Randy Covitz
Been a while since the Grim Reaper laid waste to the Kansas City Star…
Mercifully.
But make no mistake, with the steady drip of print circulation attrition, nobody at 18th and Grand has harbored any illusions about the direction the industry’s heading. Which accounts for high profile bailouts like that of former business section heavy hitter Kevin Collison.
And yet even after after the unintended consequence of losing one of the few remaining “name” journalists, the Star’s cupboard remains bare, with no sign of the replacing Collison. Even though they reportedly have interviewed a number of highly qualified replacement writers.
“They know they need to replace Kevin, but you know, up above they say. ‘Head count,’ ” says a source. “So what do you do?”
Speaking of which, uncounted heads at 18th and Grand rolled the past week.
“It’s been a helluva week since the news hit last Monday,” says the source. “That’s when people found out they’d lost their jobs. For the newsroom side, they encouraged a number of people to take early retirements and I heard they cut five or six on the press crew.
In addition to the untimely demises of art critic Alice Thorson and business writer Steve Everly, business/weddings/obits head Laura Keeling on the ad side is said to have taken a bullet. A call to her extension netted a polite recording saying she was out of the office and not to bother to leave a message. Also on the reported hit list is Michelle Kelly, the Star’s advertising district sales manager.
Doug Weaver
“And they cut a lot of people in the info and Kansas City Store area, including Kansas City Star Books publisher Doug Weaver, the former business editor and Jack Beasley and did book orders and stuff like tee shirts when the Royals went to the World Series.”
The cuts came as a surprise.
“We didn’t really expect this,” says the source. “They had told us we were doing better. I do know this though that we have a lot of customers who take the paper who have customer service challenges. You know, they don’t get their paper and they have to call the Philippines. I mean, the newspaper only has a shelf life of like a day.”
Additional buyouts and/or departures reportedly include longtime newsroom tech Rob Perschau and highly-regarded veteran sports reporter Randy Covitz.
As for the size and scope of the layoffs, “You know, it seems pretty big,” says the source. “We used to have 350 newsroom employees and now we have about 150.”
“We really didn’t expect this,” says the source. “They had told us we were doing better.”
Hey, your source must have a real short memory, otherwise he/she would’ve remembered the day the “suit from Sacramento” showed up in town and basically told everyone this same BS, that the paper was doing better and things were starting to turn around, then proceeded to give the order to can some people a few days later on September 18, The Star’s “birthday”. Imagine that, a lyin’ SOB for a CEO. Hey, source, wake up and smell the coffee! Oh, I forgot, there’s no free coffee down at 18th and Grand anymore.
Never was that I know of, Rick
Even the Hot Tamales cost a quarter a twist!
Coffee? Coffee is for closers pal! My name is Fu*k You and the best if will ever get for the K.C. Star is a set of steak knives. Wanna see my Rolex? It’s worth more than the K.C. Star, and, did I mention that coffee is for closers?!!??!!
Geeebus what a stupid quote, Chuckster, thanks for bringing that to mind. I BLEW my quota out of the water at work. Now, I was paid quite handsomely, but the best part, I get a package in the mail from home office. In it is a large coffee travel mug. Laser etched on the mug is “2014 Champion – Quota Buster” and under that, “Coffee is for CLOSERS!!”
Thanks, I’d almost forgotten that image, thanks for bringing it back to mind……
🙂
Sad. I love the Star and seeing all this just hurts. Do they hire any new big names? They need to bring you back Hearne.
I still maintain a digital subscription. I have trouble justifying it when all they print are anti-Brownback editorials pawned off as news. At one point, I thought to call the newspaper and tell them I’d pay extra for an edition of the paper that didn’t include Lee Judge’s cartoons and his Catholic-bashing columns.
I still believe in the concept of the daily newspaper, local government accountability, enjoy the sports coverage.
But The Star rarely calls city hall to task for incompetence and waste. The sewer fiasco is a black hole of tax money and the Star editorializes in favor of $100/month sewage bills. Why would anyone remain in city limits? $100/month sewer bills, plus 1% earnings tax. Two bags of trash a week. Getting your home broke into. No yard waste haul off. City employees sleeping on the job.
Basically, I think the Star is getting what it largely deserves, and yet, they get my $14/a month and I read most every story.
I like the idea of The Kansas City Star. Not so much the product.
The Star once possessed the kind of power which gets you beetch-slapped by the Supreme Court.
Today it is an impotent reminder that it is good it has a history because it has no future.
IF someone wanted to buy it, do you think it would bring 40% of what it sold for last time?
I think it still has a future, Orph…
But it’s going to have to live thru the next five or so years of the present, rid itself of most of the Baby Boomer editors and reporters, field a new, younger staff and learn how to more than just get by with maybe half or so of the people they have now.
Who else is gonna do it?
The Pitch, Tony, me? Nah.
A player to be named later? Maybe
KC Star should can Lewis Dickweed — the main reason I stopped subscribing 4 years ago..
this clown was lucky enough to have all the advantages from a dad (he just wrote a nice column about his passing) who was an Ivy league grad — taught college, an owned his own chemical company.
Yet.. Dickweed wails about “White Privilege” constantly — even tho he was raised in a better situation than 95% of Whites.
+1
One Guy and Gravitas reflect my feelings about The Star. The anti-Brownback campaign is pathetic. The paper does not do its job and might as well go away.
I’m not exactly a conservative, but they do over indulge in bashing Brownback and conservative issues. The editorial section is way too cozy and like minded
It’s been a pleasure