Article Summary

Tune in to Digital Radio, that is the name of the article i found regarding HD radio and satellite radio comparing both of these new technologies. Found in PC magazine and written by Dan Evans, this scholarly article has graphics in it to help get the message across. How this impacts my group for the webisode was we did the future of am radio and hd radio and satellite radio are the main factors for the demise of am radio.
Evans writes about how if you buy hd radio you don't have to pay every month, once you buy it it's yours to keep. HD radio has grown tremendously, and studies have shown that is has grown from 11 stations to over 600 stations in a three span from 2002-2005. What HD lacks from satellite are the huge deals that involve sports teams/leagues that air all of the games to even the deal with car dealerships providing their services in new cars. Right now only BMW offers HD radio as an option for a package while satellite has over 5 different deals with car companies. Evans goes into detail with each one a little bit more and sprinkles in his opinion every once in awhile.
The reason i chose this article was because HD and satellite radio are directly affecting AM radio, HD really helps am radio while satellite has the opposite effect. The article is well balanced in going back and forth between both types of radio and weighs different factors letting the audience decide which to choose although you can tell Evans would like to see HD radio prevail.
The article doesn't not really say what each needs to do to move forward but more of what each has done and what they are capable of doing, kind of like a review of each. However, there is some mentioning of HD radio trying to make deals with sports leagues and car companies like the ones satellite radio has because this draws in a huge group of consumers. The sports leagues are criticial in my opinion because it is important for sports fans to be able to hear games when they are traveling, and on AM radio, even with HD it isn't as clear as satellite.
The only thing HD has on satellite is the cost, which was touched upon in the article and also was mentioned by a couple people we interview that satellite is too expensive to keep paying monthly but some of the people had HD radios because you only have to pay once.
I tried hyperlinking the document into the blog but it must have something to do with academic search premiere on Riders library website that wont let me transfer it. If you would like me to copy an paste the article into an email to you just let me know, it is under tune in to digital radio under academic search premiere though. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Michael Gatti

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For my second interaction with a professional I chose Michael Gatti, the supervising producer at Comcast SportsNet. I first came in contact with Mr. Gatti because he was the person who interviewed me when I went to apply for a summer internship at Comcast. Which I recently just found out I got as Mr. Gatti called me yesterday to give me this interview and tell me I got the spot. Mr. Gatti has a lot of responsibility at Comcast, he oversees the work of the producers, assistant producers right on down the line and also helps schedule the staff. He is responsible for making sure the sponsorships run properly and coordinate graphic elements for their shows with the art department. He got into the business by interning at local radio stations and also received an internship at Comcast while in college. He was also involved in the university's television station.
Mr. Gatti used hard work to build his way up the ladder at Comcast, he was hired by Comcast SportsNet as a production assistant a few months after he graduated from college. About a year and a half later he was promoted to associate producer and then eventually moved into the video producer role at CSN. The video producer helps prepare an individual to become a show producer. He eventually became a news and pre/postgame show producer before going into his current role as supervising producer.
What he likes about his job is coming up with ideas and seeing them through and the rush of a breaking news story along with helping Comcast SportsNet becoming the news gathering leading in Philadelphia sports industry. What he said he doesn't like doesn't even count as a dislike about what he does, he just dislikes when Comcast is beaten on a story by competing companies/stations.
As for new technologies in the industry, Mr. Gatti said how consumers want the most up-date information when it happens and the web is the place to get it. Comcast is also looking into getting an app for the iPhone, which I thought was very interesting. The reason for this, according to Mr. Gatti, is a majority of the population use their mobile devices to collect news.
The advice he has for students is to meet as many people in the business as you can, get as much experience as you can and make the most of your opportunities because you never know who your making an impression on. As for how import experience is, he had this to say, "In this field, experience is essential, you need to have a solid background just to be considered for a position in this extremely competitive field."
Something he has said that I have heard from other people in the business is not to get discouraged if you don't succeed right away and you have to be willing to relocate to get started. Overall Mr. Gatti was very personable and I look forward to the experience of working under him and

The Future of Radio/Television-2

For the second blog post for the future of television is the 3-D TV. This technology is absolutely amazing and will make the television companies a ton of money, or so they are hoping. Cablevision will be airing the first live sporting event next Wednesday night for a hockey game on MSG. This is a very interesting move that they chose hockey to start this 3-D programming with because it is not one of the more popular sports to watch on TV. Cablevision is obviously being very cautious and wanting to test it out in smaller markets before going to Disney and ESPN, both of whom are interested in airing programs in 3-D. The catch for the consumers is you have to buy a 3-D television, which I just saw a commercial for one for the first time yesterday. These televisions, as you can imagine, are not cheap and in economic times like these you have to wonder who would want to spend that extra money when a normal HD television looks great. This could revolutionize the industry because normally people think of 3-D as a treat, something you do on vacation or see in a movie theater. This can really help the movies that look better in 3-D if people are willing to buy these special televisions. However, the question that comes to my mind is can you watch normal programming and is the quality of the picture the same as a normal HD television. How complicated is it to switch to 3-d mode? These are questions that will slowly be answered as the television starts being sold and consumers start complaining, because that is what consumers do. This also takes away from watching programs on the computer like we talked about in class, no computers are compatible for 3-D pictures so the programs who makes 3-D shows or movies would really enjoy that part of it. You have to watch it on TV. In my mind the channel that would benefit from this the most would be the channels like Discovery and Animal Planet and things that have to do with nature, that would be a mind-blowing experience to watch in 3-D. I am just interested to see how sporting events will look in 3-D and if people will be able to watch TV with those annoying plastic glasses. Speaking of which some video consoles who are looking into 3-D are trying to find ways to make it 3-D without the glasses. That would be a major feat for the entire industry, lets hope they come up with that because I got laser-eye surgery so I would never have to wear glasses again.

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Interview with Electronic Media Professional

The professional I interviewed was Marc Zumoff, who is employed by Comcast SportsNet and does the play-by-play commentary for the Philadelphia 76ers, an NBA team. The first time I contacted Mr. Zumoff was via e-mail, he had come to give a lecture at Rider and I didn't know about it until after i happened. One of my fellow students knew I was interested in the field and gave me Mr. Zumoff's contact information and I have been e-mailing him ever since. I have also met him in person once an called him numerous times for advice on television commentary. His job is what I ultimately want to do when I get older.
Marc Zumoff graduated from Temple and orginally went into the world of radio, working at stations such as WTTM and WBUD in Trenton. He than began his television career that ended at Comcast, he originally was the sideline reporter for the sixer's games but when the play-by-play announcer resigned, he told his boss he could do the job and he got his shot and has since won an Emmy for his work.
What he likes most about his job is how he is traveling all over the country with the team, having his flights, rooms and food paid for. He also enjoys being paid to talk about basketball, which is what most people dream about. What he doesn't like is the long hours and days that make a play-by-play announcer, there is a lot of preparation that does into it that a lot of people don't realize. He feels that technology can only benefit his position since he works with television but areas such as radio and print media are going to struggle as technology evolves.
The recommendations he made to me and he would make to students would be to get out there and get experience in the field you want to pursue. Don't be afraid to take the first step in initiating conversation with professionals and asking for help, try to get internships and be very active if you do get one. If you can't get an internship just try seeing if you can work somewhere for free, getting your foot in the door is the hardest part of any job. Qualities that are important are having a short memory, learning to deal with criticism and being determined even through failure.

The Future of Radio/Television

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The iPad, a technology that is mind blowing to some and Apple is ready to make it even better. Apple has announced that it will try selling TV Shows on the iPad for 1 dollar. This will begin sometime in April. This is important because if people can get the shows they want and be able to probably carry them around maybe they won't have to make sure if they will have time to watch their shows. Also this could lead to Apple having its own subscription service through iTunes which would most likely be successful given the amount of people that have Mac computers or iPods. This could impact the audience because it is a more convenient way for people to watch tv...portable. Look at phones and computers, cell phones and lap tops are more popular because people like being able to carry around their technology. This could be true for television, if you could carry around a mini television to watch when your on the train, traveling or stuck in line somewhere I am pretty sure most people would love that.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-YAQ1wfNqc

Posted above is a link explaning the iPad further and some of its features however it does not talk about the TV Shows because that is not coming out until April and the iPad was released a couple weeks ago. It is a mix between a laptop and an iPhone and could revolutionize hand-held technology. Another way this could help would be the late-night programming shows that most people aren't able to stay up to watch. They could wake up in the morning and on the way to work or while getting ready watch the late night show that took place the night before. (Pages 184-186 in the text).

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-10451311-260.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

(website link ^)