We’ve all heard how Orson Welles made his radio theater production of “War of the Worlds” so realistic that it panicked among many listeners who honestly thought earth had been invaded by Martians.
True masters of radio broadcasting understand how to dazzle – how to describe a scene and then deliver the goods in a way that is more personal and vivid than film or video.
One such person was Stacie Hunt, who concocted a phony Woodstock-sized outdoor rock concert festival that was simulcast over an ad
Stacie Hunt & Sally Jewett
hoc network of mainly FM stations in the 1970s, years ahead of MTV. Such care was taken to make the concert marathon sound authentic that the on-scene deejays described food, rockers’ clothes and even the weather. I swore at the time that I could smell pot smoke coming from my stereo’s speakers.
It was that ability to suspend reality in the process of promoting something – in this case, a bunch of rock bands and the advertisers who paid for spots during the concert – that made the company started by Stacie and her business partner, former Entertainment Tonight director Sally Jewett, such a success.
On the Scene Productions (OTSP), along with Medialink and several competitors, benefited from the Reagan-era decision to allow the use of satellites for commercial use rather than just military, government and academic communications. PR professionals instantly welcomed video news releases, satellite media tours and other electronic publicity tools as a way of telling their story to TV and radio listeners.
The era is quickly ending.
PR Week’s Tonya Garcia broke the story yesterday that OTSP, which had been sold to the investment firm Socious Capital, had furloughed its employees and faced bankruptcy. That followed by one week the approval of a deal that merged the formerly formidable Medialink into the tiny, VC-backed digital video warehousing company TheNewsMarket.
It’s ironic that government deregulation gave birth to an industry that has withered largely because of a misguided Federal Communications Commission decision to blame VNR producers and their customers for sloppy newsroom practices at TV stations.
For those who haven’t followed the issue, there were a number of highly publicized instances of corporate- and government-handout video being aired by TV stations that did not attribute its source. At least one station was fined and the industry collapse began.
The loss of pillars of the electronic PR service sector is certainly unfortunate for the employees and investors. But mourning is done best while recalling the unique and wonderful attributes of the deceased. In the case of OTSP, I am convinced that many of today’s experts in digital communications have been inspired by the company’s professionalism and creativity. They will remain “on the scene” for years to come.