A 2007 Appalachian State alumnus was recently featured in a TIME Magazine article after his video spoofing national news outlets and pop singers reached viral levels.

24-year-old Michael Gregory has made a series of videos called Auto-Tune the News, in which he takes broadcast clips from national news outlets, adds an R&B beat, and then applies auto-tune to the anchors.

Auto-tune is an audio processor that corrects pitch in vocals and instruments.  Pop singers like Cher, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill have all admitted to using auto-tune in their music.  The effect has also experienced increase popularity recently with hip-hop artists like T-Pain, Akon, and Kanye West heavily using auto-tune on their vocals.

Gregory’s video puts this auto-tone processor to the likes of Katie Couric, Jim Nantz, Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and other news anchors and newsmakers.  So far, Gregory has made two Auto-Tune the News videos.  The videos have tackled topics including March Madness, global warming, gay marriage, pirates and others.

The TIME article can be found online at http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1893867,00.html.

Gregory isn’t the only App State alum who is responsible for viral web videos.  ASU alumnus, Douglas Sarine, is the co-creator of the popular Ask a Ninja webcast videos.  According to TV Week, the Ask a Ninja videos made over $100,000 per month in advertising revenue in December of 2007.

(Photo courtesy of TIME)