Tyler Helikson, John Mason and Damon Butler are the first.They launched Triangle Blvd, a Web television network focused on providing information and advertising for everything the Triangle has to offer, on Sept. 19. Their site, www.triangleblvd.tv, is the first professionally produced site of its kind to hit the Triangle area.”It was early 2007 when we started putting down the blueprints for it,” Mason, a 2005 alumnus, said. Mason facilitates the operations and scheduling for the project.The group reaches out to businesses through word of mouth and help from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance. “They are really receptive to us and having us there,” Mason said.Helikson, a 2007 alumnus, said the main goal of the site is to create a place where customers can find information on any establishment in the Triangle area. Helikson handles all the video production for the site, including editing and adjusting the film.”We know there is a lot of potential here,” Helikson said. “We want to cover the entire area and create a kind of video Yellowbook.”Helikson said many of the establishments they cover are some of the best kept secrets of the Triangle, and a lot of the places they visited were unknown to him before the project.”We really want to drive customers to these establishments, especially now during these economic hardships,” Helikson said.The conventional print ad provides a limited amount of information and can be hard to capture the atmosphere of a business. The video ads, which last about 60 to 90 seconds a piece, give customers a chance to see what the Triangle really has to offer — in high definition.”Anything you can think of, there is a video on it,” Helikson said.”We start by going to the establishment,” Helikson said. “It takes about an hour to do all the filming and talking with the owner or manager.”After filming, Helikson then begins editing the film to the 60- to 90-second time frame. The Web developer then uploads the video to the Web site through a flash player.Though all production is being done by Helikson, Mason and Butler, they hope to start providing areas where users can help generate their own videos.”We’ve been toying with the idea of user generated stuff, like video submission, and posting them on the site after we approve them,” Mason said.Streaming the site to mobile devices may also be in the future, along with various contests that reach out to user and encourage their involvement.”We want to start some film contests and such,” Helikson said, adding that a commercial contest is in the works and he hopes students will want to get involved. Triangle Blvd will be hosting an event in the Brickyard on campus in November.The site received a makeover Wednesday night, which Mason said make it more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. “We had some feedback that people had trouble navigating the site,” Mason said. “We are going to make it a lot more user friendly and self explanatory.”The group hopes to expand their site in the future to larger areas such as Charlotte, Atlanta and Washington D.C.”It’s always evolving and changing,” Mason said. “We always like having input from the users to help make the site better.”
Graduates launch the Triangle’s first Web television network
October 28, 2008