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In 2010, I told you how Pat Fant, the man who signed on Rock 101 KLOL and 94.5 The Buzz KTBZ among others, was moving into the world of Internet streaming radio. That year he signed on HISD’s K12 Radio.

Now Fant is back with an online radio station that reaches for the stars. Yeah, that was a cliche for saying he is working with NASA.

NASA has always stood for exploring the new and undiscovered. That now applies to music too.

The NASA mission of discovery and exploration is about to be showcased in a custom produced music radio station that is crafted specifically to speak the language of tech-savvy young adults. Third Rock: America’s Space Station, is set to lift off with a New Rock/Indi/Alternative format on Monday, December 12 from the home page of nasa.gov, while also streaming live over NASA iPhone and Droid applications.

Discovery powers the work of NASA. It’s also what drives music lovers to the Internet in search of works by new recording artists not generally represented on terrestrial radio. Music is a powerful lure. So, to connect and build a bridge with the hard-to-reach generation, NASA is taking its blend of art and science to where the largest audience can be found.

NASA has selected Houston-based RFC Media to launch Third Rock. Programming is designed to showcase the continuing work of NASA in a fresh new context that is tuned to connect with the marketing-resistant crowd. Pat Fant, RFC Media Co-Founder and COO said, “Today’s 4G audience craves new music and enjoys finding it. We’ve done the digging and pulled out the best songs and the deepest tracks from a full spectrum of rock artists across many styles and decades. NASA features and news items are embedded throughout the programming alongside greetings by celebrity artists. This is the full body of work, unpredictable and full of surprise, without the customary mind-numbing repetition. And, computers don’t pick the music. People do.”

Cruze, RFC Media Co-Founder and President added, “No one knows more about discovering new rock than NASA! If you were a cool new song, where would you want to live? The explosion in talented new writers and musicians is more than traditional radio can digest. The exciting new music is being discovered online through specialty sites like Third Rock, where listeners will hear about great new artists way before their friends hear of them.”

And while discovery is great, opportunity is everything. NASA places a high value on education, and since “you can’t rock if you don’t work,” Third Rock will also help partner companies fill high-tech job openings in engineering, science, IT, etc. The Third Rock job connection feature will link the brightest and best to the marketplace of high-paying job opportunities.

It’s music discovery at the speed of light. Look for Third Rock in on-line radio listings such as the Radio tab of Apple’s iTunes. NASA will utilize a wide array of social media resources to help spread the word about Third Rock. Third Rock is another leap forward in NASA’s use of award winning digital outreach and social media.
# # #

NASA is the world’s leading authority in GO FAST!

Houston-based RFC Media, LLC, designs, produces and executes private label radio stations for business, streaming custom content live online and across the mobile broadband networks. Our firm brings a rich history of broadcast management, programming and media marketing to private enterprise in the development of on-demand media.

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Tweets started going out from Houston City Hall staffers Wednesday morning promoting a new campaign. This was not a campaign about getting out the vote for Saturday’s runoff elections or a new city council proposal, it was to get some TV coverage:

jessicamichan Jessica Michan
Starting a #Twitter campaign for @KPRCLocal2 to send @MaryBenton to cover City Hall. We need her here! She gets it!! #Mary2CityHall

That’s right, there is even a Twitter hashtag for the campaign - #Mary2CityHall.

Michan later explained over Twitter that KPRC 2 sends out photographers to cover city hall, but the staff would also like a reporter there more often to explain the sometimes complex issues in a full report. While Benton covers politics, she also covers lots of other stories in the Houston-area, and is not always assigned city hall happenings. (I am in no way insinuating that KPRC does not cover city hall by the way because it does).

Now for journalist types in other markets reading this I know what you are thinking…but Mary Benton is no press release/regurgitate the mayor’s message type of reporter. She’s been covering politics through most of her career according to her bio and I have seen her do it fairly.

To be fair, the other Houston stations also cover Mayor Annise Parker. Some even have what could be considered city hall beat reporters.

Personally, I think it’s interesting how the mayor’s staff is reaching out to the media for more coverage. One more example of how social media is changing everything.

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Poll Position sent me a release on how it found Google tops Yahoo by a 23% - 20% margin as best e-mail provider according to one of its latest surveys. It also found there is a partisan divide when it comes to choosing the best e-mail service provider.

New poll results found that there is a partisan divide when it comes to the choosing the best e-mail service provider. Poll Position asked Americans which company they choose as the best e-mail service provider and Google topped Yahoo by a 23%-20% margin.

Even though AOL trailed the pack with 12% picking it as the best e-mail service provider, AOL’s e-mail was number one among Republicans with 20% picking it best. Google trailed closed behind among Republicans at 19%, with Yahoo at 16%.

Democrats frown on AOL’s e-mail service, with only 5% picking it best. Democrats picked Google over Yahoo by a 27%-25% margin.

Among independents, Google was tops at 23%, Yahoo at 20%, and AOL at 10%.

AOL’s e-mail service was rated best among 18-29 year olds, with 32% picking it versus 10% for Google and 18% for Yahoo. Google did best among 20-44 year olds (37%), while Yahoo was best among 45-64 year olds (27%).

See a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation in crosstabs for this poll at http://media.pollposition.com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Poll-Position-crosstabs-best-email-provider.pdf.

Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,184 registered voters nationwide was conducted November 10, 2011 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.

What do you think? Which e-mail provider do you consider to be the best? Vote in our online companion poll and comment at http://pollposition.com/2011/11/13/best-e-mail-service-provider/.

Interesting. Now tell me if there is an email provider that says if you are a member of the 99% or the 1%. I guess an address that ends in occupy.org might be a clue. Fun aside, there is a real occupy.org, but it is just a standard WordPress install site.

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Back in the early 2000s, I believe all three of the top Houston TV stations were live streaming at least one newscast to the Internet through Broadcast.com. Then it all ended.

Technology wasn’t the reason for the end as much as usage rights issues. Seems commercial actors wanted to be paid for appearing online. Until the means to black out commercials for live broadcasts was figured out, live streaming newscasts was on hiatus.

Now it seems the trend is making a comeback. The most recent Houston station to start the live stream is KHOU 11. Even more noteworthy, the Belo station is live streaming its newscasts through its main station app (available on iPhone and Android platforms). I am unaware of another station doing that at this point.

The difference between the two platforms is you have to press play to start the video on the iOS version which then opens a new window.  On Android, you press play and the video starts in the app screen (pictured here).

For those who like the behind the scenes looks, if you watch the stream before a newscast starts, you might get a chance to see some promos and other stuff (the rest of the time the screen will be dark). I even got a chance to see Gene Norman and his Number tape the last Astrocast of the season (a weather segment that plays in Minute Maid Park during Astros games).  Based on the team’s record, probably better I got to see the Astrocast for free at home versus paying for a ballgame ticket.

The station has also launched Facebook pages for its reporters recently and I have seen instances where you can watch a newscast live through those pages (currently I do not see that option available however). The station has something in common with Charlie Sheen, both use Ustream to broadcast to the Net. Maybe I can start dialing the KHOU Ustream account up on my Roku player and watch more promos and Astrocasts (next season that is) in between newscasts.

Great timing by the station, because I’ve had lots of Californians write in asking if they can watch former KABC anchor Lisa Hernandez when she debuts on KHOU in late October.

KHOU is not the only one sending live newscasts to a potential worldwide audience. KPRC 2 has been live streaming newscasts through its website for a few years now.

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Here is what your Facebook profile timeline will look like September 29. You’ll be able to change the big photo up there. It is called a “Cover” photo. I can imagine people getting really artsy with it.

The timeline all the way back to the start of your account is on the right. This is how you can look at every single action you’ve ever done or posted on Facebook. Wow. Time to start deleting things for some!

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I only mention this because it is a very rare event, but Monday night at 9pm I noticed the Houston Chronicle’s website chron.com was offline. Not just the front page, but even individual articles.

Content director of chron.com, Dean Betz, told me the site was up again by 10pm Monday but could not offer me any more details.

Give the guy a break, he is out of town right now. I appreciate him getting back to me so quickly.

I could not find any mention of the outage on chron.com or the paper’s Twitter/Facebook accounts. Readers will be ok as long as Style Profile is back.

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The top 10 most social shows of the 2010-2011 season, based on TVGuide.com episode check-ins, Facebook Likes and comments on the site are:

1. NCIS

2. American Idol

3. Criminal Minds

4. Glee

5. House

6. Fringe

7. Bones

8. Castle

9. Smallville

10. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

This survey was conducted in April 2011 on TVGuide.com, with 1,586 respondents. Social show statistics are based on internal TVGuide.com Omniture reporting.

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Houstonians Steve Richey and Jason Hardy have been racking their brains for a new business idea.

“After a marathon stretch of absolutely nothing that was sticking to the proverbial wall the phrase ‘Special Place in Hell’ kept popping up,” Richey told the mikemcguff.com blog.

Keeping the phrase in mind that sounds like something straight from Dana Carvey’s lips as The Church Lady on Saturday Night Live, the two entrepreneurs kept thinking. Between the two of them, they’ve started 15 different companies. That includes everything from a garage door company, a web firm, all the way to a show called Huntingfreak.com.

Even with all of their past experience, no ideas were coming.  Then they returned to the phrase they had thought of earlier. They checked to see if TSPIH.com and the actual phrase had a .com registered. been registered. The answer was no, so they bought it and started developing the site. It would become a place where folks can come and air their frustrations.

“We decided we wanted to give people a place to complain, laugh at and editorialize the disfunction in their lives,” Richey told me. “Can we associate with these people? Sure. I think in someway we’ve all laughed at inappropriate times or gotten upset with the person who goes through the 10 items or less lane with 30 things in their cart. And yes they are always in front of you. So we thought if we could give people a fun outlet, we may be able to make a go of it.”

To join in, all you have to do is register with the site and post. Other users vote to like or dislike your gripe.

Some recent entries include:

There is a special place in hell..
“…for the person who texts while I’m talking to them. Trust me I can handle your undivided attention.”
“…for people who use song lyrics as their Facebook status.”
“…for people who are really good at Words With Friends…no one likes you Mr. 87 points.”
“…for the dudes that call you “Boss” when addressing you. Can’t decide if that is friendly, strange or creepy.”
“…for all web designers who add background music to web pages.”

From there you can send someone you know to the place (complaint entry).  It’s great for passive aggressive types.

Richey says the site launched two weeks ago and has already seen a decent amount of traffic. In fact, it has had visitors from as far away as China, Germany and the UK. The site makes money from ads and some premium features. To send someone to that “special place” costs you credits which you can purchase with real money.

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KHOU 11 notified me it is launching a new Internet connected TV Widget:

KHOU Channel 11 is the first station in Houston to offer an interactive television widget for Internet-connected TV sets using the Yahoo! Widget Engine.

“The new KHOU widget will be distributed to millions of Internet-connected devices on the Yahoo! Connected TV platform around the world,” said Susan McEldoon, KHOU President and General Manager. “KHOU viewers with the latest HD sets can access the KHOU widget from the Yahoo! Gallery, and we look forward to expanding our connected TV presence to other TV platforms.”

Viewers of the KHOU widget can access the latest news headlines, weather, entertainment, sports, Great Day Houston and streaming video. The widget uses a broadband connection to pull content through the Internet and can be displayed as a partial overlay on whatever channel is being watched by the viewer.

According to Christine Di Stadio, Director of Digital Media, “Television is undergoing a major transformation with connectivity to the Web. Our primary strategic focus is to distribute the KHOU brand and engage our audience with news and information across multiple user touchpoints including Web-enabled TV sets.”

KHOU partnered with Devici, formerly Widget Realm, on widget development. According to the latest published data, Connected TV is projected to reach 120 million users worldwide by 2012.

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Thanks to the new FBI.gov, you too can play pretend field agent. In the Most Wanted section, the site has more tools to help close open cases of suspected murderers, terrorists, bank robbers, and kidnapped and missing individuals:

For the first time, web visitors can go beyond just scanning pages of mug shots—and use search criteria like location, gender, crime type, reward, and even ZIP Codes to help narrow and focus their searches. For example, you can search for fugitives wanted for murder in California. Bear in mind, we have about 600 open cases featured on the website, and cases are removed soon after they are solved. READ MORE

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted

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