Author Archives: Steve Mays

A Woman from Cairo

Posted on by

Val Landi’s new novel, of A Woman from Cairo, sounds like a page-turner:

“A young Egyptian documentary film maker is recruited by the highest ranks of al Qaeda to create a documentary in Afghanistan about the leadership of the Holy War. The prologue of the book describes the accidental filming of the assassination of The Sheik, a fictionalized Osama bin Laden, and the film maker’s escape with the film footage to Pakistan and eventually back to temporary, fleeting safety in Cairo.”

The novel is in pre-production but there’s a website and the author has a blog.

Who will own the podcasting rights?

Posted on by

From an article by Dan Migala in the Sports Business Journal (subscription required):

“The NHL’s Blackhawks have launched Hawk-Cast, which is the first podcast created by an NHL team. A new edition of Hawk- Cast, which is a 10- or 15-minute show, is available two to three times a week. The show is hosted and produced by Blackhawks Web producer Adam Kempenaar using only a computer with audio recording capability and Internet access. The HawkCast features updates from practices and interviews with players, coaches and team management. Postgame news conferences and player interviews are also available as podcasts at www.chicagoblackhawks.com.”

As an employee of a company that pays millions of dollars every year for the media rights to some of the top college teams in the country, this next little item caught my attention:

“Another plus for the Blackhawks is that, because the content is original and produced in-house, there are no conflicts with radio rights holders. The team is free to sell advertising and sponsorships for each podcast or program segment. Kempenaar said the club has not sold advertising yet, but plans to do so.”

I remember the first time we saw a reference to streaming rights in a college bid spec. You can bet we’ll be seeing references to podcasting rights in future rights deals.

George Carlin: Why American education sucks

Posted on by

George Carlin’s latest comedy special on HBO (Life Is Worth Losing) had some really strong moments and others where I thought he was reaching. The open was Carlin at his best. A pissed-off poet for the 21st century. The all-suicide cable channel didn’t work for me, but he was at his rage-fueled best explaining why our education system will never get any better (3 min video). Recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City, this is why you want to have HBO.

The challenges of getting big

Posted on by

I’ve always blogged with an awareness that the people I work with (and for) might be reading what I write. In fact, I know that some of them do pop in from time to time. Hi, guys.

While I post with some frequency on radio, media, blogging, journalism, podcasting and such… I rarely write about our company specifically. For lots of reasons. Today we’ll get close to the line and try not to step over.

Our company has gotten big. Not General Motors big or Microsoft big, but a lot bigger than when we started, 30 years ago. Back then, it was Clyde and Derry (and a few others) making it up as they went along, breaking all the rules, trying and doing all kinds of things that Big Companies said you couldn’t or shouldn’t do.

And, as the name suggests, the company has always beeen about communications. First as a wired (telco lines) network delivering farm news and markets to a handful of radio stations. Very few people were doing that back then because it was damned expensive and nobody really saw the need or the opportunity. Clyde and Derry did.

In the early 80’s, Clyde figured out having his own satellite uplink would allow him to reduce costs and control a powerful distribution channel. We could ‘communicate’ programming (content) to listeners (via the radio stations) in a way that others could not. More on the satellite/distribution thing in a minute.

So we have our own satellite uplink and channels and things start to take off. We build/acquire lots of radio networks. We’re scaling nicely and the company is growing. And it continues to grow. We still feel like and –in many ways– operate like a much smaller company. Handful of smart guys running the company from the top of a very flat org chart. But we’ve gotten big. And we have some big cash cows that we love very much.

You see where I’m headed with this, right? How do you get big (which has lots of advantages) without losing the Small Company “bag of rice and an AK47” flexibility and attitude? Because if the next Clyde and Derry are out there in the bushes (and you know they are), they have The Mother of All Networks at their fingertips and it doesn’t cost them the millions our Clyde paid for his first uplink. It’s virtually (get it?) free. And far more poweful because it’s global and two-way and blah, blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard it all.

Big is good. The Queen Mary is a very comfortable ride. And as long as we don’t have to make any sudden turns, we’ll be fine.

Sheryl and Lance pedal into the sunset

Posted on by

Okay, it’s official. Lance and Sheryl are engaged, according to statement by Lance on Monday (9/5). Thanks to our Kennett sources, we had it at 9:44 p.m. on Friday (9/2).

Correction courtesy of Everett: “I expect this sort of thing from the Democrat (who made same error), but not from my hero. Peddling has to do with selling stuff out of your backpack or car. Pedaling is what bicyclists do.”

Bad News: Education in Kennett Public School System
Good News: Old Kennett friends read your blog and correct your mistakes.

Katrina refugees welcomed in Bootheel

Posted on by

Charles Jolliff follows up on earlier post about Katrina refugees coming to Kennett:

I found out where Camp McClanahan is where the visitors from the south will be housed. I found the place just east of Friendship. It’s two miles from my house and I never knew of its’ existence. Go figure. I’m sure you know about it though, 25 cottages, a pool, baseball field, a small serenity pool, and auditorium and a few other buildings. I ran into a bunch (20-30) of people and –by luck– talked to the man in charge, Lance Davis, the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Dunklin County.

Lance said that this complex was a designated Red Cross shelter. There are 25 cottages in the encampment and I went into one and saw a clean and cool place that had two shower areas and bunk beds. That building could sleep 15 easily in just this one place. Davis was expecting 60 people to arrive today, but they were re-routed to a more northern part of Missouri. I also heard from a friend that Benton MO (ten miles north of Sikeston) has already received some people. As of this moment (4:45 pm, Saturday), there are no folks staying at the complex. Davis feels that they will receive some folks on Monday, but more likely Tuesday. There will be medical personnel available to check on the health of those that arrive.

The phone number for the camp is 573-888-6130 if anyone wishes to donate anything, or wants to know what is needed.

Update: First refugees arrived in Kennett late Saturday afternoon. [DDD]

Dear Red States

Posted on by

Dear Red States:

We’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren’t aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon,Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss.
We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they’re apparently willing to send to their deaths for no
purpose, and they don’t care if you don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we’re not willing to spend our resources in Bush’s Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country’s fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95 percent of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most
of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale,Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy b*****ds believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

By the way, we’re taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,
Blue States

“Dear Red States: A Letter from the Blue”

Does your web site suck?

Posted on by

“Agency websites suck, launch a weblog” is the subject of a post at AdRants.com. Replace “agency” with “your company” and see if it still makes sense.

“Right now, agencies might be saying, “What do we need a weblog for? We already have a web site.” Great. Take an honest look at it. Is it much more than a creative showcases (if that) and management bios? Aside from a few short paragraphs on your so-called “proprietary process” is there any value there for the reader? Are you offering anything that gives insight into the way your agency thinks and what your opinion is on the current state of advertising? If so, great. Most likely. though it is not.”

A good example of the difference between a “typical” web site and a blog? AgriMarketing.com and AgWired.com. I think the company I work for could be using blogs more effectively. But “brochure” web sites are safe and blogs are risky. And if they’re not risky, they’re useless and ineffective.

Reading List: 2005

Posted on by
Reply

The Fool’s Run – John Sandford (September)
What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer – John Markoff (September)
The Hot Kid – Elmore Leonard (August)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J. K. Rowling (August)
The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova (July)
The System of the World – Neal Stephenson (June)
The Twelfth Card – Jeffery Deaver (May)
All the Flowers Are Dying – Lawrence Block (February)
The Broker – John Grisham (February)
State of Fear – Michael Crichton (February)

“Blind hatred instilled by militant Islam”

Posted on by
Reply

“The killers always allege particular gripes — Australian troops in Iraq, Christian proselytizing, Hindu intolerance, occupation of the West Bank, theft of Arab petroleum, the Jews, attacks on the Taliban, the 15th-century reconquest of Spain, and, of course, the Crusades. But in most cases — from Mohamed Atta, who crashed into the World Trade Center, to Ahmed Sheik, the former London School of Economics student who planned the beheading of Daniel Pearl, to Magdy Mahmoud Mustafa el-Nashar, the suspected American-educated bomb-maker in London — the common bond is not poverty, a lack of education or legitimate grievance. Instead it is blind hatred instilled by militant Islam.”

— Historian Victor Davis Hanson, writing in the Washington Times