Catching Up...

66° - light rain at 11:45pm

Back after a busy couple of days - between kids beginning the school year and busy schedules with the jobs. The research work has really picked up as of late in the past several weeks.

Congrats: Again to Chicago's WDRV...for pulling off the next-to-impossible now with two pre-currency PPMs in a row. I wish I could share - If what I've seen is any indication of the future, the Drive is going to rock the Windy City.

Special kudos to WDRV PD Patty Martin who simply pilots a great radio station; if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know its been one of my favorites for years now.

So Long: To Don LaFontaine. A man who motivated millions - most never knew his name. The movies will never be the same.

Wow. Google's new web browser. Lightning fast. Tried it last night. Still in beta; test with caution - there's still a few issues to be worked out.

Changing radio station behavior. On Tuesday, Dave Martin wrote a great piece that began:

"One of my goals in 2008 is to meet the person that first decided it was a good idea to ask users to do something and then, when they do it more than
expected, you tell them that they've broken "the rules"
and that they're wrong. Bad user!"

"One call per month. One winner per household every thirty days. One "major prize" winner per household per year."

"What is happening here is the reverse of any effective heavy user program. The heavy user is being punished rather than rewarded for expressing your brand as a preference. We catch them behaving exactly as instructed and then we tell them that they're wrong. "How dare you show up again at another of our on location broadcasts!"

Dave's entire piece here. How do you reward heavy listeners? Share.

Around the dial:

Today is Zeptember 3rd. Celebrating Zeptember...WZLX/Boston, WCSX/Detroit and WLAV/Grand Rapids....very cool! WCSX devoting their HD-2 channel fulltime to Zeppelin through September 7th. A full rundown of special WCSX "Zeptember" programming here.

WDRV/Chicago kicked off A to Z yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon at 3. A feature that still brings high TSL everywhere I've done it!

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday Blogs

My wife - in Florida for a few days with her job - sent pictures last night of the ocean as well as this sunset shot from an outdoor patio.

Happy Wednesday. From the blogs:

Stimulate An Audience. A couple of writers sharing some thoughts: First, Alan Mason on "The Cry For Creativity". Then Fred Jacobs on something that "morning shows and entire stations ought to aspire to".

"It's the environment songs are in that often make them sound bad". Lee Abrams talks about the art of song placement - and lots more - in his latest post here.

Streaming Royalties. In case you haven't heard, the Copyright Royalty Board denied all appeals on the new rate structure. Is it now a matter of legislative relief?

Kurt Hanson's RAIN has the latest.

I hope to write soon about ideas to monetize your webstream - something I'm certain your management is thinking about.

Your station website: McVay Media's Dave Lange introduces us to "widgets" and what they can add to your station website here.

Dan O'Day is presenting his 12th Annual International Radio Creative & Production Summit in Los Angeles August 17th & 18th. Dan's workshops - this and his "PD Grad School" - held annually in February - are always packed full of ideas that you can use back at your station. More info here.

This year's summit will include voice-over pro Don LaFontaine - "The King Of The Movie Trailers" - who is currently being seen on-camera in Geico Insurance commercials.

btw: Don's website is fantastic! Have a great Wednesday.