It’s not often that I use this publishing to offer an opinion or editorial. But I am going to address something of grave concern to me and share the point and purpose of our work.
I left radio in 2012. I left when I was told by management that “Muskegon is a dead town full of blacks”. Direct quote. Hard to hear. I filed a complaint to higher management and it was ignored and I was blown off. I left the only thing I ever did as an adult for employment. I did leave and go to a job in NASCAR, but I knew the day would come that we’d be a media “black hole” and it’s here. The last live body was fired from an FM station in Muskegon last week to the very best of my knowledge. What’s coming in now is all automated, out of market music with voices that know nothing of our community, and the expectation is that they will continue to be revenue syphons for Wall Street instead of Federally Licensed entities to serve a community as they were intended to be.
I tried employment elsewhere. NASCAR was fun. Driver change didn’t fit the promotional program. I tried an agency. They gave me $10 an hour to see if it was a “good fit” for 6 weeks. 20 weeks later, I asked about that livable wage and they laughed at me and went out for lunch. At the time, our house at the time was in the beginning stages of repossession. All kidding aside. We were facing homelessness. I asked Cindy “What am I going to do?” She said “There’s nothing you can’t do. Do anything you want.” She then let me borrow her Best Buy Card to buy a GoPro to start Positively Muskegon. I needed 6 months same as cash to pay for a $400 camera. This is no sob story or “poor me” tale, this is the reality of keeping alive what you can do no matter the size of audience or platform. I was truly back to zero at 42. I didn’t even know which way the Positively Muskegon blog would go. I let the audience dictate what the content would be, and to show the importance and relevance of our community was what it became….the seed was planted.
As it grew along came the Muskegon Channel, Channel 96 TV, Muskegon Channel Radio, most recently The GR Channel. We’ve made feature films. We’ve been able to showcase events live to the entire world from Muskegon. We have Hollywood movie credits. The availability of our programming on Roku, Fire TV and YouTube TV reaches further out of Muskegon than any broadcast platform ever has. We’ve built a complete network of media options that drive the narrative, commerce and connection in Muskegon. It’s been hard work. It’s been on the backs of many who have given more than they have gotten and it’s been done out of necessity because a community with no local media….it’s really not a good place.
We ask for a few things that passive media like FM does not. Yep, we have to ask you to click to hear what’s going on. We have to ask you to download an app or break a habit from what you do normally to get news, info or entertainment. On the other hand, we don’t ask for “appointment listening” meaning that our content is there anytime you’d like to listen or watch and the really cool thing is too, it’s there for years. We have advertisers that worked with us on things like legal advice shows that are still running, so if you’re wondering about legal nuance, chances are, we’ve got the topic waiting for you. We’ve helped get some broadcast careers started by investing in young people, who are also taught how to work independently so if they are ever “downsized” they too can work for themselves. When it was me in their shoes, I was eating leftovers I found on plates. Our learners are paid.
I am going to freely admit that I am no good at sales. In one sense, I am the best sales guy…I am here “selling it” daily. I am not good at getting out and meeting with advertisers. This has been a tremendous struggle for us. I believed early on that building what we have would automatically help generate support. I also believed that the time and effort put in at all of the different functions we support, would draw the attention of the people in organizations who could help support our work. I need some sales help. I need some annual sponsors that can see the value and long game here to help us grow, build and keep the idea that on demand media, for smaller markets like ours is the future. Is there anyone out there who has the ethics, ability and drive to help? We’re sitting on assets and audiences…we’ve got work both published and B2B for high quality audio and video production. Are there any business like Quality Tool and Stamp who came on at the very beginning….that just said “We want to help, we can do this a month”. As of this posting….Quality Tool and Stamp has 3,571,385 views on their ad….from one page.
Finally, on the subject of me. Why am I so relentless? Media is so much more than what we are being given now. Media in a smaller market like Muskegon, it’s the sticky stuff that kinda keeps us together. Think back 20 years ago or so. Did you know what was going on a little more across town? Was it easier to find something to do? Did you feel that the opinions and feelings were more shared? It’s never been about free tickets, bumper stickers, the same George Thorogood song beat to death and dumb ass call in topics. Media in a small town is what brings it all together. It’s important to know who the underdogs are, they will soon be the big dogs. It’s important to hard from the big dogs…they are not only driving, they need to be accountable. It’s important to have the community reflected in a way that is controlled by anyone other than someone with the mentality that our community is a “dead town full of blacks” because that negative stereotype is a long dead and completely missed narrative about all of us.
Contact – Andy O’Riley
