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April 19, 2007
Reflections on our First Live call-in Internet TV Show:
Yesterday afternoon, Chris Brogan and I did our first live call-in Internet TV Show on Ustream.tv. And I finally had another chance to leverage the investment I made last summer in the creation of the pulver.tv studio. In the past few days I had seen others go live on Ustream.tv with just a laptop and a webcam and I wanted to see if I could make something of higher production value for our viewers. So we used our studio and fired up our lights and studio microphone and tried to add a professional feeling to our amateur activities in the world of live internet TV.
Right when the show started and at various points during the show, we gave out Chris’s cell phone number as the dial-in number. And while we did not patch the calls directly into the audiostream, from what we were told, most of the callers could be heard. As people started to call-in from all over the world, it hit me that we were playing with technology that was as disruptive to the future of Media as my use of Internet Phone back in April, 1995 when all I need to talk to people around the world was software, connectivity and a computer. Back then the press considered all of us "hobbyists" and the telecom operators thought we were playing with "toys" yet what we were playing with was the underlying technology that would change the face of communications forever.
Well this time around we had our own live TV show and we were live on the Internet and we were heard and seen by viewers from all over the world. From a traditional media perspective, I could not fathom what the costs would have been for us to rent satellite time for us to broadcast our live Internet TV show into all of the locations where we had viewers. Flashback to my days of listening to shortwave radio, it was like we had our own “shortwave TV” broadcasting facility. It was an amazing moment in time for us.
It is almost ironic that our first broadcast took place the same week that NAB2007 is taking place. The world of media has been disrupted and there is no turning back. We are living in the early days of a new form of broadcasting. But this time around people don't need to invest in the broadcast facilities of a TV station or worry about purchasing a license or invest in the equipment for a studio. We are living in the days where Video has become an application. It is the advent of video being application in a time of pervasive broadband where anyone with a laptop, broadband access and a webcam can create their own live Internet TV show in a matter of minutes. And thanks to services like twitter, it is a lot easier to get the attention of others to immediately come forward and watch your show.
So the innovation here is the ease-of-use associated with creating a new TV show where you no longer need anyone's permission to be live on the net. Ustream.tv makes this a reality in 5 minutes or less. No longer does a show have to get green lighted in order to be seen. The gatekeepers are gone. It is now up to each and every show producer to fine their audience, service their audience and grow their audience from the ground up.
Before our first show was over, we took two calls from people in the UK, a call from Canada, SMS from Argentina and calls from across the United States including a caller from Anchorage, Alaska. And this doesn’t include other people from around the world who were just watching us. Chris and I had a great time doing our show and I am already looking forward for the next edition of the Chris Brogan / Jeff Pulver show.
Special thanks to everyone who called in and participated in our show. And especially thanks to Andy Lipson and David Kowarsky for their work behind the camera.
(Alan Weinkrantz was the first person to call-into our show and shared this photo.)
Tags: Internet TV, NAB2007, VoIP, ustream.tv, Andy Lipson, David Kowarsky, Alan Weinkrantz, Chris Brogan, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on April 19, 2007 09:04 AM | Permalink
Additional resources: Watch PrimeTime TV Shows | Watch the Jeff Pulver Show | Jeff's Qik Videos
Comments
Cool deal Jeff!
Posted by: broadband news at April 20, 2007 10:01 AM
Dang-Jeff I saw your Tweet announcing show. Was busy-otherwise you'd have had me at least chatting in from Taiwan. Kudos guys-for continuing to go for it.
Posted by: Mark Forman at April 20, 2007 02:42 AM
This is really exciting! Lets go one step forward and think what it means for live broadcasts. If you have a laptop with a 3G connection ... you can broadcast live from anywhere.
I have a friend who is an Internet TV journalist here in Israel, Kobi Sela. Kobi has attached a camera to his car and his 3G cellphone and he broadcasts his travels live to his friends while conversing with them on MSN Messenger. I just told him about ustream.tv! I just told him about it and he is ecstatic...
I wrote about it at http://flatplanetphone.com/wordpress/?p=143
Posted by: Moshe Maeir at April 19, 2007 03:39 PM
This is such an exciting time to be involved in all the various forms of online presence, particularly video.
So when will you post an archive of the show? Many of us missed the live presentation.
Posted by: Kevin Kennedy-Spaien at April 19, 2007 02:59 PM
You're right on the money about all this.... the playing field has leveled. Anyone with good, or innovative content can be just as relevant as what is on the mainstream media.
In a world of friends sharing and challenging each other in innovative, creative and positive ways... I suspect we're going to rapidly develop a new guideline of what "good" and "valuable" content is defined by.
Posted by: Vergel Evans at April 19, 2007 02:24 PM
I was really impressed withyour studio look and sound, I didn't even have to help set up. I have used the cell phone earbuds to feed directly into my video stream and have experimented with a small power mike (believe it or not from the old CB days) to feed into the mike wires, worked Great. Add a video switch or USB switch to change camera feeds. or software that allows a pc's desktop to emaualte a web cam and you have a complete production studio, the possibilities are endless...
Posted by: Ustream Tech at April 19, 2007 01:21 PM
Jeff, you're inventing a new medium - again! We're all in awe of your genyus.
Posted by: Emma Parkfield at April 19, 2007 12:24 PM
This is media becoming interactive in ways TV can't be. Add video chat at the same time on Chris Brogan's Mac, and you have totally removed the "You can see me, but I can't see you " paradigm of television.
There will always be an issue about quality content, storylines, having something to talk about, and to whom. Networks have thought they had this sewn up, but good writers and communicators are still rare, and they no longer have to wait to be "discovered" - they can be heard anytime they want, for a relatively small investment in technology.
This show was great, as much for what it shows is possible, as for the content itself. Life is going to conitnue to change rapidly, and I am so glad to know where to go to find the cutting edge.
Right here.
Posted by: Whitney at April 19, 2007 10:43 AM
Great show. Ustream has made it almost too easy to create a show :) Big media has to compete and they should be scared. Now "we" have the power to create live video easily, but "we" have more leverage everyday in how content creation is viewed, we have live with participation, plus for people that missed the live viewing we have archival podcasts for viewing later. Big media still doesn't quite get the concept of watch when you want to. They are still anti-(tivo,podcasts,youtube,etc). You have to keep up with the times and old media is still too slow to respond, and that is why I watch very little "old" media anymore. Enough of my rant, congrats on the successful show.
-Jeff
http://blog.zemote.com
Posted by: Jeff O'Hara at April 19, 2007 10:21 AM
Damn, I'm sorry I missed it. I'd meant to join but got tied up in other stuff.
I tuned in a bit earlier and saw an empty desk and heard you all chatting about stuff. What a fun way to make a living :)
Posted by: Rupert at April 19, 2007 10:08 AM
I had a tough time falling asleep last night for thinking on all the infinite applications your show pioneered yesterday. At one point, I had to jump right up and email an old media dude, now sniffing around the edges of new media big time, as so many are now, I know who would be perfect for a show based entirely on his long and fascinating lifetime of knowledge and expertise in broadcasting.
Personally, I could plan and promote these kinda shows until I collapsed moreorless! Think I'll go troll around Ga. Tech's Digital Media program and rustle me up a production staff to do all my heavy lifting though. Too much cable pulling's not good for my manicures.
Thanks Jeff for the opportunity to participate in something new, productive, exciting and just plain fun... something that can (and will), ultimately, benefit so many on this tiny planet.
Posted by: Grayson at April 19, 2007 10:04 AM
cool experiment, will use the comparison to VoIP era in my discussions with the non-believers :)
Referred to your post -
http://pravdam.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/pulver-take-on-the-ustream-live-show/
Posted by: Kfir Pravda at April 19, 2007 09:31 AM
Really fun doing this with you, Jeff. It was an interesting experience. Enric mentioned during the production about how the Steve Allen show was live, and that it was the nature of production back in the 50s. That made me feel very excited, to be linked back to some of those pioneers.
And sure, everything's gone a long way forward, but like Spacey Gracey said, the cost of putting up a live spot for mainstream TV is astronomic, fraught with potential risks, and just all around tricky.
With the help of Andrew Lipson and David Kowarsky, that didn't feel too tricky. : )
Thanks again, Jeff.
Posted by: Chris Brogan... at April 19, 2007 09:23 AM
Fun show, guys! :D
The oh-so-technological cellphone-to-the-mic gave the show that down-home feeling! hahaha
Posted by: Bill Cammack at April 19, 2007 09:16 AM