This ‘Dateline’ is not a dating service
Last time, I explained that RIT University News is exploring podcasting. One of our first regular podcasts might be an audio version of , a monthly e-newsletter that highlights select RIT news placements and News & Events stories.
Because a primary mission of University News is publicizing RIT news (see More on who we are and what we do), I hope to expand to multiple formats, regularly updated:
Dateline: RIT — The Web site
Dateline: RIT — The Podcast
Dateline: RIT — The e-Newsletter
Dateline: RIT — The Blog
The to-be-updated Web site will become the primary home of , supported by a weekly podcast, e-newsletter and blog entry here on The Tiger Beat.
The podcast is already in the works. Recently, I asked and old radio friend, Chris Whittingham, to prerecord the intro and outro. Podcast listeners in the Buffalo area may recognize Chris’ voice from commercials and commercial “tags” airing on Buffalo TV stations. Chris has also worked on-air for radio stations in Buffalo and Rochester. He also happens to be the second radio program director (or ‘PD’) for whom I worked professionally (at WBTF-FM in Attica—the quaint village in Wyoming County, not the prison). Because my first boss there was fired a couple weeks after I was hired (that’s radio), I consider Chris my first PD. He’s also one of the best bosses I’ve ever had and a good friend, and I’m grateful to him for lending his great radio ‘pipes’ to Dateline: RIT — The Podcast.
After I had asked Chris to record the podcast intro and outro, he queried: “Is this a dateline for college students looking for a hot date?” He was kidding (I think), but it made me wonder:
Might some people be unfamiliar with the origin and usage of the term “dateline”? (Possibly so, I thought, since the word has been co-opted by 1-900 telephone services.)
So, for the benefit of non-news junkies: Traditionally, a newspaper dateline—located at the beginning of a news story (and sometimes in news releases)—identifies the locale in which a story was filed and its date (hence, date-line). Ironically, while many publications still use datelines, it’s often without the date (thus, identifying the locale only).
An aside on the logo: It uses an old-style, typewriter-looking typeface, intentionally chosen for its “newsprint” look that ties in with the old newspaper usage of the word “dateline.”
That’s the story behind the name of —coming soon as a podcast.