February 18th, 2009 
joel Longtime Erie broadcaster and promising cancer-killing device inventor John Kanzius has died in a Florida hospital, according to reports from GoErie.com. He was 64.
Kanzius was General Manager of WJET-TV while that station was owned by Jet Broadcasting Co. His background was as a broadcast engineer, which would later spark his ingenuity as he came up with the design of his radio-wave cancer treatment.
Erie and regional media reaction has been swift:
Posted in Television 
Tags: Erie, GoErie.com, John Kanzius, John Kanzius Cancer Research Foundation, WJET 
1 Comment » February 17th, 2009 joel It’s February 17th, 2009, the original date set by Congress for all full-power television stations to turn off their analog transmitters and complete the transition to digital television.
However, fearing a major disruption of access to local news and weather with millions of viewers still unprepared for the transition, Congress delayed the deadline to June 12th. In the ensuing days, the FCC has been trying to ascertain which stations needed to go through with the February deadline, and which would continue their analog feed until the June date.
Here’s where we stand in the Erie DMA:
With WSEE getting voted off of the “analog island”, it could mean headaches from a small yet substantial percentage of their viewers. We’ll monitor the situation of how many Erie viewers will not be ready to pick up Survivor or 60 Minutes on the digital signal.
Some good digital news comes from Dwight Miller of WQLN: the long recovery process from their wind-damaged transmission system should be complete over the next few days. They will be activating their full-power all-digital signal this week as tower climbers erect the new system and regain a full footprint that has been hampered since September.
Reset the clock to June 12th as one deadline passes and another one comes into view.
Posted in Television Tags: ABC, CBS, digital television, DTV, Dwight Miller, Fox, NBC, PBS, WFXP, WICU, WJET, WQLN, WSEE 3 Comments » February 13th, 2009 joel Editors Note: Danny Lucas is a extensive consumer of the new media, and a prolific commenter on blogs around Erie and beyond. Today in a guest post here on The Press and Tower, Danny sounds a warning call about the vulnerabilities in the wild, wild west world of the web. It’s best we listen.
Let’s pretend you write a blog. You enjoy the topic, post, and soon draw comments. To disperse online and draw a wider audience, you employ newer technology and actually release your blog via an RSS Feed.
Locally, Erie Blogs and Erie PA Today both provide an aggregator service to disperse your Erie blog to a wider audience faster. This is a plus for the blogger and the community at large.
But in the healthcare industry, a new trend has set in that calls into question online ethics. A group contacted health care writers and offered them an award as the best writer on a given topic in health care. It could be a doctor, a patient, a company such as pharmacy, whatever.
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Posted in New Media Tags: blogging, Danny Lucas, DrudgeReport.com, Erie, ErieBlogs.com, media, multiple sclerosis, online ethics, Twitter, Wellsphere 3 Comments » February 11th, 2009 joel Luke Simons has been racking up the frequent flyer miles recently, with the WJET-TV sports anchor’s latest trip taking him and cameraman Kent Urbanski to Tampa for a week’s worth of coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers successful run at the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl XLIII. The JET-TV team was the only Erie television reporting unit on the ground in Tampa. They were joined by John Dudley of the Erie Times-News for the weekend and game.
I asked Luke to share his experiences at the biggest media event of the year. Here he is in his own words, exclusively on The Press and Tower:
P&T: Why did JET-TV make it a priority to follow the Steelers to the Super Bowl?
LS: When it comes to this year’s Super Bowl, I don’t think there was any question as to whether or not we would go. We have been covering the Steelers all year long and it was only appropriate that we were there when they made it to the Super Bowl. There’s no doubt that Erie has a huge Steelers fan base, but I also think that there are a lot of football fans that were interested in all of the stories that surround the week of the Super Bowl. I know it’s hard for Browns and Bills fans to see, but believe me when I say that if those teams were there, we would have made the trip for them too.
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Posted in Television Tags: Erie, Luke Simons, NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowl, WJET 1 Comment » February 9th, 2009 joel On our question about anonymous commenters to blogs and message boards, just over half of our P&T respondents said that it was ok to allow people to use pseudonyms or don’t include their name when they post. 26% disagreed and thought the accountability of a name listed was important.
This week I want to ask about the relevance of what is, in some industries, a huge expense for advertisers. It’s the phone book, and in the Erie metro, we have two of them. Depending on the category (plumbers/lawyers), you can have some advertisers spending $5000 or more per month to get the size and placement of their phone book ads.
I understand that there is no “bad” advertising, but you have to admit that the phone book is a pretty analog way to get your name out. Now with all due respect to my friends who sell for the telephone directories, my question is, is it worth it?
On a scale from 1 to 5, what kind of impact does phone book advertising make on your buying decisions?
Total Voters: 46
Loading ... February 8th, 2009 joel Keep the conversation coming! Deep Background is your space for all things Erie media, so take a moment and weigh in with your thoughts and opinions.
Meanwhile, we’ve been getting a lot of story ideas through email. I’m available privately at joel@nataliemedia.com or on twitter @pressandtower.
Look forward to hearing from you and don’t forget, embrace the chaos!
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Deep Background for Feb. 15-21, 2009
This week was the original deadline for the digital television transition. A date that seemed so far off in the future when many of us began reading Jack Tirak’s blog is now here. The upcoming few months will prove to be significant ones as our community deals with reality, not just the concept, of a change in their TV viewing.
The Press and Tower will walk with you every step of the way through this now drawn-out, yet fore-gone conclusion. Keep sharing your insights here on the blog, or if you’d rather, e-mail me at joel@nataliemedia.com.
Don’t forget to follow P&T on Twitter as well: @pressandtower.
Embrace the chaos…and let’s get on with it!