I saw a billboard on 610 this past weekend for a site called headlinehouston.com - all Houston, all the time, all here. Of course I had to check that out. What I found was a Houston news Web site that mirrors The Drudge Report by linking to local media. In fact it really looks just like the real Drudge Report (guess Matt doesn't have that copyrighted). I have to say I was a very big fan...more on that later.
It is an interesting idea. But who could be behind this project? There is no obvious answer by just browsing the site. And what kind of startup has money for a billboard on the heavily trafficked 610 near the dead Astroworld site?
You won't find a copyright or terms of service agreement (TOS) on the site. The TOS is what gives away that the Houston Chronicle is behind the 29-95.com site. Ahh, but you know who you are dealing with on this blog...or you wouldn't come here right? They can't hide it from Mike McGuff.
I checked the site's source code which gives away that user generated news tips are going to the email address nlaferty@tribune.com. Tribune.com? The owners of the Chicago Tribune? My second verification was simply doing a "Who is" lookup on headlinehouston.com. Tribune was listed as the owner. But looking at the source code gave me more evidence of who is really behind the site. If you know Houston media, you know that KIAH Channel 39 is owned by Tribune. That's why it makes sense that the site's site analytics Omniture code refers to "s.pageName = "KIAH / news / Headline Houston - front.";."
Bingo.
I think this is a very smart idea for a television station or any media company to start. Google News has proven that news aggregation is hot with users. Why go to every Houston news site in town when you can go straight to headlinehouston.com and link to the best stories? Matt Drudge figured that out a long time ago on an international level. Now someone at KIAH can scan headlines on all of the stations and link to the best stories. Heck, one story might have links to all of the stations so you can get different angles to the same event. This is one stop shopping folks and KIAH makes the money by selling the ads. Now the station just has to figure out how to promote it. Good thing for them they have a powerful television transmitter on their side.
This idea is a much more strategic move than what Dallas sister station KDAF has tried. You might remember how I told you that Channel 33 in Dallas-Fort Worth was simply linking to all other North Texas media on its news page. I like the Houston idea better because the station is simply playing it off like it's a rogue guy in his home office just updating news he finds interesting (the corporate version of the mikemcguff.com blog!). Although if you look on 39online.com, you will see a link under its 'Houston news' tab.
Now to the part of why I really like this. The site has a page dedicated to Houston blogs. There is a very long list. My favorite part is how the editors put the mikemcguff.com blog link at the number 6 position. That's just under all of the MSM blogs and my pals at blogHOUSTON!!!! Go see where your favorite blog ranks.
Congrats to KIAH and Tribune. I think you beat all the Houston media on a big part of the web market. The innovative ones will be the media companies that survive online.
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