ScottsBigMouth

Chicago MediaHub Project / wsRadio Teleconference, August 4, 2009

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What is this whole MediaHub nonsense??? The Future, kids.

Well the emails have already begun to pour in, asking "what is this Chicago MediaHub Project conference call nonsense?"  People in the established media universe keep asking me "what makes you think you can succeed when so many radio stations and TV stations are laying people off?"  Well the answers are really quite simple, and as a preview to tonight's conference call (see below) I'll lay out my basic case.

1) Content.  The Chicago MediaHub Project is fundamentally based on unique and individualized content as product for our station effort.  We are going to give independent producers and hosts the power to be on a "real radio station or real TV station" online, with the resources (technology, sponsors, business model, talent, sales, execution, facility) to achieve their dream.

2) Business Model.  We are partnering with 2 of the leaders in the online talk radio and HD video production business to create the "mothership" for quality content business models to flourish.  We're using proven internet distribution methods, marketing and sales efforts, and social media plans to achieve success with a totally unique group of contributing partners in our project team.  In other words, we're not guessing here, we're going to follow a proven strategy and build additional strength in it.

3) Freedom.  We're not owned by a huge conglomerate.  We're all entrepreneurs working together to achieve a single purpose...creating a new station that will be completely independent from corporate naysayers.  We will do deals with each other and independent hosts, producers, artists, and sponsors/advertisers, customizing each show with the right deal.

4) Size.  We're pretty small, and therefore we can influence the media landscape here with a collective power that is not bogged down by a huge payroll.

5) Talent.  Everyone involved in this project has been recruited because they bring something unique to the table.

So, that's the short answer why I think we're going to rewrite the model for a talk media station here in Chicago.  If you are intrigued and would like to learn more about what it is all about, well I encourage you to go and sign up for the group at http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub and then join us on tonight's call to hear what we're planning.

Oh, by the way...if you're a financial pro, angel investor, independently wealthy media investor, or other type of money person...you should DEFINITELY be on this call.  The model validates itself.  Then email me directly at scott@foval.com to learn how you can be involved.  2 shows are actively being sold right now, and we have 3 more in the hopper; as well as the parent project.

Cheers, see you tonight!

ScottsBigMouth

Scott Foval

Chicago MediaHub Project Update Call Tuesday Night!!!

Dear ScottsBigMouth Community:

Tuesday, August 4th is a big day for The Chicago MediaHub Project, as we're taking the wrapper off our plans for this new project. As you may or may not be aware, I first proposed the idea for this project way back in 2005, but alas the time was not quite right for it to come to fruition. Earlier this year, in March, I wrote a piece here on ScottsBigMouth about starting a "new kind of media station," and tomorrow marks the real beginning of that journey, first proposed in 2005. It is a follow-up for my call for local journalists to take our destiny into our own hands, as I wrote back in February.

At 7PM CST (8PM EST / 6PM MST / 5PM PST) Tuesday night, we'll be gathering our collective talents together for the first Chicago MediaHub Project Update conference call. We have secured a dial-in conference number for all participants through our conference call provider of 1-218-936-4700, ACCESS code 15721. This is a national conference call which will be recorded and reposted at the Chicago MediaHub Project site for public review, as well as here on ScottsBigMouth.com.

The Foval Group Inc. / ScottsBigMouth Media Ventures will be hosting the call with our invited participants to discuss the project status (10-20 minutes) and provide an extensive Q&A period for participants to discuss the project with me, Scott Foval, and other project participants. I would like to encourage the local ScottsBigMouth.com community to participate.

Please register in advance for the call at The Chicago MediaHub Project Google Group website at http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub so we know who's on the call. You will also be able to live-comment by sending email to scott@foval.com with "CONFERENCE QUESTION" in the subject line.

I hope you can join us on the call. If you have any advance questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me directly at our NEW MAIN NUMBER FOR THE FOVAL GROUP / THE CHICAGO MEDIAHUB PROJECT / SCOTTSBIGMOUTH: 1 (773) 570-0011 or email scott@foval.com (best way). Thank you, and see you then! Scott Foval President, The Foval Group Inc. Founder, The Chicago MediaHub Project Host, ScottsBigMouth.com

scott@foval.com EMAIL

1 (773) 570-0011 MAIN NUMBER

http://www.Foval.com THE FOVAL GROUP CORPORATE WWW http://www.ScottsBigMouth.com SCOTTSBIGMOUTH BLOG http://www.HuffingtonPost.com/scott-foval HUFFINGTONPOST BLOG http://groups.google.com/group/chicagomediahub CMHP GROUP SITE http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsbigmouth LINKEDIN

JOIN IN to Launch A NEW KIND of Media Station

Are you an online media junkie?

Are you a community activist?

Are you a hacker?

Are you an A/V geek?

Are you a budding host / journalist / voice / performer / DJ?

Are you just interested in doing cool stuff with the coolest people?

My name is Scott Foval, and I'm all of these things.  I'm also a really loud, liberal, mouthy, opinionated, techy, geeky, gay, community activist, writer, producer, and host.  I'm putting together a new type of media station, based here in Chicago, that will serve the purpose of creating the "next" platform for news, information, radio, tv, podcasting, music, advertising, marketing, and community activism.  Dubbed "the MediaHub," I am putting out the call for folks to join me in contributing the heavy people power, creative talent, development prowess, knowhow, and yes, money, to create this new kind of media studio in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

Why Now?  First, take a look at this piece I wrote about the Future of Journalism in Chicago .  It gives the idea, for the most part, of what I am suggesting needs to be done.

The bottom line is, I've thrown down the gauntlet with my journalist and producer friends in a very public way, specifically because it will force me to put my ass on the line and actually lead by example.  I have a lot of seriously talented friends, many of whom are looking for ways to do their best work, and get it out there, in a way that hasn't been done before.

I believe that it shouldn't take 10 Million Dollars to build or buy a station that reaches millions of people directly, acts as a community resource, and delivers cool content 24x7 around the globe.  I also believe that the models that are out there so far...well, they just don't quite make it, yet, do they?

I've laid my own brand right on the line to make this happen.  First and foremost, I took my own progressive talk radio show, which I originally created for a terrestrial radio station; and made it accessible to the world through an online open source model, to be hosted at ScottsBigMouth.com.  I have asked people with their fingers in the Internet, TV, Radio, Progressive Politics, Media, GLBTQ, Green, and Journalism worlds to help me take my show, ScottsBigMouth, way beyond just a blog or radio show, to be a fully-operational 3 hour daily LIVE streaming media talk show, created with Open Source resources.  This show, which will include an ensemble cast of characters, producers, reporters, contributors, directors, producers, engineers, technicians, developers, and yes, GEEKS, will take the whole idea of a LIVE show and blow it into a whole new universe.  THE UNIVERSE, specifically.

The collective resources of the Internet, Open Source, Media, Journalism, Entertainment, Production, Activist, and Business communities; have the ability to create a digital news and entertainment "platform for live media interactive communications with a global audience" for fractions of what global Television or Radio networks can possibly create with their finite resources.  The project, I believe, can collaborate to create and support "the MediaHub" now...right here in Chicago.  With global contributions of resources and talent; "the MediaHub" could absolutely upend the entire pay media model and support massive change in the process.

What I really think we need here is to establish the free media equivalent of a global open source development collective, engaging every creative, marketer, business person, journalist, talent, corporate leader, and community leader available. To guarantee that truth, justice, and good journalism survives, we must pull together every revolutionary patriot we can muster.  The first step is to create a "test bed" in a particular lab type of environment that would become "the MediaHub."

Are you interested in helping me?  Do you have a show idea that "the MediaHub" could help launch?  Do you know of others who might also be interested?  Do you have technical, consulting, business, fundraising, grantwriting, journalism, media, or marketing expertise that will help it become a reality?

If so, then email me at this address:  chicagomediahub@gmail.com .  I will coordinate a conference session to begin the work.  Time is of the essence, though.  If you are interested, PLEASE DO NOT WAIT to respond.  Email chicagomediahub@gmail.com right now and become a part of this new exciting community free media project.

Thank you, and feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions at my personal email address...

scott@foval.com
Thanks in advance for reading, and I hope to hear from you.

Peace,
SF

--
Scott Foval
www.scottsbigmouth.com
www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-foval
scott@foval.com Email/IM
1-847-380-9028 / fovalgroup Office/Skype
1-312-519-6466 Mobile

Send Rupert Murdoch A Message He Truly Understands

Tonight I am canceling my MySpace account.

First, I messaged everyone in my address book, and told them why.

Rupert Murdoch only understands one thing.  EYEBALLS + EARS = MONEY.

When the New York Post Wednesday published an editorial cartoon by artist Sean Delonas picturing a chimpanzee being shot by police officers, with one officer stating "THEY'LL HAVE TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO WRITE THE NEXT STIMULUS BILL" it was the last straw.  To me, the cartoon appeared to be a clear, racist message about assassinating the President of the United States.  When one considers that there is a "Beware of Dogs" sign not-so-hidden in the cartoon, another not-so-subtle linkage with our country's racist past; the combination spoke a darker message.

Now, defenders of New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch are already saying that liberals like me are the ones being racist for viewing this cartoon and gleaning the message we have from it.  They have called us hyper-sensitive; insisting that the cartoon refers to Congress, whom they say "wrote the bill."  This is, of course, despite the fact that the cartoon was published one day after the first African American President of the United States signed the largest piece of stimulus legislation into law.  You do the math.  Hate speech, even if it is veiled in a cartoon, is still hate speech.

In Chicago we see images of police officers shooting African Americans, in the past publicly calling them "monkeys," and sicking police dogs on civil rights marchers; and it instantly reminds us of the painful, racist past we have worked so hard to erase.  Considering that New York is very much as racially divided as Chicago is, it isn't hard to make a linkage that the "rich white guy who owns a major paper" in New York might have just allowed his paper to send a very clear, violent, and outwardly racist; yet First Amendment-protected message to the President.

Hopefully the U.S. Secret Service is going to take this cartoon for what it is, satire.  I don't think they should hunt down cartoonist Delonas and try to nail him to the wall.  Nor do I think Murdoch and his editors should be charged with threats to the President.  A) Just try to prove it.  B) It gives Murdoch and Delonas more publicity than racist pigs deserve.  C) It is First Amendment protected speech, and we shouldn't want to abridge others' rights to say what they want.  That's part of Democracy and we have to deal with the idiots as much as legitimate leaders and thinkers in an open society.

What I do hope for, though, is that every one of my readers, listeners, like minded friends, and associates emails every one of their MySpace friends with this column, adapted to their own beliefs; and then actually dumps their MySpace account.  Furthermore, we should boycott all of NewsCorp's properties (a list is at NewsCorp.com) including Fox News, The NY Post, Fox Radio, Fox Chicago and its sister stations, and any advertiser that does business with the company.  American Idol...sorry, you're going down.  Jack Conaty, Lil Chacone, and Robin Robinson; as much as I love you...see ya.  Simpsons, Family Guy, Jack Bauer...yep, I have to say "buhbye."

We have to send a message to Rupert Murdoch that he will understand.  Money.  Hit his big white Right Winger pocketbook right through his pants.  Dump all of NewsCorp's properties and teach these extremist bigots a lesson in a way they'll remember.