You no doubt read about one of the great Christmas Wishes of all time over last year’s holidays. Today on JacoBLOG, Saga EVP Steve Goldstein provides some perspective about this beyond-buzzworthy event and raises some important questions about the changing nature of what is “real time.”
Right behind “twerking” in the verbal lexicon of 2013 is “it’s gone viral.”
After 20 years of granting Christmas Wishes of all types on our Des Moines Hot AC station KSTZ/Star 102.5, we had a wish like we had never seen before. In the past, we’ve helped out with medical needs, getting the heat turned back on, or arranging a bicycle for little Bobby – but we knew this one was different.
Brenda Schmitz wrote us a heartfelt wish for her husband and four children one month before passing away from ovarian cancer two years ago. It was to be delivered by a good friend if her husband had found a new love and was about to get married.
We called David Schmitz into the radio station where our morning hosts Ken and Colleen read the wish. It was a story for the holidays with great audio and video – well-orchestrated by our Brand Manager Scott Allen.
If you haven’t seen it, here’s the way it happened on the air:
>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO WATCH STAR 102.5/BRENDA’S SCHMITZ’S CHRISTMAS WISH<
The entire trajectory of outside coverage was fascinating to watch unfold. The local CBS-TV affiliate picked up the story. Gannett’s Des Moines Register ran it. Shortly after, the hot website BuzzFeed got a hold of the story: 750,000 views, then 2 million, then 3 million ….. at 5 million views, sites from around the world picked it up – front page of the NY Daily News, Huffington Post, various sites in the UK, hundreds of thousands of shares on Facebook.
This story was the definition of viral. It was Top 10 on You Tube for three days. The story appeared on over 51,000 blogs worldwide, running the gamut from “mommy” blogs to Harley blogs to soccer teams to Christian, atheist, Buddhist, and Muslim sites. The array and diversity of audiences was astounding, underscoring the widespread appeal of Brenda and David’s story.
We granted the wish on air Friday and by Saturday it was everywhere – everywhere except for most legacy media. That blew us away. Where were the “big boys?” Finally on Sunday – 6 million BuzzFeed views later – we started getting calls from the networks. Good Morning America wanted a piece for Monday. CBS for Monday morning. NBC was thinking about Sunday night and The Today Show on Monday. CNN wanted it for Friday but didn’t air it until Sunday.
The lack of urgency at the TV network level astounded us. Maybe it was because it was the weekend with less staff on hand. Is it possible the story wasn’t really that big? Not a chance. BuzzFeed, now over 8 million. We had estimates with sites around the world at 20-30 million views and shares.
Maybe in a viral media world, traditional media outlets are just too slow to react. A major TV network personality told me recently a defining moment for his organization occurred when a Korean jet went down on a summer Saturday in San Francisco this past year. People were tweeting and making Facebook posts from the plane and terminal while TV stations waited for upwards of 30 minutes for the remote trucks to arrive from the airport and from their downtown studios.
News is moving faster than ever. Social media has forever changed the cycle and it leads one to wonder how slow all legacy media is perceived. Radio included.
Too often, I hear stories from our markets about stations that didn’t pivot during a major storm, or were “in the can” during a breaking local story.
To be relevant in an accelerated news cycle, we need to be nimble and in-the-moment just like the Internet. Our Christmas Wish tale exposed vulnerabilities which potentially damage our relevance and hipness. It was a wakeup call for our crew, and a thrill ride to see all of this unfold.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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