In an announcement to staff, Nexstar vice president Tim Busch reports that the station's General Manager, Marc Jaromin, has left the station to "pursue other interests". Busch is now acting GM. Seems to me that things at 201 Humboldt are in flux yet once again. No news director and now the GM leaves. Will the last person please turn off the lights??
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WROC-TV 8 General Manager Leaves
- Thread starter tvnewswatcher
- Start date
tvnewswatcher said:
"Pursue other interests." Isn't that the terminology used when someone gets fired?
???
dot...dot...dot.... dash...dash....dash.....dot...dot...dot.
Dit-Dit-Dit Dah-Dah-Dah Dit-Dit-Dit?
C'mon, things could be worse.
They could be sold to Granite.
C'mon, things could be worse.
They could be sold to Granite.
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rochestermediamonitor
Guest
ok tv-8 haters....time to step up! This is YOUR opportunity stop being a benchwarmer and take the bull by the horns. You can finally put all your monday morning quarterbacking to good use! Some of you are so obviously smarter than the folks currently running the media grist mill that I'm sure you could use your media superpowers to destroy the competition. Who's first. Mark? Tvnewswatcher? Voice of reason? Somebody, please, save our broken and abused local media. We need you. (super friends costume is optional)
J
jfc40ts
Guest
SirRoxalot said:
Interesting. Marc Jaromin used to be an acct. exec. for WKBW-TV...
Granite is Bankrupt, owners of stations in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Binghamton, has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and do not plan to Buy Station, Clear Channel want to sale All of it Station together,dustintv said:You know...WHAM is for sell.
What if Clear Channel ends up selling WHAM to Granite?GOOD BYE 8 BASHERS HELLO 13 BASHERS!
rochestermediamonitor said:
On the contrary I don't hate Channel 8, never have. The fact is I've been rooting for 8 to get its act together since the strike back in the mid 1970s.
It's not the on-air talent that's to blame as much as the owners. Let's be honest now, 8 has a pretty poor track record when it comes to ownership and managers.
The last time 8 had a chance to do well is when Bob Kirk was news director. I don't know the man personally, but I respect him for hiring quality reporters and off-air staff. Just as 8 was getting a reputation for breaking stories, what happens? Kirk is fired and replaced by another person who proceeded to force out or fire seasoned veterans and replace them with less-experienced people. Why? It all has to do with the bottom line.
So my friend since you tossed down the gauntlet, why don't you come up with some solutions as to why 8 finds itself without both a station manager and news director? I would be curious to read your insight as to what 8 can do to get rid of this three decade "jinx" that has kept this station number 3.
So enlighten us please.
rochestermediamonitor said:
You want a solution to the problems at Channel 8? Sell the damn station to owners who actually give a damn about local news and want to be competitive instead of a company who only cares about the bottom line. That's a start. When you have dedicated people leaving the station en-masse, or are fired, because they want a raise, or are forced to sign contracts for less money than what they are currently making, that gives you a clear-cut picture of the type of company you're working for. So what is your solution to the problems at Channel 8? Keep the status-quo and hope the sales department can make the station enough money to keep operating?
I can't zip up my Superfriends costume...it's a little snug.
Superman couldn't help that station. No general manager, no news director, and some corporate hack running the place. I bet the morale at 8 is up there in the stratosphere. :
As for WHAM being up for sale let's hope the new owners are not stupid enough to ruin a working product. Even under Ackerly and now Cheap Channel, both owners were not crazy enough to make drastic personnel changes. They have a system at WHAM TV where people have been trained to take over once others either retire or leave. At Channel 8 the person with the most seniority is the janitor.
As for WHAM being up for sale let's hope the new owners are not stupid enough to ruin a working product. Even under Ackerly and now Cheap Channel, both owners were not crazy enough to make drastic personnel changes. They have a system at WHAM TV where people have been trained to take over once others either retire or leave. At Channel 8 the person with the most seniority is the janitor.
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rochestermediamonitor
Guest
I wasn't asking for solutions, I was asking which one of you is going to apply for the gm job? Everyone here seems to think there's a bunch of idiots running the place, so it should be really easy to turn it around, right?! So again, I ask, who's going to drop off their application for the GM position?
Since you asked what I'd do, drop the 31 newscast and focus the resources and best talent in the building on tv 8's 6pm and 11pm newscast. CBS has the strongest prime time lead in shows, so there is potential for at least the 11pm news to be successful. Weed out most of the street reporters (a majority are pretty uninspiring). Keep the current lineup of kevin and maureen, hetsko and kuchko. I find it interesting that the main on air talent have been on air for years (and don't seem to be looking) but they never seem to find the right supporting talent. Money isn't the answer, finding the right talent is. With the exception of 2 reporters that moved thru there over the past few years, I can only think of one or two really added anything special to the newscasts. Oh, I'd make them all wear superhero costumes as well. Maureen would be smokin in that wonder women costume. They could have a weekly feature on who she tied up with her golden lasso. THAT would get some ratings.
Since you asked what I'd do, drop the 31 newscast and focus the resources and best talent in the building on tv 8's 6pm and 11pm newscast. CBS has the strongest prime time lead in shows, so there is potential for at least the 11pm news to be successful. Weed out most of the street reporters (a majority are pretty uninspiring). Keep the current lineup of kevin and maureen, hetsko and kuchko. I find it interesting that the main on air talent have been on air for years (and don't seem to be looking) but they never seem to find the right supporting talent. Money isn't the answer, finding the right talent is. With the exception of 2 reporters that moved thru there over the past few years, I can only think of one or two really added anything special to the newscasts. Oh, I'd make them all wear superhero costumes as well. Maureen would be smokin in that wonder women costume. They could have a weekly feature on who she tied up with her golden lasso. THAT would get some ratings.
rochestermediamonitor said:
Nobody in their right mind is going to apply for the GM's job at Channel 8 when you take into account the company running that operation. The only candidates they will get will be out-of-work executives, or some puppet who takes orders without complaining. With all of the experienced news people in broadcasting tell me why 8 has not hired a news director yet? Could it be that the infamous grapevine is keeping qualified people from applying?
As for your solutions to fixing the problems at Channel 8 may I respond?
Getting rid of Channel 31's 10pm news isn't going to help 8 out whatsoever. 31's news is nothing but a preview of what WROC is going to air at 11pm. The only reason 8 took over WUHF's news is to reach another, much younger, audience that watches FOX and not CBS.
If the management at WROC were serious about FOX 31 news they would have hired a news anchor with some experience under her belt instead of another bleached-blonde Barbie doll that lacks a basic understanding of the English language and grammar.
As for 8's anchor team. They are the glue that holds that place together. Maureen (last year I believe) signed a new contract with the station; a contract that an insider told me did not include a salary increase but she received less money than she made under her old contract. Whether this is true or not is her business not mine. But if it's true then it gives you an idea what the management at 8 thinks of one of their lead anchors. As for Doran, I feel sorry for the guy; especially when some consultant comes in and tells him and the other male anchors to get their hair cut short because it would make them look younger. Can you imagine for one moment what Don Alhart would tell Clear Channel if they told him to start using Grecian Formula?
And what gives you any indication that the main anchors haven't been looking? Let's be blunt here for a moment. Doran is just another "happy-talk" anchor and there are plenty of those out there. McGuire grew up in Rochester and wants to stay here, otherwise she could have found another job a long time ago. Kucko's wife has a nice PR job in Rochester and why move if the both of them are making good money? Hetsko could move on to a bigger market and who knows if he will in the future. You keep on mentioning how 8's anchor team has so many years on the air in Rochester. Rich Funke's been on the air in Rochester (both radio and TV) for over 35 years. Alhart over 40, Ryan at least 20. 8 meanwhile has run through a series of anchors over the past two decades. Linda Allen, Bob Kirk, Jerry Fiore, Melissa Long, Jacquie Walker, just to name a few. So you really can't compare the longevity at 8 versus 10 and 13.
rochestermediamonitor said:
Oh rochestermediamonitor...how much there is for you to learn about the business of news. I can tell that you have no clue as to how a tv station is run. I'll make it simple. MONEY IS THE ANSWER. How do you expect to hire talent w/o money to attract them? It's alllllllll about the money, make no mistake about it. The reason why Nexstar bought WUHF-FOX 31 is because it's a revenue stream. Do you actually think that news makes money? Absolutely not. Commercials, infomercials, sponsorships are the things that bring in money and keeps things running. As much as we broadcast and former broadcast professionals who write in this forum would like to think that local tv news is a public service that's there to serve as a watchdog for the betterment of society, we would be remiss is mentioning that television/radio is, first and foremost, a business. Take away the pretty anchors and reporters, flashy news sets and live trucks, what you are left with is an organization that is there to make money. Bottom line. Do you think 8 cares that they have young talent? No. There's a reason why they're young, it's because they're cheap. For every kid that comes out of college or works their way up from market #180, there's 20 other kids waiting to take their place. Business dictates that hiring cheaper workers betters the bottom line. For example; do you actually believe that under the current ownership, Nexstar would've kept the likes of Robin DeWind, Brett Davidson, Steve Levine, Rachel Barnhart, Melissa Long, Bob Kirk, etc., all who I might add, have worked at Ch 8 at some point in their careers. The answer is a definitive NO. Why? They cost too much. That's it. 8's commitment isn't to the quality of their journalism or this community, it's to their shareholders and investors. Plain and simple.
See?....Now you got me all fired up....In the words of David Banner, "Mr Magee, don't make me angry, you wouldn't like it when I'm angry."
I think the point here is if 8 had recently hired some anchors/reporters with credibility and some skill they would be more desirable to watch. Increased viewership leads to higher revenue in most cases. Some times you have to spend money to make money.
Rochwatcher said:
Normally that's the proper way to run a business, but when you are dealing with Nexstar you might as well be living on Bizzaro World. One reason Lee Eldridge was brought as news director was to get rid of those reporters making a decent salary and replace them with less experienced people willing to work for less money. Even some of the anchors signed contracts (from what an insider at 8 told me) for less money than they previously made just to keep their jobs. Nexstar has to be one of the worst companies to work for. They treat their employees like surfs. It's no wonder 8 hasn't been able to find a news director yet. And I'm willing to bet it will be a while for them to find a new GM as well.
Who wants to work for jerks?
R
rochestermediamonitor
Guest
Oh tvnewswatcher....you missed my point. Stop flushing money down the toilet on fox, and concentrate what little funds they have on 6 and 11. Then, you'll HAVE THE MONEY to hire and retain the talent they so desperately need.
8's commitment isn't to the quality of their journalism or this community, it's to their shareholders and investors.
So you're saying 10 and 13 aren't in the biz to make money? Let me throw your words back at you... how much there is for you to learn about the business of news.
So I guess nobody is going to put on the superhero costume and take the gm gig. What if it were a fuzzy bunny suit? Everyone loves fuzzy bunnies, right?
8's commitment isn't to the quality of their journalism or this community, it's to their shareholders and investors.
So you're saying 10 and 13 aren't in the biz to make money? Let me throw your words back at you... how much there is for you to learn about the business of news.
So I guess nobody is going to put on the superhero costume and take the gm gig. What if it were a fuzzy bunny suit? Everyone loves fuzzy bunnies, right?
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