Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

50° - clear at 11:50am. Frost last night!

Happy Sunday. Morning coffee accompanied by radio via the 'net. The usual. Later: Kids flag football - plus pumpkin and costume shopping.

Halloween fun: "Dead Bass Player Days" - from KKZX/Spokane - here. I did laugh out loud...very clever!

This Weekend: WCSX/Detroit is offering listeners a "Monsters of Classic Rock" Weekend (4 song blocks) - here.

WAQY/Springfield is doing a "Ghosts of Rock" Weekend. Its dead rockers. Here.

What is your station doing on air for halloween?

More Ghoul Tube. We mentioned WGRF/Buffalo's "Ghoul Tube" here the other day. A couple other stations on-board with the concept too. WCSX/Detroit has theirs here. Likewise with Citadel's KHYT/Tucson.

Clear Channel has "scariest music videos" on many of their station websites. Click the link here to see. Look at clip #12. LOL!

Classic Rock A to Z. Watching television last night - it looks like Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee Movie" might have some clips suitable for letter "b" imaging. Find trailer and clips here. I'm just thinkin'....

Geico Caveman. Rachel Veness at Geico emails to tell me that the Caveman's Crib interactive website has been updated. Fun stuff. Check it out here and be ready to point and click.

And: the actor who plays the Caveman for Geico - John Lehr - has a website. See the transformation to Caveman here.

Have a great Sunday!

WCSX & More Fall Promos

67° - heavy rain/thunderstorm at 8:10pm

Another busy one. Trip to Detroit and back to drop our house guests off at the airport. My in-laws from Denver. Had a great time during their visit.

Driving around Detroit - I had the pleasure of listening to Greater Media's WCSX for an extended period.

WCSX is simply a great classic rock station. Strong and well-produced imaging. Great features ("Linkletter" is something we've discussed here before); plenty of cross-promos for other shifts; and a great personality in middays: Karen Savelly.

Station was running a great promotion with the Workforce Listener of the Day. Very cool. WCSX really taps into the at-work listener; the station sure to enjoy a big PPM payoff when that day comes.

More fall promos:

Speaking of WCSX - next week the station kicks off "Workforce Cash" - $100 an hour and a drawing for ten grand.

Interesting note on their Workforce Cash web page: Listeners are required to pick up their prizes on Mondays between 3 & 5pm.

Not sure if a set time is completely listener-friendly - but having one allows the station to have a camera ready to snap photos - and a prod room ready to catch some audio from station winners.

WKLH/Milwaukee - another great classic rock station - kicks off the "'KLH $100,000 Bank Heist" on Monday with a Workforce song of the day. More here.

Likewise: WGRF/Buffalo is "hiring" - giving listeners a chance at earning $100/hour beginning Monday. Read here.

KMJX/Little Rock recycles a promotion from radio's past. "...ask everyone you see: Are you the Magic 105 USA Drug Ten Thousand Dollar Mystery Person?" Clues on air and hidden on the station's website. Details here.

Gift Cards, Free Gas & Cash: Next week, KSLX/Phoenix kicks off Thousand Dollar Thursdays, Free Gas Fridays and Gift Card Mondays.

KHYT/Tucson is playing "Stash The Cash" - stretching a cash budget with appointment listening. More here.

Recycling Football Cume. Chiefs flagship KCFX/Kansas City has a "Thousand Dollar Monday Chiefs Song Of The Day".

KCFX announces a song title during Chiefs broadcast on Sunday with song played during morning drive on Monday. Details here.

PPM + Fall Promos and Programming

73° - sunny at 10:45am

Good Morning from Michigan.

Left: from WQBW/Milwaukee. A small but great example of tying promotional efforts to current events! Fun too.


PPM and Stopsets: Inside Radio reporting of a "strategic shift" at Clear Channel's Houston cluster FMs - going from three stopsets per hour to two. Based on PPM research.

A letter to advertisers from Clear Channel notes "research with PPM shows us that people are listening through the commercial breaks."

IR adds that "Less Is More" inventory minute limits remain firmly in place, but stopsets will grow from a maximum of four minutes to five. They're also reducing station promos to one minute per hour, adding the inventory back to programming.

Added: Mark Ramsey offers commentary on the Clear Channel move here.

Programming note: KHYT/Tucson moves Opie & Anthony to overnights 3-6am. Just guessing its a "contractual obligation." Where is this show working in morning drive outside (perhaps) NYC?

Promotions: Seeing lots of on-air listen-to-win with Springsteen, Van Halen, Ozzy and Mellencamp tickets.

All "ready made" for classic rock radio; promotions you can't go wrong with.

Speaking of Concerts: KSHE/St. Louis is giving three listeners a chance to become KSHE's "official station photographer". One winner each at three upcoming concerts receiving concert tix and a photo pass. Details here. Easy to set up ($0) and very cool for listeners.

WPYX/Albany is giving listeners a chance to win $1000 by designing a billboard promoting the station's morning show. Here.

KRXO/Oklahoma City will be kicking off their "At Work Workforce Payroll" with $100/hour - plus a chance for an additional $100 bonus if a payroll winner knows "the three things".

Special fall programming: The long-term payoff with strong programming features is far greater than contesting. Its all about strengthening the brand.

KRFX/Denver kicks off "The History of Classic Albums" - presenting the essential classic albums of the last four decades in chronological order. More here.

WBLM/Portland is putting together classic rock's "Top 500" albums of all time. The station has listeners, staff and local celebrities submitting top ten fav lists. See here.

And tonight: WDRV/Chicago is celebrating the life of Jimi Hendrix - on the 37th anniversary of his death - with a one-hour special.

Presented at the end of the day (11pm) for the diehard Hendrix fans; format/music credibility made all day long simply by promoting it.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

60° - sunny at 9am

This week just flew by....

A couple of things this morning....

The ultimate bribe: A great summer promotion comes from Tucson's KHYT. They've hooked up with Blue Bell Ice Cream to bring the ice cream truck to area construction sites.

Can ice cream bring world peace? Maybe not - but its another great way to bond with your target demo. Check out KHYT's promotion here.

If you can't do ice cream - how about soft drinks? Or a van run with ice cold bottled water and hit the road crews in your area? Easy and quick to hand out. Hot weather relief. Just brainstorming.

Added: Streaming update. Sound Exchange tells Congress webcasters may keep streaming after Sunday. More from RAIN here.

WCBS-FM. Listening to the relaunch yesterday (and ignoring the technical glitches) - the selection of oldies and classic hits seem to be very compatible.

Some oldie purists might take issue with some of the 70s & 80s titles (or inclusion of the 80s period) - but there comes a point where oldies (and classic rock) have to move forward and introduce "new" gold.

What really makes sense: much of the newer "classic hits" artists/titles are New York area based:

Springsteen (Glory Days/Pink Cadillac/Born To Run/Born In The USA/Brilliant Disguise); Billy Joel (Only The Good Die Young/Its Still R&R To Me/Piano Man/Big Shot); Blondie (Heart of Glass/The Tide Is High); Eddie Money (Take Me Home Tonight); and perhaps Donna Summer (Hot Stuff). NYC!

Noting many Springsteen titles. I remember so-well hearing "lots o' Bruce" on WNEW-FM circa 1976 - so much reflecting the vibe of the city.

A couple titles stood out (like a sore thumb): "Good Thing" & "She Drives Me Crazy" (Fine Young Cannibals); "Sweet Dreams" (Eurythmics); maybe "Carribean Queen" (Billy Ocean) - among others. Just my gut - but I'm not sure I would have spun these on day one. Maybe later.

Others opining on the first day of WCBS-FM include Sean Ross and David Martin.

"Not playing Hit the road Jack? A significant missed opportunity"
- David Martin

More Sunday Morning. Have a great weekend.