[Infowarrior] - MSNBC At 10: Remembering "The Site"

[Richard Forno]

Geeks of the world, unite.  :)

-rf

MSNBC At 10: Remembering "The Site"
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/msnbc_at_10_remembering_the_site_4
0167.asp?c=rss

It lasted just 13 months in MSNBC's primetime lineup. But invariably, cable
news veterans remember the award-winning nightly technology program.

"To this day, people stop me and say 'I remember that show you did!,'" The
Site host Soledad O'Brien recalled to TVNewser. "I can't believe it's been
10 years."

O'Brien, now a co-host of CNN's American Morning, still has a soft spot in
her heart for The Site.

"Our theory was that we were going to be the first nightly newscast covering
the digital revolution," she said.

Really fun, really scary

Shortly after NBC and Microsoft announced the formation of MSNBC, Ziff Davis
offered a proposal for a show about technology. NBC News president Andy Lack
directed executive producer of specials David Bohrman (now of CNN) to meet
with ZD.

"The net result was, I ended up spending about three months in California
really helping whip the show into creation," he said.

A big abandoned soundstage on Townsend Street in San Francisco was
transformed into a TV studio complete with a fully functional espresso bar.
Bohrman's breakfast meeting with O'Brien, then the Oakland bureau chief for
KRON, led to her hosting gig.

Bohrman became the executive in charge of the show. A frantic few days led
up to the premiere on July 15, 1996. With two or three days before air, "we
had no control room," O'Brien recalled. "It was in boxes. It had been
delivered, but there was no control room. But David... was on the floor
connecting cables and creating a control room for us."

She sums up the experience this way: "It was really fun and really scary at
the same time."

The Site was a start-up in a community of start-ups as the World Wide Web
began to take off.

Covering a "big change in the world"

"I remember wondering...how we were going to pull this off," O'Brien said.
"Did we have enough material to do this? Every single night for an hour? I
think we were a little surprised when we did."

The show covered subjects like Web design, gaming, and Silicon Valley. It
reviewed Web sites and included commentaries from a tech-wary Berkeley
professor, among other segments.

"Our goal was to talk about the sociological implications -- what does this
big change in the world mean to us?," O'Brien said.

"The show was the perfect program for MSNBC," Bohrman added. "It was the mix
of whatever the Web was going to be and the technology was going to be."

The Site symbolized an early attempt to marry television and the Web. The
show would frequently refer to its Web site for more information.

Lack told O'Brien she should try to be "the viewer, and ask intelligent
questions about technology."

thesitejuly142.jpgTalking to Dev

She posed those questions to Dev. The Site also featured what was the first
-- and probably still is the first only -- computer-generated character on
cable news.

An avatar named Dev Null interacted with O'Brien and answered technology
questions submitted by viewers.

Leo LaPorte "was the guy in the suit," O'Brien explained.

The technology of Dev himself was brand-new. LaPorte wore a motion suit that
could sense his body movement. A computer program translated the movement
and created the character. The control room then placed O'Brien and Dev on
the same set using a switcher.

"This feels career-ending to me," O'Brien would remark to Bohrman as she
stared at a piece of tape on the wall that marked Dev's virtual position.
But somehow, it worked: "She would do real-time Q&A with this cartoon
character who was the smartest person in the world when it came to
technology issues," Bohrman said. "It was great."

"I really loved it"

It didn't last for long. When Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, The
Site was replaced by live news updates. MSNBC's ratings skyrocketed as
viewers tuned to cable for news about Di. It was the first, but not the
last, time that MSNBC changed formats following a breaking news event.

O'Brien said she was "heartbroken" when the show was cancelled. "I really
loved it," she said.

She wasn't alone. Ratings for The Site never went through the roof, but it
had a clear community of fans. O'Brien said she received a lot of prom
invitations from 15-year-old boys.

"It made a difference in the culture, honestly," she said. "I know that
sounds grandiose and maybe even a little obnoxious. But every person I meet,
they want to talk about it."