View From the Phlipside - Future of Newspapers

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.

I’ve been chronicling the battle for the future of the newspaper here for a couple of years now.  Most of the news has been bad as readership plummets, advertising sales goes with it and newspapers have been closed.  I’ve noted that I personally will miss the comfortable physical routine of reading the paper, which section you read first, how you hold and fold the paper to read it.  I’ve also noted the very serious repercussions to a free and open society if the great traditions of journalism that are the legacy of the newspaper are lost.  It is, I believe, one of the most important questions to be answered in the digital age.  How will we be informed?

So I’ve been encouraged over the last year to see at least a few of the print giants finally making a move to create a viable business model.  It’s possible that that grand old lady The New York Times might lead the way into the next era.  Or it could be the folks at the OC Register in Orange County California.

The OC Register is one of 27 daily papers and 8 TV stations owned by Freedom Communications.  In a bid to keep their properties rolling Freedom is looking at doing some innovative work with an app for the iPad that would include interactive stories and advertising all through the use of the HTML5 technology.

What that means for those of us less technologically oriented is that instead of having simple print versions we would be able to select aspects that interest us.  In an advertisement we would be able to make the image of the product rotate so we can see it from all sides.  They’re also looking at making sure that the experience of the app remains interesting even when you’re offline with the content.  

There’s one decision that they’ve made that I think I like a lot.  The overall presentation will retain the look of a newspaper.  The reason for that is simple familiarity.  Rupert Murdoch’s entry “The Daily” went with a different look and got trashed for it early on.  So far indications are that it hasn’t taken the world by storm.

If the folks at the OC Register learn their lessons well and take the best of the old to go with the bright and shiny new we might just see what the future of the newspaper looks like.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - Misuse of Language

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.

All right people this week we’re going back to basics.  The most basic level of communication media.  We’re talking language here.  Could be spoken or written although the two examples that are setting me off were both in written form.

I will admit that I think, worry, ponder and meditate on the subject of how words are used a lot more than any normal person.  I’m OK with that.  I certainly would not list myself as a language expert but as a deeply interested dilettante.  I love language when it is used well and creatively.  Doesn’t matter if it is thebeauty of a Shakespearean sonnet or a truly inventive bit of word play.  I love it.

Over the weekend the utter disregard that some people

Never heard of this book but this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about!

 have for language really got to me.  Driving down Interstate 90 I came upon one of those traffic warning overhead signs.  The ones that can tell you about traffic delays or how long the wait is on the Peace Bridge.  This one said “Illegal Cell Use Strictly Enforced”.  Now we all know that they mean the latest ban on using your cell while driving unless you have a hands free device.  But that’s NOT what the sign said.  The sign said that they will be strictly enforcing the use of cell phones illegally.  The exact opposite of what they mean.  Now some will say “Everyone knows what they mean what difference does it make what they said?”  It makes a very big difference in fact.  Our growing casual disregard for proper use of language is opening ever wider the chasm of misunderstanding.  As the world gets more complicated making sure that we are understood will become of greater and greater importance.  Twisting language to obscure meaning is a potent political tool used over and over by tyrants.  When we no longer care enough to pay attention to what is actually being said we open ourselves to futures I am certain we will not enjoy.

A former co-worker of mine insisted on referring something as being a mute point, m-u-t-e, rather than a moot point, m-o-o-t.  The difference is profound.  A moot point is one open to discussion, a mute point is one that is silent.  If we do not care about how language is used we will all fall into that second category.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - RIP Sidney Lumet

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.

Over the weekend we lost one of the great film directors of our time.  It’s also possible that he’s the greatest director that most people have never heard of.  If you’re “into” the movies then you know the name Sidney Lumet.  If you’re more casual about them then the name may only ring a bell or it may mean nothing to you at all.  My bet is that Lumet might have been OK with that.

Sidney Lumet was born into a theater family.  His parents were both veterans of the Yiddish theater and Lumet made his debut as a performer at age 4.  He performed right up to his service in World War II then came home and founded his own off- Broadway theater company.  In the 1950’s he became a TV director working first for his friend Yul Brynner and then becoming a highly respected director on his own.  In 1957 he was offered the chance to direct his first major motion picture.  It’s worth taking a moment to look at that first movie.

It’s one of the Lumet movies you probably know.  12 Angry Men starring Henry Fonda and a boat load of top character actors.  But think about this - for your first movie you get a script that has 12 guys trapped in a room.  And pretty much all they do is talk.  And talk and talk.  The movie is a wonder, a personal favorite.  For that to have been his very first is even more amazing.  That it picked up 3 Oscar nominations is pretty special as well.  But then his movies could be special.  Check out this list: 12 Angry Men, Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Equus, The Wiz, and The Verdict.  Seven movies of his that earned at least 3 Oscar Nominations.  Network grabbed 10.  That doesn’t even include other worthy Lumet films like The Pawnbroker, Serpico or A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Lumet was at his best when he three things going for him.  If the story was set in New York City because he had a profound love of the Big Apple, when he had great actors to work with, because he could draw out of them legendary performances and when the story had a deep social conscience.  When those star aligned he produced movies that are worth watching over and over again.

Lumet was nominated repeatedly for Oscars for his direction but never won.  In the end such awards are irrelevant because Lumet simply did the work so much better than almost anyone else.  In 50 years he directed 50 movies.  Any of which would be worth your time to watch.  Just know that when you see the credit that says Director - Sidney Lumet you have seen the work of one of the best ever.

Sidney Lumet died last week at age 86.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - Who Gets Paid?

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.

Once upon a time it was all so simple.  The TV Networks produced or had deals to have people produce television shows.  Then they broadcast them over their network to TV stations who had affiliate agreements or even better to TV stations that the network owned themselves.  It was all pretty simple.  Particularly since for several decades there wasn’t any competition.  It was network TV or nothing.  Independent stations, those without network affiliations, were mostly old movies and TV shows that were at least a decade old.

Then cable came along and it got more complicated.  Now someone else was taking the product of the broadcast networks, paying a fee to use it and making more money for themselves.  More complicated when satellite TV came along.  And then streaming that same product through the internet.  The folks who create TV shows realized that they were doing an awful lot of the upfront risk taking while a whole bunch of people were making money from their work.  Not surprisingly the network producers decided they wanted a piece of that action.  Equally unsurprising the other entities didn’t want to share.

The producers finally put their feet down when Time Warner Cable announced the launch of an iPad based app to stream TV.  The app allows Time Warner subscribers to watch shows on their iPad through their home wifi network.  But that’s not good enough for the content providers.  So 17 channels have been pulled from the app.  The networks involved may feel like they’ve won but the reality is that this is just the first shot in a much longer war.  Cablevision, another big cable company, is moving ahead with their similar app as well.

So what’s to be done?  The industry needs to sit down and figure out some new economic ground rules.  And that’s always a nasty, ugly conversation.  The cable and satellite and internet folk don’t want to pay a penny more than they are.  At the same time the folks who actually lay out the money to create the content have a right to be paid for the use of their material.  Somewhere along the line a compromise has to be made that allows payment to the producers whenever value is created by a service provider.  At the same time the service providers need protection of the viability of their businesses.  A solution will be found.  The question is how many bodies will be left behind in the process.  We the viewers should be urging everyone to settle the issue as quickly as possible so that they can get back to the important business of keeping us amused.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - 3D TV ads

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.

Sometimes innovation can be mass produced.  But more often than not it comes from some little guy in some little office who’s willing to take the risk on an idea that just sounds looney.

So you want small?  How about Stanville Kentucky, population 500.  And in this small Appalachian town you’ll find a local law firm.  Eric Conn’s firm isn’t that large, just four attorneys but Eric likes to think big.  The law for him is what pays the bills.  What really gets his heart pumping is marketing.  They figure they spent about 600 thousand dollars on advertising last year.  That’s about 8% of their revenue.  What has worked best for them historically has been that old reliable, the bill board.  But Eric isn’t willing even there to just sit back and do the same old same old.  His billboards are often bright yellow and involve mannequins of himself on top of them.  The man who started his firm in a storage trailer believes in thinking big.

So when it came time to develop the next level of marketing for his firm Eric turned his eyes to the future.  He had just purchased a 3D television and fell in love.  So clearly the next step in marketing was to go 3D.  That’s right a four person law firm in a town of 500 people is laying out the money to create a 3D TV commercial.  It’s old school technology requiring those old red and blue glasses to see.  So far the return has not justified the expense.  The first problem was that the section of the spot that told people how to get the glasses isn’t real clear.  In the end the idea is to do something that attracts the attention of the kids in the family.  Conn hopes that they will then get their parents to watch and request the glasses to see what’s going on.

The advertising campaign may or may not really work out for attorney Conn.  But a phlip of the lid to him for being willing to take the risk on something new and different.  Once again a man with a vision just might be giving us a glimpse of the future.  Who knew that the next great innovator in TV advertising would rise up from a Kentucky town of 500 people?

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

View From the Phlipside - Worst Company in America

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.

Given the image conscious nature of big business these days I can well imagine that there are few things that would haunt a corporate CEO more than being named “The Worst Company in America” by a high profile media source.  That’s what you’d think but there may actually be something worse than that.  I mean the fact that you made the list almost certainly means that you have a fair number of people who aren’t happy with your work, your product and/or your service.  And that’s a bad thing.  But what if it became known that instead of actually trying to be better at whatever it is that you do turns out you just decided to cheat?  It appears that cable TV giant Comcast may have done just that.

The poll in question is run by the consumer advocate website called “The Consumerist”.  Taking their cue from the recently ended March Madness basketball tournament they pair up corporate giants into brackets of head to head competition and let visitors vote on who’s the worst.  So you end up with Toyota vs BP, Microsoft vs Apple, GameStop vs Walmart, United/Continental airlines vs Delta and so on.  32 companies making the tournament to start.  None of whom want to be there or to “win” it all.

Comcast got to cut down the metaphorical net last year and clearly didn’t want to win it again.  But instead of making improvements on their much maligned customer service (at least not enough to eliminate them from nomination) they urged employees to try and rig the voting.

Now the reality is that prior to the beginning of this commentary you’d probably never even heard of this vote before.  It’s NOT that big a deal.  At least it wasn’t until some corporate suit decided to over react and make his company look like complete idiots.  If you want to make sure you don’t win you make a big announcement about how you’re improving customer service.  Not get caught trying to cover the whole thing over.

As it turns out they may not be any better at cheating than at taking care of their customers.  Comcast has “advanced into the Round of 8 and could be on their way to a repeat championship.  And they just might deserve it.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011

My name is Bond, Jay Bond...

Things have been a little hectic recently around the Phlipside homestead recently.  Lots of work and travel and stuff.  So I suggested to my lady wife that we should take advantage of some bonus points that we'd built up with our favorite hotel chain (thank you Choice Hotels) and get away for a little while.  The Kid was going to be away at a convention on that same weekend so we decided to just take a quick trip over to Erie PA.  Got a room at a hotel near to the Presque Isle Downs and Casino  and just went without much in the way of plans.

Dinner our first night was at the the Brewerie at Union Station, a brew pub that we'd never checked out before.  The atmosphere was very cool, the service was great, the food was very tasty as was the beer (I tried an Apparition Ale - named in honor of Clara the train station's resident ghost.  Very dark in color but with a lighter, smoother flavor than you might expect at first glance).  We'll definitely add it to our list of favorite places in Erie.  It's obviously a pretty popular place with the locals as well.  We try to get down to see the Altoona Curve (Pirates AA farm team) play in Erie and the Brewerie is pretty close to the stadium.

We spent a quite evening in our room and hit the casino the next morning.  We had cruised through Friday night just to get a feel for the place (it's nicely done but pretty much casino standard).  I did notice that the table games were pretty pricey, $10 minimums which is too rich for my blood.  My hope was that Friday night and Saturday morning might be two different beasts.  Turned out I was right.

We arrived with vouchers from the hotel good for $7 worth of slot play and when we signed in to get our "member" cards we got $10 more for the slots.  Which is great for my lady wife since slots are favorite part of the casino.  They bore me silly.  Turns out one of the roulette tables had a $5 minimum that morning so I took $20 and decided to try out the James Bond system for playing the game.  In the novel Casino Royale Ian Fleming describes Bond's cautious approach to the wheel.  He bets two of the three fields of numbers.  They pay 2-1 so you always come out ahead if one of your fields is chosen.    A quick check of the board which tracks the 20 or so most recent numbers showed most of the numbers were in two fields.  After an early set back (down to my last $5) I got rolling and in an hour had two bets on the table and $45 stacked in front of me.  Years ago I made a rule - when I double my stake I quit.  So I let the two bets on the table ride, lost them both and walked away pretty happy with myself.  I showed off for my lady and then decided to play my share of the slots.

I started with penny slots and realized I'd be there forever at that rate.  I did win 3 cents.  Found a $1 machine and spun the wheels.  And promptly won $30!  A few more spins added another $5 as well.  So the day at the casino turned out pretty well.

Lunch was at  O'Charleys  a chain restaurant we'd never heard of but looked good.  Very nice.  Good service, good food, good prices.  All right across the street from the Mall.

The rest of the day was spent checking out some area wineries.  We were especially impressed by Lakeview Wine Cellars, Heritage Wine Cellars (where the sampling bar was serve yourself, a first for us), and Courtyard Wineries who introduced us to a new varietal called a Chardonel.   A very tasty way to end the weekend.

Gambling, good wine and a beautiful woman.  Tell me I don't live the life of a secret agent!
Peace