Bucky Gleason Leaving TBN After Requesting a Buyout - Jerry Sullivan and Now Tim Graham Out

[Lurker]

29 minutes ago, JohnC said:

If they are provoking a response, positive or negative, then they are doing what they set out to do. 

 

That's a post-Pardon the Interruption thing.   OTOH, the best columnists bring something to the reader--inside info/comments, in-depth knowledge, historical context, humor, a unique perspective, contacts from outside the market.     Mediocrities just provoke.   Same goes for sports radio.    And both ultimately become boring and shrill when their shtick wears out.

 

I hope Josh Barnett takes this opportunity to restock the sports columnist ranks with bright, eager up-and-comers who will add to the reader experience rather than just yell "Fire!" in the theater or create personal axes to grind with management/ownership...

[May Day 10]

1 hour ago, Ol Dirty B said:

 Because the guy you all hate left? Shouldn't that be a good thing to you guys, or is this just irrational hatred?

 

I don't get why so many people want a business fail because they don't like the opinions of a couple employees have on their favorite sports team. 

 

I actually like these guys and the buffalo news.

 

I'm just saying the talent in their most important department is being let go.  That's a pretty dire sign.  

[Ol Dirty B]

50 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

I actually like these guys and the buffalo news.

 

I'm just saying the talent in their most important department is being let go.  That's a pretty dire sign.  

 

Ok I misunderstood you then. It is sad, in my opinion what has been happening to news papers for the past 15 years or so. 

[par73]

Whatever anyone's opinions of Gleason and Sullivan may be, it is sad to see the decline/demise of the daily newspaper.

[Ol Dirty B]

4 minutes ago, par73 said:

Whatever anyone's opinions of Gleason and Sullivan may be, it is sad to see the decline/demise of the daily newspaper.

 

It is, and while I think someone will find a place to replicate that market in sports, I'm more concerned about the real, local news a paper provides. I don't know if finding qualified journalists to research a story is an easily filled void. I could go on and on regarding the subject discussing it because I find it interesting.

 

Sports coverage will always be there, and it's unimportant, it's like chicken wings, we'll seek it out. All the other stuff, well not all, but the actual news is like the vegetables you have to be forced to eat as a kid.

[Saxum]

3 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

I have to agree. It was time for some new blood. I never really read any of Bucky’s stuff, but it seemed to me Jerry just dusted off old articles, changed some names around, and mailed in the snark. Good riddance. I welcome their replacements. 

 

Jerry would bash them endless on an issue and then when they did he said they should have listened to earlier.  Then when move backfired he'd criticize them endlessly complete ignoring fact that HE was advocating that move.

 

There is more of a chance of me paying now but I suspect Bucky and Sully will just go into the Buffalo News Financial Protection Service and come back with new aliases.

3 hours ago, Ol Dirty B said:

 Because the guy you all hate left? Shouldn't that be a good thing to you guys, or is this just irrational hatred?

 

I don't get why so many people want a business fail because they don't like the opinions of a couple employees have on their favorite sports team. 

 

Because we would rather the team succeed than the paper and we believe the stories they created and the "sources" they provided to other reporters in other places made it more difficult for the team to be successful. Maybe I am wrong; I will check back in 17 years.

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

The notion that irascible reporters such as Bucky and Sullivan are factors in the steady demise of their company is missing the reality of the landscape for their business. They simply are two provocative columnists who provoke their readers. That's what columnists do. Whether you agree with them or not is not what they are getting paid for. If they are provoking a response, positive or negative, then they are doing what they set out to do. 

 

No they are NOT. Sensible people avoid the Buffalo News because of the venom they pushed out NOT encouraged sales of paper or paying for online access and I know of business owners in Buffalo who would not advertise due to those asshats.                                                  

1 hour ago, May Day 10 said:

 

I actually like these guys and the buffalo news.

 

I'm just saying the talent in their most important department is being let go.  That's a pretty dire sign.  

 

Well if they are SOOOO GOOD maybe someone else will pay them and you can subscribe to the rag.

[machine gun kelly]

He is the one person I never liked at TBN.  My dad was an executive for them for 44 years, and used to see and speak with Mr. Buffet once a year.  He told me he liked him and Mr. Buffet gave him a nice compliment when everyone was a yes man in his yearly meeting one year, and my father actually gave him an honest assessment on a few points.  Mr. Buffet said “at least I have one honest man in this room.  Thank you for an accurate assessment of this particular problem”

 

i used to In college deliver interoffice mail for the paper along with working the docks, and basically got to know a ton of people there.  This was the late 80’s so my dads friend, Mr. Felser was an awesome person.

 

so long Bucky.  I’m sure he’ll be fine or maybe he just retires.  I don’t know his age as he wasn’t there from 1986-90.

[BadLandsMeanie]

10 hours ago, JohnC said:

 

 

The notion that irascible reporters such as Bucky and Sullivan are factors in the steady demise of their company is missing the reality of the landscape for their business. They simply are two provocative columnists who provoke their readers. That's what columnists do. Whether you agree with them or not is not what they are getting paid for. If they are provoking a response, positive or negative, then they are doing what they set out to do. 

He says as they get squeezed out. What they are getting paid for now is to go away.

 

This is a remark that is intert with respect to the events taking place. As if you had no ability at all to integrate the new information or the topic at hand into your opinion. So you just said the old one like nothing at all has changed. Weird.

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

He says as they get squeezed out. What they are getting paid for now is to go away.

 

This is a remark that is intert with respect to the events taking place. As if you had no ability at all to integrate the new information or the topic at hand into your opinion. So you just said the old one like nothing at all has changed. Weird.

You  don't understand the economics and dynamics of what is going on  in the newspaper industry. The more costly old timers are being pushed out for cheaper workers in order to help stem the tide of red ink. What is going on at the BN is going on everywhere. The same fiscal dynamic of shedding the costlier older and more long term  employees has happened and is continuing to happen at ESPN. It's happening all over in the related sports business. 

 

What's apparent to me is that you don't have an understanding what is going on in the business. The substantive story isn't about Bucky or Sully being squeezed out. It is about a business model in the newspaper industry that is having trouble surviving in the digital age. Get a clue and look around.  It's happening everywhere. 

[NewEra]

11 hours ago, JohnC said:

Bucky and Sully's reporting have little to do with the plight of the BN. The newspaper business is being subjected to a new economic reality where the paper news is not viable in a world where many, if not most, are receiving their news through digital devices. Just as record stores are nonexistent because of music being downloaded and mortar department stores are at a fast pace vanishing because of online shopping from Amazon etc. the economic forces are on the one hand killing old line businesses and creating new businesses. 

 

The challenge for the BN is to make money from the  digital side of their operation. Getting enough subscriptions at a reasonable price is the new challenge that all newspapers are dealing with, including the major outlets such as the NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times etc. 

 

The notion that irascible reporters such as Bucky and Sullivan are factors in the steady demise of their company is missing the reality of the landscape for their business. They simply are two provocative columnists who provoke their readers. That's what columnists do. Whether you agree with them or not is not what they are getting paid for. If they are provoking a response, positive or negative, then they are doing what they set out to do. 

Sully was the reason that I wouldn’t pay the measly monthly fee.  That is not doing what they were set out to do. I will now pay the measly fee so I’m not helping support a buffoon.  Sully was preventing the BN from making money....while being paid by them.  Good riddance.  

[BadLandsMeanie]

4 minutes ago, JohnC said:

You  don't understand the economics and dynamics of what is going on  in the newspaper industry. The more costly old timers are being pushed out for cheaper workers in order to help stem the tide of red ink. What is going on at the BN is going on everywhere. The same fiscal dynamic of shedding the costlier older and more long term  employees has happened and is continuing to happen at ESPN. It's happening all over in the related sports business. 

 

What's apparent to me is that you don't have an understanding what is going on in the business. The substantive story isn't about Bucky or Sully being squeezed out. It is about a business model in the newspaper industry that is having trouble surviving in the digital age. Get a clue and look around.  It's happening everywhere. 

Well I know that newspapers are in trouble. 

 

That doesn't make what you said true. Do you understand? 

 

"They simply are two provocative columnists who provoke their readers. That's what columnists do."

 

Person after person on this board has very vocally told the editor Josh that they will not read or subscribe because they dislike what some of the columnists do so intensely. 

 

So they are not simply provoking their readers. They are losing them. Driving them away. And not just for themselves but for the entire paper.

 

They can't even feature them in advertising. Who is going to pay for that? Put an endorsement for Jerry in your ad and you will sell less cars than if you hadn't run an ad at all. They don't have endorsements like that but that same effect bleeds over. Association with the Buffalo News is a negative for your business.

 

 But according to you all that animosity has no effect on anything and it is me who doesn't understand and I need to get a clue.

 

 

 

[JohnC]

8 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

 

No they are NOT. Sensible people avoid the Buffalo News because of the venom they pushed out NOT encouraged sales of paper or paying for online access and I know of business owners in Buffalo who would not advertise due to those asshats.                                                  

 

It shouldn't be so surprising that readership is down with the Buffalo News. Fewer people are reading newspapers in general. It is not a phenomena unique to Buffalo. It is happening everywhere putting stress on the local media. Newspapers in markets all over the country are dropping like flies after an anti-insect chemical bombing. Younger and older readers are not subscribing to the paper because they are going to digital and other outlets. That's where the impetus is coming for shedding the longer termed and more costly workers. What's happening to Bucky and Sully are happening all over the country and also the world. This is a business dynamic and not a personality driven dynamic as you believe it it. 

3 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Well I know that newspapers are in trouble. 

 

That doesn't make what you said true. Do you understand? 

 

"They simply are two provocative columnists who provoke their readers. That's what columnists do."

 

Person after person on this board has very vocally told the editor Josh that they will not read or subscribe because they dislike what some of the columnists do so intensely. 

 

So they are not simply provoking their readers. They are losing them. Driving them away. And not just for themselves but for the entire paper.

 

They can't even feature them in advertising. Who is going to pay for that? Put an endorsement for Jerry in your ad and you will sell less cars than if you hadn't run an ad at all. They don't have endorsements like that but that same effect bleeds over. Association with the Buffalo News is a negative for your business.

 

But according to you all that animosity has no effect on anything and it is me who doesn't understand and I need to get a clue.

 

 

 

The level of animosity toward them has little to do with their departures. It may be a factor but not the determinative factor. It's happening everywhere in the business. The economics of the business is altering the business model and how the news is delivered. The dynamics forcing changes in the business happens in all businesses. Look at the brick and mortar stores such as Sears and JC Penny. The Amazon model sucked the life out of the antiquated stationary store model. Open your eyes. Change is part the business and it is happening everywhere. What is destroyed in one sector is replaced with another option in that same sector. 

[JohnC]

12 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Sully was the reason that I wouldn’t pay the measly monthly fee.  That is not doing what they were set out to do. I will now pay the measly fee so I’m not helping support a buffoon.  Sully was preventing the BN from making money....while being paid by them.  Good riddance.  

You are giving Sully too much credit. While you may not subscribe to the BN because of Sully there are others who do so because of him. Overall, Sully's impact one way or the other is not as significant as you think.

[Green Lightning]

I hope they hire Fairburn. He actually works at his craft and has grown as a writer. He may be in the Felser mold, call out the bad but also point out the good. Gleason and Sullivan suffered from laziness and I feel grew to loathe their beat. It's like much of all media today, they move from healthy skepticism to bitter cynicism.

[BadLandsMeanie]

21 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The level of animosity toward them has little to do with their departures. It may be a factor but not the determinative factor. It's happening everywhere in the business. The economics of the business is altering the business model and how the news is delivered. The dynamics forcing changes in the business happens in all businesses. Look at the brick and mortar stores such as Sears and JC Penny. The Amazon model sucked the life out of the antiquated stationary store model. Open your eyes. Change is part the business and it is happening everywhere. What is destroyed in one sector is replaced with another option in that same sector. 

Change isn't what puts them out of business. Failing to adapt does it.

 

Your two examples, Sears and Penny's make tremendous examples. Sears and Penny's were mail order businesses. Sears I think is the company that paved the way for the very business model Amazon is using now. Look in the Sears catalog, order it, it comes.

 

120 years later Amazon is putting them out of businesses using an updated model of what Sears itself used to become a giant.

 

Sears is owned and run by people who don't know what they are doing. 

All they had to do was look at Amazon and think just a little bit. They could have crushed it. Or purchased it. Instead they made ineffectual half efforts.

 

Same thing with TBN. Buffet doesn't know what he is doing with newspapers and doesn't care. He just wants to squeeze what cash he can get out of them before his papers die.

 

Hearst would know what to do. Hearst would not be sitting wringing his hands.  Hearst or someone like him who is a Newspaperman would see the opportunity in change and then act to turn it to his advantage. 

 

None of the newspapers are owned or run by minds like that. They are being run out of business by entities that are owned and run by minds like that.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Green Lightning said:

I hope they hire Fairburn. He actually works at his craft and has grown as a writer. He may be in the Felser mold, call out the bad but also point out the good. Gleason and Sullivan suffered from laziness and I feel grew to loathe their beat. It's like much of all media today, they move from healthy skepticism to bitter cynicism.

agreed. Fairburn pumps out the work.

[BuffaloRush]

9 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Change isn't what puts them out of business. Failing to adapt does it.

 

Your two examples, Sears and Penny's make tremendous examples. Sears and Penny's were mail order businesses. Sears I think is the company that paved the way for the very business model Amazon is using now. Look in the Sears catalog, order it, it comes.

 

120 years later Amazon is putting them out of businesses using an updated model of what Sears itself used to become a giant.

 

Sears is owned and run by people who don't know what they are doing. 

All they had to do was look at Amazon and think just a little bit. They could have crushed it. Or purchased it. Instead they made ineffectual half efforts.

 

Same thing with TBN. Buffet doesn't know what he is doing with newspapers and doesn't care. He just wants to squeeze what cash he can get out of them before his papers die.

 

Hearst would know what to do. Hearst would not be sitting wringing his hands.  Hearst or someone like him who is a Newspaperman would see the opportunity in change and then act to turn it to his advantage. 

 

None of the newspapers are owned or run by minds like that. They are being run out of business by entities that are owned and run by minds like that.

 

 

agreed. Fairburn pumps out the work.

 

I would love Fairburn to come on board but not so sure that it’s a fit.  He’s been covering the Bills beat for the last few seasons.  He’s not really a columnist like Bucky and Sully are, he’s more of a reporter.  Currently BN has Vic Carucci and Jay Skurski in that role. 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, BadLandsMeanie said:

Change isn't what puts them out of business. Failing to adapt does it.

 

Your two examples, Sears and Penny's make tremendous examples. Sears and Penny's were mail order businesses. Sears I think is the company that paved the way for the very business model Amazon is using now. Look in the Sears catalog, order it, it comes.

 

120 years later Amazon is putting them out of businesses using an updated model of what Sears itself used to become a giant.

 

Sears is owned and run by people who don't know what they are doing. 

All they had to do was look at Amazon and think just a little bit. They could have crushed it. Or purchased it. Instead they made ineffectual half efforts.

 

Same thing with TBN. Buffet doesn't know what he is doing with newspapers and doesn't care. He just wants to squeeze what cash he can get out of them before his papers die.

 

Hearst would know what to do. Hearst would not be sitting wringing his hands.  Hearst or someone like him who is a Newspaperman would see the opportunity in change and then act to turn it to his advantage. 

 

None of the newspapers are owned or run by minds like that. They are being run out of business by entities that are owned and run by minds like that.

 

 

 

Ask the taxi industry if Uber hasn't affected their business? You claim that the newspaper industry isn't adapting. It is. It is eliminating the paper and going digital where it can. It still has to figure out the economics of a subscriber model. My point in my posts is that the Bucky and Sully personalities are miniscule factors in the altering nature of the business. They are part of the old guard that has little to do with dealing with the changing dynamics of the business that not only affects the BN but is an inescapable fact of life of business in general. That's my central point. Bucky and Sully as individuals have little to do with the forces that are affecting them. It's a fact of life that is happening everywhere in their business. 

[DFITZ1]

Most of the content of Bucky's and Sully's articles can be easily obtained listening to inebriated fans in a sports bar. I found better articles from other and cheaper local news sources. And no, those articles did not sugar coat the situations at the Bills and Sabres, just added research and intelligence, rather than poison pen vitrol. This is addition by subtraction at the BN.

[Mike in Syracuse]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

You  don't understand the economics and dynamics of what is going on  in the newspaper industry. The more costly old timers are being pushed out for cheaper workers in order to help stem the tide of red ink. What is going on at the BN is going on everywhere. The same fiscal dynamic of shedding the costlier older and more long term  employees has happened and is continuing to happen at ESPN. It's happening all over in the related sports business. 

 

What's apparent to me is that you don't have an understanding what is going on in the business. The substantive story isn't about Bucky or Sully being squeezed out. It is about a business model in the newspaper industry that is having trouble surviving in the digital age. Get a clue and look around.  It's happening everywhere. 

This isn't unique to the newspaper business.    It happens in companies all across America at a regular basis.   It's literally the Jack Welch business model.

[PastaJoe]

Agree with those who’ve said the bigger issue of the demise of local papers is going to mean less scrutiny of local issues, and more dependence on generic national stories. Less information results in a dumbing down of voters who vote on style over substance.

 

I always enjoyed Jerry’s willingness to rip the scab off sports issues, and missed him when he stopped appearing on WGR. But his passion is basketball and baseball, which unfortunately are not the top sports in Buffalo.

 

I worry about our dependence on all things electronic. We’re only one good EMP pulse away from everyone scrambling to museums to get the old hand crank printing presses out and finding cars without electronic ignitions. I ask my son who does web design, what skills do you have to survive if the electrical grid went out.