WERG mic flag

90.5 WERG, the Gannon University FM and internet station, will be the center of attention as they provide the coverage of the opening rounds of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball tournament, Atlantic Division.

The Number One ranked Lady Knights host No. 8 Fairmont State at 6:00 PM tonight to begin the Atlantic Regional. If they win, they’ll play the winner of tonight’s nightcap between Seton Hill and Fayetteville State tomorrow night.

Veteran sportscaster and Gannon alum Steve Bohen provides the play-by play, with help from WERG student Sports Director Caitie Ryan. If Cleve Wright’s Golden Knights continue to the semi’s, the broadcast crew will be Bohen and Beth Gaertner, the station’s Promotion Director.

Faculty Operations Director Chet LaPrice is tickled pink to have his live stream and student broadcasters in the spotlight. “We are just thrilled for the women’s basketball team. It is truly a historical moment for Gannon and we are just glad to be along for the ride.”

LaPrice said that the WERG team was especially excited to be able to bring this unprecedented event to Gannon alumni via their webcast, available at wergfm.com, along with the strong signal of 90.5.

Good luck to all of the Gannon community!

Bryan Oberle

It is quite remarkable how two entrepreneurial new-media networks have scored major figures from media and politics for regular contributions. Last year, former Congressman Phil English began a blog on the GlobalErie.com network. Then early this year, former Editorial Page Editor of the Erie Times-News Bryan Oberle began a weekly post on ErieBlogs.com.

Oberle’s participation on ErieBlogs is particularly interesting considering he is married to an Erie media royal, Marnie Mead Oberle and continues to be a stockholder in the privately-owned Times Publishing Company.

Mr. Oberle was kind enough to share his thoughts on the state of the newspaper industry and his transition from ink to pixels in a Press and Tower exclusive interview:

P&T: Having been a newspaper guy so long, what is your gut reaction to the state of the newspaper industry as we are looking at it today?

BO: It will be easier to answer that question once we get out of this recession. Newspapers suffer in every recession. Advertising revenues plunge, newspaper publishers panic and always make shortsighted decisions to nurse the immediate bottom line. So it’s really not clear how much of what is going on is based on current economic issues or long-term, greater newspaper issues. I think more are hard times right now. I’m one newspaper person who believe newspapers are a lot stronger and more resilient than some critics think. Newspapers survived radio, movies, television. Newspapers will survive the Internet and blogs.

P&T: Many of the readers of P&T hear the “doom and gloom” of the demise of major market dailies and think that the Times-News is in the same boat. Although I’m sure the marketplace isn’t what it used to be, can you explain to our readers the different realities of a family-owned small-medium market daily versus the publicly-owned big market dailies like the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Philly or Detroit papers, or the Tribune Co.?

BO: My wife’s family, the descendants of her great-grandfather John Mead, have owned the Erie Times-News for 122 years. Before this recession kicked in and started ripping away at advertising revenues, the Times-News publisher was telling employees that the basic business health and structure of the Erie Times-News remained strong with opportunities for growth. She believed – and I’m inclined to believe she was right at the time – that the Internet and New Media options weren’t doing the paper any real damage. I think that’s still true. Now, I’m one of the few non-Mead family members who is a shareholder in the Times Publishing Company. As a shareholder, I’m reasonably confident the Times-News is well positioned to continue as the primary news source in the Erie region.

P&T: When the ETN conducted the buyouts of employees the end of 2008, decades of major reporting and editing experience went out the door with many of them. Can you talk about how all that affected you personally and do you know how some of the folks are doing now over a year later?

BO: It affected me personally because several friends and many colleagues went out the door. The editors that left weren’t replaced. That was painful. And our readers noticed. As for as I know, everyone who took the buyouts are doing OK. But they aren’t working at newspapers. I guarantee you that is something that can’t be replaced.

P&T: What are the biggest differences to you as writer in the “ink and paper” space vs. writing for ErieBlogs?

BO: I’m writing the blog primarily because I just needed to write again. That is sort of what I do and what I have always done. I worked at two newspapers, the Erie Times-News and the Peoria Journal Star, for 25 years. A newspaper is a daily process and commitment that gets into your blood. Writing a blog is nothing like that. A newspaper is a living daily document.

P&T: Considering the sheer number of experienced professionals unemployed in the newspaper job pool, would you still recommend to a young person a career in journalism, and why or why not?

BO: Absolutely, but with these caveats: Anyone thinking about a career in newspaper journalism better love the process of putting together a newspaper because you aren’t going to get rich, and you often have to accept working for people who don’t have a clue. Can you get used to aggravation, and lots of it? And you simply have to love newspapers and the processes involved in reporting and writing and getting a paper out every single day. If this sounds like fun, go for it.

P&T: What are your goals for your new blog?

BO: I just want to write some interesting stuff so people will enjoy reading it. And it manages to reach a wider audience, great. I have no illusions about becoming the next Bill Simmons, although I’m certainly not opposed to it. The blog is primarily a writing exercise for me.

P&T: As an editorial page editor for the ETN, what the paper said got the attention of people in politics and the community. Do you think that some local bloggers are beginning to be heard by community leaders and are having influence on Erie public opinion?

BO: I don’t know of any blog or blogger in town that has created or earned that kind of platform. I’m sure it will happen eventually at some level. A lot of people who don’t read newspapers read blogs. They just don’t happen to be mayors, state senators or city council types. Obviously blogs have certainly achieved a big-time policy and political role in Washington. That pop hasn’t drifted out to places like Erie yet. Will that day come. Maybe, maybe not. Like I said before, nobody should underestimate the basic power and I believe, staying power of newspapers.

I know it’s shocking (not), but the medium became the message once again this week. Last Sunday, ETN’s John Dudley called out Indianapolis Colts defensive back Bob Sanders for his perceived morph into a media “control freak.”

Dozens of Erie readers freaked at Dudley’s column, and flooded the paper’s mailbox and P&T’s comments stream with negative reaction. I’d like to give you a chance to chime in.

Thank you for being the reason that this blog continues as a successful connecting point for the Erie media community.

Your contributions appreciated on this open forum through comments below, private email, or Twitter.

Embrace the chaos!

I’m shining the light on the newspaper biz a bit this week starting with a poll about your consumption of the primary news operation in Erie: the Erie Times-News. How often do you read it, and do you spend any money to get it?

One pirate radio listserv dude called P&T “FCC-loving” and “bootlicking.” That’s too funny! FCC obeying, yes. Loving? Not even a slight attraction.

Like most bloggers, I use a program to block comment spam (I’ve received over 12,000 spam comments since the beginning). Sometimes the creativity used to try to get past the spam filter is quite cute. Favorite of the week: “Gday thanks regarding your page. I truly adore your web page. Its really informative.” I know I might be adorable, but adoring the P&T…really?

Leave your adorable comments in the space below (no spam please) or through e-mail or tweet @pressandtower.

By the way, if you think you been following me for several months now, make sure you still are following @pressandtower for media tweets. I run two Twitter feeds now, changing my old account to @JoelNatalie for all around professional and personal tweets, and creating a new @pressandtower just for the media stuff. Sorry about any confusion.

Embrace the chaos!

Last night on WJET/WFXP, John Treanor reported a package on Jones where they showed that he continues to operate the station with a computer, some microphones and a transmitter connected to a small mast at the top of a building in Erie’s Little Italy neighborhood. Despite the possiblity of major penalties, Treanor reports that Jones is determined to continue with 90.1 The Movement:

But Jones, a former Super Soul Saturday DJ, tells us he can’t stop – if he’s not on air, a whole genre would disappear in the city.

“The question always remained, why don’t we have this 24 hours a day, what do we have to do to do it and basically I went ahead and said let’s see what happens, you know what I mean,” says Jones…

…Jones is staying on air as long as he can before getting fined – his dream is to make the movement legal.

“I have to I have to go forward and see what it is that has to be done to make this happen,” Jones says.

This morning (Thursday), David Bruce continues his reporting on the pirate radio stations in the Times-News, complete with pictures of Jones’s operation. Bruce describes the chain of events leading to the sign-on:

A club disc jockey and former announcer at Gannon University’s WERG-FM, Jones said that he started broadcasting in October because there wasn’t enough urban music being played in Erie.

“Blacks, whites, Hispanics all had a major concern about the type of music played in Erie 24/7,” Jones said. “It was my mission to get this station up and running.”

Jones said that he started broadcasting at the low-frequency limits, then increased power.

“The response from people was so strong that I just turned it up,” Jones said. “Then someone ratted me out to the FCC.”

One problem was that Jones’ signal was intruding on the signals of other, licensed, radio stations, said A.J. Miceli, who oversees WERG as Gannon University’s chairman of theater, communications and fine arts.