Wednesday News and Blogs

76° - very cloudy at 2pm

Good afternoon from Michigan.

Imus. Lots of speculation about where he'll turn up next now that him and CBS have settled.

Is Citadel Broadcasting in his future?

Added - from All Access: "Employment is a large driver of ratings in a PPM world. In examining MEMORIAL DAY ratings, employed respondents showed much lower listeneing levels versus non-employed respondents. Much can be attributed to their non-commute on a holiday and no in-office listening." PPM market or not, Classic rock is ready-made for long weekend specials to keep your at-work audience listening. Here.

Royalties. The NAB drove a point to members about the discussion of performance royalties for terrestrial radio by sending a mock invoice to its members. Read the NAB release here.

Steven Van Zandt said it best a few weeks back: "I am a songwriter and a performer and I own record companies and publishing companies and I do not believe radio should pay anything to anyone. And I mean every kind of radio."

Meanwhile: RAIN reports that the new internet streaming royalties are in effect - even though Sound Exchange may not be enforcing them pending ongoing negotiations. More here. Danger Will Robinson: liability for the new rates has begun and is very real.

Little Steven on WCBS-FM: "...don't tell us WCBS is back, implying that it's back the way we remember it—we being the demographic that you decided meant nothing when you blew it up and now you're praying is still there."

(from Steven's upcoming column in Billboard later this week).

More Management. Consultant Gary Begin writes this week on All Access about "Managing Beyond The Basics". Some great thoughts. See "Consultant Tips".

This piece also found on Gary's website here.

Fred Jacobs wrote yesterday about an experience I've had more than a few times in my career...while dining with management and staff.

Share this with your GM or sales manager.

Have a great day.

Monday Monday

75° - mostly sunny at 10am

More CGM: I've written here before about the importance of listener involvement - it gives them ownership and loyalty in the product. Another great example comes from Buffalo and WGRF PD John Hager.

The station is asking listeners to contribute stories and vote on the 30 top concerts at a legendary but now defunct local venue.

On Labor Day Weekend - the station will recall those stories and play live concert highlights from those shows. See here.

If you're in a market with a rich concert history this is an excellent idea! Very local.

Speaking of: What are you doing Labor Day Weekend? Its an opportunity to do something special over three days and build (or simply maintain) your AQH #s since most of the format's important "at-work" audience isn't at work. These occasional shifts in listener routines demand extra effort on the part of the radio station.

And: How about football season? Even if you don't have the play-by-play you can still take ownership. Think jock content and imaging.

Streaming. Most if not all webcasters are still online - following last week's reprieve by Sound Exchange on the new royalty rates.

This morning Jerry Del Colliano writes about the reprieve and declares "I'm from New Jersey. I'm not buying it." More here.

You may have noticed: Over the weekend - I tested a new "station of the week" feature here on the blog. After having it up for 36 hours, a better approach came to mind. To come.

Have a great Monday.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

76° - sunny at 1pm

Happy Friday...perhaps your weekend began on Wednesday..

How's your stream? Lee Arnold draws awareness to a reality about streaming audio: over half of your audience might be listening to your stream on a dial-up connection. Read more here.

It might be prudent to unplug the broadband and listen to your stream with a 56k dial-up connection and see how it performs.

Meanwhile - July 15th is now less than ten days away - the date the new copyright royalty rates are scheduled to kick in and impact streaming radio.

Jerry Del Colliano writes here this morning on continuing the fight in Washington and declaring war on The Sound Exchange.

Records and Radio. This morning Mark Ramsey writes about the "ridiculous study" that says radio doesn't sell music. Read here.

If this "study" is reality, why haven't the record companies fired their radio promotion staffs and discontinued ads in FMQB and R&R?

Added: The NAB calls the study "bogus" - read here - and quotes pro-radio comments by record company executives.

Found Resources:

AC/CHR Programmer/Consultant (and station owner) Dave Shakes has a great website - with resources relevant for any programmer, no matter the format. Peruse Dave's excellent "tool kit" here.

Historic Audio. The Smoking Gun website now has a archive of historic and celebrity audio (accompanied by video). Browse through it here. You Tube is also an excellent resource for sound.

Added: Jay Trachman - in FMQB - on stationality: "...it enables the listener to remember you. Especially when rating time rolls around." Read here. Great piece on "the feel" of your radio station. Its much more than sweepers.

Thank you Lee Arnold. I do appreciate the kind words - here - on his blog today. They mean a lot.

More here Sunday Morning.

More Sound Exchange

Wow. As you likely know, Sound Exchange is the organization charged with collecting performance royalties from internet streaming and passing them onto recording artists.

And, according to this post on Gizmodo - they have the legal right to collect royalties for every performance - even for non-members!

Get this: Gizmodo adds that if a non-member wants to collect that money - they have to join Sound Exchange - and pay an administrative fee to do so.

Gizmodo: "And if you (recording artist) don't join, you won't see a dime—it simply goes straight into their pocket."

huh?