Yes, it is one month late, but with a busy schedule, I finally am getting through to it. Here’s what I missed so far:
Fiscal Cliff passes
NHL Lockout ended
RG3 injured
Washington Wizards are decent with John Wall
Argo is winning the big awards so far.
That being said, here are my 2013 predictions:
Immigration reform will pass this year due to political pressure, plus the GOP need some of the demographics to come to them (race, gender, sexual orientation).
Ken Cucinelli will win the GOP Primary in Virginia, thus win the Governor’s seat in Virginia.
There will be one big “superstorm” coming to the U.S. this year, but won’t have the same effects as Sandy.
Not a prediction: Chicago will be a busy place this summer.
Mashable will be sold to the Huffington Post/Aol group (by the way, what is Mashable trying to be? I know some people there and are nice, but they’re pulling the SEO trick. Not sure they’re Huffington Post or Buzzfeed)
Apple will be in decline and is surpassed by Google on innovation due to Google Glasses.
Healthcare insurance companies will jump this year due to “Obamacare” kicking in next year.
Unemployment will remain at 7.7%
Going to be a bad year for movies. Revenues and sales will go down based on quality.
RG3 will be coming back…for the 1st game of the 2013 regular season.
Caps won’t make the playoffs, be in the bottom 4 and will win the lottery to pick defenseman Seth Jones (Popeye, Jr.)
This year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball winner will come from the 11th seed.
The Nats will win 92 games, win the wild card game, and go to the World Series.
With premium subscriptions, YouTube/Google will aim for sports leagues and premium channels to build up their brand.
The Silver Line Metro won’t open in time for Fall 2013.
Normally, I would give a long story this time of year, but this is the Kurt Fuller Holiday Story and that won’t do justice. So instead of a straight up story, I’m going to tell a story…in gifs.
Kurt Fuller was born in 1953 in San Francisco, California. He had a normal life. That’s basically it from his personal life from birth to age 30. Around his mid-life crisis, he started getting acting gigs and has crafted a great character actor resume for himself. Knowing at this age, he needed to be half-naked and drinking to get roles and did that in Miracle Mile.
He also realize he was 6’5″ and needed to be an intimidating on-screen. What a perfect way to do it than to shove Hulk Hogan in No Holds Barred.
And get punish for it.
In his early acting career, with his frame and demeanor, he was getting serious roles of swarmy, evil executive. In Wayne’s World, he continue to play that role… but only funnier.
I Did Not Realize That
Kurt was building a resume in the 90s with blockbusters, sitcoms, TV movies, straight to video movies, Lifetime movies, you name it. National Lampoon: Freshmen Year was a classic (though I haven’t seen it).
Then there was the brilliant, but cancelled The Tick as Destroyo.
His big hit in the 90s: Scary Movie as the Sheriff:
In the early to mid 2000s, he played characters that almost looked like him: As Werner Klemperer in Auto Focus, as Walter Ribbon in The Pursuit of Happyness, and his most challenging role to date: as “Turd Blossom” Karl Rove in another brilliant, but cancelled sitcom, That’s My Bush!
Throughout the 2000s, Kurt has been playing father figure roles and are good enough to pay the bills, but two roles that standout. For the young fans, people will remember him as the evil Zachariah in Supernatural.
Apparently, he got killed off in season 5 (sorry, don’t watch the show).
However, his most memorable role to date, for all ages, is a most recent one: as Woody the Coroner in Psych.
There are many character actors out there doing the dirty work in entertainment, but there is no one like Kurt Fuller. For that, we shall dance in his honor.
This has been a very busy few months for me as I have been focusing and promoting a lot lately: NatsJobs.
If you have been running away from me the past few months, NatsJobs is an interactive job board where any business can post jobs during Washington Nationals games. Last year, it was a social media experiment that I was playing with and ended up as a potential cash cow for my company, Tran Recruiting. I mentioned last year that NatsJobs will be bigger, bolder, and better (somewhat in that order). I didn’t lie.
For the upcoming 2012 season, we are covering the bases. NatsJobs now has:
- A Homepage: http://NatsJobs.net
- A Twitter Page: @_natsjobs_
- A Facebook Page: http://Facebook.com/NatsJobs
- SMS/Text Messaging by texting “_natsjobs_” to 40404
- An actual email address: info@natsjobs.net
- Coming soon, the NatsJobs mobile site
- A Hologram of me…I kid. (Also, a lot of people ask me if the job will be posted on the HD Jumbotron at Nationals Park. Let me answer in two parts: 1) we’re not affiliated with the Washington Nationals and 2) It’s damn expensive)
You would think that would be enough, but I wasn’t satisfied.
Also for the 2012 season, we are holding contests and big events each month:
April: Tickets to the home opener against the Cincinnati Reds if your business post a job during the opening series against the Cubs.
May: #NatsSeekers – where 80 job seekers and 20 recruiters/HR/hiring managers network and watch the game. It’s on May 15 against the San Diego Padres at 1PM…a perfect time to do your work. Details coming soon.
June: Another #NatsSeekers opportunity, but more at a bar/restaurant. Looking for sponsors and venue.
July: I’ll let everyone take their vacation.
August: Someone will win a trip to the Season Ticket Holder event on August 4. You have to post a job with us by July 31.
September: One lucky business will not only win tickets to a Nationals game, but will join me at the Stars & Stripes Club. More details to come.
Pricing is a little different than last year. Yes, I raised the prices because we want everyone to have access to our job board either on their home computer, laptop, smartphone, cell phone, tablet, and billboard (not really). However, I kept it reasonable so you don’t bust your recruiting budget. It is $28 for non-profits, associations, government, and for-profit companies with 50 or fewer employees; $37 for for-profit companies with 50+ employees; and $99 if you want to post your job for a week of Nationals games. As an added bonus, if applicants missed your job post during the game, they can go to our job archives section where it will be there for the next 7 Nats games. If you want a head start to reserve your half-inning, click here.
If you have any questions, you can contact me. You know where I am
Of note: if you feel this blog post feels promotional, well…yeah, it is my blog. Plus, I’m both the founder of Tran Recruiting and NatsJobs, so there’s a hint.
It is now time for the annual post where I’m mostly wrong on everything, but amazingly nailed it on a couple of things. If you’re wondering, here were my predictions from 2011. I also learned I have a superpower: I can affect the game from my mere presence. If you want proof, you can ask Jason Motte of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals (courtesy: MASN):
Onto the crystal ball:
Barack Obama will win his re-election as President with 298 electoral votes.
The GOP nominee will be Mitt Romney, but you ain’t going to see happy faces.
The GOP will be taking over the Senate and House…and still have a 9% approval mark.
Barack Obama will be 2012 TIME’s Person of the Year.
SOPA will not be passed.
Unemployment will dip to 8%. More part-time workers will be hired.
The 2012 Apocalypse everyone is going to talk about: The “God Particle” explodes.
If there’s a mild and warm winter, expect a steamy summer and tons of storms in the D.C. area.
Goodbye WJFK, The Fan 106.7. Welcome, the new home of 106.7…WNEW.
WNEW will take away 2% of WTOP’s market in the D.C. area.
Tony Kornheiser will start his own paid-subscription podcast after he gets out of his ESPN 980 deal.
Number of my friends/followers who are dating based on Pinterest: 124.
Number of my friends/followers who are going to marry from Pinterest: 15.
Biggest grossing movie in 2012: Part 2 of Breaking Dawn: The Twilight Series.
Still waiting for CBC America.
There will be no games lost for the NHL as they will sign a deal in September, hence a crazy and short free-agent signing window.
Usain Bolt won’t break any world records at the London Olympics, but will be the main star before and after the Olympics.
With Mike Shanahan returning, he will tell Bruce Allen to make a deal to get the number 1 pick and the Redskins draft Andrew Luck since he’s the closest clone to John Elway.
The Capitals will make the playoffs as the 6th seed…and make it to the Conference semifinals and losing to the Penguins.
The Wizards will get the 4th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
The Nationals will win 86 games and be 2 games out of the 5th spot in the National League.
The Nationals will not sign Prince Fielder. He will go to the Miami Marlins.
This will be the worst year in traffic for D.C. In 2013, it will be the best year for traffic in D.C.
With the influx of Walmart stores in the D.C. area and the struggles behind Giant, Safeway, and Food Lion; HMart will start advertising Metro on this:
The iPad3 will make good sales, but the iPhone 5 will be the best-selling smartphone of all-time…for the next 3 years since it is considered Steve Jobs’s last idea he dealt with.
Apple will announce a new gaming system to compete with Microsoft Kinect.
Fugazi will make a special, one-time appearance at the 9:30 Club in October.
Finally, the annaul prediction that won’t happen but still optimistic: I’m going to have a girlfriend. One of these years, I don’t have to write this anymore.
If you saw the announcement a few minutes ago, I’m starting a new job posting venture called NatsJobs. It is where companies and organizations post jobs during Nats baseball games. You can get the details here. You’re wondering how did I start this?
It actually started in October during hockey season where I started to dabble on posting jobs during Caps games. It had some responses, but nothing broke through. My guess is hockey fans want to see the action more than the outside stuff, which was reasonable.
After the Caps playoff season was over against the Tampa Bay Lightning in May, my focus shifted to baseball and the Nats. At that time, Cheryl Nichols forwards a list of our mutual friends on Twitter to me of who are looking for jobs. I help gave most of the Twitter friends’ advice on their job search. It was then I decided to post jobs during Nats games just for the heck of it. To my surprise, there was a huge response of my job tweets during the Nats game. My guess is that people want to watch something other than baseball to pay attention, which can be tiresome for some fans. Posting jobs during baseball games probably was that outlet. Many people have asked, retweeted, and favorite (I have Tweetdeck, FYI) my job tweets. Some asked for me to transition this to part of my business. It was getting a lot of attention, but how was the end result?
There were two factors why I created NatsJobs. The first reason is the business aspect started to creep up during a discussion I had during an awards dinner this past week. It was the rare time I wore a suit and tie and add in the heat during the summer; it affected my decision. The second and main reason was my job postings were getting results. A few people have contacted me and got hired as a result from the job tweets I posted during Nats games. That to me puts a smile to my face and at that moment, it was time to put it to the next level. Thus, NatsJobs was created.
The purpose for NatsJobs is for companies and organizations to tap into the Nats community, which is diverse in every way from skills, ideas, and personalities. NatsJobs is also a way to communicate who you are looking for and the one area everyone is looking at one setting. NatsJobs is not only for Nats fans; it is for job seekers and businesses that are looking for and want to be part of an open community like the Nats organization and their fans. NatsJobs is always an open door for both the job seeker and business (though not sure about the Phillies).
Now, NatsJobs is part of Tran Recruiting and although my staffing firm focuses on nonprofits, associations, and small businesses; NatsJobs is a job posting service for any business that needs to advertise their job to a diverse market at a reasonable price.
In addition, no one or few businesses will dominate all the job postings during the Nats game(s), so I’m asking for 17/18 different businesses if they have a job to advertise for each game. I know there are businesses out there who want to advertise their jobs, and NatsJobs is a great avenue to go to.
Finally, and I didn’t mention this on the initial announcement, but when we post your job, it will not only be on my company’s Twitter and Facebook page, it will be also on my personal Twitter page, Linkedin profile, and my Google+ Buzz section (Oh, my whole Google+ page if you’re interested). In addition, you can add the Tran Recruiting twitter account to your RSS feed/Google Reader and follow via text messaging when a job is tweeted, so your job posting will get more bang for your buck.
I can’t wait for July 26 when NatsJobs officially begins and it will be a new arena for not only to attract talent, but keep the Nats community growing as a baseball town and a tight community people can rely on.
You know from this blog that I like Tony Kornheiser, especially his radio show, where he is at his best. I also mention that he has lost his fastball by moving to ESPN 980 with tape delays, shorter e-mail segments, and being the old guy. Well, Mr. Tony and his radio station are at a crossroads.
Recently, executives from ESPN 980 in DC decided to put up the podcast 24 hours after the “live” show. Since then, they decided to put up the podcast in 12 hours to split the difference. This is ESPN 980′s Director of Programming, Chuck Sapienza, explanation for the move on DC Sports Bog:
“We’re delaying the podcasts 24 hours for all of our shows,” he told me. “I know this hurts people who listen out-of-town, but we’re trying to get people to listen on the radio. We’re in the radio business, and we’re trying to get people to listen on the radio. And the more people who download podcasts, the fewer people who listen on the radio.”
There has been a lot of backlash from the littles (Kornheiser fans) about this move since most of the littles work at an office or don’t get ESPN 980 since they’re outside the DC area. I agree with them.
When did Sapienza (and to an extent, Dan Snyder) all became Bill Wirtz believing you have to listen to radio to best listen. This tells me the regime does not have a clue about the current trends and don’t pay attention to the business. If Sapienza had a brain, radio advertising is down across the board except if your call letters are WTOP or NPR, podcasting can be lucrative, if done right, and people use mobile apps since it’s more convenient than carrying a radio. Red Zebra dropped the ball big time, but they are not only to blame.
I have said this many times, but you have to look at Kornheiser as well. Yes, his first stint at ESPN Radio was hoot, but it was unlikely we would see those days. His time at Bonneville (used to own Washington Post Radio and 3WT, but now defunct) was at his best. If I know Jim Farley, his only regret was not calling Washington Post Radio/3WT…WTOP2 (talk radio). If he took those call letters, Kornheiser would have his audience and would stay at Bonneville (which is now Hubbard Broadcasting after Bonneville sold WTOP to them). Instead, Kornheiser had the Monday Night Football gig and ruin the momentum for the station(s). After quitting his MNF job and getting “fired” by the Washington Post, Kornheiser had a talk with Jim Zinzi and decided to go to Red Zebra to reboot his radio show. It was great the littles can listen to Mr. Tony again, but we all knew there were consequences. The first thought was ESPN 980 is affiliated with ESPN and that the station is owned by Dan Snyder (and you know that story).
If Kornheiser open his mind, he would have ample opportunity to make big bucks: Go back to Bonneville, where their revenues are second biggest in the country; go to public media and ask for donations to feed his family and crew; or take the podcasting route at his own home or at the PTI studios and charge the littles a fee, for which the littles were willing to pay. Instead, he went with the safest route and select ESPN 980. How that turn out? He can’t bash ESPN (for which he did and got suspended). He talks to one of the biggest superstars (he did with Lance Armstrong (and his cronies), but got ridiculed from a meaningless joke). Finally, his shows were live (and then switch to pre-recorded). Sadly, Kornheiser re-signed with Red Zebra for two more years until 2012. Until that time, the Metro construction at Tysons Corner and Reston will be finished.
Dan Snyder’s pettiness, Chuck Sapienza’s lack of intelligence, and Kornheiser’s stubbornness are effects of who’s the biggest loser of the debacle: the listeners (podcasters and live listeners). I pray for someone not name Red Zebra to take Mr. Tony after October 2012, I beg you.
UPDATED: On his opening segment yesterday, Mr. Tony stated that he has reach his maximum number of shows and will take next week…and the whole month of July and August off from the show. This is unprecedented and shows again the terrible business judgment of Sapienza and Snyder that they don’t know how to run a 1) content delivery business nor 2) a radio business. Kornheiser literally helped carried the station. I hope somebody buys out Kornheiser’s contract: Hubbard, public media, hell even evil Clear Channel. Somebody?
A few weeks ago on a #pubmedia chat session on Twitter, I mention what has public media done well and what public media should add. I mention public media should add sports, but sports that fit to the public media culture. The sport that first came to mind is baseball. Not because public media needs baseball, but baseball needs a partner for the long run.
I was a decent baseball fan throughout my life. In 1999, I went to my first baseball game at Camden Yards when the Red Sox faced the Orioles. I was semi-interested, but the Orioles weren’t my team as I learned DC used to have a baseball team and got rejected from MLB owners (mostly Peter Angelos). I started to get into baseball fully when the Montreal Expos moved to Washington to become the Nationals in 2005. It was in 2008 that I understood how special baseball is.
I had partial season tickets to the Nats inaugural season at Nationals Park and attended 20 games. However, it was my trip to Chicago that I went to Wrigley Field for the White Sox-Cubs interleague rivalry and words can’t describe the experience as a tourist in Wrigley Field. I wanted to like baseball, but the Nats were stinking up the joint. Then when Stephen Strasburg arrived in Washington for his MLB debut last year, I understand how baseball is that magical.
Baseball every year has these magical moments. The problem I have with baseball is not the game (although there need to be tweaks, but that’s for a different post), but the broadcasting.
The problem with baseball announcing is that it is trying to excite you artificially or that they don’t care for the game. I’m looking at FOX, who bought a lot of money to get the MLB package, but from the looks of their broadcasting team, coverage, and theme music over the years, it seems like Fox put baseball in the back-burner. TBS are at the same boat since they’re in a network that shows comedies. ESPN is being ESPN.
In addition, youth baseball has been dropping every year since 1996 because sports like lacrosse and soccer have constant motion and have excitement, but in baseball, you stand there most of the time. I mostly blame that on managers (mostly parents) who want to be the alpha people among the teams by yelling and screaming, when the game requires patience, which most of us don’t have.
This brings me to public media, specifically PBS.
What baseball is missing in most broadcasts is storytelling. Baseball announcers are renowned for their voice and stories. Vin Scully comes to mind as a great broadcaster and storyteller. Without commercial breaks, PBS can use the middle and end of each inning to describe what is going on and why it matters and if the game is a blowout, a few stories to tell. The PBS broadcast would let the game flow dictate how to call it.
Another thing PBS can bring to baseball is the element of community. PBS affiliates do a great job promoting arts and culture to their local community. Teaming up with MLB and minor league baseball, not only you would get an engaged community, but a diverse community that is lacking in public media. In addition, you bring the 170 million Americans who contribute to public broadcasting and have something to unite.
If baseball came to PBS, it would eliminate the “elitist” label that public media perceived to have since baseball is a global sport. PBS has done some sports from golf, tennis, and Ivy League football, but those sports tend to be the high-end of the spectrum (to be fair, they did air the FIFA World Cup in 1982). Although baseball is played by world-class athletes, it’s the magical moment people want or do not want to believe that makes the sport special.
Finally, baseball has two things on their side: history and government. Baseball’s history is rich and with PBS having Ken Burns (Baseball, The Tenth Inning), the game can be preserved. Add to that, most government officials and politicians are still fond of baseball (1994 strike, steroid hearings involved the U.S. government). If baseball is struggling, MLB can rely on the U.S. government to help, possibly bring MLB back to the non-profit side. The U.S. government still allows the NFL to be a non-profit for some odd reason.
Baseball might be dropping like boxing and horse racing not because of steroids or parity in the field. The problem with baseball is networks like Fox, TBS and somewhat ESPN are trying to spice up baseball with graphics and hyperbole when the game doesn’t require it.
This is a perfect time for PBS and its affiliates to pony up and get baseball after the 2013 season, when MLB’s TV contract with Fox, TBS, and ESPN are up, to bring baseball back to life and give the sport its proper due.
Realistically…
MLB would want a big contract with the major broadcast and cable networks after 2013 and wouldn’t care about the long-term effects of the game. MLB are still thinking about being cool at the grown-up table instead of being the adult.
PBS and their affiliates do not have the resources to pay a quarter of what MLB is asking and really can’t do anything except do stories and make documentaries about baseball. In addition, who pays for the TV rights: PBS, PBS affiliates, a third party?
Public broadcasting and baseball would have been a great relationship because both need each other and would fill each other’s weaknesses. It would be similar to hockey in Canada with TSN doing the heavy load of the work and CBC handling the major hockey events (Winter/Heritage Classic, All-Star game, Stanley Cup Final). Instead, greed will always win in baseball and some in the public media audience would not appreciate baseball as an art form. That’s a shame on both accounts.
The last time I mention about public broadcasting, I was talking how public media should be funded and how as public media employees and supporters must help. Two weeks after I wrote that post, things have changed.
If you do not follow the public media inner circle, you heard of the secret tapings of NPR fundraisers, including Ron Schiller, about accepting $5 million form a fictitious group. This sting has cost not only Ron his job, but CEO Vivian Schiller‘s (no relation) job. Include Ellen Weiss’s exit at the beginning of the year, NPR does not have a President, Senior Vice President of Programs (in this case, News), and Senior Vice President of Fundraising/Development for its Foundation. It is not the question if how NPR and the local stations should be funded, but the question of what will NPR do?
Those answer, if you like it or not, have to come from the NPR Board of Directors. There has been controversy of how the Board reacted to the “resignations” of the three people. If you want to have an outsider’s view of how public media supporters feel, check Jeff Jarvis’s post and to see the insider’s view of how the Board works, read Dennis Haarsager’s post (he was an interim CEO at NPR). In this instance, the board has to decide what direction it is heading. There are five directions the board can go:
1. The Inner Circle
The board could select a station manager since 1) the boards is mostly consist of station managers and 2) stations have the biggest to lose if Congress does defund public media. Putting a station manager to handle NPR would help put influence to local stations, but can this station manager transition to head of an 800-employee organization where you have to not only deal with the news department, but the many departments inside NPR, plus traveling to events to speak and network and dealing with Congress?
2. Broadcasting Governing Board
The board could go to the Broadcasting Board of Governors or the International Broadcasting Bureau to find someone since they are a government agency and should know the politics of what is going on in Congress. It might work short-term with influence Congress to regain some (or all) of the money, but in the long-term, how this affect the news would and development department if the board hired that person just to regain trust in Congress. The board has gone this route and selects Kevin Klose, who was CEO of NPR for 10 years before stepping down in 2008.
3. Blast from the Past
Speaking of Kevin Klose, the board might want to consider someone who help bring NPR back like Klose or someone in the radio news industry who have been in the business for a long time. It might boost morale and influence for the short-term, but will they have an open mind of the trends going on like technology and the pace the business is heading?
4. An updated Vivian Schiller
When Vivian Schiller was CEO, she helps put the NPR budget back in the black and move the organization to the digital age. However, if there was a downfall, it was her attention to detail that failed her from the Juan Williams fiasco, to the fundraiser sting, and to the Rally to Restore Sanity memo confusion. A great candidate would be Jim Brady who has the same pedigree as V. Schiller working with a big newspaper and made him famous in digital media. What Jim had an advantage over Vivian is that he understood community relations, hence the TBD Community Network for bloggers. V. Schiller probably understood the concept, but didn’t implement it since she had to deal with both NPR, as an organization, and the local stations who think Vivian was focusing too much on the NPR. Jim would be a great candidate since he has a chip on his shoulder after the falling out with Allbritton (who owns TBD), but since there was no VP of News and he’s relatively young, would the board take a chance at him?
5. The Frontrunner
Poynter points out the new NPR CEO will have four key challenges:
Embracing change while also upholding NPR’s values, history
Restoring morale at NPR and member stations
Addressing arguments for — and against — federal funding
Responding to criticism of NPR’s governance
Put it this way: NPR wants to kill four birds with one stone (sorry animal activists). Also, NPR is in reset mode since there is no CEO or a Vice President of News. Is there anyone that fits the bill who can cover all four? In the Poynter article, it mentions Kevin Klose a lot and insiders think NPR should re-hire him to take control of the organization. Kevin might be great, but what if he’s not available? There is one person out there who can come close to match Kevin Klose’s credentials: Jim Farley of WTOP/WFED in Washington, DC.
If the board wants to get serious about NPR and their local station agenda, Jim Farley is the right person. Jim has been in the news radio business for 45 years. For the last 15 years, he is Vice President of Programming and News at WTOP and brought the station from very low ratings in 1996, to the number one station in the D.C. area, plus brought in the second most revenue of any station in the United States (behind KIIS-FM in Los Angeles) in 2009. He also helps Federal News Radio (WFED) transform from an online stream only station to a broadcast outlet on multiple formats. He also understands the trends going on radio and journalism. This is Jim in a Media Solutions Lab session on what was his one takeaway:
Jim has been successful on multiple formats from news, classical, industry-specific, Top 40, and others. Also, Jim dabbled with the NPR-style journalism as his company (Bonneville International) and the Washington Post launched Washington in 2006. It was supposed to challenge NPR on the storytelling format, but with the exception of The Tony Kornheiser Show, the format was…utter crap. The marriage didn’t last, but at least he tried and knew NPR-type stories are best done by NPR journalists.
If you’re wondering if Jim does become CEO, how would he boost morale for both the organization and the local stations?
For the organization:
He immediately brings credibility to the newsroom as WTOP has won nine Edward in the last two years and made WTOP the number one station in D.C. He knows how to expand staff and knows to transition to a bigger newsroom since NPR will be moving to a new building next year. However, there might be an adjustment on the development side as Jim dealt on the corporate side with sales and advertising. Since NPR is a nonprofit, Jim has to deal with sponsorships and underwriting. It might be an adjustment, but pulling $50 million+ in revenue with WTOP, I think Jim understands how to pull in the money.
For the local stations:
Jim knows not only news radio, but the concept of radio. He immediately becomes the face of public radio and would help out the smaller stations on establishing themselves. He understands different cities have different needs. In an interview with All Access last year, Jim said about how stations (and online streams) can work in particular cities and industries:
“A radio station could do this by hiring smart people who already cover that industry to do it online. Hartford with the insurance industry and Detroit with the audio industry come to mind.”
Jim further explains how online will help stations grow,
“Remember, an online news operation potentially reaches everybody connected to that industry, whether they live in your signal area or not. It is not limited by the radius of your on-air signal.”
Also, he has done radio at the local and national level so he knows what works best or does not at each level.
The only downside about Jim is his age and it would look like a short-term move, but I will say NPR needs a long-term vision and this calls for someone who has clear vision of what NPR needs to be and what role local stations play, plus there’s no CEO and no VP of News, so they need someone to implement a plan for the next 5-10 years and Jim can do that, if the board let him.
Final Thoughts
Politics moved NPR from “if the organization should be funded?” to “what’s their next move?” Right now, it’s fair to say the NPR staff and stations are demoralize and do not know what will be coming up next and include the top two positions vacant; it’s time for NPR to reassess. Some said the “firing” of Vivian Schiller will put NPR in the downfall. It could be true, but we have no idea who the board wants. However, the only thing we know is the board decision on the CEO will determine where NPR goes. NPR has to realize everyone is watching their next move and if they make a false move, everyone will jump all over them. Everyone, including NPR’s own peers, has pushed them to this point. It is time NPR to make an offensive move. In my opinion, I hope that move is Jim Farley.
I have been a great fan for public broadcasting for a long time since I grew up with Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and later on working with NPR. I have been paying attention on the #pubmedia backchannels a lot the past month about Congress voting to defund public broadcasting. From those discussions, this has been a blessing and a curse for the sector.
Reasons Public Media is in this predicament
This all started with Juan Williams’s fiasco that Juan Williams was “nervous” when he sees Muslims in airplanes. That prompted NPR to fire Williams without process. Conservatives saw that and took a proactive PR approach to attack NPR not only for William’s stature as a journalist, but as the only African-American reporter/analyst in NPR’s newsroom. After that incident, Republicans took control of the House, Ellen Weiss stepped down as Senior Vice President of News, President and CEO Vivian Schiller did not receiver her annual bonus, and the House passed a section of the budget to defund public media.
Rural areas
This seems more of conglomerate maneuvering than political since the ones that get hurt is rural areas. Nonprofit Quarterly sums it up best that if you take away public media, it will hurt the liberals a little, but hurt conservatives a lot since rural areas rely on public funds to keep a station(s) on-air. However, Tony Budny and I had a discussion about the reason why Republicans want to defund:
Stupid as it sounds, that could just motivate them more. Less public TV in red states= more room for Fox News.
Simply put, it’s like renaming your town or city Walmart or Fox News City.
On Us
As a public media advocate, what should we do to save public broadcasting?
We have to face the fact that the arts and media budget is going to get reduce. Some of the money should be allocated to bigger stations, but most of the money should be going to rural areas that need it the most.
On the rural side, we need to write to our state and national officials about not only restore funding of public media to rural areas, but call upon officials to approve a Rural Broadband Initiative. This way, it will not only benefit the local stations that have few resources, but it improves businesses in the area since their business can expand state, nation, or even worldwide and provide competition.
We need to explain to the public better what public broadcasting is. Ira Glass is right that public media needs to explain their brand, what it actually does, and tell different viewpoints of a story. We are not responding to critics and we need to tell them immediately.
In a worst case scenario that if public broadcasting is cut, this is not the end of the world as we do have innovators in the public media sector. We need to think of innovative ideas of fundraising and outreach like the KQED-Groupon deal or the use of mobile marketing to attract a diverse audience and use technology such as the social media sites, YouTube, and Broadcastr to share stories in their city or town.
I mention on Pubmedia discussion before that if I want to go into public media with no budget, I would like to travel to small towns to know what the people want is to establish a talent exchange program for the rural and small cities to learn what the people want in those towns and roll with it.
In reality, public media has to take a cut for the betterment of this country, but public media needs to fight for the little people in small towns because stations are at-risk of closing down and as a community nationwide, we need to fight for them. Cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and in D.C. are going to be fine in the long run, but we do not want small towns to be outsourced by conglomerates that have interests for themselves and not for the people in the area.
What will save public media is innovation from the government and the 170 Million Americans who are ready to pitch in.
Recruiter, Blogger, DC Sports Fan, Nonprofiteer, Mr. Tony E-Mailer, Silver Elvis, Porn Star
I am an independent recruiter looking for contracting or full-time recruiting work.
I have been in recruiting for nearly nine years sourcing, networking, interviewing, negotiating, and advising hiring managers on who to look for. I have recruited for many different sectors from nonprofits, consulting firm, government contracting, tech, media, and others from a variety of positions from executives, directors, interns, senior-level, mid-level, and entry-level positions
I am also a blogger on many topics, including HR, recruiting, DC Sports, Tony Kornheiser, and pop culture, many others. I have been on the list in the "Top 100 HR and Recruiting Pros to follow on Twitter" by Unbridled Talent and was named a top 10 finalist for the Washington Post's "Greatest DC Sports Fan."
My tweets, photos, and posts have been on ESPN, NHL Network, NBC4, NewsChannel 8, The Washington Post, and Ted's Take. In addition, you probably know me as Tony Kornheiser E-mailer.
My door is always open. Give me a call, write an email, follow me and let's converse.
You know from this blog that I like Tony Kornheiser, especially his radio show, where he is at his best. I also mention that he has lost his fastball by moving to ESPN 980 with tape delays, shorter e-mail segments, and being the old guy. Well, Mr. Tony and his radio station are at a crossroads.
