Tag Archives: television

“How to make trillions of dollars”

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David Cain is (Raptitude) helping me (and many others) “get better at being human.” In this post he explains how television has been used by “very-high-level marketers” to create a nation of people who typically:

  • work almost all the time
  • absorb several hours of advertising every night, in their own homes
  • are tired and unhealthy and vaguely dissatisfied with their lives
  • respond to boredom, dissatisfaction, or anxiety only by buying and consuming things
  • have disposable income but can’t find a more fulfilling line of work without losing their health insurance
  • create health problems for themselves, which can be treated with drugs they can “ask their doctor about”
  • own far more items than they use, and believe they don’t have enough
  • are easily distracted from the unhealthy state of their lives and their culture by breaking news and celebrity gossip
  • perpetually convince themselves it is not the right time to make major lifestyle changes
  • happily buy stuff that breaks within a year, and which nobody knows how to fix
  • have learned, through the media’s culture of blame-mongering, that the key to solving public and private issues is to find the right people to hate

Wow. Sound like anyone you know?

I’m trying to stop watching the evening network news. A tough habit to break. It’s been part of my life since… well, since the beginning of network news. Thanks to DVR technology I can skip all the adds to which Mr. Cain refers.

My friend (and one of the 5 smartest guys I know) Henry has eliminated “news” completely. Or so he says. I’m not sure how one does that. But if anyone can, it’s Henry. He makes a compelling case that knowing the news adds nothing to his life. He’s very well (selectively?) informed, so…

The excerpts above don’t tell you much about “how to make trillions of dollars” so I encourage you to read the full post if that’s something you’d like to do.

    Gas Station TV

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    My first look at GSTV (Gas Station TV) was at a Phillips 66 station on I-55. It probably took me no longer than 3 or 4 minutes to fill up and I guess there really isn’t much to do with that time, so why not. There were these really short sports/weather/news segments with commercial messages between each. Really can’t imagine someone paying for these but they obviously do. I foresee a time when we pay a premium to AVOID being hammered by ads. Ransom Ads.

    TV station gets iPads, saves on paper and looks hip

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    Last week, news anchors and producers at Barrington Broadcasting Group’s WFXL Albany, Ga., replaced their paper scripts with electronic versions displayed on the iPad. They project the move will save nearly $10,000 a year in paper costs. From the original story:

    “Newscast scripts are composed as usual. But rather than printing to paper, the final version is formatted as a PDF file and transmitted to each iPad via e-mail. The PDF translation is handled by iAnnotate by Aji.LLC, a $7 program sold and downloaded via Apple’s App Store.

    Although WFXL doesn’t employ iPads as teleprompters, it could if it chose to. Apple’s App Store already offers two third-party applications for scrolling copy on the iPad: Nairo Techology’s iPrompter for $2.99 and Bombing Brain Interactive’s Teleprompt+ for $9.99, which allows any iPhone to double as a remote controller.

    In addition, hardware vendor Bodelin Technologies offers a new version of its through-the-lens ProPrompter HDi display, which mounts the iPad as a prompter monitor on both studio and field cameras. The $850 device includes “professional” display software, which is also controllable through an iPhone or iPod Touch.”

    And they look pretty cool. No small thing in the world of TV news.

    I predict it will become common practice to cover the Apple logo with the station logo.

    Why radio news guys don’t do social

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    Papper: Radio News Does not Make Use of Social Media from Poynter Institute on Vimeo.

    From Mashable: “Although Facebook and Twitter are popular with TV stations, only 27% of radio newsrooms use Twitter and 1% have a Facebook page. The survey’s conductor, Robert Papper of Hofstra University, said the contrast in usage is due to staff size. “If you had a staff of three or more, you were involved in a number of social networking things. If you did not hit that magic number you were not involved.” He explains why radio stations do not participate more in social media in the video clip above.”

    Steve Safran on RTDNA@NAB 2010

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    “The future of broadcasting” is the title or subtitle or subtext of nearly every panel here. But I’m not seeing a lot of the future. I’m seeing and hearing people who want to keep a hold onto the past. They want to do it in some futuristic ways, sure, but using a template that has passed its expiration date.”

    “…as the RTDNA winds down its relationship with NAB, I’m a little sad. When I first started coming to this convention in the early 2000s, the discussions were about “the future.” The discussions are still about “the future” except it’s all Back to the Future. 3D. Protecting journalism from the hoards of camera-toting iPhoners. Broadcasting television in a slightly different way. Fundamentally, the discussion may be about the future, but it’s not nearly futuristic enough.” — Full post here.

    Sivad is “Davis” spelled backward

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    Growing up in Kennett, Missouri, in the 50’s and 60’s, we got our TV from Memphis, 100 miles to the south. But we were blessed with a great selection of movies. One station, WHBQ, billed their offerings, “Million Dollar Movies.” And there was a great sub-set of horror movies (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein, etc) presented as Fantastic Features. The Monster of Ceremonies was SIVAD, the only vampire with a hush-puppy southern accent.

    How big was Sivad? He drew 30,000 fans to the Mid-South Fairgrounds, breaking the Beatles attendance record). You can learn more about Sivad and alter ego Watson Davis here.

    Much thanks to Charles Jolliff for tipping us to this pop-culture flash-back.

    Is this the future of advertising?

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    First, I am assuming this was a paid commercial. And I’m assuming Domino’s Pizza paid a premium. The ultimate “live read.” As I watched, I realized I was paying very close attention, trying to figure out what I was seeing.

    Whose idea was this? The show’s writers? You damn well better have good writers if you’re going to try this. Was it Domino’s idea? Their ad agency?

    My next thought was, this is a one trick pony. You can’t do this every night. Or even every week. But then it hit me, you wouldn’t need to. This segment had 100% of my attention. I clearly got the message that Domino’s Pizza was trying to make their product a lot better. I don’t need to see some mindless 30 second spot over and over.

    This… whatever it is… didn’t insult my intelligence. It played to it in a tongue-in-cheek manner ideally suited to those who watch The Colbert Report. I have no trouble imagining an advertiser paying big bucks for this.

    Apple to offer online TV subscriptions?

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    I’d hate to see the math on what DirecTV really costs, based on how many channels/programs I watch each month. And I thought I wouldn’t live to see a) cable/sat unbundle programming or b) a serious alternative. But maybe I was wrong.

    “Apple is eliciting tentative interest from some networks in its proposal to offer a TV subscription package via the Internet. Theoretically, customers would be able to tune in online, allowing them to cancel their cable or satellite subscriptions.

    Broadband Internet subscriptions to TV networks could potentially destabilize the bedrock of the television business, which relies on subscribers paying for dozens of bundled channels.

    The blog All Things D reported last month that Apple was proposing a $30-a-month supplement to its iTunes service to the networks. The networks would receive monthly payments from Apple.”

    Rest of the story is here.

    “The Death of Local News”

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    LocalNewser: Michael Rosenblum on the Death of Local News from Mark Joyella on Vimeo. “Michael Rosenblum’s been around the local news biz for decades, along the way helping create New York’s all-news NY1 and Al Gore’s Current TV. Rosenblum’s consulted for stations across the country and around the world, and yet he believes the model that’s kept local news alive since the 1950s is broken, and the only way to repair it–drastic changes in the way news stations operate–just won’t happen. Rosenblum tells LocalNewser’s Mark Joyella local news is like GM: sticking with a recipe that put them on top five decades ago, but will drive them to bankruptcy today.”

    My favorite line: When Google does news in New York, it aint gonna start in the CBS building with a chopper. Or something to that effect. Video runs about 2 1/2 min.

    Black & white dreams

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    My dreams always seem to happen at night. Rather the dream scenario unfolds after dark. Or so I’ve always thought. Could be all those episodes of I Love Lucy.

    “A 2008 study at the University of Dundee in the U.K. found that people who grew up when television was invented sometimes have dreams in black and white, while those who have experienced only color television usually have colorful dreams.”

    “…almost all of our dreams have a narrative quality. Most of the ones we remember also have some sort of troubling aspect to them, which is why they stick out in our minds.”

    From article on what blind people see when they dream.