Your Plainsman noticed a spike in traffic to the site late last week, which usually means that some much more popular site has linked to this one. Sure enough, someone commenting on "Too Much Glare Friday" on Gordon's site was reporting on his search for infromation about former Ticket Traffic Twist Barb Smith, and found what we believe to be her "anonymous posts on this site.
He also linked to some messages from someone purporting to be “Jason Walker” at Radio-Info.com someone purporting to be "Jason Walker at Radio-Info.com. This “Jason Walker” strongly implied that Ms. Smith was terminated for cause. When a poster asked whether she was fired or she quit, “Jason Walker” responded: “There again, I know the answer to that question, but it is not for me to say. However, it should be pretty obvious. In this day and age, no one quits an on-air gig, unless they win the lottery.”
I don’t know whether Barb Smith was terminated or resigned.*
And I don’t know if “Anonymous” who posted here is the real Barb Smith.
And I don’t know if “Jason Walker” who posted on Radio-Info.com is the real Jason Walker.
But I do know that if the posting “Jason Walker” is not the real Jason Walker, someone had better tell the real Jason Walker about that post so that he can get back on that message board (and pay a visit to his supervisor) and deny that he went public with the suggestion that Ms. Smith was terminated (whether she was or not, or whether he believes that she was or not). An employee who publicly proclaims that a co-worker was fired, presumably for cause, has committed a pretty serious breach of company confidentiality, not to mention collegiality. If you were an employer and one of your employees went public about the firing of a co-worker, what would you do with that employee? Me too. And if you were a colleague of the blabbing employee, how would you regard said blabber? Yup.
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* I have no idea, but I suspect a mutual and amicable parting of the ways after each side expressed some dissatisfaction with the other. And there may have been an agreement providing for some severance, releases – and confidentiality. It’s also possible that Barb/Jason/Doyle/Alexis are not employees of Cumulus or The Ticket. They may be employed by an independent traffic network, although I note that Doyle King’s Wikipedia article states that he is a “substitute traffic director” at The Ticket, suggesting that it may actually be a salaried/hourly W-2-type position. It’s possible that all of the traffic guys are independent contractors, which makes the issue of resignation v. termination of reduced legal interest.
Having heard how far Barb had to travel on a daily basis,I questioned how can this be good? Especially with children and a family. What is the pay for a traffic person? Cant be that good? For all the flak Barb got over the years, I would figure she had a good arguement for sexual harassment. She seemed like a good sport, but if the Ticket canned her they would owe her a solid severence for all the things said about her. In the end I think it was ammicable departure. Doesnt seem like her name is off limits.
ReplyDeleteWhy has the ticket stopped doing The Compound?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, that is a very good question. Was the last one in April 2008? I don't recall. I turned to the always-authoritative research source, theunticket.com, and I don't see any commentary from 2009. Thanks for asking; I'll put that down for a future article topic.
ReplyDeleteI believe the overall economic downturn / lack of builder sponsorship was the downfall of the Compound. Plus, a week away for several of the guys with small kids (Gordo, Corby, BandD) might have the wives up in arms. My $0.02.
ReplyDeleteThe damage done to the house (I seem to remember a door or wall being broken and a toilet getting damaged among other things) and constant interlopers using stuff that was supposed to be for the hosts probably didn't help the compound's chances.
ReplyDeleterick/r and Anon, I think you are both right. I think there's one more reason I'll write about another time. (I have to bank topics so I can keep this damned thing fresh.)
ReplyDeleteI just now found this thread after searching "Barb Smith," which Google suggested a search thread of "barb smith the ticket fired."
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, I had laughed so hard at Barb's ineptitude, that I was red in the face and in possible respiratory distress. I was concerned that this might get her fired, and I actually sent an email to Kat (Cat?) begging for her job to be spared, because her foolishness brought so much entertainment to the listeners. He didn't respond.
This was interesting, because I had earlier tossed off an email to him suggesting that, if they let Dan McDowell and kept Donny Doo, they would still have a BaD Radio show. He sent me back a thoughtful email in which he thoroughly defended Dan, agreeing that some people may respond negatively to him, but explaining that he brought a different valuable viewpoint to The Ticket. (Ticket guys, your boss is in there fighting for you. Believe it.)
After Doyle started subbing, I had to admit that they had the funnest traffic team on the radio. This Alexis chick (no last name?) is a major duty meh.
Anonymous, I could not agree with you more re all topics: (1) Barb was entertaining, if not always easy to understand. (2) Jeff Catlin is good about responding to P1s and is loyal to his guys. (3) Dan McDowell is unlistenable, which is why you don't see much of anything about BaD Radio on this blog. I've wanted to write about his unfortunate presence on the airwaves for a long time, but one of the aims of this blog is to try to keep things positive and, if not positive, at least constructive. Every time I am somewhere where I can turn on the midday show, I end up shaking my head at his awfulness and changing the channel. Yeah, Bob and Donnie would do just fine together -- witness the Cowboy pre-game show. Thanks for checking in with the nicely-written comment.
ReplyDelete