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How Do You Get on the Discovery Channel?
Anonym1ty asks: "My group of Amateur Radio Operators is planning a DX-Pedition in 2005 to an Island in Alaska. We are planning on operating a station for a few days to become the rare ham radio contact from the island. We already have sponsors, but we want to showcase this event and Ham Radio in some way to the public and were hoping to find some way to get PBS, The Discovery Channel or some other network to tag along with us and showcase what Amateur Radio is. In researching how to contact these I find a sea of red tape. The Discovery Channel Networks only take suggestions from scientists or production crews. PBS seems interested but the few stations I have actually received a response from seem to just mention how they have no budget. How do I find a production company and convince them this would be a good idea? It is important to note that we Ham Radio operators cannot make any money on this and any pecuniary gain would go to the production company."
Isn't that kind of mandatory for operating a radio station?
Just film it yourself. Buy a digital video camera, get lots of footage, and edit a demo tape. If it's really that interesting, National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, or someone might buy it. They would likely reedit your footage with voiceovers, etc., but expecting them to foot the bill of sending a crew, etc. is a longshot.
You mentioned that Discovery is only interested in talking to Producers... there you go. Become a producer.
Just convince Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. to go with you... maybe bring some of their choppers to ride around the island? No speed limits could be a major attraction. Of course, the fact that racing slicks don't work too well on tundra could be a major downside.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Have you tried contacting the Canadian version of Discovery? This kind of Technology in the Arctic story is right up their alley.
I daresay you'll reach more hams via Slashdot than through any TV show. Are you just trying to draw attention to your endeavor, or are you hoping to attract more interest to amateur radio in general and perhaps recruit new fans? (call the show "Elmer Live"...) I'd hope any nascent genuine geeks won't be wasting time watching the mostly-drek on the Discovery Channel (Mythbusters notwithstanding) - figure out what the kids watch, and show 'em what's cool about ham radio if you can.
(KB0UQY - got the licence 8 years ago now, and have never so much as touched a radio since...)
Perfectly Normal Industries
National Public Radiois not a visual medium, but neither is HAM Radio. This sounds like the kind of report that might be of interest to Talk of the Nation's Science Friday. Email show suggestions to scifri[AT]sciencefriday.com.
Sure you can, see Sec. 97.113 (5)(c)
Just make it a long-distance learning "teachable moment".
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
Meanwhile, pretend you have a producer and go talk to sponsors. Whose sleeping bags are you using? Whose trucks are you using? There must be some equipment you're using that isn't sponsored -- ask those folks to pay for the video crew. Whose radios are you using? Your own? Great -- find a radio manufacturer and ask them to sponsor the video, leave your radios at home and use theirs. I'd say the radio makers have the most to gain from popularizing ham radio.
Have you talked to the ARRL about this?
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
The credits of aired shows gives you a nice list of production companies and people you can contact.
Might also help to look into finding corporate/foundation sponsership for the show.
The suggestions about filming yourself are interesting, if nothing else you will have something you can use yourselves as a promotional tool. I have help helped run small activities like this for the my local SCA group. The big thing is to have a story or narrative.
Set out your goals, getting to the site, setting up, whom do you expect to communicant with. What are the risks? What are the rewards? There needs to be tension. Set your goals high so that there is some risk of failure. If there is no risk there is no story. (I am not talking uncontrolled stupid risks.)
I would watch many "Junk Yard Wars" episodes to look at how they build a narrative around what would be otherwise boring. In some respects you are doing the same thing.
Then do it. Film it. Keep notes, like temperature and wind. Gets lots of comments and background on the people.
Then from all the film and tape build the documentary. You can even build more than one for different audiences. A outdoors story with radio, a radio story in the outdoors, a technical story, and so on. Finally test the documentaries and edit till you get good results.
Consider contacting a local collage to see if they have film or media students that need a subject to cover. The SCA documentaries I have helped with were filmed by students from a collage media program.
Charles Puffer
It's entirely possible, but you will need a troll that is good enough to be newsworthy.
Heres a thought. I'm a film student, and, as such, I know plenty of other talented, reliable guys and gals with a love for film and documentary. Many of us have our own equipment. All of us our broke.
Heres what i suggest: get some funding together. Get enough to pay airfare and lodging, and pizza for a crew of two. Post an ad on craigslist.org in the Los Angeles area, seeking an editor, sound guy, and DV cinematographer.
How long will you be up there? i imagine a fairly interesting 60-90 minute documentary could be shot in a week, and edited in a couple months. Bring the sound-guy and cinematographer (with their own equipment) along (make sure you ask to see a reel, and at the very least interview the kids over the phone. make sure you like their personalities, as well their work.
Enter the final product in some film festivals (credit yourself as Producer and Director). with any luck, you'll get some screening, and perhaps a straight to dvd deal or some theatrical release.
if you're interested and want to discuss this further, i'd be happy to give you some ideas over email:
taylorfinley@hotmail.com
I find it strange that you're blaming the lack of interest on "red tape" and "funding". What you haven't told us is, What's your pitch? Why should anybody spend a lot of time and money to put you on TV? What's visually compelling about your event?
Yeah, there's a lot of boring stuff on TV, and you think your event would be an improvement. But not everybody shares your interests. If you want to be on TV, you have to sell yourself. And do it fast, 'cause there are a million or so people in line behind you.
...to the Discovery Channel if it were called "Monster HAM Radio" or if it was about about stangers remodeling your equipment.
So my suggestion is: find a freelancer who's willing and able to do a professional documentary, do it, and THEN hawk it to whomever you please. Depending on how well "sold" your idea is to this potential producer you might have to help finance the work, but it sounds like you believe in your idea; if he or she does, too, perhaps they'd even do it just for a share in the profits.
Good luck!
Look into leasing DV cams, or institutions that might even loan them out for projects such as this, or even local sponsors such as a Good Guys or what not who have already restocked product to lend.
Put an ad in local art school newspapers and contact them about the opportunity you're offering, and how far you're willing to go. (No money, but free transportation and boarding.) Even your local TV station might help you out possibly by loaning equipment, possibly with interns, or someone else who gets the shit jobs.
Let's face it. The beeb is the world's last, best hope for decent documentaries of this nature.
-- A mind is a terrible thing.
heed the suggestions to either find a Production Company or Make this Yourself under the banner of a Production Company you create just for this.
The Discovery Channel only buys programming. They may enter into an agreement to co-sponsor something with a Production Company that has a track record with them, but you have nothing right now.
One of the best suggestions so far is to do the NPR thing, its really cheap (sound only) and you can possibly use this as leverage to get a Video Production Company onboard to do the filming.
However- the bad thing about being your own Production Company is that you have to find all the funding yourself and if you decide you can just make the Video yourself and you have no experience, you may end up with just an expensive home movie.
Your project will have to fit into a pre-determined format and time frame (under 60 minutes, probably under 30 and in reality, it may just end up being a 5 minute bit as part of a newsmagazine show.....).
I don't have any recommendations for Production Companies to go to though, watch the credits carefully on some shows and look for name of the Production Company who actually produced the piece. You will find the same ones listed again and again.
I like microcars
Before you start trying to get attention from the Discovery channel, why don't you talk to local news stations? Local TV stations in general are pretty good about touching on the subject if nothing else, and will get the message of what you are doing out into the public -- all of this a good thing, considering you'll probably find more hams to participate in this activity.
My suggestions:
Just my suggestion -- Start Small, and Build.
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
If you can convince them (and it isn't as hard as it sounds) that there's a story there, and that you'll let them present the event in any fashion they wish, someone'll tag along with you then sell the resulting piece somewhere (or at least show it at film festivals).
Of course, there's always the danger of becoming the Monster Garage or Blair Witch Project of Amateur Radio, so be wary about WHO you choose. Since you're not looking to make any money whatsoever, you can be picky about whom you trust to treat the subject matter with respect. Just don't get in the way on the day-to-day stuff.
The content is controlled oligarchically and plutocratically. Local access is a complete joke, public television is underfunded, and the rest of it has such prohibitively high costs.
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The last could be interesting. Imagine the footage you could get with an unarmed Ham operator teaching a hungry polar bear to key in morse code.
(Sorry ... no offense intended!)
Hrmm. I don't think /. has that many hams. Most hams are older dudes these days, it is pretty rare for younger geeks to be into ham radio.
Maybe if this story was posted to 1950s slashdot you'd be reaching more hams...
Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
My uncle and aunt have a film production company that has made several documentaries that have aired on PBS and they tell me that the cost of airtime is a lot more than the cost of producing the movies.
The best way to get something on air on PBS is to find a way to raise money for the production and the air time. Ken Burns's approach to this, from what I hear, is that he's a wizard at getting large corporations to sign on to sponsor the production and air time.
You might go after some RF engineering companies to see if their charitable giving or public relations divisions would be interested in sponsoring a short broadcast documentary.
Have lots of alligators around, and talk in a funny accent.
Bonus points for letting your toddler play with the alligators.
The subject says it all....
If you can somehow present your radio trip as a home-remodeling extravaganza, The Learning Channel might be willing to send over a crew.
(Anyone else remember when their output actually involved "learning?" Must have been sometime back when MTV actually showed "music".)
Discovery will never put on a show about setting up a HAM radio station anywhere. BUT, if you build and subseqeuntly redecorate said station, they'll be all over you faster than you can say "Paige Davis"
If it's not one thing it's your mother.
You might try contacting WGBH Boston about producing an episode of Nova that centers on ham radio. Most public TV stations don't have a lot in the way of funding, but WGBH seems to manage to put together some really nice shows. (Heck, John Lithgow narrates about half of them.)
Considering that the closest thing to a Slashdot of the 50's and 60's that a geek would have is the letter column of QST magazine, I should say so. :)
.sig: Now legally binding!
You'd like to be on TV while you do a project that interests you. Doesn't everyone? But, the question is; is your project of interest to millions of people? Bare in mind that most people do not share your interest in ham radio, including myself.
You must ask yourself a few questions about the project. What about your event is going to draw the attention of millions of people? Is it really cool? It might be cold, being in Alaska but, not really "cool". Is it exciting? Is there life threatening danger or death defying stunts? Lots of high-speed action? Morbidity? Scantily clad chicks? Or is it a bunch of guys bundled up in parkas and huddled in front of radios cheering and high fiving because they were able to say, "I read you, five by five." to someone a couple of thousand miles away?
I suspect that the latter is likely the case and while it is very exciting for the participants of the event, spectators will be sleeping faster than thay would with a Nova episode about string theory. Steve Irwin might not interest you but, he interests a very large number of people for many different reasons. People tune in to watch because they are drawn to the "death defying stunts" of playing with poisonous snakes or "man eating" crocodiles. Some will watch because they don't want to miss when he finally gets bitten and they get their chance to say, "I knew that idiot was going to get it". Still others watch because they are interested in those animals or have never seen those animals for themselves.
The point is that while Steve Irwin may be of interest to millions of people for various reasons. A Ham operators club doing their thing on an island in Alaska just doesn't do it for most people. Sorry.
contact university film departments around the country. their students are always looking for projects. here is a link for my alma mater.r ograms/m otion_pictures1.html
http://www.wright.edu/academics/theatre/p
Do it like mammals.
Sorry, somebody had to say it.
The best digicam won't make up for poor lighting. Most of the stuff you see on TV that's not shot outdoors has lots of lighting, and I've even seen some outside crews use fill lighting outdoors.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Well, it's "edutainment" maybe, but they at least make passing references to objectivity and the scientific method. It combines elements of Junkyard Wars (pre shark-jumping) with Snopes and - uh, what other TV shows actually demonstrate processes like testing your assumptions and trying to prove the opposite of your theory?
My wife and I both like it, and we're such different people that apart from top-shelf comedies, almost nothing else on the air qualifies. I'll watch until it, too, goes downhill.
Perfectly Normal Industries