Unpleasant, unfailingly credulous audio woo cheerleader/website moderator Mike Lavorgna let go from Stereophile? Oh dear. (Where's the crocodile tears emoji when I need one?)
April 9, 2018 - 4:27am
Re: What is happening at Stereophile?
Following the acquisition, Stereophile's new owners took a long, hard look at the value each full-time employee brought to our ventures. As result, Stereophile music editor Robert Baird and AudioStream editor Michael Lavorgna were let go. In addition, they decided that at least for a while, our editorial coordinator and talented videographer Jana Dagdagan would stay but as a contractor rather than a full-time employee.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
https://www.stereophile.com/content/what-happening-stereophile
Who are the new owners?
Click the link
Where will we get updates about Lavorgna's audiophile barn?
Where will we get updates about Lavorgna's audiophile barn?
Or wonders like this "ethernet filter (https://www.audiostream.com/content/djm-electronics-gigafoilv4-%E2%80%93-inline-ethernet-filter)"??
Where will we get updates about Lavorgna's audiophile barn?
It turns out that the audiophile barn is also a real place:
https://positive-feedback.com/interviews/interview-the-editors-series-michael-lavorgna/
Whilst it is nice to see the back of some people, and slam the door as they leave...
"Let go" is just a euphemism used by management to avoid the sad truth that they are removing the livelihood of a real person. Thus, sacking someone is turned into something that sounds actually attractive. Dear little bird: I am going to have to let you go.
OK, I accept that hiring and firing is a necessary part of management, but let the firing not be sugar-iced. It is what it is: let us not humour those people by using their self-protective jargon.
For those who manage to hang onto their jobs, perhaps Sterephile's new home will prove to be a comfier fit.
Previous owners:
http://www.enthusiastnetwork.com/ (http://www.enthusiastnetwork.com/)
TEN have conveniently provided basic demographics for each publication: All skew heavily male, but consumer electronics had the oldest readers by far, maybe not in tune with the edgy vibe that TEN wanted?
New owners:
http://www.mytimemedia.co.uk/brands/ (http://www.mytimemedia.co.uk/brands/)
If I had to guess, I'd say they're all about more mature readers, and are drawing in a lot more women too.
While I don't have much sympathy for the belief-based audiofoolery writers who have to peddle their fantasies somewhere else (there's always money in writing fiction, right?) I do agree that takeovers and downsizing are the bane of modern businesses.
When I worked at AT&T, they "transferred" 10,000 people to a contractor in order to "streamline" their business model. Translation: having bought out two other large telecom businesses, they had too many people and too many bills to pay, so they got rid of as many as the contractor could handle and the unlucky workers (mostly analysts who maintained the phone company network systems) found themselves now doing low level support work and herding offshore programmers who had no clue of the complexity of the systems they were managing. I didn't get cut, but I had to work with some who did, and it was a disaster for both of us.
The vast majority of them ended up leaving their jobs within the next couple of years; a clear win-win for both AT&T and its contractor (Oh, the contractor? IBM. Once a stellar name in computer systems, now a second-rate provider of third-rate contract labor). You can thank these two companies for the entire knowledge base of AT&T / Bell Labs now residing in the hands of two European companies, Alcatel and Ericsson, and tens of thousands of knowledgeable people now unemployed or working for competitors.
Where will we get updates about Lavorgna's audiophile barn?
Or wonders like this "ethernet filter (https://www.audiostream.com/content/djm-electronics-gigafoilv4-%E2%80%93-inline-ethernet-filter)"??
What a wonderful product! I also really like this sentence in the article:
Let's face it—no one wants their music to sound digital.
That, and keep the foot-tappityness.
Where will we get updates about Lavorgna's audiophile barn?
Or wonders like this "ethernet filter (https://www.audiostream.com/content/djm-electronics-gigafoilv4-%E2%80%93-inline-ethernet-filter)"??
What a wonderful product! I also really like this sentence in the article:
Let's face it—no one wants their music to sound digital.
That, and keep the foot-tappityness.
IMO, these people should be treated according to what they are: scammers who prey on the technologically illiterate.
IMO, these people should be treated according to what they are: scammers who prey on the technologically illiterate.
In Lavorgnas case, like most others, there is nothing to indicate that he is a scammer per se, but rather a fellow technically illiterate believer, just like his flock. In any case, he's gone, replaced by a much younger (and prettier!) Jana.
Whether she will feature/question the believer nonsense widgets or just the par for course bling, remains to be seen.
I don't have much hope though, why would anyone spend money buying, of all magazines, Stereophile to get it more in line with reality? Are there any audio publications making $$$ by catering to the rational and not advertising and promoting expensive nonsense? Seems they're just trimming the fat and hiring less "experienced" or less known people possibly cause they can get away with paying them less and the effect is almost as good as long as you can write the right kind of nonsense.
Changing of the guard, is happening. Though the new boss seems much the same as the old boss.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/stereophile-next-generation
They traded an EE for a Physicist.
As long as the measurements continue....
Like this guy?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer