Goat Post: Issue 21

Halloween will never be the same.

Our daughter Caroline, the little girl born three weeks early on a 110 degree day in Scottsdale, AZ, 31 years ago, has tied the knot.

Welcome to the party, Dylan. They’re a wonderful couple, and their happiness means the world to our family.

We celebrated the occasion with a walk through Lambertville, NJ, the town that does Oct. 31 better than anyplace I’ve ever seen.

For that, by the way, those few blocks in that western New Jersey neighborhood are our Goat Of The Week, a first for a location.

@olala_america

Nobody does Halloween better, than Lambertville, NJ! October’24. More decorations are coming! #lambertville #halloweentime #newjersey #usa... See more

The sound of the cannons from the pirate ship front porch reminded me of the way Caroline played softball during her high school years.

Boom went the bat. Now, groom gets the catch.

My costume? A bolo tie and cowboy hat. Urban Vowboy.

Getting ready for the big day had me thinking about the big picture. The rest of this week’s Goat Post is about the decades that have brought us to this exciting time.

It’s a summary of how human beings have crafted and experienced storytelling for roughly the last century — and perspective on the future to which Goatnet is hitched.

1940-1949: Print Is King

Print was the king that dominated news & information. So I’ll refer here to newspapers and magazines covering World War II. To sports pages reporting on Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and Jackie Robinson signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

But also to a book published in 1943: The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Here‘s how it applies to the pursuit of greatness, our North Star: It critiques the narrow-mindedness and materialism of many so-called grown-ups, contrasting it with the imagination and wisdom of young people.

1950-1959: Radio

Radio properties elevated content enjoyment alongside black and white TV. Radio, which had been relevant for a long time, skyrocketed when automobile manufacturers made car radios standard accessories.

Here’s some radio gold from the hugely popular Paul Harvey. His “The Rest Of The Story” works of audio art delighted listeners from 1951 to 2008.

@laurie_ann_72

#therestofthestory #paulharveystories #radioshow #aubreyhepburn

Did you know he was the son of a policeman who was killed by robbers when Paul was only 3 years old? Now you know … go ahead, say it … The Rest Of The Story.

1960-1969: Color TV

Broadcast color television became a juggernaut. Viewers were treated to the on-air delivery of Walter Cronkite. That’s the way it was. But it wasn’t just Walter. It was Jim McKay and Johnny Carson. It was “I Have A Dream” and “One Giant Leap For Mankind.”

There also was this, on the evening of the assassination of President Kennedy: His widow, Jacqueline, with bloodstains on her clothes and stockings, was advised to freshen up for the television cameras before stepping off Air Force One as she and JFK’s coffin carried only despair.

Gracefully and thoughtfully, she declined.

“Let them see what they’ve done,” the heartbroken First Lady said.

1970-1979: Cable & Satellite

Cable and satellite systems seeded additional revenue and production opportunities. Savvy sports team owners pleased fans with WGN Chicago Cubs telecasts and WTBS Atlanta Braves ballgames. ESPN was launched in September 1979, two years before video killed the radio star on MTV.

1980-1989: Regional Networks

Regional networks became important assets for professional and collegiate sports brands. Prime Ticket, SportsChannel, Raycom and others shoveled overdue dirt onto the incorrect premise that having more local games on TV would have a negative impact on attendance.

1990-1999: Internet

The Internet’s arrival sparked promising disruption. AOL, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Google, and so on, modernized media, embracing two-way communication, firing a warning that old school companies would’ve been wise to respect. Those who mistook quicksand for beautiful beaches would have a lot of explaining to do.

And they’d likely be doing it from underwater.

Yahoo bought Broadcast.com for $5.7 billion, and Mark Cuban is “not complaining at all” about how that worked out.

2000-2009: Streaming

Over-the-top streaming flexed digital muscle. I had the honor of getting hired at Major League Baseball Advanced Media at the start of 2001. It was a great team at a great time. We facilitated ticket sales online, launched MLB.TV, built the At Bat App, Statcast and provided streaming services to like-minded leagues and networks looking for innovative, dependable direct-to-consumer solutions. 

Netflix transitioned to streaming in 2007, a year after Amazon teed up something called Amazon Unbox, which settled on its fourth and current name, Prime Video, in 2015.

@ifixgadget.id

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2010-2019: Mobile & Social

Mobile & social accelerated the creator economy. The iPhone was introduced in June 2007, numbering the days of qwerty keyboards, and the App Store adding subscription options in 2011 placed the iPhone six years ahead of Shohei Ohtani as the planet’s most coveted do-it-all sensation.

Facebook was the OG social shiny object. Twitter was next, bursting on the scene at South By Southwest, and by February 2010 users were posting 50 million tweets per day. By the next month, Twitter, now X, had 70,000 registered applications. Instagram launched in 2010, Snapchat in 2011, TikTok in 2017. They’re all as flawed as “Love Is Blind” relationships.

naijaonnetflix

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2020-2029: AI Innovation

AI innovation is removing legacy media barriers. The pace of shortcuts is breakneck. Deception is rampant. Advantages are unreal.

Let’s review (had to include the greatest tabloid headline of all time somewhere).

We started with content filtered through publishers, brought to life on printing presses and distributed on newsstands or in driveways. We heard stories, songs and games through licensed sources, from radio stations to record companies.

Anybody could create content. 

But time and again, for decades, gatekeepers got their kicks picking and choosing who and what to green light with all the credibility of, oh, let’s say LSU’s last athletic director. 

Winners currently can bet on themselves and get their numbers and their messages seen more effectively, more directly, than at any time in history. That will keep getting far, far better.

All the world’s a stage.

2030-2039: User Generated Networks

User Generated Networks are going to power vital growth. Before we pretend to know exactly what’s five years in front of us, Goatnet chooses navigation based on passing lanes and paying attention.

Play like it’s Game 7 (giddy plug for tonight in Toronto).

The Goatnet community is asking for aggregation of content connected to greatness, in material that makes the user experience enjoyable, productive and above the noise.

“Trick or treat” is the Halloween catch phrase. It helps to remember, that’s a question.

Media should be a treat. It should be organized, packaged — and taste great. You want to discover it conveniently. You want it to resonate. Let’s say you’re in the mix for Name, Image & Likeness opportunities. You need engagement, and a coach or executive has to want you on his or her team.

Today’s Goat Post started with my first child, grown up, writing The Rest Of Her Story.

Every chapter is one for the books, and for the categories of her choosing. We know what’s ahead are new and vibrant ways to share, to celebrate. That goes for every customer we serve, every organization and individual.

Fall back? That’s for clocks, not for futures.

It’s your network. Make it great.

Goat Big!