"Local, Local" Takes a Hit
By Brian Lambert
The demise of the Metropolitan Media Group won't register much more than a 1.0 on the Richter scale of publishing calamities, but it bears brief comment.
Metropolitan Media is the company that churned out those semi-glossy magazine/letters devoted to celebrating places such as Eden Prairie, Woodbury, Maple Grove, and Edina. Each issue featured a different resident "celebrity" on the cover and only the faintest resemblance to actual human life inside. I know this created an intense, emotional curiosity in the citizens of the communities the magazines "served." Each month, as the delivery date approached, I anticipated my picture on the cover of Edina magazine. You know, caught in a manly and prosperous pose with a lot of fill flash and pancake for the bags under the eyes. Maybe me in my paint-splattered "Superior, Wisconsin" T-shirt, power washing sludge off the oil pan of my classic '95 sedan? I know I'd get more respect at Lund's if I was the Edina cover boy of the month.
I may still have a chance. Edina magazine is one of the few Metropolitan Media mags that has half a chance of living on in the aftermath of "minority shareholder" Petters Group taking control yesterday. (Here's a link to Liz Fedor's story in this morning's Strib.)
The official story is that the Petters folks (who also own a chunk of Sun Country Airlines, whose inflight magazine, Escape, is/was published by Metropolitan Media), have taken control effective immediately and that by Monday, an undisclosed number of Metropolitan Media employees will be relocated to the Petters offices in Minnetonka; Metropolitan Media's Bloomington office will be vacated.
And did I mention that this was news to most of the sixty employees only yesterday?
Obviously there's more going on here than the usual happy merger. (One rumor is that Petters is "taking control" solely by picking up Metropolitan Media's unpaid bills.) Not that anyone will care too much, other than two or three dozen people and their families who are out of work effective immediately.
OK, full disclosure time. About a year or so ago, I got a tip that Metropolitan Media was going to launch something called Twin Cities Radio magazine and needed an editor. I met with the company's two top dogs, Kenan Aksoz and Tom Beauchamp, who sketched out their vision for a monthly celebrity magazine . . . built entirely around local radio "stars." A new one every month. With happy celebrity stuff posing as copy around lots of glamorous photos inside . . . and as much advertising as the market would bear. I remember thinking, "This has got to be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard of." But they were emphatic that they could sell it.
I told them that they would probably run out of cover-worthy local radio celebrities after, um, maybe two issues. But, just thinking out loud here, if they expanded the idea to, say, Media and pulled in TV people, hotshot advertising people, and anyone else in the so-called creative communications game, maybe they'd have something to write about.
It would be a significant understatement to say the two gentlemen had zero interest in "covering" either the local media or local radio. The news of who was doing what, going where, getting fired or re-hired drew pretty much blank stares. The point, they explained, was local radio personalities as a vehicle for market-wide advertising sales. The money was out there. Radio celebrities were a natural draw, and they were going to go get it. Content, at least as I thought of it—you know with news, good and bad—was not a consideration.
Needless to say, that was our one and only conversation. They soon hired ex-WCCO reporter Bridgette Bornstein who put out, I believe, two issues of Radio magazine before it folded. (KDWB's Dave Ryan made the first cover.) So consider the source, I guess. (It turned out the whole idea was a confabulation with a local group called Marketing Architects, which, among other things, trades in unsold radio ad time.)
Speaking of . . . sources tell me neither of the gentlemen with whom I met will be staying on as what's left of the company as it transitions over to the Petters offices. Moreover, I'm told news of the meeting to announce the news was sent around the Bloomington office via e-mail . . . but only to those who would be staying on. Those people should stop whatever they're doing, get up from their desks, and go to the conference room. Those who did not get the e-mail and wondered where everyone else was going . . . well, "need to know" and all that.
Oh, and the question of whether employees will be paid for the last two weeks they worked for Metropolitan Media is also in doubt.
As I say, in the grand scheme of things, this is just another collapse of another misbegotten enterprise. But one thing that caught my ear as I chatted with a few suddenly former employees of the company was how much the concept of "Local, local" had been drummed into their brains. "Local, local" was the prime directive. "Local, local" was true service. "Local, local" was what the market lacked. "Local, local" was what readers and advertisers were crying out for. "Local, local" was the best path to sustained, positive revenue flow.
If "local, local" sounds familiar, it's because both local newspapers long ago signed on to essentially the same logic. True, each paper prints stories about bad things happening locally, something Metro Media thought unnecessary. But just as with Metro Media, "local, local" the newspaper version, is first and foremost a sales and budget strategy. "Cover" local "communities" in hopes of reaping advertising revenue. Save money by not doing your own reporting on anything outside a couple hour drive. Whether the "local, local" news —break-ins, car accidents, winning youth soccer teams, lots of prep sports, school referendums—was of much or any interest to readers not in that immediate community mattered less than the ability to sell something to businesses in those communities.
I'll also go so far as to say that—I believe, based on conversations with reporters assigned to "local, local" coverage—the papers are happier with upbeat news than reporting on the garden variety scandals and incompetencies that afflict every community everywhere. Accentuating the positive accentuates the possibility of revenue.
You're screaming, "It's a tough market, you idiot. YOU try keeping one of these things afloat."
It isn't likely I ever will. But I know I'd start with a concept more compelling than painting happy faces on stories a fraction of a dwindling fraction of people want to know anything about.
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
I was waiting (hours, it seemed) last November for the crew at the local Tires Plus to install my four new tires and was forced to read and re-read Radio magazine. I couldn't figure what it was doing there of all places, but it was about the rankest tripe I've ever seen between two covers. If Metropolitan's other 'journals' are of this quality, good riddance.
LAMBERT: See if they ask you to pose for the cover of Lake Minnetonka magazine.
Posted by: A Son of Mississippi on July 18, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Too bad, I was mezmerized by the waterskiing cover mom in the latest issue of "Plymouth". As in "Wha....?"
That radio mag was THE dumbest local media idea ever. I do believe your concept of a broader "media shaker" format has some merit, sort of a "Budd Rugg Journal", if you will...and why not start out with the "Dating habits of Jeannette Trompeter" as the cover story?
BTW, your boy Carr is seen in Gawker today, circa 1988. He'd be a great topic.
I have a couple recollections I could certainly share for his book....one involves a Mr. Tom Arnold.
LAMBERT: I've read the book. Mr. Arnold is in there. Carr doesn't sanitize anything.
Posted by: bertram jr on July 18, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Is this the end of Woodbury magazine? Or has that already ended?
LAMBERT: Woodbury is on the cusp. Edina, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Lake Minnetonka, their business thing and "Escape" will continue, I'm told, plus a couple more ... maybe.
Posted by: Ed on July 18, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Hmmm...Local, local seems to be missing the mark everywhere. According to Brauer at minnpost.com, the parent of the Sun newspaper chain is getting crushed too (stock price down to 16 cents from $5.63 a year ago).
The question still remains: is it the "local, local" strategy or the delivery method?
Not to beat a dead horse yet again, but...
Last night I got a call from the Strib to add Monday - Saturday to my 50 cent a week Sunday subscription for $1.40 a week. Even at less then 25 cents a day I didn't do it. By the time the paper hits my door in the morning, I've already read most of it online the night before.
So, it's not the content I'm rejecting, it's the delivery method. The answer is still monetizing online presence.
LAMBERT: No doubt. But how much coverage of, say Blaine youth hockey do read on-line? The demise of the paper paper is on the horizon, and that won't necessarily be a bad thing, carbon footprints considered. i guess my real point is that you're not going to sell anything to anyone unless the content is both of value and artfully composed.
Posted by: Pat B on July 18, 2008 at 1:31 PM
Interesting ... a year or so ago the major online buzz for old media companies -- newspapers and TV stations -- was "go hyperlocal."
Hasn't worked, has it? There could be a lesson in your observation, the Sun Newspaper info and the 'hyperlocal' experience: Old media using old methods to approach this new era simply won't work.
LAMBERT: I'm sure the architects of "local, local" have a hundred reasons why it hasn't bouyed the sinking ships. But fundamentally the story material of "local, local" isn't sufficiently interesting to the wider audience, and the resources spent reporting it and placing it in the paper require deleting or ignoring stories of greater relevance and appeal.
Posted by: newmediaguy on July 18, 2008 at 10:34 PM
As someone who has spent years writing for community newspapers, this whole push to localize the major papers and pump out more city-specific lifestyle magazines just doesn't make sense. It cuts up an ever-smaller advertising pie.
And some of the stories! Some of the stuff I read in the St. Paul magazine had me saying "Huh?" There was one local profile the community leaders hooted at for weeks. The guy took credit for everything but giving Pig's Eye Parrant his nickname back in 1841.
Local should not necessarily mean smiley face happy news. Some of us know readers and advertisers won't support a steady diet of fluff.
But it's this whole focus that's damaging. I watch even our smaller advertisers at the neighborhood level wooed away with insane (and short-term) discounts. And then you read what passes for coverage sometimes. It's worthless.
In the meantime, neighborhood and ethnic community papers are undercut by these lifestyle publications and rapid daily newspaper advertising discounts. I'm not denying the profound impact Internet advertising has had on print. But watching these folks try to do local news and poach advertisers (is your Rice Street body shop REALLY going to get those customers from Maple Grove with a daily newspaper ad?) would be like watching me build a nuclear reactor on my dining room table.
LAMBERT: Jane McClure is a well-known St. Paul activist and writer. I have also heard her referred to as a force of nature.
Posted by: Jane McClure on July 19, 2008 at 8:21 AM
Minnetonka magazine was a nice little magazine until Kenan Aksoz and MM took it over. It then became all advertising and few stories and lost its local flavor. This is the same goofball who kisses up to local rich guys and puts them on the cover of his MN business magazine. Guys like Aksov know nothing about journalism and are only in media for the $$ and the attention. You were right to walk out on their stupid idea.
LAMBERT: For the record Mr. Aksoz and his second-in-command had even less interest in me than I had in them, if that's possible. But the issue, which I may expand on is, "value". There was no value to the editorial product, and other than circulation, not much more to their advertisers.
Posted by: John L on July 19, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Okay, I'll comment, merely to express my need to try to clarify some thoughts on this--
--the headline 'Local local takes a hit' makes it sound like the local idea sucks or the local marketing money to support local local does not exist. And I disagree on either idea and point to two factors--
1) Execution of the local local--which is where you were coming from in your interview when you mentioned the lack of content; local-radio mag idea was good enough to get you in the car to drive to meet those guys; but it was how they planned to execute the idea that got you back in the car driving away. Glossy photos of radio guys...yikes! And if anyone cared to dig further, I'm sure the implementation just goes downhill from there.
2) Complete avoidance of sound business principles--The whole idea of starting a business in an economic recession without monetizing it to withstand a slow startup speaks volumes for the underlying intentions, which were either (a) oblivious to the very real reality of complete and instant failure, or (b) completely careless of its success or failure at all.
Obviously I'm just guessing here since I have no inside knowledge, but I'm figuring 2(b), that they largely expected failure and were willing to piss away someone else's money anyway hoping to claim a few good months ROI or startup buzz.
So, what's the real takeaway? I'd say it is 'use and trust your own good sense'. You did, and avoided signing on to edit a ship that was sinking as the champagne was drying on the bow. The advertisers and investors with negative ROI and bunch of now suddenly unemployed staffers were not so lucky.
LAMBERT: "Sinking as the champagne was drying on the bow ... " I like that. And in theory, "local, local" should work. But in my experience as it was deployed at the Pioneer Press (under Par Ridder and his editorial team) it was really little more than a slogan, bumper sticker directive. The fact that neither Ridder or key members of his editorial team had any roots in "local, local" St. Paul, and weren't likely to sink any, added to their indifference to making the reporting and story-telling compelling ... that and the loss of a couple dozen of the paper's best writers. (At least one of Ridder's top editors in that period was a textbook example of why anyone handed editorial control must have at least a decade worth of reporting and writing experience prior ascending to the title of anything more than copy editor.)
This Metropolitan Media thing was, as you imagine it, a nearly farcical quick money strategy, the primary purpose of which seemed to involve fattening the personal lifestyle of a couple key executives, (and I use that word advisedly), than building any kind of sustaining credibility with the individual communities they targeted, (I won't say "served".)
Posted by: The Other Mike on July 19, 2008 at 6:41 PM
Brian - you're suffering from the same old media thinking as your former employers...
With the web, the story material doesn't NEED to be interesting to a wide audience. Niche works there because of low overhead and flexibility.
The Minnetonka Skipper, Eden Prairie Eagle, Plymouth CakeEater and Edina Consumption Leader can all share a single web server and content can be either directed "hyperlocally" or shared across one or more additional sites.
It is the old thinking, the old shareholder demands and the old debt that is killing local, local.
And don't forget, until they got loaded up with debt, the hyper local, community newspaper way WAS working.
So keep the advertisers, even if they pay less, and reduce the overhead of print and you got yourself a business model. Maybe.
LAMBERT: It goes without saying there are plenty of people out there who don't read, don't care what is true or not and have no sense of community. But there are still plenty that do ... and that crowd is actively seeking out new sources of information, if only to stay ahead of a brutal economy and cutthroat business environment. Information is power. Whether its news about Minnetonka or Minneapolis City Hall, or Obama in Israel, smart people want a reliable sense of what is really going on. Much of m beef with the "local, local" obsession with the two daily papers is that so much of it is so deadly dull, whether by lack of reporter writing talent or editing timidity, I don't know. But dull. The MMG lifestyle magazines were just a silly extension of the myth that all you really have to do is write something pleasant about your advertisers and you'll live a long, happy life. Content still matters to the people who make decisions.
Posted by: Pat B on July 21, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Might I interest you in coming aboard the new "Medina" magazine?
The inaugural issue features a rather lovely blonde huasfrau "of a certain age" behind the wheel of the smashing new Range Rover.
Feature stories include "Today's Iron Gates - The Last Word on Controlled Access"
"Crossfire: How to lay out your home's defense turrets"
And of course, our monthly column "Polo Pony Training Tips".
LAMBERT: And let me guess, you in a spiked helmet holding a .50 caliber rifle.
Posted by: bertram jr on July 23, 2008 at 9:14 AM