Category Archives: Media & Entertainment
The Watchers
Reply
Changing listening habits
“A new Edison research study warns that among the six most common places where listeners consume audio media, broadcast radio dominates in just two of them (in car, at home); is tied with Internet radio for two (at work, on public transportation); and is defeated by Internet radio in two (while working out, while walking around). Another red flag in the study for broadcasters is that 50 percent of at-work listeners who listen to Internet-radio-only stations/services (that is, stations/services that don’t broadcast on FM/AM) have replaced their FM/AM listening time with Internet-radio-only stations/services.”
“According to Triton Digital, at any given moment among online listeners (M-F 6am-8pm), Pandora has more than twice the audience of all of the radio stations owned by Clear Channel, CBS, Cumulus, Entercom and the next seven broadcasting companies combined.”
— All Things Digital
Time for Talk clips (1979)
Coming up with a topic five days a week in our little town was tough, so the host of the local access channel asked me to come on from time to time. I’d forgotten (mercifully) about the first bit but did recall the Arnold Claus segment (about 2:50 in). I should be embarrassed by these but there is a surreal quality about them that appeals to me now. And nothing I said or did was as perfect as the pre-recorded opening to Time for Talk.
Time for Talk: KBOA830.com
Time for Talk was (is?) a public access program on the local cable system in Kennett, MO. As I recall, it started about the same time I began working at the local radio station, KBOA.
Time for Talk was a labor of love for Dr. Russ Burcham (a local dentist) and his wife, Rosemary. Rosemary did the interviews and Russ worked the camera. Sort of Wayne’s World with Aunt Bea and Sheriff Taylor replacing Wayne and Garth.
Time for Talk was 15 minutes long, as I recall. And it was kind of big deal in our little town because it was about the only way you’d ever see your self on television without getting arrested or dying in bus crash.
Because I was “on the radio,” Russ and Rosemary had me on several times over the years. Before YouTube, the only way you’d see one of these treasures was to go to Kennett.
This one was recorded in 1998, fourteen years after I left Kennett. Rosemary asked me to talk about the website I created for the local station (my first effort at a website). Enjoy.
Jefferson City: Most Beautiful (2013)
Rand McNally Best of the Road
Keloid
“In a not too distant future, societies of all countries come to rely on an intricate network of artificial intelligence devices designed to bring efficacy to man’s life. Yet, man continues to devour himself in useless wars. A strong political hierarchy now divides all powers into three factions, and A. I. devices rapidly gain ground as efficiency becomes a priority.”
“As social revolts grow worse everyday, authorities seek ways to control their citizens. They decide to carry out a series of tests that will determine not only whether some crucial powers can be transferred to non human entities, but also whether man is ready to yield those powers.”
“The world has become a cell for all men and women, who withstand and endure their lives, rather than living them. Machines might have found a solution.”
“From now on, you are set free.”
Roller Blades Guy
When Death comes, it will be on a sunny day. He’ll glide up behind you, silent & deadly, on roller blades.
No new television viewers being born
I’m a child of the TV era. Some of my earliest memories are from and about television. I’m the fish and TV is the water. Which makes recent comments by BuzzFeed President Jon Steinberg all the more… I can’t think of the word that finishes this sentence. At a recent conference Steinberg predicted content will be “completely decoupled” in the next five years.
“The average television viewer right now, for right now, for network television, late 40s, early 50s. When you look at certain cable news networks it goes even higher. So you have one of two possibilities: Either at 47 years old, everybody starts watching television. Unlikely. Or there’s no new newspaper subscribers being born, for print. And there’s no new television viewers being born. I think that’s probably the likely choice.”
And this factoid (?) from Pew Research: “by 2015, almost half of all television viewing will be done by folks over the age of 50.”
As much as I loved TV growing up, I don’t care much for what it has become. Neither broadcast or cable/satellite. I’m ready for media evolution/revolution.