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In this week's Living Healthy Podcast, Henry talks about the annual check-up. Only it doesn't need to be annual for everyone. Who needs a physical? How often? What should it include? He only used the word "rectal" one time and I'm very proud of him for that. Next week: Depression. Sometimes is more than just "a case of the Monday's."
I have three "pet projects" (for lack of a better description) at work. They make a little money but not much. One could make a good argument that these are things we shouldn't be messing with. But I am quite proud of them and today seems like a good time to bench-mark them.
Legislature.com (how lucky were we to get that domain?) has to be one of the more expensive subscription services on the net. We charge $750 a year for a live stream of debate audio from the Missouri House and Senate. All the more amazing since those two bodies offer a live stream for free. In addition to the live stream, we archive each day's debate. We've got it all going back to 2002. Don't ask me "who cares?" because I don't know. It's a little bit of history and it seemed dumb to discard it.
Supreme Court of Missouri Oral Arguments. Very dry stuff. We stream audio of the oral arguments before the court, and then we archive it. 637 cases, dating back to December 14, 1999. The service has been free until just recently, when we started charging an annual subscription of $99.
So we have the audio of the state legilature making the laws...and the audio of the state supreme court interpreting many of those laws. While I don't care that much about the process, saving this audio record just seem very cool to me.
Last, but not least... Missouri State Highway Patrol Crash Reports. These are the initial reports filled out by the state troopers and radioed back to the dispatcher. He or she then enters the information into a computer and it gets distributed to various points around the state. Several years ago, Phil did a little hack that put the reports on a website which, today, easily generates 800,000 Page Views a month. There's a free, "public" version of the site...and a "premium" subscription service which includes a searchable database of reports going back to the beginning of 2004. Two years of crash reports. God (and maybe Andy and Phil) know how many files that might be. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands? A shit load.
A good businessman would tell you these projects are "distractions" that "dilute" our efforts from our "core businesses." Which, for the most part, is selling 30 and 60 second commercials on radio networks. I think it's a credit to our company that they let me (and others) explore these murky, digital waters. But I wonder... if I went to that Big Blogging Convention in the sky tomorrow, would anyone keep these projects going?
Could it be that our purpose is to tell a story, and that the better lived a life is, the better the story that survives after you're gone?
An intriguing question posed by Dave Winer (a couple of years ago). If I read the post correctly, he's wondering if there is really more to us than the stories we tell. For those of us that attempt to share our hopes and fears, successes and failures (in journals like this one)...is there really more to us than our blogs? Reminds me of a great T-Shirt David (Brazeal) found on someone's blog: Enough about me. Let's talk about my blog.
I've had my last Broccoli-Chicken. My last Chinese Ice Tea. Bamboo House is will be no more after tomorrow. Located in the local mall food-court, Bamboo House was manned by hard-working, efficient, nice people. Egg Roll or Crab Rangoon? Crab Rangoon, please.
Clyde (the president/CEO of our company) popped in this morning with a page torn from the December 26, 2005 issue of Forbes. It was an article ("My Life As a Blogger") by Rich Karlgaard, the publisher. Our CEO is not a blogger (yet) but he likes reading them and commenting.
Forbes did a cover story a couple of months ago, titled: "Attck of the Blogs" that was pretty much full of shit. So I was surprised at how clued-in Mr. Karlgaard is. He's been blogging for a couple of months and concludes (full post):
Bonus link: Interesting post by Doc Searls on corporate blogging, branding, etc.
Between XM, Tivo, HBO, the nano, and the web...I don't see or hear that many 30-second commercials anymore. So I don't know why it should be difficult for me to imagine Life After the 30-Second Spot, the title and premise of Joseph Jaffe's latest book. But it is. Maybe it's because our company sells a LOT of 30-second spots.
The forward, written by Don E. Schultz, Professor Emeritus-in-Service at Northwestern University, sets the tone of the book:
Media advertising, as we have known, practiced, and worshipped it for the past 60 or so years, is in trouble. Big trouble. And it's not going to get well. Ever.
I'm about half-way through the book and highlighting something on every other page. Jaffe might be full of shit, but just in case he's only half-full, anyone remotely connected to advertising supported media should read this book. Jaffe is also a blogger.
This genealogy website compares the facial characteristics of an uploaded photo to those of celebrity photos in their database. My best match (61%) was Jean Chretien, the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. I look less like Paul Newman (44%) and bear a similar resemblance to Barbara Streisand and George W. Bush (42%). Thanks to Jeff who is the spitting image of Jack Ruby, Steven Spielberg and Christina Aguilera.
Scott Adams insists we must look at the the actions of our Founding Fathers in order to understand their ideals:
1. Slavery – excellent source of poontang
2. Women voting? That’s crazy talk!
3. People who don’t own land suck
4. A good way to change tax policy is through violence
5. It’s not really crossdressing if you also wear manly boots.
6. Treason is okay if you have a good reason.
7. No one wants to sit next to Ben Franklin
Like Adams, I'm glad they did the whole create-a-new-country thing... just don't go nuts with the "this country was founded on sacred ideals put forth by our Founding Fathers" riff. They were a practical lot.
The following item appeared in a recent RTNDA regional newslettter:
Thirty broadcasters in Nebraska have joined a network of stations sharing winter closing information. The idea started in Kearney at KRNY-FM and has grown into an on-line and on-air entity known as weatherthreat.com. The most notable feature of the service is its price—free. Schools, organizations, and the media can all use the service at no cost. On the network’s web site, creator Travis Hollman adds, “But along with being priced right, I would say weatherthreat.com is unique in that it is a non-exclusive network that is operated around the clock by local media working together for a common good." The system works by giving accounts to all who participate, allowing them to log in and post or check closings. Hollman says he may expand to other states.
At first glance, this looks like a pretty good idea, well executed. These kinds of things almost have to be collaborative to work and getting a bunch of radio stations to cooperate is a good trick. But even if they can't make this thing regional, it could work on a district-by-district basis. (Thanks, Kay)
Santa brought Chuck a video iPod and you can bet we'll start seeing some cool uses of video in the world of ag marketing. You heard it here second.
A co-worker recently announced that he could finally get high-speed Internet access (Sprint ADSL) at his appartment. The speed/price package was much better than mine, so I called the Sprint folks. Now, I'm probably jinxing myself with this post but I can't resist.
I'm currently paying $60 per month for 1.5M download/256k upload. Beginning tomorrow, that goes up to 3M down/??? upload, for the same price (thanks to some kind of rebate). Still not up there with cable speeds but a long way from the 2400 baud dial-ups of yesteryear. I'll let you know if access seems twice as fast.
Sheryl Crow will be 44 next month but it will be a smoking hot 44, based on the cover of Shape. Ms. Crow says she runs or bikes (outdoors) for at least an hour "every single day." Doesn't listen to music while running, but meditates and "gets her thoughts in order." If not running, she's biking with Lance. She cuts out early since LA typically does six or seven hours a day. When the two cook at home, they make a Mexican burrito for breakfast with cheese, salsa and Jimmy Dean sausage. She eats lots of vegetables and recently gave up caffeine. [Photo]
Cozy fire. Holiday mix on the CD (Did you know James Brown did some Christmas songs?). Dogs playing with their new toys. Good smells from the kitchen. Santa brought me some nice warm socks, a cowboy shirt and some Tired Old Ass Soak. Barb received a Netflix subscription and some motion-sensor light bulbs. We might break down and buy a new TV after the Super Bowl when prices go down.
Best Christmas post is over at the Dilbert blog: "If you're reading The Dilbert Blog on Christmas day, your family probably hates you. But that's okay because I still love you. Have a great holiday. Or failing in that, just hold on until January. You can make it."
In this 1945 holiday classic, Barbara Stanyck plays a journalist, "one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality she is an umarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix."
Barb watches this movie every Christmas. If I were a recipe blogger (or magazine publisher), I'd try to come up with the recipe for every dish referenced in the film. A clever and imaginative challenge, if I do say so myself.
I've been invited to be on a panel at a meeting of PR professionals next month. It's the "January Joint Meeting" of CSPRC/IABC/PRSA. I'm hoping to be able to pronounce the acronym by January 10th. Maybe it's just me, but I find it interesting that none of these big public relations organizations are using RSS, blogs or podcasts. But they're talking about it and that puts them ahead of the pack. Depending on the sound set-up, I'll record it and post it here.
In Living Healthy Podcast #9, Dr. Domke offers tips for getting a good night's sleep. And a little segment at the end on avoiding the common cold.
Senior Kennett Correspondent Charles Jolliff sends along a link to his flickr set of Holiday Lights in Kennett (Don't miss the BBQ images). My mom loved Christmas. Everything about it. Our little house looked like Hobby Lobby. One of her favorite things was driving around town to look at the lights. Baker Addition was where the rich folks lived and always provided the best show.
I think I have been very patient with you on this frappr! thing. But many long-time readers of smays.com have not added their pin to my map. I don't want to start naming names and asking you to stand up and explain to the others why you think you're so special you don't have to put a pin the map. But I will. Let's not let it come to that.
From the folks at Despair, Inc., a business book that's "So Dangerous We Had to Put a Lock on It."
"Ironically, managers attempting to motivate employees by increasing their self-esteem only compound the very problem they seek to solve.Reinforcing employee delusions of grandeur only increases their irrational sense of entitlement to the wealth, stature and privilege that justice dictates be reserved for the truly accomplished and inarguably worthy: namely, Executives."
These are the same funny kids that produce the motivational calendars and posters.
Quality: The Race for Quality Has No Finish Line - so Technically it's More Like a Death March.
I'll share nuggets from TAOD here.
The ideas that prompted me to start clawing my way down the corporate ladder (and out of management) can be found in the writings of Scott Adams. The Dilbert books are the Old and New Testament of Management I am comforted to know that others agree. Scott Adams is ranked #12 on the list of Influential Management Thinkers. Adams is shooting for Top Ten next year.
"The natural ability of the Internet to distribute unbundled media is disrupting broadcasting's basic business, and that will accelerate in 2006." (The Unbundled Awakening by Terry Heaton)
After reading this excellent piece, I can't get the idea of "unbundled media" out of my head. Like all broadcast media, radio stations offer a bundle of content/programming. Music, weather, sports, news, etc. We bundle it all together in something we call a format and deliver it to the audience (in a very linear manner).
I remember getting calls from frustrated listeners demanding to know when I was going to give the school closing report (I had just given it 2 minutes earlier but they had missed it.) They couldn't get it when they wanted it because it had to be bundled up with other content/programming.
For the past 20+ years I have worked for a company that supplies content/programming to radio stations and for most of that time, a big part of my job was to insure that our "stuff" made it into the bundle.
And now the unbundling has begun. iTunes has just about any song I might want to hear. Weather.com has my forecast. Cancellations.com (or my school's website) has the cancellations. Same for school lunch menus.
And RSS means I won't even have to go searching for all this. It will come to me. Wherever I am.
It seems pretty clear that most people don't want their media bundled. They like to choose. A bit of a sticky wicket for businesses dependent on being part of the bundle. Is the value shifting from being able to bundle (TV and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, etc)... to creating the content that was once part of that bundle?
It's happening more frequently. One of our sales reps gets asked about podcasting. Technical considerations (RSS, enclosures, etc) aside... I struggle to explain the conceptual differences between a traditional broadcast and a podcast. After it's all said and done it's just audio and that makes it easy to confuse the two. But let's try this:
Broadcasting is driving a sound truck around town (or a thousand sound trucks in a thosuand cities and towns) with music or talk blaring from the speakers. Some people are paying attention... some or not, but we know that everyone in town could hear us.
Podcasting is a book club that meets every Tuesday night in the basement of the Presbyterian Church. We put a note on the church bulletin board to let folks know and they stop by and join the discussion if the book is interesting. If they have a good time, they come back next week.
The guys in the trucks want (and need) to count everyone in town as a listener. But we know exactly how many people show up for each week's book club meeting. So, can we "advertise" or "market" to the book club? Maybe.
BAD: "Can you hold that thought for just a minute, Ralph? I've asked one of the folks from Piggly Wiggly to say a few words about some of the items they have on special this week."
BETTER: "I'd like to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Before we get started, I'd like to thank Piggly Wiggly for providing the coffee and donuts."
We (broadcasters) are quite capable of producing quality podcasts. And we'll figure out a way to sell some kind of sponsorship or ads. But learning to listen to and really engage our listeners will take some practice.
Remember when your insurance agent would send you a calendar for Christmas? The tech-savey marketing folks at BASF sent a few of our reporters 4 gig iPod nanos.
You spend the entire year listening to the needs of your audience. So for all of your attentive support, we would like to present a holiday gift that will enable you to hear our heartfelt appreciation. (Don't worry - this gift doesn't involve us caroling on your doorstep.) Since BASF is a leader in crop protection technology, we thought it would be appropriate to give you the latest advance in audio technology: the iPod nano.
It's important to know that this gift extends beyound its small dimensions. You will have already received an email from us with a recorded holiday greeting. Now go to www.AgMediaCentral.com to hear the second part of our message, which you can listen to online or download to your new iPod.
This link also includes a few questions that will help us to listen to your needs. When you visit this link, you'll receive an additional gift with our appreciation: a prepaid iTunes Music Card worth $15.
Note: if you are not currently registered for www.AgMediaCentral.com now is a great time to sign on - it only takes a minute.
Man. This just works on so many levels. Hang on girls, 2006 is going to be a wild ride.
I'm giving the Firefox browser another try. Every clued-in person I know of and respect uses Firefox (or something other than IE). So I'm gonna give it another shot. I miss is the little "click" sound you get with Internet Explorer. I know it's stupid, but I like the click.
Update: As is so often the case, Andy had the answer/link. I'm browsing with Firefox, now with the comforting little click. But now my little flickr badge doesn't seem to be working. Must be a setting that needs to be changed.
December 26, 2005 marks the 15th anniversary of the death of Nancy Cruzan. Nancy Cruzan was a 25-year old southwest Missouri woman who was thrown from her car in 1983 when it flipped over. Paramedics found and revived her at leat 15 minutes after the crash. She never fully regained consciousness but did achieve a status that came to be called a “Persistent Vegetative State.” Five years after her accident, her family concluded she would never return to full consciousness. Thus began a long legal battle to have her feeding tube removed so she would die. The Cruzan case became the first “right to die” case to reach the United States Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 against the family.
Missourinet News Director Bob Priddy interviewed Bill Colby, the Cruzan family lawyer during the ordeal. Runs 30 minutes but it's damned fine radio. Before the web, an in-depth piece like this would simply have been tucked away in a desk drawer.
Jon Fine (BusinessWeek online) on mature media:
"You can't imagine letting people leave comments about you for everyone to see. You can't imagine rank amateurs' content being more attractive than that produced by a Mature Medium. (You silently scream: "It took me decades to get where I am!") You can't see that News Corp. and Suzuki have calculated -- zenlike -- that the only way to maintain control is to give it up. That they realize media go both ways now. That they can't hide behind their accustomed walls. To do so may protect your flank, but at the risk of closing yourself off to the Next Big Thing."
I am making a concerted effort to not talk about "all of this," because it is simply impossible to grok what's happening if you are not participating in it. Non-bloggers can't see the attraction, let alone the implications. Those who aren't listening to podcasts, can't understand why anyone would or how it might impact their business. Like they say in the hospital movies, "I'm afraid all we can do now is try to keep him comfortable."
Did I mention breaking down and buying a Tracfon? I had it with me at lunch yesterday in St. Louis and it started ringing and vibrating to announce my first in-coming call. I fumbled around and finally managed to answer it but the photo Andy snapped tells the story. I'm not ready for a mobile phone and might never be. In my heart, I know that cell phones are for getting bad news. Sort of like 2 a.m. phone calls. Never good.
In his latest book, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from Inside Out, Douglas Rushkoff says "smart businesses hire employees who are deeply familiar with the company's core products and encourage innovation by cultivating a fun, collaborative work environment." I'm highlighting something on almost every page and will share some nuggets here when I get a few minutes. Here's an interview (MP3) with Mr. Rushkoff by Bazooka Joe at Smallworld.
Finally saw George Clooney's movie about Edward Murrrow's efforts to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy. No car chases. No gunfire. No explosions. No nudity. Just a bunch of guys talking and smoking and looking terrified. In black and white. There were five of us in the theater. Would love to see the movie again, but next time in the White House screening room with W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and...maybe John Ashcroft. One of those movies that nobody ever expected to make a lot of money. Just needed to be made.
In the previous post I offered some ideas for using the web and related technologies to "connect" with local radio listeners and advertisers. I took a nap and had a sub sandwich and now I'm ready make a list for network affiliate relations. What is that you ask?
From the mid-eighties to the late nineties, part of my job was "selling" our network services to radio stations. We provided news and and sports programming in exchange for commercials on the local station, which we in turn tried to sell. The trick was to keep the stations you had while adding new stations when and where you could.
I drove all over half a dozen states, meeting with station managers, program directors and news directors. For the most part, this was pre-consolidation and I was talking to the station owner or a manager who was almost completely autonomous. They could make a decision without checking with anyone up the food chain. They were at or near the top of that chain. No longer the reality.
Where was I? Oh. How would I use today's communication and publishing tools if I were doing that job? First, I'm not sure I would have the balls to do what I'm about to propose. There would be some risk. As much as doing business "the old way?" Don't know. And, fortunately, no longer my call. But here goes:
Blogging
I'd create the "MyState Radio Network Affiliate Relations Blog." It would be right out there on the web with the rest of the blogs. No password. The target audience would be the men and women that worked at radio stations affiliated with our network. Topics would include (but not be limited to): Programming, Sales, Traffic, etc. We'd talk about how stations use the network programming and why they sometimes don't (it's called clearance).
That sound you hear is the first alarm going off. If we publically acknowledge that some of our affilaites don't air all of our programming, an advertiser might read the post and become concerned. Fact is, the advertisers already know that or can find out easily enough. By engagaing our affiliates in a frank and open discussion of this topic, we might learn something that could help us improve our clearance.
I'd let stations know about upcoming advertising campaigns and --where possible-- offer suggestions on how they can take advantage of this locally. The traditional fear is that if they stations know --in advance-- some of them might do or say something that could torpedo the network buy. Not much trust there.
I'd open up the comments and encourage the stations to let us know what they think about what we're doing. If I got a hot one, I'd jump on the phone (or in my car) and deal with it.
What would an advertiser think of this public exchange? Not sure. We might get some points for being open and transparent. Nothing to hide. Radio stations might take the same view.
Here at the end of 2005 we communiate with our affiliates using the web, email, fax, telephone and in-station visits. All good and all necessary. And safe. Or at least the illusion of safety and control. Whatever the stations think and say about us, they're thinking and saying. It's critical to get them to say it to me and say it early.
Podcasting
I'd do a weekly podcast targeted at affiliates but out there for anyone to listen to. Who would I chat with? My news staff; my affiliate relations reps; my sales manager and his account execs; station managers, program directors and news directors... anybody and everybody involved in this business. We'd talk about anything and everything. If we --the network-- does something really stupid, we hang it out there and talk about it. Why we did it. How we might do it differently in the future. What if an advertiser heard one of these? Great. If the "conversation" is going to take place, I want to be in on it.
As I said at the beginning of this post, I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to try such..."non-traditional" tactics. I'm not aware of any networks that are but if you know of one, send me a link.
Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes. [Wikipedia]
If I owned a radio station (let's narrow this to "small market" radio station since I have no first-hand experience in large markets), how might I use the Web and related technologies (blogging, podcasting, SMS, etc) to better serve my listeners and advertisers? I have to believe that any idea I might come up with is arleady in place and has been for some time. But just for fun, he's a few off the top of my head (in no particular order):
1. High-speed Internet access to every office and studio in the radio station. If you still have someone doing "live" radio, they need access to the web.
2. A station website. Doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive but it does need someone to feed and care for it. Don't make them do this on their own time. More on content later.
3. A station blog. If I had to choose between one of the "traditional" black-background-lots-of-album-covers sites...and a well tended blog on Blogger or Typepad...I'd go with the blog.
4. Buy at least one digital audio recorder. I can think of no reason to ever buy another analog recorder.
5. If you do school closings and lunch room menus, post these to your site. If your schools are already doing this on their sites, link to them.
6. If you do obits on your station, post these to your website. Better yet, set up a database with a password protected form and let your local funeral homes post and update their announcments.
7. Provide a place where your local churches can post news or link to their websites if they're already doing this.
8. If you do a daily "Tradio" sell-stuff-on-the-air program, record it and make it available as a podcast. You should also provide an online dB where listeners can post items for sale (a la craig's list)
9. Record your major newscasts and post these as podcasts. Will take an extra 10 min but will greatly extend the audience for this programming.
10. Take the digital audio recorder to every city council meeting, chamber of commerce meeting, school board meeting, hospital board meeting, etc and record them gavel-to-gavel. Pull some cuts for the on-air news but post the full proceeding as a podcast. If you don't do this, someone else will. And if you can't staff these, ask for volunteers. Some of your techie listeners can probably do this better faster than you can and would love to be involved.
11. Create a business directory post short video tours/interviews. If video is just too much, do audio with accompanying photo gallery.
12. If they don't already have them (and they will), set up blog for each of your loca civic organizations and help them get started. Link from the station site/blog and promote them on the air. Do the same leading up to the county fair or any other annual event.
13. Record the play-by-play audio of your local high school games and post to your website/blog as a podcast. Yes, you can sell sponsorships. Podcast the weekly Coach's Corner, too.
14. If your local churches are not already "godcasting" their weekly services, offer to help them do this.
15. Find and encourage local bloggers and be sure you have them on the station blogroll.
16. If you have local bands, ask them to send you MP3 files of their recordings and include these on the station website. You'll probably need a section for different genres (CW, Rock, etc)
17. Produce a local garden or home fix-up show and podcast these from the station website.
If you didn't recognize a number of the terms I used above, find someone who can clue you in and ask them to help. I'd like to think that anyone currently working in radio (I left in 1984) could expand this list to 100 ideas. Or 200.
If all of this sounds "too local" or corny then forget it because you're hopelessly screwed. The next generation of listeners are not going to be tuning you in for the tunes. If they listen at all, it will be for this kind of engagement with their lives. Ironically, this is where radio started half a century ago and we were very good at it. Some are still good at it and we better figure out how to get good at it again. Fast.
But don't worry about your community. They'll be fine and they can execute every one of the ideas above without any help from the local radio station.
Use the comments link below to let me know what I've missed.
Posted the 8th installment of the Living Healthy Podcast. This week Henry offered some tips for setting up an exercise prorgram. The guy just keeps getting better every week. Most of the TV networks have an MD on the payroll and I'd put Henry up against any of them.
I continue to struggle with levels and I am damned if I can get our logo to show up in the iTunes podcast directory. I'm sure it's something simple.
The chaps at Sky News had the presence of mind to ask George Bush what he listens to on his iPod. You have to assume he has someone (who is familiar with his tastes) keeping him topped off with his favorite songs, but I like the image of him crusing iTunes late at night. [Micro Persuasion via AgWired]
Some people have a weakness for porn videos. For me, it's talking chimps. I'd love to know how this classic bit of humor (video) came to be made. Think about it... someone had to make the little costumes. Build the little set. Spend god knows how many hours shooting and reshooting this scene. You know it had to be a tedious frustrating process. As funny as this clip is, the out-takes had be funnier.
And sometimes you capture a moment that is more profound than humerous. I captured this sixty seconds of Mall Zen earlier today.
Best HP movie so far. Directed by Mike Newell, the chap who gave us Four Weddings and A Funeral. Our first good look at Lord Voldemort and if the voice is familiar, that's because it belongs to Ralph Feinnes. Just one real scene in the movie but he owns it.
The company that hosts this blog --and approximately 7 million others-- experienced some kind of "catastrophic failure" late last night and none of us could update our blogs until early this evening. And there's still a problem with images. I had my share of problems with Blogger but it was free so it was hard to pitch much of a fit. But folks are paying for Typepad and they were pissed and many are threatening to move to another provider. I'll stick for now because I really like the tools. We'll be doing regular back-ups from now on.
"All I ask from life is that I be slightly less miserable than the people who hate me. I call that winning." -- Scott Adams
I love my iPod nano and I'm listening to a lot of great podcasts. And I'm getting a little smoother each week in producing the Living Healthy Podcast. But gotta say I find iTunes damned confusing when it comes to publishing a podcast and I need some help. If there are any smays.com readers who know their way around iTunes when it comes to publishing a podcast, ping me. I'm too embarrassed to list all thing things I don't understand here. I've been wrestling with this for weeks.
From Enormous Penis by Da Vinci's Notebook. Lyrics, MP3 audio sample
Despair, Inc, those wonderful folks who do the motivational poster parodies, have produced an audio and video podcast. Not sure if this is a one-time thing to promote their book, the Art of Demotivation, or a regular feature. I'll let you know. In the meantime, check out the video on their website ("Visibly 'cleanse' yourself after contact with your employees.") These guys are Onion funny.
Bob Dylan has signed on to host a weekly show on XM Satellite Radio, the D.C.-based pay-radio provider. Dylan will select the music, offer commentary, interview guests and answer e-mail from listeners during the one-hour program, which will start in March. Now, just tell me this: Is there anybody that Bob Fucking Dylan can't get to be on his show? I'm trying to understand why Bob Dylan would do this. It's not the money. Maybe he's bored and this sounds like fun.
These are strange and wonderful times. I don't ever remember seeing anything as big or as disruptive as what we're seeing now. Color TV was big. Cable TV didn't seem big at first but it got to be big. I was at the NAB meeting in Chicago when the announced MTV. That was big for a while. But the flood gates (sorry, New Orleans) are open and things just aren't gonna ever be the same again. I honestly don't know what it means for me and all my radio buddies but I'm glad it's finally here. The anticipation (and the need to prepare or do something) has been exhausting. I can't say we haven't had a chance to gear up for this sea change, because it's been ten long years. I'm pooped. But I can finally shut the fuck up about the changes "blowin' in the wind" because they are here.
Okay, this Frappr thing is kind of fun. And while I knew where to find Nate and Dan and Everett and David and The Jeffasaurus, it's nice to see 'em on the map. So I'm likely to be something of a nag on this one. If you want me to STFU up about Frapper, just add your pin to the map and we'll get on down the road.
What, you need a prize? That's fine. Let me think of something fun and I'll get back to you. Anybody got any suggestions? Better still... how about some of you regular readers sending me something fun from your neck of the woods and I'll give these away as prizes in my little Frappr contest? Let's show a little imagination here. This is like a public radio pledge drive. The sooner you get on board, the sooner this will be over. I've added a permanent link to the sidebar (replacing the MOTHBOARD link).
Lost Remote's Steve Safran says: "Nobody should "go into online news." Or "TV news" or "newspaper news" or "radio news." Just go into news. The great thing about the web is that it's bringing all these sources together. The artificial-wall snobbery can go hang. We're "journalists" and your platform of choice is meaningless; you'll need to know 'em all. Specialize, absolutely. But make yourself indispensable." [via Buzz Machine]
As Viacom prepares to split into two companies, the CBS Corporation side plans to rename its radio arm, which will become more like an "audio" arm given the new ways to deliver that content. Infinity Broadcasting, which operates 179 radio stations, will be rebranded as CBS Radio. The group will use the slogan “Broadcast....HD...Streaming....On-Demand.” The group’s name change takes it back to its roots. In 1928, CBS formed CBS Radio by purchasing 16 radio stations and forming one of the first radio networks. [B&C. Thanks, Morris]
According to this Business Week story, Standard & Poor's sees a bumpy road ahead for media companies:
S&P expects radio advertising to grow only in the low-single-digit percentages in 2006. Radio ad demand is under pressure from competing media such as the iPod and satellite radio, as well as from excess commercial loads. ... Even with lethargic revenue growth, radio broadcasters generate significant free cash flow.
S&P expects that online ad growth in 2006 will exceed 20%, reflecting the continued strength of both search and brand advertising. Marketers appear to be gaining confidence in the Internet's ability to reach consumers. For example, Yahoo! indicated that its brand-marketing revenue from the top 200 U.S. brand advertisers grew more than 45% in second-quarter 2005, and Ford Motor has allocated about 15% of its marketing budget to online initiatives. Furthermore, some marketers have begun to incorporate search advertising as part of their overall branding campaigns, which could spur more online-ad spending.
Even assuming that growth decelerates somewhat, Internet advertising is likely to exceed magazine advertising in 2006. Spending on Internet ads could potentially surpass spending on radio in 2008, assuming 1% to 2% growth in radio ad spending and a minimal contribution from satellite radio.
Hmmm.
"That's why I don't worry much about competition. Let them come. Just keeping up should wear out the posers before lunch. Anyone left standing after dinner is no longer competition - they're colleagues."
This quote from Soni Pitts' blog reminded me of my friend Chuck. There's no great secret to what he's doing. He can (and would be happy to) tell you exactly how to do the same thing. But most of us wouldn't do it. Waaaay too hard. Chuck is doing a lot of the same things our company is doing but I don't think of him as a competitor. He's a colleague.
According to the folks at Air America Radio, beginning in January Franken will launch a daily podcast newscast. It will be Franken's voice, but according to Air America, the audio will be lip-synced by attractive underwear models, with both male and female versions. [B&C]
How I would have loved to have been in the meeting where that idea was first floated.
Will somone please explain how Scott Adams has time to draw his brilliant comic strip AND find time to blog? Anyone? Today he writes about intelligence, god, dogs and dentists:
Dentists are generally pretty smart and they have the highest suicide rate of any profession. In stark contrast, dogs are goofy and they always look happy. You almost never hear about a dog trying to shoot himself. I know you want me to make a joke along the lines of “Dentists would be happy too if they could lick themselves.” But this is a serious discussion and I won’t have it. Plus that’s why dentists have office assistants.
I like maps a lot more than I like travelling. And online maps just keep getting better and better. And people keep finding clever things to do with those maps. Like Frappr, which works with Google maps. If you have a group of people scattered throughout the country (like the lost souls that find there way here), they can put a little digital pin in a map to let stalkers and ex-wives more easily locate them. So I'd use just my first name or a made-up name. Of course, everyone's name is a made-up name, isn't it. But I would like to know where you are so click your way over to the smays.com frappr map and stick it.
