Jeff Dubay says he's forced out at AM1500 in cost-cutting move

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Equal parts devastated and grateful today. Grateful to Dan Seeman and the Hubbard family for the great opportunity they gave me...</p>— Jeff Dubay (@JeffDubay) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffDubay/statuses/422812384126705664">January 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>...devastated that they had to let me go today purely for cost cutting measures. Thanks to all who have given their love and support.</p>— Jeff Dubay (@JeffDubay) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffDubay/statuses/422812703758245890">January 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Dan Seeman is a tremendous GM as well as a close friend. This was about money and I'm grateful for him for waiving my no compete clause.</p>— Jeff Dubay (@JeffDubay) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffDubay/statuses/422817029318381568">January 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Go Gophers!!
 

Wow....I just a little bit of their show today and didn't realize any of that was going down. Guy can be a jerk but always hate to see someone lose there job if it is just about money.
 

I don't think that station will be around in 12 months and that is too bad. I enjoyed Dubay on the air.
 

What good is a non-compete? Would KFAN take him back? I did not always agree with him, but if they want to cut money, get rid of Soupcan. Dubay knows more about sports than that arrogant prick.
 

That station doesn't come in well enough for me to listen to it (and I live in the Metro). I never heard a word of Dubay on KSTP.
 



I liked that he talked a lot about the Gophers, but I hated how much he backed Souhan. I'm (hopefully) assuming he did that because they were co-workers and not because he actually agreed with Souhan's takes.
 

cost cutting, is French for a lack of ratings or market share. Too many of the radio broadcasts are monologues. And those that take calls, use the callers as foils. And then there is the on air talent that has guests. Someone you never heard of, and they do something you have no idea about it. There are few very few talents who have guests you want, and take calls from listeners with there take.
 




Schnauzer said:
That station doesn't come in well enough for me to listen to it (and I live in the Metro). I never heard a word of Dubay on KSTP.
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I hear this a lot and yet I can get 1500 driving around Winnipeg. odd.
 

Apparently whomever runs 1500's Twitter page doesn't read GopherHole or their own internal communications as a few minutes ago they tweeted that Jeff Dubay is hosting the Don Lucia show tonight and then GopherHole tried to clarify it and the tweet has been removed

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Is Jeff still hosting? RT <a href="https://twitter.com/1500ESPN">@1500ESPN</a>: The Don Lucia Show w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffDubay">@JeffDubay</a> tonight at 6p on <a href="https://twitter.com/1500ESPN">@1500ESPN</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a></p>— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole/statuses/422835800578211840">January 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Tweet has now been removed by 1500. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SaltInWound&src=hash">#SaltInWound</a> RT <a href="https://twitter.com/1500ESPN">@1500ESPN</a>: The Don Lucia Show w/ <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffDubay">@JeffDubay</a> tonight at 6p on <a href="https://twitter.com/1500ESPN">@1500ESPN</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Gophers&src=hash">#Gophers</a></p>— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) <a href="https://twitter.com/GopherHole/statuses/422836989432696832">January 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Dubay talks too fast, stutters all the time and interrupts his co-host and guests. He has an idea of what he is talking about half the time. He usually sounds like a petulant third grader. Other than that he is fine.
 

station19 said:
Dubay talks too fast, stutters all the time and interrupts his co-host and guests. He has an idea of what he is talking about half the time. He usually sounds like a petulant third grader. Other than that he is fine.
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He was fantastic with P.A. though. The self-deprecating humor was nice, and he was able to tamp down on P.A.'s ego, which has become enormous. P.A. isn't able to take an ounce of criticism without lashing out, and he always thinks he's right. That's why Common Man is so refreshing immediately after P.A.
 



Glad he let us know twice in just 3 tweets that it was for cost-cutting reasons. Why else could Dubay be fired?
 

husker70 said:
cost cutting, is French for a lack of ratings or market share. Too many of the radio broadcasts are monologues. And those that take calls, use the callers as foils. And then there is the on air talent that has guests. Someone you never heard of, and they do something you have no idea about it. There are few very few talents who have guests you want, and take calls from listeners with there take.
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Common man Dan Cole
 

Maybe he'll join Morris on The Ticket.
 


mkAz said:
Maybe he'll join Morris on The Ticket.
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The MM and BS show is maybe the worst sports talk radio show I have ever heard. The ticket couldn't do any worse.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
He was fantastic with P.A. though. The self-deprecating humor was nice, and he was able to tamp down on P.A.'s ego, which has become enormous. P.A. isn't able to take an ounce of criticism without lashing out, and he always thinks he's right. That's why Common Man is so refreshing immediately after P.A.
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I agree 100%. I won't even turn KFAN on until noon.

Good luck to Dubay. I truly believe if he had one sport team to root for it would be a Gophers team.
 

Nate said:
I liked that he talked a lot about the Gophers, but I hated how much he backed Souhan. I'm (hopefully) assuming he did that because they were co-workers and not because he actually agreed with Souhan's takes.
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I haven't listened to the show much but when I have, I just feel like they almost have to create topics. Four hours is too long of a show if you ask me.
 

I don't give a crap what anyone else says about Dubay. His show with PA was the best in town for Gopher fans and I hope that KFAN reunites them. PA needs a partner to cover his weaknesses and Dubers did it nicely. He's had his issues but I always root for people trying to get themselves squared away.
 

AM 1500's ratings are awful. Losing the Twins took away their one chance at being a mainstay. Gopher Hoops and Hockey aren't enough to build a listener base. The signal is too weak. The most popular personality is Soucheray who doesn't fit the format and sticks out like a sore thumb while breaking the station's continuity. We now have three all sports stations in the market plus WCCO which has the Twolves and gives sports news a fair airing. It's too many. I figure KSTP is back to being a general interest talk station by 2015 or whenever its ESPN obligations end since they likely have some sort of contract for the branding and content.
 

The PA and Dubay show was actually good. They talked Gopher sports and they seemed to keep each other in check. PA is now completely unlistenable. His ego is out of control and he is just awful. Dubay was disappointing on 1500. I don't know if he was trying to get into 1500's good graces, but he wasn't the Dubay that I remembered. He backed Souhan and even Reusse to a point that he was tough to listen to. I think it became clear that 1500 started going down the avenue of getting clicks by being provocative rather than informative. It's too bad because people see through that nonsense and while it might get you clicks, it won't get you listeners. 1500 is dying a slow death because of people like Souhan and Doogie. They are shams and transparent.

I hope Dubay goes back to using his brain. His take on Mason/Kill a few weeks ago was shockingly stupid. That said, he's an actual Gopher fan. It would be nice if he'd do a segment here and there on Gopher sports.
 

station19 said:
Dubay talks too fast, stutters all the time and interrupts his co-host and guests. He has an idea of what he is talking about half the time. He usually sounds like a petulant third grader. Other than that he is fine.
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Sounds like he is on speed. The interrupting was awful. Even today, Zulgad was making a point & after each sentence, Dubay had to say, "Uhh hummm" ... he just can't stand not being the center of attention. Very childlike. But, I liked his passion & knowledge of Gophers.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
The PA and Dubay show was actually good. They talked Gopher sports and they seemed to keep each other in check. PA is now completely unlistenable. His ego is out of control and he is just awful. Dubay was disappointing on 1500. I don't know if he was trying to get into 1500's good graces, but he wasn't the Dubay that I remembered. He backed Souhan and even Reusse to a point that he was tough to listen to. I think it became clear that 1500 started going down the avenue of getting clicks by being provocative rather than informative. It's too bad because people see through that nonsense and while it might get you clicks, it won't get you listeners. 1500 is dying a slow death because of people like Souhan and Doogie. They are shams and transparent.

I hope Dubay goes back to using his brain. His take on Mason/Kill a few weeks ago was shockingly stupid. That said, he's an actual Gopher fan. It would be nice if he'd do a segment here and there on Gopher sports.
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I'll take Reusse, Doogie and even Souhan any day over Dubay. At least they sound like adults.
 

Here is my experience with Jeff Dubay: We have a family in our neighborhood with a young daughter with cystic fibrosis. The same family was pregnant this past spring with a son had already been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis before birth. He passed away shortly after being born. Shortly after, our neighborhood arranged a fundraiser for the family to help cover costs of the funeral and the ongoing medical expenses associated with caring for their daughter. I reached out to various local sports teams for donations for a silent auction and all contributed to varying degrees, which was completely understandable as the organizations get bombarded with donation requests all the time (the Twins get 140 donation requests a WEEK) so any contribution was very much appreciated. Having previously shared correspondence with Jeff via email - I was among the many that reached out to him when he gave his email address up during an interview with Chad Hartmann - I also reached out to him to see if 1500 would be willing/able to contribute as well. Jeff's response was immediate. He said they absolutely would and arranged time for me to come by the station. At which time, he had me sit in studio with him and Zulgad for a segment (I didn't talk - just observed), and then Dave Kerrigan (Producer) gave me a bag full of donations from the station: four dugout seats for a twins game, various AM 1500 clothing items, and the opportunity to sit in studio for an entire Judd and Dubay show. Jeff even offered to come to the benefit/auction, and went out of his way to see if there was anything else he could do.

I understand that due to the volume of requests the various organizations receive, they have organized, but in some cases, impersonal, response systems in place. But I will say that Jeff's and AM 1500's was very personal, genuine, and thoughtful. He in particular went out of his way to do more than what ever could have been expected - again, other than a random email, he didn't know me at all.

All-in-all, the items AM1500 donated, combined, raised nearly $500 for a family in great need and Jeff was the primary reason for it.
 


Here's the other issue. Dubay is a no-go for ad sales and product endorsement.
As much of a joke as Common's program is, he brings a lot of ad dollars with his endorsements. Same with PA and now even Soucheray and Reusse (who for years could not because of newspaper policy).

With his still-recent legal issues, nobody wants Dubay to be their spokesperson, and that puts him at a disadvantage compared to other local hosts, even if his salary was less (and I suspect it was).

I don't see 1500 remaining sports much longer either. When KFAN went to FM I think it really put a nail in 1500's coffin. If they'd have moved to 107.1 at that point, it might have worked, but they didn't.

I don't know what is going on with the Ticket. They don't advertise at all - yet they have some name talent on the station. You'd hardly know they even exist.
 

discochris said:
I don't know what is going on with the Ticket. They don't advertise at all - yet they have some name talent on the station. You'd hardly know they even exist.
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I didn't know they existed until it was mentioned in this thread.
 

I moved from Minneapolis to Chicago 11 years ago, but I did like to listen to the PA & Dubay Show because it sounded fresh and different from every other show and they always gave a good dose of Gopher sports. Now, that was at the very beginning of Allen's Vikings play-by-play career so he hadn't yet become enamored with himself, and obviously before Dubay's personal issues, but it was a good listen.
 

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