Media of Birmingham

February event: Media Outlets Unleashed

February 3, 2010 · 2 Comments

Tuesday, Feb. 16
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Samford University, Library, Room 235, 800 Lakeshore Drive
[map to campus | map to parking and library]
$10, includes pizza from Mellow Mushroom and beverages

What are Birmingham media outlets doing right in new media? How can they improve, and make money at it?

Join us for our panel discussion:

Lauren Lippeatt, marketing director, Pavo Magazine
Joe O’Donnell, editor/publisher, B Metro magazine
Ty West, associate editor, Birmingham Business Journal

Our moderator:

Vickii Howell, editor in chief, Birmingham View

Join us on the Samford campus for lunch, networking and a lively discussion with your questions.

11:30 a.m.-noon — Networking
Noon-1 p.m. — Panel

Invite your friends and colleagues in media (print, broadcast, online, etc.), public relations, advertising and marketing.

Special: First five registrants can buy 2 tickets for the price of one!

Please RSVP by Thursday, Feb. 11, 5 p.m.

Note: You must RSVP for this event. Late fee is $20; fees go to W Social Marketing.

Please RSVP by Thursday, Feb. 11, 5 p.m.

Special thanks to our sponsors, Samford University Brock School of Business and W Social Marketing. Also thanks to J&M Photography and Design for shooting this event.

Questions? Contact us or leave a comment.

P.S. Please join our free mailing list for all the updates straight to your In box.

Want to sponsor a MOB event? It’s easy.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Our events
Tagged: 2010, B-Metro Magazine, Birmingham Business Journal, Birmingham View, Brock School of Business, february, Joe O'Donnell, Lauren Lippeatt, Media of Birmingham, MOB, networking, panel, Pavo Magazine, Samford University, Ty West, Vickii Howell

iPhone app review: Fox 6

February 8, 2010 · 2 Comments

More and more TV viewers are seeing the news, not from traditional 5-6-10 p.m. broadcasts, but from online and other sources. Two Birmingham stations have custom apps for the iPhone (which are also compatible with the iPod Touch and soon-to-arrive iPad).

In this post, we review Fox 6’s free iPhone app.

Birmingham-based iPhone developers Josh Grenon and Brian Cauble served as our guest reviewers.

Fox 6 app news Fox 6 app weather

Fox 6 iPhone app: News and Weather tabs

What was your overall experience?

Josh: Great! Great user experience!

Brian: Overall, the experience was mixed. The interface is clean and understandable, but features such as sharing stories are very awkward.

Do you get the sense that this is a custom app, or a “skinned” app for TV station affiliates?

Josh: This application could be skinned to various TV stations. I would recommend that other TV stations use this type of application for their news.

Brian: This definitely feels like a skinned app. It seems like an app intended to be used by many affiliates with minor changes.

Fox 6 app video As a news consumer, what did you like? What would you add?

Josh: I liked the main categories listed in each tab: news, videos, weather and traffic. Those are the first categories I would look for in an iPhone news application. I liked that no ads were in this application.

Brian: I liked the ability to have sports and movie information. I would add more local video content for sports and traffic accidents.

As an app developer, what did you like? How would you improve it?

Josh: I had a great user experience with this application! I love the use of the tab bar control to separate the news categories! The only thing that would improve this application would be the Three20 icon menu used in the iPhone Facebook application; this would allow more categories on the front screen when the application starts.

Brian: Not much. The app has way too basic of a look and feel. I would improve the aesthetics and allow users to customize which topics are most important to them.

Since it’s a free app, would you pay money for it? How much? Why or why not?

Josh: I’d pay 99 cents for this application.

Brian: I would not pay for it. It would need two features to be worth paying for. First, it needs to be customizable. People want customizable news content from a local source. Second, it needs push notifications. People would like to be notified when breaking local news happens.

• • •

Our other review: the CBS 42 iPhone app.

• • •

Josh Grenon (@joshgrenon) is a .Net developer by day and an iPhone developer by night. He started developing iPhone applications — such as Bham iCamp — in early 2009. Josh is also executive producer of Inspirageek, a casual yet informative video blog for geeks, and founder of user group Birmingham Mobile Tech.

Brian Cauble (@briancauble) is the co-owner of Appsolute Genius, an iPhone application development company in Birmingham. His other interests include promoting local entrepreneurship through Birmingham Entrepreneur, participating in social media and a huge attachment to college football.

• • •

What should Birmingham media outlets do online?
Ask our all-star panel on Feb. 16.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Updates
Tagged: app, Brian Cauble, Fox 6, iPhone, Josh Grenon, Mobile, news, review, web

iPhone app review: CBS 42

February 5, 2010 · 1 Comment

In this post, we review CBS 42’s free iPhone app.

Birmingham-based iPhone developers Brian Cauble and Josh Grenon served as our guest reviewers.

cbs42 app news cbs42 app weather

CBS 42 iPhone app: News and Weather tabs

What was your overall experience?

Brian: My experience was actually very positive.

Josh: Clunky.

Do you get the sense that this is a custom app, or a “skinned” app for TV station affiliates?

Brian: I know that it is a skinned app, but it has the feel of a custom app.

Josh: I think this can be a skinned app. It seems that only a few view images and data have to be changed for this app to be used for another news station.

cbs42 app video

As a news consumer, what did you like? What would you add?

Brian: The organization was really well done. I found it easy to navigate. I would add the ability to customize the categories.

Josh: I liked the different types of news in this application. There was everything from horoscopes to video news. I wouldn’t add any else to the news.

As an app developer, what did you like? How would you improve it?

Brian: I think the app is laid out well and very attractive. The video quality could be improved a bit. I would allow users to log in to Facebook or Twitter and store that login to make sharing easier.

Josh: As an app developer, I am very disappointed in this application. It seems like the developer spent too much time designing the top menu bar. Also the top menu bar was horribly placed at the top of the screen; it would be much easier to navigate if it were placed at the bottom. The rest of the app did not get as much attention as the top menu bar did, and so my overall user experience suffered. I would also remove all ads to improve this application.

Since it’s a free app, would you pay money for it? How much? Why or why not?

Brian: I would pay as much as $1.99 for it. It is a much better experience than a mobile Web site.

Josh: I would pay 99 cents for this application to remove all ads.

• • •

Our other review: the Fox 6 iPhone app.

• • •

What should Birmingham media outlets do online?
Ask our all-star panel on Feb. 16.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Updates
Tagged: app, Brian Cauble, CBS 42, iPhone, Josh Grenon, Mobile, news, review, web

Fox 6’s Bill Bolen retires

January 28, 2010 · 2 Comments

Anchorman Bill Bolen, a fixture in Birmingham television and radio for 56 years, signed off today after 41 years with Fox 6. The 81-year-old Selma native ended his long career on the morning show “Good Day Alabama.”

Gov. Riley declared today as “Bill Bolen Day.” Mayor William Bell presented him with a key to the city.

Bolen graduated from the University of Alabama with a bachelor of arts degree in radio arts. He served in the Air Force and worked different positions in Birmingham radio, including at WSGN (610 AM). He started on television with CBS affiliate WBMG (now WIAT) in 1965, joining WBRC-6 in 1969.

General manager Lou Kirchen said [video]:

In a time, when we may believe that chivalry is dead, we only have to look at the life of Mr. Bolen to know that’s not so. He will be long remembered for his generous smile, his deep, warm voice, his sense of humor, his faith and its manifestation in his commitment to our community. We are really going to miss you Mr. B.

Bolen received the American Cancer Society’s Life Inspiration Award in 1997 after surviving his own bout with the disease.

• • •

Read more Birmingham media updates.

Have a news tip? Let us know!

→ 2 CommentsCategories: In the news
Tagged: Bill Bolen, Fox 6, retirement, television, WBRC

EXCLUSIVE: Birmingham News executive editor Hunter George to retire in April

January 28, 2010 · 1 Comment

Hunter George is stepping down at the Birmingham News on April 30. The newspaper’s executive editor sent an e-mail to his newsroom colleagues on Wednesday to announce his departure:

At the end of April, I plan to retire after 42 years in the newspaper business. That career includes

covering Jane Fonda while getting pepper-gassed at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach,

interviewing Otis Redding, Little Richard and B.B. King,

covering one Super Bowl and two Orange Bowls,

enticing 30 Miami cops to leave their duty posts and meet me at the FOP hall to complain about the chief,

covering a Beatles concert,

covering two plane crashes,

covering the 1972 Senate race in Florida,

supervising 150 summer interns,

working 40 election nights,

taking a call from Jimmy Cagney at 8:30 on a Sunday morning,

and telling the executive editor of The Miami Herald that there was nothing going on one morning and having him respond: “There’s plenty going on; you just don’t know about it.”

What we journalists do is more interesting than what most people do. It has been a privilege to work with you for the past 12 years. I shall think of you all fondly and I promise to call whenever I see a typo.

The News has seen several changes at the top, most recently the arrival of new publisher and president Pam Siddall. Also, buyout offers have been made to the entire staff, with the deadline extended till March. Parent company Advance Publications will end its “no layoffs” pledge at the end of next week.

No word on if or how George’s position will be filled.

• • •

Read more Birmingham media updates.

Have a news tip? Let us know!

→ 1 CommentCategories: In the news
Tagged: Birmingham News, executive editor, Hunter George, newspaper, publishing

EXCLUSIVE: Kyle Whitmire, Birmingham Weekly part ways

January 26, 2010 · 16 Comments

Media of Birmingham has learned that columnist Kyle Whitmire is leaving Birmingham Weekly after 9 years with the publication. Whitmire characterized it as a mutually agreed upon split.

His final War on Dumb column will appear in Thursday’s issue, while his last official day will be Sunday. Whitmire covered city politics, winning several awards for his coverage. Most recently, he reported on the federal trial of former mayor Larry Langford and the resulting special election.

Whitmire was also the principal architect in bhamweekly.com’s current site design. He was most recently featured as the subject of the cover story, “Fighting City Hall,” in B Metro magazine, discussing how he wants to be remembered someday:

“I have this revenge fantasy that centuries from now an historian or archeologist will find what we’ve written in the Weekly and wonder, ‘Why weren’t these people in charge?’ So whenever I think no one is reading what I’m writing, I say to myself that I’m writing for posterity. Someone might mistake ‘War on Dumb’ for the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

He’s also a co-founder of Media of Birmingham.

Whitmire declined to reveal his immediate plans, other to stay in Birmingham.

Update Jan. 27: Whitmire offers an instant history lesson in his final column …

At the turn of the 21st century, Birmingham pined to be more like Atlanta. Little did it know it was well on the way toward making that nightmare come true.

The city ended the decade as it had every one before, as the “city of perpetual promise.” Some perceived this as an indicator of incessant failure. Others, rightly, knew its true meaning — the city of perpetual hope.

Also, Whitmire penned a farewell note via Facebook:

I’m incredibly grateful for my time at the Weekly and the opportunities it has given me. For the last nine years, I’ve been able to cherry-pick my assignments and I’ve had the editorial latitude to have a point of view as a columnist — things I never would have had at any other media, at least not at such an early stage in my career.

Whatever happens next for me, my time at the Weekly made that possible.

Plus, AL.com sports producer Dennis Pillion has his theories about the sudden departure of the Weekly’s best-known columnist.

• • •

Read more Birmingham media updates.

Have a news tip? Let us know!

→ 16 CommentsCategories: In the news
Tagged: Birmingham Weekly, columnist, Kyle Whitmire, newspaper, War on Dumb

January event: Going (to) Rogue

January 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

Tuesday, Jan. 19
5:30-7 p.m.
Rogue Tavern, 2312 Second Ave. N., downtown [map]
Free, but you must RSVP (else, $10 late fee)

It’s either the latest 2009 Election Day or the earliest one in 2010. Either way, celebrate the end of campaign season with a drink before covering the election returns.

Start the new year with fun and networking with Media of Birmingham!

We’ll meet at Rogue Tavern downtown.

Invite your friends and colleagues in media (print, broadcast, online, etc.), public relations, advertising and marketing.

Please RSVP by Monday, Jan. 18 (MLK Day), noon.

Note: You must RSVP for this event. Late fee is $10 + service charge; fees go to W Social Marketing.

Please RSVP by Monday, Jan. 18, noon.

Special thanks to our sponsor, W Social Marketing.

Questions? Contact us or leave a comment.

P.S. Please join our free mailing list for all the updates straight to your In box.

Want to sponsor a MOB event? It’s easy.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Our events
Tagged: 2010, downtown, event, january, Media of Birmingham, MOB, networking, Rogue Tavern

Alabamian Pam Siddall named Birmingham News president and publisher

January 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment

First time in 100 years without a Hanson at the helm

The Birmingham News named Pam Siddall as president and publisher today. The Phenix City native spent the last 2 years a publisher of The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, part of the McClatchy chain.

Siddall, 41, starts Jan. 11, replacing Victor Hanson III, who retired in December. A member of the Hanson family had served as publisher of the daily Advance Publications newspaper since 1909.

Siddall, the News’ first female president and publisher, said in a written statement:

“I am thrilled to be the next publisher at The Birmingham News. … The Birmingham News has an outstanding reputation as the leading source of news, information and commentary — in print and online. I am extremely excited about working with the team to embrace the transformation into a 24/7 multimedia organization.”

She was also the Eagle’s first female publisher. Her last day there is Friday.

Siddall graduated summa cum laude from Columbus State University in Georgia with a bachelor of arts degree in accounting. Her past experience (via her LinkedIn profile):

President and Publisher, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, August 2004 – November 2007
- Vice President & General Manager, December 2003 – August 2004
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer/Circulation, Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, March 2001 – December 2003
Chief Financial Officer, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, May 1997 – March 2001
Division Controller, Russell Corporation, February 1994 – March 1997
Senior Financial Analyst, WC Bradley, January 1993 – February 1994
- Junior Analyst, May 1991 – January 1993

She also has profiles on Facebook and Twitter (@siddallAUfan).

Photo: Mike Hutmacher/The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle

• • •

Read more Birmingham media updates.

Have a news tip? Let us know!

→ Leave a CommentCategories: In the news
Tagged: Advance Publications, Birmingham News, Columbus, Georgia, Kansas, Macon, McClatchy, Pam Siddall, president, publisher, Victor Hanson III, Wichita Eagle

Birmingham media in 2009: nasty, brutish and long

December 31, 2009 · Leave a Comment

A tag cloud of Media of Birmingham news headlines in 2009

Birmingham’s mainstream media professionals had a brutal 2009. Whether at newspapers, magazines or TV or radio stations, the news was overwhelmingly negative.

Nearly two dozen of our stories posted on Media of Birmingham regurgitated the alarming trends: cuts, layoffs, freezes, buyouts, slumps and terminations. Three magazines — Lipstick, Skirt and Southern Accents — folded in the past 12 months.

At least 100 people at these organizations lost their jobs. Even more frightening are the jobs that disappeared without a whisper, either by news outlets or this site. Who knows how bad it really is?

And that is the odd state of media in Birmingham in 2009. Sometimes, a blog for a professional networking group, or a whisper on Twitter or Facebook, is the only indication that a company is about to implode.

For those continuing to look for work within their current field, we can only wish you the best of luck. And for those working on Plan B for their careers, we offer our encouragement and our ideas.

Not all of you will stay in media, whether it’s advertising, marketing, journalism or whatever. The jobs are going away, and many are not coming back.

That doesn’t mean creative, smart professionals can’t carve out a new career. But it will take luck, talent and hard work, the tripod of success. Career transformation can be done, and it’s happening every day in Birmingham.

Media of Birmingham will continue to bring the news and information that matters to our audience, whether on this site or in our monthly events. We serve you, the city’s professional media community.

And we ask that you pitch in. Your ideas, your energy and your willingness to help keep this group thriving, even in a challenging year like this one.

The headlines may continue to be negative for some time. Only you can rewrite your own story.

• • •