Category: Culture

What’s Missing from News is News

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Frank Rich nails it:

What’s missing from News is the news. On ABC, Peter Jennings devotes two hours of prime time to playing peek-a-boo with U.F.O. fanatics, a whorish stunt crafted to deliver ratings, not information. On NBC, Brian Williams is busy as all get-out, as every promo reminds us, “Reporting America’s Story.” That story just happens to be the relentless branding of Brian Williams as America’s anchorman – a guy just too in love with Folks Like Us to waste his time looking closely at, say, anything happening in Washington.

Even NPR. I woke up the other morning at 6 and Morning Edition’s lead story was Martha Stewart (not Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, the dollar’s ongoing meltdown, or any of a number of domestic issues).

Huge Selection of New & Used CEO’s

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Computer generated advertising is…. funny. Here’s a screen shot of a Google Adsense series of advertisements, including an Ebay offer: Chief Executive Officers: Huge Selection of New & Used on one of my blog entries. Maybe this is the right approach to the problem of severely overpaid CEO’s, auction them off on ebay….

KCRW (Public Radio) starts Podcasting

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Setting a great example for all other public radio stations, Santa Monica College’s KCRW will launch Podcasts of their programs (mp3 files easily passed around, linked to and played back by the millions of mp3/iPod type players in use today). KCRW is an excellent source for interesting music and programs, via mp3 internet streams.
I’ve seen no change in Wisconsin Public Radio’s audio content. They would be much better off, as would the listeners and contributors if they provided all local content in easy to use mp3 files (they currently have real audio streams which require the listener to be connected to the internet while listening).
Rebecca Ryan is speaking Tuesday night (3/1) at the Overture Center on whether Madison has what it takes to play in the New Economy (Two bad signs: no public radio podcasts and no wi-fi at the airport, actually, there’s a 3rd, we continue to let Kenton Peters inflict his metal buildings on us….). While these two issues require attention, the larger problem we have is a low business risk culture. Sort of strange, given that the Wisconsin economy was grown by many, many entrepreneurs who built agricultural and manufacturing businesses 50, 70 and 100 years ago.
What are podcasts? Click here to find out.

Classic Product Line Extensions: Diet Coke & Tide

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Bruce Mohl on the ongoing effort to trade on well known brand names:

Two huge consumer brands have been busy cloning themselves.

Procter & Gamble Co. rolled out a cold-water version of its blockbuster Tide laundry detergent earlier this month. Coca-Cola Co., meanwhile, unveiled plans to start selling a seventh version of Diet Coke, this time sweetened with Splenda instead of aspartame

City Dwellers Plow Money into Farmland

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Stephanie Simon takes a look at the city “slickers”/dwellers who are buying up farmland as an investment and renting it back to traditional farmers:

Seeking steady, secure investments to round out their portfolios, big-city investors are increasingly buying Midwest farmland, spending $100,000 to $500,000 per field.

Many hire professional farm managers to maximize their profits. The managers, in turn, hire farmers like Wyant — sometimes offering them a stake in the crop but often paying them by the hour (or the acre), like a hired hand.