Coffey for Mayor of Springfield

Another symptom of Print's demise

Older people are growing more frustrated with print every day searching for items that are intermittently migrating to the Internet. One glaring example is advertising by movie theaters.

My mother nearly ripped the State Journal-Register to shreds looking for the movies this Sunday. She grabbed the Illinois Times and was frustrated with that too. She saw a movie advertised on television that piqued her again. "What's the point of advertising a movie on television? Once they come to Springfield we forget about them! We never see them advertised and then their gone!"

Older people have lost sight of the changing stream of communication. There is still a need for print as long as there are people still alive who were born before 1950 who never adopted new technology. They still have their pensions, remember what a pension is? It's a salary they used to give to retirees for the rest of their lives. Don't tell me they still have them, if you think you're getting one your being duped.

Anyway I digress. If anyone here in Springfield consistently prints movie schedules for theaters in Springfield, leave a comment on this blog, I'm sure there are a lot of people still around who might subscribe to it.

Random notes on compelling media

What is it about a book, play or film that motivates one to cease acting on one's own survival instinct for a period of entertainment? This question was answered partially by the PBS series on "Mirror Neurons." To quickly summarize, some of the same parts of the brain are used when we do something and when we watch others do things.

Reading triggers the imagination in the same way. We have the unique ability to use symbols, letters and numbers, to stimulate images and then stimulate those images into actions purely in our mind.

So, what's so compelling?

One's own fantasies of happiness portrayed by others? One's own ideal emotional transactions carried out to desired conclusions by others? Basically, someone or something showing us what we want to see. What do we want to see?

Children seek expressions of stability, peace, community, comfort, safety, abundance among other things. Basically, visualizations of satiation.

As we grow up we become compelled to see more complex expressions of satiation, such as mere hints or implied expressions of sexuality, control over situations not normally controllable, victory and dominance.

Depending on who we want as an audience or customer, we can distill these expressions from simplistic to extremely abstract.

More later.

My plates came

I finaly got my personalized plates in the mail today: "SPFLD TV"

I'm wondering if I jinxed myself because my sister got personalized plates for her business and now she's closing her store.

It will be much easier for people to see me drive too, so I'll change my evil driving ways and behave myself behind the wheel.

My dream is to have my own studio. I'm thinking of converting a step van into a mobile studio. In the back I may either cut large backdrop windows for an anchor background, or green-screening it and keying a rooftop camera shot.

That's a dream. Right now I'm just struggling to get by as a minimum wage security guard until this economy recovers, if ever. I would rather be working at a Television station.

Now on LiveStream

SPFLDtv is now on LiveStream. We have a channel that repeats videos. It has ads on it that don't really behave like they should. Normal advertising should appear between the videos, not over the top of the videos, but anyway, it's free for now.

The idea is to showcase your YouTube videos too. One day we will be able to go live, hopefully. But in the mean time, Get over to my YouTube channel and post a message about Your YouTube channel.

http://www.livestream.com/spfldtv

Metal Detector Ads

I thought it would be a great idea to get a metal detector, then I thought again.

When I saw the ad it looked really appealing because I have a crappy low wage job. I thought if I got one of those things I could go treasure hunting and get rich.

That would be a great idea if I had thousand of my own acres of land to "treasure-hunt." Really, do you think anyone would be stupid enough to give me permission to go treasure hunting on their property?

There are alternatives to getting arrested from trespassing and burglary.

One might be able to set up a business on public beaches perhaps, to help visitors find items they lost buried in the sand. That would be the ethical thing to do. If you were caught by police or someone else "buzzing" over an area that was just occupied by someone else, you could be charged with stealing someone elses property if you didn't turn the item in first and allow at least a week for someone to claim the property.

So, if you see someone on the beach with a metal detector, are they being ethical? Are they being legal?

Rachel Maddow on McCain - oops!

Rachel Maddow recently said Senator John McCain was for repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy regarding gays serving in the military, but was he really?

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McCain uses the phrase "...consider seriously..." in his statement. This does not mean he's either for it or against it, but such a turn of phrase is commonly used because it can so easily be misinterpreted.

Seriously considering something is the same as "thinking about it."

Unfortunately, Rachel Maddow and perhaps others who targeted McCain on this point have been spreading false propaganda by implying that Senator McCain is inconsistent on this position and perhaps others.

Oh, well, if you're going to chose dangerous phrases that can be misinterpreted, you should be held responsible, and deserve such treatments as those dolled out by the likes of Rachel Maddow.

Social Media Marketing?

How does social media marketing work? I'll tell you how it doesn't work for me, but it might be because I'm a jaded communication specialist: Making an incomplete television commercial with a message to visit the Oreo cookie Facebook page to find out what happens next.

Friending a consumer product on Facebook seems rediculous to me, because I use social media to chat with people I already know. If I want to make tons of new friends, I use MySpace because it allows me to create totally anonymous unique identities.

Facebook forces users to be honest about their identities, so I'm very cautious about new friends and I'm forced to limit my communication to more civilized rhetoric. Also, I like a tightly concentrated list of relevant messages from close friends. I don't like a lot of junk filling my pages, so I block all applications like Farmville too.

Local radio talk-shows are my special exception. I listen to WMAY AM 970 http://www.wmay.com in the morning and I like to use Facebook to communicate with the hosts, when they decide to post their topics, that is. Normally, they encourage people to call in and talk to them on the phone, but I'm not a phone person.

They sometimes have the courtesy to repeat some Facebook posts on the air as part of their discussions. I find this encouraging because it motivates me to promote their station and website where one can listen live anywhere in the world, not just within the limited range of their radio transmitter.

Sometimes they don't start topic threads on Facebook and it leaves me wondering if I just do a Wall post, it might simply get lost out of the proper context of a particular morning's discussion.

One afternoon WMAY radio host has taken  the Internet by the horns and built his own online forum. http://www.godofradio.com A.K.A. The Kramer Show forum allows listeners to sign up for free and interact even more freely than Facebook because users can make up anonymous avatars and identities.

The point is that AM radio is gaining new life thanks to the Internet. It's up to AM radio organizations to take seriously, the value of the Internet as a potential source of new listeners, and start budgeting for new computers and faster Internet.

Walgreens commercial touts myth

The new Walgreens flu shot commercial ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF13r0MjnnQ ) shows a couple wearing heart stickers on their arms, indicating that they got flu shots at Walgreens. The man and the woman are then seen coming into contact with other people throughout their day, and then at the end of the day, coming home and picking up their infants.

The message implies that if you get vaccinated, you will protect those around you, as if you are a barrier against spreading viruses between other people with whom you connect.

The problem is that when you get vaccinated, you are protected from the viruses, but that does not mean that viruses cannot be transported on your skin or clothes to the people you physically contact.

The responsible thing to do is pull the commercial and rewrite a new commercial that specifically states that viruses can be transported by people who are vaccinated and it is important that you wash your hands frequently, get vaccinated and not rely on the "herd protection" myth.

SPFLD Mom misses Jeopardy on WAND

Mom sat down to watch Jeopardy today at 4:30 PM but was shocked to learn that it just ended as she turned on her television.

WAND-TV suddenly changed the schedule in a bid to get a scoop on other networks reporting on the Rod Blagojevich story. They aired a news program they called "First News at 4:30."

Really? How many moms did you piss off by bumping Alex Trebek back one hour just so you could get your Rod Blagojevich scoop?

Other networks were oblivious to this strategy. WCIA had Oprah with guest Ted Haggard and his wife; WICS had Judge Judy; The CW had Tyra Banks. Fox had an old episode of Friends.

Mom switched over to Oprah, and clutching her chest and groaning in agony over the BS spewing out of Ted Haggard's mouth.

WAND has blown its news load prematurely. I hope it was worth it.

Journalism on the Internet

Some publications like the Wall Street Journal are creating nice public previews for their subscriber-only content. You get the gist, but you don't get the story. The Wall Street Journal is a very large umbrella under which a few select journalists can hide from the exploitive Internet. It's a good model to follow, and it represents the future of journalism very well. News will no longer be generalized and aggregated in one place. Instead, it will be segmented into categories based on relevant topics, each with its own special umbrella.

Journalists who specialize in pets or who specialize in food will be invited to reside safely under their respective topical umbrellas of online subscriber-only content, a kind of magazine format for subscribing users. The online specialty magazine will then sell the best articles to larger aggregation services that provide a service to users who would rather subscribe to a general news format.

If you're good enough at writing and you have a huge audience following you, you will arrive to find a comfortable work environment with benefits and a great salary, eventually, maybe. But you will also find yourself at the whims of an editor or manager, who will dictate your work activities. The solution is free agency. Produce your own stuff on the Internet and create your own subscriber income through PayPal.com merchant services. You will also need to create a website with some sort of subscriber management system. I expect to see such a service available soon for independent authors who want to be their own bosses.

After you have your subscriber service set up, you will need to join Facebook and post some of your works either a few days late, or partially somehow, sort of like the Wall Street Journal.

TV Sunday

What else is there to do? Go out and spend your money?

The Discovery Channel has a cool lineup tonight about the Universe
How the Universe Works starts at 7 central time. Followed by two full hours of Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. Don't worry about missing the new episode of Breaking Bad because there is an encore at 10 central time on AMC, ending just in time for Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Squidbillies, Tim and Eric's Awesome Show Great Job, Frisky Dingo, Harvey Birdman, etc.

I'm usually asleep by 11 with a radio in my ear to keep out the heebie-jeebies.

Comcast Blunder

My mother received a digital receiver and two black boxes for the other televisions in the house the other day from Comcast. We had no choice but to convert to the new system or we would not receive a signal.

I followed the instructions provided for wiring the devices and programming the new remote controls, then called the activation phone number which was totally automated.

We waited the required 45 minutes following the call for a sign that the digital box was programmed, but nothing happened.

Still waiting.

How subtle absurditiy works in advertising

I just saw a Menards commercial featuring a woman painting a wall near a staircase. Painters tape was applied to the baseboards and the edge of the staircase. The woman was painting the wall beneath the stairs.

Against the wall she was painting was a bookcase, which was also taped off. No, it was clearly a small bookcase that could easily be moved out of the way and professionals would move out of the way, but it was taped off.

Another commercial for Green Giant vegetables featured a scene with men hand-picking ears of corn. A few years ago it wouldn't seen absurd, but everyone I know, knows corn is picked by machine.

Other ads feature the bizarre anthropomorphism of mops and feather dusters into strange animated stalkers, desperate to retain their position in the hands of the women who replaced them with Swiffer brand tools.

One that stands out most is the woman who gets a phone call from a mop. She had the mop's number and photo on her phone, how bizarre was that? The key ingredients are the inferences that arise from the circumstances of the mop's phone call.

• How did the photo of the mop and a phone number for the mop manage to get into the list of phone numbers the woman has on her cell phone? Why?

Inferences are established in the mind of the audience as a first impression. Sight at a distance is the first stage of determining a situation. This is a key ingredient in survival. Inferences are made before inquiries are made.

A billboard for Miller Genuine Draft I remember, showed only the logo and brand name on a white background, and a woman dressed for going to the beach carrying a clear tote bag over her shoulder. Within the bag was a long rectangular package, gift-wrapped.

The key to remembering this advertisement was the scale of the gift-wrapped package.

The package appeared to measure two inches by two inches by twelve inches.

Using the power of deduction, try to imagine what would fit into that package.

Not a beer bottle.
Not wine bottle.

What? Do you see my point?

The confusion that arises from the first impression of such a simple juxtaposition of your logo with something slightly out of place can embed the impression for years.

The FCC and audio level consistency standards.

Once upon a time, before going to bed I turned on the television and lowered the volume just enough to understand it and still be able to fall asleep.

When I graduated from Ivy Tech with a degree in commercial television technology, there were strict standards concerning audio output levels. If you produced television commercials, you were required to stay within the limits specified so the audio signal was consistent with the programming signal. When I was working for TCI Cable Advertising, and even when our TCI office became AT&T Media Services, we still adhered to strict audio standards.

Comcast has mostly overrun the cable industry and audio level consistency standards, at least from my personal viewing experience, are out the window with the baby and the bath water.

I don’t know how the standards are on ABC, NBC and CBS, because I only watch “60 Minutes” and occasionally local news, and that’s it. No kidding. Every night I watch BBC News, Nightly Business Report, and News Hour on PBS, then switch over to MSNBC if there are no movies on FX, AMC, TNT, Spike, SyFy, or other channels that usually have movies or a whole series that I missed watching, like CSI and Burn Notice.

The problem now is really, really loud commercials. I get really annoyed when I have to pick up my remote control and mute commercials because they are so damn loud! Comcast’s own commercials are twice as loud as the programming, especially on the FX network when they are featuring a film that has Dolby surround sound.

Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer is a perfect example where the dialogue is very soft, and the background sound effects are extra loud. I would pick up the remote without thinking and turn up the sound so I could hear the dialogue, then get blasted by the sound of explosions. Unfortunately, the commercials are at the same volume as the explosions.

There are no explosions on MSNBC or during the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, but the commercials are startling and annoying, creating a negative emotional impression for Comcast and other products.

I finally went to the website of the Federal Communication Commission (www.FCC.gov) and tried to find information on audio level standards so I could write a letter of complaint with some legal weight. NOPE.

I emailed the FCC requesting information about audio level standards and within minutes I received from them a document that stated the following:

Whether or not something is “too loud” is a judgment that varies with each listener. The decision is influenced by many factors like content and style, the speaker’s voice and tone, background sounds, and music.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not currently regulate the volume of programs or commercials. Broadcasters and program producers, however, have considerable latitude to vary the “loudness” of the program material.

The document goes on to suggest measures that consumers can take to control the volume on their own. You can see it at: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/backgroundnoise.html

Or, since I don’t care to spend money on such equipment as an automatic gain control circuit, I can turn off my television and select programming on the Internet where audio levels are more stable, and spend the rest of my time reading or listening to the radio.

www.spfld.tv

End of Democracy

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Local NBC news affiliates are totally blameless for their own ratings.

Local NBC news affiliates were sandwiched between two programs that local affiliates claim caused viewership to plummet.

"Well really we thought we were collectively building up the local viewership with our gritty cutting edge news coverage" said a source who wished to remain anonymous, "we figured everyone would be asleep by the monologue but still tuned in anyway so they would have to check that box on the Nielson survey, I guess we were right."

The reverse it turns out, was devastating. The show format itself had been running on snoozing viewers since it fell out of favor, some estimate, around September 11, 2001.

Local NBC affiliates are silent regarding questions of their own audience retention.

One floor director who wished to remain anonymous said "we can't cover as much local news as we want because most of our old union labor is gone and we can't really afford to pay anyone but the management and a couple of reporters. We do a couple of local stories, then just repeat the national news people see again when it comes on. Our biggest draw is the weather and sports."

The Miami Herald painted a lovely image of the situation "Think of Jay Leno as a prisoner in a frontier jail, NBC affiliates as the angry lynch mob forming out in the streets and the network as the brave but beleaguered sheriff trying to protect him." -- http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/tv/story/1418583.html

Unfortunately, no one seems to be discussing whether or not viewership increases for Conan because of local programming that follows Jay Leno.