The Inbox....
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Let’s open up the Inbox and see what is on your minds….
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Howdy Scott,
Thanks for your article regarding KPNX’s Ryan Cody and his departure announcement. It really hit home for me as I recently found myself in the same situation at a top-50 market station in Texas.
I was a maintenance engineer for that station and found myself in a ‘professionally toxic’ environment. While my colleagues and line manager were universally great folks, I feel like my department head took great pleasure in ‘initiating’ the young buck of the team (I was perhaps the youngest broadcast engineer in that market at the time of my hiring). Among other grievances, I ended up in two shouting matches with my department head, both provoked by him over very minor offenses that would have been a quick conversation with any other manager.
After the second argument—which was audible throughout the whole building during a weeknight newscast—I very nearly packed up and walked, and my wife later told me she would have done just that. I reported the incident and I never got any official confirmation that anything transpired as a result. Due to the lackluster response to that incident, I left that station—and TV news—a few months ago for a broadcast engineering role away from OTA.
The problem goes far beyond low pay, though I’ll mention that I went from earning perhaps half of my wife’s salary to being the primary breadwinner of the house within six months. It’s a slap in the face to think that someone like my old manager can keep his job and brag about his pool despite being an excreable person by all accounts, yet my ability to purchase a decent used car (which cost slightly more than his last pool maintenance, by the way) was based on me ‘marrying well’. And I acknowledge that my situation was pretty damn good compared to some of the stuff I’ve read about on FTVLive!
To boil it down: if it weren’t for my nuclear waste of a manager, I would still be working at that station. I’m proud of the things I built and the memories I made. However, when my poor professional life began to bleed into my home life, I had to make a change.
It’s sad that we had to have a pandemic happen for people like Mr. Cody and myself to say “enough is enough”—but I’m so glad for him and all the other folks whom have jumped away as well. Waking up excited to start one’s day should be a given, not a luxury.
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Subject: Chuck Todd
If you look on Twitter, it's quite clear that Chuck Todd is trying to send smoke signals to Fox in a low-key attempt to say to them I'm interested in leaving NBC if you pick me up like they do hosts for Fox Nation. Which is they pick people up to host shows that go viral after being attacked by "the mob" or are interested in supporting right-wing political themes.
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About this story.
The only way you can get from Eau Claire to the Twin Cities in an hour is if you have George Jetson’s flying car . . . if they’re going to BS you on the job posting what else are they going to stretch the truth about? I bet the previous producer got hired in Minneapolis which is about Market size 15 but it sounds better to say top 10.
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Hi Scott,
Long time reader, first time writing in.
Have been sampling NewsNation off and on recently on their linear and YouTube channels. In my eyes, they are improving each and every week. Writing from engineering and operations, it’s refreshing to see a new news product launch that goes beyond selling political ad time and invests in the product with high production values.
Most startups are rocky, having been a part of a couple thus far in my career and we all benefit from the quality storytelling NN endeavors to produce and bring to market.
Yes, I believe the news marketplace is over saturated and start ups like NN and The National Desk as well as Newsy all have their work cut out for them however here’s hoping at least one can break out and give the cable news establishment a run for its money.
