ROAD AHEAD
Most people from 12 to 24 years old will never read a print-edition newspaper, are attached to some magazines, will never own a landline phone, aren't very interested in the source of information they get, rely on instant messaging and think e-mail is for their parents, according to Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, as reported in Advertising Age. . . . “The average television program today offers consumers 4.7 (out of 33 possible) ways to extend their experience in digital spaces,” says Lydia Lozides in MediaPost. She lists 10 of these “touchpoints” in what she calls our new world of continuous partial attention: SMS polling, mobisodes, live chat, out-takes, ring-tones, mobile wall papers, e-commerce / show merchandise, MSO FVOD channel distribution, streaming media capability, and finally, message boards. (AWCom cannot name the other 23). . . . The launch of "You Witness News," a joint venture of Reuters and Yahoo allows cell phone journalists (and others) an opportunity to submit their pictures and videos of newsworthy events. . . . Gavin O’Malley of Online Media Daily reports, “In the ongoing race to hook Web readers with engaging features, newspapers are trouncing magazines, according to a study released late last week by Washington, D.C. PR agency The Bivings Group. "In terms of online functionality, newspaper websites clearly outperform magazine websites, even considering all of the problems with the newspaper industry's general online strategy". The absence of blogs by a magazine’s reporters is one reason cited for magazines falling behind. The report notes "Blogs are rapidly becoming a core component of the online habits of American Internet users, and are an easy and effective way to add personality and direct communication to any Web program." . . . The cumulative impact of these events and studies: an auto writer without a web presence will soon be history. And that leads to the New York Times christening of WEB 3, best described by the aforementioned Lozides in one of her posts: “The promise of Web 3.0 (otherwise known as the semantic Web in some circles) is that there will be a layer of meaning that will evolve over the existing Web and will eventually be able to sustain systems that will be able to reason--just like you and me (sic). Think about that for a moment. You could enter a search query like, 'I am looking for the safest car with the best gas mileage for under $40,000' -- and out would come the answer. No sifting, no clicking, no wading though pages of links. You could build an application that could gather intelligence in real time about user behavior and past experiences that would be used to filter current contextual requests.” Yet another reason for adding one’s insight, expertise and opinion to the Web soup: just to make sure that the collective mind of Web 3 has the benefit of your thinking. With enough effort we might avoid what computer scientist and artist Jaron Lanier terms the fallacy of the infallible collective. Can 30 million bloggers be wrong?
PASSING SCENE
Carroll Shelby’s life story may yet make the big screen. Directors are vying now for the chance to helm the story that in one form or another has been kicking around Hollywood at least since the ‘80s. He’s added a chapter or two since then to what should be titled “The Last American Hero,” (except that was used for another racecar driver’s story.) However to make it another auto racing film would just compound the medium’s failure in that genre. Shelby’s saga only begins with what Ferrari once labeled him, “a good driver with a lead foot”. Independent, cantankerous, calculating, charming, witty and smart, Shelby used all of those ingredients to succeed far beyond his championships on the track. To confine his story to his racing days or even stop with the building of the Cobras and Shelby Mustangs would do him an injustice. Arguably, his greatest achievement was in brand management – and he was the brand. When he appeared on the set of a TV commercial he was to shoot for his then patron Dodge, the director exclaimed, “He’s the perfect Carroll Shelby.” Outfitted in cowboy hat, western shirt, and jeans with his feet of clay sheathed in gleaming cowboy boots, Shelby on the set became the storied public Shelby he had nurtured over the years. . . . Brock Yates also appears to be doing well with his brand management. Winding Road.com reports that after being abruptly severed from Car and Driver Yates will be returned to grace with his column restored and Car and Driver's continued sponsorship of the annual event Yates' conceived: One Lap of America. With daily updates possible on the magazine’s web site and via email, the unique and legal successor to Yates’ storied Cannonball Run can get needed added exposure. . . . Designer Ian Callum may have told Kate Winslet her body lines inspired those of the Jaguar XK, as she reported on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, but hers were not the first to influence the look of a car. No word if he mentioned a specific beauty but back in the ‘30s, auto buccaneer businessman Royce Martin allegedly cited the appeal of female curves to the then mostly male car buyers in persuading Walter Chrysler to buy dashboard-mounted meters and gauges from his Moto Meter Company – thereby enabling uninterrupted, flowing curves for the hoods of his cars. . . . More recent autoworld history and perspective is provided by Bill Maloney’s "Bunch of Maloney” segment on the Ohana Road TV show he produces on Honolulu’s ABC outlet. He has been asked to do more of the same for the station’s Friday morning news and he proudly reports that the show is now streamed worldwide with commercials by The Auto Channel, which Bill shills, “is the largest automotive information site in the world with one million pages of content ... and has one million unique visitors per month." . . . Tom Strongman veteran contributing auto editor/photographer for the Kansas City Star, has just published, along with the Star, Tom Strongman’s Wheels of Dreams - Vintage Cars and The People Who Love Them. It is a 128-page coffee-table book combining vivid photos an stories about vintage cars in peoples' lives. More information can be obtained by contacting Tom at tstrongman@kc.rr.com. . . . Autoenciclopedia.com, the exclusive Spanish-language automotive news Web site, received one million hits in the month of October, achieving its founders’ goal of doubling the amount of hits from the same period last year. Miguel A. Sanchez, editor of the Web site and one of its creators, said, “The idea has always been to grow steadily, not necessarily fast and just two years after being created, and with very limited resources, Autoenciclopedia.com has reached its objective of achieving a steady growth." . . . In what appears to be good news for Primedia’s auto titles, the publisher has sold other magazines in its empire for $170 million in order to better concentrate on its magazines serving young male readers ages 18 to 24. Among those sold were its fin, fur, fowl and gun publications. Those are the same Primedia pubs contracted to provide content for the new Ford-sponsored micro site: Primedia Outdoors. . . . AOL AUTOS has entered into an agreement with nationally syndicated radio program America's Car Show to provide content for the portal's auto section. Host is car maintenance expert Tom Torbjornsen. The show is heard on over 100 terrestrial radio stations, Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio. . . . BlogNetBiz.com/autos can be classed a WEB 2.5 development – an aggregation of aggregators. It uses a micro search engine to scan the automotive blogosphere and provide 1) the day's top news based solely on what news stories Automotive bloggers are linking to -- no matter what mainstream news source they're in; 2) a quick guide to the hottest blog comment sections in the automotive blogosphere; 3) an index of the day's most active Automotive blogs 4) a guide to the blog posts most linked to by other automotive bloggers. Some 55 blogs are searched daily and more are solicited for consideration.
AUTOWRITERS SPOTLIGHT
“Landspeed Louise” is her handle and it embraces her passion for salt flat racing but it hardly encompasses the career of Louise Ann Noeth. That began when she started lettering the sides of Chicago-based muscle cars in exchange for driving time in them. When her soul was rocked by the sound of a jet powered dragster, however, the Chi-Town Hustler, Grand-Spaulding Dodge and other rods of the era were left behind. Self-taught as an artist, she became a mostly self-taught jet car dragster pilot and campaigned one for two years before becoming the first female editor-in-chief for any of Petersen Publishing’s automotive books. She could write about muscle cars and jet dragsters because she was driven then as now by curiosity and a refusal to take a gender cop-out for not knowing how things work. When she became a freelancer she already had considerable on-the-job experience as a promoter(Hot Rod and Car Craft Nationals) and as a self-taught photographer. Those skills and her seemingly boundless energy took her to Jakarta as press agent for the, “Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and Congress of the Rough Riders of The World.” Wearing custom-tailored Indonesian outfits topped by a cowboy hat, she towered over the generally slighter native journalists and awed them with her appearance and carnival barker’s pitch. She also publicized a “Russia and America For Teamwork” (RAFT) white-water rafting competition that took her and 2,000 contestants from seven nations to a remote spot in Siberia. Those excursions behind her, but not the “wonder and enthusiasm of a 10 year-old” that she says she still has, Noeth has since indulged her love of speed and adventure by publicizing and reporting land speed record attempts, writing a monthly feature (illustrated by her photos) for the Good Guys Gazette and writing the tediously researched award-winning book “Bonneville Salt Flats” now slated for its sixth printing. She’s a seasoned blue water sailor, licensed airplane pilot (not self-taught, we trust) and an energetic participant in several civic and charitable causes. She is one of three candidates nominated for three open spots on the Motor Press Guild’s board of directors.
LANE CHANGES
Lew Gerald “Jerry” Wallace, long-time auto writer for The Baton Rouge Advocate died November 12. He started writing for the Advocate in 1978. . . . Jeff Sabatini has settled down and we trust “in" as the Wall Street Journal’s sole auto reviewer. Previously, he wrote for AutoWeek, freelanced and assembled and wrote for the NY Times Drive Times section. He will write a review every two weeks that will appear in the Friday Weekend Journal. . . . Dave Engelman reports he has moved from Kermish-Geylin Public Relations in New Jersey to work on Toyota account at Stevens/fkm in Houston. . . . Not a lane but a locations change for PR man Fred Heiler who continues to work on a contract basis for MBUSA. He and his wife have moved to the locale of their dreams, horse country west of Valley Forge, PA.
EVENTS, HONORS AND AWARDS
MPG Best of The Year Awards: Article Category: Pete Lyons, "Heroes Are Human,
Too," an article in Vintage Racecar magazine on former Formula 1 Champion and
Indy 500 winner Graham Hill. . . . Book Category: Mark Christensen, "So-Cal
Speed Shop," a history of the Southern California hot rod movement as told from
the viewpoint of Alex Xydias who started the So-Cal Speed Shop to supply the
parts and knowledge needed by hot rodders first in Los Angeles and then across
the Nation. . . . Photography Category: Stan Papior for the photos that
illustrated the Insideline.com story, "The World's Greatest Driving Road." . . .
Audio/Visual Category: Chris Szwedo, "A Gullwing at Twilight, the Bonneville
Ride of John Fitch," a documentary on the attempt of racing great, John Fitch to
set a new land speed record in a 300SL Mercedes at the age of 88.
2006 Dean Batchelor Award: Among the four top finalists, the 2006 Dean Batchelor
Award was presented to Mark Christensen for his book "So-Cal Speed Shop."
IMPA will make a rare off site trip Thursday, December 21 for its final 2006
meeting as members and guests will be able to examine the new Audi Forum (a
showroom, not a dealership) at 250 Park Avenue (Park Avenue at 47th Street), the
company's new New York home. Scott Keogh, Audi's chief marketing officer, will
address the meeting.
Automotive Press Association members on January 8 will toast
members of the international media in the Motor City to cover the North American
International Auto Show. Cocktails and hors d’oeurves will be served from 5:30
to 7:30 p.m. on the show floor at Cobo Center.
Urban Wheels Awards, Detroit, January 9. Reception, Awards program, Afterglow. Black Tie.
The Detroit News is again presenting its Readers' Choice Awards at the North
American International Auto Show. Judges selected from applications by the
newspapers readers will be asked to tour the auto show on Jan 10. before it
opens to the public and select their favorite vehicles in a variety of
categories.
The Honda Fit, Saturn Aura and Toyota Camry are the finalists for the 2007
North American Car of the Year award. Finalists for the 2007 North
American Truck of the Year award are the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford Edge and
Mazda CX-7. The finalists were determined by the votes of 49-member
national panel of automotive writers. The winner in each category will be
selected from the three finalists in a second vote by the writers.
WealthTV, luxury lifestyle and entertainment digital and high definition
network, has opened its on-line polls to let its viewers name the best cars for
2007. WealthTV will allow viewers to decide on the most exciting cars in six
categories for 2007. The six categories are: the Most Luxurious SUV, the Best
and Most Advanced Use of Hybrid Technology, the Most Luxurious Sedan, the
Hottest sports car under $50,000, the Hottest sports car - no price limit, and
the most exciting new release for 2007. Votes can be cast at WealthTV’s website,
www.wealthtv.net. WealthTV’s Diamond Viewers’ Choice
Automotive Awards will be announced on January 12, 2007 on WealthTV’s website
and on its television show, Wealth on Wheels.
Online registration for Chicago Auto Show credentials is now open for both
working media and corporate credential applicants. Visit
www.ChicagoAutoShow.com
and click on the registration icon. It's intuitive: Corporate folks click on
corporate; media folks click on media.
The Detroit Press Club Foundation announced today updated rules and entry
details for the prestigious International Wheel Awards honoring excellence in
automotive journalism. Award categories are: Best News Story, Best Editorial or
Opinion, Best Product Review/Evaluation, and Best Photojournalism for Newspaper,
General Interest Magazine/Special Interest Publication, Internet and Wire/News
Service. Television and Radio awards are given in all the above categories plus
a special category for Best News Program or Documentary.
Entries are open to material published, distributed or aired in 2006. Awards
will be presented at an April, 2007 ceremony at the Automotive Hall of Fame in
Dearborn, Mich. Entry deadline will be Jan. 31, 2007.
Rules and entry forms are available at www.wheelawards.com, the ICN Web site at
www.icnpr.net, by contacting Steve Purdy, Wheel Awards Committee Co-chair, at
(517) 655-3591.
Vegas Grand Prix has announced
that the Historic Grand Prix (HGP) will open its season at the inaugural
Vegas Grand Prix, April 6-8, 2007. Currently scheduled to race in the historic
event are former open-wheel legends Arie Luyendyk, Danny Sullivan and
Al Unser
Jr. Historic Grand Prix is comprised of approximately 50 active owner-drivers of
Formula One cars from the FIA (Federation International Automobile)
Three Liter period from 1966-1983.
MOTORING PRESS ORGANIZATIONS
The 13 regional automotive press associations provide information
and background not easily found elsewhere. If they are too distant
to attend their meetings, belonging usually gives you access to
transcripts or reports of these events and other benefits.
Contacts
APA Automotive Press Association, Detroit - John Lippert,
jlippert@bloomberg.net
IMPA
International Motor Press Association, NYC -
info@impa.org www.impa.org
MAMA
Midwest Automotive Media Association, Chicago -
www.mamaonline.org
MPG
Motor Press Guild, Los Angeles -
www.motorpressguild.org
NEMPA New England Motor Press Association, Boston -
www.nempa.org
NWAPA
Northwest Automotive Press Association, Port
Orchard, WA- www.nwapa.org
PAPA
Phoenix Automotive Press Association, Phoenix-
ledsall@cox.net
RMAP
Rocky Mountain Automotive Press, Denver -
vince@theweekenddrive.com
SEAMO
Southeast Automotive Media Organization,
Charlotte, NC www.southeastautomedia.org
TAWA
Texas Auto Writers Association, Red Oak TX -
http://www.TexasAutoWriters.org,
Albert Flores,
aflores1@satx.rr.com
TWNA
Truck Writers of North America,
www.twna.org Tom Kelley,
Executive Director,
tom.kelley@deadlinefactory.com
WAJ Western Automotive Journalists, San Francisco -
www.waj.org, Michael
Coates, president, coateskm@aol.com
WAPA Washington Automotive Press Association, D.C. -
www.washautopress.org
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Glenn
Glenn F. Campbell
Principal
autowriters.com
