[Kzyxtalk] Budgets & news

[sako4 at comcast.net]

I truly hope our next GM makes Christina a job offer. 



----- Original Message -----
From: "doug mckenty" <dougmck at gmail.com> 
To: tbray at wildblue.net, kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org 
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2014 10:01:28 PM 
Subject: Re: [Kzyxtalk] Budgets & news 

For me Christina Aanastad is, and has always been, the obvious replacement for Annie Esposito. She worked with Annie, was trained by Annie, and willing to do the job at a price KZYX can afford. People in this community love her, she is well connected in this community, she understands the issues that are important to this community. 


She should have been the news director at KZYX for the last five years and we should not be having this conversation because our news department should be kicking ass, just like it is at KMUD. 


Can someone tell me why it's not? 


Doug 

On Friday, February 21, 2014, Tim Bray < tbray at wildblue.net > wrote: 




Rick, you're absolutely correct about the difficulty of filling Annie's shoes. It took two full-time news people to make it work after she retired. Annie was a superstar. 

Brooksher voiced his frustration at the difficulty of filling a half-hour with local news when he was here. It's not an easy job, and it is made more difficult by the fractious nature of our community. 

Money really is the root of the problem though; it's extremely difficult to attract and retain someone with the expertise and talent to fill a half-hour, much less a full hour, 5 days a week, with non-partisan local news. 

Cheers, 
Tim Bray 
Albion 

On 2/20/2014 9:48 PM, Rick wrote: 

<blockquote>

I think the reason that KZYX can't sustain a 50-minute local news program is simple: Not that much actually happens out here in Ruralland. Only Annie Esposito could make a 50 minute news program work and sadly Annie, as we all know, has retired. (Come back Annie! Come back!). Sadly, nobody has been able to fill Annie's shoes and those were some big shoes to fill. But maybe the new news guys could take a page or two out of Annie's program and emphasize local human interest stories and the connectedness that makes Mendocino unique. 


Tim, there are days out here in Ruralland where nothing, and I mean nothing happens and that is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Because the squirrel that has been raiding my birdfeeder gets run over doesn't mean that this is news. The current program of "if it bleeds, it leads" is interesting I suppose but not really sustainable. Just taking police reports and reading them over the air isn't really journalism in the Mendocino spirit if you ask me. Maybe the story behind the story might help fill the minutes. Hmmmmm..... 


For instance, there was a recent story about a man being eaten by his dogs beside the road. Yuck. But definitely news. However, isn't there maybe a less sensational story behind the story? Like about poverty and vicious dogs maybe? Or maybe about how this could happen in a civilized country like America, or maybe who the man was, or.... You know, like journalism and an actual story that would interest people. This would fill the minutes. Of course this would take time, investigation, writing and would cost money. But maybe it is more about journalism than it is about money? 


Rick 
Little River 




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</blockquote>

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