Tom Meek
Encyclopedia
Tom Meek is a columnist
and author of "Another Day In Cyberville" published weekly in The Gainesville Voice, a New York Times regional newspaper, beginning in October, 2000 in The Gainesville Sun
. "Cyberville" deals with issues related to high-tech, computers, New Media and Internet issues. Meek also writes musical and other occasional features on persons such as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and American composer Joseph Byrd
for publication in print and online, and is the author of online blogs dealing with media and music. Meek has also served as a media consultant for interests worldwide including the Fox Broadcasting Network, Swedish Televerket
and numerous Fortune 500
companies, and is an expert witness
certified by the United States Supreme Court on media and copyright issues related to cable television
and broadcast television.
Meek originally began involvement in media by doing volunteer music programming at WIOT-FM
at age 12. He then extended his involvement in music by serving as a DJ and sound and light engineer at the Catacombs Coffee House in Sylvania, Ohio
from 1969-72. Meek began his television career while still in high school as a producer for WSPD-TV
in Toledo, Ohio
in 1973. He also served as an Ohio county-level student coordinator in the 1972 presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern
. He moved to Columbus, Ohio
in 1976, where he worked as a music buyer for the Peaches Records chain. After spending a year in Boston, Massachusetts at Grahm Junior College
in 1978-79, Meek moved to Gainesville, Florida
and graduated from the University of Florida
in 1982 with a degree in Communications while working at WUFT-TV and other media positions at the university from 1980-82. In his final semester Meek helped launch a new graduate level communications degree program, serving as director and co-producer of a drama "Ernie Pyle
, Here Is My War", winner of the 1982 Alpha Epsilon Rho Grand Prize for Drama.
Although he initially planned to pursue a journalism master's degree in Gainesville, Meek immediately began working as a producer and researcher at WFTV-TV, Orlando when offered a job in May, 1982. After two years producing a morning news and information program, he was hired at WOFL-TV in April, 1984, initially as Community Affairs Director, then as Station Operations Manager beginning in 1986. While at WOFL-TV, Meek wrote, produced and edited a number of documentaries, including a program on Louis Comfort Tiffany
and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
in Winter Park, Florida
which was credited with helping keep the Morse collections intact for an eventual larger museum, and a program on the introduction of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) into Central Florida, which won a medal at the New York International Film & Television Festival http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/main.taf?p=2,3 in 1984. Meek's television producing experience exceeds 500 programs including documentaries, information, telethons, talk and public service, several thousand program segments, and serving as Executive Producer for thousands more news and public service programs.
In 1987, at the request of several television stations, law firms and the Fox Broadcasting Network, Meek began a consulting practice in issues related to cable-broadcast television issues, which expanded to include a wide range of areas related to copyright, TV and radio station startups, disaster and strategic plans, Nielsen ratings
, FAA airspace issues, digital television, tower construction and zoning issues, writing for print and television, multimedia production and other media issues. In 1989 Meek produced and moderated a set of four nationwide seminars for the NATPE
Educational Foundation, which were seen as a groundbreaking effort to bring leaders of the broadcasting and cable industries directly together in a day-long event for the first time. In 1998 Meek expanded his consulting practice again to include computers, networks and Web design, with an additional added emphasis on skills training and Intranet/Internet Web-based collaboration.
Meek was repeatedly cited in the 1997 United States Supreme Court decision Turner Broadcasting vs. FCC, which established the must-carry
rules regarding cable carriage of broadcast television stations in the United States, where Meek represented the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), United States Department of Justice
, the National Association of Broadcasters
(NAB), the Association of Local Television Stations (ALTV), and the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS), among others. Meek also produced research used by the U.S. Congress in passing the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988 governing the carriage of local television stations by Direct broadcast satellite
providers. Meek has also been heavily involved in the rules governing syndicated program exclusivity ("Syndex") for broadcast television and "superstations" such as WGN-TV
and WTBS-TV, submitting research in the United Video case which ruled in favor of Syndex . Meek maintains a Web page at the TVCCS site used by students and college classes in the U.S. concerning the history of must-carry and the Turner decision.
Meek is also a frequent guest on the WUFT-FM
(Gainesville, FL) program "Conner Calling", hosted by Hank Conner, and has offered personal, online and satellite presentations to technical groups, professional and trade organizations, private business, museum docents, civic groups and secondary and college audiences nationwide on the use of the Internet, communications, computers, mobile television, public service rules for broadcast television, Louis Comfort Tiffany, television ratings, journalism and the history of must-carry and the Turner case for the past twenty years.
Meek also authors two blogs on media issues, "Reflections On Media" featuring information and reviews of recent media and music subjects, and "The Video Audio Overdose Galore" highlighting music and entertainment videos from online video and audio services. He is also the founder and moderator of CateraOwners, the world's largest owners group dedicated to the Cadillac Catera
automobile, with more than 2000 members worldwide.
In 2007 Meek began authoring a weekly music events blog, "About & Out", for the Los-Angeles based music Web site LAJazz.com.
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
and author of "Another Day In Cyberville" published weekly in The Gainesville Voice, a New York Times regional newspaper, beginning in October, 2000 in The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun
The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. It is a part of the New York Times Regional Media Group. The paper is published by James E...
. "Cyberville" deals with issues related to high-tech, computers, New Media and Internet issues. Meek also writes musical and other occasional features on persons such as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and American composer Joseph Byrd
Joseph Byrd
Joseph Byrd was the leader of The United States of America, a notable rock band from the 1960s, as well as the psychedelic group Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, of cult fame through their release The American Metaphysical Circus...
for publication in print and online, and is the author of online blogs dealing with media and music. Meek has also served as a media consultant for interests worldwide including the Fox Broadcasting Network, Swedish Televerket
Televerket
Televerket is the name of two government telecommunications agencies:*Televerket , former name of Swedish company Telia, later merged to TeliaSonera.*Televerket, former name of Norwegian company Telenor...
and numerous Fortune 500
Fortune 500
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
companies, and is an expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
certified by the United States Supreme Court on media and copyright issues related to cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and broadcast television.
Meek originally began involvement in media by doing volunteer music programming at WIOT-FM
WIOT
WIOT is a FM radio station in Toledo, Ohio. Owned by Clear Channel Communications, the station broadcasts at 104.7 MHz.WIOT was Toledo's first FM rock station when it went on the air December 25, 1972, replacing a beautiful music/classical format. The call letters stood for "In Our Time"...
at age 12. He then extended his involvement in music by serving as a DJ and sound and light engineer at the Catacombs Coffee House in Sylvania, Ohio
Sylvania, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 18,670 people, 7,151 households, and 5,070 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,223.2 people per square mile . There were 7,392 housing units at an average density of 1,276.2 per square mile...
from 1969-72. Meek began his television career while still in high school as a producer for WSPD-TV
WTVG
This is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in...
in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
in 1973. He also served as an Ohio county-level student coordinator in the 1972 presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
. He moved to Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
in 1976, where he worked as a music buyer for the Peaches Records chain. After spending a year in Boston, Massachusetts at Grahm Junior College
Grahm Junior College
Grahm Junior College was a private junior college located in Boston, Massachusetts. The school opened in 1957 under the name Cambridge School of Business, as part of a chain of schools. Other branches were later based in Chicago and Philadelphia...
in 1978-79, Meek moved to Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
and graduated from the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in 1982 with a degree in Communications while working at WUFT-TV and other media positions at the university from 1980-82. In his final semester Meek helped launch a new graduate level communications degree program, serving as director and co-producer of a drama "Ernie Pyle
Ernie Pyle
Ernest Taylor Pyle was an American journalist who wrote as a roving correspondent for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain from 1935 until his death in combat during World War II. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944...
, Here Is My War", winner of the 1982 Alpha Epsilon Rho Grand Prize for Drama.
Although he initially planned to pursue a journalism master's degree in Gainesville, Meek immediately began working as a producer and researcher at WFTV-TV, Orlando when offered a job in May, 1982. After two years producing a morning news and information program, he was hired at WOFL-TV in April, 1984, initially as Community Affairs Director, then as Station Operations Manager beginning in 1986. While at WOFL-TV, Meek wrote, produced and edited a number of documentaries, including a program on Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art houses the most comprehensive collection of the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany found anywhere, a major collection of American art pottery, and fine collections of late-19th- and early-20th-century American paintings, graphics and the decorative arts...
in Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
which was credited with helping keep the Morse collections intact for an eventual larger museum, and a program on the introduction of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) into Central Florida, which won a medal at the New York International Film & Television Festival http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/main.taf?p=2,3 in 1984. Meek's television producing experience exceeds 500 programs including documentaries, information, telethons, talk and public service, several thousand program segments, and serving as Executive Producer for thousands more news and public service programs.
In 1987, at the request of several television stations, law firms and the Fox Broadcasting Network, Meek began a consulting practice in issues related to cable-broadcast television issues, which expanded to include a wide range of areas related to copyright, TV and radio station startups, disaster and strategic plans, Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, FAA airspace issues, digital television, tower construction and zoning issues, writing for print and television, multimedia production and other media issues. In 1989 Meek produced and moderated a set of four nationwide seminars for the NATPE
NATPE
The National Association of Television Program Executives is a professional association of television and emerging media executives...
Educational Foundation, which were seen as a groundbreaking effort to bring leaders of the broadcasting and cable industries directly together in a day-long event for the first time. In 1998 Meek expanded his consulting practice again to include computers, networks and Web design, with an additional added emphasis on skills training and Intranet/Internet Web-based collaboration.
Meek was repeatedly cited in the 1997 United States Supreme Court decision Turner Broadcasting vs. FCC, which established the must-carry
Must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
rules regarding cable carriage of broadcast television stations in the United States, where Meek represented the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC), United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, the National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
(NAB), the Association of Local Television Stations (ALTV), and the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS), among others. Meek also produced research used by the U.S. Congress in passing the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988 governing the carriage of local television stations by Direct broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception.A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television...
providers. Meek has also been heavily involved in the rules governing syndicated program exclusivity ("Syndex") for broadcast television and "superstations" such as WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
and WTBS-TV, submitting research in the United Video case which ruled in favor of Syndex . Meek maintains a Web page at the TVCCS site used by students and college classes in the U.S. concerning the history of must-carry and the Turner decision.
Meek is also a frequent guest on the WUFT-FM
WUFT-FM
WUFT-FM 89.1 is an NPR member radio station owned by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, broadcasting news from NPR.UF has been involved in broadcasting for almost nine decades. It owns WRUF , one of the oldest radio stations in the state, and sister television station WUFT-TV was...
(Gainesville, FL) program "Conner Calling", hosted by Hank Conner, and has offered personal, online and satellite presentations to technical groups, professional and trade organizations, private business, museum docents, civic groups and secondary and college audiences nationwide on the use of the Internet, communications, computers, mobile television, public service rules for broadcast television, Louis Comfort Tiffany, television ratings, journalism and the history of must-carry and the Turner case for the past twenty years.
Meek also authors two blogs on media issues, "Reflections On Media" featuring information and reviews of recent media and music subjects, and "The Video Audio Overdose Galore" highlighting music and entertainment videos from online video and audio services. He is also the founder and moderator of CateraOwners, the world's largest owners group dedicated to the Cadillac Catera
Cadillac Catera
The Cadillac Catera is a mid-sized automobile manufactured in Rüsselsheim, Germany, as a rebadged variant of the Opel Omega—and marketed by Cadillac in North America as an entry-level model, with approximately 95,000 examples manufactured from 1997–2001.A Sport model was offered beginning in...
automobile, with more than 2000 members worldwide.
In 2007 Meek began authoring a weekly music events blog, "About & Out", for the Los-Angeles based music Web site LAJazz.com.