Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

55° - clear at 1:15pm Left: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum - cell phone photo taken this past Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Good Morning/Afternoon. I do start writing this in the morning, but by the time I finish, a new daypart begins.

Catching up from a long week in Grand Rapids at the Great Lakes Broadcast Conference. Highlight of the show was watching and chatting with fellow blogger/new media evangelist Dave Martin.

During Dave's session on social media - it became obvious to me that more than a few in the room didn't quite get it, though they were trying to understand. Its hard to get over the fact that radio and television has always been a one-way "us to them" proposition; even with websites and email clubs. And there's fear of losing control.

Perhaps there needs to be a "deprogramming" retreat for the old media types who still don't see it - showing them the new ways and how other old media is using the new tools available (in most cases "free" and "almost free"). A great example here....all done by an air talent in less time than it takes to answer the request line.

That said - there's many OMs, PDs, MDs, and air talent who do "get it". Sadly however, many are working for management and ownership who don't and won't get behind it. Without support from the top down, these efforts are not as effective as they could be, benefiting sales and programming together.

And....thanks for the career tip Dave!

Listening this morning: a bit of Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV; followed by Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH. Mr. Palec in the middle of an excellent segment on the late Warren Zevon; with many more good things to follow.

Dave Lange. Dave posted a great read this past week on the demise of New York's WXRK. Dave shares his thoughts on why WXRK didn't work....and why some great stations are what they are. See here.

And for those of you running syndicated programming (Bob & Tom, Alice Cooper, etc.), Dave has a great piece on "Making a Syndicated Show Local" - here.

Programming Basics: Edison Media's Sean Ross writes about "Keeping your station moving". Here.

Another another read for PDs: "Are Your Personalities Heathers Or Karens?" In this week's FMQB - here.

Radio stories: Rick Kaempfer interviews WGN Radio's Mary Van De Viede on his Chicago Radio Spotlight. Here.

Spring is here...sort of...hope it is where you are. Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

33° - light snow at 12:02pm

Snow! Woke up this morning to snow just starting to come down here in Mid-Michigan. Enough had fallen in just a few hours to motivate #2 son to go out in the backyard and take advantage of the changing season.

He's outside and away from the computer and the TV...cool!

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. This morning Bob featuring the music career of Joe Walsh. Later: WKLH/Milwaukee and Steve Palec - who's featuring Aerosmith this morning. Nobody does puts together sound bites (especially on the local level every week) like Steve Palec.

FMQB: The magazine has a great piece online this week: a cover story interview with KSWD/Los Angeles (100.3/The Sound) PD Dave Beasing. Read here. One highlight of the interview is Dave's enthusiasm for his employer - Bonneville:

"This company sees an economic slowdown the way Warren Buffett does, as a good time to invest. Our marketing director, Sammy Simpson, is brilliant, and he’s going to be just as aggressive throughout 2009 as he was during our first few months."

And on The Sound and the AAA format:

"In many ways, AAA is today’s Album Rock radio. It’s simple, really. We’re playing good music from all eras and artists. There are several good Rock stations here already but they only play a tight list of hits, and that’s a smart strategy for them. But there’s room for one station that dares to be different."

Radio stories. This week Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight shines on Jeff Schwartz. Jeff not an on-air talent, but someone who's been behind the scenes at some of the Windy City's top radio stations.

Among some great stories - Jeff shares how the infamous 1979 "Disco Demolition" came together. A great read here.

And if you want video - here's a 25th anniversary Keith Olbermann broadcast remembering the event:


More video on YouTube here.

And...back on Tuesday, I heard an interview with Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange this past week on NPR's Fresh Air program. Artie holds nothing back with Fresh Air host Terry Gross. Listen here.

Added: Caught this on The Consumerist website: "Sirius XM Merger Reveals True Face: Fewer Channels And 'Sanitized' Programming". Read here.

Have a great Sunday.

Wednesday Blogs

67° - mostly sunny at 8:23am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Always Roll Tape...err...TiVo: Last night I was watching a CNBC special on the Detroit Auto Show; the program highlighted a GM private party where Kid Rock performed.

CNBC interviewed Kid Rock and the result was a great soundbite for Detroit and the auto industry; timely audio that a great imaging guy (in Detroit) could use....just thinking here. Keep that TiVo going when you're watching the tube, you'll never know when you'll hear a good catch.

Steve Palec/WKLH: I've been a loyal fan of Steve's Sunday Morning "Rock 'N Roll Roots" show for a few years now. Milwaukee's Business Journal recently published an article about Steve and what he does when he's not spinning Led Zeppelin. Read here.

HD: Monday in "Net News", All Access published an HD Radio Update. Ibiquity's Bob Struble announced more automaker deals and the availability of sub-$100 consumer radios. On the programming side, ESPN is now offering HD-specific programming for stations.

Still - consumer awareness (not lack of interest) appears to be the biggest problem for the technology. Fred Jacobs ponders this lack of awareness for HD (as compared to the interest in the mandated Digital Television Transition) and asks "What would happen if all analog radio was to disappear on 1/1/2010? Would it be the end of radio as we know it? Or would it be the beginning?"

Read Fred's piece here.

Boston Blues: I note that the HD-2 channel of WZLX/Boston is airing blues 24/7 as "Radio Mojo". Very cool.

Somebody ought to try that in the Windy City!

Tom Becka. Congrats to my friend of 25+ years on the national release of his book "There's No Business Without The Show". Tom - who is hosts afternoons on talk KFAB/Omaha - has been a jock, radio salesperson, radio sales manager, stand-up comedian and talk show host.

All the best to my friend on the success of his book. Tom and I began our friendship at a little radio station off a rut-filled dirt road in Santa Fe. Memo to Tom: I'm waiting for my autographed copy!

Have a great Wednesday.

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.

Monday, Monday

50° - clear at 9:48pm

Good evening from Mid-Michigan.

Listening: Tonight to WKLH/Milwaukee's Steve Palec - and his (almost) new 7-9pm weeknight show "Legends of Rock". As the stream popped on, Steve was playing "Lady Writer" from Dire Straits (a "DK" all-time fav).

Dire Straits was followed by a "Legends" sweeper into Steve with a story behind the song "Marrakesh Express" by CSN, including a Graham Nash sound bite...segued into the song itself.

Great storytelling makes great radio. And classic rock has so many stories behind the songs and artists.

CSN followed by Steely Dan "Hey Nineteen" segued into "Come Running" from Van Morrison. Sweet! Check Steve out 8-10pm eastern time at www.wklh.com.

And thanks Steve too for the Timmy Thomas "Why Can't We Live Together" (plus the same tune performed by Steve Winwood...wow!)

Give Your Station Voice A Break. Well, sort of. Fred Jacobs wrote here this morning on using your on-air talent to its fullest:

"..it is ironic that clients often pay premium dollars for live reads by big-name jocks, but stations would rather use their anonymous Mr. Big Voice on most (if not all) key promos and positioners. If your airstaff can effectively sell dog food, cars, and new windows for advertisers, why wouldn't you regularly use the power and influence of their voices to highlight what's really important - your station and your brand?"

I couldn't agree more. Just using your star talent to voice promos (perhaps in combo with your "station voice" or solo) adds some variety and might just perk some ears up. And consider doing the same with your sweepers and imaging pieces. Just a couple times an hour a different voice will command some attention.

If you run syndication, consider those voices too! Think Bob & Tom (and Chick & Kristie - along with all the character voices), Alice Cooper, Little Steven, Nick Michaels, Paul Shaffer - whoever you run.

And listener-voiced sweepers are cool too - even if just call letters and slogan recorded off the phone. Getting off-topic, just brain-storming.

Back to Fred's post. Also writing:

"Most radio stations don't use their big names as effectively. Yes, many well-paid jocks have gotten the economic message in the past few years. They need to make a greater contribution than their 4-5 hours shows. As a result, many have stepped up, are spending more time at the station, while showing up for more outside events (with no talent fee)."

"But stations could utilize their big brands in a more compelling way. A number of years ago, we talked about the jocks making live, unsolicited calls to members of the email database. Imagine getting one of those out-of-the-blue calls from your favorite DJ, thanking you for listening, taking a request, and just spending a couple of minutes to schmooze with a station fan. It's a lasting impression, very buzz-worthy, and something that can cement a listener's loyalty for years."

Thanks to Fred for sharing a great post with the rest of us; a ping to his blog should be a part of everyone's breakfast.

Have a good night.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

36° - overcast at 11:15am. Snow earlier.

Good Morning from Michigan. Busy week between the day job and house guests. Its all good.

I'm late to the party here on the blog - but earlier this week I was following WLAV/Grand Rapids' Kevin Matthews who made the committment to stay on the air until the Detroit Tigers won a game.

After losing their first six, Matthews vowed to stay on the air until the team won a game. The Tigers finally won a game 36 hours later - and Kevin generated some great buzz and local press. Fred Jacobs describes this more in-depth here.

Classic Rock WLAV is in its second year of carrying the Tiger network along with a sister AM station. Night and weekend games are airing on the Classic Rock station with the remainder on the AM.

Listening this morning: To Bob Stroud on WDRV/Chicago. Tangled Up In Blue from Dylan playing right now. This morning's theme on Rock 'N Roll Roots is "colors".

As usual, its then on to Steve Palec on WKLH/Milwaukee as he features ELO this week on his Rock 'N Roll Roots. I'm reminded again of what an awesome job Steve does with sound bites and production elements.

Edison Media/Arbitron Study The Infinite Dial 2008: Radio's Digital Platforms. Survey says Online listening at an all-time high. Work hours (10a-3p) are the prime hours for online radio. Radio use still beats iPODs/MP3 players/satellite 3-to-1 or more.

Observation: quoting Fred Jacobs from this past December (again): "So how can a medium with this kind of reach be struggling so mightily? Just asking."

Edison/Arbitron study notes HD Radio still has awareness problems. See complete study here.

Back to streaming: Mark Ramsey concludes that "radio is better when its on the radio. Not online". I disagree. Its apparent that at-work online listening is important to the audience. A matter of convenience. Same product but another delivery method.

I do agree with Mark to the extent that radio station should offer more online audio options (in "chunks"), but in addition to their over-the-air streams. Mark's complete piece here.

Great interview: Triple A Radio's Mike Lyons interviews Emmis VP Programming Jimmy Steal on the launch of WXRP/New York. Read here.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

55° - clear at 10:55am

Good Morning from Michigan.

Baseball: Our local minor-league baseball team - The Lansing Lugnuts - have their home opener tomorrow night - hope to attend, depending on weather. My in-laws arrived here from Denver yesterday for a week-long stay, so baseball would be a great part of their visit.

Listening. My usual Sunday Morning fare. WDRV/Chicago's Bob Stroud featuring music from this day in 1967, followed by 1972. Lots of AM radio favs. Later: Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH.

Reading: John Gorman's Buzzard Blog. John posts here about WMMS World Premiere Exclusives and the cease and desist orders from the record labels that usually followed:

"We promoted them as “WMMS Weekend World Premiere Exclusives.” It wasn’t an original idea. Top 40 radio in the sixties scrambled to be the first with a new single by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, or the Rolling Stones. The station landing the exclusive would play and promote it with great fanfare. To keep our competition from taping it off our air – we’d had a spoken-word “WMMS World Premiere Exclusive,” which we’d run a couple of times within the “hooks” of the song."

Some more great WMMS (and radio) history here.

Rock The Vote. Dave Lange shares some great ideas for stations to get the most out of the upcoming election, especially with their websites. Read Mr. Lange here.

And Fred Jacobs shares results from a mock poll conducted as part of his firm's Tech Poll IV - and offers suggestions and examples of what stations are doing with their websites and email databases. Read Mr. Jacobs Here.

Websites: Making a statement. Earlier this week Fred Jacobs offered some great examples of making a statement with your website, citing Google as an example and what they did a week ago Saturday for Earth Hour. Read here.

April Fools and 97 Rock. Earlier this week this blog posted a web banner from Buffalo's WGRF announcing a "Gay to Z" weekend; and that was only part of the April Fool festivities on the station this past Tuesday. PD John Hager has a review of what the station did posted on the station's website here.

Spring Book. Randy Raley writes on his blog about the ritual many PDs go through every year as part of his series on "Things Radio People Like":

"All you have to do is take something you would do on a daily basis that might be for recreation and replace that action with the word “tight” or “tighten” and you can create your own Radio Person Spring Book Catch Phrase, which I think the Nintendo Wii version is coming out in 2009."

Read more here.

Memories. This week Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight shines on Chicago legend Bob Hale. Here.

Very good read: Bob Hale was the MC at a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa on February 2, 1959. Need I say more?

More memories: Had a nice note/comment this past week from Fred Johnson of Ames, Iowa - who added his memories of WVFV/Dundee to a post I wrote on air talent Greg Brown last June.

Fred worked at WVFV when it signed on (1967, as I recall) and shares a few stories from that time. Scroll down to comments here.

Have a great Sunday.

Back On The Job

33° - clear at 10:10pm

It's been a long week. Not yet caught up on rest. And the blog!

A couple of highlights from the Great Lakes Broadcast Conference and Expo held in Grand Rapids on Monday and Tuesday: One was a session on station websites "60 in 60: 60 Web Ideas In 60 Minutes", hosted by Fred Jacobs and Tim Davis of Jacobs Media along with Chris Brunt of Greater Media's Detroit cluster.

My only regret was not being able to see the entire presentation with my conference responsibilities. But there were plenty in the almost-packed room feverishly taking notes. Thanks to Fred, Tim and Chris for making the trip from the Motor City - and congrats on a great hour of website ideas.

The other highlight was the Tuesday Night Broadcast Excellence Awards. It served as a reminder of the many great stations still doing all things local and doing them well. In both large, medium and small markets in the State of Michigan.

Lee Abrams teamed up with Randy Michaels. During the Michigan conference I had a rare chance to check my email and there it was in a R&R news bulletin.

All I could think is "wow". Lee - on his blog (here) writes about Randy:

"He’s possibly the smartest guy I’ve ever met He MIGHT be crazier than me…at least I won’t have to fear being too out there. We ARE going to re-write the future of media. He’s the kinda guy you want to do it with."

First Randy and now Lee. Tribune is one to watch in the coming year.

Congrats: To WKLH's Steve Palec. The longtime host of the station's Sunday Morning "Rock 'N Roll Roots" program adds weeknights 7-9pm to his schedule with the "Legends of Rock". A very cool move.

And speaking of WKLH. I can't help but love this graphic around Bruce Springsteen's appearance Monday Night in Milwaukee. Monday is St. Patrick's Day!

More congrats: To the legendary Tom Kent - who's just launched The Tom Kent Radio Network. Listen for his programming to come to an oldies/classic hits station near you.

Somewhere in my collection I have a quick aircheck of Tom on WHBQ/Memphis in the early 70s. Very few could match the combination of talent and extreme high energy that Tom displayed night after night back then.

And oldies. Edison Media's Sean Ross takes a look at "The New Oldies". A good read here.

I'm still catching up on my reading.

Free Seminar, A Thank You & A Book....

32° - light snow mist at 8:39am

Good Morning from downtown Lansing.

Busy week at the day job (The Michigan Assocation of Broadcasters) as the organization's annual conference takes place next week in Grand Rapids. A wonderful staff of 14 who pull it all together every year; and I'm honored to be a co-worker.

Tonight: Talent coach Jay Mitchell presents a free no-strings teleseminar with the legendary Jay Trachman. The two Jays will be talking about "the changes that have taken place in the radio industry ... what it takes to succeed in radio today ... and why it's still all about the "1-2-1."

The live seminar begins at 8:30pm eastern. Register online today here. And feel free to pass on.

Great story. I love to hear things like this. Had an email a few days back from WKLH/Milwaukee Rock 'N Roll Roots host Steve Palec.

This past Sunday he was featuring Fleetwood Mac and writes:

"The whole show was pretty much ready to go and I saw your comment about seeing Bob Welch's website and having him return your email. So I did the same and we had a great long recorded conversation with amazing insights I was able to add to the show this morning."

Very cool Steve!

The book. Been chatting via phone the past few days with another Jay: Jay (J) Blackburn. His long-awaited book "The Radio Gypsies". Its due for release March 17th...a week from Monday.

As I've written here before its a novel based-on-real life events from his years of programming and management. Jay's story is fascinating as a radio turn-around pro.

Order via Amazon here.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

37° - mostly cloudy at 10:45am

Good morning from Michigan.

Listening this morning: To Rock 'N Roll Roots on Chicago's WDRV. A time warp this morning to this week in 1968; 40 years ago.

I remember buying much of the music Bob is playing this morning at my hometown "Deerfield (Illinois) Record Shop"; most of it on 7-inch vinyl. Thanks for the memories.

Later: more Rock 'N Roll Roots...the Steve Palec version on Milwaukee's WKLH.

These guys get it: Syndicated country radio morning personalities Big D & Bubba are encouraging listeners to post show audio and content on sites like You Tube and MySpace. Jay Albright with more here.

Big D & Bubba are 180° from the TV networks and others who feel the need to stay in control of their content with C&Ds and take-down notices.

Just on Friday consultant Paul Jacobs (on JacoBLOG) quoted a Michigan State University Professor: "Buzz is created when people are talking about an event, or a message gets spread all over YouTube."

Don't follow the lead of the TV folks and discourage "the buzz". Encourage and give permission to listeners to post your content.

"What it all comes down to is that thing....the undefinable thing when somebody catches something from your music. What I'm talking about is....wait, what am I talking about?"

"The buzz"

"The buzz...and the chicks...the whatever...is an offshoot of the buzz. Like you saying you like Fever Dog...that is the f*cking buzz"."

-Dialogue between "Fever Dog" musician Jeff Bebe
and journalist William Miller in the 2000 film
"Almost Famous" (one of my all-time faves!)

This ties in: another quote on radio's future from blogger Doc Searls:

"Brands and reputations will matter more than ever. Familiar call letters, program names, personalities and institutions will have countless new ways to leverage their incumbent advantages, and to relate to their listeners and viewers, without both real and conceptual constraints imposed by transmitters and entailments such as "range".

What will matter most about those names and reputations, however, will not be limited to their familiarity. Instead they will be enriched or impoverished by the degrees to which they participate in a marketplace sustained by real relationships, and not just by marketing that goes by that name."

Complete post here. Doc Searls a reader and contributor to Bruce Elving's FMedia! newsletter years ago (as was I). Props to Mark Ramsey for the tip.

Cara Carriveau. Cara is back with another podcast from her basement. This time its legendary rock band Shooting Star.

Listen to that plus her interview with Rik Emmett of Triumph here.

Thanks for the kind words: from rock radio voice station voice guru Joe Kelly - who just stumbled across this blog. I'm honored to have you Joe!