Free Seminar, A Thank You & A Book....

32° - light snow mist at 8:39am

Good Morning from downtown Lansing.

Busy week at the day job (The Michigan Assocation of Broadcasters) as the organization's annual conference takes place next week in Grand Rapids. A wonderful staff of 14 who pull it all together every year; and I'm honored to be a co-worker.

Tonight: Talent coach Jay Mitchell presents a free no-strings teleseminar with the legendary Jay Trachman. The two Jays will be talking about "the changes that have taken place in the radio industry ... what it takes to succeed in radio today ... and why it's still all about the "1-2-1."

The live seminar begins at 8:30pm eastern. Register online today here. And feel free to pass on.

Great story. I love to hear things like this. Had an email a few days back from WKLH/Milwaukee Rock 'N Roll Roots host Steve Palec.

This past Sunday he was featuring Fleetwood Mac and writes:

"The whole show was pretty much ready to go and I saw your comment about seeing Bob Welch's website and having him return your email. So I did the same and we had a great long recorded conversation with amazing insights I was able to add to the show this morning."

Very cool Steve!

The book. Been chatting via phone the past few days with another Jay: Jay (J) Blackburn. His long-awaited book "The Radio Gypsies". Its due for release March 17th...a week from Monday.

As I've written here before its a novel based-on-real life events from his years of programming and management. Jay's story is fascinating as a radio turn-around pro.

Order via Amazon here.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

37° - overcast at 11:09am

Listening: The usual Sunday Morning fare. WDRV/Chicago - and Bob Stroud with Rock 'N Roll Roots.

Stroud segue: "She's A Rainbow" (Stones) into "Susan" (Buckinghams). Both with that 60s psychedelic violin thing. Later: Heard Leon Russell's "A Song For You". I've forgotten what a great song that is.

Wondering: Where is Steve Palec? Steve hosts "the other" Rock 'N Roll Roots program on WKLH/Milwaukee. Station has been filling his slot the last few weeks with various syndicated programs. Hope all is well.

Caught my ear: the new Gatorade TV Commercial. Music is "Sparks" from The Who's Tommy album. Very nice.

Caught another Gatorade spot during SNL last night with the bass riff from Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side". It's a classic rock party!

Underwhelmed: Consultant Harve Alan tries the new Ford/Microsoft Sync voice command system and declares it "not ready for prime time".

Harve also notes that while the voice command system works through the radio - there are no voice commands for the radio. And that's wacked. Harve's blog here.

Still waiting: but not complaining - for Jay (J.) Blackburn's (JDB) radio novel based-on-real-life. "The Radio Gypsies" due out in just weeks.

JDB sharing the cover artwork with me in an email back on Thursday.

I'm on the list for one of the first copies off the press. And I promised JDB I'd plug-plug-plug. Stay tuned!

Goodbye: To the "One-To-One" Newsletter. Publisher Jay Trachman writing in the last issue:

"I am closing it down because the enterprise is no longer profitable, and the industry is – to me – no longer recognizable.

"There was a time when I could write “Talent Tips” columns with the comfort that hundreds, if not thousands, of jocks would read and consider the advice. It’s just not that way anymore."

Read Jay's sign-off in FMQB here.

Jay Trachman's words remind me of something Randy Raley had on his blog here at the end of a post about the late KYYS:

"The business I miss is no longer the business anymore."
-Randy Raley March 2007

It ain't like it used to be. I don't think anything ever is. I go back to my hometown in the Chicago suburbs and its nothing like the small village I roamed all over on my Schwinn bicycle as a child.

My parents said the same thing about the town when I was a young.

In the mid-70s at age 18 - I joined CBS' WBBM/Chicago as "Continuity Director" - replacing a retiring gentleman by the name of George Clare. George's time at WBBM extended back to radio's first golden era.

Back in the 40s he was a sound effects guy on radio drama and entertainment programs. I remember George sharing stories from that period of his career and echoing something similar to Randy Raley's line above.

Speaking of WBBM: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight this week shines on Newsradio 780 morning traffic anchor Bart Shore. A good read about a great radio career here.

Thanks: To WGRF/Buffalo PD John Hager for the kind words in an email this past week. Also to media sales pro, radio station broker (and lifelong friend) Roger Rafson for the nice note too!

More here tomorrow morning. Monday Night; the jobs getting in the way of the blog again!

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

76° - sunny at 1pm

Happy Friday...perhaps your weekend began on Wednesday..

How's your stream? Lee Arnold draws awareness to a reality about streaming audio: over half of your audience might be listening to your stream on a dial-up connection. Read more here.

It might be prudent to unplug the broadband and listen to your stream with a 56k dial-up connection and see how it performs.

Meanwhile - July 15th is now less than ten days away - the date the new copyright royalty rates are scheduled to kick in and impact streaming radio.

Jerry Del Colliano writes here this morning on continuing the fight in Washington and declaring war on The Sound Exchange.

Records and Radio. This morning Mark Ramsey writes about the "ridiculous study" that says radio doesn't sell music. Read here.

If this "study" is reality, why haven't the record companies fired their radio promotion staffs and discontinued ads in FMQB and R&R?

Added: The NAB calls the study "bogus" - read here - and quotes pro-radio comments by record company executives.

Found Resources:

AC/CHR Programmer/Consultant (and station owner) Dave Shakes has a great website - with resources relevant for any programmer, no matter the format. Peruse Dave's excellent "tool kit" here.

Historic Audio. The Smoking Gun website now has a archive of historic and celebrity audio (accompanied by video). Browse through it here. You Tube is also an excellent resource for sound.

Added: Jay Trachman - in FMQB - on stationality: "...it enables the listener to remember you. Especially when rating time rolls around." Read here. Great piece on "the feel" of your radio station. Its much more than sweepers.

Thank you Lee Arnold. I do appreciate the kind words - here - on his blog today. They mean a lot.

More here Sunday Morning.

Wednesday Blogs

81° - Sunny at 10am

From my blogosphere:

Share of Mind. John Moore via Consultant Alan Mason here on the "The Visionary's Handbook". John points to some thoughts from the book that makes things like this very important for share of mind.

This is all about marketing for actual listenership. And Mark Ramsey writes about that topic as it applies to PPM here.

Your station's vibe. Not on air - but around the office and studio. Seth Godin writes that "the vibe changes everything". Read here.

Your internal vibe. Still excited about what you do? If not, Jay Trachman here with some ways to get out of your rut. Added: David Martin here - this morning - on enjoying what you do.

Seth Godin on radio. Next week Mark Ramsey's blog presents "7 Days of Seth" - with the "Agent of Change" sharing thoughts on the future of radio as well as his new book "The Dip". More here.

The Conclave. Dave Lange writes here on this year's event in Minneapolis; wish I was attending, but the Kelley family budget is just too tight. Next year perhaps.

Both the Conclave and Dan O'Day's PD Grad School are the best values for the dollar for any programmer - if you've got the budget - personal or company.

McCartney. Street Pulse reporting via All Access that Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full" debuted at the #1 position for overall sales this week. Paul is working this one hard - and with radio. Stations around the country have been sending listeners to a secret, private "invitation only" performance.

The cynic in me. The past few days I've had Court TV on as I do other work - watching the Duke prosecutor hearing and Phil Spector's trial.

Oreo Cookies has been running a saturation campaign on the channel with what they're trying to pass off as YouTube-style CGM commercials. They just appear to be a bit too perfect to pass my " B.S. Test". I could be wrong, but....

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

Sunny and 53° here at 10am.

Minor League Baseball. Last night, the family and I attended another Lansing Lugnut game. What a great time!; And it didn't matter that the Lugnuts lost 3-2 to the Clinton (IA) Lumberkings.

Its the experience. The Lugnuts get it: from the greeting as you enter the front gate - to keeping it fun and involving the fans throughout the game - to saying "thank you and good night" as one leaves the stadium. The game itself is just a part "the Lugnut experience".

I've mentioned this before: Here in Lansing, the Lugnuts are the best family entertainment value for our dollar. Without question.

More on the experience: Read this from Bill Jacobs. And thanks to Bill for turning me onto the Fish website.

Listened to Bob Stroud - WDRV this morning. Bob mentioned that another Bob - Bob Seger - celebrated his 62nd birthday yesterday.

Last Sunday. We mentioned a piece written by Jim Kerr of Pollack Media on Lone Star 92.5/Dallas - and how that station was designed for streaming on the internet. Pollack Media now has it posted on their website here. A good read.

Breaking The Rules. When is it OK for the talent to break the rules? Never? Now and then? Jay Trachman writes about this in FMQB - here.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.