Category Archives: Learfield

Sprint in the NFL radio business

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“Sprint Nextel subscribers will be able to listen to live radio broadcasts of National Football League games this season as part of new partnership between the wireless provider and sports league.

IphonefootballThe live, cell-phone-accessible radio broadcasts—the centerpiece of the new NFL Mobile Live platform–will be available to all Sprint wireless subscribers who purchase a basic data plan as part of their services. In addition, as part of the agreement a select group of premium subscribers will be able to view live broadcasts of the NFL Network’s eight Thursday Night Football games on their phones starting on Nov. 6.” — MEDIA WEEK

Hmmm. Here’s one of several “take away’s” from this story by Mark Ramsey:

“For some reason, many broadcasters confuse the term “content” with “the stuff that’s on our air.” When I use the term “content” I mean the material that’s of serious interest to listeners. Stuff they will seek out. Not filler. Not commodities. McDonalds and NOBU may both offer “food,” but that’s where the similarity ends, and don’t think for a moment the patrons don’t know the difference.

In this case, the content is owned in its entirety by a third party – not a radio company. When it comes to professional sports play-by-play, radio is a distribution channel, not a content owner. Thus we will lose out to the owners of content in deals like this.”

Our company does broadcasts for a whole bunch of big (and small) colleges. We’ve been streaming (via Yahoo!) for years and on satellite radio for the last few years. It seems inevitable that these broadcasts will go directly to phones, sooner or later. Stay tuned? Dialed in?

How big is the company I work for?

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A rather colorful description in this story –about one of our sports properties– in the Fresno Bee:

“Fresno State doesn’t just do its own deals any more. It has a company called Learfield Sports for that. Learfield is slightly bigger than Greenland and the ozone layer combined. Learfield pays Fresno State a flat rate to sell its “multimedia rights.” Fresno is one of nearly 50 schools that lets Learfield handle its radio rights, TV rights, even the signs hanging in Bulldog Stadium.”

Is that what they call a mixed metaphor?

Live webcast from D.C.

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ZimmcastMy friend Chuck is in Washington D.C. at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters’ Washington Watch. A few days ago he was sitting with me in the Jefferson City Coffee Zone where I showed him how we had been playing with live video streaming with UStream.

As I write this, Chuck is streaming a news conference with the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. No satellite truck. No cameraman. No sound man. Just Chuck and his MacBook Pro. I assume he’s recording and will post at AgWired.com.

Ag Secy is now praising “ag radio.” How many of the reporters in the room are recording his remarks to chop up and put in a report they’ll feed back to their stations for later broadcast? While Chuck is streaming live video.

Secy just said something about “you radio guys need 30 second sound bites and I can’t do that.” Uh, no Mr. Secretary, we’re live here at AgWired.com so you can go as long as you need. It’s not about sound bites anymore.

“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” — William Gibson

A blogging case study, close to home

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I’m always on the lookout for good (or bad) blogging stories. I found one in our own back yard during the last few days. The story isn’t complicated but I think our corporate blog tells it better than I can. Just read the original post and the comments. It’s all there.

I’m really proud of how our company and our CEO has used the blog to explain a difficult decision, and allow interested parties to tell us how they feel about it. I’ve been thinking about how this would have been handled pre-blog.

We might or might not have put out a news release. This had to do with an unpleasant decision. If the public wanted to tell us how they felt about it, they could write a letter or send an email, to which we might or might not have responded.

Whatever communication took place, it would have been slow and not very public. With a well-established corporate blog, our CEO just put it out there. The reasons for the action we took… comments… and his response to some of those comments.

Not everybody is happy with the outcome but nobody can say we haven’t been open about it. As an employee –and blogger– I’m proud of how this was handled.

Full disclosure: My wife works for a law firm that represents one of the companies mentioned in the post and comments.

The Voice of Iowa

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“She’s the voice of Iowa. If you want to deliver a message and you’re not talking to Kay, you’re not doing it effectively.” — Tommy Vietor, Iowa Spokesman for Senator Barack Obama.

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The quote is from a nice piece that ran in the Chicago Tribune on January 1st. I’m posting it here so I –and Kay’s many friends– can find it.

Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity

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Jason Calacanis points to WSJ story that suggests size does matter:

Imac“Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. The study concluded that someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours a day.”

I think that balances out the 2.5 hours a day I goof off. [Thanks, David]

Jim Lipsey

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Jim Lipsey was one of Learfield’s first employees. He was part of the KLIK gang (Derry Brownfield and Bob Priddy) that helped Clyde Lear get the company up and running.

On Friday we got Clyde, Jim and Bob in a studio to talk about those early days and Jim’s contributions (there were many). Jim will be 87 his next birthday. I want to be him when I grow up. When I joined the company in 1984, Jim showed me the ropes of affiliate relations. It was a privilege to work with him. Here’s 10 minutes from a half-hour chat.