Ethics question ...

So we shouldn't do the writeup for the Subway ($5 Footlongs! Eat Fresh!) Athlete of the Week anymore?

 

You must not read front-rank general gossip columns in the major national rags.

Some of these whores make it a career.

 

When I worked for the Devil Rays, one of our radio guys was forever name dropping local businesses into the broadcast.

The problem was, they weren't sponsors, they were just people who comped in on meals and/or drinks.

He also made it clear upon arriving to town that his first goal was to get a free car from an auto dealer in return for on air plugs. He did it too.

And, the team, which had just taken the radio rights, and the ad sales, in-house, didn't do a thing about it, even though they were struggling to sell ads.

 

So who is doing drive-time now?

 

2 p.m. is Ordway (meh) and Michael Holley, who actually makes the show listenable at times. The news guy is usually Mikey Adams, who basically torpedoes the show from time to time with stupid crap. ("Let's talk about how Manny isn't clutch and how A-Rod but not David Ortiz is a cheat!") On football days, or when Holley or Ordway is on vacation, they rotate in Troy Brown, Teddy Bruschi, Steve DeOssie, Rob Bradford and Tom Curran.

 

It's not an ethics question, but a business attitude question. Newspaper folks think you do something like that and personally profit it's unethical, but if you do something like that and the newspaper profits it's creative advertising.

Radio bosses seem to be a little more lenient about radio guys skimming a mention or two on the air a little to supplement their meager radio income.

 

Thanks. It would be interesting to hear Holley.

 

Not that fashion mags have ever been a paragon of integrity, but still a curious move:

 

The restaurant is probably a regular advertiser and such...I see radio more as entertainment than journalism...for the most part. The morning drive-in sports talk show is not journalism, anyway.

 

They're only journalists or reporters when they want to be. Otherwise, they are not part of The Media.

 

Most of them are, in fact, former writers for newspapers. Beat guys who became columnists, guys who really should know the deal by now.