Radio Free JoJo

The Scorched Earth has come to a newspaper near you.

The internet is filled with news about the news. It turns out that last week was a tragic one for newspaper employment, as 1000 newspaper-related layoffs were announced, probably to help prop up flagging stock prices. Timothy Egan in his NY Times blog makes the point that even though the reach of newspapers through their online divisions has their content consumed by more people than ever, the financial reality of steeply-declining ad sales in their “ink on paper” editions is ruining these once-great editorial machines.

The other big story in media this week is the gigantic $400 million contract that Rush Limbaugh received. It extends his deal through the 2016 presidential election year and perhaps is a good indicator of where that other old medium, radio is going.

So let’s do a little hand-wringing. Read the rest of this entry »

5:30 AM: My new I-Home clock radio wakes me to praise music from my I-Pod. I’m embarking on a new adventure today. I’m going to take the bus to work.

Aside: waking up to my I-Pod instead of my favorite radio station, WCTL has me a little concerned that I’ve crossed over to some very bad parallel universe that diminishes the importance of terrestrial broadcasting. More about that in a future post.

6:15 AM: Time to go. I’ve packed my I-Pod, Bible, a book I’m reading, two Fiber One bars. I haven’t had any coffee yet

6:22 AM: My wife drops me at the bus stop, about 10 blocks from my house. I sit down on the bench. I think that I must have looked like a goober sitting there with my Targus computer case upright on my lap. But the morning is beautiful.

6:30 AM: Still on the bench. I’m afraid to put on my earbuds for the I-pod in fear of getting mugged. Stupid I know, but I’m not yet comfortable about sitting on a downtown street corner with several hundred dollars worth of technology on me. I don’t know when my bus will come. One just passed by but it was the M2 and I’m watching for the 14.

6:34 AM: Well at least that’s the time on my 20-ride ticket. I’m thinking that the ticket swiper is running about seven minute slow. No worries, however, because I’ve got plenty of time before my first meeting. The bus driver is friendly, asks where I’m heading and explains that it’s two swipes to Edinboro. Of course I knew that, since I’ve been researching what the logistics would be like to take the bus for the past month now.

For eight years of my life, taking an Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority bus was a daily occurrence. I rode Route 7 to Mercyhurst Prep for four years, getting on at 18th and State often after traversing some gigantic snow mounds at the Erie Central Mall and enduring sub-zero wind chills in my W.T. Grant parka. When college came I rode with my dad the Route 5 bus downtown to 7th and State. But it has been 24 years since those days, in which I’ve probably ridden a city bus 2 or 3 times, max.; until today.

The bus to Edinboro doesn’t really fit my schedule most of the time. During the school year I’ve got to transport kids, and need the flexibility of having my own wheels. But with that round trip to Edinboro in my car now costing $8.00, taking the bus starts looking really good, especially with the summer here. If I can do the bus even once a week, I can pocket $4, and feel good about doing something about these gas prices.

6:50 AM: We are picking people up at the mall. There’s about six or seven other folks on the bus heading toward the Boro. I’ve put my earbuds in and am reading my One Year Bible readings. It’s pretty noisy and squeaky, but for the most part I’m comfortable.

7:12 AM: I put my stuff away and ask the bus driver if could let me out at my work, which is right on the highway he is taking to Edinboro. He obliges, turns on his blinkers and pulls off to the right of the road, exactly in front of the church where I work. To the door service. As he heads on I see the line of nine cars who waited for me to disembark. I feel a little sheepish to be holding up traffic, but glad for the ride.

7:15 AM: I’m at my desk ready to start the day.

As folks come into the office a bit later they are surprised to see that I’m already there. When I tell them that I took the bus, they are kind of shocked and nearly universally exclaim, “Joel, you’re going green!” I look at the environmental-deal as being a cool, yet secondary benefit to spending less than half the cash on my commute.

3:24 PM: Time for the ride home. I’m the first one on, but by the time I get off, the bus is about 60% full. I shared my seat for a couple miles.

4:15 PM:  After getting dropped off and a brisk walk, I’m back home. I can definitely do this next week!

I got the news about Tim Russert dying of a heart attack while at work at NBC in Washington later than most. It wasn’t until I picked up the newspaper on my porch Saturday morning that I found out that this favorite of journalists had passed away at 58.

Ever since I’ve been captured by the coverage and moved by the memories and sheer sense of loss that the media community and the NBC family is expressing. I must say that I too have been mourning his loss.

It’s hard to explain my feelings toward a fellow I didn’t know, or didn’t know me. Perhaps it is the sheer proximity of those of us who live in Erie, a mere 90 miles from Tim’s beloved South Buffalo (there’s a Tim Russert park in West Seneca, NY, where they have been holding a nightly vigil since Friday). Or perhaps it is his faith in God as a strong Catholic; being able to hold onto his faith in the context of a very cynical capitol city environment.

What definitely comes in play is Tim’s profound love and respect for his dad, Big Russ, which he articulated in a best selling book four years ago. His description of Big Russ resonates deeply with me, with Tim’s father from the same generation as my father. When Tim says that “I stand on my dad’s shoulders,” I totally get that. It is only through the grace of God, and the sheer sacrifice and foundation I received from my parents that I am who I am today.

Tim’s sudden death has also brought to the surface some of the fears I have stuffed away about my health, my weight, and the fleeting nature of life. Still have to sort through all that.

It is really ironic that Tim’s passing comes just a week or so after the final primaries of this historical election year. For millions of Americans, he was the speaker whose words we hung on in understanding election results. My imagination still can’t conjure what the remainder of this election will look like without the even-keeled, enthusiastic analysis by Tim Russert. He will be sorely missed by both his colleagues and viewers, including this news junkie from Erie, PA.

Let me express my shock and sadness on the news of Jack Tirak’s passing.

In just one of what will be many tributes, let me say that Jack was Erie Media’s best friend. He believed in the power of communication to increase people’s quality of life. He strived to do best practice with high creativity in his work, and in his role as media critic, expected the same of our local media. He knew we all have greatness in us, if we choose to achieve it.

Finally, Jack did a wonderful thing with his creation and steadfast editing of his blog, Erie Media-Go-Round. He brought the reporters, editors, producers, sales people, managers and consumers, both current and former, together in one forum. He tore down the walls that separated competitors and their public, so they could freely exchange encouragement and “barbs”, ideas and complaints in a free-wheeling discussion that made a tremendous impact.

I join his hundreds of friends in saying that Jack will be sorely missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family in this very difficult time.

I also wrote today’s devotional for 106.3 WCTL as part of McLane Church’s week for their Power Up Devotionals daily feature. Here’s the link to listen, or just read it below:

Morphing

I think that WCTL General Manager Ron Raymond agrees with me in saying that one of the most impact-full authors and speakers in both of our faith journeys is John Ortberg. For nine years, Dr. Ortberg was a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, and he currently pastors at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California. He has written some amazingly simple, yet challenging books about the Christian life, which reflect his passion about “Spiritual Formation” or how people become more like Jesus. My favorite book of his is The Life You’ve Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People. In this book, Ortberg explains that the goal of our spiritual lives is to be transformed, to undergo a metamorphosis or simply said, to morph. What do we want to morph into? Nothing less than the image of God’s Son, Jesus, as Paul says in Romans 8:29. Ortberg says that to be transformed or to morph means that we “don’t just do things Jesus would have done; but we find ourselves wanting to do them.” We can become the right sort of person, who can then be a part of changing the world for Christ. In the book he talks about concrete things we can do to truly transform our lives to be more like Christ, indeed to focus on loving God and loving people. He talks about training daily in activities that can help us gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it. John Ortberg identifies practices like celebration, slowing down, servanthood, confession, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, the practice of humility and secrecy, and reflection of Scripture as being key ways how we can not just play in this Christian life, but to morph indeed into the reflection of Christ that we all truly desire. It’s morphing time.

I had the privilege to write a devotional for 106.3 WCTL’s daily feature, PowerUp Devotionals. You can hear it here, or just read it for yourself:

History of Change

How about an Erie history lesson today? Did you know that in 1753 the French built a fort on the Erie bayfront called Fort Presque Isle with the purpose of keeping the English in their place in what was then the western frontier of the British colonies. Well their efforts didn’t work since they abandoned the fort and the British took over the land only after six years of French occupation. Things didn’t go well either for the British, as they abandoned their fort in Erie after only three years, fearing the imminent attack of Iroquois and Seneca native Americans. It wasn’t until 1795, years after the end of the American Revolution that a permanent town was laid out and called Erie. So the land which is now Erie was claimed by three different countries in a span of less than fifty years. That’s a lot of change for one little plot of land. Sometimes in our life circumstances we encounter change. Change is not easy, often it makes us uncomfortable to even being stressed out or angry. Fortunately, God gives us tools to cope with and even embrace change. First, we are encouraged to build a solid foundation in our relationship with God. That comes through prayer and the reading of God’s word the Bible. As we learn more about God and His character, we are able to better discern what is really happening when a wave of change comes our way. The Holy Spirit is able to bring peace to our hearts for clear thinking and perspective. Finally we can have a strong realization of God’s perfect love for us that will cast out the fear that can accompany change. God created us to be dynamic people, constantly growing in relationship to Him and to others. When change comes, our strong connection to God will help us navigate those new waters.

My nagging suspicion that Obama perhaps has written off Erie County in the presidential primary tomorrow has been validated. A very revealing graphic on nytimes.com this morning shows that even with the very low TV ad rates in the Erie market, out of the nearly 12,000 television spots he has run in Pennsylvania, only 9% have run in Erie. Compare that to the most expensive market, Philadelphia, where nearly one out of every four PA spots ran.
If you are just shrugging your shoulders, saying”so what, Philly is bigger than Erie,” you need to remember that we are talking about frequency as opposed to pairs of eyes reached. Let’s say that it costs $500 to reach 40,000 people in Erie, and $5,000 to reach 400,000 people in Philly. What this statistic is saying that Barack was willing to spend about $12,500 to talk to those same 400,000 people 2.5 times more often than his $500 that spoke to the 40,000 in Erie once. According to the Times, he ran over 1,050 spots in Erie through last Thursday, which is no slouch of a buy, mind you. Meanwhile he ran over 2,700 spots in Philly. Can you say saturation?
For her part, Mrs. Clinton ran nearly one-third of her commercials in Philadelphia. But since she’s nearly broke, that translates into only under 1,600 spots through Thursday. Erie got to see Hillary’s “3 am” ad and others just under 550 times.
He also saturated the Philadelphia area with appearances. I think the local Obama camp was getting nervous as they waited for an Erie appearance date. He certainly was taking his time, finally getting here on Friday morning with a visit to Erie Bolt and then a townhall meeting at Penn State Behrend. For a candidate with such rock star status, I do not get why he didn’t go to the Tullio Arena, or Bayfront Convention Center, where he could have satisfied the high demand for tickets to the event. Either they didn’t have the manpower to process a 5000 person crowd, or didn’t want to pay the Convention Center Authority, or both.
Anyway the lateness of the visit, and the fact that his next closest appearance was in Beaver County seems to show that he is not hoping for much out of NWPA. Tomorrow night we’ll know if his Philadelphia-centric strategy works.