radioguy1007 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 It seemed this year that there was less interest by TV in holiday displays. Locally here in Milwaukee they had people sending in photos online, then they would do a 10-15 second little "highlight" slideshow at the end of the newscast. Past years you could send in a picture, then they would actually send a photo journalist to the house to shoot some good quality video. And right before Christmas you would actually see a few complete stories with reporters doing interviews about some of the "over the top" displays in the area. Yes, it could be the cutbacks because of the economy, but I don't even remember seeing the holiday "Miller Lites" commercial on TV either this season (not the Carson one, but the recent one from the brewhouse decorated right here in Brew City). It also seems like there have not been a lot of people posting links to video where they were on TV being interviewed. I know that there are a lot more of us today, and that may be adding to the "it's not newsworthy anymore". Has the WOW factor left the building?Do you agree?Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyfunk Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhays Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 We're no longer the hot new thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I work in the media industry and can vouch for that. At the television station I work at we haven't done nearly the number of stories we had in the past on large displays whether animated or not. Heck, I couldn't even get them to cover my display, even with other people calling in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydenp Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Milwaukee is rough in gereral. At work ( a non-profit community centered company), we have a heck of a time getting them to cover anything good we do, yet any time it snows they toss 4-6 reporters on street corners doing silly interviews. And when something bad happens, like people are laid off, then you get an article.btw, nice to see another local WI resident. Hows take down going? I got very little accomplished after 3 hours outside with a sledge hammer and a kitchen torch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsMeBobO Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 In St Louis there is the obligatory blurb on every occasion. Reminds me of the movie ground hogs day where the news caster has to pretend it is novel and appreciated.My halloween decorations got me on tv this year. They broadcast live from my house on halloween. Also made it on two stations in 2006 due to my wonderful wife calling and telling them we would welcome a visit. I am not ready for a Christmas light broadcast yet, but in a few years.....http://www.itsmebob.com/halloween/06hauntvideo.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale W Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 It seems like a repeat of every year:On Halloween you see the same dirty nosed kids being dragged around clueless.For Thanksgiving, the same picture of the same scraggley homeless guys eating at a soup kitchen.For New Years, the same picture of the partiers at the local pub hooting and hollerin at the top of their lungs.And for Christmas, a montage of the same homes that all look alike, combined with last minute shoppersIf they hadn't have been doing this for the past 25 years, it might be different.edit: Almost forgot, the night of April 15th and last minute tax filers in line at the post office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioguy1007 Posted January 6, 2009 Author Share Posted January 6, 2009 Haydenp wrote: Milwaukee is rough in gereral. At work ( a non-profit community centered company), we have a heck of a time getting them to cover anything good we do, yet any time it snows they toss 4-6 reporters on street corners doing silly interviews. And when something bad happens, like people are laid off, then you get an article.btw, nice to see another local WI resident. Hows take down going? I got very little accomplished after 3 hours outside with a sledge hammer and a kitchen torch...Yes, they don't seem to miss a snowstorm with "breaking news". Yes. it's snowing outside! Of couse they do the interviews asking pedestrians if it's slippery walking. Wow - I would have never known that living here 50 plus years..... Maybe I should have said my light display has been buried by the snow while it was still blinking!As to the other take down thing, I got started on it right after show end Saturday night (planned) and got most of the easy stuff into the garage before the ice hit us. It was above freezing most of the day, so things came loose pretty easily. I was back at it Sunday morning and had all of it down before the cold front passed. It was nice being up on the roof without any fear of slipping on ice. I was really expecting it to be a nightmare this year with the 30 plus inches of snow, but that one day with the rain I went out and pulled up a lot of my cords so they were in snow and not on the grass. Out of 150 plus cords, I only lost 2.Hey, I did see the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdales. That never seems to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jones Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Haydenp wrote: Milwaukee is rough in gereral. At work ( a non-profit community centered company), we have a heck of a time getting them to cover anything good we do, yet any time it snows they toss 4-6 reporters on street corners doing silly interviews. And when something bad happens, like people are laid off, then you get an article.btw, nice to see another local WI resident. Hows take down going? I got very little accomplished after 3 hours outside with a sledge hammer and a kitchen torch...Here in SoCal we have "storm watch" anytime we may get a little bit of rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydenp Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 oh and don't forget the live shots from the local bars every single silly Packer Game.yeah, I should have done that for teardown...some day I'll learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I agree that the WOW factor must be gone already. This was our first year doing a synchronized display and ours was the first one anywhere in central Minnesota. We thought we did a pretty cool job with the display and even had a collection box with every dollar going to our local food shelf. (BTW - the food shelf collection was a big success and "Awesome" was the least complimentary thing anyone said about the display itself.)Hoping we could parlay that into even greater success for our food shelf effort, my mate personally emailed (twice) and called the news tiplines of every TV station in the Minneapolis area - 40 miles away. (We had two or three other people who told us they'd done the same.) Heck, Sharon even sent the media links to our website video page. Bottom line: zippo. We heard nothing back from any of them - not even a polite thanks, but no thanks. I guess good news just doesn't sell at all, even at Christmas. We're thinking that maybe next season we'll stage an incident - perhaps someone holding our donation box hostage for some candy canes, or a neighbor holding a protest sign or something...George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerald sundberg Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Here in Duluth we had one tv station call and asked if we were cutting back this year because of the economy? We told them we had increased our display and had computerized it. End of interview, they were looking for a negative responsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenL_MCSE Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 In Philly area the news still broadcasts from your house and shows your light show....It probably all has to do with your market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 When your display is ready and running do the following.Send out a PRESS RELEASE.Word has a template if you need to see one.Describe your display, make sure you do the who, what, when and where. State who your non profit is and make sure it states at the top "For Immediate Release. Check your spelling (I do not here so much) and give several methods to contact you.Some years everyone and their cousin will contact you and some years just the cousin. But be careful doing this. You must have a plan for traffic control and flow. If you live on a dead end street then you do not want to draw a lot of attention to yourself. Unless of course you want your neighbors plotting a murder behind your back.Also, be prepared to be married to that display the entire time it is scheduled to run. Do not turn it on late or off early. People will be upset. If you go away for a weekend then do not seek the media out for your display. Because you can bet the farm the weekend you leave something will go wrong and then people will think you do a half a$$ed job.With the attention comes the responsibility. But it is worth every second.Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Unless you live in "podunk" country with population of 10 and no satelitte to the real world, synchronized light displays are old news. Few stations care to cover this any more. Carson made it famous... the rest of us are just "me too" followers. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 You know Richard that is just wrong. You may be a me too follower but I have been doing this six years and have not "followed" a darn soul. I make all of my own wire frames, I do songs that most people have not even heard. And quite honestly find that remark to be offensive to a lot of people who do this hobby.I live in a county with over 150,000 people, we are next to a county with over half million. Every other year the local TV stations come to my display, the local paper always gives me press and the five radio stations in this county start talking about my display before Thanksgiving. The local talk radio station gives out my web site daily during the season.As far as Carson is concerned tell me what he did that was original? He almost copied the sequence from Ron Lister and the only thing I think was close to original was that piece of crap PEACE sign. Had it not been for the war the media would not even looked his way.So don't tell me or anyone else we are followers. We have taught and helped others any possible way we could short of doing it for others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Hamilton Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Robin wrote: You know Richard that is just wrong. You may be a me too follower but I have been doing this six years and have not "followed" a darn soul. I make all of my own wire frames, I do songs that most people have not even heard. And quite honestly find that remark to be offensive to a lot of people who do this hobby.I live in a county with over 150,000 people, we are next to a county with over half million. Every other year the local TV stations come to my display, the local paper always gives me press and the five radio stations in this county start talking about my display before Thanksgiving. The local talk radio station gives out my web site daily during the season.As far as Carson is concerned tell me what he did that was original? He almost copied the sequence from Ron Lister and the only thing I think was close to original was that piece of crap PEACE sign. Had it not been for the war the media would not even looked his way.So don't tell me or anyone else we are followers. We have taught and helped others any possible way we could short of doing it for others.Robin, you are taking this statement too personally ;-) Sorry you find it to be offensive. Not meant to be that way. Lighten up and take a joke :-) Obviously, these things are popular in your area because you have a nice display. Few other places even care any more as mentioned by several other posters here. It all depends on the area and the greatness of the display.All I really mean is that Carson certainly didn't invent this hobby, but he managed to get it well known with his internet video years ago and get in the beer commercial. Say what you like, but from everything I hear, synchronized displays are of little interest to the media any more in many places. Frankly, I don't care what the media ever does. We do this for the benefit of charities, not publicity.We also have been doing this a long time.... 15 years in fact. If you read any of my posts, you see that I am here to help people. If the remarks are offensive, then I can find better things to do with my time than spend it helping people here.Cheers and best wishes for 09.(edit spelling) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Go back and read your post. Tell me to lighten up. Quite honestly I am sick of lightening up.And FYI I do not do it for the charities, I do it because I like it. If I wanted to help only charities I would just stroke them $5K a year and go hunting. Joke? What joke?I have been doing the animation for about six years total of about 20.And just tell me where this is a joke. Give me a break."Unless you live in "podunk" country with population of 10 and no satelitte to the real world, synchronized light displays are old news. Few stations care to cover this any more. Carson made it famous... the rest of us are just "me too" followers. ;-)" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friskybri Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Not to start another fight but who is carson and why do you bag on him? Crap I thought I was going to become popular and famous. I guess I will find another hobby to do. NOT. Anyone need a beer. Running to the fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 A nobody, just like all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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