iParticipate 11

The list of articles is diverse, ranging in an assortment of different topics. The Herald does a good job at covering a variety of topics that appeal to everyone. The stories range from soft news to hard hitting news. Because Western is a large campus, the Herald must provide readers with all sorts of news. This allows the Herald to attract all readers. 

I believe the WKU's news stories do make an impact on the local news. If a student reads about something going on in the community on The Herald, they most likely will read more into it if they find it interesting. I think the Herald does an excellent job at covering hard hitting stories that pertain to campus and the Bowling Green community. I think its important for a college run paper to include topics that can appeal to readers outside the WKU student body.

WKU does impact the community and Bowling Green. Because it is a large school in a small town, WKU makes up majority of Bowling Green. I think the size of the newspaper does somewhat impact how something is advertised. I think that is simply because the more amount of people provide more opportunity for things to be shared.

The reliance on PR is a good thing. I believe the newspaper and PR work well together as a team. I think they should be reliant on one another because they are both attempting to reach the same audience. This audience is the Bowling Green community. Without PR, it would be somewhat difficult for certain stories to reach the community. 

iParticipate 10

Seven Hills recording is a local based studio based out of my hometown Evansville, IN. Seven Hills specializes in audio and video recording for all genres of music. The label is not limited to one particular genre. Majority of their clients are based out of the midwest and southern Indiana area. Some groups this company has produced for are Stone Temple Pilots and BMW Racing. For Stone Temple Pilots, they provided the group with audio recording for two of their songs. For BMW racing they provided video advertising for one of their campaigns. Majority of the content is distributed to consumers through their website. The company also distributes the content through other companies the client may have licenses or agreements with.

Because the company is not limited to one particular type of genre, the company does not seem to be targeting one type of fan group. The label appears to be active on social media and uses this platform as a way to reach the artists' listeners. This label is local based and independently owned.

Major problems I see this label facing is the number of clients. They are based in a somewhat small city where recording is not a huge. Their location may prevent them from not attracting a large clientele base. In general, the main issue they face is competition with other recording labels. Compared to recording agencies based out of Nashville, they are small. It appears they haven't done many projects outside of local clients. To overcome these problems, the solution may be more advertising and PR. Because they are a small, local business, their biggest issue may be publicity. The public or surrounding cities may not even know they exist. They could have the potential of attracting more clients outside the Evansville area by producing more advertising.

The quality of their recordings is high quality. However, they may be seen as a company that does only small projects. This may be due to the fact they are based out of a smaller city. Compared to larger recording agencies, their work may be seen as not as high tech. In being small, this agency has many competitors with other small agencies. The industry as a whole competes with every agency for clients. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much money the clients are willing to pay.

iParticipate 7

I decided to Interview my mom and sister for this assignment. Both of them have experienced TV in two different times. My mom having a tv with only black and white and my sister always having cable. For both of them, the role of TV has changed over the course of years and has been influential.

My mom shared her experience with TV growing up. She told me how when she was growing up the TV they had was quite large and only had two or three channels. Her family and her would sit down to watch the news or whatever show was playing for that evening. She also told me how having a TV was somewhat new for her. They did not have cable or any remote control. She told me about her dad having to adjust the antenna a lot in order to receive the channels. For my mom, TV has been there for a large part of her life but it wasn't an important part. TV was limited for her growing up. Today, my mom only watches TV for the news. 

For my sister, TV has been something that has always been there. When she was younger, her daily after school routine consisted of coming home and immediately turning on the TV. She has grown up with TV having hundreds of channels and being in color. When asked why she doesn't watch TV as much her response was that she does not have time to sit down and watch TV and she has Netflix. For my sister, TV has been something that has always been there. In today's world, Netflix offers the same entertainment quality as TV.

IParticipate 6

Vogue Magazine and National Geographic are two magazines that differ in content. Both magazines are based on entirely separate topics, that differ in photography, writing, and advertisements. Vogue is a fashion magazine and National Geographic is a common interest. The stories in Vogue typically talk about fashion, the latest trends, and sometimes life experiences. There is usually a cover story for the person on the cover and an interview with Q&A. Advertisements are from expensive designers such as Michael Kors or Prada. The photographs in Vogue are more edited and usually more artistic. For National Geographic, the stories are usually focused on exotic places around the world or some type of unique species. The advertisements for them are usually for things that would attract readers of this magazine. This could be hiking gear, healthy food, or advertisements for some sort of health supplement. The photographs in National Geographic are more nature based and show pictures of animals, mountains, or anything outdoors.

Advertisements in Vogue are similar to its stories' content in the sense that both deal with fashion, clothing, or looking your best. Advertisements in National Geographic somewhat relate to their stories. The advertisements are more focused on "down to earth" things rather than materialistic things. In both magazines, I think majority of the advertisements are placed towards the front of magazine. Before one reaches the actual stories, they have to flip through a series of pages of just ads. Both magazines are well in lined with their content and appear to attract the appropriate age group with their advertisements.

For both magazines, I do not think the advertisements influence the magazine's content. From a reader's perspective, it looks as though they are simply just advertisements. For both of these magazines I think is a balance between editorial content and advertisements. I would say National Geographic does a better job at having that balance, where Vogue seems to have a heavy ad content. In some ways, Vogue appears to be more concerned with attracting business rather than providing good content. National Geographic does a good job at finding a happy medium by featuring a wide variety of stories in each issue as well as ads.

PREP 5

The Backcheck news release was highly offensive and inappropriate. It referred to a serious murder instance in order to further its services. Back check should not have used this case as a way to attract clients. It was offensive because family members of the murder victim were affected by the incident. It would have been much more appropriate and effective if the company were to use a fictional scenario rather than an actual headline. I think the company would have saved itself from media negativity and a bad image if they had chosen to take a different route with the release.

I think Fleishman's handling of the release was excellent. I think they reacted in a timely manner and addressed the issue effectively. The apology was more than appropriate for this situation and in the end saved Backcheck from losing its entire image as a company. I think Fleishman's apology was necessary because they news release was highly offensive. I think a stated apology was the only option. As for Fleishman's image, I think it made them look very respectable as a PR firm. Without the apology, I do not think Backcheck would have survived the incident.

iParticipate 4

WIKY-104.1 FM is a full-service Adult Contemporary music radio station serving the Evansville, Indiana radio market. In the most recent Arbitron ratings report, WIKY is the most listened to radio station in the Evansville metro survey area. It is owned by Duey Wright.

WSTO (96.1 FM, "Hot 96")- is a heritage Top 40 Radio Station that serves the Evansville,Indiana, Owensboro, Kentucky, and Henderson, Kentucky markets.  It is a sister station to WIKY and is owned by Duey Wright. 

WKDQ- WKDQ is a country music formatted radio station in Henderson, Kentucky radio market, broadcasting to Evansville, Indiana. The owner is Townsquare Media. This radio station is the most listened to country station in the tri state area.

These three featured stations attract majority of the markets ratings. Each of these stations features a well rounded variety of songs and shows. Because Evansville is not the biggest, many of stations are not serving the same formats. Evansville features stations that attract majority of listeners. Although Evansville does have more than these three stations, majority of listeners continue to pick these three over others. There doesn't seem to be formats missing, rather they are not as popular as other formats. Some less popular formats featured in Evansville would be classical music, punk rock, and Oldies. Each of these formats are represented but do no receive the same attention as the three listed. 

The three listed stations show there is not much diversity in ownership and station formats. Both Hot 96 and WIKY are owned by the same owner. This may be due to Evansville not being a large city, therefore the market does not require a large range of diverse owners. Evansville may also not have enough listeners to have a diverse group of formats. I don't think there are people in my community who are undeserved by the on air options. I think Evansville does a good job at representing all types of music and programs for all sorts of listeners. It is evident that these less popular formats are still receiving listeners, they may just not have as many as the others. 

Local stations in my community receive a lot of attention for their programs. They are high quality and do a great job at serving the public with music and entertainment. If people didn't agree with that, they wouldn't be on air. I think Evansville radios are a part of the community, and are highly valued by Evansville residents. I don't think newer developments are poor substitutes or offer better alternatives. I think they offer good quality but I do not think they offer the same relationship as local radio does. With local radio, listeners become more familiar with the host simply because they are from the same community. I think as long local radios continue to uphold those relationships with their communities, newer alternatives will not replace them.

PREP 4

Occupy Wall Street was successful in the sense that it caught people's attention. However, I think the protest gained attention for the wrong reasons. Rather than being about the actual issue, media and publicity accused the protest for being a disturbance to the public. Occupy Wall street was unclear in stating what goals they were hoping to achieve and lacked any sort of spokesperson. It appeared the protest was more concerned with publicity than making any sort of change. In my opinion, Occupy Wall Street was the least bit successful.

To improve its approach, I would have created an organized plan in order to make a certain statement. I would not have wanted people to make a huge disturbance to the public. I think this disturbance took away from the actual message they were trying to get across. I would have an assigned spokesperson and a unified message. I also would create a specific route and time frame for when and where the protest would take place. The main problem with this protest was no unified message. In no way did Occupy Wall street change public opinion. If anything, the protest turned away the public rather than grabbing their attention.