Archive for category Radio
It’s a small world…..
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Social Media, Technology, Television on August 10th, 2010
In the Dark Ages - about two years ago - newspaper companies with a healthy stable of smaller to medium size properties felt like they had the ultimate insurance policy. Perceived remoteness.
“It’ll be years before Google, Yahoo and the rest discover us,” was the line of thought, as they watched the metros they owned struggle with competition from new digital information sources.
It was “years” before the big guys discovered the smaller players. About two, in fact.
So much for “perceived remoteness.” Like the song says, it really is a small, small world.
When the big guys looked, they saw “remote” markets that weren’t that remote. Maybe suburban towns and cities that lost their zoned editions - and news-gathering capabilities at the same time - in reactive cost-cutting efforts by the metros. Perhaps they were still served by a community newspaper that believed print would carry them to the next generation, not yet plugged in to the need to compete digitally.
They also found cities of good-size population, a couple hours’ drive from big metro areas. And they found these papers making money. So maybe this was a good market after all, right? “Bird’s nest on the ground,” as a buddy of mine says.
What happened? A bunch of hyper-local companies jumped right in. There were as many different formulas as there were companies.
None of them caught hold in a big way. But that was two years ago - remember, the Dark Ages.
Now AOL is making a run at it, pumping $50 million into a company called Patch Media. Out of the blue I got a cold call from a recruiter, scouring LinkedIn for editor/business types in my city - Atlanta - where they will be rolling out many sites soon.
Clear from the beginning that I was happy and quiet busy work-wise, we nonetheless talked about their approach - in case I knew anyone (and I did, and passed along names).
Just like any good community newspaper, their staffers will live in the community they cover and be part of that community. They clearly understand that connection.
Their people will work hard, pound the pavement, file from coffee shops wth free Internet service and generally act like community newspaper employees. It won’t be easy.
You can find debate in several areas about whether Patch is just really efficient or runs a sweatshop. But when you run the sweatshop claim up against the newspaper industry - never been known for short hours and great pay - it becomes an academic debate.
There are plenty of out-of-work newspaper-types signing on, and good for them if that’s what they want.
This year Patch plans to launch “hundreds” of local web sites. The $50 million in expansion cash can be chewed up pretty quickly across a national network.
Bu regardless of whether Patch succeeds or not - and they seem to have a better shot than most that have come before - this ought to be one more of many, many shots fired across the bow of newspapers who think they don’t have to worry about that pesky ol’ web site.
Because Patch is not alone out there. Look for more on local from Yahoo! this year. Two years ago - Dark Ages again - who would have thought Yahoo! would be publishing a hard copy book - called “The Yahoo! Style Guide”? When you’re writing for the web, will you buy the Yahoo! book or AP book?
What will small and medium-sized newspapers do, faced with this bothersome development in an already troubling time?
Please don’t do what your metro kin did and wait for the bad times to pass.
And don’t blame AOL and Patch and the other local news wannabees. They see a market that they think is underserved digitally, so here they come. It’s called free enterprise.
Most smaller to medium-size newspapers still have a strong hand. They are profitable, respected in their communities, have the reporting resources and knowledge in place, not to mention outstanding local ad sales capabilities.
But are those papers paying attention to digital, focusing on their web sites, looking to grow them and increase revenue? Many are doing just that, and there are some tremendous web operations and products in medium and small markets.
In those markets, a tip of the pressman’s folding newsprint hat to the local newspaper.
In other markets, where the web site is of little interest or attention, don’t fret.
Soon, there will be a nice, community-focused web site in your market, either from a suddenly-alert newspaper or other media outlet. Or from someone like Patch.
Because it’s a small world after all.
Two news sites to watch
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Newspapers, Radio, Television on November 6th, 2009
Everyone knows that media sites - particularly newspapers - are struggling mightily to find the right Internet business model, one that will sustain them as print continues to decline and digital becomes more important and no longer viewed as an interesting appendage, as it has been by too many in the recent past.
Anyone who cares about the value and integrity of news and its importance to our everyday life is pulling for each newspaper, television station and radio station to figure it out. Not all will. And at those who don’t, the “cut-expenses-until-we’re-profitable” model won’t work, because there will be nothing left to cut.
It will take more than a sharp budget knife to succeed.
While we are rooting with vigor for media sites to find that elusive model, keep an eye on these guys: www.sdnn.com and www.texastribune.org .
The first one - ww.sdnn.com - is San Diego News Network.
Take a look. It looks feels and acts like a “traditional” news site (whatever that means these days), but if you spend more than a minute there - and you should spend many minutes there if you’re interested in the future of local digital news - you will be satisfied with not only its completeness, but its fun feel, and its very, very community-centric approach. For an example, navigate to The Good Squad on their site.
The San Diego site was the first of an ambitious rollout plan. The second site is www.swrnn.com. It just launched, covering Southwest Riverside, California. Next is Orange County.
The goal is news sites in 40 U.S. and Canadian cities over the next 30 months.
The local news network sites reside under the U.S. Local News Network banner, a company founded by local technology entrepreneur Neil Senturia. He has built a strong staff, including President Chris Jennewein, a long-time newspaper-focused digital expert who has been in digital so long he could argue with Al Gore that HE actually invented the Internet.
Even if you’re not interested in San Diego, their site is worth watching.
Same for the Austin-based site, The Texas Tribune.
The site is a non-profit, doesn’t accept ads and exists on the support of donations and sponsors.
It’s run by former Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith, with backing from venture capitalist John Thornton.
It’s a political journalist’s dream site, loaded with serious articles and insight into the game of Texas politics. In a state with a rich and storied, and sometimes sordid, political tradition, it’s got the right topic to cover.
Time will tell on both.
But in a traditional news environment that has focused on regurgitating print for so many years, these sites may have something to teach others.
What’s a j-school to do?
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Television on August 25th, 2009
The media industry seeks a path to survival, even as the layoffs continue. The cost-cutting is far from over. There’s talk of a modest rebound for newspapers in 2010, but how do you define rebound?
So how do the educational institutions that provide the talent and energy to help save the business succeed in this very ugly environment, when it’s hard to recommend journalism as a career without feeling a hint of guilt?
What’s a j-school to do?
Adapt, and survive. Maybe even prosper.
Naturally so much focus today is on the industry overall, how it got into this mess, how it gets out, what’s left when the rebound takes hold.
But there’s a huge “related” industry - the colleges and universities that help produce the journalists of the future, and the vendors that provide the tools and technology for newspapers to march into that unknown future.
A different topic for a different day, but at its core, the vendors who support the industry will survive - or not - as they always have: free enterprise competition, who provides the best and most innovative widget, at the best price, with the best service.
What about journalism schools? Those of us who went through j-school like to think there are different forces and values at play: the importance of a free press, a journalist’s unique role in society, ethics, morality, responsibilities. My j-school days were filled with those elevated thoughts, along with the realities of how do you make a living on that tiny salary.
Not much has changed, but there is one more big question out there: after I land my first job will my newspaper survive?
Despite all these fears and doom and gloom, journalism enrollment is soaring.
But why? Every j-school professor has his/her ideas, but a few to consider:
1. Just because you’re in j-school doesn’t mean you have to work at a newspaper.
2. Communication skills that you learn in j-school work anywhere, and there is always a need for people who can read, write and communicate cleanly and effectively.
3. Who wants to take math and science courses?
4. It’s a brave new world in the media; lets go along for the ride.
5. Surely, newspapers will figure out the Web one day and let’s be there when it happens.
As enrollment soars, the savvy schools are taking steps to make sure they lead the way for students.
And those j-schools are more likely to not only survive but thrive. Word gets around, as would-be students look around for the best j-school offerings. Students don’t want to learn to draw pages on paper dummies. They want to be challenged and go with a winner, a j-school looking ahead past today’s crisis.
They also want to be part of the solution. They want to be part of the change. “There’s something sexy about being on the ground floor when an industry revamps itself,” says one j-school grad, former reporter, but still in the industry in public affairs with a college seeking to meet the needs of today’s j-students. “For many of those students, it’s not about being along for the ride, it’s about driving the car.” Goodness knows, based on how some papers have managed up to and through the collapse, it might be wise to pass along those car keys to Web savvy, business-minded grads, while the car is still running.
Who’s doing it right?
A recent Poynter Online E-Media Tidbits blog by Maurreen Skowran listed several colleges and universities that are adapting their offerings to meet tomorrow’s needs.
One, Elon University in North Carolina, offers a Master of Arts in Interactive Media. Elon also has a class on virtual environments, and how games and Second Life can help deliver news, plus a requirement to produce a project for public good, spreading participation beyond traditional journalism students.
At Northwestern University’s Medill school, there’s a strong emphasis on understanding audience, content creation and marketing.
And Western Kentucky University has a new IMedia certificate which includes a course in online advertising.
The clear message from these schools is “we’re looking ahead.” Let’s make sure we don’t skimp on ethics, integrity and mission, but teach students how to help rebuild this industry.
For years, a retired AP executive, Conrad Fink, has been teaching media management at the University of Georgia.
Why do his classes work? Because they challenge students and put them in the real world, where they will be a few months later, thinking about how to manage a newspaper, make the right business decisions, make the right editorial calls. Make a business work.
He was teaching media management to students before it was cool, back in the day when some might argue that most media companies weren’t doing a lot of managing.
Ahead of the curve - for an educational institution, and the industry.
Not every school has a Fink on the faculty.
But every school can look to tomorrow, not to yesterday.
The need for speed
Posted by jareetz in Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Television on June 18th, 2009
What’s your school of thought when it comes to publishing systems - newspapers, radio, TV, whatever - and speed to market? Make it perfect, dot every i, cross every t…spend a couple years. Or get a good one in quickly and grow it, as needs grow?
Okay, you’re thinking this is not exciting, and why do I care? But you’re wrong. Almost everything digital revolves around a “publishing system” of sorts. You’ve got a thought for your Facebook page, but you have to publish it, so how it functions, the interface, the speed, the ease of use make all the difference. Same for this blog. Same for Twitter. Slow and cumbersome, you waste time, and perhaps don’t use as often as you would otherwise.
Same stands for the media and publishing system decisions. Only it’s almost a life or death call now, since so many companies teeter on the edge financially, and finding cash to buy systems, and reinvent their operations, and pay the bills, too, is a challenge these days.
It also has everything to do with how a media company organizes itself for this century, not the last. Is the staff (now, much smaller than two years ago) integrated into publishing to all devices, all output methods, or it it split apart, one little group doing this, another doing that? A bunch of separate fiefdoms. Is everyone focused on the content, or the publishing system?
There are already almost too many minefields to navigate. Doesn’t it seem logical - regardless of the name brand - to work to integrate widely across the editorial team, do it right, but know that you keep building it and growing the system as needs change.
But whatever happens, do it quickly. As the industry reinvents, there’s a true need for speed, flexibility and ease of use. It’s simple.
A year from now …
Posted by jareetz in Digital, Industry, Newspapers, Radio, Television on June 16th, 2009
…. will today’s dirge on “the death of newspapers as we know them” be replaced by “the death of radio as we know it,” and “the death of TV as we know it”?
Probably not so directly said - because TV and radio won’t provide as much “ink” to their financial woes as newspapers have in the last 24 months. But it is clearly reinvention time - not to mention redefinition time - for all mass media, not just newspapers.
There’s a decent case to make that TV and radio today are where newspapers were just a few years ago: fretting about the future, but believing and hoping the bottom wouldn’t drop out.
Newspapers had an extra hit to push them along: an over-the-cliff national economy, plus some investments that turned sour.
But all three - newspapers, radio and TV - face the same reality of dramatically changing reader/viewer habits. Newspapers just got a head start, but it’s a good bet many TV and radio companies will follow the same path.
Consider:
1. In smaller radio markets - below the top 50 -ad revenue fell 6.6 percent last year, but around 9 percent in larger markets. Sounds like a repeat of the minimally consoling conversations in newspaper board rooms two years ago that at least the smaller papers are doing okay.
2. With hundreds of channels in place today, and Internet distribution of content just starting to take hold in a big way, what does the future hold for local television stations? Pretty good bet that sorting this out will be as complicating, or moreso, than sorting out today’s newspaper issues.
The good news is TV and radio execs can study newspapers’ attempts to dig out, and reinvent.
But reinvention needs to get started, or it will be a very large hole - as newspaper companies can attest.
First step: think of each TV, radio and newspaper as an information and content business. Not a print or broadcast business.
And those remaining companies that view digital as a nice marketing tool or side business best review the focus, and seize the opportunity. Before others in their market do.
More later.