Eavesdropping at The New Era Cafe . . .

by Peggy Sue Skipper

     Last winter when we were working on the launch of The New Era Times our ideas were flying fast and furious. During that timeframe I met with a friend of ours, Cathy Ingham (who is also one of our columnists and an advertiser), at Starbucks® for a chat. I don’t really remember what we were discussing but it was one of the varied and interesting topics we cover at The New Era Times. As we sat there, I began to notice several people leaning in our direction who were obviously eavesdropping on our conversation. I whispered to Cathy about what was happening and we had a good laugh.

     Flash forward a few days later while sitting at the same Starbucks®, my business partner, Rita Mills and I were having a similar conversation when I noticed a couple of people leaning toward us and straining to hear what we were talking about. I told her what had also happened with Cathy, and we got a good laugh out of it. As we are apt to do, we strayed from our original conversation and started talking about eavesdropping.

     Our goals for the newspaper have always been multi-dimensional. One idea that was thrown around was a television component where we would spotlight people making a difference in the world since I spent almost two years producing and hosting Public Affairs TV across the country. I would be assigned a city and the local station would send me a list of topics to cover in the shows that were of important to their community. Some of the recurring topics in many cities were crime, domestic violence, health and wellness issues, end of life issues, fire prevention, foster care, politics, etc. My job was to find organizations that could address those topics, and interview them for shows to be aired only in that community. I would then fly into that city with a film crew and shoot a year’s worth of shows in one week. This was very grueling work, but it was also very rewarding.
 
     The work gave me a firsthand look at what was really important to local communities. What gave me satisfaction was being able to give these people and organizations a platform to tell their story. The airwaves have so much negativity on them that it was good for me to know that in some small way I was creating something positive for the airwaves. The people I interviewed were almost without exception providing solutions to the issues we were covering.

     After my recantations to several friends about what had happened it came to me that The New Era Times should create such a show. It could be a forum to put more positive solutions out in the Universe as we can always use more positive stuff on the airwaves. So we put our idea into being and shot four segments of a Houston Media Source show called Eavesdropping at The New Era Cafe.

     The premise is people talking in a coffee shop atmosphere called The New Era Café about subjects which make this world a better place. After the last episode filmed, reality began to set-in and we realized we simply couldn’t produce the shows at a price people could afford. So we put the concept on the back burner and moved forward in other areas.

     Then coincidentally some months back I met Alan Anderson, who was doing videography as a hobby, but wanted to take his expertise to another level. He is now a TV producer at Houston Media Source and has offered to film a show of me interviewing Dr. Sam Osmanagich. After the interview we started talking and learned we shared some goals, one of which is putting good news and solutions on the airwaves. So, we are resurrecting the show and will do our first shoot on Sunday, February 20, 2011. We are looking for people with positive solutions and/or information to interview.

     Eavesdropping at The New Era Café will be a 30-minute show and include two 14-minute segments on various topics which align with what we now cover at The New Era Times. There is a fee for the interview, but Alan and I have come up with a program we feel is a great value for anyone wanting to utilize video to expand their online marketing efforts.

     Each interview will include airing the segment for a month on Eavesdropping at The New Era Cafe show locally at Houston Media Source. The clip will also be available on The New Era Times website through YouTube. The interviewee will also have access to the YouTube clip for linking from their website or to use however they wish. Since the show will be 30 minutes long we will have 2 segments per show and if you feel your topic warrants more than just one 14-minute segment you can take advantage of having the entire show about your topic.

     In these times where slashing marketing budgets is the norm, we feel this very reasonably priced opportunity is something everyone can afford in order to have more exposure both on local TV and the internet which is a must for marketing these days as it permeates our lives on all levels. These are some topics of particular interest to the show:

• Green Living
• Wellness
• Holistic Healing
• Paranormal
• History
• Spirituality
• Authors with Books that Align with our Content
• Psychic Abilities
• Organizations Doing Something Positive for the World

     I am truly excited about this venture and feel we can make a difference. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more please contact me via email, or give me a call at 832-628-5396.

     Let’s make some positive airwaves together!

                                                                                                 —30—