“Real creative urges, those we are meant to express, don’t go away. If ignored, they bother us, affect our health, fester and eventually turn us into the living dead.”
— from Pamela Slim’s piece in NYT
Category Archives: Media & Culture
Radio needs to escape radio
“Society needs the comfort of our favorite songs. We need the real-time connection to our community (however we define “community”). We need to know what to wear today and whether or not school is canceled. We need to stay up to date or to revel in our past. We need to be outraged and informed and soothed and amused. We need to be told what to do in a crisis. We need to know what’s on sale and where. And we need these things wherever we are – at home, at work, in the car, and on our hip. As an industry, radio needs to recognize that its social currency is in what it provides, not in the manner it provides it.”
— Mark Ramsey
“To follow or not to follow? How do you decide?”
Here's how Phil Johnson, writing in Advertising Age, decides:
"When somebody new crosses my path, I take a look at their last 10 tweets and ask myself three sets of questions:
- Can I learn something from this person? Does he connect me with information that I would never find on my own?
- Is she original? Does she have a distinct voice and make interesting observations about the world and business?
- If I'm not getting a clear answer, I ask the ultimate question, "Would I drink with him?"
If I know the person, there's a good chance I'll follow them. If I don't, I'll look at their profile and check out a website if they provide a link. If they're "following" hundreds of people, I figure they're just trying to pump up their numbers and I block them.
When I hear someone sneer, "I don't care about what someone had for breakfast," as a way of dismissing something about which they are clearly ignorant… I immediately think: I don't remember the last time I saw a tweet like that. Why would I follow someone with so little to say? No, this is just an easy rationale for learning something new.
Treme: New series from creator of The Wire
David Simon –creator of The Wire and Generation Kill– is currently shooting a pilot for Treme, his proposed new series about musicians in post-Katrina New Orleans.
“It will feature at least two veterans of his earlier work: Clarke Peters, who played Lester Freamon in The Wire, and Wendell Pierce, who played Bunk Moreland. If commissioned by HBO, Simon promises, Treme will remain true to the philosophy he pungently encapsulates in the phrase “Fuck the average viewer”. His shows, he explains, reject the conventional TV wisdom that everything must be explained upfront, instead demanding intense concentration from viewers, who must grapple with an unfamiliar world. Rather than writing for a general audience, he says: “I want to write for the guy living the event.”
So, are there people who watched and enjoyed The Wire… and were also regular viewers of Extreme Home Makeover?
The reporter of the future is here today
Micro Persuasion:
“The word newspaper is really a misnomer today. Or at least it will be soon. Increasingly news is delivered digitally and it’s interactive. People are certainly writing newspapers off for dead, but I think they have a bright future (in digital form) and it’s right in front of them.
Everyone’s looking for a solution to the newspaper problem. But the answer is right under their nose. The picture is slowly evolving through the breakthrough work of individual reporters who are using social media to build a stronger connection with their audience (and their own personal brands in the process).”
Read the post for the answer. If you work for our company and would like to know how to use any of the tools referenced in this post, I will be happy to help you get started. If you work for another company, we have a digital SWAT team that can get you started.