The conference started with a definition of what is the current situation with media right now. As a general understanding, they came to the conclusions that some of us already knew, or suspected in a way, which are: (not all listed)
- Audience in general for radio has dropped dramatically
- Audience in general for T.V. has seen a decrease
- Readership among print press has decreased.
- Interactive media usage, such as the Internet, has increased.
They had 3 guests invited, which all attended (what a marvelous accomplishment!). These were: Rosario Henríquez, a local correspondent for the El Nuevo Día newspaper www.elnuevodia.com; José "Funky Joe" Vallenilla, a long-time local radio celebrity from Puerto Rico who works in La Mega 106.9 FM in the "El Circo" segment (www.elcirco.net); and Frankie "Hambo" López, a fresh radio personality who runs a gaming segment in the "El Circo" program, and also manages a league of gamers from Puerto Rico called Puerto Rico Association of Gamers (P.R.A.G, for short www.pragpr.com).
Rosario Henríquez started off with a presentation of how the Internet has been evolving at a high pace, especially the last 2-3 years with the upgrade to what is known as Web 2.0. It started off with an explanation of how web pages were made before with HTML, and how things have been moving on, promoting closer interaction with the modern-day consumer and user. Afterwards she gave a brief explanation as to how companies working in print media were really skeptical about making the jump to online interactive media, using El Nuevo Día as an example. The main bullet point in her presentation was probably the fact that consumers nowadays have a very active role in news media. As privacy is rapidly decreasing and society quietly begins to accept it, we have a higher role in what allow people to see. With modern-day technology increasing every single day, from cellular phone cameras with 2.0 megapixel resolution and videocameras, to the simple power that we have by commenting actively and responsibly to news columns, possibly enlightening the writer and the editor with information that is truthful, it is our job as citizens of the world, living in a community and a society, to do our best and keep media truthful and ethically correct. As time keeps passing by, we are no longer media consumers, users and viewers. As of these past two years, we ARE media. We are the Web 2.0 generation of consumers and we have an active role to play out in controlling quality, content and veracity.
Up next was Funky Joe. He emphasized and made it important for us to know that our economy is a mayor factor in what decides and is done inside media companies. Budget cuts have been very common during the past two years in Puerto Rico in part due to local issues regarding our politics (which I will not write about). He talked about his departure from another radio station that housed him and Antonio "El Gángster" Sánchez, which had their programs in the highest ratings in the radio for about 15 years, stating in his reasons that the company was not showing growth potential with the recent plummet in ratings and audience that radio was receiving, as well as budget reasons. He went to a conference in New Jersey (I think it's hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters, but I could be wrong), looking for some answers, only to hear the initial greeting in the conference of "Welcome to ______, and let me begin by saying that.... Radio is dead." After this, he set out on a journey to find what kind of ventures and ideas he could group up. In August of 2007, he went to the SBS Radio Group and made his proposal to them, which represented not just radio, if not a completely re-invented media strategy, which includes all sorts of media jumbled up into one big plan, which seems very promising. [I'm currently testing some connections with some people to try and get his Powerpoint presentation from that day so I can provide you guys with a better visual].
Last, but not least, Hambo stepped up to provide a presentation of his own. He is what he likes to call a "gaming expert", not just in playing but also in random knowledge overall about the gaming industry. He let me in on some facts which I was very much not aware of. For example, how much Hollywood has been scared of the gaming industry lately, especially marked by the release of Halo 3 in the XBox 360 platform, which PARALIZED the movie industry for the whole weekend. Another example that could be set with this same parameter could possibly happen this week, with the release of Grand Theft Auto 4, so I'll be analyzing those figures during the weekend and give you a comprehensive report, if I feel like it :). Another interesting fact is the recent amount of advertising that goes on in games lately. RockBand is a perfect example, with several artists letting people imitate them at home, but that's not the only thing RockBand has to offer: the day before the conference [April 16,2008], Motley Crue decided to release an album THROUGH RockBand before people actually would be able to buy it online or at their local store. Guitar company Gibson authorized the makers to use the guitar's image and likeness in the product store inside the game, so every time you see a guitar, it's a Gibson (there might be more, but this is the most known one). And a very impressive detail with ads in games was how he brought to my attention the ads in the NBA Live series of games: technology with IP addresses and market segmentation might make it possible to be able to sell the same slots (rotating ad module) where you usually see advertisements while watching a game on television and actually change them depending on the IP address of the user, making target marketing possible through the PlayStation network. As a general and fool-proof statement, he specified that videogames count as media, and should try to be employed henceforth into any mass media plan.
I'll conclude with saying that it was a very enlightening experience. I'll write more about this later on, and I'll adjust the formating in able to put pictures of them so you can see who they are.
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