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Friday, April 13, 2007
Wish you weren't there 
| | CBS: Forecaster Brian Korty said the entire eastern half of the country will feel the effects in the coming days. He calls it the kind of storm that happens "once every 20 years." |
| | Here? Clear. Sunny. Windy. Nice sailing weather. |
Are there any papers left without archive paywalls?
| | So I'm wondering, are there others? Who? |
| | Your online newspaper can earn more money than the local Yellow Pages and the largest radio station in your market. Your online newspaper might evena become more profitable than the largest local TV station. |
| | That¹s the conclusion of a new study conducted for the Suburban Newspaper Association by Borrell Associates. |
| | "The steady growth of local (Web) sites over the past seven years has turned many of them into mature, sizable ventures generating more revenue and cash flow than the local Yellow Pages books in their markets," the Borrell report said. "Many markets will hit another milestone this year: The biggest local Web site — typically run by the major daily newspaper — will generate more revenue than the largest-grossing broadcast radio station in the market." |
| | We knew, via multiple Belden research studies, that many online newspapers were attracting two to three times the cumulative market share of the largest local radio station. |
| | Now, Borrell is telling us that savvy newspapers are turning that marketplace dominance into revenue and cash flow. |
| | "In 36 markets we chose at random," the Borrell study says, "we found 15 local sites surpassing the largest terrestrial radio stations in those markets in terms of gross revenue. With double-digit annual revenue growth over the next four years, it is conceivable that a large local Web site will gross more than the largest cluster of radio stations owned by a single company in its market by 2010Šand perhaps more than the largest-grossing TV station." |
| | Of course, Borrell lives to serve suburban publishers, and research houses often say flattering things about their vertical markets' potentials. But still, those are interesting figures. |
| | By the way, nearly all of the free weeklies out there, near as I can tell, don't lock up their archives. |
Mathafter
| | The topic of free speech is moot in this case. This isn¹t a free speech issue; it¹s a commercial speech issue. Imus' customers (also called advertisers) are no longer willing to pay to hear him say what he did... |
| | If you or I support, through our actions or our pocketbook, people who make their living by inflicting pain on others, even in jest, then we're part of the problem. |
| | People talk about how Imus crossed a "line" between what's acceptable and what's not; and how maybe that line has changed, or whatever. |
| | The line Imus crossed wasn't the one between decent and indecent, but between funny and unfunny. As Howard Stern (who remains funny) has been saying for years, Imus lost his funny chops a long time ago. But those were great chops. Howard won't admit it, but Imus at his best was as funny as they come. |
| | Like Dave, I enjoyed Imus during his peak, in the 70s. After I moved to North Carolina, I kept listening to Imus when I'd get up before the sun, because WNBC's huge signal bounced off the ionosphere at night and came in down there like a local. |
| | In 1980 I heard about John Lennon's death from Imus. That tragedy was about as unfunny as a thing can be, and Imus handled it perfectly, as I recall. |
| | But eventually I lost both interest and track. When I'd hear Imus over SCAN on my AM radio — usually on second-tier stations — I didn't hear the same guy who used to make me laugh decades earlier. I heard a guy who talked politics with guests and sidekicks between snarky banter that didn't seem any better than the rest of what I ignored on morning radio. |
| | Now I understand that ethnic and sexual put-downs were his stock in trade. Well, so is a huge percentage of what you hear in comedy clubs. The thing is, you can get away with it if it's funny. And it's only funny if it has irony to it; that is, more meaning than one. You're not saying something that can only be wrong, or hurtful, or crude. |
| | If what Imus said was funny, it might have been safe. But it wasn't, so it only meant one thing. And no advertiser is going to pay for that. |
Still relevant after all these years
Technorati's Bee
| | Fun to see Personal Bee, founded by Ted Shelton, become Technorati's first acquisition. Personal Bee is a kind of build-your-own-newspaper system, with some creative social technologies as well. |
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