Long Beach Ready for Close-Up

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Reality shows such as “Ice Road Truckers” and “Dirty Jobs” are TV hits, so a program that caters to that same fascination with all things industrial is working magic for the Port of Long Beach.

The show, a quasi-news magazine called “Pulse of the Port,” debuted on local cable four years ago and is now building a bigger audience on the Internet. “Pulse” examines issues affecting the port, such as the slowdown in international trade. It also features lighter segments, including a look at unusual gadgets used at the port.

“The port is kind of an unusual place that many people don’t get a chance to come down and see,” said Art Wong, a port spokesman who helps plan and edit the shows. The “Pulse” show, he said, “is an opportunity for the hundreds of people who have an interest in this to see some of this.”

The monthly half-hour show is a joint effort between the port’s media relations department and Media 360, a Long Beach production company specializing in training videos, public service announcements and other short video

productions.

Hosted by comedian

Eva Campbell-Morales, “Pulse of the Port” is

becoming more popular online. And the show has collected awards from numerous organizations, including the American Association of Port

Authorities and the California Association of Public Information Officials.

Segments tend to run for less than 10 minutes and are posted on video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube. Port employees have begun using the popular messaging site Twitter to get the word out about the show.

The port’s Web site attracts hundreds of viewers for each episode, and some YouTube clips have been viewed several hundred times.

“Although they’re relatively small numbers, they’re growing numbers,” Wong said.

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