If you're so unhappy, why do you stay?

[Beerbong]

Lots of complaining. Its a big world out there.

[craig11152]

Speaking genericallySometimes there's no better place to go. Or sometimes the logistics are impossible.
Ironically our southern border is inundated with people using the "big world" concept to find a better place.

[Beerbong]

Speaking genericallySometimes there's no better place to go. Or sometimes the logistics are impossible.
Ironically our southern border is inundated with people using the "big world" concept to find a better place.

Family, other commitments. I get that. Insecurity, change. Maybe being unhappy satisfies in some way.

If our grandparents or parents didn't have the "big world" concept most of us wouldn't be here.

[sinklair]

Labels. Sometimes what one person describes as “complaining” is another person’s attempt to improve their standing. People should stand up for themselves and what they believe in without fear of being labeled as “complaining” by others.

[Beerbong]

sinklair: “We’re last place! We suck! Our wages and benefits are the lowest in the market! Dave Blondie pays an agent to be here. Our management sucks! We have meteorologists co-anchoring morning news segments! We have the lowest number of staff yet support two stations! Bill Harris is ineffective and kisses police butt! This is now a starter-station!”

Coworkers: “Tell us something we don’t know.”

As usual. Typical frontier gibberish. https://youtu.be/DNC3OciAF3w

[Beerbong]

Labels. Sometimes what one person describes as “complaining” is another person’s attempt to improve their standing. People should stand up for themselves and what they believe in without fear of being labeled as “complaining” by others.

In your rants you describe games of Family Feud, luncheons and Christmas parties. In other posts here I've seen complaints about employee appreciation days, having managers serve breakfast or grilled cheese sandwiches. Jeez! Things like that are unheard of in today's business climate. Being that your station is #3 in the market, it is amazing they would go to all that trouble to make a friendly work environment for you.
May I point out that 12 has none of those things. No special meals(except on the holidays). Then its for the night crew only. No employee appreciation days, ever. Plus, you have to work under the "brown shirts" on the second floor, and have to worry about what kind of conniving scheme PV is going to come up with in order to cut numbers and payroll.
While your place of employment might not be the dream job you hoped, you could do a hell of a lot worse in this market.

[sinklair]

Beerbong: thank you for a rational argument... as opposed to the off-topic rantings from LL101 that have derailed numerous other posts on the Buzzboard.

I don’t justify that because 12 doesn’t do grilled cheese sandwich day that I should just be happy and shut up about the numerous issues that 25-66’s management fails to address. I’ve never met Pete Veto. Don’t really care to. The entire engineering team says horrible things about him and the Chief Engineer at 12. That still doesn’t fix understaffing, low pay, low morale, biased corporate must runs, low minority representation, managers who play favorites, managers who interfere, managers who are in over their heads... and so forth.

I think you can have employee appreciation... and you can address these serious issues. Well, maybe not with the current GM who only listens to “yes” men and women.

Family Feud doesn’t help me pay my bills. The lame rebranding campaign, lack of investment and lack of focus results in a newscast that is actually going backwards.

Could there be a worst place in the entire world to work? Sure. I wouldn’t want to be the head bathroom cleaner for ISIS. But the concerns expressed by me and other 25-66 workers who actually want to put on the best newscast possible are still worth considering.

[Youplus]

Beerbong: thank you for a rational argument... as opposed to the off-topic rantings from LL101 that have derailed numerous other posts on the Buzzboard.

I don’t justify that because 12 doesn’t do grilled cheese sandwich day that I should just be happy and shut up about the numerous issues that 25-66’s management fails to address. I’ve never met Pete Veto. Don’t really care to. The entire engineering team says horrible things about him and the Chief Engineer at 12. That still doesn’t fix understaffing, low pay, low morale, biased corporate must runs, low minority representation, managers who play favorites, managers who interfere, managers who are in over their heads... and so forth.

I think you can have employee appreciation... and you can address these serious issues. Well, maybe not with the current GM who only listens to “yes” men and women.

Family Feud doesn’t help me pay my bills. The lame rebranding campaign, lack of investment and lack of focus results in a newscast that is actually going backwards.

Could there be a worst place in the entire world to work? Sure. I wouldn’t want to be the head bathroom cleaner for ISIS. But the concerns expressed by me and other 25-66 workers who actually want to put on the best newscast possible are still worth considering.

What do you want to change at the station? It seems like every month someone else is leaving what do you think needs to be done to stop this from happening?

[Grimmit]

Youplus, you seem to leave words out of your comments so it doesn’t make sense. You seem to have a great love for the station so you must work there. I hope you’re not a producer.

[Youplus]

Youplus, you seem to leave words out of your comments so it doesn’t make sense. You seem to have a great love for the station so you must work there. I hope you’re not a producer.

Thanks for catching my typos. Yes I work at Nbc25 but I know we can get better if we try.

[Grimmit]

Good luck with that. No wonder they’re terrible. Apparently grammar means nothing to them.

[Youplus]

Good luck with that. No wonder they’re terrible. Apparently grammar means nothing to them.

Sorry that you want to be the grammar police, but this a social media site.

[Grimmit]

Yes. It is indeed a social media site.

[Beerbong]

] That still doesn’t fix understaffing, low pay, low morale, biased corporate must runs, low minority representation, managers who play favorites, managers who interfere, managers who are in over their heads... and so forth.

Lets examine your grievances.
This is a small market so this stuff is well known.

1. Low pay. Sinclair starting wage is $15.00 an hour with an annual 2% bump. I believe 12s starting wage is $17. When you factor in the cost of the union ($30 to 45 a pay period), and the fact that their insurance premiums are twice what you pay for the same type of coverage, the gap gets smaller. Also, for that union representation, they got a whopping 2%, 1.5%, 1% deal over 3 years. Not enough to pay for their annual dues. Nice!
The only people there that make any money are the old timers and a select few young ones. I'm sure management has their eye on those old guys! The only reason they bumped up the young workers was to keep them from jumping ship. Seems like PV and his crew of cut throats finally found a number that makes it easier to be miserable.
They lost 2 TMPs last month regardless of money. And I believe one of their general reporters is breaking contract to get out of hell this month..

2. Under staffing. It is well know that it is expected in the broadcast industry to do more with less. With the shrinking market I wouldn't expect it to get better at any local plants. New way of doing business, everywhere.

3. Low morale. Your station does more to make it a fun place to work, despite being #3, than any other place I have ever heard of.. Don't hate, appreciate!

4. Low minority representation. You have to hire from the pool of best candidates available. I repeat. You have to hire from the pool of best candidates available. To think that there is some super secret scheme to not hire minorities is ridiculous.

5. Bias corporate must runs. Nothing to do there. Sinclair, Gray, they all do it. Nothing you can do at the local level.

6. Managers who play favorites, managers who interfere, managers who are in over their heads... and so forth.
Managers manage. Some do a better job than others. Sounds like you haven't had many other jobs if you don't understand the workings of upper and lower management. Everywhere you go you find good managers and not so good managers. Well almost everywhere, #12 (I take that back, one guy over there is pretty cool). Also, corporations just don't have stacks of cash to hand over to stations. Stations are required to hit certain annual goals. These goals are not determined by the local GM they are determined by the corporation. If the sales dept. doesn't meet expectations or news doesn't get the numbers, thing aren't going to happen. Simple fact. No soup for you.

In closing.
Most everyone in this business started at the bottom, worked long hours, a lot of years and put up with a fuck ton of shit to eventually make a decent wage. There are very few short cuts to financial success in this market. If money is the driving force for your job satisfaction I think you're in the wrong business.

[sinklair]

Welcome back NBC 25/Fox 66’s management to the Buzzboard! Thank you for adding your “spin” to this thread.

Let me correct you on several points:

First, the Flint-Saginaw TV market is not a small market. It is market 65 out of 205 DMAs in the US. It’s not Detroit (large market)... but it’s not Marquette or Alpena. This is your main argument. While the GM at 25-66 runs the station like it is a small market (small staff size, low pay), that is because he wants to increase profit margins.

Let’s be clear: Sinclair Broadcasting is making TONS of money. Don’t believe me? Check out its public filings. CEO Chris Ripley and Board Chair/owner David Smith make some of the highest salaries in the broadcast industry.

The company’s recent plan to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour is a nice gesture. However, it’s embarrassing that there are many veteran staff members at 25-66 that are in a position to “benefit” from this pay adjustment. $15 an hour should be the starting wage for entry level employees in the company’s smaller markets/training grounds, like WPBN in Traverse City... not significantly larger markets like Flint.

If you’re making $15 an hour... that equates to a yearly salary of $31000. More money than I was making when I first got into the business in the 1990s... but hard to pay bills, student loans, professional clothes and makeup, etc.

For the record, 12 and 5 pay more than $17 an hour for employees with experience. But for the sake of argument, the additional $2 an hour difference between starting wages at 25-66 and 5&12 equates to an addition $4000 a year. When you’re only making $30000 a year, an extra $4000 is a lot of money. The least 25-66 should do is raise their pay to the market rate. Want to keep good people and prevent them from leaving after one contract cycle? That would be a good start.

You send a lot of your post bashing unions. Must be afraid of a balanced negotiation where workers have an increased voice in improving pay and work conditions. If you want to head it off, all management needs to do is listen and include workers’ voices in the process. That won’t happen with current management at 25-66... which is why some workers (not all) are talking about union organization.

Your argument about understaffing is essentially everyone else is doing it, so there’s nothing wrong with having the least amount of news staff, adding more responsibilities, and more news on multiple stations. That’s a crap argument. If all other stations jumped off a cliff, you’d probably follow — based off your argument.

Here’s a new approach: give your journalists (in front and behind the camera/in the field and back at the station) the support, time and resources to do actual journalism... not the gimmicks, advertiser sponsored segments and fluff community events that are currently taking over our newscasts these days.

Low morale — “don’t hate, appreciate.” Great comeback. There’s a reason why workers call them “f-off Fridays”. The GM and HR Director believe potlucks, Family Feud, Easter Egg hunts, grilled cheese sandwich days fix everything else that’s wrong with the station. It doesn’t. Plus they hold these events many tines when overnight staff have gone home, day news and production staff are out in stories or night staff haven’t even arrived at work. That means it’s more of a party for managers and for the sales team, who should be out with clients making sales. And when you’re out on a story (you know, actually doing work) and can’t participate, the HR Director/party planner accuses you of not having any team spirit.

You clearly believe the station can’t do anything more to recruit minorities than to post jobs in its website. How about networking with minority journalism organizations like NABJ? The station actually made an effort years ago... which resulted in hires like Walter Smith Randolph, Jane Park, Kristen Aguirre, Kelli Taylor, Sherise Thompson, Courtney Wheaton, etc. No such ongoing networking and recruitment is going on. Hence why in a market with a significant African American and Hispanic population, only Mike Woolfolk is a person of color with a main anchor role. It’s a pathetic argument that recruiting is limited to only those who apply and is yet another example of lazy management.

Biased corporate must runs — are you really comparing Sinclair’s politically slanted stories to other broadcasting groups like Gray? That’s laughable. NO OTHER broadcast group runs biased news stories like Boris commentaries and conservative slanted stories like Sinclair. No one. Plus add in a mandated promo with local anchors that was widely mocked. The GM and News Director need to do their job and push back against these corporate must runs and demand that (at the very least) these stories aren’t politically slanted. They won’t because they are “company” men and women.

Beer: you clearly don’t know me. I’ve worked in many markets, lots of experience working with good and bad stations. Hence why I can call out bad management and bad journalism. Maybe it’s time for you to get more perspective. You’ve drunk the Kool Ade.

There is no consequence for bad management. When you speak up and offer suggestions to improve things you are labeled a “complainer”, ignored, disciplined, fired, forced out or not have your contract renewed. The GM and “Assistant GM” only want yes people working under them. You say managers manage. Let me rephrase that for you... at 25-66, bad managers manage badly.

The GM is the station’s former sales manager. So when the station can’t make its numbers as you suggest, then maybe a change at the top needs to happen. If as you suggest that news can’t make ratings, then maybe the GM should stop micromanaging the news department and let real journalists do the news. Crazy idea, I know.

“No soup for you”... that’s January’s employee appreciation activity.

In closing: I’ve worked my butt off and I don’t need to be lectured by people who believe a 3rd and 4th place station simply is doing the best it can. I will stay at 25-66 as long as I want, continue to do my best job, and continue to call out bad management. If you don’t like it, then fix the many problems.

And if you think money isn’t a driving factor for every employee, you’re delusional. We’re not coming in and putting in long hours for charity. That’s one of the dumbest statements ever made on the Buzzboard... with the possible exception of every statement typed by LL101.