Introducing PPMTV

I'm pleased to be helping get the word out about Portsmouth Public Media (PPMTV).  What is it?  Since it's a video medium, I'll let PPMTV Board President Dave Underhill explain:

Your chance to see PPMTV up close and personal is coming up this Sunday afternoon at the long-awaited Open House.  Here's the deets:

What:  PPMTV STORYTELLERS OPEN HOUSE 

When: Sunday, November 20, 2PM-5PM

Where: PPMTV's new studio facility at 280 Marcy Street, Portsmouth, at the South Meetinghouse, former home of the Children's Museum.

Who: Meet your South End neighbors, community leaders, PPMTV founders, board members, and volunteers (yours truly included).

Why: Because you've got an unique story to tell and voice to be heard... Because you're curious about the inner workings of how television gets made... Because you represent a business, group, or non-profit that needs to get the word out... Or because the Patriots play on Monday night so you're looking for something interesting to do. Whatever your motivation, we'll be glad to see you! 

Cost: Free. (But bring your checkbook, because you'll want to sign up for a membership!)

Parking: We have permission to park at Strawbery Banke's visitors' center lot, or just walk from one of the downtown lots.

See you there!  

Portsmouth Rallies to Save RiverRun Bookstore

The story of Portsmouth these days isn't being sold at RiverRun Bookstore.  It is RiverRun Bookstore.  This is a "The Shop Around the Corner"/"You've Got Mail" story that hopes to have an "It's a Wonderful Life" ending.

Bookseller, community activist, and protagonist Tom Holbrook set the scene in a mournful e-mail missive to his mailing list:

After a lot of hard thinking, I've decided not to renew the lease at 20 Congress St., which ends on December 31st.  When we moved into this space five years ago business was booming, the economy was good, and the Kindle didn't exist yet.

Fast forward to 2011 and we simply cannot afford the most expensive real estate in the most expensive city in New Hampshire.  The world of books is a beautiful one, but a shrinking one.  We just can't stay here.

The hue and cry was instant.  It was a front-page news story here, and the plight of the David indie bookstore against the Goliath Amazon-et-al was picked up by the likes of Salon and the L.A. Times.  But its our fabulous local rag, The Wire, who in this blogger's opinion best captured the story.   

People came out of the woodwork and wanted to know what they could do to help save the store.  Holbrook called a meeting--and 150 people crammed into the store. 

This certainly was an unexpected plot twist.  A shop owner openly admitting he got in over his head and asking for help?  A store accepting cash donations?  People willingly giving a store money without exchange for goods?  What store holds a special community meeting to solicit investors?  Who ever heard of such a thing?  As a public relations case study, this is definitely one for the books. 

Fact is, Holbrook might've taken on too much debt, but he has done everything right to date when it comes to public relations. All this tiny store has done is lead Portsmouth's highly successful Buy Local campaign, bring hundreds of big-name authors to our little town, discover a Pulitzer Prize winner, and basically make itself indispensable to the local community. 

Moreover, RiverRun leverages his customer base with Constant Contact and makes excellent use of social media.  Check out the Twitter feed with its own hash tag: #saveRRbooks. 

(Photo credit: New Hampshire Gazette.)

The goodwill Holbrook's built up over the years has come back to help him in a big way.  Now people are donating used books for them to sell, and investors are lining up, checkbooks in hand.  He blogged a recap of the public meeting, and there's plenty of cause for optimism. 

Will this story have a happy ending?  Or will this be another sad chapter in this era of big business squashing the little guy?  We'll just have to wait and see... We can't skip to the end of this book.

Dover's Wi-Fi Moving Forward

Once again, flying in the face of such wicked media-driven wi-fi flame-outs as Philadelphia and San Francisco, we are seeing that smaller cities are fulfilling the promise of municipal wireless Internet. And they're showing it's not that hard.

Yesterday's Foster's reported that the Dover NH City Council OK'd the plan to install wi-fi access points throughout the main downtown corridor. All it took was this:

1. Last year, Dover Main Street and Dover Chamber of Commerce applied for, and received, a $10,000 from the state Dept of Economic Development.

2. In December, Dover negotiated another $25,000 from Comcast when they re-upped their Cable Franchise Renewal Agreement. This is smart for both sides. Comcast has essentially a monopoly, so why not give a little back to the city? Gains a lot of good will, and since they offer Internet services, it's mission-centric to boot. Meanwhile, the city is well within its rights to ask for a little something in return for the franchise. It's your prototypical win-win.

3. Dover ponies up $30,000 of its own. This, too, is key. Many cities go too far one way or the other -- either they expect someone to come in and give them the wi-fi for free, or they try to buy and own the whole thing. Dover's approach is very reasonable. Take a little from the state, a little from private enterprise, and give a little out of the tax rolls. So to review: Multiple revenue streams + multiple stakeholders = wi-fi success story.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for big news on our eCoast Wi-Fi Project ongoing in Portsmouth!

Addendum: This just in! Today's Portsmouth Herald: City expands free wireless Internet access.

Have a Cigar, You're Gonna Go Far

A long-standing Portsmouth tradition is the matchbook poll at Federal Cigar on Ladd Street in downtown Portsmouth. (Customers simply drop a matchbook into a bag with their preferred candidate's name on it.) About an hour ago, the Portsmouth Herald announced the results. Herald reporters Adam Leech and Deborah McDermott report that owner Leonard Seagren claims the 24-year-running poll has an "80% success rate." Presumably that is in predicting the winners only, rather than the rankings of the entire field. Here are the results:

Republicans

Ron Paul (31 percent)
John McCain (27 percent)
Rudy Giuliani (21 percent)
Mike Huckabee (10 percent)
Mitt Romney (8 percent)
Fred Thompson (2 percent)
Duncan Hunter (no votes).

Democrats

Barack Obama (46 percent)
Dennis Kucinich (17 percent)
John Edwards (17 percent)
Hillary Clinton (13 percent)
Joe Biden (4 percent)
Chris Dodd (3 percent)
Bill Richardson (1 percent).

Decidedly low-tech and wholly unscientific, this poll remains one of my favorite things about the NH Primary in general and Portsmouth in particular. Certainly, reading the tea leaves -- or cigar ashes? -- of this poll can impart insight into the mind of the voter, and can be an early indicator of surprises and upsets, (e.g., Hart, Gary in 1984.)