Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

78° - clear at 1:27pm

How I've been spending my free time: Certainly (I'm sorry to say) not with this blog. The current obsession is getting the internet station "on the air"; while managing one and a half paid jobs plus life.

Listening: My usual Sunday. Bob Stroud on WDRV/Chicago followed by Steve Palec on WKLH/Milwaukee. Stroud featuring CSN on his roots show this morning; Palec with the theme "sex and music" when I tuned in; plus Ringo Starr.

WDRV celebrates its 7th birthday this Tuesday Night with a free listener concert featuring Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Rosemont Theater near O'Hare Airport. Very cool - and congrats to Greg Solk and everyone at Bonneville/WDRV for seven years of great radio.

Speaking of Bonneville. Consultant Jaye Albright points to the website of the company's new "The Sound FM" (KSWD) and its easy to navigate simplicity. Clean and uncluttered like the station's airsound - and going against conventional radio station website thinking. Jaye's comments here.

5 Essential Tools For Good Imaging. A good piece for PDs and production/imaging guys by Rich Van Slyke in this week's FMQB online. Read here.

Buying TV. Univision Radio Executive VP David Eduardo Gleason writes on his site about the December, 1978 launch of KZNT/San Juan, noting how the launch was promoted:

"A day before the weekend of the launch, the final
few days of 1978, I called the GSM's of the San Juan TV stations
and offered to pay 20% of card for all the unsold inventory that weekend. We ended up with nearly 2000 GRPs for a small investment... and the GSM's got some extra dollars at year-end!"

Its not rock radio - but simply a great radio story. Read here. And do hit "home" and read David's other career highlights and stories.

Weird cover song that works. This tipped by Randy Raley on his blog - with one of my all-time favorite artists doing one of my all-time favorite songs:


More performances of the track by Neil on You Tube. And congrats out to Randy Raley - who has moved from St. Louis to become market manager of a 3-station cluster in the Bloomington/Normal, Illinois market.

Video bonus link. Had an email from Chicago production ace Tom O'Toole yesterday with this.

Heading out of town for a few days with the day job. I'll post if I can.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

35° - overcast at 10:45am

Good morning and Happy Easter from Michigan.

Apologies for the lack of posts this past week. I'll spare you the details; but recent days spent recovering from a virus I've been suffering with for several weeks.

Spring officially here - but winter returned with 3-4 inches of white stuff on the ground Friday Night/Saturday Morning. Michigan State: Great win last night over Pittsburgh with MSU moving on next Friday. Go Spartans!

Listening: My usual Sunday Morning fare. Also the past week spent lots of time with Lee Arnold's WORJ-dot-com.

Around the blogosphere:

FMQB. Some great pieces posted on their site this weekend. One on radio and the web in an interview with the brilliant Mel Taylor. Here.

Another on sweeper production written by Rich Van Slyke. Some great ideas on coaching your outside voice talent on the type of delivery you're looking for. Read here.

Radio BS. No, I'm not going negative. But Mark Ramsey points out some of the dumb things radio stations say on the air. Mark points to a line he heard: "At last, a radio station that fits your lifestyle." Whatever that means. Read here.

Reminds me of an ad I saw a year or so ago; station looking for a program director. The ad said "must live the classic rock lifestyle". I wasn't sure what that meant, so I emailed the person placing the ad who replied "if I have to tell you, you're not the person we're looking for".

Observation: This past week I had a chance to listen to a station from a nearby market - a market larger than Lansing.

The station's afternoon drive jock was apparently MIA; so instead of a substitute, the only thing heard was segues from the automation. Song to song, song to stopset and the like. This station an Arbitron leader in its market. Disappointing.

Catching up on things today.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

Left: Down my street. 11am Sunday.

Green. Wore an old green sweatshirt yesterday for St. Patrick's Day; and also for Michigan State's appearance in the NCAA. (They lost last night to North Carolina 81-67).

Back to our show - already in progress:

Nuts & Bolts: $20,000 a month to promote your morning show. Its yours right now. Read why and how to use it best with this from Rich Van Slyke.

Superfans. Get them to listen longer and write it down! Jaye Albright writes about what two country stations are doing here. Could this be adapted for classic rock?

WLUP 30th Anniversary Part 3: Exchanged email Friday with Tom O'Toole - one of the original Loop air talents. Here's Tom writing about the early days: "We did have a fun time in those early Loop days--just a bunch of crazy ass punk kids having fun on the radio!" More WLUP here.

Roadmap. Check out this story of an alternative station in Salt Lake City. Many of the strategies related to its success can be applied to any classic rock station.

Be sure to note "A Surprise In Every Daypart"; "Location, Location, Location" (especially when it talks about imaging); and "Good Casting". Thanks to Dave Beasing of Jacobs for sharing.

Related. I've been fortunate throughout my radio career to have a lot of great influences and mentors. Here's one: Jack Evans.

When he was in Denver with Jacor in the early 90s, Jack taught me that the real power of a radio station was between the records. You heard it on his KRFX (The Fox) - and emphasized its importance as my consultant.

Added 10/07: An update on Jack Evans here.

Since then - when I drive into a market, I punch around the dial to see who "gets it" or not. I hear a lot of radio stations with perfect music rotations and good air talent - but miss it when it comes to integrating the local market into its content and imaging. Do I hear the vibe? Who would I rather compete with? Do I hear opportunities?

Did I mention that I'm not a big fan of most national "show prep" services? As a PD, I've come close to doing away with them more than a few times. In fairness, they're good in small doses - but give me local market content first.

Have a great Sunday!