(June 24, 2008 – San Diego, CA) – According to Sandy Dhuyvetter, Executive Producer and Host of TravelTalkMEDIA, the definitions and use of the terms new media and rich media somewhat overlap.

“In part, the term rich media describes the relatively recent development of the ability to deliver streaming audio and video over the Internet,” said Dhuyvetter. “The term rich media can also be extended to include animated graphics and interactive controls or inputs on Web pages that allow users to actively participate in what they are seeing and hearing and to have what they want, when they want it, on demand.”

In talking about the recent growth of her companies, TravelTalkMEDIA, TravelTalkRADIO, TravelTalkTV and TravelTalkNEWS, Dhuyvetter said “Our delivery of rich media over the Internet enhances our core content of news, information and entertainment as well as the advertising and sponsored messages that help to support that content.”

And what about rich media?

Dhuyvetter says that “Oftentimes, these terms are interchangeable. They really mean somewhat similar things. The concept of rich media is frequently referred to as new media because it offers an enhanced user experience as compared to the older, mainstream formats such as newspapers, magazines and conventional TV and radio broadcasting.” 

According to Dhuyvetter, “This is one reason why we are seeing a decline in hardcopy newspaper and magazine circulation. Network television viewing is also suffering some abandonment as broadband Internet usage soars. Music based radio stations are also seeing some difficulty as people listen to their favorite 10,000 songs on an MP3 player as small as your thumb.”

So, are conventional radio and television doomed?

“Not for a while yet. TravelTalkRADIO and TravelTalkTV are thriving and part of the reason is due to the mass availability of our content over conventional airwaves and via satellite. People still want their news, weather, traffic and talk shows on their radios. That will always be, but we will see WiFi in cars very soon. Either way, TravelTalkRADIO will be there.”

As for TV, Dhuyvetter confesses, “I still watch Lost every week on the tube, but when I am traveling and I miss it, I simply download the latest episode and watch it on my laptop wherever I am.”

Dhuyvetter sees this scenario as a key to her continuing success in developing the TravelTalkMEDIA companies: “Good content is key and distribution is king. We have hundreds of hours of interviews with leading travel industry experts available on demand for streaming and pod casting at TravelTalkRADIO.com. It is easy to find them in Google, etc, and through our own internal search engine mainly due to our search engine optimization efforts. Same with TravelTalkTV. And our content easily reaches over 250,000 travel industry professionals worldwide on a weekly basis via e-newsletters from TravelTalkNEWS and eTurboNews. As a result, our audience numbers are running into the millions and we are growing together by leaps and bounds.”

I’m very happy to work with Thomas Steinmetz and eTurboNews,” said Dhuyvetter. “Thomas’s focus on putting out concise, detailed and daily news about the travel industry is what has helped his business to be so successful and his readership levels to grow to more than 255,000 worldwide readers. Truly speaking, TravelTalkMEDIA and eTurboNews are rich media and new media.”

About TravelTalkMEDIA: Established in 2001, TravelTalkMEDIA is one of the original and most respected new media companies in the travel industry. The company and its subsidiaries provide the latest in travel-related news, information and entertainment to the travel and tourism industry worldwide. The company’s tagline is “Connecting You to the Experts in Travel and Tourism!”
TravelTalkMEDIA broadcasts conventionally through its TravelTalkRADIO and TravelTalkTV subsidiaries. Programming is also distributed to millions of listeners in 130 countries each month through online streaming and pod casting as well as conventional radio distribution via satellite and cable. Radio broadcasting reaches listeners through distribution networks in North America, the UK, China, and 22 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. TravelTalkRADIO recently began broadcasting to the English-language market in Africa through Ghana’s largest radio broadcaster. The TravelTalkNEWS weekly newsletter, containing the latest in travel industry news and sponsor-specific information, is distributed to over 25,000 travel industry professionals and consumers each week. TravelTalkRADIO’s weekly Sunday program receives 50,000 live, online listeners per program.  In addition, hundreds of thousands of listeners access hundreds of hours of archived programming available on TravelTalkMEDIA’s website throughout the month. TravelTalkMEDIA works closely with eTurboNews utilizing state-of-the-art technology to distribute to over 250,000 travel industry professionals, travel agents, travel journalists and travel consumers. In addition, TravelTalkMEDIA utilizes a global media system (newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites) to distribute information on sponsors to 1,500 U.S. and international media companies. TravelTalkTV produces and distributes informative and entertaining programs featuring destinations throughout the world, interviews with travel industry leaders, and travel news and tips for consumers and travel professionals. TravelTalkTV programming is distributed via conventional TV networks, local and regional broadcasters and via the web – depending upon the requirements of the sponsor/advertiser. In 2006, TravelTalkRADIO was awarded first prize in the Final Radio Report Contest in Nanjing, China, for “Sandy and Dr. Sun Yat-sen,” a special documentary in both Chinese and English. In 2006, TravelTalkRADIO received the 6^th Annual Tanzania Tourism Board Media Award. Since its inception, TravelTalkRADIO has aligned itself with eTurboNews, a travel news service with a daily bulletin of reports by a global team of contributing editors, writers, guest analysts and occasional correspondents. Both companies were started in the same year and have since become pioneers in the areas of web-based, online travel industry programming. With eTurboNews’ daily and large distribution numbers and TravelTalkMEDIA’s rich media distribution of web, radio and television programming, the two companies compliment each other well.