Surprise! Buffalo Bills Score in Nielsen’s New NFL Ratings

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When you look for smart business reporting, you look to the Wall Street Journal. Likely to have been Sergeant Friday’s (“just the facts, ma’am”) favorite 100_3118_Bills_vs_Bengals_300newspaper, the WSJ sets aside all numbers and focuses squarely on cold, hard numbers. So, when this truly national paper of record offers a story (“Dallas Cowboys Are NFL’s Most Popular Team,” Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2010) spelling out how all 32 NFL teams rank in terms of popularity, you can be sure of one thing – no one gets extra points for rabid enthusiasm. It’s all about the bottom-line. And, unlike Forbes, this bottom-line is more than just money, it’s eyeballs. For the first time ever, Neilsen – of the famous TV ratings – ranks the NFL teams by incorporating both TV coverage and internet buzz.

So, where do you figure the Buffalo Bills – perhaps currently the worst team in the NFL – fall in this survey? It shouldn’t shock you Ralph Wilson’s team doesn’t find itself in the Continue Reading “Surprise! Buffalo Bills Score in Nielsen’s New NFL Ratings”

Western New York Media Market: Whole Greater than Sum?

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A decade ago, before the financial crisis that opened the first decade of the new millennium, Adelphia Communications, in addition to a cable channel called the Empire Sports Network, owned a radio station with the call letters WNSA. The two worked in tandem and, at least until the falling stock market exposed the Regis family, this modest media juggernaut gained a respectful audience.

Western_New_York_Microphone_300On the cusp of a content driven era, the small cable company had, together with the Buffalo Bills, successfully begun to build connections within a broader Western New York Region. This bigger footprint would include not only Buffalo and Niagara Falls, but also Rochester, Jamestown and several other cities within the roughly seventeen western-most counties of New York State. With a growing national market, Adelphia offered the allure of becoming the new century’s CNN (or at least ESPN). And with its intention to build an impressive headquarters in the state’s Queen City, Buffalo finally had a new hope – one that might bring it to rival Atlanta in cable communications.

But, as it seems to have happened to our region ever since Canada left us no choice but to build the Saint Lawrence Seaway, fate once again dealt a bad hand. Continue Reading “Western New York Media Market: Whole Greater than Sum?”

The Snow Monster Returns: Buffalo Bills, Undefeated for the Decade!

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Bills_Game_Close_Up_300Should I stay home or should I go?

With red letter snow warnings, ominous travel advisories and a plethora of church service cancellations, the question wavered annoyingly in my own mind and unspoken on my worried wife’s barely wakened lips.

Should I stay or should I go?

The last game of the season. A meaningless game. Against a team that expects to bench most of its starting players. The beleaguered Buffalo Bills, banished for the past decade to the Siberia of no-playoffs, have done little to earn back the loyalty of staunch fans since the heresy of hiring Tom Donahoe. Why should any humble fan place their body in harm’s way, especially when the kind Gods of Time-Warner decided to sell-out the game (the only way they could then broadcast it to local viewers).

Should I stay or should I go?

Continue Reading “The Snow Monster Returns: Buffalo Bills, Undefeated for the Decade!”

It’s a Wonderful Western New York Life

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It's_a_Wonderful_Life_250For the umpteenth time I find myself watching Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Yet, in all the years those reels have run through my retinal receptors, for the first time I really see the poignant – if unintended – metaphor.

We – Western New York – are Bedford Falls.

I don’t mean in the literal sense like Seneca Falls. I don’t mean in the physical-proximity sense because the movie mentions Buffalo and Rochester. And I don’t mean in the meteorological sense because those are definitely lake-effect snowflakes in the film. Rather, I speak of a much more mysterious philosophical aura that borders on the eerie similarities of tragic prognostication laced with a fringe of hope.

Continue Reading “It’s a Wonderful Western New York Life”

Day 9 – November 22, 2009 (Sun): Ask a Question

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 44 Followers: 35 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 8 – November 21, 2009 (Sat): Add More Followers

twitter_power_joel_comm_150As luck would have it, the Buffalo Bills played Jacksonville today. With a new coach and some free time during the game, I figured this would be a great topic to ask a question.

OK, I tried asking a question:

ChrisCarosa @thurmanthomas Watcha know about Parrish’s sudden appearance?

41 minutes ago from web in reply to thurmanthomas

I waited a while and watched a little more of the Bills game. When I returned, I found I got nothing, so I tried this one:

Continue Reading “Day 9 – November 22, 2009 (Sun): Ask a Question”

Day 5 – November 18, 2009 (Wed): Start Following

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 12 Followers: 10 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day – 4 November 17, 2009 (Tue): Writing your First Tweets

twitter_power_joel_comm_150This was the perfect day to start following (for real). The Buffalo Bills unexpected fired coach Dick Jauron and everyone simply wanted to know the inside scoop. I had been aware of Darryl Talley’s presence on Twitter (the newspaper earlier reported he tweeted he wanted to see major changes on One Bills Drive. By fortuitous coincidence, @mikemcbride9, who accidentally followed my FiduciaryNews.com twitter account, followed many Buffalo fans, including Hall of Fame running back ex-Buffalo Bill @thurmanthomas. Not much in terms of follow backs (except for a couple of Carosas from yesterday, but I did get to watch some breaking news on Twitter.

How many followers do you think I’ll have after 30 days? Click here to enter your guess on my Survey Monkey survey “Chris Carosa’s 30-Day Plan to Dominate Twitter Experiment.” There’s no prize, but the fan who guesses the closest correct number the earliest will “win” and I’ll mention you if you want me to.

Find out today’s results on Day 6 – November 19, 2009 (Thu): Add Friends and Acquaintances – and Start Replying

Day – 4 November 17, 2009 (Tue): Writing your First Tweets

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Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 8 Followers: 8 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 3 – November 16, 2009 (Mon): Read Around

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Here’s my first tweet:

RT @erichnwise: RT @MightyMovie Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others. Groucho Marx #quotes #movies 7:35 PM Nov 14th from CoTweet

You’ll notice several things about this tweet:

  • It’s not really my own, but a retweet. Worse, it’s a retweet of a retweet.
  • I actually tweeted this from CoTweet.
  • Finally, the official first tweet was on day 1.

After this RT, I didn’t begin tweeting in earnest, however, until Day 4. Here’s the first tweet on that day:

@mikemcbride9 Wow! That must have been me tweeting about the #Buffalo #Bills from that site (with a Chicagoan). It was a bad game (wotznew?) 11:06 AM Nov 17th from web in reply to mikemcbride9

Notice once more how I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Don’t blame me for this one, though. I popped on my news Twitter during a morning break to find Mike had followed me on FiduciaryNews.com and I wanted to redirect him to a more appropriate account. I figured Mike didn’t really care about fiduciary news. I also discovered I should avoid even casual tweets to those who do care about fiduciary news. From now on, it’s DM only for them.

I also decided to jump the gun and I followed any “Carosa” I could find in the twitterverse.

How many followers do you think I’ll have after 30 days? Click here to enter your guess on my Survey Monkey survey “Chris Carosa’s 30-Day Plan to Dominate Twitter Experiment.” There’s no prize, but the fan who guesses the closest correct number the earliest will “win” and I’ll mention you if you want me to.

Find out today’s results on Day 5 – November 18, 2009 (Wed): Start Following

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