In a quite emotional opening to today's show, Rick has announced that today is Tim Riley's last day with the show. It seems that there was a higher-level management (outside beyond the station mgmt) decision to eliminate his position. Tim is on the show today to say goodbye.

Thought Riley had already moved elsewhere..?

That was Timmy Ryan.

Arghhh...this makes me sick.

As Rick mentioned, it is perhaps unprecedented that someone that is involuntarily leaving is allowed to go on the air and say goodbye. It makes me wonder what other staff cuts are on the horizon at CBS.

December 8, 1980: John Lennon is murdered.
December 8, 2008: Tim Riley's last day on CBS Radio.

I imagine that others were let go at CBS Portland too? Any word on that?
From my experience, all signs right now tell me that most if not all of Portland CBS employees should be expecting a pink slip soon.

Sorry to hear the bad news about tim. tim, please keep in touch. regards steve taylor.

The Conversation - Thank you SO much for giving us / me a heads-up on this. It mattered to me to hear it live.

Tim, it's temporary, I'm betting. Still though, it's not fun. I'm sorry -

A fan.

Tim's departure really just sucks, regardless of the situation. He's a real professional and should be heard.

Mark my words, he will be back.

Tim Riley is my God!

I hope there is a space made available for Tim soon.

Marconi has left the building as well. Which makes me extra jumpy for Rick Emerson. If it was going to happen to Rick, would it have likely happened already? As in, today?

CBS = Can't bare spending!

YOU SUCK CBS!

Riley writes about it on his website at rileylive.com. He is well known and some struggling show would be smart to snap him up.

Ack. That's actually a good point. As much as I wish he could have stayed, I hope you are right.

If that's what he wants.

He seems like the kind of guy who should get what he wants.

CBS... SEE BS

Its just not the same show without Tim. I will be very interested to hear what happens now. How can there be no noon news hour now?

Jeff Clarke was allowed to say farewell to KINK listeners after -- what was it, 25 years? I can't think of any others. Anyway, best of luck to Tim Riley. I've enjoyed his work since the KOTK days.

Riley is popular and local management knows it. They knew they had better give him a proper send off. I don't doubt this came from upper management where the only thing they look at is who costs the most.

I'm pissed! I worked with Tim Riley at another radio station. He was funny, personable and a guy you would want in your foxhole!

The deal in radio has always been the deal in radio: on-air people are easy to find. Management believes that continued elimination of expenses will make the station more profitable. What about building an audience. An audience can't increase if you continue to give them reasons not to listen. Tim Riley is just one talent among many who are not accepted for their full value.

Sarah Dylan should of been the one to get the axe. She brings nothing to the show and now you take away Tim Riley? I will continue to listen but I doubt it will ever be the same.

I'm sure that after the dust settles a bit, some Tim Riley equivalent to " The Coffee Cup Crusade " will begin. It'll have to be timed better than a seemingly rash or emotional response. That is to say, if it happened starting tomorrow, CBS could just say " Well, there are understandably upset. But it's freshly bleeding. Let's see how passionate they are after we play a little bit of a waiting game."

I don't know if other cities' fans that had their own loss of local talent feel the way I do about losing Tim. But that's their problem. There are all sorts of tragedies in the world. But you know what? I can work on those too. I just plain LIKE Tim. I showed support to the show, it's sponsors and even to Tim. If Tim wants back, and I've heard nothing to indicate that he doesn't, I would like a way to express my desire to see a return on my investment. I'm not irate, outraged or oblivious to the resoning behind Tim being laid off. I get it. There are economics at play here. Perfectly legitimate.

But sooner rather than later, I would like to communicate my willingness to continue to invest in The Rick Emerson Show AS A WHOLE.

I hate it when I sound like I am over stating things or over thinking it or whatever label someone wishes to slap on it. But Jesus, can we try and DO something to save some of the things we REALLY like in this world?

Look, even I am surprised how much this loss bothers me. To say nothing of how Sarah and Rick must feel.

Maybe Rick will let things cool down and time a campaign just right. Maybe he is simply not allowed to do that. Maybe he doesn't want a bunch of unorganized ideas going out there and somehow mucking up the chance to have the fans heard or paid attention to. Maybe, if those of us who want Tim hired back, wait JUST a little bit, we will get what we want.

Maybe something should be done.

Maybe it will.

Draft Tim!

Hell - KIDNAP TIM!

I hope Tim Riley sues CBS to the last penny for dismissal without cause. I don't care about Tim Riley's age or sexual orientation.

"dismissal without cause".

Is that even a valid concept in radio? I mean really, if you could sue for that, the courts would be overflowing with radio folks.

Chickenjuggler is right, something should be done, but we should hang in there and see how it plays out. The coffee cup campaign was a huge success.

Unless there's a union contract in place, employment in this state (and in most, if not all of the U.S.) is at-will. Dismissal without cause is perfectly legal, no matter how ridiculous or unwarranted. You must be able to prove some sort of illegal discrimination, which is from all appearances not the case here.

Best to Tim, Marconi, and all the radio pros like myself who find themselves out of work these days.

at one time cbs was union, if i remember right. but not sure if it is now. aftra isnt very helpful when someone is dumped imo. I've seen a lot of my firends let go in the last 18 months. glad i moved to vegas. I left radio to move here. regards to all who know me. steve.

This morning Rick made reference to how many days are left in the year when announcing that they will now have various laid off media folks doing the news. The reference to the number of days remaining in 2008 makes one wonder if the clock is running down for Rick and Sarah too.

This was obviously a decision made by someone who had no actual knowlege of the show... someone who just looked at the staff roster and said "well we need a host and a producer, guess we'll let the newsman go".

The show won't be the same without Tim, but I like the idea of a rotating cast of laid-off people.

I'm fortunate to be a podcast listener and about a week behind the times, so I'm still enjoying Tim for a few more days.

You'll be missed Mr. Riley!

Well, also remember that CBS is selling off a bunch of their stations. This is just the start. Cut talent, sell the stations.

Maybe laid off talent could be rotated in as guests on all the remaining local shows.

bet KCMU will be history soon

and Emerson will more to a CBS FM slot

I don't know Tim Riley, but I feel his pain. It was sometime in the early 1970s when Boston's WEEI Radio (590) -- a CBS owned-and-operated station -- changed its format from all-talk/and sports to all-news. I was a member of AFTRA, but the job had changed. The program manager who had hired me went to NYC and the new guy on the block wouldn't give me the time of day. As I recall, I did come back later with film and theater reviews, then back to my own show on WMEX, at least until I found out they were paying the men twice as much as I was making. The guys had leased cars as a perk, too.

I'll be 70 years old next year. I have been in and out of broadcasting since 1957.

Tim, I never knew you, but I wish you long life building a new career path as other radio folks who have gone before you!

Cordially,
Ellen Kimball (Radio_Lady on this forum)

http://ellenkimball.blogspot.com

I think Riley is originally from Massachusetts. Think he's mentioned that before on the air.

The irony in CBS, of all companies, deciding that newspeople are expendable is pretty nauseating.

Alfredo, I tried to look up Tim Riley at a couple of the sites that list radio personnel.

I couldn't find him at all and just don't recall that name. I lived in Boston almost 30 years, but was mostly interested in the talk format, along with all-classical and jazz.

Each time I begin to investigate someone I knew or worked with -- it seems to come to retirement or death. However, on a fun note, I have tracked down two guys whom I worked with in Miami in 1971, still alive and kicking. That's a GOOD thing!

Cordially,
Ellen Kimball (Radio_Lady)

http://ellenkimball.blogspot.com

Sorry, but in my post (above) I should have cited Amradio for that information. Thanks!

EK

I see Larry Elder parted company with KABC and was allowed to say goodbye after 15 years with the station.

I can't stand that guy! (Larry Elder that is).

Nor I. I saw Larry Elder on Larry King the other night. He's all about implications and not really caring what the truth is. I'm a little tired of people making money off of implying things or just pushing buttons and calling that " compelling."

That's one of many things that I like about Tim Riley, he's a NEWS man. He reported the news. The answer to " What is happening? " he made compelling by finding out some truth - however important or mundane. Sure, he drank on the air and cursed like a trucker all the time and hated America, but that's just what makes Tim, Tim.

Tim is a pro's pro. He can read it straight, he can read it with irony, he can be funny. And, he's got a great voice.

Unfortunately, there are few shows like Emerson's that allow the freedom that Tim had to be himself on the air. So, we'll see. I know he is a slum, er, I mean, landlord, and I think he is involved in the real estate business, so hopefully he won't go (vegan) hungry.

Yea I think he has some rental property as well as one for sale. I could be wrong though. I think he will be ok, he seemed to prep for this long ago by getting into real estate market.

I miss him on the show and I dont actually want the noon news hour to continue like it is now. I think Rick should Revamp the show a bit. More Geek and pop culture talk and less about the cross dressing intern.

Tim Riley will get another spin. Old progressives never go away even when they should. Bill Moyers is still around and he never had commercial success.

Next to go is the SLUT then that child rick.

Jesus.

CBS would fire him too.

LOL. Yeah. I mean, yes, he'd work for cheap and always bring wine to the Kwanzaa office party. But his talk show would be great, I bet. He wouldn't even need a screener. He could just say " Laurie, you are thinking about dialing. Let me just tell you the answer now: 42. If you are calling from East of The Rockies, you know what number to think about dialing. Oh and there's gonna be a BIG surprise for you folks in Miami on the 14th of next month.

Aliens are real. I take no credit or blame for them though. They are the Mormon's problem.

There WERE two shooters.

Phil Hartman is being well taken care of."

It could be very compelling. I bet Rick Emerson's bumper music would still be better though.

CBS is one of the few major owners that is making any money. They have positive cash flow and are paying dividends. Still, they expect revenue to drop about 15% in the coming year, so they're preparing for the worst by laying off now.

Tim Riley is still doing the news on his blog. I don't know if I should pity him for not moving on or admire his perseverance.

Most well known people in all forms of media have a blog or website. Just because they lose a particular job it doesn't mean they lose their fans. You were interested enough to find it. You don't have to be on the air or writing a newspaper column to keep your following. This is what new media is all about, and what people in old media fail to understand.

Pulling this back up:

Rick is having "laid-off media professionals" do the news in Tim's absence.

So far, in my opinion, Tom Parker is the run away leader amongst the subs. He's on today BTW.

...and that's just the coolest move too.

Love it.

(as do they, I am sure)

Man, there has absolutely got to be a way to fix this trend...

This from yesterdays All Access:

------------Tim Riley's News Now Available By Subscription-------------

Former CBS RADIO Talk KCMD-A/PORTLAND News Director TIM RILEY has launched a new subscription version of his unique newscasts, with a five-minute version available for download daily for a $3.99 monthly fee. RILEY tells ALL ACCESS that listeners from as far away as AUSTRALIA and the U.K. have signed up to hear RILEY's singular take on the day's news.

Check it out and sign up at rileylive.com.

Having "laid off media professionals" do news for free is almost certainly a labor law violation (and in my opinion amounts to scabbing on Tim Riley, even if he does not personally object). I'm surprised CBS's lawyers are allowing it to continue. It's one thing for Rick to have media people as guests on his show, but they should stay away from tasks that heretofore were performed by paid employees.

Oh come on!

There is more to this than just getting some work done for nothing.

And who says they are getting nothing? Keeping skills sharp, etc...

It's a good move.

Yeah, and look at that subscription podcast! 3.99 is not a bad price point for the month. Nicely done!

That's the way forward for a lot of people. Get your audience working with you directly. Evolve content that maybe those bastards that gutted the industry might drool over. Maybe not end up in the same position again.

Who knows, in 5 years the tables may well turn. They wanted to convert radio into a simple media delivery technology. Well, say it completely happens. They can then just pay the people that made it worth something, for stuff to air on their "pipes". LOL!!!

It's a win win situation for all. Those who could really use a little time in the public eye get it on Rick's Show. It's really a great idea. Hats off to the Rick for coming up with such a great promotion nobody has ever done before. The audience must love it. Riley wins with his fans by offering a cheap subscription podcast. He may very well be the model for the way of doing business NOW, not in the future. Other laid off broadcasters should take note.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying Tim Riley is doing anything wrong. Quite the contrary: If he can make a living through podcasting, more power to him. It's CBS Radio that's most likely breaking the law, unless they're paying at least minimum wage to the people reading the news on Rick Emerson's show. You can't just fire people and replace them with unpaid labor! If you could, you can bet it would be a common practice, especially in the radio and TV industry, where there would be no shortage of people willing to work just for "exposure." (According to Emerson, there is no pay involved. I hope that isn't really the case and that CBS is quietly cutting people checks.)

Hey Nitefly, have you ever heard of interns?

It's an interesting line of thought. I'm sure Rick is trying to do the right thing, but there is always the legal morass you have to wade through in the work place.
At this point you could staff an entire radio air staff 24x7 with non-paid people and you would be turning people away from the door.

KMHD has around 40 volunteer D.J.s. Need I say more.

Back in 1995, KTOZ, a financially floundering radio station in Springfield, MO, was kept afloat by a dedicated group of volunteers who served as on-air and office staff. Unfortunately, for the KTOZ volunteers fans of the radio station, the US Labor Department got involved, as it is illegal for a for-profit corporation to use volunteer labor. I never heard what the outcome was of the KTOZ saga. The reason that KMHD can get away with having community volunteers (i.e. people who are not students of the broadcasting program) staffing the place is that it is run by a non-profit organization.

Perhaps, there is some legal loophole that CBS can (or is) using. Maybe the reason they can get away with (or think that they can get away with) what they are doing is that the laid-off radio people are guests on Rick's program who just happen to read the news because they want to.

With regard to unpaid interns, most of the major companies make sure that interns are at least enrolled in college and are getting some sort of verifiable college credit for their work.

While working for both Entercom and Clear Channel in the past few years, I have had several interns, and not only did we have signed paperwork from the head of the departments in which the students were enrolled, but we also kept records of their hours as well.

As for the fill-in news jocks, I do think that could easily come under the heading of in-studio guests.

That might be their thinking, although legally it's quite a stretch, in part because the fill-ins are doing work that until very recently was paid. If KCMD had no history of paying its news anchors, maybe they could make a case for this, but I still doubt they'd get away with it. News reporting/anchoring is formally classified as a profession by federal and state labor regulators. Simply calling them "guests" would probably not suffice to change this.

The more I think about it, the more I suspect that Rick's "volunteers" are in fact getting a minimum-wage stipend, perhaps as "independent contractors" to avoid payroll taxes and other costs (a legal gray area in itself, but perhaps justifiable in this case). This would save a lot of money compared to having a regular employee, while still providing Rick's audience with news and entertainment value to keep them from migrating elsewhere (though no one can truly replace Tim Riley). Of course Rick can't publicly announce that he has a paying gig on offer, or he'd be inundated with more "volunteers" and other complications than he could handle. He may also ask each person who comes in to keep quiet about the fact that they are getting a check. I don't know this for sure, but that's my best guess as to how KCMD is able to do this and not incur a potentially huge legal liability. I can't think of any other way it could realistically be done.

I was a guest news guy. There is no check. Just a lot of fun.

One must look at this from CBS' point of view though. Why should they hire Riley back when they can get someone to come in and do his job for nothing every day? Hasn't there been someone doing it if not on all days, on most days?