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Sporting News/AOL Fanhouse

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by mediaguy, Jan 13, 2011.

Page 11 of 40
  1. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    To survive in management in this industry nowadays you truly have to have selective amnesia and tunnel vision. Lack of conscience doesn't hurt either.
     
    playthrough, Jan 15, 2011
    #121
  2. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    I should have stayed in bed. Or had a lot more to drink. Or both. Depression is starting to roll over me in waves. The house is caving in on top of me and I can't move. Everything hurts.

    The news we got late Thursday hit like a kick in the pills. That night and much of yesterday were spent talking to my outstanding crew of writers, others within FanHouse, with Scott Ridge, with tremendous friends outside FanHouse, with family. I guess all that kept me from thinking too much about what was going on.

    Go back a ways to Scoop's great post on this thread that was dead on in describing the attitude at FanHouse. I think back to that avatar some had a while back with the kid saying "I fucking love coloring." Well I fucking love FanHouse. I really, truly thought I'd found the perfect landing spot for the rest of my career. It was everything I thought I was getting when I became an SE and then some. Great people, great attitudes, great approach. Work was fun again -- it wasn't work.

    What a great start to the week. We had four writers at the national championship game. Five of us were working "in house." One in Richmond, one in the D.C. area, one in Indianapolis, one outside Chicago and one in Seattle. Editing the stories, producing the pages, it was seamless. It was really like we were in the same room. I've been IN the same room with people and it wasn't as smooth.

    And it was like that damn near all the time.

    What a crapola ending to the week. Still not sure who will be asked to stay and who won't, how many, what any of us will be doing.

    All I know is they're breaking up this gang of mine and it is absolutely killing me. I need to find something to do and fast. If I start crying, I may never stop. Not good people - GREAT people and GREAT journalists kicked to the curb for essentially doing their jobs exceptionally well.
     
    Moderator1, Jan 15, 2011
    #122
  3. Cigar56

    Cigar56 Member

    So it's Garry's fault that Tim Armstrong and AOL put FanHouse out on the street?
     
    Cigar56, Jan 15, 2011
    #123
  4. black dude with pompano

    black dude with pompano Member

    Literally?
     
    black dude with pompano, Jan 15, 2011
    #124
  5. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    There's the rub.

    Sorry, but I read a hundred stories about the NCG and never thought to click on AOL Fanhouse. I didn't see any banner ads, any AOL writers on any other shows to remind me AOL Fanhouse was there, no mention of it on any other blogs or fan sites. In other words, 9 people staffed it -- 4 of whom needed airline tickets, overpriced hotel rooms, and per diems -- but zero people on the marketing/PR side promoted it.

    Sounds to me like the staffing was upside down. In this one particular case, at least. Obviously, not the fault of the editorial line staff, but senior management should be looking in the mirror (and I don't mean that as a criticism of Moddy, but his bosses.)
     
    TigerVols, Jan 15, 2011
    #125
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I know outing isn't allowed, but when someone is as transparent as Cigar56, I don't see any reason to pretend to ignore the obvious.

    Cigar56 is Joe Biden.
     
    YankeeFan, Jan 15, 2011
    #126
  7. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Nine people didn't staff it. Our desk does a whole lot of other stuff, too. A whole lot. And there was promotion, though obviously not in places where you were looking.
     
    Moderator1, Jan 15, 2011
    #127
  8. Cigar56

    Cigar56 Member

    FanHouse reminds me of The National -- great talent, great product. But too costly. At The National the advertising revenue never came close to matching the cost of salaries, travel, etc. Moddy and his team did great work but the sales and marketing side failed to deliver. It's really that simple. FanHouse simply wasn't sustainable with its current expense model, and that's a shame.
     
    Cigar56, Jan 15, 2011
    #128
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I was pretty worried when they were hiring people seemingly every week last year. As great as the product is, I don't think it's the first place too many people go for their sports news. I'm guessing it was way behind ESPN, SI.com, CBS Sports and Yahoo.
     
    Mizzougrad96, Jan 15, 2011
    #129
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Seems to me that some of best marketing for Fanhouse was done right here on SJ when someone would post a link to a good column.

    I am on AOL fairly often and it was rare that I drawn to a link for something interesting on Fan House. It was sorta "out of sight / out of mind"

    One of the problems with all of the sports sites is that they are not user friendly. Too much clutter gets in the way of some great writing.

    I would gladly pay a fee if I could get something with just the articles.

    On my Kindle I subscribe to a Newsletter called "Tech Crunch". It costs $2.99 per month. Twice a day my Kindle is loaded with 9 pages of stories on technology. Each page has 3 to 4 stories with a paragraph summary. If the story is of interest you can click on to read full article. It is very efficient from a time management standpoint. Tech Crunch is also an AOL product.
     
    Boom_70, Jan 15, 2011
    #130
  11. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    That's what has me scratching my head. Wasn't that what AOL Fanhouse and The Sporting News are trying to do?

    To me, it's like buying a first-class restaurant and then getting rid of all the cooks and the suppliers. So it's a name and a venue, but the quality of the food doesn't matter? Nothing against TSN writers or editors, but was Fanhouse's actual content immaterial to this deal?

    Best of luck, Moddy.
     
    Joe Williams, Jan 15, 2011
    #131
  12. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    One thing I love about Fanhouse is the lack of clutter. I don't have unwanted videos playing when I click on a page or bunches of house ads telling me I need to play the latest social networking game. I have a side gig that has me looking up college basketball stats and rosters almost every day and Fanhouse has become the spot I go to find it all. It also looks good and functions well on every browser I use: phone, Wii, Kindle, work or home computers, it doesn't matter.
     
    Jake_Taylor, Jan 15, 2011
    #132
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