Media Watch

We've been seeing new digital billboards popping up along the city's busy thoroughfares and they're getting lots of attention from local and industry media. The safety concerns are obvious: as electronic billboards become more attractive, they become more distractive to commuters. That's common sense. The very idea of targeting the commuting public flies in the face of all traffic safety initiatives. And although some state laws are prohibiting animated, moving or flashing campaigns, the wholesale concept of taking drivers' attention from the task at hand is a dangerous one. On the other hand, the outdoor advertising market has been hit hard by the economic slowdown, so the outdoor industry is struggling to innovate. And in the digiboard, they've found some new life. But in claiming "more advertising opportunities", they're making a very thin slice of the audience even thinner. Now instead of knowing your image will appear on a busy highway 24

I always find myself quite irritable by January, I think because the cold, snow and ice are wearing on me. One of my biggest annoyances this time of year has to be cars left on curbs during and after snowfall. Perhaps a few more of these plow vs parked car instances will get people motivated to move their cars. click here to download

Mediacom, the cable company, and Sinclair, the TV conglomerate, are fighting in public again, just as they did three years ago. Mediacom is claiming on their website that Sinclair is trying to gouge its cable TV customers by overcharging the provider for the right to include its affiliate stations in its cable line-up. A 3-year agreement between Mediacom and Sinclair ends December 31st and negotiations for a new agreement appear to have stalled over transmission consent fees. HOW MUCH ARE WE TALKING HERE? For a little perspective, on its website, Mediacom puts the demand amount at "millions", but neither party will provide a specific amount. AP reports puts the number of affected cable subscribers at 700,000 -- 400,000 of whom are in Iowa. Let's do some rough guesswork. If Sinclair is demanding Mediacom fork over $5 Million a year, that's about 60 cents per month per cable customer. $5 M divided by 700,000 divided by 12 months. If 100 non-premium channels each ch

In political circles, being seen in Iowa is synonymous with a Presidential bid. Arriving at the Clear Channel Radio studios in Des Moines cements that notion. When Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) sat down with Jan Mickelson (WHO Radio), the question had to be asked. [ Watch Windows Media ] Santorum also told a story of when he introduced the "Life Amendment" to No Child Left Behind and how he gained unwitting support from democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy. [ Watch Windows Media ] Few Presidential contenders escape the Mickelson program escape without being asked to defend their stance on abortion and whether Roe v Wade is settled law. [ Watch Windows Media ]

Minimum wage is one of those touchy-feely Democratic issues that is supposed to take care of those who are mistreated by their thrifty employers, the same issue that is detested by Republicans, claiming it stifles small businesses and increases unemployment. But in discussions about minimum wage, you hear few pundits compare minimum wage to a nominal 3% inflation rate (see chart right, showing 29 years of minimum wage vs. the 3% inflation curve). In 2007, congress created the most recent amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that resulted in this month's wage boost, however some are blaming the current administration for hurting small businesses through an increase put in place before the election. If you look at minimum wage since 1980 -- when conservative Republican Ronald Reagan was elected President -- and plot where it should have tracked (through conservative economic incentives designed to produce growth in American industry), it always seems to trail inflation and ec

It's wanting to see shows like these that make me feel both old and nostalgic at the same time. See you old-timers there! 2009 Iowa state Fair, Budweiser Stage sponsored by ABC5: - Firefall, Thu & Fri (Aug 13 & 14) @ 7:30 & 9:30 - Headeast, Sat & Sun (Aug 15 & 16) @ 7:30 & 9:30 - Pure Prairie League, Mon & Tue (Aug 18 & 18) @ 7:30 & 9:30

Since the digital TV switchover last month, it has become clear that local television stations have not fully embraced their new hi-def capabilities. Watching channel 8-1 this morning, it's obvious they still use their old standard definition video cameras in the news studio and are simply up-converting the signal to high definition; it's a blurry picture. Same story for channel 13-1. But in addition to using older SD cameras, whenever they slap in their lower third ticker, they have to drop the 16:9 image back to a 4:3 aspect ratio. So they use SD to shoot news talent, up-convert to HD for a wide-screen shot, then reduce back to SD when using a ticker. Watching this in glorious 16:9 hi-def is a train wreck! And it appears that channel 5-1 isn't even pretending to be an HD news shop. If it weren't for their low-end SD studio gear, I'd say this is better. Unfortunately, of the big 3, our local ABC affiliate's newscasts remain the most difficult to watch. So