K-U-J-YouTube?

I don't think having a YouTube channel will hurt our TV station or our Web site in any way. That being said, I don't know if it will really help us, either.

The whole point (in my opinion) of posting to YouTube is to expand our audience. It's quick, it's painless and there's nowhere to go but up. I mean, who really watches channel 31 other than (some of) our personnel and those one or two people who watch the research channel and get pissed when it cuts off at 5:30? Who knows about our Web site besides our class, our parents, and that person who found it that one time they googled Ritalin?

Even though I don't think YouTube is a good news source, some people use it that way. And it would be nice to put some quality stories up (if we have any) to replace things like "Stoned Reporter" and "Cat Attacks Reporter."

What kind of audience are we going to get, though? A lot of crazy kids and crazy adults (like the Poodle Lady) post a lot of crazy things on YouTube. Is that our future audience? I hope not. Now, if a seasoned professional like Stone Phillips (Yes, I used to watch Dateline) were, for example, to discover Gretchen Wieland- that would be cool. If Stephen Peteritas was catapulted to fame, that would be great. If reporters actually got some exposure to future employers, I'd say the whole YouTube idea was genius.

Is that going to happen? I don't know. We'll have to wait, keep track of our hits and see. And even if we only get one or two new Poodle Lady-type viewers, it's still probably worth a shot.