The Weekend Classic Rock FM

15° - overcast at 12:25pm

Welcome to the weekend.

Randy Michaels. Its good to see him back in the biz...running Tribune for Sam Zell. If there's one guy I feel can run the legendary WGN Radio/Chicago, its Mr. Michaels. He gets it.

And I do believe the dead-tree biz will see a revolution too.

Bonus: From the new Tribune employee handbook - under the Zell/Michaels regime:

"Rule #1: Use your best judgment."
"Rule #2: See Rule 1."

"7.1. If you use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated. See Rule 1. Coming to work drunk is bad judgment."

"7.2. If you do not use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated."

Pretty simple stuff, eh? More here.

A case for cume: Its all about cume and reach in the world of PPM. Dave Lange blogs about the need to begin selling cume - saying "The sooner we start to 'prime the pump' for selling Cume the better off we will all be." PPM market or not. Read here.

Positioning lines and PPM: Mark Ramsey this past week writes about the need for clear positioning in the world of PPM.

Not the throwaway radio lines we've been repeating over-and-over again for the last 20 or 30 years - but credible lines backed up by actions:

"You need to make sure you - and your current and potential audience - can answer these basic questions:

1. Who are we and what do we stand for?

2. How is this different from the competition in a way that matters - a lot - to the audience?

And if you can't answer those questions, you don't have a position...
...whether or not you have a positioning line."

I couldn't agree more. And you just can't say it what you stand for and what your differences are. You've got to demonstrate it with your programming and actions.

Listening to Chicago's WDRV as I write. Just heard a sweeper - voiced by the pipes of Nick Michaels - reminding me that "while it seems Chicago Radio changes like the weather - The Drive hasn't."

"We promised you a music intensive morning show without the silly games and phone calls - and we live up to that promise today." Not the exact copy; but as I recall it.

And with WDRV - a new look. If you've read this blog for long you'd know its one of my fav stations. They just updated their logo. There's a cool flash banner on their website now that rotates different Drive artists with each site visit:

Thanks this past week. Kind notes from David Martin (via his blog) and from WSHP/Lafayette, IN PD Rob Creighton. They all mean a lot.

More this weekend.