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.

WAXQ Scores in the Big Apple

29° - clear at 7:17am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Just reviewing yesterday's first release of 12+ winter book numbers. In New York, WAXQ rises almost a half point on the Arbi-meter. Classic Hits WCBS-FM remains flat but steady and healthy.

In Chicago - WDRV is basically flat. WLUP down a few notches. That's all 12+....25-54 will tell the real story.

Speaking of Chicago. In an email yesterday regarding the passing of Ron O'Brien, I had a friend in the biz tell me he once got the chance to meet Ron and was invited to sit in the studio during his show at WCFL one night.

Do wonderful moments like that still happen? I hope so.

Consultant Alan Mason has given his blog a makeover - and wrote a couple of great pieces in the last few days. In one post, Alan writes:

"Want to know about one of the most important changes in programming? It’s that it’s no longer “good enough” to have simple announcers trying to be funny or entertaining, or, on the other hand, simply doing the “that was/this is” thing. People want to be more involved in radio, to be more than a passive listener, and that happens when you connect with them."

"OK, most people can agree with that – we need to connect with our listeners in order to develop a deeper relationship with them. But what does that mean strategically? It means we have to have a new strategy, one where “show prep” doesn’t mean a prep sheet or what we heard on another station, but instead starts with the listener and works backwards."

Explore Alan's blog here.

Late Night Add: Radio with Pictures. Television. Bob Pittman thinks "local" (and small). Bob's a principal in Barrington Broadcasting - which owns television stations in the smaller markets. Bob highlighted in a great piece posted earlier today on the TV Newsday website. Pittman on content:

"I like smaller market broadcast television because what we’re seeing is that local means an awful lot to people. Nothing is more important than knowing the local news and what’s going on in the local community."

"The final piece of why it’s an exciting opportunity in the smaller markets is that TV stations can go start the community Internet sites with all the stuff they can’t do on the air—obituaries, school lunch menus, a phone directory like the Yellow Pages, etc. And they can use the power of the TV to promote the sites and re-use all the news and information they gather. They can create another business which in five to 10 years should be just as profitable as the TV stations in those markets."

What Bob says here applies to radio too; especially with websites. The Pittman article here (registration required - free).

Thank You. To Dave Martin for the plug today.

Bedtime for Bonzo. Have a good night.

More Fall Numbers

36° - drizzle at 7:25am

Happy Friday.

Yesterday on All Access - consultant Anthony Acampora broke down the Fall numbers released for New York and LA. In the 25-54 demo - classic rocker WAXQ is #7 with classic hits/oldies WCBS-FM #9.

Acampora notes that WCBS-FM did dip slightly in the demo.

In LA - classic rock KLOS ranks #12 25-54. The station up slightly overall 12+. Also in LA: noted that "Movin' 93.9" doesn't appear to be moving anywhere in the numbers - even after some hefty marketing efforts.

Looking forward to more of Anthony Acampora's analysis in the days to come. Thanks to Anthony and Joel Denver again!

Chicago: WDRV dips slightly (again) 12+. WLUP up just a couple tenths. In Milwaukee: WKLH showing consistent performance and ranked #9 12+. WQBW (The Brew) off over a half point.

Classic rock KYYS/Kansas City going away. Tom Taylor reporting this morning that the veteran air staff including the legendary Max Floyd are out.

Station has been plugging "A to Z" to start Monday - assuming that will not happen. The rumored shift is to AAA as "The Boulevard". Details to be released later today.

More tonight. Have a great Friday.

Late Night Update

52° - rain at 11:07pm

Fall Arbitrons trickle in...

In New York: 12+ shows classic hits/oldies WCBS-FM solid at #6 - repeating the share it had in summer. WAXQ off just a tad. WCBS-FM #3 in Nassau-Suffolk. Wednesday brings LA/Chicago/Milwaukee among others.

Listening on the drive home tonight: Network-based oldies format carried locally. Jock ran a pre-recorded phoner from a listener with an Elvis request.

Good bit until the caller mentioned that "when she's at home - she usually listened to the all-Elvis channel on Sirius". Yipes!

Bedtime for Bonzo. More tomorrow.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

38° - overcast at 8:51am

I really tried to post yesterday - but my bread and butter job kept me busy well past midnight. Just one of them days. Its all good.

Happy Friday.

Arbitron PPM trends continue to hold for rock library formats. In New York City - classic hits WCBS-FM and classic rock WAXQ are #3 & #4 6+ in the market's first "precurrency" release.

Meanwhile lots of chatter about PPM from urban format and spanish-language broadcasters. In NYC - Urban WBLS drops from #1 in diaries 25-54 to #12 in PPM. Ouch.

Cox Radio head Bob Neil - who hasn't been shy at all with his feelings about PPM - expressed his concerns to All Access on Wednesday about Arbitron's shifting recruitment efforts.

Neil says that Cox and possible radio in general will be forced to look to other ratings alternatives, including doing it themselves.

Late Day update: Arbitron issued a release press call this afternoon - and reported that it will agree to "another independent review" of the methodology; basically saying that the industry will have to deal with the realities of PPM if its as valid (or better) than the diary system.

At a press conference call earlier today - Arbitron said it was still dealing with in-tab issue; will stick with telephone recruitment - and is considering cell phone ("smart phones") to collect PPM data. One less thing for a consumer to carry as this blog pointed out some time ago.

Read more on All Access.

Crank up the static and win. Below an email sent yesterday to listeners of WVBZ/Greensboro:

Thanks to Randy for the tip.

Wednesday Blogs

58° - clear skies at 10am

More summer ARBs: CBS Radio's classic rocker WZLX/Boston is on fire - with their best 12+ performance in recent history. I can only imagine the target demo. And in Detroit - WCSX posted a half-point 12+ gain over spring. Very nice!

From my blogosphere:

David Martin reviews the numbers and notes the success of programmers Jhani Kaye (KRTH) and Brian Thomas (WCBS-FM). David writes: "It's not the format (song), it's the singer (the execution)." With apologies for abusing my privilege to quote - Dave adds:

"The winners mentioned in this post are programming their stations in real time. They are working in a living performance art. One of the oldest and last "live" performance arts. They understand. It's about going to work every single day totally obsessed with one goal - to commit great radio. All that's important is what comes out of the speakers, what's on the screens. Everything else is a footnote. Let me also remind you - as has been written here for some years now - it's not about radio, it's about audio. Period. Paragraph. The secret to success remains clear...you must create proprietary intangibles (innovation!)."

Dave's complete piece here. Another great read. Randy Michaels once referred to this obsession for great radio as a "sickness" - and that he was honored to be part of "the club". Me too.

Footnote: The "Z Channel" graphic lifted from a poster for a fantastic IFC documentary about one cable programmer's obsession. More here.

Ideas & Resources: Had an email a few weeks back from George Cook - with links to some more resources that came out of the 2007 NAB/R&R Convention - some since mentioned on this blog.

One terrific one I haven't yet passed along was the Mike McVay-moderated "75 Ideas in 75 Minutes". Download the powerpoint via McVay Media here.

Some of the powerpoint really needs the missing narration - but you can still get a lot out of it.

BTW: George Cook has a great blog: The GEOmetric Media Blog. I'll be adding to my blogroll here shortly. And thank you George!

Production Wizard: I missed mentioning on Sunday. Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight interviews Bonneville/Chicago's Matt Bisbee - on radio, his career, promos and life. Read here.

I seem to recall a "Matt Bisbee" attending Columbia College/Chicago about the same time I did in the mid-70s.

The day job awaits. Have a great Wednesday!

Classic Rock Promotion Update

58° - overcast at 8:10am
Left: KRFX/Denver promoting AMD show podcasts Great photo!

Good Morning!

More summer ARB: In his Newsletter this morning, Tom Taylor writes: "I’ve now talked to several people who’ve peeked at the hush-hush pre-pre-currency People Meter numbers for New York, and they just smile when you ask about how well WCBS-FM could do in electronic measurement."

I gotta believe that many of Clear Channel's New York stations will benefit too - if what format-specific PPM performance demonstrated so far in the Houston and Philadelphia holds up.

Back to Tom Taylor - he notes Opie & Anthony didn't have a good summer book in NYC - the other WXRK dayparts outperforming the morning show. I keep asking: where is this show pulling any big numbers?

More cool promotions from classic rock radio:

Hottest Mom. WAXQ/New York has five grand for the hottest mom. A promotion that will drive traffic to the station website to submit and vote on pics submitted by listeners. Presented female-friendly (avoiding a "MILF" twist); check it out here.

Who Are You? We've written before here (and later here) about this web-based promotion that lets the listeners share their personal stories with other listeners.

Now WCSX/Detroit is joining WGRF/Buffalo (where we first saw this) and KZOK/Seattle with this great promotion - one your sales department can benefit from too (think "listener profile").

Speaking of WGRF/Buffalo - here's something I think I've seen before. Great ideas are meant to be "borrowed" !!!

See PD John Hagar's version of this promotion here. WGRF/97 Rock certainly has the market heritage to pull this off.

Personal note: Read that WVIC/Lansing-Jackson, MI PD/PMD talent Joe Thomas is out after a late Monday format change. WVIC dropped "classic hits" in favor of "soft rock". "soft AC"

Joe was my cross-town competition when I programmed here; and one of the first to shoot me a kind email after the budget axe cost me my job earlier this year.

Joe's a class act - and I wish him and the others affected from WVIC the best of luck in securing a new gig.

Late "Monday Monday" Update

58° - clear at 8:38pm

Good evening from Okemos.

Summer Arbitrons. First reports this afternoon. 12+ showing show classic rock remaining stable in the top three markets.

New York's WAXQ is flat; likewise in LA with KLOS - and in Chicago the WDRV/WWDV simulcast dips slightly 12+ from spring - but ahead of the prior winter and fall books.

The big story is New York with great numbers for oldies/classic hits WCBS-FM (welcome back) and erosion for AC WLTW. Catch the numbers in the usual places.

Dave Lange. Dave has some suggestions for Arbitron on reaching and recruiting those problem 18-34 year olds; still a big trouble area for the folks in Columbia. Dave's thoughts go beyond cell phones. Read here.

Bruce. Streetpulse reporting via All Access that Mr. Springsteen's new CD "Magic" remains #1 on the sales chart for a second week. Think its classic rock demos driving these sales?

HD Radio. More committment from the HD Radio Alliance to promote hardware and programming. Read R&R here.

Kudos to those efforts - and especially to those broadcasters investing dollars in HD2 programming.

That said - I still agree with Mark Ramsey - his comment quoted here last week - and repeated here:

"HD must transparently appear everywhere. And the only way that will happen is if it's feasible to build it into a $15 dollar clock radio. The "HD advantage" must be free and invisible to consumers."

Jaye Albright: "If you're not talking about what's going on in your local community right now, someone else is." And Jaye asks: "Shouldn't we be doing this?

More tomorrow.

Monday Monday

68° - sunny at 11:30am

Good Morning.

Photo to the left: nothing to do with this Dan. But I like the way it looks. Mark Ramsey teases and links you to a very famous "Dan" here.

Fall ARB starts on Thursday. More fall promotional activity from classic rockers in the days to come.

Crossing the line. Then making good. Fred Jacobs writes about the NFL - and air personalities who "cross the line" with content - but the loudly find a way to redeem themselves. Read here.

Bob & Tom were pretty good years ago - with sometimes "crossing the line" - but raising big money for charity by selling CDs of their bits. They have mellowed a bit since the events triggered by "nipplegate"; but continue to sell CDs for charity to this day.

WCBS-FM/NYC: via the message boards at Radio-Info.Com - David Eduardo notes that the revived station "extrapolates to a tie for #2 25-54 in New York for August" (its first full month). Read more here.

Is that Univision Radio's David Eduardo (aka David Gleason) or the screen name of another?

More here tomorrow.

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.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

68° - sunny at 12noon

Explain those things to the new intern in promotions......

Welcome to the weekend.

WCBS-FM. One week into the revival of New York's "oldies" station, McVay Media's Mike McVay offers his take:

"WCBS-FM is using the positioning statement The Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s & 80s. This is an excellent statement in that it clearly explains to the audience WHAT it is that they play, and it expresses a quality statement."

"The word “Greatest” indicates quality. “Hits” indicates popularity."

"Using three decades of music to explain what you play signifies "Quantity" as well as "Variety."

And: Is it "classic hits" or "oldies"? Read Mike's piece here.

Plus - via the McVay website: Consultant Jaye Albright here on 70s oldies with analysis of the music on WCBS-FM - and comparisons with past efforts. Worth your time.

Mark Ramsey: "All stations need to understand that a "position" is not a set of words, it's a destination in the minds of the audience." Read more.

Beer lessons for radio. Fred Jacobs relays the story of Narragansett Beer - how it lost its way - and is now on the road to recovery.

Read Fred's piece here; and be sure to check out the original WSJ article too.

More here Sunday Morning. Have a terrific weekend.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

60° - sunny at 9am

This week just flew by....

A couple of things this morning....

The ultimate bribe: A great summer promotion comes from Tucson's KHYT. They've hooked up with Blue Bell Ice Cream to bring the ice cream truck to area construction sites.

Can ice cream bring world peace? Maybe not - but its another great way to bond with your target demo. Check out KHYT's promotion here.

If you can't do ice cream - how about soft drinks? Or a van run with ice cold bottled water and hit the road crews in your area? Easy and quick to hand out. Hot weather relief. Just brainstorming.

Added: Streaming update. Sound Exchange tells Congress webcasters may keep streaming after Sunday. More from RAIN here.

WCBS-FM. Listening to the relaunch yesterday (and ignoring the technical glitches) - the selection of oldies and classic hits seem to be very compatible.

Some oldie purists might take issue with some of the 70s & 80s titles (or inclusion of the 80s period) - but there comes a point where oldies (and classic rock) have to move forward and introduce "new" gold.

What really makes sense: much of the newer "classic hits" artists/titles are New York area based:

Springsteen (Glory Days/Pink Cadillac/Born To Run/Born In The USA/Brilliant Disguise); Billy Joel (Only The Good Die Young/Its Still R&R To Me/Piano Man/Big Shot); Blondie (Heart of Glass/The Tide Is High); Eddie Money (Take Me Home Tonight); and perhaps Donna Summer (Hot Stuff). NYC!

Noting many Springsteen titles. I remember so-well hearing "lots o' Bruce" on WNEW-FM circa 1976 - so much reflecting the vibe of the city.

A couple titles stood out (like a sore thumb): "Good Thing" & "She Drives Me Crazy" (Fine Young Cannibals); "Sweet Dreams" (Eurythmics); maybe "Carribean Queen" (Billy Ocean) - among others. Just my gut - but I'm not sure I would have spun these on day one. Maybe later.

Others opining on the first day of WCBS-FM include Sean Ross and David Martin.

"Not playing Hit the road Jack? A significant missed opportunity"
- David Martin

More Sunday Morning. Have a great weekend.