Welcome to PR Vibes™, created by Calysto Communications to provide you with key insights into the publications and events in the telecommunications industry. Today, we’re featuring a short interview with Tracy Ford, editor, RCR Wireless News.
To help you better understand RCR’s focus this year and in the future, we asked Tracy to share her insights on the publication and on the future of telecommunications in general. Enjoy!
Looking back over the past year, what do you view as particularly important?
I think the biggest thing going on in the wireless industry in the last year has been how operators are scrambling on so many levels to try to adjust their efforts around the massive explosion of wireless content. They’ve been spending years trying to entice end users with content. Now that they’ve been successful in that effort, they are struggling to have the network keep up so they are deploying new technologies and ramping up overlays. They have to find new ways to charge for data use and they have to figure out their relationships with over-the-top service providers, like Facebook. Plus, operators are under more government scrutiny than ever. Addressing any one of those issues is complicated enough; addressing them all simultaneously is mind-boggling.
Going forward, do you anticipate any changes or new endeavors at RCR? What is your vision for the future?
I’ve been reporting on the wireless space for a long time now, and it’s safe to say that nothing stays the same – not in the wireless industry, not in the publishing industry. The RCR brand continues to evolve. We’re doing local events with a conference series, we’re doing video with RCR TV, we’re more interested in the global picture than ever, but we’re doing it at a local level, so we’ve traveled to Kansas City and Shanghai. We’ve been to Washington, D.C., Toronto and Helsinki. One of our editors, Sylvie Barak, brings a unique, unfiltered perspective to RCR Unplugged. My vision has always remained the same: to connect our audience to the news and analysis they need in the way they want (whether online, print, e-mail, video, Twitter, etc.), to help them connect the dots about developments in the industry that impact their businesses. We are showing the human connection that the technology brings to transform people’s personal and business lives. We are now doing case studies that show how adding a wireless component gives businesses a competitive advantage.
What do you think sets RCR Wireless apart from other industry publications?
RCR Wireless News is different in that we are delivering content in so many ways: our traditional print product is still around, and we’re using that vehicle to deliver in-depth stories around one segment of the industry. We’re still distilling the day’s events and giving our audience that information on our website and in our daily news alerts, and we’re hitting it hard on the street with video – most recently streaming video – from events. In addition, our conference series brings people together at the local level to learn and network.
What do you see as the most impacting technology/trend for the next 12 months?
The biggest trend, no doubt, will be the rollout of 4G services. This industry has been in constant consolidation since the mid-1990s when PCS spectrum was awarded. Today, the number of operators is expanding. Clearwire is rolling out a new nationwide network; LightSquared is rolling out a new nationwide network; Cox is rolling out wireless service in its cable markets. AT&T and Verizon are rolling out new IP-based networks. That doesn’t happen very often.
What are some of the key topics you plan to cover in the next year?
Key topics will revolve around those rollouts. How do carriers manage 2G/3G/4G networks simultaneously? How do they deploy these networks? How does that impact the economy? Industry employment? The threat from nontraditional service providers, etc.? There is never a shortage of story ideas!
Tracy, as someone who has covered the wireless industry since the 1990s, what are your thoughts on how new media – blogs, Twitter, etc. — has impacted your job?
New media has changed my job, but the fundamentals of reporting and analysis are the same as they were when I first started – who, what, when, where, how, how much and why are as important as ever. In an industry that moves as fast as wireless, new media is essential because the story is always changing.
If you could interview anyone, who would it be and why?
One of my favorite moments in covering the wireless industry was at CTIA listening to former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton talk about the role wireless plays in making the world a better place. I think everyone in the room was just in awe of mobile’s role in society. So with that as background, I’d like to interview President Obama on the national broadband plan and the role he expects wireless to play in broadband.
Who do you consider a role model or inspiration?
I have a group of girlfriends who inspire me. We’ve taken a hundred different paths with careers, family, etc., but they’re all pretty awesome.
And finally, how do you like to spend your free time? What’s your vision for a perfect day?
The perfect day would have to involve sun, sand, water, a boat and my family.