Journalists like control

Posted on by

“You’d think that all those years of probing, criticizing, attacking, and lampooning others would give them Teflon skin. But, no, like a schoolyard bad boy, if you confront them and criticize them back, they turn either weepy or prickly. Can give, can’t take. That is not so surprising, after all, when you realize that this is really an issue of control. In the closed worlds of the newsroom, the page, the show, and the media conference, journalists are in control. In the wide-open world of the web, they’re not. And that’s a tough adjustment for some.”

— Jeff Jarvis thinks journalists have thin skins and explains it as a matter of control

Syngenta Resistance Fighter website

Posted on by

I spottted this at AgWired.com and agree with Chuck, this is pretty cool. The Syngenta Resistance Fighter website is a far cry from the typical “farm” site. Very cleverly done and, as Chuck points out, the radio/audio component is pretty nifty.

Props to Syngenta (and the site creators) for daring to think that farmers are not just a bunch of slow talking guys driving around in pick-up trucks. Why should all ag-related websites have cows and pigs and corn as the focal point.

As a rule, I don’t care for these “click on the file cabinet” navigation schemes but this one is very well done. Will this accomplish Syngenta’s objectives. Who knows? (Well, Syngenta will know) But Chuck linked. And I linked. And maybe you’ll link. And the music comes out here.

Speaking of using the web effectively, Chuck is blogging next week’s World Dairy Expo over at the World Dairy Diary. Based on Chuck’s previous efforts, you’ll know more about the Expo from reading the blog than if you were attending the event in Madison, WI.

Brushes with Near Greatness: Captain Kangaroo

Posted on by

We’ve all experienced brushes with near greatness. These pulse-pounding moments can range from a drunken limo ride with Courtney Love to an elevator ride with someone you’re pretty sure plays for the Cubs. A brush with near greatness does not require that you actually speak to or with the great one, or that they even know you’re in the room.

Today we debut what we hope will be a sustaining feature at smays.com. David –a friend and co-worker– has had not one, but two brushes with near greatness and he was kind enough to share them here. You can download the MP3 file for now and we’ll podcast as soon as I can figure out how to do that.

 

Kennett music news

Posted on by

Kennett correspondent Viretta got an early listen to the new CD by Trent Tomlinson (son of Bragg City/Kennett basketball star Don Tomlinson) and tags it “incredible.” Trent’s been in Nashville for about 12 years and recently signed with Lyric Street Records, a division of Disney headed up by another good old Kennett boy, Doug Howard. Viretta reports the CD will be coming out soon and describes Trent’s lyrcis as “fantastic.” And she would know.

In other music news, we received an email from a nice lady at VH1 asking for permission to use some of the photos of Sheryl Crow at the dedication of the Aquatic Center for a news package they’re putting together. I confessed that all of the good pix were shot by professional photog Bill Greenblatt.

HD radio might not be the answer

Posted on by

Bill Figenshu, former group head for Viacom’s radio group, more recently a SVP at Infinity and a Regional President for Citadel, and now a consultant, on a panel (“Future of Radio”) at the recent National Association of Broadcasters annual meeting:

“I’m concerned when I walk into Circuit City or Best Buy and I ask to see the HD radios — and I know they carry the Kenwood model — and the sales guy takes me to the Sirius display and tells me, “This is it! This is digital.”

More on the NAB at Kurt Hanson’s Radio and Internet Newsletter.

Whirlpool is podcasting

Posted on by

Charlene Li at Forrester writes that Whirlpool is podcasting. The podcasts are produced and moderated by Whirlpool’s director of customer insight, Audrey Reed-Granger, who has a background in broadcasting. And it shows. What’s interesting is the podcasts are focused on family issues and are not centered around Whirlpool products. Moreover, Whirlpool has done no overt promotion of the podcasts, preferring that they be found through word-of-mouth marketing. [via Blogspotting]

Wonderful Library Thing

Posted on by

BooksRegular readers know I love lists. A couple of years ago I made a list of my books at the time, but it’s a paint in the ass to do without a database. Now, a clever guy named Tim Spalding (a web developer, web publisher and search-engine optimizer based in Portland, Maine) has solved this problem and the world is a better place for it.

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid lifetime account allows you to catalog any number of books. I’m just getting started and it’s going to take me a bit to enter all of my titles but once it’s done I’ll have something so much more useful. Thank you, Tim.

Jane Marshall in NYC

Posted on by

Long-time friend and star of The Basement Diaries, Jane Marshall, was in NYC last week for Sheryl Crow’s performance in Bryant Park:

“Stayed up all nite making signs with my friends and left the hotel about 5:45 to make the walk to the park. Even though I don’t know (Sheryl) personally, we were able to get her attention and at the end of her set she gave “a shout out to Kennett, MO” that was enough for us. The concert was good but, what really blew us away is how beautiful Diane Sawyer is. I mean, TV does her no justice at all. We were in awe, she is just stunning.”

You can forget big TV stars and famous recording artists… Jane Marshall in the Big Apple is the show I want to see.

Endangered species

Posted on by

When I started working at KBOA (summer of 1972), Studio A (more commonly known as the “on-air studio” or “the control room”) was always manned. I believe Mr. Rudy was signing on in those days and later shifts were manned by Jeff Wheeler, Charlie Isabell, Charlie Austin, Ted Guffy and Keith Parker. And we were simulcasting the FM during the day with a part-timer running the Cardinal games at night. No automation. No computers. A real, live person cued up the records and played recorded commercials (or read them live). Not very cost effective but a lot of fun for those of us privileged to be “on the radio.”

Between 1984 (when I left KBOA) and around 2000, I traveled all over the midwest visiting radio stations affiliated with our networks. Most in small or very small towns. For many of those 16 years, there were still radio stations with live announcers throughout the day.

Are there any still doing this? I’m not talking about “breaking in” a couple of times an hour to do the weather… I’m looking for one station that still has live announers, sitting in a studio, running the show from sign-on to sign-off. Yes, I understand this makes no sense from a business standpoint. And I can’t give you any good reason why some station owner would be doing this. I’m just asking some of my radio pals to email me if they know of such a relic.

If I can find one, I’ll call them up and see if someone will talk with me about their station and what it’s like to work there (I’ll post the interview here). Better yet, I’ll take my camcorder and get in the car and go visit the station. I’ll record the entire day. We can make a project out of this, like tagging and monitoring Bengal Tigers or some other endangered species.