My New Shirt

When I got back from the AHECTA conference a few weeks ago I had a lot of mail to sort through from having been gone for over a week. There was one large cushy envelope, the kind that’s padded, which I went for immediately. Inside was a real nice black “Fox News” t-shirt. Fox News is a corporate sponsor of AHECTA and I think they sent these shirts to everyone who visited their booth. This shirt has a nice embroidered logo over the left breast and another one on the right sleeve. As swag goes, this was top shelf. But Fox News? Could I wear a shirt from a network that airs Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly with pride?

Now before you go to apoplectic on me hear me out. Full disclosure here: I’m not a fan of either of those guys and readers of this blog know I like “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” so you might be thinking, “So Robinson is just another Al Gore supporting, Volvo driving (I drive a 2000 Dodge Stratus actually) latte sipping (prefer Paul DeLima French Roast) tree hugging (okay, guilty there) liberal so OF COURSE he wouldn’t wear it. Wrong. I did and am wearing it now. And okay, I did vote for Gore in 2000.

But here’s what went through my head this morning. “If I wear this shirt, what label will people attach to me? Conservative? Neocon? Republican? News junky? I guess we’ve always labeled people: rich, smart, handsome etc. It seems like you have to be either or these days. The middle has washed away. I’m not sure why that is as I’m not a sociologist but I think I’d have to say that the business I work in has had something to do with that. Between talk radio and the 24 news cycle on cable news channels, we’ve created a big echo chamber for whatever your political persuasion happens to be.

So what’s the point? I don’t know other than I decided I didn’t really care what label someone cared to assign to me. People who know me know what I’m like and what I believe and that’s all I really care about. People can think what they want. And for the record, I’m not a fan of Hannity or O’Reilly mostly because they just always seem so angry to me. They’re never happy unless they’re bashing something or someone.

As for the shirt? Nice swag, I’ll wear it again.

The Original Realty TV Show

If you google “NBC Olympic Coverage” these are a few of the results.

From nbcolympics.com . . . “NBC Universal will show 3600 hours of the Beijing Olympic Games, the most ambitious single media project in history . . .”

And this from USA Today . . . “Network and cable rivals are mostly writing off August, avoiding the launch of fresh programming to dodge the tsunami better known as the Summer Olympics . . . “

And more from USA Today . . . “Imagine the moon was colonized a few years after humans first landed. That's sort of what's happened to Olympic TV.”

It used to be that every four years, the Olympics became the 900-pound gorilla of television, dominating the airwaves. Then a few years ago (probably because of television not wanting a four year break between those gorilla visits) they went to alternating the winter and summer games so there is an Olympics every two years. And as you can see from the google results, it still garners a lot of whoop.

Televised Olympic coverage was the first, and maybe the best, reality television show. Was there a better moment than “Do you believe in miracles?” That was reality at its best. In the early years the Olympics were tape delayed and at most you’d see a few hours of prime time coverage because of the time differences but as the outlets for distribution grew, they went live but still mostly on television. And now? Thousands of hours of coverage. Go that? Thousands! Everywhere there’s a screen. Now forgive me as I digress into my little “I know I’m a dinosaur and I remember when TV was black and white” mode, but . . . OMG! Thousands of hours? I just can’t get over a few things about this. In no particular order of importance:

- I’d love to see some statistics on how many people watched and more importantly, on what device they watched it on.
- I wonder if NBC will make much money at this
- I hope our students from Newhouse have a thrilling time.
- I will be remembering Jim McKay.
- What will be the slickest production innovation NBC will unveil?
- I remember if you wanted to watch extended coverage (translate: the unpopular sports) you had to pay extra and now they’re giving it away.

“Survivor” and “The Bachelor” got nothin’ on the Olympics. Get ready for thousands of hours of coverage.

I do believe in miracles.

I Like TV

I like TV.

I’m often amused when people say, “There are 500 channels and nothing to watch!” C’mon, nothing? If you have 500 channels there’s got to be something you might like. But the truth is most people don’t have 500 channels, that’s just an expression, or more like an exaggeration actually. Even if one has basic cable or satellite, or just “regular” TV for that matter, there is bound to be something to watch. I’ll tell you some of the shows that I like to watch.

I’m a big fan of “The Daily Show.” "Frontline" gets my vote too. I like “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” most of the time but sometimes the partisan politics gets a little predictable. I like watching college football and basketball and the NFL. “Iron Chef” and “Ace of Cakes,” my daughter turned me on to those. There’s a show called “The Directors” on Reelz, which I find interesting and “Inside the Actor’s Studio” is almost always excellent. I’m never home when it’s on (probably should DVR it) but when I’ve watched “Ellen” I’ve always laughed. I like “Dexter” even though glamorizing a serial killer feels a little weird. I love TV Land especially now that they’re running “Mad About You.”

“Seinfeld, Friends and Fraser” . . . part of the old “Must See TV” which my wife and I loved. It was the last appointment television we’ve done or that I can remember as being any good. My wife LOVES to watch the Tour De France; she lives for the three weeks in July. I like “Two and a Half Men.” Not sure what it is about Charlie Sheen but he’s just fun to watch. And I’m not ashamed to admit this; I like “American Idol.” One of the reasons I like it is that it’s live. If you work in TV, you have to love live television.

Oh, and I love everything on OTN channel 2. We do some pretty good TV.

Finally, Happy Birthday USA. In spite of our current problems, I’d rather be here than anywhere else in the world.

Tell me what you like to watch.

Uncle Leonard

My Uncle Leonard died last month, the day before my birthday. Leonard was 87 and lived a good long life, his words, not mine. Now, he had his share of medical problems especially over the last three or four years. Two strokes, diabetes, leg amputations and a collapsed lung. But through all of that he was remarkably resilient and positive. He almost NEVER complained. As a matter of fact, where he was at the moment, was always the best place he could be because he made it that way. Leonard was an “in the moment” kind of guy. He almost always found pleasure in something at the moment.

Leonard never married but he had lots of friends and a small close-knit family here in Central New York. His friends were mostly from local theater groups and they knew him as “Lenny,” all his theater friends called him Lenny. Lenny volunteered for Salt City Performing Arts and The Talent Company since moving to Syracuse in 1985. He did costumes, lighting, props and any else they needed. He also did a little acting from time to time. It’s also possible that you may have even seen him walking about SU (before his medical complications of course) because he lived at McCarthy Manor on South Crouse.

Leonard lived life and I guess that sounds a little vague and trite. What I mean by that is he found things to do that that gave him pleasure and purpose. He lived an extraordinarily ordinary life . . . yet not. He traveled to Europe often and toured the U.S. working in summer stock theatre when he was younger. He worked at Gimbel’s department store in New York City for 20 plus years, retiring from there as their window dresser. Did he change the world through his accomplishments that you might recognize? Probably not. All he did was pay his bills, be a good friend and be a positive presence to those around him. He contributed his time to the arts and made them and the people who worked there a better place with his creativity. Leonard never had much money but he gave my daughters a little cash at Christmas and birthdays and every year, everyone in Leonard’s circle of family and friends would get a pen and pocket calendar with his name and address on it for Christmas. He found his passion and followed it . . . and lived it. Family, friends, travel, work, theatre. Life.

87 and no regrets. His words, not mine.

Content is king

Hello from Providence, Rhode Island where I am attending the AHECTA conference. This is a group of individuals who represent their respective cable television systems and TV stations from colleges and universities all over the country. It’s a good group of folks.

So you’ll never guess what the main topics of discussion were at the sessions so far: streaming video, video over IP and the transition to digital in February of 2009. All this talk about technology has been exciting but I’m anxious for the days when we can get back to talking about content. Content is still king in my book. It doesn’t matter if you have 50 different methods of deploying content . . . if it’s crap it’ll still be crap on all those 50 platforms.

It’s been a reminder to me that it’s never been a better time to be a student interested in making television . . . imo. When I graduated from SU in 1977 the path was pretty much get a job at a TV station and work your way up. That was it. Remember, there were only four major networks at that time, NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS. That was it. I don’t have to tell you what exists today. All the channels that are on the air in some fashion (broadcast, cable, internet) need content and isn’t it always the most interesting and creative content that gets “the most views?”

But creative and interesting doesn’t just happen because someone owns a camcorder and editing software. Like most things in life, it takes work and practice to hone those skills. Last week I touched on being an agent of change and I truly believe that storytellers can be agents of change to make this world a better place. I guess this week my blog is a little “preachy” but I’m basically trying to say that I think good storytellers are important. Good storytelling practices take time to learn. And I want to help you become good storytellers in any way I can.

Change

So I’m watching the speeches by Obama and McCain this week and it was pretty clear to me that this country wants change! That seems to be the direction both candidates are headed in with regard to their message. And it shouldn’t be a surprise, something like 80% of the people in this country believe we are headed in the wrong direction. It’s very troubling that so many people feel like we are in such a mess. So I guess the old saying is worth remembering, when you’re in a hole . . . stop digging!

If you’re a student here at SU, I hope that when you leave here you’ll be an agent of change. Perhaps that might be in the form of becoming a successful accountant who manages the books for a small company so well that many people are gainfully employed leading productive and fulfilling lives. Perhaps you’ll be an artist whose work is thought provoking to the point where other people are influenced to take positive action on some injustice. Maybe you’ll want to be a teacher and influence a generation of students to be life-long learners.

Whatever the scenario you choose, you don’t have to be a nationally known politician to be an agent of change. Change occurs in lots of small and seemingly insignificant ways. Maybe you’ll live a nice quite life, pay your bills, be a good neighbor, and maybe raise a nice family. If we had more people who just did that, maybe we wouldn’t be headed in the wrong direction like we are right now.

Next week I’ll report from Providence, RI and the AHECTA conference.

Another conference!

I know I’m supposed to say this kind of stuff but one of the things I like about my job is going to conferences. (See my first post about Streaming Media East) In a couple of weeks I’m off to Providence, RI to attend my 5th AHECTA conference. AHECTA stands for “Association of Higher Education Campus Television Administrators.” This is a group that is made up of representatives from colleges all across the country who either have their own in-house cable television system or a student cable TV channel, or both. SU falls into that middle category as we have a station but are a Time Warner campus.

Attending these conferences is a chance for me to see what everyone else is doing and get new ideas. What’s interesting to me is that in academia, we’re all about sharing ideas and information. In my old life, working in production, sharing ideas and information was tantamount to treason. Never give the other side an edge! Not so in the Ivory Tower and that’s cool.

This year I am making two presentations during the three-day session. I’m “sharing” our method for uploading our content on-line and the second session is how we utilize our multi-camera production equipment for the shows we produce. The other sessions that I see on the schedule will be covering the transition to digital and HD as well as deploying content via IP.

I know this stuff sounds so geeky but that’s they way the business is headed. You really have to have one foot on the tech side to fully appreciate and grasp how this business is changing. I’m an old dog but I’m learning new tricks.