Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

78 - sunny at 11am. Left: Michigan's Mackinac Bridge - as shot by my wife heading north this past Monday.

Hello from Okemos!

Feeling out of touch: the past week a fast one - between an elevated work schedule and my wife out of town most of the week (in Michigan's "U.P." on business) - which left me to take care of all the house and kid duties. The blog, unfortunately had to take a back seat. Getting back on schedule...

Spent much of yesterday working on my forthcoming internet station. Still ripping CDs, entering required MP3 meta data on the individual cuts to meet the RIAA requirements. While its possible to put something "on the air"; first impressions are everything - so a formal debut will have to wait. Meanwhile in testing, the nearly 10-year old Pentium III (XP Home/648k RAM) running the automation is performing nearly flawlessly 24/7.

Speaking of streaming: This past week, Edison Media's Sean Ross wrote a great piece on streaming radio and the stopset situation - specifically looking at the Atlanta market. Here. Sean notes many of the thoughts that go through my head while listening to streaming radio stations. My conclusion is that streaming is just a mere afterthought - still - when putting a great online product together should be as high a priority as the terrestrial product. But I've said that here before. Why bother if you're not making it the best it can be?

Another great piece this past week was one on Friday from Jacobs Media's Keith Cunningham. The topic was talent. Using the NBA's Boston Celtics as an example, Keith wrote:

"....if a station is really looking to change the game, they may need to get honest with themselves and agree to invest in hiring great talent. The right mix of music can’t be overlooked – but take a cue from some of Radio’s iconic brands that many emulate – they have big talent."

"It’s also worth noting that The Bone in Tampa (Cox) went from a mid-pack player to virtually #1 across the board with men, almost immediately, by adding Bubba the Love Sponge to morning drive back in January. The Bone’s music mix was right all along, but there’s no substitute for big talent. Whether it's radio or the NBA, talent wins. Just ask anyone who lives in Boston."

Keith's entire piece here.

Speaking of talent. Lee Arnold writes on something I've touch on before. Another wonderful read here.

Mark Ramsey. Mark shares his view on positioning:

"As I have often said, "positioning" has never been about a "line," it has been about a "position." And a position is about standing for something. And if you stand for something that means you should be doing the right things to support that something. Because that means you're real. And a brand is as real as you and I are."

Mark's piece here.

Spending the morning getting caught up on my reading before an afternoon trek to the ballpark to see our local minor league Lansing Lugnuts (currently #1 in their division) take on the Ft. Wayne Wizards. It's a beautiful day for a ball game. Have a great Sunday....more tomorrow.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

32° - light snow at 3:15pm
Left: Looking out my front door this afternoon...

Home today. Not feeling well yesterday and sneezing evolved to fever last night. Nothing that sleep/rest won't quickly solve.

Catching up on my reading:

Fred Jacobs & Keith Cunningham. On his blog - Fred Jacobs shares an article written for R&R by Keith Cunningham on air talent and PPM. A great read here.

Fred prefaces Keith's piece:

"Clearly, there are aspects of PPM that will unfortunately lead programmers down the path of eliminating interruptions and content in the hope of creating a seamless listening environment. But at what point does consistency begat predictability which begats boredom which begats turnout?"

I couldn't agree more. Which brings me back to comments I wrote here about the shift in formatics at WMMS/Cleveland back in September. I can't fault anyone for trying something different and new. I get it - but (still) don't agree with it. Where are the surprises? Isn't this one of our advantages?

Dave Mason. The San Diego radio icon - most recently mornings at KOGO; prior to that PD of Kool 99.3 - in comments attached to this Paragon Media Blog piece - writes:

"Y’all can clearly see that the answer to bad radio isn’t more bad radio. It’s fixin’ what you have and making it better. Time and time again I see the answers HERE — but it must be the sound of money being poured down the drain on making broadcast radio sound just like the Ipod, Internet and Satellite recievers…without the compelling nature of any of the 3."

Yep. Thank you Dave. But wait...there's more. Mr. Mason adding:

"By the way, anyone listening to Westwood One’s coverage of the NFL over the weekend would’ve heard a lot of Sirius spots voiced by Howard Stern - telling people to turn off their radios and get the Satellite service. Yes this was on BROADCAST Radio."

Wonderful. (not). Somebody at Westwood One needs a spanking. At least some terse notes from WW1 affiliates.

Dave Mason one of the best in the business. He's also longtime host - to this day - of "The Beatles Radio Show" airing Sunday Mornings 8-10am Pacific on KGB-FM/San Diego. He knows his "Fab Four".

Dave also currently station manager of "SignOn San Diego" internet radio.

Tipped by Dave Martin: Harve Alan - most recently with NextMedia - is now blogging with his new Harve Alan Media organization. Read Harve here.

I do believe that I met and chatted a bit with Mr. Alan on a dinner cruise in San Diego during my Capstar-AM/FM days along with Dave Lange and many other respected names.

More over the weekend. Is it "feed a cold, starve a fever" or the other way around?

A Case Of The Mondays...

...no! Its the start of a great week!

This morning Keith Cunningham of Jacobs Media writes about radio's ability to react fast - but suggests it could be slow to get into the game. Read Keith's comments here.

Last Friday: We noted here that Cincinnati's WOFX (92.5 The Fox) is repeating the 6am hour of Bob & Tom middays 10-11am. Now Miami's WBGG (Big 105.9) is extending morning drivers Paul & Young Ron until noon.

Lee Abrams: Over the weekend Lee blogged about Washington, DC's new 94.7/The Globe - and wrote in depth about his XM Radio "check list" for a great station. Some more great thoughts from Lee on how to think about your radio station.

Added: Dallas loses classic rock KZPS - and with the change - Clear Channel gets rid of....commercials. Read here.

More: Fred Jacobs on KZPS - as quoted on All Access: "In a major market, for a classic rock station to change formats is really an anomaly"..."You could make a nice, long, healthy list of top five stations that are classic rock, and several would be No. 1 or No. 2 in their markets". Me thinks the door just opened for a new classic rock convert in Dallas; or adjustments at 93.3 The Bone.

Yet More: Dave Lange on the launch of the new KZPS "Lone Star 92.5" - here.

Tony Soprano rocks. If you saw last night's episode of The Sopranos, you heard another great classic rock moment.

Tony and Paulie hit the road with the radio cranked to Fredricksburg, VA's WWUZ/Classic Rock 96.9. That's too cool! Congrats to their staff.

Later this week:

Tuesday (4/24) - Iggy Pop/The Stooges on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel.
Wednesday (4/25) is Administrative Professional's Day
Thursday (4/26) is "Take Your Daughter (Or Son) To Work Day"