Be patient; it's a rather large PDF file. These figures (as Pastor Esget notes below) do not include, apparently, any downloads through iTunes or WMA downloads.
I know I may not be in the loop on business practices, but to say that financial reasons are the cause to jettison the most popular program on the station I think does speak volumes of the managerial skills that might have gotten them $3.5 mil in the hole...just sayin :-/.
The tight-lipped nature about sharing the reason for a personell change that seems downright unChristian in how it was handled and the...sorry, but it's true...lame excuse for such an act still do not help my confidence in our Synodical leaders' managerial capacities. The spotless bride of Christ apparently can't do her finances well.
I also do question, if Pastor Esget is correct, how Ablaze!(tm) can go into massive debt and yet effective evangelistic programs and international missions are cut. This to me just screams that we've been had and that Ablaze!(tm) is a front not for evangelism but for reaching out to those at home in a way that will not offend them and make the Gospel more "relevant" to their daily life. I'm sorry, another Lutheran synod did that...it's the ELCA....if you want "relevance," go there. Please don't bring Hell's doctrine to us, we don't want any.
These download stats do NOT include iTunes subscriptions. Nor do they include Windows Media version downloads. A conservative estimate would be to triple these statistics.
Essentially, the average listening audience is at least 3x higher than David Strand indicated in his letter. That's a conservative estimate, in my opinion. And the best construction on this is that he's grossly negligent.
I'm anonymous only because I'm currently in Seminary. It should be noted that any downloads done through iTunes, Zune, etc. are "counted" as a download in the site logs. iTunes just tracks the RSS feed for the site and contacts it directly in order to discover new content. If it's there, the feed points to the file hosted on the site and then downloads it just like any other file (and just like someone physically viewing the site and clicking on the link to the MP3 file). So, those numbers - in general - should be already included in any download stats from the kfuoam.org web server.
That's not the information that I received, but if anyone knows me they know that I would have not the slightest idea at all! Whether with or without iTunes, the figures are rather impressive, I'd say, and show that merely judging the show by concurrent listeners is, well, like soooooo 20th century! Listen on demand, dude! Just like the way we watch TV now. :)
As I look at this document, it appears that it is counting the top 100 file downloads. Those appeared to be all mp3 files, probably many of them itunes downloads. Any files not in the top 100 wouldn't appear on that document.
Folks keep talking about the 8th commandment, as they should. But what is being said by KFUO really does seem to violate the 8th commandment as it seems to be rather slanderous of Pastor Todd and Jeff.
I read on another blog, I believe it was Pastor Cwirla that the normal charge for downloads is $0.99. If they were to charge half that amount of money, it would raise enough money to cover the alleged shortfall of Issues, Etc. It ain't about the money.
Give thanks for the internet. A man named Glenn Reynolds wrote a book called "An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths." It seems as if that situation is being played out before us.
18 comments:
This, with everything else today, just leaves me wondering: what is really going on?
That is extremely interesting! And it would appear to not include downloads through iTunes - although I might be mistaken about that.
Hey, after 5+ years, Ablaze! has cost $900,000 more than it has raised. Are Wilken and Schwarz to blame for that too?
"Hey, after 5+ years, Ablaze! has cost $900,000 more than it has raised."
Has it really? I'm not disputing that, but I'd like to know the source.
Pr. Esget,
I was going to ask for the same thing. Where could we read such information? I'd like to know.
What's going on?
Destruction of KFUO by circumventing the Board of Communications Services and doing it through directorial authority.
That is my 8th Commandment best case.
I know I may not be in the loop on business practices, but to say that financial reasons are the cause to jettison the most popular program on the station I think does speak volumes of the managerial skills that might have gotten them $3.5 mil in the hole...just sayin :-/.
The tight-lipped nature about sharing the reason for a personell change that seems downright unChristian in how it was handled and the...sorry, but it's true...lame excuse for such an act still do not help my confidence in our Synodical leaders' managerial capacities. The spotless bride of Christ apparently can't do her finances well.
I also do question, if Pastor Esget is correct, how Ablaze!(tm) can go into massive debt and yet effective evangelistic programs and international missions are cut. This to me just screams that we've been had and that Ablaze!(tm) is a front not for evangelism but for reaching out to those at home in a way that will not offend them and make the Gospel more "relevant" to their daily life. I'm sorry, another Lutheran synod did that...it's the ELCA....if you want "relevance," go there. Please don't bring Hell's doctrine to us, we don't want any.
I put the figures into a "one pager" - please download and distribute
http://wittenbergtrail.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1453099%3ATopic%3A69944
Important qualification needed:
These download stats do NOT include iTunes subscriptions. Nor do they include Windows Media version downloads. A conservative estimate would be to triple these statistics.
I, like many people, used iTunes exclusively for my downloads of Issue's Etc.
The download stats I've seen show:
In October 2007 Issues Etc. was downloaded 171,428 times while all the other shows combined were only downloaded 1179 times.
In Novemeber 2007 Issues Etc. was downloaded 316,115 times while all the other shows combined were only downloaded 4,685 times.
In December 2007 Issues Etc. was downloaded 152,197 times while all the other shows combined were only downloaded 8,118 times.
In other words, by canceling Issues Etc. the LCMS obliterated over 97% of KFUO's ENTIRE on-line listening audience.
I've broken down the numbers further here:
http://bringbackissues.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-david-strand-didnt-say.html
Essentially, the average listening audience is at least 3x higher than David Strand indicated in his letter. That's a conservative estimate, in my opinion. And the best construction on this is that he's grossly negligent.
I'm anonymous only because I'm currently in Seminary. It should be noted that any downloads done through iTunes, Zune, etc. are "counted" as a download in the site logs. iTunes just tracks the RSS feed for the site and contacts it directly in order to discover new content. If it's there, the feed points to the file hosted on the site and then downloads it just like any other file (and just like someone physically viewing the site and clicking on the link to the MP3 file). So, those numbers - in general - should be already included in any download stats from the kfuoam.org web server.
That's not the information that I received, but if anyone knows me they know that I would have not the slightest idea at all! Whether with or without iTunes, the figures are rather impressive, I'd say, and show that merely judging the show by concurrent listeners is, well, like soooooo 20th century! Listen on demand, dude! Just like the way we watch TV now. :)
That's exactly what I wrote earlier today here: http://esgetology.blogspot.com/2008/03/so-more-than-week-later-david-strand.html
Well, that got cut off, but you can see it at http://esgetology.blogspot.com
As I look at this document, it appears that it is counting the top 100 file downloads. Those appeared to be all mp3 files, probably many of them itunes downloads. Any files not in the top 100 wouldn't appear on that document.
Mark of Brighton
Folks keep talking about the 8th commandment, as they should. But what is being said by KFUO really does seem to violate the 8th commandment as it seems to be rather slanderous of Pastor Todd and Jeff.
I read on another blog, I believe it was Pastor Cwirla that the normal charge for downloads is $0.99. If they were to charge half that amount of money, it would raise enough money to cover the alleged shortfall of Issues, Etc. It ain't about the money.
Give thanks for the internet. A man named Glenn Reynolds wrote a book called "An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths." It seems as if that situation is being played out before us.
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