The annual Maine Moose Lottery Drawing event will take place this year at L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine. I have attended the last two year’s drawings, the first at Kittery Trading Post and the second at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and provided interviews and live audio and video Internet feeds of the drawings. Let me explain why this year’s event will not include me.

It was my understanding and perhaps I was wrong, that it was decided that if the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was going to continue having a live drawing event for the Moose Lottery, they would have to get help from private enterprise.

It took some doing but eventually it was agreed to allow The Kittery Trading Post to host the event. I contacted the people at KTP and at MDIFW and tossed out the idea of my company, Skinny Moose Media, providing a live Internet feed of streaming video and audio. My intentions were to enhance the event and not steal any potential audience away from the event. For myself and my business the benefits of exposure couldn’t hurt, although the commitment was considerable money out of my pocket, time and travel.

The KTP event went extremely well considering it was our first attempt at a live, remote video broadcast. At one time we had well over 600 viewers watching and listening to the drawing. If memory serves me correctly, total viewership topped 6,000. An odd thing happened however, about halfway through the podcast. Viewership crashed.

The trip to Fort Kent was even more expensive but I was determined to make the trip because I knew from past experience that the City of Fort Kent and all its citizen’s would put on a quality event. And that they did.

The Fort Kent event went well and once again we had over 350 viewers on at one point until less than halfway through the event, visitors vanished. What happened?

What I didn’t know was that the MDIFW was posting the results of the random draw at about the same time the announcement of moose permit winners was being made. As soon as viewers found this information out, their interest in my broadcast disappeared but just as bad, attendance at the event in the gym at the University of Maine was also cut in half. People vacated the show and went home to find the results rather than stick around.

It is certainly my fault for not knowing the posting of the names was occurring when it did, but I went to some expense and sacrifice to provide this service. But no need to cry over spilled milk.

This year’s event, as I said, will be at L.L. Bean. I contacted MDIFW to ask them if they would consider holding off posting the names of the winners until the end of the show, or at least later. The answer was “no”!

It seems a shame that private business was called upon to save the show and no effort is being exerted on the part of MDIFW to make sure people have a reason to attend the show rather than wait until 6:30 the night of the show and go online and see if they won or not. This reasoning makes little sense to me. I’m pretty small potatoes compared to other businesses and enterprises that lay out considerable expenses, time and effort to put on a show.

It is just a foolish for me to make the trip and lay out the expense of providing a good service, only to get dumped as soon as the show starts because viewers can go to the MDIFW website and get the one thing they are interested in finding out.

So, if you’re thinking about attending the show at L.L. Bean, believing you’ll find out quicker whether you won, just wait until 6:30 on June 17th. That’s when winners will be posted. Or, you could contact MDIFW and ask them exactly what time the computerized random draw will take place. As soon as that has occurred, call them back and ask them for the information. According to the reasons I was given of why they couldn’t hold back on posting the results is because law prohibits them from withholding public information. No point of waiting until 6:30 is there?

I considered attending the show and perhaps just conducting interviews, shooting some video and taking pictures but it now seems it is not worth the effort. I may perhaps show up and meet and talk with friends, depending on my schedule that evening.

I apologize to some viewers who I know were probably looking forward to an evening online and others who had inquired about advertising sponsorship again this year. Perhaps if we can get MDIFW to change their minds, next year might work. This is an election year and Maine will be picking a new governor. Maybe the new governor will appoint a different Commissioner to IFW who will understand that it’s the thousands of applicants for a moose permit that pay their wages.

We don’t need any Stimulus Money, just a little cooperation and understanding of how free enterprise works.

Tom Remington

August 18, 2009 – Skinny Moose Media launched its weekly newsletter ‘The Skinny’ on Tuesday as a new medium to inform the public in regards to industry news, new products, and special deals. With a handful of informed bloggers, Skinny Moose Media will be turning to their writers for help. “Our writers are always posting about the latest news and the newsletter will not only keep people informed but will assist in promoting our individual bloggers in the Network,” Steve Remington, President of the media company, said.

The newsletter has a strong concentration in the outdoor and recreational industry, especially hunting, fishing, shooting, and conservative politics but the Network is expanding their Internet presence every day. Signing up is simple. Browse to skinnymoose.com and fill in your name and email address in the form.

Mark your calendars! June 18th, 2009 will be the annual drawing for the Maine Moose Lottery. This year 3,015 permits will be drawn and as is usually the case thousands of applicants keep their fingers crossed in hopes of being one of the lucky ones.

This year’s event will be held at the University of Maine at Fort Kent and as last year, Skinny Moose Media, in conjunction with U.S. Hunting Today and Maine Hunting Today, will live-stream the video and audio of the event.

Tom Remington, Vice President of Skinny Moose Media, LLC, author of the Black Bear Blog and Managing Editor of U.S. Hunting Today and Maine Hunting Today, will be on hand at the show to conduct interviews and do the filming of the event. He will have his long time friend and Chief Photographer for Skinny Moose Media, Milt Inman with him to assist and grab tons of candid shots throughout the day and evening.

Drawing of names will commence at 6 p.m. It is hoped that things will be set up and video streaming by 4 p.m. that same day. Once the drawing begins, there are no planned interruptions to the streaming.

Last year’s event was held at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine and there were over 6,000 who logged onto to the Black Bear Blog to watch and listen to names being drawn.

Obviously if you can find your way clear to make the trip to Fort Kent and the University of Maine, it will prove to be a great time. It is the intention of Skinny Moose Media to provide a service to the hunters in Maine and beyond who can’t be there in person but would like to watch.

On the day of the Maine Moose Lottery drawing, those wishing to view the event can log onto the Black Bear Blog. Immediately on the home page will be a link to follow that will take you directly to the video player and live streaming.

If all goes as planned, the “live chat” function of the video player will be open for hunters to interact among themselves or to ask Tom questions, providing he isn’t too busy. You will not need to register to use the chat function or to view the audio.

For those interested, Skinny Moose Media still has some advertising space available on the video player page for that event. This proves to be one of the most highly visible pages during this event. If you are interested, please contact Skinny Moose Media.

This year’s broadcast is being sponsored by the Allagash Sporting Camps in Allagash, Maine.

Tom Remington

Actually, my head is still buzzing from the excitement of the event last evening that took place at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. It is my understanding that this is the first time that this event has been held at a venue like the Kittery Trading Post – a place of trade or business.

Although I am not a veteran of many previous Maine Moose Lottery drawings, I think it can be said that this one was a big success. Those who weren’t lucky enough to get their names drawn might not agree with me today, but as the dust and disappointment settles, I think they will also look back and think it was a good time.

This was a first for me and Skinny Moose Media to attempt a live stream of audio and video of the event. I can say without any hesitation that without the hard work of the Kittery Trading Post personal, namely Bob Adams and Julie-Lynn Belon, the success we realized from this event would never have materialized. I can only hope that we have boosted interest with KTP and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and the Moose Lottery.

Bob Adams had hard-wired us a connection so we could get direct access to his Internet connection. Then he whipped out a power cable and soon we were assembling our gear. We seemed to be the first of any media companies to set up and were definitely the last to tear down.

Julie-Lynn and Bob gave us an ideal table to work from. We were right up front next to the main table, where we had excellent visibility – the crowd got see us as easily as we could see them. We were even provided with a sign indicating our reserved space. In short, I think we were treated with royalty.

I want to also take a moment to thank Milt Inman and Gregg Inman for their much needed and highly appreciated assistance last night. I couldn’t have pulled this off without their help. Whenever I needed something, one of them was always there ready and eager to help. Most of the time they were anticipating my next move and already ahead of me.

Several months ago when I received an email from Deborah Turcotte of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife about this year’s Maine Moose Lottery, I began thinking that we could perhaps attend that event and broadcast live audio of the drawing.

I contacted Deborah and the Kittery Trading Post and we began making the plans of how we could do this and make it work. It wasn’t until after Bob Adams of KTP told me about the effort he was making to provide an Internet connection, did I realize that his service was good enough to also stream the video.

But in all honesty, I never dreamed we would get the viewers we did. Although Steve and I never actually discussed expectations, we both individually thought if we could muster up 20 or 30 people, maybe even as many as 50 viewers, we would have considered it a success.

For those who may not know, at our peak time we had over 400 viewers. That may very well have translated into over 600 different viewers or more being on line viewing the events throughout the night. I just don’t have those statistics.

As we watched the viewer count rise, so did our own excitement level. First we wondered to ourselves if we could ever reach 100 viewers. Then it was spoken questioning whether we could hit 200, 300 and 400.

Needless to say we were walking on thin air. The curiosity and excitement from the crowd was great. Many stopped by our table to ask about what were doing. Several in attendance called friends, neighbors and family members once they discovered they could see the event live online. In short, the responses we got from everyone – attendees, IFW personnel, KTP staff, television and radio people – was astounding.

It wasn’t without some glitches though. Two of the biggest come to mind. First was dealing with audio problems but once I got a handle on it and tweaked the audio and video quality and learned how to adjust the volume better on the mixer, for the most part the audio came out pretty good.

The second issue was getting booted off line twice during production. I don’t have an answer why that happened, but after the second time, we lost a sizable amount of viewers.

Once I figure out a better way to become more mobile with the video camera, we can get better quality video. Without having to spend thousands of dollars, we are pretty limited with power cords and USB video cables.

I want to thank everyone who was gracious enough to stop by the table and participate in an interview. I had a great time talking with everyone and I hope I was kind enough to you that you will consider doing it again.

Thanks again to everyone and already we are thinking about next year or the next event.

Tom Remington

My day will be consumed with getting to Kittery and setting up to stream live audio and video of the Maine Moose Lottery drawing to be held at the Kittery Trading Post.

If you are interested in viewing the events, click this link to the Skinny Moose Media broadcasting site where you can view and/or listen to a live broadcast beginning around 3 p.m. today. You’ll also find instructions on how to view pictures as we take them around the venue. All pictures will be taken by our chief photographer, Milt Inman.

Just a quick reminder. Once you get to the video/audio viewing page, if you want to leave there to look at some photos, make sure to open another browser window or tab if you are using tabbed browsing. In the new window, go to the Black Bear Blog. You can then switch back and forth.

Activities get underway in full force by 4 p.m. but many people will be there by 3 p.m., myself included. I have some interviews planned with some interesting people. Once the drawing of names begins at 6 p.m., I will be streaming live video and audio of that only so you can listen for your name to be drawn.

I hope you’ll join us for the event. Comments will be available on this page, the page where we post pictures and the broadcasting page. Depending on how busy I am, I’ll try to answer any comments or questions.

Tom Remington

Yesterday, I attempted my first ever live broadcast of Open Air With Tom Remington. I didn’t think it was going to happen for most of the morning as it seemed I was having one technical failure after another but I finally pulled it off……as it was.

The show is a bit different than other shows in that there are no breaks for commercials or station IDs during the one-hour plus broadcast. I talked with John Stabley, V.P. of Global Operations for Skinny Moose Media, who is attending the Archery Trade Associations trade show in Indianapolis now through Saturday. He gives us an update on the show and how things are going for him.

Other highlights of the show include discussion of some of the continued budget problems at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and an introduction to Bill Moore’s radio broadcast on a local Upper Peninsula sports radio station.

I also spend some time discussing the economic impact hunting, fishing and recreation has on this country with its millions of participants, yet never any mention of these topics with presidential candidates.

Plus a couple of surprises.

Below is the audio player where you can click and stream audio right now as you read more of the Black Bear Blog or just browsing about the Internet. And for those of you who may not have the time now, visit the Open Air download page and find every show that has been done. You can stream audio of each show now or download it to your media player and listen at your leisure.

Tom Remington

Skinny Moose Media offers hosting services. We usually don’t push the service too much and rely mostly on word of mouth. We try to keep our services to related websites and to provide exceptional customer service. We also understand most people are paying a lot for having a website for your business.

So we want to become your hosting company. We will transfer your website for you at no charge (Normally $30 fee for doing the work to switch) and not only that but you can get the first 3 months for only $3. <<<read more about it>>>

Tom Remington

Yesterday aired the fourth Open Air broadcast and I had some fun. I played a bit of a DJ while spinning a few of Maine humorist Joe Perham’s CDs and telling a tale or two of my own. I had fun and I think you will enjoy the stories as well.

Here are your options. You can stream the audio right here by clicking on the player button below or you can go to this link and select the October 4, 2007 show date to either listen to on your own computer’s media player or you can right-click and save it to play at a later time.

Tom Remington

I want to take a moment to remind readers that a brand new broadcast of “Open Air With Tom Remington” will air today at 3 p.m. on Skinny Moose Radio.

Today’s show features an in depth interview with Kristine Shreve, Director of Marketing for Gun Safety Innovations, maker of the new tree stand safety device the Gun Slinger. Kristine and I discuss hunter safety with a focus on tree stand safety.

Following that, we spend some time talking about the importance of the outdoor blogoshere and how this is becoming a rapidly growing resource for all outdoor sportsmen. I hope you tune in.

If you can’t listen to the show at 3 p.m., as always we will provide a link to our website so you can listen to the show and all the shows at your leisure. I hope you will join me today at 3.

Tom Remington

Yesterday’s broadcast on Skinny Moose Radio of “Open Air with Tom Remington”, went off pretty much without a hitch. With each successive broadcast, I get a little more comfortable and putting the show together becomes a bit more easy.

My guest yesterday was, once again, my son Steven, as we both work together to work the kinks out of the show but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have anything to talk about. We covered a little bit of baseball, in particular some Red Sox and Yankees coverage, football and the Patriots and Bill Belicheat, along with a host of other topics.

The focus of the show centered around the topic of wolves in the west and the title to a recent article about killing wolves, where the author of that article said that killing wolves violated the public trust. I spend ample time explaining why that is not true and that the fact is the when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, et. al. turned wolves loose in the Yellowstone area, that was a violation of the public trust. I share some history and information of how the U.S. was lied to about the reintroduction.

This topic will be expanded in future shows to show how much of what all hunters and outdoorsmen face today in battling the animal lovers, animal rights groups and anti-hunters is a direct relation to the reintroduction of wolves and continuing debate about their protection over the property rights of U.S. citizens.

I think you will enjoy the show. You can either click here and download or listen to the broadcast with your own media player, or click on the player below and listen now!. Thank you.

Tom Remington

Hey! Don’t forget to tune in to the broadcast of “Open Air with Tom Remington” on Skinny Moose Radio starting at 3 p.m. today. Today my guest was again my son Steve and we talked about a variety of subjects but the main topic of conversation was about wolves in the west and my response to an article I read titled, “Killing Wolves Violates The Public Trust”. The basis of my rebuttal was clarification that the public trust was violated when we the citizens were lied to by our own government and others when wolves were forced upon the people from reintroduction.

I hope you’ll tune in. After the program has aired, we’ll list the show with a link for you to listen to at your leisure.

Tom Remington

If you missed the original broadcast of “Open Air with Tom Remington”, you can get that broadcast right here. The first show featured an interview with my son, President of Skinny Moose Media, Steven Remington. We talked about our media network, the launching of Skinny Moose Radio and related topics, as well as the Skinny Moose bloggers network. Don’t miss the show. It’s filled with lots of information about our plans for the future and how you can become a Skinny Moose Radio personality.

You have two options. You can Download Open Air here, or you can just click on the start button below and play it right here and listen while you browse about and check your mail, etc.

Don’t forget that Skinny Moose Media has our very own tool bar that you can download for your browser. Not only will you get a Skinny Moose Radio network player, you also get direct links to all the latest posts of the Skinny Moose Media blog network. Click here to download the tool bar now. At the top of the page is a sample of the tool bar. Just click on “Download Our Free Toolbar”.

Tom Remington