My Tax Day Wish For You

I Think I'm Hurt, Or Should I Be Honored?

My 15 year old son told me he saw a clip from the TV show "Family Guy" that had a character that looked like me in it.  I found that kind of interesting, so I checked it out.  He tells me the guy on the right hand side of the second row looked "Just like you, dad". Here it is:

The National Association For The Advancement Of FAT People?  REALLY?

I think I'm hurt.  Or I should send Seth McFarlane a bill for the use of my image and description without the consent of the Commissioner Of Major League Baseball or something like that?

Mark's Presentation At The 2013 NAB Show

Thanks to those who came to see the session I spoke at during the NAB show in Las Vegas.  The session was called "The Digital Mindset, How Stations Are Making Money With Digital" and was produced in cooperation with the Radio Advertising Bureau.

As promised, here are the slides from my part of the presentation.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at MarkE@TeshMedia.com if you have any questions or comments on the presentation.

Thanks to the NAB and RAB for having me on the panel!

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Be Afraid, The Cubs 2013 Season Is Almost Here

The Chicago Cubs kick off their 2013 season Monday in Pittsburgh and have their home opener at Wrigley Field a week later.  This is going to be another rough year for the Cubs, and I'm using the miracle of multimedia to illustrate my thoughts on what I once called the "2013 Season Of A Dream", before it became apparent that a club dedicated to rebuilding, on and off the field and mired in politics has no chance of even finishing over .500.

First, my thoughts on video.  Like the Cubs themselves, the quality is kind of substandard, and for that I apologize.

And because all of us Social Media Ninjas or Social Media Gurus or whatever the people who really don't know a thing about social media want to call themselves these days say that everything you post needs a visual, I've created this with the help of the good people at someecards.com.

Anyone who has ever even met me knows I LOVE and worship the Chicago Cubs, but even I'm getting to the point where enough is enough.  Tom Rickets and his family, along with Theo Epstein and the people who run "Baseball Operations" for the team want a winner, I believe that.  But they're not going to give it to us this year, and probably not until 2016 at this point.  Too much rebuilding, too much fighting with the city and neighbors about renovating Wrigley Field, blocking the rooftop views of the park, or maybe even moving out of the second oldest park in Major League Baseball.  

Since it began, I've been a member of the Cubs Club, a kind of semi-VIP thing that basically lets you give the Cubs 20 bucks for a membership card and access to streaming audio of baseball games, something that has always cost about the same amount as the membership.  So here's what you get this year:

All 2013 Cubs Club memberships are valid through December 31, 2013.

2013 CUBS CLUB MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

• Personalized membership card
• Membership sticker
• 2013 MLB.com Gameday Audio for your computer*
• Opportunity to participate in an exclusive Cubs Club members-only on-field event*
• Exclusive email newsletter
• Access to members-only website with exclusive content and offers
• Opportunity to receive a 30-day trial to the MLB Insiders Club*

* Terms and conditions may apply. Please see below, and all Cubs Club items delivered to you, for additional information.

Not a horrible deal, but basically handing a double Sawbuck to the Rickets Family for nothing, except the Gameday Audio, which comes from MLB Advanced Media.  And for the same 20 bucks, about the price of a hot dog and a Budweiser at the St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium, I can get all this cool geeked out stuff for my phone, MLB At Bat.

At Bat for Android Phones

EVERY GAME. EVERYWHERE.

The #1 source for live baseball, MLB.com At Bat, is the official app of Major League Baseball.

NEW FOR AT BAT 13

• Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 13 subscribers (portable to Mac/PC with a valid MLB.com account)
• Universal support for At Bat 13 subscribers, accessible on Android smartphones and tablets and other supported mobile devices
• Re-designed individual team pages
• Re-architected news section navigation
• Expanded video highlight integration

At Bat offers multiple subscription options for access to At Bat 13:

At Bat 13 Subscription Options

One-time annual fee of $19.99 for the entire 2013 season

MLB.TV Premium subscribers receive At Bat 13 for free with log-in

At Bat 13 Features

• Access your MLB.TV Premium subscription to watch live video
• Listen to available live radio broadcasts
• Customize At Bat's home screen to feature your designated favorite team.
• Favorite team home screen widget for one-click access to your favorite team's At Bat homepage
• MLB home screen widget for in-progress scores around the league
• Follow batter-by-batter action for every game
• Enhanced video library archive, searchable by player, team or keyword
• Breaking news, schedules and interactive rosters and players stats for every team

DO I LOOK STUPID?  If I'm going to give up 20 bucks this year, knowing that the Cubs will not be great, tickets will be easy to find when I go to the Friendly Confines Of Wrigley Field, and the Cubs Club gives me almost nothing special, who do you think is getting my "contribution" this year?  You betcha, MLB Advanced Media and At Bat 2013.

I'm not looking forward to the 2013 Cubs season from a competitive basis for sure, and I'm not sure if I'm even looking forward to having to hear about all the off field distractions that will contribute to a poor performance on the diamond.  It saddens me that I feel this way even before the first pitch is thrown out. Perhaps I've just been kicked in the teeth enough over the years.  Perhaps I'm setting realistic expectations for the year ahead.  Or perhaps the dreams of this kid have finally evaporated like the foam off of a pure brewed Old Style.

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HEAD FOR THE HILLS-THE SNOW IS COMING!

Watch Falling Snow Sign (Photo credits: www.mysafetysign.com)

Yes, I'm being kind of sarcastic.  Maybe more than kind of sarcastic.

The St. Louis area is under a Winter Storm Warning for a storm that will hit us Thursday midday and end Thursday night.  I just saw a weatherman on TV call tomorrow "a really rotten Thursday".  Schools are closing for tomorrow, and it's only about 6:30 Wednesday night.  REALLY?

When you look at the official forecast map from the National Weather Service, it doesn't look like it's going to be quite the mess the TV people are warning us of.  And when I scan some of the geeked out raw weather data, it's not that much different than the photo below.

I'm not sure 1-3 inches of snow and sleet, which is what the NWS is still calling for, should create the panic in the minds of the TV weatherpeople and the citizenry of the St. Louis metropolitan area, but everyone seems to be freaking out in a big way.  If you're in a place like Kansas City and they're predicting 10 to 12 inches of snow, THEN you freak out.  1-3, not so much.

So the grocery stores are jammed, people are buying their milk, bread, and eggs so they can have french toast while they're snowbound, Sears sent me an e mail telling me it was going to snow and I should run right in and buy a snow blower, and my kids tell me there's no reason to do their homework because they KNOW they won't have school tomorrow.  UPDATE: My kids' school district is closing school tomorrow due to the threat of icy conditions in the afternoon.

Maybe it's my Chicago roots, maybe it's my cynicism that my friends who do the weather around here are blowing this up so they can seem really important and grow their ratings, or perhaps I'm just delusional and we'll all be paralyzed by the storm tomorrow.  Regardless, I'm still not buying it.

I'll be posting video updates on the storm throughout the day tomorrow. Check my Facebook page, my 15 second video updates on Tout, and other outposts on the Interwebz for updates.   Unless the storm completely immobilizes me and those around me.

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Happy World Radio Day

Photograph of a young girl listening to the radio during the Great Depression. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it's being mostly overlooked by United States broadcasters, today is the UN's World Radio Day.  Not being able to find much from American radio operators or industry trade organizations about the day, I present a program from the BBC World Service talking about World Radio Day, the importance of radio (which I absolutely agree with) and sharing some great moments in radio history. Just click here to hear this extraordinary program. 

Even thought I've migrated to the world of Content Creation and New Media, radio is still my first love and it saddens me that American radio operators haven't taken the opportunity to really embrace World Radio Day and remind people how important a role radio STILL plays in their everyday life.  

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ZOMG, I'm The Father Of THREE Teenagers

This is a post from my Daddy Diaries column, featured at tesh.com.

Last weekend, my youngest son turned 13. That means that I am now the father of three teenage boys: a 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 16-year-old. If you were hearing this, instead of reading it, there would be a dramatic music sound inserted right here, kind of like dum dum dummmmmmmmmm.

Now, before I forget, the picture that accompanies this post is not of my actual children. I have this thing about Web privacy, so these are models pretending to be my actual children. In my opinion, my actual children are much cuter than these models, although no less threatening. That being said, my three teenage boys have three different personalities and each comes with their own set of challenges.

I knew the day would come that I would be seen as a geezer and have older kids. I’m still trying to process watching them grow and become young adults because it seems like I held each them in just one hand only a few days ago.

The youngest son is an incredible movie fanatic – much like a very young, but just as feisty, Roger Ebert. His favorite part about turning 13 is that he’s now able to see a PG-13 movie on his own. I thought that he’d be all fired up to get his own Facebook page instead, but he's busy watching movies on his tablet, analyzing the composition of each and every shot as if he were Christopher Nolan.

The 15-year-old suffers from “middle child syndrome" at times, but is pretty well adjusted for the most part. He lives for music, plays five instruments, is an accomplished Boy Scout, all the while managing to be a total chick magnet. Each of those things provides unique challenges on their own, but roll it all together and it can be quite a ball of fire to deal with on a daily basis. He also seems to suffer some sort of video game fixation – notice I did not say the word addiction – and would probably spend every waking moment with a PlayStation remote in his hand, if he wasn't so busy doing all the other things in his life.

Then there is the oldest boy. He’s 16-years-old and a sophomore in high school. Seriously, when did my baby become a sophomore in high school? And now he’s old enough to drive? When did my bundle of joy become hairier than I am? Honestly, it's kind of freaking me out. When I think about how much all of my kids have grown and wonder how they got to be teenagers, it certainly has me thinking about how time flies.

The 13-year-old’s birthday was a pretty jarring moment in many ways. But just as I was becoming a little more comfortable with him becoming a teenager, I got a kick in the face when the mail came yesterday. My oldest son, who still has two-and-a-half years left in high school, received his first college recruiting letter yesterday. He scored highly on some standardized test. And since the testing company sold a list of high achievers to colleges, I'm guessing they are all going to start courting kids like him. I realized it’s actually a good thing. Since I'll have three in college at the same time, it might be advantageous to have a few scholarships to help everybody out.

But the kick in the face part is that this letter, that first "Get to know us!" letter from an institute of higher learning, came from MY ALMA MATER! Yes, the place where I misspent my college years seems interested in having my son follow in my footsteps and attend their school. I've already told him that won’t happen – mostly because I don't want him finding any remnants of my time on campus that might tarnish his glowing admiration of me. Assuming he glowingly admires me. The letter also makes me question the value of a degree from an institution that would have my son as a student, after my less than spectacular tenure there. But that’s another story.

It seems like the days of being challenged by changing diapers and teething pains were only weeks ago. As I look forward to the adventures that lie ahead as the father of three teenagers, I sort of wish I still had diapers to change. Dealing with those types of messes might be easier than dealing with the challenges ahead.