Randy Michaels Making Waves Again

Randy Michaels

CRAIN's CHICAGO BUSINESS focuses on RANDY MICHAELS in an article TODAY, writing that "the former shock jock [is] charged with jolting TRIBUNE CO. back to life, grabbing the media giant by its BROOKS BROS. lapels and shaking hard. He yanked the salaries of his ad sales reps and put them on commission. He poked public fun at TRIB TOWER execs who, he said, would rather call the rotund Mr. MICHAELS 'tall and good-looking' than speak the truth.

"He crammed employees of TRIBUNE's WSFL-TV/MIAMI into the FORT LAUDERDALE offices of the company's SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL and made them report to the paper's publisher. And he upbraided the publisher of ALLENTOWN, PA.'S MORNING CALL in front of employees, accusing him of not providing an 'honest budget.'

"In short, MICHAELS, 56, is hewing to the script that worked for him during his long career in radio: a brash style that holds nothing sacred.

"'The TRIBUNE has done things the TRIBUNE way for a long time,' said EMMIS COMMUNICATIONS Chairman JEFF SMULYAN, who knows both MICHAELS and TRIBUNE's former CEO, DENNIS FITZSIMONS. 'Somebody like RANDY comes in and says, "These people are great people, but nothing has stopped the decline. How do we reinvent it?" That requires off-the-wall solutions, and the first thing is challenging the culture.'"

Read the full article here.

« see more Net News