Learning New Toys

What a wonderful world this media business is turning into; after a week of RTNDA@NAB seeing toys too amazing to even start describing it is apparent we have lots of work to do on the next generation of AkronNewsNow...with the V word tops.

Video is everywhere...including one of our key workstations now in the ANN/Rubber City Radio newsroom. Take for example this video: gone, I think, are the days when it was just the property of television stations. We're using a $39.99 Dynex web cam from Best Buy popped atop a flat screen Dell workstation monitor for a quick down-and-dirty read off the screen rundown of some of the stories we're working on today...it's a feature I'm thinking would be of some value and interest on a daily basis to have the outcome of our morning meeting posted for viewing:

If my embed doesn't click try this one using WMV file...


What's the future here? Using the web for regular video updates; no more waiting for the TV crew to meet their More on Four, Live at Five or Seen at Six models. For radio operations, those top and bottom of the hour deadlines are now "old media" and for newspapers the luxury of that late-night whenever we feel like publishing target. There are some phenomenal and simple programs available that easily take the power of TV production out of the hands of professional producers and put them in the hands of everyday folks who have something to say. I've even been reading of a radio group that has a three-camera live TV truck they use to video stream and produce for cable high school football.

While these applications have far-reaching impact for the big media companies (imagine CNN's Anderson Cooper, for example, LIVE video streaming from his cellphone with far greater quality anywhere in the world with a broadband card) I think it is most exciting for our "hyper local" companies concerned more with city council, neighborhood meetings and high school sports. With such technology why can't Firestone's superb swimming program hold it's own against the normal media powerhouses of football and basketball? These "products" are very much about real life for real people, giving those of us in the "content business" more opportunity than ever to connect with our neighbors and help them connect with each other.

My friend Diana (who continues to look younger every day under the Georgia sun) is embarking on a venture where she and her partners will take their reporting deeper into one segment of the economy; because of this technology she won't need six-meter satellite dishes and three-thousand dollars a window satellite time. She has the web, and affordable tools to help her spread the word (and her work) in far wider circles than ever before. These tools are the same as the ones we use to craft these blogs -- including these funky web cams at Best Buy for under $35 bucks.

I've gotta lose more than a few pounds if we're going to do this for real...