tv
-
Graduation Day
Go refigure Trying to watch the Thunder-Lakers game, which ABC.com says is live now, with a button to watch. After logging in (using my credentials as a Dish Network customer), ABC gives me NBC News, not the game, which is on WRTV/6, which I can get on my TV over our outside antenna. But not… Continue reading
-
Thisday
Blurp I am told that Santa Barbara’s beaches are covered with velella now. I mean a lot like the one above, See you there A couple of nights ago, a friend and reader of mine said he didn’t understand what today’s talk by Judith Donath would be about. “Signaling theory?” he said. “What’s that?” To him, signals… Continue reading
-
For broadcasters, digital tech isn’t a lifesaver. It’s a new land for fish with legs and lungs.
Eric Nuzum says public radio isn’t interested in saving itself. He’s actually quoting somebody else, but saying there’s a case. Specifically, When I hear public media leaders talk about the state of audience, ratings, and legacy platforms, I hear a very strong decline-centered narrative, with one station CEO infamously saying that “radio is dead.” Really? When… Continue reading
-
Unday
Climbing while Rome burns FCC Chair Brendan Carr likes to climb towers. I did too, decades ago. That kind of thing runs in my family. I also salute the workers who do it. As does Carr. That’s the claimed reason why he climbed the KELO TV tower in South Dakota last summer, and WCTI TV* a few days… Continue reading
-
Thrust Day
Some public notes:::: How can one not appreciate AI as a teacher and problem-solver? ChatGPT just taught me how to make a .ics file to put on emails out to people who should attend an event. Here’s my first, for Helen Nissenbaum’s talk next Tuesday. Click on it if you’d like it in your calendar.… Continue reading
-
Sat a Day
Time for her own Wikipedia page I just ran across Aiyana Lee. She's good. More. Bonus link. Rutilance The FCC has green-lit Nexstar's purchase of Tenga. This will move much of local TV into the red, politically. Wrote about that here and here back in September. Pull-quote: Trump and Carr want MAGA-aligned affiliates. Simple as that. Sinclair is… Continue reading
-
Love
Happy Valentines Life My favorite line from the musical Les Misérables is “To love another person is to see the face of God.” My wife and I have been living that truth since not long after we met, thirty-six years ago. Towers I love to look at them, know what they’re for, and (many decades… Continue reading
-
Discoveries
Overheard "This TV isn't just HD. It's ADHD." "What does the AD stand for?" "Advanced Digital, I think." How about Water Stain? I still hate Liquid Glass. As a design language it mumbles. I'm especially turned off by semi-transparent type that makes stuff such as the time on my phone semi-readable. Let's give it a better… Continue reading
-
Saturdaze
Exceedingly common, turns out I was excited to see and shoot a butterfly (above) that a search (remember that?) tells me is a Common Buckeye. The News in Hues Poynter says Nexstar hopes to get its bid to buy Tegna (politically speaking) red-lit. It’s one more way the Redstream eats the Mainstream. Heavy Earth is two… Continue reading
-
On the Continuing End of OTA TV, Part 2
This is Part 2 of a post that began with a Jimmy Kimmel monologue, but really wasn’t about that. It was about the grave situation in which over-the-air (OTA) TV finds itself. Here is Part 1. Even people who don’t like leftish comedy should admit that Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue after he returned to the air… Continue reading
-
The Eagle in the Coal Mine
Public broadcasting is the strongest form of broadcasting that’s still left. One reason is that it’s the only form of broadcasting for which its consumers are also its customers. Yes, not all those customers pay, but the market is there. If you donate to public radio or television stations, or to public radio programs and… Continue reading
-
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Want a weather show? Look at this: Bet it’s about liability and arbitration. T-Mobile just texted me this: T-Mobile: We’ve updated our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Notices. Get the details and learn about your options in the Privacy Dashboard at secure.t-mobile.com/terms I can’t log on, and doing the password reset thing is a PITA, so I… Continue reading
-
Tuesday, 15 July 2025
When companies take delivery, the results will be huge. The Cluetrain Will Run from Customers to Companies is about making The Cluetrain Manifesto come true 26 years after it was posted. Redraw your own conclusions. Just one air travel adventure. Cable is toast. And free TV from an antenna is crumbs. Nearly half of all TV watching… Continue reading
-
Saturday, 12 July 2025
I just bought two. The Intention Economy, which lists at $27 and has been sold at that price or close to it by Amazon since the book came out, is now just $13.93 for the hardcover. That's cheaper than the Kindle edition (also discounted) and the audio version (with my own voice, btw). Coerced Consent. The… Continue reading
-
Thursday, 26 June 2025
A history lesson. A neighbor who works in tech asked me what my new outdoor TV antenna was for. I told him it was for watching TV stations, mostly from Indianapolis, where the transmitters are about 60 miles away. “Don’t you have cable?” he asked. I said no, we only have Internet service, which for… Continue reading
-
Sunday, 15 June 2025
Show me where “your privacy choices” are kept, and how compliance can be audited, and I might believe corporate promises. On our Apple TV 4k box, an app for a subscription service (e.g. Netflix, Prime, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Haystack, whatever) usually opens with a message that gives one the choice to “Ask app not… Continue reading
-
The Offing of What’s On
For the final seven decades of the last millennium, most people in the developed world scheduled their evenings by answering a simple question: What’s on? For the first two of those decades, the question was “What’s on the radio?” For the next five, it was “What’s on TV?” Guidance toward answers were provided on newspaper… Continue reading
-
TGI-Fi
Whole Lotta Badshit Going On. The latest 404 has a weekend worth of it. Surprised this one didn't come sooner. Want the feds to stop funding public broadcasting? Fine. There's an argument for that. (I made one, way back in 2008.) But bias, which is everywhere (because the voice from nowhere is insincere and boring),… Continue reading
-
Fishing For Free TV Signals
Update on 26 March 2026—The antenna is built and on the pole you see in this post. Though only about twelve feet off the ground, it gets nearly every station from Indianapolis called Fair or Bad. So, a success. I think I will be the last person in Bloomington to try getting free over-the-air TV… Continue reading
-
The End of What’s On
But not of who, how, and why. Start by looking here: That’s a page of TV Guide, a required resource in every home with a TV, through most of the last half of the 20th century. Every program was on only at its scheduled times. Sources were called stations, which broadcast over the air on… Continue reading