Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

67° - mix of clouds & sun at 10:47am

Good Morning from Okemos, Michigan. And welcome to June.

I love this logo. Too cool. From San Diego's new classic hits XHPRS 105.7 - my old bud Dave Mason apparently doing mornings there. Listening online this morning; Dave to celebrate the anniversary of Sgt. Peppers on his long-running Sunday Morning Beatles Show, formerly heard on KGB-FM.

Classic Randy Michaels. The above-mentioned Mr. Mason interviewed in a recent Chicago Business story on Randy:

"As a radio programmer in Cincinnati in the early 1980s, Mr. Michaels once used the airwaves to label a programmer at a rival radio station a "spineless, gutless wimp" for refusing to talk to him when he dialed in to the rival's live talk show, recalls Dave Mason, the target of the vitriol and now the morning man at San Diego radio station 105.7 FM, who counts himself an admirer of Mr. Michaels'."

More here. I might add that Dave (pictured left) did wind up as a PD/Morning man for Jacor/Clear Channel under Michaels in San Diego.

When yours truly did mornings on a classic rock station in New Mexico tormenting a AMD jock/PD at the crosstown alternative station. The reality is I admired his talent and wanted him to work for me. I finally succeeded - though it took several years.

This is a free concert? Wow! WDRV/Chicago will be celebrating its 7th birthday on date with a free listener concert featuring Crosby, Stills and Nash. Score another one for Greg Solk and company.

Speaking of numbers: WDRV scores big in latest Chicago trend released this past week #7 to #9 25-54. My source for the numbers also says Steve Dahl's AMD performance on WJMK is no fluke. Mr. Dahl is solid.

Other Arbitron trend successes: In LA, KLOS up a few clicks 12+; likewise in San Diego with KGB-FM. WKLH/Milwaukee flat but solid. Same story with WCSX/Detroit and KUFX/San Jose.

Website Review. Jaye Albright looks at a couple of country radio station websites and opines here.

"Radio is doomed" - headline from Look Magazine, April 26, 1949. Courtesy of Dave Martin. More quotes here.

Rick Kaempfer Update: Rick catches up with Greg Brown (WZZN), Phil Manicki (WDRV), Cara Carriveau (WTMX) on his weekly Chicago Radio Spotlight post here.

Working on "the station". My internet hobby station. Yesterday spent with more ripping; registered a few URLs; and put the automation "online" with my home wireless network. Can listen via my laptop anywhere in the house; love it!

There's something I'm forgetting. More later if/when it comes to mind. Enjoy your Sunday!

Wednesday Blogs

67° - scattered clouds at 8:33am

Good Morning from downtown Lansing.

Striking A Chord. Fred Jacobs writes here about whats he's been hearing from station Listener Advisory Panels.

Much of it is right in front of your eyes; I'm very surprised that there's not more gas promotions taking place right now.

Workplace Online Listening. It's getting big. Even many of the smaller markets are beginning to stream, though its surprising how many still don't. Arbitron and Edison Media release a new report on workplace listening. Harve Alan writes here.

Pizza Wars. Jaye Albright on successful stunting from Pizza Hut and Papa John's. Here.

The last successful stunt I saw observed was Bubba "The Love Sponge". I'm not sure who started what between two competing morning air personalities, but it paid off big for Bubba.

20 minutes. Yesterday I spent 20 minutes on the telephone with someone who helped give me my start in this business - when he had just started shortly before me. Bob Heymann - who is with Media Services Group in Chicago these days.

As Bob calculated, it had only been 37 years since we last spoke. It was 20 wonderful minutes that I wish could have gone 3 or 4 hours. There's a road trip to the Windy City soon.

Added: Another case for Radio. Edison Media's Sean Ross writes about the renewed and continued success of WCBS-FM/New York:

"When WCBS-FM New York dropped Oldies in 2005, it had a 3.0 share 12-plus. When WCBS-FM came back last summer, it returned with a 3.7 share and has held there through the recently released winter 2008 book."

"In that time, WCBS-FM's many disenfranchised listeners had no shortage of choices that could have taken them away from terrestrial radio. They were directly targeted by Sirius Satellite Radio and its hiring of Cousin Brucie. They had their iPods. They could have found no shortage of customizable Internet-only Oldies channels."

"They had plenty of options - many of which would have been seen by some industry people as far superior to the old WCBS-FM during its problematic last year. But when WCBS-FM came back, the listeners came back, too."

Read "For Some, Radio Is Still The Best Way To Hear Music" here.

I'm still here...

22° - overcast at 9:34pm

Long days. Started a new industry-related job this week.

I haven't had to "show up at the office" since January 24th; working out of the house and keeping my own hours now for months. It was nice - but didn't pay the bills. Not all of 'em.

It will take a new routine to balance all I do; trying to figure it out with varying schedules and workloads. I'll get there.

Boneheads. No, we're not talking about some classic rock station. But about a company based on disturbing news that I hope is nothing more than a nasty rumor.

Read Jaye Albright's blog post here.

Classic Rock gone. Oldies in. Indianapolis has a new oldies station. Edison Media's Sean Ross offers his thoughts in a first listen here.

Lee Arnold. Lee sends us to Rolling Stone with a list of the songs that DJs forever have played to make a trip to the men's room. Read here.

Speaking of: Lee's very cool internet radio station "WORJ.COM" can now be heard on smart phones and PDAs everywhere.

Still radio; just a different distribution system.

RAIN reporting Live365 (Lee's streaming provider) "announced new mobile service that lets on-the-go listeners use the streaming audio service via their Radio365-Mobile software for all smartphones, pocket PCs, and PDAs running Windows Mobile 5 or 6." Read here.

Have a good night.