They’ve been remodeling our (Jefferson City) offices and studios for well over a year and the latest (and last) area to get a make-over is the newsroom.
Twenty-two years and counting
It’s almost that time again. On June 4th I will have been chained to a Learfield galley oar for 22 years. I am proud to say that Learfield founder and CEO Clyde Lear recruited and hired me and changed my life forever. I’ll resist the usual cult-rant and point you to Clyde’s blog. Everybody whose CEO is blogging with this kind of candor an openess…raise your hand.
Some can remember six years ago when things around here weren’t so rosy. We lost money. All of you took a pay cut for several months; I went six months with no salary at all. Remember what I told you then?
This either makes you real uncomfortable or it gives you goose bumps. I love it, of course. Clyde is a natural blogger. He got it immediately. Many (most) do not.
We met with a prospective client today and in a two-hour meeting, radio came up twice…in passing. When I asked the client to rank their website (with all forms of communication) on a scale of 1 to 10…she gave it a nine and couldn’t think of anything that was more important in getting their message out. She also confided that her website wasn’t very good. When I suggested she consider adding a blog…it was as though I had suggested adding child porn.
It’s really quite amazing. Reactions to blogging are highly polarized. A (very) few know about blogging and are eager to put it to use for their company or organization. Many (most) have no idea what blogging is and –simultaneously– are petrified by the very idea.
We have established this formalized communication made up of press releases, brochures, slick media kits and, yes, Main Stream Media… that is as stiff and structured as a Greek drama. But we all have our parts and know our lines. We have a script. And out of nowhere, come these bloggers and podcasters writing and saying any damn thing and it’s scary as hell. Line, please!
What was I talking about? I remember… 22 years at Camp Learfield. Halfway there.
Final Cut Express HD
Installed Final Cut Express HD. This is the next step up from iMovie for video editing. As I understand it, “Express” is the Lite version of Final Cut Pro. At first glance, it reminds me of Adobe Premiere in that it’s packed with features and will have a bit of a learning curve. But it comes with an excellent tutorial DVD so, we’ll see. I can see myself running back to Studio 9 (Windows) in a pinch.
Gnomedex 6.0
I am tingly with anticipation of Gnomedex 6.0, a three-day geek-fest in Seattle at the end of June. I’m just a geek wannabe but my money’s good so they let me in. I won’t even try to describe Gnomedex except to say everyone will be talking about all of the things I find interesting/important. The format of this year’s event is a little different but the line-up of “discussion leaders” is A-List all the way. And this year’s trip will be even a little more fun with Learfield COO Roger Gardner along for the ride. I believe they stream the entire conference live and I’ll try to find/post a link as we get closer.
Kissinger: U.S. okay with communist S. Vietnam
“Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger quietly acknowledged to China in 1972 that Washington could accept a communist takeover of South Vietnam if that evolved after a withdrawal of U.S. troops – even as the war to drive back the Communists dragged on with mounting deaths.”
This little nugget (reported by the Associated Press) was discovered in a collection of papers gathered from documents available at the U.S. government’s National Archives.
I only mention it here because it brought back fond memories of those days. I was working hard to keep my draft deferment and stay out of Vietnam. As I recall, it was important that we get on over to Vietnam so we could stop the commies. The deaths of 60 thousand Americans was considered (by our leaders) a small price to pay to “STOP COMMUNISM!”
And then one day someone in Washington decided, “You know what? I think I’m okay with letting the commies have South Vietnam. But see if you can get ’em to wait until we’re outta there.”
And it’s one, two three…what are we fightin’ for?
Living Healthy (31) – Sleep Apnea and Snoring
This is one of those conditions we just didn’t hear about when I was young. Oh, sure, people snored but it was more humor than affliction (assuming you didn’t have to listen to it). Somewhere along the way it moved over to the “real medical problem” column and an entire industry blossomed. Recorded May 27, 2006.
Ad agencies dropping “radio” for “audio”
Something called the Streaming Media East conference was held earlier this week in New York. One of the discussion panels was “The Changing Face of Internet Radio” and –according to a couple of the panelists– some of the major national ad agencies are dropping the term “radio” in favor of a more accurate lable: “audio.” One panelist went so far as to point out that “audio” is a cooler word than “radio.” (Gulp)
Two of our networks (Radio Iowa and Wisconsin Radio Network) have the word “radio” in their names. Hmm. “Audio Iowa?” That’s a lot of vowels. “Wisconsin Audio Network.” I don’t know.
Intentional, but not deliberate
The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday (5/25/06) in the case of State of Missouri vs. Johnny A. Johnson (SC86689). Johnson is appealing a first-degre murder conviction and death sentence. From the court’s docket summary:
After Johnny Johnson stayed with friends one night in July 2002 at their home in Valley Park, the friends’ six-year-old daughter disappeared. A witness saw Johnson walking that morning, carrying a little girl on his back. Although Johnson initially told the girl’s mother that he did not know where the child was, he later surrendered himself to police and agreed to go to the police station. Later in the day, Johnson told police he had killed the girl by accident, that her body was in an old glass factory, and where she could be found. After police recovered the girl’s body, they told Johnson it did not look like an accident. He then told them that he had exposed himself to her, and when she refused his advances, he hit her in the head with a brick and threw a boulder onto her, killing her. He told police he then covered her body with rocks and debris. The state charged Johnson with one count each of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, kidnapping and attempted forcible rape. While he was in jail awaiting trial, doctors treated Johnson for anxiety, depression and symptoms of psychosis. Following trial, the jury found Johnson guilty of each count and recommended the death penalty. The court sentenced him to consecutive sentences of death for the murder conviction and life in prison for the remaining convictions. Johnson appeals.
We (Missourinet.com) stream the arguments live (to subscribers) so I wind up listening to a lot of these arguments. Arguments before the state supreme court are nothing like the arguments we see in the movies and on TV. Pretty dry stuff. But this question (AUDIO) (of Johnson’s attorney) by one of the judges caught my attention (Warning: His description of the murder is graphic).
In the interest of fairness, you can download and listen to the full argument (runs almost an hour) but it sounds like Johnson’s attorney is trying to explain how the murder could be “intentional” but not “deliberate.”
Ten Tips for New Bloggers
There is no shortage of tips, guidelines and suggestions for how to blog and I am under no illusion that I can add anything fresh or original… but I am advising clients and co-workers on this subject so I thought I should take a stab at coming up with a few tips for new bloggers. Certainly not comprehensive, just the ones that popped into my head 15 minutes ago.
1. Headlines: Descriptive vs. clever – When I try to write a clever headline it just comes across as cryptic. A reader is much more likely to read your post if they have some idea what it’s about. Don’t delude yourself that they’ll be so intrigued by our clever headline that they’ll read what you’ve written. An example from smays.com: “More news after this.” vs. “30 years of broadcasting.”
2. Do not delete posts – There will come a time when you post something to your blog and later wish you hadn’t. It’s tempting to just delete the post. Don’t. The fact is you did write it and you did post it. Deleting it doesn’t change that and it’s almost surely cached somewhere. Pulling it is dishonest or unethical. A better approach is to do a follow-up post and say that you were wrong…or hasty…or misinformed. Or you just changed your mind about what you wrote. All okay. Deleting posts is considered very bad form and you’ll catch a lot of grief for doing it.
3. Editing posts – Sometimes you get something so wrong that you don’t want to leave it “out there,” uncorrected. The generally accepted way to handle this is to use a strike-through.
Example: “The senator owed $500,000 $200,000 in back taxes.”
You’ve corrected something that was inaccurate but you did so openly, letting readers see what you changed in your post.
4. Attribution – It’s common practice among bloggers to grab text from another blog or website and include it a post on their blog. Better bloggers take the time to rewrite. And there’s no reason not to put the original material in quotation marks or italics. At the very least, you should link back to the original story or blog post and attribute your source. And if you see an interesting post on someone’s blog and write about it on your blog… it’s considered good form to acknowledge this in your post…frequently at the end [via smays.com]
5. Use category tags – Tagging your posts with one or more categories makes it easy for a reader to see all of your posts on a particular subject. But don’t get carried away.
6. Link freely – Unless you’re a brilliant and original writer, much of the value in your blog posts will be links to other blogs and websites. Most blogging applications feature “permalinks,” which make it easy to permanently link to a specific blog post (as opposed to linking to the “home page” of the blog).
7. Photos – Given that a blog is just another type of web page, the same guidelines for photos apply. Only use an image when it adds something to the post. Keep it relevant. And, whenever possisble, be consistent with the size and placement of your images.
8. Comments – Most serious bloggers will argue that a blog without comments is not really the “conversation” that bloggers are always writing and talking about. But you’ll find many blogs where comments have been turned off. You can also set your comments so that you’re emailed when a reader has posted a comment so you can approve (or delete). “Comment spam” has become a real headache for many bloggers but the software is getting better at dealing with this issue. The best blogs get lots of comments and they add much to the overall experience.
9. Stay focused – Decide what your blog is about (if it’s about anything) and try to focus your posts in that direction. If you really don’t care who reads your blog or what they think about what you’ve written, then post about anything. But a blog that’s about everything is really about nothing. Try to find a subject that you know and/or care about and write about that. It can be anything (technology, your cat, recipes, politics) but find your niche.
10. Post frequently – The best, most dedicated bloggers post several times a day. Having something fresh every day goes a long way toward bringing people back to your blog. At the very least, try to post a few times a week. If you can’t find the time or the will to do that…ask yourself if you really want to mess with blogging at all.
TiVo Guru Guide
The guys at TiVo have rounded up a bunch of critics, editors and experts to pick as many as 10 of the best programs in their interest areas for each week and update their lists at least once a month. They’re calling it the TiVo Guru Guide. TiVo users who share their interests can elect to have the shows recorded and have a selection ready whenever they sit down. Program pickers will come from Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, H2O (Hip-Hop on Demand),CNet.com and Automobile Magazine. The Guru Guide will be available on the roughly 1.5 million TiVo units owned by direct subscribers to TiVo service. It won’t be available to the 2.9 million who get TiVo via DirecTV. So it’s a cool idea I can’t take advantage of.
I might actually use this (if I could) because I like/trust TiVo. I’d like it even more if I could rate the pickers. For example, they could offer movie picks from 5 different “experts.” Over time, based on their picks, I might narrow that down to just one or two whose opinions most closely match my own. [via Buzz Machine]