Archives for December 2008

Our daughter came home from college the other day. She’s a sophomore who, when she lived in our house, watched tv for hours at a time. Years ago it was “The Power Rangers”, before that “Sesame Street”. In high school she seemed to be wide-eyed in front of the television whenever she didn’t have a phone pushed up to her ear. Of course she did both simultaneously too.

This time though, zip. I’d say except for a few hours of us watching our homemade Christmas videos that put together every year, she did not watch more than 20 minutes of tv the entire time she was home.

And I can say that matter of factly because the tv in her room isn’t connected to cable and she spent most of the time in her room.

I mentioned this to someone in our newsroom today and tonight, I found this article. An actual report shows that young people watch less tv than they used to.

The Deloitte report shows that kids age 14-25 watch just 10.5 hours of television a week.

When I was that age on break from school I’d watch nearly 10.5 hours in a day.

Here’s how that compares with other generations.

15.1 hours for those belonging to Generation X (ages 26-42), 19.2 hours for baby boomer (43-61) and 21.5 hours for matures (62-75).

The curious thing about the findings is that while the 14-25 age group watches less tv than anyone else, they actually spend more time with media than the other groups. According to the study, and according to what I noticed with my 20 year old daughter, they spend time on the computer watching videos, video chatting, e-mailing and texting. Facebook is probably in there somewhere but I was surprised that my daughter had never heard of Twitter.

What does all this mean? For people who’s jobs depend on people watching the local evening news, it’s scary. The economy and the possible bankruptcy of the Big 3 automakers is making it tough enough for tv stations to survive. But with an already dwindling audience who’s got 140 other channels to choose from, here comes a generation of kids who can’t find ABC, NBC or CBS with a television remote if their iPods depended on it.

What’s going to happen when these 14-24 year olds get just a bit older and become that demographic every advertiser is trying to reach?

We, and I mean that as the television industry, better start doing a better job of getting their attention before they  tune us out completely.

When it comes to powerful radio people in the grand state of Alabama, Paul Finebaum tops the list.

My apologies to Rick and Bubba who are very popular and loved and successful. Shoot, they’ve written a book, had countless cd compilations of their best and funniest work, and are fairly regular guests on national television shows such as Hannity and Colmes, and Fox News in the morning. Rick and Bubba had their own tv show for several years on the regional Turner South Network and speak to maybe hundreds of church groups and others throughout the year.

But it is sportstalk host Paul Finebaum that is not only powerful but sheer genius.

He’s been on ESPN this week, writing in his weekly column for the Mobile Press-Register and talking on his own afternoon show about the ugliness of race in the Auburn Athletic Department. How the powers that be at that University decided not to hire a coach because of the color of the coach’s skin, and maybe some have suggested, the color of that coach’s wife’s skin.

Auburn fans are of course, outraged and swear they will never listen to Finebaum’s show again. But what none of them realize is that the genius of Paul Finebaum has never been so easy to see.

Finebaum is not a sports guy. No matter what you might think by listening to him on the radio. In person, he looks like the kid always chosen last no matter what schoolyard game was being played. In the pressbox, I rarely saw any of the other respected sportswriters talking to him.  I’ve watched and wondered what must go through his mind while the game is being played. I’ve guessed it is “how many bags of that white stuff do they use to line the field?” or “what are those paper streamers doing on top of the goal posts and how did they get them up there?”

Finebaum is not an x’s and o’s sports guy. I’ve never heard him talk about the the downside of a prevent defense when the game is on the line, or pulling guards, or yards after the reception or passer ratings. But still, fans on both sides of the state continue to listen to his show. Why?

Because Paul Finebaum is a genius.

He knows just when and how hard to poke the dog with the stick before running away. He’s also learned, through years of doing this schtick for newspapers, television and radio, when to switch dogs.

For years the dog in the state of Alabama was the Crimson Tide. Finebaum criticized coaches Franchione, Price and Shula while laying off to some degree, of Auburn and Tommy Tuberville.  This year, and some of last year, Finebaum switched dogs and started giving new Bama coach Nick Saban a whole lotta love while torching Tuberville.

For the record, it was an easy decision for Finebaum. Alabama’s program had been down for more than a decade and fans (there’s a ton of them in the state by the way) were desperately seeking somebody to say anything good about them. Finebaum was there, understanding that the more he talked up the Tide, the more listeners would tune in. Not just Bama fans but Auburn fans who were curious as to what was happening at the Capstone.

Now with the hiring of a new head coach at Auburn, Finebaum has raised the racism flag (which is always good for some debate or a fight or two). But we really don’t know if Finebaum suspects that race played a part in Auburn not hiring Turner Gill, because Finebaum is just poking whatever he thinks will create the biggest bark, and the most listeners which raises his show ratings which brings in advertising dollars.

That’s where the genius part comes in with Finebaum. He says what he says not necessarily because it is true or even that he believes it is true, but because it draws attention to him and his show.

He’s very wealthy because of it.

So don’t call Finebaum an idiot. He doesn’t care that he comes across that way to people who know what’s going on or how an SEC school chooses a head coach. Call him a genius because he’s laughing all the way to a long retirement on a beach somewhere.