Sunday Night Odds & Sods

21° - scattered clouds at 9pm

I truly appreciate the pings despite my absence. I'm anticipating a return to daily posts again in the very near future as one contract position ("the night job") slows down. But its all been good.

Over the weekend - in addition to getting caught up on sleep, family and such - I've been catching up with radio. I'm finding that if I miss a morning I miss a lot!"

Congrats to Greg Ausham. Back in radio programming Rock WRQK-FM/Canton - plus Talk WHLO-AM/Akron. Thanks to Lee Arnold for the email on Wednesday. Lee also shares the news on his blog here.

Although I've known Greg's name forever, I've only got to know him in the last three years via his (now former) job with Envision Radio; he's simply a great radio guy and a great hire for Clear Channel. Yes - I'm just a wee bit envious - he gets to program!

Madonna. In the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Despite being a fan of her music (I have this alter-ego...lol) - I shook my head in disbelief when I heard the news this past week.

I guess that begs a discussion about the question "what is rock & roll?"

Dave Lange's Xmas List. For PDs. Read here. No arguments here about anything on Dave's list. Among the standouts Santa can bring is #5: More talent.

My take: Radio without talent is just someone else's iPOD.

And with talent comes this from Fred Jacobs. Fred - writing here about the return of Bubba The Love Sponge to terrestrial radio - notes:

"...radio personalities are being let go, left and right, in markets big and small. In what can only be called a "radio recession," many owners and managers are clearly concluding that highly paid personalities - especially in so-called music dayparts - just aren't worth the freight. Thus, big names are hitting the streets at a particularly crucial point in radio's lifespan."

With one company laying off talent as a "re-expression" (a term coined by one market manager from that company to explain the layoffs) - it might present a great opportunity for an aggressive competitor to acquire some great name talent that has suddenly become available.

There are still some great companies not - as Fred puts it "Mortgaging the future in order to"re-express" better results this quarter".

Fred also blogging on Friday about "Led Zeppelin: Opportunity Lost or Found" - running down stations that took advantage of this monumental musical event - and thinking about those that didn't.

Fred offers comments from an industry friend, reviewing playlists via Mediabase, remarking "many music logs looked like they might have been scheduled two weeks before. There simply wasn't any extra Zeppelin content".

Fred adds: "as he pointed out to me, a new definition of "In Through The Out Door" may as well have been "Out The Door At 5." Sad to read; reminds me of what I wrote here this morning regarding weekend service elements in a weather emergency.

Also mentioned are some upcoming opportunities for classic rock stations to sound current. A great read right here. Mark your calendar, pull the staff together and use your imagination.

Jay Mitchell: This past Monday Jay emailed me a copy of his new newsletter "Radio Voices" - aimed at on-air talent and filled with some great wisdom and advice.

Jay also offering a free teleseminar for air talent on January 3rd. Details here at his Killerjock website.

More Jay Mitchell: On his blog this past week Jay writes about "The Procustean Problem". A great read here and something I've seen too many times.

Still reading: The story of the Lee Arnold and the WQFM/WLPX (Milwaukee) early 80s rock war in "WHOoPLA: The Greatest Rock Radio Stunt Ever" here at 93QFM: The Halcyon Daze. A great story authored by Scott Beddome. Chapters 1-15 now online for your reading pleasure.

E-Mail: Received a note on Thursday from WHLK/Madison's Jim Bartlett. The station (93.1/The Lake) was hosting an all-day radiothon to benefit the Madison police canine unit. JB writes:

"We've taken the morning show's last letter game and stretched it out all day. (Somebody requests a song, and the next request has to start with the last letter of the previous one.) We've got cops and dogs in the studio, and plenty of music we don't usually get to play. It's already produced some of the coolest radio I've heard in a long time."

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to listen online - but doing something special out of the ordinary (and creating the staging for an opportunity to "dig deep") is very cool. Thanks again for sharing Jim!

Advice of the week: "Be so good they can't ignore you." That advice from the brilliant Dave Martin - who notes here that he's been offering that response year after year when asked about how to get the big job or the big break.

Dave's blog is required reading each day.

More tomorrow. Its on the calendar.