In 1993 we didn’t have streaming media as we know it today, but we did have User Generated Video Content – Public Access television was a big part of my growing up here in New York City – In High School I was friends with a very charismatic gent who hosted a Live Cable show on Manhattan Cable Television … It was a great way to bring our big city together as High School kids from all over the boroughs would call in and some, eventually, would come to the studio to be part of our broadcasting click.
It isn’t surprising that growing up in NYC as an only child I would be drawn to this cool, A/V geekish crowd… Later, after spending 5 years at SUNY Stony Brook and being a big part of their Radio Station WUSB Stony Brook 90.1 FM (“The first station of the 90’s” “Have an Eargasm”) – in 1993 I went to the New York Film Academy and did their accelerated course in Film. Alas, shooting film took too long, I wanted immediate gratification, like radio or the old cable show that happened LIVE – can’t get more immediate satisfaction than that! In an effort to create cool visual entertainment and create a community, drawing in like minded New Yorkers, I signed up with MNN and began taping my own show.
The program was called “SHUT!UP!” and aired for 3 years on NYC’s MNN – the program became very popular and along with that, Nico was a minor F list celebrity in NYC for a short while – I speculate that the character we created (there were many people who contributed to the program) related to how people were feeling at the time and connected with the audience some how – I exerted a great deal of effort in creating a program that was like a kids television program for adults, so it was fun and it show cased my Friends and their shoes (who doesn’t love cool shoes?). It was strange and campy, it was a brand in and of itself….
The success of the brand had many “confirmations” in my mind – One notable example I came across is a feature article in an old issue of SASSY Magazine – Sassy magazine was THE cool, hip mag’ at the time… and Tori Spelling on the cover – Can’t get more hip than that!
- (Left) Nico Picture Center: Sassy Magazine October 1993
The article is called “HOW TO BE A TV STAR IN 10 EASY STEPS” – it’s funny looking back at how calculated the approach to this cable tv project was and how that approach correlates to how we go about producing UGC content for the web today. it was really neat to take this “look back” and if anyone ever doubted that I had any expertise/experience in the area of UGC production – I hope this cute Sassy article brings it home for you! It was, after all, written over 15 years ago!
- Sassy Magazine October 1993