last one out has to turn off the lights!! March 15 is not far away. Grab your life preserver.

2/5/02 EXCLUSIVE..... WVUE in a move to try to avoid JEFF's final solution ,VUE will be consolidating its 5 & 6 half hour news cast into one 5 to 6 one hour show. In a bunch of emails from CE's certain CE's are packing their desk. These probably include one producer,one sportscaster, one photog and one weather guy. This is another attempt to head off the big ones in March, it will not work the termination papers were drawn up in December. As reported ealyer on this page WALA claims the truck is totaled, with my past experience repairing live trucks from this sort of thing - the unit is far from a total lose. My estimation is 15K to 20K ,the unit is worth about 125K to 150K. EMMIS may not want to invest in another news operation they are shutting down. I got tons of mail on the M5 during the game it was OK with poor audio and video, not to many bad switches. Local avails during the game were full of promos ,maybe they could not sell the M5? Staffers rate the combined event as a 14 squealer, the high and low were tossed out and the remaining averaged.The new GM is pleased with the cash flow from the events, I guess quality is no longer an issue. I looked at the ratings and they went into the dumpster after the game was over, people will only put up with the M5 when the have no choice. I also took the time to explore the numbers from this Novembers book and last November, sort of a pre M5 and post M5. It looks like on average the M5 lost 2 shares and WDSU picked up one, WWL &WGNO split the remaining one.JEFF's microsofties fixed the security hole allowing "unmonitored" internet use, the smart CE's are working on another hack. For every measure there is a counter measure.Some have asked how to get in touch with JEFF, email him at jeff@emmis.com, use an anonimizer if you are a CE. I have a bunch more to be confirmed yet ,so stay tuned.

2/03/02 It's noon on Super M5 Sunday and the M5 is in rare form. Plans have been made to "bypass" the M5 if it blows. On the "Pre-Pre-Pre Game" ,they at least used the noise canceling headsets I bought ,unlike "FOX WIND NOISE". I and others can not believe they put big "E" on the air for Fox Wind Noise. A number of folks asked me were the live shot was based, you could not tell it was a totally black back ground. On election night (2/2/02) I ran into a bunch of the gang and even gave some advise to an M5 crew via the "NEXT TO HELL" phone system.I also had a long discussion with "THE WEAVE" and brought him up to date.Harry Connic stopped by and asked me about the "EXPRESS REMOTE" system, the reason he asked was two of the systems were in operation at the location that night, one for VUE (ver 2) and one for WGNO (ver 3).I informed him of the history behind the system.VUE requested help from another M5 controlled station for elections and Bowl coverage- this is what they got...

ALMOST MADE IT !

Apparently the M5 was driving.Note the word "Breaking" on the truck. Needless to say this unit will not be used:-) and knowing EMMIS probably not fixed. EMMIS does not just cover the news they make it ! In order to avoid the M5 version of the big game I am going to a party with a dish feed. For those who have to watch the M5 ,let me now about the screw ups.

1/29/02 Tonight was a State of the M5 address, just kidding but it was the perfect opportunity to compare the M5 with all other broadcasters in this area. During the State of the Union address I checked the video and audio of all the locals, and no surprise the M5 had high ped, loss of resolution and motor boating audio. This does not count the four video glitches when they cut into the coverage. After five min I could not take any more and jumped between NBC & ABC they had the best quality of the four.

1/28/02 Well this page has had over 7,000 hits in less then a year, Who is so interested- FE's,CE's, EMMIS drones,INVESTORS, OTHER BROADCASTER and any one who likes to watch a good train wreck in slow motion. OH NO- WRNO lost the live local morning show to Houston TX, I got in my car this morning and click, turned on the radio and noticed the audio was below par. I thought at first WRNO had a technical problem ,but with in five min one of the host said they were live from Houston. Later in the show they let listeners know the move was permanent leaving WRNO as a translator for some big conglomerate with no local content to speak of. If I wanted to listen to another town or a robot ,I would tune in a ham band or pop in a custom burned CD and skip the commercials. You guessed it I am looking for another "local" show to listen to- WRNO lost at least one set of ears. Here comes the big one, With one week to the big game the M5 did a real job of RANDOM CASTING the game this past week end, can't wait to here what it does to the BIG GAME. NOT ONE foot ball game has been switched correctly by the M5! With all that is going on this week end, some high ranking station bosses plan on being "at the game" not covering the needs of the broadcast. The few that know what is needed are beginning to panic. The station has 30+ fewer staffers than in '97 when we just pulled off the supper bowl with out an election the night before. Did I forget to mention how happy I am

NOT TO BE THERE!!

1/26/02 Well I have finished all the site surveys for the mayors race and you guessed it, VUE was a NO SHOW at all the meetings. They will "wing" it if they cover the race. Management has decided to go with an out side promoter and production for FOX FLOOD but they have brought big "E" back to screw it up again, will they never learn. The M5 is doing its thing and Jeff is committed to the final solution ,he must" reduce the cost in TV". CE's continue to flood the market with resume's. I will be working during the elections and the Big Game so I will have to rely on reports of the screw ups.CE's rate this combined event so far as a 4 squealer ,I'm sure big "E" will bring it into double digits.Airbuss industries developed a plane with a computer control system so advanced they gave it ultimate control of the plane ,even if the pilot wanted control he could be over ridden by the computer.If you check your news archive you will find it crashed at the Paris Air Show wile doing a low level run the computer thought the pilot wanted to land and it took the plane into the trees despite the effort of the pilot to "pull up". Airbuss has now given final say back to the pilots -computers are not vary good at making decisions! Any one who has done research into AI knows this. TED's has pulled the plug and NEWSBLUES has dropped shopsquawk.

1/19/02 The following comparison was sent in by a CE from ALA. "Emmis has become the ENRON of broadcasters"

When you compare the two not just the logos are similar. ENRON screwed its workers by forcing them to keep stock in a worthless 401K, Emmis is forcing workers to take stock in Lou of pay. ENRON had a "Code of ethics" they were supposed to use to guide the organization, Emmis has its "11 Commandments".Both CEO's have set up golden parachutes for them selves. The X-ENRON staff are making more selling the stock on EBAY for 10X more than its worth, as a collectable. (I hope this happens when EMMIS folds). Other ENRON logo items have also popped up on EBAY as X-staffers make what they can off the company that screwed them.

While on a site survey for the up coming mayors election, one station was notably missing from this event planning, guess who? I am sure Greg would be amazed to see how far VUE has slipped in election coverage ,once number one now number six. I was in contact with a number of FE's who have stayed in touch with the current ND and they said "He is pissed at what they have done to VUE". The present Chief told a few staffers "I should have taken the job in ST. LOUIS, this sucks" ,this was said one day after he got there. One of the 100K club members has signed a one year deal but it is rumored that a 40% pay cut may have been involved. This poor guy was trapped by circumstances. I also bumped into some vendors who say VUE is just getting geared up for mardi gras, they are about six months behind when I used to start- good luck. FOX network is looking for people to work the big game and low and behold they are having to go way out of town to get humans. Another bunch of CE resume's have been seen floating around town ,these were mainly from office types, traffic,sales that sort of thing.

Since the publishing of the email from the other person who saw some of the M5's magic ,many have sent in the same sort of thing. PLEASE do not, I had 3 megs of mail in two days. We all know the normal screw ups are almost constant. On the other hand if you see a valid( confirmed by another viewer) unusual screw up by the M5 by all means send it in. I will be working during the Big Game so let me know how the M5 handles it.

1/11/02 A photog let the powers at be know he was quitting and the team made him a lush offer to stay, the photog has decided to stick it out ,for now. Just as they did last year at this time, they can not cut people until after event season,including Supper Bowl. Terminations to pick up in March.I took some time to listen (58 min)to the Jeff audio stream ,what a crock. He was vary evasive on TV questions ,only saying "We have a plan and will see it through to the end" Wile those working stiffs put up with the pay cut( he also said" we may make this a permanent thing") Jeff will get $902,000.00 in pay + other compensation. I wonder what he tells his kids, Cari and Bradley.

 

1/8/02 It seems as though I am not the only one who can tell when the M5 screws up (which is almost constant now). A viewer who works for another local station just E-Mailed me the following,

"I enjoy reading your page. I work at one of the other
stations in town and several of us read your page.
After your latest update about the audio I figured I'd
let you know about another one.

One day last week:

11:30am Elmidate the show... Crossing over With John
Edwards audio.

They ran the VIDEO for Elimidate for 17min, with the
AUDIO from Crossing over with John Edwards. In
addition to the wrong audio they also were playing
with the on air CG at the same time. On screen were
just characters, ex. !@$3@3455#6&47.

When it was fixed, it appeared as though it was coming
off of low end Ku. Is it possible that they were
having trouble with the fiber so they uplinked on the
cheapest bird to get the signal here, or is that just
more of the great quality everyone can expect?"

As for those who said there would be no way to central cast weather,

Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns 62 TV stations..only half of which
produce nightly newscasts...will soon begin feeding all of its stations a
"Weather Central" broadcast, hosted and produced from the WBFF studios

For those who did not figure out what this means, 31 stations weather from one lacation. I wish I could tune in this cluster @#&% in the making.

1/7/02 Well I got a call just after midnight to tune in the M5. And I saw one of my favorite shows was on Stargate SG1, with a large font on the bottom of the picture" audio difficulties" ,the audio problem was apparently a mix of two different audio sources recorded at the same time. Did the M5 catch this, NOT, did the blue haired operator run a back up show, NOT, did any one check this after it was recorded, NO WAY.This is what people used to be called on the carpet or fired for. I have been told this now happens quite often and some time you only get the incorrect audio.

Flash ....One of VUE's top producers leaves the sinking 8(for those who remember ED QUIN) and joins the big W (WWL). This area is running out of life boats ,a hint to those left listening to the band as the stern continues to sink.

1/6/02 Happy new year from Jeff. He will be on the carpet Tuesday (live audio stream)1/9/02 to discuss 3rd quarter profits ,or lack of them. As is customary with EMMIS no dividends will be paid. I just got a comparison chart for the last six months to see how EMMIS stacks up to others in the market, no surprise here -they suck.

Because of the decisions by the powers at the top of VUE they had almost zero New Years/Sugar Bowl coverage. A primary ICR receive site was left broken rather then spend some money. Despite the continued rants of a few in the management team ,most worker drones are now actively looking for any thing but EMMIS. Just like CNN they (EMMIS) claimed and continue to claim "you have nothing to fear".This is what they said one month before canning accounting. With traffic and national sales next in line ,some have gone to the florical site to see for them selves "The Final Solution". The next few months should be fun to watch ,if your on the out side. With the new fiscal year about to start one can only wander how many will terminated this time. Beware the ides of March!!! It is vary interesting to see that both CNN and EMMIS are both in the same black hole and that they both use central crapping by Florical, HMMM? I just had an hour conversation with an NBC O & O person from Texas and they use another version of central crapping and you guessed it, same problems different vendor. I detect a pattern hear. But remember those who make these mistakes do not have to watch this crap. I got an E-mail from an EMMIS radio listener, he claims that after they fired the staff of his local station and put the same fifteen songs that the consultants said would make the numbers clime, he and others switched to CD's. As he put it "why listen to a robot play what consultants and bean counters think we want" .I wander how many listeners and viewers these robots will loose?????

Because the archive got to big it will now be arranged in one year blocks.


Free counters provided by Andale.
 

Fiollow this link to the previous year