The Digital Hub of Erik Anderson
The Long Tail Is A Waste Of Time
Apr 26th
Justin already spoke on this lousy panel so I’ll keep my comments short. We went to see a panel based off of Chris Anderson’s (no relation) book “The Long Tail” The panel was supposed to discuss new media and how to make money with it. As Justin said some members of the panel acted like Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes, trying to make it sound like the internet was something they didn’t understand.
This panel was a waste of time.
The State of The Industry
Apr 26th
Also, on April 15th, Justin and I attended a panel on “The State of The Industry.” The members of the panel did some research on how things are in the journalism / broadcast industry. Their findings were somewhat interesting, and the panel raised a few good points.
First, the bad news is, it still seems that some stations are still cutting jobs left and right.
The good news is the industry is continuing to evolve and re-invent it’s self. More and more newsrooms and stations are becoming more high tech and interactive with audiences. Radio stations & newspapers are shooting video. TV stations are doing audio podcasts. Traditional Radio & TV stations along with newspapers are sharing resources. All are using the web in ways that would never had been done several years ago.
While some jobs might be being eliminated, others are being created. Chances are the job I will be doing 5-10 years from now, hasn’t even been created yet.
Strange College Station Situations
Apr 26th
On April 15th, I along with Justin attended a panel entitled “Strange Station Situations.” The panel had to do with all of the quirky things that happen while working in college radio. Situations included staff members dating & hooking up with other staff members, DJs drinking in studio / on-air, firing of staff members for various reasons, hostile takeovers by protesters, and more!
The funny thing is, 95% of these events happened at WXOU within the past year. (I will not go into more detail about this, I’m saving it for my memoirs.)
We did explain to the panel, all of whom were from various college radio and TV stations, that we felt like we were right at home and among friends when it came to these situations. I walked away from the panel with this closing thought about college radio: “We’re all F’N CRAZY!.”
Valerie Geller
Apr 25th
While at BEA I attended several panels that included International Broadcast Consultant Valerie Geller. Ms. Geller has worked in broadcasting for many years in on-air, management, and station consulting roles. In her career she’s worked with the BBC, ABC in Australia, and WABC Radio in New York, just to name a few.
In addition to being a consultant, Ms. Geller has also authored several books, the most recent one being “Creating Powerful Radio.” If you want to work in radio you should consider reading this book. I’ve yet to read it cover to cover but have read specific sections relating to what I’m doing. The knowledge about radio contained in the book is priceless.
For the past three years that I have attended BEA I have always gone out of my way to checkout at least one of the panels that Valerie has been a part of. This year I attended three of them. “Sources & Sourcing”, “So You Want To Be In Broadcasting” and “The Spoken Word Rocks!”
I already spoke about the “Sources” panel, so I’ll spend a moment speaking about the other two. “Broadcasting” was an interesting panel that discussed what people can expect if they wanted to work in broadcasting. The panel also spoke about some things that you might not want to do when looking for a job. It’s always fun to hear stories about people who think they are the best when they actually are failing horribly at trying to get a job because they keep screwing up.
Ms. Geller also hosted a solo panel. “Spoken” touched on things that do and do not work in radio. One tip she left us with was always use the word “You” and try to avoid “I” and “Me.”
Once again, some fantastic panels from Ms. Geller. I’m gonna do my best to read the book cover to cover soon.
If you’re interested in radio, Click Here to learn more about Ms. Geller, her books, and consulting endeavors.
Day 4: The Spirit of Andy Rooney Drops by
Apr 17th
The Death of the Cable Companies and TV is nigh according to this panel based on how to turn internet content into profit. As some of you may know many blogs such as this one generally operate profit free. Will the internet be transferred to a regulated service? The FCC is looking toward regulating the internet the same way the landline phone system is. That’s all the panel really covered, but all and all the panel did provide a few talking points. The meeting was going fine, then the last speaker took the seminar to the next level. What was an examination of the monetizing back catalogs became an Andy Rooney surreal rant on change. Starting from the irony that nothing is free in Vegas, yet we are talking about free content online quickly veered into:
“I don’t like change. I remember when Elvis was introducing the Beetles in the parking lot. Its a hotel now or something but it used to be a parking lot. Who in here had a betamax or a laserdisc. That was a changey thing. I don’t know, but free is like the government reciprocity of the $10 bill, but its not free because it depends on your politics. But you guys have have the twitterwebz and that’s messed up. I don’t like those twitterfiles, that’s too new for me. To be honest I don’t know why I’m here but I have been coming to BEA since 1978 and as I said, I hate change so I came back. I had students once who had a cell phone in class, and I didn’t like it. Not because it kept ringing as was annoying but because students never used to have cell phones so I don’t know whey these new kids need one. I just don’t know, but you need to be declared as a political party. It will help you. No rap. I’m out of time now.”
This panel didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
-Phantom
Overheard At BEA
Apr 17th
“Bishop to A4!” – Audio from someone’s laptop who was playing chess on their laptop during a panel.
Day 3: The internetz vs. broadcast
Apr 17th
400 people in TV news laid off. Most of the hiring is in replacements. 3 screen approach to news: TV, computer, mobile = TV 1, Web 2, Mobile 3. newspapers lost 5,200 jobs. Cooperative ventures – TVs, Radio, another station. Co-production of news. News website wars – TV news web vs Newspaper web. These are just a few issues in the ongoing New Media surge – I would posit that it’s NOW media as opposed to new, but I digress.
As opposed to that lady who decried the use of the internet as unreliable, this panel featured TV News Directors who said Facebook and Twitter are great ways to get sources.
The conference was unfortunately focused on TV for us radio guys and gals, but the media convergence is going to affect all areas of media. Even my prior posts have mentioned the internet vs. traditional “brick and mortar media.” The fact that the convergence of the internet is converging with traditional media is part of the marketplace deciding the nature of this new avenue. One speaker gave the “candle industry example” – candle makers tried to make the best candles thinking that they were only in the candle industry. It turns out they were in the illumination industry and the lightbulb took over the industry.
Day 3: Strange Days at WXOU
Apr 17th
Managing college radio can be difficult. A major issue that arises it that of Ownership vs. Entitlement. Working as a volunteers can create a sense of ownership in their shows and the station. When someone takes the show too far, it can be a sense of entitlement, where the person “deserves” a show or deserves something from the station. Playing into this is the stealing station promotions materials and CDs to sell to record stores. Being pro-active is key to DJ discipline, as well as having accountability agreements. Cause -> Offense Count -> Consequence.
Other than internal issues, external problems can arise when listeners are not satisfied with the content of the station. It may be necessary to defend the station based on both philosophical and legal rights. The first amendment, the type of license granted by the FCC and a professional “mission statement” of the radio station.
Among all the issues brought up, all the folks from WXOU and I couldn’t help but chuckle as each radio station brought up their bizarre circumstances and we have had just about all of them. A major exception (which I hope never happens) is that one radio station was taken over by anti-war protestors during the first gulf war who forced the DJ off air.
Also, college radio broke the SPIN DOCTORS. You’re welcome.
-Phantom
Vegas Adventure Day 3: How to get a Job
Apr 17th
This panel covered some of the basics of any job hunt, radio or otherwise, such as making good resumes and cover letters, doing follow up letters. A key in this is trying to make a genuine connection with the interview, especially with On-Air talent. If you can’t hold a conversation with the interviewer, how can you connect with an audience? Obviously, listening to the station before you apply or interview is a must, just as researching any job. Seeing if you are a good fit for the company will help you interview.
Humor is key, as is being genuine. Its important for the job to “fit” – both you to fit the job and the job to fit you.