The Strib and KARE Cut, KTLK Adds
By Brian Lambert
Here I am in full nerd mode, clearing off my schedule for tonight's season finale of Lost (a.k.a. the only network drama I actually watch with fanlike enthusiasm), and there's news seeping out all over town.
Here's a rapid-fire breakdown:
THE STRIB TO CUT $30 MILLION
As I write this (11:30 a.m.), Strib editor Nancy Barnes is breaking the bad news to her staff that a $30 million budget cut figure is closer to ugly reality than not. The paper's guild has been anticipating the worst as it begins negotiations for a new contract, and by "worst", they were whispering "$10 million to $20 million" out of operating expenses. My archrival David Brauer breaks down details here.
As has already been discussed, the Strib's owners, Avista Capital Partners, have struck quicksand in Minneapolis. The slam dunk real estate deal they apparently foresaw with Vikings owner, Zygi Wilf, has gone south faster than a six-month-and-a-day tax dodger, and by all appearances, Wilf will be able to take the Strib's five-block chunk next to the Metrodome off their hands for a hell of a lot less than either he or they ever imagined. (There could also be a different buyer.)
Then there's the revenue woes of the entire "old media" industry. It's bad, and we've been saying it's bad for so long. When a daily paper anywhere "only" loses 5 percent circulation, we think that's good.
But then there's the miseries Avista has brought entirely on itself with its over-leveraged, quick-flip purchase of the paper. This is NOT the same thing as the bad business climate even though Avista's irregular mouthpieces would like us all to think so. We are hoping that someone asks Barnes to ask Harte to ask Avista's actual partners if they feel any obligation at all to their employees in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities community for how badly they have amplified the sorry state of the newspaper industry with their stunning lack of due diligence with the Strib. Sans Avista's fiasco, the shift in the Strib's current condition might only be the difference between bad and miserable, but considering the mess this crowd has made here, who at the Strib or among its customers won't take "bad"?
Obviously talk of "obligations", moral responsibility, and ethics is Pollyanna-ish in the extreme when talking about a publicly held company and science fiction with a private equity creature such as Avista. But I'd love to hear Harte or someone's response or at least register their "no comment."
(The guild has apparently broached the subject of Avista using plentiful assets from its other "groups", none of which are even remotely as bad off as the Strib, to stabilize their Minnesota newspaper. which in the compartmentalized worlds of private-equity finance, I'm told, was a non-starter.)
[1:42 p.m.]—The takeaway from Ms. Barnes' s presentation this morning was her repeated pleas—to a roomful of journalists, whose professional ethics encourage transparency without fear or favor—not to repeat any of what she was about to say beyond the room. At one point, she reportedly even admonished one reporter to stop taking notes. Her concern, she explained, was that "lenders" and advertisers might hear of the paper's sorry financial plight.
Do you think?
Anyway, the picture she eventually painted was grim with $3 million in cuts needed from the newsroom, which means roughly $2.5 million beyond the $500k she can account for by not filling open positions. The scenario is beginning to sound very Northwest-like with "givebacks", i.e. compensation cuts, maybe in the 10 percent range or, failing that, layoffs. Where Avista gets $27 million out of the rest of the paper is anyone's guess.
KARE CUTS 8, OUTSOURCES MASTER CONTROL AND GRAPHICS
Gannett-owned KARE, ch. 11, quietly announced yesterday that it is whacking five employees from its master control operations here in Minnesota and three from its graphics unit. I've contacted KARE GM John Remes for explanations, and he said he'd "try to get back today." Generally reliable sources tell me that the graphics faction will now be outsourced to Gannett's facility in Denver while some or all—I'm not sure yet—of the master control functions will be handled out of Florida.
KARE, to remind everyone, has enjoyed status in these towns for years as the fattest calf in the feedlot, returning ransom-like profits to Gannett headquarters in Virginia. Put simply, if you're in business to make ridiculously easy profits—and who among us hasn't dreamed of that?—few endeavors can match the twenty-year run KARE has had here in Minnesota. And by every indication, it will continue delivering staggering amounts of dough back to the main office. The only difference is that now, such as WCCO-TV before it and every newspaper in the country, KARE has reached the point where it must cut staff, i.e. make its middle-class employees suffer, in order to achieve the return on investment to which the parent company has grown accustomed. (Gannett owns USA Today and a lot of smaller papers all feeling that pressure.)
One former employee argues that Remes, who is a Minnesota native, has managed to resist both layoffs and salary freezes longer than most of his fellow Gannett GMs.
As I say, I'm still a little cloudy on how this outsourcing business is supposed to work although apparently it isn't all that difficult technically. More if I hear back from Remes.
RON ROSENBAUM SHIFTS TO KTLK, GETS SATURDAY SHOW
Attorney and long time talk host Ron Rosenbaum has not only parted ways—completely—with Hubbard Broadcasting, he's setting up shop at KTLK, Clear Channel's largely under-performing FM talk station. Rosenbaum did eight-and-a-half years at Hubbard's AM 1500 before, uh, failing to secure a renewal a couple years ago. He was also a regular presence on KSTP-TV ch. 5. (After losing the regular radio gig, Rosenbaum, who has represented dozens of Twin Cities media types in their contract negotiations, worked out a deal to lend Hubbard's various stations his legal thinking but was little used in recent months.)
In a city that at times seems populated by the same twelve people, Rosenbaum will now regularly appear as a guest on the show of one of his star clients, Dan Barreiro. (His first visit will be Friday, tomorrow, at 5:20). That's on KFAN, Barreiro's weekday home. But then on Saturdays, Barreiro and Rosenbaum will go back-to-back. Barreiro, who obviously isn't into that staying-home-with-the-Mrs.-planting-tulips thing, is already doing a 10 a.m.-to-noon Saturday gig on KTLK. (Does the guy have things to say, or what?) Now, starting this Saturday, Rosenbaum will punch in from noon to 2 p.m., overlapping with Barreiro for a few minutes as they hand off the KTLK mike.
I, of course, can only speculate here, but it does seem possible that Rosenbaum's representation of Barreiro in the latter's heavily publicized, pricey, and ultimately successful bidding war between Clear Channel and Hubbard last fall might have compounded long-festering issues with certain Hubbard managers. Whatever the reason, Rosenbaum, a bona fide character with no shortage of well-informed opinions (and thankfully few out of the Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck five-watt bulb echo chamber), seems pleased to have relocated.
"I am really looking forward to working with Barreiro. It's such a pleasure to be able to interact with someone who knows what they're talking about and understands radio." Rosenbaum has hopes of drawing in his old pal, attorney Joe Friedberg, and maybe WCCO's Pat Kessler and Mark Rosen for bits on his Saturday show.
Barreiro denies the conspiracy theory that says the Rosenbaum-to-Clear Channel move was built into last fall's deal. "No, no, no. That's funny. But it's not true."
For his part, he says the Saturday KTLK bit (for which he gave up his Sunday KFAN show), is "just a chance to do something a little different, and even then it probably won't sound a lot different. On The Fan, I feel obligated to a base-line fifty-fifty approach to sports. On K-Talk, it'll be, I don't know, maybe ninety-five to five, something else to sports. With Rosenbaum, we haven't been on the air much together, but he obviously knows his stuff. I think it'll be good."
But has he ever tried to cut off Ron Rosenbaum? Not any easy thing to do. "Yeah, I know what you're saying. Be careful what you wish for."
Whatever reason AM1500 had for dropping Rosenbaum two years ago, it wasn't good. A naturally combative personality, Rosenbaum works best in a kind of free-fire zone with cronies he regards as his intellectual peers. (Very few rate that high, but that's part of the shtick.) More to the point, in a radio universe that isn't exactly overflowing with brain power or imagination—and is forever convincing itself that no audience exists for sophisticated discussion—, Rosenbaum brought/brings a helping of both.
"My goal," Rosenbaum reiterates, "is to demystify things we lawyers make out to be a lot more complicated than they really are."
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
So, the successful radio folks are "dimbulbs", is that it?
Their audiences are "credulous"?
And please, STOP with the "roomful of journalists" crap re: the Strib.
If only $3 million out of the $20 is coming from the "newsroom", I imagine your boys ClaudeN'Rick (TM) will continue to wave the pink flag from the Sunday A&E section?
LAMBERT: Tell me, is it just a constant struggle to be as deep as you are?
Posted by: bertram jr on May 15, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Your piece was comprehensive, clear and thoughtful. It is too bad the Strib doesn't have more talent commensurate with yours.
If you are ever offered Ms. Barnes' job, I have couple of ideas for you. Find someone to do man on the street interviews on how people with limited capital can make a little cash and how average people can save money. In the Wal-Mart line today I heard a lengthy, animated conversation on both.
If not these, some other ways to engage readers as they actually are and how they face and cope with the current economy. People are starved for information relevant to their lives.
LAMBERT: I wonder when the last time was Ms. Barnes, or more relevantly any Avista partner, was in line at Wal-Mart, or even engaged in a conversation with someone who had been to Wal-Mart in say the last month?
Posted by: Bleuler on May 15, 2008 at 5:40 PM
Well, Mr. Bleuler, you obviously didn't read today's piece about how darn many coffee options there are for consumers nowadays? Cutting edge stuff. I sent it to a friend in the Pacific Northwest in case he hadn't heard.
Posted by: Jim Leinfelder on May 15, 2008 at 8:23 PM
Tsk, Tsk Brian.
See, this is why you aren't at the Star Tribune anymore. Every manager there is well aware that perception is everything. So using their logic, they'd never be caught dead at a Walmart. After all, Target is a Minnesota company is it not? You know, support the home team and all. And for sure they aren't engaging in conversations lile Bleuler suggests. Nope, it's all about how the local high school team did the other night and, I hope just to tick off BJ, whatever Claude and Rick wrote about the prior Sunday.
Plus, their odds of running into Katherine Kersten and actually having to engage her in coversation go up exponentially at Walmart. Who needs that when they aren't dealing the myriad complaints at work? It's a lose-lose proposition at Walmart and the Avista folks are far too savvy to make such JV mistakes.......
LAMBERT: I hate it when you're right.
Posted by: Danny B. on May 16, 2008 at 1:07 AM
How does it go? "Video killed the radio star." ?? Internet killed the traditional media (which has strayed so far from its ideals that few people even care.)
LAMBERT: And here's to any and every blogger who picks up a phone, or fires of an e-mail and asks direct questions of the subjects of his posts ... and an even grander tip of that hat to the subjects who respond to him.
Posted by: Rob Levine on May 16, 2008 at 7:15 AM
Off topic:
"Here I am in full nerd mode, clearing off my schedule for tonight's season finale of Lost"
I share your enthusiasm for this show but.....the 2 hour season finale is in two weeks. It is the best thing going on network TV.
LAMBERT: I was under the impression they were hyping this as "the beginning of the finale" or some such nonsense? My apologies.
Posted by: Dave on May 16, 2008 at 8:57 AM
Somebody has to call you on your rather peculiar fixation with the "journalists " and the "newsroom".
I assume ClaudeNRick (TM) are off to gay old California today? (Check: one daily reference).
Is it "deep" to believe that the California Supreme Court justices who voted for this travesty should be hamstrung in the public square?
LAMBERT: The split second I heard of the opportunity to resume gay marriage ... I thought of you.
Would you care to comment on the nary a peep about this from your guy Obama, who I see is now endorsed by your former guy, the Silky Pony (Edwards)?
It seems the Obamessiah crowd have fixated on the "appeasement" issue rather than a decision that indicates complete social upheaval.
Please analyze the liberal media's coverage of this landmark disaster decision for your next column.
Posted by: bertram jr on May 16, 2008 at 9:02 AM
Bleuler should read the star tribune, as they've done several stories like that recently. Also, Kara McGuire's column does that every week.
LAMBERT: I'm still stuck on the image of Chris Harte in an extended conversation with a couple of the Strib's "endangered" readers in an aisle at Wal-Mart. Would he call Kersten over to translate? Oh wait, no Wal-Marts in Edina.
Posted by: print rules on May 16, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Man on the street interviews are not going to do the trick. I don’t know what would compel the population at large to take the paper at this point. My experience carrying papers a couple years ago was that you would drop to maybe 2, 3 houses per block. Albeit, this in the burbs or exurbs even.
I get hectored pretty regularly by the Pioneer Press. They called a couple days ago and offer the Th – Sun package for $13 a year. I relented, finally. Sure, I said. I love the paper though. I was raised with the paper a big part of our lives. But I read it now…online.
I’m against man on the street interviews in principle. I think Leno’s ‘Jay Walking’. Jay edits out the smart people, journalists edit out whatever quotes don’t fit the narrative.
LAMBERT: 108. So cynical. Come on, it's a beautiful Friday. Do what us America-hating liberal elites do on a day like this ... go down to the yacht club, get a table next to your slip, order some fresh arugula and a chardonnay and contemplate Dick Cheney in SuperMax.
Posted by: 108 on May 16, 2008 at 9:29 AM
If Rosenbaum demystifies what lawyers do, I hope he plans on buying my stock of incense and Loreena McKennit CDs as well as the various Latin texts that I always keep close at hand.
LAMBERT: Tell me, do you guys automatically add 75% for "mystification" on to your hourly rate?
Posted by: A Son of Mississippi on May 16, 2008 at 9:48 AM
I frankly don't care, Brian, if you ever are offered Ms. Barnes' job. What I am hoping is that someone -- anyone -- is offered Ms. Barnes' job.
The damage she has wrought on the Star Tribune during her brief reign, in part by her inept management but even more so by her nodding, own-ass-saving compliance with anything Avista pushes at her (with nary a push back the way executive editors are supposed to), is irreparable. She was Anders Gylenhall's chosen one, before he bolted the operation completely for the safety of the Miami Herald. One form of spineless following another form of spineless.
LAMBERT: Being persona non grata with Strib management I can't pretend to know Ms. Barnes. But a newspaper editor telling a room full of reporters not tell anyone about the spectacular financial fiasco of their owners is a form of naivete (at best) bordering on criminal.
Posted by: Ethics 101 on May 16, 2008 at 9:48 AM
You have one very important point wrong....it was NOT the Lost season finale. That is now 2 hours on May 29th as all true fans know. You had me scared there for a moment...but then I checked the facts.
LAMBERT: There was even something in USA Today yesterday about this "three hour finale" business, beginning with last night's episode. I'm mortified.
Posted by: Interactthis on May 16, 2008 at 10:52 AM
"LAMBERT: The split second I heard of the opportunity to resume gay marriage ... I thought of you."
Uh, I'll take that as a compliment, but I'm not interested.
LAMBERT: Not bad. It reminds me not to work in your wheelhouse.
Posted by: bertram jr on May 16, 2008 at 12:31 PM
I have missed Ron Rosenbaum from the regular airwave and am glad to see he has landed at KTLK. I think he deserves a daily program. His expertise on law was a welcome ingredient when he worked with Mark O'Connell. KS's loss in my opinion.
LAMBERT: Standard issue talk radio has a deep aversion to brains in front of their mikes.
Posted by: KTG on May 16, 2008 at 1:59 PM
"Standard issue talk radio has a deep aversion to brains in front of their mikes."
I think thats probably true. Chris Matthews humiliated some bozo talk show host last night. It was pretty funny.
I think the guys the Hubbards have hired have been pretty smart, the greatest exception being that Fred Mertz.
LAMBERT: What was startling about Matthews' bit was that it reminds you how rarely any network "host" ever really goes after the know-nothings. To Matthews' credit he kept asking -- over and over and over -- if Kevin James (LA right wing talk host) knew what Neville Chamberlain had done. James had a good three, four minutes to stabilize himself ... but couldn't. He simply didn't know, which is so often the case with the truly dim bulbs yammering into the mike -- e.g. Hannity, Beck, and a couple here around town who I'll avoid mentioning just because I'm such a damned nice guy -- but is even more true with the 24/7 "consumers" of standard issue talk radio bullshit. This, I repeat, is exactly why it'd be a fascinating experiment to apply the Fairness Doctrine back on modern radio. In pretty short order the braying gas bags demagoguing about "appeasement" would have to reveal what little they know ... and how much they don't.
Posted by: 108 on May 16, 2008 at 2:12 PM
Really?
Please tell us why folks like Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, and Laura Ingraham are to be considered as "stupid", according to you.
Give it your best shot.
LAMBERT: When it comes down -- as it always does with that crowd -- to the choice between a respect for truth and respect for revenue-inducing BS, they pick the latter every time. They're cartoons.
Posted by: bertram jr on May 16, 2008 at 2:22 PM
Well now, I know ol' Bertram Jr's to be a great one for seeking truth in the movies. That's where he got all his military experience.
Surely he saw, "Forrest Gump," and recalls the guileless main character quoting his mother in the face of a cowardly bully: "Stupid is as stupid does."
That about sums it up for your rogues gallery of cheap cynics, Bertram, Jr. Nobody does stupid better'n that bunch, from whom you get your twisted opinions on lease.
Each and every one of 'em smart enough to know better, but something dead and rotting inside of 'em gets the better of their perfectly serviceable minds.
I can easily see their appeal for a fella' like yourself. No mystery there.
Posted by: Jim Leinfelder on May 16, 2008 at 3:31 PM
Is that why Laura had a Supreme Court Justice on for a full hour today?
Just wondering.
LAMBERT" Who? Scalia? I believe that proves my point(s).
Posted by: bertram jr on May 16, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Sweetie -- looks like someone stole my name a few comments up.
So the Strib thinks that multi-media is their future? Does that mean running AP stories on their website since it appears that believe that a shrinking newsroom is part of the answer.
One year from now Avista will declare bankruptcy or someone will buy the paper for pennies on the dollar. This is not a story with a happy ending.
LAMBERT: I'm predicting a Draconian moment within the next 12 months. This crowd has no patience gene.
Posted by: Dave on May 16, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Brian,
The fairness doctrine is only as good as who is heading the FCC. While the left may take control again, if history teaches us anything no matter what ideology it does not last forever. Do you really trust a panel of five people to decide what is right and left, center, fringe, etc?
Would Minnesota public radio then have to accept a counter argument if they ran a report on global warming?
Also while I am not a fan of media conglomarates, the AM band of stations would have been long bankrupt had the fairness doctrine not been repealed in the 1980s. Does anyone remember KSTP-AM prior to Rush?
The left counter argument to alleged "gas bags" is out there, and has worked in some markets, altering programing by government regulation will only destory what is left of radio.
LAMBERT: I don't see a need to apply a Fairness Doctrine to accepted science -- i.s. climate change. But if some broadcaster wants to "teach the other side" -- "intelligent design", climate change denial, yeah, they ought to have their "science" (lack thereof) vetted by a reality-based juror of some sort. How's that for reverse Big Brother? Truth regulators! You are of course right that Rush was a godsend to AM talk stations. But then pornography would be a godsend for daily newspapers, wouldn't it?
Posted by: Tom O on May 16, 2008 at 4:44 PM
Whats 'need' got to do with it.
Posted by: 108 on May 19, 2008 at 9:56 AM
Well, I would assume that Scalia was on to flog his book sales and, since his calcified worldview matches up with her own, your gal, Ingraham was only too happy to logroll for him, perhaps one day to enjoy a jacket blurb from Scalia.
One assumes this involved not a single challenging question. Hence your enjoyment of it.
Nothing greater was served.
Posted by: Jim Leinfelder on May 19, 2008 at 10:01 AM
I would be all for the fairness doctrine if it started where the majority of misinformation is coming from - network television. CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX broadcast on the "public airwaves" but seem to be less scruitinzed by the left, because their programming is not "right wing". Hannity and Lewis are not journalists, and they do not claim to be. To use a crude example, their programming and air time could be compared to the hours of daytime talk shows (network and syndicated), court room shows, and all the other filler that is cheap to purchase and broadcast. Independent stations and affiliates would not survive without the programming, as would the few radio stations not owned by conglomorates. Rush Limbaugh didnt last on television and Al Franken did not last on radio. They (or at least their way of thinking) both have mediums that work for them.
LAMBERT: There's plenty to argue over regarding network news content. Usually it is sins of omission. Despite the constant wails of "bias" the biggest problem with the standard network news instinct is group-think. Everyone herds to whatever story shows most potential for "bounce", leaving countless stories, many far more relevant than -- um, Rev. Wright -- abandoned to the internets.
Posted by: Tom O on May 19, 2008 at 11:23 AM
[Leinfelder] may wish to spend a few moments having someone intelligent review Prager, Medved, Ingraham, and Hewitt's resumes for him. Just for starters.
The hatred he spews says far more about him than it does the objects of his, dare I say, spittle-flecked, vitriole.
Kind of like the Bush bashers. So consumed with hate that they can not fathom facts.
LAMBERT: Uh, huh, hostility toward the Bush administration and the media mouthpieces who have supported its every move. SO irrational. SO inexplicable.
Posted by: bertram jr on May 19, 2008 at 1:11 PM
The marketplace has voted, and quite decidedly, that conservative talk radio works.
"Your pining for the Fairness Doctrine is about as misconstrued as asking for a 10th man to be added to the baseball team that loses all the time because it can't get on base).
It works because the liberals have influenced the MSM for so many years that a channel of challenge was opened, and a rush of truth (pun intended) came flowing out, hungrily digested by those long frustrated by the manipulations of the liberal press and television news networks.
The blogosphere is largely doing the same thing, and the results are clearly chapping the bloated kiesters of the loonily divisive, yet unicorn worshipping, left.
I find your pornography reference interesting, as it is the left that has more or less created prosperity for that particular industry.
Does "everything go" with you?
LAMBERT: Now, when you reference "a rush ... coming out", of which end are you speaking?
Posted by: bertram jr on May 19, 2008 at 2:37 PM
Any comments on the KSTP situation this afternoon at TiZA Charter school? Seems like KSTP's only reporting the fact that they were assaulted when KARE11 is also reporting that they (KSTP) were told not to be on the property 20 minutes before the situation occurred by the Inver Grove Heights Police and could now be facing trespassing charges.
LAMBERT: Interesting ...
Posted by: ML on May 19, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Maybe not settled science? Or alternately, 31000 is a lot of scientists to put on the payroll of climate change denial inc. Including seemingly genial and level headed Mike Fairbourne. What do you think his price was?
http://www.startribune.com/nation/19095579.html?location_refer=Homepage
LAMBERT: You have broken down the "science bona fides" of this crowd, right? Mike's a nice guy, but I don't look to him to say anything or take any position that provokes a negative response, and sadly, in a "discussion" of climate change the only crowd that goes vigorously negative are the deniers, none of whom, place any value whatsoever on peer-reviewed science, and in fact, regard the science community who have studied this issue most closely as the LEAST reliable. Its part of the great knucklehead pathology ... put your faith in those who know the least ... because you can understand THEM.
Posted by: 108 on May 20, 2008 at 8:59 AM
I see your burkka-wearing buddy Brauer is leaping to the defense of the Tiza Terrorist Training Center, I mean...school.
And what's this about assaults on the media? Haven't they implemented the "no touch" rule like our enlightened non-Muslim schools?
LAMBERT: If you didn't exist I'd have to make you up.
Posted by: bertram jr on May 20, 2008 at 1:12 PM
Have the ratings changed at all since this thread was initiated?
LAMBERT: Several stations have lost their licenses. The internets have crashed. KARE has been taken over by the TIZA madrassa. That's why I had to put up a new post.
Posted by: A Son of Mississippi on May 20, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Oh come on Brian. So Fairbourne took the safe route by signing a petition as opposed to not making his views public at all?
And you are comfortable saying the skeptics dont have enough understanding of the science when you, as a layman, have no better but presumably much worse understanding of the science - yet have complete confidence in it? Thats a nice paradox, a nice rationalization.
Global warming has not stood up to peer review by the way. Not like the big bang or tectonic shift has stood up to peer review. These guys are all over the place. We'll have a loss of ice. We'll have more ice. We'll have more hurricanes. We'll have less hurricanes. This is not settled science.
Show some candor Brian. Whether this is about an altruistic mission for the environment, or alternately, some tool to further a different sort of egalitariansim in the world, the mission is the same - reducing material consumption and the standard of living in the western world.
You supporters are going to have to explain that at some point. Whats the proper manifestation of that? No houses over 3000 sq ft? One car per family? No thermostats at 72 in winter? Not eating as much as we want?
LAMBERT: See the latest post.
Posted by: 108 on May 20, 2008 at 2:05 PM
The Obamamessiah will take away everyone else's waffle....
Posted by: bertram jr on May 21, 2008 at 10:39 AM