August 16, 2010

A Congenial Disentanglement

I am separating from Northern Broadcast which owns Marigold and until last Friday, aired Mary in the Morning. Last week I sat down with the powers that be, looked at the options and we agreed to a congenial disentanglement. I believe it was as tough of a conversation for both sides. I honestly have no bad feelings toward the makers of this decision, it makes sense from a strictly business perspective.

Northern Broadcast’s management reviewed revenue and expense budgets – and although the quality of our programming was excellent, they needed to allocate their resources to more profitable cost centers.

I do feel just terrible for the rest of the team who are now looking for jobs. They are all awesome women who will make great additions to any organization. I will tell you in a moment how to stay in touch with them.

But what about you? In speaking with many of you over the weekend I heard sadness, shock, and some anger. I understand. Marigold and Mary in the Morning are very personal brands. They were designed to be that way. They were sincerely designed to make you feel like a part of something, to give you a warm and positive feeling about your community, your world and yourself. I think we accomplished that very well because it came from our hearts and not just a marketing plan. Karyn Hertel did a wonderful job as Director of Marigold because she believed in and embodied the Marigold spirit.

When Proctor & Gamble sold Spic n' Span, consumers went nuts when the pine scent was discontinued. There are blogs and websites populated by crushed consumers pining for their...pine! Men & women relied on their Spic n' Span  not only to clean their homes, but they connected the unique pine scent with a job well done cleaning their house. The truth is, not enough people bought the pine scent. You can still find the product through eBay where savvy folks have stockpiled the stuff and sell it at huge profit margins.

Unfortunately, we can't sell you what we made in a box. It was the community that we brought together that made it what it was. Both Mary in the Morning and Marigold could resurface in the future in other forms. But when they operated side-by-side, it created a certain magic for us all: staff, sponsors, show guests, event speakers, attendees, advertisers, publicists, even our vendors loved being a part of what we were doing.

Please subscribe to this blog, there is link on the right-hand side of this page. Here, I will continue to post my blog, also you can keep track of our happenings and stay in touch. I will also continue my Mary in the Morning Facebook page which I hope you will "like".

Please keep our community together by sharing your comments here on the blog.

You can reach our team members as follows:
Karyn Hertel - karyn.hertel@yahoo.com
Erin Cheney - erinecheney@gmail.com
Heather Daniels - heather@1067youfm.com
Carol Vernam - vernams@charter.net

Thank you for everything,
Mary Rogers

6 comments:

  1. I loved listening to you and Heather in the morning! You will be missed!

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  2. I hope you find another venue, Mary. It feels like another independent bookseller going under. But I have faith that you will rise again! You've handled this very graciously.

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  3. You were the last reason left for listening to YouFM - I hated the talk show move. Best of luck I will miss you and Heather in the morning.

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  4. Okay then. On to the next step. Bigger and better things are in store for you! You will be missed. But I bet it won't be long before you have something else up your sleeve. Good luck, Mary!

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  5. Mary, you and your team were more than talk. You were action and connection that wil be missed. Candice Wallace

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  6. Missed you last night. Hope to "hear" you soon.

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