ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH - Saturday, January 31, 2009 4:08:29 PM

Great old joke:

A bachelor who lived at home with his mother and pet cat went on a trip. Before he left he told his best friend to inform him of any emergencies. A few days later, his cat climbed up on the roof, fell off and was killed. His friend wired him with the message: "Your cat is dead!"

He flew back home in grief and anger. He told his friend, "Why didn't you break the news to me gradually?  You could have sent a message 'Your cat climbed up on the roof today',  the next day you could've written, 'Your cat fell off the roof.' Then the next day, 'He is not doing very well,' and finally, 'I'm afraid your cat has passed away,' and let me down slowly that he died. Your bluntness showed a lack of consideration and compassion."

After a memorial service, the bachelor left again to continue his trip. A few days later at the hotel he found a message waiting for him from his friend.

He read, "Your mother climbed up on the roof today."

At this point I would say Media General has climbed up on the roof.

I am attempting to avoid the “death toll” manner that I reported the first round of cuts in Savannah-connected media companies.

Let’s just say Media General stations in Charleston, Columbus, Mobile and Providence have a more spacious feel in their corridors and their station in Jacksonville is picking out brand new stationary to reflect a new owner.

Again, I cannot believe that these “changes” at the other MG stations aren’t also happening at Savannah’s WSAV. Of course we would need actual local journalists to report such things to know for sure and we all know that’s not going to happen.

We do know Savannah Media General employees lost their 401k match and any dividends they might get on any MG stock they might own.

As Forbes put it:

“The company said its decision to suspend dividends on its Class A and Class B shares will help direct cash to reducing debt. The company has already laid off hundreds of workers, suspended profit-sharing and executive bonuses, and plans to halt contributions to workers' 401(k) accounts.”

Add to all this that Media General stock is looking like the Great Smokey Mountains.

I’m not one to accuse someone of manipulating the markets but this pattern looks awfully suspicious. I mean the price spikes way up near the close and opens in the toilet again the next day?

Anyway MG is trading below $2 again so no help is coming from investors and yeah I would say they are on the roof.

Meanwhile from WTOC parent Raycom the only recent action I could find was that their Charlotte station gave up some real estate and stopped using their helicopter so things don’t seem to be as dire there.