TAYAH LEE

Without a doubt, the world’s most renowned animal of 2016 was Harambe, an endangered gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo. After a four-year-old boy fell into the enclosure and was dragged around by the gorilla, zoo authorities ordered the unfortunate execution of Harambe. (Shammas). The controversy behind this killing—whether the animal was protecting the child or harming it; whether the execution was justified or not—fueled the social media wildfire that consecrated Harambe as one of the biggest memes of the past year. Through this, his memory lives on and is honored in a variety of ways, one of which being in the form of a Harambe-shaped Cheeto. The small snack that coincidentally resembled the esteemed gorilla was sold on eBay on February 7th, 2016, for one hundred dollars short of $100,000 (Juang).

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The first time I heard about this ridiculous sale was from CKWX Studio’s News 1130 radio station that played in my room as I worked on a school project on my laptop. The story stood out through the midst of mundane traffic and weather reports, causing me to stop my work in confusion and wonder of the meme-centralized generation that I am a part of. I wondered what a Harambe-Cheeto could possibly look like, and why on Earth someone would spend that much money to pay for it.

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Later that night, after shutting my laptop, turning off the radio, and flicking off the lights, I pulled out my phone and opened Philip DeFranco’s YouTube channel to get filled in with whatever everyone was talking about that day; and of course to see what the $100,000 Cheeto looked like. That day’s episode of the Philip DeFranco Show contained briefings of some legal scandals, Donald Trump drama, social media trends, and a very succinct covering of the famed corn-snack. DeFranco’s only commentary on the story was words that probably everyone who heard the story had thought: “I don’t care. This is either completely fake and people are doing fake bids, or someone just hates money, and that’s fine. Throwing this story in the garbage.” (“GUILTY!”).

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After consuming two different forms of news media for a week—radio as an older form and a YouTube news show as a more modern form—my overall experience can be described using this specific example. Listening to News 1130 on the radio was a convenient practice that did not take much commitment or mental investment. The station’s particular format of consistent traffic and weather updates made it easy to tune out the broadcast as I completed other tasks, such as homework or other school projects. However, I was still able to stop and listen intently when I heard a news story that caught my attention, just like that of the $100,000 Harambe-Cheeto.

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News 1130 is a station belonging to CKWX studios of Rogers Broadcasting and is currently known as Vancouver’s only 24/7 all-news radio station (Levin; News 1130). It is known for its constant and often repetitive updates on traffic, weather, sports, business, and other news on a timely schedule (News 1130); and advertisements that are only about one minute long (“News 1130 (Vancouver)” ). The station broadcasts primarily local happenings, but national and international stories are reported as well (Levin).

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News 1130 did not always provide 24/7 live news, and it was not always branded as News 1130. Previously, the station took on a country music format similar to many of the other radio stations prior to 1996 (Mills). However, due to the increasingly homogenous all-music structure of radio stations across Canada, several Rogers Broadcasting stations found themselves taking the risk to create a new “niche programming” through all-sports, all-talk, or all-news stations (Levin). There is not extensive data on the total revenue and success of News 1130 over time, so it’s hard to tell how the transition from an all-music to all-news station unfolded. However, a Vancouver Sun article stated the station would rack up to about 357,000 listeners at least once a week in 2009 (Shore). These logistics have increased to produce an average daily cume—also known as “the average number of unique listeners who were exposed to the station for at least one minute during an average day”—of 224,800 as of 2014 (Clockwatcher). While this shows an obvious improvement in the radio’s audience reception, more recent data has shown a decline in average daily cume to 180,900 in 2016 as a result of, I would theorize, the increasing reliance on and convenience of the Internet (“Vancouver Radio PPM’s”).

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The continually shifting focus and centralization of the Internet in everyday life is visible in the number of main news organizations that utilize it as a main platform of sharing, as well as the new forms of news media that have been created. One such form is The Philip DeFranco Show, a YouTube show that posts videos every Monday through Friday, covering a large variety of worldly happenings. Created and produced by the long-time YouTube personality, Philip DeFranco, the channel is a non-censored, community-based news show where DeFranco presents the facts of news stories, states his opinions on them, and opens the conversation up to the audience for responses. The uploaded videos are usually 10 to 15 minutes long, filmed in a fast paced vlog-style and includes segments for sponsored advertisements (“The Philip DeFranco Show”).

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The show began in 2006 after the YouTuber started gaining popularity from his other video responses on the platform. After realizing his passion for creating video content, he dropped out of university to become a more dedicated content creator. (Chmielewski). Despite not having a background in journalism, DeFranco, his show, and his production team have become largely successful, having 5 million viewers subscribed to his channel, averaging 940,000 views on his videos in the past six months, his videos generating an estimated $2,800 to $44,500 a year, and winning several awards including Audience Choice Award Show of the Year at the 2016 Streamy Awards (Sxephil; “Philip DeFranco YouTube”; Urgo; Walsten). In response to not having a journalism background, the YouTuber says

“In no world should I ever be considered a journalist. I’m just a guy talking about the world trying to have a conversation with people. I try my best to be fair in explaining the situation; if there are two sides, trying to explain properly why they think they’re in the right. And I make it very obvious where the facts end and where my opinion enters. Personally I think that’s what is so amazing about this show, and I hope that is also inspiring about my show.” (“My Response”)

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After a week of listening to News 1130 as well as watching the daily DeFranco show, I noticed several differences in the media forms. As previously stated, News 1130 and radio in general has become a media form that does not require as much attention and continuous mental investment. It is more constant and immediate than a YouTube news show; and, being a source of local news, is more likely to have news that relates to my everyday life. Also, it is a less intimidating form of media that users feel more comfortable consuming, even if they are busy. On the other hand, The Philip DeFranco Show, as a visual form of media, utilizes images, graphics, and text to keep viewers captivated and interested; thus requiring full attention for optimal information absorption. The news coverages are more detailed and readily accessible to review if you missed information, and more sources are available for further research through links provided in the video’s description box. However, the show is more likely to cover American and global news, and it is not guaranteed that all of the day’s events will be covered in an episode.

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From this experience and consequent research, I conclude that watching the Philip DeFranco Show is my preferred form of news consumption. However, I recognize that I should take advantage of the sources provided from the show to look further into stories and produce my own opinion on the current events, not just accept DeFranco’s opinion as “right.” I also recognize that the YouTube channel should not be my only source of news, and that I should always have multiple perspectives and sources. As a community based channel that is clear about the distinction between fact and opinion, thorough in research, fair in presenting both sides of an argument, and well versed in using the Internet for optimal modern communication, The Philip DeFranco Show is a respectable source of news, especially in a post-truth era filled with self-perpetuated echo-chambers. Despite having no journalism background, I respect DeFranco for his statement and core value behind his show: “I am a big believer—especially in this time of clickbait journalism [where everyone’s] gotta get to it first—I don’t want to break a story first, I want to break it right” (“People Outraged”).

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Works Cited

• Chmielewski, Dawn C. "YouTube Gives Wacky Anchorman Philip DeFranco Greater Exposure." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• Clockwatcher. "Vancouver Radio PPM's ... Nov. 30 2015 - Feb. 28 2016." Puget Sound Radio. Puget Sound Radio, 21 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• Clockwatcher. "VANCOUVER Radio Ratings PPM's .. Sept. 1 - Nov. 30 2014." Puget Sound Radio. Puget Sound Radio, 13 Dec. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• Juang, Mike. "Harambe-shaped Cheeto Sold for Almost $100,000." CNBC. CNBC, 07 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• Levin, Mark. "Will the Spoken Word save AM Radio? AM Radio Stations Are Depending on Talk Radio to Stop the Hemorrhage of Listeners to the FM Dial." Media 3.1 (1996): 10-12. Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

• Mills, Don. "Vancouver Gets All-news Radio Station." Broadcaster 55.1 (1996): 25. Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

• News 1130. "About Us." News 1130. Rogers Digital Media, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• "News 1130 (Vancouver)." Rogers Media Inc. Rogers Media Inc., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

• Philip DeFranco. “GUILTY! Huge Child Gambling Youtube Scandal Ends In Massive $100K+ Punishment.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Feb 2017. Web. 18 Feb 2017.

• Philip DeFranco. “My Response to All the Hate and Angry Comments…” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Oct 2016. Web. 19 Feb 2017.

• Philip DeFranco. “People Outraged Over Disgusting Leaked Tape… But Is It Real?” Online Video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 19 Jan 2017. Web. 18 Feb 2017.

• "The Philip DeFranco Show." TV Tropes. TV Tropes, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• "The Philip DeFranco Show." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• "Philip DeFranco YouTube Channel Stats." VidStatsX. VidStatsX, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

• Shammas, John. "Terrifying Moment Four-year-old Visiting Zoo Is Grabbed by Endangered Gorilla Who Has to Be Shot Dead." Mirror. N.p., 29 May 2016. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

• Shore, Randy. "Get Ready for a Shakeup in Local Radio." Vancouver Sun 25 Apr. 2009: n. pag. PressReader. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

• Sxephil. "Philip DeFranco." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

• Urgo. "PhilipDeFranco YouTube Stats, Channel Statistics." Social Blade. Social Blade LLC, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

• Walsten, Jessika. "Yousef Erakat, Philip DeFranco Show Take Top Honors at 6th Annual Streamy Awards." Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media LLC, 4 Oct. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.