• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Boston Phoenix folds - WFNX.com also will shut down

Yes, as someone stated above, I as well was most surprised by the sudden nature of this move. This decission was made right before an issue was to come out and while the staff of WFNX were almost all in Austin for South By.
not a very professional or classy way to handle this. Based on the Twitter feeds of staffers, they were caught off guard by the move.
 
wfnx.com still streaming as of 9:40AM.

Also note that Mindich said that "wfnx.com will not continue as it is." Maybe they'll stick a server in a closet in Providence and assign an intern to reboot it as needed.
 
If money was indeed that tight, why on earth would they send the WFNX.com staff to SXSW?!?

Personally, I thought the dumbest move was to sell the radio station and KEEP the newspaper. Who the hell reads newspapers anymore, especially in the demo that the Phoenix was targeted to?

Despite the rumor, people still do listen to the radio. It's in a lot better shape than the newspaper/print business.
 
dyeingeye said:
wickedwritah said:
I assume WFNX (101.7) and the Phoenix were owned by separate corporate entities.

But Mindich just got $14 million for 101.7 less than a year ago.

Say even half of that was tied up in debt -- he still would have cleared $7 million.

The Phoenix was losing $1 million a year, according to the releases.

He still probably had much coin left.

There's much more to this.
Click to expand...

He has a bunch of money so he should have continued to lose money on the Phoenix? Wow. Economic illeteracy is stunning.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's not what I said.

The Phoenix relaunched six months ago. He has made positive statements about The Phoenix's ad trends under the new format. You'd figure he had the money to see through at least a year, maybe even two, of struggling before deciding to pull the plug. I think his employees were owed a tad more than a meeting after the mag went to bed. "Hey, we're done."
 
No severance pay etc

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/201...remain-open/mztInkkJEGdjdHQL6xkLOK/story.html

>>Stephen F. Gordon, who will oversee the process, estimated the business had $1.2 million in debt, but said it is likely the assets will fetch significantly less than that.

It's said glossy format "won favor with local readers and advertisers". But:
>>Six months later, however, the end came. There were not enough national advertisers to make the glossy weekly economically viable.

It was said keeping it going cost Mindich $1 million a year.
 
Don't be surprised if the Boston Globe's "Radio BDC" buys the rights to the name "FNX Radio" and the URL (website address) for the "FNX Radio" website so their service can be renamed "FNX", since Radio BDC already has most of the former WFNX-101.7 airstaff.

Those at the Providence and Portland branches of the Phoenix should not be making long-term plans for their publications: They'll probably get the axe in a week or two.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Don't be surprised if the Boston Globe's "Radio BDC" buys the rights to the name "FNX Radio" and the URL (website address) for the "FNX Radio" website so their service can be renamed "FNX", since Radio BDC already has most of the former WFNX-101.7 airstaff.
Click to expand...

Why would the Globe be interested in a domain associated with failure? And besides, RadioBDC lost its primary advocate to the Portland Press Herald, and the Globe is on the block.
 
Also, are Steve Mindich and Ernie Boch Jr. still putting in a combined offer to buy The Globe? I thought I heard that somewhere, maybe here.
 
Maria Lopez was a Sate Superior Court Judge at the time she left the bench she was making around 130K a year. I have no idea what she got for the one season of her syndicated show. I heard she does some consulting a pro bono legal work. She probably will have a nice pension when she is old enough to start taking it but I don't think she would be considered very wealthy compared to her husband.
 
vmorrison said:
Maria Lopez was a Sate Superior Court Judge at the time she left the bench she was making around 130K a year. I have no idea what she got for the one season of her syndicated show. I heard she does some consulting a pro bono legal work. She probably will have a nice pension when she is old enough to start taking it but I don't think she would be considered very wealthy compared to her husband.
Click to expand...

She gets $24K a year

http://bh.heraldinteractive.com/pro...payroll_search=lopez&job_title_at_retirement=
 
promixcuous said:
Also, are Steve Mindich and Ernie Boch Jr. still putting in a combined offer to buy The Globe? I thought I heard that somewhere, maybe here.
Click to expand...

I heard it was Bruce Mittman & Ernie Boch Jr.
 
I have one Question:

WFNX is still continuing their online stream after their announcement. Are they going to continue their online stream until March 22nd, then cease broadcasting for good, or are they going to let their staff go again, and yet again go back to having no DJ's, and continuing online with an automation?
 
Maybe they'll keep going with no DJs etc but as @bostonradio pointed out what is the point if there's no paper to promote? Other than the ones in ME and RI, I guess...if they have money thru
web advertising etc maybe they'll keep the stream going.
But word has it they are out of 126 Brookline Ave on Monday. I don't know where the computers are.

>> He said the alternative rock station “will not continue as it is.” Officials have yet to determine the station’s future.

Best scenario then is prob automated music. Worst, shut down.
 
Yeah, I feel bad for the employees at The Boston Phoenix and FNX that are losing their jobs. I wonder where Kurt St. Thomas will go now that WFNX.com will possibly go without DJ's. Maybe Radio BDC?

I guess WFNX.com had a good run, even though it was only a year.
 
raccoonradio said:
Maybe they'll keep going with no DJs etc but as @bostonradio pointed out what is the point if there's no paper to promote? Other than the ones in ME and RI, I guess...if they have money thru
web advertising etc maybe they'll keep the stream going.
But word has it they are out of 126 Brookline Ave on Monday. I don't know where the computers are.

>> He said the alternative rock station “will not continue as it is.” Officials have yet to determine the station’s future.

Best scenario then is prob automated music. Worst, shut down.
Click to expand...

Yep, they'll probably weigh royalty fees against potential ad revenues for a station-in-a-broom-closet and quickly decide to pull the plug.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom