Looking forward to reading about it in the āOā Mike. Thanks.
Hey Mike, I appreciate all the coverage the Observer has given the 9ers this year. Iām probably a great deal older than most of the posters on here and have mellowed over the years. I must say, the Observer has really done a terrific job this year showcasing us and Jena should be proud. Living in Morganton since graduating in '81, I had grown to dislike the sports section of the Observer due to the ACC slant. But, not this year. Yaāll have been everything I had hoped for over the years. As a casual reader of this board and its predecessors, I feel the aggressive commentary of the posters is the main reason the Observer has stepped up the reporting on our beloved 9ers. I donāt see why a write-up on the POW 3 straight weeks should be such a chore, considering it is pretty big news for our area. We may be more beer and potato chips than we are wine and cheese, but our fan base is growing and will continue to buy the paper as long as we have 9ers stories. Thanks for all you do. Regards, Oldniner
[b] I feel the aggressive commentary of the posters is the main reason the Observer has stepped up the reporting on our beloved 9ers. [/b]
Not according to Mike P, itās not. Our input has absolutely NOTHING to do with any Niner coverage. He points that out every chance he gets.
[b]As a casual reader of this board and its predecessors, I feel the aggressive commentary of the posters is the main reason the Observer has stepped up the reporting on our beloved 9ers.[/b]
Mike wont let his ego take this statement. I am Mike P, and I make decisions on āregulationsā not on what my customers want. No amount of them āwhiningā will ever change that B)
[b] Enough of the self-righteousness, it's gotten old. [/b]
I agree. He was much more level headed a couple years ago. Heās been rather b****y lately. Even more so if you call him out on it. Although I am not a customer of yours, Iām sure there are many on this board that are. So why dont YOU mind YOUR tone? Like I said before, if you donāt like it, quit coming on here and send Jenna instead. Thanks. Iām sure both parties would be much more cordial that way.
PSā¦Observer coverage has been much better this year then in years past, I agree. Thats the best compliment I can give.
Not taking up for MP at all, but geez, you guys are callin someone else b****y? :blink:
Toucheā.
CAT FIGHT!
(But, seriously, dont ever stick up for Mike P again).
I keed.
Damn it! The 9ers are arguing with MP and no one told me.
One statement. Mike, I personally know of at least 20 potential customers that do not read the Observer because of your anti-9er coverage.
I walked into a grocery store earlier in the fall and someone was trying to talk me into subscribing to the Observer & I told them no because of a lack of Niner coverage. The sales person told me I was the 5th person to tell them that in the
past 3 hours. I donāt think that selling papers is MPās primary objective.
[i]Originally posted by Sideshow[/i]@Feb 21 2005, 09:37 PM [b][b] I feel the aggressive commentary of the posters is the main reason the Observer has stepped up the reporting on our beloved 9ers. [/b]Not according to Mike P, itās not. Our input has absolutely NOTHING to do with any Niner coverage. He points that out every chance he gets. [/b]
Sideshow, I think this is more of what youāre looking for from the local paper.
Steve Gunn, the Metro Editor asks for story ideas from readers on a regular basis. His request is printed daily. I recently sent him an email suggesting they do more on the University especially with the Chancellor search going on and the transformation of the campus.
Hereās what he had to say:
Thanks for your note. Weāre not in disagreement: I also wish we could do more on UNCC. Weāve done alot on the commuter school transition in recent years, but have been in a bit of a lull recently and I hope to crank that back up with coverage of the chancellor search. If you see other specific stories, please let me know.
Steve Gunn
Metro Editor
The Charlotte Observer
SGunn@charlotteobserver.com
Iām not taking credit for getting the recent stories butā¦Gunn did crank it back up with the nice Front Page (1A) feature on the new contruction. And today, I see the they ran a story asking questions about the āprivateā Chancellor search. Something we all are extremely interested in.
Now, Iām not saying Mike Persinger doesnāt value our input but generally from his comments on this board, he doesnāt make it known that the opinion of the Niner fans count.
For all the crap we give him on this board it is big of him to continue to talk to us.
With that said I wouldnāt pay a penny for that liberal rag, but I do read the sports section when people at work bring it in. I must admit Niner coverage is about 6 1/2 times better than last year.
Itās not the job of the Observer to promote the Charlotte basketball team. Promoting the team is the job of the university. It would be nice to see the people who are supposed to be promoting the the basketball team doing their job as well as the people who write about the team in the paper.
Lefty,
Glad to see thereās someone at the paper that cares about customer input.
Youāre right, Mike P doesnāt make it known that Niner opinions count. In fact, like I said above, he goes out of his way to make it known that they do NOT factor in to any of the decisions about coverage. See also this gem from Mike
I donāt understand why getting better coverage because itās a better team is such a foreign concept. Iāve always said that would happen ā win big over the course of a season and get better play/coverage/pub. If you were 13-10, you wouldnāt be as excited and we wouldnāt either. But weād still be covering all your games, the only media outlet to do so. If our coverage is so bad, which paper, TV station or radio station is better?
As for whether I listen to you guys, of course I do. I wouldn't be on here enduring the namecalling from certain posters if I didn't want to hear what you have to say. I just don't blindly do everything you suggest, and I won't start.Of course we know you listen to us. But do you HEAR us?
[i]Originally posted by Sideshow[/i]@Feb 22 2005, 09:40 AM [b] Of course we know you listen to us. But do you HEAR us? [/b]I would hear increased sales in the university area. But when we've put in the effort we have and people still don't buy the paper -- and say on this forum that they still don't buy the paper -- where's my incentive? It's a pretty universal sentiment that Jena is great and the coverage has been significantly better than in previous seasons, but I'm not seeing any big return from that investment. If Over40's post about ":at least five people" not taking the paper because of poor Niners coverage is accurate, nothing we do will matter. That's disappointing.
[i]Originally posted by Mike_Persinger[/i]@Feb 22 2005, 10:06 AM [b] I would hear increased sales in the university area. But when we've put in the effort we have and people still don't buy the paper -- and say on this forum that they still don't buy the paper -- where's my incentive? It's a pretty universal sentiment that Jena is great and the coverage has been significantly better than in previous seasons, but I'm not seeing any big return from that investment. If Over40's post about ":at least five people" not taking the paper because of poor Niners coverage is accurate, nothing we do will matter. That's disappointing. [/b]Mike, are you seeing circulation anywhere increase?
I would think circulation as a whole would be on the decline because you can read everything thatās in the paper on Charlotte.com. Unless you clip cupons why pay for the paper when you can read online for free?
Mike, Iāve already explained to you, itās gonna take more than 4-5 months to undo almost 30 years of lackuster coverage.
Thatās not a slap, itās the truth.
[i]Originally posted by MKNiner[/i]@Feb 22 2005, 10:12 AM [b] Mike, are you seeing circulation anywhere increase? [/b]Yes. We're up year-over-year from last year. One of the few newspapers in the country that can say that.
[i]Originally posted by Mike_Persinger[/i]@Feb 22 2005, 10:15 AM [b] Yes. We're up year-over-year from last year. One of the few newspapers in the country that can say that. [/b]I am actually surprised by that. Not because it's the Observer, just that with the internet I would think fewer people would pay for what they can get for free. But then again I pay for a subscription so I'm not taking my own advice. :lol:
Have you all done any research as to why your numbers are up?
Thereās not any one reason. Most of it is aggressive internal marketing. Some of it is doing well in high-growth areas.
Sales are up because the Niners are winning.