Re: it's tough out there...

["Bill O'Neill" <billo@erols.com>]

>Very true, but in this case it is just bleed the profits until the station
>is sold to someone else, and let them put the money into it.  It is too bad
>that one group can do this to a viable station such as 850 and 680, but
they
>can't own them so they won't spend the money to upgrade the stations.

Bricks and mortar problems just scrape the surface of what goes bad in
work/revenue generating businesses like that.  Reputation, morale, market
position are tough to turn around in this environment.

CBS's Fort Knox (Boston flagship) WBZ sleepily missed yet another
self-promotion opportunity with their anniversary, delivering the impression
that they are either overly confident and comfortable with their consistent
12+ lead (and hefty rates) or out of touch with what greater Boston expects
of them.  It would be less noticeable a contrast if it weren't for the
station's engrained reputation of it's heavy emphasis on promotions,
personalities, remotes, TV spots (on all 3, not just their own), etc.

I wouldn't see a long term lease for CBS in the media "win" column just yet.
Let's hope a genuine article takes on the as yet unclaimed properties and
does more than fund the depleted engineering budgets.

Bill O'Neill

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