Car Dealers and Local TV

A while ago I worried about the demise of local car dealerships and how that might impact local TV.

Recently, I read a transcript (http://tinyurl.com/chgfrt) of Rupert Murdoch, owner of my employeer Newscorp, saying something to the effect that car dealer ads are something like 30% of local advertising. Yikes. I knew it was big. I didn't know it was that big.

Local News and Websites

I stumbled across an article about how TV stations can better their brand online. It's interesting:

http://tinyurl.com/cezjlw

Also, notice I'm using "Tinyurl.com" It's a handy website to shorten long website addresses.

Another Great Audio Example

The FAA released great audio tapes of the pilot of US Air Flight 1549 communicating with air traffic control. Conveniently, FAA put out both the tape and transcript. You could put together something really nice today with a full screen still over the audio. The right half the screen could have the transcript of the traffic and the left half still photos of the incident. I think still photos might work better than video because it allows you to focus on the incredible audio.

I wish I could be that calm when a show is crashing...

http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/1549/

Say What?

We talked about fonting audio that's hard to hear. Let's talk about audio you can hear just fine. For example, did you hear that tape of Christian Bale losing his mind on a movie set? You could hear what he was saying, but it would be even better if you have the visual reinforcement of words on the screen. We're TV. What else are you going to put up with that audio? Video of him? Distracting. It's hard to watch and process video while you're also trying to listen to what he is saying. Better to put a still pic in a graphic and font the audio.

The incident brings up an important point. If you're talent, be nice. Badgering your crew will guarantee a big bite in the derriere. Even if you're not talent, if you are ever around a mic, consider it hot and act accordingly. Have headsets in the booth? A lot of stations record the director's audio for discreps. It's not unheard of for people to check those tapes. So before you go mouthing off about what an oaf your news director is, or how your anchor is such a prima donna, just keep it in mind.

Shameless Self-Promotion

This is a promo for a documentary I worked on a few years back. Very good cause-- this guy has pretty much single-handedly saved the sea turtle population in his village in Mexico. For more info, check out www.papatortuga.org

Former Employees of KTVK

If you haven't heard about the reunion this summer, email me andI'll shoot you the info.

Weather Coverage & the Web

Al Tompkins with Poynter did a nice piece today on how an Oklahoma newspaper used the web during its coverage of the storm. None of these items are very big ticket-- you could try some of them in your day to day ops so that for your next storm or spot news... you'll be ready. Coverage on the web can drive traffic to your show and vice-versa. Plus, it's cool.

Here's the article:

http://tinyurl.com/c6xoag