Perfect blend media shows off Alaska: this 'podcast' a hit with 100,000 downloads a month and 90,000 subscribers.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy
• Position: SMALL BUSINESS

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Getting to Alaska isn't easy for Matt Wilson. He's visited the state three times since 1998, but the Arkansas resident is usually kept busy back home, supervising warehouse operations for a multi-state energy company located where tornados and hurricanes frequently prowl.

A Web site produced by Perfect Blend Media, Alaska HDTV, now makes it possible for people like Wilson and others around the world to view videos taken in different parts of Alaska and go on virtual hikes in places ranging from the remote, like McCarthy, to the more easily accessed, like Hatcher Pass and Anchorage's Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

"People want to see Alaska; they want something that invites them," Wilson said. "I like (Alaska HDTV's) video of Hatcher Pass. I like the Web site, I like the way it's laid out, I like the videography, his walking, his tone, the capturing of the mountains, trails and cabins. It gives you a variety of things. I like the travel adventures, like the one from Anchorage to Valdez."

VIEWERS GALORE

Alaska HDTV presents three to four shows per month, tallies about 100,000 show downloads per month and has a subscription base of approximately 90,000. Its original sponsor was Alaska Airlines Visa card, and the company's high-definition productions can be viewed in 130 Fred Meyer electronics departments.

Kevin Kastner and Scott Slone launched Perfect Blend Media last year, after meeting in 2007 during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

"I own Dogsled.com, which started before Iditarod even had a site," said Kastner, PBM's vice president. "Scott was shooting video around town and I said hey, if you're going to be on the Iditarod Trail, would you mind sharing video; we can do a bit of this work together."

Slone, a mountaineering devotee and fifth-generation Alaskan, is now PBM's president and producer. He created Alaska HDTV's precursor, the Alaska Podshow, in September 2005 and has 10 years' experience in new media, search marketing and Web site development for clients that included universities, state offices and small businesses. Kastner has been involved for more than 12 years in the creation and development of new media projects with clients that included Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, GCI and Starbucks.

Slone noticed how videos had really caught on and he and Kastner came up with a hiking theme.

"It really started to take off," said Kastner, who was living in Seattle at the time. "He said I needed to get back to...