Sunday, April 13, 2008

From The NAB...


Saw a good session on Sunday here at the NAB in Las Vegas. The presenter was Rob Curley, Vice President, Product Development, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive.

It's one of the most popular websites and you can check out the Washington Post here. Or sample a special series produced exclusively for the website--it's called on being. Very well done and entertaining. You may have to register to see certain parts of the their site, but it's free.

For the second time in the last couple of months I learned just how big Web/Internet departments can be. And that number is: 350. The first time was at a recent conference and the discussion was Sports Illustrated's web staff; and today I learned that's the number in the Washington Post's Internet office--of which 15 are full time videographers. How many web creators does a radio station/cluster/group have? I'm sure there are some that are appropriately staffed up, but I'm not sure that's the norm.

It was pointed out at the session that even though Washington is a world city there seems to be an enormous appetite for finding out about your neighbors and the interesting aspects of their lives. Their POV is be local and people will be interested. Of course that is provided the content is good.

Stating the obvious: find out what content your listeners crave and make sure you provide that content on your website. Our industry has improved, but the improvement must be ongoing.