United Telemedia

May 2009 marked a significant milestone in my career. It marked my 30th anniversary in the television industry. Thirty years later, it is an industry that is just as dynamic today as it was in 1979. That was the year I got my start; it was when I got my internship with Cross Country Cable of Somerset, NJ. That summer, as far as I was concerned, I was on my way.

Cable was new, the opportunities were exciting, and it was my first real hands on experience outside of the college classroom. Along with my fellow interns, I got to do everything. It was primitive, it was gritty, but darn it we were producing local access programming and we were proud of it. Just imagine, they had cameras and a real JVC editing system. Wow! We produced everything from cooking shows to news programs. Flying by the seat of our pants we wrote, directed, lit, shot and edited our shows. The cable company had air time to fill, and they were willing to let us run with just about any idea we had. The possibilities were endless.

Now, thirty years later, I still see endless possibilities for video. “Video Killed the Radio Star,” but nothing has come along to kill video. When the web was in its infancy, many video professionals saw it as a serious threat. In a sense it was. Budgets were slashed and dollars were redirected to web development. There was a mad rush to the web. Everyone had to establish a web presence right away.

As a new technology, the web held all the glamour that fire held for cavemen. It was downright fascinating. It still is. From a cultural standpoint, it is as addicting as television was for our parents. Like the universe, but created by man, the web is endless. The web is a vacuum to be filled with content. And, like cable in the late 70’s, there is a mad rush to fill it. But what are we filling it with?

Now that everyone has established their web presence, the process of creating stimulating content is the real challenge. The goal? Get the viewer, engage the viewer, and keep them there long enough to digest your message. I once read this about television advertising: “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” I think the same can be said of web sites.

The web is evolving. Interestingly, it is evolving to include the “Cool Fire.” Written in 1977 by Bob Shanks, the book “Cool Fire” referred to television as a cool fire. A medium that is irresistible. A medium that can attract people like moths to a flame. And now, with bandwidth that was unimaginable 10 years ago, streaming speeds that can accommodate Hi-Definition video media, video has come of age on the web. There isn’t a web site that can’t benefit from the inclusion of a video that can captivate, inform and entertain the viewer. For the most part, we now say "video" rather than television. Call it what you will, I still believe that the possibilities are endless.