In The Game (without the play-by-play)

81° - cloudy/overcast at 1pm

Good afternoon from Okemos....

Football season has arrived - and there's a number of Classic Rockers that are flagships or affiliates of NFL and College teams.

The demos and lifestyle are a perfect fit.

And there's some Classic Rock stations using this great match to tie themselves to a local team each week - right up to kickoff - without any play-by-play rights!

In Philadelphia: "Bird" fans can get their dose of classic rock plus "the PERFECT AMOUNT of Birds FOOTBALL ANALYSIS + INSIGHT!" with WMGK's "Classic Kickoff" - live from a sports bar blocks from the stadium.

'MGK is telling listeners and fans to: "Stop by and see us before the game + by all means BLAST MGK IN THE STADIUM LOTS while you're tailgating!" Very cool.

WFBQ/Indianapolis was the flagship station for The Colts until this year. But the station isn't letting the lack of play-by-play rights get in the way this year.

WFBQ promises "the best Colts coverage" - with a pre-game show live from The Marriott in downtown Indy.

Up north - South Bend is home of The Fighting Irish - and WAOR has the "Blue Gold Hour" every Saturday Morning.

A "Notre Dame Pre Game Show with interviews, analysis and special guests!" - and hosted by WAOR's AM drive team.

KSHE/St. Louis is presenting "The Miller Lite Ultimate Tailgate Party" before each Rams home game - broadcasting live 3 hours prior to kickoff.

"Drink the coldest beer around and enjoy our "Taste of Tailgating" featuring the best wings, brats, pulled pork, and Philly cheese steak sandwiches!". Sounds like a real party!

And WZBA/Baltimore is hosting 3-hour pre-game tailgate parties for Ravens fans - raising money for a local charity too!

I'm reminded of a story that Randy Michaels told during a session of Dan O'Day's Radio Grad School more than a decade ago - about his early Taft and Jacor days - and AM radio wars in Cincinnati.

His station didn't have the play-by-play of a local team - but according to Randy you couldn't tell it on the air. They were all over the team the other guys had the rights to - with pre-game and post-game coverage - plus reporting and imaging through the week.

Randy said his station got a lot of diary credit from the competitor's PBP simply because they did a better job of imaging the station with the team!

Go that far with a classic rock station? Maybe yes. Maybe not. But its great inspiration of what could be - especially if the PBP is with an AM station in your market. Idea: "own" the team on FM.

A DVD and audio cassette of that Randy Michaels session "Positioning Your Radio Station" still available through Dan O'Day's website.

Have a great football season - and go Broncos!

Monday Monday

67° - sunny at 9:20am

Happy Monday.

Labor Day Weekend: what are you doing on air?

What we've seen so far: Top 500 Countdown (KIOL); "Perfect 10" Listener Playlists (WZBA); and a celebration of "The Top 30 Concerts at the Aud" - from Buffalo's WGRF. Here.

A to Z twist: After doing Classic Rock A to Z - then Z to A - WCPV/Burlington, VT is doing an A to Z "on shuffle". More here.

Who Are You? Following (or not) Buffalo's WGRF, KZOK/Seattle is asking for and posting listener profiles on their website. I wrote here a month or so ago about this concept about a month ago - and why it makes sense.

Read here. See the KZOK feature here.

Memo to Deep Purple's Ian Gillian: Get a clue. Fred Jacobs: "Ian Gillan now insists that Classic Rock radio stations are a "death sentence" for older bands because they just play vintage material rather than new music." More here.

Added: more comments from programmers on PPM today in Net News from All Access.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

57° - rain/drizzle at 11am

Good Morning from Michigan; feels like an inside day today.

It appears there's more rain headed across the lake later.

Listening yesterday to WKLH/Milwaukee and their "Storytellers" weekend. Marilyn Mee on the air - very much "live & local" chatting about the previous night's Brewers game. WKLH doing a great job with "Storytellers" - very casual with the air talent introducing segments - not overproduced.

Check it out today online after 1pm eastern.

Its not difficult to pull off what 'KLH is doing. Whether you pull sound bites together on your own or using a production service such as ABC Radio's Avalanche - a great resource for artist and song setups. Turn an ordinary weekend into something special.

Quoting David Martin (again) from his blog yesterday: "Take advantage of lazy competitors".

Listening this morning to the new Ann Wilson (see below); followed by Bob Stroud's Rock & Roll Roots on WDRV/Chicago.

Your dog, your listeners and loyalty. A terrific post from Mark Ramsey:

"Your dog isn't loyal because you ask her for loyalty. She's not loyal because you enter her into a contest where she has a one-in-a-thousand chance of a doggie treat."

"Yes, she'll jump through hoops for you, but she doesn't do it because you demand loyalty. She does it because she loves you." More from Mark here.

Phase one summer ARBs: The numbers start to roll out tomorrow.

New music: The Eagles. WZBA/Baltimore has the first single ("How Long") off their forthcoming CD posted on their website. Listen and download here.

The album - titled "Long Road Out of Eden" to be released in late October.

As we mentioned with Bruce the other day - another release classic rock radio should embrace and celebrate.

Heart's Ann Wilson has her first solo album ("Hope & Glory") coming out September 11th. It features covers of songs by Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others - and guest appearances by many.

Check out a few tracks here. Ann's vocals still rock - as strong and great as ever.

Be sure to listen to "Immigrant Song". With apologies to Mr. Plant, you can clearly hear all the words.....

Added: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight interviews Scott Dirks (WLUP, WRKR, WXCD, WZZN). A good read with lots of war stories - here.

Enjoy your Sunday.

CGM Weekends

It's a CGM Weekend!

Perhaps I wouldn't use that term on-air, but "consumer generated weekends" can accomplish a couple of goals: more weekend tune-in and listener loyalty in the radio station.

As we've written before: CGM means ownership; and ownership turns listeners into advocates.

Here's some examples to start your next brainstorming session: WCSX/Detroit is currently asking its Workforce Listeners to contribute for a "MyTunes" weekend. Look here. How cool is it for Joe listener when his/her name is mentioned on the air as programmer of the next set of music? Ditto with this from KQRS/Minneapolis.

Listening online a week or so ago, I really got hooked on WKLH/Milwaukee's "Ten Best". Ten great songs - centered around a year or theme; many qualify as "deep cuts" or "lost classics". And submitted by listeners. Look here.

Sidenote: "deep cuts" - used as spice with the proper set up or staging reinforce music credibility and can often change repetition perceptions. Too much spice can kill the meal. Your mileage may vary.

During February, Baltimore's 100.7 The Bay featured listener-programmed theme weekends from phone and email requests to "The Homemade Block Party Weekend". Look here. update: link now gone 4/5/07

With some effort - weekends can add more quarter hours from your audience. Ideas similar to what I've mentioned here can generate both TSL and listener loyalty - by making them part of the process.

Added: "The world of media is changing, and you’re not going to stop it, because you’re no longer in control – the consumer is." -Alan Mason via his blog yesterday.