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Author Archives: Steve Mays
If the boat is leaking, learn how to swim
Had a chat with an acquaintance who now lives and works in another part of the country. He’s a long-time radio news guy and he called to get my advice on how his newsroom can better take advantage of “new media” (which ain’t that new anymore). As he talked about his newsroom and the company he works for (a good one), it became clear there was no clear direction for making the transition from Old Media to New Media. And unlikely to be one. So what can he do?
First, what he cannot do. He probably cannot change (or provide) the larger online strategy his company needs. But he can begin learning the skills he needs to survive. In no particular order:
- Start blogging (any topic) This includes reading other blogs
- Start using an RSS news reader
- Set up a twitter page (get a grasp of social networking)
- Get a smart phone and learn how to use it (see above)
- Keep a small digital (still/video) camera on his person at all times
- Get a YouTube and flickr account and start using them. (any subject)
- Begin the process of creating your brand
To an old radio dog, all of this sounds like a lot more work than it really is. But here’s the question I posed to my friend: If your current job went away overnight, what would you do? Try to get a job at another radio station? A newspaper? TV station?
What kind of skills to you think they’re looking for these days? Will it be enough to give them a cassette tape of your best work? Maybe a list of the RTNDA awards you’ve won?
The skills he learned in J-school are important. His many years of “radio” experience are valuable. But it’s a new game, that demands new skills. You got ’em or you don’t.
President Bartlet will see you now Senator
Reply
I never got hooked on West Wing but I must have been the only one not watching this popular TV show about fictional U. S. President Jed Bartlet (played by Martin Sheen). NYT columnist Maureen Dowd asked WW creator Aaron Sorkin to imagine a meeting between President Bartlet and Senator Barack Obama. As you know, I’m fond of such fictional conversations, so I share a nugget or two from this one:
OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?
BARTLET Well … let me think. …We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know … I’m a little angry.
OBAMA What would you do?
BARTLET GET ANGRIER! … Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!
Sharing music
We were listening to some new tunes on Roger’s iPod as we drove back to Jeff City from Columbia. Like most new cars, his has an input jack for the iPod (or whatever). So it was easy for me to pull out my nano [insert joke here], plug in and play one of my tunes.
As we listened, it occurred to me this simple act couldn’t happen in a pre-iPod world, at least not easily. Yeah, I guess I could have had a pocket-full of cassettes or CD’s, but Roger and I had thousands of songs between us and we thought nothing of switching from his iPod to mine.
My old pal RP was an avid collector of 45 rpm records. He had big cardboard boxes jammed with “singles.” The best we could do back then was stack 20 or so on a fat little spindle that would drop the next 45 down to the turntable. Shuffle? Sure, like a deck of cards.
I seem to recall RP telling me he had copied all of his 45’s to CD. Don’t know if he’s made the final leap to an iPod.
It’s hard to imagine what’s next but even hard to imagine there won’t be a “next.”
Herman Miller Aeron chair
I’ve done something rash. Another impulse purchase. No, not an Apple product this time. That comes next week (or whenever) when the new MacBooks arrive. I popped for a Herman Miller Aeron chair. Here’s the back-story.
Barb has been having some repetitive stress pain from a really shitty ergonomic combination of chair and desk. It got me to thinking about how much time we spend in an office chair in front of a computer. Six, eight hours a day? So I pulled the trigger. Stay tuned.
Best Headline of the Day
“You’d be miserable too if you’d married that guy you banged twice in high school.”
The honor goes to Laurie at 23/6 (Some of the News, Most of the Time). It tops a little poll: What advice would you give Levi and Bristol? Options include:
- You can see Russia from the Palin home. Run to it.
- What’s the problem? Ignoring each other is how me and the missus have lasted this long.
- Cancel the wedding and give the baby up for adoption to a childless pro-lifer, like Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh.
You can see the results if you take the poll at 23/6. I just love silly shit like this.
Blogging: “A basic right of being in the media business”
The always-plugged-in Amy Gahran insists your blog is “Media Career Insurance” for journalists.
“Because in a professional environment where staying findable equals sustained opportunity and flexibility, search engines are a key arbiter of your career. The more findable and linkable you are, the more search engines will reward you. … And search engines really, really love blogs.”
“Having your own blog is media career insurance. It will serve as your “home base” where you establish your personal reputation, track record, abilities, interests, and aspirations.”
Ms. Gahran offer some tips for starting a blog. Read her post where she explains each:
- Get a good domain name.
- Map your domain to your site, so every page on your site bears your domain.
- Stick with your domain.
- Don’t work for anyone who won’t let you keep blogging.
- Join the conversation, and link back to yourself
- Keep your blog going even if you also blog elsewhere
I particularly liked: “Consider blogging a basic right of being in the media business.”
Most of the journalists I know and work with do not have a personal blog. I think most of them would insist they don’t have time to blog. A few don’t think it’s “appropriate” for a journalist to blog.
Go-Chip scene from Wild Palms
In the 1993 TV mini-series, Wild Palms, Senator Anton Kreutzer (Robert Loggia) has the Go-Chip implanted and uploads his consciousness to the Net. Immortality! Unfortunately, the IT guys were running Vista on the server. But that’s a damned fine looking smoking jacket.
Classic nano back
My chubby nano worked fine (insert joke here) and I’ve been quite happy with it. But I always preferred the original nano design and was happy see Apple return to it. This one just fits the hand better.
I won’t rehash the features. If you care you’ve already read about and seen them. One of my favorites, however, is the improved “memo” recording. Just the simple addition of a little level indicator (see arrow) makes a big difference if you want to record something.
I made this recording with a little gizmo from Griffin called the iTalk. It’s a little hot because I wasn’t sure how close to hold the mic. I’ll do something a little longer and post that, along with something from the Marantz PMD620 so we can do an A-B comparison.
Knocked-up-girlfriend-hell
Donald Craig Mitchell, blogging (Off the Bus) from Wasilla, Alasaka, attended a Palin rally and spotted Bristol Palin and Levi in the bleachers behind mom. Not talking, not touching. After the event, Levi boogied.
“But if Levi was my kid, the deal I would have cut would, at an absolute minimum, have been: $500,000 for from now to the November election. If McCain-Palin win, a $ 1 million signing bonus to take the trip down the aisle. Then, for the duration of the McCain-Palin administration, $100,000 a month for every month Mr. and Mrs. Johnston live under the same roof, and $50,000 a month for every month that they remain married but do not.”
Any guy who ever got a call from his girlfriend to tell him she was “late” (archaic, dated reference) can empathize with poor old Levi (what is the Secret Service equivalent of a shotgun wedding?).
And I feel just as bad for Bristol. It’s bad enough to have everyone in home room know about your “condition,” but the entire country?