“The View From the Phlipside” is a media commentary program airing on WRFA-LP, Jamestown NY. It can be heard Monday through Friday around 7:30 AM. The following are scripts which may not exactly match the aired version of the program. Mostly because the host may suddenly choose to add or subtract words at a moment’s notice. WRFA-LP is not responsible for any such silliness or the opinions expressed. You can listen to a live stream of WRFA or find a podcast of this program at wrfalp.com. Copyright 2013-16 by Jay Phillippi. All Rights Reserved. You like what you see? Drop me a line and we can talk.
Program scripts from week of August 15, 2016
This Week’s Podcast:
My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Journalism Business Model
Last week on his HBO show “Last Week Tonight”, John Oliver went on a bit of a rant about the state of journalism in the world today. He decried not only the shabby condition of the actual reporting but the general state of the business as a business. To which I can only say, welcome to the party Mr. Oliver, we started talking about this topic about five years ago.
But hey, I welcome as many voices to the conversation as possible, no matter how late to the field they may be.
Here are a few of the bottom line facts about journalism. First, journalism costs money. It always had and the corporate folks have always squawked about whether or not they are getting a return on their investment. My hero, Edward R. Murrow, had to fight these same battles. Second, there have been dramatic declines in newspaper readership, and some in television viewing as well. So advertising dollars have slumped too. Third, is that the industry still hasn’t figured out how to create a business model that works in the current environment.
That’s the dilemma facing journalism today. They aren’t making money they way they used to, so they are reducing the size of their staff of reporters, which means they rely on more clickbait garbage, which is one of the things that seems to have set off Mr. Oliver. Lower quality means fewer subscribers and down the toilet we swirl.
What’s interesting is that there do seem to be some new models out there showing signs of success. I’ve mentioned before the Pittsburgh focused sports site called “DKPittsburghSports”, that has shown HUGE growth in its two years of existence. But it’s not alone. The “Charlotte Agenda” is a web based news site in North Carolina that is reporting revenues of over eight hundred thousand dollars this year. It is both growing and profitable. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, the “Billy Penn” is a startup news site that is getting good early reviews on its reporting while generating its revenue through sponsor supported events. They are looking to be profitable next year, but the folks at old line media giant, the Gannett Company, have liked what they see enough to become a minority investor. “The Billy Penn” will expand this year to a second location, in Pittsburgh, with a new venture called “The Incline”.
What all of these companies have in common is a carefully focused market. Whether it’s local sports, or mobile oriented young professionals, they are not following in the old “broadcasting” mode of newspapers and TV news. How the business models will shake out will interesting to see. The Pittsburgh sports site is purely subscription and that seems to be doing just fine. There’s no reason why the event based model can’t work as well.
As always, it comes down to being ready to take a risk on something new.
But hey, I welcome as many voices to the conversation as possible, no matter how late to the field they may be.
Here are a few of the bottom line facts about journalism. First, journalism costs money. It always had and the corporate folks have always squawked about whether or not they are getting a return on their investment. My hero, Edward R. Murrow, had to fight these same battles. Second, there have been dramatic declines in newspaper readership, and some in television viewing as well. So advertising dollars have slumped too. Third, is that the industry still hasn’t figured out how to create a business model that works in the current environment.
That’s the dilemma facing journalism today. They aren’t making money they way they used to, so they are reducing the size of their staff of reporters, which means they rely on more clickbait garbage, which is one of the things that seems to have set off Mr. Oliver. Lower quality means fewer subscribers and down the toilet we swirl.
What’s interesting is that there do seem to be some new models out there showing signs of success. I’ve mentioned before the Pittsburgh focused sports site called “DKPittsburghSports”, that has shown HUGE growth in its two years of existence. But it’s not alone. The “Charlotte Agenda” is a web based news site in North Carolina that is reporting revenues of over eight hundred thousand dollars this year. It is both growing and profitable. Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, the “Billy Penn” is a startup news site that is getting good early reviews on its reporting while generating its revenue through sponsor supported events. They are looking to be profitable next year, but the folks at old line media giant, the Gannett Company, have liked what they see enough to become a minority investor. “The Billy Penn” will expand this year to a second location, in Pittsburgh, with a new venture called “The Incline”.
What all of these companies have in common is a carefully focused market. Whether it’s local sports, or mobile oriented young professionals, they are not following in the old “broadcasting” mode of newspapers and TV news. How the business models will shake out will interesting to see. The Pittsburgh sports site is purely subscription and that seems to be doing just fine. There’s no reason why the event based model can’t work as well.
As always, it comes down to being ready to take a risk on something new.
Digital Tax
You can be virtually guaranteed that when election time rolls around the subject of taxes will come up. The general consensus is that none of of us are FANS of taxes, but the discussion begins on what qualifies as too much. So this next story probably isn’t going to be real popular.
There’s a new tax coming. You may not see it yet, but I guarantee you that it will be across most of the nation in the very near future. It’s usually called something like the “cloud tax” but most people seem to be calling it the “Netflix Tax”. Pennsylvania just passed one, which will add six percent onto certain online purchases.
Here’s the real deal on this – I spend a lot of time talking about the “business model” for all kinds of media out there. Well, state and local governments have a business model as well. They raise the funds to pay for the services we all expect, through taxes. Sales tax is one that is particularly valuable for a lot of governments. And that’s the problem, really. Because of how we, the consumers, are getting our media, sales taxes have dropped dramatically in some categories.
Think about this. Ten years ago sales for DVDs and Blu-rayssat around twenty bbillion dollars. Today, that figure is ten billion dollars. A six percent sales tax goes from one point two billion dollars to six hundred million dollars. CD sales dropped from thirteen billion dollars sixteen years ago to just under two billion in 2014. You can do the math on the loss in sales tax there.
So governments were going to go looking for that revenue. The reality is that this isn’t really a “new” tax. We were taxed on our media purchases before and soon we will be again. Pennsylvania’s law is particularly broad. The six percent tax includes Netflix and Hulu, plus streaming music and downloads of music, e-books, even ringtones. Newspapers, magazines and the Bible are all exempt.
Pennsylvania is not alone. Minnesota has taxed digital goods for a while and Chicago just passed a nine percent tax on digital services. Kentucky has looked at taxes other than sales tax to cover the gap. Tennessee and Idaho are also looking into it. The European Union moved into this tax area back in 2014.
The experts generally agree that while taxes are never popular, this “Netflix tax” is virtually inevitable. Services have been taxable in most states for a very long time.
If you want to try and find a bright side consider this, the tax on these kinds of services in Sweden is twenty five percent.
There’s a new tax coming. You may not see it yet, but I guarantee you that it will be across most of the nation in the very near future. It’s usually called something like the “cloud tax” but most people seem to be calling it the “Netflix Tax”. Pennsylvania just passed one, which will add six percent onto certain online purchases.
Here’s the real deal on this – I spend a lot of time talking about the “business model” for all kinds of media out there. Well, state and local governments have a business model as well. They raise the funds to pay for the services we all expect, through taxes. Sales tax is one that is particularly valuable for a lot of governments. And that’s the problem, really. Because of how we, the consumers, are getting our media, sales taxes have dropped dramatically in some categories.
Think about this. Ten years ago sales for DVDs and Blu-rayssat around twenty bbillion dollars. Today, that figure is ten billion dollars. A six percent sales tax goes from one point two billion dollars to six hundred million dollars. CD sales dropped from thirteen billion dollars sixteen years ago to just under two billion in 2014. You can do the math on the loss in sales tax there.
So governments were going to go looking for that revenue. The reality is that this isn’t really a “new” tax. We were taxed on our media purchases before and soon we will be again. Pennsylvania’s law is particularly broad. The six percent tax includes Netflix and Hulu, plus streaming music and downloads of music, e-books, even ringtones. Newspapers, magazines and the Bible are all exempt.
Pennsylvania is not alone. Minnesota has taxed digital goods for a while and Chicago just passed a nine percent tax on digital services. Kentucky has looked at taxes other than sales tax to cover the gap. Tennessee and Idaho are also looking into it. The European Union moved into this tax area back in 2014.
The experts generally agree that while taxes are never popular, this “Netflix tax” is virtually inevitable. Services have been taxable in most states for a very long time.
If you want to try and find a bright side consider this, the tax on these kinds of services in Sweden is twenty five percent.
Infinite Potter
He is sometimes known simply as “the boy who lived”. The truth of the matter is may be closer to “the boy who lived forever and made more money than you can even imagine”. I’m speaking, of course, about Harry Potter. Potter, in case you have been in seclusion somewhere in Tibet for the last two decades is a fictional orphan wizard, who survives a death curse as a baby and eventually saves the world.
The books about Harry Potter make up the best selling series of all times. The movies made from those books have been some of the most successful movies of all time. They are, by at least one standard, the second highest grossing movie series of all time. And they have made their creator, J.K. Rowling, fabulously wealthy.
The question that occurs to me at the moment is, will Harry Potter ever run its course?
Think about this, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, was the book that no one wanted. Rowling’s story is an inspiration to struggling writers everywhere. The first book was a success, the following books ever more so. Then the movies. But that wasn’t the end. Then came “Pottermore”, the online domain for all things “Harry Potter”, since its launch in 2012. There’s a “Harry Potter World” at Universal’s theme park in Florida.
And now there’s a stage play.
I will admit to being a Potter fan. Loved the books, generally liked the movies. But I keep thinking, this can’t go on forever. Eventually, “Star Wars” laid an egg, “Star Trek” hasn’t been all sunshine and roses since day one. How long can this Harry Potter thing keep rolling?
Well, at the moment it doesn’t appear to ready to stop. The latest installment is performing as we’ve come to expect from the franchise. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is a huge smash in the West End of London. That’s the big theater locale in England. The show is sold out for 2016. The book version of the script has already sold four million copies. Broadway is stamping its feet wondering when the show will cross the pond.
But here’s the really interesting speculation. The Potter series was credited with turning huge numbers of young folk into readers again. The YA genre of writing got a boost from the boy wizard.
Can it do the same thing for the theater? What if this show, which is getting rave reviews, can bring a new generation or two back to live theater? “Hamilton” may be a smash, but Harry Potter on Broadway? Given the track record, the imagination boggles at the possibilities.
Maybe it should be “The boy who wouldn’t die”.
The books about Harry Potter make up the best selling series of all times. The movies made from those books have been some of the most successful movies of all time. They are, by at least one standard, the second highest grossing movie series of all time. And they have made their creator, J.K. Rowling, fabulously wealthy.
The question that occurs to me at the moment is, will Harry Potter ever run its course?
Think about this, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, was the book that no one wanted. Rowling’s story is an inspiration to struggling writers everywhere. The first book was a success, the following books ever more so. Then the movies. But that wasn’t the end. Then came “Pottermore”, the online domain for all things “Harry Potter”, since its launch in 2012. There’s a “Harry Potter World” at Universal’s theme park in Florida.
And now there’s a stage play.
I will admit to being a Potter fan. Loved the books, generally liked the movies. But I keep thinking, this can’t go on forever. Eventually, “Star Wars” laid an egg, “Star Trek” hasn’t been all sunshine and roses since day one. How long can this Harry Potter thing keep rolling?
Well, at the moment it doesn’t appear to ready to stop. The latest installment is performing as we’ve come to expect from the franchise. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is a huge smash in the West End of London. That’s the big theater locale in England. The show is sold out for 2016. The book version of the script has already sold four million copies. Broadway is stamping its feet wondering when the show will cross the pond.
But here’s the really interesting speculation. The Potter series was credited with turning huge numbers of young folk into readers again. The YA genre of writing got a boost from the boy wizard.
Can it do the same thing for the theater? What if this show, which is getting rave reviews, can bring a new generation or two back to live theater? “Hamilton” may be a smash, but Harry Potter on Broadway? Given the track record, the imagination boggles at the possibilities.
Maybe it should be “The boy who wouldn’t die”.
Call that the View From the Phlipside
Copyright Jay Phillippi, 2016
Theme music for “The View From the Phlipside” and “TVFTP – Podcast” is “Hustle”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Stories Are My Life 
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