Category Archives: Personal History

Home delivery

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NewspaperOn the drive home this evening, I got behind the guy that delivers newspapers. He was weaving a bit as he frantically stuffed The Daily Bugle into those pink newspaper condoms before throwing them into the bushes. As I watched, I had to wonder about the future of this job, not to mention the economics. I can’t believe the job pays much and by the time you buy gas, how can the math work out?

I also wondered if the guy is a web-head like me. Does he keep up with the challenges facing newspapers (or maybe they’re doing better than we think). Is he thinking –with every paper he flings: “Man, I gotta find another gig. This ain’t gonna last.”

He probably has more important things to worry about and is happy to have the job. And this Internet thing could just be a fad.

Relaunching news websites

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Learfield NetworksOne of the first Learfield networks to have a website was Radio Iowa, our state news network in Iowa. That must have been around 1996 and it was created (using Frontpage) by Dan Arnall and Allen Hammock, a couple college guys we hired to help us figure out “this Internet thing.”

Dan and Allen went on to pursue new adventures a long time ago. And we’ve added lots of websites –for our company and for clients– since those early days.

This week we relaunched RadioIowa.com. We relaunched WRN.com a about a month back and we’ll be putting up the new Missourinet.com in a couple of weeks.

Our news networks are pretty narrow in focus. We cover the legislature, state government and –with the help of our affiliates– news from throughout our respective states.

Our websites reflect that focus. State news and sports, with an emphasis on the sounds of the news. We are, first and foremost, radio networks. Our websites are designed to complement them. They are not high-traffic, destination sites. Time will tell if this strategy is the correct one. The next couple of years should be interesting.

Our new sites are very blog-like. At WRN.com, we blog the sports and our news director maintains a blog. At Radio Iowa, News Director O. Kay Henderson is generating a real following for her political blog.

Time will tell if I have taken us in the right direction with these sites. If you like what you see, email me and I’ll put you in touch with Andy Waschick, the man behind all of Learfield’s websites. If you don’t… please don’t tell me.

“Is it time to give up on radio?”

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The sky is not falling!That’s one of the headlines in the latest issue of the StateNets newsletter. StateNets –formerly the National Association of State Radio Networks — is the marketing arm for most of the state radio networks in the country.

Jim Underwood of the Florida Radio Network wonders if it’s time to drop “radio” from their name.

“First of all, we are not really in the radio business, the broadcasting business or even the network radio broadcasting business. We are in the business of supplying information to people and charging clients a fee to include their message with that information.

We produce a lot of valuable, exclusive content about our states every day and we need to devise new ways to make that information available to people everywhere who may be interested in it. (We’re) working on software to make FRN – er rather maybe Florida Information Network – content available to websites of affiliates, then maybe newspapers. Why not supply State Government sites with the content?”

Such a rude question would have been considered heresy just a short time ago. Based on all that I’ve seen/heard, the future of state radio networks (including ours) is closely tied to that of the radio stations we serve. I’m convinced there are other markets for our content, but I still haven’t seen the business model that will replace –dollar for dollar– the revenue state networks have come to depend on. Stay tuned.

Mike Neely: 1948-2006

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Mike Neely died last week. I’m not sure about the date or just how he died. I’m told his health had not been good in recent years. I spoke with his mother, Myra, tonight and she said Mike and his family had visited in September. His death was “not real” to her yet.

Mike NeelyMike lived next door and we were best buds all through grade school. His family moved to California about the time we were starting high school. I think he did a couple of years of junior college before enlisting in the air force and serving in Thailand. After his discharge he moved back to Kennett and attended college at Arkansas State where he got an accounting degree. He went to work for some big accounting firm (Frost?) and they sent him to St. Thomas, VI. He and Jeanine have been there ever since.

Many of my best childhood memories include Mike. He was something of a golden boy. Great at all sports. Popular. He was a good kid. (He’s on the left in the photo above)

Mike and I could always make each other laugh. I’m talking about hysterical, gasping, tears-streaming-down-your-cheeks, can’t-get-your-breath laughter that literally leaves you rolling on the floor.

We didn’t keep in touch in recent years, as is often the case with childhood friends. I regret that. I might never laugh that hard again.

Mike and his wife, Jeanine, have two sons, Luke and Jake.

You never hear the bullet that gets you

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Chronic worriers are often reassured with, “90% of the things you worry about never happen.”

Let’s deal with the math first. Chronic worriers can come up with 100 things to worry about without breaking a sweat. So you’re telling us ten of them will probably come to pass. No good. Our first thought will be, “They’ll be the worst ten things!”

No, even if you improve our odds to 99%, you’ve simply encouraged us to focus all of our negative thoughts on that one item. Sort of a Hubble Telescope of Anxiety.

If you want to reassure us, remind us that conventional wisdom says we never hear the bullet that finally gets us.

We know –looking back– that most of the things we worried about did NOT happen. The really bad shit that happens in life is almost always totally unexpected. Out of the blue (or black, if you prefer). Didn’t see it coming at all.

See where I’m headed?

The very fact that you are worried about something almost guarantees that it won’t happen. It’s like a Worry Force Field.

  • Worried about your mid-term grades? (Your girl friend’s pregnant)
  • Anxious about the lab tests? (A 14 point Buck will jump in front of your Tercel)
  • Dreading a terrorist attack? (You’ll be safe inside one of Bush’s internment camps)

The more things you’re worried about…the less you have to worry about. Got it?