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In Depth

Profile: Dale Herigstad

Title: Founding partner, SchematicWhat they do: The broadcast design and technology firm launched in early December helps content companies, advertisers, networks and distributors bolster their market positions through more compelling user interfaces, broadcast design and interactive television. Background: Mr. Herigstad…

Success Stories: Merchant co-ops working in scattered DMA

Hiring an Internet-only sales director in April was the key to increasing revenue for KWWL-TV, a Raycom Media-owned NBC affiliate in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, Iowa area.“We have had a 400 percent revenue increase on our Web site, and traffic…

Tech Briefs

Nearly $1 million in Adtec Digital equipment is supporting Charter Communications’ recently launched customer information channel The Charter Channel, Adtec said. Adtec’s playback systems have been installed in 180 of Charter’s largest headends to distribute the channel, which launched last…

NBC’s Lack is Sony’s gain

“I feel like I landed on the moon,” Andy Lack said when I asked him for his reaction to his new job as head of Sony Music. The record business is a nutty and cuckoo business, God knows, but so,…

‘Talent’ agents latest to seek American idols

There is an old axiom in Hollywood that it is better for talent agents to stay in the background and let the clients take the spotlight. “The Talent Agency,” from Western International, one of only a handful of weekly first-run…

The New Television: Interactive TV by any other name

Of the following, which has been the biggest failure of the past few years?a. The Cincinnati Bengalsb. The Tampa Bay Devil Raysc. Jennifer Lopez’s marriagesd. “The Michael Richards Show”e. Interactive TVWell, if you believe in the all-powerful search engine of…

Profile: Rich Hamilton

Rich Hamilton, who runs the Zenith Optimedia Group, has some advice for planners: Get to know the buyers’ pain.Mr. Hamilton knows of what he speaks. Almost 30 years ago he started in the business as a media planner at Benton…

Fergie talking, but are stations listening?

After the slew of deals last week sealing prime markets for the fall 2003 syndication season, industry eyes are turning to Universal’s upcoming strip “Fergie,” and observers are wondering where the future lies for the talk show hosted by the…

Super-selling the Super Bowl

With two weeks to go, Walt Disney Co.’s ABC is in good shape selling Super Bowl XXXVII, according to media agency executives. With its average price for a 30-second commercial at $2.1 million, up 10 percent over a year ago,…

Rx for efficient planning and buying: a little science

Bill Bernbach, one of the legendary names in advertising, once said, “I warn you against believing that advertising is a science.”Mark Green demurs, at least when one is discussing the waste in media planning and buying. Two areas in media…