I sincerely hope that the guy who I may have cut off for a parking space doesn’t damage my car in any way for cutting him off on from “His” parking spot.
I decided to hang out at Cool Beans Tuesday night and there wasn’t a lot of parking on The Square for some reason. So I went to the public parking lot and this guy in a FJ cruiser drove past this spot. I saw him stop, but before he could get start backing up I pulled in.
This apparently pissed him off because he backed up, rolled down his window and yelled out, “I guess I need to be quicker next time.”
I replied, “Or, turn on a turn signal.”
I heard someone on the Toyota repeat my statement in a high mocking tone. I get it, I don’t have a masculine sounding voice, but seriously; are we 10-years-old again? I sound like a queer, which coincidently I am, so mocking my voice is kinda sorta the equivalent to making a racist comment, but whatever.
So, yeah, I walked off and didn’t really look at the guys. He called after me again with that, “So I guess I need to be quicker next time,” line again.
Seriously, just because you drive past a parking spot first doesn’t mean it’s yours. Loser.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
It's not a career anymore
When I complain about my current state of underemployment I occasionally get the question, “Have you thought about going back to journalism?” and of course the answer is, “I’d love to… but there aren’t any jobs.”
I don’t know how often people believe that, but I did the research, and there hasn’t been a single mid-career position advertised in over the past three months. Every reporting position I’ve ever applied to, or been hired by, from has come from journalismjobs.com. It’s the premier job bank for newspapers, and from what I can tell every organization in the country uses it. I’ve been tracking it in detail since June, and have followed a number of state press associations for jobs as well. What I found is that 142 jobs were advertised in June and 109 in July. Of those jobs, the vast bulk these positions were in tiny markets looking for reporters who were a year or two out of college at the most.
The July number was pumped up a bit by a small town newspaper in Oregon that clearly had a staff exodus of some kind and on the same day posted four job openings within a matter of minutes. Of course, that would be a massive red flag, and I can’t imagine why anyone would take the job based on that alone.
Most of the jobs are in towns that you’ve never heard of in places like Brainerd, Minnesota, Maryville, Missouri, Gilford New Hampshire and Nampa Idaho. No disrespect to the 81,000 people who live in Nampa City Idaho, but I’d rather be a waiter in Atlanta than the night reporter in Nampa City Idaho.
Reading through the ads you get an idea just how bad the industry has gotten. One paper went as far as to write “The paper is a financially healthy” to their post.
Most of these papers are looking to hire on the cheap, and are pretty bold about it. One newspaper wrote, “Young reporters are encouraged to apply,” which yeah, is to someone like me, tantamount to saying don’t bother to apply. A self-described “Top Chicago weekly” offers a salary of $25,000 to $30,000; you can’t really live in Chicago on that. I’m making more than that as a waiter. Call me crazy, but I think a reporter should make at least as much, if not more, than a waiter, but that’s what being a reporter has turned into.
Years ago it used to be a career that could support a family. You weren’t going to get rich, but even into the 90s you could make a safe living. In this decade, being a print reporter has become a part-time job. Something you do to hone your skills, make some contacts, and move on to something more. I’m not applying to a lot of jobs because the salary range they offer, on the rare times the publish that, are $10,000 below what I’d consider working for.
That said, it’s not that bad for everyone. There are still a respectable amount of openings for reporters with training and experience covering the financial markets, which I don’t have. Spanish and English speaking/writing journalists have far better job opportunities because of their language skills, but overall print journalism has ceased to be a viable career path.
Of the jobs in the major cities, all request specific technical skills, a background that I don’t possess, and neither do most reporters. For example Reuters is looking for a reporter to cover the secondary market, and that’s the sort of thing you need to be an expert in before you get the initial interview. BNA is looking for a Chinese correspondent and of course you must be able to speak Chinese. One web outlet is specifically looking for a Spanish speaking financial reporter.
What’s the most telling about the last two months on journalism jobs are the newspapers who aren’t posting there. Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Savannah Morning News, The State, San Francisco Chronicle, The News and Observer, Detroit Free Press, Denver Post, Florida Today, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, the large New York dailies, the six daily newspapers in Chicago, Houston Chronicle, are all good, solid big market papers and not a single one of them posted a job in May, June, July and haven’t in August as of this posting.
Those are the jobs that someone with my experience should be going to, but they aren’t hiring. If anything, those newspapers are vomiting money. Cox Communications, the AJC’s parent company has been running $10 million losses for years.
For all the jobs posted in June and July there were was one job I wanted, and another I’d be willing to accept, unfortunately both would require moving, not just to different states, but to entirely different parts of the country, and that’s just not something I’m willing to do right now.
Being a print reporter has become a field where there are no jobs for experienced reporters, it’s just college kids and old men and women, with no one in between.
I don’t know how often people believe that, but I did the research, and there hasn’t been a single mid-career position advertised in over the past three months. Every reporting position I’ve ever applied to, or been hired by, from has come from journalismjobs.com. It’s the premier job bank for newspapers, and from what I can tell every organization in the country uses it. I’ve been tracking it in detail since June, and have followed a number of state press associations for jobs as well. What I found is that 142 jobs were advertised in June and 109 in July. Of those jobs, the vast bulk these positions were in tiny markets looking for reporters who were a year or two out of college at the most.
The July number was pumped up a bit by a small town newspaper in Oregon that clearly had a staff exodus of some kind and on the same day posted four job openings within a matter of minutes. Of course, that would be a massive red flag, and I can’t imagine why anyone would take the job based on that alone.
Most of the jobs are in towns that you’ve never heard of in places like Brainerd, Minnesota, Maryville, Missouri, Gilford New Hampshire and Nampa Idaho. No disrespect to the 81,000 people who live in Nampa City Idaho, but I’d rather be a waiter in Atlanta than the night reporter in Nampa City Idaho.
Reading through the ads you get an idea just how bad the industry has gotten. One paper went as far as to write “The paper is a financially healthy” to their post.
Most of these papers are looking to hire on the cheap, and are pretty bold about it. One newspaper wrote, “Young reporters are encouraged to apply,” which yeah, is to someone like me, tantamount to saying don’t bother to apply. A self-described “Top Chicago weekly” offers a salary of $25,000 to $30,000; you can’t really live in Chicago on that. I’m making more than that as a waiter. Call me crazy, but I think a reporter should make at least as much, if not more, than a waiter, but that’s what being a reporter has turned into.
Years ago it used to be a career that could support a family. You weren’t going to get rich, but even into the 90s you could make a safe living. In this decade, being a print reporter has become a part-time job. Something you do to hone your skills, make some contacts, and move on to something more. I’m not applying to a lot of jobs because the salary range they offer, on the rare times the publish that, are $10,000 below what I’d consider working for.
That said, it’s not that bad for everyone. There are still a respectable amount of openings for reporters with training and experience covering the financial markets, which I don’t have. Spanish and English speaking/writing journalists have far better job opportunities because of their language skills, but overall print journalism has ceased to be a viable career path.
Of the jobs in the major cities, all request specific technical skills, a background that I don’t possess, and neither do most reporters. For example Reuters is looking for a reporter to cover the secondary market, and that’s the sort of thing you need to be an expert in before you get the initial interview. BNA is looking for a Chinese correspondent and of course you must be able to speak Chinese. One web outlet is specifically looking for a Spanish speaking financial reporter.
What’s the most telling about the last two months on journalism jobs are the newspapers who aren’t posting there. Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Savannah Morning News, The State, San Francisco Chronicle, The News and Observer, Detroit Free Press, Denver Post, Florida Today, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Los Angeles Times, the large New York dailies, the six daily newspapers in Chicago, Houston Chronicle, are all good, solid big market papers and not a single one of them posted a job in May, June, July and haven’t in August as of this posting.
Those are the jobs that someone with my experience should be going to, but they aren’t hiring. If anything, those newspapers are vomiting money. Cox Communications, the AJC’s parent company has been running $10 million losses for years.
For all the jobs posted in June and July there were was one job I wanted, and another I’d be willing to accept, unfortunately both would require moving, not just to different states, but to entirely different parts of the country, and that’s just not something I’m willing to do right now.
Being a print reporter has become a field where there are no jobs for experienced reporters, it’s just college kids and old men and women, with no one in between.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Going the way of the newspaper
Radio is getting older, not so much the technology itself, but the audience is growing grayer, and like newspapers, station owners don’t seem willing to change to the new medium.
I noticed this a couple of months ago when 99x went off their air in Atlanta, for the second time, and was replaced with an 80s/90s concept. 99x was the only station I listened to when I didn’t have my mp3 player in the car. The station had been huge in the 90s, went off the air three years ago to make room for a top-40 hits station, was resurrected, and then died a quiet death. Of the stations I used to listen to, a former hard rock station is now playing a mix of music that includes songs form Grease, and the two Top 40 stations in town appear to be having a “Big 90’s Weekend,” every weekend.
To me, it seems obvious that stations are switching formats to reach out to an older crowd; a crowd that hasn’t migrated to mp3 players, Pandora and other streaming music programs that flat out are just better than radio stations. Pandora has turned me on to more great artists than any radio station ever could because I have three Pandora stations tailored to different tastes
Those who have smart phones are able to stream Pandora wherever they go. In Atlanta, Pandora grabs as much market share as the broadcast radio stations. Most smart phones have FM chips, but users are choosing apps over live radio, and non-radio apps over those offered by the broadcast stations.
Most stations don’t have apps, and most station apps only stream the content of the station. Why do that when there are so many better ways of getting your music? Rhapsody, Slacker and Spotify are much better at getting music that their subscribers want to hear than radio stations. New cars are starting to come music app ready, and with a little, work phones can be jacked into most cars’ sound system.
The end result is a predictable slide for FM radio, and probably satellite radio, although AM radio seems to be holding onto its market share better. Also, Spanish language radio stations are doing much better than their English counterparts. Still, what’s traditional broadcast radio’s response to the internet? Well, I called the head of one of the major networks for comment. Their spokesperson assured me they’d get back to me after a commercial break, four songs I didn’t want to hear, and a DJ talking about her personal life.
As someone who watched from the inside as his own career path became reduced to ranks of amateur bloggers I have these words of warning for my brothers and sisters in radio: Find a different career now, don't wait for an email informing you to politely exit the building as your station enters an, "Exciting" new stage that doesn't include you.
I noticed this a couple of months ago when 99x went off their air in Atlanta, for the second time, and was replaced with an 80s/90s concept. 99x was the only station I listened to when I didn’t have my mp3 player in the car. The station had been huge in the 90s, went off the air three years ago to make room for a top-40 hits station, was resurrected, and then died a quiet death. Of the stations I used to listen to, a former hard rock station is now playing a mix of music that includes songs form Grease, and the two Top 40 stations in town appear to be having a “Big 90’s Weekend,” every weekend.
To me, it seems obvious that stations are switching formats to reach out to an older crowd; a crowd that hasn’t migrated to mp3 players, Pandora and other streaming music programs that flat out are just better than radio stations. Pandora has turned me on to more great artists than any radio station ever could because I have three Pandora stations tailored to different tastes
Those who have smart phones are able to stream Pandora wherever they go. In Atlanta, Pandora grabs as much market share as the broadcast radio stations. Most smart phones have FM chips, but users are choosing apps over live radio, and non-radio apps over those offered by the broadcast stations.
Most stations don’t have apps, and most station apps only stream the content of the station. Why do that when there are so many better ways of getting your music? Rhapsody, Slacker and Spotify are much better at getting music that their subscribers want to hear than radio stations. New cars are starting to come music app ready, and with a little, work phones can be jacked into most cars’ sound system.
The end result is a predictable slide for FM radio, and probably satellite radio, although AM radio seems to be holding onto its market share better. Also, Spanish language radio stations are doing much better than their English counterparts. Still, what’s traditional broadcast radio’s response to the internet? Well, I called the head of one of the major networks for comment. Their spokesperson assured me they’d get back to me after a commercial break, four songs I didn’t want to hear, and a DJ talking about her personal life.
As someone who watched from the inside as his own career path became reduced to ranks of amateur bloggers I have these words of warning for my brothers and sisters in radio: Find a different career now, don't wait for an email informing you to politely exit the building as your station enters an, "Exciting" new stage that doesn't include you.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Disconnected
For the first time in my life I’m living in a home that doesn’t have a working television. Well it works, it’s just not hooked up to anything other than a DVD player. When my roommate moved out he took the DirectTV bill with him. I figured I would sign a new contract within a month, but, I think I’m good.
I thought my life without television would be so much incredibly better. I figured my house would be cleaner, I’d read more, I’d write more, and honestly that hasn’t been the case. TV isn’t the massive distraction I thought it was, rather it was a source of background noise, and an excuse to sit still for a few hours. Getting rid of that hasn’t made me productive, a better reader or a more dedicated writer. It hasn’t made me more social either, which I kinda thought would happen.
The reality is that so much TV is available free on the net these days. Through Hulu or station’s websites I can find most everything that I want to watch, legally, for free. The only thing I can’t find legally is sports.
Not having cable, or broadcast, means no live sports. Fortunately, I have friends who are big football fans that I can watch games with (Hi Charlie ), and there’s sports bars and other outlets, but for Indycar racing those options don’t exist. So I was left with the prospect of paying $70 a month for satellite on the back end of a two-year contract or going without. Basically I would be paying $840 a year, largely just for Indycar.
There is another option though.
I did not know this but people have started posting torrents of Indy races on the web. So I can down load the races, watch it on Monday morning and not miss much. Indycar, if you’re reading this blog I want to respect your copyright on races, I do, but in this economy I think it’s asking a bit much for me to spend that kind of cash just to watch your races. This is from a guy whose family goes to Barber Motorsport Park each year.
Yep, the web is a fire that will eventually consume all forms of media.
Also, if one of my more tech savvy friends could teach me how to hook up my laptop to my TV, that would be awesome.
I thought my life without television would be so much incredibly better. I figured my house would be cleaner, I’d read more, I’d write more, and honestly that hasn’t been the case. TV isn’t the massive distraction I thought it was, rather it was a source of background noise, and an excuse to sit still for a few hours. Getting rid of that hasn’t made me productive, a better reader or a more dedicated writer. It hasn’t made me more social either, which I kinda thought would happen.
The reality is that so much TV is available free on the net these days. Through Hulu or station’s websites I can find most everything that I want to watch, legally, for free. The only thing I can’t find legally is sports.
Not having cable, or broadcast, means no live sports. Fortunately, I have friends who are big football fans that I can watch games with (Hi Charlie ), and there’s sports bars and other outlets, but for Indycar racing those options don’t exist. So I was left with the prospect of paying $70 a month for satellite on the back end of a two-year contract or going without. Basically I would be paying $840 a year, largely just for Indycar.
There is another option though.
I did not know this but people have started posting torrents of Indy races on the web. So I can down load the races, watch it on Monday morning and not miss much. Indycar, if you’re reading this blog I want to respect your copyright on races, I do, but in this economy I think it’s asking a bit much for me to spend that kind of cash just to watch your races. This is from a guy whose family goes to Barber Motorsport Park each year.
Yep, the web is a fire that will eventually consume all forms of media.
Also, if one of my more tech savvy friends could teach me how to hook up my laptop to my TV, that would be awesome.
Monday, August 1, 2011
That’s what you do when you’re poor
I’m still paying off the trip from Kenya. There’s probably about $800 left of debt on my American Express as I write this and it will take me a couple of months before I can get it all cleared. Of course it would be $100 more if not for a basket full of change.
Before my parents left for Mothers Day my Mom gave me a plastic jug with a coin counter on it. I’ve been using it to dump all my change in it and now that it’s reached more than $100 I’m using it to pay down my debt. Why, because that’s what you do when you’re poor.
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