Sunday Night Odds & Sods

63° - scattered clouds at 11:19pm

Good Evening from Okemos.

Reading: The original WLUP/Chicago Format Guide written for its debut in March of 1977. It was a gift I found in the mail Friday arriving home from the day job. Very cool to read the philosophy and formatics of a station I listened to heavily back then. 52 typewritten pages.

My thanks to its author and first WLUP Program Director J. Blackburn for sharing this bit of history; and being quite candid through emails on his hits and misses throughout his career.

I've written about his new radio novel; his website here.

Conclave wrap: Have been checking out the Conclave reports on the R&R site. Some great info on promotions and text messaging; no surprises with the discussion about performance royalties (what is the debate in a room full of radio folks?) and a great session on show prep and websites.

The McVay seminar with legendary voice talent Nick Michaels appeared to be a hit. If you were there, I am envious. Waiting to read what Lee Abrams offered on Friday.

Good stuff: "What are YOU doing to make your listeners' lives better today?"

Read some great examples via Jaye Albright here.

A late post today. My free time spent on the internet radio project, still getting music together and experimenting (can I play the new Coldplay song, Uriah Heep, The Temptations, Zeppelin and AC/DC on the same station? Hmmmm....). I don't want to hype this more than it is: a hobby effort with a hobby budget and nothing more.

Have a good night.

Ending the Rant of musicFIRST

69° - sunny at 7:53am

Conclave: Under way in Minneapolis. Wish I was there! The Conclave has evolved into radio's premiere event. More here. In preparation, Sean Ross writes about the Twin Cities oldies/classic hits/classic rock stations here.

Those wackos at musicFIRST. Calling radio stations "pirates" for not paying additional fees to use music. What if radio picked a few artists and simply stopped playing their music (if you were an artist - would you want to be on that list?)

As Jerry Del Colliano pointed out in his blog the other day:

"We could really end this desperate move by rich record artists to earn even more by remembering what Sinatra, The Eagles – all of them – would have made if radio didn’t play their music. How about – zero. How about no platinum records. No gold. No silver. No tin. No junk metal. Nothing could be earned without radio airplay. Nothing."

Exactly. NAB efforts gave broadcasters the majority of votes in the House on the performance "tax" issue, as announced on Tuesday. But the fight continues. Meanwhile, record company promotion people continue to beg for radio airplay.

Great Promotion. As tipped by Dave Martin (who was tipped by Emily DiTomo). Entercom teaming up with Guitar Center for "Get Schooled with Guitar Center". Here.

Dave writes: "A very cool concept and well done. Creating memorable experiences, real dream come true moments, is powerful magic." Kudos to Entercom and all involved.

Atlanta's Dave-FM/WZGC launches second website "E-Dave". A cool presentation and layout that begs the question: why not just make this "the" website? See here.

Added: From Boston.Com - a review/preview of Wi-Fi ready radios. Here.

Late Night Add: Received a great piece in my in-box this afternoon from Fred Jacobs. A must-read for PDs and air talent. A lesson learned from the late George Carlin. Here.

Have a good night.

Wednesday Blogs & ARBs

77° - sunny at 10am

Welcome to August.

Last night was a great one for a bike ride around town and through the bike trails with a big old pink red moon overhead. And I did finally water my (browning) lawn. At least the front yard.

Frustration. I'm going to try again - but yesterday I had sent a note to introduce myself to a GM at a ratings-challenged station in a market I'd like to be in. This morning an Outlook return receipt showed that it was "deleted without being read". At least I know it wasn't something I said...lol.

More ARBs. Looking casually over the release spring numbers from the past week - a few stations really stood out: One is KQRS/Minneapolis. The station is #1 12-plus. Added: KQRS dominates 18-49 and exceeds a 12 share 25-54!

WGRF/Buffalo is #3 12-plus - a solid #2 A25-54 and #1 M25-54. Very nice.

From my blogosphere:

Records & Radio. From press reports it appears the recording industry woo'd Congress yesterday with their request for airplay royalties.

This morning Jerry Del Colliano writes about "Radio Royalty Hardball" - read here.

And Fred Jacobs notes here that "...the recording industry still doesn't "get it" that their best avenue for exposure, artist brand building, and sales is still good old radio".

Conclave. From Jaye Albright: materials and session recordings from last month's Conclave are now available - some of those resources are free. Check out Jaye's blog here.

Seth Godin. Seth writes a short blog post about "Toxic" employees. Read here.

My own experience and growth has helped me avoid such hires and to better manage "pre-existing conditions".

An Idea From The Conclave

80° - partly sunny at 3pm

Are there any salespeople in your building today?

The Conclave. Listened this morning to a podcast from the sessions last week. Hear and download here.

Not a new idea - but a great one from the session "A Programmer's Guide To Strategy and Tactics":

Ask a fellow programmer in your group or someone you know (and respect) in a format similar to yours - to listen to your station and give you feedback about your on-air product. Get their thoughts on what you're doing right. Or wrong. A lot of programmers would be delighted you asked.

Easy to do if you're streaming. I've used some mentors of mine over the years and have had some very constructive feedback.

Hope your 4th of July programming kicks. We're taking tomorrow to do some projects and chores around the house (I've got a small patio project).

Going to top off the Fourth with night minor-league Lansing Lugnut baseball followed by fireworks at the ballpark. Hope the rain stays away!

More here Thursday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

71° - sunny at 10am

Welcome to July!

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud's Rock & Roll Roots on WDRV/Chicago. Celebrating the Summer of Love with a rewind to this week in 1967. Just head "Omaha" by Moby Grape. Very nice.

Also some quality time yesterday with Buffalo's WGRF. This station just sounds excellent. The station in the midst of a live tracks weekend.

Caught a bit of The Deep End with Nick Michaels - and the station's own "Psychedelic Saturday", hosted by WGRF midday personality J.P.

The Conclave. Today's the final day in Minneapolis.

R&R - reporting on Friday's Arbitron PPM session, notes that PPM data from Houston demonstrated how events drive listening spikes. A specific example cited was a George Strait ticket giveaway on CBS Radio's KILT. Listening levels "soared" each time the contest was conducted during the day.

KDWB/Minneapolis PD Rob Morris offered advice for up and coming PDs including becoming "listener advocates." Amen.

More Conclave coverage at Radio and Records.

Cara's Basement. Got an email late Friday from Chicago's Cara Carriveau telling me that her latest podcast is up - this time talking music (and Foreigner) with Mick Jones. Listen here.

Listening to Cara and Mick Jones triggers some great memories - including seeing Foreigner at Chicago's Uptown Theater back in 1977 - not long after that first album was all over radio. What a great time for AOR FM.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

Lansing webcam; current image
68° - sunny at 11am

Welcome to the weekend.

The Conclave. Sitting home in Michigan, I'm trying to soak up as much as I can from Minneapolis through the trades.

Via R&R - highlights of yesterday's Promotions Summit:

Promotions With No Budget: Maximize exposure at concerts; Expose the station logo during drive times; and partner with local charities.

E-Mail Marketing That Works: "Coupons and discount offers are considered spam" and "utilizing client/product integration, surrounding ads with station information, or adding a client to a strong regular feature."

More Conclave coverage at Radio & Records Online.

The Conclave has a PDF of the promotion session handout on their website. Good tools. Scroll down to find it here.

iPhone out today. Lots of talk and media coverage. Spots all over the cable networks this week to add to the street buzz.

A dream launch. Very impressive.

Ralph Cipolla of Jacobs Media offers his two cents this morning on whether the phone will be "an iPhenom...or iEdsel"? Here.

Meanwhile - Seth Godin has a piece on "The Verizon guy who turned down the iPhone". Read here.

And speaking of Seth: Jerry Del Colliano offers a follow-up to Mark Ramsey's interview with Seth Godin on the future of radio.

Jerry writes: "If you're searching for The Dip, look beyond your towers and transmitters. That's what I'm doing. This is a business I want to be in. Do you?" Jerry's entire post here.

Oldies Radio. Sean Ross writes here about "Oldies' New Lease on Life, Or Maybe An Extended Warranty". PPM changes attitudes. Read it here. Thanks to Dave Martin for the tip.

Have a great weekend. More Sunday.

Wednesday Blogs

81° - Sunny at 10am

From my blogosphere:

Share of Mind. John Moore via Consultant Alan Mason here on the "The Visionary's Handbook". John points to some thoughts from the book that makes things like this very important for share of mind.

This is all about marketing for actual listenership. And Mark Ramsey writes about that topic as it applies to PPM here.

Your station's vibe. Not on air - but around the office and studio. Seth Godin writes that "the vibe changes everything". Read here.

Your internal vibe. Still excited about what you do? If not, Jay Trachman here with some ways to get out of your rut. Added: David Martin here - this morning - on enjoying what you do.

Seth Godin on radio. Next week Mark Ramsey's blog presents "7 Days of Seth" - with the "Agent of Change" sharing thoughts on the future of radio as well as his new book "The Dip". More here.

The Conclave. Dave Lange writes here on this year's event in Minneapolis; wish I was attending, but the Kelley family budget is just too tight. Next year perhaps.

Both the Conclave and Dan O'Day's PD Grad School are the best values for the dollar for any programmer - if you've got the budget - personal or company.

McCartney. Street Pulse reporting via All Access that Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full" debuted at the #1 position for overall sales this week. Paul is working this one hard - and with radio. Stations around the country have been sending listeners to a secret, private "invitation only" performance.

The cynic in me. The past few days I've had Court TV on as I do other work - watching the Duke prosecutor hearing and Phil Spector's trial.

Oreo Cookies has been running a saturation campaign on the channel with what they're trying to pass off as YouTube-style CGM commercials. They just appear to be a bit too perfect to pass my " B.S. Test". I could be wrong, but....