Users of the new Apple iPhone 3G are reporting problems with reception. I can vouch for that: I'm one of them. Apple bragged about how this new phone would use the faster AT&T 3G network. One problem: we keep losing the signal.

This is not an isolated event. There may be a problem with a chip inside the phone itself. With Apple selling millions of iPhone 3Gs this summer, you'd think this would rate as a top story. After all, we saw plenty of pieces on how the lines were really long when the thing went on sale, right? There... more »

Please don't tell me you are waiting until the NBC broadcast is showing in your local time before posting the results on your Website. Via Lost Remote, the LA Times writes:

What gives, American media?

Report the news. Cover the Games. But give us a warning before ruining the evening’s entertainment.

Websites and newspapers handled “American Idol” eliminations with extreme delicacy, so why no tact when it comes to covering a race in a swimming pool?

OK, before we move any further - did the LA Times just compare the Olympics to American... more »

Way off topic, but funny for a Friday. A pest control guy showed up at my door this afternoon. He tells me he "just wants me to know" that he's in the area doing some work for my neighbors. (I know he's here to sell me, but fine.) He says my neighbors are concerned about the pests in the neighborhood. (My kids, I'm guessing.) They've seen - gasp - ants. Wasps, too. Silverfish. Earwigs, for heaven's sake! (Had to look that one up. Did you know they don't actually go in your ear?) He engages me in... more »

I think we're going camerablind, and I don't know what to make of it.

Let me explain.

I took the family out for one of my little town's "concerts on the common" Monday night. (Picture New England town, postcard, bandstand, ice cream, Norman Rockwell... the works.) The local cable channel was, impressively, doing a three-camera shoot. Because they're cable access, they have limited resources, so one of the cameras was fixed, about 25 yards from the center of the stage, on the lawn.

Everyone sits at these concerts. It's a picnic kind of atmosphere, save for the kids running around. But I'll... more »

I just want to take a moment to share the news of the passing of a great journalist and professor, Jim Thistle. Jim was the director of the Boston University College of Communications Broadcast Journalism Program, and I was a student of his in the early '90s. Jim conferred upon me my Masters of Broadcast Journalism, and occasionally invited me back to talk to the students. Jim worked in TV news for 30 years, serving as news director at the CBS, NBC and ABC affiliates here in Boston. Whenever there was a story about news in the news, the... more »

"Optimists are nostalgic about the future," or so the quote goes, widely attributed to the Chicago Tribune. It's a good quote for the times we're in - heck, even the week we're in. The publisher of the LA Times and the editor of the Chicago Tribune both quit, no doubt due to the Sam Zell takeover. Ad bucks are down and there's no dispute they're going lower. It costs a fortune to travel anywhere this summer.

And soon, you won't even be able to buy an American-owned Bud.

Plenty to be pessimistic about.

But I'm nostalgic about the future. I can... more »

ADDENDUM: Yes, they lined up like the Apple nuts that they (OK, we) are. And AT&T had glitches activating all the phones, once again frustrating the most loyal consumers:

A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple's iTunes software that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.

Instead, employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe said.

 "Hey, thanks for waiting seven hours for this. Now... more »

For years, Icann, the overseer of all things .com, .biz, .org, etc., has held a tight grip on top level domains - those letters that can appear after the dot. This has led to some very awkward URLs, with people and companies trying to squeeze variations on their name into the most common .com category.

 Now it looks like any dot goes.

Icann has changed its stripes - er, dots - and is going to permit virtually any word to follow the dot. As in Coca Cola will be able to get .coke if it wants. Your station will be able... more »

I made my usual rounds this morning, checking my email, social nets and Twitter. It was on Twitter that I first found out about the death of George Carlin. In fact, others had posted that they, too, found out about Carlin's death via Twitter or Facebook or other social nets.

Local media outlets need to pay attention to this phenomenon. The old saying was "news is what I say it is." Then it was "news is when I say it is." Neither fly anymore. Instead, we have to be a part of the river of news.

Have a Twitter account for... more »

Now that we've had the site lauched for a couple of months, we're in the process of fine tuning. We want ar-d.com to be a place where people return to every day for news and information about our industry. We have imported feeds from sites we respect, and we are building out more blogs from our own staff.

Recently, this would have been unthinkable - at any company. But we preach how "sending people away" is the surest sign they will come back. Be the place where people start looking for information and they will always return. This is Google's... more »

Local TV news credibility is on the upswing according to the latest Pew Research Center study.  Of course, it is still less than a third of all viewers who "believe all or most of what the news organization says."

28% of all respondents said Local TV News when asked that credibility question.  That is six points lower than a decade ago.  It is also third overall - behind #1 CNN (30%, down 12% in a decade), and 60 Minutes #2 at 29% (down 6% since 1998).   Local TV News' credibility increased by 5% since the 2006 survey, and edges NPR... more »

I'm not a big Olympics fan - but every night I find myself getting hooked into watching it for hours.  I'm not alone the ratings are strong across the country - really strong!

I think the draw is the Olympics is the ultimate reality TV program.  It is all about the DRAMA of the Olympics.  I am rooting for Michael Phelps to get 8 gold medals.  The DRAMA of the 4X100 relay the other night was incredible!

I'm not a gymnastics fan but the DRAMA of the U.S. Men's team trying to gut out a medal after one of their best had to... more »

VSS, a media private equity company, predicts that by the end of 2008, TV ad revenue will beat newspaper revenue for the first time since record-keeping began in the 18th century.  They say that TV ad revenue, boosted by political races and the Olympics, will reach 51-billion dollars this year.

Newspaper revenue will sink like a rock to just under 47-billion dollars - that is nearly 5-billion dollars less than last year.  TV ad revenue will be up about 3-billion, according to VSS.

But this is no time for Broadcasters to be smug about their victory.  Yes, TV ad revenue sprinted... more »

You knew it had to happen - a McDonald's iced coffee prominently sitting on the anchor desk for a morning newscast in Las Vegas.  Product placement has made its way to local TV news programs.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that KVVU - Fox 5 - started placing the plastic cups with the McDonald's logo on their morning news set a couple weeks ago.  The KVVU news director calls it a "nontraditional revenue source."   Capital J journalists may refer to it as something else.  But is it a really big deal?

It made me chuckle to read that the news director... more »

WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, South Carolina spiked their 6 p.m. news ratings by 30% this week by offering a DTV home test for their viewers.  I have written about a similar test in Honolulu during the May sweeps that was also a big success.  This is an excellent public service for your viewers - and it drives viewership.

WSPA has been averaging a 9.1 rating/16 share during the July sweeps.  They popped a 12 rating and 21 share with their DTV test, which ran at 6:20 p.m.

They used a phone bank to answer viewer questions during the test that received over 300 calls. ... more »

When was the last time your television station popped "Super Bowl-Like" ratings - outside of a Super Bowl?   For WCMH-TV in Columbus it was just a few days ago.

And with a stronger emphasis on the Internet and mobile devices, the station had a record day in cyberspace too.

The occasion was the annual "Red, White, and Boom" celebration in Columbus on July 3rd.  Tens of thousands of people flocked downtown for food, games and a spectacular fireworks display.  WCMH has owned the event for years.

This year the station put an added emphsis on their web site, and it paid off with over... more »

Two AR&D clients swept the National Edward R. Murrow Awards for "Overall Excellence."   Congratulations to KOMO in Seattle, the winner of the large market award, and WJAR in Providence, winner of the small market Murrow.

Both of these stations have excellent news operations and it is great to see them recognized with the national award for overall excellence.  It is truly an award the entire station can take pride in achieving.

Also a tip of the hat to AR&D client WKRG in Mobile which won a national Murrow for Continuing Coverage.  KOMO captured a second national Murrow for writing.

Great work.  We are proud of

The 25-54 demo is out-dated!   Every 7 seconds another Baby Boomer turns 50.  By 2009, the majority of all American households will be led by someone 50 or older.

Many TV general managers I have talked to agree with my call to change the so-called "key demo" for advertsiers to 30-to-60 year olds.  The buying power continues to get grayer in this country and needs to be recognized by the those 20-something media buyers.

Think back to your 20's - did you have any "buying power?"  I didn't.  But today I do.  My two sons complain that I am imposible to... more »

If you needed proof that traditional news outlets are in competition with thousands of Internet sources, consider the first report of the untimely death of Tim Russert.   No, it wasn't his own network - NBC - or any other traditional broadcast or cable news outlet.

Beating the pack by a full 36 minutes was Wikipedia!   That's right - the controversial site written and edited by anonymous sources - beat the venerable Associated Press by over half an hour.  Wikipedia had the news 38 minutes before NBC told the world.

In fact, there were eight edits on the Wikipedia site before NBC... more »

Someone once told me, "you can't cut enough expenses to get back to profitability, you have to have a revenue plan too."  I believe this thinking is lost on most broadcast groups in these difficult times. 

I hear from frustrated general managers every day that their company is only focused on cutting expenses, with no planning on how to protect their core business while at the same time pursuing new revenue streams.  In fact, the GM's complain it is just the opposite - any new revenue ideas are routinely rejected immediately because all the corporate folks want to hear is where... more »