What does the American media business have in common with the Zimbabwean Dollar? With a seemingly-endless series of setbacks, both are spiraling out of control.
In the southern African nation, a bankrupt, ruined society pretends to maintain a sovereign currency that is essentially useless due to hyperinflation caused by the policies of a sickening dictator.
Meanwhile, an obsolete mainstream news media pretends it can successfuly force-feed unpopular content down the throats of consumers, yet is baffled when subscribers, listeners and viewers flee. As companies fail, they blame everyone but themselves.
I’ve made the connection largely because this computer came with a foreign currency widget installed in the sidebar. Just for kicks, I’d switched it to show a US$ to Z$ comparison a few weeks ago. Sometimes, the moves in a single day can be shocking: US$1 can surge from Z$90,000 to Z$108,500 in a matter of hours.
Remember, that’s the New, New, New Z$, where zeros are removed each time. So one US dollar is essentially now worth quadrillions of old Z$.
Where does it end? Hopefully, with Robert Mugabe’s overthrow.
With the media, it’s the same kind of hopeless, downward spiral, but without the starvation, political repression and cholera outbreaks.
And yet the impact can’t be understated: every day brings new layoffs, which hit home particularly hard when former co-workers are affected. The average radio person has lived in many cites over the course of a career, so it’s hard not to know some, if not many of these people.
Now, we’re seeing the bankruptcies begin, starting with a doozy: the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune, news-talker WGN, the Los Angeles Times and others, can no longer manage its massive debt load. A similar fate awaits nearly every other owner and operator of newspapers, radio and television stations.
The New York Times Company, owner of the Boston Globe, is now resorting to extreme measures to remain alive in the face of the coming evaporation of its credit line. How will that affect what’s left of the Globe? Could the Herald (shockingly) emerge as the surviving Hub paper?
Only the strongest will survive this mess, one they’ve largely brought upon themselves.
Despite the brutal macroeconomic environment, some radio operators are still pretending all is well. Firings are repositioned as “exits”, as though staffers and managers simply went for lunch.
We know that WRKO-WEEI owner Entercom and WPRO’s Citadel Communications are in deep doo-doo, but what about WTKK’s Greater Media? It isn’t publicly traded, so we don’t see their figures.
What we do know is that two key people have departed the company in the past week: WBT afternoon drive host Jeff Katz (formerly of WRKO) and now, in a shocking shake-up, Boston VP Phil Redo. Two big salaries cut just days apart. Seem like a coincidence? Didn’t think so.
Listening to these stations, the number of PSAs and promos where paid spots used to be tells the tale. WRKO runs the Ducks Unlimited spot so often I’ve just about memorized Morgan Freeman’s voiceover.
And if Greater Media can’t afford Katz and Redo, how can it possibly continue to pay Vay Cay Jay a million a year to sit on his ass, doing almost nothing?
Through his reckless and selfish policies, Robert Mugabe has destroyed Zimbabwe. Through their own rampant mismanagement, media operators have been brought to their knees, with no end in sight.
Radio has its own little Mugabes, mini-tyrants in the form of CEOs who stubbornly insist they have it all under control, even as the walls collapse around them.
Watch for newspapers shutting down, radio stations signing off and networks cutting back on programming (already in the works at NBC). Where does it end?
Newer Zim$ note: CBC
