Is Jack FM the long tail of radio?

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The main problem with radio is not the relatively small size of the playlists (although that doesn’t help); it’s that music is polarizing–people may like one song but hate the next, so they’re prone to switch stations or switch off entirely. As MTV found out a decade ago, there simply is no single playlist that can keep enough people listening long enough to please the advertisers. MTV switched to reality shows because they’re sticky. Radio is switching to talk for the same reason.

It is the curse of broadcast: with just a few dozen stations in each city, most must aggregate audiences in the tens of thousands. In an era of infinite choice and narrowcasting, such mass-market broadcast distribution–the ultimate one-size-fits-all model–just can’t compete.

— Chris Anderson on the future of music on radio

I have not heard the Jack format and think it unlikely I will. The little nano is getting more and more of my limited listening time (mostly podcasts, some music). I’m even listening to XM less since getting the little iPod.

Cancellation great for ‘Arrested Development’

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Lost Remote offers a fascinating alternative to today’s TV model: “Getting cancelled is the best possible thing that could have happened to Arrested Development. No longer shackled by the whim of a fickle network, “AD” can take advantage of all the technologies now available for video delivery and make more money. The model is just waiting to happen: AD, a pioneer in its style of comedy, should pioneer this, too.”

If you’re in the network business (TV or radio), this is worth a read. [via The Long Tail]

Time capsule: June 3, 1984

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1984 journalWhile cleaning up my home office I came across an old spiral notebook that’s been gathering dust for a long time. I flipped it open to take a look before tossing and discovered a journal I kept during much of 1984, my first year at Learfield. Seems I had the blogging bug way back then. I promise not to make you relive 1984, but I might share an entry from time to time.

June 3, 1984

Left Kennett at 7:45 a.m., arrived Jefferson City at 1:15 p.m. Beautiful day, beautiful drive. Coming over the hill just outside of town, saw the city in among the rolling hills. Beautiful.

Went to the office and visited with Jeff Smith. I’m doing my best to keep a good positive attitude, but I’m scared shitless. I honestly believe there’s no one they could have hired who would be any better at this job than me. Anyone would face the same problems I’ll face and I know that I can handle them. Every instinct tells me this is a genuine milestone in my life. The other path was a kind of defeatism. A ‘giving up’ and setteling for less. This is the time; this is the job; this…is…it.

I had forgotten how nervous I was those first few weeks. And my rah-rah, motivational tape approach to things. It seems a little silly now but I think all that stuff helped get me through a few tough spots. See you at the top!

Nursing home bloggers

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A couple of years ago I wondered if they have Internet access in nursing homes. I thought it made sense back then but now it seems…inevitable. I’m sure there must be nursing homes with net access for residents. But are there people living in nursing homes who are blogging? If so, (and there must be) it would seem to raise some interesting issues.

Most of Barb’s clients are individuals or corporations in the area of “long term care.” And she’s something of an expert in this area, but she really didn’t have ready answers to my questions. Good lawyers seldom do.

Here’s a scenerio: I’m 75 years old and still have most of my marbles but my kids don’t think I should be living alone so we all agree I should move into Sunnyvale Estates where I can get the day-to-day care I need. I have my own room and my one phone-line. Every day I flip open my Thinkpad, log in to my Typepad account, and blog away.

Let’s say I notice a little whiff scotch on the breath of the aide that brings me my lunch (luke-warm hotdog cut into tiny, no-choke bites…and apple sauce). I report it to the administration but they don’t do anything, so I blog it. A reporter for the New York Times happens to be researching a story on nursing homes and finds my blog. (Sound of shit hitting the adult diaper).

Or maybe I’m bed-fast for a while and I start getting a bed sore. So I take a photo with my little digital camera and post it to my blog. Hello!

My question to Barb was: Could the nursing home administration keep me from blogging. Did I give up my first-amendment rights when I moved in? Certainly the other residents have a right to privacy and I couldn’t/shouldn’t violate that with my blogging. But let’s say I stuck pretty much with my life and care in the facility. Can the nursing home stop me? And on what grounds?

I can’t believe this hasn’t come up yet. A Technorati search on “nursing home” lists 53,000+ posts. Looks like there are lots of posts about family members who are in nursing homes but (the few I scanned) didn’t appear to be written by a resident.

One might argue that by the time someone has to move to a nursing home, they are no longer capable of maintaining a blog. I spent a good deal of time in an excellent facility where my father spent the last few years of his life. And many of the residents probably could not have handled the logistics of blogging, even if they knew what it was.

But that was then and this is now. When we boomers move to Sunnyvale, we’re damn sure gonna want net access and we’ll have it with high-speed, state-of-the-art mobile phones. And a few million of us will be bloggers. An enlightened administrator would get out in front of this. Hell, blogging might be better for the residents than bingo. And it might offer other benefits. Why not encourage it. Might even be a good idea to have the Sunnyvale Estates Blog so you can engage in the conversation swirling around you.

[When I moved from Blogger to Typepad, I lost the link to the excellent cartoon site from which image above was linked. If anyone can provide the url, I’d like to add it here.]

Update: Found this AP story over at MSNBC: “Web savvy seniors embrace blogs”

State of “flow” like playing jazz

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For several years now I have found myself in a semi-manic state of mind that, initially, had me concerned. Fortunately, a professional friend recognized what I have been experiencing as “flow,” and gave me a book that explains the concept:

“People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow) describes flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

People we don’t know

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Yahoo Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig on traditional media: “We don’t know who your editors are. All our lives we read stuff written by people we don’t know that’s edited by people we don’t know, who might have an agenda.” [News.com article by Charles Cooper]

Why do we readers need to know anything about the people that write and edit the news? Can’t we just take it as a matter of faith (there’s that religion theme again) that they are professional journalists and we can trust what they say and write?

I am not a journalist, and whatever it is I am doing here, it is not journalism. But if you’ve been reading smays.com for a while, you know that. In fact, you know a hell of a lot about me. If I’ve held anything back, it’s been unconscious. Does that make anything I write any more believable? I can’t answer for you but from my perspective the answer is clearly yes. I’ve been reading Dave Winer’s Scripting News for four or five years and the guy has some strong opinions. Anyone who reads that blog knows exactly what they are. It makes it easier for me to evaluate what he writes and reports.

But some would insist I trust and believe what Jason Blair was reporting in the New York Times just because it was the NYT. Oops.

Newsroom transubstantiation

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Some interesting posts on the Mothboard about the state of radio. Dale Forbis concluded his with a finger-wag at bloggers:

“Somebody truly needs to tell bloggers, the minute you express an opinion, you are no longer committing journalism. Journalism’s not better, or more valuable — but it also doesn’t include opinion expressed by the journalist. Or, it’s not supposed to. Not good, responsible journalism.”

Most bloggers I know and read don’t think of what they do as journalism. And I’m sure Dale’s scolding tone is unintentional. But I’ve been in many of the same newsrooms he has and I’ve heard reporters take strong, heated stands on controversial issues. Conservatives vs. Liberals. Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice. Gun control. All the biggies. And then sit down and write a story on the same issue they were debating only moments before.

Are we to believe some sort of Miraculous Purge takes place and the reporters’ mind and heart are cleansed and the story he or she writes is untainted by the views expressed only moments before? A newsroom transubstantiation?

I don’t doubt that many reporters believe in this miracle, but it’s a faith not shared by their listeners/viewers/readers. Could it be that blogs are growing in popularity precisely because there is no pretense of objectivity? If we have an opinion, we flop it out there on the table.

I, for one, have no desire to commit journalism. And I hope there’s always someone around willing to do it. And if they can keep their political views and opinions out of their reporting, I’ll light a candle.

Update: When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. Dale took me to task on this post and upon reflection I confess to having too much tar on my brush and smearing it indiscriminately. I know and work with a lot of good reporters who work hard at –and, as far as I know, succeed in– keeping their personal views out of their reporting. To suggest otherwise was wrong.

Who will own the podcasting rights?

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From an article by Dan Migala in the Sports Business Journal (subscription required):

“The NHL’s Blackhawks have launched Hawk-Cast, which is the first podcast created by an NHL team. A new edition of Hawk- Cast, which is a 10- or 15-minute show, is available two to three times a week. The show is hosted and produced by Blackhawks Web producer Adam Kempenaar using only a computer with audio recording capability and Internet access. The HawkCast features updates from practices and interviews with players, coaches and team management. Postgame news conferences and player interviews are also available as podcasts at www.chicagoblackhawks.com.”

As an employee of a company that pays millions of dollars every year for the media rights to some of the top college teams in the country, this next little item caught my attention:

“Another plus for the Blackhawks is that, because the content is original and produced in-house, there are no conflicts with radio rights holders. The team is free to sell advertising and sponsorships for each podcast or program segment. Kempenaar said the club has not sold advertising yet, but plans to do so.”

I remember the first time we saw a reference to streaming rights in a college bid spec. You can bet we’ll be seeing references to podcasting rights in future rights deals.

Robert Tanenbaum’s ghost writer

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I’ve walked out on more than a few movies but I almost never fail to finish a novel. I try to get through even the dullest of books. But I just can’t finish Robert Tanenbaum’s latest Butch Karp novel, Fury. I loved this series and was puzzled and disappointed as I slogged through the first hundred pages of the latest in the series. I couldn’t believe the words were written by Robert Tanenbaum. Then I came across a mini-review (of a previous Karp novel that I somehow missed) on Amazon:

“Unlike the previous books in Tanenbaum’s oeuvre, this one lacks the skill and verve of Michael Gruber (Tropic of Night), the uncredited writer largely responsible for making the series come alive on the page. Whoever took over needs to learn the difference between telling and showing before he or she tackles the next in Tanenbaum’s series.”

Pardon me? What the fuck is an “uncredited writer?” Just how much of Tanenbaum’s novels were written by Mr. Gruber? This probably happens in the publishing world all the time and I’m too far out the sticks to know about it, but it sucks. I’ve read my last Butch Karp novel and will let you know how I enjoy Mr. Gruber’s work.

In the meantime, I’m cleansing myself with John D. MacDonald’s Nightmare In Pink.