Author Archives: Steve Mays

The Secret Letter from Iraq

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Written last month, this straightforward account of life in Iraq by a Marine officer was initially sent just to a small group of family and friends. His honest but wry narration and unusually frank dissection of the mission contrasts sharply with the story presented by both sides of the Iraq war debate, the Pentagon spin masters and fierce critics.

Biggest Outrage — Practically anything said by talking heads on TV about the war in Iraq, not that I get to watch much TV. Their thoughts are consistently both grossly simplistic and politically slanted. Biggest Offender: Bill O’Reilly.

Best Chuck Norris Moment — 13 May. Bad Guys arrived at the government center in a small town to kidnap the mayor, since they have a problem with any form of government that does not include regular beheadings and women wearing burqahs. There were seven of them. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machinegun so that he could tie the mayor’s hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. One of the dead Bad Guys was on our top twenty wanted list. Like they say, you can’t fight City Hall.

Take a couple of minutes to read the entire letter.

Dr. Everett Mobley: Your dog’s “wolf-score”

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Dr. Everett Mobley blogs at Your Pet’s Best Friend. He started in September and his posts just get more and more interesting and informative.

Now look at your dog. Notice the parts that look wolf-like and the parts that don’t. What kind of a wolf percentage do you have? Chances are that the lower your wolf-score, the more built-in problems your pet has.

You never know who’s going to be a good blogger. By “good” I mean someone who posts frequently and writes in an open and personal voice. I confess that I find it very gratifying to play even a tiny role in helping someone get started blogging. YPBF is a must-read for anyone with a pet.

“There is no online department. It has ceased to exist.”

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Jeff Jarvis points to examples of how some newspapers are trying to survive in the online world:

DelawareOnline is reorganizing the paper’s newsroom to be platform agnostic. A few years ago, only four people could post on the web but now 50 can and the number of web updates skyrocketed. They are a small paper and so they are not throwing staff at this; they are throwing simplicity at it: They are using iMovie and GarageBand to produce multimedia. He said that they have had four people leave because multimedia is not for them. I see that as a very good thing. Welcome to the future, newsroom. Says Paul: “There is no online department. It has ceased to exist. We are the online department. The newsroom is the online department.”

News organizations that are unable or unwilling to grasp this and make the transition will die.

Google going forward with radio plans

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Will Sell Advertising for FoodGoogle CEO Eric Schmidt says Google’s plans to begin placing radio ads by the end of this year remain on schedule, contradicting recent talk within the industry that the company had postponed the project.

“The tests are going extremely well,” said Schmidt, who added Google eventually plans to employ about 1,000 workers in its radio division. [E-Commerce Times via Hear 2.0]

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow doing a radio commercials

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Radio Iowa News Director (and blogger) O. Kay Henderson heard White House Press Secretary Tony Snow doing a radio commercial on a Des Moines radio station this week and found it blog-worthy. The New York Times liked the story too:

“Just imagine, you’re listening to the radio, Tony Snow has been speaking to you as the spokesman for the leader of the free world, and then a commercial comes on with him trying to sell you a window,” Ms. Henderson said Thursday. “He introduced himself as Tony Snow, talked about the travails of remodeling projects, boasted about the 30-year history of this business and delivered the 800 number of the business, twice.”

My favorite quote from the story was by Mr. Snow: “It’s like, you don’t have the White House press secretary flacking siding.”

I suppose Kay could have done a “human interest” piece for our network but this is perfect blog-fodder. Not a big deal, just interesting. And how many reporters heard the White House Press Secretary shilling windows on the radio and didn’t think to follow up on it?

The Micro Mosquito

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The Micro Mosquito from Interactive Toy Concepts is a tiny high-tech toy helicopter that flies like the real deal. This radio-controlled copter can soar, dive and even hover in place. Available now at Radio Shack for $70, the Mosquito is rechargeable and flies for about eight minutes on one charge. This indoor toy includes a controller and a landing pad that doubles as a recharging platform.

The entire helicopter is six inches long with rotors 6.3 inches in diameter, and weighs less than an ounce. You can launch the Mosquito from any surface — a table, a hand or the floor — and it has two beady green L.E.D. eyes for night missions. It is made to work in small spaces but is susceptible to breezes and fans, making flights a bit dangerous if the window is open. (NYT)

NETWORK: “Television is not the truth…”

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“When the 12th largest company in the world controls the most awesome propaganda force in the whole goddamned world….” This scene from the movie Network (1976) is the reason the Academy gave Peter Finch the Best Actor award posthumously. The “Mad Prophet of the Airways” rants how it was, is, and always will be.

It’s gratifying to see that others remember this film and recognize its relevance in 2006.

Media Study: Radio Makes People Happy

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That’s one of the findings in a new study by the Radio Advertising Effectiveness Lab. Harris International surveyed more than 2,500 people between the ages of 18 and 54 in June and July. (MediaWeek)

Less Annoying“Fifty-five percent of respondents said radio was the medium most likely to improve their mood compared to the other three media studied. The findings were generally true across all ages, genders, and ethnic groups, but especially strong for African-Americans and Hispanics.”

“Advertising on radio was also found to be less annoying than on other media. Comparing Internet ads to radio ads, 45 percent of respondents said radio ads are “repeated too often,” compared to 53 percent who said the same about Internet ads; 24 percent said radio ads “appear at inconvenient moments,” while 60 percent said the same of Internet advertising.”

The simple truth is most radio stations just have too many commercials. And too many of those commercials have no relevance for me. Yes, I understand that they ALL have relevance for someone… but in an iPod world, that truth is no longer relevant. I have to stop now, I’m out of italics. [Thanks, Chuck]