A college professor thought he was being helpful the other day when he advised my oldest daughter not to pin her hopes on becoming a professional journalist. I guess he was trying to provide some kindly advice but I almost strangled the clueless old goat when he suggested that there were fewer opportunities to earn a living as a writer today than a decade ago.

Give me a break! While the impact of newspapers and network TV may be diminishing, the Internet, cable, satellite and various forms of streaming media on everything from PDAs to phones are creating opportunities that simply didn’t exist as recently as a few years ago.

To give you an idea of how the information landscape has changed, consider these examples of where I get my news, entertainment, advice and assistance:

• Five years ago, the daily newspaper and local TV news provided breaking news about my favorite sports teams. Today, the first place I turn to is websites like MLB.com.
• My agency uses ITA Software to identify the best airfares before we book the trip on Orbitz. Five years ago we used a travel agency.
• XM Satellite Radio replaced conventional AM and FM stations in my home and office; when I’m not listening to XM, I spend hours on my computer listening to streaming media programs.
• I can’t recall the last time I didn’t use MapQuest or Yahoo Maps to obtain driving directions.
• All of my investments are managed through a private portal that links me to more than 100 financial websites.
• Most of the news I watch is via cable TV, and little of it originates from Chicago, my hometown.
• Online placements were considered a second sister to print placements in 2000. Today, search engine optimization is a critical component to successful marketing communications programs.

As I’ve been dragged into the digital age, the one indulgence I still enjoy is my preference for reading Chicago’s daily newspapers while I munch on my morning bowl of Frosted Krusty-Oh’s. I guess old habits die hard.

My partner Dennis Collins describes me as more of an “early skeptic” than early adopter, but after my 85-year-old uncle had an XM Radio installed in his hybrid auto, I stopped thinking I was any kind of trend-setter. In my opinion, we are witnessing a sea-change in the way people receive information and entertainment. If your company is not staying on top of these trends and using these communications channels, you may be missing a huge opportunity to bring your message to the masses.

Last year I wrote about a phenomenon I called “marketing along the gray line.” The web, streaming media, portals, e-newsletters, blogs, satellite radio and emerging channels like Really Simple Syndication (RSS) figure prominently into the communications efforts of companies that understand this concept. While you can’t predict when a prospect may need your products and services, you can stack the odds in your favorite by making sure your website, landing pages, brochures, tchotchkes and other promotional materials prominently reflect the key messages you want to convey to the market.

To help you assess your PR efforts in this area, we feature an article from Tech Image's Kevin Johnson called "To blog or not to blog" which looks at the influence of bloggers in the new media marketplace and what you need to know about reaching them. A second piece, written by Karen Breen Vogel of ClearGauge, one of the country’s premier  Interactive Marketing firms, tackles this subject from a sales and marketing perspective.

As we make the transition to a more digital society, companies should view this transformation not as a threat but as an opportunity to make it easier for companies to communicate with a web of interested parties.

That alone will create countless lucrative opportunities for the next generation of professional journalists, regardless of what that professor professed.

Anyway, that’s my two-cents’ worth.