On a rough day of ups and downs I won’t bore you with, the biggest up was the boost to our Web page views from CNN.com’s link to our story about the Bend 14-year-old surfer whose severed arm was reattached.
And we, in turn, owe KGW in Portland for helping rush video to us of the family’s news conference.
You’d better bet I’ll be keeping the Web desk at CNN aware of interesting, even wacky news from the High Desert. It’s nice to roll out the welcome mat!;-)
Testing 1-2-3 – is this thing on?
Well, yes and noooo.
You see, for reasons I won’t dive too deeply into, our Internet address got a bit, um, munged up overnight. And while the problem was fixed this morning, A Certain Cable Company – I mean, Broadband company’s servers are sticking to the bad nasty address for KTVZ.COM like glue.
So a sizable chunk of our online audience can’t see us, and I heard from a few – not a ton, but a few – today asking “what’s going on?” I sure wish I could fix it, or that our own techs could, but apparently it’s in the servers at this certain Cabl – I mean, Broadband company that our remaining issues lie.
And of course, technology frustrates you as well, perhaps even daily. Such is life in the 21st Century. 😉
Fridays aren’t as fun when they are the end of a week semi-off.
Oh well, at least nothing big blew up during my week away from the newsroom, and I was able to sort of compose my day rather than rush to the station, etc.
Tonight my darlin wife Deb and I celebrated a) our 25th wedding anniversary and b) her — birthday (hey, ya don’t stay married a quarter-century by blabbing THAT particular number;-)
She’s put up with a lot, and while this is only a semi-personal (and quasi-corporate;-) blog, I think expressing my undying love for my wife here isn’t going to violate any protocols.
Now if only she could find a job in this town. Heh.
Anyway, for any of you who will be AFK (away from keyboard) as the weather turns Wonderful (finally!) and summer finally arrives, one thing I learned this week via my Motorola Q is that our news articles on the mobile side now include our photos, too! Super nifty! Check it out some time.
Wow, check this out: http://echuck.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/13/1571290-in-memoriam-nbc-newsman-tim-russert – such wonderfully written, heartfelt comments on the passing of someone many of us felt we knew, and liked, even though we’d never met him.
I was in Master Control, prepping to record tonight’s ‘Leave it to Barney” (darn that lint roller!;-) when the golf gave way to an NBC News Special Report slide. Then,Tom Brokaw. Then the sad news of Tim Russert’s passing. It was a shock, I’m guessing, to everyone when they heard the news. Surely at our network, in our profession, and to middle-aged males across America who work too hard, get too much stress and too little sleep, and fear the pain that takes us to the Next Stage.
Tonight also marks the start of time away from the newsroom, a whole week, to mark my 25th wedding anniversary to darling Deb. It’s, to use the new term, a ‘Staycation’ – because until my wife finds a job;-/ we can’t afford to go far, much less to the dreamed-of Hawaii. Plus, there’s this beast called KTVZ.COM that always needs feeding, and the folks in the newsroom only know so much about how to do that. My fault, I suppose. I care too much about every word, want to beat back every typo, so… I can’t let go.
Former station manager Jim DeChant, the Wise Buddha of NewsChannel 21, taught me some good lessons when I arrived a few years back, with only high school and college TV experience. He (and others to be sure), talk of the special power of television to bring people into our living rooms, day and night, to the point where we truly feel we know them (and like them, hopefully), so when we lose them, it’s like a loss in the family.
Those Newsvine tributes show just how true it is. They are almost more tear-inducing than the loss itself. People who don’t know each other and actually never knew Tim Russert, felt they knew him, and with his passing, we shed collective tears. The Internet has that power. So does television. May we use it wisely, and try never to abuse it. It’s too important.
And I’ll do my best to make it less “stay” and more “cation” over the next week. If that means a few less updates of the Website – well, my apologies. Get away from the keyboard, now that the High Desert has finally warmed up. Read a book in Drake Park. Get on that bike. Hug those spouses and kids.
Life’s too short. Who needs another reminder?;-)
As I mentioned on-air and probably here, I’ve done a few blogs/Websites over the years – heck, I built, in Microsoft Publisher (with an art assist from Greg Cross), The Bulletin’s first Website, back in the ’90s – go ahead, check out the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine if you care!
So it could be considered part of the Barney Blog/Website and High Desert Forum Network!
Oy. Let me explain.
I’ve started a few blogs in the past, and they mostly still exist. Plus, I’m anxious to add a non-article-specific forum to KTVZ.COM – probably nuts, considering how the comments alone get scarily abusive and potentially litigious at times – but I have this intense, perhaps insane desire to get communications going among Central Oregonians. Hopefully sane, thoughtful Central Oregonians (and visitors who care about our issues) who wish to discuss issues, not spend their lives either glued to the TV or firing off flames back and forth in an article comment thread.
Yeah, nuts. I should be committed;-)
Anyway, let’s take a trip through history:
The Computing FOOL: Circa late ’90s – Ah yes, Microsoft Publisher – for the time, it was sure fun. And creating Websites back when you had to know FTP, etc. I haven’t figured out how to get in there and change it – and I don’t want to, it’s a fun little time-capsule of pre-Y2K nervousness and – well, I’ve moved since that messy desk picture was taken, but it’s replicated in my current abode. (This thing was playing music until past year or so, that file musta gotten lost or something.
Please Release Me!: Then I found a super neat Website creation site – not a blog creation, but full-blown Website – called Squarespace. I still pay $5 a mo. for the thing, for two reasons: 1) It’s about the easiest way I’d seen to then, and really still, to create full Websites, not just linear blogs – and 2) It’s home to my Grand Idea for a book/consultancy/speaking tour/$$$-generating movement – to help people in government, public business anybody realize that they don’t have to play the old PR game and beg for time/space from Old Media – they can communicate with and build relationships directly with their customers/voters/etc. Barack Obama knows it, and so do a lot of smart folks. But everyday folks who have lives to lead need a helping hand and kick in the tush, hence… the idea for Please Release Me.
If I could clone myself, that’d be one of my top clones’ missions – and just might get enough attention and money to let the Real Me retire;-) (Or at least hire some great help and stop working so hard;-)
Barney’s BendBlog: Circa 2001-02 or so – This was before Blogger got bought by Google, and as with everything else I’ve done like this, it’s suffered from neglect as I pursue by workday passion, KTVZ.COM. But suffice it to say I can talk more…freely there than in a blog like this that I’m using within the station’s Website. Depressingly, I found that Blogger does allow World Now’s new Video Player Widget to embed its code into the site – and that WordPress, from what I can see, doesn’t (oh, I’m sure if I run it through some third-party program, no thank you very much;-)
I also had the truly frustrating – and it’ll sound familiar to you – experience of getting stuck without the password for the Blogger site, and getting stuck in some sorta vortex trying to get it sent to me and straightened out. (Honestly, I think the world could blow up some day because the person in charge of The Button hits it out of frustration because they can’t remember the damn password!)
So I invite you to visit any/all of these semi-moribund Websites/blogs, leave a comment or 3, and suggest which if any deserve further attention from Yours Truly. (I especially like the Squarespace one, believing there’s a true calling for PR 2.0 (I believe that’s been used) or whatever the “Truly Public Relations/New PR” mantra could bring.)
Now, as for the forums. As I said, I’ve been trying out various pieces of software – oh, and before I forget, the article comments’ tiny typeface WILL get larger in a week or two, yay! – but there’s no real way to try these without trying them on the public.
WorldNow also has announced a partnership with KickApps, a social software creator, but we’re not sure how much will come of that. Still, I’ve used forum software it’s powered, Yuku, to create the High Desert Forum. I like the look, but again, how can you tell if something will be useful until you have it? So please, try to sign up, make posts, etc.
And if you wish, compare it to some earlier tries, such as this one created in Forumotion, or this one, powered by ActiveBoard, or this one, through ExcoBoard, or this one, through ZetaBoards.
Yep, as Chicago once sang, “I’ve been searchin’ so long… to find an answer.”
And who knows what other free/easy/good-looking forum software is out there I haven’t tried? (Maybe you? Please let me know!)
I believe in the Internet’s ability to have us talk to each other, and communicate in ways we never could. The comments on articles – now I don’t know how many, but surely close to 10,000 in 4-5 months – have been infuriating, frightening, depressing – and entertaining, enlightening and hope-inspiring of a true community dialogue.
So please, kick the tires of my “network” – if they break, well, no $ lost, just a bit of time – let me/us know which you like and why, and if you think I’m nuts or if it’s a grand idea.
Sure, there’s the Social Networking software of Facebook and MySpace and many others offering similar platforms. We may well use one or some of those tools as well. But I believe the good old fashioned, somewhat ’90s-style forum software is a great foundation as well – and these too are branching into blogs, embedded video, etc.
So, do you agree? Is there a place, with controls over those who would hijack discussions and create flame wars, to really talk about the issues – in, dare I say, respectful fashion that involves listening and an open mind, not just venting to flap one’s digital gums?
I’d like to think so.;-)
Why oh why can’t we make computers that just work?
If I had a nickel for every blog post worldwide that had such a thought, I probably could afford a top-of-the-line computer – and want to bet it too would be balky and aggravating?
And then there’s the harmonic convergence of tech woes, when our 10-Fox news had a full weather forecast, followed by silent NW Cable News, our news audio with black screen and finally, our full package – in time for sports.
It’s enough to curse the Gods of Technology.
I was having a problem too geeky to describe in detail with our Website’s CMS (content management system). I still haven’t seen the updated version of a story show. The East Coast tech, calling before 11 (thankfully), suggested I clear my cache. I said I could, but what do I tell our many Website visitors – they have to clear their cache to see updated stories?
They’ll just go to another site – who can blame them? Plenty of news fish in the cyber-sea.
Oh well. Hopefully our freeze warning (it’s June!) won’t freeze out Balloons Over Bend again in the AM (actually it was the wind, and it sure was blowing this evening. Summer will arrive by July 4, right? Ah, Central Oregon;-)
I didn’t post yesterday, waah! Wacky day with triple-OT hockey game blowing up our already-late newscast, so… no time no time.
That’s OK, I know folks will forgive me. Anyway, will try to get in some blogging time later this week.
By the way, we had another great month in May at KTVZ.COM, with 1.23 million page views, still leading our much-bigger sister stations – and as News Director Mike Bothwell pointed out, we’ve doubled our views from a year ago, when we made the big switch to World Now. We had one wild day last week with 25,000 views of comments alone – the day after that teen police chase/gunfire/suicide tragedy. If I knew where they came from, I’d try to get them all to visit more often!;-)
Hope you’re having a good week…
Got a haircut this afternoon to neaten up, long before I decided to make a rare (on purpose) visit to Bend craigslist (already have a nibble on my free still-working fax machine – then I remembered KTVZ.COM’s Mark It Place, ugh!) and of course HAD to go read rants and raves where one of the major Abusers of Anonymity (calls itself “the TRUTH TELLER”) said I “could possibly be the MOST UNATTRACTIVE MAN ALIVE!!!”
Owwwww. I’m sure whoever posted THAT is a stunner of gorgeousness;-)
Anyhoo, back to my haircut, a fine job by a young gal named Kelsey. Had a pleasant chat, learned she’s born and raised in Bend. Asked if she ever watches the news. Said no, “it’s too depressing.”
Well, that depressed ME. I mean, we don’t WANT to depress people. Or bore them. Or anything more than enlighten, engage and sometimes entertain, when it’s in the proper context. (Some say we want to “scare” them, but it’s more a matter of what surveys find – people want to know about things that threaten their or their families’ safety, for example.)
I’m sure many people out there feel that way about the news, to avoid it because it’s depressing, be it TV or other medium. I told her of the rash of tragedy of late, and she knew nothing of it, but said if it was someone she knew, she’d no doubt have found out another way, not needing the news to learn more about it.
True.
And of course, if someone gets, say, stuck in traffic behind a wreck, or hears sirens in their area, many of them will watch the news to learn what happened. (Some even call us, which is fine – we appreciate the tips. But you should know, anyone can call 911 non-emergency in Deschutes County, 693-6911, then hit 5. That’s often what we need to do, when we get a tip or hear things on scanners. We do try to not pester them too much.)
For a while, we offered a “good news story of the day.” But that seemed, well, artificial. I’ve said it many a time – it’s not news when 1,000 people cross the street safely – it is when one doesn’t.
Tonight, we had what I call bittersweet-good/bad news stories. Take Heaven Can Wait, for example, a very successful ninth annual fund-raiser for the Sara Fisher Breast Cancer Project. Bummer topic, but upbeat story about 3,300 folks gathering for the 5K run/walk. I’m glad we led with it. It’s also a people story, not an issue story (or worse yet, a “government meeting” story, bleh.)
Too much “good news” sounds like fluff (or free ads, which of course everything we do is, in a way) only of vital interest to the program, organization, people (or their families) involved.
I LOVE dramatic good news stories – the rescue of a child, for example. But those don’t happen every day, of course.
So the Ugliest Man on Local TV (hey, I said I have a face for radio;-) is quite interested in your thoughts on whether you watch or skip the news because it’s too depressing – and what might get you to tune in.
By the way, The Associated Press tonight reported the results of a study that found young people suffering “news fatigue,” as they get bombarded with snippets of breaking news, repetitively. (http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=8409270).
It said “that participants yearned for quality and in-depth reporting but had difficulty immediately accessing such content because they were bombarded by facts and updates in headlines and snippets of news.”
As Linda Ellerbee said, “And so it goes…” 😉
Leave it to Barney 