Woe is Roe: No room for Ron Magers at WLS Radio
Ron Magers
Citadel Broadcasting’s bankruptcy filing claimed its first Chicago casualty Monday: Ron Magers, No. 1 news anchor at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, has been dropped as a daily contributor to Roe Conn’s afternoon show on news/talk WLS-AM (890).
Today will be Magers’ last day after almost 12 years as a commentator and raconteur on Conn’s program. Magers’ in-studio presence (heard from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday) consistently was a highlight of the show — and often was the best half-hour of conversation in all of Chicago radio. Yes, he really was that good.
When Magers started, both Channel 7 and WLS-AM were owned by Walt Disney Co., which provided a perfect opportunity for synergy. Disney spun off its ABC Radio stations to Citadel in 2006. The decision not to renew his radio deal was presented as a fait accompli with no opportunity for negotiation, according to insiders. Contacted for comment Monday, Magers said:
“Spending a few minutes on Roe’s show every day was a great delight for me. I’m really sorry it has come to an end. When the free coffee machine disappeared from the kitchen, I had a feeling my contract wouldn’t be renewed. Times are tough in radio.”
The move comes just days after Citadel agreed to renew Conn for two more years at WLS and hired a new co-host for the show in the person of Cisco Cotto, formerly of Salem Communications news/talk WIND-AM (560). Despite that vote of confidence by his bosses, Conn found the dismissal of Magers especially hard to take. Said Conn:
“This is very difficult for me. Ron’s one of my closest friends in the world, and he’s certainly my closest friend in the business. He may be the most talented all-around broadcaster who’s ever worked in Chicago. He’s an excellent anchor, a great reporter, a fabulous writer, and he’s great on the radio. I don’t know what the guy can’t do. He’s totally irreplaceable.”
Mike Fowler, president and general manager of WLS, did leave the door open. Calling Magers “the best news anchor in the business,” Fowler added: “I will miss Ron and would love to bring him back at some point.”
Magers, 65, a 28-year veteran of Chicago television news, continues to anchor Channel 7’s top-rated newscasts at 5 and 10 p.m. weekdays.
Elsewhere on the media beat:
- Monday also brought news of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of NextMedia Group, owner of 36 radio stations, including 11 in the Chicago suburban area. Waukegan’s news/talk WKRS-AM (1220) and hot adult-contemporary WXLC-FM (102.3) are among its holdings. The company said its debt restructuring would have no impact on day-to-day operations.
- Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper just landed his second six-figure deal as a special correspondent for a national cable network. He’s signed on as a contributor to basic cable’s ReelzChannel, which boasts 45 million households. Starting this week, Roeper will appear on the channel’s “Hollywood Dailies” show with reviews of new DVD releases every Tuesday and pop culture segments every Friday. He’s also hosting specials for ReelzChannel, starting with a Jan. 1 review of the year in movies. Late last month, Roeper signed a separate deal to review movies for the Starz subscription movie channel and his website at RichardRoeper.com.
- Chicago media critic Steve Rhodes announced Monday that he has severed his ties to NBCChicago.com as a blogger. It’s a long story, which he recounts on his Beachwood Reporter blog. The link to Web editor Justin Kaufmann’s interview with him is here.
- Thanks to Tom Taylor, executive news editor of Radio-Info.com, who provided this trenchant year-end quote from Connecticut station owner Dennis Jackson: “The fruits of deregulation are now clear — Everyone loses. That’s the listening public, investors, lenders, advertisers, and thousands of broadcasters who once made radio great and were fired from jobs to which they were dedicated. For the most part, corporate radio is a hollow, bloodless shell replacing a medium that listeners once cared deeply about. Perhaps 2010 will be the year when real broadcasters are let back into their stations and we can begin to turn our medium around before it’s too late.”
blogs.vocalo.org
Here’s hoping Ron lands on his feet! I wonder if he wore cool neckties while on the radio, too.
Well, good for Roeper. I’m the one who bashed him pretty hard a few weeks back for his unending hints over the last year-plus that a movie-review show in the style of At the Movies was imminent when such a deal clearly wasn’t. But now, two “six-figure” deals in the span of a month — admittedly these aren’t exactly widely viewed channels, but that’s still real exposure (and real money).
Which brings one question to mind: from whom exactly is Feder getting these compensation details? He doesn’t often provide the pay of on-air folk, with the exception of the million-dollar-plus radio guys (Three other great exceptions over the last two decades: Feder “outing” Chet Coppock in 2000 as hosting on the One-on-One Sports Radio Network for $150,000 a year; Feder sharing Linda MacLennan’s $300,000-a-year take-it-or-leave-it deal with WBBM-TV in 1993; and the 2002 push by Jesse Jackson to get Felicia Middlebrooks’ $350,000-a-year WBBM-AM job back). And yet, twice now, Feder has shared that Roeper’s signed six-figure deals. It’s pretty clear to me that this info is being provided with Roeper’s permission, as a way for him to let the public know that he’s not suffering financially (there was that recent foreclosure suit in Crain’s, after all), and also to help establish his market value. I also think it’s important for Roeper’s ego to let people know that he is indeed being well compensated for these gigs, and that these aren’t penny-ante ventures.
Bully for Richie Rich!
Mr. Jackson is hoping to return to a warm fuzzy time that perhaps no longer exists. Deregulation was a result of an industry already in decline trying to survive. The country was becoming dominated by national brands like Wal-mart that drove the local businesses out along with their ad revenue. Outside of major markets, stations were “just hanging on” using decades old equipment and just hoping to last another year. The first generation of FM station owners were hitting retirement. The Internet was becoming big and everything that would mean for competition for advertising revenue and how people get news and entertainment. Many radio station owners were more than ready to sell once the national ownership cap came off in 1966.
The big guys brought in the technical resources and funding to switch from analog to digital, use computers to manage operations and consolidate office functions and sales into clusters to make operations more efficient. What got radio in trouble was overvaluation by the second string of me-too private equity firms with no understanding of the business who spent their money bidding up the price of licenses using borrowed money and not investing in the product.
Citadel is something of a special case – prior to acquiring ABC radio, their largest market station was in Salt Lake City. New management wanted to impose a “New York” culture on small town radio stations who still do things like read obituaries, have swap shop shows, air local high school sports and broadcast local religious services on Sunday morning – their listeners are not interested in hearing Howard Stern talk about flatulence when they’re getting the kids ready for school. Their failure is more the result of trying to weld together two different kinds of radio using the same tools and being tone deaf to the culture of small town America.. Success in small market radio is based on personal relationships, not managing EBITDA in excel spreadsheets and choosing music playlists a thousand miles away – it is about understanding and respecting the culture of the people your license says you are supposed to be serving.
Even more pressure on Roe now. It always was interesting to see how Magers’ calm, almost mentorish demeanor would bring a sometimes-manic Conn down to earth, resulting in–for those few minutes every day–simply two intelligent guys talking about the media, which often was fantastic stuff. Recently, in fact since Meier departed, Roe on his own hasn’t approached that level.
Mike Fowler leaving the door open?! Call it what you will, but it’s a classic case of ‘of course, we’ll have you back–at a quarter of what we were paying you before’. If Magers does return at some point, it will be because of his and Roe’s friendship.
3-4 is such a mess on WGN, wouldn’t it be great for Meier to snag him for that same 3-3:30 timeframe??
Re Ron: That was the part of the show I always tuned in for. But at age 68, I’m demographically irrelevant.
what about me?
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/blogshakalaka
um, gee, i’m too busy commenting on this site. haven’t got much new on mine. but my bears comments from sunday still stand.
as for ron magers, easily one of the smoothest and most intelligent newsreaders in chicago tv history. ay, there’s the rub. newsreading is so confining. so i’m sure it was fun for him to be able to actually get to talk on the air with roe about anything. there’s only so much mileage you can get out of tossing to jerry taft, gifted golfer that he is.
no doubt i am projecting here, but if i were ron magers i would have been quite envious of jerry springer, who was given the opportunity some years ago by channel 5 to do commentaries at the end of the 10 p.m. newscast. you might recall this episode. it made all the papers. correct me if i’m wrong, but i believe ron resigned his lucrative job over the incident without having anywhere to go. i think he may have even been off the air for a year or so before he landed at channel 7. you could understand ron not wanting to associate with springer. kind of like having the rodney dangerfield character show up at the club in “caddyshack.” it had to take courage for ron to leave. and yet, for those of us who cherish the “robust and spirited debate” that the supreme court says the first amendment guarantees, the episode was a bit chilling. why didn’t ron just let springer have his say? his commentaries certainly could have been no worse than the closing “water skiing squirrel” (the sainted carol marin’s term) that you’d normally see on a tv newscast. but like i say, i would have been envious of springer. ron obviously has a lot to say and has had an opportunity on roe’s show. but he’s never had that chance on tv. as someone who has had an opportunity to speak his mind on tv (and even had his own brief show, “barely today,” on channel 5), i know how invigorating getting to talk can be. whereas simply reading the news for ron has to be as soul-killing as van cliburn being reduced to playing “chopsticks” on schroeder’s toy piano.
Just what I was thinking as I read this Melissa. WGN 720 bringing on Magers would be great. Usually the only listenable part of Garry’s last hour is his live chat with Tom Skilling at about 3:10.
We will miss Ron Magers. He was the best part of the show.
Keep going, WLS…keep giving me more reasons to stop listening. ROE: FIND A NEW HOME!!!
With Bill Leff gone, Ron Magers was the only reason to tune-in.
“The fruits of deregulation are now clear — Everyone loses. That’s the listening public, investors, lenders, advertisers, and thousands of broadcasters who once made radio great and were fired from jobs to which they were dedicated.”
Wow, whodda thunk it: Wholehearted, free-enterprise captialism doesn’t work.
Rob is right, that WAS the best half hour on the radio each weekday. Too bad it was buried before drive time when it could have garnered more listeners. Ron’s commute to the show was tough – an 8 story elevator ride. Maybe he’ll still come up once or twice a week when there’s juicy stuff to cover…fingers crossed. Roe plays at the level of his content – material or guests. Ron brought out his A game. It will be tough for Roe to spool it up without him.
Ahh, the old empty headed ‘free speech’ aspect of the Springer Debacle. Yeah, if only Springer had a his own hour long show each day to speak his mind. Protesting the addition of his ilk to a newscast where a few serious stories claw for airtime was a bad idea. The fact that Springer essentially lied in his first commentary, talking about the heavy decision he faced as to whether he should approve a parade permit for a Neo Nazi march – when, as a mayor he did not hold that power, the city manager did – really points to the great loss created by the absence of his presence. You’re right, tacking on a minute or two of scripted, convoluted malarkey (did you see his half-baked, makes no sense second commentary about the state of Catholicism?) at the end of a show really would have opened up one great debate of ideas. Of course, the idea of a newscast is to report facts, but never mind all that. And inviting two of the most respected journalists in town to engage in a debate on a weekly basis with the guy hosting the hillbilly inbreeding beauty contest upstairs – perfect way to maintain that respect. Cast slight aspersions on a brave act of integrity somewhere else or go Google a few of Mager’s comments at the time. Here, let me save you the effort. Both Magers and Marin stated that their fight with management began well before the Springer Debacle, fighting behind the scenes against sponsored stories within the newscast. The hiring of Springer was the final straw representing a management that extended all the way back to GE offices in New York disinterested in observing the most standard of journalistic ethics. Now go refill your bag of hackneyed cliches and get ready for tomorrow’s fading loser post.
Too bad. Ron was the reason many of the remaining listeners tuned in. He made Roe sound good for the half hour – forty five minutes he was on the air. Good luck without him……
Time magazine was correct calling this the ‘Decade From Hell”… THANKS purple people mangler! I guess all stations will soon be playing light music? Well, this same thing happened to a guy named Steve Dahl at WDAI, remember?
Good Morning Mr. Feder,
I do not know if this Roe Conn person is good on the radio or not because I have not listened to WLS since I was in the back seat with my girlfriend in old days and it was the BIG 89 and Lyle Dean was giving the news. But I wonder if Cisco Cotton will help the show be better than it was even with Ron Magers? I used to listen to Cisco Cotton when I was waking up in the morning (next to same woman I was in backseat with in old days!). And if he is Reverend than perhaps he can pray for better ratings, yes? That is my little joke I do not mean to disrespect.
Your Friend.
Joe Matenopoulous (fan of Cisco Cotton)
Phil Cumpston!
Wow!
From my perspective you’ve written the most accurate and concise summation of the Marin/Magers/Springer Fest that I’ve ever seen.
what about phil cumpston?
it is good to know that phil knows that ron was working behind the scenes at channel 5 to rid its newscast of corruption. perhaps phil, obviously a chicago newscasting historian, can enlighten us on the following: what, if anything, did ron magers know about a reported spiking of a story by paul hogan on corruption by carol moseley braun? the allegation, made in a new republic article in 1993, was that hogan killed a story right before the election because channel 5 was afraid of derailing the election of the first african-american woman to the u.s. senate. did this happen? if so, what did ron magers know and when did he know about it? was this something worth resigning over?
ok, while phil studies that subject i will go about trying to use a cliche that somehow escapes being hackneyed. no mean feat.
Wow. I hate to say this but RC & Company were dealt one crappy hand on this mess. I think the Ron should still show up at the show and have Roe pay him out of pocket, just to piss off Citadel. Now that would be funny, and it is certainly not beneath RC & Co. to do just that. Typical big company, looking for short term savings and not thinking about long term investments. Hmmm…makes me wonder why they filed with that kind of thinking!
I hope Amy is not out, with Cisco coming on board, as I do believe that the banter between RC and AJ has been much better of late, and I think that RC needs that female there to ground him as well. I hope Citadel makes room for the 4 of them.
I really hope that we have not heard the last of Ron on the RC Show.
Didn’t any of you folks stumble over Rich Samuels’ gloomy self reference? Branding himself “demographically irrelevant” at 68? Horse feathers! That’s not true at all. Rich, now you’re sounding like me–a grouch who goes out of his way NOT to speak to people much under 50. Because their heads are empty. Because they’re fat and stupid and they don’t read or pay attention. Stand in the food court of any area mall this Saturday. Watch the passing show…and weep for our future. (Or pray we have enough whip smart Indian and Asian kids on the way to run this country in 20 years. And that their parents don’t get lazy like the rest of us and stop demanding excellence as we did.) Rich Samuels isn’t demographically irrelevant. He’s old, sure. But never irrelevant–by any stretch. Besides, he wears those snappy red sweaters under that snazzy brown cordoroy sport coat that drips crusted patina of another day, another time. You won’t see THAT look on any of your Ginger Zee’s! We need Rich Samuels for at least another 10 years.
phil cumpston going wise ass vs bruce wolf, think craig ehlo vs MJ
Dinosaur AM radio is dead
Garry Meier’s show would be better with less Garry Meier. How soon before his wife’s screws up an extension at WGN?
P.S. Sorry I missed you yesterday, Bruce. What’s up with you?
“Wow, whodda thunk it: Wholehearted, free-enterprise captialism doesn’t work.”
Dead wrong, Mr. Levi. Capitalism didn’t fail. It was the people on top of the company who spent far too much on property, and then when the economy went south, they tanked. NextMedia filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. Don’t blame the system when it’s a few greedy people messing it up. That’s like driving 60 MPH on an icy road, losing control and slamming into a tree, and then blaming the car for the accident!
“We need Rich Samuels for at least another 10 years.”
REALLY?! In 10 years those crusty old sweaters will have barnacles on them. He’ll look like Kup, no stranger to the barnacle himself.
Rob Feder:
Thanks for leaving the Sun-Times and parking yourself at WBEZ.
Your articles and the Email comments are much more enlightening then at the Sun-Times.
Think Michael Jordan (WBEZ) v. Pete Myers (Sun-Times).
Garry Meier had a pet theory: one’s last name hinted at one’s fate. It follows, then, that Mr. Conn should change his name to Roe Proo. :P
Ron Magers, just an everyday unemployed (radio) normal mo-fo.
His segment was a great part of the radio day. Here’s hoping that the ‘Roe & Cisco” or the “Conn & Cotto” or “RnC”(pun intended) show will bring some new energy.
I always said if Roe’s middle name was “Public”, since we are his public, he could change the name of his new show to be known as, “THE ROE-PUBLIC-CONN”… thank you, thank you, no autographs, please.
2009 with list:
- Give Rob Feder a new venue. (Done)
2010 wish list:
- Ron Magers back with Roe Conn
- Garry Meier shifted to overnights
- New format at 105.9 (Really, how long can something stay Fresh?)
- Amy Jacobson back on TV
- Bill Leff back on WLS
- FIX the AUDIO MESS on CHANNEL 5’s 10PM NEWS !!!
- Success in the new year to all!
Ron was the best part of this dwindling show. Roe’s neurotic act, softened by absurdly large money, is getting old. I used to listen all the time, especially with Leff on. I don’t listen anymore.
I have listened “forever” to Roe Conn – but I’ve always tuned in at 3:00 to hear him with Ron Magers – I’ve told more people that this is the most intelligent radio. Both Roe and Ron are bright and I don’t want that to go away – I love radio – please don’t kill it.
I guess this means the secret is out: all along, Cicso Cotto wants to be Garry Meier.
Ron Magers was the only reason to listen to Roe, especially over the last few years. Roe lost his edge and went too far right when Garry left. The Limbaugh Lovefest turned me off. Garry is finding his niche at WGN quite nicely.
wow magers is off conn? now i can listen to the show again. That dude always made me dive for the dial, so i stopped listening years ago. Guess i’ll check it out again….thanks for the good news mr. feder!
You stopped listening to a 4-hour show because of the TWENTY MINUTES that Magers was on? Why didn’t you just tune out at 3 and come back after 3:30?
cause once i changed stations i got used to listening to something else….but now that i know i wont have to hear mager im willing to check it out again…
Good to see Mager gone. He is an expert at saying alot without meaning.
He is nothing but an empty Ted Baxter news reader. Mager’s is not informative he’s MSM washed news. These are serious times and Mager’s milk toast
news is out.
Roe Conn shtick is old 80’s Steve Dahl, Brandmeier format. The giggling
air head girl, sexual inuendo and fax self effacing modesty is old and worn out. I’d rather have Conn go solo with Jim Johnson replacing Mager’s as an adjunct news man/ comedian.
Perhaps the new format will add a freshness that the show needs.
I have to say, this really disappoints me. Ron brought intelligence, funny stories, wit, with a bit of news to the show. My wife was p/o when her hours changed at work and couldn’t tune in at 3pm anymore. On top of that, she listens (as do I ocassionally) to John & Cisco on her way to work, which is no more!
I guess it’s a good thing XM gave us a killer offer to come back (5 months/$20) in our Honda van.
BAD BAD BAD move WLS. BAD!
Amazing that with all the machinations at WLS, Jim Johnson keeps plugging away as newsman. I remember when Dahl left there and Jim stayed on. Gary and Leff and Magers and assorted sidekicks gone. Changes in ownership too. Johnson could write a book.
Still enjoy Roe Conn but nor Richard Roeper. Roeper was best and should go back to movie critiques. He was great at that! At 3:00 p.m. I turn the dial because the show becomes too dull with Ron Magers. Sometimes I’ll tune in again (if the subject matter sounds interesting) after Magers is gone but they lose me for that hour.
I’ve listened to WLS since 1990. Don Wade is still good on serious subjects and political subjects. The show has lost luster. A lot of the joking and humour is just Not. Unfortunately, Sisco Cotto (sp.?) tries way too hard. For some reason I do not take Sisco seriously and, therefore, cannot listen to him. I MISS MANCOW and PAT CASSIDY. Looking to see them back on some station. Rush is superb and still has the magnetism and luster.
Just have to add that Garry Meier was the absolute best co-host with Roe Conn. He made Conn sincere; yet together they could be hilarious. They came from very different backgrounds and it came out in so many subtle ways over the airwaves. Both had underlying cynicism. Come back to Roe Conn Garry Meier!