- Details
-
Published on Friday, 19 November 2010 04:45
Yesterday, this site mentioned the firing of former Jacor/Clear Channel radio programmer Jim Richards as Vice-President of Content for Tribune Interactive/Digital, based out of Los Angeles. It turns out he wasn't the only of Randy Michaels' cronies shown the exit door yesterday. Many others were told their services were no longer needed, as well.
Gone from Tribune Company are former Jacor/Clear Channel people Tim Dukes, Scott Baker, Melissa McElroy Collins, and Mike Glickenhaus. As was the case with many friends of Randy Michaels who worked with him at Jacor and Clear Channel, all of these now-ex-Tribune employees were given high ranking positions within the Tribune Interactive division, now renamed Tribune Digital. Most had little experience outside of radio before joining the company.
Two of the fired should be familiar names to those who follow Chicago radio.
Tim Dukes is the first familiar name. Dukes was promoted to Vice-President of Tribune Interactive Marketing in July of this year, after first being given the title of Vice President of Promotions when Randy Michaels brought him aboard in July 2008. Tim Dukes may be best remembered to Chicagoans as a former Program Director for WLUP-FM. It was Dukes that helped bring Jonathon Brandmeier back to Chicago in October of 2005. Of course, it was also Dukes who fired fan-favorite Cara Carriveau after she had sent an innocent e-mail in October 2006 to then-Sun-Times media columnist Robert Feder, saying it was a shame that so many iconic Chicago radio personalities were off the air. She then became one of those personalities. (To be fair, General Manger Marv Nyren was also largely responsible for both decisions.) Tim Dukes himself was fired from WLUP in February 2007. Prior to WLUP, Dukes had a long history with both Jacor and Clear Channel Radio, working in Cincinnati, San Diego and some markets in the south.
Melissa McElroy Collins should be the other familiar name. She was a Promotion Director at Clear Channel Chicago's WKSC-FM from 2001-2006. She then became a Marketing Director at a Clear Channel station in Miami, before returning to Chicago to work at TribCo. She was one of the two given the title of Tribune Interactive Director of Promotion. She is a native of Cincinnati and has supposedly known Randy Michaels since the mid-90's.
Scott Baker, who was the other person given the title of Tribune Interactive Director of Promotion, was a radio programmer from Clear Channel in Atlanta before coming to Tribune Interactive.
Despite Randy Michaels urging to join Tribune sooner, Mike Glickenhaus held out until just two months ago. He was a former Clear Channel Market Manager in San Diego, CA who was recently given the title of Executive Vice-President of Product & Solutions for Tribune Interactive. He never actually made it to Chicago and was supposed to be working for the company from his San Diego home, while collecting a hefty salary. Unfortunately for him, Randy Michaels was forced out about a month later, as he now is a month after that, quickly ending what he had hoped would be his Randy Reward.
As the once over-blown and over-salaried Tribune Interactive clears out more and more of the Randy Michaels radio hires and becomes a more streamlined Tribune Digital, other jobs will be lost soon. Three non-Jacor/Clear Channel people who were hired and/or promoted in the last couple of years were also let go yesterday. Tribune Interactive Product Managers Jonathan Ozeran, Scott Rojas and Linda Schaible have been released in the restructuring.
The new Tribune executive team is making it known that if an employee was hired in the last couple of years, has Jacor and/or Clear Channel Radio on their resume, are not doing exceptional work for the company, and are making more than a fair salary... there is a target on their back and it might be a good time start sending out applications to other companies.
Randy Michaels, the controversial former CEO of Jacor Radio and Clear Channel Radio, who ran Tribune Company for over two years, was
forced to resign one month ago. The company has been slowly removing his hires of old radio friends and cleaning up his messes every since.
