Re-evaluating Raff, or How to Find New Old Music

I really enjoy exploring the field of classical music. There are several acknowledged masterworks that deeply move me, and my quest is to discover more that have the same effect. I've found some not-so-famous composers whose music consistently hit the mark with me, and even some virtually unknown ones that do as well (even if not with any consistency).

So how do I find these composers? It really doesn't involve any great research -- I'm just open to suggestions.

For example, in a Twitter discussion about unusual repertoire, I happened to mention the curious effect the music of Joachim Raff had on me. That is, I thoroughly enjoyed it while it played, but it left no trace -- I couldn't recall a single theme after it was over.

And I don't think I was alone. Joachim Raff (1822-1882) was, during his lifetime, a respected and celebrated composer. A talented pianist, he was one of Franz Liszt's proteges. He wrote a vast amount of music, and his symphonic works put him on part with Brahms and Wagner with audiences of the day. But after he died, his music almost overnight vanished from the concert halls, and his name fell into obscurity. 

The 1907 edition of "Stories of Symphonic Music" had this to say:

Raff, an astonishingly prolific composer, wrote twelve symphonies, of which "In the Woods' (Im Walde) [Symphony No. 3] is one of the two that have most conspicuously survived the winnowing processes of time. [Symphony No. 5 "Lenore" is the other].

 The Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 3rd edition, 1907 was even harsher:

Since his death his music as passed, alike in Germany and England, into an oblivion which cannot excite surprises in those who realize the inherent weaknesses of the composer; and the sudden change on the part of the public, from a widespread admiration to almost complete neglect, is of itself a severe criticism on his work.

So I didn't find my reaction to Raff's music unusual. And might have left it at that, had not I been urged by one of my colleagues on Twitter to try again, and started with Raff's 5th Symphony. And this time I even remembered some of it later. As my friend and I discussed my reaction, he suggested other, better works by Raff -- the 5th Symphony, his cello concertos, and the piano quintet.

All of those works turned out to be posted on YouTube, and so I could audition them all -- and a few more besides.

Joachim Raff isn't quite the genius Brahms or Wagner was. Some of the works ran a little long, and a few were mediocre (as in average -- nice, but not remarkable). Still, I enjoyed a good deal of it, and glad that I was open to the suggestion to revisit this composer.

Are you? Give Raff's 3rd Symphony a listen and let me know what you think!

Re-opening the Repertoire

Consider this a companion piece to my early post Rusted-shut Repertoire? In that post, I talk about an article Anne Midgette wrote, Little-known composers get their due in the studio if not the concert hall.

Her article led with an example of a neglected composer -- Hans Gal. Gal is a composer I had never heard of before (and that's saying something). So I decided to explore.

A good number of the people I know who listen to classical music seem somewhat incurious about it. They're quite happy to enjoy Tchaikovsky's First Piano concerto, and not think anything more about his ouvre.

Me? I notice that the title says "First Piano Concerto." So I immediately wonder how many more he wrote (two), and what do they sound like (good, not great). I do the same thing with opus numbers. That's Op. 23? How many works did the composer write? Wonder what Op. 1-22 sound like. And Op. 24 and beyond.

So when I see the name of a composer I don't know, I'm instantly curious about their music. So who was Hans Gal? Gal was a Post-Romantic composer who had a promising career in Germany until forced out by the Nazis. He fled to Great Britain, where he remained the rest of his life. Although he continued to compose, his career never fully recovered, and his works were not frequently performed after 1933.

And how did I find out more about his music? I went to YouTube. In time, I may purchase some Gal recordings, but before I do, I'd like to know if it's music I'd like. As a way to audition music, I've found YouTube to be a surprisingly good source for classical music.

Here's what I found:

Promenade Music (1926)


Clarinet Trio, Op. 97


As well as his  Capriccio for Mandolin Orchestra , ASerenade for String Orchestra, Op. 46, Suite for Alto Saxophone and Piano, and some other works, besides. I also found an interview with Kenneth Woods, the conductor whose become a champion of his music.

So I could very quickly get an idea of what the composer's output was like, and decide if I wanted to explore further and perhaps invest in some recordings. (I'd say yes.)

Opportunities to make discoveries like this are all around. You just have to be open to them.

Classical Comedy is Harder

"Dying is easy, comedy is hard" goes the old expression. I'm not sure about the first part of that statement, but the second part is certainly true. Since comedy relies on surprising the audience at some level, timing is much more critical than it is in most drama.

What about classical music comedy? I think it's even harder. Because not only must all of the comedic elements hit at just the right time, but the comedians must also be trained professional musicians. PDQ Bach may be the world's worst composer, but only because Peter Schickele has the compositional skill to write music that elicits exactly the responses he wants. Victor Borge seemed to just fool around on the piano, but his playing appeared effortless because he had the skill and technique to make the difficult seem easy.

A good example of just how much professional training is required to pull off a successful classical music joke can be found in Aleksey Igudesman's Cyber Conductor routine.  Watch the video first, then read on.



Sure, there's a lot of funny stuff going on here. But watch it again, and pay close attention to what the conductor and the musicians are doing. The slow motion sequence, the instantaneous changes in the music -- there's not a single ragged entrance or misstep.

This is an incredibly tight ensemble, with world-class performing chops. But you don't notice it because of the humor. And the humor wouldn't be as effective without the skills of these top-notch musicians.


You can watch the video once and get the laughs. But its only when you rewatch it that you see the artistry.

The Shifting Score

It's understood that most forms of music are collaborative. Whether it's rock, country, jazz, blues, soul, or anything in between, the written music is only the starting point.

For most genres, what's written down is seldom the complete arrangement -- and often times there's nothing on the page but words and chord symbols. It's how the performing artist, in cooperation accompanying musicians choose to realize those incomplete instructions that give the song its sound.

And in a recording situation, the engineer, the producer, the arranger and guest musicians can also help shape the character of the song. In fact, for most people the recording of a song is considered the original -- not whatever printed music version of it might also be available.

For classical music it's different, though. Instead of several musicians collaborating on the structure of the song, a classical work is usually created by a single person who comes up with the musical ideas and the arrangement of those ideas. (For vocal works, the composer seldom creates the libretto -- it's usually supplied by another person.)

Classical music starts with the score -- and so one might think the score's immutable. Take a look at my little etude above. I've specified the notes to be played, the order and rhythm to play them in, how loud or soft to play them, and how to phrase the lines for expression.

So it's just left to the performer to play what's on the page, right?

Not quite.

Not every little performance decision is specified. MF means medium loud -- so how loud is that, anyway? How fast is "allegro?" And so on. If five different people were to play this piece, you would most likely hear five different interpretations. Collectively, you might recognize the performances as all being the same work (that opening motive is pretty distinctive, after all). But there would be more variation between them than you might expect.

An excellent example of that mutability was recently posted to YouTube. Robert Fink took the opening chords to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" from various recordings made between 1921 and 2010 and the results are revealing. The same notes on the page, but what a difference in interpretations. Different recording techniques, and different orchestral blends can be heard, too.



It's not a new concept, but one seldom illustrated as dramatically. In classical music, as in other genres, what's on the page is only the starting point.

The Basics of Media Old and New

CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield wrote an interesting op-ed piece "Media is Changing, But Some Things Endure." In it, he reflects on the 30-year run of "CBS Sunday Morning." While most of it centered around the program itself, at the heart of it was a concept that sometimes gets forgotten.

Whether on a TV screen or computer or cell phone or toaster, the fundamental things still apply (or should). A love of story-telling, a love of clear, vivid language, a respect for history - the world didn't start five years ago, even if YouTube did - these still matter most.

And if you look closely at the successful elements of new media, you'll find that to be true.

Who gets the most followers on Twitter? The people with the most interesting stories (told in 140-letter installments). Which new media video programs are the most successful? Those that engage and use visual story-telling effectively. Which podcasts continue to thrive? The ones with a set framework (either tightly constructed or loose) that provide purpose and flow to the content. Which blogs are the most useful? The ones that are easy to read (because the spelling and grammar are correct), and provide background links to the information.

Shiny new things can be appealing, but eventually, the shine dulls. Look at all the YouTube one-hit wonders. Evolution of Dance garnered over a hundred million views, but the follow-up only a tenth of that. Well-constructed new things can outlast their newness. Witness Coverville (over 540 episodes), or Rocketboom (over 5 years of weekday vlog posts).

So what should companies moving into new media keep in mind? The basics. What's the story you're trying to tell? And what's the best way to do it? There's plenty of examples out there -- just don't confuse the package for the contents.

- Ralph

Day 223 of the WJMA Web Watch. (So what's the story here? I guess if you don't have one, you don't need a website.)

How To Make Classical Music Fun

You can have fun with any musical genre you're familiar with -- even classical music. It's just a matter of knowing enough to spot the humorous possibilities inherent in the form (which are often different than those outsiders choose to spoof). Here's a good example.

Robert Conrad, president of WCLV, recently posted this story on a public radio listserv (and kindly granted me permission to quote from his email and share the tale with you).

Back in the middle 70s, Matthias Bamert and Kenneth Jean were on the conducting staff of the Cleveland Orchestra. They and yours truly produced a number of comedy bits for use on a Cleveland Orchestra fund raising recording and on "WCLV Saturday Night."

They included a spoof of a record company commercial called "Arnie Schoeberg's Second Viennese School Commercial." I have played in on the air a number of times over the years. Then last year someone sent it to Alex Ross, the music critic for the New Yorker. He put it up on his blog, and it made its way around the Internet. Some people even sent it to me, not realizing I was the voice.

Anyway, someone in Germany has gone to the trouble of making video of the bit, a pretty good one at that.

It's my 4:20 of anonymous YouTube fame.

Well, it's better than 4:33 of silence I think!

- Ralph

Day 66 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Dodecophonic vs. Bicameral -- Fun with numbers

Just mashing up two of the themes from recent posts -- Eric Cantor's efforts to mount an Internet petition to reconvene Congress, and a Swiss music lover's tribute to avant-garde composer Anton Webern. As of this writing, Cantor's Call Back Congress video's been viewed 5,257 times on YouTube while Anton Webern's Symphony video has been watched 15,961 times.

So does that mean Webern's masterwork holds over three times the appeal of Cantor's political posturing?

Well, the Webern video does have more of an international audience (note the comments in other languages), so perhaps not. And I freely admit this isn't really a fair comparison (although not too far afield from others we're hearing this election year).

But what if it did...

- Ralph

Day 61 of the WJMA Web Watch.

A Civilized Discussion -- on YouTube!

Many folks I know don't think much of YouTube. In their minds, it's all skateboarding dogs and painful pratfalls. And the comments that accompany them are even worse -- The Onion's recent article "Local Idiot to Post Comment On The Internet" is more truth than fiction.

But YouTube videos encompasses the entire range of human experience, from the lows to the highs.

I recently ran across a video of Anton Webern's "Symphony, Op. 21." For those not familiar with Webern's work, he was part of the Second Viennese School of composition. Following the lead of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, Webern sought to move from a tonal-based system of composition to one where all twelve of the notes in the scale are of equal weight (the dodecaphonic system).

At the same time, Webern continually distilled his music down to its essence. His symphony lasts less than ten minutes and often has just one instrument playing at a time. But every note is absolutely critical, often serving several different musical functions simultaneously.

Webern's music doesn't sound like anybody else's. And though it was written over sixty years ago it still challenges many.

Now someone's made a video of Webern's symphony.



What I find most interesting are the comments that follow the video. They're literate, polite, and often informative. Instead of comments like "Haha wtf?" and "yall haters is salitiee," we get this:

"I feel Boulez is hugely underrated not only as a conductor, but as a composer also."

"Recall that Beethoven, one of the most original of composers, went to Vienna "to follow in the footsteps of Mozart". He did not self-consciously try for originality: he was original because he had an original mind and personality. Setting out to be original on purpose is death to genuine creativity."

Thanks to poldi24 for creating the video and sharing it. Looks like you've prompted some good discussion. And on YouTube, no less!

- Ralph

Day 60 of the WJMA Web Watch.

The Anthropology of YouTube

If you think YouTube is just goofy videos of skateboarding dogs and silly but painful pratfalls, then you've missed something significant about this site. Michael Wesch, professor of anthropology at Kansas University, has been studying the Internet -- and specifically YouTube -- for some time.

His video, "Web 2.0... The Machine is Us/ing Us" should be required viewing for anyone trying to do anything online (in my opinion).

Wesch recently posted his Library of Congress address, "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube."

So why should you care what some egghead has to say about videos with kittens playing the piano? Well first, what he talks about is more fundamental than that -- he gets at the underlying social forces that drive the YouTube phenomenon. Second, Wesch is an academic with real-world experience in his field, so his observations and conclusions have been documented and tested. And any business with an online presence -- even if it doesn't post YouTube videos -- needs to understand the core concepts Wesch presents.



His concept of context collapse is probably the thing most traditional businesses stumble upon. Basically (if you haven't watched the video yet), the idea is this: once something's made available on the Internet, other people can take it and use all or parts of it for their own self-expression -- and the original creator has no control over its use.

Now this is the kind of thing that keeps RIAA and MPAA lawyers busy round-the-clock issuing take-down orders and filing lawsuits in a vain attempt to hold back the tsunami with an umbrella.

But it's also the kind of thing that made Jonathan Coulton a star. While Prince goes after a mom for the background music heard in a video of her child dancing, Coulton encouraged people to use his music to create their own videos -- and they have. Each one raises Coulton's profile, and each one represents another way for his music to reach potential fans.

Coulton's embrace of YouTube culture has helped him monetize his music while the major labels continue to spend huge sums of money to wage war on their artists' biggest fans.

Which is the smarter marketing strategy? Which one does your business embrace?

Invest an hour. Watch the video.

- Ralph

Day 52 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Video for radio websites -- the easy way

I've talked before about how radio stations can use videos to add valuable content to their websites (and thereby increase traffic). Recently, I was reminded that this video doesn't necessarily have to be generated by the business itself.

JD Slade is the morning DJ at WJMA-FM in Orange, Virginia -- the station we're using as a case study to see what works (or doesn't) online. JD's posted some videos on YouTube. They're not official WJMA videos, just clips shot by private individuals. While not great art, they're the kind of fun, casual videos many people post.

However -- even though these are personal videos, they can be potentially valuable content for WJMA's website.

Here's one of JD Slade having fun in the studio while a song plays.



So what's the takeaway?

1. JD Slades's a person who knows how to have fun.
2. JD Slade's full of energy.
3. If you look carefully, you can see that he's not just flailing his arms -- JD really knows how to play the guitar. He's a musician.

Now if this video was embedded in the station's website with info about JD Slade's morning show, the augmented takeaway could be:

1. WJMA's morning show is fun.
2. WJMA's morning man, JD Slade, is full of energy.
3. WJMA's staff (at least one of them) is a musician. They must really know a lot about the music they play.

Here's another one of JD Slade dancing at a local event.



The immediate takeaway?

1. JD Slade is man who knows how to enjoy himself.
2. JD Slade is a good dancer (decidedly better than me, that's for sure).
3. This looks like a fun event.

Now suppose that video was taken at a WJMA remote, and posted to WJMA's website (with accompanying info identifying JD Slade as the WJMA morning DJ). Now the takeaway's changed slightly.

1. JD is a man who knows how to enjoy himself. His morning show must be fun to listen to.
2. JD is a good dancer. He sure has a lot of energy. I bet his morning show does, too.
3. Looks like this is a fun WJMA event. The next time they're going to be out broadcasting somewhere, I'm going to stop by. They know how to have a blast.

Of course, the more videos of this nature the station has on its site, the larger the cumulative effect. By also placing them on YouTube (yes, I know that's where these originated), the station makes the videos available to other folks as well. And every time someone links to it or embeds it in their own blog/email/Facebook page/etc., it just serves as another free plug for, and another link back to the station. And in the realm of social networking, that's the most effective kind of branding there is.

So the simplest (and cheapest) way to generate unique content for a website? Let the staff do their thing with camcorders -- and post the videos that work.

- Ralph


Day 27 of the WJMA Web Watch.

The Long Tail of the Italian Spiderman

One of the more exciting things about the Internet is how it expands a potential audience (and market) from the local to the international. In pre-Internet days, only companies with the resources for extensive marketing could hope to break into other markets.

These days, almost everyone can. Especially if what they're offering is some kind of data -- audio, video, text. Take the case of the "Italian Spiderman."

This five-minute video was created as a project by some Australian film students at Flinders University. "Italian Spiderman" pays homage to Italian action movies of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

In the pre-Internet world, the video would have been shown once or twice at Flinders University, and that would have been it. And perhaps a few others that the director, Dario Russo, would have sent the video to as a demo.

Instead, the "Italian Spiderman" was placed online -- and it found an audience.





The example above I pulled from YouTube, where it's been viewed almost two million times. It also has a MySpace page (250,000 views) and is available at many other sites. So now this student film has turned into something else.

Russo and his company Alrugo Entertainment have starting filming the movie in installments, and posting them weekly YouTube. And the soundtrack is now available for sale.

Now the really remarkable part of the story is that "Italian Spiderman" only appeals to a very small niche audience. Most of the people I've talked to who've seen "Italian Spiderman" don't like it (many didn't make it through the first few seconds). The few who did appreciate it were fans of Italian late 1960's cinema, such as spaghetti westerns or spy movies.

How well does "Italian Spiderman" nail its subject? As you can see from the trailer for the real 1968 Italian spy film "Danger: Diabolik," they come very close. The quality of the film stock looks right, the gestures are right, the closeups on the eyes are right, -- even the Euro-groovy soundtrack is right.



Statistically, people who are familiar with late 1960's Italian genre cinema make up a small part of film fandom. And if "Italian Spiderman" had only been shown in Australia, it would have faded into obscurity. But because Alrugo Entertainment could make "Italian Spiderman" available internationally, they've been able to connect with enough of that niche audience to start monetizing their creation.

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't offer a DVD of the film once they post all the installments.

I'd buy it.

- Ralph

Day 16 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Citizen Fact-checkers

The recent dust-up about the difference Hillary Clinton's recollection of her 1996 visit to Bosnia and footage shot at the time is a good illustration of citizen fact-checkers at work. As I've previously posted, I think we're seeing more and more people responding to political rhetoric with "Yeah? Says who? I'll just check that out for myself."

But it's important to make sure you're really getting the facts when you do so. The Bosnian incident is a good example of that. My goal isn't to make you think one way or the other about what Clinton's claims mean. That's for you to decide.

In this case, it took a little digging to get to the original sources (about 20 minutes of work). Here's Senator Clinton talking about her trip on February, 29, 2008.



And here's the March 17, 2008 version most often excerpted by the media for stories about the controversy.




Finally, here's the original report filed by CBS covering Clinton's landing at the Tuzla airfield.



The video from the 1996 CBS report and Clinton's March 17, speech have been edited, remixed, and re-presented many times, both by individuals posting to the Internet and mainstream media broadcasts. On YouTube alone there are currently over 70 different versions of these clips. The ones from Fox, CBS, MSNBC and other mainstream media programs often include various pundits and talking heads giving you their take on the edited clips.

In detective fiction, after the red herrings have been eliminated, the evidence always points in just one direction, leading to a single inescapable conclusion. Realty -- especially the political kind -- is far different. The evidence is seldom dramatically clear-cut, and even when it is, interpretations can vary.

In the comment field for all of these clips (and their multiple variations), the posters run the full range of opinion. There's plenty of partisan responses, both for and against. Some of them read as if the writers didn't really watch the video -- they came with their opinion already set, and were there just to denounce the opposition.

So the Internet isn't the cure-all for partisan politics.

But it does provide an opportunity for those with open minds to cut through the clutter and get to the information they need to form their own opinions. After all, as Thomas Jefferson said, "An informed citizenry is the bulwark of a democracy."

(Oh yeah? Says who? While the sentiment of that statement ring true, the attribution to Jefferson is spurious.)

- Ralph

Another milestone -- and our top five posts

Late last night CE Conversations passed another important milestone. Our eccentric little blog has passed the 20,000 view mark, according to Feedburner.

Feedburner tracks the subscribers to our RSS feed and hits to our Feedburner site. (The StatCounter down on the lower right of this page tracks direct hits to this site -- but only for the past few months.) Feedburner provides a variety of traffic stats, included one that tells us which posts are the most read. And so, to mark the 20,000 view milestone, here's a rundown of our five most popular posts.

5) "Better" Best Be Better (Ralph) -- a look at the urtext of the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war

4) Digital junk food (Ken) -- articulating the role of short-form video on the Internet

3) A Worthy Supporting Role (Ken) -- commentary on Rex Ingram's role in "Sahara" and how it played against racial stereotypes

2) Who needs an iPhone, when.... (Ken) -- suggesting an alternative to the iPhone madness

And the most popular post to date,

1) Greenberg Revisited (Ralph) -- discussing the importance of well-researched price guides as opposed to relying on Ebay to determine the value of collectibles

Although the lineup's changed since our last survey at 10,000 views, overall reader preferences haven't. Ken's taken a bit of a hiatus, which has caused the proportion of my posts to the total number available to grow significantly. Nevertheless, Ken has three of the top five posts, with an overall total that easily trumps mine.

It appears that you still prefer quality to quantity. Congratulations once again, Ken! Now write me a post!

- Ralph

Radio Websites -- Odds and Ends

Our recent series of posts about how to improve a radio station's website (using our local radio station WJMA as a case study) generated some good discussion both on- and offline. Rather than go back and alter the posts, I decided to just do a final roundup of ideas. Thanks to everyone who helped with this!

Don't be shy about your assets
Did you know that Piedmont Communications owns more than just WJMA? You wouldn't unless you went to their company page. On the home page for WJMA should be linked to WLSA, WCVA, WVCV, and WOJL, along with some indication as to their format. (Sorry, I couldn't find links to those other stations -- that's a whole separate issue).

This is important for two reasons: listeners and advertisers.

The iPod revolution has demonstrated that listeners are eclectic. While a person may prefer a particular musical genre, there's usually a few songs from other kinds on their MP3 player as well. A WJMA listener might occasionally go to another station for some variety. Letting them know what other music Piedmont Communications offers just helps keeps that listener within the Piedmont Communications family of stations.

As I said in the last post, a business' website often forms the first impression for potential customers. Current and potential advertisers coming to the WJMA site need to be aware that there are other stations. Don't rely on a sales call to explain it -- the modern business owner (and yes, even little ol' Orange County, Virginia has a growing number of them) will do online research on their own.

Don't forget the video
I talked about always having a digital camera at hand to take pictures to post on the site. Video's great, too. Clips should be short, and make some kind of narrative sense. And if its an entertaining clip, like an office prank, then post it on YouTube and other video sites. The more content you have on the web and the more places you have it ultimately increases traffic to your site.

Link everything
Hotlinks are the key to a successful website. Any URLS in PSAs should be linked, as well as any articles referred to. Cross-linking between pages within a site is extremely helpful. If you're talking about something on another page in another category, don't make the reader go all the way back through the navigation menu to get there -- just link to it. They'll be more likely to visit that page, and more visits = more views for the sponsors on those pages.

No dancing baloney
Keep animation to a minimum -- especially with advertising banners. Also, go easy on the flash animation and other such distractions. While the goal is to monetize the site, ads should be carefully placed so they don't overpower the content (which is why the reader is there). And an excessive amount of banner animation can actually drive people from the site.

Did I miss anything? Add your comment below and let me know.

- Ralph

Local, but not necessarily Yokel

I was looking through the comments fields, and ran across one that I thought needed some clarification.

In my post "Television's White Lies," I expressed the hope that Sarah Honenberger's inteview on WTVR in Richmond would be posted on YouTube. The author left a comment about the post.

YouTube has copyright issues for most television stations, so the video can't be posted there. Should be on the readwhitelies.com website in a week or so. Media coverage for a book is absolutely crucial to spread the word, no matter the size of the publisher. Increasingly authors are having to do their own promotion.

Amen to that -- increasingly creative artists have to do their own promotion, and fortunately the Internet makes it easier to connect with their core audiences, but it's still a labor-intensive process. We'll explore that concept later.

But the comment kind of misses my point. The WTVR program "Virginia This Morning" was locally produced, so the content was under copyright to the station. If it had been a national program, then it would have been the network's call to post it or not. But since the interview was material owned by WTVR, they had the right to post it (or not) as they chose.

And they missed an opportunity by not doing so. As it was, a few thousand saw the interview when it was aired, and that was the end of it. If WTVR had posted the segment to YouTube, then Sarah Honenberger could have linked to it from her site -- and visitors across the country would have seen it, and become aware of WTVR. Fans of Honenberger would have something to link to on their respective blogs and/or sites, and so on.

This raises the profile of the station nationally. Artists, actors, writers and others with a national reputation on publicity tours become interested in the station, as an interview will not only help them locally, but gain them a wider audience through YouTube.

As the stature of the guests rise, so does the audience for "Virginia This Morning." And bigger audience means heftier ad rates.

Now not every segment of "Virginia This Morning" should be posted. The person talking about the local 5k run, for example, wouldn't be a good post. But interviews that would be of interest to people outside the Richmond area would be. And I don't think it would be that difficult to each day look over the scheduled guests for that edition of the show and decide which segments should be posted. An intern could handle the edits, convert the video files and upload the segments. There could even be credits attached that could drive traffic to the WTVR website. And higher web traffic can also mean higher ad revenues.

There are some WTVR posts on YouTube, but it looks like few actually come from the station. Artists aren't the only ones who need to do a little self-promotion. WTVR missed a chance to reach a wider audience. And perhaps a chance to monetize that opportunity.

- Ralph