Tag Archives: Radio Iowa

Gannett “Information Centers”

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The Des Moines Register is not a newspaper anymore, it’s an “information center.” Excerpts from a Gannett memo:

“What is it? The Information Center is a way to gather and disseminate news and information across all platforms, 24/7. The Information Center will let us gather the very local news and information that customers want, then distribute it when, where and how our customers seek it.

“The Information Center, frankly, is the newsroom of the future. It will fulfill today’s needs for a more flexible, broader-based approach to the information gathering process. And it will be platform agnostic: News and information will be delivered to the right media — be it newspapers, online, mobile, video or ones not yet invented — at the right time. Our customers will decide which they prefer.”

This caught my attention because one of our networks (Radio Iowa) is headquartered in Des Moines and I’ve had some dealings (nothing recent) over the years with the paper. The Register is a big deal in Iowa.

If I learn anything about how this new concept is playing in the newsroom… er, the “information center,” I’ll let you know.

Anyone have thoughts on what the radio “newsroom of the future” should look like? [E-Media Tidbits]

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow doing a radio commercials

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Radio Iowa News Director (and blogger) O. Kay Henderson heard White House Press Secretary Tony Snow doing a radio commercial on a Des Moines radio station this week and found it blog-worthy. The New York Times liked the story too:

“Just imagine, you’re listening to the radio, Tony Snow has been speaking to you as the spokesman for the leader of the free world, and then a commercial comes on with him trying to sell you a window,” Ms. Henderson said Thursday. “He introduced himself as Tony Snow, talked about the travails of remodeling projects, boasted about the 30-year history of this business and delivered the 800 number of the business, twice.”

My favorite quote from the story was by Mr. Snow: “It’s like, you don’t have the White House press secretary flacking siding.”

I suppose Kay could have done a “human interest” piece for our network but this is perfect blog-fodder. Not a big deal, just interesting. And how many reporters heard the White House Press Secretary shilling windows on the radio and didn’t think to follow up on it?

The power of the hyperlink

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Iowa Senator Tom Harkin talked, by phone, with a group of Iowa radio reporters on Thursday morning. One of the reporters asked the Senator for his reaction to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s comments about President Bush at the UN. One of our reporters was on that conference call and posted a story about the senator’s response to our website, RadioIowa.com. (“Harkin defends Venezuelan President’s UN speech against Bush”)

Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson blogged the entire story but the short version is The Drudge Report linked to the story…a shit storm rained down on Senator Harkin…his people try to get Kay to change the headline of our story on the web… a long, stressful day for everyone.

This is just one more small example of how the web has changed things. The stations the other radio reporters (on the conference call) work for probably all have websites but I don’t think they post news stories. So, in all likelihood, our little story was the only one online, at least initially.

BTW (Before the Web), one or all of those reporters might have aired the story on a couple of newscasts and people in Des Moines or Sioux City might have been pissed at the senator. And even if the wire services picked it up, it would have taken a little time to ripple out, and the reaction would have been diluted.

It’s now Saturday morning and I googled “Tom Harkin.” The top search result is: “Hearing Is Believing” on what appears to be a blog called Power Line.

“Harkin must have taken some heat for his comments on the radio, because he put a completely different statement on his web site, after the fact. To see what he really thinks, listen to the audio below.”

Power Line didn’t bother to link to our story or mention our network by name. And they stole our audio and posted the MP3 file to their site. But no matter. You get the idea.

Media was once an orderly thing:
Local radio station(s) – Local newspaper
Handful of larger city newspapers, TV stations & radio stations
Statewide radio network
Associated Press
National media

You could manage these. If you were clever, you could spin and control them a little. No more. We’re all breathing the same media air.

If Senator Harkin does the radio reporter conference call again, I sure would like to listen in.

Show business is my life

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Radio Iowa News Queen O. Kay Henderson emailed this affiliate update:

“As you know, KICD news director Brent Palm left to take a job at Minnesota News Network. His replacement is Tim Torkildson. Mr. T worked in radio 12 to 15 years ago. He left radio to become a clown and ringmaster for a traveling circus. He’s now left that career, settled in Spencer and is starting his third week on the job.”

Welcome back, Tim. I’d surely love to interview you for smays.com.

Best tool for the job (Example #2)

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Radio Iowa News Dirctor Kay Henderson covered the Iowa GOP and Democratic State Conventions today in Des Moines and her “tool of choice” was her blog.

Kay is not double-jointed (as far as I know) but she has a knack or skill (super power?)…she can type blazing fast. Her posts from the conventions are not verbatim but they’re damned close.

As I read them, I was reminded of an earlier post here at smays.com where I pondered the best tool for covering a live event. I guesss a live video or audio feed of these speeches would have been cool but I think I can make a case for Kay’s posts being “better.” I mean, Jesus, the speeches are on line before the applause dies down.

This is what happens when you equip a really good reporter with a blog.

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.”

Ad agencies dropping “radio” for “audio”

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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.

You can watch the panel discussion here. [via RAIN]

World Peace Conference

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A Hollywood director with a reputation for making violent, bizarre films is headlining what’s billed as a world peace conference in southeast Iowa this weekend. Known for movies like “Mulholland Drive,” “Blue Velvet” and the T-V series “Twin Peaks,” David Lynch is also on the board of directors at Maharishi University in Fairfield. He says perpetual world peace will result by assembling eight-thousand people to continuously practice transcendental meditation. Lynch says “It brings peace, real peace, and peace is not just the absence of war. This real peace, being enlivened, drives negativity away like light drives darkness away.”

How do you build web traffic?

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1. You can buy ads in the Super Bowl. You can rent billboards on the Interstate. You can trade links with a thousand websites nobody gives a shit about.

2. Or you can create unique, compelling, relevent content. People interested in that content will tell other people interested in that content and on and on.

If you can’t do #2, it doesn’t matter if you can do #1. And the music comes out here.

If you watched any TV news (CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox) during the past 24 hours you might have seen the story about Laura Bush commenting on The Memos. The audio was from an interview the First Lady did with Kay Henderson, the news director of Radio Iowa, our statewide radio news network headquartered in Des Moines. Apparantly, this was the first comment by someone in the Bush camp on “the documents.” Just about every news organization in the country picked up Kay’s piece. And she had the savvy to send them all to RadioIowa.com.

Naked Cowboy

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“Before I start telling you about the protests, the Broadway show and my next door deli, I must tell you about the Naked Cowboy. He’s a nearly-naked guy who stands in the middle of Times Square (in the island in the midst of the street), plays his guitar and sings. He wears a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and white briefs with the words “naked cowboy” on the rear which kind of reminds me of the sorority girls at college who would have their sorority’s greek letters plastered to the back of their shorts or sweats. Not a good idea to call attention to that area. Unless you are the naked cowboy.” 

Radio Iowa News Director O. Kay Henderson blogging the convention in NY.