Pledge Excerpt: Callsign Mysteries
It’s probably iconic that many kids in the 50s, 60s and 70s grew up listening to faraway AM stations on junk pieces fished out of trash cans in neighborhoods from coast to coast. From their beds, WLW, “The Nation Station”, WABC in New York, WLS in Chicago and others callsigns were their targets long after parents were asleep. The walls of their bedrooms, illuminated by the yellowish-orange glow of glass amplifier tubes. And spinning the dial, they were probably mesmerized by the rattling off of various callsigns which could sound like incantations, spoken by strange staticy tongues from exotic locales.
Those who paid closer attention might’ve noticed that stations west of the Mississippi started with “K” while stations east of the Mississippi started with “W”. Eventually, some of those kids might’ve eventually gone to work for civilian or even military broadcasting. And their voice became the one ricocheting around the planet. But callsigns are far from being romantic mysteries of youth. To read more about callsigns or public radio, visit http://pledgethebook.com and get on the pre-order list for PLEDGE: The Public Radio Fund Drive.
Pledge Free Streaming
Quick, if you could listen to music versus music but with a lot of unrelated talking mixed in, which would you choose?
For listeners to public radio pledge drives, pledge free streaming makes the answer an obvious one. The technology, first introduced in 2011, gives paying listeners the choice to link their device to a code that is activated when they contribute. And for the length of the drive or until the next one, they listen without pledge pitches.
Simple. Elegant.
But for stations, it’s a different question; If I have to choose between a pledge drive which has worked raising money for the last 40 years versus a technology that has only been around for seven years, which makes more business sense? Pledge free streaming has the potential to not only eliminate drives that a large percentage of listeners have made clear they hate. It also has the potential to raise tons of money in the spirit of something akin to a Netflix subscription.
The technology, though, also might diminish the one-on-one stations have with listeners at pledge drive time. The personal testimonies, the challenge grants, the giveaways. How would all of those other streams be affected if algorithms for payment and listening take over?
It’s a question I address in my upcoming book, PLEDGE: The Public Radio Fund Drive. But for now, here’s a funny example of a pledge free stream concept, produced by Noah Madrano for @Sub Human Intellectual Theater @KBOO with graphics by my book’s cover designer, Karen Green.
https://www.youtube.com/watch…
Error in Fact
Forbes said in a 2013 article that as of then, a million or more books were published in the U.S. OK, except a New York Times article said that as of 2002, only 80,000 were published in the U.S. OK, except I can’t believe the number of published books has jumped by 920,000 in 10 years. I mean, Amazon is powerful but it’s not THAT powerful. Especially with all of the dour talk about declining book sales, the introduction of Kindles way back when and the disappearance of Joseph Beth and Little Professor’s along the way.
But this isn’t about bookstores. It’s about credibility of reporting. Neither article cites its sources for its numbers. Maybe because it’s Forbes and the Times, both editors felt company names speak for themselves then and now. But as I work on my own book; a book I’ve sweated and cursed and exhausted myself over for the last three years, I wonder will people trust my research considering these plain and simple examples of journalistic inconsistency from those at much higher levels than me?
Like, when a well known writer for a well known media outlet told me by email that they didn’t know if a fact I quoted from a piece they’d written was correct. Excuse me? They didn’t say they couldn’t remember. They didn’t say the facts had changed. They said they didn’t know. And as gingerly as I could, I prodded to know if they knew that as they were writing, or did they come to know it over time? And either way, why would they put it in their piece or not offer a correction?
I have busted my ass to make this, my first book, to be as good as I can make it. It may not be as good as I hope my writing will eventually be. But I’ve been a reporter for a long time. I know how to research. And I expect I also know how to tell the truth and how to feel like crap if I even suspect that I haven’t.
—
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/28/opinion/think-you-have-a-book-in-you-think-again.html,
Image from meriahnichols.com
Dark Art
I was listening to the Friday News Roundtable, a feature of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s “Think Outloud” news program and heard something that made the dark art aspect of my training switch on. I’ve spent my life in journalism, writing and hopefully, creative thought. But as I’ve often mentioned here and other places, people with skills can use them for good or bad. That is, they have the ability to see effective uses for a tool, whether it is doing what some would call creating or doing what some would call destroying. The thought itself is ambivalent. Like scientists who never ask, “Just because we can do it, should we?”, a potential application is instantly seen in binary form; it can be a pharmaceutical plant, or it can be a chemical weapons factory.
So, I hear host Dave Miller mention how a new ballot measure, Measure 101, will soon push itself to the front of the attention of Oregonians after the beginning of the year. The measure, which imposes taxes on hospitals and health care providers, will bring along with it, federal matching funds, giving the state up to $320-million to help it fund its programs. The opponents to the measure, those same hospitals and health care providers, are no doubt looking for ways (as such corporations are often wont to do) to argue against or otherwise obfuscate the issue. And in that moment, when one of the guests said, “To most Oregonians, 101 is a highway,” I had it. “What about,” the dark side asks, “a commercial that is nothing but surfer music and gorgeous shots of the iconic Highway 101 from the perspective of a shiny, sexy red convertable.” Bazinga!
It would be hypnotic in its beauty and, in a subtle way, make people think of 101 in terms of escape, rather than of trying to understand complicated healthcare tax policy in the dead of winter. It could help tilt the perception of the voters by confusing the issue in their minds. Then, the arguments started in my head. “How can you even think about making such tools, such weapons?” “Because I can,” says the bad angel. “You know people wouldn’t be that easily manipulated, don’t you?” “Wouldn’t they,” asks the bad angel? “You’re evil.” “Nope, just fruitful,” smiles the bad angel.
Like ABC’s sweet Robin Roberts calling, “Bye Felicia” after a fuming Omarosa was booted out on her ass from the White House, the dark art of say, language, is in even her. “Calm down,” says dark angel on my shoulder. “You win all the time. I’m just having a little stretch.”
Tick Tock, You Don’t Stop
Occasionally, I write something about gear. Right now, I want to talk about a very handy little device that you may not think much about unless you need to do some precise time juggling and you realize only this can do it. I’m talking about a time calculator. It’s amazing what a time calculator can do. I first saw them used by the Traffic & Continuity Department at an Armed Forces Broadcasting facility in Europe. Then, I got one around the time of working for FEMA as a PA during Katrina and Rita. That one disappeared, but I’ve had another one for about two years. From Calculated Industries, it adds and subtracts hours, minutes and seconds, and converts time in decimals to hours, minutes and seconds. It converts 12 to 24 hours settings and from A.M to P.M. Also, a timer and a stopwatch. A remarkable little device.
