If you can excuse the silly turn of that quote, I think the message speaks for itself. When we think of the world of online media, we have to think of the world of online media. As many of us podcasters and bloggers know by checking out the analytics of our sites, we, for whatever reason, have fans all over the world. That is to say that our words, be them written, spoken or videotaped, are reaching a global audience.
"But Rod, aren't you the champion for all things local?"
To answer your question, yes I am. But stop and think for one second the power of a local message over the tubes of the web versus the limited (albeit recently expanded thanks to the digital conversion) broadcast power of your local television station.
Again I make reference to the fact that we can finally be the masters of the image of our town, but more important than that is the ability for those who have moved away and cannot watch an entire network newscast, to reconnect with the goings on in their old hometown.
I can't tell you how many times while in the Army I longed for a few words from home. Even the power of the Internet couldn't help at the time since in it's early stages, newspapers avoided the Internet like the plague, only major networks even bothered to put short video segments on their websites, and radio...well there was radio. Several years later, things have changed yet stayed the same.
Newspapers are now online and beginning to realize that the only way they will survive the juggernaut that is the Internet is to stay on for the ride as long as they can. Now, you can find most of the days top stories on local news television stations websites. The only medium that I think made the smartest move is radio. The fact that they now stream their entire broadcast live 24/7 makes them a much more attractive place to visit when longing for the familiarity of home. Something about hearing the stingers from your favorite radio station as a child when you are far from home is reassuring.
But this is stuff you all ready know and are probably bored to tears hearing me say it again, so here is where this is all leading. In order to package what we hope to accomplish very soon, we have to try and convince our public, more importantly those who will be funding our endeavor, not to dismiss the power of their words on the web.
An example, and lets use sports since it is something I am mildly familiar with. Grandma in Syracuse is watching her little Johnny play soccer on a Saturday afternoon in Stockton when all of a sudden a commercial plays advertising the Stocktoberfest this Saturday. Grandma is coming to visit on Friday and is staying for the weekend. Johnny's parents ask Grandma what she wants to do for fun and Grandma remembers seeing the Stocktoberfest commercial and decides it's something she wants to check out.
Local message right? Then why should we worry if it makes it to New York, or Germany for that matter... Grandma in Syracuse, she is why we need not think of ad dollars as wasted on the Internet.
I think that is the biggest obstacle that is standing in the way of local minded Internet broadcasters the world over. One I hope we can clear together...
Win the advertisers, win the world...
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