KNBR in San Francisco recently engaged in a round of layoffs that has affected the on-air lineup. Various on-air hosts from competitor 95.7 The Game addressed the staff cuts both during their programs and in social media posts. Damon Bruce formerly worked for the outlet and was let go as part of a lineup change earlier in the year. Since then, he has hosted his own independent programming distributed via digital platforms and took time to comment on what took place at KNBR, a station he used to work for as a producer.
“I don’t know if there’s a good time to lay anyone off, but just about to get into the month of December in-between the holidays is the biggest dickhead move any corporation can make,” Bruce said, “and you can see that these radio stations are owned by dickhead corporations.”
Bruce listed the employees and areas of the radio station that were affected by the move, including a producer and the outlet’s digital department. In fact, he chided the outlet for eliminating this facet of their coverage, referring to them as “morons” amid an era where digital content has been substantiated and inculcated within various sectors of the industry. For Brian Murphy, in particular, he just lost his morning partner of 18 years, something Bruce affirmed McCaffrey should be saluted for.
“Now I can speak from experience as someone who’s been laid off by a terrible corporation that I guarantee you what happened to Paul McCaffrey is the same thing that happened to me,” Bruce said. “A person who’s never listened to a show – not for a single day in their life – some accountant in another city somewhere just saw a number that they drew a red line through. Goodbye, Paul McCaffrey.”
Since the layoffs were announced, Bruce has reached out to McCaffrey and Santangelo and stated that he planned to put a call into Hammer. Moreover, he spoke with Murphy, who he surmises is going to take a few days to cool down before returning to the station.
A part of the layoffs that particularly bothered Bruce was the end of the 6 to 10 PM timeslot, which he used to host while at the outlet. Within his commentary, he conveyed that if KNBR had found a way to fairly compensate him, he would have remained in the timeslot for 35 to 40 years and been content with his role.
“I love an evening of taking calls and talking to fans and doing interviews and having an entire day of sports to look back on and an entire day of sports to preview,” Bruce said. “I love that timeslot, and it’s gone.”
Bruce is disappointed in the ramifications these layoffs have for the industry as a whole and expressed his concerns over finding the next generation of talent. He did acknowledge, however, that there are a variety of prospective talent hosting programming in the evenings and working to prove themselves. His concern in all of this is where young broadcasters will be able to broadcast on the air due to the elimination of evening and weekend programming.
“If all you’ve got on a radio dial is morning, middays and afternoon drive, those are usually always occupied by experienced people,” Bruce said. “How do you get experience? So we now live in a world where YouTube is going to matter more than ever before to not just up-and-coming broadcasters, but broadcasters that have been disregarded; broadcasters that have been laid off and people who want to do this.”
Within his YouTube segment, Bruce spoke directly to hosts in the San Francisco market from his experience and explained how a round of layoffs from five to eight years ago that let well-compensated professionals let go caused them to be replaced by young, inexperienced decision-makers. Because of the lack of experience and proficiency in the craft, he affirms that the new people in charge do not know what they are doing because they have not done it long enough and are simply focused on profitability and the bottom line.
“Radio’s over; it’s dead,” Bruce said. “And if anyone at 95.7 The Game is listening to me right now, if any remaining host at KNBR is listening to me right now, if any actual radio host is listening to me right now, I’m telling you you get your backup plan ready because that red line is coming for you. And it’s coming for you because there is middle-management corporate bloat that is part of the reason why these stations can’t figure it out.”
While I feel bad for this guy. I was let go of a job three weeks before Christmas over 20 years ago. I would caution not to disparage your former employer or the industry as you are likely burning a lot of bridges. When I was told I didn’t have a job after working for the same company for 20 years 16 of which were in an operating unit in their radio division and 4 years in corporate management I moved on. In fact I worked for my former employer as a consultant after that doing work for various divisions. This one of the large media companies with many divisions including film, distribution, broadcast, satellite and terrestrial. I made many contacts and worked with lots of people in the various divisions and continued to work them after I left. In fact after 22 years I recently spoke with a colleague I worked with that is still there and he is considering availing himself of my services. This is after two decades from my regular employment. So in the end it is much better to just move on keep your head up and go on to other ventures.
I wish Mr. Bruce good fortune in the near future.