Marty's reviews to Velocity - now a CJ section

Sorry if this has been reported, but Marty just put on his Facebook page that his reviews are moving from the Saturday CJ to Velocity. What can the CJ possibly do with that crummy Scene section now? More articles about jewelry? (headline edited for better accuracy)

Sorry if this has been reported, but Marty just put on his Facebook page that his reviews are moving from the Saturday CJ to Velocity. What can the CJ possibly do with that crummy Scene section now? More articles about jewelry?

I thought Velocity had been killed?

That is really a shame.

Sorry if this has been reported, but Marty just put on his Facebook page that his reviews are moving from the Saturday CJ to Velocity. What can the CJ possibly do with that crummy Scene section now? More articles about jewelry?

I thought Velocity had been killed?

If I understand correctly it was killed as a free circular, but it is being absorbed into the weekly CJ.

So as rarely as I looked at it before (almost never) it will be an even less common occurrence now (possibly never again since I can't recall the last time I looked at a printed CJ).

[Robin Garr]

It started today. The Friday Features section now carries a Velocity logo, and Marty's column (along with blurbs from recent columns) is in it.

It's actually a decent move. Friday makes more sense for this kind of material than Saturday, which missed the Friday night dining crowd; and the Scene, as noted, has turned into something else entirely, into which the dining column fit very poorly.

It's a sad moment, though, in that the dining column has been a part of Scene ever since Scene launched in the old Louisville Times back in the '70s. At that time it was sharp, edgy, intelligent, and it made a splash.

While it's not particularly sad to see Velocity disappear - it was a brutish, failed attempt by the Gannett corporate types to bat down LEO - the unhappy part is that the corporation just laid off a bunch of people at the CJ, including some friends.

It's a sad moment, though, in that the dining column has been a part of Scene ever since Scene launched in the old Louisville Times back in the '70s. At that time it was sharp, edgy, intelligent, and it made a splash.

While it's not particularly sad to see Velocity disappear - it was a brutish, failed attempt by the Gannett corporate types to bat down LEO - the unhappy part is that the corporation just laid off a bunch of people at the CJ, including some friends.

I agree with all of this.

I remember rushing to look at the Scene, because it really used to be all over What Was Going On Around Town.

Not to step on toes but over the years the whole CJ has become quite sad to me ....I miss the Bingham owned papers ...yes papers,when we had 2. Nothing ever stays the same but just sometimes I wish it wouldn't change so rapidly for the sake of change.

[Robin Garr]

Not to step on toes but over the years the whole CJ has become quite sad to me ....I miss the Bingham owned papers ...yes papers,when we had 2. Nothing ever stays the same but just sometimes I wish it wouldn't change so rapidly for the sake of change.

Bev, I couldn't agree with you more. I was a reporter at The Louisville Times, and that was my dream job. After they closed the Times and sold the papers to Gannett, that was the end of it for me. I left in 1990.

One thing, though: it's not change for the sake of change, it's change for the sake of profit. the Binghams put all but 2 percent of revenue back into operations. It made a great news company, and they still earned enough to become one of the richest families in town. Gannett, on the other hand, demands 27 percent shipped out to their coffers in Virginia, and they can't do that without cutting into flesh and bone.

On the subject of this thread, I have to say that - even more after the latest roundof layoffs with no severance pay - I'm sorry, but I just can't respect Marty or any other Louisvillian who sells his soul to those pirates.

I remember rushing to look at the Scene, because it really used to be all over What Was Going On Around Town.

I loved the Scene. I would pull it out and read cover to cover over coffee. Sad.

Bring back The Jelly-Bean Journal!!

[Robin Garr]

Bring back The Jelly-Bean Journal!!

As I recall, its creators were among the first refugees from Gannett.

Dear Robin,
I know how many subjects and ideas get misconstrued on this site, but Robin I have to take exception to dissing Marty on the subject of selling out to Gannett. He is one of the bright spots in most lackluster newspaper and as for selling out, all of us do it every day. We buy gas and support the destruction of our environment, we buy products made by the bleeding fingers of Chinese children, the list goes on and on. I agree with most of all you say, but "selling out" is a little hard to read about a really nice guy, when while writing this I'm looking over at an ad for Domino's Pizza which is owned by one of the most wacked out right wing conservatives in the country. And I still respect you. You know what I'm saying.. No biggie. Just feel its a little unfair.
Bill Smith
Shady Lane Cafe

I agree with Bill as I view a Papa John's ad to the right....

The bottom line is that Marty does an outstanding job with a publication that has by far the biggest reach in the community. Regardless of what the other content is, his is excellent.

MARKET INFO
Louisville is Kentucky’s largest city and The Courier-Journal is Kentucky’s largest, most far-reaching newspaper. Read by over 400,000 adults every weekday and nearly 600,000 each Sunday, The Courier-Journal delivers exceptional reach of every type of audience segment.

On the digital front, courier-journal.com, is Kentucky’s number one local media site. Averaging 19 million page views and more than one 1.4 million unique visitors every month, courier-journal.com and its companion sites effectively serve the needs of loyal online audiences.

[Robin Garr]

Guys, you're missing the point. It's not about advertising, which has to happen in a free market. It's about how Gannett has spectacularly demolished a once-great newspaper in the pursuit of a degree of profit that the Binghams never dreamed of seeking, and that can't be attained without such severely diminished quality that the newspaper is crashing and burning. They just laid off another 70 people, including 20 in the newsroom, last week. So much for the promotional copy that Brian pasted in.

I think Marty is a good guy and a good writer. But that's not my point. What I'm saying is there were way too many of us who stood up and left the building as Gannett's motives became clear for me to have much respect for people - however good - who stayed around, or who jumped on later and sold their intellectual property, if not their souls, to Gannett.

It's not just hard feelings: It's also a matter of seeing how the community has changed, at least in part because the longtime watchdog has lost most of its teeth.

That has nothing to do with the ads that Google delivers on this page. Advertising helps us pay the rent, just as it helps Gannett pay the rent. But I can assure you that (1) HotBytes is in the black, and (2) we don't expect 27% ROI.

Brian, without discussing the issue of gullibility, let's just say that local food-related businesses that advertise here get the real-world evidence they need that an ad on HotBytes is a more effective way to get the attention of foodies at better bang for the buck than an ad in the CJ. Results count.

Brian, without discussing the issue of gullibility, let's just say that local food-related businesses that advertise here get the real-world evidence they need that an ad on HotBytes is a more effective way to get the attention of foodies at better bang for the buck than an ad in the CJ. Results count.

Comparing advertising on LHB vs. the CJ is really like comparing apples to oranges because of the circulation and reach, it isn't even comparable. If you'd like to argue that LHB has greater circulation/reach than the CJ and CJ online, I'd love to hear your argument and learn about my gullibility.

I was more specifically referring to the reach and impact of Marty's reviews in the CJ vs. your reviews in LEO. Again, it is not comparable, facts are facts and the LEO's circulation/reach is very small compared to the CJ.

As far as an unscientific comparison of the impact of food reviews, the week that LEO and the CJ both featured Coals, I went to dine at Coals on the Saturday that the article in CJ appeared. In a line out the door, everyone I spoke with mentioned Marty's article in the CJ.