The Weekend Classic Rock FM

80° - light rain at 11:27am

Good Morning from downtown Lansing.

My 9-year old. For the past couple of weeks, he's been roaming around the house singing/humming "Carry On My Wayward Son"...courtesy of Guitar Hero.

Last weekend, I got him a CD of the Kansas album "Leftoverture"...perhaps he'll discover the rest of the album. My classic rock kid!

Even more PPM explained. Last week I passed along a link to Paragon Media Strategies - explaining the first ten of "20 More Things You Need to Know About PPM", as presented at the Morning Show Bootcamp.

Paragon's now posted narrative for another five of the twenty. Here.

Being an old album rock guy from the 70s - one caught my eye: "The art of the musical segue will be re-born in PPM. Keep ‘em listening, and don’t give ‘em reasons to tune out."

President of Radio. I've been following Fred Jacobs and his very clever and much needed session/discussion at upcoming Jacobs Media Summit. Fred has announced two more names for the panel; plus has published the entries for the 10th panelist (or "President"). Great stuff.

See the ideas here. Details on the session here.

Good Read: "Radio Law Is Meant To Be Broken (Strategically)". Edison Media's Sean Ross writes here.

Your station website. Earlier this week Broadcast Attorney David Oxenford posted a great piece on his Broadcast Law Blog regarding websites and localism. Copy and take to your next website strategy meeting. Here.

Bob & Tom TV. Randy Michaels and company brings some of radio's best to the tube via WGN America beginning in November. More here.

New AC/DC. Bob Leftsetz writes a great review here. Having read Bob's blog for several years now, I know his enthusiasm is genuine.

Have a great one.

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.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

15° - overcast at 12:25pm

Welcome to the weekend.

Randy Michaels. Its good to see him back in the biz...running Tribune for Sam Zell. If there's one guy I feel can run the legendary WGN Radio/Chicago, its Mr. Michaels. He gets it.

And I do believe the dead-tree biz will see a revolution too.

Bonus: From the new Tribune employee handbook - under the Zell/Michaels regime:

"Rule #1: Use your best judgment."
"Rule #2: See Rule 1."

"7.1. If you use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated. See Rule 1. Coming to work drunk is bad judgment."

"7.2. If you do not use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated."

Pretty simple stuff, eh? More here.

A case for cume: Its all about cume and reach in the world of PPM. Dave Lange blogs about the need to begin selling cume - saying "The sooner we start to 'prime the pump' for selling Cume the better off we will all be." PPM market or not. Read here.

Positioning lines and PPM: Mark Ramsey this past week writes about the need for clear positioning in the world of PPM.

Not the throwaway radio lines we've been repeating over-and-over again for the last 20 or 30 years - but credible lines backed up by actions:

"You need to make sure you - and your current and potential audience - can answer these basic questions:

1. Who are we and what do we stand for?

2. How is this different from the competition in a way that matters - a lot - to the audience?

And if you can't answer those questions, you don't have a position...
...whether or not you have a positioning line."

I couldn't agree more. And you just can't say it what you stand for and what your differences are. You've got to demonstrate it with your programming and actions.

Listening to Chicago's WDRV as I write. Just heard a sweeper - voiced by the pipes of Nick Michaels - reminding me that "while it seems Chicago Radio changes like the weather - The Drive hasn't."

"We promised you a music intensive morning show without the silly games and phone calls - and we live up to that promise today." Not the exact copy; but as I recall it.

And with WDRV - a new look. If you've read this blog for long you'd know its one of my fav stations. They just updated their logo. There's a cool flash banner on their website now that rotates different Drive artists with each site visit:

Thanks this past week. Kind notes from David Martin (via his blog) and from WSHP/Lafayette, IN PD Rob Creighton. They all mean a lot.

More this weekend.