TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Pressing the point
and role reversalThe annual Print Media Expo and Luncheon for the Hawaii Publisher's Association this year was themed, "Print is Alive."
The event brings printing, publishing and advertising executives together for industry updates and to hear featured speakers, like Terry Jicinsky, manager of marketing and research for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Vegas has the largest convention and visitors bureau in the world, with an overall budget of $169 million.
Jicinsky was tasked with telling attendees how his city continues to rebuild visitor numbers in this post-Sept. 11 world. The publishers also wanted tips on changing the face of business operations and insight into how businesses can use print advertising to reach a target audience.
The Las Vegas bureau's advertising budget is $55 million annually, while the Hawaii Tourism Authority's total budget is less than $60 million. The HTA hires the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, which gets $23 million to advertise Hawaii.
When asked what percentage of the Vegas ad budget is spent on print, the publishers were told that after Sept. 11 the authority spent more on print than ever, but that it averages 5 percent of the ad budget annually.
West winging it
A lyric in the Don Henley song "Dirty Laundry" says, "Well I could have been an actor, but I wound up here. I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear."Not to say that he isn't clear, but the situation has been reversed for former KGMB-TV sports reporter Ross Shimabuku, now a sports reporter at KTVK-TV in Phoenix.
In a few weeks he is to appear in an episode of NBC-TV's Emmy-winning show "The West Wing." He credits his agent from Ken Lindner & Associates with getting him the sports job and the audition.
Shimabuku was uncertain about the politics involved as West Wing is an NBC show while top-rated KTVK, home of the Arizona Diamondback baseball team, is an independent station. There was also the issue of a reporter wanting to take an acting job. His news director has nixed similar requests from news reporting colleagues, Shimabuku said, but allowed him to take the role "I think because I'm in sports and I'm playing a reporter." Specifically, he plays reporter Derek Wentworth, who asks a tax-related question in the "Game On" episode.
Cast member Rob Lowe was on hand for the shooting of the two-to-three minute scene, which took four hours, Shimabuku said.
The other reporters cast were actors, surprised to learn that Shimabuku's "other job" is reporting.
"It may be something that would eventually work out for me," Shimabuku said. In the meantime he's looking forward to the future as, he says, "the Diamondbacks are going to win another World Series title."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com