We all think that we need to make the HUGE bucks…but…driving the station van to an event and hanging a few banners, then standing next to the tent texting your friends is not worth 100K a year. That is called station pay. Last time I was there…you were LUCKY to get your 10 an hour.

I am not talking about promotions directors…who are actually the ones doing the leg work putting everything together…sometimes the Promo dir is also a banner hanger. Some Promo dirs are just “followers” of what others tell them to do. Again the salary reflects that.

A Remote Tech…is PAID from the station…money is charged to the client…to set up your inflatable….and hang some banners…and hopefully the tent goes up too. Let’s see…talent gets 50 an hour for 2 hours to talk cars. Not bad…25 bucks each time they open the mic. The Remote tech struggles in the wind and or heat with the Tookie bird…and gets an 25 an hour for 3 hours…extra hour to cover set up and tear down. remote tech makes 75…talent 100. Still not bad money. There were many months that the remote techs made MORE than the jocks in the building…from doing JUST set ups :)

Since everyone loves “banner hanger”…I described the job for what it is…you head to the fair with roller banner in tow and some tape. You tear off banners and tape them. Thus “banner hanger”. Usually hire someones kid to do this while the PROMO people do their job.

And to the person who would not want me as a boss…I HAVE been there and DONE that…every overnight / weekend / fill in/ van driver / banner hanger / toilet cleaner / station van fixer / am drive / pm drive / apd / pd / blah blah blah. I have not asked someone to do a job that i have not done myself…All I asked of my employees is that the do an honest days work…show up…and do it right. If you want to slack off…then do that on someone else’s time…not the stations.

As for being pissed that the GM takes care of the sales people better than programming…remember that most GM’s are from the sales side…doesn’t mean that they hated programming…BUT…I fought the same battles to be able to pay BANNER hangers while the rest of my staff were doing the things that THEY needed to be doing…

Sales people work on commission. I know that at least ONE of those sales people that went to Peak sold over a Million for the company…10 percent IF YOU GET THAT in commission is pretty good…You do know that if they did not make goal on ALL of the stations 5 or 6…that the overall commission would be less!!!??? Say that they are at 110 percent on 5 of 6…and 99 percent on another…too bad so sad…you will get LOWER commission on all of your sales….

As to where the $$ is going? Over the years I have heard that the local groups need to return 35-40 percent back to corporate!! Sales people get commission…programming people are salary…fixed costs…what do you do to cut costs? well…cut the fixed costs…then you start shaving percentages from sales people…even cutting commissions when the account goes past 30 days. I am guessing that the folks at Impact have it different…because they are NOT part of a huge chain. Darryl is proably able to have higher wages costs because he is not so highly leveraged…and having to return a huge percantage to the corporate folks.

Going out for “beers” after an event…we took everyone out…all were invited and either the PD…the sales people paid or the GM…which he did MANY times…with many large bills…everyone was invited. One PD that I worked for in Boise even took the staff to Steelhead games and paid for the suite with food and beverages…station movie getaways with just staff…etc etc.

BANNER HANGERS!!!!!! I am so offended! In my dark and sinister past I spent years and years in radio. I’ve done what everyone used to do… I started at the bottom and worked every job to learn the craft of radio. I started as a true “dj” in a tiny little market doing a program called “The Teen Show”…this was WAY back when small town stations in places like Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho didn’t play that long haired rock and roll crap…but they’d throw the high school kids a bone and play it for a couple of hours just to keep the kids off the streets (and oddly in their cars, running up and down the streets, “dragging Main”, but I digress), From there I became a copywriter, I answered phones, I did a live “swap shop” show, (OMG that was SO strange, the calls still give me shudders), I’ve done every shift from over nights to morning drive, I was a Production Director AND a Program Director, I was a Street Lizard (sales) and in between all that I hung my share of banners and worked my ass off for every station. In all of that I was always baffled as to why in small markets and mid markets the people who actually provide the product that the sales people sell, get paid the least and take the brunt of any management fallout.
Selling is not easy, and I admire anyone who does it and can make a living, especially in this economy. However, I still don’t understand how anyone can justify paying their air talent, copywriters, producers, etc barely a living wage when those are the people who make the radio part of radio actually work, so the sales people have something to sell.
As a Program Director in Bend I was furious every time the GM/owner would pamper the sales staff and take them on special little junkets and golfing and whatever, but when I asked for 25 cents an hour more for my air talent I’d get my butt chewed off. Just what did he think the sales people were selling out there!? In Bend at the time, it was a battle between the two big stations as to just who could be more local. I had my morning team out and about ALL the time, the rest of the staff as well. We did remotes with an actual marti system so we could interview the people who came down for the event, we’d interview the store owners, we made it an event….we certainly NEVER would have a sales person phone in the remote via their cell phone! (I was never more shocked then when I saw that recently….and I wasn’t surprised that very little traffic was generated).
The “banner hangers”, the air talent, the copywriters, the receptionists, the producers, the engineers…they make radio happen….they give the sales people something to sell. They deserve respect. And for what it’s worth, the banner hangers do in fact work their asses off and sometimes have a really crappy job, but they hang that banner, pass out those buttons, slap rumper stickers on willing rumps (hmmmm, is that still done?…ah the past)….they smile, smile, smile, and never let anyone forget what station is handing out the goodies. Without them and all the other unknowns, the sales people got nothin.

I still think radio as us old timers knew it, is gone. I’m not sure anyone really cares if there is a “local” station anymore. If i don’t like the music I’ll just plug myself into my ipod. It’s sad, but I believe it’s only a matter of time before every station is just one juke box crankin out the tunes with disembodied voices announcing the titles and artists. As for talk radio, well it’s all very one sided, it’s scary, and it’s just sad. What a way to start your morning listening to someone rant and rave. That makes me want to just whistle a happy tune and skip to work!

Banner hangers unite….next time someone disses you, let THEM hang the damn banner, pick up the trash left behind around the booth, be the first to arrive and the last to leave…and then watch the sales person get the pat on the back for a “job well done”!!!!! And the best part, let that disrespectful person see how it feels as he/she watches everyone else head for a congratulatory beer while you deflate the giant mascot, stuff it back into it’s box and haul the equipment back to the station. Yeah, you deserve your minimum wage banner hanger…after all what did you do all day that required ANY actual thinking!

Banner Hangers you are the best, I was proud to be you and proud to work WITH you.

I don’t understand how you can understand your station if you’ve never done that job. The “banner hangers” in most cases work harder than everyone else at a station, and we all have to start somewhere.

And you think that these people couldn’t be sales people? Maybe some people are different than you and don’t want a job where they do what you do. Have some respect for others.

Was once told this…If you want a good salary and lots of perks and bonuses…go get yourself a morning show gig…if you want to boss people around and run the show…get yourself a GM gig. Other than that…you take what you can get. The days of 50K afternoon guys are gone. You need to immerse yourself in the community and do some great things for clients…work on getting the endorsements…that is where the money will come from now.

Well…sales people are paid on COMMISSION. Plain and simple…there may be some guarantee in there BUT they get paid on what they sell.

Look back a few weeks and notice that Peaks “top” sales guy was wooed to Citadel. “Supposedly” he got a good chunk of change…including some accounts that belonged to ‘other’ citadel employees. Oh yeah…he got an office too. “Rumor” is that he got a good guarantee and commission package too. Well of course he did…why would you leave Peak for Citadel unless the $$ were higher!??!?!?

Now…back to the the two gals that left Citadel. They were the last two sales peeps from the KG era. Beth was the ’senior’ person…having worked for that company 14 years. Mandy been there a long time too. Both were ‘killin’ it in the billing…

OK…now that there is a PRIME opening at Peak, since their #1 guy left, they need some good people and looks like they got them. The accounts that belonged to the dude that left Peak are now probably in the hands of these two ladies. It is possible that the accounts were re-distributed as well between Cliff, Randy, Lucas, Darla…hard to say…but suffice to say that I’m sure that they were pretty good lists…otherwise these gals would not leave.

So strange that after KG and the Mike’s left…most all of the Citadel sales staff is at Peak…Citadel has not had a great run with GM’s after KG…and even the DOS was turned down for the Citadel GM job…where is he at? Oh yeah…at Impact…kicking ass over there.

I remember when Bob Rosenthal (sp) left Citadel for Journal…some…not all…of the sales staff went with. No different than a head coach and the assistants in football. You need to build a team. KG built that team at citadel and there was a period of 31 months in a row that they met or beat their sales goals. KG has assembled that team again at Peak. If memory serves me right…Peak leads in the Miller Kaplans too. That used to be Citadel stuff. Citadel had at one time 49 percent of the revenue! Not bad.

I highly doubt that those Peak people were let go to pay some sales people…maybe someone needs to look at the ratings of the station and see if the ratings were worth the salaries? Jason is no dummy when it comes to programming…plus remember that Peak lost Rush.

Back to lurking now