Ryan Cameron will no longer be the PA announcer at Hawks' home games.

[Dnice]

I know, Jay, but just thinking about a full crowd and Ryan just adds  flavor to the experience. 

[Dynamo]

Take Care Ryan.

[Sothron]

Is there anything more to why this happened? He always did a great job.

[marco102]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

Is there anything more to why this happened? He always did a great job.

Not sure if it's mentioned earlier, but Ryan does not work for Audacy and works for a rival radio station.  Audacy is the official station of the Hawks.  They decided to go with their own people. 

It sucks for us fans.

[JayBirdHawk]

The Story:

Quote

Steve Koonin, CEO of the Hawks, said in an interview Tuesday that this was a synergy issue with Audacy, the company that airs the Hawks games on 92.9/The Game on the radio and also owns V-103 where Tigger is morning host. Cameron no longer works for Audacy since Majic 107.5/97.5 is owned by Radio One.

“Ryan is fantastic,” Koonin said. “We love him. But this is 21st century media, and we need to be vertically integrated. That means using on-air talent with the Game and V-103.”

Rick Caffey, who runs Audacy in Atlanta, added this comment in a press release: “This is a great opportunity to have our talent have a more visible presence at State Farm Arena during Hawks games.”

Unfortunate.  We'll see how this works.

[Sothron]

Pretty lousy for someone to lose their job because of something like this. There's no way Ryan can control any of that. It wasn't like he was bad at a job or did something horrible that needed him to be fired.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[AHF]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:12 AM, JayBirdHawk said:

The Story:

Unfortunate.  We'll see how this works.

One of the few times I will boo Koonin.  Downgrading the PA to serve the interests of "vertical integration" is bad all around.  Give the fans the best possible experience and then deliver a good show with someone else on your media to compliment it.

It kind of implies that the existing talent couldn't compete with Cameron and so they were losing clicks and listens to the rival Radio One.  So rather than hire Cameron away or raise the quality of Audacy, they choose to downgrade the PA announcer and hope that this causes listeners to increase on Audacy.  Not smart.

I have zero confidence in Tigger clearing that bar.

 

Plus, you got called out by Chuck D and that is never good:

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Update:

Ryan Cameron interview that talks about being let go as the Hawks PA announcer:

 

 

– says he asked for more money after not receiving a raise in almost a decade

– an exec (most likely steve koonin) called him and berated him for asking for more money and almost immediately fired him

– says the reason that was given (because he left v-103/audacy) was a lie

– says he only missed 2 home games in 20 years and never had any issues his whole time there until he asked for a raise

– still cant go to games because of the sour taste they left

[REHawksFan]

Clicked on this thread hoping to hear that Ryan and the Hawks had reconciled and he was coming back.  Wishful thinking I know.  But I sure to miss hearing him.  

[NBASupes]

Disgusting 

[BangHolman]

I grew up on Ryan Cameron calling games. No one will ever be able to replace, especially with this out now.

[macdaddy]

What a huge friggin mistake.  For a guy who's considered a master marketer this is extremely strange. 

[AHF]

This seems to be one of those few topics on which the entire fan base agrees.  You ****'d up, Koonin.  Go back and apologize and fix this.  (Obviously you can insert a different name if someone other than Koonin made the call.)

[JayBirdHawk]

I've gone to a lot of games...it was certainly different without Ryan last season!

[HawkItus]

I get it. Ryan was great, but you are getting great seats to not even call a game, just make announcements. And Ryan is very well compensated in his "9-5". They all ways say don't ask for more, when somebody will do it for less. That's any fans dream job. i.e. Big Tigger. He enjoyed that preseason trip I'm sure.

 

[theheroatl]

Not sure why he pushed for a raise, it's not a full time job, more like a hobby. In game announcers don't matter to me.

[AHF]

56 minutes ago, theheroatl said:

Not sure why he pushed for a raise, it's not a full time job, more like a hobby. In game announcers don't matter to me.

Asking for a raise after 10 years of not getting one is hardly getting greedy.  In game announcers may not matter to you but teams spend a lot of money on all kinds of in-game things to enhance the experience and clearly a lot of us thought Cameron brought something to the table.  

Unless he couched his asking for a raise as a demand and made it acrimonious there was no reason to fire him over that, imo.  You can always tell him "no."  It is a bad look for any employer to fire someone over asking for a raise, especially in an environment where wages are spiking for every kind of job imaginable and inflation is running hard. 

[Cwell]

1 hour ago, HawkItus said:

I get it. Ryan was great, but you are getting great seats to not even call a game, just make announcements. And Ryan is very well compensated in his "9-5". They all ways say don't ask for more, when somebody will do it for less. That's any fans dream job. i.e. Big Tigger. He enjoyed that preseason trip I'm sure.

 

smh, is all I can do on this take. "Never count another mans pockets, because you can't count his problems"

[kg01]

Nothing wrong with asking for a raise but we also don't know the specifics.  How did he ask?  How much of a raise did he ask for?  To me, in assessing the situation, those things matter.

Haven't watched but yalls descriptions make it sound like a one-sided hit piece they all know the Hawks won't respond to.