Wednesday Blogs

60° - light rain/mist at 10am. Left: view from the day job window - a mixed office/residential area on the northside of downtown Lansing.

Good Morning from Michigan. Clouds/fog/rain - but quite warm this morning. A nice rainy fall day.

Around my blogosphere:

Listener Engagement. We've written about this many times over the last 20 months. This morning Fred Jacobs contributes more to the conversation this morning. With apologies to my friend for overquoting:

"A radio station social networking initiative is about engagement. It is about providing listeners with the chance to discuss, dig deeper, and get even more emotional about your people and your programming. Until now, the audience has been forced to remain passive, with the exception of showing up at station events. With social networking, they can get in the game, participate, and become more loyal and knowledgeable about a station and its brand."

"It's just a matter of providing them with the means to connect with one another. We see this at focus groups and Listener Advisory Board groups. Ten strangers come together to talk about your station, and end up in the parking lot, arguing and sharing their views about music, bands, and yes, your station. Many other consumer brands would kill to have the type of emotional connection that many stations have with their customers."

Would kill indeed! Very cool stuff! Fred's post here.

Telling It Like It Is. Mark Ramsey sums up the current PPM controversy/litigation in a few words:

"This is a case of the interests of the radio industry and its advertisers being hijacked by a small number of selfish parties who don't like PPM because PPM doesn't like them as much as diaries do. Pure and simple."

Mark's complete post here.

Webcasting: Monday's Edison Media-sponsored Streaming/Music Royalties was fantastic (although the audio quality a little less than ideal). If you missed, its archived here.

During the webcast - Attorney David Oxenford had some great contributions to the webcast and offered some great real world ideas for radio, especially the smaller markets to expand their reach and consumer convenience.

David mentioned making your newscasts available for listening anytime on the web...and stations that do local sports offering 3 or 4 area games through web streaming; since you can only do one on the air (of course, HD could change that!). High School sports typically means $ for small market radio.

It was time well-spent and kudos to Edison Media's Tom Webster for putting it all together.

Scratch. Pop. Click. Vinyl on the air. Randy Raley's doing it once a week...tracking an album on his classic rock station in Normal, Illinois. Very cool. Read about the adventure here.

Have a great Wednesday!

Online Event Today at 12 noon Eastern

61 - light rain at 9:47am

Sorry for the late notice - intended to include in an earlier post - but my Outlook calendar just popped up with a web meeting today hosted by Edison Media Research. The topic: "Music Royalties and the Future of Online Webcasting".

This will certainly be of interest to anyone involved with streaming - either commercial or non-commercial. From Edison Media's site:

Join us on Monday, October 6th at NOON Eastern (9AM PST) for an interactive panel discussion where you'll hear perspectives on the issue from:

* Tim Westergren, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder of Pandora
* Kurt Hanson, CEO of AccuRadio
* Alan Levy, CEO, BlogTalkRadio
* David Oxenford, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP

The discussion will be moderated by Tom Webster, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing for Edison Media Research. Listeners can call in LIVE during the event at (347) 205-9090, or submit questions before the event to Tom Webster.

For more information - or to access the event, click here.

Brainstorm Session

65° - mostly clear at 11:00am

Driving into downtown Lansing this morning, I was tuned to NPR's Morning Edition. On the air was Reporter David Greene with one installment of a series titled "Take Me To Your Leader"; interviewing andspeaking with leaders (who are not neccessarily politicians).

In this morning's installment, he spoke to a small town fire chief and the challenges of his job. Listen here.

It was great storytelling and terrific radio. What came to mind as I was listening was how a classic rock station could do something similar. And not with just "leaders", but with everyday listeners.

I feel there's lots of interesting stories you can share listener-to-listener...be it about their job, hobbies and activities - including sports and volunteer work...even great concerts they've attended.

Of course the common denominator is that they listen to your radio station!

Thought for use: 60 to 90sec stopset fill for your internet feeds. Beats the crap out of Smokey Bear or another McGruff PSA. Make them available as podcasts/downloads on your website. Plug them on the air using the names of the listeners. Make your listener "stars". Everybody has their 15-minutes...why not with your station?

All a great way to bond and make them love you for life. The kind of word-of-mouth that no ad budget can buy. Some stations have been doing this visually on their websites (example above right and here) for some time now - and thats wonderful too. Perhaps these audio pieces could tie in with a like campaign.

Thought for production: Edit the bits well so they don't get too slow. Background music is likely appropriate; but watch licensing issues if you'll be podcasting.

Thought for recruitment: Don't make this a "sign up" feature on your website. Its not a contest.

Interviews could be part of a Listener Advisory Board meeting; or you could do what has been suggested on this blog before and have your airstaff call listeners in your database to thank them for listening; perhaps do a little informal perceptual research on their feelings about the station; and then probe them a little for what they do for work, their off-time hobbies and interests and the so forth.

With this "screening" process, you then can suggest that you'd like to talk further with either an invitation to the station or go out in the field with a recorder. Sometimes natural sound in the background can add lots. Bring some swag to show thanks.

You and your staff you could take this, refine, improve and take to the next level.

Radio needs more storytellers. Why not have some of those stories come from your listeners and make them part of the product? Think "ownership".

I'm reminded of something Dave Martin contributed to this blog a month of so ago. In a comment on this blog, Dave shared a "trade secret" he gives his TV clients:

"One of our best practices is called "Names make news." We are in the hunt for local folks doing things right,locals celebrating (new job, promotion on the job, anniversary, wedding, birth, achievements by their children), locals coming together for good (church bake sale to benefit a family, charity auctions)."

"When people get together they talk about PEOPLE. Our clients are never challenged on this because the competition thinks it's goofy. It is goofy only to those in the business."

This idea certainly similar in nature.

Just a little brainstorming this morning....have a great Wednesday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

78 - sunny at 11am. Left: Michigan's Mackinac Bridge - as shot by my wife heading north this past Monday.

Hello from Okemos!

Feeling out of touch: the past week a fast one - between an elevated work schedule and my wife out of town most of the week (in Michigan's "U.P." on business) - which left me to take care of all the house and kid duties. The blog, unfortunately had to take a back seat. Getting back on schedule...

Spent much of yesterday working on my forthcoming internet station. Still ripping CDs, entering required MP3 meta data on the individual cuts to meet the RIAA requirements. While its possible to put something "on the air"; first impressions are everything - so a formal debut will have to wait. Meanwhile in testing, the nearly 10-year old Pentium III (XP Home/648k RAM) running the automation is performing nearly flawlessly 24/7.

Speaking of streaming: This past week, Edison Media's Sean Ross wrote a great piece on streaming radio and the stopset situation - specifically looking at the Atlanta market. Here. Sean notes many of the thoughts that go through my head while listening to streaming radio stations. My conclusion is that streaming is just a mere afterthought - still - when putting a great online product together should be as high a priority as the terrestrial product. But I've said that here before. Why bother if you're not making it the best it can be?

Another great piece this past week was one on Friday from Jacobs Media's Keith Cunningham. The topic was talent. Using the NBA's Boston Celtics as an example, Keith wrote:

"....if a station is really looking to change the game, they may need to get honest with themselves and agree to invest in hiring great talent. The right mix of music can’t be overlooked – but take a cue from some of Radio’s iconic brands that many emulate – they have big talent."

"It’s also worth noting that The Bone in Tampa (Cox) went from a mid-pack player to virtually #1 across the board with men, almost immediately, by adding Bubba the Love Sponge to morning drive back in January. The Bone’s music mix was right all along, but there’s no substitute for big talent. Whether it's radio or the NBA, talent wins. Just ask anyone who lives in Boston."

Keith's entire piece here.

Speaking of talent. Lee Arnold writes on something I've touch on before. Another wonderful read here.

Mark Ramsey. Mark shares his view on positioning:

"As I have often said, "positioning" has never been about a "line," it has been about a "position." And a position is about standing for something. And if you stand for something that means you should be doing the right things to support that something. Because that means you're real. And a brand is as real as you and I are."

Mark's piece here.

Spending the morning getting caught up on my reading before an afternoon trek to the ballpark to see our local minor league Lansing Lugnuts (currently #1 in their division) take on the Ft. Wayne Wizards. It's a beautiful day for a ball game. Have a great Sunday....more tomorrow.

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.

More Wi-Fi/Wi-Max from the South Pacific....

64° - cloudy at 1:45pm

Welcome to Friday - the start of a long weekend and the unofficial start to summer. More here later...but something I've been finding time to pass along:

Yesterday I caught Kurt Hanson's blog where he (courtesy of Madison's Tom Teuber) wrote a bit more about a topic I mentioned here Wednesday Night: the future of Wi-Fi as Wi-Max.

Kurt devotes a post to Hawaii radio guru Brock Whaley's test drive of Clearwire's "pre Wi-Max" technology. Its not all Wi-Max might be, but its a "a wireless broadband distribution service that covers miles instead of feet" - and is just like regular internet service.

After getting the Clearwire hardware and plugging his laptop into a power inverter, Brock cruised around the Island - and now with apologies to Kurt Hanson for over-quoting - Brock writes:

"I started the car, and turned everything on, and by God it works! Clumsy and experimental, but it works. The Clearwire signal indicator showed an excellent signal, even through the windshield. I brought up the stream of WDRV in Chicago, and there it was. Loud and clear in stereo. I drove into Kailua town. No drop out! Even as the direction of car changed. Signal strength varied in some directions as I drove, but I never lost the stream."

"I lost the signal driving to Honolulu, but the signal lasted farther than the Clearwire coverage map indicated. The same went as I approached Honolulu. I pulled off the road at a scenic lookout and reestablished an internet connection on the laptop. This time to all-news KNX in Los Angeles. I took King Street from the Pali all the way to Kaimuki, and I only lost the signal and had to reconnect once. I pulled over and tried the BBC with the even better results. No dropout all the way to Kahala Mall. I’m talking miles here, on city streets, and I’m listening to freaking London, in stereo, with no noise, no static, no dropouts, in my cheap Ford in Hawaii!"

"I cannot underestimate how excited I was and still am. This is incredible. It does work, and it will soon be the norm."

Wow. I can understand Brock's excitement when he declares: "I have heard the future in my car." Kurt's entire post - describing Brock Whaley's setup and experience further is here.

The concept of speaking into a microphone or playing music and having it go through the airwaves still excites me as much as it did when I was 11 years old - and built "WDK" in the bedroom of my childhood home from a Lafayette Radio tube transmitter kit.

I got the same rush again a few months back (here) - when I was streaming music from a computer in my basement - and a friend in Phoenix was listening on his PC. Once a radio geek, always... The future is going to be one wild ride.

More later.

Listen Live Widgets Revisited

55° - mostly cloudy at 9:50am

Last July - I noted on this blog the availability of "Listen Live" desktop widgets that made listening to streaming radio easy - tools put together by fans of radio stations, not the stations themselves.

My original post here. The KQRS/Minneapolis widget pictured above - found on Yahoo! - was put together by a station listener. The only problem with listener-created listen live widgets is that they become outdated once a station changes its streaming provider or parameters.

Again - why require listeners to navigate through a station website and pull up multiple windows just to listen to your radio station? Imagine if they had to do that with their regular radio!

To date, I have yet to see any radio stations offer a similar product on their own.

This past week - as a member of their "email club" - I received an invite from a regional grocery chain offering a desktop widget for my PC - and its brilliant: click on image for better view

Consumer-friendly resources for meal preparation and shopping. No website. Just a small window on my PC's desktop. Awesome!

Imagine the possibilites for a radio station! Aside from one-click listen live - what other resources could you provide your listeners instantly? And how could your sales department benefit from a tool such as this?

I just be thinkin'.....

Related: Consultant Harve Alan writes about the new product widgets being offered by Amazon.Com here.

Wednesday Blogs

67° - scattered clouds at 8:33am

Good Morning from downtown Lansing.

Striking A Chord. Fred Jacobs writes here about whats he's been hearing from station Listener Advisory Panels.

Much of it is right in front of your eyes; I'm very surprised that there's not more gas promotions taking place right now.

Workplace Online Listening. It's getting big. Even many of the smaller markets are beginning to stream, though its surprising how many still don't. Arbitron and Edison Media release a new report on workplace listening. Harve Alan writes here.

Pizza Wars. Jaye Albright on successful stunting from Pizza Hut and Papa John's. Here.

The last successful stunt I saw observed was Bubba "The Love Sponge". I'm not sure who started what between two competing morning air personalities, but it paid off big for Bubba.

20 minutes. Yesterday I spent 20 minutes on the telephone with someone who helped give me my start in this business - when he had just started shortly before me. Bob Heymann - who is with Media Services Group in Chicago these days.

As Bob calculated, it had only been 37 years since we last spoke. It was 20 wonderful minutes that I wish could have gone 3 or 4 hours. There's a road trip to the Windy City soon.

Added: Another case for Radio. Edison Media's Sean Ross writes about the renewed and continued success of WCBS-FM/New York:

"When WCBS-FM New York dropped Oldies in 2005, it had a 3.0 share 12-plus. When WCBS-FM came back last summer, it returned with a 3.7 share and has held there through the recently released winter 2008 book."

"In that time, WCBS-FM's many disenfranchised listeners had no shortage of choices that could have taken them away from terrestrial radio. They were directly targeted by Sirius Satellite Radio and its hiring of Cousin Brucie. They had their iPods. They could have found no shortage of customizable Internet-only Oldies channels."

"They had plenty of options - many of which would have been seen by some industry people as far superior to the old WCBS-FM during its problematic last year. But when WCBS-FM came back, the listeners came back, too."

Read "For Some, Radio Is Still The Best Way To Hear Music" here.

The Return of WNEW-FM

Received this a short time ago from Allison Mandara at CBS Radio:

LEGENDARY ROCK RADIO STATION “WNEW” FINDS NEW LIFE ON-AIR, ONLINE AND ON-DEMAND

The Past Meets The Present When The Formidable WNEW Returns Featuring Unparalleled 30-Year Archive Of Historic Interviews And Live Performances By Rock Immortals Presented In A Contemporary Musical Context

Listeners To “Staff” The Station And Its Website As Hosts And Contributors

Social Networking Component Available Through CBS Corporation’s Last.fm;

Site To Host Station’s Custom Group And Provide Audience Access To Its Free On-Demand Music Service

Today marks a milestone in rock ‘n roll history as celebrated rock station WNEW marks its triumphant return on-air (102.7 HD 2 in New York) and online (http://www.wnew.com/). The legendary station has been reborn for the passionate rock music fan in the spirit of WNEW-FM’s commitment to exposing the best new artists.

Completely updated to reflect its historical influence on today’s contemporary rock scene, the revolutionary new WNEW.com features recordings from the dawn of the album era in the late 60s and early 70s through today, as well as music from the most promising emerging artists yet to be discovered by the masses. Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spoon, and Vampire Weekend will be among those featured along with the likes of REM, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

In addition, thousands of hours of archival interviews by former WNEW hosts Scott Muni, Dave Herman, and Richard Neer, among others, with such artists as John Lennon, The Who, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie will be integrated hourly throughout the station’s on-air and online programming.

Also finding a home on WNEW.com’s lineup will be exclusive live performances from artists who contributed to the station’s storied history.

The modernized WNEW.com will also offer the listening audience a complete interactive and social networking experience through the station’s website (www.wnew.com) and CBS Corporation’s Last.fm (www.last.fm). Using these two online portals, fans can listen on demand, share feedback about the former and current station, join dedicated groups, meet fellow WNEW listeners and become a part of the station’s “staff.”

Staff members will have the opportunity to program and participate in the presentation of the station and its website through a series of on-air and online initiatives including blogs, concert reviews, music forums, and artist profiles.

At the helm of this ambitious project is Norm Winer, CBS RADIO Vice President of Adult Rock Programming, and, for more than 25 years, the award-winning Program Director of the landmark WXRT in Chicago.

He said, “As a music fan and radio geek who grew up in Brooklyn listening to the original WNEW, I’m excited to help recapture the spirit and philosophy of progressive radio, using tools we never dreamed of back in the early days. With the foundation of a timeless and totally one-of-a-kind archive, we will provide rock devotees of all generations the chance to hear incredible moments from our collective past and enable them to connect the dots to rock’s most compelling artists of the present and future.”

Special programming on the influential station will include:

• Interview With an Icon: showcases classic extended on-air interviews with rock legends from WNEW-FM;
• Live From the Archives: vintage performances from rock’s most prominent artists. In addition to the vaults of WNEW-FM, the station will have access to the recorded treasures of many of CBS RADIO’s prominent radio stations such as WBCN in Boston, and WXRT in Chicago;
• Emerging and Amazing: the station will regularly debut music from rising artists and those whose names are not yet known to the listening audience;
  

Originally launched on Oct. 31, 1967, WNEW-FM is considered the first free-form progressive rock station in the nation. It quickly went on to become both an institution and a piece of radio history for which it is remembered today. The station rocked New York City for three decades breaking some of the biggest artists of all time, including David Bowie, Elton John, and The Talking Heads.

To many who grew up in the 60s and 70s, WNEW-FM remains to this day the embodiment of the times, turmoil and tunes of those eras in New York City.

Very cool. Kudos to Norm Winer and all involved at CBS Radio.

Added: Edison Media's Sean Ross takes a in-depth first listen to WNEW.COM here.

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.

Monday Monday

+5° - light snow at 6:30am

Weekend leftovers:

Edison Media's Larry Rosin offers "Further Evidence of How The Breaks Kill Internet Radio". The internet fill issue. Larry's piece and reader comments here.

If you've been reading this blog for long, you'd know one of my pet peeves is the way stations handle their spot breaks on their streams. One of my early blog rants here

The story behind the show. Free Beer & Hot Wings. The syndicated morning show running on a number of rock and classic rock stations around the country. Read here. Thanks to Michiguide for the tip!

Jay (J.) Blackburn. We've been writing here for months about Jay's new based-on-reality radio novel. Jay - a retired programmer (and GM and station owner).

"The Radio Gypsies" will be released on March 17th; and available at Amazon, Borders and all the others.

Welcome back Jay Mitchell. Jay's been MIA on his blog; but he's just been real busy - and that's always good. More here.

Late Day Update - more wisdom from consultant Alan Mason:

"We don’t get it that our DNA controls who we are, and that each radio station has it’s own DNA. If you want to know what happens when you try to mess with what your DNA is, look at Michael Jackson."

"The point is that in the modern world, you can’t just decide what you are going to do on your own, and then force it down the throats of the listeners. You have a DNA factor to pay attention to, which will lead the listeners to decide what you can and can’t do."

Alan's complete piece here.

Wednesday Blogs

22° - scattered clouds at 10:19pm

Welcome to Wednesday. Spent part of yesterday watching the FCC sessions via the web on proposed localism rules.

Lots of proposed rules that can impact your station and your bottom line. You can read about those elsewhere.

Added: Didn't intend to get into this - but Fred Jacobs has a great read about the possible return of the overnight jock - based on proposed FCC rules requiring 24/7 staffing. Read here.

I hope that's the case - though in smaller markets I predict some midnight sign-offs (meaning less service and no overnight EAS).

Dave Lange also writes about a the proposed rules and community service here.

HD Radio. Missing an opportunity. Fred Jacobs comments on something the HD Radio Alliance should have/could have. Read here.

Streaming & Stopsets. David Martin touches on one of my longtime pet peeves here. There's simply no excuse for execution we'd never tolerate on our terrestrial signal. My rant published back in February here.

Greg Kihn goes national: Best known to most of the country for his 80s hit "Jeopardy"; though I'm more partial to "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)".

Greg's been doing mornings in San Jose at Clear Channel's KUFX for many years now - and has dabbled in some syndication and voice-tracking to other markets.

Now he'll be rockin' the 7pm to Midnight daypart nationwide. I'm expecting a voice-tracked assembled show via satellite much like Alice Cooper's nightly show. Read the release from Jones Radio here. Tipped by Tom Taylor

Randy Michaels...back? Them be the rumors all over the trades this afternoon. Running Tribune for Sam Zell.

Like him or hate him, he's a radio guy who "gets it". And I welcome him back.

Monday Monday

42° - clear at 10:53am

Busy day = late post.

Supervising pumpkin carving tonight. Kids and knives make for a nervous dad. Happy to report we made it through the night Band-Aid free.

Music Testing. I'm hearing a lot of classic rock tunes on television as of late. I don't know the answer - but I wonder if this "airplay" does anything for test scores and interest in featured titles?

What I've heard and seen lately:

• I Can See For Miles/The Who (Honda)
• Barracuda/Heart (Honda)
• All Right Now/Free (Monster.Com & Ford/Lincoln Dealers)
• Sweet Home Alabama/Skynyrd (KFC; still don't get it)
• Dreamer/Supertramp (Acura)
• Wild Horses/Rolling Stones (Movie "Bella")
• Gimme Some Lovin'/Spencer Davis Group (Ameriprise Financial)
• Whole Lotta Love (Concert Footage)/Led Zeppelin (Ziddio.Com)
• Let My Love Open The Door/Pete Townshend (Movie "Dan In Real Life")

Gotta be others I've missed. Why not include these tv spot "hits" on your next music test? Granted, there's some no brainers here - but I'm thinking the deeper tracks here by The Who, Supertramp, Stones, Spencer Davis and Townshend.

If I were doing AC right now, I might be testing this song - just to see what happens.

btw: good resource for finding song titles/artists used in commercials is here.

Idea For Radio: Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" morning show announced this morning the start of "The Show After The Show".

If I heard correctly - the morning crew will continue their morning show for another hour - past 9am eastern - on the internet. Have not seen an official announcement.

John Landecker. I love great radio stories. Rick Kaempfer talks again to the legendary Mr. "Records" Landecker - about WZZN, his new syndicated show - plus his story of getting started in the business.

John spent time here in Lansing radio while going to Michigan State University; and then a big leap straight to Philadelphia. And then there's Chicago. Read here.

More Chicago. Longtime talk/AOR personality Steve Dahl moves to WJMK (Jack-FM) and mornings starting next week his current home - WCKG - changes format to something only a few know for certain.

Rumors of spanish for WCKG are strong - as is active rock. If you're from outside Chicago and don't know the name Steve Dahl - chances are you have hear of this highlight from Steve's long career.