Chat With NBC News Now EP, Warning About Profile Pic Site
Plus Great New Music And A Prediction About A Book That's A New Classic
It’s been another successful week here at Remote Notes. More than 125 of you read last week’s newsletter about the Five Plus One Tips for Making a Great Podcast Ad.
THE LEDE
This week, we go behind the scenes with veteran producer Mike Milhaven, Executive Producer, Morning News Now on NBC News Now (Mon. - Fri. 7:00am-11:00am on nbcnews.com/NOW). He worked as a producer and executive producer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” for more than eight years before moving to NBC. I met Mike when we worked together at NECN many years ago. I interviewed him via email Q&A to find out what made him decide to jump networks, take on the challenge of digital news, and what he sees as the future of media.
(Picture courtesy Mike Milhaven/NBC News)
Tell me the most exciting project that you’re working on - or can at least share with us.
We’re working on a lot right now, from the upcoming Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade to the Queen’s jubilee and some things that I can’t share. But I have to say, I’m really excited about working with this team on Morning News Now just on a daily basis. Our audience is exploding. April was one of our best months ever. We’re bringing our viewers all of the important news of the day with context and depth. But since we’re a morning show, we also want to make sure we have that perfect mix of “serious” and “important” news as well as other stories that people are talking about, and have an opportunity to have some fun along the way.
Our anchors, Savannah Sellers and Joe Fryer, are great and they can cover whatever we throw at them: breaking news, hard news, financial, entertainment, you name it. And they know how to walk that fine line between being fun and conversational like you want in a morning show, but not too “chatty” and going off the rails. Behind the scenes, we have an amazing team of PA’s, AP’s, segment producers, line producers, booking producers, and senior producers who build a smart, watchable show, day-in and day-out, while working the most challenging hours in the business. We work hard, but we have a good time while doing it and this show wouldn’t be the success that it is without all of them. And that’s what’s exciting to me.
You were at “Good Morning America” for years, working weekends and early mornings. As a former overnight guy, I can tell everyone that’s a hard shift. It must be even harder when the country judges your work every morning. On balance, what was that experience like?
I recently did a quick count and realized that Morning News NOW is the sixth morning show that I’ve worked on in my career. And I don’t consider myself a morning person at all! The hours are challenging and it can be a grind if you don’t take care of yourself. In terms of GMA, that was a one-of-a-kind experience to work on such a legendary show, with such well-known anchors like Robin (Roberts), George (Stephanopoulos), and Michael (Strahan). But I approached that like I did all of my other roles in my career: focus on the job at hand, trust your instincts, collaborate as much as you can, and great things can happen.
You’ve been an EP at NBC News for a year now. What made you decide to make the switch?
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked in local news, cable news, and broadcast news. Streaming was the only area that I hadn’t worked in and that’s really where the future of this business is, so I jumped at the chance to join News Now. I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to lead such a great team.
How come the stations haven’t delved significantly into podcasting? You have studios, you have lots of great guests go in and out - why not produce them?
I’ve been out of local news for more than 15 years now, but I know the challenges they face every day, so I’m not going to second guess any decisions being made on that level. From my experience in local news back in the day, you’re often running your newsrooms with a lean staff. Those that can innovate and expand into other areas, whether it’s podcasting or something else, while also producing hours of live programming a day for broadcast (and often for a streaming platform too), will benefit.
NBC and Peacock are now showing baseball on Sunday mornings at 11:30am ET. Any initial results? Do you see more sports going to subscription digital channels?
I’m not involved in those decisions, so this is just me being an arm-chair quarterback (pun intended), but I think if the goal is to be able to offer content that will bring in the largest audience, it only makes sense to have sports programming be a part of that. I would think we can expect to see more of that in the future.
When we were starting in news, it was still considered respectable. Now, it is under attack. Can we win back a trusted audience, or do we have to accept that there will be people less interested in neutral news?
I actually think people are hungry for news without an ideology. There is a large audience that just wants to know what’s going on in the world and they’re capable of drawing their own conclusions from there. We’re seeing that on News Now. We present the news, straightforward, no opinion, no shouting heads and we just had one of our best months on record.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I’ll end with this anecdote: As a young college student, my first internship was at New England Cable News (NECN), working the weekend overnight/morning shift. To say I was inexperienced would be an understatement. I knew nothing. I was nervous walking in that first day and wasn’t sure if I was going to cut it. One of the first people I met was Steve Safran, who gave me a tour and showed me the ropes. He made some jokes and put me at ease and was a good mentor to me as I tried to figure out which end was up. I figured if there were people like him that I might just be able to make it in this business after all.
Thanks to Mike for his time and his sharp insights. And for the kind compliment. I was nice to an intern? I usually pranked them. “Do me a favor and go get some printer paper upstairs,” I’d tell them in our one-floor building.
NEWS AND NOTES
A WARNING: The newest fad in profile pics comes from NewProfilePic.com. The images its app renders have an appealing look, which is drawing in a big audience. However, if you participate, you’re likely sending your information to Moscow.
The London-based newspaper/website The Daily Mail writes:
… many will be unaware that the company behind the app, Linerock Investments, is based in an apartment complex overlooking the Moscow River, beside Russia's Ministry of Defence and just three miles from Red Square.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are collecting your faces for nefarious means. And, as Snopes points out, you’ve probably shared far more data with questionable sources. But it’s good to know where your data is going. As my IT friend John Mehrtens wrote me: “The doubt is what gets me. This could be a good example of ‘be aware of your surroundings app-wise.’”
Good advice.
LINKS AND LIKES
MUSIC: “Career Fair,” the new EP by Wheelzie. The Mass-based musician (whose given name is Amelia Chalfant) may be 20, but already has more than 10 years in the music business. Chalfant’s first band, Kalliope Jones, formed when they were 10. And they’ve been around music their whole life; Mom, Dad and Aunt Nerissa formed the core of the folk-rock group, The Nields, which has been together in various incarnations for more than 25 years and still tours. Great song: “Two Front Teeth.”
PODCAST: Want to know what car dealers talk about when they talk with each other? What about how they market to you and try to keep your loyalty? Go inside the opaque world of car sales with “The Walk Around” (Spotify, Apple) from JM&A Group. Nominally a podcast for car dealers, anyone who has bought a new car or is thinking about it should definitely listen to the wisdom herein.
BOOKS: I predict Charlie Mackesy’s “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” eventually will become the gift of choice for grads, replacing Dr. Seuss’s “Oh The Places You’ll Go.” Deceptively sweet, vulnerable, deep, hopeful and over too quickly, Mackesy’s “picture” book has caring prose and wonderful drawings. As the book’s publisher writes:
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse explores their unlikely friendship and the poignant, universal lessons they learn together.
Although published in 2019 (or perhaps because of it), it is #1 in Amazon’s literary graphic novel category, number 47 overall, and its reader reviews average five stars.
PIMP THYSELF: I went down a rabbit hole of ‘50s school health films and was captivated. How has nobody made a documentary about these? Check out my essay: “The Wonderful World Of ‘50s School Movies,” not because I wrote it, but because it will show you The Way. Click below on my fave: “What About Juvenile Delinquency?”
Delinquency, at any age, isn’t funny. But I do wonder why, the morning after some delinquents hit a businessman, the town is ready to outlaw dances. Unless this is where the plot for Footloose is from. In which case — amazing foreshadowing.
STATS: I promised to be transparent with you all, and that includes sharing my data. From last week’s newsletter: We had 136 total views, added five subscribers for a total of 58, and had an open rate of 65%. 58% of our traffic came via the newsletter, 15% came through Facebook, 7% from LinkedIn and 2% from Google. Two of you shared the newsletter. Thanks to everyone who spent time with RemoteNotes.
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