Jeff McVey studies Kung Fu in China

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Jeff McVeyBack in May, I posted on Jeff McVey and his wife (Deborah) who I live in a martial arts academy in a small village in the mountains outside of Yantai, China… studying Kung Fu from the Shaolin Monks who teach there. (I shit you not)

“I had my first kickboxing match this week. I think I did pretty well. They weren’t actually keeping points, but I controlled the fight and got in some good hits. It’s a little nerve racking to just put on a pair of gloves and go at someone. I know we practice this stuff daily, but it’s a different story when someone is trying to knock you out. However, I really liked it. It’s the best practice you can do for that sort of thing. I think I’ll be a bit more confident the next time we do this.”

Can radio go home again?

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Jeff Jarvis is doing the Snoopy Dance over this story in the NYT about Clear Channel:

Clear Channel, the poster child for evil media conglomerates, bought up stations and sucked cash out of them but now there’s not much left to suck. Consolidation is the act of a dying industry. Well, broadcast won’t die. But it sure as hell won’t grow.

I was in a lot of small and medium market radio stations before and during the The Great Consolidation. I saw a lot of locally owned stations get gobbled up by Clear Channel. I thought it was a bad idea then and haven’t changed my mind. But I’m a “hometown radio” guy. Local ownership. Local programming. I want to see the station owner at Rotary.

But it’s all moot now. The Internet and related technologies have changed the media landscape forever. I’m not sure radio can go home again. I hope so.

The Fog of War

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The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a documentary film directed by Errol Morris and released in December 2003.

The film depicts the life of Robert Strange McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968, through the use of archival footage, White House recordings, and most prominently, an interview of McNamara at the age of 85. The subject matter spans from McNamara’s work as one of the “Whiz Kids” during World War II and at Ford to his involvement in the Vietnam War as the Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

1. Empathize with your enemy.
2. Rationality will not save us.
3. There’s something beyond one’s self.
4. Maximize efficiency.
5. Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
6. Get the data.
7. Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
8. Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
9. In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
10. Never say never.
11. You can’t change human nature.

We have learned none of McNamara’s lessons. A powerful documentary. And, please, you can’t have an opinion about this movie unless you’ve seen it. Happy to discuss with anyone that has.

ABC World News Webcast

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ABC News VideoWorking late tonight. Had my dinner at my desk while watching ABC’s World News Webcast. Ran almost 17 min with no commercials except for a little spot at the beginning and end. Perfect. It had a more relaxed feel but that might have been my imagination. The quality of the video was exceptional and the 320 pixel video is fine when you’re 18 inches away. I paused a couple of times while I tended to other business. If you think you’re pretty fast on the Blackberry, watch this piece from the webcast.

Our networks are streaming our newscasts but –as Mark Ramsey warns– simply repurposing your existing programming won’t be enough. Not by a long shot.

More stations, same content

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Mark Ramsey on the transitional nature of technology and what it means for broadcastsers: “In a shockingly short span of time – perhaps five to ten years – the Internet and/or other wireless-based audio entertainment and information channels will be widely distributed substitutes for radio as we know it today. And your content will either be there or it will not be. … If you think all you need is a website and some podcasts and a frequent listener club, you’re wrong.”

Bush uses “the Google.”

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“One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see — I’ve forgot the name of the program– but you get the satellite, and you can — like, I kinda like to look at the ranch. It reminds me of where I wanna be sometimes.” 

— George W. Bush (2006)

Completely, totally nude

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On the way to Bridgett and Andy’s wedding, we drove past a strip joint in downtown Kansas City. The sign on the front of the building promised “Totally Nude” but didn’t say what or who. This prompted Barb and me to speculate on what constitutes “partially nude.” Pasties and G-string? Shoes only? Can I leave my hat on? I hope to someday return to downtown KC to take this shot at night. I think it will make a better masthead.

Life and work interfering with blogging

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It does pain me to look at the little calendar to the right and see that entire days have gone by with not a single post here at smays.com. Four days last week! Cripes! What’s the point of living if you’re too busy to blog about it? What have I been doing that is more important than this?

We relaunched one of our websites last week. WRN.com is the online home of Wisconsin Radio Network. Our news network websites are among the oldest in the company. Almost ten years for a couple of them. Waaay overdue for an overhaul. RadioIowa.com is next and then Missourinet.com.

The Amazing Andy (Gestalt Inc) does all of our sites and he’s done a nice job with these. All sites optimized for blogging, RSS, podcasting, etc. Still miles to go but I’m hoping to have all three up and running before the end of the year.

Spending more and more time talking with clients about blogging and podcasting. The vast majority are still clueless about these tools but there are little flashes of “get it” here and there and we’re trying to fan these tiny sparks into roaring infernos.

But it’s all web-o-licious and I can’t remember the last time I heard the phrase “this Internet thing” at Camp Learfield.