Media General Corp. Cuts - More local focus

[promoguy98 252]

An article release yesterday on TVSpy.

 

Media General is cutting 45 corporate and shared services jobs. In an email sent to staffers, obtained by TVSpy, CEO George Mahoney says the cuts are meant to decentralize operations and give greater control at the local level. “It’s important that we have a structure that allows us to focus increasingly at the local, station level, closer to the customer, so that we can be nimble and responsive to our communities,” Mahoney writes.

 

My add-on thought: This is the second time in recent years that MG has made changes that focus more on local control and falls in line with how Lin tends to operate its stations. It will be interesting to see how the culture changes at Media General once the LIN/MG deal is complete. This move is yet another step by MG towards giving more power and decision-making back to the local stations.

 

See the rest of the article and memo sent to staffers at this TVSpy/Media Bistro link:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/media-general-to-cut-45-jobs_b119985

[TheOneManHerd 553]

This is overall good news; and a definite bucking of the trend in broadcasting (standardization).

[detroiter313 178]

 

It will be interesting to see how the culture changes at Media General once the LIN/MG deal is complete. This move is yet another step by MG towards giving more power and decision-making back to the local stations.

 

 

So does this means we will see a decrease of the standardinization of music and graphics, or will that continue?

[promoguy98 252]

 

So does this means we will see a decrease of the standardinization of music and graphics, or will that continue?

 

they will probably be much more open to whatever fits in the market. The only thing I've noticed LIN doing is taking a corporate approach to the sets, lighting and overall image. They brought in Kathy Mosher-Boule, who was with the FX Group, to help in those areas.

 

As far as music and graphics. Grx: I predict they will keep a handful of artists to help with the smaller market stations, but will hire an artist or person responsible for daily graphics at each of their stations. At stations that already have a 2 to 4 person staff, my personal guess is that the LIN stations won't change much. I think the biggest changes in the graphics area will be with the MG stations.

 

Music: Most likely the gates will open for the combined LIN/MG stations to use Gari, Arnold or 615 - much like the LIN properties have done and continue to do. That may explain why the Arnold Canvas package is also available for syndication.

 

For stations that haven't switched to Arnold or that continue to use the JDK package, probably will be at the biggest advantage and be able to switch to whichever company and whatever syndicated package that the station has enough money budgeted for. Who knows, you could see some MG stations that have been compelled to use JDK and Arnold all of these years up and switch to Gari or 615 just because they have to freedom to decide something different. I wouldn't be too shocked to see that.

[Thundershock MN 169]

Am I really the only one that read this as spin. They didn't state specifically where these cuts are taking place other than "at the corporate level."

 

Press Release Quote:

"We’re restructuring our corporate functions, utilizing best practices in the broadcast television industry, to place more operating responsibility at the station level. This change in Media General’s business model decentralizes decision-making and results in a leaner corporate structure."

 

Translation:

"We are a bit bloated after absorbing Young so we decided to whack some middle management. Plus, we have another pending merger with Lin. So, it's a good time to 'trim some fat' in advance of that transaction as well."

 

Maybe I'm a bit more skeptical, I guess. I think this is more post/pre-merger "housecleaning" than some wholesale reversal of centralization.

[promoguy98 252]

That could be the case @Thundershock MN. On the flipside of that coin, I can say firsthand that MG used to be of the most "micro-managed" from the top type of companies ever. It was controlled from corporate in a pretty heavy-handed way and "every" thing, every action from creative to sweeps execution, to how news stories were presented were all graded. Essentially everything was tracked and graded and was instantly viewable on a daily basis. Stations could barely poop without having to ask corporate. So any further moves away from that mentality is probably a good thing.

 

Just to add a little more of an idea over how things worked on the marketing/news side. All promos that were not topicals had to be sent FTP or on tape and approved by corporate marketing (that existed at the time) before airing. And 9 times out of 10 the spots would be a couple days to a week getting to air because of something that was usually trifling. All topicals were sent off every month. All sweeps promos had to have their scripts sent in for pre-approval. It reached a point where nothing got done and the things that did, lacked any real creative and originality. It seems from their first round of corporate changes (around the time of the recession) that things have improved. I also heard that they are no longer trying to control and grade everything from the top down.

[10Viewer 319]

As long as they don't pull more bonehead decisions like the one WFLA tried a few years back when they wanted to get rid of their news gathering vehicles and have photogs drive their personal vehicles on the job.

[DirtyHarry 719]

 

That could be the case @Thundershock MN. On the flipside of that coin, I can say firsthand that MG used to be of the most "micro-managed" from the top type of companies ever. It was controlled from corporate in a pretty heavy-handed way and "every" thing, every action from creative to sweeps execution, to how news stories were presented were all graded. Essentially everything was tracked and graded and was instantly viewable on a daily basis. Stations could barely poop without having to ask corporate. So any further moves away from that mentality is probably a good thing.

 

Just to add a little more of an idea over how things worked on the marketing/news side. All promos that were not topicals had to be sent FTP or on tape and approved by corporate marketing (that existed at the time) before airing. And 9 times out of 10 the spots would be a couple days to a week getting to air because of something that was usually trifling. All topicals were sent off every month. All sweeps promos had to have their scripts sent in for pre-approval. It reached a point where nothing got done and the things that did, lacked any real creative and originality. It seems from their first round of corporate changes (around the time of the recession) that things have improved. I also heard that they are no longer trying to control and grade everything from the top down.

 

Don't you think that might stem from them traditionally being a newspaper company and having an "editor's" mentality? Write, check, edit, revise, edit, revise, edit .....

[promoguy98 252]

 

Don't you think that might stem from them traditionally being a newspaper company and having an "editor's" mentality? Write, check, edit, revise, edit, revise, edit .....

 

It was a system that eventually moved too far in that direction. Sometimes important spots and timely spots that needed to get to air ASAP would get delayed because of worrying about whether "Coverage You Can Count On" was said enough times, or the spot needed to be more flashy, or they agonized over whether a line of text needed to move down 5 pixels, etc etc. I believe MG noticed that this was hampering their abilities to be timely and make impact with their promotional pieces. It also made their Marketing Directors essentially puppets with no real decision making abilities. Many of these directors had years of medium to major market experience and years on the job. The intentions were good I believe, but as with anything, the process just went too far.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

Don't you think that might stem from them traditionally being a newspaper company and having an "editor's" mentality? Write, check, edit, revise, edit, revise, edit .....

 

No, because those "editors" who "write, check, edit, revise, edit, revide, edit...." are not based at some corporate office, they are based locally at the paper.

 

This, OTOH, is just a matter of wanting all of their stations to look and sound exactly the same no matter where you go which absolutely bothers me. And no, I don't mind standardization, but I think content and promos should still be produced and originated locally. Most station groups fortunately are receptive to that.

 

This is why I despise Clear Channel on the radio side, the stations sound exactly the same wherever you go. I don't think television has anything that comes anywhere close to what CC is doing (it's gotten bad after they were taken private and the HQ were "moved" to New York)...

[Thundershock MN 169]

I hate to toot my own horn. But, it's good to know my B.S./Spin detector still works.

 

From today's quarterly earnings conference call:

Regarding the Media General-Young merger, Mahoney said "Media General will realize an additional $10 million in operational synergies, in part from cutting 45 jobs, and may well achieve additional cost cuts."

 

So, it's not really like they had an epiphany and came to the conclusion centralization is bad. Much like I suspected they cut some middle management as result of the MG-Young merger. That meant the "decision making" ended up falling down the ladder to the station level. So, the "decentralization" was really more a side effect of head count reduction.

[promoguy98 252]

 

I hate to toot my own horn. But, it's good to know my B.S./Spin detector still works.

 

From today's quarterly earnings conference call:

Regarding the Media General-Young merger, Mahoney said "Media General will realize an additional $10 million in operational synergies, in part from cutting 45 jobs, and may well achieve additional cost cuts."

 

So, it's not really like they had an epiphany and came to the conclusion centralization is bad. Much like I suspected they cut some middle management as result of the MG-Young merger. That meant the "decision making" ended up falling down the ladder to the station level. So, the "decentralization" was really more a side effect of head count reduction.

 

It's always great to toot your own horn. I scanned through all the posts starting with mine where I started the thread. I do not think anyone was arguing that money isn't a part of the factor of making changes. But I know first hand from years of being with that company, from sources inside the company and that have worked inside the Richmond office that, at least, during the first round of corporate changes back around the recession, were not only to cut costs, but also to self-correct, change course and procedure. That was a massive change they made from both a structural standpoint and one that was ultimately meant to begin a culture change that would have a direct effect on how employees made decisions and performed their jobs.

 

They changed policy and procedure because they were heading down the wrong path and did have somewhat of an epiphany the first time around, so they made corporate and structural changes that resulted saving money, but that also resulted in happier employees, more local engagement, more local decision making and overall resulted in less turnover. All of those things saves money too long-term and adds value. Obviously money plays a part every time cuts are made. But the point of one of my earlier replies to you and this reply is that while money was absolutely a part, I do not believe it is the only factor. You are right it's a big one, but the company has also learned firsthand that great things happen when you allow your GM's, department heads and employees to use their own brains and make decisions that fit with more of their unique market. LIN is not a top down heavy company. Media General used to be. Two round of cuts at the top have resulted in a leaner company that can move faster and execute without tons of red tape. No matter how you slice it, that can only be a positive thing, provided you have the right management teams in place at the local stations.

 

Will the combined company engage in some sorts of centralization where it makes sense? Absolutely! There is already some hubbing of Master Control and MG has centralized traffic or at least did up until recent times I don't think everyone was saying that 100% decentralization was going to occur. Is the upcoming CEO going to go a S******* route or "old" MG route of doing things that results in a top heavy, morale-killing, balanced scorecard approach? Most likely not - we'll shall see soon. My personal prediction based on who the new CEO is going to be as that the LIN culture will be more of a factor with the combined company. That was even hinted about in the initial press releases about Sadusky taking over the CEO role of the combined company. LIN saves money too where they can, but they do believe in local first and giving their stations the money needed and hiring the right people to lead at the local levels. Hopefully that will never change since it has worked for LIN.

[Thundershock MN 169]

I was ripping on the MG e-mail announcing the cutbacks. I realize they have to put some positive spin on it. But, to completely omit that the merger as if it had nothing to do with it was a bit laughable.

 

And, I was just surprised nobody here picked up on the timing being a little more than coincidental, that's all.

[promoguy98 252]

 

I was ripping on the MG e-mail announcing the cutbacks. I realize they have to put some positive spin on it. But, to completely omit that the merger as if it had nothing to do with it was a bit laughable.

 

And, I was just surprised nobody here picked up on the timing being a little more than coincidental, that's all.

 

Haha YEAH totally agree with ya on that one... it's like they were thinking "hmmm, yeeeah no way anyone will ever think about the merger having anything to do with this." lol so true man. I mean, come on. That is laughable