shuffling the media deck
tommyWe’ve said the biggest celebrities we have here in Tampa Bay are the local media personalities. But over the last couple years, their employers have been watching profits drop, and in attempt to pare down expenses, they have been letting go of some of their most familiar faces. As we dip our toes into 2008, it seems that some of these folks still in the business can see the writing on the wall, and are taking it upon themselves to cut ties with the companies who made them, uh, “famous,” and moving on to individual ventures.
Locally, it started with former Tampa Tribune movie critic Bob Ross. Ross was dismissed with about 70 others at the Tribune, and replaced with readers’ reviews. But Bob Ross didn’t simply disappear; he kept doing what he loves and got busy at Bob Ross Movies DOT COM.
Judy Hill was let go at the same time, but she didn’t stay idle, either. In order to stay in touch with her fans, the former columnist for the Tribune quickly opened up Judy Hill Online DOT COM.
But more recently, we have a couple of TV folks choosing not to renew contracts in order to get out from under big media.
After 14 years on WTVT / Fox 13’s “Good Day Tampa Bay” morning show, Bill Murphy’s last day with WTVT is Friday. He authored 3 editions of “One Tank Trips” for Big 13, and didn’t get a nickel for it. He will now anchor, and write (and anything else he pleases), on Travels With Murphy DOT COM.
Current WFLA / NewsChannel8 sports director J.P. Peterson is leaving in March. Walt Belcher says Peterson is “working on a project that will revolutionize the way local sports are covered in the Tampa Bay area.” Revolutionize? I’m guessing another DOT COM
Media General has lost other personalities, too. John Winter passed away and both Victoria Lim and Bob Hite retired from the news station. These kinds of losses are taking their toll, chipping away at WFLA’s connection with their viewers. Meanwhile, TBO wants you to love BOT - a critter who won’t quit, retire, die, or demand a raise.
It takes very little up-front money to set up a simple web page. The low costs to produce and host content allow anyone to strike out as an army of one. Those who have a recognizable name have a built-in start-up audience, too.
So will these individual efforts be successful? It depends on how each of these people defines “success.” They would probably like to continue eating, but won’t have to reach any stockholder mandated minimum profit margins. And compared to Murphy’s financial take on those books he wrote, you can’t do much worse.
Maybe just getting out from the big bureaucracy is worth a possible cut in pay. Furthermore, if it’s YOUR NAME DOT COM, you can cover what you want, and let go of the uninteresting. You can finally say what you want (and how) without meddling producers and editors.
Either way, we’re convinced you will find more and more of these individual efforts in the coming year. Don’t be surprised over the next few weeks if your favorite local anchor, columnist, reporter, or disc jockey announces a move to their own DOT COM.
Tags: media, newspapers, online, radio, tv
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January 3rd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Having your own dot-com (or dot-net) is cool, but how do you make a living with it?
-Kevin
January 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
In media, advertisement drives the force. Consumers pay 25 cents for a paper or watch WFLA for free (your cable bill doesn’t count).
Tampa has changed. Once upon a time, it was filled with more conservative, older consumers. Now, it is a good mix of the young, the old, the liberal, and the conservative.
Could it be these downsizes were to bring in new, fresh writers to tap an untapped market? Perhaps. Is it fair? Business is never fair.
I, for one, have been bored with local media for a long time. It’s all just so straight-laced and uninteresting. Times are changing and consumers don’t believe everything they read anymore. Consumers want action. They want to be entertained and traumatized, all at the same time.
I think it is easy for us to blame the big, bad corporate giant (hell, it’s probably a good idea), but in the end, advertising dollars keep the media outlet going for all us to have something to blog about.
I’m not saying I’m on the same side as the corporate outfit, but I am realistic. Rather than looking at a situation and saying, “How could they have let that writer go after so many years?” I look around and see how that writer doesn’t quite fit into the Tampa niche anymore, whether it be because of writing style or new technology.