Tom Lany's Website & Blog
Last Updated by Tom on February 6, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Time is still continuing to move. I will start second semester on Monday.
I have four classes, Marketing, Creative Writing, Geology, and Interpersonal Communication lined up.
I am looking at the syllabuses for some of the classes right now. It should be a good semester.
Last Updated by Tom on February 3, 2010 at 8:06 pm
I visited my high school yesterday. Wow, how time flies!
It was really interesting to see how some things, such as the student population have changed exponentially. Other things, like a special sign I put by the door of the publications room are still present. On this sign, I tried to suggest that people should not place the trash can underneath the mail drop slot. Despite the presence of the large sign, the trash can was placed, you guessed it, underneath the mail drop slot. While this is a natural location for the trash can, being near the door; I would hate for a submission to be trashed!
It was really interesting to talk to the teachers and students I know about what they have been doing. I was also able to learn where a few people are going to college, and about the teacher contract that was voted down.
The newspaper distributed its February issue yesterday, as well. That was fun to see. The webmaster who took over after I left was working on the website. He has been working hard and was really interesting, too.
I am amazed that I will be halfway through my college career at the end of this year. Time flies.
So much has changed in our world in the past two years. I read a story about how blogging is no longer as trendy as it once was. It is amazing how a communication tool that has grown up in the past ten years is already beginning to decline in popularity.
I am really interested to see what the Apple iPad will do for the publishing world. This may be the device that convinces people to switch from books to digital. While it is really just a big iPod, it has some serious potential. We will have to see what people thing when it is released.
I hate to see journalists and writers, who produce quality work, continue to loose their jobs. Advertising is down at all of the major newspapers. Boy, that industry has changed fast, too. It will be interesting to what devices like the iPad do to these industries.
The past ten years have been interesting. I can’t wait to see what the next ten bring!
Last Updated by Tom on February 2, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I went to the dentist today and had my teeth cleaned. I did not have any cavities or need any additional work, but the event inspired me to write a jingle about Dr. Autotooth’s (fictitious) dental office.
This probably one of my favorite jingles on this website so far. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.
Last Updated by Tom on January 28, 2010 at 8:41 pm
As you may know, I work as the Web Editor at The Gustavian Weekly at Gustavus Adolphus College. In addition to those responsibilities, I will also be serving as an advertisement representative this spring.
If you have ever thought about placing an ad in The Weekly, give me a call! The Weekly is a budget-conscious way to market your products to a college market in Southern Minnesota.
See the new advertisement information I designed!
Last Updated by Tom on January 26, 2010 at 11:46 am
You gotta call Dewey’s Doorbells! Check out my latest jingle!
Last Updated by Tom on January 25, 2010 at 12:38 pm
The media has always served a purpose in our democratic society. It is entity that checks up on established society, and keeps this establishment responsible for their actions.
In the past twenty years, media outlets have shifted from being primarily privately owned, to being large commercial enterprises.
Initially, large media groups might look like a great thing. Large media enterprises can share content, personalities, and more throughout their affiliate base. As media groups get bigger, they seem to be more controlled by a singular set of values and greed, however. This results in the distribution of lower quality content, which is ultimately bad for media consumers.
In order for it to perform its objective, media must be independent. It must give those without a voice a chance to speak if it wants to serve as the agent of change it was initially called to be. When media outlets merge into huge entities, there is no incentive for the employees to do productive journalistic work. If someone else has already prepared some content for air, why would one question it. Besides, if you work for the only media outlet, you have already captured the ratings, anyway.
The other big problem that comes about when outlets merge is financial greed. If you can run some Hollywood gossip, why would you work hard to produce more challenging pieces, like investigative works? Small outlets, who have owners who care about their outlets, make sure this doesn’t happen; but big outlets look at their pocketbooks first. Long-term, why would people pay attention to a media outlet if they are just repeating the same rumors as the other outlets?
Media conglomeration, as it is know, has been especially prevalent in radio, for whatever reason. Technology has no doubt been a part of this. It is really simple to throw some music on a computer, rent a tower, and call yourself a radio station (don’t forget to hit play).
Clear Chanel is one of the largest media groups in the U.S., owning six radio stations in the Minneapolis area. They are a classic example of a media giant. They have similar websites, and share way too much with each other. Rick Kupchella, a former news anchor in the area (KARE 11 TV) is now reading the morning news on multiple of the Minneapolis Clear Chanel stations. While Kupchella is a good personality and has a great deal of experience, his opinion of what great news is should only be one voice of many serving the Minneapolis community on the morning radio.
I have been taking a Journalism course this January, which has been a neat way to spend the month. We have discussed many of these trends in the media business, which I have really been meaning to write about here for a while. What finally prompted me to write this was a video I saw on YouTube tonight, however.
I like getting the inside scoop on the media, so I decided to poke around the net tonight. I ended up watching a video about a DJ who works at “Max FM” in the middle of the night. It was and interesting sequence of six ten minute videos. What I really liked about the series was that the DJ was honest and real with his audience. He takes the viewer around the many stations at his office, none of which are manned at the hour of the night he works. The office is quiet, and the DJ admits to being tired during his show in the series.
While I thought this was a great video series, in that it took the time to take the viewer around the entire office; it communicated a problem with the mainstream media. The DJ was just reading a few weather reports and introducing tunes on his station, and all of the other stations in the complex were just running on auto-pilot. Where is the originality? What is this media outlet producing that others are not? What is the difference between this and my iPod?
To be fair, I may not have gotten a fair view of this outlet, given the time of my video visit – middle of the night on the weekend. Granted, there were some pretty cool signed country posters, and the DJ pointed out the offices of two personalities who are kind of big at the station. I think this video series depicts a passive media that is present in many places, though.
I watched another video, with Robert Scoble interviewing Michael Zwerling, who seems to be doing radio the right way. He is full of personality, knowledgeable, and truly committed to his industry. Zwerling, known as “MZ” owns KSCO-AM, 1080 in Santa Cruz, California. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in the media industry take a look at the video. MZ displays so much character, and is what I feel is missing from the mainstream media.
He is not overly concerned with the money, and is not about syndication. From the movie, about six minutes in, MZ says:
“You can run a radio station for a lot less than I choose [to]. I don’t even want to be in the business unless I can have a radio station with a heart, and a soul, and a personality. Just about every radio station left in the country is corporate owned, and is in actuality a computer in a closet somewhere that’s just controlling the feeds that come in from the satellite and injecting local commercial recordings. That to me is not broadcasting; that’s not radio. I realize there aren’t too many people like me left, and I think that is sort of sad.”
MZ seems to understand the problems with media as it is today. He knows that media must have a personalty, and serve its audience with unique content. He understands that radio is not living up to its dream.
In many ways, we are living in a new era. The internet is the big new communication wave, which I know will be big in my lifetime. Like the radio, many have tried to throw cheap content at the net. Again, MZ seems to understands the problem with this. Later in the video, he states:
“Just because bandwidth is inexpensive doesn’t mean anything you put on it is going to be attractive to people.”
The internet has given the average citizen the opportunity to setup a blog, accessible to the world in minutes, but it does not make bad content worth more. In fact, with more media options, from TV, to radio, to the web; time is worth more. Technology will change, but providing quality content will always be important.
I want to be a part of the media revolution, in some way. I don’t totally know how, but I hope I help make a positive difference in the lives of others through the production of unique, thought-provoking content; and I hope that others will be inspired to do the same.
Last Updated by Tom on January 23, 2010 at 8:24 pm
The T-T-T-T-TOMLANY jingle that plays when you hop on this site has been amazingly popular, so I decided to add a jingle section on this website. I have just recorded the first jingle.
I also bought a new domain to make it easier for people to remember how to get to the jingle part of my site. Just go to http://jingletom.com/ and you will be redirected automatically!
I hope you enjoy the new feature; but let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas!
Welcome to tomlany.net, Tom Lany's personal website and blog. I am a student from the Minneapolis, Minnesota area and am honored to have the opportunity to share my interests with you. If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe to the E-mail updates. Please contact me if you have any suggestions, and have a great day!
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