Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Anyone read the inside of MRT this month?

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 14:22:39 -0400

I'm not surprised with all the NASTY GRAMS they were getting and the weak content
of late.
There is more content on yahoo groups than in MRT.......Now that's sad. They
should bring Jack , Todd E., Alan T, Robert S., Bob C, Ron H. and few of the APCO
boys and knock the pants off of Wireless WEAK!

Yes I know they are reading this and lurking.......

-------- Original Message --------
From: "Todd Ellis" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Anyone read the inside of MRT this month?

I'm surprised that no one has looked at the inside of this month's MRT.  It
looks like they have a new publisher!  Not sure what happened.  Again.

Todd Ellis

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From: Jack Daniel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 17:57:02 -0700

I just got my issue and there wasn't a lot in it.

IMHO, MRT and Radio Resource have both forgot their roots and are
wandering aimlessly about the wireless forest, being good at nothing and
slowly wasting away.

The new management doesn't seem to understand we are not a 'pop culture'
group breathlessly awaiting the next new PDA review. That reader profile
is already served by dozens of other throw-away periodicals. I used to
save issues of MRT for later reference, but the dominant 'news of the
day' fluff articles simply aren't new or worth keeping.

This is echoed in the IWCE too. I see they claim a bigger attendance and
more exhibitors tan in past years, so I guess I was at a different IWCE
or maybe missed an exhibit hall. 

Everyone who has been in this industry for a while knows it doesn't pay
to forget who brought you to the dance. NABER was a dynamic force then
fell in love with cellular and tried to beat CTIA at CTIA's game as PCIA
and lost big.  In the process they drove away and ignored their
historical supporters and found they couldn't get them back. 

Recently Radio Resource decided to become Mission Impossible, trying to
clone themselves into instant public safety authorities, thinking the
word 'interoperability' is the modern version of 'open sesame', opening
the pocketbooks of first responders and Homeland Security grants.

Yes, times are changing but the changes are anchored in a long history
of radio ('wireless' to the young kids) technology and practice. Saying
all the current buzz words without understanding them results in
shallow, uninteresting techno-babble.

Change for the sake of change is stupid; it ain't broke don't fix it.

But new management usually has to flex it's undeveloped muscles and
'changing' things prevents using past metric comparisons while they
learn on the job.

I suggest MRT look at the editorial style and type of articles they ran
a few years back and just realize one fact: the readership didn't leave
MRT, MRT left the readership. I bet they haven't even contacted half the
people on their masthead.

As far as IWCE goes, I've been at everyone ever held and once the so
called 'professional show managers' took it over it has gone down hill.
Not because they are bad people, just because they lost focus on private
radio. The show is getting so small maybe they should merge it with
someone else.

I think Mission Critical needs to go back to being Radio Resource and be
everything that name implies. I hope I'm not correct, but their
excursion into public safety will probably weaken and frustrate them in
the long run.

There's room for them all when we do a good job and remember the grass
is NOT greener over the hill because there someone bigger already
grazing there.

Remember I started with "IMHO" but I've probably made everyone mad about
something I've said by now.

But I could be wrong......
Jack Daniel
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From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:08:34 -0400

One of the problems is there is not a lot of advertising revenue in Private Wireless in comparison to CMRS. Last year the top 5 CMRS spent in excess of $2 Billion on advertising, compared to the top 5 Private Wireless who spent less than $10 Million. The trade mags are getting choked, they are all fighting for dollars from just a handful of companies.

They are all trying to reinvent themselves Radio Resource is now Mission Critical Communications magazine. The October issue cover story is "Private vs Comercial.....Which Network is Right for you?" featuring a picture of a utility worker on a roof top using what resembles a miniature 19.95 FRS radio. Some how that is not my idea of  "Mission Critical Communications". This is just one example of how the image of Private Wireless has changed.  This reinforces your theory of  "Pop Culture" advertising.

MRT is not much better. Online or in print the weak content and the by-line-less articles  read like a press release. This makes you skim quickly through the magazine searching for a titbit useful news and then chuck it out. A friend of mine says he can read MRT in the time it takes him to walk from his mail box back to his house (He has 150 Ft set back). The online version is not much better.

CTIA is the leader in the wireless game, big bucks, big names, big shows, Washington influence. When you attend a CTIA show you feel like you are a Republican Campaign Party fund raiser. Bright lights, flashy displays, dozens of hospitality rooms, million dollar execs are all part of the "Show".  IWCE would love to have the pull of CTIA. Now that "Push-To-Talk" has crossed over to CMRS I expect to see many of the Private Wireless people at CTIA next year to see what the competition is doing.

Everyone wants to "Hop-On" the Interoperability, Mission Critical, Homeland Security band wagon to increase their revenue.
Companies are flaunting high tech gadgets in front of Public Safety.  Public Safety acts  like a Deer staring into headlights, eyes glazed, stunned, standing in the middle of the road not knowing what to do, so they say yes. Nowadays every department needs a CIO, CTO to cut through the hype, but few can afford it. So the hype continues.

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