Over the last couple of years I've been blessed to have media appearances, including radio and television. Many of these have come through this very blog, and though "fame" isn't something I've sought out, I also find it interesting. Not long ago I was contacted about doing a video interview that would be used by various media sources. It all stemmed from a blog post I did in 2012 after having seen a pet that had pierced ears and earrings. After emailing a couple of times a video shoot was set up.
While I've been in TV studios this is the first time I've had a taped rather than live interview. We couldn't work it out to come to my office so we did it in my home. There was a single videographer, a single camera, and some lighting, but overall it was pretty simple. There were set questions sent by the person who arranged the interview, so I had them ahead of time and was able to prepare some answers. The interviewer read the questions as written and the whole process from setup to finish took a little over an hour.
After that I didn't know what to expect and never saw the edited result. Based on a recommendation from the arranger I set up a Google alert to inform me when my name came up on the internet. Last week, I received my first alert, with me on the CBS station in New York!
Here's the article, with attached video that was broadcast on the TV station. If you've ever wanted to see what I look and sound like in real life, this is your chance!
There are several things I find interesting about the process. First, these clips are only a fraction of the approximately 20-30 minutes I spent talking on video. There were lots of topics I covered extensively, and many questions I was asked, yet only a tiny part of that made it into the video.
Second, it looks like I was interviewed by this TV station, yet I never left my home and had no idea where the interview would appear. From what I've now gathered there are professionals who tape such things on a given topic and then make them available to media outlets. For all I know, none of this was filmed through the local station.
Third, it's interesting how they edited the clips. In the section where they're showing the dachshund who had skin removed after extreme weight loss, I appear to be commenting on that very case. However, I had never heard of that dog before, and in fact I was talking about a time many years ago when I almost removed skin from one of my cast who had lost a lot of weight. In a way it makes me realize just how potentially misleading media reports can be. They took me talking about a completely different situation, clipped out the part that was appropriate to the story, and made it look seamless with the case being discussed.
Oh, and that's my living room and my dog, Yvaine, you see in the video. Because we couldn't film at my clinic I'm doing an exam on her on my couch. Yes, I realize that looks a bit odd.
I really enjoy doing TV and radio interviews. I wouldn't mind that turning into more of a career. Though that's not too likely at this time, I wouldn't rule it out in the future. In fact, I saw a huge increase in hits on my blog beginning the day the story came out. I've been averaging around 1100-1600 daily views of my blog. On the day the story ran it jumped to 3500, then 5700 on the next day, and continuing up from there to a peak of 7800. After June 18th it has started decreasing again, but it was very interesting to see people looking me up after the story appeared on TV and the internet.
If fame comes knocking, I'm ready to answer the door!
If fame comes knocking, I'm ready to answer the door!
