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    Mark Glaser
  • 14 years ago
    • Categories: Weblogs

Who should replace Amanda Congdon at Rocketboom (if that’s possible)?

I tried hard not to watch the car crash that was Amanda Congdon splitting from the most popular video blog in history, Rocketboom. But rubbernecking is a tough habit to break. Congdon left the show or was fired by producer Andrew Baron, depending on who’s telling the story. If you’re just joining the soap opera that’s been splashed all over the blogosphere, gossip site Valleywag has the blow-by-blow blog posts. I’ll have my own thoughts on the high-profile split, along with quotes from various observers, on Monday, but now it’s your turn to weigh in. Who should be the next face of Rocketboom? Who has the humor, the charisma, the smarts to follow in Congdon’s footsteps? Or do you think no one can follow her and Rocketboom will flounder? Share your thoughts in the comments and I’ll run the best ideas in the next Your Take Roundup.

Tags: rocketboomvideoweblog
Mark Glaser :Mark Glaser is founder and executive director of MediaShift. He contributes regularly to Digital Content Next’s InContext site and newsletter. Glaser is a longtime freelance journalist whose career includes columns on hip-hop, reviews of videogames, travel stories, and humor columns that poked fun at the titans of technology. From 2001 to 2005, he wrote a weekly column for USC Annenberg School of Communication's Online Journalism Review. Glaser has written essays for Harvard's Nieman Reports and the website for the Yale Center for Globalization. Glaser has written columns on the Internet and technology for the Los Angeles Times, CNET and HotWired, and has written features for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, the San Jose Mercury News, and many other publications. He was the lead writer for the Industry Standard's award-winning "Media Grok" daily email newsletter during the dot-com heyday, and was named a finalist for a 2004 Online Journalism Award in the Online Commentary category for his OJR column. Glaser won the Innovation Journalism Award in 2010 from the Stanford Center for Innovation and Communication. Glaser received a Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Missouri at Columbia, and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Renee and his two sons, Julian and Everett. Glaser has been a guest on PBS' "Newshour," NPR's "Talk of the Nation," KALW's "Media Roundtable" and TechTV's "Silicon Spin." He has given keynote speeches at Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Diversity Retreat and the College Media Assocation's national convention. He has been part of the lecture/concert series at Yale Law School and Arkansas State University, and has moderated many industry panels. He spoke in May 2013 to the Maui Business Brainstormers about the "Digital Media Revolution." To inquire about speaking opportunities, please use the site's Contact Form.

View Comments (13)

  • I always wanted to like Rocketboom, but I just couldn't. Something about Amanda Congdon just rubbed me the wrong way.

    Am I the only one who felt this way? (yes, I'm male, yes, I'm straight) I'll be sure to "tune in" when they start their new "anchor."

  • They will never find anyone that is as a beautiful and intelligent as Amanda. I'm following her wherever she goes. Forget Rocketboom. Amanda rules.

  • No one. I'm willing to be proven wrong, but, from a viewers perspective, I suspect that Andrew underestimated Amanda's contribtion to the show.

  • I think the important thing is is the role RB plays in promoting online video. Media companies need the success of shows like RB because it helps raise the overall demand/comfort level people have for online video. RB's kerfluffle could help bring more attention to the show, or the loss of Amanda could hurt the show's popularity. Either way, it could have ripple effects for online video in general -- more so if the show becomes more popular, almost nil if it becomes less so (because those who have adopted more to video after becoming hooked on RB aren't going to go backwards).

  • If Andrew is smart he will take this opportunity to reinvent rocketboom, taking the show in a bit of a different direction. That is the only way to put this soap opera to rest.

  • Everyone is replaceable. Let's face it - Amanda is incredibly attractive. But a stand alone reporter, actress or personality she is not. Andrew will found her as a nobody on Craig's List, and there are 1,000 other hot nobodies waiting to take her place.

    She'll go on to do just fine for herself, of course, and one day she may be great. For now she is pretty good, and damn good looking. That's it.

  • Hey the most current and hottest version of Mas Que Nada from the next advert which is sung by the white reggae singer Ava Leigh is now available on I Tunes with her new single Mad about the boy or check her out.co.uk.

  • Remember Karina? The videmic is coming...Please Help us get the word out! Here's what it's all about:

    "Hosted by Karina Stenquist of Mobuzz fame, Videmic takes an irreverent quirky look at Web TV and viral videos. Coming November 2009."

    for more info, check out our facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/videmic

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