Heaven only knows why they thought it'd be a good idea to bring her onboard. It was thankfully brief.
I hope I helped. How come?
Because I wrote a snail mail letter about it to MSNBC. Explained why I thought she was a bad fit. Explained how I was a longtime loyal viewer, and how undesirable I thought she was and how she, as a former Pox Noise feature, didn't belong on MSNBC - and had NO BUSINESS on a network like MSNBC. Because if we wanted to watch Greta Van Susteren, for Pete's sake, we already would have watched her on Pox - where she was a staple for years and easily findable.
Okay, that's just one letter from one listener. But maybe my letter wasn't the only complaint they got in the mail from other fellow angry viewers who felt betrayed by this colossal programming blunder.
I also went to the Women's March in L.A. (Biggest in the WORLD, 750K people, until the March for Our Lives in DC - at 800K people) in January 2017. Spotted Jacob Soboroff, the MSNBC correspondent, who was there with his crew to cover the March. Went up to him as he was reviewing a few notes - not on the air. Happy to meet him, I was a viewer, liked his work, could I get a selfie? He complied with a smile. Then I went in for the kill. Thanked him and prepared to rejoin the March, when I added - "and could you PLEASE tell your bosses to get rid of Greta Van Susteren? She doesn't belong on MSNBC and this is one viewer who really doesn't appreciate having a former Fox person shoved in my face."
Okay, that was just one encounter.
But BELIEVE ME, these things add up. Perhaps I wasn't the only person he'd heard that from.
I tell ya - that feedback COUNTS. It MATTERS. It MATTERS A TON!!!!
I told this story years ago on here, on the old DU, and I'm sure it's faded from memory by now, so I'll tell it AGAIN. It comes from my own experience as a broadcaster, back while I was still working. I SAW THIS over and over again, and in one case in particular, it directly affected MY job.
The ratings that governed radio, and I'm guessing still do (I've been retired for quite a while now), are/were the ARBs. Arbitron. Basically numbers of listeners, and which stations and dayparts and time slots got the most. I worked at an AM Top-40 station that had dominated the market in the 60s before FM took over, and in fact had been a key to launching the Top-40 format in America back in the day. Arbitron had more than just the ratings service. There was this other service they offered, called the ARB Talkback. That was a lot more than just a count of how many were listening to what, and when. The ARB Talkback involved listeners' comments. The ratings services had what were called "diaries" that were sent to random households for the recipients literally to fill out - what they were listening to, and when. I've never seen one, but evidently there was a portion of those diaries where you could add a comment. And those comments were compiled and issued in the ARB Talkback report that was sent to the subscribing radio stations.
This particular issue of the ARB Talkback included some fellow's comment "entertaining morning news with calimary" specifically mentioning me by name. Pretty amazing that my work on there actually stood out to somebody - even when the morning news updates were such a minimal part of the morning show, and the station wasn't about news anyway - it was about playing the hits. But there it was.
I remember when that diary came out because of the reaction around the building. It came in the mail and was passed around all over everywhere. When I left the newsroom after the morning block, to stroll up the hallway and take a break, there was a noticeable reaction from other staffers I saw. They stopped. Looked at me differently. Stepped aside and made way for me to pass. Wide eyed, some smiling. It was weird and different. I didn't understand why. Soon enough, somebody actually bothered to speak up - "hey, did you see the ARB Talkback?" "The what?" I was the "news chick" - we never saw the ratings or the radio trade magazines - they were always up in the programming office or the jock lounge. We in the news department were the runt of the litter. Those industry publications seldom made it back to the news department. I didn't even know there WAS an ARB Talkback. But everybody else in the building did, and had seen the positive mention of me in it. Somebody finally showed it to me. I was AMAZED! How'd I wind up in there? I was just the lowly news gal, not the marquee morning drive DJ with the big name and the big paycheck. But the star DJ wasn't the one who made the impression with some listener who gave a damn enough to write it down in the ARB diary.
There was a new program director in charge by then. People were getting fired left and right, which often happens when there's a change in PDs. Housecleaning dontchaknow. But my job was safe. Nobody touched me, or bothered me, or wanked me around, or cut me back, or told me I better watch it because my days might be numbered for whatever reason (like maybe the ratings were dropping). That single mention in the ARB Talkback - ONE mention - SAVED MY JOB for a year, during the same period when lots of other people in other departments including air staff were being let go. When I finally did leave there, I left because I'd been hired away by a bigger broadcast outfit, and not because I'd been canned.
ONE mention. ONE even wee bit of feedback. ONE small step (as they say now in political activism circles). Saved my job! It mattered. It made a difference. In that case, as in a lot of radio (which is why music format stations have request lines, btw), ONE item of feedback is considered to be representative of many multiples of others who did NOT weigh in, in some way, or whose votes weren't counted. They take note of how many calls come in requesting a certain song. Those who call in are considered to represent MANY others who didn't call in, didn't have time, didn't care that much, or didn't think it made any difference, but still shared the same opinion. Written letters carry a lot of weight because of the extra time and trouble they mean somebody went to - to write down a message on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope, address it and stamp it and mail it. Paul Begala once said 100 paper letters could change the course of a newsroom.
That feedback MATTERS! It makes a BIG difference! It carries a LOT of weight! You should NEVER hesitate to weigh in. It counts - BIGTIME! In the case of Greta Van Susteren, I have to assume that they got a LOT of negative feedback, LOTS of letters, calls, emails, and more, saying the same thing I did in my letter. And when you add that to her obviously lackluster ratings, you can be pretty sure somebody's laid a big egg. I also wonder if anybody else approached Jacob Soboroff in the field and gave him a thumbs-down on Greta Van Susteren, too. If he heard a few of those, I suspect he'd probably let somebody know back at the office. Or he'd tell his producer, and the producer would say something. "Hey, we're getting some pretty shitty reaction to Greta out there..." That kind of thing.
THAT FEEDBACK MATTERS! Don't think it falls on deaf ears. Even if it doesn't produce the results you want immediately - or at all. It adds up. That stuff adds up, and starts to count and carry more and more weight by the day. And if there's enough of it, the powers that be ignore it at their own peril.
Sorry this is so long. But it's important. It's important that you know. It's important that you know that your feedback really DOES matter.
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