d/fw morning star-telegram news

[PopeDirkBenedict]

     All newspaper work is episodic, that is, there are peaks and valleys of activity. In my personal case, during a Red Sox playoff run or Olympics, I might be on the clock (air travel counts!) 12-hours plus for two or more weeks straight. Then in February, I'd go to a college basketball game or Celtics game, or write at home on baseball four days a week. No way I saw 40 hours.
     News is no different. Our guys didn't get much sleep for a month after 9/11. A big story will involve multiple reporters skating double-shifts for a week or more.
     IMO, the problem with ad sales is this. Like every other profession, there are great salesmen, some terrible salesmen, and the bulk of them strung out along the bell curve.
     Honestly now. If you were good at selling things, would you, today, pick newspaper advertising space as the product you wanted to sell? Chryslers would be easier to pitch. So I fear newspapers are not getting the best and brightest of the sales trade.

Which is why if I were a publisher in these kind of economic times, I'd be raising my sales commissions to insane levels, especially for new advertisers they bring in. Give the sales staff every possible reason to knock on every door.

[fleaflicker]

I hope the DMN finds something for Evan Grant. He's a solid guy and a good reporter.

Evan Grant, the same guy who left Pedroia completely off his AL MVP ballot? Guy does not need to be covering MLB in any capacity. He may be a great guy, but obviously he needs to be removed from MLB coverage.

You, sir, are without a clue.

What do you expect with someone who has the handle "RedSox99"?

For one of our resident Nation Fanchildren, here is Evan's reasoning.

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/11/my-mvp-vote.html

[fleaflicker]

T.R. Sullivan owned the market and is sorely missed. He hammered the regional competition in a way that has not been seen since the J. Oates era. Reading anything but FW's Rangers and baseball material is like reading a train schedule _ boring and predictable. Long live T.R.  _ a wonderful guy and great historian. May his tribe increase. And, yes, I stopped getting any paper in North Texas when he left.

[tonysoprano]

Got word from my buddy that they're having some pow-wow at the S-T today to talk about all this.

[trifectarich]

I can only speak from my experience. The 60/70-hour weeks outnumbered the 30-hour weeks, by far. I'm not complaining; that's what it took to get the job done and so that's what I did. I'm quite pleased with the quality of work presented to readers. I could not have cared less how many hours the advertising people put in. If they filled the paper and it only took an hour a day, God bless 'em.

Just my two cents.

[Mark2010]

It helped when you're friends with people from other departments. The ad reps worked 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at every place.

Um, the people to whom the ad reps are selling generally work 8-5. It would be kind of stupid for the ad reps to hang around the office when there's nobody at work to whom to sell.

Just like it's sort of silly for me to come in at 9 a.m. when there's no one available to interview. I can do my writing at a more convenient time. Actually, it's funny, some of my best features I wrote on my home computer at 2 a.m. when the phones weren't ringing and I could actually concentrate.

[txrangerman]

You know, if the powers that be were interested in doing this right, we'd see this in Transactions at some point:

Newspapers -- The Dallas Morning News trades baseball writer Evan Grant to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for two writers and an editor to be named later.

Is that too much to ask? Of course it is.

[pressboxramblings07]

T.R. Sullivan owned the market and is sorely missed. He hammered the regional competition in a way that has not been seen since the J. Oates era. Reading anything but FW's Rangers and baseball material is like reading a train schedule _ boring and predictable. Long live T.R.  _ a wonderful guy and great historian. May his tribe increase. And, yes, I stopped getting any paper in North Texas when he left.

And no one can type with one hand faster, too.

[clutchcargo]

T.R. Sullivan owned the market and is sorely missed. He hammered the regional competition in a way that has not been seen since the J. Oates era. Reading anything but FW's Rangers and baseball material is like reading a train schedule _ boring and predictable. Long live T.R.  _ a wonderful guy and great historian. May his tribe increase. And, yes, I stopped getting any paper in North Texas when he left.

Thanks, T.R. Good to hear from you.

[Screwball]

hey, clutch: i have no idea who press box ramblings is, but i can assure you it's not T.R.

T.R. wouldn't pump himself like that. i can't speak to all the rangers coverage, but T.R. was -- and is -- regarded as one of the nation's best ball writers.

[pressboxramblings07]

fleaflicker's the one who said it, bud.

[JRoyal]

Got word from my buddy that they're having some pow-wow at the S-T today to talk about all this.

Any word on what went down?

[tonysoprano]

Oops...ya....we talked. Here's what I was told: Basically, there have been talks between the two papers, nothing is official, it's not a done deal. Something may happen in a month, maybe six. They don't know. Apparently there's lots of details about the content sharing too that raise plenty of questions/red flags. As far as job security? No guarantees at all.

[joe king]

Oops...ya....we talked. Here's what I was told: Basically, there have been talks between the two papers, nothing is official, it's not a done deal. Something may happen in a month, maybe six. They don't know. Apparently there's lots of details about the content sharing too that raise plenty of questions/red flags. As far as job security? No guarantees at all.

Hang in there, Tony. Fortunately, you have that gig coaching the Dolphins to fall back on. Good job this season, BTW.

[tonysoprano]

Hey, we're all in this boat. Maybe not now, but eventually, we'll all be effected.

[joe king]

Hey, we're all in this boat. Maybe not now, but eventually, we'll all be effected.

Sad, but true.

[lone star scribe]

Somebody needs to remind the suits that they're giving advertisers the excuse to buy in only one newspaper instead of two. That should really help the bottom line.               

[JRoyal]

Oops...ya....we talked. Here's what I was told: Basically, there have been talks between the two papers, nothing is official, it's not a done deal. Something may happen in a month, maybe six. They don't know. Apparently there's lots of details about the content sharing too that raise plenty of questions/red flags. As far as job security? No guarantees at all.

I hope things work out for the best for all involved down there. I almost ended up at the Star-Telegram out of college, so I keep thinking "what if" every time I hear about something like this. I'd like to say I can't see this happening other places, but I honestly think we're looking at the wave of the not-too-distant future.

[ScribePharisee]

I'm sure with all these sharing of resources, they'll be sharing personnel in the publisher's office.

Sure they are.

Bastards.

[clutchcargo]

hey, clutch: i have no idea who press box ramblings is, but i can assure you it's not T.R.

T.R. wouldn't pump himself like that. i can't speak to all the rangers coverage, but T.R. was -- and is -- regarded as one of the nation's best ball writers.

Relax, Screwball. All in jest. I know T.R. very well---worked with him several years.

[Screwball]

I will stand down now