Jackson Jambalaya

A sad day indeed. I'm waiting to hear more from a friend who's been there for a long, long time. I'll let you know if I learn anything useful.

Ricky Mathews, former publisher of the SunHerald and Biloxi man, is to be the new President of the newly former NOLA Media Group. He's a sharp guy and a good friend of mine. Will be interesting to see how all this plays out. I wonder how far behind the Clarion Ledger will be in doing the same thing?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/times-picayune-cut-publication-days-week-16421380#.T75ohVFNFUQ

nothing is local anymore... tv, newspapers, even radio... our local radio stations have been done this same way... Oldies 105 and Z106 is NOT local... that station use to have GREAT jocks but someone in a corporate office decided it was better to have a common that is shared by many markets. There traffic reports comes from New Orleans... and this is suppose to be great??? This is the NEW America!!

z106 hasn't been great in decades.

Alabama papers are going to three day print schedule, too.

http://blog.al.com/al/2012/05/alabama_media_group_a_new_digi.html#incart_river_default

What is a T - P??

Times-Picayune

Corporate culture is invading everything and is everywhere. Take stores like Belk-WalMart-Target-Kohls even their thermostats are controlled out of state. Try being in one close to closing time. Very uncomfortable.

Newspaper groups have take micro-management to that kind of level. I read a story today in the largest newspaper in South Carolina the story I was reading was a general interest sports from a competing paper out of state. Go figure.

This could be a good thing in Jackson. I'd rather have three papers full of relevant, locally produced, content than seven thin papers full of puff pieces and wire stories. No one is looking to the newspaper for breaking world news anymore, but they could still be very valuable in local and news coverage.

As an aside, I challenge any one of you to call the Clarion's Customer Service number (1-877-850-5343) and get a live person. Can't be done. "Our call volume is extremely heavy and you will be directed to a CSR very shortly. Thank you for continuing to hold. Your call will be answered shortly."

After six attempts this week, being on hold cumulatively for over an hour, finally dialed the number (found on the website) for the paper's manager who, oddly enough, answered the phone and was able to "Let me see if I can connect you to somone over there".

The bottom line is newspapers don't give a shit about customers or news or service. Those days are long, long gone.

(Too funny that even the thermostats are controlled remotely from another city!)

I called. Voice said:

Hello, this is Peggy.

When the bottom line and quarterly reports are everything, then nickle and diming your customers becomes important. It's no longer the work or the product but the money. $1 added to your bill might be overlooked but adds to " real" money every month if a company can get by with it 300000 times a month in every market.

" Too big to fail" also means the consumer has fewer alternatives for goods and services in their market.

The corporate take over of our news outlets will, eventually, be the demise of The Fourth Estate which, by the way, our Founding Fathers thought an important element to a democratic republic.

OR, put another way " he who controls the flow of information controls power".

1:34: Toilet paper? ;-)

I subscribed to XM satellite radio a few years ago. It's national, and it's designed for people who are seriously interested in dozens of different music styles, without comemrcials. They have a bunch of other stuff as well (e.g., comedy, news). The trade-off of no local news is worth it to get music I want to hear.