How the heck did local races turn out?

From an email I sent to a friend on the day after the election, about 6 p.m.:

In the "old days" we could look at radio station site on day after election and learn results from the non-national races, for example city and school board. I just checked and I can't find anything anywhere. We shouldn't have to wait until next week's Morris paper. How we miss Marshall Hoffman. And Brett Miller for sports. The bottom has fallen out.

- BW

 

And, the response: 

The local election results were read on the radio news this AM, but surprised they weren’t posted on the website. Maybe the new guy, Terry, doesn’t have that in his job description. A puzzle.

 

Is it possible we're regressing some with online-based news in this community? I didn't think that would be possible. The Internet marches on to force adjustments in traditional media, or so I thought. 

 Our newspaper clings to the traditional media concept, perhaps while whistling past the graveyard. I had to check the newspaper website on day after election: just in case. There were no surprises. 

Does anyone besides me notice or care much about the lack of valuable material on the SCT site? It's commercial media so I suppose the decision-making there is based on their business interests. The radio station has lost people who were so good at providing valuable content online. The radio station has regressed in a big way. No opportunity there to stoke profit I guess. 

The newspaper with the current ownership regime has never pretended to be dynamic with its site. You might say it's a "teaser" site, a mere contact point for the paper with the public. 

I really truly wanted to know how some of the local contests turned out on the day after the election, certainly by the evening hours. I think in the past we could have counted on something there. And so there I sat, unable to find out through media how these things turned out. 

It is true as my friend pointed out that you could catch this info from actually listening to the radio. But of course you would have to know the exact time to tune in. As for listening to Morris radio for a prolonged time, I find it taxing to listen to a progression of "oldies" songs. I have a hard time surviving that. 

Radio is "audio content" and how much competition is there for our ears now? A whole endless ocean of "podcasts" and YouTube-based sites, of course. And it's not like our Morris radio station has some kind of monopoly for getting our attention. 

When I tune in to the radio it's with the Fargo-based stations. There's KFGO which gives the progressive or liberal-based perspective on things. Think Joel Heitkamp. The alternative is WDAY which is owned by Forum Communications which used to own the Morris paper. WDAY has more of the conservative bent. 

Despite my own general orientation, I enjoy WDAY quite often. Think Jay Thomas. I enjoyed Thomas and his call-in listeners recently when they shared skepticism on school referendums. This is very often a very healthy argument to listen to. In the Twin Cities, KSTP TV has the reputation for doing that. 

It's easy for naive folks to buy-in with the "vote yes" argument so often, not that there aren't times when this position is proper. In general I'm skeptical. I remember a KSTP guy giving this advisory once: "Before voting yes (to spend more money) make sure the school did everything it said it was going to do the last time." 

The Morris paper when it was under Forum ownership was pretty fair with its website. We might have knocked it some because its sports coverage came from the Willmar paper, also Forum-owned. I guess this was an example of the "synergy" that the Forum owner talked about when they came here. 

Of course we should have been thankful that the Morris teams were even in the Willmar paper's coverage territory! I guess we took it for granted. Wouldn't Schweiter Chevrolet want to get some eyeballs from here? We were later yanked from the WC Trib's territory. That remains the status now. 

It's hard to enforce any policy with 100 percent consistency. I noticed this past fall some Morris tennis info with individuals' names, so that was nice. 

So the Morris paper during the Forum's ownership had a website that connected to non-local Forum entities a lot. And it might have been easy to criticize that? Yes, can't we have our own writing? Well I guess yes. But what do we have now? Really nothing from the SCT site. And that is because the owners are trying so hard to sell every last copy of the "dead tree" edition. 

Norman Rockwell times

Hearken back to Norman Rockwell times. "You'll have to buy the paper." 

In these inflationary times I'm sure more families are trying to cut expenses out of their lives. With the Internet being such a mainstay now, can't we have a whole new info ecosystem on our screens right in front of us? I thought it would happen by now. 

 

Well, look at that

I looked at the current "dead tree" edition at the Morris library last night. I did a double-take when I spotted a photo because I could remember taking it! "The old is new again" I guess. There was B.W.'s photo of the fireman silhouetted against a fire out at the "Crocus" grove east of town. I remember the night well for being so long ago. 

I thought it could be an award-winning type of photo, frankly. "Advertisements for myself" (Norman Mailer). 

We all had easy access to the "macro" political/election picture a couple days ago, of course. So the Republicans have completely taken over. They have no excuses now. So they'd better get the "wall" built along the southern border, completely, post haste, eh? 

Really truly I wish the Republicans well because none of us should root for failure. In Florida the voters decided they really did want abortion restrictions. I find that strange. Women are literally dying because of abortion restrictions. 

People say inflation is a huge issue, were very upset with Biden and the Democrats on this. Well isn't this puzzling: the public is now looking to the Republican Party for help on inflation, with a Republican president who pledges to invoke tariffs and to push for lowest-possible interest rates, even "negative" rates. Trump has said he wants "influence" with the Federal Reserve and he seemingly always gets his way. Let's see: a raft of tariffs and artificially low interest rates. This is consistent with slowing inflation? Well good luck.

Addendum: Maybe I can synthesize quite succinctly how America developed this "malaise" where we seem so frustrated that we'd elect the likes of Trump. So here it is: Remember back when those "free trade" agreements were passed? Actually the captains of industry liked those. But here's the problem. These pacts had the effect of bringing America down to the level of the rest of the world. We can't go back to the old ways as if my magic. And if we can't? Is America doomed? Maybe.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com