smays.com

School's out forever.

Bill Gates to the nation's governors at the National Education Summit on High Schools: "America's high schools are obsolete." Some data points from Gates' keynote: The US has one of the highest high school dropout rates in the industrialized world. Only 68 out of every 100 ninth-graders graduate from high school on time, and most need extensive remediation after that. Only 28 of the original ninth-graders make it to their sophomore year in college. "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow," said the Microsoft chairman, who is hiring about half of his new talent overseas.

Recent Reads.

State of Fear, by Michael Crichton; John Grisham's The Broker; and what just might be the best mystery I've read in the last few years, All the Flowers Are Dying by Lawrence. Best villian since Hannibal Lector.

A rose by any other name.

Our company has registered a lot of domains since we first drank from the Big Web Pond, but two of my favorites are Legislature.com and SchoolViolenceHotline.com. And we registered these very late in the domain game. It is still amazing to me that they were still available. We've since transferred SchoolViolenceHotline.com to the client we aquired it for... but still have Legislature.com.

We jumped in early enough that we were able to register (not purchase) the names of most of our networks (RadioIowa, Missourinet, WRN, Learfield). On the other hand, I was reminded this week that 16 members of the National Association of State Radio Networks have NO public, online presence. Maybe they have good domains registered but if not, what are the chances of getting anything CLOSE to the name of your network.

Confession.

I've been pissing on TV reality shows to anybody that would listen. And as I think back on it, I don't remember anybody listening. But I have a confession and it's not easy. I'm hooked on American Idol. I've never watched the show until this season and --for some reason-- I watched one of the early try-out shows. And I've watched every one since. I know it's all horse shit, just as my grandmother knew (at some level) that professional wrestling had to be horse shit. And this week they voted off the first batch. These poor kids were crying and shit and the host of the show made them sing one last song, AFTER they'd been kicked off! Brutal. I couldn't look away.

A business of podcasting.

Evan Williams (the guy who founded Blogger) and Noah Glass (the guy you hear on NPR that does the really good radio) have started a new company called Odeo (sounds like rodeo) that is "aimed at making a business of podcasting." From the NYT story:

"While still too much in its infancy to be considered an immediate threat to the radio industry, podcasting does present the prospect of a growing army of iPod-toting commuters who take programming decisions out of the hands of broadcasters and customize their own listening."

"Odeo's founders say they believe that, as with other old and new media, conventional radio and podcasting can coexist in the long term. If, through podcasting, conventional radio programs are increasingly stored and played back on the listener's schedule, rather than the broadcaster's, then the trend could have the same time-shifting impact that TiVo-style video recorders have had on the viewing habits of television audiences."

"But Mr. Williams said that the real promise of podcasting might lie not in what it means for conventional radio but in the new forms of expression the medium will permit. "We're going to let people do what they do," he said, "and we'll see what they do and hope they do it a lot."

Rex Hammock, on the other hands, says "Podcasting does not want to have a 'central place'."

Correction: IRA Glass is the genius behind This American Life and other great radio. I'm not sure who Noah Glass is.

Why are you chasing me? Why are you running?

Our office in Des Moines saw some excitement yesterday. We have two traffic reporters who spend much of their long split-shift day listening to law enforcement officers on the police scanners, picking up information about wrecks and delays and passing details along to our local radio listeners.

Yesterday afternoon, JC Walker and Russ Johnson perked up when their scanners broadcast the voice of a huffing, puffing Des Moines police officer who was chasing (and losing) a suspect on foot  just a few blocks from our building. A block from our building. Outside our building. Then, the wheezing officer said  the man ran inside 2700 Grand, thats us! JC could no longer sit by, dashed to the lobby, easily spotted the suspect (based on the police description) who was stalking around the lobby like a caged animal and breathing hard himself. JC tried to converse with the man, who, in no mood for chat, darted back outside and took off running again. JC, seeing the cop still far off in the distance, thought quickly and decided to pursue the man himself, ran across a busy Grand Avenue, dodging cars, and tackled the guy in the grass!

JC kept the suspect face-down and subdued until the panting police officer jogged up and handcuffed the guy, who had already tried to surrender to JC. Another officer soon pulled up in a squad car and took the suspect away. We still dont know why the man was being chased. JC, meanwhile, came back inside and calmly did his next traffic report. [Thanks to Matt Kelley]

Demo in the conference room at 2:00 p.m.

Rex Hammock explains why podcasting is the new hot thing: "The reason you've heard of podcasting is because no one first "demo'd" it at a conference and no corporate marketers were involved. But, when something is going to be big. Really big. You rarely see it demo'd. Usually, when something is big, it's, well, boring and obvious...and, at first, not cool."

Jon Stewart on blogging.

As is often the case with The Daily Show, there's really not much more to be said. [Quicktime video]

Gulp.

From Radio Advertising Bureau's annual perceptual study (funded by Arbitron): "Compared to other media, spot radio ranked No. 8 and network radio ranked No. 10 in schedule integrity behind magazines, newspapers, network TV, spot TV, outdoor, syndicated TV, cable TV and Internet. Agencies and advertisers also had less confidence in the accuracy and timeliness of radio affidavits to prove ads ran as ordered than in the affidavits from network TV, spot TV and newspapers." [Mediaweek story]

The Rock

If you'd told me I might enjoy a a movie staring The Rock (Dwayne Douglas Johnson), I'd have said, prolly not. But we stopped for a few minutes on The Rundown (now playing on HBO) and couldn't stop watching. The guy's a pretty good actor. And this was a clever movie, directed by Peter Berg (Collateral). And The Rock seems hot with five movies in the pipe and Be Cool opening soon.

Where am I? What happened?

It might just be the delerium of a high temp but I've been thinking of this blog as a goldfish that's not getting fed and whose water desperately needs changing. Been a while since I went this long without regular posts. But this shit just takes it out of you. Winded walking up a flight a stairs. Okay, okay... I can see where this would be bad for an elderly person or a child, so maybe they need the flu shot more than I. Maybe. But I'm back at my little keyboard with a hot cup of joe and it feels great.

Freedom Envy.

Peggy Noonan (WSJ.com) wonders if mainstream media suffers from "freedom envy" where bloggers are concerned:

Bloggers have an institutional advantage in terms of technology and form. They can post immediately. The items they post can be as long or short as they judge to be necessary. Breaking news can be one sentence long: "Malkin gets Barney Frank earwitness report." In newspapers you have to go to the editor, explain to him why the paper should have another piece on the Eason Jordan affair, spend a day reporting it, only to find that all that's new today is that reporter Michelle Malkin got an interview with Barney Frank. That's not enough to merit 10 inches of newspaper space, so the Times doesn't carry what the blogosphere had 24 hours ago.

This is a really good piece on blogging that --once upon a time-- I might have forwarded to the reporters working in our newsrooms. I've stopped doing that. With one or two execeptions, our reporters are clueless and/or threatened by the whole notion of blogging. Don't get it. Don't want to get it.

Every Man for Himself.

This is my official warning to seniors, mothers with small children, the lame and infirm of any description. If there is a flu vaccine shortage next year, you're gonna have to wrestle me for the last vial. This year Barb persuaded me we should not get the shots --assuming we could-- so there would be "more for those who need it most." Easy call when you're feeling great. Well, we both got the flu and it has been a nasty, miserable three days (assuming the worst is over). So I won't be holding the door for you down at the clinic, granny. Tell the OATS bus driver to floor it.

Talking to myself

We're trying a little experiment today. This audio post is an mp3 file (just under 5 meg) that runs about 14 minutes. If you have a portable mp3 player, I encourage you to save the file there and listen to it somewhere other than sitting in front of your computer. Of course, you can do whatever the hell you want and I'll never know. The audio makes reference to three websites: KBOA, The Early Years; Sons of the Western Bootheel and Terry's Top 10.

February 3, 2002.

My first post was a lengthy quote from a Carl Hiaasen novel (Basket Case). Three years --and more than 1,000 posts-- later, and I'm damned if I can think of anything profound to mark the occasion. So let's call this the 'end' of year three and tomorrow the first day of the rest of my blog.

What does it mean when TV does radio?

Friend John reports that Cape Girardeau (MO) TV station KFVS is now podcasting their local/regional news:

Heartland News is excited to be the first news organization in the country to offer an exciting technology called Podcasting. KFVS12.com will be providing audio versions of Heartland News at Noon and Heartland News at 5 p.m.

Why are they doing this? Probably for the same reason fido licks himself. Because he can. Is something happening Out There?

Podwhat?

I'll quit posting on podcasting when I stop running into radio people that have never heard the term.

NPR's Robert Smith reports on the rise of "podcasts" -- amateur music and talk shows created by the users of Apple's popular iPod personal music devices and other digital music players. Whole "shows" of music and talk can be downloaded from the Internet to individual players automatically, and some of the show hosts have become celebrities among the burgeoning podcast audience. Related stories from NPR:Personal Radio Via Podcasting Grows More Popular; Slate's Gizmos: The Future of Radio; Does the iPod Play Favorites?; TiVo, iPod, the Human Ego and the Future. [By way of RAIN]

The wireless Super Bowl.

I'm not a football fan but I do love gadgets. From an article at BostonHerald.com: "On the consumer side, the league sees big revenue potential in wireless. The league is moving content from its NFL Network cable channel and Sirius Satellite network to the Internet to bring more dimensions to stories. It's the first year the Super Bowl is on satellite radio, and the league plans to make audio of the radio calls for the Pats and Eagles available for fans to download to their MP3 players for $10. And when someone calls their wireless phone, Eagles fans can hear defensive end Jevon Kearse tell them "This is Jevon Kearse. It's time for you to pick up the phone." [via RAIN]