RIP Kyle Busch

[Inky_Wretch]

Lead story on the Charlotte Observer website:

View attachment 22793

But no mention on 1A. Didn't even get the sports tease. Did it even make the sports section? Charlotte print deadline was about 8:30 when I last worked at McClatchy. But that was five years (and 50 ****ty editorial decisions) ago.

View attachment 22795

A three-column hed over a four columns of copy!?!

 

[playthrough]

I don’t criticize print editions anymore, it’s too sad and it’s shooting fish in a barrel. Whatever someone says the deadline is, subtract 12 hours, a day, whatever.

I see the IndyStar print edition when I’m at the gas station and it’s a joke. If I turned to sports I’d expect to see a preview of Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

 

[playthrough]

And yes, welcome back @maumann2 and safe travels to Indy. I’ll be home watching it on live TV, a rare treat that threatens to be an annual thing now. The vast majority of fans don’t give two hoots about any other IndyCar race but they’re filling the grandstands again for the 500.

 

[dixiehack]

That's an amazing use of white space at lower right.

Ad space?

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I don’t criticize print editions anymore, it’s too sad and it’s shooting fish in a barrel. Whatever someone says the deadline is, subtract 12 hours, a day, whatever.

I see the IndyStar print edition when I’m at the gas station and it’s a joke. If I turned to sports I’d expect to see a preview of Indiana in the Rose Bowl.

I received a cold call yesterday on my office line (in my current life in corporate communications) from an ad rep at my former Gannett stop, asking why we aren't using them to advertise our job postings with them, as he has seen them on LinkedIn.

I hemmed and hawed and gave him a polite answer, and he kept probing. I finally said, "I really don't want to get negative, and please don't take this personally, but you guys have cut so much, cut coverage, cut staff and cut reach and circulation so much, that there really is a feeling of irrelevance that surrounds the <Daily Fishwrap> in the community. The pool of candidates that we get from LinkedIn, on a national level, is so deep and so competitive, that we know the <Daily Fishwrap> could never deliver that with its 18,000 local circulation. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

He sighed, and after a few seconds, said, "Yeah, I know. I appreciate your honesty, and you're not wrong."

 

[DanOregon]

Lead story on the Charlotte Observer website:

View attachment 22793

But no mention on 1A. Didn't even get the sports tease. Did it even make the sports section? Charlotte print deadline was about 8:30 when I last worked at McClatchy. But that was five years (and 50 ****ty editorial decisions) ago.

View attachment 22795

So Phil Collins has NO Chance!

 

[I Should Coco]

I can't imagine why anyone would advertise in print anymore. Even the market for raised toilet seats is online now.

And regarding Kyle Busch, even I knew who he was, despite paying zero attention to motor sports outside of when I need to put a NASCAR or F1 story onto a sports page. Sounds like something sudden, and he's only 41 ... way too young. RIP.

 

[BTExpress]

That's an amazing use of white space at lower right.

I'm not sure what it is, but most McClatchy papers have something like that in a top or bottom corner. It might be some kind of spadea (usually an ad or promo) that wraps around the A section but only covers a fraction of the front page.

A three-column hed over a four columns of copy!?!

That's called a dutch wrap. Part of a McClatchy-wide design change about 10-11 years ago. With some exceptions (usually driven by photos), you were supposed to use them on all story widths of more than two columns.

Today's Miami Herald had an 8-deck headline.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I've seen papers that have those spaces for the little "sticky note" ads that are physically stuck on that white space. And wouldn't be included in the online PDF version that's posted.

 

[WolvEagle]

It's 12:22 p.m. ET Friday, and this headline is still on MLive.com: NASCAR champion hospitalized with 'severe illness,' will miss race (underneath a picture of Kyle Busch). Ya think?

To its right: 2-time NASCAR Cup Series champion dead at age 41. A little bit above them is a remembrance story on the rivalry between him and Dale Jr. that turned into a friendship.

They're even asleep at the wheel for their web paper. Ouch.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

That's an amazing use of white space at lower right.

You mean ... artistic use of white space?

 

[Sam Mills 51]

So Phil Collins has NO Chance!

I Cannot Believe It's True ...

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I received a cold call yesterday on my office line (in my current life in corporate communications) from an ad rep at my former Gannett stop, asking why we aren't using them to advertise our job postings with them, as he has seen them on LinkedIn.

I hemmed and hawed and gave him a polite answer, and he kept probing. I finally said, "I really don't want to get negative, and please don't take this personally, but you guys have cut so much, cut coverage, cut staff and cut reach and circulation so much, that there really is a feeling of irrelevance that surrounds the <Daily Fishwrap> in the community. The pool of candidates that we get from LinkedIn, on a national level, is so deep and so competitive, that we know the <Daily Fishwrap> could never deliver that with its 18,000 local circulation. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

He sighed, and after a few seconds, said, "Yeah, I know. I appreciate your honesty, and you're not wrong."

That was polite. I wasn't quite as polite when a place that had just cut me had the gall to cold-call me, trying to get me to subscribe.

 

[UPChip]

I'm alive and well. After arguing with a few people, I just decided my time was better spent other places so logged off. We got to Georgia April 22 to find the field mice had taken over the cabin, so we're dealing with that. Tigers suck. Washington sucks. Just haven't been in the mood to even check the site until last night, so thought I'd catch up.

KYLE BUSCH

Definitely as shocked as I've been over NASCAR news since Earnhardt. My brother texted me last night while Gwen and I were at a credit union annual meeting and couldn't believe it. Incredibly sad for his wife and children.

The dictionary definition of "million dollar talent, ten cent head." Actually, Kyle was super smart. He just had an emotionally-stunted childhood because his family -- particularly his father -- is bat-**** crazy. Plus, the ability to win races at 16 without "paying your dues" seemed to rankle not only the fans but his fellow drivers.

I knew his PR guy, Bill Janitz, really well and marveled that he could stand Kyle's crap. But apparently out of the spotlight, Kyle was really funny and loved playing NASCAR's heel. There were a lot of similarities to Andy Kaufman, of all things. You never knew if Kyle was a pissy man-child and breaking guitars because he was a jerk or if that was all staged with him playing the character of "Rowdy."

I think the breakup with Gibbs, plus the influence of Samantha, really mellowed him a bit (but that's an observation from being outside of the circus). Amazing that he won a race just last week but was feeling poorly at Watkins Glen. Hate to speculate but pneumonia with sepsis (much like what Gwen survived) immediately came to mind.

TIM RICHMOND

Man, if you never saw the guy drive, you missed out on something special. He was nothing short of spectacular at Indianapolis in 1980 as a rookie -- had the ability to be the next Foyt or Andretti -- but open wheel back then was truly dangerous and his mother didn't want him killed. Irony.

He could have very easily been his generation's Peter Revson and gone to F1 (even more dangerous) but chose NASCAR instead.

For his short time in stock cars, Richmond was the equivalent of Shane Van Gisbergen on road courses and Davey Allison on ovals. But he was a black sheep in NASCAR, the anti-Earnhardt, a kid from an upper middle class (maybe even rich) background who raced sports cars and loved to party, which eventually led to his untimely death. I don't think he was ever comfortable with NASCAR's corporate redneck philosophy -- and good for him -- and would have been shown the door had it not been for his connection with sponsors and fans.

Too bad he's merely a footnote in the history of the sport, mainly because NASCAR would rather prefer his battle with AIDS stay unmentioned.

INDIANAPOLIS 500 MILE RACE

We're leaving this morning for my 55th consecutive 500 (listening or being there in person).

Fifty years ago, Johnny Rutherford won the shortest 500 in history, completing 102 laps. And this forecast for Sunday has that feel, where they may get to the halfway point and then get hit with a downpour. That will definitely change the strategy in a couple of ways. One, guys like Newgarden and Kirkwood may make a lot of banzai moves to quickly get to the front and you might see a few early crashes as drivers get impatient. Or two, everybody plays it cool until the midway point in an effort to get as much green-flag racing in (plus nobody wants a repeat of the Rossi-O'Ward practice incident) and then it gets crazy.

Because so many drivers have shown good speed in traffic, it's a really hard race to handicap. Palou is a generational talent. Rossi and O'Ward had potential winning cars destroyed on Monday. Rosenqvist should have won the pole. The Penskes are always good. Sato is lurking. Ferrucci has some magic there. And this has to be Conor Daly's best chance to win.

Palou is due to have some mechanical or pit road issue so I think it comes down to McLaughlin, O'Ward, Rosenqvist and Daly trading the lead most of the early stages of the race. If goes the entire 500 miles, I think McLaughlin narrowly edges O'Ward. If it's shortened by rain, Scott Dixon uses pit strategy to steal this one.

Just my two cents.

And I'll try to stay connected for a while, at least in this thread only.

Have you considered scooping them up, then bopping them on the head?

 

[brn623cl]

 

[tapintoamerica]

Lead story on the Charlotte Observer website:

View attachment 22793

But no mention on 1A. Didn't even get the sports tease. Did it even make the sports section? Charlotte print deadline was about 8:30 when I last worked at McClatchy. But that was five years (and 50 ****ty editorial decisions) ago.

View attachment 22795

Gotta have something on A1 if for no other reason than the place of death. It’s a local event.
For years, I argued against my outlet’s national, weekly, in-person coverage of NASCAR by asking one question: “Who’s the home team?” But this isn’t that issue. It happened in your damned backyard.

 

[BTExpress]

Something I should have known but just found out. Charlotte Observer only prints three days a week (Sunday/Wednesday/Friday), with the only delivery by U.S. post office. Been doing that since September 2024.

(And deadlines are around 5 p.m. now, which explains the Busch ommission)

 

[dixiehack]

Something I should have known but just found out. Charlotte Observer only prints three days a week (Sunday/Wednesday/Friday), with the only delivery by U.S. post office. Been doing that since September 2024.

(And deadlines are around 5 p.m. now, which explains the Busch ommission)

They now print on the same days with the same deadline and delivery system as my first paper, which served a county of 31,000 people and was an afterthought compared to the daily 20 miles up the road.

I’m guessing they at least don’t have to get film developed at Walmart. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

That was polite. I wasn't quite as polite when a place that had just cut me had the gall to cold-call me, trying to get me to subscribe.

I had that subscription call soon after my layoff. I said to the caller: "I was laid off from the Daily Fishwrap a month ago." Before I could continue, she stammered out a "Oh, so sorry to bother you" and hung up.

 

[Chet Lemon]

They were naming current print circulations of big city newspapers on “The Press Box” podcast one day and it was depressing as hell. I remember in the early 2000s, we had a huge banner in our newsroom that promoted the goal of getting to 100,000 daily circulation. Weird allocation of focus, by that point.