Sun-Sentinel's SFL Morning Show Gives Up the Ghost

• Some very depressing numbers from the "You Do The Math" category: If Florida newspaper readership continues to decline at the current rate, both The Times Union and The Palm Beach Post could fall to a daily circulation of less than 100,000 papers by the time the next batch of ABC numbers are released six months from now. And not too far behind, The Herald and The Sun-Sentinel could be closing in on that bleak benchmark within 18-24 months, too, if the same volume of readers continue to walk away from daily printed newspapers.

• It seems the Sun Sentinel reads this column: not 24 hours after I pointed out all the stale items on their Culture page, the page has finally been "cleaned." So it's mostly empty, but at least it's reasonably current. But it still only underscores the Sentinel's paltry coverage.

• More on circulation numbers from St. Pete Times (note the paltry Palm Beach Post numbers): FAST FACTS Florida papers South Florida Sun-Sentinal Avg. daily*: 153,563 (� 16.3%) Avg. Sun.: 239,230 (� 11.1 %) FloridaTimes-Union Avg. daily*: 109,476 (� 14.2%) Avg. Sun.: 159,245 (� 12.1%) Palm Beach Post Avg. daily*: 114,336 (� 14.9%) Avg. Sun.: 143,580 (� 12.6%) Nation's largest Wall Street Journal Avg. daily*: 2,024,269 (+ 0.6%) USA Today Avg. daily*: 1,900,116 ( � 17.2%) New York Times Avg. daily: 927,851 ( � 7.3%) Avg. Sun.: 1,400,302 ( � 2.7%) * Change in average circulation, Monday through Friday Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

• With regards to circulation figures see below: the S-S is now the largest Sunday paper in South Florida! This is like some bad science experiment: if you drop two pieces of shit from the top of a tall building (this is just a metaphor -- please don't view this as any suggestions for what to do about your management S-S reporters), the Herald accelerates faster and hits the ground first. In Daily Paper Death March, Sentinel Wins Symbolic Victory Over Herald By Lisa Rab in Breaking News, Business Mon., Oct. 26 2009 @ 2:43PM ?New numbers released today by a journalism industry auditor show that the Sun-Sentinel has won a rare victory in the South Florida media wars: Over the past year, its Sunday circulation surpassed the Miami Herald's. Preliminary numbers compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that by the end of September, the Sentinel's Sunday circulation was 239,230, compared to 238,613 for the Herald. Last year at this time, the Herald's Sunday circulation was 279,484, beating the Sentinel by roughly 10,000. This reversal may not seem like news, considering the enormous decline of newspaper circulation all over the country. But for veterans of what was once a fierce newspaper battle, it's like watching Miley Cyrus sweep the Oscars. The Herald has a long-cherished reputation as the investigative news giant of South Florida, with celebrities such as Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen launching their journalism careers from its pages. The Sentinel has fought hard to compete circulation-wise but never had a great reputation for journalistic heft. Interestingly, the Herald still has a higher average daily circulation than the Sentinel (162,000 compared to 153,500). Newspaper circulation usually jumps on Sundays because of the huge increase in ads. Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the Herald, is quick to point out that the paper still has an edge in terms of actual readers in print and online. According to the September numbers, it had 5.2 million unique web users a month, compared to the Sentinel's 3.4 million.* "We reach more people than we ever have in our history," Gyllenhaal says. Plus, he explains that the circulation drop is largely due to cutbacks on copies of the paper sold to hotels and other third-party vendors -- a choice the Herald made to save money in tough times. "Circulation we know is going to go down," he says. "Don't be misled by it." *(The Sentinel's average is based on one month of data, while the Herald's is based on six months of data.)

• That show should have been almost purely a Miami Dolphins/NFL vehicle. They can't compete with Morning Joe, or the other local pieces by being the redundant thing that it is.

• You have to understand Earl's newsroom, Fed Up. He has always rewarded loyalty above competence. If you were brilliant but had a big mouth, you had no future in Earl's regime. You were a loose cannon who would pose uncomfortable questions, generate unnecessarily aggressive coverage and/or disturb members of the loyal troops who were not doing their jobs. On the other hand, people who learned to keep their mouths shut and follow orders could expect to remain in management even after they committed numerous blunders. The ranks of middle management are filled with dismal journalists who know little but the proper protocol for attending meetings at 200 E. Las Olas Blvd. They tremble every time their boss calls or sends an e-mail. They endorse no new ideas unless they emerge from groupthink, so that no one can be blamed. They carry out missions such as the morning TV show without complaint or criticism, even in the face of strong evidence that it is a laughable disaster. For their efforts, they will collect paychecks a maybe even bonuses, if the bankruptcy court approves.

• Hey, Bob, got any figured for The Sentinel and PB Post from the latest six-month round? We depend on you!

• The show is crap, but it's hardly fair to call it the Sun Sentinel TV show. They won't even mention Sun Sentinel on the air. Meanwhile, the Herald gets plenty of free on-air mentions. The only affiliation that the Sun Sentinel newsroom has with the show is that everyone is supposed to bend over backward to provide it with content. It's a dual screwing for reporters -- do two jobs for the pay of one and never get credit for the work.

• You expect the top dogs to pay for this? Someone lose a job? Take a cut in pay? Really. They will just cut more reporters and blame it on the Internet: "Circumstances beyond our control." You know what? When I look at an assignment I can't (or won't) handle, I refer the client to someone who could do it competently. I don't screw up the show and blame it on "Circumstances beyond my control." Earl Maucker as visionary? You gotta be kidding me. This was the same outfit that kept Kingley Guy on for all those years. Republicanism 1966. I loved the editorial policy while we're at it: "Unless the incumbent screws up, we endorse him." Go stick you head in the sand. That's what they have done since I've been here. And you actually expect something intelligent from this crowd? Pathetic.

• Still feeling like I'm 5 sigmas from the mean even though I fit squarely into their demographic.

• The Clear Channel boys have taken their eye-rollingly-silly silly AFDI chant ("Already, Fuckin' Do It") and proven repeatedly all they really are all about is a different AFDI -- "A Fuckin' Disaster, Indubitably."

• Morning TV! How bold! How innovative. What I would like to know is when Bob Gremillion will be giving up the ghost, or Earl Maucker, or Greenberg, or Ward etc. Is there any shame among these hapless buffoons? It's clear that Sam Zell, the grave dancer, has dug his own hole and is now prepared to lie in it: http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-zell-no-newspapers-can-survive-2009-10 You read what you sow.

• Googled afdi. Doesn't really seem to fit here. And I guess they didn't afdi.

• What is "afdi"?

• It's laughable that the light-on-content Sun-Sentinel should aspire to out-"OOMPH" their competitors when about 2/3 of their paper is made up of stories from their competitors. And what's left is often "stale." Check out the STAGE section of the Culture page, where 3 of the 4 reviews are for shows that closed over a month ago. This is after a purge that followed my own story about that page: back on Sunday, there were SIX stories, FOUR of which were out of date, and one of which came from the Herald. They dumped most of those stories in favor of some even older reviews. Pathetic.

• Trib management, led by Abrams and Greenberg, have dispensed a non-stop banquet of bullshit ot us underlings about this crazy television venture since it began. So let me call on them to cut the crap and give us two hard numbers: _What's the viewership? _What's the total impact on the bottom line? And, If I'm allowed a third question, who will be shitcanned if and when this abortion is judged a flop?

TotalComments: 16