The Weekend Classic Rock FM

31° - overcast at 9:30pm

Welcome to the weekend. Lots of great writing this past week from lots of great minds; most of which I'm finally catching up with tonight.

Morning drive radio. During my hiatus from the "traditional" workforce, I barely heard any morning drive radio. But I'm back to it - part of a 15 to 20 minute commute each morning from suburban Okemos to downtown Lansing.

Monday through Wednesday: despite being on the fringe of their coverage area, I was listening to a great local radio station licensed to nearby Howell, Michigan.

WHMI is a small market station with a wide variety classic hits/classic rock format and full service local radio; complete with a local news staff and plenty of local everything. Give a listen to WHMI online here.

Thursday and Friday I listened to syndicated Bob & Tom on WJXQ here in Lansing. First time I've really listened since leaving Colorado (where they ran on my station) in 2005.

Bob & Tom still and one of the best AM drive shows for rock radio.

Big events. Fred Jacobs writes about another radio failure to launch:

"Another day, and another "big" satellite radio announcement. This time, it's XM Led, a channel devoted to Zeppelin that will be on the air through the beginning of May. The press release sounds tasty, as the channel will contain many cool Led Zeppelin features."

"So why does broadcast radio simply stand by and allow satellite radio to once again one-up everyone else by setting up these dedicated channels?"

Read Fred's piece here.

Meanwhile: WCSX/Detroit AM drivers JJ & Lynne broadcast live from London both Monday and Tuesday to cover the Led Zeppelin reunion shows.

JJ & Lynne have a great guest lineup in London according to listener email blast received this afternoon. Ann Wilson, Mick Jones, Jimmy Page and others. Very cool. More here.

Contesting. How many are really playing your tenth caller (or more) contests? Mark Ramsey might open some eyes with this piece. Be sure to read the comments from Mark's readers at the end.

Dan Mason. On Tuesday the CBS Radio head told the financial community about radio's healthy future. A very fresh and much needed outlook.

Congrats to the CBS staffers under Dan's leadership. Read more from Mediaweek here.

More over the weekend. Thanks again for stopping by.