Summer Arbitron, Music & Stuff From The Web

59 - partly cloudy at 10pm. Frost warning!

Back to the book - format winners in summer ARBs released since Monday: KMOD/Tulsa gaining over three points and tied for #1 12-plus. Congrats to OM/PD Don Cristi.

Another big gainer: WCMF/Rochester with over a two point jump. A great win for this heritage rock station.

WKLR/Richmond up over a point; in Columbia, SC - WMFX also up over a point; likewise with both WSFR/Louisville and KKCD/Omaha.

WSKZ/Chattanooga up nearly a point; likewise WRFX/Charlotte. In Knoxville - WIMZ is up a bit over a half point as is WROQ/Greenville-Spartanburg.

In Tucson its a classic rock battle. KHYT is up almost a point; longtime market rocker KLPX maintains a half point lead. KHYT PD Darrin Arriens making some progress.

New music (or not). A tough call for stations that label themselves "classic rock". There's many classic rock artists still producing new music: Mellencamp, Clapton, The Who, Tom Petty, Bob Seger - and Bruce Springsteen (who's at #1 for a 3rd week).

McVay Media's Dave Lange makes the case for "new rock music for 25-54s" here.

As a classic rock programmer - I've played a limited number of currents by core artists that were hard to ignore.

Those tracks were played with the proper staging and setup - including "then and now" 2-fers; and at the very minimum a live jock intro.

But (I feel) it really comes down to audience expectations for a classic rock station. If you can celebrate and make a new release "an event" it can work real easy.

Here in Michigan a year ago I couldn't pass on the opportunity to play Bob Seger's "Face The Promise" CD - after snagging a leaked copy of the CD days before its official release to radio.

An "event" that my station's audience expected. And we delivered. Bob Seger is Michigan. And that celebration continued with Bob's tour.

Other odds and ends: Clear Channel's WAXQ/New York is advertising on the web via Google adwords.

Caught my eye when an ad appeared in the Google ad space on this blog last night.

Dave Martin blogs about troubled CBS-owned talker WCKG/Chicago - saying the problem with WCKG is not the format.

And writes about dealing with talent: "When I hear that a certain talent is "difficult" it's music to my ears". Another great one - read here.

And in the news: Opie & Anthony done at WYSP after trashing both the station and its PD on air.

All Access reports today that Opie wants to "take down 'YSP" as well as rival WMMR morning team Preston and Steve - and is willing to work for free to prove it. Whatever.