As The Countdown Rolls On...

48° - overcast at 7:21am

As this blog pointed out a week or so ago, Top 500 countdowns continue to be a popular feature of classic rock stations around the country. And once again this year, this programming staple continues to draw interest from listeners who might normally be spending their time away from the radio. Listening habits tend to change on the weekend - even more significant with 3-day weekends. Your typical high-level "at work" audience on Monday isn't there.

As I've written here about the countdowns, this blog has become an easy "hit" for the search engines when someone types station X Top 500 countdown into Google or Yahoo.

This blog had a record number of page views from new visitors over the weekend - nearly all from the search engines with countdown-related search terms. The countdown concept continues to work. Casey Kasem figured it all out many years ago.

Chances are if your station did a countdown, your call letters are in my web stats. Added: the countdown "hits" continue this morning.

Heads up: In the majority of the searches, listeners were looking for their favorite classic rock station's Top 500 list. If you haven't done so already - be sure to get it posted on your website and promote this on the air. Today. Its going to pay off in website visits and listener satisfaction.

If you want to see a great example of listener passion behind this feature, check out WGRF/Buffalo's Top 500 Listener Comments page here.

And if your station didn't do anything special this past weekend, you missed a great opportunity to gain some additional quarter hours during the spring book.

Memorial Day Programming

58° - sunny/clear at 9:45am

Hello from Michigan. Home today with a sore sinus/throat thing. My 9-year old had something similar for the past few days - so I be thinkin' that I got it from him.

Memorial Day. See lots of stations getting ready to hit Memorial Day Weekend with Top 500 Countdowns. KUFX/San Jose is soliciting listener votes for their countdown with a chance to win Police tix. Here.

KCFX/Kansas City now collecting votes for their Memorial 500 here.

KSAN/San Francisco also compiling listener votes; though its limited to their "Bonehead" club members.

In Fort Myers, WARO is doing a "Top 400" for Memorial Day weekend - with a list to vote from online here.

In Philadelphia, WMGK has started the voting process for its "Philly 500" with a complete (?) list of titles, plus an opportunity to "write in" a vote. See how they're doing it here.

WAQY/Springfield also with the Top 500 this Memorial Day. Here. Kudos to them on a great graphic:

KLOS/LA is spending the long weekend with listener-suggested sets of music as a "My Tunes" weekend. Very cool. See the entry process here. In the Windy City, Mainstream rocker WLUP is doing a "Loyal Looper 500". See here.

One of my favorite stations - WGRF/Buffalo is letting the listeners vote - and discuss their Memorial Day 500 list.

Incentive for voting is a chance at a trip to the Hard Rock Park. Schweet! See the layout and listener comments here.

More Memorial Day Programming as I come across it.

Follow-up file: This morning I did spot one station doing "The Harley Days of May". Here.

Memorial Day Monday

Sunny/81° at 3:30pm

Back this afternoon - a day later than planned from our road trip - after the "why not stay another day?" question came up.

Had a great time with family, but admit its nice being back home - and I'm looking forward to my pillow and my bed tonight.

Listened to radio very casually this trip while in the car. Heard some small market talent with great potential as well as others that desperately need coaching and guidance. I guess thats pretty typical.

The point is there's still talent out there - and perhaps "getting out of Dodge" and making a cross-country road trip is a (one) good way of finding them.

Memorial Day. Arriving home this afternoon - we passed a cemetary a couple blocks away here in Okemos and it looks far different today than I ever remember seeing before. There's more American Flags than you can easily count - more flowers - and more people on the grounds than I can ever recall. It was a pretty powerful image. Live.

Received an email Saturday Morning from an old radio friend who wrote: "As an old 'Nam Vet, this is one of the hardest times of the year for me."

More tomorrow.