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How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
- Thread starter thefalcon
- Start date
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and its 14 unions have agreed to push back a fast-approaching year-end deadline for new labor contracts.
In a joint statement, both union and management expressed confidence that they will reach an agreement in the near future, but did not specify a new deadline. Contracts expire Dec. 31.
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003525049
Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and its 14 unions have agreed to push back a fast-approaching year-end deadline for new labor contracts.
In a joint statement, both union and management expressed confidence that they will reach an agreement in the near future, but did not specify a new deadline. Contracts expire Dec. 31.
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003525049
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
But what could happen
What could happen is that advertisers will be so eager to spend their ad budgets that they'll switch all of their newspaper ad budgets over to radio and TV. The increased demand for a finite supply commercial airtime spots could lead to a price increase on the spots. Theoretically, that could happen. As in "that's possible".
But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see that take place. That's a theoretical maybe that won't actually happen.
Of course, if the strike is averted as Jordan327 says, then the point becomes moot.
But what could happen
What could happen is that advertisers will be so eager to spend their ad budgets that they'll switch all of their newspaper ad budgets over to radio and TV. The increased demand for a finite supply commercial airtime spots could lead to a price increase on the spots. Theoretically, that could happen. As in "that's possible".
But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see that take place. That's a theoretical maybe that won't actually happen.
Of course, if the strike is averted as Jordan327 says, then the point becomes moot.
I remember what happened in 1992 for the Pittsburgh Press Strike
I was on vacation the actual day the strike began. It was about the time the Johnny Carson retired. By the time I got back to Pgh. publications like the gateway publications were loaded with ads and the McKeesport Daily news and others were selling papers in downtown Pgh. But we have the internet.. but postgazette.com would be down also.. I think radio would do well.. but remember this was before the telecommunications act of 1995. so owners were in touch with the value of their station and what was needed to be done. as I stated I hope this strike never happens and a sale never occurs. but what are your thoughts on alternate advertising sources and costs in the event of a strike. once someone changes a pattern and tries something different. they many never come back?
I was on vacation the actual day the strike began. It was about the time the Johnny Carson retired. By the time I got back to Pgh. publications like the gateway publications were loaded with ads and the McKeesport Daily news and others were selling papers in downtown Pgh. But we have the internet.. but postgazette.com would be down also.. I think radio would do well.. but remember this was before the telecommunications act of 1995. so owners were in touch with the value of their station and what was needed to be done. as I stated I hope this strike never happens and a sale never occurs. but what are your thoughts on alternate advertising sources and costs in the event of a strike. once someone changes a pattern and tries something different. they many never come back?
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
in this internet age, daily ink-and-paper editions are quicky going the way of the dinosaurs. The McClatchy Group just put the Minneapolis Star-Tribune up for sale, and the asking price is about half what they paid for the paper just five years ago. The PG unions would have to be extraordinarily short-sighted to even think about a strike (not that Pittsburgh-based labor unions haven't been guilty of that in the past). A strike would likely result in a forced sale to someone like Scaife at around ten cents on the dollar.
in this internet age, daily ink-and-paper editions are quicky going the way of the dinosaurs. The McClatchy Group just put the Minneapolis Star-Tribune up for sale, and the asking price is about half what they paid for the paper just five years ago. The PG unions would have to be extraordinarily short-sighted to even think about a strike (not that Pittsburgh-based labor unions haven't been guilty of that in the past). A strike would likely result in a forced sale to someone like Scaife at around ten cents on the dollar.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
I was a printer for 23 years with the largest printer in North America. I lost my job in 2001 thanks to the internet age. Why should money be spent on printed materials when its more advantageous and less costly to simply post it to be read over the internet.......
FreddyE1977 said:
I was a printer for 23 years with the largest printer in North America. I lost my job in 2001 thanks to the internet age. Why should money be spent on printed materials when its more advantageous and less costly to simply post it to be read over the internet.......
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Hopefully the communist rag will be sold to conservative people, like the people of the burgh! If not good ridence, I stop getting the rag a year ago. The trib will flourish and the communist Block family will leave town. Is'nt that great news. I am hoping for a sale of the paper, but talk radio and the trib will fill the void.
Hopefully the communist rag will be sold to conservative people, like the people of the burgh! If not good ridence, I stop getting the rag a year ago. The trib will flourish and the communist Block family will leave town. Is'nt that great news. I am hoping for a sale of the paper, but talk radio and the trib will fill the void.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
How objective.
djbeck123 said:
How objective.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Although I have not lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, I still read the Post-Gazette on line. The city will be very much the poorer if they were to lose the Post-Gazette (which in this day and age would be a certainty if there was a strike).
A mid-size city such as Pittsburgh with two daily newspapers is quite extraordinary. To quote a Joni Mitchell song, “Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you’ve got ‘Til it’s gone” which is exactly what Pittsburghers will realize if the paper shuts down. I hope Pittsburgh continues as a two newspaper town for a long time to come.
djbeck123 said:
Although I have not lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, I still read the Post-Gazette on line. The city will be very much the poorer if they were to lose the Post-Gazette (which in this day and age would be a certainty if there was a strike).
A mid-size city such as Pittsburgh with two daily newspapers is quite extraordinary. To quote a Joni Mitchell song, “Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you’ve got ‘Til it’s gone” which is exactly what Pittsburghers will realize if the paper shuts down. I hope Pittsburgh continues as a two newspaper town for a long time to come.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
A mid-size city such as Pittsburgh with two daily newspapers is quite extraordinary.
To keep this on-topic, Pittsburgh's other paper, the Tribune-Review, is as much a "Pittsburgh" paper as the Froggies are "Pittsburgh" radio stations. It's basically the Greensburg Tribune-Review with a little bit of extra content.
A mid-size city such as Pittsburgh with two daily newspapers is quite extraordinary.
To keep this on-topic, Pittsburgh's other paper, the Tribune-Review, is as much a "Pittsburgh" paper as the Froggies are "Pittsburgh" radio stations. It's basically the Greensburg Tribune-Review with a little bit of extra content.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
I subscribe to the Trib here in Cranberry Twp. for various reasons. I believe one of the reasons they're surviving is the fact they are spread out. Demand for print is diminishing every year. Maybe the P-G needs to consider acquiring other small town newspapers to survive too.
Just a thought-
Radio_Realist said:
I subscribe to the Trib here in Cranberry Twp. for various reasons. I believe one of the reasons they're surviving is the fact they are spread out. Demand for print is diminishing every year. Maybe the P-G needs to consider acquiring other small town newspapers to survive too.
Just a thought-
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
I believe one of the reasons they're surviving is the fact they are spread out.
The main reason they survive is the same reason that KQV survives. The owner of both media outlets is the Pittsburgh equivalent of Charles Foster Kane.
I believe one of the reasons they're surviving is the fact they are spread out.
The main reason they survive is the same reason that KQV survives. The owner of both media outlets is the Pittsburgh equivalent of Charles Foster Kane.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Back to the original point for just a second....
If the PG does strike, it is far more likely that advertisers will simply put the money back in their pockets. Already some big ones like Macy's are learning to live without print (and their discovery is one of the reasons that the PG is awash in red ink). Others will try and steer customers to their websites or might take a shot at some limited direct mail. But a majority will sit tight for a couple of months and see what comes out the other side.
The last thing the PG should do is buy a handful of smaller papers. They are the 1Kw daytimers of that business.
The Trib is losing money at a much faster rate than the PG. Problem is the PG has shareholders to answer to and Scaife doesn't. He'd rather die than turn over his prized propoganda mouthpiece no matter how much he's losing on it.
Back to the original point for just a second....
If the PG does strike, it is far more likely that advertisers will simply put the money back in their pockets. Already some big ones like Macy's are learning to live without print (and their discovery is one of the reasons that the PG is awash in red ink). Others will try and steer customers to their websites or might take a shot at some limited direct mail. But a majority will sit tight for a couple of months and see what comes out the other side.
The last thing the PG should do is buy a handful of smaller papers. They are the 1Kw daytimers of that business.
The Trib is losing money at a much faster rate than the PG. Problem is the PG has shareholders to answer to and Scaife doesn't. He'd rather die than turn over his prized propoganda mouthpiece no matter how much he's losing on it.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Let's trace back to 1992, when the PG first went on strike. Remember the Post-Gazette Newsfax that was sent out to both TV and radio stations, AND posted on the windows inside of PAT buses? Who out there also remembers the Post Gazette radio network, peopled by personalities like Sue Washburn and Don Rebel?
Think of all the staples you find in a newspaper that you don't often find on radio or television. One example is obituaries. A read a survey one day that says it's the FIRST section that people read when they pick up their local newspaper. Though small market radio stations have been doing this for time immemorial, what suddenly shows up one day on WTAE's noon news?
There's other elements of newspaper that radio or television can capture if they think like a newspaper publisher. At Renda Broadcasting in Indiana, two of their reps for the four stations came out of selling the paper across town. They know the strengths and weaknesses of print, because they had been selling it for years. I say a newspaper strike can be the best thing that's happened to radio and TV if they know how to modify their products accordingly so that fewer people miss the paper.
Even the more music intensive radio stations can capitalize by putting on a 60-second news brief in the off-drive period hours. News in brief, headline form. Just the facts, pure and simple. They could expand their newscasts during the drive periods as well. What they had devoted no more than three minutes to, they can tack on another two minutes and accomplish more.
I don't think the PG ever fully recovered from the 1992 strike. So much happened while they were on strike. The Trib expanded its reach, TAE started offering obits, and regional dailies like the Valley News Dispatch (before it was bought by Scaife) started offering Sunday editions. Other media can capitalize if they're willing to re-invent themselves and stay open to change.
Let's trace back to 1992, when the PG first went on strike. Remember the Post-Gazette Newsfax that was sent out to both TV and radio stations, AND posted on the windows inside of PAT buses? Who out there also remembers the Post Gazette radio network, peopled by personalities like Sue Washburn and Don Rebel?
Think of all the staples you find in a newspaper that you don't often find on radio or television. One example is obituaries. A read a survey one day that says it's the FIRST section that people read when they pick up their local newspaper. Though small market radio stations have been doing this for time immemorial, what suddenly shows up one day on WTAE's noon news?
There's other elements of newspaper that radio or television can capture if they think like a newspaper publisher. At Renda Broadcasting in Indiana, two of their reps for the four stations came out of selling the paper across town. They know the strengths and weaknesses of print, because they had been selling it for years. I say a newspaper strike can be the best thing that's happened to radio and TV if they know how to modify their products accordingly so that fewer people miss the paper.
Even the more music intensive radio stations can capitalize by putting on a 60-second news brief in the off-drive period hours. News in brief, headline form. Just the facts, pure and simple. They could expand their newscasts during the drive periods as well. What they had devoted no more than three minutes to, they can tack on another two minutes and accomplish more.
I don't think the PG ever fully recovered from the 1992 strike. So much happened while they were on strike. The Trib expanded its reach, TAE started offering obits, and regional dailies like the Valley News Dispatch (before it was bought by Scaife) started offering Sunday editions. Other media can capitalize if they're willing to re-invent themselves and stay open to change.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Already some big ones like Macy's are learning to live without print (and their discovery is one of the reasons that the PG is awash in red ink).
The bigger factor is the overall decline in department stores. Where there once were Gimbels, Hornes and Kaufmann's, there's now Macy.
Problem is the PG has shareholders to answer to and Scaife doesn't.
Not exactly. The P-G is owned by the Block family, whose late patriarch William Block, had a deep commitment to both Pittsburgh and the newspaper business. His heirs have no such loyalty to either the city or the industry. They're looking strictly at numbers, and the P-G numbers are bad for a variety of reasons.
Already some big ones like Macy's are learning to live without print (and their discovery is one of the reasons that the PG is awash in red ink).
The bigger factor is the overall decline in department stores. Where there once were Gimbels, Hornes and Kaufmann's, there's now Macy.
Problem is the PG has shareholders to answer to and Scaife doesn't.
Not exactly. The P-G is owned by the Block family, whose late patriarch William Block, had a deep commitment to both Pittsburgh and the newspaper business. His heirs have no such loyalty to either the city or the industry. They're looking strictly at numbers, and the P-G numbers are bad for a variety of reasons.
I guess radio and print have to do a better job
Wow.. your comments have been educational. I guess the PG has to focus more on reaching families.. getting back into the schools and expanding the website. less forums on metro government , less creative highbrow writing and more basics. in terms of radio as I drove tonight and even KDKA was into a taped syndicated show and most pgh station am's and fm's are too. you can cry about budget all you want wjpa had a live announcer until 10pm and could switch to a major news story in the drop of a hat. radio and newspaper have to do a better job. I agree the possible paper strike could be distructive and you brought up a lot of events in 1992 that I had forgotten about. THANKS!
Wow.. your comments have been educational. I guess the PG has to focus more on reaching families.. getting back into the schools and expanding the website. less forums on metro government , less creative highbrow writing and more basics. in terms of radio as I drove tonight and even KDKA was into a taped syndicated show and most pgh station am's and fm's are too. you can cry about budget all you want wjpa had a live announcer until 10pm and could switch to a major news story in the drop of a hat. radio and newspaper have to do a better job. I agree the possible paper strike could be distructive and you brought up a lot of events in 1992 that I had forgotten about. THANKS!
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
a live announcer until 10pm and could switch to a major news story in the drop of a hat.
The thing is, generally those stations that have a live announcer all alone in the building at night have only that one person present. He's busy running his show, and odds are wouldn't know that there was an incoming news story arriving in the now locked newsroom anyway. Or, the person present is a rookie who really isn't qualified to do a good job of news anyway.
The public would be better served by replacing even more local on-air disc jockeys with syndicated and voice-tracked programming, and using the money saved to keep newsmen on duty for the entire cluster 24/7. Then, if a major news story broke, there would be a newsman present who was qualified to break into the programming on all the cluster's stations with news.
a live announcer until 10pm and could switch to a major news story in the drop of a hat.
The thing is, generally those stations that have a live announcer all alone in the building at night have only that one person present. He's busy running his show, and odds are wouldn't know that there was an incoming news story arriving in the now locked newsroom anyway. Or, the person present is a rookie who really isn't qualified to do a good job of news anyway.
The public would be better served by replacing even more local on-air disc jockeys with syndicated and voice-tracked programming, and using the money saved to keep newsmen on duty for the entire cluster 24/7. Then, if a major news story broke, there would be a newsman present who was qualified to break into the programming on all the cluster's stations with news.
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
Not quite, Realist. WJPA has the incoming phone lines into the announcer booth. Anyone who's worked there knows to pick up "the 12 line", which will likely be someone from the station, possibly Michael Siegel. If they're tipped by listener of a news story, they can call Jim or Tony right away.
Radio_Realist said:
Not quite, Realist. WJPA has the incoming phone lines into the announcer booth. Anyone who's worked there knows to pick up "the 12 line", which will likely be someone from the station, possibly Michael Siegel. If they're tipped by listener of a news story, they can call Jim or Tony right away.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
WJPA has the incoming phone lines into the announcer booth.
I made a point of picking the part I quoted without a specific mention of that one specific station. That's why my lead sentence said "generally those stations that have a live announcer all alone in the building at night" instead of specifically mentioning WJPA. I'm well aware of how unique WJPA's operations are among not only Southwestern PA broadcasters, but among all stations nationwide. WJPA is a great example to use for a station that is well-run, it's a terrible example to use as a "typical" small-market station. It is just not "typical".
WJPA has the incoming phone lines into the announcer booth.
I made a point of picking the part I quoted without a specific mention of that one specific station. That's why my lead sentence said "generally those stations that have a live announcer all alone in the building at night" instead of specifically mentioning WJPA. I'm well aware of how unique WJPA's operations are among not only Southwestern PA broadcasters, but among all stations nationwide. WJPA is a great example to use for a station that is well-run, it's a terrible example to use as a "typical" small-market station. It is just not "typical".
Re: How Will a possible PG Strike"God Forbid" effect Pgh radio and spot costs?
You got that right.
Radio_Realist said:
You got that right.
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