the few who control the media and a non-profit

Would you want to see COMCAST buy NBC News, MSNBC,  CNBC, the Spanish-language Telemundo network, and the USA and Bravo cable channels with one fat check?  Gee whiz! They just might do it soon.

Investing in the Online Newspaper

This article mentions  investors by name who are buying and building online newspaper businesses. You can read about current  projects and learn about non-profit companies that have been formed from the investments.  In one business plan,  $5 million in private money was put up for 120 journalism students to work with a radio station with 28 reporters to make an online newspaper.

Journalism Online  is another well capitalized effort. They are dead set on taking over the hosting of newspaper web sites so they can insure they’ll get paid when they get read.  On a their sites, a  consumer would  sign up  for annual or monthly subscriptions, day passes, and single articles from multiple publishers.  The publishers set the prices and viewing options.

The Black Press Boston Update

The Roxbury Center for the Arts at Hibernian Hall has a 200-320 capacity space.  It can be configured for a variety of events such as conference.  On September 30th it was reported that 200 people  met with the operators of the Boston Banner newspaper,  to conference with them about their plans for becoming a continued success story.  { http://tinyurl.com/yd9ht2p ]

There’s a http://www.blackpressusa.com directory of black newspapers all over the country.

What Will People End Up With?

For the past 60 days or so  this writer  turned off the TV set and switched off  Obama bashing radio talk shows.  They were all replaced by my FM/AM battery-operated radio that cost about $19.00 from Radio Shack.  I began paying more attention to my Facebook  newsfeed.  When I glanced at magazine covers or turned their pages at the store,  I rarely bought them.

During my media-blackout, I  would read the NYT, WSJ, the Globe the Herald, etc. but from a distance. I’d  scan them quickly, then put them right back on the shelf where I got them. I brought the Boston Banner, the JP Gazette,  and the Boston Phoenix papers home with me.  I’d stuff  litle LOLA and COLOR magazine into the brief then bring them home as well.

Information Overload

I think a less newsy world is not a bad thing really.

Newspapers in print rarely have been  arranged to give a person exactly what they are looking for.  The online editions aren’t much better. There is some customization but showcasing the ads often trumps the convenience of having a completely user-controlled experience when you view the material online. 

I think print or electronic information that provides an answer to what people are looking for is something people want and likely to pay for.   With 411, that happens.

Time after time, I have found information I needed faster by using the Yellow Pages directory, than I have using either Bing, Google or Yahaoo Search Engines.  The advertisers pay for both.

A person called  the other day seeking a “black” investor for his medical device product that would help solve the problem of sexually transmitted diseases.  He wanted a person’s name and contact info.  Frankly, I don’t think a “product” is going to solve that problem but it was an interesting question to pursue getting an answer for.

I had an hour to figure out where to go to obtain a duplicate  social security card the other day in Boston.  I was out and about so I decided to stop by  FEDEX/KINKOS to rent computer time to look it up.   At $0.25 a minute, time flies.   It cost me a bit more than $3  to pin down where Room 148  is in the Tip O’Neil Office Building.  When I got there, the office was closing at 4PM, although their web site said 5PM.   I had 8 minutes left to go but got the deal done.

“Time”  is manufactured by human beings in the UK

I don’t know how much time is left for newspapers to maintain an adequate revenue stream. Its hard to say really but I have seen a few trends that I’d like to remember.

[ here today, gone tomorrow ]

I’ve seen custom wordprocessing shops with people in them charging $1 a page to type pages for you get replaced by computer word processing software.  Seen music recording studios that charge by the hour get replaced by home pc variety ProTools/Logic and Audacity software working in concert with hi-quality portable electronic audio processors.  I’ve seen BYTE magazine, PC WORLD magazine and others like them who thrived on the Mail-Order advertising customer like the DELLs, Gateways and IBMs,  get replaced by online Internet catalog sales, ebay, craigslist and etc.

The last Craigslist Killer

Craigslist by most accounts, is an amazing success story, but on the other hand – they have a hard time controlling SPAM  Listings and its totally pissing off a lot of people.  With newspaper want ad listings THERE IS NO SPAM.  Spam may kill Craigslist.

introducing Boston Black Student Network (BBSN)

2009

On Saturday, September 19th from 12pm-5pm, over 500 Black Boston-area undergraduate and graduate students will gather at MIT’s Johnson Athletic Center for the 7th annual HollaDay. HollaDay, hosted by the Boston Black Student Network, Inc. (BBSN).

The networking extravaganza  provides an arena for area Black college students to connect and realize the professional, community, and political opportunities in the Boston area.

produced by BBSN, Boston Black Student Network

BBSN is an entirely student-operated organization. It  has grown to include over 1500 members of the BBSN Facebook group,  over 2500 views of the monthly Newsletter, and over 500 students at its annual networking event, The HollaDay.

BBSN has been also able to partner with various student groups and Boston organizations to host informational workshops to benefit the Black student community throughout the year.

Additionally, the organization continues to serve as a source of support for greater issues affecting the Black community at large.

In 2007, due to the organization’s tremendous growth and existence of stable leadership, it finally branched off from the student groups who have supported its financial resources and became its own nonprofit organization.

For more information regarding HollaDay or to receive the BBSN monthly Newsletter, please contact:

Jarell Lee
Senior Co-Director
bbsnetwork.org@gmail.com
http://www.bbsn.org/

Boston’s Green Fest 2009 pump pump!

Just wanted to send a warm shout-out to the Foundation for a Green Future, Inc. and the co-sponsors for presenting the Boston Green Fest 2009 at City Hall Plaza.  Thanks!

Aug 20th – Boston’s Black Hipster Mr. Lif (Jeffrey Haynes) is the closing act for tomorrow’s Boston Green Fest Kickoff Concert on City Hall Plaza beginning at 5 p. m. Bands are  The Motion Sick, The Click 5, Samba Tremeterra, Tem Blessed and Mr. Lif on Thursday followed by two more days of music and festival.

At the three-day Boston Green Fest, neighborhoods will come together from across Greater Boston to work on solutions to make our city a healthy sustainable place to live.

Features:

ECO FASHION SHOW
EXHIBITS
FILM
FOOD & CRAFT VENDORS
GREEN BUSINESSES
KID’s AREA
MUSIC
and more….

www.bostongreenfest.org

Notification of Security Breach at UMASS Amherst

NOTIFICATION OF SECURITY BREACH
PURSUANT TO MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL LAWS CHAPTER 93H.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst (the “University”) hereby provides notice that a breach of security regarding personal information of students attending the University during the period of 1982-2002 and a few students prior to 1982 occurred from September 15, 2008 to October 27, 2008.

ok now, who got the data?

Under Massachusetts law, you have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this incident. If you  are the victim of identify theft, you also have the right to file a police report and obtain a copy of it.

Massachusetts law also allows you to place a security  freeze on your credit reports. A security freeze  prohibits a credit reporting agency from releasing any information from your credit report without written authorization.  Be aware that placing a security freeze on your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prevent the timely approval of any requests you make for new loads, credit mortgages, employment, housing or other services.

—>

if you have any questions about this matter
you may contact this web site www.umass.edu/computerintrusion
or a SPECIAL TELEPHONE HELP LINE can be called
at (413) 545-8376
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

You can also e-mail correspondence to computerintrusion@umass.edu

Boston Banner finds funding. State is fixing the Tunnel.

Can Ya Dig It?
It was July 18th, Saturday morning when  we read that Boston’s invaluable  African-American owned newspaper had made news again with the headline    “Bay State Banner to accept city’s loan offer” in the Boston Globe’s business section.

It was a good day for the Banner and Boston’s Black community!

We don’t read the Globe everyday but we read it often enough and its   Saturday edition is often full of surprises. This Banner story was a good one.  Yeay!

Now on another unrelated note….

The paper’s legal notice page printed  an announcement that may appeal to minority-owned construction contractors.

It was about the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority invitation for bids on Contract #094-581 which is an order for work described as “Ted Williams Tunnel Ceilings Remediation and Anchor Testing” and the bid  is open to everyone who can do this kind of gig.

Remember,  this may include  part of the section where the  tunnel ceiling  fell, but I have no idea if it does.

Interested contractors may  contact the Office of Contract Administration at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority as soon as possible.

Bids are due August 5th, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.,
address: John T. Driscoll Building, 668 South Avenue, Weston,MA.

The Turnpike Bid offer  is valued at $1.8 mil.

poof!

CompuServe Closes: why Black Boston remembers

a road well traveled

CompuServe enabled black online entrepreneurs  in Atlanta, Boston and Detroit to monetize their passionate interests in black community online social networking well before the Internet reached mass appeal and this is an accounting of how it  happened.

It was -14 degrees outside in Washington D.C when the female African American mayor was captured in a photograph by the Washington Post driving a snow plow through the streets.  We were inside warm offices negotiating.  Our collaboration  with nationwide Afronet BBS sysops,  Congressional Black Caucus members and attendees of a Department of Commerce  conference about  blacks on the new Information Superhighway,  had created an opportunity to join people who operated independent African American online properties with an established publisher who welcomed the chance to build something together. The new online project was named GO AFRO.

>>(Jul 8, 2009) – Network World magazine reports that the granddaddy of the online industry, CompuServe, has been closed down by its parent AOL as of July , 2009, after 30 years in operation… full story <<

###

(1995) The Museum of Afro-American history on Beacon Hill at 20 Joy Street had an online history moment “first” when its director, a Ms  Sylvia Mckinley approved content for use on  CompuServe’s Go Afro social networking forum.

Boston’s Kenny Granderson, the founder of Blackfacts.com, was actively working his magic  in Go Afro.  He also had bought the domain names roxbury.org, mattapan.org and dorchester.org and was publishing online while meeting with the City of Boston about possibilities to collaborate.   One project was in  association with banks installing  kiosk-driven screens  in their locations containing  digital Black Boston history. That story was  televised by Karen Holmes of Channel 5’s CityLine because the content was written in a book published by  historian Robert Hayden of Boston’s South End.  more details…

The Internet was bare of Black destinations for people who surfed online to go places and discover the world at the time.  We searched the CompuServe network for the word “Afro and African American” only to find references to Grolier’s encyclopedia at the time. CompuServe had over 2 million active members and  hundreds of connected social sections. We didn’t see any black operated ones. BostonMurrell co-produced the GO AFRO Compuserve venue  on behalf of American Visions magazine, a world-wide magazine  featuring  Afro-American culture and arts. American Visions was  the official magazine of the African American Museums Association when CompuServe partnered to launch its content online.

Clinton was the President of the United States as the project was  unfolding. A new President of Haiti was being elected. Musician Greg Osby was gigging at Wally’s Cafe and signed copies of CDs distributed to online members of Go Afro.  Boxer Joe Frazier, actress Pam Grier, and author Connie Briscoe’s (“Sisters and Lovers”) were forum interview guests.  George Curry published Emerge Magazine and appeared to chat online audience twice.   The  USA Today newspaper  publicized  Go Afro online events nationwide.

To get it going, BostonMurrell hired Boston’s Roxbury Media Institute founder to assist with writing copy for 18 GO AFRO online introductory areas. The approved material and the upload of 8 years of digitized material from the magazine  launched Go Afro’s online debut. It was one of the  first significant revenue generating online destination for anyone that appreciates Afro-American culture and the arts, and was in direct competition with AOL’s NetNoir online venue.  AOL had invested $500,000 to get NetNoir off the ground. CompuServe’s investment was the partnership agreement to join its system and their  international media marketing machine was thrown in.  Go Afro revenue came from connection fees and people had to pay to get there.

The competition for black online  mind share was an all-out war.  Analysts predicted  GO AFRO could generate a million dollars in gross revenue and it did.  Revenue splits were pushed out to the sponsor and CompuServe retained most of it. The rest  covered staff hours and funded offline networking meetings with members in different states.

This writer went to a member meeting in DC and 60 people were there from across the United States.  Participants  dropped  thousands of consumer dollars on the host city.  Staff were a mix of volunteers who were expert in their respective areas. Most resided in the US while one, the leader of the Music section,  lived in the United Kingdom.

CompuServe was charging for access and people didn’t mind paying.  GO AFRO had  registered 35,000 paying subscribers, managed 600,000 personal communications and  CompuServe distributed a Go Afro team produced “Museums without Walls” multimedia CD ROM to its three million subscribers nationwide in recognition of the importance of Black history, art and culture in America for free.

CompuServe was the home of GO AFRO – the world’s first online revenue producing crowd sourced destination for everyone  who appreciated African-American culture, worldwide.

This post is a tribute to CompuServe and a thank you to American Visions magazine ( I hope all of you are doing well).

Online content creators  seeking to monetize their time online have it harder now.  The game has changed.

CompuServe  put revenue in the hands of content creators and 15% of the proceeds was not unusual.  ISPs and Search Engines are still getting paid from people surfing the net.  The ISPs ( Comcast, Verizon, etc.) will share revenue with a few content producers but not many.  Google banks $21 billion a year from displaying ads during search activity while a tiny amount is shared with content creators.

poof!

The savers who may invest in the Banner

savers have a briefcase full of dough

Got to wonder if an article  like this http://tinyurl.com/mvozfj (“As weekly paper closes, black community loses a voice: Bay State Banner falls victim to the downturn,”  Boston Globe, June 8 2009) will excite  the saver putting money in a savings account at-a-rate-like-no-other-time-in-history,   enough to pull out some to invest in the Boston Banner?

What will they want to know more to do it and is that explained adequately in the article? Probably not!

Tomorrow, the Banner will likely update BostonBanner.com with more relevant information about their financial situation.

Used to be that Boston banks who loan money to local businesses to cover receivables and such wanted to see $2 in current cash assets for every $1 of the credit line requested, but perhaps times have changed all that.

Media mongul Rupert Murdoch was quoted recently as saying “newspapers have to charge more for content.”  This is probably right, but then again, his Myspace interactive media property has had huge layoffs recently and the digerati on Techcrunch.com are saying their comeback against FaceBook is next to impossible, even though Myspace revenue from digital sales stretches towards $500 million a year gross.

So what could the average  Boston Banner reader say to help save the Banner?  They could say “no more free newspapers, charge us and we’ll pay.”  Could be a lesson to be learned considering….

If the Boston Banner closes (let’s hope it doesn’t) there will be a slew of minority-culture  indie  publications attempting to  its place.   I do mean “print”  like sheets of paper, not web sites.

Black media web sites in Boston aren’t  newspapers but a lot of people read them.  The Boston Black web cloud is free from the constraints of journalism theory, although they have learned a few tricks from journalists and reporters.

Predictions on possibilities:

Consider  Color Magazine -  they could take on an expansion to capture some of the print territory the Banner leaves behind if they can handle that financially.  The publication is distributed on the street now and in many locations their boxes sit  right beside the Banner’s.  To do so may encourge them to drop the word “magazine” from their title, print less glossy pages and scratch the word “[diversity] as in  hire-me-I’m colored” from their masthead.

Consider  Unity First, a newspaper/magazine that been going strong for at least 20 years. They have a good audience and had roots in Boston.

Can’t leave this post  without mentioning the Dorchester Reporter newspaper.  DR already covers topics  found in the Banner and its a great paper.

Then there is the unique Black Bostonian newspaper which has its own tribe  and voice… The El Planeta / Boston Latino   media orgs – any of these could become players, but will they?

Probably the best possible outcome for continuing operations at the Banner  is to influence a saver, not the VCs, to jump into the pop and help it break through. So saver, when you do it, take away that word “free” on the Banner’s header  and put a price on it.

Boston will pay for the Banner, I think.

Boston Banner Bay State Banner Come Back!

Franklin Park entrance that once stood

The power of words.

Candelaria Silva Mourns the Banner in the article “Bay State Banner Suspends Publication – Say-it-ain’t so” read full story on her blog.

Excerpt: >>>  There is simply no one to replace what the Banner has done.<<

Ditto , that’s exactly how we feel.
Hurry back Banner.

Boston still talking about The Color Purple musical

The Color Purple musical  left Boston a few days ago and is on its way to another venue now.

Here’s what some people had to say who saw it.

“..it was amazing and Im glad that they are involved with the Black community. I know I got a notice that the YPN would be having a The Color Purple night and they would be going early and meeting that cast (something I would have loved to do), but all in all that show was AMAZING, and…My friend and I had a really enjoyable evening.“
#

“… it was such a wonderful show, my mom and I enjoyed it was such a great musical. I think it will do very well here in Boston there is a buzz already.”
#

“It was great. ..my daughter and her friend says the seats were great and the play was ‘FANTASTIC’”
#

from the Dorchester Reporter – DOTNEWS
http://www.dotnews.com/2009/arts-coalition-treats-hundreds-color-purple-citi-center

Arts coalition treats hundreds to “The Color Purple” at Citi center

“I would go back again, and again, and again if I could!” exclaims Cindy Reed, one of scores of Dorchester residents who received free tickets for the June 16th Community Night performance of “The Color Purple,” the hit “musical about love….”

Boston Bay State Banner
http://www.baystatebanner.com/arts41-2009-06-11
Boston Banner newspaper
#

White Rhino Report
http://whiterhinoreport.blogspot.com/2009/06/color-purple-limited-time-in-boston.html

Our visit to the theater last night was a triple treat. We saw a terrific performance of a fabulous show. I got to spend the entire Fathers’ Day with my first-born. And the piece de resistance: Ti and I sat next to a fascinating and accomplished actress, Miquel Brown, who is in town shooting a film.
#

Third-Decade
http://third_decade.typepad.com/killing_time/2009/06/the-color-purplerecommended.html

Despite the heavy storyline, the musical is full of life, light, and humor; I didn’t expect to laugh and be moved as much as I was. The entire cast was great and presented solid singing, dancing, and acting, although the woman who plays Sophie stole the show.
#

BET Music Awards Show hit home run

Soul Train’s Don Cornelius moment was a highlight, I think.  Later, as the Ojay’s stretched out, you could see the younger artists taking notes and learning some new things from watching them perform.

Imagine the pressure BET producers  must have been under to change plans so quickly and come back with a nice tribute to Michael Jackson’s legacy within two short days.   Add in the humanitarian segments and the Jacksons appearances and it was all good.

Jay-Z’s statement song about  auto-tune philosphy added an interesting twist.  That song  reminded me of what one of Michael Jackson’s producers had said during one of the many CNN / Larry King Live reports.  Michael had asked the producer “why can’t we make a new musical instrument and use that.”

Interesting thought!

New Google G1 Cell Phone offers Black Entrepreneurs Leverage

This is one to watch.

Google’s latest cell phone has the capability to involve African Americans in the high growth cell phone industry in ways that were never possible before the G1 phone with Google’s Android operating system.

How to make money in the Google G1 Android Cell Phone market.

• create a software idea in your head
• focus on who will use it on the G1
• Buy the G1 phone
• Go to Craiglist
• Hire a cheap software programmer
• Build your software program for the phone
• Make two programs
• One should be a limited demo version. Give that one away freely.
• Figure out a way to get paid. Monetize it.
• Show friends, get feedback
• .Develop a marketing plan for it
• Distribute the demo program via Internet Software download sites

  Get together with BlackSoftware.com to promote it.
  That site has thousands of leads for you.

  As soon as you finish your first program, start working on another one.
  You do not need to have great programming skills to do this.

ready for 201 CMR 17.00?

201 CMR 17.00 is a new Massachusetts State law subject to go into effect on January 1, 2009.

Titled  “Standards for The Protection of Personal Information of Residents

the portable office

of the Commonwealth”  the new regulation may cost you  money to deal with it – depending on your business situation.

Costs- The state estimates compliance will cost $3,000 upfront, plus $500 a month, for a small business employing 10 people, with three laptops, seven desktops and one network server.

Requirements - When and if the new law takes effect every business handling Massachusetts residents’ personal data must:   Build firewalls and encrypt data whenever it is transmitted or stored on portable devices;  Develop a security program, designate an employee to manage it, and discipline employee violators; Train employees regarding security, and on and on… These are just some of the requirements reported by Mass High Tech Times online.

Its about how you electronically handle “personal information.”

The new law defines personal information as follows:
“Personal information,” a  Massachusetts resident’s first name and last name or first initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements that relate to such resident: (a) Social Security number; (b) driver’s license number or state-issued identification card number; or (c) financial account number, or credit or debit card number, with or without any required security code, access code, personal identification number or password, that would permit access to a resident’s financial account; provided, however, that “Personal information” shall not include information that is lawfully obtained from publicly available information, or from federal, state or local government records lawfully made available to the general public.

The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation administers 201 CMR 17.00.   Read their web site to see the entire law as written.

Business groups have spoken up about it.  Legislators have been encouraged to delay its effective date at the time of this writing.

some citations from   http://www.masshightech.com/
MASS HIGH TECH, the Journal of New England Technology

the digitalPlumbers
provide a free online help desk

Keyword Search bling bling…

Boston in Red

Christmas colors of red and green can’t seem to keep retailers and television newscasters from singing the blues about the drop in expected sales during the holiday season.

A lot of money is  spent on intercepting your attention with spirited discount offers from merchants. Those cookies in your web browsers drip with chocolate somebody pays for . Unfortunately, they know who you are as a profile customer.

Their investments in cyberspace market targeting is focused on reaching  your e-mail in-box or social network environment space  to propose “interesting offers.”

Boston in Blue

The Top 5 Paid marketing keyword
buyers in Cyberspace USA list & how much bling was purchased:

1.   Target.com – >     3,667,166
2.   amazon.com – >    1,918,571
3.   BizRate.com ->    1,852,219
4.   shopping.yahoo.com
1,633,433
5.   eBay.com    1,473,273

It used to be that the customer was king but that is not the deal today. When Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall someone watched  him land to see which way he would turn, in order to offer him a service.

And that’s what’s happening right now with Search Engine Keyword Bling Bling technology – cyberspace marketers have learned how to interrupt you with just the right offer at the right time but its not a perfect science yet.

That’s right, and its not a bad thing when done kindly.  A Web 2.0 consultant observed- “Advertisers are testing campaigns on social media platforms and publishers are testing and running trials on how to monetize their offerings while delivering value. “

Ultimately, I think that means we the people are  evolving  in cyberspace in a way that manipulates advertisers  expectations to  get what we want when we want it.

what will the last computer look like?

Beyond the Last Computer
by Philip Emeagwali

He won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel prize of supercomputing.

—->
“One day, the Internet will become our shared planet-sized supercomputer and individuals will become nodes on the Internet and the Internet, as we know it, will become obsolete and “disappear” into our collective memory,” he said.

I felt the hard, cold steel of a gun against the back of my head. I spun around and saw my assailant’s finger shaking on the trigger: “Don’t run or I’ll shoot you,” he said. I was just 14 years old, and death was a stranger to me….. “

full story..

Jan 20th Obama Party watch with soul food!

there is a church near every soul

Soul  food by Chef Lee and…

The  OBAMA Jan 20th swearing-in ceremony event  is being shown on wide screen television in  Boston at The Historic Charles Street African American Methodist Episcopal Church,
551 Warren Street, Roxbury, Ma. 02121

Phone 617-442-7770

with Rev. Dr. Gregory G. Groover, Sr., M.S.S., Div., D. Min. Pastor.

This event is FREE and OPEN to the general public.  It is  sponsored by The Community Life Ministry Department,  Charles St. A.M.E. Church & The Historic National Equal Rights League Inc. (  HBERL ) Boston Branch.

Contact  Jacquolyn Payne-Thompson 617-442-4535  for more info.

ALL MEMBERS OF CHARLES ST. A.M.E. CHURCH AND THE COMMUNITY ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Light food will be provided by Chef Lee Famous Soul Foods  at
7 Washington Street, Dorchester, Mass.  617-427-0164.

Making it for Internet Radio

Manufactured by Behringer

Producers on BlogTalk Radio and the zinged Living n Black platform are  “podcasting” program segments. The compilations define  Internet Radio today, yet there’s more.

The Behringer PodcastStudio USB
is a tool for indie producing radio pop

Internet Radio comes in two flavors in our opinion.  One is the combination of hosted streamed audio of live terrestrial station programming with pure web site platform stations.  The other can be live, but  mostly pre-recorded podcasts listed on  portal site playlists as “Internet Radio”  programming compilations,  which may be pre-linked into your cell phone media service option screens and on  software-based media player lists.

“Behringer” is a popular name in the Podcasting/Internet Radio  production business,  in fact before writing this article,  we couldn’t find one negative review of their podcaststudio boxed kit shown on this page.   We know  Behringer is a serious audio products company.

[insert] Boston’s Touch Radio FM 106.1 black owned radio station merges  online radio streaming with  interactive live broadcast show content conversation  influenced by  MYSPACE people in Boston. The Funky Fresh Boston Marathon Radio  Program  on-air broadcast show is impacted by their MySpace Friend communications  in real-time!

to wit: creating pre-recorded podcasts for Internet Radio audience playback  can be a rewarding but challenging experience.  Its like having an FM audio quality broadcast station in your closet, but you have to feed it often with new content or it will get rusty in there.

|

imagine your ear in this thing

We began producing podcast segments using the Network Solutions Platform (netsol.com) because NetSol is the oldest, biggest domain name registrar in the business and their $12 pe r month hosting plans provides:  a) a streaming Windows Media Server and b) a streaming Real Media server at NO extra cost – while providing all you need for HTML directory web site content storage space for web site language.

For a while, it  covered our video and audio streaming requirement by  delivering streaming media right away to capable web browser screens, that is before we built our own video playback system.

What’s cool about having your own audio streaming server is:
Think Youtube in your dresser drawer.

What’s bad about having your own streaming server is:

You need THREE:  a Quicktime, a  Windows, and a Real Media server; not to mention a FLASH file streaming capability just to satisfy every single possible web site viewer that comes to your page, because, not every Windows, Apple, Linux or Cell Phone browser knows how to handle stream x, y or z.  Streamed Windows Media audio has WMA as a file extension.

Streamed  Real Media audio uses the RM file extension. Both Windows and Real Networks provide free encoding software. Microsoft named it the  Windows Media Encoder,  Real Networks named it Helix.  Both files are efficient and small, however;  MP3 audio files are far more universally used and that’s the way it is still trending today.  Apple’s Quicktime requirement is different, very different and the streaming server for it ain’t cheap.

everyone used to have one of these

So, we tossed netsol out and began to store our MP3 podcst files on a regular server and took a break from podcasting for a while. Shortly after, the Boston Globe called to give us a preview of a soon to be released podcast from their servers about  ethnic and minority community issues in Boston and we liked it so much we took a break.

This is where we left off.

Imagine your own  FM radio quality broadcast ! You can do it with  use of creative roll-ins, an anchor lead and PSA style embeds.

Save your  files in the  MP3 /44khz 16-bit format because every CD or MP3 player and web site anywhere can handle them.

No matter who downloads them, your  name of track, author; even logos or brand images will pull up on your listener’s browser if you carefully add that information when saving the audio files.

Flash format audio files are appropriate in some cases.

This  broadcast opened with Governor Patrick’s Massachusetts win. It also covers  topics about the New England Urban Music Awards Show, politics, and thoughts about Roxbury ‘07.

AboutBlackBoston.com recorded it on  consumer gear at home:  a $10 mic and the built in sound card in the computer and it works!

The Behringer PodcastStudio USB shown in the picture holds promise. Its a complete package.  The USB version cost about  $100. Add another hundred for a firewire version kit.

stay tuned: programming about “live food” topics are planned for recording on the Behringer

Leave a reply about your podcast / Internet Radio interests

Government is a hard thing to administer

PRESIDENT OBAMA is on air now.

..  air like tv, net and radio.

It is February 24, 2009 @10:07
p.m Eastern.

He stood  before Congress.
Goose bumps all across the nation
are rising.

Supposedly, its an economic mess out here.

BOA IRA accounts pay 2.10% over 18 months and  Government secured.
Just left Circuit city at South Bay.  They bankrupt. All things in store are gone. The cashier playing Hip Hop Rap on the Boom box wasn’t disturbed. She said “well, we gonna be here till March, they told me, or wheneva all this stuff gets sold…..”

I tried to buy a bikers bag. She told me it ain’t coming up in inventory. Can’t sell it to ya, she said. Yarn!
OBAMA’S SPEECH: Limbaugh producers are taking down notes. Imus will have a better  show tomorrow though.  The allies are listening. Terrorists are too. The closing message in the speech is coming soon.  R&B, NuJazz and other artist call it “the outro.”  Well, its done now.

Quick Save
the pundits on air tv are talking. Interesting.

Obama’s  lead was important. Choke. Bailout. School. Bank. Secondary Market. Roseveltian. Emerge. Strong.

Not a State of the Union address…. or was it?

Speaking into the middle,
PRESIDENT OBAMA ASKED
Saw McCain
Ron Emanuel was there with the swish of humanity…

Chairman of the Fed was on the Hill today. Concerned.

Rare Positive Session of the Dow. It went up 200 points,  oh wow!

This story continues. Why bailout banks. [The Bank of America has been sued before all this. Yep, its a class action thing about those $35 charges resulting in so many people going negative when comparing ATM balance, to Web Balance to whatever the real balance was.]  Research the net, learn more about it – its current and if you are a BOA customer – you’ll get some bucks back for sure, if you join the class…

Speech is over now.

“A Democracy is a hard thing to administer!”

Isn’t that right?
#

P.S. GOP response opens with “Happy Mardi Gras”!

U2 in Somerville 3/11

WBCN FM 104.1 FM got it right!

The concert is awesome and we are hearing it right now on the radio as Bono and U2 closes up the night singing Hello Hello,  do you feel …..at the Somerville Theatre, in Somerville,  Massachusetts.

U2 came here to reboot.  Bono  said the music business is being run by software so here we are in a  900 seat  theatre setting playing live music to people. They’ve been everywhere before and will make rounds around the world carrying a new album with them after Somerville’s performance.

Bono was also to do a special moment at Obama’s inaugural but it was yanked at the last moment by Axelrod and crew.  Couldn’t happen because of a modesty thing they told him.   His original plan was to open with the tune “Pride ( In the Name of Love) after producers put up   Martin Luther King speaking, in 1963, the “I have a Dream Speech” on  the big wide video screen before inaugural crowds, but the speech was pulled, Bono said.

They performed five songs in Somerville and took questions from the audience.  The new album was recorded in  North Africa.

A commercial from Dr. Dre cut in talking about headphones he’s marketing under his own name.  Bono was nominated for a Nobel Prize for his global advocacy for Africa’s poor.   Good luck Dre.

Interesting band, interesting times. Music is good.
Keep it coming U2.

Thanks WBCN.
Thanks MTV- the MC, for the U2 in Somerville live radio show.

community radio power strikes a nerve

a community radio 100 watt transmitter

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC’s jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.

Regulation is cool but a democracy is a hard thing to administer.

Low-Powered FM radio stations are broadcasting to add value (some call it “distortion”) and content you can hear on ordinary radios  in  cars and homes.   A lot of people are enjoying this form of alternative free radio.

Boston’s FM Station named TOUCH FM 106.1  is on a mission.

These types of Low-powered radio broadcasts serve a unique tribe.  This tribe is comprised of content providers: musicians and program producers, who cannot get aired on commercialized corporate-owned stations, and their listeners.

FREE FM Radio content is a friend to most of us.

Now,  we call attention to the Conductor Mr. Charles Clemmons,  owner of Boston’s Touch FM 106 community radio station,  aka  “The Fabric of the Black Community.”  Touch radio signals have been peeked at by communications broadcast engineers.  He knows it and he’s Walking for Power.

Specialized equipment,  such as a Cushman CE-6030 Radio System Analyzer with a Tracking Generator and Power Monitor  will measure radio broadcast station power.  Cushman equipment helps  when adjusting  the RF signal.

It will monitor  a broad range of frequencies.  I remember the spectrum displays of the device.  The screens are green, the wave forms are somebody’s radio transmitter. They flow like an ocean wave near calibrated grid lines.   Its been  years since I’ve seen these ten thousand dollar puppies.

When used for good intention it will  insure one radio station is not distorting another one’s center frequency.    We used to whistle a 1Khz tone into a radio transmitter to tune them on the Cushman.

But, this instrument is blind to  the hunger of the  unsigned, unknown music artist seeking a break.

During Berklee’s Envisioning the 21st Century: Music Business Models public panel discussion sat Marsha Vlassic who has represented a celebrated roster of rock and pop acts, such as Ben Folds, Ozzy Osbourne, Neil Young, Lou Reed and others.   Vlassic is credited for pioneering music festival packages including Ozzfest and others.

“Without Radio it is nearly impossible for an unknown music artist to break through” she informed the audience.   She didn’t endorse community radio stations, nor was that the question she had responded to. The word IMPOSSIBLE is a strong point!

Web sites like this one http://www.aareff.com/100wtx.htm exists to enable communities to program radio content on air and blast it underneath the cloud of the commercial megawatt powered stations.

For the tribe that doesn’t care about low watt FM radio stations,  you  shouldn’t be too surprised to see The Conductor of  Touch FM 106 walking from Boston to Los Angeles on a mission to educate you about the value of low power community radio stations nationwide.

He’s out there coming to a place near you.  ( www.touchfm.org )

Profiling the African American Internet User

another Radio One profile survey of Black American internet users
released in June 2008 by a SCRIBD e-paper network member

View this document on Scribd

Profiles of Black American web surfers

this report was released June  2008 by an account holder
on the Scribd  e-paper network

View this document on Scribd

Twitter down in Boston at 17:05 eastern for every1?

Now you see it, now you don’t!

Just happened to notice that the popular web site TWITTER dotcom went down in Boston today.

Actually, its down right now!

..not a big deal, just odd and unusual so we thought we would make a note of it here.