In the interest of protecting my back story in case I run for President, I didn’t complete my masters at the University of Missouri, Columbia – but I did visit the campus on a couple of occasions during summer quarter and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the faculty teaching the media management curriculum. Between […]
The AV Nerd Watches the Open
June 18, 2015 by
Proving my credentials as a true broadcast nerd, while I’m dying to watch a bunch of pro golfers curse greens Stimping at 25, what I’m really interested in is seeing how the various broadcast outlets at the tournament handle the difficult lighting situations when it comes to their talent broadcasting from the event. The money […]
Up Periscope
March 27, 2015 by
I did some testing at my full-time gig today (KBTC) with Periscope – Twitter’s new live broadcasting application. Travis Mayfield over at KCPQ was playing around with it today too, and it is very cool. It has already to been used to good effect in association with breaking news at a tragic house fire in […]
Hyping Drones – Enough Already
March 16, 2015 by
The shiny new object in news gathering is the drone. If you listen to the hype, it will replace reporters, camera crews and perhaps even sliced bread. It’s bunk. But that won’t stop the entire exhibition hall at this year’s NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) annual shindig from being given over to the whizzing miniatures […]
Are Paywalls Killing Facebook?
April 11, 2014 by
There is a BIG problem with newspaper paywalls when it comes to social media. Let’s say you are a subscriber to your local newspaper, and you read a GREAT article you want to share with the world. Go ahead, link it through Facebook and Twitter – tell all your friends. Well, here’s the problem. Your […]
April Fools Losing Jobs
April 1, 2014 by
It’s a rite of spring: learning what knuckleheaded radio DJ or TV personality is going to bless us all with an April Fool’s joke run amok, and lose his or her job over it. First, let me do some good: if you are working in the media, pretend April 1 doesn’t exist. Don’t write anything, […]
May Day mayhem
May 2, 2013 by
The Seattle TV stations did a great job covering the May Day “protest.” Seattle has always been blessed with great TV stations. I don’t think the people here know or understand that because their view of the relative strength of TV news operations between markets is limited – of course. Only weirdos who watch three […]
Broadcasters on the air in Boston
April 15, 2013 by
Seems like something we should take for granted. Well, it isn’t. These are the times when infrastructure, a tradition of coming through in a pinch, and decades of investment count. In Boston, the cell phone providers are down, as they are apt to be when big disasters hit. But local TV and radio stations are […]
Sinclair & Aerial Newsgathering
April 11, 2013 by
One of my strengths is creating coherent headlines. So with SBG’s purchase of Fisher, there’s a chance news gathering tools like Air4 could be on the block. I hope not. Let me say it again: I hope not. But if you say that there is NO way to cover this large and geographically challenging market […]
BREAKING NEWS: Fisher Sells
April 11, 2013 by
Baltimore based Sinclair Broadcast Group has entered into an agreement to buy Seattle’s last locally owned major TV station – and the other stations in Fisher’s group. I worked for SBG for 12 years, and some big changes may well be coming to 4th Avenue North. Will dig into this in the not-too-distant future. Deal […]
The Media Monkey as mobile TV guinea pig
April 10, 2013 by
So last week, I promised to do a write up on KOMO’s mobile TV experiment. Better late than never. The first thing I had to do after picking up the Elgato MyDTV kit at KOMO a couple weeks ago was to charge the dongle and download the ap onto my iPhone. The ap is easy […]
WARNING: This is a very long, secret record
March 11, 2013 by
See, you’re interested. There’s something about a secret document, or a secret proceeding that piques the curiosity. As well it should, especially when we’re talking about the workings of the government we all pay for. As long as there are government officials dumb enough to try to cover up their bad acts, and crooks willing […]
A good scanner away from digital nirvana
March 7, 2013 by
Down here in 1998, I mean Pierce County, the News Tribune is rolling out its tablet-based edition. It joins the nascent mobile ap, and a robust web site. The News Tribune and other papers are finally getting some pricing power for online content – meaning enough people are accessing the paper digitally to justify the […]
Is reporting life and death?
December 7, 2012 by
The answer is yes, it can be. The nurse victimized by the prank phone call to the hospital tending to the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy killed herself. Now the Australian radio hosts are taking heat for putting her over the edge. Certainly they were not “reporting” by any stretch of the imagination – but the […]
Teleprompter hate
October 10, 2012 by
Why so much hate? How can a simple electronic device become a symbol for all that is disingenuous, dishonest and dishonorable. What am I talking about? A laptop, mirror and frame called a teleprompter. Among the items featured in the gallery of horribles in this anti-Obama display in Morgan Hill, California is the lowly teleprompter […]
Overweight Anchor Hits Back
October 3, 2012 by
I have known two wonderful female anchors who were fired for being too heavy. They knew it was a problem, and management made no bones about telling them that they had better make a change or they would take action. However you feel about it, things like this are just reality in television news. I’m […]
