Young Broadcasting announced today that is putting KRON, its San Francisco station up for sale.
KRON was one of three stations we took into the full-blown VJ model in 2004/5.
The people at KRON undertook an enormous amount of effort to make the change. They did some excellent work, and the ratings for local news at KRON never dipped and in fact increased for the morning hours.
We had, of course, hoped that KRON would become a flagship for other stations going to the VJ model. But KRON was handicapped by greater issues. Vincent Young purchased KRON in 2000 for $823 million. It was, at that time, the highest price ever paid for a television station. Maybe it was worth it. KRON was then the number one station in the Bay area. But the price was driven so high because Vincent Young got into a bidding war with GE for the station.
It is always a mistake to get into a war with Jack Welch.
Vincent Young may have won the battle for KRON, but he lost the war. Welch wanted KRON to add to NBC’s O&Os, and when he could not get it, he took vengance on Vincent Young. He pulled the NBC Network affiliation and moved it to a small station in nearby San Jose.
KRON without NBC was suddenly worth a lot less than it once had been. A lot less.
Shorn of its network affiliation, rating plummeted.
Television is a very conservative business. If it isn’t broke, they don’t fix it.
And KRON was suddenly broke. So they called us.
We would have preferred, much preferred, to have built out a strong station instead of one in trouble, but you can’t pick and choose your clients. KRON and Young provided us with an opportunity, even in their distress.
Those afraid of the VJ movement will look to KRON’s sale as a result of the VJ move. To do this is to ignore what happened – but that has never stopped spinmeisters before, and it will not stop the fearful now.
The reality is very different. Had KRON kepts its conventional crews, it would have lost more news coverage faster as budget cuts rolled through the station.
KRON VJ Newsroom. Everyone shoots, everyone edits.
Due in large part to the vision and dedication of Mark Antonitis, the GM at KRON, the station not only adapted the model, but succeeded in building a model that worked. The photo above is also the photo my blog carries every day. I was an am enormously proud of the people who worked there and the work they did.
It is unfortunate that KRON was handicapped with the burden of Young’s fight with GE and the financial ramifications of carrying so much debt and the loss of the NBC affiliation all at once.
When Deb McDermott committed to the VJ model, almost no one did it in the US. Today, there are VJs or Backpack Journalists or MoJos (as Gannett calls them) in TV newsrooms across the country. It is no longer an anomaly but increasingly a regular part of the TV newsroom and landscape.
This will only continue, as more and more young journalists, used to working in this way and trained to do so percolate into television and online video news. ABC New’s placement of 9 VJs in bureaus overseas only serves to underscore that this is not only a viable, but in fact an honorable way of working.
VJ is not for the weak. It is not for the lazy. It is not for those seeking a sinecure. But for those who are truly talented and dedicated to the craft, it is the way of the future and a pathway to producing highly personal, intimate and powerful television journalism.
53 Comments
Fred Jodry April 25, 2008
I am looking for a couple of cameras like RCA
TK76`s, TK44B`s, also cables, VTRs and
“everything else”. Please contact me with
your spares or tell others to contact me. This
equipment won`t be sold to a foreign country;
it`ll be restored and put into use here.
educationalbroadcasting@hotmail.com
Nino March 08, 2008
Michael, are you teaching magic tricks as part of your VJ training?
Anytime somebody asks questions to any avid VJ supporter they mysteriously disappear.
I’ll get to those books after Spring Training is over, I haven’t had a day off since it started 3 weeks ago and I only ten days off since last Xmas.
rosenblumtv March 07, 2008
Sorry Nino
Whoever this guy is, it isn’t me.
I have no problem putting my name on whatever I write, as you know.
By the way, have you started the Postman book? that one comes first.
Nino March 07, 2008
Good try Michael, you can drop the sir, Nino is just fine, I’m a down to earth guy.
KRONVJ March 07, 2008
Sir:
And I quote you:
“The only adjustment that I can think is that I have to forget 98 % of what I know in order to get down to the VJ level. ”
I would never imagine asking you to lower yourself to my standards. I have work to do.
Nino March 07, 2008
KRONVJ, considering that you are (if you are) the very first VJ to actually post on this VJ site, would you be interested in a professional non-hostile conversations about VJ status? Of course I much rather talk with a real name for the sake of credibility, I use my real name and I’m never afraid to answer any question about my business. I promise to keep it civilized but in exchange I’m asking for true honesty and now reality, not fantasy or predictions, we get enough of that from Michael. Deal?
Nino March 07, 2008
(As a favor to Cliff)
Well said KRONVJ
KRONVJ March 07, 2008
While you guys are debating, we’re doing. The future is ours.
rosenblumtv January 20, 2008
Dear $
I don’t like to show my VJ work. Its not what I do for a living. I teach. Sorry you don’t think teaching has any worth. That, of course, is your loss. I have however now posted a piece I did a while back just in response to your rather lame ‘you can’t’ comment. Needless to say, I can. Now, also needless to say, it is your turn to put up.. or shut up. Please. Let us see your stuff.
$ January 18, 2008
What a surprise. More grade school comebacks.
Gosh Mr. R. In one breath you seem to think content providers are oh so important and demanding to see other people’s work to prove they know what they are talking about, and in the next breath you bend over backwards to explain your own inability to produce content.
“It’s not my job”.
How lame!
In other words, you can’t “do” what you preach.
That says so much about your own ability.
Much like that of those who think name calling indicates intelligence.
Just like so many other “teachers” who failed at what they are teaching, then turn to students, who know nothing, and BS them into paying you to teach them something you can’t do and could never make a living at in the first place.
Your seminars are not “work”, they are just a way for you to make a buck. All it takes is one easy request to see you don’t know what you are talking about.
That request?
Show me something YOU have done as a VJ.
Again, you can’t. That says it all.
! January 17, 2008
i love $.
if memory serves he once posted under his real name and even linked to his employer’s website.
there the viewer was treated to a photo of none other than… the closest thing to ron burgundy you’ll ever see.
mile-wide tie and all.
love ya ron…. errr, $
Nino January 17, 2008
Michael wrote:
“If you would like to see things I have shot and cut, send me your address and I will gladly send you a complete DVD. I am proud of my ‘work’.”
That’s about time, people have yarning for that for years. Why don’t you just put it on your Citizen Video or on you web site. Or upload it on youtube.
Nino January 17, 2008
Michael, I’m convinced that you have some serious comprehension deficiency. On top of this, as you keep talking I’m also convinced that you have never worked in any important capacity in broadcasting television.
Let start with demo reels. For the 10th time, http://nino-g.com/demos.html. You stand correct; I haven’t upgraded those clips in five years, because I don’t have to. The work is pouring in without, in fact for the last four years you are the only one that I have given that web site. Those are not cute clips of sick puppies, those are clips from real job, something that client asked for, done it, got paid well to do it and moved on. Let me tell you a secret to you Michael, to your audience and to anyone who want to get into this business. You can go on and do videos of puppies or other cure personal and compelling things, as long as Mc Donald is hiring you’ll have some money in your pockets, otherwise nobody except you cares about your sick puppy videos. Just ask Michael to show any VJ who is making any living doing compelling and personal videos. Michael keep saying that this is the beginning, well, this beginning has been going on for over 8 years, I though that was six years but I just find out about this Dojo thing that failed two years earlier, just one more failure on the long list that looks like is growing longer every day. Do any of you have any idea of why Michael is so insistent on personal and compelling videos? Because they are easy to do, you pick a subject that you know and are familiar with and go with it. Nobody will question if it’s accurate or not because nobody except you really care. Now, when a client calls you and ask you to do a project that you don’t know anything about it, that’s the challenge and that’s where the diversity of skills and real education, not the VJ crap, comes into play. For this client are willing to pay very well.
On my demo page http://nino-g.com/demos.html the first five clips are of travel resort destinations, they might not be as personal and compelling as those at the Travel Channel Academy (notes sarcasm) but I started doing those in 1987, and yes Michael, those early ones were done with the UMatic. Since then I’ve done over two hundreds of them, this means traveling to resort destination around the world nearly 200 times. To put it in proper perspective, each one of those projects has generated enough revenue to pay one year of college tuition for my kids. I was just asked to do 19 five stars resort in South America in the next 12 months and for the first time in 20 years I turned down, I had it with traveling. The client offered to nearly double my regular fee but I’m still not convinced that I want to do that again. It’s a nice comfort when you can pick and choose your clients
Next down my demos are short clips directly taken off TV. Unlike the VJ Demos on RosenblumTV that was mostly done as self assignments, no one can argue that my work wasn’t actually for broadcasting, and let me tell you something Michael, being a “first call†for ESPN is as high as you career will get in this business. They pay top dollars and demand top quality. Their assignment desk gets over one hundred calls per day from photographers trying to get on their list.
On the demo page I also have industrial work and some commercials, although I don’t do commercial anymore because is too much time consuming and do not pay enough. I’m showing what clients want and need to see. Now, Michael, tell me again how many videos were sold from your terrific idea of Citizen TV as a video clearing house?
On the site there’s also a “on location†section http://nino-g.com/onlocation.html that’s to show that I’m for real, I don’t just talk a lot like you do Michael, I show it.
Now let’s go back to your alleged broadcasting experience. The more you talk the more I realize that you have no broadcast experience whatsoever. The first giveaway is that if you were ever involved in broadcasting in any capacity you then should know that work as “work for hire†(freelancers) as stated in the US Copyright law are sole intellectual property of the creator (me). However, commercial and broadcasting clients have a form that we must sign that will transfer these properties in perpetuity to the paying client, meaning that we have no rights whatsoever on the work we do, and considering that we get paid to do it is the right thing. This also means that we are forbidden from any type of distribution without a written consent from the intellectual property owner (paying client). Legally we can not even use the material in our own demo reel. This wasn’t a problem before the web existed but with the web we should ask permission even to place our own work in our own websites. This is the first thing that a broadcasting producer must know, actually most must sign legal document stating these that they fully understand and oblige by these restrictions. The point that you don’t know about it can only mean that your position in broadcasting wasn’t important enough like you make us believe. Now, do you seriously think that that we are going to risk losing valuable clients and risking legal action against us just to satisfy your craving to see real video work? Get real man.
Wanna see it? Here it is again http://nino-g.com
Lastly I need you to shut you up about the EFPlighting.com that you so eloquently complain because it went to a paid subscription. I don’t think that $20 for two month or $50 for a year will send anyone into bankruptcy. I can see however that for the money that VJs make that might constitute a small fortune. However, compared to what you charge at the travel academy or what you did at you other defunct failures, I simply tell people what they need to know in order to make money in this business, and unlike you, I have work to show that I have personally created that have allowed me to make a good living, putting 2 kids thru college (and one more is coming up).
They say that when somebody copy your work is a form of flattering, unwelcome flattering that is. I found over 100 web sites, (actually I stopped counting at 100) around the world in language that I can’t even recognize that have stolen my work right off my site and made it their own, some at least gives me some credit but most do not. Not much that I can do about it but at least if they have to subscribe to get it let them give me something for it. I imagine you must have the same problem with your valuable VJ clips right? (LOL) That’ll be the day.
rosenblumtv January 17, 2008
my ‘work’ is the seminars, the stations, the shows I produce, and the people I train. That is what I do for a living every day. You want to see my ‘work’, it is all over the place. If you would like to see things I have shot and cut, send me your address and I will gladly send you a complete DVD. I am proud of my ‘work’. I am always curious when a self proclaimed professional cameraman or two refuses to show their ‘work’.
$ January 17, 2008
The request is to see YOUR work.
Work that YOU shot and edited.
Not the work of others.
Of course that is an impossible request for you to deliver on for a very simple reason.
You can’t do it without embarrassing yourself.
rosenblumtv January 17, 2008
Dear $
My primary claim here is that I teach people how to do this and build TV shows or stations around the concept. If you want to see what my product looks like, just go to the website, https://www.rosenblumtv.com and look under videos. Its all there to see. If that is not enough, follow the link to travel channel academy and see the work there. If that is not enough, I am more than happy to send you a personal DVD any time you ask. I have nothing to hide here.
If Nino or others want to start telling me how great their own work is, Great, I am delighted to see it and share it. I have done this lots before, from Stewart Pittman to our friend in NZ. They are true professionals and proud of their work. And I am unstinting in the praise i will give it. When someone starts to trumpet their own genius and then refuses to post it, in this business I smell something stinky.
I have seen this only twice. Nino and Chicago Dog. With Nino, there used to be a site where at least you could see a bunch of stills, but now that is unaccessable unless you pay.
So no, I don’t have a problem with asking to see the work of others. I do it all the time. Its the business we’re in. Talk is easy.
If you have trouble finding examples of my work, let me know, and I will be glad to send you more.
If you have work that you have done of which you are proud, send it to me, and I will be more than happy to post it also. let’s keep this on an equal playing field.
$ January 17, 2008
It’s very telling when Mr. R. time and again uses “show me yours” as a response to people. Claiming if they can’t show their own work as a VJ then they don’t know what they are talking about.
Yet, Mr. R. himself is unable to do the same. Not once does he show us his.
Why is that?
Because he can’t.
Of course his fans love to try and pile on with their grade school name calling. A true barometer of their level of intelligence and ability.
Nino, hang in there. Not that you need my assurances that you, not Mr. R. have a clue about life in the real world of business and video story telling.
Stay tuned for more excuses from Mr. R. about why his business ventures have such a high record of failure. Oh yes, and more name calling from the peanut gallery of the VJ classroom.
One day all of them might actually find long term employment.
Somewhere.
Until then?
Well, there’s always the blog world in place of a real life and career.
! January 16, 2008
direct nino quote from above: “my biggest problem is finding more days off…”
you sure do find the time to hang around here.
geez
Nino January 16, 2008
Dear Nino
I though Joe Redner ran for mayor of Tampa?
What are you talking about strippers and lap dances? Where do you spend your afternoons?
He owns the Mons Venus (sp) probably best known strip joint in Tampa with worldwide fame, he also declared himself gay. He always runs for something but never gets anywhere.
To tell you the truth I was in his place once, we did a story for ESPN called “Sex and Athletes” and for 8 hours I was surrounded by strippers that put up shows just for my camera, a lot of blurry on the finals show. It was one of the most watched shows on ESPN. Imagine, getting paid $1450 for being there? So you want to see some of my work? There you have it.
I was in Vegas but not at the RTNDA, I have no clue what this brainless is talking about it, I don’t think he knows it either. But I’ve seen your video. But who knows, if you are on the program again I might drop in, I bet that would make it interesting.
Nino January 16, 2008
Amazing groups you have here Michael, tiny but amazing, yourself included. When you can’t find an intelligent answer you all immediately go into personal insulting, real class.
Rosenblum January 16, 2008
Dear Nino
I though Joe Redner ran for mayor of Tampa?
What are you talking about strippers and lap dances? Where do you spend your afternoons?
In any event, I am disappointed that you won’t upload any of your work for us to see. I guess I’ll hae to troll your site myself, strip out a video (if it is embeddable, post it on Youtube and then mount it here on my site). OK. Well, lets see what I can find. Stand by….
PS. I had no idea you were at RTNDA last year. I gave the keynote speech. You shoulda said hi.
Nino January 16, 2008
! // January 16, 2008 at 4:06 pm
can i suggest at this year’s rtnda when nino gets up and makes a total ass of himself like last year that someone shoot it and upload it to youtube.
we really need to put a butt crack to that name.
Wow man, ass, butt crack. You are really and expert on that particular cavity, maybe because you keep your head in there so often. Next time when you take it out look over a couple of inches, if you can find your balls maybe you can use your real name.
! January 16, 2008
can i suggest at this year’s rtnda when nino gets up and makes a total ass of himself like last year that someone shoot it and upload it to youtube.
we really need to put a butt crack to that name.
Nino January 16, 2008
I guess if you know about Joe Redner you must have gone to his place, I’ve never been in there, I don’t really have to, what was like? I’ve heard that $20 get you a lap dance from a stripper, that what you must be talking about, was as good as they say it is? For me it would be kind of disgusting, sharing a tripper with dozen of other guys, but if that’s what you like go for it.
Back to the real world, let me repeat this:
I’m the least secretive person in this business, in fact millions of people everyday see my work, just tune to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes. Also talking about the web, ESPN the Magazine now also has a video web site, and of course ESPN.com. Add to that CSTV and NESN. These are my broadcasting clients. My work is in one of those every day at the tune of 250 days per year.
Or you can go on my “dated” web site. nino-g.com. Even those old clips should be enough to make you understand of how bad your work really is. But then again you have to know quality in order to recognize quality and you fall a little short in that department.
And while we are on the subject, what about your very own work, nobody has ever seen any, talking about being ashamed and secretive. With seven Emmys to your name as you claims we should all be impressed.
rosenblumtv January 16, 2008
$1450 to see one of your pieces!!!
Man, that is the most expensive peep show in Tampa! Even Joe Redner only charges $20 to get in and take a look. Wow!
I give stuff away for free all the time. (What did you pay to be here? I can’t even get on your website without paying – let along see something….anything you have done.)
You are really the first cameraman I have ever met who is ashamed to show his work! (You and Chicago Dog – who I think is not really a cameraman anyway).
Well, in a world where our quality is measured by what we do your silence speaks volumes.
If you change your mind, I can show you how to upload to Youtube or here. Join the 100 million people who are not ashamed to share their work.
Nino January 16, 2008
I fully understand you continuous anxiety of seeing my work. With the quality of work produced by your VJs I would be anxious to see anybody’s work.
You can just get on my schedule just like the rest of people who want to see my work, for ten hours portal to portal that’s $1,450.00 for SD and $2,400.00 for HD; plus tapes and 0.48c per mile. I don’t bill occasional client so it will be credit card at the end of the shoot.
You don’t give away anything for free and neither do I.
rosenblumtv January 16, 2008
Dear Nino
Thanks for that update from the Museum of Broadcasting down there in Tampa. We knew that one already though. We started on an RCA TK76. (You’re probably still shooting on one now). We’ve also got a bunch of uMatic decks here in the storeroom in case you want to send those samples of your OMB work up in 3/4. Not a problem. Let us know. We’re might anxious to see the work of ‘the master from tampa’.
Nino January 16, 2008
Sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you Michael, but I would like to bring you up to date on the video technology of the last millennium. The UMatic wasn’t a camera, it was the tape format, also known as 3/4″. Any camera being the old tube or the earlier models of chip camera would work with the UMatic deck. Also it was discontinued in the late 80s early 90s and replaced with something called the “camcorder” a composite word that means CAMera and reCORDER, that was one single piece, self contained that combined the two. Considerably lighter and easy to handle than the old 3/4 and pretty much still in use today. The tape format was also replaced with the popular new component signal system effectively sending UMatic into retirement.
Maybe this little piece of information will help you to be more accurate and honest on your comparisons to what we do for a living.
Nino January 16, 2008
Michael wrote:
………- as the technology to do this reasonably (as opposed to dragging around a UMatic camera and tripod and deck, the essence of the OMB) now allows.
So Michael, have you been around any productions in the last 15 years?
Nino January 16, 2008
! // January 16, 2008 at 12:27 am
nino,
you do those jock itch powder commercials?
Why, you have a problem? Try some soap and water once in a while.
rosenblumtv January 16, 2008
Of course, I think that being a VJ, a creator of content, is very much a career, ableit a career that is just getting started – as the technology to do this reasonably (as opposed to dragging around a UMatic camera and tripod and deck, the essence of the OMB) now allows.
As for Spielberg, I think that Claude Lelouche, who both shot and directed A Man and A Woman is more the filmmaker model, one might emulate, at bit like Steven Soderbergh or Spike Lee, who also shoot much of their own material
Getting one’s dirty by actually touching the camera is no crime and in no way should those who do it be relegated to some second class citizen status (as was actually the case when I was a producer at WNET/13 many years ago. The ‘talent’ stayed in 4 star hotels when we traveled, the ‘crew’ in lesser digs. When we flew the ‘talent’ went first class, the ‘crew’ coach. When we ate, the ‘talent’ sat at one table, the ‘crew’ at their own.
Jim Crow TV.
$ January 16, 2008
Being a one man band is not a goal, nor a career. It’s a beginner’s way of getting in the door and then left behind as soon as possible. Those who want it to continue are those teaching classes and paid as consultants to last place stations trying to stay in business one or two more years before being sold or forced to close down their news operations.
I’m sure Mr. R would belittle people like Steven Spielberg because he doesn’t shoot/edit one man band either.
The humor is seeing someone sell others that being a one man band is something new and a career.
It’s not and never has been. Again, of course, unless you’re a teacher trying to fill your classes with students.
Nino January 16, 2008
What ???????????
! January 16, 2008
nino,
you do those jock itch powder commercials?
rosenblumtv January 15, 2008
Dear nino
Ok. This time I run your ad for free…but just this once. Now please upload your great one man band pieces. (If you need help on the technical side, let me know)
Nino January 15, 2008
Michael, I can’t begin to tell you how much your comment about my work would mean to me.
When I lived in the Northeast we had a woman running for mayor of the city, she was the most obnoxious person that you ever want to meet. One of the local newspaper reporters wrote about her “she probably would do very well, if she would only keep her mouth shut between now and Election Dayâ€. Needless to say she didn’t and she lost. Same here, the more that you talk the more you tell us that never in your career had any direct working relations with established professionals. I’m the least secretive person in this business, in fact millions of people everyday see my work, just tune to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes. Also talking about the web, ESPN the Magazine now also has a video web site, and of course ESPN.com. Add to that CSTV and NESN. These are my broadcasting clients. My work is in one of those every day at the tune of 250 days per year. I also do on the average 20 days a year for the BBC. No established professional has a demo reel, there’s no need for it as very few of us seek new clients. When you serve large client there’s a loyalty factor, we are available for them and they call us first, definitely we are not interested in the occasional client. My biggest problem is finding days off not more work. Producer turn to “first call†professionals because they make the shows look good, and when the show looks good the producer also looks good, and that’s how careers in this business advance. In my profession the only people that I care to impress is my client and my accountant.
rosenblumtv January 15, 2008
That would be DV Dojo, not Vojo. And I would love to comment on your work, but needless to say, I can’t see it. What I did see was a bit banal and old, but again, that footage was quite dated. Have you done much lately? Is there anything you think is great? As you were already a One Man Band, why don’t you post your own stellar work, really exemplary stuff. I’ll post it here for all to see (and comment on). Let’s not be so secretive!
Nino January 15, 2008
Let me try again Michael, I really think we are having a serious communication and understanding problem here.
“One man band journalists have existed since long before you even knew that television existed. As I told you before during the Vietnam one of my duties in the Army as a photographer was to lend support to photo and film journalists, the difference was that one man band were people who was exceptionally multi-skilled and volunteered to do the one man job.â€
I never said that the one man band do not work, I always said that the one man band journalist has been an integral part of television since its beginning. What I said was that YOUR methods of one man band do not work, it’s wrong, it’s faulty and it shows. I’ve been pointing out over and over what’s wrong what the problems are, and so did everyone else, but you just don’t get it. You keep failing and failing everywhere you go. If you would spend the same amount of time in learning about production as you spend thinking of excuses of why something failed and who to blame for, you probably could even come up with a decent product. Evidently your ability of selling far exceed the quality of what you are selling, pair yourself up with someone who knows about the business and you’ll have a winning team, but most likely is too late, anyone who has been following your VJ journey has to be blind not to see your failing trail.
Failure is a vital part of success, there can not be success without failure, but you take the cake. We all try new things everyday and most of what we try fails, but some succeed and we build from there. You on the other hand when you fail you just move on to another audience and keep on going with the same crap year after year leaving a trail of people that paid you handsomely for something that never had a chance of succeeding.
BTW, I never heard of VoJo before a poster just mentioned, so I did a Google search and guess what I found, one more of you failures. This is just one of the posts that I found on a DV forum dated 12/2002
“Yeah they went out of business early last year – found out from the Poetry Club/Cafe next door.. It was a cool place, but I went through a weekend course a couple of years ago just to give it a shot and was not impressed, the quality of teaching wasn’t quite thereâ€. I never took one of their extended courses, so my mini-review is only half-fair. But their weekend course made no effort to avoid pairing total beginners with those who have some experience. I was frustrated, and it cost quite a bit. And in addition, the second half of the course in my case was by an instructor who very plainly had no training in teaching anyone.â€
And the beat goes on!
“I have to say, I was a bit more impressed with you when you were giving out your advice for free.”
Seriously Michael, you are the last person on earth that I’m trying to impress.
! January 15, 2008
just today, on thebostonchannel, the very nice anchor (under his breath) made mention of their “new” video-journalist who shot a pkg that looked alot like what it would have taken a truck, talent, pencil and a handful of engineers at the station to turn.
it is more than just coming, m.r. … it has kicked the door it and the jamb is in splinters!
rosenblumtv January 15, 2008
Dear Nino
You still remain my most loyal correspondent, even after so many years.
As to those who can and those who can’t, being a VJ is no different than, say, being a news cameraman.
There are many who are just terrible. Just totally untalented. I see their work every day on TV. Shaky shots, building exteriors, police tape shots, missed white balance. This does not seem to prevent them from getting jobs nor from getting paid. The world is filled with mediocrity. So too for the VJs. There are very talented ones and those who are not so good, and those who are truly terrible.
All professions are like this. The VJ issue, if you will, is that this is an arena into which few have ventured before – because the gear was so expensive and the venues so few. Those two parameters have now changed – cheap cameras and lots more openings. So yes, there are those who are talented and those who are not. But give me a break. Half the VO/SOT shots I see on local news could be shot by my 12 year old nephew with 10 minutes worth of instruction – and better. For those folks, their days of being paid – even the pathetic pittance that novices like Chicago Dog are paid, are truly numbered. They don’t bring anything to the party.
If you don’t see VJ work percolating in the local tv news business, for example, you are not looking too hard. It is appearing at nearly every station – in ones and twos… but this will continue to grow over time. And it is appearing at almost every newspaper now. You should get on the serverlist for news video shooters – it is massive – almost every paper in the country – and all VJs.
As for your gratuitous comment on 5Takes, it ran four seasons – which is a pretty good run for any cable series, and I would gladly put it up against any series that you conceived of, created, sold and EPd….oops! Aren’t any? Ah well….good luck trying.
And while I don’t mind taking and answering your criticisms, it is a bit unfair as I cannot even see your work, nor the ‘advice’ you are offering. You ask people to PAY to SEE your blog!!!!
I have to say, I was a bit more impressed with you when you were giving out your advice for free.
$ January 15, 2008
Ironically you, once again, keep following the same path that leads to the same destination over and over again.
People who know nothing about telling visual stories are paying you to teach them something you have yet to learn yourself.
Blind leading the blind. And then you act surprised when you keep hitting a wall. Maybe some day you’ll finally open your eyes.
If the TV biz is headed down the drain, it seems you have quite a head start.
Nino January 15, 2008
“The eminently successful and highly profitable Travel Channel Academy is in many ways the second iteration of the Dojo – same concept without the overhead. And it works.”
I would like to keep this item separated from the rest.
Michael, could you give us your reasons of why the Travel Channel Academy is a success?
Nino January 15, 2008
So let see Michael, on the subject of being a VJ you wrote this on January 12:
“Does it take a ‘very talented person’ to do this? I don’t think so.â€
Then a day later you wrote this:
“VJ is not for the weak. It is not for the lazy. It is not for those seeking a sinecure. But for those who are truly talented and dedicated to the craft, it is the way of the future and a pathway to producing highly personal, intimate and powerful television journalismâ€.
Will the real Michael Rosenblum please stand up and identify yourself?
Your second statement sounds a lot like the one that I’ve been telling you for years.
“One man band journalists have existed since long before you even knew that television existed. As I told you before during the Vietnam one of my duties in the Army as a photographer was to lend support to photo and film journalists, the difference was that one man band were people who was exceptionally multi-skilled and volunteered to do the one man job.â€
And what craft would that be Michael? The unique ability to recognize failures? Because I don’t see any other craft being implemented in any of the VJ produced work. Unless by success you mean being accepted on a free Citizen Video web sites. My interpretation of success (and everyone else in this business) consists of creating work so good that someone will be willing to pay for it, and I don’t mean peanuts. Or, that your work is so good that clients will pay you very good money to do work for them (day-hire freelancers).
Let’s see, you’ve been at this for at least six years that I know, could you name any successes? Any show on television being produced by VJs? Could you name anyone who is making any decent living form being a VJ? Maybe one day you’ll realize that your methods of productions are faulty, both financially and visually do not work, they did not work in the past; they do not work in the present and will not work in the future. They did not work in broadcasting, did not work on the web and be assured that for the same reasons that failed everywhere else will also fail with newspapers going to video. Everyone of my predictions of your failures are 100% on target; I gave you all the reasons of why it will never work and for the very same reasons be assured that even with newspapers I will maintain my perfect record and you will add that to your long list of failures.
As far as KRON goes, do you remember your early statement of what VJ were going to do to television? Rescue the failing television business with you new and innovative VJ concept and techniques? Please Michael; if this is your methods of rescuing something do not ever become a lifeguard.
And what was this all about Michael?
“Dear Chicago Dog
Still working the graveyard shift I see. Still hearing those ‘voices’? Keep takin’ the meds man…and tell mom I said hi!â€
Michael why are you knocking someone who works the graveyard shift? That was your only audience for the “5Takes†series.
rosenblumtv January 15, 2008
Dear Chicago Dog
Still working the graveyard shift I see. Still hearing those ‘voices’? Keep takin’ the meds man…and tell mom I said hi!
rosenblumtv January 15, 2008
The whole TV biz is in fact headed down the drain. Ironically, I just signed a deal with a major newspaper group not only to take them into video, but to create a daily broadband news ‘show’. Go figure… There is hope yet for quality TV new, from the papers – who were always the source of all the tv news stories anyway. And these guys are primarily interested in …. the journalism!
! January 15, 2008
hope you realize my ongoing spat over the demise of this once great station has more to do with what is happening with tv as a whole than any one factor unique to kron.
Terrance McDermott January 14, 2008
What happened at KRON was brought on by Vince Young alone. The introduction of Rosenblum’s VJ concept was strictly a desperate attempt to save money at the sacrifice of quality. Despite the spin I just read in this blog what is put on the air at KRON is as close to pure crap as one can get. One need only watch it for as long as they can stomach it to know what I am talking about.
Cliff Etzel January 13, 2008
Seems as though this is but a harbinger of things to come for many broadcast stations – very much the same thing is happening to newspapers.
It seems that this is analogous to the dying off of the weak and all that will be left is a handful of very powerful media outlets dictating news as the overseers deem fit – feeding pablum to the masses.
In many ways technology is a good thing, but the rapid advance of technology is causing what appears to be extensive collateral damage due to the ease in which information can be acquired and distributed.
It would be great to see KRON transform into an internet broadcasting media outlet – but I’m sure many would view this as a Solo VJ’s pipe dream.
Cliff Etzel – Solo Video Journalist
bluprojekt
rosenblumtv January 13, 2008
In the course of my career I have had both successes as well as failures and lots in between. But from each event we learn and we don’t repeat the same mistake twice.
Was the Dojo a mistake? It was certainly a failure, but I learned a lot from it. The eminently successful and highly profitable Travel Channel Academy is in many ways the second iteration of the Dojo – same concept without the overhead. And it works.
We learn from our mistakes and move on. If you spend your life without ever making a mistake, it simply means you have never tried anything that was not guaranteed as safe. That is no way to live, or to learn.
$ January 13, 2008
No real comments here. Why? Because what has happened at KRON is no surprise to many.
Doomed to failure for so many reasons. Even an expensive consultant paid to sell old as new couldn’t change fate.
Of course reading some of that persons old claims of sure success in the future for KRON because of the VJ approach now make that consultant look just a tad foolish.
So many can will want to say “I told you so”. Of course as the above post confirms, denial of truth is easier for some to accept than reality.
I guess you could always open up the Dojo again.