American Blogstand: Boston.com Turns News into Music in Video Blog Pilot Test
A pilot program where news was turned into song became the second most popular video feature on Boston.com last month.
For two weeks in May, Boston-area musician and composer Jake Brennan created daily music videos based on the news of the day. The videos were posted at http://www.boston.com/pop-ed each afternoon around 4 p.m., and radio station 92.9 WBOS aired the song of the day each night during the 9 p.m. hour. Brennan also wrote a blog tied into the program, and visitors were encouraged to submit their own lyrics for Brennan to consider.
As a follow-up, WBOS and Boston.com – the Boston Globe’s Web portal – are planning to host a concert featuring Brennan. The project was a way to test readers’ appetite for video blogs, says Stephanie Shore, marketing director of Boston.com. And indeed, the songs did prove popular, becoming the most visited video content on the site, after local sports videos.
Because the program was so ambitious – it was a work intensive undertaking to write a song and create a video every day – the program will likely not be tried again in the same incarnation. But something similar may be done, perhaps on a weekly basis with other musicians involved.
Pop-Ed was promoted on WBOS, as well as in print with ads in the Boston Globe’s arts section and the daily “Sidekick” entertainment and culture supplement.
The most popular song during the two week run was, not surprisingly, tied to the town’s beloved Red Sox. It was a tune about former Red Sox player Roger Clemens return to the New York Yankees. That song, notes Shore, had a long shelf life and may be promoted again when Clemens pitches at Boston’s Fenway Park.
Other popular blogs on Boston.com include the Red Sox blog Extra Bases (http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases), sports reporter Mike Reiss’s New England Patriots blog Reiss’s Pieces (http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces) and the healthcare/fitness blog White Coast Notes (http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/blog).
