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Marion raises a brow at me. “Not to be rude, but we all know Grimco isn’t in a position to be throwing money around right now.”
I smile at her. “We are definitely in a position to invest in our own news network. And we’re working on consolidating and getting the profit margins back up. You don’t have to worry about us.”
“If we go ahead with it, will this be an Atlanta production?” Carter asks. “They won’t like losing nine o’clock.”
I sigh. “They won’t, but if we go ahead I want it here.”
Marion’s brows shoot up. “You want us to do seven, eight,andnine?”
“You guys get to bed way too early,” I tease, earning me an eye roll. “Look, if it’s too much, we can moveBCN Tonightto another studio—it can be aired just as easily out of DC or Atlanta as it is here. It’d be a case of figuring out what works best for Annie and David and their team.”BCN Tonightis currently in the seven o’clock slot and generally considered the nightly kick-off for prime time news. The co-anchors, Annie Watts and David Dirdash have been working together for about fifteen years, even before they came to BCN, and they have a great partnership. That’s probably another reason why a co-anchor on Pax’s show wouldn’t be the best idea—you can’t recreate that kind of partnership by force.
“Well, you’ve definitely given us something to think about,” Carter says, leaning back in his chair and sharing a glance with Marion. “I know you hate change, but—”
“I don’thatechange. I’m just a believer in the phrase if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” She sighs. “But I guess things are a little broke at the moment, aren’t they? I’m not all over every number and percentage and advertising dollar like you three are but I can read well enough to know audiences are down. Maybe they’re done with TV news altogether. Or maybe changing things up a little might help. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
I offer a soft smile and then turn back to RJ. “Wasn’t there something else you wanted to work on?”
He quirks a questioning brow at me. I’m sure he’s noticed the difference in my levels of enthusiasm throughout the meeting, even if Marion and Carter haven’t clocked it.
“Hard-hitting interviews,” I prompt. “You mentioned we weren’t doing enough of them.”
He frowns in thought. “I mentioned a lot of the anchors seem to be pulling their punches a bit.” He’d only mentioned Pax, but I’m not going to point that out. Hehadspecified that was only an example.
Marion hits me with an accusatory look and I hold my hands up. “I know, I know. It’s not as easy as it sounds when we’re not giving you much slack.”
“Or any,” Marion grumbles, glancing away.
“It’s a balancing act,” I reason, hating how weak that sounds. It’s pandering, pure and simple. “But I think there could be a way to add a bit more…depthwithout becoming attack dogs. Perhaps some more investigative specials, and feature interviews.”
“You want this new ten o’clock show to be60 Minutes?”Marion asks, brows raised.
I let out a soft breath of laughter. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant, but I guess it’s somewhere to start.”
We finally wrap up the meeting and agree to touch base in a few weeks to discuss everything in further detail and decide if this is a viable option for the network. And for Grimco Media. I’m sure the few million it will take to get a new program off the ground can be spared, but I also know that when RJ proposed some changes to BCN, he was anticipating making money, not spending it.
“Are you okay?” RJ asks me when we return to my office after the meeting.
I offer an expression of pure innocence. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He quirks a brow at me and I know I was right in guessing he would have noticed my strange behavior. “Well, you were completely out of it for the first half of the meeting, then completely in charge for the rest of it.”
“I’m sorry for stepping on your toes…”
He waves a dismissive hand. “I don’t care about that. It’s a good idea. Bit of a gamble, but it’ll definitely shake things up.”
I nod. “BCN’s given us a solid return for two decades, and it’s been a while since we invested a significant amount back into the network. We’ve been relying on advertisers far too much.” At RJ’s skeptical look, I add, “I’m not saying we should roll back advertising—I don’t think that’s even possible at this point—but I think we could be doing more to support the network. This will be a good start.”
“As long as we don’t stretch ourselves too thin…”
“There are always up and down times in any business, RJ. The bigger the business, the better and worse those times seem. We’ll be fine.”
He sighs a gives a little shrug, no doubt deciding to leave this discussion for another time. “I haven’t forgotten, you know,” he says as he heads out of my office door.
“Forgotten what?” I ask, playing dumb.
RJ smirks at me. “About you daydreaming during the meeting. Or about you changing the topic when I asked about it.”
“Don’t you have work to do?”
