Sirius Names New VP of Marketing

Chuck Zimmerman

SiriusYou may be wondering. What’s Sirius got to do with ag communications? Well we might be surprised how many of these Sirius and XM satellite radio receivers are out there in trucks, tractors and combines. I’d sure like to know. I’ve written to them before trying to get them interested in some good ag news programming without much success. Hoever, today Sirius announced a new marketing director. What do you think the chances are that he’d have some influence with the programming department? Would he see ag as a good target for his product? On the surface you’d think rural customers would be a target but I’m wondering if the numbers are there to make them care.

Media

Agriculture Steps Up To Help Out Hurricane Needy

Chuck Zimmerman

Agriculture River Recovery FundI’ve been collecting news releases from various agricultural companies and organizations that are working to provide help to people impacted by Hurricane Katrina. There’s a lot and I think it shows how helpful Americans are, especially those involved in the food chain! There’s no way to post all of the various efforts but I’ll try to summarize what I have so far. I know there’s much more going on out there. Feel free to add to this post using the comment feature if you know of more.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Media

NE Fair Farm Forums

Chuck Zimmerman

Brownfield NetworkThe folks at the Brownfield Network have been working overtime to bring great radio to the web. I guess that makes it webradio? Anyway, you can see/hear some of their latest new stuff from the Nebraska State Fair. Use this link: Brownfield Farm Forums: Nebraska State Fair Their coverage was sponsored by the Nebraska Corn Growers Association and Nebraska Corn Board.

Audio, Media

Satellite & Internet Ratings Coming This Fall

Chuck Zimmerman

According to a post on MediaBuyerPlanner, Arbitron will be reporting satellite radio listening (Sirius and XM) beginning this fall. Next spring they’ll also begin to add a radio station’s internet feed audience to the station’s audience totals. This report comes from Mediaweek.

Media, Podcasts

New Website Design For AgWeb.com

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWebThe folks at Farm Journal Media announced a whole new site design for AgWeb.com this week. I don’t have a “before” shot to compare it to but you can visit and see for yourself. Here’s what they say about why they changed it:

Internet, Media, Publication

New Media Showing Biggest Growth In New Report

Chuck Zimmerman

Communications Industry ForecastThanks to an alert from Mediapace, who learned about it on Media Daily News, I learned of a new communications industry book you might want to look into. It’s the “Communications Industry Forecast – 2005-2009” by Veronis, Suhler, Stevenson, an investment banking firm that invests heavily in media companies.

Media