Free Press cans Monday business section, debuts "innovate" Thursday; Lt. Governor sells advertising

It's Twofer Monday at vermontpressconnections. First, the Burlington Free Press ran a Page One, Above the Fold, Right Hand Column story today on the demise of Business Monday and the creation of a new Thursday business section, "innovate". (See story from BFP website below.) Good to see that the Free Press has acknowledge vermontpressconnections as a trendsetter by assigning a lowercase, one-word name to its newest project. (Just kidding, everyone.)

Second, at long last the advertising salesmen are getting recognition!  Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, who even looks a little like Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs", announced today that tomorrow morning he will be selling advertising for the Addison Eagle as part of his Vermont Everyday Jobs program. As a former foot soldier in these particular trenches, here's what I want to know - what's his commission, and does he get to sell the plum accounts or is the paper giving him the grouchy old misers that no-one else wants?

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Free Press launches "innovate" Thursday

For the first time in memory, the Monday edition of the Bur­lington Free Press is without a Business Monday section.

That section has been a Free Press sta­ple, one valued by readers for its coverage of local companies. I’m pleased to an­nounce today that in the spirit of reinven­tion and delivering excellent products, the Free Press is re­creating its approach to business coverage.

The new section will be moving to Thurs­days as part of our ef­fort to enhance daily content with passion sections as we’ve done with our Green Mountain, ARTSbtv and Savorvore sections.

The new section will be known as innovate and launches this Thurs­day.

You can expect to see deep cov­erage and bold presentation as we focus on creativity in the work place, Vermont style. While we’ll continue to carry some of the existing favorite features of Busi­ness Monday, you will also find topical stories that get at our love of finding out “how to.” With that, we’ll feature profiles of Vermont businesses, and essays by local business people on topics that touch on the theme of innovation.

Look to your new innovate sec­tion every Thursday for an unfil­tered voice from those who make their living doing business in Ver­mont.

- Jim Fogler is President and Publisher of the Burlington Free Press.

At the Rutland Herald, the Medium is the Massage

Every editor and reporter knows what it means to massage a story. At the Rutland Herald, though, they take the M-word literally. See the August 11 post from Darren Marcy at the daily's Vermont Today website:

Massage time

Today is a big day. A huge day. It's massage day at the Rutland Herald.

The company generously provides 20-minute massages for employees once a month.

It may not sound like much, but I look forward to my 20 minutes of horizontal heaven for 29 1/2 days every month.

Today's magic fingers time is 1:40 p.m.

So, if you hear a huge sigh at about 1:42 p.m. today in downtown Rutland, you'll know what is going on.

Longtime WDEV radio man retires, WPTZ weatherman starts BBQ restaurant

Jack Donovan will retire on August 31 after 39 years at WDEV, according to an article in the World newspaper.

Donovan has been a major on-air personality, and for 15 years has also served as program director. He was inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2010. Listeners have enjoyed the on-air, tongue-in-cheek adversarial relationship between him and station owner Ken Squier.

"His consistent daily effort six days a week over all those years is extraordinary," Station Manager Eric Michaels said. "The warmth and friendliness of Jack's on-air presentation is an ideal that few announcers achieve." A longtime resident of Plainfield, he and his wife Diane have three children, Heather, Patricia and James.



After more than a decade at the station, Jim Moore will be leaving WPTZ/WNNE-TV, according to an online posting August 11.
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"It has been an honor delivering the morning weather reports at WPTZ/WNNE for the past 11 years," said Moore. He will be leaving the television business to start a new BBQ restaurant in Plattsburgh, NY. It's been Jim's life-long dream to run his own business.

 

"Jim's been a rock for our morning team over the years," said News Director Sinan Sadar. "His enthusiasm has been a great asset in front of as well as behind the camera. He will be missed."

 

Jim's last day is Friday August,12. WPTZ will announce a new morning meteorologist, shortly.

Is Fair Online Search In Sight?

The controversy continues as search engine fairness, or the possible lack of it by Google, becomes an issue in the online search realm. The FTC has begun an investigation of Google and their recent practices and the US Senate is now following suit.

As Google’s goal of providing consumers with a “free” service turns into a $30 billion organization, many are left questioning Google’s intentions, as “Google can use its control over search to take all of their customers away regardless of how well these other companies do their own jobs,” says Eric Clemons, Professor at The Wharton School.

To read more about why there is reason for investigating Google, click here: http://www.fairsearch.org/search-manipulation/wharton-professor-clemons-google-certainly-worthy-of-investigation

This September, The Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights (incl. Sen. Patrick Leahy) will hold a hearing on Wednesday, September 21^st entitled “The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?”

To read more and learn about the details, click here: http://www.fairsearch.org/uncategorized/senate-antitrust-subcommittee-announces-sept-21-hearing-the-power-of-google-serving-consumers-or-threatening-competition

I look forward to learning the outcome of this hearing.

It is interesting that there are three major Vermont public figures at least tangentially involved: AG William Sorrell, Sen. Patrick Leahy, and former gubernatorial candidate and Google executive Matt Dunne. Also, who wins and who loses may seriously affect many web-based Vermont businesses and media, as increasingly search capability is part of their business strategy.