Monday Monday (Late Edition)

61° - cloudy at 10:29pm

Took the weekend off from the blog (not intentional) - hope it was good for you.

Around my blogosphere:

Dave Lange. Dave blogs about "Authenticity - The Key To Reviving Radio" here. Authenticity the backbone of progressive rock in the 60s and 70s - and AOR in the 70s and 80s. Part one of a great piece here.

Coincidently - after reading Dave's post today, I overheard the syndicated Ryan Seacrest weekday program on an office radio..and I swear I heard a sweeper soliciting listener "phone calls". This on a recorded/recycled bits show from Ryan's Los Angeles AMD program. How does that work? I certainly didn't hear any "listener calls" on the air. I immediately thought of Dave's piece where he writes about "gimmicks, hype and illusion". Whatever.

More authenticity: Coincidently, consultant Alan Mason writes about voice-tracking on his blog today. With apologies to Alan for over-quoting:

"...now I’m seeing talent and on-air PD’s who voice track their shows because they’re too busy to be on the air. I’ve even heard of talent who didn’t like their shift, so they voice track instead of being live. I can’t help but wonder, when did being on the air stop being a priority for on-air talent?"

"Yes, I know all the arguments about how busy you are, but let me ask you a question: How do you explain that to the listeners? "Well, I’d like to be engaging and interactive instead of just announcing, but I’m just too busy?”

"Think they don’t notice the difference? In case you haven’t noticed yourself, listeners are becoming more interactive, and want more relevance. It’s a big challenge to do that in voice tracking. But there’s an even bigger question: With all the competition from other media, and life becoming so busy for the listener that they often feel overwhelmed, isn’t it important for us to be as good as possible? And do you really think you can do that through regular voice tracking?"

Alan's complete post here. Full disclosure: As a PD, I've been put in the position of voice-tracking my shift simply because I was too busy. Handling multiple stations, I should have not been on the air at all. Not my call. And I'm certain there's many other PDs in the same situation.

More PPM: 20 MORE Things explained - numbers 6 through 10. From Paragon Media Strategies here. Numbers 1 through 5 here. The complete list without narrative here.

Mad Men. Must-see TV in my house, though not with me (yet). My wife and oldest son both addicted. Mark Ramsey blogs about AMC's smash hit and what it means to radio here.

Help. Asked over the weekend via email to help spread the word. From Dave Martin's blog this morning:

"Deborah Chesher is a published photographer [Amazon info]. Her rock star gets include George Harrison, Jerry Garcia and Frank Zappa. Now, her daughter is having brain surgery and Deborah is selling prints to help pay the bills. Get the story, see the prints here. If you're not able to buy a print, please share the link."

I read Deborah's story last night; please do what you can (and her work is wonderful).

More tomorrow including stuff I didn't have time for tonight. Thanks for stopping by.

Explained: "20 MORE Things You Need To Know About PPM and Then Some"

Received an email this afternoon from Paragon Media Strategies - who co-presented "20 MORE Things" at the Morning Show Bootcamp in Denver last Friday.

I posted a link to the Paragon blog and PPM PowerPoint - see here.

Paragon now offers some narrative behind the slides on their blog: here.

Learn and enjoy!

"20 MORE Things You Need To Know About PPM and Then Some"

Direct from a session today at Morning Show Boot Camp in Denver. Props to Paragon Media Strategies for sharing.

Download the PDF here.

Read comments from Paragon's John Stevens here.

After you review the PDF of the presentation Powerpoint, you might wish you were there; there's some things that need further narrative. We'll be watching the press for further explanation!

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

38° - light rain at 10:45am

Day off yesterday. Much needed after a long week. "Next week" begins this afternoon with some time spent at work to meet deadlines. Its all good. Played radio yesterday with some automation software on my laptop.

Ripped some music from CD, added sweepers leftover from my WMMQ days and was in heaven. Thanks to Lee Arnold for both the software tip and the inspiration.

Listening: To Chicago's WDRV this morning. The usual. Just heard "Raindance" from The Guess Who segued into "Easy To Be Hard" from Three Dog Night. Cools!

Noted: animated "raindrops" on the WDRV website header (above); not sure whether this is synched to the actual Chicago weather - if so - a very sweet touch!

Streaming. I've wrote here months back that listening on the 'net should be hassle-free for listeners; even suggesting a desktop icon that would provide instant audio, rather than navigating a station website simply to listen to a station.

Earlier this week, Mark Ramsey wrote about one streaming provider who intends to keep you listening on their terms. And as Mark notes here - this is bad.

Adding to Mark's words are reader comments - with Tom Asacker writing:

"Instead of acting like a friend and giving someone the most direct, hassle free directions to get where they want to go, radio is trying to force them down their road so that they can sell the traffic to billboard advertisers. Big strategic mistake."

Mike Henry. The Paragon Media consultant sums up what many have been feeling (I'm part of that club):

"Radio may be dead on Wall Street, but it is alive and well on Main Street. Add up all the iPod users, satellite radio subscribers and internet radio subscribers, and go ahead and throw in all the illegal music downloaders, and they still wouldn’t add up to the number of people who listen to radio EVERY DAY."

"Local radio is still omnipresent. Listeners still wake up every day and turn on the radio. Radio still has a positive impact on local communities, when it wants to, because radio is still the most local and community-oriented of all media."

"Radio should rejoice and say, “Good riddance to Wall Street.” To the real radio operators out there, I say, “Welcome back to Main Street.” And please, leave the bean counters on Wall Street where they belong."

Mike's complete post here.

With all thats been written following Jim Cramer's comments, I'm compelled for full disclosure: my corporate radio experience - for the most part - have been positive; particularly with the so-called "evil empire".

The resources and support system provided to this programmer were never better. Those in the trenches are some of radio's finest and its an experience I wouldn't trade for much of anything.

If you've been reading this blog for some time, you'll also know that I've had first hand experience with the not-so-pleasant side of corporate radio too!

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Rick Kaempfer continues to feed my fascination with radio career stories and this week his light shines on WXRT/WBBM air talent Ken Sumka. Read here.

Ken makes note of the possible move to WXRT from its longtime stand-alone Belmont Avenue home to the corporate world downtown, saying:

"...there's a vibe at that building that comes from being away from downtown. There are some unknowns that cause a little worry-like what sort of consolidation might happen with us sharing a space and personnel."

Yep! Its all about "the vibe".

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

+6° - clear at 7am

Is The Tide Turning For HD Radio? Paragon Media Strategie's Paul Marszalek thinks so after a visit to CES 2008. Read here.

Still Paul accurately observes:

"The vast majority of HD programming is simply a bunch of automated jukeboxes – hardly incentive for the consumer to pick up a new radio when he or she can get all the automated jukeboxes in the world online. I mean, it’s bad enough that your main channel is becoming an automated jukebox…"

Added: Paragon Media's Larry Johnson reports that its new study shows that 2/3 of surveyed 14-24 year olds aren't aware of HD Radio. Of those who are aware, 75% say they'd buy an HD Radio "for the right price". More here.

My take: I still agree with Mark Ramsey's thoughts that people don't typically buy radios - but things that have a radio in them. How can HD be included as standard radio equipment in all radios?

New book from the FCC: A 98-page document seeking comments on whether the FCC should require licensees to (among other things): establish "permanent advisory boards" in each station community of license with which to consult periodically on community needs and issues"; 24/7 staffing; and restoration of the pre-1987 main studio rule.

The FCC also seeks comment on whether they should require licensees to "provide data regarding their airing of the music and other performances of local artists and how they compile their stations' playlists." Read here.

My thoughts: whats the cost of compliance to broadcasters? Does 24/7 staffing (actually all hours the station is on the air) mean more jobs or does it mean smaller market stations signing off overnight? (Most larger clusters already have at least one person in the building overnight; so perhaps no new jobs).

How about policies in place regarding local music? I'm thinking format compatibility/technical standards and the like. Look for more questions in the weeks to come.

Diary of an airshift. WHLK/Madison's Jim Bartlett (via his music blog) takes you through his airshift this past Wednesday.

Read here.

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?

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

32° - scattered clouds - at 2:22pm. Right: The kids next door tried - its melting now.

We did have our first real snowfall here late Wednesday Night and woke up Thanksgiving morning to white covered lawns. Add the smells coming from the kitchen between pies and turkey and it all was good!

Arbitron. The company now feeling the heat from Steve Sinicropi, Chairman of the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council over PPM issues. Find that story on the online trades.

Meanwhile - Paragon Media's Bob Harper writes here on Arbitron's PPM sampling issues ("PPM: Patsies Pay More") - followed by Jaye Albright "raising Bob one" in her blog:

"Is there any other broadcast research company which would have the temerity to actually contract for a project and then after delivering the results ask for either more money or propose changes in the methodology to cut their costs of doing the job right?"

Be sure to read the comments from Kent Burkhart at the bottom of Jaye's complete post here.

Consultant Harv Blain offers his two cents on Arbitron's issues here - suggesting the company take advantage of the brain trust who will soon be attending the company's annual consultant fly-in:

"...brainstorming would be time well spent versus listening to (guest speaker) Sean Hannity expound on how great PPM is."

I can't imagine its been a very good Thanksgiving Weekend for some of those in Columbia.

Welcome to a new blogger. Consultant Jay Mitchell now blogging here. A great blog! I sent Jay a note yesterday to welcome him and let him know I'd be quoting him.

In one post - Jay recalls the start-up of CHR KHKS/Dallas - writing:

"When Gerry (DeFrancesco) asked me to do a format search for the station, I told him, "The market doesn't have a format hole ... it has an attitude hole." Everybody was playing it safe and behaving themselves; but nobody - especially the listener - was having any fun."

I love that. Not a format hole - but an attitude hole. Jay goes on to write about how they took liner card/tight format air talent and transformed them into entertainers with attitude. A great read here.

BTW - The title of Jay's post: "Safety Last".

In another post: Jay writes about the latest round of layoffs happening throughout the country - with live talent in large markets being replaced by imported voice tracking - and comments:

"In what universe does this make sense?"

"Of course, the people who made this decision are so far up the food chain that they don't listen to the radio - they read financials. I'm sure this genius idea works well on paper."

"Too bad it sucks for the station and its listeners."

"How come we used to be able to do great live, local radio and make the numbers? How come we can't now?"

Well said Jay. More here Sunday Morning.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

38° - mostly cloudy at 11am. Snow likely.

Welcome to Saturday.

Production Idea: I'm writing this morning listening to WDRV/Chicago's stream (bet you're surprised) and the station is doing a "Ten at Ten Weekend". Ten at Ten a daily Mon-Fri feature that highlights ten great songs from one great year - accompanied by some sound bites from news events, movie and TV from that year.

On a 1985 "Ten at Ten" - and I heard a movie trailer for "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". The clip was apparently streaming audio - and low and behold I found links for the trailer at IMDB here. Check the left-hand column.

Another source is Retrojunk. Here. Found it through IMDB. Got any others? Feel free to share!

What PPM doesn't change. Paragon Media's Bob Harper reminds us that recall and remembering are still important - in both the PPM and diary markets.

Read here.

Guitar Hero. Fred Jacobs writes here about the new Guitar Hero III video game. This one includes cowbell. LOL.

The other night I caught up with some friends from WMMQ here who talked about how well Guitar Hero is working for bar promotions. Rock on!

Dan O'Day. His 2008 PD Grad School speaker lineup has been finalized - and it looks like another excellent two days well-spent!

This year's school includes Edison Media's Larry Rosin, McVay Media's Mike McVay, WOGL's Ross Brittian, internet radio and interactive specialist Rockie Thomas, author Tim Sanders and (of course) Dan O'Day himself.

Dates are February 22nd & 23rd in LA. Dan's PD Grad School is one of the few events I've been truly excited about traveling to attend. Download the brochure here.

Mark Ramsey: TV star. Mark Ramsey has just debuted the first installment of what he labels "The Radio Industry's First TV Show". See here. Designed for short attention spans - and he plans to roll out one every month or so. Cool!

This is something any radio station can do on its website with relevant listener information. See this example a while back from KGB/San Diego.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

38° - sunny at 9:45am

Happy Weekend. The big game here in town tomorrow: Michigan vs. Michigan State. Good luck finding cheap tickets to this one!

Knowing Your Market. Dave Lange writes this morning:

"Every market IS unique. I've worked in over 100 markets as a programmer, VP of Programming or consultant and there are obvious and clear differences in each one of them."

"If you don't take a careful and long look at all the factors in the 'market environment' you are going to leave audience, images, and dollars on the table that if wasted will limit your growth. It's also important to look at the competition and see who has impacted the audience and for what reason. For the real successful stations in always goes beyond 'the music position or mix.'"

Dave's entire post is here.

What If: Paragon Media's Bob Harper ponders:

"Why - when we know things of all kinds naturally clump together - do radio stations build music clocks that keep artists or song types equally separated? Why is our music so tidy in a messy world?"

"What is so crazy about four Elton Johns in two hours? Why do we let the software play fewer George Strait oldies when he has a top Current; at just the time listeners are probably more interested in the artist, not less? Which of Newton’s laws says you can’t play two Powers back-to-back sometimes?"

Bob Harper blogs here.

Spoof Our TV Commercial. Very cool - from CILQ/Toronto. Fans of the station have been doing their versions of the station's new TV spots. And the station is posting them along with the originals on their website. Check out the galleries here.

Also from CILQ: Guitar Lesson videos on the web from PM driver Kim Mitchell. This is very clever and is a great example of what a little imagination can do. See the videos here.

I'm betting Kim Mitchell was stoked about doing these videos too. The cost: almost nothing!

Led Zeppelin Reunion: Postponed. All Access reporting today:

"Hard rock icons LED ZEPPELIN have postponed their reunion concert from NOV. 26th to DEC. 10th, as guitarist JIMMY PAGE recuperates from a fractured finger. The band will still headline The AHMET ERTEGUN Tribute Concert at The O2 Arena in LONDON; it will be their first performance together in 19 years."

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

70° - scattered clouds at 10:10am
left: busboard for WXRT/Chicago - more on 'XRT below.

Its been some time since we wrote about PPM on this board. Yesterday the trades reported on the NYC Arbitron breakfast - formally introducing the meter in the nation's largest radio market.

First "pre-currency" PPM data from The Big Apple is scheduled for release on November 7th. Many taking a deep breath November 6th.

PPM Wisdom. From Paragon Media's Larry Johnson regarding the immediate feedback opportunity with PPM:

"...we need to keep perspective of what we’re observing. For example, it takes about a year for a new morning show to settle in and reach its potential. Guard against trying to cut off a new morning show’s head when PPM panelists register discontent when their favorite morning show has been displaced."

Yep. More insights on PPM from the Paragon blog here.

PPM Rulebook. From Tom Taylor's newsletter this morning - two more PPM programming and marketing "rules" - contributed by Chris Conley - former WBEB/Philadelphia programmer (now with McVay Media):

• Afternoon drive programming is just as important as morning drive.
• Brand strategy marketing is more important than hit-and-miss marketing games.

Its my take that much of the PPM Rulebook applies just the same to all markets. Any market can take advantage of the insights and listener knowledge thats coming out of the metered markets.

Very cool campaign. From one-time progressive rocker - now AAA WXRT/Chicago:

Lewis Lazare of The Chicago Sun-Times writes:

"WXRT's new interactive ad campaign, supported via a heavy round of advertising on taxi tops, buses and billboards, was developed in-house and designed by Brainforest/Chicago. It encourages fans of the station to post on the radio station's web site....how they would complete the thought "Chicago without 'XRT would be..."

A very cool promotion and marketing campaign that only a heritage station like 'XRT could pull off. A station that has not only had the time - but has taken the time to cultivate a bond and long-term relationship with its listeners. Something any station could start working on today.

Read the Sun-Times article here. See the campaign on the 'XRT website here. Have a great weekend.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

47° - sunny at 9:10am.

Good Morning. Almost hit freezing here last night; some parts of Michigan did overnight.

Autumn in the air. Leaves starting to turn.

Listening: Started early this morning with WCSX/Detroit and "Sunday Morning Over Easy" hosted by Pam Rossi. Nice and laid back - the soundtrack to a perfect Sunday AM.

Pam is featuring Gordon Lightfoot this morning. He's from Canada - but is so Michigan to me. And heard The Guess Who's "Sour Suite"; plus Joan Baez' "Diamonds & Rust". Wonderful.

Very cool: A glance at the the WCSX "Over Easy" webpage - the site offers a podcast for independent artists to feature their original music. Check out how they handle the legal end of things to protect the station from the rights organizations.

Congrats in order: Both WRIF/Detroit and KBCO/Boulder receive the NAB HD Radio Multicast Award - to be presented during the NAB Radio Show at the end of the month.

Last month I applauded WRIF's "Riff2" channel here. AAA KBCO's HD2 is "The Studio C Channel" - highlighting years of in-station performances by the artists KBCO has hosted over the years. Very tasty stuff.

Added: More on the Multicast award winners from Lee Arnold's Blog here.

The Buzzard. WMMS/Cleveland clips the wings of its 33-year old mascot - as well as frequent mention of its legendary call letters. To ID primarily by frequency. More from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer here. Thanks to Radio Daily News for the tip.

Respectfully disagreeing: What becomes of the soul and character of the radio station? Is the using the frequency alone cold and sterile? What becomes of the stationality and emotional connection - that allows the listener to describe the station "like a person"? Isn't this one of radio's strengths? Just wondering.

More wondering. I've been spending a lot of time listening to oldies radio in the car. Why does "Wooly Bully" still get the airplay it does?

This still tests?

Why hasn't this song been banished to the novelty category with "Gitarzan" and "Gimme Dat Ding"? Damn - I feel better for getting that out; had it stuck inside for days - LOL.

Getting serious:

Calls for Leadership. At least twice in the past week.

From those like myself who have spent their lives in radio - love the industry and can't think of doing anything else.

Back on Monday - Paragon Media's Mike Henry wrote:

"While the news keeps flowing quickly on both sides of radio’s future…positive and negative…the leaders of our industry are strangely quiet. No offense to the NAB or the RAB, but radio leadership needs to come from…radio."

Read Mike's piece - along with reader comments here.

And yesterday David Martin blogged:

"I dream of companies that actually deserve the passion and creativity of the folks who work there, and naturally elicit the very best that people have to give. Of course, these are more than dreams; they are imperatives. They are do or die challenges for any company that hopes to thrive in the tumultuous times ahead - and they can only be surmounted with inspired management."

Read Dave's complete commentary here.

Ponder that and have a great Sunday.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

59° - heavy rain at 11:35am

Welcome to the weekend.

"It may sound like a positioning statement, but Classic Rock is in fact music that has stood the test of time." -Fred Jacobs.

Fred notes this morning that some of the best selling digital downloads are classic rock songs. Read more here.

Realities that apply to both PPM and Diary markets: McVay Media consultant Dave Lange wraps up his five-part series today with "It's Time To Charge Up The Audience". Read here.

Dave wraps up his post with these thoughts:

"In the end it comes back to THE PRODUCT. Be compelling, exciting and entertaining - charge it up and it doesn't matter if it's meters or diaries you are a lot more likely to WIN. Get out from behind the computer and tweaking selector and focus on what really charges up the audience."

If you missed any of Dave's 5-part series - scroll back on his blog here.

Meanwhile: Paragon Media posts two more "rules" to its PPM Handbook here.

One of the rules includes "Don't Sweat The Rankers". As long as talent and PDs are compensated/bonused based on rank in demo, talent and PDs will "sweat the rankers".

Bonus from Dave Martin. His 9-step plan blogged over the past two days about shaping up your on-air talent now has a "bonus" 10th step. Dave labels it as the most important step in getting the most out of talent:

"When managers expect the best from performers they get the best. When managers expect the worst they get it."

"Expect great things and treat them like stars and you will get success beyond your dreams."

Dave's entire "Step 10" post is here. A must read. And...If you missed steps 1-9 - scroll back to Wednesday and Thursday here.

Sean Ross - today in FMQB - on cutting clutter without sacrificing content. Does radio really need to be more iPod-like?

Sean writes:

"..in case anybody thinks that streamlining a station will tear me away from the iPod, the function the iPod serves for me is as, again, an extra FM station -- playing the songs I like but can’t get from the radio. When I choose the radio instead, I am neither looking for uninterrupted music -- already available to me -- nor to hear 30 minutes of incorrect answers to “What is it that 63% of all women say they do every day?” I’m looking to hear some music that I wouldn’t necessarily program for myself in an entertaining package."

Read here. Have a great weekend.