Advice for Channel 2 when 2011 comes by

[TurismoDreamin]

Maybe during next years new years celebration, you'll point the streamer cannons away from the powerlines. Also, a band playing Auld Lang Syne is better than improv singing. And lastly, lets try and make a ball that's bigger than a beach ball and shines brighter than my little niece's Sketcher light-up shoes.

[patric]

Maybe during next years new years celebration, you'll point the streamer cannons away from the powerlines. Also, a band playing Auld Lang Syne is better than improv singing. And lastly, lets try and make a ball that's bigger than a beach ball and shines brighter than my little niece's Sketcher light-up shoes.

And here I thought the golf ball atop their tower was going to slide down or something 
Wonder what those streamers will do when they get wet Sunday?

Was out recording the revelry at midnight, and I was amazed at how much more the ratio of gunfire to fireworks was this year.  The full-auto really stands out, too. 

Would almost think that political fear-mongering has been a real boon to gun sales (or something), and everyone was out playing with their new toys. 

[charky]

Sorry Channel 2...but my wife and I just had to laugh when they did the split screen countdown of the Tulsa ball with the Times Square ball. Even so...nice to see a good crowd out at Brookside.

[TheTed]

I hope the Channel 2 thing grows into something cooler. The lack of anything on television even acknowledging the existence of the central time zone is something that greatly perturbs me every year I stay home for NYE.

That split-screen junk was stupid. Why run a split screen with something local and something not local that happened an hour earlier? I was looking forward to some local New Year's Eve coverage. Hell, I'd even watch New Year's Eve from Fargo. Anything from the central time zone would be preferrable to a replay of NYC coverage.

Every TV station was running NYC coverage at midnight with a giant 'live' tag, so I guess that means the eastern time zone no longer exists and is now part of the central time zone.

[m2violin]

I, too, was disappointed at the paucity of local NYE coverage.  Besides the KJRH party on Peoria, there were plenty of other NYE celebrations in Tulsa and throughout the region.  I understand the party at Jazz Depot with Earl Clark was really rockin'.  What about Bartlesville, where they dropped the giant olive into the martini glass off Price Tower?

FWIW, I managed to watch NYE coverage in Chicago via live stream on the WLS (ABC) affiliate's website.  They had reporters at parties all over the city and even some of the suburbs, and showed the fireworks off Navy Pier at midnight.  Note to local TV stations:  Why can this not be done in Tulsa?  Just this morning I found out that fireworks were shot off the west bank of the Arkansas River.  Sure would have loved to see this on one of our local stations.

Good point about national media only showing NYC celebrations.  Why can they not show celebrations in each time zone?  NYC, Boston, Miami in the Eastern zone for starters (memo to media:  NYC is not the only city in the Eastern time zone); Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, New Orleans in Central; Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque in Mountain, LA, San Francisco, Seattle in the Pacific zone.  We could have a lot of fun with this.

[waterboy]

My wife and I ate dinner in Brookside and afterwards shuffled up to the band stand. I think it is an excellent start for local coverage and the band, "Eric and the Adamses" was quite good. Too bad that north wind brought in temps of 22degrees. We just could't take the cold and left. Next year it will be even better I bet as more Brooksiders get involved.

Don't expect too much local area coverage though. This market is too competitive media wise, imo, and awfully spread out. The four channels sort of carve up the sponsorship (8 takes the river because of a long standing relationship with RPA, 9 takes Brookside and the 20 somethings, 6 takes near downtown and Fox takes whats left over, which is mostly the suburbs). And the newspaper just gargles in its own spit while UT puts on airs. They all want to dominate this small market so, it fractures the response to any one event. Marketing anything through media in Tulsa is a daunting task.

For instance, I heard the fireworks at midnight, as I live near the river, but had no idea where they were coming from.

[nathanm]

For instance, I heard the fireworks at midnight, as I live near the river, but had no idea where they were coming from.

The fireworks I heard began at Thu Dec 31 23:59:22 CST 2009, to be pedantic.

[patric]

And lastly, lets try and make a ball that's bigger than a beach ball and shines brighter than my little niece's Sketcher light-up shoes.

Be careful, you know what happens when they get too big..........

[CoffeeBean]

Fireworks came from the River West Festival Park.  People running the Race Into the New Year had the best seat in the house, no question.  Fireworks literally blowing up right over your head turning night into day.  Amazing event, even with ice and 20 degree temps.   

[Conan71]

For what it's worth, I worked on the committee which brought the New Years Eve event to Brookside.  Although the concept was hatched right after NYE 2009 by Lisa Hardin of E2 Worldwide Event Planning (Symphony at Sunset and other local events), this basically all came together in 8 weeks with a shoestring budget.  You can't even begin to imagine how much work it took to get this up and running and how many favors had to be called in to pull this off.  Channel 2 did this in a year of reduced promotional budgets and the ball was actually designed and constructed by their engineers from fiberglass which was no simple task.

I'd say it all went off pretty good for a first year event, but of course there is room for improvement which will come with more people wanting to get on board next year.  With the temperatures at midnight, and how late media coverage and advertising started, the turn out was incredible, IMO.  I was really concerned when I made a round of the block at about 11:15 and it looked like 300 to 400 people were on the street.  We have no official count on how many were there for the ball drop, other than "in the thousands".  Below is a shot I took from the stage right at midnight.  There was a great crowd off the south end of the stage and I was pretty amazed when I looked back to the north and saw how many people were coming up from the north.

We did try to have a fireworks display, but there is no place on Brookside where we could safely pull it off.  The west bank display had to do with a "Run Into The New Year" event that was sponsored by either Fleet Feet or Runner's World, I think.

The Tulsa World's coverage of this event was totally abysmal other than a paragraph or two a day or two before the event.  They managed to give good coverage and a few pics in the Friday edition for the New York celebration but not a mention or photo from any Tulsa celebration that I could see.  That's understandable and forgiveable if they simply could not make deadline with photos or a few paragraphs.

Any comments or suggestions on how to improve this event from year-to-year will be greatly appreciated.  One thing we will try and do is have more activities along the street before the ball drop and we are going to investigate having some warming tents for the public as well.

It was a lot of fun, and this will only get better from year-to-year.

Oh, and I agree, the confetti canon shot was a FAIL.  Lesson learned 

[tulsa_fan]

I think it was a great idea, even though we didn't come this time.  I hope it continues to grow.  Maybe there is a way to combine Race into The New year with this as well, I know it is a very popular event as well. 

Good job on the work, hopefully the criticism will stay contstructive and you can build an even better event next year! 

[MDepr2007]

Hats off to those that tried something different.

[joiei]

Hats off to those that tried something different.

I second this and would offer that we are building an event that is not a copy of anything over in OKC.   Good job to all those who made this happen.   

[Conan71]

There is a debriefing meeting for this event Thursday night which is when we will review what we did right and wrong and start laying the ground work for next year's event.  I may or may not be able to attend this meeting, but I will be more than happy to forward along comments on this years events and even more important, suggestions for next year's event as far as things which would help draw you to Brookside for the whole evening.

Please feel free to share and I will pass along.

Thanks!

[MacGyver]

Quote from: MDepr2007 on January 09, 2010, 10:54:16 am
Hats off to those that tried something different.

I second this and would offer that we are building an event that is not a copy of anything over in OKC.   Good job to all those who made this happen.    

Accept my third and pardon my fart in the general direction of the sneering section.

Well done.

MG