Ira Glass on storytelling

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Thanks to David for pointing me to this series of interviews (YouTube) with Ira Glass. His weekly program, This American Life, is the best example of what radio can and should be. But that doesn’t sound quite right to me any longer, since I began listening to the program via podcast.

So let’s call it the best example of what storytelling can and should be. “Radio” makes it about the medium. And it never was, not really.

My take-away from the first segment of the interview is that it takes as much time to find a good story, as it does to write and produce the story. He says the TAL team spends about half of their time searching for that good story to tell.

PS: I had never seen Ira Glass and he looks exactly like he sounds.

NBA taps into Second Life

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“The NBA has launched an elaborate series of interactive milieus in the popular online virtual world Second Life, including a 3D NBA store, a mock NBA arena and even a press center where Web users can roam and play using video-game-like avatars.

Second Life, which claims close to six million registered users worldwide and is visited by more than a million or so every two months, has increasingly become a testing ground for marketers and media companies. The new NBA Headquarters in Second Life is the first such exploration of the virtual world phenomenon by the league.”

[MediaWeek.com]

NASA intros offbeat video podcast

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Podcasting News: “NASA has launched a new video podcast, NASA EDGE, that provides an offbeat look at the nation’s aerospace program. The hosts of NASA EDGE offer an unscripted take on the latest events at NASA.”

How easy it would have been for a big old gov’ment agency like NASA to do a boring, lame-ass video podcast. Real easy. I don’t know if this will catch on but somebody gets it.

Your website: “an entirely separate radio station”

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“The best examples of websites for radio stations are generally not on radio stations. The trap in our industry is the budget. Too many stations have volunteer webmasters if they have any at all. Your web effort will soon be as important as on-air programming effort. In fact, I would suggest you picture your website as an entirely separate radio station and budget accordingly. I can easily – easily – foresee your website attracting a larger audience than your radio station.”

— Mark Ramsey on radio station websites

Radio Iowa: 20 years on

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Off to Des Moines for a couple of days. Can’t remember the last time I was there. Couple of years ago? But I remember the first time. It was early in 1997 1987 and we (Learfield) were starting a statewide radio network. I was managing our news networks in those days and –with help from Roger Gardner– was tasked with hiring staff. We did most of the interviews in the bar and lobby of the Savery Hotel. I clearly remember meeting Kay Henderson and Todd Kimm, two of the original staff who are still with us.

I was also responsible for signing stations to the network. I couldn’t tell you how many times I criss-crossed Iowa in my little Toyota Corolla, but I hit every town with a stick. And broadcasters were very receptive. I think we had 30 affiliates by the time we went live in July.

Seems like yesterday.

Probably can’t make it happen this trip but I’m gonna sit down with Kay and Todd and record a little oral history of the network. Be fun to remember those that worked in our newsroom; the big stories; the funny stories; the affiliates. It might be too hot to share but we’ll keep it someplace safe until we can.

Paul Simon: Old

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The first time I heard “Peggy Sue”
I was 12 years old
Russians up in rocket ships
And the war was cold
Now many wars have come and gone
Genocide still goes on
Buddy Holly still goes on
But his catalog was sold

First time I smoked
Guess what – paranoid
First time I heard “Satisfaction”
I was young and unemployed
Down the decades every year
Summer leaves and my birthday’s here
And all my friends stand up and cheer
And say man you’re old
Getting old
Old
Getting old

We celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas day
And Buddha found Nirvana along the lotus way
About 1,500 years ago the messenger Mohamed spoke
And his wisdom like a river flowed
Through hills of gold
Wisdom is old
The Koran is old
The bible’s
Greatest story ever told

Disagreements?
Work ’em out

The human race walked the earth for 2.7 million
And we estimate the universe at 13-14 billion
When all these numbers tumble into your imagination
Consider that the lord was there before creation
God is old
We’re not old
God is old
He made the mold

Take your cloths off
Adam and eve

Unexpected uses of iPods

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Like all good lists, there are 10 of these but my favorites are:

  • Train Doctors to Save Lives: iPods can double interns’ ability to identify heart sounds
  • Bring Criminals to Justice: using iPods to hold copies of wiretap transmissions in a large drug-conspiracy case.
  • Record Flight data: iPods as flight data recorders in light aircraft.
  • Flashlight:  For about $13, you can purchase Griffin’s iBeam, an attachment that will quickly turn your iPod into a combo flashlight and laser pointer.

Clear Channel launches social networking sites

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“Radio giant Clear Channel is getting into the social networking business. The company’s online music and radio division is introducing a dozen station-branded social networks in the coming months. Each social network will function essentially as mini-MySpace, but will be focused on the local community served by the station running it.

Not only can Clear Channel monetize the sites with targeted online spots from local advertisers, he says but also people using the networks have a better chance of making lasting connections with other users because they will share more regional affiliations. By contrast other social networks are focused on national and even international audiences.

Each social network will have a user experience similar to MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and others offer. Users can create profiles, customize them with HTML codes and widgets, upload photos, music and video, blog, and add friends. Users will also be able to customize their profile pages with videos from Clear Channel’s catalog of over 6,000 music videos licensed from major and independent labels.”

— Billboard

Does radio still “own” breaking news?

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We radio guys (back when I was a radio guy) used to pooh-pooh the daily newspaper as “yesterday’s news,” for their inability to cover breaking stories. The folks at The Providence Journal are changing that and they’re using a blog (among other tools, I’m sure) to do it.

They call their news blog “7to7” and it is “…is projo.com’s first reporting channel for breaking news. The news gets to the blog staff in a variety of ways: posting, e-mail, or dictation — whatever works well in a given circumstance. We’ve even set up a dedicated blog phone line and an e-mail address.” Publisher Howard G. Sutton takes this view:

“Decades ago, the newspaper business abdicated the franchise for breaking news to broadcast media. With the strength of projo.com, and a newsroom at least 10 times the size of any local competitor, we are poised to take back the leadership position for breaking news. When people in our market need to find out what it is happening right now, they will turn to projo.com and The Providence Journal. We are taking back the franchise.”

Editor Joel P. Rawson recently reinforced the initiative in his memo to the staff: “It is our goal to be the source for breaking news in Rhode Island, to dominate it, to own it.”

More on how “7to7” works at Poynteronline.

Case in point: I was cruising Digg yesterday and came across a story about a shooting at a mall in Kansas City. Full story with pix, only 18 minutes old. Of course, the local radio guys might have been all over this. But the point is, the radio guys have to work hard to be first with breaking news. It’s no longer theirs by default.