Comments on: Seattle Surprise

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:24:28 +0000

re. TV audience: Sometimes the forecasts seem a bit like wishful thinking rather than
actual market research. And quite a lot of issues important for the consumers are
simply not acknowledged at all.
There is a pretty often watched YoyTube, a flashback to financial news on TV in 06 / 07
in which a bunch of pundits are making incredibly wrong forecasts and also give
such investment advise. And some consumers are consequent in the hindsight of past
experiences and results and are cancelling for instance investment oriented media
they think are useless. Not everybody is interested in losing money time and again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

By: Tarus Balog

Tarus Balog — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:22:31 +0000

I was a Cook’s Illustrated subscriber for over five years and I’m still a current Cook’s Country subscriber, but I probably will not renew. It has nothing to do with the content, which is top-notch, but more the insanely aggressive marketing people behind the magazines. For example, this month I have received two notices via postal mail and numerous e-mails that my subscription has expired and I must renew, despite it being paid up through January 2010. I dropped Cook’s Illustrated because I got tired of calls in the evening and on weekends trying to push other “Cook’s” products, despite asking to be taken of their list.

Your article also states that there are no exotic recipes in Cook’s Illustrated. This isn’t exactly true, as you will often find one or two ethnic dishes in each issue. Think about it – you can only write about making perfect pancakes once or twice, and over the years a lot of the common recipes have been done.

Finally, Kimball tries to cultivate this “down home” frugal farmer persona, but that doesn’t apply to his subscribers. Their “year end” volumes are simply left over magazines bound together with an index. Great for the publisher – not a deal for the subscriber.

While I’ve enjoyed being a subscriber, I won’t renew. There are better resources online for this information now, and while Cook’s works due to the somewhat shady tactics of its sales and marketing department, I think it, too, will move to subscription-based online content in the near future.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:18:42 +0000

The Seattle Times is also now a government subsidized newspaper. The State Legislature approved a 60% cut in business taxes for “printed” newspapers in the state, extending all the way out to 2014 in order to prop up the dinosaur business models. The Seattle Times is now a taxpayer subsidized “news” paper. Consequently, the Times recently endorsed candidates for August primary elections and endorsed all those that had voted in favor of taxpayers funding the newspaper industry.

The Seattle Times has become Washington’s very own state subsidized Pravda.

While I do not live in Seattle, the only possible response for me was to cancel my subscription to my own local paper in a city elsewhere in the State.

By: F

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:38:40 +0000

Doesn’t the America’s Test Kitchen show count as some free content? We see that on our public television station and they go through several recipes and tests….