Brilliant!

Tonight while watching NBC-TV's "The Office" marathon - I decided (for no apparent reason) to Google "Dunder Mifflin" (the fictional paper company featured in the show).

What appeared as the top search result brought a smile to my face:

Brilliant!

Clicking on the link brought me to a Dunder-Mifflin corporate home page that looked as good as any "real company" home page too!

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

48° - cloudy/overcast at 11:30am

Happy Sunday

Pain. MSU's 28-24 loss to Michigan yesterday here at home. Despite the loss, it was a great game to watch on TV.

Could even see the Outback Steakhouse Blimp ("The Bloomin' Onion I Airship") over the stadium from our home in nearby Okemos.

Post-Game TV. Was able to catch the new Tom Petty & Heartbreakers documentary "Runnin' Down A Dream" last night on The Sundance Channel.

A very cool look at the band - with some insights into the interpersonal relationships and conflicts within the band, including the tragic loss of Heartbreaker Howie Epstein.

Also on TV: NBC News Anchor Brian Williams guest hosting Saturday Night Live. AP Story. I didn't get this move at all - be it for Williams' career or the credibility of NBC News. Your opinion may vary.

Makes one forget quickly about all the negative reviews of anchor Katie Couric (who - IMHO - has established herself as a solid anchor with a great newscast on CBS).

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV - playing tracks from his latest Rock & Roll Roots CD (Volume 9); on sale at Border stores around Chicago; proceeds go to charity. Nice!

Trying to get one of my younger brothers in the Chicago area to grab me a copy.

Speaking of Chicago. Still no confirmation from CBS - but the buzz says "Fresh" for Chicago's talk WCKG.

A few days back, I was tempted to "wonder" on this blog about the "whereabouts of consultant Harv Blain" (but I'm not one to start rumors).

Was talk of "all-Christmas" on WCKG simply a bluff to force crosstown Clear Channel AC WLIT into its annual "all christmas" presentation early - while 105.9 debuts its new "Fresh" AC format? All speculation on my part. More here.

Its good to see some competitive wars again. Let's all watch the moves - no matter what format we're in.

And speaking of Harv Blain. This past Friday, All Access posted a contribution from Harv to Paragon's PPM Rulebook. This would be rule #18: "Keep an accurate event audit":

"PPM allows you to see cause-and-effect better than the diary ever could. In countless examples from Arbitron's John Snyder, we have seen how specific events either drive up cume and AQH or where the audience has exited."

"With the granularity of PPM data, programmers should keep a detailed, accurate "diary" (sorry, couldn’t resist) of events on their station and the competitive landscape (special guests, giveaways, marketing campaigns, news events, etc.) and then cross-reference once the data for that time period is released. You’ll get the opportunity to truly see the dynamics between content and consumption, if you know when these events occurred."

Harv writes more on his blog here.

We've seen examples of the impact of events and campaigns with Mark Ramsey's PPM presentation at the NAB Radio Show. Keeping a log (or "diary") is important; I'd keep one not only for my own station - but on the actions of my competitors too. I'm certain the big groups can benefit by sharing this information with one another; and most of this is data that can be used in diary markets also.

Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight today interviews WGN Creative Director Todd Manley. Todd shares some great moments - and I read that we share a hero: The legendary Ken Nordine. Rick's interview with Todd here.

Back in the 70s I'd already been a fan of Ken Nordine - primarily through his Word Jazz albums. I had the privilege of taking a phone call from Mr. Nordine once back in the 70s when I was Continuity Director of WBBM Newsradio 78. I didn't have to ask who was calling once I heard "the voice".

Final flag football game this afternoon with my 3rd grade son's team.

Have a great day!

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

58° - clear at 9:22am

Welcome to Friday; Sun shining this morning for what seems to be the first time in days. Nice autumn weather.

More news to programmers from the NAB during the weekend.

The Boss. Appeared this morning on NBC-TV's "Today Show". I knew about it; missed it - but just caught the video here on the web. Very cool.

Paul Shaffer. That nutty guy from the Letterman Show. Now doing radio. "Paul Shaffer's Day In Rock" - a sixty second daily feature distributed by Envision Radio. Just picked up starting Monday by WAXQ/New York City.

Demo is great. Listen here. Book it by calling Greg Ausham at (216) 831-3761 or grega@envisionradio.com.

Cara Carriveau. Cara's latest podcast has her chatting with Jim Peterik - formerly of Survivor and The Ides of March, along with former Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison and Night Ranger singer/drummer Kelly Keagy.

All three are performing together next week at MelodicRockFest in South Bend, Indiana. Listen at Cara's Basement here.

Dave Martin. Yesterday Dave wrote here about employers, job seekers and manners:

"In recent years I continue to hear from folks who are out of work and not able to get employers to return a phone call nor respond to an email. Folks are doing as they are told, following instructions and making application for employment - never to hear anything in response. So it would seem the days of a proper rejection letter is over. The majority of the time it seems employers today are not offering any response whatsoever. Folks apply for a job and nothing happens...."

"It's bad manners and there is simply no excuse. Understanding there will always be a few bad actors out there, in the ranks of the employed and unemployed, it seems today there are just too many rude folks at work on the employer side."

Guilty. Me. On the employer side I've had applicants fall through the cracks that I never responded to. Most I did. But that doesn't matter to the ones I failed. As Dave said - there is no excuse.

Its something that might not seem mission critical until you become the job seeker. One soon discoveres how valuable a response - any response - is to the applicant. Think of the impression of you and your company in the eyes of the applicant.

Noted for my future. And thanks Dave.