Acceptable registrations in the queue through March 16 at 11:00a ET have now been activated. Enjoy! -M.W.

Terms of Use have been amended effective October 6, 2019. Make sure you are aware of the new rules! Please visit this thread for details: https://www.mibuzzboard.com/phpBB3/view ... 16&t=48619

Paying for Viewers

Discussion pertaining to the Tri-Cities, Flint, Mt. Pleasant, and Bad Axe
sinklair
Posts: 2209
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Paying for Viewers

Post by sinklair » Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:10 am

When you can’t win them with relevant, interesting, informative content, just try to bribe possible viewers with a chance to win $6600:

https://nbc25news.com/station/contests/ ... DMbeZUGctE

This is yet another example of how the Shipped In from Out of Town new Sinclair GM, the ASSistant GM/Promotions Director and the In Over Her Head News Director just don’t get how to grow this TV station and our news department.

We need to start by hiring (and keeping) great reporters. When you let veteran talent and their numerous contacts walk out the door and replace them with low wage, just out of college one-man band “multi-media journalists”, you get what you pay for.

We need to focus on quality, not quantity. We keep adding more news, but fewer people to help put it on. Our newscasts are now filled with repeated stories, “must run” corporate propaganda from the Sinclair Death Star, and NBC and CNN Newsource filler. We are not breaking news. Our news meetings consist of discussions about how we can follow up on stories we’ve seen on ABC 12, TV 5 and M-Live. It’s an embarrassment that management has no vision and is focused solely on hiring people more interested in being on TV than uncovering and telling important stories.

It didn’t use to be that way. During the Flint Water Crisis, we broke stories. We asked tough questions of our elected officials and government workers. We would spend entire newscasts doing deep dives into how this issue impacted our communities and viewers. We won praise from viewers. We were recognized by our peers across town for actually giving a damn and doing good work. We tried new things like holding live town halls. We used every piece of technology and digital platform to connect viewers.

Now, if you look at our newscasts, website, social media... it’s filled with surface-level stories, click bait and one-sided political stories.

We need a new direction. And it starts with cleaning house at the top. We need leadership that provides encouragement and a vision to really cover the issues impacting our towns. Right now, the 25-66 news leadership “team” is more concerned with covering their butts, blaming others, and micromanaging.



Dudley
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:36 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by Dudley » Sat Feb 06, 2021 2:50 pm

Blah Blah Blah, same shit different day!! Sure is getting old! Tell the CEO not us!



sinklair
Posts: 2209
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by sinklair » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:55 pm

Dudley: instead of criticizing me, feel free to defend 25-66 management. If you believe management here has a good plan, is supporting quality journalism... then go ahead and prove your viewpoint. Otherwise, your just taking up space.



DAC
Posts: 581
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:43 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by DAC » Sat Feb 06, 2021 10:10 pm

If I'm going to toss blame around (which I'd rather not, but what the hell) I'd go for Sinclair management. WPBN/WTOM is heavily advertising that a lucky viewer could win $6,600 from "UpNorthLive 7&4," as if it's a contest just for the coverage area of Northern lower Michigan. There is a very quick mention of it being "one nation-wide winner," but I'd say few people in the coverage area have any clue that they are watching a station owned by a giant corporation. Totally legal, but still seems misleading and shifty to me. Luckily for me I don't work for Sinclair (or for anyone else anymore, retirement is bliss), but it would be the "big" management I'd go after if I were to want to legit complain rather than rant. Or, if I knew that I'd likely be heavily scrutinized for complaining, I'd just keep quiet, do my job, collect my paycheck and either grin and bear it until something better comes along, or maybe get into a different line of work. Incidentally, there are few lines of work that aren't going to have some form of this kind of bullshit, unless you want to freelance or run your own business where you call the shots. I think it's safer to stay with the big companies in the current world situation. At least that paycheck, undersized as it may be, is coming in regularly without any personal risk or responsibility.



Dudley
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:36 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by Dudley » Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:33 pm

And you sinwhatever are more annoying that loldickhead. Like I said tell your CEO Quit or STFU!



MasterB
Posts: 1398
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: Kalamazoo

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by MasterB » Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:49 pm

WWMT does that be the 33RD caller to win $3,000 dollars they also use to do the snowblower contest as well which WOTV is now doing it Kazoo gets 3 inches or more of snow.


Go Pistons, Let's Go Redwings.

DAC
Posts: 581
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:43 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by DAC » Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:52 am

MasterB wrote:
Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:49 pm
WWMT does that be the 33RD caller to win $3,000 dollars they also use to do the snowblower contest as well which WOTV is now doing it Kazoo gets 3 inches or more of snow.
Radio stations have been doing this for years. Anyone who spent their summers in Northern Michigan when JML was "The Music Station" probably remembers listening in to hear if their license plate number was called to win a "crisp 20 dollar bill" from having a JML Super Sticker on your bumper. Good times. I remember WIOG having some pretty big cash giveaways when they became "The NEW 102," but I can't really remember the amount or or how the money was won.



sinklair
Posts: 2209
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by sinklair » Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:53 am

Dudley: I believe I have on multiple occasions criticized Sinclair’s CEO Chris Ripley and Board Chair David Smith. If you’d like me to call on them to quit., here you go: David Smith resign. Chris Ripley quit.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the working conditions and morale at 25-66 still suck. So can we finally have you focus on the issue at hand?

DAC: I agree with many of your points... except that we should “grin and bear it”. Who knows if any of this is going to make a difference in the long run. But we’ve had to put up with bad management for far too long. Being quiet and putting our collective heads down didn’t work back then... or now.

I find it interesting that so many people on the Buzzboard think it’s just easier to quit and find a new job — as if we should accept bad management and bad journalism.

This forum has criticized 25-66 for years for being the red-headed step child of Flint area TV stations. But now when you have a group of people wanting to fight to make it better, suddenly people like Dudley think we are the ones to blame.

In the end, the new GM has the power and responsibility to make changes to improve the station. Let’s see what she does. So far, there’s been very little change. We’ll be here to keep it real and tell it like it is... even if some people don’t like it.

And Dudley, if that criticism of 25-66 management upsets you, I’d suggest you quit reading our posts.



Martin Stett
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:01 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by Martin Stett » Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:52 pm

Who can forget Dialing For Dollars?
https://youtu.be/58IzpP63GwA



DAC
Posts: 581
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2005 5:43 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by DAC » Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:54 pm

sinklair wrote:
Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:53 am

DAC: I agree with many of your points... except that we should “grin and bear it”. Who knows if any of this is going to make a difference in the long run. But we’ve had to put up with bad management for far too long. Being quiet and putting our collective heads down didn’t work back then... or now.

I find it interesting that so many people on the Buzzboard think it’s just easier to quit and find a new job — as if we should accept bad management and bad journalism.
I respect what you are saying, but I just don't see another realistic option.



MasterB
Posts: 1398
Joined: Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:59 pm
Location: Kalamazoo

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by MasterB » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:11 am

DAC wrote:
Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:52 am
MasterB wrote:
Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:49 pm
WWMT does that be the 33RD caller to win $3,000 dollars they also use to do the snowblower contest as well which WOTV is now doing it Kazoo gets 3 inches or more of snow.
Radio stations have been doing this for years. Anyone who spent their summers in Northern Michigan when JML was "The Music Station" probably remembers listening in to hear if their license plate number was called to win a "crisp 20 dollar bill" from having a JML Super Sticker on your bumper. Good times. I remember WIOG having some pretty big cash giveaways when they became "The NEW 102," but I can't really remember the amount or or how the money was won.
103.3 WKFR in Kazoo for years had crack the cash code where you could win up to $1.000 dollars if you knew the code number.


Go Pistons, Let's Go Redwings.

sinklair
Posts: 2209
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:59 am

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by sinklair » Wed Feb 10, 2021 8:41 am

There is less than a zero chance that misleading viewers about a national contest will lead to a sustained increase in ratings. That’s the only reason to run this contest... and it will backfire. The promotion time used to promote this contest during February sweeps should be used to promote news and programming tune in for our third and fourth place stations. But as usual the ASSistant GM/Promotion Director’s priorities are way off.



YpsiGuy
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2019 4:00 pm

Re: Paying for Viewers

Post by YpsiGuy » Tue Feb 16, 2021 12:21 am

I spend quite a bit of time in your DMA each week. I certainly won’t be watching. $6600 is not enough for the mind numbing torture of watching a Sinclair channel.

I just watch stuff on Dish up there anyway.



Post Reply Previous topicNext topic