A good friend of mine made a comment that has stuck with me over the past few days “The Internet moves at the speed of Imagination!”
That statement remained with me over the past 3 days as we designed, built, and tested (I use those words VERY loosely) a complete broadcast studio in our office.
How it all began
There is a local radio station that featured a conservative radio talk show, Talk of the Town. The show was a live call in show broadcast M-F 11am – 1pm. As with a lot of media, there is a move towards consolidation and ownership changes. Last Friday, the ownership of the station changed, and as with any new owners, their vision for the station differed from hosting a local, call in talk show. On Friday, the station changed its format to High Energy Dance music bringing a little Jersey Shore to our local town.
At the same time, our single local paper announced they were putting up a digital pay-wall for their news content. Again, their right to do so.
Immediately upon hearing of the cancellation of the talk show, Ozean approached the show hosts with an idea:
In this media chaos, there is an opportunity. We can create a digital station that will focus on hyper-local coverage and build an online community around it. And yes, we can have you back on the air by Monday.
The scramble begins
A secret? As with many things on the Internet, we had no budget and no specific idea how to actually do this. We knew it could be done, but the how….
We just remained focused on producing the Minimum Viable Product – we wanted a live broadcast with live call ins with the ability for people to listen in a web portal or mobile app. Piece of cake, right?
Here is a rough timeline with the snags we worked through (some of the details may be fuzzy due to sleep deprivation….)
FRIDAY
Step 1) Find a third party partner who could accept our live stream and push it to pre-made mobile apps. This is the critical piece.
SNAG: The provider is located in California with one sales person who was telling me that they couldn’t have me on by Monday (it was too technically challenging and we would most likely crash and burn.) I politely insisted he take my credit card and take my money. The sales man finally relented, and I stopped at a Starbucks and executed the contract online. In a triage situation, this was the airway.
Step 2) Build out a quick website. Cobbled a quick website together using WordPress. It is not the prettiest site nor is it totally built out, but not bad for 5 hours and 2am in the morning. Alachuatalks.com
Step 3) Cobble together software to broadcast and test connection. Tested multiple software packages and vendors.
SNAG: Our chosen provider’s software works only works on a PC. DARN IT everything is set up to go through a Mac. Spending about 3 hours on forums and google searches, we find an alternative piece of software, download trial and configure.
SNAG: For the life of me, could not get a connection made. I suspected that I was not opening a firewall port correctly. Called in reinforcements. A network expert, Stafford Jones, and he remotely dialed into our computer and diagnosed issue and fixed it. We were now connected to a test server.
Step 4) Build out additional web pages and functions. Install analytics at 9 pm. Post a couple social media posts about the show pointing to the new site. I am embarrassed of the sites appearance. Real time results show there is interest in the new website. Encouraging. Pass out.
Step 5) Wake up an hour later – forgot to place a place to capture email addresses on the site. Set up Mailchimp list, build widget, insert crudely into the website making it even more ugly. Sleep again.
SATURDAY
Step 6) New equipment. We needed new mics, a mixer, a way to digitize, connectors to get it all into a computer and broadcast.
SNAG: Of course we could find all the equipment we needed online, but we needed it Saturday, not in 2 -days shipping time. Asked a friend if he had a spare mixer laying around? He did! Then looked in a spare closet for old equipment we already owned that may work. Found a piece that MAY WORK! Drove to a local music store (Lipham Music) and told them what I was attempting to do. They shared their expertise and we cobbled a system together. True, it is not optimal, but it MAY work.
Step 7) Opening, plugging in and testing. Started cobbling together all this different equipment from different eras, praying it all somehow worked.
SNAG: My daughter has a dance recital on Sunday, and because I am going for the dad of the year award, we had Daddy Daughter dance rehearsal on Saturday 9am.
Step 8) Returned from dance recital practice and test cobbled together mics and returns.
SNAG: Mics are working, Returns are not working. Set this aside until later and make note to call my friend who owns the mixer so that he can help me. (He later looks at a photo of the mixer online and tells me what knobs to turn. BOOM! Working!)
Step 9) Ability to take call ins.
SNAG: We have a VOIP system in our office and I didn’t want to use my regular business phone for a call in number. When attempting to purchase a new number and configure our Asterisk server to route the number to a phone, I suddenly remembered that we have a phone number with our internet provider that we never use. We don’t even have a phone line attached to it.
SNAG: Because, we only have VOIP phones, I don’t know if that phone line works. We need a cheap $9 phone and an old analog phone cord.
SNAG: We need a specialized piece of equipment that can splice in phone calls and allow the hosts to interact with the caller. Called my network friend, Satfford, again. We agree to work on it on Sunday.
SUNDAY
Cobbled together studio
Step 10) Major Issue: Solve the call-in problem.
SNAG: Daughter’s dance recital is today – this means Dress rehearsal at 1:55pm and recital at 6pm. Put call-in issue off for now.
Step 11) Test mobile connection. Call one of the hosts, walk him through install of mobile app and test broadcast on his I-phone. BOOM! He downloaded mobile app and could hear me broadcasting. Partial success. (didn’t mention the call in issue)
Step 12) Dress rehearsal. Pick up daughter, head to Performing Arts Center for a 15 minutes rehearsal. Take her home head back to office.
Step 13) Meet gracious friend, Stafford Jones, at the office. Plug in cheap phone. DIAL TONE. Now, how do we get this to work with the other stuff? Our first set up got the audio from the phone to the broadcast, but the callers wouldn’t hear the hosts. We started cutting wires splicing it together, destroying some headsets and phones along the way. Tired. Went home Sunday night not knowing how we were going to get this critical part to work, but had an idea of what may work.
Step 14) Dance recital. 6pm.
Step 15) Panic. How am I going to get the call ins to work?
Step 16) Exhausted and worried that we are heading for a disaster remember that I have to send out instructions to people on how to listen to the show. Compose and send an email blast to people who had signed up for the email list. Erase the words, “If we broadcast…..” from the email several times.
MONDAY
Step 17) Visit Super Wal-mart at 6:30 am. They have ONE speakerphone on the shelf and a 50 foot cord. My bright solution? Literally going to put a mic on a speaker phone – WOW is that awful and very low-tech for such a digital endeavor. But for now, it just may work.
Step 18) Set up speaker phone.
SNAG: Phone needs 4AA batteries. Can’t find them. Run to CVS, purchase batteries, 1 hour until go live time.
Step 19) Test broadcast
SNAG: It FAILS. Looks like our provider did maintenance over the weekend and the port that we need opened has changed. PANIC. Log on and follow the pattern set by my friend, open a new port.
Step 20) Talk show guests arrived and this is the first time we check mic levels, and test broadcasting. With the new port, it seems to work. Success!
Step 21) Quick – test mobile app. Success!
Step 22) Say a quick prayer, FLIP SWITCH AT 11 AM….and we are broadcasting.
SNAG: Within 10 minutes, due to overwhelming demand, web server crashes.
Step 23) Act as tech support- helping listeners tune in the broadcast with a server crashing. Re-route traffic.
Not everyone who want to hear, could hear, but some did.
Again, while not optimal, there was demand and the MVP worked….barely. We live to tomorrow and clearly defined the words ‘minimal viable’.
The Point
The point was not to paint a scenario that mirrors the ending chaos from GoodFella’s, but to show how fast the Internet moves…..as my friend said – at the speed of Imagination.
Our “broadcast studio” is far from perfect or optimal, but for right now, the show is broadcasting.
We are working to get a little better each day. As an illustration, spent the very first day upgrading server to allow for additional web traffic, and on the second day, the server did not crash.
What have we learned
Because we could do it, doesn’t mean we should. Focus on the Minimum Viable Product, nothing more.
There is a demand for this product. Now we can look to bring in revenue to build a better product once we analyze the data to see what & how people are actually using.
My digital sabbatical took place during the unnamed tropical storm this past weekend
For the past 4 days, I have been on a self-imposed digital sabbatical.
I decided to go on this sabbatical after a difficult month and especially trying week.
I am still not completely sure of nor can I fully explain why I felt the need to totally disconnect.
However, I knew deep down that I was tired and needed to be still so that I could think. I know I needed the pinging to stop.
For my sabbatical, I checked into a beach condo on Thursday with plans for my wife and kids to join me after Friday work.
Digital Sabbatical Rules
Here were my rules:
No smart-phone.
No E-mails.
No Phone calls (For emergencies, I gave my wife this number to this interesting invention I haven’t used in years….something called a land line).
No Web.
No Hulu, No Netflix.
No Web Surfing.
No Television.
I was NOT prepared for the difficulty that was involved with this sabbatical idea.
I checked into the Condo at about 10 am on Thursday and turned off my constant companion cell smartphone. What have I done? I thought about it, my cell phone hasn’t been turned off on purpose in years.
It took 5 minutes to move luggage into condo and look around. It took another 3 minutes to feel the stress of my sabbatical decision. No Email? No Web? Am I nuts? What in the hell am I going to do now?
It started to rain. I opened the door, listened to the surf, smelled the rain. THAT was different.
I went to the grocery store to purchase supplies. Wait a minute – no smart phone with a grocery list? I had to go up and down the isles looking for things, and a funny thing happened: I began to notice what fruit was fresh and smelled good versus what was on my list. I noticed all the ingredients that I have never used in my cooking. I read a label or 10. Interesting.
I spent about 30 minutes more than I normally would in a grocery store just exploring. I stopped and talked to the Veggie guy – what came in today? I asked him if the automatic dispensing of artificial mist actually helped the veggies stay fresh or was it just for aesthetic reasons. He didn’t know. Interesting. I noticed the numerous Beach Bums with their tons of different accents and their too-leathery skin. It was a strange collection of humans, some preparing to return North others complaining of the lack of sun. All in all, an enjoyable trip to the grocery store that was…. fascinating.
Returned to the condo and unpacked.
NOW WHAT?
I started to do some work that I brought with me, but then I caught the pile of books I brought with me out of the corner of my eye.
In this pile, there was a book that I have been meaning to read for years, but just never found the motivation or the time. I knew it was a classic, but I also knew it would be a slow slug. I picked up my copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig and dived in.
The book did not disappoint. It was was a slow, deep, complex, slug-it-out kind of a read. I haven’t experienced a book like it in years. It took all my concentration, it took rereading passages, it took time to close the book and consider what the author wrote. Frankly, I am still processing some of what I read – this book is lingering in my head more than any book I have read in 20 years. The book was a delightful challenge, and I never would or could have read it with constant background pinging.
I ran. I ran in the rain and thought about what I was reading – thinking about Quality, my relationship with my children, the difference between scientific reasoning and art, and various other, random, stream of consciousnesses thoughts. In fact, I added 37 minutes to my normal running time without even noticing. Didn’t care, but I noticed that I felt great.
Then it started. The great unnamed tropical storm that hit Thursday evening, Friday morning. The 10 inches of rain caused the Great Battle of 2013 versus the assorted evil roof leaks. A small drip quickly escalated into an indoor rain. The intense battle raged for hours. Emptying buckets, moving furniture, and moping were all instruments of my battle. Trying to figure out where the leak was coming from and how to possibly stop the leak became my mission. The battle raged until about 3 am. Damndest thing: I found myself enjoying the ridiculousness of this experience: the wind was howling, it smelled different, the waves raged and I just went with it. In the end, I lost this battle.
My wife and family decided not to join me in the flooded condo, and I don’t blame them. I did notice that I was stuck and couldn’t get out. The road leading into the condo had funneled all the water into the exit road. I found myself wondering how deep it was, so I waded into it as a funny thought came to me, “The water is about 18 inches deep and I am a 40 year old man playing in the rain.”
I found myself playing in the rain
I read some more. Two additional books: one the regulation of the Internet and another on the importance of focus in business.
As soon as the roads cleared Saturday morning, I returned home, and during the hour and half trip – silence. No pings, no anxiety about the phone ringing, no news. It was nice.
The digital sabbatical continued for another 48 hours, but the effects remained the same.
Sabbatical Conclusion
After my initial shock and bewilderment, my time was filled with different things that either I had forgotten how much I enjoyed or filled with new things that I had been meaning to try or get to.
In the end, I feel refreshed and a little bit more in control of the pings, the alerts, and the URGENT messages.
I would highly suggest that you try a digital sabbatical, and let me know how it goes.
Ozean Media wins the ‘Oscar of Political Advertising’ for Political Radio Spot
GAINESVILLE, FL – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – On Friday, April 5, 2013 Ozean Media was awarded a 2013 Pollie Award by the American Association of Political Consultants. The AAPC Pollie Awards recognize the best of the best in political communications for 2012.
The award was announced at the 21st Annual Pollie Awards & Conference held April 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC.
The Pollie Awards are awarded annually to recognize excellence in political advertising, are billed by Esquire Magazine as the “Oscars of Political Consulting”, and the Pollie Awards are generally considered to be the most prestigious awards in the field of political campaign and public affairs industry.
“This Pollie Award is the fourth time in the past two election cycles that Ozean has received national recognition from our political consulting peers, and Ozean is greatly satisfied knowing that our agency is not only competing but winning on a national stage against DC & Tallahassee consultants,” said Alex Patton, owner of Ozean.
The Pollie was awarded for a radio commercial produced in conjunction with Push Button Productions of Orlando, FL for Jeff Siegmeister’s (Rep) victorious campaign for State Attorney for Florida’s third judicial circuit. Jeff Siegmeister became the first Republican elected to the third judicial circuit since reconstruction.
“When we first drafted the radio spot for Mr. Siegmeister, I got the impression that he thought we were certifiably insane. To his credit, Mr. Siegmeister placed his faith in Ozean’s political expertise and his trust allowed us to take creative risks that paid off in a victorious campaign,” continued Alex Patton.
“Ozean is not resting on our laurels, we are busy honing our skills to achieve our mission of “navigating to victory” for our clients in the coming election cycles,” concluded Alex Patton.
About Ozean Media
(https://ozeanmedia.com) – Ozean Media is a political consulting & digital media agency specializing in Republican candidates, conservative issue campaigns, and various trade associations.
About the American Association of Political Consultants
(www.theaapc.org/) – Association membership consists of political consultants, media consultants, pollsters, campaign managers, corporate public affairs officers, professors, fund-raisers, lobbyists, congressional staffers and vendors and is open to everyone associated with politics from the local level to the White House.
The term ‘freemium’ was coined to refer to any software or service offered for free use, but offers some some enhanced functionality if the user or organization pays a monthly or annual fee. Notable examples include DropBox, who offers 2GB 5GB of online storage for free — up to 1TB for paying users — or Pandora, who offers free Internet radio but allows paying customers track skips and an ad-free experience.
While ten years ago paying for a service such as Internet radio would be regarded as a frivolous expense, there are a growing number of paying subscribers who would contend such an expense is just as vital as keeping the electric bill paid. According to an internal survey, 67% of Pandora listeners said the company’s Internet radio service made a positive impact on their life. When narrowed to just the musical experience, some 84% said Pandora connects them with the music they love. With stats like that, who wouldn’t want to listen to, or advertise on, Pandora?
A recent survey showed 67% of listeners said Pandora had positive impact on their life.
But this presents a real problem for advertisers.
Let’s take Pandora; with over 80 million registered users, they’re arguably the widest reaching internet radio platform — a lucrative advertising medium to spend our media budgets on. Here I am, Mr. Media Buyer, trying to target the Pandora’s most loyal listeners, particularly ones who have disposable incomes what most would consider a
Add to that the psychological effect on a user who pays for a service he or she was already getting for free: they use it a heck of a lot more. After all, if I’m catching grief from my penny-pinching wife on spending six bucks a month on some internet radio service she gets on her iPhone for free, I had better spend every waking minute of the day using it. This means the users with the highest frequency to the site are excluded from my advertising reach.
For a company like Pandora, it equates to the users with the highest listening hours per month — with the greatest chance of seeing my client’s ad — are totally off limits to my campaign. This makes it a harder sell to clients, knowing that a sweet piece of a pie will never hear their clever ad.
Even with that considered, advertising on freemium services is far from a bad option. This stands especially true if you’re targeting the coveted 18-25 demographic, who’ve all seemed to embrace conventional-media-replacing services like Pandora and Hulu.
It’s a limitation, not a deal breaker, but I sure hope these service providers fully explore every option before excluding the crème de la crème to us media buyers.
Ozean Consulting was notified today the Jeff Siegmeister for Florida State Attorney – Circuit 3 radio campaign is a finalist for the 2013 Reed Award.
“Ozean is excited to be recognized for our work on the Jeff Siegmeister Campaign. It was exciting enough to play a small role in the election of the first Republican State Attorney from Florida’s third circuit since Reconstruction, but to have the work recognized nationally is thrilling,” said Alex Patton, owner of Ozean Consulting.
“This is the third time our firm has received national recognition for our political work, and we look forward to continuing our mission of helping conservative candidates navigate to victory,” concluded Alex Patton.
January 11, 2012 – Arlington, VA – Today, Campaigns & Elections announced the finalists of the annual Reed Awards.
The finalists represent the top talent in the political consulting business in the fields of Direct Mail, Online Advertising, Newspaper Advertising, Phones, Political Technology, Signage and Collateral Material, Radio and Television.
Winners will be awarded for their 2012 campaign work at The Reed Awards Dinner on February 1st, 2013 in Washington, DC.
The Institute of Gainesville, a local non-partisan think-tank, has announced Alex Patton as the key note speaker at their one day conference entitled “Challenges for Florida in the 21st Century: Energy, Education, & Growth”.
The conference will be held Feb 10th and the one-day conference will include scholarly presentations, discussions with invited speakers and Q&A with the public. It will include 3 concurrent sessions on Energy, Education, and Growth.
Following the conference, the members of the Institute, will write several policy, position and white papers using the information from the conference in combination with additional research.
“I am extremely excited and humbled to be joining such an esteemed roster of participants such as Darin Cook of Infinite Energy, Dr. Larry Smith, John Delany President of UNF, Marin Smillov from Santa Fe College and additional experts from The University of Florida, national think tanks and the private sector,” said Alex Patton.
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