I was upset when I saw that the deadline for applications was extended, particularly without a date to replace it. It seems unfair! Think of how much better we could have done if we had all the time the "new" applicants had. Some of us made sure we did what we needed to do to get in on time. If a team can't beat a three-plus week application deadline, what makes RDF think they can make a 10 hour deadline?

What do YOU think?

-- Steven Calhoun (sst@sterlingservices.com), February 27, 2001

Answers

I was going to say something before about the UPS, Fed-Ex, Purolater, etc,etc. thing. Every driver and employee of these companys Know that they can't deliver to a PO box. It is almost impossible to get them to take a parcel without a street address. The only way I know of is to ship it from a company with a metered account, where the driver doesn,t have to check the log or parcels. The United States Postal Service is the only carrier that can deliver to a PO Box, an FPO, or an APO. I drove for UPS years ago, and I had a daughter in the Air Force, so my experience comes from both ends. I cobbled up a video that otherwise could have been very professional in order to make the deadline, because Fed-EX lost a tape. It was lost coming from another team member to me.

JustJay

-- JustJay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), February 27, 2001.

Here's my 2 cents on this one. First off, there was a way to ship to a P.O. Box, Express Mail from the Post Office for overnight (even though RDF didn't pick it up for FOUR DAYS), and 2 day delivery through priority mail. It's cheaper then UPS, FedEx in most cases, but some companies (like the one I work for) prefers the tracking options of the other services over the post office. Quite a few of us from what I can tell asked for a physical address, but never got a straight answer because they had not established an L.A. office before the deadline.

As for extending the deadline, I believe that the reason for that was because the RDF staff has found out the hard way that UPS, FedEx, AirBorne, and just about everyone else except the postal service WILL NOT deliver to a P.O. Box. As it was, if the clerk at the post office wasn't such a huge JYW fan, he was about to give me a hard time about not having a phone number for RDF. He (thankfully) blew it off when I said it wasn't available.

I don't really think the extension will add that many more possibles. I would hope that RDF's "powers that be" would sit down soon and post another deadline or just announce that applications are now closed. Most of us would prefer the latter.

Good Luck to all the teams. Anyone get a final (unoffical) count of prospective teams?? DRATS leads the Broadcast Junkies add a link area, which is sorted by hits. If you put your team on our site, you might want to send your friends to our site with instructions to click on your link.

If you haven't seen the EH-Team's site, I highly recommend it. Nice site, and Pat is working on it all the time.

BROADCAST JUNKIES WEBSITE http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/broadcastjunkies

-- Joey Falgout (Broadcast Junkies) (joeyinalexandria@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

We started production on our piece as soon as we heard they were GOING TO BE taking applications, as did many of the rest of you, and still hustled to get it there on time! I couldn't agree more about the deadline extension being shady, and would love to see something on the JYW site saying that applications are closed. Did anyone else have problems with USPS Express Mail? I sent ours overnight, and though the Post Office assures me it is "most likely" there, the mailperson didn't sign it off! JYW's site says they'll contact everyone who applies (I assume this means either way) but I'll tell ya, the end of March seems about a hundred years away!

-- Jakey Hicks, The Rubble Rousers (jakey@grymttr.com), February 27, 2001.

I'm usually a live and let live type guy...but I rushed the post- production on our application and sent it Priority Mail so it would be on time.

If I'd knew that it was a soft date, I would have done a better production. I could have had everything done on the website. The video would have been more complete. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

At any rate, what they are doing is falls on the humanistic side...In the long run, I can live with that...

-- Dan Denney - Team Captain (rustrenegades@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

Hello, The 3rd Wits sent theirs via USPS Express mail and I still don't know if JYW got it. The tracking system says it was scheduled for delivery on the 14th of Feb. but we still don't know if they got it. We have a second copy to send if they didn't get it but how can I find out if they got it...Sigh, sounds like catch 22 of some sort. It would have been nice to know about the extention so we could have done a better job of editing, but it's water under the bridge now....Ken Sklorenko

-- Ken Sklorenko (tamba12@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.

Check it out - on the "How to Apply" section of everybody's favorite site, it says they "are not currently taking applications"! I believe we can take this as a sign that the process is in it's next phase... calling us!

-- Jakey Hicks (jakey@grymttr.com), February 27, 2001.

I sent my video USPS express mail and like a idiot I did not know that it had to be signed for. I tracked it and couldnt figure out why they couldnt deliver. In tiny print there was a signature waiver. I almost had a stroke. I was in such a rush to get it there on time I didnt even think about that. We could of used extra time editing but how can you impress a film team with a home video. As far as the extension look on the positive side, maybe they didnt have as many videos as they are letting on like they have and were welcoming more.

-- Chris Phifer (cphifer@infoave.net), February 27, 2001.

Hey Folks:

USPS Tracking for EXPRESS MAIL ONLY can be found at http://www.usps.com just click on track/confirm on the top left corner. You can thank my mom, she' a retired postmaster!

BROADCAST JUNKIES WEBSITE http://www/angelfire.com/tv2/broadcastjunkies

-- Joey Falgout (Broadcast Junkies) (joeyinalexandria@hotmail.com), February 27, 2001.