Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Media General Earnings Up

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 16, 2006 in Business and Meta News. Closed

Media General, owner of the Daily Progress, has announced that their February revenues were up 4.2% over February 2005. Unfortunately for them, it seems to be a one-time hit, courtesy of ads during the Olympics on their NBC affiliates. Their publishing division is up just 0.8% for the period, and their on-line division is up by 36%, but 36% of nothing isn’t much. Classified advertising was up 9.3%, but the Craig’s List effect doesn’t bode well for that as a long-term revenue source. The Progress‘ is said to have had a “high single-digit increase” in retail advertising. The bad news comes in their outlook, in which they report lower-than-expected growth for Q1 2006.

This means the same thing for the Progress that it meant six months ago, last time Media General reported bad financial news — cost-cutting. And there are only two way to cut costs at a paper — reduce pay or reduce employees. The Progress has instituted a hiring freeze, leaving two staff positions unfilled and the existing staff stretching to make up for the shortfall. I have to wonder if The Hook or C-Ville will be able to take some market share from the Progress (to the extent to which they compete) if the daily falls much further, or if the Progress, by virtue of being our only daily, can lower their standards all that they want and not take a hit in circulation or, consequently, ad revenue.

Man Shot in First 2006 Homicide

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2006 in Crime. 3 Comments

In the first Charlottesville homicide of the year, 18-year-old Gerald Washington was shot five times yesterday morning on Sixth Street SW, near Cherry Ave, Bryan McKenzie reports in today’s Daily Progress. Police aren’t naming the perpetrator yet, who immediately telephoned police to turn himself in. In his comments to WINA yesterday, Chief Timothy Longo indicated that it appeared to be self-defense on the part of the shooter, as a part of a dispute between a tenant and a landlord, after Washington brandished a knife.

10:45pm Update: A commenter points out that this is, in fact, a “homicide,” not a murder. It’s a fair point, so I’ve changed the terminology.

Chronicle on PVCC’s Friedman’s Editorial

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2006 in Education and Politics. 2 Comments

Sean McCord writes: “PVCC President Frank Friedman penned an editorial last week in the Daily Progress endorsing a Senate’s proposal (over a House plan) to divert money from the general fund into transportation. State Del. Vincent Callahan, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, thought this looked suspiciously like a smilar editorial written by Glenn DuBois, Chancellor of the Virginia community-college system, so he called DuBois to a closed-door meeting with House budget negotiators. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, ‘shortly afterward, Mr. Callahan, a Republican from Fairfax, filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding Mr. DuBois’s records of telephone and e-mail communications with Virginia’s 23 community-college presidents.’

“Charlottesvillian and freshman Delegate David Toscano is quoted in the article expressing concerns about ‘bringing in a college president to suggest that he should not be saying what he thinks about the budget or anything else.’ Indeed!”

Those of us lacking subscriptions to The Chronicle of Higher Education can get the skinny from Bob Gibson. Unfortunately, Friedman’s editorial is not available on-line.

11:00pm Update: Friedman’s editorial is now available.

Daughtry Surviving American Idol

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2006 in Entertainment and Music. 4 Comments

I’ll confess right up front that I’m a big dork and I’ve never seen American Idol. (The ads indicate that the hosts are jerks, so I’ve never bothered to watch.) I’ll further confess that I hadn’t really noticed that a local fella is really rocking each round, but on the Daily Progress blog, Laura Bland writes that 26-year-old Chris Daughtry, from Fluvanna, is the odds-on favorite to win. He actually lives in North Carolina now, but we take what we can get.

Region Ten Fires Exec. Director

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 14, 2006 in General News. 26 Comments

The scandal over Region Ten Executive Director Philip Campbell’s background didn’t last long — he was sacked by the board of directors yesterday, John Yellig writes in today’s Progress. Board members cited his management style as the reason for his dismissal, not the revelations about incidents that occurred under his watch nearly a decade ago.

03/15 Update: Yellig has a followup article today in which one board member expresses great shock at Campbell’s firing and a parent of a client says that the staff was wrong about this.

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