Crazy news about Richmond.com
Apparently it has been purchased by Media General. This came to us as a tip from the email address “RichmondEditor@gmail.com” – so this could be true or completely made up. Anyone know anything about this?
Apparently it has been purchased by Media General.
This came to us as a tip from the email address “RichmondEditor@gmail.com” – so this could be true or completely made up.
Anyone know anything about this?
-
Recommend this
on Facebook -
Report an error
-
Subscribe to our
Weekly Digest
Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Spooooooky!!!
It is completely true, hopefully the content will get a little better now – probably not though since it’s MG…
True Indeed…
http://www.richmond.com/news-features/25765
im sitting in the meeting now – yes this is true!
Man, they knew they couldn’t compete with RVANews so they threw in the towel huh? That is quite the crazy merger in the Richmond mediasphere.
Makes sense to me. The domain name itself is worth it’s weight in gold…
I’m the one who sent that to you. Thought you might enjoy beating the so-called competition. It’s also here: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/business.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-31-0195.html
Richmond.com sounds like it would be the for the local paper, so it does make sense. Even if only for the domain… New site design I would hope… Let’s not get lazy and just move the current site from inRich.com MG…
They should give us the domain!
Gawd. Remember how RTD destroyed Brick?
Oh, we did indeed, Dave. Thanks.
I seriously just realized like last month that “inRich.com” was a pun on “enrich.” POSSIBLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE DIFFERENT VOWEL SOUNDS.
Or you know, you could have a little (just a smidge even) of compassion for the PEOPLE who worked there.
Pingback: je ne sais pas
I have neglected richmond.com for years but I started reading it again because of “Why, Richmond, Why?” a few months ago, and I really like its restaurant news, too. I’m upset about the purchase — not as much as any staff members, obviously. I wonder what the Media General vision is. Probably just keep the site the same but with pop-up ads.
As the terms of the deal haven’t been publicly disclosed yet, those of us not privy to the details don’t even know for sure if the people at Richmond.com have anything to worry about. Obviously we feel for anyone who might have lost his or her job over this deal.
People lost their jobs — someone in this town needs to dig a little deeper and get the facts. And find out what this transaction cost.
Ok folks, here’s what I learned from sources hidden deep in both of the enemy camps. This was not sudden. Media General has been shuffling and firing and making room for… who knew what until today. Ask anyone in the Interactive media dept at Mediocre General. Second, most everyone at Richmond.com was fired, given severance and a worthless subscription to the newspaper (okay, I made that last part up, but the insult stands). I have heard (this is not solid gold yet so we’ll see) that MG will poach the name, and take inrich.com offline. So as bad as some of the silly stuff was on Richmond.com, it can get worse Dorothy, and its about to. You will soon (I was told within one to two months) see this happen. And now, this is hush hush, but I was told that the three or four people who didn’t lose their jobs will be running around Richmond in MG tshirts with video cameras doing ridiculous things (like mash-ups or faux Brick stories that are really advertisements). There will not be content but advertorials. By god, don’t we deserve a good hometown paper, and some quality offshoots?
yah, people lost their jobs at richmond.com today. it really seems like this site gives a darn, you made fun of Richmond.com continuously. All yall want to know right now is how much and what happened. The entire f’n deal im sure was shady, two faced, and a lie to staffs at both companies.
And to throw in another strange angle, you might recall that Style Weekly created and launched Richmond.com in the late ’90s — before Media General had done much of anything online. Just as the dot-com bubble was about to burst, Style’s parent company, Landmark Communications, sold Richmond.com to Whitlock.
So, does this mean the RTD will transfer all of their fake blogs off of RVABlogs to Richmond.com? Can they take EITM too? (just dropping this in the suggestion box)
Richmond.com and InRich.com both stink on ice, so it’s a draw as far as I’m concerned. Now if we can just convince enough people to boycott them, Media General could be run out of town once and for all.
So, does this mean the RTD will transfer all of their fake blogs off of RVABlogs to Richmond.com? Can they take EITM too? (just dropping this in the suggestion box)
FUCK YEAH.
Ross — draw a line, 86 that shit.
Hey Jason…who bought Style?
With a few more reporters RVAnews could really give media general a run for its money. Go Rocky Balboa! Keep up the great work.
I posted this on Richmond.com too: MG bought Richmond.com for 2 reasons – domain name and the Richmond Association of Realtors contract. Two things they’ve been trying to get their hands on for years. I hear Inrich.com is going away, probably by the end of the year, it will become Richmond.com, but basically still the same crap with a better name.
Just look at MGs track record. They took Brick Weekly, a great concept that was full of potential, and turned it into an ad rag that’s now the laughing stock of the local media world. Read all about it – Team Brick gets their chests waxed (that’s no joke either, that was a front page story) and sells restaurant reviews to the highest bidder. So what will they do to Richmond.com? Take the name, the good contract money, and the same idiots who screwed up Brick and turned inrich into the piece of crap that it is today (what’s the stupid mashup crap, does anyone write anymore?) are going to take their brand of stupid and try to extend it to the “new” inrich called Richmond.com. And then they’ll probably fire the 6 people (according to RTD) they kept around to keep it up and running while they figured out the merger.
It’s a sad day for independent media. It’s up to style and rvanews to keep indie media and good content alive. Clearly with all the money, resources, and power that MG has they’ve never been able to figure out how to run a successful alternative weekly or website (and so they blame the product not the people), so it’s a great time for style and rvanews and a sad day for Richmond.com. Bye Richmond.com, you will be missed.
It is a hard time for any media print or otherwise. Again, the hardest trick is securing advertising. MG seem to do a pretty good job of that. Debate the merit of their publications all you want, but if advertisers are happy, that’s all that matters. Content is just there to fill up space between the ads.
And yes, I know that sucks but that is just how it is.
I heard Style Weekly has been sold as well though I have no idea who bought them. Hopefully, Jason (or anyone at Style) will fill us in with that information. I’ve heard people talk a whole lot of feces about them in the past which I never fully understand. I like Style. I hope whoever paid the cold hard cash for the publication does too.
Bopst —
Thanks, Chris! Style Weekly has not been sold. Earlier this year, the parent company (Norfolk-based Landmark, which is privately owned) announced it was considering a sale.
What you may be thinking of is this: Half of the company, the Weather Channel, was sold to NBC/Universal for several billion dollars earlier this year. The other half, the publishing half, is still owned by Landmark. Style is part of Targeted + Media, which is owned by Landmark.
J
Pingback: The804.com–Richmond VA Real Estate Blog » Richmond.com Requiem…What’s next for Richmond area media?
Jason-I hope it stays that way…
Pingback: On Richmond.com and my last week… « Lumpy’s Blog
This might be interesting to throw into the discussion.
Scarborough is the research firm that regularly and independently surveys the Richmond market (from which many of the local sales folks use numbers and demographics for their sales pitches and media comparisons). The company’s also reporting Web site traffic.
The Release 2 2007 survey lists the unique users to visit these sites in November 2007 (I’ll see if I can find more updated numbers):
Richmond T-D 199,044
Style Weekly 182,382
NBC 12 171,999
WTVR 79,409
Richmond.com 76,034
WRIC 70,202
According to Google Analytics, my lil’ gossip and photo site has a little more than 10% of the unique visitors of the three at the bottom of that list. I feel pretty good about that, given that I know that I get the best 9.75% or so (and a few assholes).
Pingback: Jon’s Blog » On Richmond.com and my last week…