Ch-ch-ch-changes: The TechTicker Edition

I mentioned back in December that several big changes were brewing for me in 2009. A big one was Olivia’s leaving (although she didn't really go anywhere; she just no longer has to do what I say...) and one small one was my new gig as a regular contributor on Press:Here (Yes, mom, real tv!) There are two more very exciting new projects I can’t yet share; I hope to be able to in February. But today, I can finally talk about one big change that’s 90% exciting and 10% sad.

My role with TechTicker is going to be changing next month. Instead of spending three days a week co-hosting the show from Yahoo’s studios, I’m relinquishing my tenuous hold of the co-hosting reins to Aaron Task and Henry Blodget who’ve been far better at being the daily force behind TechTicker than I ever could with all my other commitments and insane travel schedule.

Instead, I’m going to focus on bigger interviews and more produced “Tales of the Valley” documentary-style pieces for TechTicker, and hopefully, elsewhere on Yahoo too. These pieces take longer to schedule and produce so expect less of me on camera. In fact, yesterday was my last Monday morning 5 a.m. trek down. But I’ll continue doing my (mostly) daily “Valley Buzz” column for the site, and at least a few studio days per month. (Attn Paul Kedrosky and others: You’re not done with me yet!)

Why this is 90% exciting is obvious: I’ve always been the kind of reporter who is happier out of the office reporting unique stories or talking to fascinating people, not weighing in on the day-to-day news. Also the cinematic eye of my amazing cameraman and editor, Brad Williams, is frankly wasted just pointing a robotic camera at me every day. We will get to invest more in stories, and TechTicker gets more of what we do really well.

It also gives me far more flexibility. For most of the last 16 months or so I’ve woken up at 5 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, commuted an hour to Sunnyvale and spent all day booking, shooting and editing, then frequently come home to late nights of source meetings, events, or work for my BusinessWeek column. And all too frequently the days in between were spent traveling to speaking gigs, conferences or book tour events. In fact, last week, one of the baristas at the Yahoo coffee bar accused me of not really having a home in SF, just spending my life going from Yahoo to the airport then back to Yahoo. That wasn’t far from the truth in 2008. Frankly, it took a serious toll on my health, my marriage and friendships, and from time-to-time the quality of the work I was producing for Yahoo and BusinessWeek, and of course, my own blog, which was neglected most of all. 

Launching and co-hosting TechTicker has been an amazing experience that has challenged me, excited me, frustrated me and most of all given me a huge appreciation for how hard the video medium is to do well. It was a great change from being heads-down on one huge project, like I was in 2006 and 2007 with the book. But it’s not really my strength. I’m not going to be the Maria Bartiromo of online news, and frankly, I never wanted to be. (Although this piece gave me *huge* amounts of respect for her.) I want to be someone who can work across mediums, continually inspired and challenged by the differences between them. This move will also give me the chance to work more closely on stories with my amazing executive producer Diane Galligan who always makes my pieces better. The chance to learn from her was one of the main reasons I took the job at TechTicker in the first place.

All that said, the move is also tinged with some sadness. I really love the crew that I work with at TechTicker, and Yahoo is—believe it or not—a fun place to go to three-days-week. And with the economic crisis of the last year, being on camera daily has forced me to stay up to date on the latest national news, that doesn’t always permeate the Valley ecosystem. I’ve learned so much about the economy and the markets from Henry, Aaron and regular guests like Paul Kedrosky. Now, I hope the ability to focus on telling fewer stories really well will help me teach our millions of viewers more about Silicon Valley, which is, after all, the reason I took the job in the first place and the reason I was hired.

On the jump are a few of my favorite interviews and Tales of the Valley pieces we did early in the year before the studio grind took over. Hope it whets your appetite for what’s to come! Also in the comments, feel free to leave your ideas of a dream segment or guest.

On cloud computing:

On where deals get done in the Valley (one of the first pieces I ever did!):

Dean Kamen's latest invention:

Sue Decker, just after the Microsoft deal fell apart for good:

Richard Branson just after launching his first Internet business:

Marc Benioff on why he's not selling yet (we'll see!):

Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson at SXSW:

And what's a TechTicker collection without *everyone's* favorite. Michael Arrington, are you an arrogant a** or is it all just shtick?