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The origins of the trending Youtube host/influencer

I saw some segments on Youtube a few times where I seen the non-political Youtube host do segments that reminded me of shows like Evening Magazine (PM Magazine/Eye on the Bay), Eye on LA, 2 on the town, Rick Steves and California's Gold. Note I seen the origins of Evening Magazine was back when KPIX wanted to use the 7PM hour for features and light hearted stories back in 1976 and separated from KPIX 5 News. This was later franchised as Evening Magazine for other Group W TV Stations which KPIX was owned at the time and PM Magazine for those not owned by Group W for syndication rights. Note KNXT/KCBS in Los Angeles had this show as 2 on the town and KABC-TV had it as Eye on LA, Rick Steves Europe at pledge time for PBS affiliates and California PBS affiliates have it as California's Gold and Visiting with Huell Howser.

Yes these shows paved the way for TV Specials on Cable which in turn paved the way of the Youtube host of the past decade.







 
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This is the sparking point for me. This is when I noticed that a Korean Youtube host did episodes that reminded me of Dirty Jobs here in the USA and the reboot of Evening Magazine for San Francisco when Mike Rowe was doing the series here.

In this case the host did something that resembles Dirty Jobs from the Philippines. Note the Youtube host in question may not know Evening Magazine or Dirty Jobs but there may have been specials in either Korea or Philippines or a competing Youtube show that is only known in places the show is big that got her to do her own version of the shows mentioned here.


Tom Scott one of the longest Youtube hosts has done segments that resembles stuff from specials he saw in the UK.



All I can say is this is like the stuff we mentioned in other broadcast threads where the stuff that used to be on cable and OTA TV are now seen on streaming venues only. Like in this case the Old Evening Magazine, TV Specials for those outside the USA, Californias Gold may carry the origins but they live on in various Youtube profiles.

 
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I think it depends on what you watch. Most of the influencer videos I've seen were IMHO dumb things. I lived in a bounce house for 24 hours, running over things with a car and filming it, and I wore squishies all over my body for a day and walked around in public.
 




I remember when YouTube first came out the earliest influencers would have been guys doing skateboard tricks. Then people on bikes and Motorcycles would have done the same tricks. These types of people would have been in the XGames at the time.
 
I think a common element of today's media is the "me experience" i.e., someone's personal life experience. I think audience engagement of this content is turbocharged by the vicarious experience aspect of it. It has gone beyond simply a relatable character in a performance if an actor is believed by the audience and the audience takes action in the real, physical world.

Is a strong audience reaction to media becoming more frequent? OR is there simply more public consumption of media?

I think many take Internet and broadcast media way too seriously. They cannot or will not determine if something is likely to be acting instead of fact.

Sometimes performers do not make a distinction between the performance and the real-world. Or they may not consider themselves actors, but rather news readers or agents of change.

Imagine a radio morning show where the show characters insult and humiliate each other for laughs and to attract an audience. When the mics are off, they are co-workers, actors between takes, correct? For the most part, those working in movies and TV understand this.

In the performing arts there is a line between the performance and the work environment (real-world).

Interesting that people can have legal problems or become outcasts for performing something on the Internet (or sometimes radio) that is performed onstage and in motion pictures. It is true that historically, occasionally audiences rioted, took drugs, stripped naked or whatever in response to a performance. Do the Parrot Heads know that Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band are acting on stage, playing a role and not actually living the lifestyle?

If today's audiences are more likely to react in the real-world to a performance, why?
 
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Waiting for the usual suspects to invade this thread and enlighten us as to how all this new influencer stuff is pure crap and how people back in the day were too smart to ever let it happen ...
 
I don't think people have changed much. What has changed is velocity, distribution and availability of information. Infrastructure can now give all participants equal access to velocity and distribution. Information is now like a nuclear reaction.
 
I don't think people have changed much. What has changed is velocity, distribution and availability of information. Infrastructure can now give all participants equal access to velocity and distribution. Information is now like a nuclear reaction.
True and the difference that's changed is venues too. Tik Tok is now the place where the skateboarding and Bike videos that first were listed as the most watched video on Youtube is now trending trending on Tik Tok to because of audience reasons. Also Youtube has become more like what Cable TV used to be in the 2000's




The ones that stayed on Youtube the longest are Khan Academy because of their content that focuses on education. They took on ideas originally seen on instructional television and they found the right ideas to broadcast them to a newer audience from K-12 to colleges in some cases. But they were in the general overview. However the more in-depth concepts is up to your school district and colleges classes.




 
I think a common element of today's media is the "me experience" i.e., someone's personal life experience. I think audience engagement of this content is turbocharged by the vicarious experience aspect of it. It has gone beyond simply a relatable character in a performance if an actor is believed by the audience and the audience takes action in the real, physical world.

Is a strong audience reaction to media becoming more frequent? OR is there simply more public consumption of media?

I think many take Internet and broadcast media way too seriously. They cannot or will not determine if something is likely to be acting instead of fact.

Sometimes performers do not make a distinction between the performance and the real-world. Or they may not consider themselves actors, but rather news readers or agents of change.

Imagine a radio morning show where the show characters insult and humiliate each other for laughs and to attract an audience. When the mics are off, they are co-workers, actors between takes, correct? For the most part, those working in movies and TV understand this.

In the performing arts there is a line between the performance and the work environment (real-world).

Interesting that people can have legal problems or become outcasts for performing something on the Internet (or sometimes radio) that is performed onstage and in motion pictures. It is true that historically, occasionally audiences rioted, took drugs, stripped naked or whatever in response to a performance. Do the Parrot Heads know that Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band are acting on stage, playing a role and not actually living the lifestyle?

If today's audiences are more likely to react in the real-world to a performance, why?
Its Performance art but when that effects public safety then its not the case.
 
I think PBS shows like Rick Steve’s Europe and shows on the travel channel like Anthony Bourdaine’s No Reservations paved the way for YouTube travel vloggers. Shows like Somewhere Street from Japan and Night Ride from Toronto also did the same. There’s many channels of people walking around different cities now and some of them have over 1 million views in places like New York, London, Tokyo, etc. They become very popular during the pandemic but many have been around since the start of YouTube.




 



Here is more. Yes these videos look like shows that would have been on the Travel Channel in the 2000's when Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain did shows for them. But these are hosts exploring different parts of the world for a food review for a YouTube Audience.
 
I forgot another show that contributed to where we are today among YouTube shows. Bay Area Backroads from the 1990's produced at KRON-TV San Francisco.


 

In this video Ross McGowan who was with KPIX-TV for People are Talking did a demo tape Sales promotion for Group W/Westinghouse Broadcasting to expand Evening Magazine/PM Magazine to the rest of the United States. This was when Group W was syndicating the name PM Magazine for non Group W stations with different local hosts. Evening Magazine was born at KPIX-TV San Francisco in 1976 when the idea took root. Note this show was cancelled in 1991 for the entire country. However, KPIX-TV rebooted Evening Magazine/Eye On the Bay from 1998-2005 and some of the ideas from the second stint of Evening Magazine went on to the national level as Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe or the framework from Evening Magazine went on to various youtube influencer shows or various TV specials around the world.


 
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