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Conflict of interest?

T

trying2getn

Another question for the experts:

CBS owns The Fan and they also own KTVT Channel 11. So my question is why would CBS owned The Fan hire Newy Scruggs who is the sports anchor of a direct competitor (KXAS Channel 5). I am not in the industry, but one would think that it would be a conflict of interest to hire someone who is an employee of a rival within the same market on the television side. Could someone please explain this to me?
 
First off, it's seperate divisions. CBS radio and CBS TV aren't managed by the same people. So while it might 'look' like a COI, is it really? The Fan desperately needs talk show hosts that draw ratings (Which isn't Newy, as his stint at KESN proved), but there aren't any other Ticket rejects (Ben and Skin, Pete Stein, Kevin Scott, etc) to draw from, so what are they going to do?

The Fan is stuck recycling tired, failed has-beens or never-were's. Jagger as a morning drive talk host? SERIOUSLY? Mike and Mike are national, and Dunham and Miller devote at least 1/3rd of most hours ro Gordon Keith's "schtick". There's room for a 'serious' local sports presence, a known name with sports credibility to anchor AM drive, THE most important day part of all. And what does the Fan do? They give us Jagger, doing a fair amount of lifestyle talk.

And after Jagger we get Newey. He failed at ESPN when there were only TWO sports stations in town, so heck, why not give him a chance to fail now that the competive marketplace is now even worse? There's no real conflict in Newy working there, the conflict of interest is between CBS and the listeners. CBS's job is to provide interesting hosts that people want to listen to. And instead, we get Newy. THAT's the conflict right there.

But really, I don't see a COI. KXAS just wants higher ratings. They get free publicity by having a host out there on radio. The Fan just (desperately) wants sports credibility. They think they get it by having an NBC TV sports anchor on staff. Totally forgetting what a joke Scott Murray was and how people don't generally ( okay, don't EVER) relate 'nbc sports anchor' and 'credible sports authority" together in the same thought.
 
I wonder what would be considered the better gig today -- primary sports anchor on KXAS or midday talk host on KRLD-FM?

Not to long ago being a big-time TV anchor would have been it. Since local news skews heavily female in audience, most TV stations have cut way back on sports. KXAS only devotes about 2 minutes on sports at 10PM and has a sports department of 2. Same goes for KDFW. Some stations in other markets have axed sports and just use general assignment reporters to cover sports. In Atlanta, the CBS affiliate, WGCL-TV, is axing its sports department entirely and outsourcing it one of their sports talk outlets, WQXI (http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2009/10/28/790the-zone-takes-over-sports-for-wgcl-tv/).
 
There are a bunch of people in this market who could probably do very well hosting their own sports talk shows full-time if given the shot. Some once did.

George Riba
Steve Dennis
Craig Way
Chris Schnieder
Chuck Kelly
Brian Jensen, and several others.
 
Looks like CBS does care This from Radio Infos own Taylor:

CBS to “reward radio employees who go the extra mile to support their colleagues at our TV stations.”
And vice versa – but come on, how many TV people are typically thinking overtime about cross-promotions with radio? Yesterday’s memo to CBS radio and TV station employees comes from radio head Dan Mason, TV chief Peter Dunn and new COO of “Local Media” Anton Guitano. And the CBS re-org of the radio and TV stations and associated Internet operations into the new “Local Media” division is what this is all about – creating new ties between divisions. After a lot of nice words about CBS stations setting “the standard for greatness in broadcasting”, here’s the heart of the memo – “we need each of you to embrace an even greater spirit of collaboration with your fellow members of the new CBS Local family.” Yes, it’s Kumbaya time, but for a good business reason – “While we, along with your local managers, will continue to evaluate our employees based on their contributions to the success of their specific local business, we will also be looking to recognize and reward radio employees who go the extra mile to help support their colleagues at our TV stations, and vice versa.” So money’s involved. Mason and his fellow execs say “We realize there are no one-size-fits-all solutions…Also, we don’t anticipate wholesale changes in how we locally manage our collection of assets." They'll be brainstorming "best practices in each market.”
 
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