Program scripts from week of April 16, 2012
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
Caine's Arcade
It is easy, in fact too easy sometimes, to talk about all the negatives about the media. Trust me when I say that there are plenty of negatives out there. The reality is that the media is also a wealth of wonderful well done moments as well. We wouldn’t care so much about it if they didn’t.
So I’m very happy to spend a little time taking about the media doing something right. If you’ve never heard of Caine’s Arcade go to your favorite search engine the next time you’re on line and search for it. It’s C-A-I-N-E’S Arcade. Then watch the video. It’s about a nine year old boy who had to spend some time in his father’s store last year. He took the empty cardboard boxes and turned them into an amazing homemade game arcade. Watch the video for the rest of the story. It’s a high quality film that is worth every minute of it.
Now that’s cool in and of itself but that’s not really what takes this story to the next level. The video debuted one week ago from Monday of this week. Caine’s dad makes a living for his family but it’s obvious that they haven’t made it into the 1%. The filmmaker decided to use the video to try and raise a little money for a college fund for Caine. He set the goal at 25 thousand dollars. The donations blew by that in about 48 hours. So they upped to 100 thousand dollars. One week later, on Monday the 16th of April the fund stood at 165 thousand dollars with a second 165 thousand dollars set aside to create a Caine’s Foundation to help other kids go to college. The Goldhirsh Foundation has offered a matching grant of up to 250 thousand dollars for every dollar given to Caine’s college fund.
Caine is now a media star. He’s being interviewed by all the major news outlets. His success is the subject of a very serious (and I might add very interesting) article in Forbes magazine. All of this because of three things. First and foremost because a nine year old had the imagination to see a game arcade in a pile of cardboard boxes. Second because his father allowed him to go for it. And third because the internet allows people all over the world to share in that story.
There’s a purity to this story and a purity to the way it has been told. Give credit to the film maker and the media in general for letting the story be the story.
(Caine's Arcade link, the scholarship continues to grow!)
End of a Family Reunion
There’s a part of the media world that the public doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to but with which the media itself is obsessed. They’re called the ratings generally. There may be slightly different names in various media but the concept is always the same. Measuring the number of viewers/listeners/readers who are using the media. What the audience sometimes forgets is that it’s not about “Who Is #1”. These are not standings like baseball or football. The ratings are about money pure and simple. The more folks involved with your content the more you can charge for advertising.
Traditionally ratings have been done by age demographics. There are other ways of analyzing the audience but at the foundation has been division of the whole based on age groupings. At the top of the heap is what is sometimes called the Prime Demographic, 25-54. The idea is that this group of people are at the height of their income and buying potential.
I can’t remember who said this a couple decades ago but they noted that 25-54 isn’t a demographic as much as it is a family reunion. Here’s an example - I turned 54 this year, my daughter will turn 25. What do we have in common as consumers? Very little really. In general terms we don’t watch the same movies, TV, read the same material, visit the same web sites. But old school ratings say we’re the same demographic.
That may changing soon. CBS and General Mills have just released some new research about where audience demographics ought to be headed. The change will be to more lifestyle based ratings. The idea is measure actual media use and coordinate it with the actual purchasing patterns of the consumer as well. In the end this will mean two things. From the advertisers point of view it will allow them to target advertising much more accurately. Which means I won’t have to watch as many ads that are of no interest to me. The downside is that it means the advertisers will want to be mining our lives in greater detail. I’m fairly confident that we’ll see increasing push back from consumers over who “owns” the data that describes our lifestyles. The media will have to make some compromises so they don’t have to deal with a growing demographic of cranky, combative users.
A Mirror for Keith
A little bit of confession here this week. There’s a part of trying to be the best that doesn’t always bring out the best in everyone. I’ve been down that road. There have been times in my career when I’ve been my own worst enemy. What made the difference was finally accepting that the world wasn’t being any harder on me than anyone else and that I was the author of at least some of my own problems. It was and is a tough a place to find yourself. It’s even tougher to accept the truth and make the changes that are needed. But if you don’t you end up being a bitter, lonely person sulking in the corner of your life and career.
So why the soul baring? Because there is a prominent personality in the media that I think is long past having that moment and may be on the edge of seeing all his talent come crashing to halt. I’m talking about Keith Olbermann.
Let me say up front that I think Olbermann is a major talent. He’s as close to Rush Limbaugh as the political left has ever managed to come across. Like Limbaugh he’s intelligent, acid, and not afraid to say whatever is on his mind. Like Limbaugh his ego is unrestrained and mouth takes him to places that he should have probably avoided.
What makes Keith unique is that his success has been at such a consistently high level no matter what he does. He was brilliant on ESPN bringing a whole new style to being a sports anchor with his partner Dan Patrick. CNN, MSNBC, and most recently Current TV have all given the talented commentator ever higher profile positions.
The problem is that Olbermann has earned a reputation for being a problem child. His departure from ESPN wasn’t pleasant, MSNBC dropped his contract and now Current TV has done the same. And it’s clear that at least some of the problem is Keith himself. When he doesn’t like what’s going on he simply doesn’t show up. When he does show up he has reduced co-workers to tears and had temper tantrums.
A 53 year old with as much talent as Keith Olbermann shouldn’t need to play that way. It’s time for Keith to sit down with a mirror and have a serious talk with himself. The alternative is bitterness and loss of everything he could be.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
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