We began our Media Day marathon at ECTC with a presentation from Mr. Kenny Rambo of Heartland Communications. Kenny spoke with us about the interesting animal that is Social Media. He explained that as we have seen Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others launch IPO’s and become public, the demand for earnings has increased. Shareholders want to see that these tech companies can turn their large numbers of users into revenue. Due to the nature of these sites, which collect huge amounts of data about you, the things you like, and even purchasing habits, they are able to tailor advertisements more directly to individuals who may be interested in products or services that your company offers. Kenny also brought up the importance of online presence. Consumers have become accustomed to doing certain things online, via one of their many devices. Kenny spoke about the significance of a companies ability to monitor and respond to things on their social media sites in a timely manner. The great thing about the internet is that we have an instant ability to respond to things we dislike. This makes managing questions, complaints, comments, or compliments in a timely matter just as important to the businesses as the consumers.
Our next stop was at the WQXE and WULF studios to sit in on a broadcast of the Greg and Holly Show. We were able to observe them live on the air and chat with them briefly during songs and commercials. It was surprising to note that their banter is not scripted, which shows through in their natural conversations. They also spoke about striving to stay locally focused in order to maintain listeners here in the community. They acknowledged that the way we consume radio has changed. They now offer streaming from the internet so that people can listen even if they cannot pick up the station on the radio, allowing their listeners to be in tune with Hardin County locally and beyond.
Hardin County Leadership continued the morning by meeting Ben Sheroan, editor of The News-Enterprise. Mr. Sheroan’s dialogue started out with a quip that his father had spoken many years ago: “TV is going to kill newspaper.” He continued by stating what could be said with every step we’ve taken in information technology…
Late 20th century: “Internet is going to kill newspaper”
Early 21st century: “Smartphones are going to kill newspaper”
But Mr. Sheroan assures that the newspaper is here to stay because of the original content that cannot be found anywhere else. His promise to his readers is that The News-Enterprise will give quality, local content, thereby differentiating itself from what any other source can offer.
Following our local visits to ECTC, The News Enterprise and Quicksie, Leadership Hardin County students boarded buses to Louisville. Our first stop was the WHAS-11 studios; for many of us, this was our first time to see the internal workings of a television station. We were warmly welcomed and thrilled that we immediately started seeing familiar faces from the WHAS-11 news crew. Several of us commented that we had grown up watching Melissa Swan, Doug Proffit and Rachel Platt. Seeing these “legends” in person and actually getting to ask questions and command an open discussion with them was one of the highlights of this Media Day. While on site, we also were welcomed onto the set during a live taping of the “News at Noon” with Brooke Hasch and Ben Pine. Talk about being starstruck! Aside from the obvious excitement of being welcomed into the WHAS-11 station, we were also fortunate enough to meet members of the current management team, and discuss issues affecting our communities. The management and reporters encouraged us to contact them with interesting stories and happenings in our Hardin County area; stating that they would welcome the opportunity to have leaders like ourselves to be involved in shaping the content of the news. Certainly, our visit to the WHAS-11 studios was enlightening and entertaining, and we are thankful for the warmth and hospitality that we experienced there.
We finished off the afternoon by visiting The Courier-Journal’s facilities in downtown Louisville. We were met by Executive Editor Neil Budde, who led us through a tour of the facilities including a visit to the impressive printing press.
Our tour guide has worked for The Courier-Journal for 49 years!!!
Then we met with Mr. Budde as he gave us a discourse in the state of the newspaper industry and what The Courier-Journal has been doing to maintain a top spot in the industry. One major item is focusing their reporting talents on local stories while joining the USA Today Network to give their readers national and global news.
The Courier-Journal has made a promise to give its customers quality, breaking content in any way possible. With that in mind, they have diversified by offering six apps for smartphones and offering original content on their website, which received a new, updated logo:
The use of media metrics created when readers click on web content is truly unbelievable. They can see what is trending on the website and can add to that content and even print it in the next day’s newspaper, giving readers the stories that they want to read
We finished off the afternoon breaking out into teams and creating the layout of the website’s front page, giving us a glimpse into what their reporters encounter every day. Just as we finished our layout, a “lead” came in that there may be a local school under lock-down and what could be an “active-shooter” situation. We had to decide whether to include a story or wait until the report could be confirmed. Each group presented their layout and spoke to why they had chosen each story for their frontpage. It was interesting to see the diversity in each group’s story as each group focused on what they thought would garner interest.
Carmen V. Hancock
Chief Disabilities Officer-Communicare, Inc.
270-769-3377 ext. 2000
320 Ring Rd.
Elizabethtown, KY 42701
Eric Whelan
Branch Manager
270-351-1414
Eric.whelan@yourkybank.com
West Point Bank
600 W. Lincoln Trail Blvd.
Radcliff, KY 40160
Bryan Hatfield
Mechanical Engineer, Assistant Engineering Manager
Elizabethtown Plant
AGC Automotive Americas Co.
P.O. Box 5000; 1 Auto Glass Dr.; Elizabethtown, KY 42702-5000, U.S.A.
Mobile 270-304-1380 | Tel 270-765-8270 | Fax 270-769-1207
Bryan.Hatfield@us.agc.com | www.us.agc.com | www.agc.com