Posts Tagged ‘Erie’

Three years of Press and Tower

Press and Tower Screen Shot

First Press and Tower Post - Sept. 1, 2008

Three years ago today Press and Tower was born.

Since our humble beginnings on Sept. 1, 2008, we’ve generated 488 posts, received 3,362 approved comments, and almost 160,000 visits to the site, including almost 18,000 different visitors in the past year. Our Facebook page for Erie radio old-timers called “We Rocked Erie in the 20th Century” has over 220 group members from across the country engaged in lively conversation about their days in the Flagship City.

This was a year of celebration and sadness; great improvements and unfortunate setbacks.

We mourned the passing of Frank, Chris, Al, and Bob. Rupolo went to Florida, Nat The Hat to Texas, Cassie to NYC, and Joey to OneCarribeanWeather.com. Even the Jennings rejoined the South.

Sadly, GlobalErie fell off the face of the earth, and we lost 40 skilled workers and about 12 column inches per page when the newspaper outsourced the actual newspaper part of their business south of the border; the Venango County border that is.

But we also gained, especially in the area of a rebounding advertising climate, the embracing of social media and new technology, and some strong investment in the product that the Erie media consumer can benefit from. We now have a fun old-time TV Low Power TV digtial trio, and are getting at least one new FM station, while a couple AM’s simulcast on FM translators now. And the GoErie iPad app is coming.

Don’t forget, as Sean and Kim remind us consistently, we can “Like” them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter!

Let me just say that I “Like!” and appreciate each of you for reading, commenting, encouraging and supporting this effort. I am always open to ideas for improving this special community of consumers and producers and would love your feedback. Thank you for being gracious when my editing gets heavy handed, and for understanding that in the end we all want excellent, responsive, interactive media that improves our community and quality of life. We are all “for Erie.”

That makes this little “two cans and a string” of a media voice worth all of the effort. Thank you…and on to year four!

Seacrest to come to Star 104

Starting Monday, one of the most recognizable personalities in broadcasting will have a home in Erie, PA. WRTS/Star 104 will begin airing On Air with Ryan Seacrest in the 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM slot. Here’s the release:

Joe Jonas with Ryan Seacrest

Seacrest will focus on all aspects of the entertainment industry, highlighting and interviewing top talent from the worlds of music, film and television.  In addition, listeners can visit www.RyanSeacrest.com to interact and connect with the show and get their daily entertainment and lifestyle news.  The site also features photos, videos and social networking.

Operations Manager for Connoisseur Media, Joe Lang said, “Star is committed to playing the best music everyday with the most recognizable personalities and there’s no bigger name than Ryan Seacrest to deliver all the pop culture news to Star 104.  He has his finger on the pulse of the music industry and will bring that insider information to Erie every weekday from 10 till 2.”

ABOUT RYAN SEACREST

With his thriving broadcasting career and multiple ventures, Ryan Seacrest is at the forefront of the media and entertainment industry. While hosting and producing multiple television and radio programs, building his Ryan Seacrest Productions banner (RSP) into a leading television production company, and managing myriad brand ventures, Seacrest is redefining what it means to be a successful Hollywood entrepreneur. Seacrest holds preeminent positions in broadcast television, nationally syndicated radio, local radio and cable as both a producer and on-air host. He is celebrated internationally as host of the top-rated primetime talent showcase “American Idol,” and hosts and produces E! News and its red carpet awards show coverage. He also executive produces and co-hosts “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.” Seacrest has been nominated for an Emmy® award in the “Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program” category for his work on “American Idol,” and has also hosted the live network broadcast of the Emmy® awards show. On radio, Seacrest is host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, his market-topping #1 nationally syndicated LA morning drive-time radio show for Clear Channel’s 102.7 KIIS-FM, as well as the nationally-syndicated American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest and On Air with Ryan Seacrest.

RSP recently produced the ABC hit show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” and also produces the highest-rated show on the E!, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” as well as “Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami,” which debuted on E! in 2009. Seacrest’s ever growing brand spans beyond media with his many entrepreneurial endeavors. He has extensive deals with brand heavyweights Proctor & Gamble, Coke and Microsoft, and recently announced a strategic marketing and technology alliance with Eventful, Inc.

Originally from Atlanta, GA, Seacrest’s professional career in broadcasting began at the age of 16 when he applied for an internship at one of Atlanta’s top radio stations, WSTR-STAR 94. While working at STAR 94 he finished high school and went on to attend the University of Georgia where he majored in Journalism. Seacrest currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Although many will mourn the loss of another airshift that could be local to syndicated content, I think it’s a good move for Star strategically to lock-up Ryan Seacrest now before the Lawrence Park station signs on. It’s a quality show that airs everywhere and beats voice-tracking middays. It also reflects Connoissour’s willingness to invest in the product on their cash cow, since the Seacrest show is not a cheap date.

Given American Idol’s numbers here and nationwide, Erie will love Ryan Seacrest on the radio.

California dreamings

Just got back from a whirlwind week in mostly southern California with my family. We put on 1100 miles on the rental, visited 6 media markets, read the USA Today and Orange County Register…and are glad to be home. Let me share some media randomness with you based on the trip:

    •  Add KFI/Los Angeles to my Top 10 radio stations in America. They have captured how to make talk radio move quickly and sound current for young audiences. Local bumpers all sounded like we were listening to Z102.3 instead of a sleepy talk station. Breaks were heavily caffeinated: fast news, weather, traffic, getting back into a syndicated show like Rush right at the last second, maximizing local sales opportunities. Exciting to hear, and right on the money with what Randy Michaels is trying to pull off with the new Merlin stations in NY and Chicago
    • Why doesn’t PennDOT offer traffic cams in our District 1? Having those CalTrans cameras all over the local news lead-in to the TODAY show and throughout really help commuters
    • Erie holds it’s own when it comes to smaller market TV news. Fresno news was pretty unfortunate.
    • Not to be mean, but some of the news personalities on LA TV are starting to look like that Bill Hader character on SNL, Herb Welsh, the old news reporter. Got to be tough for a young person to break into mega-market TV these days.

  • Love how the Orange County Register’s website has breakouts by local towns. I was able to find out crime info, latest news, features based on the individual towns were were visiting in the OC. Given the Erie Times-News heritage with the Brown-Thompson community papers of old, I’m surprised that localism hasn’t been built into GoErie since the beginning.
  • Time for Yosemite National Park to get cellular service. My GPS is on my smartphone and only works if it can ping both to the GPS satellites and to the wireless network. No wireless…no GPS, so I was nearly clueless during my 70+ mile trip in the dark leaving the park on terribly-winding roads toward Merced. No radio available either. Considering there are 3 million visitors a year to that beautiful wilderness, certainly they can hide the towers among the Sequoias.
  • When it comes to a comprehensive branding experience, no one holds a candle to Disney.

When I visit large markets anymore, I don’t drool and say “We should totally do this in Erie,” but I look for aspects of excellence that are scalable and sell-able and wonder, “What if?”

Non-profits go social for Erie Gives Day

On Tuesday (8/2), over 230 Erie area nonprofits get to flex the power of their donor networks on the first ever Erie Gives Day.

This special day is sponsored by the Erie Community Foundation who is putting up $75,000, and GE Transportation is adding another $25,000 to do a partial and proportional match to what an area NPO raises in 12 hours Tuesday:

Erie Gives, which will take place on Tuesday, August 2nd from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., is an opportunity for you to make ONLINE gifts to your favorite nonprofits. In turn, The Erie Community Foundation will match a percentage of each donation that you make…The more donations made to a nonprofit, the more matching funds that nonprofit will receive from The Erie Community Foundation.

The minimum gift is $25, which is a perfect starting point for someone, especially a young person, to give to charity. This isn’t lost on the charities both big and small, who are engaging their networks through traditional advertising, mass mailings, e-mail blasts and Twitter and Facebook, to push for gifts. The Non-Profit Partnership even gave it’s members tutorials on how to launch a Facebook page or to get going with Twitter.

There are big hopes for this unique community-wide fundraiser. If the non-profits together can raise $100,000, they will receive a dollar for dollar match, and that will make a huge impact.

You can watch how things are going all day long live by following @eriegives on Twitter. And if you make a donation, tell your friends about it on your Facebook and Twitter page as an encouragement for others to get involved.

Deep Background for August 2011

Change is the constant in Erie media. The past 30 days saw major announcements and developments in the old media of radio, television, and the newspaper here in Erie. Meanwhile, nothing less than revolutions are occurring in and through social and new media, both globally and locally.

We wrestle with this changing context on a daily basis in this open forum. Participation is key; your opinions in the comments box below are encouraged. You can also connect by sending me an e-mail, or through a tweet @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Martin remembered by Warvel

Craig Warvel and Frank Martin - courtesy of Chris Tarbell's JET website

One of the longest and most successful teams in Erie broadcasting history was Frank Martin and Craig Warvel, who were consistently top-rated in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The partnership began on WJET-AM in 1981 and would continue through the jump to FM and the top of the ratings heap in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They finally split upon the purchase of JET and Froggy by NextMedia and Frank went on to finish his career playing the great songs of his AM days on Froggy and Warvel became solidly ensconced as the undisputed morning drive leader on Star 104. Martin and Warvel were as familiar to the families of the 80’s and 90’s and Frank as a JET Good Guy was to the generation of the 60’s and 70’s.

We are grateful that Craig Warvel shared his thoughts and memories about working with Frank Martin, who passed away on Monday at the age of 85 here on Press and Tower.

(more…)

Cheeseman: paywall, iPhone app coming

UPDATED: More details on the paywall for GoErie.com: “The cost for non-newspaper subscribers will be $6.95 per month, and Sunday-only customers and others who subscribe in increments less than the full seven days will be offered a discounted price of $2.95 per month.”

The paper is putting the “whoa!” on GoErie.com.

In a publisher’s column in Sunday’s Erie Times-News, President and Publisher Rosanne Cheeseman dropped the other shoe in her realignment of the Erie area’s largest news operation from a “ink and paper” based outlet to a multi-stream digital enterprise that is fighting to find a model where consumers will help subsidize the work of professional producers.

The first shoe of course is getting the Times Publishing Co. out of the newsprint publishing business. The transition to outsourcing the production of the newsprint version of their content to the Butler Eagle is expected to occur in the next few weeks, along with the loss of 40 jobs. Now the paper has their sights on the thousands of readers who consume it’s product without plunking down the obligatory six bits. Cheeseman explains:

GoErie.com will also soon launch a digital subscription program. Print subscribers will continue to have unlimited access to our website. However, nonsubscribers will be required to pay a fee for extended access to what we consider premium content — notably most of the bylined work of our professional reporters.

She goes on to say that GoErie.com will remain the community’s portal, with breaking news, obits, and blogs still free. If you take the Monday, July 25th morning version of GoErie as an example, on the five featured posts on the image rotator, one was a bylined news story, one a bylined sports story, one a link to a photo gallery (which would be free), and two were internal promos.

In her post Cheeseman announced that an GoErie app for the iPhone and iPad has been submitted for approval by Apple. It will allow the reader to view stories as if published on paper or in a story list, along with layers of video and additional content, including a voice function that will read the paper to you.

Several questions remain, with the biggest being will people who gladly fork over $80 per month for cable TV pay for a digital subscription of $8, $10 or $12 $7 or $3 a month? How will the inevitable loss of eyeballs affect display ad rates at GoErie? If print subscribers get unlimited access to GoErie, then why aren’t they getting automatic GoErie “Insider” subscriptions and the ability to make comments on stories right now (ETN circulation and GoErie are currently totally separate profit centers)?

And what about the aggregators?