Can you figure out what my Halloween costume is?  

First five who email me with the correct answer (email me at dryan@videolabs.net) get $20 off their next order >$250.

I will post answer here at 3p.  Happy Halloween! – David

UPDATE: The answer is: ”Netbook” — Thanks for playing!

Actor Peter Davison, The 5th “Doctor” with David Ryan

So it was about a year ago that I arrived at work and opened a new email that said,

“Are you the David Ryan who was on assignment with the Doctor Who team in 1983 that produced The Awakening story?”

I smiled.  With the age of the internet, I knew it was just a matter of time before they found me.

Let me digress.

Back in the 80’s, when I was working at the Denver PBS affiliate, KRMA-TV, I produced a documentary on the then exponentially growing popularity in America of the campy BBC TV sci-fi series, Doctor Who, which at the time was being aired primarily by PBS stations.  Aficionados of the series will recall that actor Tom Baker played the Doctor at that time.

Now, if you are not familiar with Doctor Who, the overarching storyline is about the adventures of a human-looking alien of the Time Lord race, known as the Doctor.  Time Lords have the ability to travel through the fourth dimension.  It turns out that the Doctor is sort of a renegade Time Lord and his time vehicle (aka a TARDIS) is in the shape of an old British police call box (that defies normal physics by being spacious with many passageways and rooms on the inside).

The Doctor and his companions constantly stumble upon crisis situations where they are called upon to intervene for good – not in a typical comic book super-hero manner, rather more in a quirky, almost geeky fashion.   And oh yeah, Time Lords don’t die, they just regenerate into a new body when the time comes.  (How convenient for carrying the series forward as lead actors change.  The series began in 1963.)

My producing that documentary about the series back in 1982 came about through a series of coincidences.  At the Denver PBS station, I was among the corral of on-air pledge drive hosts.  I had a knack (ok, zaniness) for successfully soliciting pledges during the PBS lineup of children’s programs and weekend special programming, shows like Doctor Who.

Pledges from the fans of the Doctor Who series turned out to be numerous, and the station figured they could further capitalize on the interest by having me produce a documentary exploring in further depth the appeal of the series and selling the resulting program to fellow PBS affiliates.

My crew and I went to Chicago to videotape at a Doctor Who conference attended by hundreds of fans (aka “Whovians”).  We also met and taped interviews with the show’s BBC producer at that time, John Nathan-Turner, and stars, writers and other personnel connected with the series who had “crossed the pond” to attend the convention.

The folks from the BBC were naturally very supportive of our documentary, both at the convention and in the months afterwards.  The program ended up being a big success, with lots of airplay here in the States.

Well, for a PBS television dude like me back then, having an “in” at the BBC was very valuable.  I had always dreamed of getting an opportunity to spend time at the BBC.  So I took advantage of the connections I had made with the Doctor Who team, and eventually producer John Nathan-Turner helped get me approved for one of the BBC’s professional exchange programs.

I was granted a leave of absence from my Denver station and was off to London for four months of observation of the production activities of Doctor Who.  Too cool!

I was also fortunate that a college friend and her husband had a house in London with an extra room located four blocks from the Doctor Who office and the nearby BBC Studios in Shepards Bush.  Excellent!

The Doctor Who team, for both the series and for the particular two-part program, “The Awakening,” (featuring Peter Davison as the 5th Doctor) to which I was assigned, couldn’t have been nicer.   John Nathan-Turner also arranged for me to have pretty much carte blanche within the BBC — and coolest of all, he allowed me to take photos of whatever I wanted pertaining to my activities with the Doctor Who series.

The Awakening - studio

And boy, did I take photos . . . predominantly color slides, because I knew they would be the best format at the time for giving presentations of my trip when I returned home to the States.  (Remember, this was well before digital photography, and making presentations projecting 35mm slides was state of the art at the time.)

When I got back to Denver, I indeed gave a number of presentations about my experiences to my colleagues at the PBS station and to various television industry trade groups.

And then I packed away those slides, along with the rest of my memorabilia from that summer experience, and proceeded on with my career, which included moving to the DC/Baltimore area.  Yes, I did remain in touch with several of the contacts I had made over in England.

The powerful reach of the appeal of the Doctor Who series was certainly made apparent to me one day in the mid-90’s when I was directing a satellite videoconference for a government agency in DC.  There in a TV control room deep inside a government building, one of the crew members hired along with me for the event, Al Faison (great guy and superb multi-talented tech dude and director himself, by the way), came up to me and asked, “Are you the David Ryan who worked with Doctor Who in the ‘80’s?”  Imagine my surprise.  Turns out he was (and remains) an avid “Whovian,” and he had read an interview in a fan magazine with John Nathan-Turner where my time spent with the series had been mentioned in passing.

Fast-forward another 15 years, (during which time I had further encounters with die-hard “Whovians,” including several here at Video Labs),  to the winter of 2010 when I started thinking that I probably ought to digitize  those slides I had in my possession.  So I began the tedious process of scanning.  Yeah, I had in the back of my mind that given the power of the internet and the on-going interest of the series, someone likely would track me down and ask if I had any memorabilia from the series — even though John Nathan-Turner had by now passed away and my contact with anyone from the 1983 production team had pretty much dropped off.

So then arrived that email last summer from a researcher for producer Chris Chapman of Dene Films in Newcastle, England.  Then Chris communicated with me directly.  Turns out the BBC has over the past few years been releasing episodes of Doctor Who on DVD, and The Awakening was now in line (or as they say in England, in the “queue.”)

Independent production companies, like Dene Films, are engaged by the BBC to produce the background special features to these DVD releases.  And sure enough, Chris and his team had run across production notes from the series indicating that a “Yank” named David Ryan from Denver had been allowed to take production stills.  Good ‘ole Google.  They typed in my name, “producer” and “Denver” and came up with my DavidRyanMediaSolutions.com website.

Chris asked whether I might still have any of those slides.  Needless to say, he was thrilled when I replied that I did, and after negotiations, I employed Dropbox uploads to send him a bunch of the photos I had taken those many years ago.

The result is a superb DVD.

Chris and his team deftly integrated my slides in to his background special features that contain interviews with the actors and production personnel connected with The Awakening, including director Michael Morris, who had been so gracious allowing me to tag along beside him back in 1983.

Yeah, it was gratifying seeing my old slides being put to such good use.

The DVD Chris sent me is a PAL version packaged with a second DVD of a story titled, “The Gunfighters,” featuring the original Doctor, portrayed by William Hartnell.  As far as I can tell by searching on the internet, The Awakening DVD is also available in NTSC as a single DVD release via Amazon and other online distributors.

After a hiatus of several years, Doctor Who is back in production today with Matt Smith playing the 11th Doctor and can be seen on BBC America and various PBS stations, including Maryland Public Television.  Storylines and production values have been enhanced many times over from when I was observing the series in the 80′s.  No longer can it be described as “campy” or “charming tounge-in-cheek” sci-fi.  No matter, I think it is great, and I have started watching it again after many years absence.  I highly recommend that you do too.

And oh yeah, lesson to keep in mind, keep those old photos.

Your comments are most welcomed.

Follow me on Twitter for more media news and info and exclusive steep, quick-turn discounts on our media replication and mutlimedia services.

On that day, one of my best friends and professional mentors, Kaye Lavine, passed away. Here is a blog post I wrote about her in 2008.

I continue to miss her greatly.

Also on that day, before learning of Kaye’s passing, I was down-sized from a senior management and sales position with a DC-based production firm. I know it was a difficult but necessary decision for that particular company (now one of my leading clients), and looking back, I realize I was not properly prepared.

I had a difficult time dealing with being laid off. Family, friends and my network of contacts got me through.

People who get down-sized inevitably “go to the desert” mentally. I don’t wish the experience on anyone. Some people don’t easily escape “the desert,” but I was fortunate.

I worked through a process and left transformed.

And five years later, I can truly say, as the Dylan song goes, “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”

If you want to know how I have been transformed, both professionally and personally, I invite you to read my eBook: “Synchronize or Sink: Develop an Online Marketing Strategy that Works.”

No hype, mysticism or evangelical zeal. Just a step-by-step process of how I learned to follow the tenets, “It’s not about me, it’s about you,” and “You gotta make it fun.”

I think Kaye is smiling.

As always, I look forward to being of service.

Best regards, David Ryan 240-268-3504 dryan@videolabs.net

I invite you to follow me on Twitter

In today’s Wahsington Post (1/11/10) there was an article http://tinyurl.com/ycgh42z about how due to intense budget pressures, DC public schools will not continue funding supporting activities and incentives for teachers to pursue earning certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  www.nbpts.org

Full disclosure: NBPTS is a client of mine, and has been for many years, both here at Video Labs and elsewhere before I joined this company.

I also have a sister-in-law in Florida who went through the rigorous process to achieve her certification.

So I know, from my “outsider” relationship, that being a board-certified teacher is indeed quite an achievement and of great benefit to both a teacher and to students.

I respect the difficult decision made by DC schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.  (Frankly, I have been an admirer of Ms. Rhee and her overall reform efforts.)   And I thought NBPTS president Joseph Aguerrebere Jr.’s restrained low-key response in the Post article was quite appropriate.   He was quoted as saying only that he has hope that Ms. Rhee “will come around.”

Some might criticize the Chancellor for doing the equivalent of eating one’s “seed corn.”  And with the recent controversial staff lay-offs that Ms. Rhee effected in the fall, she is indeed an easy target.

Regardless, I will say though, that there is nothing in the article that says DC  teachers still cannot cannot pursue the certification on their own.  I understand and sympathize with the financial pressure this entails on individual teachers, but let’s look at the other side of the coin – i.e. we are in a “reset” economy. 

I see it clearly every day in our media field.

Just like numerous other industries, the communications field has been devastated by the economic tsunami of the past year and a half.  Look at newspapers, television stations and other support industries.  I’ve written about that in the past:  (see “When A Competitor Closes Its Doors”  http://tinyurl.com/db9kfq)

And I have been counseling several out-of-work media colleagues who have been affected by the downturn.   Most of them were really “there for me” when I was down-sized from a VP/GM position with a media firm four years ago, and I am only too glad to return the favor. 

The reality is that many of those folks I am advising are coming to the realization that they too need additional training.  But, uh, guess what, they are paying that for  themselves these days.

I am rather proud that I have garnered over the past several years a reputation as a “tech-savvy” salesperson.  Belivee me, there are people from earlier in my career who would wonder at that moniker.  “Dave Ryan, tech guy? . . . Really?”

But alas, I just kept asking questions and researched answers.  And with the added resource of Google searching and accessing other web-based information, I have  indeed earned the “tech-savvy” reputation.

Now, am I saying the good ‘ole Lincoln-like “bootstraps” approach is applicable for the DC teachers?  OK, I acknowledge there are differences.  And I suppose they would bristle that some Maryland suburban guy thinks he knows what he is talking about when it comes to inner-city education.

But I would posit that the NBPTS certification is SO valuable to an individual teacher, that he or she should consider “investing” in going for the certification themselves, no matter what.  The certification will present immeasurable benefits to a teacher, regardless of what a school system does or doesn’t do.

But before I get labelled as being unsympathetic to teachers, I will say — and again, this is my own personal opinion — that this is just another example of needing to equalize the nation’s education system.  I mean, the Post article points out how teachers in Maryland and Virginia still get subsidies and incentives to earn the NBPTS certification. 

Just another example of systemic inequality.

So I know I open myself to accusations of being a socialist.  But as long as we allow school districts to be funded by local taxes, inequalities in education will persist.

To my eyes, both NBPTS and Chancellor Rhee are brave souls valiantly battling for the good of our children.   Too bad we are pitting them against each other.

I welcome your comments below.

If you enjoyed (or even if you hated) reading this article, you might like to read one of my other controversial observations about education, titled, “Moma, don’t let your children study (only) TV & film.”  http://tinyurl.com/nvx7wo

Regardless of what you think of this editorial, remember to contact me for any media replication or related multimedia needs: dryan@videolabs.net  301-217-0000 x104

Follow me on Twitter for more media info and news along with exclusive, quick-turn deep discounts: www.Twitter.com/drmediasolution

If you haven’t read the article, here’s a link to it: http://tinyurl.com/lgp6zw

The young filmmaker is Cutter Hodierne.  He grew up in the DC region.  It appears that he made some good connections and concluded that staying in college was just going to hinder his progress in the career.

The point of the article seemed to be that given the unrelenting difficulty in obtaining employment in the media field, Cutter’s decision to drop out was a smarter play than staying in school.  In fact, some of his colleagues who did stay and graduate now seem to regret their decision.

At the risk of seeming like a “fuddy-duddy,” I would disagree.  If the purpose of going to college were to be a trade school, then I understand their regret. 

But if the purpose of an undergraduate degree is also to help expose one to other ways of thought, analysis and an appreciation for history, sciences and art, then regretting that experience, which cost $40,000+ a year, is in my mind a very immature reaction.

There are some practical realities as well.  For example, I was VP/GM at a K-St. production company for seven years, and in that position I did about 60% of the staff hiring.   We had a philosophy that even when hiring for the front desk reception position, we required a BA. 

The thought was that we wanted to promote from within.  We had quite a successful track record in that regard, with our receptionists often later ending up as editors, multimedia specialists and producers on our staff.

Another point.   I have found that the best video editors I hired also had a good solid liberal arts foundation.  Here’s why:  Yes, they had to master the complex technical challenges that came with the job, but they also had to establish a relationship with the client during those long edit sessions. 

A good editor needs to not only translate the client’s instructions from a technical standpoint, but they also need to understand the subject matter.  And here in the mid-Atlantic region, many of the clients are well-educated, working in corporate, government or advocacy situations.  So you can see why I valued a strong liberal arts background as well as excellent editing credentials when hiring an editor.

Don’t get me wrong.  Not that I have done things perfectly in my career, but I would be the first one to admit that approaching media studies as a tech training school does have its place.   That was my attitude when I did my graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin.  I had a solid liberal arts background from my undergraduate studies at William & Mary.  In fact, I was so unfamiliar with film and tv that I literally didn’t know the difference between videotape and film when I started at UT.  (They made me make up a semester of undergraduate studies.)

I fully appreciate the media foundation I got from my graduate studies at UT (and I got a MA out of it as well, although I really did treat the program as a trade school) but time and again, throughout my career in media, I have called upon the undergraduate liberal arts education I received. 

Whether it was directing a history series re-enacting Civil War events, or being able to speak Spanish with Latino clients, or having an understanding of the  Capitol Hill lobbying efforts of a particular client, my undergraduate liberal arts studies have proven to be invaluable.

Now, I will not pass judgement on other parents.  And we’re talking no slouch for a mom in Cutter’s case.   The article points out the his mother is “Alicia Shepard, the ombudsman at NPR.”

But I have a daughter who will be a junior in high school next year.   Knock-on-wood,  she is doing well in her studies.   And as I mentioned in a recent blog, she has expressed some interest in journalism.  http://tinyurl.com/cy5yck  Despite the present dreadful state of employment within the journalism field, I am not freaking out, and I mention in my blog about being rather sanguine about her career wishes.  But again, following my logic stated above, I advise her to major in English (with its exposure to world lit, analysis  and writing) rather than specifically Journalism.  And I also advise her to keep up her study of Spanish and other liberal arts subjects.

Again,  I’m not going to rain on Cutter Hodierne’s parade.   Who knows, he may turn out to be the next Spielberg (need any DVDs replicated?)  But I believe his dropping out should not be seen as something to emulate or a decision that was smarter than those who finished their undergraduate careers.

And in fact, I think the article’s writer might agree with me.  I sense he did a little editorializing of his own near the end of the story when he wrote,  “Finally, after five hours of waiting, a vintage car arrived at the shoot.   Rashad’s mother had ponied up $160 to rent a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado.”

I welcome your thoughts on this.  Please feel free to write a comment below.

UPDATE: Here is a New Yorker article that touches on this subject: http://tinyurl.com/2usb5df sent to me by my good friend, Jack Hirschfeld.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also be interested in reading contributor Susanne Stahley’s blog, “Effective Writing, Think Like the Fox.” http://tinyurl.com/4w47mn

And remember who to contact if you need CD, DVD or videotape duplication and multimedia services.    dryan@videolabs.net or 301-217-0000 x104.

Also follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DRMediaSolution (and look for exclusive Twitter-only time-sensitive discounts)

My wife, Susane Stahley (see “Beter Writing with Susanne”  http://tinyurl.com/4w47mn ), is producing a documentary for Maryland Public Television www.mpt.org to complement Ken Burns’ upcoming series on America’s National Parks.

Susanne’s research brought her in touch with the astronomers who are kindly lending assistance with some of her filming at the battlefield.

So we went to the sky-watching event, and as Susanne went off to do her production scouting, I wandered around the grounds.  As in other major Civil War battlefields, there are numerous markers and monuments to those who fought.  You may recall from your history studies that Antietam, with a total of nearly 23,000 casualties, was the Civil War battle with the most casualties in any one day of the war.  http://tinyurl.com/dzhajg

Those who know me are aware of my passion for history and the fun I particularly have in researching family history.  I had two great-grandfathers who fought in the Civil War on the Union side, and Susanne had one as well.  One of mine, a German immigrant, was with the 15th NY Engineers from June, 1861 to June 1863.

Several years ago, while viewing his military pension records at the National Archives in DC, I actually came across original letters written by my relative from various battlefields , including the Peninsula Campaign of the summer of 1862 and at Fredericksburg in December, 1863.

But I did not know how involved his unit was in that battle of Antietam of September, 1862.  From my research to date, it had seemed that the official regimental history for the 15th glossed over that battle.

Well, as I wandered around Antietam Battlefield that evening, I saw the imposing New York state monument, and then upon closer scrutiny I saw the name of the commanding officer of the 15th listed among the leaders of the units that were at Antietam.

Now, it is possible that the 15th Engineers were held in reserve in nearby Sharpsburg and did not see action in this battle.  Union Gen. George McClellan was severely criticized for not engaging his full force — an unfortunate trait of his throughout his command of the Union forces.  But it was good to add another piece to the puzzle that the 15th were at least actually there amidst the campaign.

As the skies got darker, and people arrived to look through the telescopes, I couldn’t help but think about the odd juxtaposition of watching the heavens (viewing Saturn and the Orion Nebula http://tinyurl.com/dzgszx were particular treats) on ground where such carnage had occurred.

The event for me was one of those times when many thoughts run through one’s mind and at the same time a lot of things fall into perspective.

Between the one-day horror that took place at the battle of Antietam and the seeming timelessness of space, I realized once again that I am just grateful to be alive.

So I arrived to work that Monday with a new relaxed sense of purpose.  While I will continue to keep my clients’ interest foremost, I have a renewed resolve to not take myself toooooo seriously.  And a corollary of that . . . I recall what Robert Middleton www.actionplan.com says: Marketing has to be fun for a salesperson if it is to be effective.

As always, your comments are welcome below.

I can be reached directly at dryan@videolabs.net or 301-217-0000 x104.

I also invite you to follow me on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/DRMediaSolution

If you enjoyed reading this blog, you might perahps like to read my thoughts inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday: http://tinyurl.com/c564ek

My work-flow pretty much follows ”The World is Flat” model that Thomas Friedman writes about in his same titled book: http://tinyurl.com/2uvvy3 

About 90% of the orders that I deal with arrive and ship by either UPS or Fed Ex.  I depend heavily on both services,  and I admire both.  (For example, I particularly appreciated the insights of Fed Ex founder, Fred Smith, on “The Charlie Rose Show” recently http://tinyurl.com/4ps88j  And I’ve been an admirer of the widespread social improvement efforts of the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.  http://tinyurl.com/6yc5ag  Its roots are with the UPS founding family.)

I have minor issues with each company as well.

For example, why does Fed Ex Ground have to be treated so differently — like it is a separate company with different pickup times, etc. while UPS will pickup any UPS order?  OK, ok, I know there are internal company organization reasons for that, but all I know is that shipping via Fed Ex Ground just adds a layer complexity to my day that I don’t experience when I ship via UPS Ground.

But then, my beef with UPS is their long tracking numbers.  My word, you could end up typing all day if you can’t cut and paste them for some reason.

And why do I have to click on terms and conditions when tracking a package on the UPS website?  Hmmm, I wonder why Fed Ex doesn’t make me do that?  Could it be they are less concerned about legality?  I doubt it.  I dunno, I kind of follow the rule that if someone really wants to sue you, they will, so making folks do a check-off kind of seems pointless in that light.

One other issue, consistent reliability for Saturday delivery is an issue for both companies as far as I am concerned, so I call that a draw.

So up til now, determining which shipper I put down on our work order has pretty much been either client preference or with whom our shipping team has negotiated the latest greatest discount rates.

But then something happened recently that turned me into a UPS loyal fan.   I had an order shipping via UPS from our replication facility.  The client had sent us a last-minute address change.  The shipping folks at the plant actually wrote in the change, but there was a software glitch (hence fixed) and the system thought that the shipment had already gone and therefore disregarded the change. 

It wasn’t until the order was en route that it was discovered that the shipment of 35 boxes was headed to the incorrect address.  Well, I had seen those UPS “White Board” ads on TV.  So I said, ”Let’s see if that really works.”

Sure enough, all the boxes were intercepted and arrived just one day later than they were scheduled — which still was within the client’s deadline window.

Whew!  “Now that was cool,” I said.  That’s a new service offering that REALLY means something to me.  UPS helped my team and me save some serious face. 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I still use Fed Ex every day, and I remain a big admirer of them, and maybe they’ll come up with a new service that saves the day for me as well, but guess who is going to be choosing UPS a bit more in his work orders for quite a while to come . . .

I invite you to share your comments below.

And if you are interested in marketing, you may want to check out my blog on attending a recent seminar conducted by marketing expert, Robert Middleton, of Action Plan Marketing: http://tinyurl.com/4ykpa6

A normal-kid thing to do in GE-centric Schenectady

A New York place with Union soldier monuments all around

Yet as segregated as any Southern town.

We went to a lily-white church

Staunch conservatives all

Yet this day, the congregation walked to the Courthouse

Our 12 white Elders led the way.

We joined a large gathering

A rainbow of churches from all around

Speeches about a place called Selma

Something in our country was very wrong.

I remember our 12 white Elders

Crossing arms singing, “We Shall Overcome”

We went home, and I got to play

Yet even for the son of a white Elder

Things were different from that day.

(In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  
My father, John E. Ryan, passed away in 2000.)

“Instead of the More Clients eZine, today I have a special gift for you.  Successful businesses, large or small, are built on a foundation of great service.  But what is great service, really?  After you watch this little online video, you’ll understand what service is - in a whole new way.  It’s only 3-minutes long and once you see it, I promise you, you’ll never forget it.”

http://tinyurl.com/2zesmp

But I hadn’t actually been back to the station itself in over 20 years.

Last week I attended a production staff reunion sponsored by the station’s SAM (Station’s Archived Memories) Committee which is led by a dedicated and well-organized group of station volunteers www.tinyurl.com/yvhd5e

If you think about it, that is a unique endeavor — trying to collect memories of a medium that epitomizes the term, “planned obsolescence.” But there is something special about people who choose public broadcasting as their community service of choice. Any PBS station manager or development director will tell you that. These are folks who appreciate that PBS was started as a non-commercial, alternative and sane voice, and they want to see that continue even amidst today’s radically changing media landscape.

I have found that most everyone who has worked at a PBS station can tell you of an event in their life that caused them to realize the importance of their work in this alternative media. (Kind of like the people I’ve met who work in Head Start) For me, it was watching the original children’s program, “Zoom,” www.pbskids.org/zoom/ during the holiday break of my senior year in college. (“I want to do that!”) And although I haven’t worked at a PBS station since Denver, my attachment to its basic tenets remains. The KRMA SAM Committee members recognize the importance of documenting the special thread of dedication that runs through those who have worked at the station over the years.

At first, this group of volunteers thought the work would entail little more than putting together some scrapbooks, but they soon realized that to do the job right, they needed to allow the project to grow into a full media asset gathering and management program, complete with advanced digital equipment and multimedia software. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting http://www.cpb.org/ also thought this was a most worthy endeavor, and it gave a substantial grant to help fund the archiving effort.

I am a family history buff who loves to wander through the stacks of the National Archives http://www.archives.gov/ and visit historical societies, landmarks, battlefields and cemeteries. Is it any wonder then that when the SAM Committee put out a call for copies of “lost” programs and paraphernalia from decades ago that this “pack rat” would be able to produce a sizeable amount of material? (Hey, I have to find some way to validate my obsessive tendencies, no?)

Anyway, the reunion event was superb.

As a producer of many live television programs and events (including several reunions!) I learned early on in my career that the difference between a ho-hum event and a memorable event is often just an extra 5 or 10% of preparation and attention to detail.

From the sincere initial greeting and processing of guests to the parting gift of an anthology DVD and booklet upon leaving, the event was tastefully well-planned . . . and in a way that was not overbearing. The studio displays, layout, station tours and speeches were all done in a subtle low-key way that served to enhance the mingling of station alumni reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

What is the result? Well it’s straight from Marketing 101 — from Dale Carnegie — and from my current marketing mentor, Robert Middleton. http://www.actionplan.com/ I was treated like a well-regarded client. By their planning, the Committee in effect said that they thought enough of me to make sure I had a fun experience, while they also reminded me of the critical role public broadcasting has played, and continues to play, in our society. Well, I may not have tons of money to spend right now, but I’d say it’s safe to say that KRMA will now be on my non-profit contributions list. And they succeeded in turning this cynical Easterner, who has over the past two decades increasingly questioned the viability of public broadcasting — into at least a revitalized Don Quijote. If this ship is going down, I for one will go down with it.

But I don’t think that is going to happen. PBS has successfully defended itself against several attempts to curtail its activities.

But what is the future for public broadcasting? At the reunion I had a thought-provoking discussion with RMPBS President James Morgese www.tinyurl.com/2z6rp3.
He believes the business model of PBS needs to be reworked, and he has some interesting ideas on how to do that. We agreed to carry on our conversation via correspondence, and I look forward to doing that. Perhaps some time down the road we can have him as a Featured Media Guest on this web site.

But again, kudos to the SAM Committee for recognizing the importance of putting in that extra 5% to 10% effort. It certainly paid off. Thank you!

I end this post with a tribute to the person who hired me at KRMA, Executive Producer, Kaye Lavine. She decided I was the right person for the cultural affairs position even though during my interview over lunch, I mindlessly asked if I could have the uneaten portion of her sandwich. (My only excuse is that I remember that I flew in to Denver directly from an all-night editing session). Kaye became a mentor, and we remained close friends and business colleagues over the years as we both headed East, she to New York City and I to the DC area. Kaye passed away last year, and those who attended the reunion felt her spirit with us. I was glad to visit a place in Denver where her ashes are buried on my way out of town.

It was a fitting end to a most meaningful weekend.