It was truly an awesome experience watching the team at Philly.com  prepare to re-launch their site this past weekend. Since January, I’ve been blessed to be working on some separate multi-media projects for Philly.com. Thus, I was able to sometimes get a peek at seeing what it takes to re-invent, an already dominant news and information site.

One of my favorite past times at Philly.com is barging in on managing editor; Yoni Greenbaum. Normally I like to use some sort of weapon (like a hammer) to get his attention (see pic above).

Funny thing about Yoni, I’ve been an avid reader of his excellent blog Editor on the Verge for quite some time. On occasion we would correspond with each other via our blog comments and emails. So it was with great pleasure that I discovered that Yoni recently took the gig at Philly.com. Small world!

For more detail on the re-design / re-launch of Philly.com, click here to read Mark Pott’s blog. Mark is the acting VP of Editorial.

Take a look at the newly re-designed Philly.com . I think you’ll really be impressed. Congrats to Eric Grilly, Mark Potts, Brian Tierney, Todd Berman, Yoni and all of the crew at Philly.com.

The video above features the Rockford Register Star and their take on “Journalism 2.0″. It’s a look at how Newspaper companies are smartly transforming their entire staffs into multi-media experts. This is happening within editorial departments, graphics, sales, marketing… you name it.

Some call it a WEB FIRST Newsroom, some call it reverse publishing. I call it ‘the way it needs to be’.

The race in on. In each market, only a few traditional media companies will carve out a successful, profitable online business. Who will those winners be? Hint: Those that do MORE than just dump their traditional content online.

In a fast changing Web 2.0 world, local media companies must use every tool, platform and tactic at their disposal. Thanks to Howard Owens for the tip.

RELATED POST:

Michael Rosenblum; the Godfather of Mobile Journalism, has a great post here that discusses how Newspapers can beat local TV to the punch…….online.

It’s getting a bit tougher to post on a regular basis.

Why? Well, quite simply: it’s due to the amount of work and opportunity that is available in the local, online media space. Much of what is written here in this blog is becoming top priorities at most media companies. That spells busy times for me, as well as anyone associated with online and/or digital media.

I am also on the road alot more.

Pictured above: My trip to Nexpo 2008; Washington DC., which took place a few weeks ago. I am standing with Chere’ Martin; Director of multi-media at Newspapers and Technology Magazine. Both Chere and I were conducting interviews with vendors inside the exhibit hall of the DC Convention Center. Newspapers and Technology Magazine is smartly adding podcasting and video to their online product. This is not only a great value for their readers, but for their advertisers as well.

Click here to listen: Mel Taylor speaks with Olive Software at NEXPO 2008  

Click here for archive of News and Tech radio podcasts live at Nexpo 2008…..special thanks to BlogTalkRadio.com 

What else am I finding while out on the road?  The explosion of online radio & podcasting, online video, mobile journalism, niche/vertical sites, and the conversion of traditional media employees to multi-media experts.

Much of this change has to do with the quickening move of advertising to the Web. Remember, Online is still only snagging a very small part of most marketing budgets. Thus, there will soon be a “opening of the spigot”, where more and more of an advertiser’s marketing budget will go online. Getting ready for that tsunami of dollars is job #1 for most media companies.

Looking forward to speaking at, and moderating the FMQB: THINK TANK Symposium, this Thursday at the Loew’s Hotel in CC Philadelphia. A gathering of high level record label and radio execs will come together in order to celebrate the the Friday Morning Quarterback’s 40th anniversary. They will also look to accelerate their thinking in regards to Internet and digital opportunities. FMQB is the premiere industry trade journal and marketing company.

As part of my duties, I was asked to answer a few questions about the state of Radio, the Web, and how my career has evolved through out the years. Here’s a look at that interview: 

FMQB: Most of your career has been spent in radio as an air personality so how did you end up segueing into the Web 2.0 world to help local media?

Mel: After thirteen years of on-air work, and a great run of doing mid-days at WYSP (following Howard Stern ), I started to really sense that consolidation and the growth of the Internet was going to impede my progress in radio. The year was 1998, and I was no longer a spring chicken. I knew I had to think more about my future. So I moved into the direction of what I thought would absolutely grow in demand…companies needing help with understanding and making money with the Internet.

It’s no secret that the surge of technology and internet use within the media industry caught most off guard. At what point did you feel that multi-media was the wave of the future and a profitable business model?
I remember the first time I heard streaming radio over my computer. I was amazed. It sounded like crap, but it was still radio over a slow dial up phone line. So I thought, as the price of web access comes down and hi speed Internet takes off, we may have something here. (Same thing with video) At first it was a jerky postage size video window. Now we have super hi quality video streams with little or no buffer time. With the recent launch of ad supported Hulu and iTunes now renting movies, this stuff is no longer a pipe dream. It’s real and it’s bringing in some nice coin. And since advertisers follow consumers wherever they gather, it was inevitable that these initiatives would attract marketing dollars.

There are many similarities and challenges that all media face today when it comes to internet strategy. What areas do you find are in need of most attention?
Your main competition is now online. They are not just across the street. They have no legacy business to protect. They are singularly focused on growing their online share. Modify job descriptions and compensation plans to include web. This is the only way the employees of that company will be taken seriously. Hire as many web savvy people as you can get your hands on. You may have to remove anyone who drags their feet or thwarts the efforts of moving forward digitally. It’s something I call “The Enemy Within.” 

Read the entire interview here.

The Television Bureau of Advertising - Marketing Conference 2008 took place in NYC yesterday. As expected, alot of the conversation focused on how TV can harness the power of local, and the Internet. Note how similar these issues are to what Radio and Newspaper execs are currently dealing with.

Pictured above:President of NBC Local Media; John Wallace, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, and Gordon Borrell of Borrell Associates

The new battleground is online, and it behooves local media companies to properly leverage their traditional assets in order to build web-based revenue share.

Below are some take-aways from the event, courtesy of  TV Business Report

• Get our LSMs out on the street a whole lot more-if the only time you’re out on call with your AEs is to do rescue missions, you don’t have a clue if they can really sell.”
• Abolish straight commissions. “Many AEs get ‘accidental raises’ because their agency got hot. Stop making “budget the only standard by which we evaluate salespeople. 
• Borrell noted a few common threads for the best-producing local sites and their management: Online only sales staff Non-traditional customer base,  A consultative sales strategy (ask about what they need first then call back with a solution) Lots of sales training and re-training, etc.
• Some Broadcasters are smartly developing local websites that are not branded to the TV stations.

The Gordon Borrell TVB session:   Click here to read more.

Click here to download the latest Borrell report on local TV website opportunities (2008 TVB edition)

The Jim Doyle TVB session:   Click here to read more.

Here are some recent, major announcements that will  play a major role in re-arranging the local media marketplace. TV, Radio, Newspaper, as well as pure-plays will be affected by these Internet and digitally based events.

Hi-speed Wireless Auction  Verizon and ATT snapped up a big chunk of that 700mhz spectrum that TV will give back in Feb 2009. (as TV moves to Digital). This frequency is prime; it travels long distances and penetrates buildings with ease. This one event may be the most powerful accelerants that will take us into a ubiquitous, hi speed wireless future. Think this will affect local media ?  Click here to read more.

HULU; Online TV Station  Not wanting to let YouTube and iTunes, illegal file sharing sites get too big on their backs, NBC and Fox TV join forces and place much of their prime time programming online for free. Pre-roll advertising pays the freight. Now, no need to watch your fav show Tuesday night at 9, since you can watch anytime, on demand. What does this mean for reps that sell local TV time? Click to watch HULU.

CBS Widgets;We want you to see our stuff everywhere. It really doesn’t matter if you don’t consume our stuff on any CBS site. Feel free to watch it on your own favorite blog or portal if you prefer. And if your a local blogger, We’ll do a rev-share with you to use our widget. More proof that the portal concept is toast? Click to read more.

Tribune Merges TV & Newspaper.With the goal of building dominant local media organizations, Tribune smartly starts to bring all of their assets together under one roof, to take tap the obvious synergies. Other have tried this before, but not with the neccesary conviction/muscle/foresight that Zell and Michaels will bring to the table. The silos of TV, Radio, Newspaper and Web are crumbling as we speak. We’re all in this together.  Click to read more.

Newspaper join forces with QUADRANT ONE.Quickly becoming a formidable, online ad network of about 250 Newspaper publishers. Started by the Tribune, Gannett, New York Times Co. and Hearst to offer advertisers a one-stop-shop for easily buying ads in US newspapers. What does this mean for Centro? Watch for competing TV networks to build and launch something similiar. Click here to learn more.

Think your job is safe in Broadcast or Newspaper?  Hopefully it is. But just in case you want to be pro-active in order to increase your chances of avoiding a layoff…..read this……

After 32 years in the biz, sport writer Paul Oberjuerge got whacked from the San Berdardino Sun. Unfortunately, this is an all to common occurrence. Not just in Newspaper, but in Broadcast too.  Paul drew up a list of “Tips on Keeping Your Print Journalism Job.”  Some of it is politically incorrect. Some might make you cringe. Yet, it’s worth a read.

Alot of this stuff applies to those in TV and Radio as well.  Note that “embrace the Web” is Number One. Here’s a few from the list:

Ten Tips for Staying Employed:

1. Embrace the web. It’s going to be extra work, and you’re going to be on your own 24-hour news/opinion cycle. But that’s how it is; you can rest up when you’re dead. Management is keenly aware of the foot-draggers on this front. Don’t wait to be ordered to “serve other platforms” of the paper. Volunteer. Blog. Post photos. Consider video. Offer podcasts. Do web-only quick-and-dirty news stories. You’re a multi-media machine now!

4. Stop whining.Journalism is a business notorious for its contrary and crabby people, for second-guessers and “that’s not how we’ve done it before” grousers. Five years ago you might have been overlooked as the Charming Curmudgeon. Now, you’re the Negative Nellie. When the call comes down to trash another 10 percent of the newsroom, don’t be the relentless kvetcher who immediately pops into the editor’s mind. Oh, and remember, “second-guessing” now consists of anything other than instant acceptance.

 Read all 10 here. 

Think mobile Internet Radio is still many years away? Click video above to see  how you will listen to Radio, on the go, in the very near future. Nokia is jumping ahead in this space.

 Yup. That cell phone or PDA in your pocket, is quickly becoming the most important communications tool that you own.

Ever hear of Twitter?  It’s a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service and instant messaging.

I’ve been thinking recently of  how a TV or Radio station, or maybe a Newspaper, could use this tool.

Watch the short video above to understand exactly what Twitter is.

Here’s a few “Twitter” ideas for local Media:

>> Newspaper: Reporter is live on the scene of breaking news. They could allow interested readers to “follow” or subscribe to the short updates from the reporter.

>> Radio: Broadcasting live from a big concert, a DJ “Twitters” the play list..song by song…. of the concert.

>> TV: A local news producer provides short info-blasts about what headlines will be covered tonight on the 11pm news.

| View Show | Create Your Own

Took some pics from the recent Phima social event, last Thursday at the Field House in Center City, Philadelphia.

Phima is the Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association.

These events are a great for anyone in the interactive marketing space; agencies, publishers, reps, and clients alike. Some events are educational, some are social. Membership is free. Click here to join.

You may also want to consider these organizations as well:

Innovators Club: a Philadelphia based networking and social environment for entrepreneurial people engaged in Internet businesses, strategies, Web 2.0 and mobile communications. Hear from experts, present your current business ideas, seek advise and council from peers and network to find “new connections” who “get it” in the Internet space. Next Meeting: Great American Pub in Conshohocken, March 4, 2008. 6pm

Mobile Monday: Great organization for getting up to speed, and keeping up to speed, in all things Mobile. While Mobile Monday is an international organization, there is a Philadelphia based chapter. These educational and networking opportunities occur monthly. Click here to see pics and recap of the last MM event in Philly. Next FREE event is March 24 at Traffic.com in Wayne, Pa.  Click here to RSVP.