Seth Sums It Up

Apologies to Seth Godin for the cut 'n paste...but his short summary sums it up:

The pillars of social media site success:

Why people choose to visit online social sites:
Who likes me?
Is everything okay?
How can I become more popular?
What's new?
I'm bored, let's make some noise

None of these are new, but in the digital world, they're still magnetic.
If you want to understand why Twitter is so hot, look at those five attributes. They deliver all five, instantly.

Seth Godin's blog - a daily must read - is here.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

44° - rain at 12:23pm

Good Morning/afternoon from Okemos. Listening this morning to my usual Sunday Morning routine: WDRV/Chicago and WKLH/Milwaukee via the 'net.

I note some fresh imaging (voiced by Nick Michaels) on The Drive; very nice! I also sense that the station is working on their streaming presentation, especially with ad-insertion.

This past week I spent a few hours in Detroit listening to WCSX. OM/PD Doug Podell has really put some life into that station in recent months; at least since my last listen. The tempo is up....the entire presentation, not just the music. The station sounds so alive.

Reading. Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0. Mark posted some great content this past week. Working backwards, Mark features an interview with author Richard Goldman, conducted by radio consultant Doug Erickson. Goldman is co-founder of Men's Warehouse. From that interview:

Radio right now seems unable to manage risk. It's trying to cut its way to profit by slashing "expense," by cutting research, marketing, promotion, management and staff. How did you handle risk, in the face of recession, in your successful retail career?

The easy fix is always to cut expenses. But at some point you run out of expenses to cut. At Men’s Wearhouse, we certainly tried to cut expenses, but more of the effort was spent in trying to increase sales.

You're a marketing expert. Any ideas on how you would market a radio station?

I would get out of the current mindset—if a listener could be transported to any city in the country and turn on any radio station (especially FM), they’d think that they were in their own home town.

Alice, schmalice—I’m sick of the format and disgusted with the way that radio has become so homogenous.

Read the entire piece here. (btw: CBS head honcho Les Moonves said this past week that "more staff cuts to reduce expenses are probably not a good idea. "There comes a point where you’re cutting into the bone." Nice to read. More here. -dan)

Another great Ramsey post featured Seth Godin speaking at the Country Radio Seminar. Read here.

Speaking of CRS: Consultant Alan Mason blogged about a topic he'd be speaking on this past week in Nashville. In a list he's made for a PD in today's environment he notes:

"Think in terms of the future , and new titles. Are you a PD or are you Brand Manager and Director of Listener Experience? Do you have a promotion director, or a director of listener engagement? You can see that one title operates in the past, while the other looks to the future. Of course you actually have to be and act like the new title - this is much more than a change of clothes."

Alan writes here.

Learn from Paul. A Great read from Dave Martin: "Six Lessons from Paul Harvey". Read here.

Chicago's Rick Kaempfer brings us up-to-date on Chicago radio people he's interviewed in the past. Read here. Check out Rick's piece on the late Paul Harvey too.

Have a great Sunday.

A Good Read From Seth

47° - clear at 9:33pm

While watching the election returns tonight with my trusty laptop by my side, I just read a great piece by Seth Godin: "Marketing lessons from the US election".

Most if not all of what Seth writes about in this piece can be applied to radio - from what you do on air, how you respond to a competitor and how you market your radio station.

Worthwhile reading here.

Monday Monday

54° - partly cloudy at 7:15am

Hello from Okemos.

The weekend spent on the forthcoming internet station. I'm confident that online beta testing will begin by the end of month, perhaps sooner. Still have some key library categories to fill. Stay tuned!

Bob & Tom. Radio on TV. In Friday's FMQB, the dynamic duo out of Indianapolis discuss their new deal with WGN America. Read here.

Fall book begins in ten days. Along with the next PPM cycle. Its never too late to prep. Jaye Albright offers some tips for program directors here.

Meanwhile, author/agent of change Seth Godin writes about "Fixing The One Big Thing". Very relevant to radio on the air and off. Read here.

Radio Stories. Rick Kaempfer chatted with WBBM-FM/Chicago's Eddie Volkman. Read here. I grew up watching Eddie's dad on Chicago television.

Live Tracks. Doing a "live cuts" weekend? These have been out for several years - but found them on Ebay and got them cheap for the internet project: SNL25/Saturday Night Live: The Musical Performances Volumes 1 & 2.

Some great stuff, though much of it out of the traditional classic rock format.

Volume 1 features Elvis Costello's 1977 performance of "Radio Radio", including the false start of what he was scheduled to sing that night.

The day job awaits. More later.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

69° - clear/sunny at 9:40am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Listening. My usual Sunday Morning routine with Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. Bob featuring music from the summer of 1968....and as I write has just played Eric Burdon & The Animal's 7-minute + epic "Sky Pilot" - followed by Clarence Carter's "Slip Away". Wonderful stuff.

Later logging into WKLH to catch Steve Palec's Rock 'N Roll Roots.

Rockin' The Workforce: Back on Thursday, Fred Jacobs wrote a great piece on marketing to those at the workplace - and radio's increasing importance.

Noting that American's are now spending 60% of their waking hours on the job - an all time high - radio is the ideal medium to reach those workers.

Read Fred's piece here. Share with your sales manager.

More PPM: This week's FMQB features Pollack Media Group's Pat Welch reviews what we know so far. Pat opens with:

"...programming tactics that are more PPM friendly should be done regardless of how soon your market is scheduled to make the conversion. Think of this as the world’s largest research project, and take advantage of the lessons learned from markets that have already made the conversion."

Pat's thoughts here. PPM market or not, learn from the research PPM is providing into listener habits.

"Monday is the new Thursday in PPM." #3 in a list presented last week at the Morning Show Bootcamp. See the list here. Jaye Albright points us to a simple promotion to hype Mondays from country KYGO/Denver. Here.

Launching A New Station. Consultant Harve Alan launched a radio station this week and shares the excitement in a piece here.

There's nothing like a start-up!

Seth Godin. Seth writes about the "experience": "A concert isn’t about the music, is it? And a restaurant isn’t about the food." Read here.

Think about "the experience" with your radio station; I do everytime I go to the ballpark.

In case you missed (I did). Last Sunday, Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight was on WLS/Chicago PM drive talent Bill Leff. Read here.

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

82° - clear at 12:30pm

Chicago. Returned from our brief 4th of July road trip last night. Lots of time on the road with typical Chicago road construction and related traffic delays.

While piled behind hundreds of cars attempting to get through a toll booth on the Indiana toll road, my wife remarked that "at least the music is good". We were listening to Chicago's WDRV. (surprise? I think not)

And while I listen to that station a lot on the internet here in Michigan, the station (and others) always seems to sound better when you're actually in their market.

More great radio. Fred Jacobs turns us on to Entercom's KSEG/Sacramento and some on-air special programming that keeps the format fresh. A great read (plus audio) here.

Aircheck Critiques. Dave Lange posted a piece back on Tuesday about aircheck critiques of air talent. Something that should be a top priority, yet is taking a back seat these days with PDs juggling multiple stations and increased workloads. Dave offers some great tips here.

Imaging. Jaye Albright (via Paul Orr) turns us on to another blog - and some thoughts on keeping imaging fresh even when you're suffering from "writer's block":

"Ask ANY writer: the only solution to a creative block is to just start writing. So, what did you create today to make your station's brand imaging more topical and fun? And, like Morneau (and Orr), what did you do to share it with other people?"

Jaye's piece is here. And be sure to check out the comment section. Start your own blog and get noticed. Avoid secrets you can't reveal but share your work once its on the air.

More Seth Godin. The other day I mentioned one of Seth's pieces and hinted at another one. Here's a bit of that second one:

"What happens when marketers stop arguing on behalf of their corporate or organizational client and start arguing on behalf of the customer instead?"

Seth's post here. I'm not suggesting for one moment that we forget this is a business - but Program Directors need to argue on half of the listener and become their advocate. If not the PD, who?

Have a great Sunday.

Reach Out and Make An Impact!

81° - overcast/severe thunderstorm watch at 2:38pm

Apologies for lack of posts this week; busy times.

While taking a quick fast food break at my desk this afternoon, surfin' around the blogosphere, I came across a great piece (one of two, actually - the second one I'll get to later) from Seth Godin:

When you least expect it

I sent in a t-shirt order to customink a few weeks ago.

Three days later, I got a note from someone named Lori that said,

"Hi Seth,

I noticed that you have designed shirts that appear to be for a charity event. If that’s the case, CustomInk would love to make a small donation to your team or to the charity itself on your behalf.

Please let me know if your order is for one of these events. If you would like us to pitch in and support your cause, please include information about your charity event, a link if you have one or the organization’s name if there is no link to a team web page."

That's it. No policy, no standard operating procedure, no promise in advance. Just plain generosity.

It turns out that customink does this as a matter of course, regardless of whether the customer has a blog or not. They don't do it as an inducement, they just do it.

Formula: The value of a perk is inversely related to the expectation of that perk.

How could this be applied at your radio station? I mentioned here months ago about having members of your airstaff calling a few different listeners in your database to thank them for listening.

Dave Martin took it further by suggesting the airstaff do the same with advertisers.

What if your station did this with community organizations too? "Hi, this is Bob Morning Jock at WXXX. I noticed that your organization is doing X. I'd love to know more so I can talk about it on the air."

Unexpected. And who do you think that organization might contact when they're planning something really big?

Just a thought.

Wednesday Blogs

68° - cloudy/overcast at 6:35pm

Had an interesting new experience on the day job with a presentation before Michigan's House of Representatives Energy and Technology Committee. The process of informing lawmakers about changes in the broadcast industry plus hearing from their constituents is fascinating.

Topic: the digital television transition.

Back to radio:

Mark Ramsey. Mark tips us to a story in the Washington Post...quoting:

"...Yet the more I listened to the likes of Pandora.com, Last.fm, Slacker.com and all manner of music blogs and Web radio, the more I heard the sound of automation -- sleek, efficient recommendation engines scientifically selecting the music I am most likely to like, yet missing out almost on what radio once offered: a glimpse into the hearts and passions of personalities who knew what music was new and cool, voices that offered a guided tour of unknown worlds, and sometimes even a frontal assault of the unexpected."

The complete Post article here.

Lee Arnold. Received an email today from Lee regarding his latest blog post - a great one for any PD. Lee writes "Our stars always understood what I wanted from them because I told them what it was that I wanted. They always delivered." Check out the example Lee gave his air talent as well as the "million dollar takeaway" here.

Your Wildest Streams. Fred Jacobs writes about streaming - and the excuses stations have for not streaming - and of those who do stream aren't quite ready for prime time.

Read this and then spend some time listening to your stream.

Grand Openings. Author/Change Agent Seth Godin writes:

"Most overnight successes take a decade (okay, four years online)."

"The grand opening is a symptom of the real problem... the limited attention span of marketers. Marketers get focused (briefly) on the grand opening and then move on to the next thing (quickly). Grand opening syndrome forces marketers to spend their time and money at exactly the wrong time, and worse, it leads to a lack of patience that damages the prospects of the product and service being launched."

"The best time to promote something is after it has raving fans, after you've discovered that it works, after it has a groundswell of support. And more important, the best way to promote something is consistently and persistently and for a long time."

IMHO, there's a here lesson for radio. Read Seth's entire piece.

The day job awaits. More later.

Sunday Afternoon Odds & Sods

49° - light rain at 5:43pm. Left: downtown Lansing webcam. current image

Good afternoon from Michigan.

Late start on the blog today. I'm not quite sure why. I did wake early - for what is referred to in our house as a "Panera Run".

Panera a regional chain of excellent bakeries; a nice treat as the rest of the house awoke, especially on Mother's Day.

Promotions: Destination Zeppelin. Have seen a few promos for the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, featuring the Led Zeppelin Roller Coaster. WAXQ/NYC here. KKFM/Colorado Springs here. Lee Arnold posted about Hard Rock Park here.

Second phase promos: WAOR/South Bend offering a "Flat Screen A Day In May". Here.

Gas: WTPA/Harrisburg is offering free gas here.

And from WBGG/Miami comes "Petty cash". Very cool name - and a very cool graphic. More here.

This is a very sleepy spring in terms of promotions, most likely due to the tight or non-existent budgets in the current economic climate. Fewer stations with "Workforce Cash". The "Harley Days of May" - once a classic rock staple, appears to be gone. Perhaps its time for change, but these promos appear to be replaced by nothing.

Around the blogs:

Seth Godin. Seth posts a great piece this morning (he says its ten years old) on "what every good marketer knows" that is very radio relevant.

Read here.

Wonderful stuff: Rick Kaempfer talks this week to the brilliant Ron Britian. Ron shares memories of WCFL/Chicago; and his own weekly "Subterranean Circus". It was my first real exposure to a lot of album rock...on a 50kw AM blowtorch!

Read Rick's interview here.

More tomorrow.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

60° - clear at 11:52am

Good Morning from Mid-Michigan. Bike ride with my 9-year old this morning brought us down the road to Okemos High School (aka "The Taj Mahal" by locals; its very nice).

Listening. To my usual Sunday Morning lineup. Stroud on Chicago's WDRV featuring the music of Badfinger this morning. One of all-time fav bands; both the Apple and Warner years.

Bob Stroud also seeking votes for the next volume of his Rock 'N Roll Roots CD (it will be number 10). See here.

Post bike ride: Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH. A good dose of Linda Ronstadt this morning as "The Root Salute". Ronstadt covering Tom Petty's "The Waiting" was wonderful! Thanks Steve.

The ROI. David Martin discusses the Radio 2020 initiative from the NAB, RAB and HD Radio Alliance...and calls for goals, scorecards and accountability.

This goes beyond simple "feel good" reaction (or otherwise) from inside the industry. Read here.

My take: Dave is right on. Unless there's measureable results, you'd never know if its time, effort and money well spent or otherwise wasted. And where to next. Promoting "radio" is best targeted at the ad community. For listeners, its all about brands and programming.

Think "users". Mark Ramsey points us to Inside Radio and the words of Bonneville New Media Director James Webb:

"radio needs to stop thinking of its cume as “listeners” and consider them to be “users.” He says “Listeners are engaged only when the radio is on. Radio users connect with you in other ways.”"

Mark adds additional comments here.

Records. Lee Arnold gives us the trailer of a forthcoming film on the death of the independent record store. Places where I spent much of my youth exploring. See here.

Amazingly, I was just told this past week that a "record store" just opened in nearby East Lansing.

Jaye Albright's open letter. To a Los Angeles broadcaster. Jay notes an air personality leaving this broadcaster's station to move to Huntsville, Alabama (apparently to make more money). Read here.

Jaye also points us to Detroit's WYCD...doing something radio does best. Here.

Would the RIAA do this? Author Seth Godin encourages readers to loan a copy of his book "The Dip" to others. "If I could double the number of people who read the book, it would be pretty cool."

Seth writes here.

Speaking of. Driving home Thursday afternoon I heard a song on MSU's student run and programmed radio station. And when I got home went online and bought the MP3 download. Isn't that the way its suppose to be? Radio remains the record industry's biggest promotional resource.

Howard Who? While the latest Arbitron satellite listening report shows him king of satellite radio, has the mainstream forgotten him?

Friday Night on Letterman - NPR's Ira Glass revealed that he was a major fan of Howard Stern. Said it twice. No studio audience reaction...no applause, nothing - although Ira (and Dave) appeared to be waiting for it. As if they didn't know the name anymore. Or cared. Just an observation.

Cindy Gatziolis. Don't know the name? Doesn't matter. Cindy share some great radio stories this week in Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight. Think Larry Lujack. Jonathan Brandmeier. Read here.

Have a great Sunday.

Axl, Main Street and Sound Advice

Good Morning from Okemos.

Axl: Be a Pepper. Dr. Pepper asks Axl Rose to release the damn album! Lee Arnold with a story from Ad Age here.

The Radio Biz: Main Street, not Wall Street. Dave Lange hits the nail right on the head:

"Instead of wringing our hands over all the issues that will be covered endlessly in the trades Radio can emerge if we do what we do best. So let's get to work planning and creating the best programming and sales efforts we can. Staying positive is where we need to start and there is no more positive place than the comfort of our Main Streets."

Read Dave here.

From Seth Godin: "In my favorite hotel's kitchen, there's a big sign on the way out to the dining room: "If you're not proud of it, don't serve it.""

More later.

Wednesday Blogs

30° - scattered clouds at 7:20am

It is what it is. XM/Sirius merger approved by DOJ. FCC can't be far behind. As Dave Martin points out here:

"Mel and pay radio will end up needing more than a good deal with the commission, they're going to need a radically different business model. Firing the majority of staff, outsourcing to the lowest bidders and restructuring deals won't even begin to get it done. The last published account of their combined ad billings was less than the annualized billings of one successful FM station. As written here previously, in the very best possible case, pay radio will be to audio what HBO is to video. A modest niche business, nothing more."

In his blog this morning, Fred Jacobs observes:

"...while satellite radio is an irritant, it has been losing momentum for a couple years now. We've seen evidence of this in our Tech Polls, conducted among 25,000+ rockers each year - just the kind of consumers that XM and Sirius have been targeting. In our newest poll, we're already seeing that when XM or Sirius ends up in the new car or truck you buy or lease, one's propensity to renew the service is much lower than average. And overall, we're only seeing about a 56% absolute commitment to retain XM or Sirius among current subscribers - not exactly the numbers they want to see, merger or no."

Lastly, Fred adds:

"There's a future out there for AM/FM radio, and while satellite radio just got a second wind, the true forces that will most clearly impact traditional broadcasters are far more ominous. But radio has the opportunity to play in the new media sandbox, if it focuses - once again - on creating great content, while providing multiple distribution outlets for that content."

And speaking of content - consultant Alan Mason writes here:

"...what does your radio station do so well that it will cause listeners to come back again, and bring some friends? Every station has to decide on it’s own what it does best, but I can tell you one thing. It’s not creating share holder value."

My take: long-term shareholder value is created when great products are created that attract consumers. The need for quick short-term results for the next quarter is whats killing us.

Added: Saw this from Seth Godin over my second cup of coffee:

"A career putting out fires never leads to the goal you had in mind all along. I guess the trick is to make the long term items even more urgent than today's emergencies."

Seth's entire piece here.