Who says radio doesn’t pay well?

Ellis

Suleman

Farid Suleman, the CEO of KGO-AM and KSFO parent Citadel Broadcasting Corp., is going to make $30 million this year for heading a company that was recently in bankruptcy.

RadioInk.com and RBR.com analyzed SEC documents filed by Cumulus Media (owner of KNBR and KFOG) ahead of its acquisition of Citadel and found that Suleman will get a $2 million bonus this year for hitting a $232 million profit target. He’s also getting $1,125,000 in annual salary and $27.4 million in stock options.

RadioInk points out that chief operating officer Judy Ellis will get $478,391 in salary, a $250,000 bonus for hitting the profit target, and $1.4 million in stock options. Grand total: $2.1 million.

Cumulus’ acquisition of the 223-station Citadel chain should close on Labor Day, meaning that KNBR, KFOG and KSAN will be apart of the same happy family as KGO-AM and KSFO.

Citadel backs off of "shocking" pay plan

When Mickey Luckoff resigned at KGO-AM/KSFO GM and President, he slammed Farid Suleman, the CEO and chairman of station owner Citadel Broadcasting. Luckoff told Ben Fong-Torres:

Luckoff

Everything that the CBS people warned us about came true: total control, can't spend a dime, and you'd have to go through layers ... And then you found out that the layers were one person. He's something else. He has no regard for people whatsoever. He's apparently pretty damned skilled financially. To be able to overpay for the ABC Radio group, take the company into bankruptcy, come out of it, pay every one of his hand picked (board) directors $1 million each and get himself a $43 million package (in grants of stock) is unbelievable.

Luckoff isn't alone in thinking executive compensation at Citadel was out of line. The New York Times blog DealBook reports:

In a highly unusual move, the board and management of Citadel Broadcasting have agreed to rescind $110 million in stock compensation after R2 Investments, a hedge fund based in Dallas, attacked the radio company for its executive compensation practices, according to a court filing late Tuesday in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. 

Suleman

R2 Investments accused Citadel’s management and directors of “a shocking display of corporate greed and dishonesty” for rewarding themselves with stock grants worth $110 million — more than $55 million to its chief executive. 

The Citadel board also awarded more than $1.35 million of stock to each of its members — “a disturbing game of quid pro quo,” the filing by R2 contended. 

A spokesman for R2 declined to comment. 

R2 asked the judge to revoke the stock award “to prevent one of the most egregious frauds by a company emerging from bankruptcy under Chapter 11.”

In Tuesday’s filing, Citadel’s lawyers said the company’s board would issue stock options instead of common shares.

KGO/KSFO sales director to replace Luckoff

Lieberman

Deidra Lieberman, who started in radio in 1990 and moved up through the ranks in sales, was named Tuesday as general manager of KGO-AM 810 and KSFO 560, replacing Mickey Luckoff, who resigned last week in a dispute with the station's owners.

Lieberman was a sales manager with Susquehanna Radio from 1996 to 2003. She joined KGO/KSFO in September 2003 as the general sales manager and was promoted to director of sales in 2006. In her time at KGO/KSFO, she has continually kept the stations sales revenues at the top spot in the market, a press release stated.

Her appointment was announced by Farid Suleman, president and chief executive of Citadel Broadcasting. The release quoted Suleman as saying, "It is a privilege and honor to promote someone from within this fantastic organization. Deidra is a nationally respected sales professional and I look forward to working with Deidra, Jack Swanson and everyone here in San Francisco."

Operations Manager Jack Swanson said in the release: “What an outstanding choice to lead us in the decades ahead. I’m thrilled to be on the team.”

No word on who will replace Lieberman as sales director.

Deidra, a native New Yorker, lives in Marin with her husband, Eric.

Mickey Luckoff not allowed back on KGO-AM

Luckoff and Owens. Credit: Flickr

It's been a tough week for KGO-AM host Ronn Owens. First, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman backed out of a debate on his show that the station had heavily promoted. Then on Tuesday, he was scheduled to talk to Mickey Luckoff, who had resigned a day earlier after 35 years as general manager of KGO-AM in a dispute with the station's owner, Citadel Broadcasting.

Owens promoted the hour with Luckoff at the beginning of the 9'o clock hour of his show.

Then, 48 minutes into that hour, he came back from a commercial break with a short announcement: "Our 11 o'clock program, which would have had Mickey Luckoff on, has been canceled by management. Period."

He went on taking calls as if nothing had happened. But apparently KGO was swamped with calls.

At 9:55, Owens tried to explain the situation: "Freedom of speech is the ability to say what you want in public. For what it is worth, this is still a publicly owned [station] but still a business. And they have a right to make business decisions.

"Mickey's ability to speak out anywhere has not been limited, it is just been limited on this station," Owens said. "On one hand, I think [putting Luckoff on the air] the right thing to do. It would have been edgy and a good way to just people talk, and on the other hand, I am an employee and I understand the other side of the equation too. ... But Mickey will always be my friend."

Luckoff resigns, citing disagreements with Citadel

Luckoff with his Radio Hall of Fame award.

Longtime KGO-AM and KSFO president and gm Mickey Luckoff abruptly resigned today, citing disagreements with the stations' owner, Citadel Communications.

"The day you're not able to stand behind or believe in the decisions you are being asked to make is the day you must be true to yourself and to those you care about," he said in a letter to staff that was obtained by the SF Business Journal. "Thus I am closing my door for the final time here at KGO and KSFO."

"I have repeatedly assured our incredibly talented and loyal staff that I would stay until they or the on-air product we created became compromised," Luckoff said in the letter. "Unfortunately, that time has come."

Luckoff, who has headed KGO-AM for 35 years and run KSFO since the mid-1990s, said there was no single event that precipitated his resignation, but that his disagreements with station ownership have accumulated over time.

"I've had a resignation letter in my desk for nine months," he said.

Luckoff said he plans to write a book on his 52 years in the radio industry and will remain active with foundations. He's also planning to get married.

UPDATE 5 P.M. — Luckoff told Andrew S. Ross of the Chronicle that he didn't like how he was being treated by his Citadel bosses in Las Vegas.

"I'm used to running a first-class operation, but they were constantly going behind my back and over my head. Nobody knew who they were supposed to report to. That's the way they operate."

Luckoff also told Ross: "These aren't good people ... They don't treat people well. They undermine you at every turn."

Rodgers fired moments after show ended

Lee Rodgers has written a letter to listeners to clear the air about his sudden departure from KSFO 560 on Thursday: "It was forced upon me with no notice," he says.

While KSFO & KGO were and are profitable, Citadel Broadcasting, the parent company that owns ABC Radio is in bankruptcy.

The top management of Citadel, led by a CEO named Farid Suleiman -- widely regarded as the most incompetent executive in broadcasting -- decided that I was making too much money after 25 years with ABC and fifteen as morning host on KSFO, taking no note of the fact that I've generated large sums of money for the company.

I was seriously considering retirement at the end of my contract in early July, and I certainly wouldn't have left without saying goodbye. Instead, within one minute of the conclusion of last Thursday's show, I got the word that it HAD been my last one; cut with no notice, in violation of my contract.

This is typical Citadel tactics; they've carried out massacres at many of our sister stations. At the Chicago station, WLS, a highly respected newscaster was pulled from the studio in mid-show, during a commercial break, and fired! There's a certain justice in that outcome: the two management people who carried it out were themselves fired a week later.

Understand, please, that this course was not chosen by the local management of KSFO. Mickey Luckoff and Jack Swanson have been helpful throughout my long run in San Francisco.

I WILL tell you, in all candor, that thanks to Mr. Suleiman's Citadel management, I could no longer proudly say that the company had never told me what to say or what not to say. There was an obvious cave-in to some ultra-left and pro-Muslim groups, making it unlikely that I would have ever renewed my contract with the company, anyway.

Rodgers told Joe Garofoli of the Chronicle and SFGate that Citadel is trying to get out of paying him for the last 4 1/2 months of his contract, and AFTRA is going to bat for him.

Garofoli also reports:

Jack Swanson, vice president for programming for KSFO and KGO -- and a friend of Rodgers for 30 years who has hired him twice -- told us that the station "spent several months trying to negotiate a new contract" but it didn't happen. Our goal was to retain Lee."

Lee's response to The Chronicle: "I was offered an insultingly low salary to extend my contract, which I rejected."

"I harbor no hostility toward the local management of KSFO/KGO; they were simply doing as ordered," Rodgers said. "They built the stations up; Citadel is tearing them down."

Rodgers, who has been doing his program from Arizona for the past seven years, says it is unlikely he will return to broadcasting after more than 50 years in the business. (Photo credit: Chronicle file, Kim Komenich)

Citadel booted off NYSE, stock at 9 cents

The New York Stock Exchange has informed Citadel broadcasting, which purchased ABC Radio’s stations from Disney about two years ago, that it will no longer trade the company's stock. The NYSE delists companies whose stock falls below $1 for 30 consecutive days. The stock closed today at 9 cents a share. That puts the company's value at $25 million, but if you want to buy it for that price, you'd have to get in line behind creditors who are owed $2.4 billion. Delisting also means that the company cannot raise money by selling stock. Citadel owns approximately 240 stations including KSFO 560 and KGO-AM 810.

KGO lays off 5 including Jarrett, Edmonds

KGO-AM, which has been No. 1 in total total audience since the 1970s and one of the most successful news-talk stations in the country, has laid off five employees including afternoon co-anchor Greg Jarrett and East Bay reporter Greg Edmonds.

Both are long-time on-air personalities. Jarrett has been at 810 for 16 years, from 1986 until 1994 as a reporter. He then became a staff correspondent for ABC News. He returned to KGO in 2000. Edmonds has been at KGO since 1979.

General Manager Mickey Luckoff's assistant, Sue Ostrom, has agreed to take a buyout package and is retiring after 41 years at the station.

Also leaving are Internet David Rich and talk show producer Harry Hall.

We're told that Luckoff fought the layoffs every step of the way, looking for money everywhere and anywhere. The station is doing well, but owner Citadel Broadcasting is in terrible shape with its stock falling to about 20 cents a share (Symbol: CDL). The stock is about to be delisted by the NYSE.

UPDATE, Jan. 17: Luckoff has posted on his station's Web site a letter explaining the departures of the five employees. [Link]

KGO-AM bumps Paul Harvey to KSFO

"Hello Americans, I'm Paul Harvey. You know what the news is. In a minute, you're going to hear ... the rest of the story."

Paul Harvey, age 90, is apparently moving to KSFO 560, according to promos airing on the conservative talk station.

For years, Harvey's folksy (and right-wing) news and commentary has been heard on KGO-AM 810 where it has seemed out of place given that station's more urbane news-talk format. Harvey has been a mainstay of the ABC Radio Network since 1951, and apparently its owned and operated stations were required to carry him. Both KSFO and KGO-AM are owned by Citadel Broadcasting, which purchased ABC's radio stations earlier this year.

Harvey's 15-minute shows are airing on KGO at 8:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. weekdays. What time slots they will occupy on KSFO isn't known. If KSFO plans to carry his midday program, it will either have to end Rush Limbaugh 15 minutes early at 11:45 or start Dr. Laura 15 minutes late at 12:15.

The move, however, will free up more time on KGO's morning and afternoon news programs, and give Len Tillem a full hour at noon. Tillem's legal advice show now ends at 12:45 to make way for Paul Harvey.

While we're on the subject of right-wing broadcasters, Bill O'Reilly's "Radio Factor" show is leaving the air Feb. 27, though he will still continue on cable's Fox News Channel. Here's a press release touting "the biggest lauunch in the history talk radio" for his program in 2002. O'Reilly currently airs on KNEW 910 from 10-noon.

KFRC's oldies format returns to AM

CBS Radio SF market manager Doug Harvill announced today that the KFRC oldies format is moving to 1550 AM on Thursday, Jan. 1, a month after it was replaced at 106.9 FM by all-news KCBS. KFRC was originally an AM station in the 60s and 70s when the songs it now plays were new.

Scott Shannon will produce and host the syndicated oldies format, featuring hits from the 50s to 80s.

By the way, KCBS's addition of an FM signal has fueled speculation that KGO-AM will make a similar move. But while CBS had FM stations available for KCBS, KGO-AM parent Citadel doesn't own any FMs in this market. So Citadel would have to buy or lease an FM station. However, the tightening of credit markets has pretty much stopped mergers and acquisitions.

Melanie Morgan out at KSFO

Melanie Morgan has lost her job as morning co-host at KSFO-AM 560 as part of a cost-cutting measure by the conservative station's new owner, Citadel Broadcasting.

Citadel, which acquired KSFO and KGO-AM 810 from Disney last year, decided not to renew her contract, according to WorldNetDaily.com, where Morgan is a columnist. Other cuts at the two stations are expected as Citadel lost $848 million in the most recent quarter. KSFO's morning program will continue to be hosted by Lee Rodgers.

"What I loved most about my time at KSFO was that it allowed me to connect with listeners and take action to make real changes in the world," Morgan said in a statement issued after Monday's program. "We got out of our chairs, left our homes and offices, and circulated petitions, rallied for our troops and met with government leaders."

Morgan and Rodgers have been widely credited with starting the recall of Gray Davis. In 2006, she was put in the national spotlight for saying New York Times editor Bill Keller should be executed if convicted of treason for revealing government secrets in his newspaper. Most recently, Morgan led protesters who countered demonstrators who wanted to close a Marine Corps recruiting office in Berkeley. Morgan co-founded Move America Forward, an activist pro-troop organization, which has defended American military intervention abroad.

Morgan, 51, began her career in 1981 as a reporter for KGO Channel 7. In 1984, she became an on-air personality for KGO radio where she worked for six years before switching over to KSFO.

She's traveled to the Middle East twice to interview U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, and her broadcast efforts from Iraq produced for her the Associated Press' Mark Twain Journalism Award as well as the Peninsula Press Club's award for Best Interview or Talk Show. (Photo credit: Chronicle, Carlos Avila Gonzalez, October 2006)

Also read:

• Brad Kava: "I'm shocked by this one."

• Sacramento Bee: Morgan show goes off the air

• Chronicle 2006 profile of Morgan, how she used to be a liberal

• WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative Web site where Morgan has a column, announces her departure.

• KSFO Web site: The Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan Show has now become The Lee Rodgers Show.

KGO-AM, KSFO owner vows big changes

Citadel Broadcasting, the company that acquired Disney's radio stations including KSFO 560 and KGO-AM 810, posted a $848 million loss on Friday, which the company is blaming on its new acquisitions. Radio & Records put it this way:

Citadel Broadcasting today (Feb. 29) brought home a very bad report card and the big guy, chairman of the board and CEO Farid Suleman, says things are going to change. And change fast -- beginning this week and over the next two weeks. It could get ugly. ...

Citadel losses were “primarily attributable to lower revenues in our San Francisco, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Ill.; Atlanta, Ga.; New York, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala; Dallas, Texas; and Los Angeles, Calif., radio stations.” ...

“This was a very difficult and disappointing year. The biggest disappointment was the major market radio stations that we acquired from Disney in 2007," Suleman said. "On an analyzed performance basis, decline was across the board with every major market decline. National was a complete disaster. The markets were down but we underperformed the markets by a factor of almost two-to-one. ...

"Suleman said that Citadel began instituting major restructuring of the company’s major markets this past week and will continue over the next two weeks. The restructuring will “create a very significant savings in costs and position the stations for major growth even in a zero-based growth environment,” he said ...

Bernie to 'Sexfairy': 'I like trading pictures'

Bernie Ward talks about having group sex in a San Mateo porn theater, being sexually humiliated and trading explicit photos online in a transcript of his Internet conversations with a woman who reported him to police, according to a police report obtained by ABC7's Dan Noyes. Here's a link to Noyes' report and the SF Daily's story.

The police report says Ward, a former KGO-AM talk show host, sent pictures of children ranging in age from 4 to 17 who were "engaged in or simulating sexual acts with adults or other children" to a woman in Oakdale, a town near Modesto. The woman contacted her local police department which began investigating. As part of the investigation, the police asked the woman to keep talking to Ward online.

Ward, a former Roman Catholic priest and now a father of four, was fired in December after he was charged in federal court. His trial is set for June.

Here's part of Noyes' story:

It's Christmas week, three years ago. Ward's on his home computer using the screen name "Vincentlio." He begins the chat with "Good afternoon, mistress." The woman using the name "Sexfairy" answers, "How was your day, slave?" In explicit detail, Ward describes being humiliated sexually. At one point, he asks, "Are you going to make me feel dirty, mistress?" "Sexfairy" answers, "Yes, I am."

Ward discusses group sex he had at an infamous porn theater in San Mateo. Then, nearly an hour into the conversation, he brings up photographs, "I love trading pictures." "Sexfairy" answers, "and why haven't I gotten any pics, slave? Send me some."

Former prosecutor Dean Johnson, now an ABC7 legal analyst, says the transcript of Internet chats knocks down "every defense that could be raised to possession or distribution of child pornography" including Ward's claim that he was researching a book. Ward's trial is set for June. (Note that while they share the same call letters and operate out of the same building, KGO Channel 7 and KGO-AM 810 have different owners. Disney sold the radio station to Citadel Broadcasting Corp. last year.)

KGO-AM, KSFO sale will close June 12

The sale of ABC Radio and its 22 owned and operated stations, including San Francisco's KGO-AM 810 and KSFO 560, to Citadel Broadcasting will become final on June 12, according to a press release from the current owner, Disney. Disney plans to keep its 50 Radio Disney stations nationwide including 5,000-watt KMKY 1310. The FCC approved the $2.7 billion deal in March. KGO-AM and KSFO are expected to remain at the ABC Broadcast Center at 900 Front St. but pay rent to Disney.

7 Bay Area radio stations changing hands

You might have heard the public service announcements running on KGO-AM 810 or KSFO 560, where production manager Michael Amatori reads a list of shareholders who are buying the radio stations? Seven Bay Area radio stations are changing hands in two separate transactions. As reported on this web page Feb. 6, Disney is spinning off its ABC radio stations across the country, including KGO-AM and KSFO, into a new company, 52% of which will be owned by Disney shareholders and the rest by Citadel Broadcasting shareholders. No management or format changes have been announced, but the on-air announcements about the license transfer are making people scratch their heads. In addition, as reported by Bay Area Radio Digest, the licenses of five stations owned by Susquehanna Broadcasting are being transferred to Cumulus Media Partners, an investment group that includes three private capital firms that were interested in buying Knight Ridder (Thomas H. Lee Partners, The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital). The five stations are KNBR-AM 680 and KTCT-AM 1050, "The Bone" KSAN 107.7, KFOG 104.5 and KFOG's South Bay repeater, KFFG-FM 97.7.

KSFO, KGO-AM sold; 7 may change call letters

Disney's decision yesterday to spin off its radio division into a new company, a $2.7 billion deal that includes KGO-AM and KSFO, raises some questions:

Will KGO Radio and KGO TV continue to share on-air talent and newsroom resources?

Will they continue to operate out of the same building on Front Street?

And who will get to use the "KGO" call letters in the future?

Traditionally, when a TV and radio station share the same call letters and then one of the stations is sold, the station that had the call letters first gets to keep them. KGO-AM went on the air on Jan. 8, 1924, according to the oldradio.com web site, while KGO-TV 7 signed on 25 years later on May 9, 1949. Since Channel 7 is advertising itself these days as "ABC 7" the call letter change at the TV station may not be a problem.

The new radio company will be owned by Disney and Citadel Broadcasting shareholders. It will enter into a 10-year licensing agreement allowing it to distribute ABC Radio News to some 4,600 terrestrial stations, but Disney will retain the rights to other formats, such as broadband, wireless and satellite. However, the new spin-off company will own programs such as "The Sean Hannity Show," "Money Talk with Bob Brinker" and "Paul Harvey News and Comment." But the deal does not include Radio Disney or ESPN Radio. [AP's story] [ABC News's version] [History of Citadel Broadcasting]