Category Archives: Personal History

Keith Sampson’s 20th Learfield anniversary

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Friend and co-worker Keith Sampson is celebrating (woot! woot!) his 20th year with Learfield so we took him out to lunch today. Keith is a senior producer for our sports division and only the good lord knows how many college broadcasts he’s midwifed.

I met Keith when he was program director at the radio station in Clinton, MO. I was doing affiliate relations for our news network. When they needed someone to ride herd on our growing number of sports broadcasts, I suggested they talk to Keith and he got the job. (For what it’s worth, my record in this regard ain’t that good)

While 20 years is a good run (and Keith isn’t done), we had some veterans at the table. Charlie and I are coming up on 25 years; Roger with 26 or 27; and Clarice has been with our company for 31 years.

It would be nice to think some of the young pups working for us can have that kind of staying power, but it feels a little like a Frank Capra movie, when I see it in print. And all over the country there are folks who, like us, have worked half a lifetime at one company and… poof!… it’s over.

Author’s message: enjoy what you do. Every day if you can.

Obama Inauguration

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I have no idea what it was like at previous inaugurations, but everywhere I look, in every face, there’s a real sense of joy and excitement. And these look like people who –like smays.com– never felt like their vote made much of a difference, but do now.

My cynical (“Realistic! Realistic!”) friends tell me I am niave (nice word for chump) to believe/hope Obama is anything more than another smooth talking pol. Once in office, it’ll be business as usual. Well, there’s bunch of chumps everywhere I look. These are the true believers. They think (know?) they can knock on doors and organize and vote and, in time, change things.

Before the Net, you could sway these masses with well placed media buys. I’m thinking that might be changing (have changed). MSM has their own problems and the Net can take a politician down as fast as it can lift her up.

But the people on these cold streets aren’t thinking about that. They see a new day and they’re pumped. They BELIEVE they are part of something big and important and it’s gonna be hard to persuade them otherwise. [Inauguration 2009 flickr images]

http://twitter.com/inauguration

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A week or so ago I got a ping that @inauguration was following my Twitter feed. I assume they just searched all Twitter feeds for “inauguration” and found me. As I always do, I checked the profile page and found:

“Get tips and helpful scoop as you plan for the Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama takes the oath of office.”

There was a link to a website but I didn’t click it.

@inauguration has been a great source for news about the upcoming event. With links to lots of news sources.

I finally checked the url on the Twitter page and learned that the feed belongs to WUSA-TV in D.C. Thinking back, a lot of the tweets have taken me to pages on the WSUA website.

We’re they being sneaky by not clearly identifying the TV station? Doesn’t feel that way since I now know they pointed me to a variety of sources for relevant news about the inauguration.

My point here is WSUA didn’t just feed the latest news from the station website. They didn’t just promote their coverage. Someone was smart enough to understand how Twitter really works and use it. Cost: zero.

This will be the norm for any big event. And it won’t always be news organizations doing it. It will often be the event organizers. And should be since they will have the most information and have it first.

Yes, I could have set up a Google Alert for “inauguration” but adding @inauguration to my feed was just one-click.

Seasoned Twitter users will remind me there’s a hash tag (#inauguration) that aggregates tweets from ALL Twitter users, not just one source. True, but there’s a lot of noise in that stream. Takes too long to separate the wheat from the chaff.

And to bring it down to the individual level, I could set up a Twitter page just for my tweets from the event, so that my “followers” aren’t drowned in my tweets from DC. Probably won’t be posting enough for that to be a problem, however.

In conclusion… I quickly determined that the @inauguration Twitter feed had useful and interesting information. I didn’t notice or care who was behind the feed.

Texting around the world

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Okay, I’m still in the ooh and aah stage with the iPhone. And I’m playing with texting as alternative to email and voice calls. My brother and his family are back home in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, and it turns out we can text back and forth.

Yeah, I know I’ll probably get some huge-ass bill at the end of the month but if this is part of my 200 text messages, it’s pretty cool. A great way to stay closer.

Tripping over books

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Barb and I love our home. It fits the way we live perfectly. We seldom entertain so the place usually has what I think of as a “warm clutter.” You’re likely to find more than one pair of shoes on the floor and the stairs always has some of my pocket junk on it (keys, checkbook, etc)

And books. Lots of books. Barb and I both love to read and there are books scattered from one room to the next. The walls of my office (upstairs) are lined with bookshelves and a couple of times  a year I try to get organized. But, like the dogs, the books are part of our lives and I don’t mind having them close at hand.

I like audio books well enough but prefer the real thing. The weight, the feel, the smell. I think I sleep more soundly with a good book on my chest.