WKRN engages the local blogosphere with Nashville Is Talking -- a human-edited aggregation of what’s new and interesting in Nashville’s blogs. The blog also has a sidebar that shows a live feed of headlines from local blogs.
Sponsoring news organization: http://www.news2wkrn.com/ WKRN/News 2 (WKRN is Nashville’s ABC affiliate).
Location: Nashville, TN
Owned by: Young Broadcasting
Founded: 1953
Community engagement initiative launched: April of 2004
WKRN General Manager: Michael Sechrist
Nashville Is Talking Blogger: Britney Gilbert
Software used: Movable Type
The signature aspect of WKRN's project -- Nashville is Talking -- is the way in which it recognizes and avoids the worst pitfalls of what we might call "Tom Sawyer Syndrome." The difference shows in where the money is spent: a Tom Sawyer strategy is often linked with a big investment in software, either to create or license a community platform. WKRN, by contrast, spent its money on people, hiring a longtime Nashville-area blogger to work full-time at Nashville Is Talking (Britney Gilbert, pictured at left). The technological underpinnings of WKRN's project are notably modest -- the site uses one of the most widely available blog tools -- MovableType -- which is available for $49.95 -- or free if you're willing to provide your own tech support.
WKRN also has a smart way of distributing the effort (and social capital) of the blog by selecting a local blogger for weekend duty. Bloggers see such invitations as an honor, and WKRN pays for the privilege; weekend bloggers get $100 in exchange for keeping Nashville Is Talking ticking over the weekend.
On the weekend of September 2nd, 2006, the guest blogger was Kevin Barbieux. Barbieux writes “The Homeless Guy,” and since starting his blog has been in and out of shelters and transitional housing. He started – and maintains – his weblog using the internet access provided at public libraries.
Further Reading:
- Business Week's Cutting Edge Podcast with Terry Heaton, a television & new media consultant who helped shape Nashville Is Talking. [March 2006] Terry Heaton's blog.
- "Can we please bury the term "consumer-generated content" and never let it see the light of day again?"Terry Heaton, September, 2005
- Center for Citizen Media Podcast: Conversation with Britney Gilbert, Nashville Is Talking blogger. [July 2006]
- Flickr photoset documenting the shooting of a promo for Nashville Is Talking. Photos by Paul Chenoweth.
- "Blog, sponsored by local TV news station, becomes a central voice for Nashville-area bloggers," Elizabeth Held, OJR, December 2005. [Link.
Latest Posts from Nashville is Talking
