Amanda Congdon (born August 4[1],1981 in New York City) was the co-producer and host of a weekly vidcast for ABC.[2] She has an independent videoblog, Starring Amanda Congdon. She is also co-president of Oxmour Entertainment along with Mario Librandi and was the host of Amanda Across America before it concluded. However, she is probably best known for hosting the daily news show Rocketboom (which Salon described as “one of the most popular video blogs on the Web.”[3]), which she hosted and produced until 23 June 2006. She is still the co-owner (49%) of Rocketboom but a controversial dispute between her and the 51% shareholder Andrew Baron has resulted in her no longer hosting or producing the show. She also was the co-executive producer of JETSET (now EPIC-FU) for the first several episodes of that show.[4]
Congdon was born and raised in Manhattan and graduated magna cum laude from Northwestern University.[5] Once she graduated she took a job at Saatchi & Saatchi, an advertising agency.[6] She had leading roles in Waafrika (Red Room Theater) and Independence (Manhattan Theatre Source) and, during the second season, appeared as the coat check attendant on Rocco's The Restaurant.[6] She has also appeared on CSI, The Chris Rock Show (on HBO), a Showtime pilot and Cake Presents. She can be seen in a Northstar music video which aired on MTV2, FUSE, and VH1's My Coolest Years.[5]
Involvement with Rocketboom
Congdon began as Rocketboom's anchor with the show's 26 October 2004 debut and gave her own reports, often with a comedic slant.
As she went from an initial 700 viewers in 2004 to 70,000 viewers in Rocketboom's first ten months, her success was noted by CBS Evening News, Wired, the Associated Press, and others. BusinessWeek labeled it "the most popular site of its kind on the Net". More viewers visited Rocketboom after a 11 June 2006 interview with Congdon on CNN.[7] The following day, ABC News described her usual approach:
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Congdon sits behind the news desk, in front of a world map, as if she's going to report hard-hitting news, but when she starts talking, she is everything but a typical news anchor: Her eyes pop with expression, her content is quirky, and her hand gestures animated.[8] |
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Her audience continued to increase, going from 100,000 vlog viewers at the end of 2005 to 300,000 by the spring of 2006. Congdon's catapult to fame was noted in the media. Brad Stone, writing in Newsweek, commented:
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It helps, of course, to have talent and some youthful, Web-savvy insouciance. Amanda Congdon has both, and her daily videocast, Rocketboom, is another breakout Web hit. Congdon, 24, was a struggling actress in late 2004 when she answered an Internet ad by Web entrepreneur Andrew Michael Baron, who was looking to start a newsy Webcast. Today their edgy three-minute episodes, starring and co-written by Congdon, riff off things ranging from White House scandals to the new Web-browser wars. With 130,000 daily viewers, Congdon is now getting approached by book and TV agents. "One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from an acting coach was to go out there and create your own vehicle," she says. "The Internet allows you to do that."[9] |
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Congdon sometimes went on the road. One memorable episode showed her dancing in various locations throughout St. Petersburg, Russia. She has also performed her frenetic signature dance in the streets and parks of Austin and other cities. In some episodes, Congdon appeared in various Manhattan locations, talking to store managers and people on the street. In the 15 April 2005 episode, she stood in Washington Square Park and posed the question "Mac or PC?" to anyone walking by.[10] Eight months later, she returned to the same spot to ask, "Internet Explorer or Firefox?"[11] In an Office Pirates video parody of Rocketboom, Manhattanites were asked, "Coffee or tea?", and Congdon's news desk idiosyncrasies — her signature head swivel, "hair flip" and habitual paper tossing — were also mocked.[12]
Rocketboom's flexible format allowed her to display her abilities as a monologist, unleashing a variety of comedy characters, both male and female. On a few occasions, she has been seen in sketches with her brother, Andrew Congdon, and her friend Leila Meninski, who does a character called aLexus — "like the car".
Rocketboom's "Comments" message board indicated that many viewers visited the vlog solely to see Congdon. Many messages remarked on her physical appearance, and requests for dates were posted occasionally by her male admirers. In a reference to Laura and Amanda Wingfield of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, one viewer labeled that group of hopeful suitors "Miss Amanda's gentlemen callers".
Departure from Rocketboom
On 5 July 2006, Congdon released a video statement on her blog, Amanda UnBoomed, announcing her departure from the show.[13] Andrew Baron, majority stakeholder of Rocketboom, claimed she was leaving the show to "pursue opportunities ... in Hollywood"[14] and Joanne Colan stepped in as Congdon's replacement.
Congdon maintains that she was fired and was living with her parents in Connecticut.[15] The same day as her announcement, Congdon received an open job offer from Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Weblogs, Inc.[16]
Six days after her departure Congdon was interviewed on MSNBC.[17]
Amanda Across America
Congdon's first endeavor after Rocketboom was AmandaAcrossAmerica.com, a blog based on Congdon's travels through America in a hybrid vehicle. The show was produced by "mobile producers" Congdon, Mario Librandi, Rob Librandi, and Emily Golub. Timothy Shey served as stationary producer, and Rudy Jahchan developed the web site.[18] The show was hosted by blip.tv.[19] The journey took a circuitous route with stops in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, D.C., Missouri, Wisconsin, Arizona and California. The show focused mainly on interviews with activists and bloggers, but occasionally had episodes not focusing on those subjects. In Arizona, for example, she took a walk through the exhibits leading to the mysterious The Thing? roadside attraction. Also, in Los Angeles she toured Activision and took a behind-the-scenes look at next generation console video games Tony Hawk Project 8 and Tony Hawk Downhill Jam. Her trip across America concluded the week of November 20, 2006, with a Where the Hell is Matt-inspired video.[20]
Television
Congdon is now reportedly developing a TV show for HBO.[21] The TV show is in the beginning stages, and will reportedly be a comedy.[21] She was the hostess of a weekly video podcast for ABC[22] and occasionally appears on shows like Good Morning America as a web correspondent.[21] Congdon is currently appearing in a series of vlogs for "American Express' Members Project" and starring in TV ads promoting the activity.
It was announced September 21st, 2007 that her relationship with ABC would not continue at the end of the year.
References
- ^ http://www.rocketboom.com/vlog/rb_05_aug_04
- ^ ABC News: What Are You (and Aren't You) Thankful for?
- ^ Geist, Michael. "$20 million in publicity for $300", Toronto Star Newspapers, 2006-07-17. Retrieved on [2006-07-20].
- ^ what is jet set show?. JETSET. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ a b Congdon, Amanda. Amanda Congdon Bio. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ a b Swerdloff, Alexis. Amanda Congdon. Paper Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-08-25.
- ^ "Transcript of Howard Kurtz interview with Amanda Congdon", CNN, 2006-06-11.
- ^ "Should You Quit Your Day Job to Blog?", ABC News, 2006-06-12.
- ^ Stone, Brad. "Right to the Top", Newsweek, 2006-01-09.
- ^ Rocketboom — "Mac or PC?"
- ^ Rocketboom - "Internet Explorer or Firefox?"
- ^ zakcarr. Rocketboom Replacement. YouTube. Retrieved on 2006-07-18.
- ^ Amanda Unboomed - "Announces retirement from RocketBoom"
- ^ Shields, Mike. "Congdon Flames Out at Rocketboom", MediaWeek, 2006-07-05.
- ^ Congdon, Amanda (2006-07-05). For the Record. Amanda UnBoomed.
- ^ Calacanis, Jason. Advice and an Offer for Amanda Congdon. calacanis.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-11.
- ^ Internet star tries to make it on her own. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.
- ^ About. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ Thanks. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ Congdon, Amanda (21). Dancing Across America. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ a b c Congdon, Amanda (14). Amanda Who?. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
- ^ Amanda Congdon on ABCNEWS.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
External links
Audio
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