Media Watch

The Shrinking 'Foothills'

Let's see. At the instigation of a Gannett subsidiary, a uniformed government court has stuffed Guy Atchley, El Charro chef-owner Carlotta Flores and University of Arizona football coach Mike Stoops in my mailbox.

Yep, Gannett's posh pub, The Foothills, has arrived again.

Please, God, Superman, John McCain--somebody, anybody. Just make it stop.

It sat on our coffee table unread for a couple of days, in part because the smarmy "To Our Friends at" line on the mailing label was just too much to take. Get real, RBC Publications. All you like us for is our demographics, so that you can tell potential advertisers that because you sent it to us, we are your "readers."

Three months is a little too early to say if The Foothills will make it. But its ad count is down, and it's losing weight. When that happens to infants, pediatricians call it "failure to thrive."

Content-wise, this magazine is grinding its gears. A full-page deer-in-the-headlights mug of the subject, a half-page artsy headline and a half-page of text does not a profile make.

How is it that the feds can create a national "Do Not Call" directory to save our homes from telemarketers, but can't come up with a way for us opt out of pseudomagazines such as this? Wouldn't it be grand if we could say "You Betcha" to the Desert Leaf and "No Way In Hell" to The Foothills and its ilk?


BRINGING THE GOODS HOME

Kudos to the local winners in the recent Rocky Mountain Emmys.

Tom Kleespie and Dan Duncan at KUAT won in the Program Element--Cultural category for a segment of Desert Adventures: On the Road with David Yetman. KVOA won the Extended Coverage Emmy for "Illegal Immigration and the Terrorist Threat on the Border." KGUN's Dave Hecht and Geoffrey Levine topped the soft Same-Day Feature category with "Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day." KOLD's Dan Marries and Brad Boe won the Cultural Documentary--Issues award for "Back Behind the Bamboo Curtain."


DIALING FOR DEO

We came home one day recently to find an unusual message on the voice mail--a telemarketing call singing the praises of the K-LOVE network in Tucson.

O, ye of little faith. When the Almighty's on your side, why hire telemarketers?


JUST KEEP READIN'

The 2006 edition of the FinderBinder Media Directory will be available Oct.1. Rita Sanders Public Relations and Advertising Agency in Tempe has published the book since 1979. The new book lists 608 newspapers, radio and television stations, and cable operators, as well as numbers/names to call at news wire services in Arizona.

Owner Rita Sanders says the new book reflects a net gain of 38 media outlets over last year's book. Most of that growth came from new print publications.

The Internet is mighty, but it probably won't prevail anytime soon.