College writer, Bakersfield Californian

Does anyone know what the pay would be and when they might make a decision?
(And yes, I'm hired.)

 

peanuts

 

I like peanuts.....But no football at University???? Bakersfield Community College is a football power house over there.

 

Here's my best Bakersfield story.
When Orel Hershiser made his first rehab start after rotator cuff surgery, I went up to Bakersfield to cover it. Got there at about 2 p.m., well before starting time. (By the way, starting time is "sundown" since the field was laid out backward and the sun sets behind center field. So they can't start the game until the sun goes down.)
I wanted to write more of a featurey thing and include what Hershiser did on the mound. People were lined up to get in already so I talked to the first guy in line. He said he lined up the night before. He arrived before the previous game ended because he thought people at that game would exit and immediately get in line. He wanted to be first. He took his 11-year-old son out of school.
He said for his son to be able to see Hershiser pitch was the same as him being able to see Sandy Koufax pitch when he was a kid. Then, the quote of the night: "This is the biggest thing to hit Bakersfield since the George Strait concert."

 

I just tinkled in my pants having read that ... and my heart hurts a little.

 

And life in Kern County has gone downhill ever since ...

 

Took a quick look at the 1991 Bakersfield Dodgers. Hershiser went 2-0 in that short stint. Teammates on what ended up as the Cal League's Southern Division champs? Try Piazza, Mondesi and Pedro Martinez.

Hershiser was only the latest Dodgers pitcher to rehab there. Others in seasons before him included Don Sutton, John Tudor and ... wait for it .... Mario Soto!

 

I remember interviewing Piazza that night, I knew his Dad, who always spent time in Vero Beach during spring training. I did not remember the other guys on that team.

 

Anyone care to say why turnover is so high in Bakersfield that it is perpetually advertising jobs? I've been reading journalismjobs.com for 10 years and I swear the most common are 1. New Times and 2. Bakersfield ...

 

don't really see why it's that way ... it's a guild paper, so you'd think you'd be well taken care of

 

In the last two years or so, I don't remember a lot of job openings here. But I can't say for before that.

 

If you're talking sports, there haven't been any moves since I left last October and they brought in a new ASE (until these two new posts). Before that, we replaced basically these same two positions being hired for now every year and a half to two years or so. But that's natural with the nature of who you hire and them getting experience and moving on up. So nothing out of the ordinary there.

As far as outside of sports, people have always been treated generally well, but change does scare a lot of people and there has certainly been plenty of change around there in the last five years. Plus, it's a good jumping-ground paper for a lot of good writers. They're talented enough to get on somewhere good like Bakersfield, but not quite experienced enough to get on at the big places yet.

Add to that the really high number of people that come in from out of state and think Bakersfield will be cheap because it's, well, Bakersfield. And after a year or so of realizing it's not, they move on.

So, really, it's no worse than anywhere else that I can think of. The openings just tend to get talked about a little more because of all the changes (and the redesign), so I think that makes everyone feel like there are more openings.