Disqus - Latest Comments for dmartin

Re: My Techmeme Obsession

dmartin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:12:01 -0000

Fred, respect Tim but not willing to walk away from my RSS feeds esp since gaining the Feedly app. Do agree with your notion on Techmeme. My pov: it lacks cognitive diversity b/c they are not keeping up, adding with new voices.

Re: Obama's decency (Scripting News)

dmartin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:16:59 -0000

Dave, well said. Kevin Kelly makes the point that, as a practical business venture, Wikipedia is impossible but yet it happened and continues forward based upon contribution. Let's put things into perspective. Less than 24 months ago, from a cold start, one man made a decision and took action. Let no one persuade us that it is impossible for something truly incredible to happen in less than 24 months. Exhibit A is Obama. QED

Re: A page full of thank yous for some great people | Broadcasting Brain

dmartin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:16:57 -0000

Mark, love you, love your show. Thanks (if dmartin on FF was whom you were referring to). Have a wonderful weekend. All the best,

Re: Changing the way we do news (Scripting News)

dmartin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:22:29 -0000

Dave, spot-on. You should get Michael Rosenblum involved. His take on broadcast news is we need to "burn it to the ground" and start fresh. He's doing more than talking, he's leading a radical and needed reinvention of the news business.

Re: 10 people to follow on FriendFeed for the month of Nov

dmartin — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:59:39 -0000

Bravos, Mike. Well done. Following many but you have added some gems. Thank you.

Re: The Blogosphere is High School?

dmartin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:48:03 -0000

Bravos, Sarah. It is high school, with money.

Re: Advice for Chris Messina (Scripting News)

dmartin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:06:20 -0000

Bravos, Dave! Well said. The problems with BigCos all start with a massive failure of imagination abetted by the politics of corp silo warfare. A quote by Steve Martin seems apt here - "Be so good they can't ignore you."

Re: 10 tools for listening in social media.

dmartin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:33:19 -0000

Bravos, Mike. Well done. Please allow me to suggest that perhaps Technorati is running beyond its best used by date. They are no doubt in yet another cycle/iteration of reinvention but it seems fair to say other tools including the ones you mention may prove to be more productive.

Re: Well Colour Me Unimpressed - Pandora Gets Another Stay

dmartin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:46:19 -0000

Steven,

The legislation buys needed time for all sides. Moreover, this new window may provide the candid discussion so far absent in these proceedings. You are correct in your pov that the consumer has been left out. Pure and simple this has been a discussion driven by greed without regard to what's fair, reasonable or good for the listeners/users. My sense is consumers would be wise to contact their members and weigh in on these matters otherwise it is more likely than not that the professional lobby efforts will prevail ending in some plainly stupid compromise, one that will not benefit webcasters nor consumers.

Re: Hi. We're Yahoo! (and we're, very much, still here).

dmartin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:40:16 -0000

Charlie, you, sir, are on to the real strategic issue. Failing to recruit, develop and retain key brainware is symptomatic. It's a leadership problem complicated by a massive failure of imagination, in my opinion. The fish stinks at the head first, it was ever thus.

Re: Hi. We're Yahoo! (and we're, very much, still here).

dmartin — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:23:50 -0000

Yahoo! One giant step forward, one stumble back or so it sometimes seems to be. They bought a full page ad in the Advertising Week V program. Far forward - page eight - but left facing. Damn! So close. Then the url in the ad is "advertising.yahoo.com/advertisingweek " which fails to work but then maybe it's just me. Perhaps they're waiting to take that page live? The message in the ad is all about Purple. You can catch the copy chasing across the bottom of the following page. While I love cheering for the underdog and Yahoo! has nothing but upside they seem to be getting in their own way more often than not. Still, cheers on their initiative. http://bit.ly/4AUS16

Re: How Not To Be Liked On FriendFeed

dmartin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:39:47 -0000

Bravos! Well said. There are some deeper conversations happening in the rooms.

Re:

dmartin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:20:38 -0000

Thanks, Tom. Appreciate you taking the time to weigh in.

Here's another issue. Let's begin to qualify people to speak at broadcast conferences. Let's stop the practice of inviting Dave Martin because of his business card or employer. Most execs are qualified to speak on only one issue as an expert - how to hold on to a high paying job while consistently turning in a poor performance. We need to take the politics out of building panels. Folks running these shows need to provide real value. How is it possible that this year's NAB does not have a session devoted to how Bonneville Chicago is getting it done. We need to catch people doing something right and have those winners share, have the truly successful teach.

Re: Are content restrictions helping kill broadcast television?

dmartin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:05:29 -0000

Duncan,

Interesting post. The facts are the most viewed video program is American Idol, a commercial network TV property. As it happens, that program continues to enjoy the position of earning the second highest priced spot rate after the Super Bowl. Your suggestion that linear or so-called appointment viewing is heading into life support there are a growing number of solutions that will assist the viewer in time shifting their favorites (e.g., TiVo, cable DVR, et al). In sum the play's the thing no matter the original platform. Perhaps that is the biggest shift of all. Place of origin matters not when distribution is enabled granting viewer control of the content. That is to say, commercial and non-commercial networks need to get out of the import business and into the business of export. The decades old best practices of getting viewers to tune in at a specific time are replaced by the new best practices of making the video available on viewer terms. What really matters is that they view the show not how, not when ( the sponsor issues including the practical end of time sensitive price and item selling, e.g., "Tomorrow only at Sears", yet to be worked out).

US commercial broadcast, collectively, has not yet pushed the regulatory grant of "safe harbor" (exceptions included SNL and the weekday late night talk shows). My sense is a commercial network could legally run any of the cable offerings you cited in the hours of safe harbor and do so with a strong and reasonable legal defense for affiliates to employ. However, commercial networks are not the deciders, they don't have an FCC license to protect, the system is structured in such a manner that the local affiliates, each individual station, is made to account for 100% of the responsibility for all programming broadcast. Keep in mind the FCC is, by charter, a complaint driven agency. In practice this means that unless and until they get a complaint the FCC does nothing about broadcast content.

Let me also put the non-broadcast and broadcast programming into another perspective.

The big viewing on non-broadcast is sports. The consistently highest rated of all offerings? Wrestling.

The biggest investment in programming is made year after year by commercial networks. There is no argument here, when you are watching commercial television you are watching the best television that money can buy.

HBO is as good as it gets on paid TV. At last count after decades of great marketing and as I would argue brilliant original programming they enjoy a small niche audience of 28 million subs.

Commercial broadcast TV is not doubt at another crossroads but my suggestion is don't count them out, not yet.

Duncan, you do a fine job. Keep up the good work. Best,

Re: Honesty Is The Best Policy

dmartin — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:22:08 -0000

Fred,

Given that we are all terminal (it's a design flaw), the most important question would seem to be is Jobs performing? Jobs' health becomes an issue when it impairs or changes his ability to perform. The board should take the long view and begin succession planning. Having a plan to move the company forward after Jobs is an important part of the board's responsibility and it faces the inevitable what next question should any health issue become public. Agree with you concerning transparency, my sense is privacy is increasingly a myth. Disclose or pay the price of discovery. Finally, Jobs needs to take the high road and measure his speech. Perhaps he would be better served avoiding all contact with the press outside company scheduled events.

Re: TechJunk picking up steam (Scripting News)

dmartin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:36:52 -0000

Very cool, Dave and thanks for the script.

Re: I Requested That Verizon Drop Their Deal With 1938media

dmartin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:33:01 -0000

Bravos, Corvida! Well said. My sense is those that play must be willing to pay. What Feldman has done in his lame attempt at humor/entertainment is clearly offensive, insensitive and tone deaf. In my opinion, the man is a hack. Should he wish to use his own funds or those of others openly willing to sponsor/fund his brand of so-called humor/entertainment so be it. In this case a responsible and responsive public company has served as the best arbiter.

Re: louisgray.com: July's Jewels: Five Obscure Blogs that Sparkle

dmartin — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:02:57 -0000

Bravos, Louis. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Arrington, Feldman & Israel (Scripting News)

dmartin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:39:45 -0000

Thanks Dave, you're a mensch.

Re: Rethinking the conference (Scripting News)

dmartin — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:37:33 -0000

Bravos, Dave. We need to abandon the sage from the stage model. Better, more effective is the guide from the side. This promotes the very essence of the live interactive narrative. Bringing out the best in a group requires skills not given to the traditional role of "moderator." My sense is too many panel discussions are

1) bad from the start - driven by organizational politics in selection of panel participants - your employer tending to matter more in your qualification than your thinking or what you have to contribute (e.g., we MUST have someone from Google on the panel)

2) prone to waste valuable time consumed by the vocal minority in the room that feel the need to line up behind the mic to make speeches

3) led by panel members delivering...
a. their standard stump speech/soup du jour presentation
b. off-the-cuff remarks on the fly (i.e., little or no preparation).

As a person involved in adult learning my acid test remains "What did you learn in the session? What has become new to you since attending the session?" As a practical matter, there needs to be some take away if only the minding of a serious question. It is my thought that too many panels are akin to fast food or drive thru infomercials. I applaud your fresh take on this issue and commend you for continuing to challenge the clearly broken panel model.

Re: YHOO - a contrarian view

dmartin — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:10:10 -0000

Bravos, Fred! Well said. Yahoo! has a leadership problem and this turnover represents an excellent opportunity.

Re: Doriot Quote Of The Day

dmartin — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:01:42 -0000

Fred, the quotes are killer. Keep em coming. Thanks. Cheers

Re: Nothing from nothing leaves nothing (Scripting News)

dmartin — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:03:46 -0000

Bravos, Dave! Well said.

Re: What will Hillary do with her power? (Scripting News)

dmartin — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:28:38 -0000

She'll go a deal. Secretary of State, Supreme Court justice, some elite position. Part of the bargain will involve Obama paying off her debt a move that will provide the repayment of her $11+ mil loan.

Re: 11 years of Scripting News (Scripting News)

dmartin — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:21:00 -0000

Dave, you are truly an inspiration. Your blogging is like no other. Rock on!