17° - clear at 7:43am
Classic Rock's FLASHBACK has come to TV. Well - at least in spirit.One of its production concepts (or "ear candy") appears to be influencing the present imaging campaign running on TV Land.
FLASHBACK - a syndicated longtime weekend staple of many a classic rock station for over 20 years - has been well known to combine music and sound bites together in themes. TV Land has taken this concept to their present on-air promos - combining 1980-era pop hits with TV clips - all taken from different TV Land shows - all with a common theme.
Some themes seen over the past week include "Who Can It Be Now" by Men At Work and "Breakin' The Law" by Judas Priest. My wife and I frequently watch M*A*S*H reruns on the channel...
Congrats to the original team at Radio Today Entertainment - who introduced FLASHBACK to the world via NBC's Source Radio Network back in the early 80s; and continues running to this day with original host Bill St. James via the ABC Radio Network.
57° - rain/drizzle at 11am
Good Morning from Michigan; feels like an inside day today.
It appears there's more rain headed across the lake later.
Listening yesterday to WKLH/Milwaukee and their "Storytellers" weekend. Marilyn Mee on the air - very much "live & local" chatting about the previous night's Brewers game. WKLH doing a great job with "Storytellers" - very casual with the air talent introducing segments - not overproduced.
Check it out today online after 1pm eastern.
Its not difficult to pull off what 'KLH is doing. Whether you pull sound bites together on your own or using a production service such as ABC Radio's Avalanche - a great resource for artist and song setups. Turn an ordinary weekend into something special.
Quoting David Martin (again) from his blog yesterday: "Take advantage of lazy competitors".
Listening this morning to the new Ann Wilson (see below); followed by Bob Stroud's Rock & Roll Roots on WDRV/Chicago.
Your dog, your listeners and loyalty. A terrific post from Mark Ramsey:
"Your dog isn't loyal because you ask her for loyalty. She's not loyal because you enter her into a contest where she has a one-in-a-thousand chance of a doggie treat."
"Yes, she'll jump through hoops for you, but she doesn't do it because you demand loyalty. She does it because she loves you." More from Mark here.Phase one summer ARBs: The numbers start to roll out tomorrow.
New music: The Eagles. WZBA/Baltimore has the first single ("How Long") off their forthcoming CD posted on their website. Listen and download here.
The album - titled "Long Road Out of Eden" to be released in late October.
As we mentioned with Bruce the other day - another release classic rock radio should embrace and celebrate.
Heart's Ann Wilson has her first solo album ("Hope & Glory") coming out September 11th. It features covers of songs by Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others - and guest appearances by many.
Check out a few tracks here. Ann's vocals still rock - as strong and great as ever.
Be sure to listen to "Immigrant Song". With apologies to Mr. Plant, you can clearly hear all the words.....
Added: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight interviews Scott Dirks (WLUP, WRKR, WXCD, WZZN). A good read with lots of war stories - here.
Enjoy your Sunday.
A couple of situations led to this post. Recently VH-1 Classic has been showing the multi-part "History of Rock & Roll". Watching it one night it got me wondering why television has taken over something that radio used to do so well in the past. On TV its just a show. With radio its an EVENT.
It's the event - over a weekend or longer that can attract long TSL.
I know we do specials like The Memorial Day Top 500 - or Classic Rock A to Z. Both still very valid, IMHO. But I was thinking beyond that. While watching VH-1, The Bill Drake/RKO "History of Rock & Roll" came to mind - albeit for Top 40 Radio.
Then this past Tuesday - while going through boxes in my basement storage looking for something unrelated, I came across a notebook binder full of CDs. An monumental AOR/Classic Rock special titled "The Official History of Rock & Roll"...produced by Infinity and distributed by ABC Radio Networks in late 1989. Fifty hours covering 35 years of the genre - from 1954 through the British Invasion - and starting with 1967 - a focus on album artists and releases up through then current day 1989.
It was a terrific special - very well produced - and I was proud to air it.
I believe the time is ripe for Classic Rock Radio to repeat a big event like this. In the right market it could even take on a local or regional flavor.
The Big Event. A lot of work. And another "difficult to duplicate" attribute for your radio station.
17° - clear at 7:43am
Some themes seen over the past week include "Who Can It Be Now" by Men At Work and "Breakin' The Law" by Judas Priest. My wife and I frequently watch M*A*S*H reruns on the channel... 
