Listeners lash out at corporate bosses for massive cuts at WLS

Subject:

Comments:
: (From Robert Feder) : Last week's mass firings at news/talk WLS-AM (890) prompted angry reactions: : Jay Marvin: You know, for years I sat on stations like WLS and listened to all these right-wing talk show hosts rail for deregulation and pump the "free market." I wonder what they think now that the corporate big boys they carried water for, for so long are eating them alive along with the rest of us. What a shame Citadel went in and blew up a legendary station -- one that so many of us treated like a national treasure and worked so hard to build. : Bob Hale: Some of us who made the Prairie Farmer station into a thumping rocker in the '60s can only wipe away tears over what has happened to that once-proud sound. It's no longer a listenable station. Slicing the staff in half is the result of idiocy. : Jake Hartford: I spent nearly 20 years building a brand there, and it was over in a less than a one-minute phone call without even a "thanks." And it's not like the ratings weren't good. : Jim Earl: I just sent WLS management a note to inform them exactly which orifice to use. Words cannot describe my outrage. : Mike Salazar: These new owners are screwing the pooch big time. Don't they know they are as dumb as Macy's coming to town and changing the name of Marshall Field's? Jake Hartford was one of the best local radio talents we have. : John Fieser: Classless and stupid is how I see management at WLS. No more waking up with WLS on Saturdays for me now, period. Bad business, bad management, and a very raw deal for Jake Hartford. : Dr. Bob Tiballi: What are those jackasses thinking? Please put me in the hideously morbidly depressed camp now that they have canned my favorite show. : Marilyn Karr: I am not only disappointed and disgusted with what Citadel did to the WLS staff and listeners, but even more so, the classless way in which the dastardly deeds were committed. Citadel obviously is not interested in feedback. They don't even have a "contact us" e-mail address on their Web site. : Gloria Montgomery: Nate Clay was the only thing left on that station I listened to -- and now he's gone? I hope they plunge quickly to the bottom of the Arbitrons, where they so richly deserve to be. : Kim Wells: I was in complete shock when I found out that Jennifer Keiper and Bill Cameron were gone. Jennifer has been an excellent news director, and Bill is an institution in excellent news reporting and a class act. It is a sad, sad day for the Big 89. : Mike Koskiewicz: The knuckleheads at WLS are totally clueless. Letting such quality people as Bill Cameron, Jake Hartford and Jennifer Keiper go removes any credibility that remained. It has now become a soapbox for shrill right-wing trash talkers. When Imus comes on board, the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde will be complete. : Jim McAllister: They are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. : Kurt Roskopf: Stripping out the newsroom at WLS sure seems to be an about-face from a station that pledged more local news and information following the 9/11 attacks. : Harry Politis: Probably nobody knew the history of Chicago politics better than Bill Cameron, but that mattered little to Citadel Broadcasting. Another sad day for anyone who loves Chicago radio. : Larry Best: WLS has been irrelevant as a local broadcast focal since packing the roster with syndicated extremists, Saturday infomercials and the recent demise of trusted news reporters. It's time to let go and re-program the drive-time buttons. : Bob Romano: The loss of Jake Hartford, Christina Filiaggi and Jennifer Keiper means that most of the personality of WLS is gone. The loss of Bill Cameron and David Jennings means that coverage of city politics will never be the same at WLS. The loss of all of these also means the loss of me as a loyal listener. : Jane McMahon: What has happened is a travesty. To fire Christina Filiaggi from Roe Conn's show makes no sense. : Nina Gaspich: Christina may still come back? Why? It seems her real job over the last couple years was to play Robin Quivers to Roe Conn's Howard Stern -- giggle drunkenly every time the host opens his mouth.

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

Enter verification code: