{"id":4126,"date":"2014-07-18T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=4126"},"modified":"2014-07-18T06:25:27","modified_gmt":"2014-07-18T11:25:27","slug":"v103s-joe-soto-no-1-with-a-muzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/07\/18\/v103s-joe-soto-no-1-with-a-muzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"V103\u2019s Joe Soto: No. 1 with a muzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joe<\/a>

<\/a> Joe Soto<\/p><\/div>\n

You can be the top-rated evening personality on the No. 1 radio station in Chicago. You can command an audience of more than 475,000 listeners a week. You can be a 34-year broadcast veteran who\u2019s won awards and a stellar reputation as a pro.<\/p>\n

But if you work for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, you can\u2019t answer a simple question from a reporter.<\/p>\n

For more than a week now I\u2019ve been trying to get a comment \u2014 any comment<\/em> \u2014 from Joe Soto, the nighttime star of Clear Channel\u2019s urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7.<\/a> I\u2019ve emailed, I\u2019ve texted and I\u2019ve called.<\/p>\n

In light of the abrupt departure<\/a>\u00a0last week of his longtime co-host, Ramonski Luv, I wanted to know how Soto felt about handling V103\u2019s \u201cThe Real Show\u201d solo from now on.<\/p>\n

\"Ramonski<\/a>

Ramonski Luv<\/p><\/div>\n

I can understand why Clear Channel doesn\u2019t want anyone poking around about Luv\u2019s separation from the company. Obviously there were personal and\/or legal issues behind the cryptic statement it issued when Luv suddenly vanished from V103 last week: \u201cIt\u2019s our policy not to discuss employee matters for privacy reasons.\u201d Never mind that the mysterious move coincided with the duo reclaiming the top spot <\/a>in the latest Nielsen Audio ratings.<\/p>\n

But all I wanted were a few words from Soto addressing the significant change in his show and acknowledging the end of one of the most successful Chicago radio partnerships of the last 10 years. Is that too much to ask?<\/p>\n

On Thursday I finally heard back from Soto, who politely directed me to Clear Channel Chicago\u2019s vice president of communications. I can\u2019t tell you exactly what she said because her response was off the record. But the gist of it was that Soto would not be answering my questions. When I followed up by asking for an explanation on the record about why<\/em> Soto wouldn\u2019t respond, I never got a reply.<\/p>\n

Just to be clear, I don\u2019t believe for a minute that Soto doesn\u2019t want to talk to me. We\u2019ve always respected each other over the years, and I\u2019m sure he\u2019s capable of crafting a thoughtful, appropriate response to a legitimate question. He\u2019s a smart guy who\u2019s taught radio at the college level and knows his way around as well as anyone.<\/p>\n

I believe he\u2019s being muzzled by his Clear Channel bosses because they're determined to maintain radio silence on Ramonski Luv, and because they don't trust their employees to communicate with the media. That\u2019s always been the Clear Channel way.<\/p>\n

I feel sorry for anyone who works for a company that thinks so little of its employees. Or its audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can be the top-rated evening personality on the No. 1 radio station in Chicago. You can command an audience of more than 475,000 listeners a week. You can be a 34-year broadcast veteran who\u2019s won awards and a stellar reputation as a pro. But if you work for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, you... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4126"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4135,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4126\/revisions\/4135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}