Six Flags to Help Manage Dick Clark Co.

Six Flags needs to take a managerial role in its own company first. Things are just starting to get rolling in the right direction. I think Marky Mark is getting over his head.
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*** This post was edited by DS 2/29/2008 9:41:23 AM ***

I smell smoke!

Dick Clark obviously did a lot of innovative things early in his career including his radio show in Philadelphia, Bandstand and turning New Year's Eve into a huge televised event.

In his later years though he became a greedy businessman, who often frowned on his people joining broadcasting unions and paying everyone who worked for him as little as possible. He was famous for walking by you without saying a word if you weren't important to him and for firing those who were starting to make a few bucks.

His produced tv shows became lackluster shoddy productions. Though they had his name, he didn't really produce original content. (Bloopers for example). The radio shows like Dick Clark's Rock Roll and Remeber used the same interview bits for years.

Like some of the things Six Flags has been accused of, he was in it for the money and putting little into product. When a Dick Clark show finaly tanked, another took its place.

At personal appearences, he played up the "charming host role," but to those in the business, he sadly just wasn't a nice person.

Unions have made local TV nearly useless. It's another industry where they've gone too far.

Jeff, with all due respect...I was working in the number one radio metro market (New York City), working full-time on a Network Radio show and making under ten dollars an hour in 1985.

To be fair, one of Dick Clark's radio companies gave me a start, but try to live in an outer New York City bourough with college loans to pay with that kind of salary. Like acting, if I didn't want the job, there were thousands more lined up to take it. (Staff turnover was very high and morale was quite low).

Needless to say, I needed to hold down a few extra part time jobs to make ends meet.

Trust me though...Dick, The President of the company and the Network sales staff did very well.

We (like many of his companies) were a non-union shop.*** This post was edited by Richie Reflux 2/29/2008 11:13:06 PM ***

Was I talking about radio? The truth about a lot of broadcast jobs is that they pay what the level of skill requires, which frankly isn't much, and as you mention, there are plenty of people who want your job. That's why the pay sucks. The unions pervert that supply and demand. What's worse, they enact all kinds of protectionist B.S. that prevents you from doing your job. TV is especially bad, when you need to call an engineer to play back a tape. That's ridiculous.