MEDIAWATCH: The real story media are ignoring in Today FM meltdown
MediaWorks shock: Today FM locks and deletes social media profiles, broadcast signals end to station
The head of Today FM’s digital team has posted a now-deleted message to its social media accounts, saying “we were robbed”.
Shocked?
How?
The writing on the wall here was apparent shortly after they launched this disaster!
The 5 year plan that all the staff are pointing to as their supposed lifeline was utterly dependent on them actually growing the audience over that time.
In the year of operation after MagicTalk, Today FM went down every single poll!
They went from MagicTalks 2.6 to 1.4 which represents the lowest ratings for any talkback station in NZ broadcasting history!
If Today FM had rated, if the idea was sound, they would have rated, yet even with a $9million branding and advertising push, the thing collapsed.
Why?
I find it funny that The Spinoff, who were so instrumental in cancelling MagicTalk, dare to offer an opinion on TodayFM.
The real story media are ignoring in Today FM meltdown is how Mediaworks Management got spooked by the woke Lynch mob David Farrier and The Spinoff launched against MagicTalk and Sean Plunkett last year.
MediaWorks management were right to move from a Boomer audience to a Gen X audience, but they did it with the blandest and most mediocre Talkback Hosts in NZ.
They followed a former ZB manager without appreciating that Bill Francis built ZB and everyone who followed Bill simply did as he had taught them. It wasn’t their talent, but Bills.
This former ZB Manager had no real research to back up this gamble, just a ‘feeling’ plus the fear of running foul of the woke Lynch mob.
Whenever I wrote scathing reviews of the strategy of the station, they were read out in Staff meetings afterwards as Management tried to calm nerves caused by my criticism.
The madness was that this could have worked, but the arrogance of the Management refused to acknowledge they had fucked up from the beginning.
Now, I may seem gleeful watching this entire cluster fuck implode, and that’s 100% true.
I did Talkback on Radio Live before it became MagicTalk and I was a political commentator on MagicTalk as well as their host of the 2020 Election Night coverage (where we called the election first), until I was culled when it mutated into the deeply flawed Today FM.
The rest of the media are totally ignoring the reasons why they moved from MagicTalk to Today FM because no one is allowed to mention Sean Plunkett or The Platform.
What is so insane about all of this, is that it could have worked, but the Mediaworks Management refused to listen.
By the way, The Working Group, out rates Today FM every single week in the NZ Podcast ratings.
Go woke. Go broke.
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Big egos in middle MGMT echo chamber, think they know best. Presenters then disciplined for having an opinion,…. Only thing they did a good job on was the cricket commentary. Although I feel sorry for the talented presenters… They were all muzzled.
Personkind’s worst enema is his own ego. It kills humility. Unfortunately over the past 40 or o years it’s been the weapon used to destroy any concept of community, and even basic person to person human interaction.
The animal kingdom now does it better than so-called intelligent human beings.
And now that we’ve had 30-40 years of it all where I I I me me me generations have grown up knowing nothing else, it’s possible the only way for things to get better is for them to get far, far worse
BY the way …… does anyone know where Grant Robertson is hiding? Not exactly an egotist or lacking in humility, but a bit of a slob, a tiny bit of a sleaze, and definitely a 3rd wayer if not a total neo-lib.
Thanks Grant though – you made it easier for me to electorate vote Labour
“until I was culled”
Well that clears up a lot of things.
You should think about spending an inordinate amount of time getting your own back.
If only there were somewhere you could launch daily attacks on the woke who hurt you.
I’ve never had any time for puffed up egos presenting “news” so was quietly pleased when Tova and crew left TV. My thought at the time was “let the market decide their worth”. The market just delivered a verdict on their real worth. Doodly squat.
Two sayings i hate are
Woke
Pearl Clutches
triggering words favored by Sean Plunket. The words are a rightwing go too.
As is “cancelling”
Best way to spot the woke is the people who claim not to know what it means, or those offended by it.
Cheers.
They should have just automated it all and used ChatGPT to set the days agenda and commentary.
I guess if you want to indulge in commercial radio ventures where producing content merely for the purpose of selling an audience shit they don’t really need, and trying to bullshit that it’s in the name of diversity of voice, or an alternative view, you’d better get some pre-counselling in the event it all goes tits up.
Hopefully it’s a lesson learned for the poor wee cadets that staked their future careers on it. If I wanted to expend any of my emotional capital sympathising (oops ’empathising’) with them I would. Personally, I’ve got better victims to spend it on – even in that space, going forward.
I’m sure Tova and Dunks and all the other “stars” will survive.
I hadn’t realised Pauline Gillespie got taken for the ride. Silly Gal. Might be a gig going in the BOP as Peter Williams, or out the hut as a Lion’s mane cha lady
It could have been so good. Let it be a lesson in corporate behaviour and bullshit.
By the way – what do you reckon Steven Joyce thinks about it all? He should have known how to fix it – surely
whether they deserved it or not, it is irrelevant. It was not fair play by Today FM.
if you have ever worked in Australia, you’d know that that kind of stuff is fairly common. Very much a working culture of here today, gone tomorrow.
employment contracts
last thing I want to listen too is random callers spouting nonsense. as if the hosts aren’t bad enough. not sure how people listen to it. for the ads?
Sean Plunkett the Donald Trump of Twitter has been thrown off Twitter due to his hate speech. He’s crying foul now that his free speech has been suppressed. He’s voting ACT I guess.