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FAP296: Independence from the mainstream media

What is the media? - A set of corporations - The business model: get audience. sell audience to advertisers. collect money. - The true customers of the media are the advertisers, NOT the audience. The audience is a commodity.

Therefore, a business will rationally do things in support of these goals: - Get audience. As much audience as possible. This means producing content that is broadly appealing, engaging, and relatively non-controversial. - Likewise, it will try to get advertisers to pay as much money for the audience as possible. Demographics reflect a focus on audiences that have the most money to spend. - Because of time constraints, the media will filter down to a few sources for its content.

Why are the customers the advertisers? In MSM, the production of media is incredibly expensive. Television stations, radio stations, newspapers all require enormous capital to operate, and revenue from sales isn't enough.
Advertising is a logical step in the progression of a media outlet.
Where did MSM go wrong? In treating the audience as a pure commodity like cattle or sheep. In the 20th century market, they had no incentive to respect the audience because they had a captive market.

So far, econ 101. Now, why wouldn't the media publish some stories, some music, some news? - Loss of audience. Avoid publishing something that will cause a major loss of your commodity. - Loss of advertisers. Avoid publishing something that will cause damage to advertisers and therefore loss of revenues. - Loss of access. Avoid publishing something that will cause you to lose access to sources.

What does this mean? It means that the news you see, the entertainment you hear, the information coming out of news sources that are backed by large corporations, may be suspect. Things like the vote for American Idol and whether Britney is splitting up with Kevin are not accidental. They are broadly appealing, completely inconsequential, and supremely distracting from the issues at hand, whatever they may be.

Is it a conspiracy?

Oddly enough, no. What you're seeing are market forces at work. The media outlets that can produce the most profitable output will win. That doesn't mean the best quality, or the finest service, or anything other than lowest price for highest gain. Reality shows dominate because they are insanely cheap to produce compared to audience size. Think of it like mining. Who will do better, a mining company that handpicks the purest gold nuggets out of the ground with teams of PhDs in geology leading the way, or the company that scoops up an entire chunk of the ground with a machine, melts it all down in another machine, and extracts the gold? It's the same way in the media - produce the most of your commodity - the audience - at the lowest cost, and sell it to the highest bidder.

What tools will the media use to hook you and retain you?

Remember, the media is looking to lump you into a group called audience, which is its primary saleable product. It's selling you, in effect, to the advertisers. Like any commodity, it has to maintain you, to keep you from going bad.

Establish a form of rapport. Look at UPN and what audience it's targeting. Take advantage of stereotypes and heuristics to generate rapport that leads to familiarity and trust.
Shiny things. Believe it or not, this is a tactic that works. Create an aura of glittery goodness around something, and promote it as the next big thing. Look how many actors and musicians were simply the product of a marketing group that remade them. Leverage heuristics and virtue words to make something far more appealing than it really is.
Fear. Nothing sells like fear. Create fear and people will be paralyzed, unable to organize. Even better, create fear and present yourself as the solution.
Bandwagon. The power and the appeal of "everyone is doing it" has tremendous pull. We are social creatures, a

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FAP300: How Podcasting is Changing Lives

For podcasters + Focus + Discipline + Passion + Enjoyment + And for a few, yes, income

For listeners + It's not a revolution of media - it's reminding media what media really is + Subtle but consistent changes in attitude and belief

For Musicians + Stories and music can be told

For Our Society + Let the stories be told in their entirety - warts and all

Non-Podsafe Music + Miss Lee, Unknown (from a wedding)

Reminders + Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Need financial aid help? Call us at 877-328-1565! + Toll-free comment line! 877-328-1565 extension 529! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Add us to your iTunes at www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

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Student Loan Radio #15 / Financial Aid Podcast #306

Audio from the New England Podcasters meetup on July 12, 2006.

Podcasts + Real estate story of the week + Weekly drop + Comicazi + Phedippidations

Podsafe Music + Geoff Smith, Save Me + Music via the Podsafe Music Network + Stop by our MySpace page!

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Hey, how does today's show sound? I've been playing with the Apulsoft C3 MultiBand Compressor and a few quick tests gave me more of that Adam Curry sound - let me know what you think!

Student Financial Aid News + No new Pell Grant money for you! says US House + eCollegeTimes article on avoiding paying student loans + Did not mention deferment or forbearance + There's always consolidation + StudentLoanConsolidator.com or 877-328-1565 + FAFSA tip on reducing Adjusted Gross Income + FAFSAonline.com + You have to appear to make less money! + Payroll deductions are vital - 401k, IRA, etc. + Saving for retirement double bonus + Paying interest on student loans + Other pretax payroll deductions

Scholarship Update + New secret keyphrase + Can be geography or field specific + Tune in to find out what it is! + Refreshed feed so that scholarship stuff is available + StudentScholarshipSearch.com for more free scholarships + GotScholarships.com for premium scholarship search

Mail Bag + Sharon - on US government allowing students to reconsolidate + StudentLoanConsolidator.com

Quick Tech Tip + If you're a podcaster and you want the Adam Curry sound, here's how + Requires a Mac and Garageband 2.0 + Substitutes for thousands of dollars in audio equipment + Apulsoft C3 Multiband Compressor + Now it's time to reposition the mic and put more duct tape on my headset...

Podsafe Music + Charlie Crowe, Crowe Jam + i:scintilla, Capsella + Support Indie Artists, Buy the Podsafe Album for only $9.90! + Via the Podsafe Music Network

Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Student Financial Aid News + Absence of solutions in opinions - a bit of a rant, followup to SC decision + Ideas for the government reduction of deficit + Spiraling college costs + Numbers from TheStreet.com: + Prestige school: tuition, $31,644; room/board, $9,873; books & supplies, $1,419; plus similar costs for personal expenses and transportation. Total cost: an estimated $44,592 per year. + Well-regarded school: tuition, $16,086; room/board, $6,540; books & supplies, $920; plus costs for personal expenses and transportation. Total cost: an estimated $26,226 per year. + State university: tuition, $8,670; room/board $7,176; books/supplies $950; plus expenses and transportation. Total cost: an estimated $18,452 per year. + Valid question raised: is college worth it? + According to the Census Bureau, over an adult's working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million + Associate's degree holders earn about $1.6 million + Bachelor's degree holders earn about $2.1 million + Are half as likely to be unemployed compared with high school graduates

Scholarship Update + All Ink $10,000 Scholarship + December 31 deadline + 2 essays required + Detailed page at Student Scholarship Search

Mail Bag + Where to get a Stafford Loan application + StaffordLoan.com + Reminder: You must have completed your FAFSA first! + + Need money faster? Get an alternative student loan. + AlternativeStudentLoan.com + ActEducationLoans.com + Paying off a loan on someone's behalf as a wedding present + Privacy concerns + Reputable student loan companies cannot give out borrower information to someone who is not the borrower + Consider a different wedding gift

Podsafe Music + Jill Parr, Do You Hear What I Hear + Doug Boldt, Deck the Halls blend + Beatrice Ericsson, In My Heart + Support Indie Artists, Buy the Podsafe Album for only $9.90! + Via the Podsafe Music Network

Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Student Financial Aid News + Pell Grant appropriations being reallocated? + Just how bad is the federal debt? $8,052,330,154,252.81 + Deficit vs. debt! + It's like the difference between your credit card monthly payment and how much you owe + T-Bill at 4.004% as of Monday + Treasury bills are used to raise money to pay for the debt + Consolidate your loans to prevent further rate increases + StudentLoanConsolidator.com

Feature: MASFAA Presentation + Brooke Rickard presents financial literacy for students + Recap of MASFAA 2005 Presentation

Podsafe Music + Cheryl B. Engelhardt, Proof + American Heartbreak, The Greatest Christmas Song Ever Written + Via the Podsafe Music Network

Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Student Financial Aid News + Financial Aid Cut Conferences + $31 billion in unmet financial need + Lowest-income students face an average of $4,990 a year in unmet need + Seattle Article + Washington U. Article + Get involved - contact your representatives + House.gov + Senate.gov

Scholarship Update + NIH LRP + Webwire article + NIH offers to repay up to $35,000 annually of the qualified educational debt of health professionals + $225 million disbursed - that's a lot of student loans repaid + NIH LRP Web Site + You can find this scholarship on our experimental scholarship site + StudentScholarshipSearch.com

Doomsday Forecast on the T-Bill + 3.983% on Monday, October 31 + Projecting out to 5.261% in May 2006 + If you have graduated and you have student loans, now is the time to consolidate + Consolidating insulates you from additional interest rate increases + Consolidating also protects you from Congressional tampering + StudentLoanConsolidator.com + New federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com and ParentPLUSLoan.com

Podsafe Music + MatthewEbel.com Matthew Ebel, All I Want Is You + Via the Podsafe Music Network

Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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10/25: Back in the office, iPod Nano giveaway, $3B for TV?, Scholarship Update, Mail Bag, Melissa Cox, Alabaster Queen, Masceo, #99

iPod Nano Giveaway + I'm about to hit a milestone in podcasting that I'm quite proud of: the 100th episode of the Financial Aid Podcast. To celebrate, I'm having a little contest. Here's how it works: + The prize will be one of two prizes: + The Financial Aid Podcast will make your student loan payment for one month (up to $300) OR + A free 4GB iPod nano™ PLUS lanyard headphones ($300 value) + The winner will be given a choice of prize, and the winners will be announced on the Financial Aid Podcast on December 1, 2005 (just in time for Christmas) + Tell additional friends about this contest to increase your chances of winning! (every referral who enters your email address counts as an additional entry for you!) + You will automatically be entered to win if you apply for a Stafford Loan through StaffordLoan.com, a PLUS Loan through ParentPLUSLoan.com, a Student Loan Consolidation through StudentLoanConsolidator.com, or an Act Education Loan from ActEducationLoans.com. To refer additional people to this page, simply provide them with our web site address, FinancialAidPodcast.com. + For full details, visit: http://financialaidnews.com/show100contest.php

Student Financial Aid News + $3 billion for cable TV, but no money for higher education? + Earthtime article + No more education tax breaks? It could happen! + Wallet Watch article

Scholarship Update + New scholarship search secret update + Today's secret keyphrase will deliver entire pages of scholarships!

Mail bag + The difference between a scholarship and a grant + Scholarships tend to be more merit and criteria focused first + Grants tend to be more need-aware and need-focused first + These are not hard and fast rules - they are usually interchangeable terms!

Podsafe Music + Melissa Cox, Goddess + Alabaster Queen, Retail + Masceo, Cannonball + All music is via the Podsafe Music Network

Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Buy music featured on the Financial Aid Podcast in the iTunes Music Store!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com

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SoccerGossip.comShow#4 on October 19th, 2005. The English Premier League is back, so BeatleManU does his usual roundup of the weekends fixtures. Added to that, Champions League Matchday 3 and a roundup of European World Cup Qualifiers, we have quite a big show!!!

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Allergic - Miss Kitten 2. Ooooyesssir - Inductive 3. Kinda New - Spektrum - Tiefschwarz Vocal Mix 4. Call Me Mr. Telephone - P.C.B. 5. Pray For You - Plump DJs - Lee Coombs Vocal Mix 6. My Little Dancing Girl - Meat Katie 7. Closer To Me - Chab - Album Mix 8. Better World - Infusion - Infusion Mix 9. Get Yourself High - Chemical Brothers - Felix Da Housecat's Chemical Meltdown Mix 10. Machines - Dirty Focus 11. What I Find In You - Hook the Captain - Original Mix

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Sundream Radio Podcast #117 Minutes 39 Seconds of SoundsMusic by Osymyso, Tomoyuki Sugimoto and some Found Sounds

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Jonathan Boss Agent fourteen and a half ......licensed to commit justice and in service to his country brings terror to those with hearts of evil. A very important interview with the series creator Toby Mack.

Eric Rice's Inbox on GigaDial Public: Recent Episodes

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