Greg Gillispie

31° - overcast at 7:41am

From Kevin Carter's R&R Street Talk Daily this morning:

Health Issues Force Gillispie's Retirement

Our thoughts are with longtime consultant and programmer Greg Gillispie, who has been dealing with an inoperable brain tumor for the past two years. To better be able to focus on his ongoing health issues, Gillispie has announced his retirement from the business he devoted his past 36 years to. In a statement about his condition, Gillispie is "hopeful that with prayer and medical attention, he will be able to work. He remains positive and is grateful to everyone who has been supportive to him, his wife, Cathie; and daughter, Sara."

Consultants Mike McVay, Kent Burkhart, Lee Abrams and Dwight Douglas have teamed up with label vets and Neil Lasher and George Cappellini to create a fundraiser to honor and assist Greg during this most trying time. To participate as a member of the formal planning committee, please contact mike@mcvaymedia.com, george@gcapprocks.com or neil.lasher@sonyatv.com.

My prayers are with Greg with hopes that he'll be able to return to work soon. He's one of radio's best and brightest. -dan

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

40° - fog at 10am Left: via Randy Raley's blog. Just too weird to pass up. More here.

Listening: My usual Sunday Morning fare. Bob Stroud/WDRV currently playing "Some Velvet Morning" (1968) from Nancy Sinatra and (the late) Lee Hazelwood. Video here

Velvet Morning one of my favs - a moment when pop met psychedelia. I see on Wikipedia that Vanilla Fudge covered it; I'll have to dig it up - I can only imagine.

Reading this morning: Jerry Del Colliano's INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA^TM - posting on Friday about Christmas Radio and the PPM success of WBEB/Philadelphia and KODA/Houston. Jerry writes:

"My own personal program director's people meter located right here in my gut tells me that audiences like it when radio stations create a feeling of something special."

My gut too - and this relates entirely to what I wrote last night regarding special programming - be it A to Z, a Top 500 Countdown - the clever stuff coming from John Hager in Buffalo - all that.

Jerry adds:

"Imagine what radio could really do if it tried harder. In fact, imagine what terrestrial radio could do if it tried harder the other 46 weeks a year. Betcha the ratings would soar among existing radio listeners."

"Trying harder" will never be a directive from the home office. It takes initiative at the PD level to make it all happen. Perhaps extra staff time. If it doesn't start with the PD - then where?

And GMs: you do trust your PD to do the right thing, yes? Empower them - or replace them with ones you can.

More: The Legendary Bill Drake - from the year end issue of R&R via Jaye Albright:

"Whoever puts the best on the radio wins. Obviously today you’ve got iPods, satellite and all kinds of goodies. There are some good programmers, but some lousy-sounding stations—and some of them have incredible signals. There doesn’t seem to be that fever anymore."

"I know when we were doing it we were like a brotherhood. We went in to win and did whatever it took. We were totally, absolutely dedicated. It doesn’t come across on many radio stations now. A lot of people just don’t know what they’re doing. Of course, that’s always been true, thank you, Jesus."

Great Audio. KRFX/Denver PM driver Shark recently spoke with the legendary Barry Fey about the concert business - music - and Led Zeppelin.

Recorded on the 40th anniversary of Led Zep's first show in America - in Denver. An act added as a favor to an already "sold out" show. Listen here. Great stories you'll love hearing.

Lee Arnold's moment of epiphany. A great read here.

Have a great Sunday. Tomorrow the start of another great week.

Monday Monday

67° - overcast at 6:40pm

Late post; busy day.

Welcome to Monday.

Programming lessons learned from PPM. I've been writing on this blog about lessons and listener trends we're learning from the two Arbitron PPM markets so far. And I've been an advocate of using these lessons and using them in diary-based markets.

McVay Media's Dave Lange beings an excellent series today on "5 Realities from PPM that apply to EVERYONE". One reality each day.

Today: You Reach A lot More Than You Thought

"One thought for everyone - PPM market or stuck with Diaries forever: You're on air marketing, imaging, and promotions reaches a lot more of the market than you thought. How many times have we all felt that we didn't have enough outside marketing to grow the station? No billboards, TV or direct marketing for long stretches.

Do you really need to use other media to grow your audience?"

Dave notes in Houston (PPM), The Buzz (alternative) and Arrow (classic rock) combined reach 20% of the market (before breaking out any target demos). A great read here.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow.


Led Zeppelin reunited. Might be with this splash page on the Led Zep website. Lee Arnold posts some news via Billboard here. Fall promotion?

Added: Protecting the franchise. AC WBEB/Philadelphia grabs the rights to "Fresh".

WBEB Consultant (and soon-to-be-former PD) Chris Conley tells R&R: "It's not like we're changing the name to 'Fresh' tomorrow, but we can incorporate the brand into our marketing and imaging, as we see fit. We now own the trademark for the market here. It's a strategic decision that made sense for us."

Dinner time. More tomorrow.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

71° - sunny at 10am

Welcome to July!

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud's Rock & Roll Roots on WDRV/Chicago. Celebrating the Summer of Love with a rewind to this week in 1967. Just head "Omaha" by Moby Grape. Very nice.

Also some quality time yesterday with Buffalo's WGRF. This station just sounds excellent. The station in the midst of a live tracks weekend.

Caught a bit of The Deep End with Nick Michaels - and the station's own "Psychedelic Saturday", hosted by WGRF midday personality J.P.

The Conclave. Today's the final day in Minneapolis.

R&R - reporting on Friday's Arbitron PPM session, notes that PPM data from Houston demonstrated how events drive listening spikes. A specific example cited was a George Strait ticket giveaway on CBS Radio's KILT. Listening levels "soared" each time the contest was conducted during the day.

KDWB/Minneapolis PD Rob Morris offered advice for up and coming PDs including becoming "listener advocates." Amen.

More Conclave coverage at Radio and Records.

Cara's Basement. Got an email late Friday from Chicago's Cara Carriveau telling me that her latest podcast is up - this time talking music (and Foreigner) with Mick Jones. Listen here.

Listening to Cara and Mick Jones triggers some great memories - including seeing Foreigner at Chicago's Uptown Theater back in 1977 - not long after that first album was all over radio. What a great time for AOR FM.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

Lansing webcam; current image
68° - sunny at 11am

Welcome to the weekend.

The Conclave. Sitting home in Michigan, I'm trying to soak up as much as I can from Minneapolis through the trades.

Via R&R - highlights of yesterday's Promotions Summit:

Promotions With No Budget: Maximize exposure at concerts; Expose the station logo during drive times; and partner with local charities.

E-Mail Marketing That Works: "Coupons and discount offers are considered spam" and "utilizing client/product integration, surrounding ads with station information, or adding a client to a strong regular feature."

More Conclave coverage at Radio & Records Online.

The Conclave has a PDF of the promotion session handout on their website. Good tools. Scroll down to find it here.

iPhone out today. Lots of talk and media coverage. Spots all over the cable networks this week to add to the street buzz.

A dream launch. Very impressive.

Ralph Cipolla of Jacobs Media offers his two cents this morning on whether the phone will be "an iPhenom...or iEdsel"? Here.

Meanwhile - Seth Godin has a piece on "The Verizon guy who turned down the iPhone". Read here.

And speaking of Seth: Jerry Del Colliano offers a follow-up to Mark Ramsey's interview with Seth Godin on the future of radio.

Jerry writes: "If you're searching for The Dip, look beyond your towers and transmitters. That's what I'm doing. This is a business I want to be in. Do you?" Jerry's entire post here.

Oldies Radio. Sean Ross writes here about "Oldies' New Lease on Life, Or Maybe An Extended Warranty". PPM changes attitudes. Read it here. Thanks to Dave Martin for the tip.

Have a great weekend. More Sunday.