I don't listen to Virgin Radio 999 FM, but I hear they've recently purged most of their on-air talent. It's an Astral-owned company, so this isn't particularly surprising. Astral's been doing a lot of this lately, I just hope my buddy Humble is safe.
Joining Jimmy T, Chris Biggs and Taylor Kaye in the unemployment line is Lydia Stratus. The 999 Virgin Radio show listing is now primarily made up of imported syndicated shows, by Ryan Seacrest, Perez Hilton and Akon. The only actual local personalities left are the morning duo of Mad Dog and Billie, a lady named Kella and a gentleman named Adam Wylde.
Chatter at the SOWNY forum suggests these latest firings have little to do with ratings and everything to do with a salary dump. Someone there named ahl puts it like this:
It was explained to me by a person in a position to know that it's all about share holders getting a return on their investment. If they can't get it with improved ratings and higher sales then the next option is to cut expenses and the easiest target is salaries. With a few exceptions "spend to make" is gone from the corporate vocabulary replaced with "slash to make".
It sounds like Astral and Rogers employ similar radio management methodologies. Virgin Radio listeners, were Chris Biggs, Taylor Kaye, Jimmy T and Lydia Stratus good hosts? Does their absence have you considering another radio station?
