Since OMW started some 6 years ago, we’ve often been compared to NorthEast Radio Watch, the weekly report put out by broadcasting veteran Scott Fybush from his home base in Rochester NY.
Regular OMW readers know that we consider that a huge compliment.
Scott has been doing “NERW” for somewhat longer than we have been doing OMW.
His site is the archetype of this kind of site, and as an added bonus, Scott and Your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) have been personal and professional friends for going on two decades.
Since Scott’s wife Lisa is originally from Fort Wayne IN (home of another OMW friend, Indiana RadioWatch’s Blaine Thompson), his travels take him across Northeast Ohio about four or five times a year…not counting other radio-related travel.
And if Scott and his family are going through this area, there’s a good chance that a NERW/OMW “summit meeting” is happening, probably with a hot dog or three nearby.
We bring up this personal information to let you know that we have actually seen Scott compile NERW from a number of places, from his den, to a restaurant table, to the back of his family minivan…surrounded by two of the cutest kids connected at all to radio, daughter Ari and son Eli.
We know what he puts into it. Now, we suggest you help him keep it going.
Scott announced this week that NERW will no longer be a free site soon.
As anyone trying to sell online advertising knows, that market has dried up (and in some cases has disappeared from us very abruptly); the consulting business has likewise dried up, and while we’re touched indeed by the kind words from our loyal readers, they simply haven’t been accompanied by enough actual subscription money to keep the wolf from the door.
The harder part is this: it has become impossible to keep offering the site’s entire content for free. While we’re deeply appreciative of the site’s wide reach and deep loyalty from readers, it has proven impossible to monetize that readership.
Let’s make something clear – we are NOT contemplating such a conversion here at OMW.
The economics behind this blog are much simpler than what Scott deals with at NERW.
For one, the hosting is free via WordPress (and Blogger before it).
Even on big traffic days like we’ve had recently (nearly 4,000 unique views for Monday’s article on a certain area sports station), our numbers and coverage area are much smaller than NERW, and WordPress doesn’t send us a bandwidth bill.
Unlike NERW, this site IS still a hobby for your Primary Editorial Voice(tm), a point we’ve reinforced numerous times by reminding you that we sometimes aren’t able to post items immediately.
Though the financial situation here is not any better, the blog-related expenses are few.
The Internet access, we already have.
About the only regular bill is the OhioMediaWatch.com domain, and each year, we consider whether we’re paying for another year. (This year was close, closer than we’d like. We basically only renewed it for convenience for readers.)
We also don’t take advertising, on purpose, even if that market were there.
When asked about it, our general opinion is that we’re too narrow a niche to interest advertisers…and Scott already addressed the horrible advertising market even for an online publication as broadly read and respected as NERW.
So, no…we’re not asking for money.
We don’t have any mechanism to take contributions, and we aren’t giving out our address any time soon.
So…if you enjoy OMW, you probably at least visit NERW from time to time, and we’d strongly advise you direct your funds to Scott Fybush and NERW.
Scott helps us frequently with Ohio-related items he picks up along the way. So, indirectly, you’d be helping OMW as well.
Scott’s many readers have no idea how much work it takes to put together NERW, the “Tower Site of the Week” items or “The Tower Site Calendar” each year.
He deserves fair compensation for that work.
The front page of Fybush.com now has convenient ways to help that along, via PayPal…
