Stuff... mostly media, if you want to give it a "theme"

[capri0mni]

1. WHRO, my local public broadcasting station (radio, TV, and Internet streaming), is having its 50th anniversary celebration, this year. And they've finally got a coherent style.
   
   Their main logo used to be gothic block lettering in all caps, with the "O" broken into horizontal lines so that it kinda, sorta, lined up with the horizontal lines in the H and R ... and, I suppose, meant to look like the lines of pixelated light in an old TV cathode ray tube. The logos for each in-house-produced show were all over the map, and looked like they were drafted in Windows Paint (I mean, I could recognize the fonts from my word processor)
   
   They're sprucing themselves up for the big party, so to speak, and they rolled out the new logo shortly after the new year. The cathode ray tube is history, so they've gotten rid of that allusion and gone for a softer, curvier, lower-case font (a cousin to helvetica?), with a "sprig" of stylized leaves growing up between the curves of the "h" and the "r". And, moreover, they're using the same font and a slight variation of the graphic, for all their locally produced programs, so viewers can recognize it as locally produced as soon as the opening credits start to roll.
   
   Here's WHRO's homepage with the logo in the upper right corner. If you hang around to watch the slideshow of programing highlights, you can see how that logo is being used for each of the different shows.
   
   (I know there are font and graphics geeks in my reading audience, so I thought you guys would be interested)
   
   
2. On the late news, last night, they did another one of those "public health and science" pieces, reporting on a recent medical journal's article that states that "Playing too many video games causes depression and social anxiety." And it just wanted to make me blow raspberries.
   
   For one thing -- it could be that kids who are already depressed, and suffering from social anxiety are playing more video games because the games help them cope, especially with MMORPG's.
   
   For another thing, the interviewed author of the study pointed out that getting out in the sunlight, and hanging out with your peers in face-to-face time is one of the best ways to allieviate depression. So kids should totes do more of that. The first part of that equation is absolutely true. But the second part is totally privileged. What if you live in a city without sidewalks or bike paths, and you can't get to safe, outdoor space to play, and/or your parents both work long hours and can't chaperone you around to meet your friends in 3-d space?
   
   Yes: Sunlight and fresh air is better for your mood than sitting alone in a basement. Make the argument that we should give kids more sunlight, and I'm with you. Make the argument that videogames are the Evil, and I'll blow raspberries.
   
   
3. I'm seriously thinking of starting a CafePress store, for reals, this time. The spurs in my side were all the LJ icons I've culled -- designs I've liked and don't want to let go of completely. If I transfer them to teeshirts, mousepads and mugs, than I could make them bigger and more detailed/less cramped, to boot.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

I totally approve of #3, as you probably are not surprised to learn, and would be a patron.

You are correct on #2.

#1 does demonstrate consistency, but somehow calling a service they provide a "product" seems odd for public radio. A "stream" or a "service" or a "series"?

[capri0mni]

3. Thanks!

2. I know, right?

1. I don't refer to their services as "products" (I said "programs"). I haven't dug around with too much depth on their website, though. Do they use the term "products"?

[jesse_the_k]

re #3, they use "product," to my dismay. For example, when I choose the "On Demand" item from the left menu
http://www.whro.org/home/publicradio/On-Demand/
the top item is Acoustic Highway, a product of WHRO....

Definitely a full-service station!

Wisconsin has several stand-alone stations plus a network Wisconsin Public Radio

[capri0mni]

Hm! I hadn't noticed that, before. ... maybe, I'll send them an email.

Of course, it could be a reflection of the uneasy self image this whole region has -- I mean, we're seven separate cities, legally, kinda, sorta, but the cities interlock with wierd boundries like jigsaw puzzle pieces, and population-wise, we're a large metropolitan area, but each city focuses so much attention on defending their turf that we can't get regional cooperation for things like business, transportation, tourism, etc. We're the largest per capita urban-based population in the country, for example, without a single major league team in any sport.

If each of the cities were personified as characters on a sitcom, it would be about three couples who are kinda romantically linked, but each too jealous and insecure to actually get married, and their "loner," "floater," friend who can't decide which couple to make his BFF twosome. Hijinx and sarcastic humor ensue.

As such, the public radio (and TV) station that serves all seven cities as an umbrella has developed a kind of shyness, I think, in seeing itself in the role of speaking for the whole region, so it's kind of awkward when it comes to self-referential vocabulary.

I mean, it's taken 50 years for it to even get a coherent logo.