All of the photos shown below are those of Milt Inman, Chief Photographer for Skinny Moose Media.

I would also like to point out that during the event we had over 6,000 page views on the Skinny Moose Media site where viewers could go and watch. I also had the same video viewer loaded on to several other sites of which I don’t have all the statistics for. At one time we had over 400 viewers on at once. With over 6,000 page views that results in several hundred and into the thousands of individual viewers who tuned in to see what was going on.

Nate and Chris can be found traveling North America on hunting trips and filming it to be played on their cable channel’s show, Northwoods Adventures TV. Both Nate and Chris have a blog site with Skinny Moose Media. They had their own booth set up outside the tent and I got them to rush over and do an interview just before the drawing of names began.

It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. We hope that we can cover next year’s drawing which will be held in Fort Kent, “The County”!

Tom Remington

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

I’ve been working with the folks at KTP and Bob Adams has given me a great Internet connection speed so that I can stream audio and video from our web site. You will be able to do that by clicking this link at Skinny Moose Media broadcasting. We will make this link available at several of our websites so that you can more easily find it.

Let me first give you a bit of information about what we intend to do. The Kittery Trading Post has put together a great slate of events leading up to the actual drawing. Skinny Moose Media intends to be at KTP around 3 p.m. when the festivities begin. We will set up and stream as much audio and video of what’s going on around KTP. We will be somewhat limited in how much we can move around but we’ll do the best we can. I hope also to have a few interviews with some key and interesting people.

Once the actual drawing of names begins, I plan to set up a camera on the podium and just let the audio and video run so nobody misses their name if and when it is called. We plan to provide a link at the same page above that you can check on where we will post photos all through the night as well.

For those interested in listening and/or viewing the stream, here are some pointers. First, you must have high speed Internet access. You will only see the screen constantly trying to buffer if you don’t. Depending on your Internet service provider’s download speed, you should be able to stream constant video and audio.

Should the occasion present itself, which more than likely it will, where you get disconnected from the stream, you may have to refresh your browser page and select the “play” button to begin again.

This should be a great opportunity for those who can’t make the drive to Kittery for the event and those who don’t want to wait until the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife get the list of names posted to their website.

Below is a copy of the flyer KTP is circulating with a list of some of the events. After the flyer, you’ll find a link to the KTP website where you can find a complete list of events.

Full schedule of events from the Kittery Trading Post.

Tom Remington

Tom Remington

This holiday weekend is a time to reflect back and remember all those who sacrificed that we might be free in the greatest land God gave to us.

Tom Remington

The show was a bit different than others but one I think you’ll enjoy nonetheless. I share with listeners some of the new “gadgets” I have at my disposal to make me even more obnoxious than I already am.

I’ve also included an update on Skinny Moose Media’s plan to do a remote live audio stream from the Kittery Trading Post in Maine for the annual Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Moose Lottery. It should be a good time. We will go live with our broadcast sometime around 4 p.m. and live drawing will commence at 6 p.m.

Are we getting carried away with blaming everything, good or bad, on global warming?

I thought it important to spend a bit of time explaining about the different kind of visitors I have at my blogs and some of the problems that arise when a visitor lands on one of my articles for the first time, reads it and leaves a comment based solely on the contents of that article. This is not necessarily the readers fault as I explain that it is impossible to link every story to every other article that fully explains my position on certain issues. This is just one of the many challenges of being a blogger. I think the explanation will help listeners and readers to better understand the dynamics of reading blogs all across the Internet.

The last part of the show addresses political issues. The main point I wanted to clarify was why, if I am going to support John McCain in the upcoming presidential election, I am spending time criticizing some of the things he says and does. As most of you know, I am a conservative. John McCain says he is but to me it is more of a pick and choose kind of conservatism. I am not one to simply agree with everything John McCain says just to be a good republican. So listen in and find out why.

Listen to the broadcast now!

Tom Remington

Tom Remington

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