Morris James

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After 38 years (!), Morris James has hung up his headphones and started blogging (“Purging Radio from My System”). He started in radio when he was 14 and his most recent gig was KRZK in Branson, MO. I met Morris when he was news director at WOW in Omaha (a Great Empire station at the time) and I was doing affiliate relations for Radio Iowa. Morris was instrumental in getting us on that great station.

He lurks regularly here at smays.com and calls his new blog Ozarks First Word (“News, Views and Tidbits”). Sounds like he’s working for the local newspaper and is exploring ways to make blogging pay.

Not sure how much time he’ll have for blogging and podcasting but here’s a guy with a boat-load of experience and a love for reporting. Give him six months or a year and he might just become “Ozarks First Word.”

Your online presence

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A thoughtful and well-linked post by Jim Mathies, wondering how a potential employer might reflect on his (Jim’s) online persona. I’ve posted on this topic a few times and thought about it again last week following an interview with a young man who was interested in a job with our company.

The job in question is web-related so I asked if he had anything online that I could look at. “Not really,” he responded. He read a little surprise on my face and added, “I have a My Space page.”

When I pressed him for a look, he reluctantly pulled up his page, which launched to the sound of music that could best be described as “urban.” And there was a nice photo of the young man striking a bit of a “gangsta” pose. (Like I’d know)

He seemed a little uncomfortable so I attempted to reassure him that I’d rather see his My Space page than some dry, lifeless resume.

But, as Jim’s post (and the NYT article that prompted it) reminds us, a lot of who we are it “out there,” just a Google or Technorati search away. I have no doubt I have written something that would keep a prospective employer from hiring me. But I wouldn’t want to work for a company that would not hire me based on something they read here. Younger bloggers might not have that luxury.

So, do you let the world know who you really are by letting it all hang out on your blog? Or, do you craft a sanitized, lifeless, carefully worded resume? Most pros would argue for the resume and they’d probably be right. Unless I was doing the interview.

Blogs really just next-generation Web sites

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“…blogs are really just next-generation Web sites. Every company will have a blog-like (interactive, two-way) component on their home page a couple of years from now. And the word blog may not be used.”

— Debbie Weil at BlogWrite for CEO’s. Ms. Weil references a survey of marketers (49% won’t use blogs in the next year) that reflects what we’re seeing with many of our customers. I agree that someday (soon) all websites will be blog-like but we won’t notice or care.

Former Learfielders meet up at CW event

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Two former Learfielders met up in Nashville yesterday where they were working the big country music event called Fan Fair. Chuck Zimmerman is blogging the event for New Holland Tractor. Ben Krech is a (the?) production director for XM Satellite Radio which, obviously, has a bunch of CW channels. Chuck shares a brief (6 min) interview with Ben. I mention this because they’re friends and because each has moved into interesting new media directions.

Political bloggers meet in Las Vegas

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Potential presidential candidates, campaign representatives and Washington reporters were in abundance Friday at the Yearly Kos 2006 Convention, a three-day gathering of bloggers in Las Vegas. Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Daily Kos and the blogger for whom the meeting is named:

“Both parties have failed us. Republicans have failed us because they can’t govern. Democrats have failed because they can’t get elected. So now it’s our turn.”

Uh, our turn to do what? Never mind. As someone who jots about radio and blogging frequently, I found this observation interesting:

“The blogosphere has become for the left what talk radio has been for the right: a way of organizing and communicating to supporters. Blogging is nowhere near the force among Republicans as it is among Democrats, and talk radio is a much more effective tool for Republicans.”

You can read the full story here (Thanks to Henry for the pointer).

Idea for documentary film: Send Kay, Darin and John to YearlyKos 2007. Crew follows each around the convention. Kind of a living Left, Right and Center. Assuming, of course, Darin gets released from blogger rehab by then.

Living Healthy (33) – Colon Cancer

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If you are under the age of 50, skip this post. In Living Healthy Podcast #33, Dr. Domke talks about colon cancer. Very bad juju. Second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. But easily treated if detected early and much of the half-hour podcast deals with colonoscopy screening. Long-time readers will recall that smays had his first screening a couple of years ago and it was a walk in the park. Seriously.

I hate being nagged and would never recommend it but if you have a loved one that is over fifty and has not had a colonoscopy, ask them to. Then insist that they do. Then make their life a living hell until they do. Like Henry says, how many chances do you get to save someone’s life?

Category: Best End-of-Movie Shoot-Out

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My nominee is L. A. Confidential (1997). Lots of longer, high-explosive endings, but I have to put LAC on the short-list. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember a scene where Russell Crowe’s character is in a bar, talking to some tough guy, when he (Crowe) reaches down and grabs the guy by the family jewels. I couldn’t help but wonder if the scene wasn’t inspired by Mississippi Burning (1988). Gene Hackman got a similar grip on Michael Rooker. For 100 Bonus Points, can you name other movies where somebody grabs somebody (else) in this sensitive area?

Tipping point for blogging at Learfield

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The head of our company made a pretty big announcement this morning, about some high-level promotions. But the exciting thing for me is how the announcement was made. Our CEO posted it to the corporate blog. And I think he did it from Ireland or Paris or somewhere. Now, I’m sure someone sent around the requisite Word document but the blog was the medium of choice for getting the word out to our employees (and the world). The Big Guy could have called a big company-wide meeting or circulated some kind of “eyes only” memo but he didn’t. Someone probably did a news release but even that was something of an afterthought. Clyde’s post is better. It’s a real, live person…speaking in a human voice…telling one and all what’s going on at our company. How hard is that? Damned hard.

The five things that matter

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I’ve been feeling a little ancient lately, but Halley Suitt reminds me that’s not one of the five things that matter. Five for five.

Some days, I feel so so so so old. I feel a bit like Methuselah, who, if you recall, lived 900 years. Being old, you forget sometimes what it’s like to be young. You just don’t get it.

I feel old when I talk to people who are something like 18 or 23 or 36 and they are all caught up in stupid stuff that doesn’t matter and once you’re a little aged like me, you want to tell them … “but, that thing, … that thing you’re worrying about, … see, you don’t get it yet, … but that doesn’t matter. Just doesn’t matter at all.”

Of course it would be rude and annoying to say that kind of comment, so you keep it to yourself.

So the good part of being old is knowing what really doesn’t matter. And that what does matter, you can count on the fingers of one hand. You know they would have given us hands with 17 fingers if all that stupid stuff counted.

There really are only about five things that matter:

Thumb: You love someone.

Pointer: Someone loves you.

Middle Finger: Your work: you have the bravery to do what you love and really become yourself and screw what anyone else thinks about it.

Ring Finger: Connection to people, family, friends

Pinky: Eat, drink, be merry.