Philadelphia’s largest newsroom continues to get smaller.
Sources tell Crossing Broad that the most recent round of buyouts and layoffs will see Mike Kern and Dick Jerardi leave the Philadelphia Media Network before the end of the year. Kern is reportedly taking a buyout. It’s not clear if Jerardi is doing the same or simply retiring.
Daily News scoreboard editor Bob Vetrone Jr. also confirmed his departure on Twitter:
I will not be dressing up tonight but in 2018 I will be dressing as a former @PhillyDailyNews employee; Taking a buyout & moving on …
— Bob Vetrone Jr. (@BoopStats) October 31, 2017
ICYMI – I will be taking a buyout from the @PhillyDailyNews as of Jan. 1, 2018 … Some sketchy blueprints for my future … Stay tuned …
— Bob Vetrone Jr. (@BoopStats) November 1, 2017
Jerardi spent years 33 years churning out high-quality stories, mostly on college basketball and horse racing. He was known for his decades of Big 5 basketball coverage and was recently honored at the Coaches vs. Cancer lunch:
Highlight of Coaches vs Cancer lunch: The coaches honored this man. pic.twitter.com/zsTcbuWmhE
— Mike Jensen (@jensenoffcampus) November 8, 2017
I know this definitively … Here's the complete list of people who covered the Big Five better than Dick Jerardi over past 30 years:
— Mike Jensen (@jensenoffcampus) November 8, 2017
Jerardi has recently worked a couple of side gigs, doing Penn State basketball radio broadcasts and co-hosting a weekly horse racing show.
Kern started back in 1980 and specialized in college sports and golf, coverage that won him awards from the Golf Writers Association of America and International Network of Golf. He’s a former president of the Philadelphia Sports Writers and appeared frequently on Daily News Live, before NBC Sports Philadelphia changed their afternoon programming to more generic fare.
The departure of Kern and Jerardi will leave the company with two college sports writers in Marc Narducci and Joe Juliano. Mike Jensen also covers college sports as a columnist and feature writer, so it’s unclear if his role will change.
A lot of great college sports coverage is eclipsed by our professional teams.
Consider the coverage distribution here. PMN has four full-time Eagles writers in Zach Berman, Jeff McLane, Les Bowen, and Paul Domowitch. There are four full-time columnists in Marcus Hayes, Bob Ford, Mike Sielski, and David Murphy. Six of those eight travel to Birds games, and I’m pretty sure all eight of them go to home games. They’ll occasionally pop up at Sixers games, which are covered by Keith Pompey, Sarah Todd, and sometimes Narducci. There are three Phillies writers and two Flyers writers, while Ed Barkowitz, John Smallwood, and Jonathan Tannenwald do a bit of everything.
PMN is looking to downsize by 30 to 35 employees while also hiring ten digitally-focused journalists:
“Inquirer and Daily News print advertising has declined faster than it can be replaced with newer sources of revenue such as digital advertising, which the company says requires it to cut costs.
But PMN is also encouraged by some early investments. The company last month began charging readers who click on more than 10 stories for further access to Philly.com, and those online subscriptions are “off to a good start,” (publisher Terrance C.Z.) Egger said.
Employees who lack digital skills or are uncomfortable with the newsroom changes can “self-select” their departure, he added. Egger credited top newsroom executives for crafting a buyout offer that was considerate to employees.”
Also, as part of the restructuring at NBCSP, longtime managing editor Andy Schwartz was let go. Schwartz was credited with building the site’s written coverage from the ground up.
At PhillyVoice, Phillies writer Ryan Lawrence will be out of a job come 2018– he was laid off along with two non-sports staffers. Rich Hofmann Jr. left in September to join The Athletic and Kyle Neubeck replaced him as the site’s Sixers writer.
Longtime Phillies writer Kevin Cooney was let go by Gatehouse Media, which bought the newspapers and digital properties previously owned by Calkins Media. Tom Moore has also moved to a more generic role at the publications which include the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, and the Burlington County Times.
29 Responses
Roy Moore is a pedophile and Donald Trump is an assaulter. The republican party, ladies and gents.
Weinstein, Spacey, C.K. , Hoffman, Gunderson, Klein… all contributors to the Clinton campaign.
As a die hard commie I can’t argue with this at all.
Hillary fcking sucks anyway.
Sooner or later you idiot Fox News watching righties are going to have to realize Hillary isn’t President. You spend more time on her than Trump
Yea but Hillary is the reason Trump is president. Everyone hated her because she lied and cheated. Most moderates would have voted for Bernie, which makes no sense but it’s true. People didn’t like that Hillary is a creepy liar and a cheater. Trump told the truth and won.
^^
Ummm…I think you are referring to CNN,MSNBC,ABC,CBS and NBC.
THEY are the ones with trump derangement syndrome
Who did Trump assault?
All lies and false propaganda
Nothing on President Trump mentioning his idea to deschedule marijuana on the federal level to ignite a new multi billion dollar industry????
No the left would not be able to handle that. Plus that would all but garuntee his re-election.
Get real. That orange pie faced racist knows nothing about industrial complexes. He is very anti marijuana so he can incarcerate more young black men.
Cuz really knocked that Carson interview out of the park!!! He is the real voice of the Philly fan.
If he didn’t have something to promote he’s not doing interviews during his bye week.
Thank God for football, because man, am I a fucking boring person.
NOPE
The cuz has such a thick penis i could barely fit it down my throat.
Remember when Jay Wright complained last year about the Coaches vs Cancer event being so early in the morning?
Going to miss turkey neck’s Kentucky derby picks
we’ll see how the “this used to be free but now you can pay for it even though less people were clicking on us when it was free to begin with” strategy works out for them.
Jack is going to cover harness racing at Liberty Bell Park and Phil is going to be writing about the Dr J led 6ixers.
He was on today for a couple hours.
This is juicy, but sad stuff. Who cares how old I am, and how I spend my money? But those are the breaks.
Does anyone seriously watch let’s go racing on CSN Saturdays at 10AM? Hard to believe they can’t find a better program for that spot.
What a pontificating POS. Next is his rap music. He thinks he’s a brother. He’s as white as a glass of whole milk. Guy is on the radio lecturing the audience. I mean like who the f are u.
I once tried to read an article By Tannenwald about Womens Soccer and “local legend” Carli Lloyd
He lost me after the first 54,650 words
Someone needs to put a muzzle on this cat
It’s not clear if Jerardi is doing the same or simply retiring
Golf writers<Instagram models
Is it me, or does Sal “Pal” look like Groucho Marx when he’s filling time at 6 am on a Sunday morning? Hashtagwhatahack. If you’re ever up or haven’t gone to bed, check that show out. It’s a laugh fest.
Too bad Jerardi won’t be around to watch the Sixers become a force. He’s an avid hater of the process.
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