November 15, 2011 25 Comments

We Are a World of Fledgling TV Stations

Stalking cats are just the beginning

In the old Weird Al Yankovic movie, UHF (amazon affiliate link), the loose premise of the movie is that Al inherits a UHF tv channel that’s failing, and has to turn the ratings around to save the station. Soon, all kinds of strange shows come into existence, such as “Wheel of Fish,” a game show where you compete to win various fish (red snapper. Very tasty!). Their winning hit is a children’s show run by Stanley Spudowski, the station’s janitor (played by a pre-racist Michael Richards), with bits like letting kids drink from a fire hose.

It dawns on me that we are a world of fledgling tv stations.

Programmer’s Guides

People don’t exactly know what to share on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, but we know we’re supposed to share something, because that’s what everyone else is doing. The last five posts I put up on Google+ at the time this article was written were:

  1. A reshare of an interview on how to use Google+ for business.
  2. A post about which video equipment I use to shoot my videos.
  3. A movie trailer for the upcoming Hunger Games movie.
  4. An announcement of doing 30 Days of Paleo with my girlfriend, Jacqueline Carly.
  5. A link to my blog post from yesterday.

Look at this, it’s almost thematic, except for the movie trailer. But that’s not typical for me. I’m just as willing to share a bunch of funny things or some comic book stories, or whatever else catches my fancy, because I, like several others, are still experimenting with what will make my TV station work.

Are You a Show or a Station?

When we think about programming our fledgling TV stations, I believe there are some differences from how the mainstream has done it for so many years, but also some similarities. First, and I suppose this should be answered before you go much further, are you a station or are you just one show? If you’re one show, then you should consider keeping your programming much tighter. You should consider making only content that appeals to the kinds of people who will watch that kind of show. If you’re a show about cooking, then post cooking content and pretty much only cooking content.

If you’re a station, then you have some flexibility. But even then, you might think about how this all lines up, but be just as wary as mainstream TV stations have become about boxing yourself in. There are several programs on the History Channel that don’t smack to me of history. AMC runs two or more original shows that aren’t American Movie Classics. So, be wary of getting too stuck in the premise of what your station airs.

The Goal of Your Station or Show

At the base of it all, what’s the goal of your station or your show? What are you trying to accomplish? Guy Kawasaki describes his method of populating his tweets and Google+ posting as being part NPR and part QVC. In recent months, he’s said more that he’s NPR, but with pledge drives. And this fits brilliantly with what his goals are for his business.

If I answered this question myself, my goals are what they’ve always been in this space: find useful/helpful material and share it with people, while also making myself available for further business opportunities. As a professional speaker and educator, a good part of my business comes from showing people that I have some unique perspectives for their business, and that I can help them attain business value from what I know how to do. To demonstrate that on social channels, I share some of my own information, but also points of interest with others. That’s not always how I use Google+ right now, but that’s because I’m still testing out the medium so that I can better inform others how it works.

Build Your Own Station

With that in mind, how do you view your own media making? Do you worry that you should be more buttoned up and stuck on one topic? (Hint: you don’t have to be – the new world likes humans more than shows, as my friend Steve Garfield says quite famously: “I subscribe to people.”) And what do you think your show should do for your audience, and ultimately, for you?

I’m tuned in for your answers.

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

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  • http://rickmanelius.com Rick Manelius

    I’ve always said we live in a world of 6 billion channels (well based on the latest population stats, it would be 7 billion now). I like the concept of the TV station though, it really underscores the need of time and resources. If we all just post intermittently, people will never think to come back to our channel because there is no excitement or ‘nothing good on’. 

    It’s tough to be a full fledge channel if it’s not your goal. TV stations of old still employ 100′s to send out a single signal and now we’re all trying to replicate the process on the personal scale. In some cases it’s easier because we’re not expected to have high production value… but we are definitely supposed to have a kick ass story line with great character development!

    I don’t have anything else to add other than I live the metaphor and it gives me a lot to visualize and consider when I create my platforms…

  • http://twitter.com/stevegarfield Steve Garfield

    LIKE.

  • http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

    I really see myself as TV station on my personal stream but on a few other blogs I run the feed is like a show i stay closer to one subjeft for example being vegetarian. Although looking st it maybe making them more like a tv station might attract more readerd and/or subscribers. I might need to analyze a bit more what i have been sharing and looking at stats to see what has been of interest to those who interact, share, or make comments on content i create.

    I wonder which does generally better. If I had to take a guess would say station!

  • http://www.suzemuse.com/ Susan Murphy

    Oh goody, you used a TV analogy! Of course I’m going to have an opinion on this one. :)

    Back when I was a producer in community access TV, we thought a lot about the kind of channel we wanted to be. We were different from commercial TV…we weren’t about big budgets and pleasing advertisers. We were TV for the people. By the people. And because we knew this, we operated precisely in tis fashion. We created shows that people wanted to watch…snapshots of their community, from their kid’s baseball game to the latest local band to a glimpse into out town’s rich multicultural community – we brought it all into one place. We didn’t have fancy equipment, but what we lacked in production value we made up for in great content.

    My point is, too many people still think they have to wait until they have money and tech savvy-ness before they can get started online. It’s simply not true. All the world is community access now. You need only a great story and the desire to share it to get started.

  • Matthew Harden

    Great analogy.

    I suppose my station is business and technology, product reviews, with the occasional rant thrown in for good measure…all with a touch of humor. This kind of encapsulates my personality.

    I have a hard time though with identifying what value my content has. Like most people in this space, I like to write – I just don’t know if people really care.

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  • http://www.becomeafranchiseowner.biz The Franchise King

    Nice job, Chris.

    Joel, from KING-in Cleveland.

    :)

  • Harry James

    All well and good – except we (as in social media geeks) are still a tiny part of the web use, not to mention planet in general. What may be media for you and me is a blank stare for the majority. And will be for some time.

  • http://www.doodlehaus.com Mark Anderson

    Brilliant! Only you could work UHF into a blog post.

    I want my station to be a social media version of the Far Side, but it’s more like Uncle Nutsy’s Clubhouse. I sure could use a Twinkie wiener sandwich right now. 

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  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    You know, one of the qualifying traits my friends must meet is more than a passing familiarity with UHF. You rock :)

    My television station has apparently gotten new management, because the mission of the station is changing. My ultimate goal at this point is to educate peeps PBS style about how all of this social media stuff can be used to improve the world. There is so much power here – our voices stretch all around the world – and yet opportunities to use that power for good are being passed up every day.

    So, all of my television shows are about different causes or how to approach social media with social good in mind. Oh, and there are a couple of cooking shows, too. But uh…those are outliers :)

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  • Mark R.

    What is the purpose of “played by a pre-racist”? You are more than able to make your point (and do it well) without bashing someone in a way that’s not related, at all, to your blog subject.

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  • http://www.roars.in/magento-developer.html Alexidriess

    Now days television is most powerful way, we can learn anything from television and There is so much power here – our voices stretch all around the world – and yet opportunities to use that power for good are being passed up every day.

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  • Matt

    Hey Chris,

    That’s an interesting analogy, and a good question to ask yourself. What is this new world you’re referring to? The social media revolution?

    I think, show or station, what matters most is providing consistently good value to your audience, whether it’s focused on one or more topics.

    Regards,
    Matt

  • http://twitter.com/swoodruff Steve Woodruff

    Reality check: The idea of being a station or even a show is for a pretty tiny minority of the population still. Few people generate and publish content, relatively speaking. We’re still a pretty small world (though with global reach) of TV stations. Even if everyone *theoretically* could be.

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  • http://my168project.co Matches Malone

    Network, actually.

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