Misleading Headline? Baseless Buffalo Bills Bashing? Or Both?

Bookmark and Share

With friends like these, who needs enemies? It’s bad enough we find our region at the butt end of many late night comics’ monologues, but why does the local 1244775_46838866_glass_half_empty_300media have to gratuitously chime in, too?

Did you see the article “Buffalo Bills struggle to make dent on national TV map” in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in Sunday, September 19th? Placed on the cover of the sports section, it featured a map of the continental United States. The country, bathed in red, was speckled with smaller splotches of various other colors. A beautiful graphic, you would think the D&C would have been proud to have included it in the on-line version of the article. Alas, they didn’t and the article suffers.

But this isn’t about vivid art in a hometown newspaper. This is about the reckless Continue Reading “Misleading Headline? Baseless Buffalo Bills Bashing? Or Both?”

D&C Writer Disses Western New Yorkers

Bookmark and Share

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. — Teddy Roosevelt

1116416_66523644_sled_royalty_free_stock_xchng_300

A few weeks ago, a columnist from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle wrote a piece titled “Winter as Metaphor for Community’s Woes.” If you’ve read the column and you’re a true-blue Western New Yorker, you’ll immediately see the column itself as a metaphor for our community’s woes.

The writer, while acknowledging the obvious diminution in our region’s stature, meekly states “The decline we’ve seen is not a character flaw; it’s the result of economic forces beyond our control.”

Actually, the statement reflects the major character flaw many die-hard residents of the western frontier of New York State see in our neighborhood – too many people, especially those floating merrily in the ether of high profile, fail by wallowing in self-pity rather than seizing the reins of self-improvement.

Continue Reading “D&C Writer Disses Western New Yorkers”

Western New York Media Market: Whole Greater than Sum?

Bookmark and Share

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?”

Day 12 – November 25, 2009 (Wed): Look for Your Evangelists

Bookmark and Share

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 81 Followers: 57 Listed: 5

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 11 – November 24, 2009 (Tue): Have Fun!

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Well, let’s just say I woke up to a pleasant surprise this morning. Not only had my following paid off in new followers, but I discovered some of those new followers had added me to their lists. However, an “@” response from Democrat & Chronicle sports writer Sal Maiorana. Now, those who know me have full knowledge of my familiarity with the media, but, other than the fact Mike Catalana used to live next to my brother, most of my contacts reside on the business page. In fact, this morning I spoke to D&C reporter Matt Daneman about credit default swaps.

Sal had some interested comments on the disposition of the Buffalo Bills coach. He seems to feel a top-tier won’t desire coming to the Bills due to lack of talent.

Although Joel Comm had his own ideas for the next two days, I realized that, with today being the day before Thanksgiving and tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I figure there won’t be much action on Twitter. I continued to experiment with the “@” and DM functions and found out I accidentally @’d the wrong person. The whole knew. Oops! In the end, it probably came across as more of a non sequitur and less of a “your slip is showing” kind of event.

For the most part, the rest of the evening I spent cleaning off our dining room table in anticipation of tomorrow’s big family feast. It’s the least I can do for my lovely wife.

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 13 – November 26, 2009 (Thu): Reel In Your Evangelists

Skip to content