“Web search leader Google Inc. is hiring scores of radio sales people and is spending heavily in a bid to expand its position in the $20 billion radio industry. Google spokesman Michael Mayzel said this week that the company will begin a public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of the year. Advertisers will be able to go online and sign up for targeted radio ads using the same AdWords system they use to buy Web search ads.” — Reuters
Thirty years of election coverage
The first election covered by The Missourinet (a network owned by the company I work for) was in 1976. News Director Bob Priddy orchestrated that first election night and every one since. Prior to The Missourinet, radio stations throughout the state focused on local races and relied on the wire services for news and numbers from throughout the state.
The Missourinet brought the sounds of election night from the state capitol and campaign headquarters throughout Missouri to the hometown audiences of our affiliates.
The technology has changed… and is changing… but insight and understanding Missourinet reporters bring to their election night coverage remains the focus of their reporting. Bob reflects on the past 30 years in this 10 minute video.
RSS: ‘Ready for Some Stories’
Kevin O’Keefe (LexBlog) points to a really good explanation of RSS:
“RSS is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that?
Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can ‘subscribe’ to a website or blog, and get ‘fed’ all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver!
That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you have subscribed to.”
I’m told IE7 does a nice job with RSS but I suspect I’ll stick with Google Reader.
Decision time
Radio Iowa News Director O. Kay Henderson has some excellent advice for those who haven’t seen a debate, haven’t met one of the candidates, and haven’t a clue about how you’re going to vote:
“Go to an “opinion leader” in your life, in your neighborhood, in your community. This could be a person you see tomorrow in church. It could be the person you’re sitting beside at the high school play-off football game on Monday night. It could be a co-worker, or a life-long friend or the owner of the hardware store. Pick somebody whose opinion you respect (and who you suspect has been following the race) and ask them how they’re going to vote and why.
I confess I am one of the clueless to whom Kay refers. I might presume to modify her advice just a tad. Instead of “opinion leader,” I might seek out the smartest, best-informed, good person I can find, and ask him or her.
Take a moment to read Kay’s post. It’s a nice story.
Will November 8 be a GOP “sick day?”
Looks like there are only a few likely outcomes to Tuesday’s mid-term elections. A) The Republicans hang on keep a slim majority in one or both of the houses. B) The Democrats take a narrow lead in one or both. Or, C) The Democrats win big in both. Scary (if you’re a Republican) big.
I won’t hazard a guess. What intrigues me is how the hard-core conservatives will respond to any or all of the possible outcomes. What’s your line on Wednesday morning when you come into the office?
I assume there is some super-secret email list that will provide… what should we call them… talking points? Perhaps a website like this one, or this one, or they could borrow this list of excuses for John Kerry losing.
After the last couple of elections we heard, “The people have spoken!” If a whole bunch of those same people tell us something different this time, how do we respond?
I was going to offer some possible morning-after responses but I think I’ll wait and take notes during the days following the election. I’ll post some or all here.