Oregon Media Insiders

"Staffed by people with major market experience"

What?!?!?!?!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you not consider Portland and Sacramento major markets? Time to bust out the old DMA book and put a fact or two in your database brave anonymous poster. I wasn't trying to overstate who we are, but we're fortunate to have the backgrounds we have, and while you turn your nose up, we've taken charge of our own destiny without a team of corporate dimwits calling the shots.

Any chance you might create a "Not Oregon Live" website to cover Portland?

I have no immediate plans to establish a Web presence for Portland, primarily because I am staying so busy with this. I think it is worth pointing out that people really respond to the local side of what we do, that includes writing stories with a personal nature when possible.

We are realizing though, that looking at greater Oregon is fairly essential.

Back to your question, I want to see other people get involved in news/Web sites, especially in light of all the changing developments in news overall. We all know that there are some skilled, quality people in Portland who are looking for an opportunity. I have a feeling you will see a lot of similar projects in the future.

This is something that for me requires wearing quite a few hats, but it is well worth it. Our group has completed much of the ground pounding in one way or another, and we hope that at some point we’ll be able to help others get started.

Will this new site be equipped with "SMELL-O-VISION" so that visitors can share in the ambience of chainsmoking? KATU is still trying to get the wretched smell of cigarettes off its gear and station news vehicle. BTW... what happenned to KRON?

Well, I am sorry about the smoke smell, can't say too much in my defense there. But the gear, do you like go and plant your nose on the camera? I'm sure the truck is unpleasant, but "the gear" seems a little overdone.
It is a tough habit to break.
Of course I had more than a year under my belt as a non-smoker when I started at KATU.
To the person above, thanks very much. We are indeed out in the great wide open and giving it our all.

KRON has a hiring freeze. The day after I gave my notice at KATU, five days after being offered the position in SF, the freeze went into effect. I spoke to a friend there this week and it remains in effect.

Just make sure to check your facts when writing stories on Salem News.com. I've noticed a bunch of inaccuracies or things that needed clarifying since its inception. Also, check grammar. There's been a lot of problems in that area too. This isn't meant as a blow. It's stating a seemingly common problem with the website that needs to be dealt with.

Your wife and teenage son are listed as reporters. Do they have any "major market" news experience?

Thanks, that type of feedback is what I was hoping to see, good bad or otherwise. I have no doubt that there have been mistakes, it is our goal to clean them up.

Bonnie has years of experience working for a number of television stations, including two in Las Vegas, and two years with the Statesman Journal in Salem where she ran the Newspapers in Education Program. Between 1991 and 1993, we co-produced the documentary "Fallen Fortress at Cape Lookout" for OPB from scratch, back in the days when NLE's were a vision of the future. That story, the sole survivor's account of a WWII B-17 bomber crash on a foggy morning in 1943 that claimed nine lives, gained national attention. Since Bonnie was a co-producer and it aired in Portland, I would say that meets the technical side of the question.

My son Sean reports weekly on NorthWest Teen News, a product of Rose City Teen News in Portland which airs on Salem's new UHF station, KWVT Channel-52 each Thursday night at 7:30 PM. Salem is in the Portland market, so yes, at the age of 14 Sean also has major market experience.

Sorry, you have to try harder than that, and I'm sure you will.

So when you tout your staff as having "major market experience," it's not seasoned journalists from Portland and Sacramento. Rather people who fall into the "technical side" of it by co-producing a personal project documentary that aired in Portland (by the way, there are high school teens producing documentaries that also air in Portland, does that mean they have major market experience?), and a 14-year-old that writes for a specialized teen program that also airs on Salem's new t.v. station. As I recall, a few months ago you told some people at KATU that the t.v. station wasn't doing what you thought it would do and needed to get better.

If one is going to pimp one's website on another website, one should use one's HTML skillz to have one of them newfangled little clickable links to said website. All the kids are doing it.

Top 10 = Major Market
Markets 10-20 = Large market
Markets 20-75 = Medium market
Markets 75+ = Irrelevant

what a lovefest!

OK, fine, you're the winner! I stand corrected on the major market part. If you would have just said that in the first place, I would have given it to you then too. But you clearly did not know this and had to go and actually look it up.

I wonder why the former KATU people who get fired on are people who did their time and then at least quit with an honorable period of notice. What does that say about the inner workings of KATU, when people are so hostile and bitter to their former colleagues? I didn't make the KRON offer a secret the first time around. Instead, I told Eric Spolar that I would probably be cruising in a different direction before long, months before I finally gave notice.

As far as the Salem station goes and any comments I made or expressed, remember half of what you see and nothing you hear.

But hey, I'm always good to go, provide a little entertainment for the Romans, etc. Seriously, everyone knows the place has been through a big management change, I know people are emotional and living day to day. But it is good when we stick to at least tossing the smaller rocks.

Oh, and I wanted to say that there are a bunch of us laughing at a couple of the above comments; people can’t believe anyone would go to the effort to assault the background of a 14-year old boy like that. They want that poster to know that everyone in these parts thinks you really went too far with that.

I've worked on-air in two top 10's, and found both experiences to be stupifyingly disappointing. Instead of the very best, I was confronted with entrenched mediocrity, people who were just barely good enough to get by, protected by union contracts that seemed designed to foil and thwart the doing of good work. That surprised me, since I'd always been a big AFTRA guy. On the way there, I spent a few years in 10-20 markets, and liked it a lot--great NFL, MLB cities with good people and high standards, higher actually than I ran into in top 10's. When kids came along, I had my choice, found a top-25 that was just perfect for a family life, and stayed. And I learned that my staying caused me to make a better living than I ever could have imagined, regardless of market size. There's a lot to be said for stability. Anyway, I learned to be very unimpressed by the major-vs-large-vs whatever distinction. Just show me your stuff.

As I linger in the dirt with the other posters, I am humbled by the post above, a real experience-based perspective with a different, positive kind of insight.
Great stuff, makes me want to go hose off and put a shirt on. In spite of my pun, we really should be inspired.

Who are the Romans you are providing entertainment too? I'm a bit confused... Are you talking about ancient Romans, modern day Romans...?

Personally, while yes it needs some work, I think the redesign makes Salem-News.com look much better than it did before. Bravo!

It's refreshing to see someone who is willing to try something new to find happiness. If others want to tear it down or grind axes -- that's their issue. I don't know the people who produce Salem-News.com but from what I have seen, they are giving it a good try.

Frankly I think the Salem area can only benefit from multiple news sources and information streams -- so I think it's kinda cool. I could really care less who does it, as long as the stories are accurate and informative. If you can make a living at it, why not? The last thing Salem needs is another corporate news source... ug!

Now I know that I might not be the expert on "news" being a stay-at-home dad freelance writer, but I think some of the comments here are over the top. Just the kind of rude, axe grinding you get when you allow anonymous comments. Makes me glad I don't work in the TV world -- or have any desire to.

I am just impressed that he is committed to making his product better and giving the area a new outlet. Thanks!

Perhaps this belongs in an open thread, but it's been brought up here a couple of times. The anonymity feature allows us to speak our minds, which is the reason this thread (and the previous one) were created. Most of the people in this industry would not make any comments if the anonymous feature were not here (many of our bosses have made comments about that we should never post here...we don't want to get into any unnecessary trouble). Therefore, there would be no media blog, at least, not many media personnel would write in. Some of the anonymous writers are rude, but they are speaking their minds. These blogs were created for honest discourse to see what we believe is right and wrong in this industry. Perhaps people are mistaking honesty for rudeness (although some is obviously rude). For example, the person complaining about the smoke, while using a sarcastic tone, had a good reason to be disgruntled. The other input about Tim's wife and kids wasn't to bash his wife and kid. It was simply to pinpoint mis-advertising on his part by claiming his staff have "major market experience" Perhaps it went too far...but insulting or "picking on" was never the intention.

Simply speaking my mind,

Anonymous

I meant to put "the reason this blog (and the previous one) were created...not thread.