Godcasts

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Kyle Lewis missed going to church one Sunday last month. But he did not miss the sermon. Mr. Lewis, who regularly attends services of the National Community Church in Alexandria, Va., listened to the sermon while he was at the gym, through a recording he had downloaded to his iPod. Instead of listening to the rock music his gym usually plays, he heard his pastor’s voice. [NYTimes.com]

This just makes so much sense to me. I can’t believe every church isn’t doing this. Back in my radio days, the local churches paid to get air time and had to fight for it at that. I look for lots of applications like this. Literally every meeting will be recorded and made available online. School board meetings, chamber of commerce meetings…whatever.

Blogger sued over reader comment

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I have always been ambivalent about adding comments to my posts. I know it’s the “right” thing to do but I don’t want to spend even 5 minutes monitoring and deleting crap. And while it’s not the same, anyone can email me if they have something to say and I frequently add it to the post.

And now we read that a blogger is being sued as a result of something someone wrote in a comment to one of his posts. Maybe it’s like inviting half a dozen close friends over for a few beers. You can discuss and argue and even yell dirty words at each other and that’s okay. But you don’t want some dildo off the street to come in and join the conversation. At least I don’t. I gotta think some more about this.

Brian Williams’ blog

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NBC news anchor Brian Williams has been blogging (The Daily Nightly) for a few months and seems to be doing a pretty good job of it. He’s careful not to “traffic in gossip or observations that might breach his journalistic objectivity” and tends to focus more on the deliberations among his colleagues at NBC Nightly News.

This is just the kind of peek behind the scenes I think would be good for our news networks but I don’t see it happening anytime soon (see previous post). Most reporters do not feel they need to explain or justify their reports or stories and the last thing they want to do is interact with their readers/listeners. Is Brian Williams less of a journalist now that he’s contributing to a blog? More on this at NYTIMES.com (you might need a password).

Bloggers wanted

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USATODAY.com: Retailers are creating blogs to promote brand awareness and sales. A recent study by online market research firm ComScore Networks found that shoppers who visit blogs spend about 6% more than the average online shopper. “The people who spend time on our blog are the people who are … the very top customers that we have,” says a former CEO of fashion catalog Spiegel.

I’m of the opinion that EVERY company should be blogging. No one is interested in your static, boring “About Us” website. And, frankly, I’ve got a few of those up myself. If you’re gonna be online, talk to your customers. Listen to them. Blog.

But I have a hunch it’s going to be harder to find people to feed the blog beast than than we realize. It almost certainly won’t be the guy that writes your bullshit company news releases. I used to write radio commercials and I’m pretty sure that in no way prepares someone to blog. And a lot of news writers are terrible at the blog format. So I’m wondering, why is it so hard for some folks to write a decent blog post? I think it probably has something to do with honesty. Specifically, that “voice” thing.

Blogging is kind of like writing a letter to a friend…but letting the entire world read over your should. And if you’re faking it, people somehow know it. In much the same way the “America’s Funniest Home Videos” producers know when they’re watching a true candid moment or something staged.

I had lunch with Chuck this week. He’s been blogging for less than six months but picked it up quickly. We talked about where you would look to find people to hire to blog for a business or organzation. The first thing that popped into my head was, I would never hire someone to blog professionally if they were not already blogging. Frankly, there would be no way to know if they could do it…unless they WERE doing it.

I’m not sure I could get a job as a blogger. But the real acid test would be right here at smays.com. If you’re reading this, you probably know everything you need to know about me. No personality profile. No writing tests. You could probably skip the interview. If you couldn’t hire me based on what I’ve posted here, you wouldn’t want me. Blogging is about honesty and transparency and hanging it out there. Could someone scam me with a bogus blog? Could they fake it? Maybe for a few posts… but it would be hard work to keep up that kind of charade for weeks or months.

If I had to go looking for a new job tomorrow, I would not bother updating a resume. I’d just send them here. They could read for 3 minutes or three hours and know everything they need to know about me.

Steve Spurrier Podcast

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New South Carolina Head Football Coach Steve Spurrier has the highest SEC winning percentage in history. And he is –I am told by those that know– something of rock star among big-name football coaches. Our company produces the Gamecock football broadcasts and the weekly call-in show, featuring Spurrier and the the play-by-play guy. Tomorrow night is the first show and in addition to airing on a bunch of SC radio stations…and streaming at Yahoo! Broadcast… we’ve set up a podcast feed. There has been almost zero publicity on this but I’ve got a feeling fans will find this quickly. Thursday nights from 7:05 – 8:00 p.m. EDT

Jeff Jarvis: Don’t own the content. Don’t own distribution

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Another thought-provoking post by Jeff Jarvis on the “value” of owning content or distribution:

Owning the printing press, broadcast tower, cable plant, movie theater, or chain of stores is a cost burden when your competitors and customers can, without friction, effort or cost, bypass your distribution and even your marketing. So don’t own the content. Help people make and find and remake and recommend and save the content they want. Don’t own the distribution. Gain the trust of the people to help them use whatever distribution and medium they like to find what they want. It’s hard for somone raised on the value of owning content and owning distribution to let go of exclusivity and instead value openness and participation.

I’ve been blogging long enough to buy into the idea of the web as a conversation but it’s a damned hard concept to explain. Much easier to grasp the idea of producing programming (content)…pumping it over some kind of distribution channel (radio/TV signal, newspaper, etc)…mixing in some ads…and feeding it all to the consumer (audience).

Thou shalt not terminate with extreme sanction

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Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, a leftist who sits atop the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East:

“If he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop.”

Terrestrial radio still #1

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Paragon Media has released the third and final part of its study on new media’s effects on radio. The company collected 400 respondents between the ages of 15 and 64 to complete the study about new media usage and its effect on broadcast radio listening. In the study, Paragon focused on new media including satellite radio, internet radio, MP3 players, podcasting and personalized CDs.

The latest findings show that terrestrial radio is the #1 source for listening to music. When asked “What is your primary source for listening to music?,” 51 percent of respondents said radio. Purchased CDs were next with 30 percent of the vote, and radio also beat out television, personalized CDs, music downloads, satellite radio and Internet radio.

Need more proof? The National Association of Broadcasters cites two additional studies in a recent newsletter:

Michigan State University found that few are giving up their traditional radio habits. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they’ve spent as much or more time listening to local radio compared to last year. And, 95% expect to listen as much or more local radio in the coming year. A whopping 88% think their local station provides valuable service to community. And half of those surveyed with satellite radio reported reception problems while driving.

Eastlan study found more than four out of five Americans have no interest in subscribing to satellite radio. The findings were nearly identical to a 2001 Eastlan study. Only five percent of Eastlan study respondents were satellite radio subscribers.

Okay everybody… go back inside. The excitement’s over, nothing to see here. Let’s get back to work.

Does your web site suck?

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“Agency websites suck, launch a weblog” is the subject of a post at AdRants.com. Replace “agency” with “your company” and see if it still makes sense.

“Right now, agencies might be saying, “What do we need a weblog for? We already have a web site.” Great. Take an honest look at it. Is it much more than a creative showcases (if that) and management bios? Aside from a few short paragraphs on your so-called “proprietary process” is there any value there for the reader? Are you offering anything that gives insight into the way your agency thinks and what your opinion is on the current state of advertising? If so, great. Most likely. though it is not.”

A good example of the difference between a “typical” web site and a blog? AgriMarketing.com and AgWired.com. I think the company I work for could be using blogs more effectively. But “brochure” web sites are safe and blogs are risky. And if they’re not risky, they’re useless and ineffective.