It’s been over 10 years now since those of us who read trade magazines started to see the word “convergence.”

Its original definition meant the mixture of the computer world with, among other areas, the broadcasting world. I’ve expanded the definition these days to basically mean that the era of single stream newspapers, radio, TV stations, and cable networks are over. People in media (note the plural) now create content using multiple forms of creative engines to output to multiple streams.

My readers at the Erie Times News are saying right now, “duh, what else is new?!?” That’s because they have been living in a fully convergent media world for years now. No longer can a reporter armed with a reporter’s notebook and a photographer shooting large format film go cover a story. Now they may bring a third reporter to shoot video or capture an audio interview, or the reporter wears a couple hats to ready the content for multiple streams: ink on newsprint, online text, photos, video, and podcasts.
I have to credit the future-thinking of the Times Publishing Co. as they’ve placed their bets on the developing convergent technologies years ago through today.

Of course, everyone in media in Erie is developing their multiple output streams; it’s just that some are further along than others. And because of where we are in the development cycle, and the level of investment by our media companies, there are often significant irritants to the media consumer that I’d love to see corrected, as well as missed opportunities to build audience and revenues. See if any of these issues resonate with you:

The DVR chop

First, let me say that the creation of the Digital Video Recorder is maybe the greatest invention since the toaster! I never realized how much the scheduling of television shows controlled the rhythm of my life until I got a DVR. Watching a movie and my daughter has a question? Hit pause and I have all the time in the world for her. Want to hear the dialogue just before the interruption? A quick rewind does the trick.

Our family loves to record shows that are on too late or during homework time, etc. Being an old school kind of media consumer, I like to watch the 6:00 news and then the network news at 6:30. DVRing the network news isn’t a problem, but do you know that the local channels I watch nearly always begin their 6:00 newscast a minute or two early? That means that my DVR is catching the end of the top story of that cast, which is very irritating.

I’m almost positive that some Frank Magid consultant-type is telling these stations to get a jump on the competition by starting their newscast early, but it is totally audience-unfriendly. Myron Jones had it right years ago teaching us little cub DJ’s to time our legal ID’s within 10 seconds of the real top of the hour. Now with the built-in atomic clocks on the DVR’s, it’s absolutely necessary to start our programs at the correct time. Resistance is futile.

Share the wealth

The websites of our major Erie media properties have become a priority in the past few years. Depending on who you talk to you’ll get opinions ranging from satisfaction to underwhelming. What I appreciate is that for the most part, our media companies are sometimes offering rich content through the use of video and audio in addition to text.

Where we need some work is in the embracing of the Web 2.0 concept of social networking. Out of all of the newspaper, TV and radio sites I scanned only GoErie.com and Rocket101.com offered embedded video that a blogger or MySpacer could stick on their page. The other sites only offered a email form to “share with a friend.” Close but no cigar. I suggest the other sites follow the lead of GoErie and signup with a group like KickApps to power their media and social network engine. That way you can get more eyeballs on your great stuff! Also, we need feeds…RSS feeds. Look it up if you don’t know what that is. Resistance is futile.

Getting to know you

Finally, let’s talk personalities. Folks, the media is in show business, and the people attracted to TV, radio stations, and newspapers are generally speaking an interesting lot. That’s why I’m shocked at the sheer lack of blogging and other brand extension going on from our media personalities, especially the radio morning shows. The whole community/companionship aspect that emanates from a morning drive show kicks in overdrive when accompanied by a blog site, where the conversation can go on all day long. I know that some of the shows have MySpace pages, but you would never know it from that station’s website because you can’t find the links! You’ve got to use all of the tools available to increase listener loyalty and time spent listening…it’s all that stuff we learned in CommArts and at the R&R Convention.

Free tip to PD’s: how about creating a station-branded iMix, where you create a playlist in iTunes of songs your station is famous for, and then share it on the iTunes Store and promote the heck out of it. Sarah Palin just might call to say “build brand loyalty, baby…you betcha!”

Oh yeah, resistance is futile.