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BirdGrad2011
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Idk if Jim ever read here or will ever again, but a heartfelt congratulations on his last day.
Jim Benson retiring
- Thread starter Manchester Matt
- Start date
DaveBird10
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Thanks to Jim and happy retirement. I do find these 2 paragraphs pretty great.
" I probably should apologize to ISU men's basketball fans. Since 2006 when I took over the beat, the Redbirds never made the NCAA Tournament. Maybe I was a jinx. ISU advanced to 6 MVC Tournament championship games in my tenure and lost them all, including 2 gut-wrenching overtime setbacks.
Maybe I shouldnt say this. However, I truly believe ISU's NCAA drought that stretches to 1998 will end soon. Ryan Pedon knows what he is doing, Redbirds fans. He's a good basketball coach and even better person. This is tough times for college coaches especially the mid majors, battling the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness. Pedon is smart enough to figure it out."
" I probably should apologize to ISU men's basketball fans. Since 2006 when I took over the beat, the Redbirds never made the NCAA Tournament. Maybe I was a jinx. ISU advanced to 6 MVC Tournament championship games in my tenure and lost them all, including 2 gut-wrenching overtime setbacks.
Maybe I shouldnt say this. However, I truly believe ISU's NCAA drought that stretches to 1998 will end soon. Ryan Pedon knows what he is doing, Redbirds fans. He's a good basketball coach and even better person. This is tough times for college coaches especially the mid majors, battling the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness. Pedon is smart enough to figure it out."
CaliRdBrd
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We also need to score more points than the other team.
CaliRdBrd
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God, I hope so….
I'm happy for Randy. He does a great job on the football beat. But I feel for him, too. It's a tough time to be the only sports writer in a publication. Portal season, spring football, college baseball. He's on call at all times. It comes with the job but usually reporters can focus on one sport or two. But he's got it all. Hopefully, this comes with a nice bump in pay.
I hope he doesn’t get burned out. Because after Randy I wonder if they will hire anyone else. And then we have no beat reporter.
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BirdGrad2011
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It wouldn’t surprise me if they hired someone young and cheap to offload some of that.
The trouble is, that very few people coming out of college are wanting to work for newspapers. A good friend of mine has been in the newspaper industry for around 45 years. He lives in a town of about 7,500 people and for years that newspaper had a sports editor and an assistant. Today they have neither. They can't find young people to do it, or if they do, they are not planning to stay long.
My friend is officially retired but still will cover a sporting event or 2 a week but on his terms.
It will be interesting to see how much longer paper newspapers are still around before just going the electronic route.
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I don't think they are hiring any one. I think Randy will the one sportswriter that the Pantagraph has.
Don't forget, that Randy is only a few years away from retirement. He is in his early 60's, he was at ISU when I was.
If not the pantagraph, someone else in town needs to see the opportunity (ad $$$$) and take serious approach that there will be an untapped market of Redbird fans that want content. GLT or the Vidette have a major opportunity should the Pantagraph stop covering sports.
SgtHulka
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They are the future. Nobody wants to pay $3 for a daily paper 10 pages deep or pay to read that same content online other than the super greys. Paper ads are going away. Kroger stops paper ads next month, most will stop at some point. They'd rather push you to their app. You just need an accessible web presence and reporters at events. The V has shown they'll do more than report games and press releases. And the reporters don't stay for 40 years and stagnate. There have been several good ones come through already.
Bird Friend
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Start your own news station/paper/website, Adunk.
Some beat writer in the MVC just left thier paper and started a subscription newsletter about the school, but I can't think of who.
The Birds Nest has a nice ring to it.
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BirdGrad2011
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I think the only way to do it and be profitable is to cover Bradley as well.
Paper is on the verge of being completely out of business. All on-line and more and more behind a paywall or cluttered with so many ads, if your internet is not top quality speed it never loads. Podcasts and YouTube videos are very popular. At least for now. Who knows, maybe a message board becomes the future?
To your last sentence, and with all due respect to Quinn, God help us all!