How 'bout those Olympic Games?

Are you, like tens of millions of other Americans, captivated by the dramatic stories of formerly unknown teens and twenty-somethings searching for their 15 seconds of fame? Are you mesmerized by the hyped-up stories of years and years of hard work that may or may not propel them to the podium? And are you fascinated by the cutthroat competition and the scathing pronouncements of the judges? Well then, you, like millions of your fellow Americans are probably tuning in to watch American Idol.

Yes I know, the title of this post threw you. You thought I was talking about the Olympic Games...that biennial celebration of the power and glory of athletic competition. But the sad truth is the Olympics just aren’t what they used to be when it comes to TV ratings. NBC’s coverage of the games has been contrived and choppy, so perhaps they deserve to be trounced by Idol. But who would have thought that a reality TV show that features vocal contestants vying for a chance to be insulted by a trio of C-list celebrities would pull in nearly twice the viewers as programming that was once an icon of “must-see-TV” viewing?

What do you think...are the Olympic games passé?, or are we just a nation in love with Idol?

Should the universal service fee fund broadband for rural areas?

Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns has introduced a bill to revise the universal service program, allowing funds from this program to help subsidize broadband and other high-speed telecom services for rural areas. According to an article published in The Missoulian and reported in The Rural Blog, this change would mean more telecom-related services (including Internet voice, cable Internet and broadband) would have to pay into the universal service charge. (See http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/02/11/news/mtregional/news08.txt)

In a related story (also from The Rural Blog), Drew Clark of National Journal’s Technology Daily reports that broadband Web service is becoming an economic necessity for rural American communities. Without broadband, these communities are unable to meet the growing technological needs of businesses, and businesses are being driven to relocate to areas that can provide them with proper technology. (See http://www.RuralJournalism.org, click on “Rural Blog” and access the blog for Monday, Feb. 13, 2006.)

Are you willing to pay the universal service charge for your cable Internet/broadband services to help rural communities in America become more technologically and economically competitive? Is the universal service charge the answer for making high-speed/broadband Internet affordable for more Americans? What other options are there?

The name of the blog

Let's get creative. Face it: most blogs ought to be called blahgs to signify the so-so content they contain (I'm neither including nor excluding this one in that category). What other terms can we use to identify blogs by content? If a blog is particularly edgy, for example, or particularly accurate in the information it provides, should it remain merely a blog? I think we need a descriptive lexicon to distinguish blogs from one another. Perhaps that lexicon already exists. If so, enlighten us all. If not, let's begin here with:

Blahg: A thoroughly enervating blog.


Add on, folks!

Book of Daniel has an afterlife on the web

If you blinked and missed the four episodes of The Book of Daniel on NBC, you have one more chance to catch a couple of episodes before it is sent to programming purgatory. Drawing more criticism than viewers (only about 6-7 million viewers per episode) the show was attacked by the American Family Association and others who viewed the portrayal of Christ as "blasphemous" and the minister and his family as dysfuntional at best. Surf on over to http://www.nbc.com/The_Book_of_Daniel/ to see remaining episodes and judge for yourself if this experiment in "edgy" programming deserved its fate.
Once you do, tell us what you think. Was it strong-arm tactics by offended viewers or simply market forces at work that pushed Daniel off the air? And while I'm asking questions, do you think the future of "broadcast" TV is safe, lowest-common-denominator fare while everything else will migrate to cable and the web?

The Impact of MP3 Players on FM Radio

I'm making a presentation next month on the "impact of MP3 players (iPod, Rio, etc.) on terrestrial radio ." I'm interested in gaining insight on the topic through your personal experience.

So... have you stopped listening to radio because your hubby gave you an iPod for Xmas? If you own an iPod, describe any "fatigue" you may have experienced (meaning, did you get tired of dumping songs into "the thing" - or creating your own "playlists," did you throw in the towel and go back to listening to ABC XYZ radio station?).

Radio stations with the "Jack, Dave, Bob" format (mix of 70's, 80', 90's, 00's rock - The Eagles + Guns & Roses + Nirvana + Dave Matthews Band) have grown in popularity. These stations sell themselves as "An iPod on shuffle on your radio." Can FM and MP3 live in perfect harmony?

Apple has sold over 28 million iPods so far (they expect to sell 14 million during the 1st quarter of this year)... should broadcasters be concerned?

Page One News? You Decide

The Wisconsin State Journal has come up with a new way to tie its Web site to its print publication. On Jan. 23, the paper began asking readers to vote on the paper's Web site (http://www.madison.com/) for the stories they'd like to see on the front page of the next day's print edition.

Readers have four or five different story "candidates" to choose from and can vote from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, according the Managing Editor Tim Kelley.

(See article at http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001883270)

Would you be more likely to read/subscribe to a print publication if you had a say in what went on Page One?

Got any great media and popular culture news?

The spring 2006 semester is here and the Mass Communications department faculty has been busily gearing up for the couple hundred students we work with each semester. The radio station has brand new state-of-the-art digital audio technology (Santa brought it over Christmas), the television station is continuing its schedule of live programming, and the newspaper is getting ready with both its print and online editions. This list doesn't include the dozens of student projects that are produced each semester through courses in all the Mass Communications emphasis areas.
Ah, we love the media and its societal impact, don't we?!

We love learning about:
*Howard Stern and his satelite radio coup against the FCC;
*The sordid allegations of the Bush administration inappropriately using PR to sell the American public on policy;
*The iPod phenomenon (how many of you got them for Christmas?)and its associated issues with illegal downloading of copyrighted music (are you doing it?);
*The print newspaper industry's concern that our college generation is preferring to read news on-line;
*The competition between the advertising and public relations industries for who can best promote brands;
*The allegations that weblogs aren't real journalism, or for that matter, aren't even credible content;
...and the list goes on. What interesting stories have you encountered in the media lately? What controversies do you have an opinion about? What information can you share with all of us "media-junkies" who teach and study in Mass Comm?
What are your opinions about some of the issues I mentioned in this blog?

Share it with us and keep checking the Mass Communications blog this semester to participate in the ongoing discussion of media-related topics. It's our own online classroom discussion!

Merry Christmas!

Okay, this is my last post before the Christmas break, but I wanted to pass this along as a little Christmas gift to you. Actually I guess you could say I'm "regifting" this since Bill McCloskey at Media Post sent this out in an email labeled "Stocking Stuffers." In any case, check out the great streaming music site below. According to McCloskey,

This fabulous Web site that just might change the way we think about Internet radio: www.pandora.com. Pandora grew out of a concept called the Music Genome Project. Like the Human Genome Project, the Music Genome Project tries to break down any song into unique and discrete units--song type, instrumentation, melody, etc.

Pandora lets you generate up to 100 unique radio stations by picking a favorite artist or song. The software uses the genome of the artist or song to generate a streaming playlist of related songs. Adding new songs or artists to a particular radio, or by giving a thumbs-up or down for individual song choices, immediately changes the stream.

Once you have "programmed" your radio station, songs from up to 10,000 artists begin streaming in, and the whole thing can be shared and e-mailed to friends. Give it a try this holiday, but expect to spend a few hours playing around with it.

Behind the scenes the social software and recommendation algorithm generates a playlist based on your music selection and specific track preferences. Up front the site has a very cool interface and is a lot of fun to program.

Merry Christmas!

Great resource for students of Television

If you have any intentions of working in the TV industry, you'll be happy to know that uncut interviews with many of the founders and current leaders of the television industry are available on the Google Video web site. This is truly an amazing resource. Here's what Steve Mosko, President of Sony Pictures Television had to say about it...

One of the things that absolutely blew me away when I came on board last year as chairman of the Television Academy Foundation was the Archive of American Television, which is an unequaled collection of videotaped interviews with TV legends.

It's a fantastic resource, and so it drove me crazy that the Archive had over 450 interviews -- but no one could view them if they weren’t actually in Southern California. If a student at a school in Cincinnati or Bangkok wanted to learn more about the history of creative or business aspects of the American television industry, these interviews were just not accessible. So I made it a personal goal to find a way to get the Archive online.

And starting today, anyone in the world can go to Google Video and watch complete and uncut Archive interviews and learn directly from the legends and pioneers on how it all happened. How cool is that?

It’s been 30 years since I was in college, but I can honestly say that if I were just starting out in this business, I would be all over the Archive. I’m such a fan of television that I can’t wait to be able to watch some of the interviews on Google Video – with the men and women who inspired me, and continue to inspire me. One of the Archive legends now online is former NBC head Grant Tinker. Grant helped create “Must See TV” on Thursday nights! There’s also Norman Lear, Ted Turner, Steven Bochco, and so many more. The Archive was created to educate, entertain, and inspire future generations. I challenge you to look up your favorite TV show, learn about a favorite star, or discover more about some of the most important news events of the 20th century. I’m thrilled that the Foundation is finally able to introduce some of these interviews to the world, using the world’s most powerful delivery system – Google. Enjoy!

If you find a particularly interesting interview, please reply to this post with your recommendation.

Sex on TV: How high are the stakes?

The Kaiser Family Foundation today released the study "Sex on TV 4," which found that sexual scenes on television have nearly doubled since 1998. (See the foundation's news release on the study at http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia110905nr.cfm.)

"Given how high the stakes are, the messages TV sends teens about sex are important," said Vicki Rideout, the Kaiser Family Foundation vice president who oversaw the study. "Television has the power to bring issues of sexual risk and responsibility to life in a way that no sex ed class or public health brochure really can."

Sure, television has the power to bring these issues to life more than sex ed classes or brochures, but in this age of technological proliferation, are the messages teens get about sex from TV really that important any more?

Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2006?

The FCC has launched a web site that explains their obscenity, indecency and profanity rules – including enforcement actions and complaint procedures. The commission has made several attempts over the last few months to keep the “indecency rules regs” dialogue moving forward.

After Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2004 and Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 were kicked around. The Acts (ideas) have lost steam since February 04. H.R 310 is currently on the Senate Legislative Calendar. Make a prediction - will the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2006 pass? Will it take another “mammary gate” to push the public / house / senate over the edge?

http://www.fcc.gov/eb/oip

Media blind

Today, several journalists covering the Iraq War (including Seymour Hersh, the AP's Tony Castaneda, and Kevin Begos of the Winston-Salem Journal) told those attending an AP Managing Editors conference that the lack of security in Iraq has made it impossible for journalists to get -- and give us -- an accurate report of what is really happening anywhere in that country, especially among the Iraqis, outside the heavily fortified "Green Zone" of Baghdad.

If that's true, is there a way those journalists and the rest of us can use the Internet to find credible sources and accurate information that will give us what we need to assess this war and decide if we should continue to support it?

Pre-Packaged News Stories by Feds Are Now Identified

The U.S. Department of Education was in hot water earlier this year after it was determined they were secretly paying some editorial columnists to promote the Bush education agenda. In addition, the Bush administration came under fire for creating VNRs (video news releases) about public policy issues that were not being identified as coming from the Federal Government.
Fast forward to Oct. 20th, and we now have the "Prepackaged news Store Announcement Act of 2005" requiring any Federal agency to have a "clear notification" within the text or audio of a news story that the VNR was prepared or funded by the "United States Government."
Consumers read and watch prepackaged news stories all the time by way of news releases that are published in newspapers and VNRs which are broadcast on television. Confirming the source of a message should be a basic rule of any communicator, however some PR folks don't want the audience to know exactly who created the message. Regardless of which way you fall on whether the source should always be blatantly clear, the Federal Government should always identify itself on behalf of any message it creates with taxpayer dollars. Unfortunately because of the Department of Education's strategy to promote without full disclosure, we now have a FEDERAL LAW forcing government agencies to disclose.

Listenomics!

The October 10 issue of Advertising Age addresses a topic near and dear to the proverbial heart of 21st Century communicators--the Open Source Revolution. Sam Ebersole, our new media specialist and guest speaker at the Southern Colorado Press Club on October 12, used Bob Garfield's great front page piece as a starter for his timely and salient observations on the changes in new media and the communications revolution. Thank you, Sam!

Bob Garfield titled his piece "Listenomics" (www.adage.com) as he describes the critical changes in the Open Source Revolution--the Chaos Scenario--as marketers and advertisers strive to pull out of mainstream "old media" and move (incredibly slowly and painfully) toward the new reality for consumerism. Allowing that the "herd will be heard," Garfield examines the critical changes necessary for the advertising business to pull ahead, recognize (and corral) the collective wisdom of the masses and make the marketplace an interactive auction of exchanges that it once was.

Most marketers (and their scholarly counterparts) have long argued that marketing and the marketing communications that surround it are really a series of exchanges between buyer and seller, consumer and marketer. These exchanges begin and end with the customer, of course, but these exchanges keep the spiral of consumerism moving. If Garfield is right--and I encourage you to read his entire piece--he is really reverting to the very traditions of the marketplace where exchanges between consumers and sellers are truly one-to-one. This was the dream of one-to-one marketers a decade ago: Let's construct product (and product ideas) directly for each consumer and sell that consumer on a customized product that s/he will learn about, think about, feel good about, and eventually use, purchase or consume in some way. What a concept! That was Ben Franklin's premise in the 1770s and beyond.

Everything old is new again.....