HorseGirlTV has been featured in the Medford Mail Tribune’s Business section both online and in print today! It’s pretty exciting so if you can, check it out. Feel free to make a fun and cool comment! It’s called: Riding the Web race
The facts are not 100% accurate but Greg Stiles did a pretty darn good job of getting across the just of the information. It was really nice to be supported by a local Oregon newspaper as well!
Yee-haw!
You can read the article on the HorseGirlTV website as well on the buzz and in case you’re just too darn lazy to click any of the links, I’ll paste it below. I really wish I could phone Nicole and tell her about this! She certainly would be proud! :*)
I love Alan’s comment. He’s so cool! In case you guys find this… Pleva or Wilson, I never said anything about graduation. I did say I went to SOU tho! BTW, doing that accounting class right now and plan to apply for the degree in 2008!
Medford, OR – July 20 – Riding the Web race
SOU grad creates HorseGirlTV podcasts combining riding videos, music and information about competitive horsemanship. A Southern Oregon University grad is taking her love of horsemanship into the digital age with a new podcast.
By Greg Stiles, Mail Tribune, July 20, 2007
Unless you trek through the world of podcasts you probably haven’t heard of HorseGirlTV.
The rapidly growing realm of podcasting enables entrepreneurial dreamers like Angelea Kelly to get a foot in the door that was rarely cracked in earlier eras. Blending a love for horses, the wizardry of digital film editors and the iTunes generation, Kelly has hit on something that’s growing both in viewership and economic potential.
HorseGirlTV is a variety show about horses — ranging from their work and history to their competitive world and beyond.
“It’s educational and entertaining at the same time,” says Kelly. “I wanted to take the horse world and bring it into the 21st Century.”
Kelly, the show’s host, writer, producer, director, public relations, marketing and Web-development maven, likes to think of the five-to-eight-minute episodes as hip and happening. Her boyfriend, , serves as cameraman, while Jackhammer Moving Pictures of Ashland does post-production digitizing.
Kelly studied computer information science at Southern Oregon University, put in a stint at Open Door Networks and operated Alchemy Farms, a 2-acre farm adjacent to Wagner Creek Farm, before moving to Madrid for a while.
The Friendswood, Texas, native started riding horses when she was 5 and entered her first 4-H competition when she was 10. She earned a United States Dressage Federation silver medal in 2004 and a gold medal in 2006.
While being in front of the camera might be new, Kelly appeared in the Ashland Community Theatre’s “12 Angry Jurors” in 1999 and appeared in Sierra Repertory Theatre’s production of “Oklahoma!” at Sonora, Calif., during 2002.
The possibility of a podcast was raised Labor Day Weekend 2006 over lunch with Charley Lanusse, whose Starseed company developed the WebRing technology that was acquired by Geocities and then Yahoo!
“We were chatting and I told Charley how I wanted to revolutionize the horse industry, bringing it into the 21st century,” Kelly recalls. “He said, ‘Why don’t you do a podcast?’ We went back to his house and he showed me podcasts that he liked. Charley was brilliant about saying you should do this or that.”
By Sept. 14, she had HorseGirlTV.com reserved and then created a limited liability company on Jan. 18.
Kelly launched bi-weekly HorseGirlTV’s podcasts May 1 with the first six episodes filmed in Ashland, Central Point, Eagle Point, Ashland and Sams Valley. Last month, she headed for Virginia along with her horse Joewell, a Trakehner from Germany, which was among the top-10 hopefuls in line for United States team at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and has a shot at making it to Beijing in 2008.
The latest episode being processed at Jackhammer features Kelly and Joewell’s ride-along last Sunday with the Prince William County Police Mounted Patrol Unit.
“They were at a horse event to connect with the community at the Manassas Mall,” Kelly says. “They usually patrol a lower-income area with townhouses and they get to know people better this way.”
This fall, Kelly plans to return to Europe, to shoot nine episodes during a 13-day period.
“I met a lot of horse people when I did Web development in Madrid and made a lot of contacts,” she says. “Now I’m able to use those contacts in Germany, Holland and Spain.”
The show has gained a steady following and the most recent statistics show a 224 percent gain in viewership.
“The beauty of podcasts is that you get to interact with your viewers through e-mail, forums and chats,” Kelly says. “We’re getting good reviews from iTunes and getting e-mail from all over the country and world.”
Her former employer at Open Door Networks, Alan Oppenheimer says the vehicle is perfect for someone to break into video programming.
“There are more and more film houses because of the Internet,” Oppenheimer says. “Anyone, anywhere can start a studio or a TV channel. Very small operations with an Internet connection and Web site can produce programming from whoever knows where. Angelea is very energetic and she’s interviewed the top people in the field.”
Ultimately, Kelly hopes to expand to cable or satellite distribution.
“We would be very happy to entertain an offer from Animal Planet or Discovery Channel,” she admits. “We would fit well as a segment between one show and another on Animal Planet.”
Present episodes are limited by bandwidth availability, not content, she says. “There is plenty of material.”
And… there you have it!