Author Archives: Steve Mays

Macworld virgin

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In couple of weeks I will attend my first Macworld in San Francisco. 60,000 rabid Mac fans gather for a week of… well, I’m not quite sure but look forward to finding out.

Three Macworld veterans are letting me tag along and their enthusiasm is infectious. These guys are my age and they’re as giddy as a GTO full of college sophomores on their way to spring break.

Macworld500b

They know the ropes and have planned our trip like a Delta Force strike. This morning at our planning meeting, I was informed that we’d be getting in line at 4:30 a.m. for the keynote by Steve Jobs.

Macworld sounds like a bouillabaisse of Burning Man, 60’s Be-In, and Jonestown (substitute microbrews for Kool Aid). Can’t wait.

Study on “State of the Media”

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From survey (of 2,000+ Americans) commissioned by Deloitte & Touche (as reported at WebProNews):

“Close to 40 percent (38%) of Americans are watching TV shows online, 36 percent use their cell phones for entertainment and 45 percent are creating Web sites, music, videos and blogs.”

Boy, those numbers seem high to me. But then, most of the people I hang with are creating content of some sort so, maybe.

And this from Ken August, vice chairman and national sector leader for Deloitte & Touche’s media and entertainment practice:

“I think for advertisers one of the conclusions is you don’t make decisions to advertise either on television or the Internet when you want to hit all the demographics, but rather you need to have a multiplatform strategy. It shouldn’t be an either or proposition.”

And maybe a dash of radio?

Scott Adams: Why blogging is so popular

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"I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task."

Once again, Mr. Adams is on the money.

Blogging as marketing tool

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Good story in the NYT Small Business section on blogging as a marketing tool:

“…while blogs may be useful to many more small businesses, even blogging experts do not recommend it for the majority.

Guy Kawasaki, a serial entrepreneur, managing partner of Garage Technology Ventures and a prolific blogger, put it this way: “If you’re a clothing manufacturer or a restaurant, blogging is probably not as high on your list as making good food or good clothes.”

Blogging requires a large time commitment and some writing skills, which not every small business has on hand.”

Job outlook for journalism grads

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Mindy McAdams’ Teaching Online Journalism:

“New U.S. graduates with a bachelor’s degree in journalism or mass communication had a median annual salary of $30,000, according to a survey of spring 2006 graduates. New graduates with a master’s degree in journalism or mass communication had a median annual salary of $38,000. Jobs held by all these graduates included those in public relations and advertising as well as online, print, TV and radio journalism.

Does this mean getting a master’s degree will increase your salary? Maybe in some fields, but not necessarily in journalism. I’d like to see this survey cut the grain a bit finer on the master’s degree data, because in my experience, a hiring editor at a news organization doesn’t give a hoot about your degree(s) or your GPA — a hiring editor cares only about your experience in the field.

This marks a distinct difference between journalism jobs and jobs in some other fields, where the extra one or two years in graduate school are assumed to make the candidate more fit to do the job. In our field, the only thing that makes you more fit is more work experience.”

I haven’t been involved in hiring for our newsrooms for long time, but I think experience would trump grad degree for us.

Lucky Money Toad

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ChanchuA lovely Christmas Eve at Susan’s with her family and friends. Janny (an anglicized version of her Chinese name) gave several us Lucky Money Toads. From the Wikipedia entry:

“Chan Chu means “toad; frog”, especially the “Lucky Money Toad” or “Three-legged Money Frog”, a popular Chinese symbol for prosperity. It is often portrayed with red eyes and flared nostrils, sitting on a pile of traditional Chinese cash, with a coin in its mouth. According to Feng Shui lore, it is believed to drive away evil, protect wealth, and increase income.”

I like that drive away evil part. Thank you, Janny.

Lee Garrett

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Sometime in the 70’s I interviewed Lee Garrett on the Grapevine, a talk show we did at KBOA. If memory serves, Garrett –who was blind– was in town visiting his momma (or some relative). I recall him being a funny guy. Following the interview, I walked him out to the parking lot (where his driver was waiting) and he said that he could drive himself, but only at night.

I sure would like to know the Kennett connection. Can anyone out there help me with that?

Update 1/2/088: Anthony Buckley –Lee Garrett’s son– found his way to this post and confirms that there is still family in Kennett and Lee visits a couple of times a year.
Lee was recently out on tour with Stevie Wonder and has also co-written an album that’s been nominated for an upcoming Grammy (“Soul of a Man” Patrick Lamb performer and co-writer).

And McNulty is drinking again

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“The fifth and final season of ‘The Wire’ (January 6) centers on the media’s role in addressing – or failing to address – the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

This season of ‘The Wire’ is based in large part on series creator David Simon’s experiences in 13 years at The Baltimore Sun. Simon decries recent trends in the newspaper industry that have conspired to make high-end journalism vulnerable: out-of-town chain ownership, an economic climate in which the share price of media companies matters more to industry leaders than the product itself, and a newsroom culture in which prizes, personal ambition and the cult of the “impact” story has replaced consistent and detailed coverage of complex issues as the primary goal.”

It pains me when really good shows like The Sopranos (early seasons), Deadwood, and The Wire come to an end. But not as much as seeing them drag on after everyone (but the network accountants) stopped giving a shit.

New blogging rules from the NCAA

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It seems pretty clear that the NCAA wants to prohibit anything approaching real-time coverage of the event. Companies –like the one I work for— pay millions for the exclusive broadcast rights to collegiate sporting events. A reporter (or a dozen reporters) up in the press box live blogging the game –in theory– dilutes the value of the rights we purchased.

“The NCAA this week announced a formal program limiting how often bloggers with media credentials can update their blog while attending championship college events.

The sports governing body set blogging limits for each sport. For example, those at football games can update their blogs three times per quarter and once at halftime. For basketball, bloggers can post five times per half, once at halftime and twice per overtime period.

The policy even sets rules for water polo (three per quarter, once at halftime), bowling (10 blog posts per session) and fencing (10 per session).”

The phrase that caught my eye was “bloggers with media credentials.” If
I’m just a fan, can I blog at will? If your credentials are at stake,
you probably wouldn’t fight this. But if you’re  a civilian, you could
tell the NCAA to piss off. Does this mean the NCAA thinks only bloggers
with some media connection can/will have a significant audience?