Newspapers are dying in OKC

Lenslinger's Viewfinder Blues points us to yet another case study into how newspapers are dying...this time from the heartland. Oklahoma City is the next battleground region and The Oklahoman is the next "one to watch." See these series of reports from FOX-25 in Oklahoma City.

E.C. :)

The anatomy of a story--tax refunds ARE delayed

Let's rewind the tape, if you will.

Three days ago, I was making some initial phone calls for a possible story I wanted to do on reports of state tax refunds being delayed. One of those calls was to the News & Record's Mark Binker.

I reported on our interesting telephone exchange Tuesday.

An excerpt:

Binker: Erik, I hope this doesn't come out the wrong way, but you're a competitor and I have no interest in helping you. It's a non-issue. I made some calls on that not long ago, but frankly, there was no story. You have not had nice things to say about our publication lately so therefore, I will not be helping you.

The story the N&R was allegedly going to do was dead and buried...there was no story. It was a non-issue, this despite multiple postings on message boards on Yahoo! to e-mails at WRAL in the Triangle.

Apparently, it was a story for WRAL.



This also prompted a surprising blog posting from Binker yesterday:

The following came via e-mail from Linda Struyk Millsaps, the Chief Operating Officer of the N.C. Department of Revenue. It is a statement from Revenue Sec. Kenneth Lay:

"We are experiencing a temporary backlog in issuing refunds because of the difficulty of garnering the special funds we are using for cash flow. We expect some significant progress to be made in the next few weeks. We are writing checks every week, and everyone who is due a refund will get a refund."

A side note: this directly contradicts what I was told not once but twice in the past two weeks by the Department's spokeswoman, Kim Brooks. She said that there were no problems or delays in issuing refunds.

I also wonder where this falls in the pantheon of things that Gov. Bev Perdue doesn't want to be surprised by.

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I appreciate Mr. Binker's reporting on this. I'm unsure if he was pressured into pursuing this from downtown from this blog or what...but the lead story here is not that refunds are being delayed...it's that how this story (which is still simply a N&R blog posting right now) came to be. Three days ago, this was a non-story, it was a non-issue.

I don't have a hatchet to bury. If tax refunds are being delayed and the state doesn't want people to know about it, that's a major story, and every media outlet in this state ought to be on this story. If the state is broke and cannot afford to send out refunds, it is a major story. Six weeks later after e-filing, I'm still waiting on my state refund to come in.

The anatomy of a story. Hooray for citizen journalism.

E.C. :)

Former Rocky Mountain News alumni launch online edition

It's not dead...yet. And I have a funny feeling that the next major newspaper to fail will have their reporting staff doing the exact same thing. See this great story from Poynter.

E.C. :)

McClatchy's Observers begin to merge

Ed Cone had this yesterday...the features desks for both the News & Observer of Raleigh and the Charlotte Observer will merge as one, similar to the papers' newly-merged sports desk. Can it be too far off that we will see just one huge mega-McClatchy paper operating in the state?

E.C. :)

Local TV bits for 3/5/09

Regarding the recent Ellen/The Peoples Court switch, CBS-2 WFMY president and general manager Deborah Hooper tells Broadcasting & Cable:

"...it's an effort to counterprogram heavier fare...With all the doom and gloom talk...I think people just want to be entertained.”

Ellen is now seen at 4pm on CBS-2 to counter Oprah on NBC-12 (WXII).
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Regarding the CW-20 (WCWG):

CW outlet WCWG also got a new owner when New World TV grabbed the Pappas stations in a bankruptcy court sale recently; General Sales Manager Lynn Bailie says new projects are in the works.

This bears watching.
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Regarding the recent local news ratings:

Evening news is almost as close as late: WXII won with a 9.8/17 at 6, while WFMY posted an 8.0/14 and WGHP a 6.9/12. WXII takes the morning title. President/General Manager Hank Price has steered WXII's emergence by concentrating on a handful of key points: Own the big story, own weather, keep things fun. The streamlined game plan seems to be working. “We don't have consumer reporters, we don't have health reporters,” Price says.

Apparently, you don't have traffic reporters either...oops, did I say that?

E.C. :)

Bob & Wendy launch website

Triad Media Watch has heard from Wendy Gatlin, former co-host and one-half of the former Bob and Wendy Morning Show, which suffered an untimely demise on Majic 94.1FM (WTHZ) last month. In response to the letters TMW has received from former listeners over the past day or so, Wendy writes:

That is pretty darned cool about the feedback!! We do have a new website up if you wouldn't mind mentioning that! We are also toying with the idea of doing a weekly podcast.

Our site is www.thebobandwendyshow.com and or email is bobandwendy@thebobandwendyshow.com

Bob and I are trying really hard to stay together here in the Triad. We just hope an opportunity comes along. We really miss the listeners. They are what really made our show.

Peace,

Wendy

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The sheer irony is that WTHZ brass advertised their former position on the NC Association of Broadcasters website...how unbelievable:

WTHZ-FM (Majic 94.1) Greensboro, High Point, Winston Salem, one of North Carolina’s oldest family run radio groups has an immediate opening for a person to lead our station in mornings!

Show Prep is a must, in addition to production skills and public appearances/live broadcasts. A minimum of 5 years full-time on-air experience and knowledge of Classic Hits/ Oldies music is required. Knowledge of Scott Studios and Cool Edit are a plus.

No phone calls, please.
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TMW will keep tabs on Bob and Wendy.

E.C. :)

Big losses for Clear Channel

The Business Journal reports mega-media giant Clear Channel reported huge fourth quarter losses...double-digits.

BJ:

CC Media Holdings (OTC BB: CCMO) had a net loss of $5 billion on revenues of $1.6 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2008. This compares to net income of $320 million on revenues of $1.9 billion for the same period a year ago.

The company attributes its net loss to the economic slowdown that is adversely affecting advertising revenues as well as two impairment charges totaling $1.7 billion and $3.6 billion.

Clear Channel’s revenue dipped 14 percent between the two quarters. Radio broadcasting revenue fell to $788.8 million, down from $903.7 million a year ago. Outdoor advertising revenue dropped to $785.5 million, down from $936.7 million a year ago.

Ouch!

Locally, the company owns WCBT-FM (94.5), WMAG-FM (99.5), WMKS-FM (105.7), WTQR-FM (104), WVBZ-FM (100.3).

E.C. :)

"SAM's" Gone

SAM-the "Straight Answer Man" is no more.

The Winston-Salem Journal columnist was actually a woman...Ronda Bumgardner, the long-time Straight Answer Ma'am, resigned this past Monday to take a position with the financial-research arm of MIT.

Bumgardner's husband and former long-time music critic Ed Bumgardner was laid off from the paper back in early February.

Journal editor Ken Otterbourg tries to put her departure in perspective:

With a smaller staff and greater demands than ever, we’re working hard to figure out a new path for this column, one that respects its heritage but balances that against other needs and how consumers can get information these days. We’ll tell you about online and in the paper in the next few days.
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E.C. :)

Kindly report any posting problems

Cross-posted on GreensboroMetro, Guilford School Watch and Triad Media Watch:

It has been brought to my attention that some of you may be encountering problems with posting comments on my blog(s). To this end, I will be sending out test comments over the next day or so. If you have had problems posting to me or anyone else on the Blogger network, please let me know. My forums are uncensored and unfiltered, so your comments should be posting okay. Nonetheless, I want to know if anyone else has had any problems.

Thanks,

E.C. :)

Media people in the media: Caron Myers

It was nice to see former FOX-8 reporter Caron Myers on TV last night, giving a soundbite to her former employer. Myers left the channel late last September to join the Alamance-Burlington School System as its director of community services.

The TV-PhotogBlog has more on Myers tenure at FOX-8.

E.C. :)