Terrible Place - Programming CUMULUS MEDIA Employee Review

1.0
Jun 30, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Not many. Key card always worked. I had a parking spot in an expensive part of SF. Seriously, hard to think of something. The internet was pretty fast. Checks arrived consistently, even if the pay process was frustrating, and changed 3 times in 5 years.

Cons

Where to begin? A company wherein even the executives never have answer. I dealt with many higher ups in the company chain (because of micro-management), and whenever I needed a specific answer on something there was either a run-around or never a response. I remember I once asked an EVP a question about a hiring decision, and his response was "that has to go through corporate." I said, "Aren't YOU corporate?" "Yeah, but it has to go through Lew." This was a hiring decision of a part-time employee that had to be signed off on by the CEO of the company. That was the biggest red flag I noticed. Then you hear the other stories like corporate heads in Atlanta demanding that certain people where suits to work in San Francisco, while nearly every other person in the tech-driven economy here is dressing down. So I went out and bought suits that I didn't need, but had to wear. Made worse is when the CEO, or his brother, would come out to California for a couple days and before their arrival they'd have a fancy sports car waiting in the parking lot so they can tour the area. Meanwhile, they're trying to cut pay and force everyone into part-time status. There was a head sales guy who flew in and out of San Francisco every other week. His name was Gary. He asked us if could sell some of the news cars to make budget. At a news station. So many things were broken, be it desk chairs, doors, microphones in studios, wires everywhere, and they were always cutting someone you needed in the building but never replacing the person. We once had a person in management call aside a few employees to chastise us over viewing a media website that said negative things about the company. Told us, "If you're caught looking at it you'll be fired...those websites are hurting our stock price." This was told to part-time employees. One of my new hires didn't get paid for 4 months because this person was moving between two different radio stations, and they couldn't figure out how to process this. The health plan was almost worth not having. It was confusing. Doctors officers didn't know who to bill because Cumulus created their own health business, or used this company called Meritain Health who then billed other providers. It was annoying. Sales people I work with quit all the time. At one point they put a huge bulletin board on the wall like Glengary Glenross, but no one was selling anything so it just depressed people. They've since moved, but initially they blended 5 stations into a building that housed 3 stations. After firings and people quitting there was so many empty desks that they then moved into an even smaller place for the 5 stations, which is now completely difficult to get to transit wise. People work in fear, and have no desire to help this company. Everyone there looking for their next place of employment. Executives from Atlanta came to the stations many times and told us, "We have a plan" and that "everyone should be excited." Except they operated behind closed doors all the time, and never told anyone what the plans were. Assumedly because it involved firing people, which seemed to happen over and over and over. The best people left. The station runs ads on it's stations all the time asking people to come work for their company in a sales capacity, which sounds cheap. They also run their own ads called Sweetjack, which is apparently a shopping website no one in the Bay Area has ever heard of. It's odd when you're trying to sell your website in Tech crazed Bay Area. If it can be done wrong that's how it's done at KGO, KSFO, KNBR and the FM Music stations. If it can be done cheap, that's how it's done. There is no culture. I have never worked in a place with lower morale in my entire life, and hopefully never have to again.

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