Posts Tagged ‘Obama’

Local NBC affiliates miss the Education Nation moment

September 27th, 2010 joel
Education Nation

NBC News Education Nation

This week, the broadcast, cable and online assets of NBC News are giving unprecedented coverage to what might be the greatest crisis our nation faces: the decline of our education system.

Now GE/NBC is not known for throwing a bunch of money around, remember, this is the network that brought us the 10:00 Jay Leno strip to save money from the episodic dramas they once and now again carry. For their week-long Education Nation initiative, NBC built a temporary studio and interactive stations on the mall at Rockefeller Center along with a new website,  and they are conducting big town hall meetings and interviews with President Obama and the like. The network is serious about putting the spotlight on the terrible statistics facing US schools and what can be done about it.

What is unfortunate is that seemingly few of NBC’s local affiliates have taken advantage of the moment the network has provided. In an online search of the Erie, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh NBC affiliate websites, as well as the 10 DMA markets immediately larger than Erie, only WGRZ/Buffalo and WKYC/Cleveland currently are making any attempt to cover a local angle to this important national conversation.

(more…)

Posted in Television Tags: , , , , , , , , , 23 Comments »

Top Erie media stories of 2009

January 1st, 2010 joel

Happy New Year and welcome to the “teens!”

As was the case with much of the last ten years, the decade ended last night with the media front and center of culture’s conversation. With top-talker Rush Limbaugh finally released from a Honolulu hospital, and Fox viewers in O&O markets thankful for a momentary reprieve from losing their football, media doings are never far from top-of-mind.

Here’s the top stories we were talking about in 2009, by month:

  • January: local TV stations and the Times-News cover the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20th
  • February: longtime Erie broadcaster and cancer machine inventor John Kanzius succumbs to cancer on February 18th
  • March: Nancy Dymond replaces David Calabrese as market manager of the Connoisseur Media radio cluster in Erie
  • April: a video capture of an apparently intoxicated off-duty Erie Police officer uploaded to YouTube created a local and national controversy about police relations with the minority community, and the new reality of social media
  • May: Lilly Broadcasting merged the newsrooms of WICU and WSEE, resulting in the elimination of about a dozen off-air and on-air jobs
  • June: WICU is the final TV station to switch off their analog transmitter and put Erie completely into the digital television age
  • Wards react to the reveal July: The seven day build of a home for Erie’s Clara Ward culminated in the July 2nd reveal of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house
  • August: Star 104/WRTS increased it’s dominance in Erie radio as the Spring 2009 Arbitron ratings were released
  • September: Former Erie Congressman Phil English began his high profile blog “Presque Isle to the Potomac” on GlobalErie.com
  • October: The Erie Times-News was named Newspaper of the Year by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association
  • November: Erie’s most-visited media website, GoErie.com underwent a major redesign
  • December: The weekend of December 12th and 13th turned out to be one of national media attention on Erie, as Saturday Night Live mentioned the fictional “Erie Chamber of Commerce” as part of a PGA spoof over the Tiger Woods controversy, then a two-hour special episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition showcased the work of thousands of volunteers impacting an eastside Erie neighborhood.

Next week, we’ll talk with one of Erie’s top media watchers about the past year and what we might see in the new year. Stay tuned.

Posted in From The Editor Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »

Post columnist Dionne visits Erie

November 14th, 2009 joel

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I was not able to attend the concluding lecture at the Global Futures summit conducted by the Jefferson Educational Society last night.

E. J. Dionne

E. J. Dionne

Washington Post and syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne was the speaker on the topic “How Will American Politics Change in the Future?” I wanted the chance to hear Dionne as he came under fire from the right during last year’s campaign, being portrayed as an Obama-apologist.

The Erie Times-News’ David Bruce did make it to the lecture and in his report in Saturday’s paper, he quoted Dionne as making a comparison between the election of President Obama and that of Ronald Reagan some 28 years earlier.

Bruce wrote:

“In each case, the country was ready to move in a new direction,” said Dionne, the featured and final speaker of the inaugural Global Futures Summit at Congregation Brith Shalom, 3207 State St. “In 1980, Reagan stole optimism from the Democratic Party. … You could say he promised ‘Change you can believe in.’”

From the report I’m not sure how much Dionne talked about the political landscape for the future, other than giving warnings to both Democrats and Republicans for the 2010 mid-term elections regarding energizing their bases.

It had to be a little disappointing to the event organizers that only 170 people came out to see a name that appears on TV, radio and the newspapers daily. Perhaps for next year they should shoot for another Post standard-bearer: George Will.

Posted in Newspaper Tags: , , , , , , , , No Comments »

Deep Background for September 27 – October 3, 2009

September 27th, 2009 joel

This week has been one very long computer session, and I’m looking forward to some more old media activities this week…maybe an episode of 30 Rock or The Office..woohoo!

At the beginning of last week, the major national headlines were about President Obama’s media blitz of the TV Sunday talk shows, with every major network represented except Fox News. That was curious to me since their ratings are highest for the 24-hour cable news channels, and because the President of the United States shouldn’t be fearful of talking to anyone. Anyway, the blazing headlines were regarding the Blitz, and my thoughts went to CommArts 101 and Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message.”

So what was the story last week: the President’s details on health care, or that he was ubiquitous on the airwaves?

As always comment here on Erie media by clicking the title and scroll down. Or you can opine via e-mail at joel@nataliemedia.com, or tweet @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Posted in Deep Background Tags: , , , , , , 10 Comments »

Deep Background for September 20-26, 2009

September 20th, 2009 joel

Another big week in media (so what else is new!).

Premiere week on network TV, the Times-News gets its paper “back in gear”, pundits fear that President Obama is getting too much media exposure, Lilly Broadcasting raises $140,000 for cancer research in basically three hours, and Glenn Beck stick his tongue out on the cover of Time.

Just a quick reminder that this is a forum of civil and constructive discourse; ad hominem attacks on participants have no place here.

If you have something to share, just click on the post title above and scroll down to the “Comments” box. You can also email me at joel@nataliemedia.com or tweet @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Posted in Deep Background Tags: , , , , , 3 Comments »

Poll: would you pay for premium local content?

May 11th, 2009 joel

Last week, our P&T readers presented President Obama his 100-day media report card. Over half of the poll respondents gave him an A+, totally in control of the media coverage and his “brand,” with another third gave him at least a B.

This week, we are exploring new paradigms for the monetization and survival of the old media in this new era. I’m keying off of an article I tweeted about from Harvard University that gave a roadmap to the Boston Globe’s future. They referenced their crosstown rival MIT’s Technology Review, which makes the case for making the news free, while charging for the extras.

Where’s the money going to come from to keep our professional journalists creating content? Vote then weigh in on the comments.

Would you pay a subscription or per article price for premium content made available by local mainstream media?

  • No: everything on the internet provided by local media should be free (60%, 18 Votes)
  • Maybe: if the price was right and the content was interesting enough (40%, 12 Votes)
  • Yes: it’s worth spending a few bucks to get the context of the news (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 30

Loading ... Loading ...
Posted in Polls Tags: , , , , , 4 Comments »

Poll: How well has Obama used the media?

May 4th, 2009 joel

Last week’s poll generated the greatest response since we started the blog. We asked, “Who is the most influential person in Erie media?” and I must admit the results were surprising with Mike Richwalsky of ErieBlogs.com getting 26% of the votes, followed by WJET/WFXP anchor Sean Lafferty with 18%. Brian Lilly was third with 12%, with a tie for fourth with ETN’s Ed Palattella and his boss Pat Howard at 11%. Certainly trying to measure influence is an inexact science, but it was interesting to see that reporters and anchors outperformed the managers who write their checks.

Last week we had the countdown to and then the celebration of the 100th day of President Obama’s administration. Considering the challenging times in which we live, the President’s poll numbers continue to be significantly strong. Perhaps part of that standing comes from his strong use of the media.

What do you think?

From a scale from 1 to 5, how well is President Obama using the media to advance his goals?

  • 5: The Obama administration is playing the media like a virtuoso, in near total control of its message and media coverage (56%, 15 Votes)
  • 4: the administration is doing a good job in controlling its message and managing positive media coverage (33%, 9 Votes)
  • 3: the President’s control of his message is about average for young administrations (7%, 2 Votes)
  • 1: the administration is managing the media poorly (4%, 1 Votes)
  • 2: the President is having some trouble getting his message out (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 27

Loading ... Loading ...
Posted in Polls Tags: , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »
« Older Entries

  • About

    Press and Tower is a web community for Erie Pennsylvania's producers and consumers of newspapers, radio and television stations, and new media outlets. We connect, celebrate, complain, and communicate about all aspects of media.

  • Recent Comments

    • End of an Era: More info on the Rocco's auction webpage --- http://roccoauctions.com/upcoming-auctions/?az_feed_... »
    • End of an Era: Brief mention in ETN of auction today at old WSEE building, and plans to demolish the building. h... »
    • Ron: Well, get over there and like, tweet and comment it…... »
    • David Berchtold: "I wave "Hello" to the computers, but somehow it doesn't make much of an impression for me or the co... »
    • Tom Lavery: I couldn't get the Go Erie article up. It doesn't surprise me though that the Bills will be dropped ... »
    • Ken Franklin: Speaking of radio, Cumulus - known for operating on the cheap in many markets - is making cuts here ... »
    • Mike Zahorchak: The Erie area certainly needs an OLDIES format radio station not another Country or Rock format!... »
    • K104Ever: Has it been announced as to what the format will be... »
    • Mark: I would be surprised if Rick Rambaldo uses any automation on his(and Hallman's)new radio station. Ri... »
    • Sean: Yes well "automation" hype is a lot of propaganda. Progress should be outlawed in the favor of human... »
    • RSS FeedSubscribe to our RSS feed!
    Follow me on Twitter!Follow me on Twitter!

    • Sponsor

    • Twitter Updates

    • Share

      Add to Technorati Favorites

      News & Media Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory
      See blogs and businesses for USA

    • Polls

      How have you used Erie media's social media tools in the past year?

      View Results

      Loading ... Loading ...

    • Traffic