Monday Monday

77° - mostly sunny at 11:44am

The Boys Are Back. Arrived back from our day trip to Midway Airport, Chicago to pick up our two boys (9 & 12) coming back from 3-weeks at my wife's parents in Denver. Pulled in the driveway at home about 1am Sunday Morning.

Home life has returned to normal; the last few weeks have been like the inside of a station control room with the monitor turned down.

During the road trip back and forth had a chance to listen to a lot of radio - both the small and medium markets between here and Chicago. Heard some great stations as well as some not-so-good.

In the latter category - spent some time with a variety hits/AC station where every segue was a train wreck; even my wife asking "what is this"? I replied "George Benson/On Broadway". "Not the song...the station". The station just needed a little attention to detail...(a sweeper or dry "voice guy" liner would have done the station wonders). Road trips are great for PDs; hearing the good and the bad.

In Chicago our radio was stuck on WDRV. A station both me and my wife can agree on. If you're a regular reader to this blog, I'm certain you're not surprised.

Wise words. Dave Martin blogged last week on recruitment and coaching. A great read here. Two highlights:

"Every talent benefits from having a coach but too few enjoy that advantage. Talent want to be led not managed. We need to catch them doing something right."

"Are you providing your stars with an environment to be successful?"

Life Lessons: Mike Mallace writes about a recent experience on "going the extra mile". Read here.

XM/Sirius - keeping it positive: Greater Media CEO Peter H. Smyth released a statement late Friday after the merger was announced:

“Obviously, I strongly disagree with the FCC’s decision and I am very disappointed by it. Although I fail to see the public interest benefits of a satellite monopoly, I am confident that free radio will continue to be the local connection for our listeners, the most reliable source of information, entertainment, and support in our communities, and the most innovative and powerful marketing vehicle for our advertisers. These are qualities that satellite radio - a national, subscription based service, can never achieve.”

I couldn't agree more. In talking to others over the weekend, most reflect Peter's thoughts as well as mine posted here late Friday.

Added: More Spring ARBs today. KSLX/Phoenix shows its best 12+ numbers in recent history. Classic Hits WGRR/Cincinnati up a half point.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

82° - clear at 12:30pm

Chicago. Returned from our brief 4th of July road trip last night. Lots of time on the road with typical Chicago road construction and related traffic delays.

While piled behind hundreds of cars attempting to get through a toll booth on the Indiana toll road, my wife remarked that "at least the music is good". We were listening to Chicago's WDRV. (surprise? I think not)

And while I listen to that station a lot on the internet here in Michigan, the station (and others) always seems to sound better when you're actually in their market.

More great radio. Fred Jacobs turns us on to Entercom's KSEG/Sacramento and some on-air special programming that keeps the format fresh. A great read (plus audio) here.

Aircheck Critiques. Dave Lange posted a piece back on Tuesday about aircheck critiques of air talent. Something that should be a top priority, yet is taking a back seat these days with PDs juggling multiple stations and increased workloads. Dave offers some great tips here.

Imaging. Jaye Albright (via Paul Orr) turns us on to another blog - and some thoughts on keeping imaging fresh even when you're suffering from "writer's block":

"Ask ANY writer: the only solution to a creative block is to just start writing. So, what did you create today to make your station's brand imaging more topical and fun? And, like Morneau (and Orr), what did you do to share it with other people?"

Jaye's piece is here. And be sure to check out the comment section. Start your own blog and get noticed. Avoid secrets you can't reveal but share your work once its on the air.

More Seth Godin. The other day I mentioned one of Seth's pieces and hinted at another one. Here's a bit of that second one:

"What happens when marketers stop arguing on behalf of their corporate or organizational client and start arguing on behalf of the customer instead?"

Seth's post here. I'm not suggesting for one moment that we forget this is a business - but Program Directors need to argue on half of the listener and become their advocate. If not the PD, who?

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Night Odds & Sods

21° - scattered clouds at 9pm

I truly appreciate the pings despite my absence. I'm anticipating a return to daily posts again in the very near future as one contract position ("the night job") slows down. But its all been good.

Over the weekend - in addition to getting caught up on sleep, family and such - I've been catching up with radio. I'm finding that if I miss a morning I miss a lot!"

Congrats to Greg Ausham. Back in radio programming Rock WRQK-FM/Canton - plus Talk WHLO-AM/Akron. Thanks to Lee Arnold for the email on Wednesday. Lee also shares the news on his blog here.

Although I've known Greg's name forever, I've only got to know him in the last three years via his (now former) job with Envision Radio; he's simply a great radio guy and a great hire for Clear Channel. Yes - I'm just a wee bit envious - he gets to program!

Madonna. In the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Despite being a fan of her music (I have this alter-ego...lol) - I shook my head in disbelief when I heard the news this past week.

I guess that begs a discussion about the question "what is rock & roll?"

Dave Lange's Xmas List. For PDs. Read here. No arguments here about anything on Dave's list. Among the standouts Santa can bring is #5: More talent.

My take: Radio without talent is just someone else's iPOD.

And with talent comes this from Fred Jacobs. Fred - writing here about the return of Bubba The Love Sponge to terrestrial radio - notes:

"...radio personalities are being let go, left and right, in markets big and small. In what can only be called a "radio recession," many owners and managers are clearly concluding that highly paid personalities - especially in so-called music dayparts - just aren't worth the freight. Thus, big names are hitting the streets at a particularly crucial point in radio's lifespan."

With one company laying off talent as a "re-expression" (a term coined by one market manager from that company to explain the layoffs) - it might present a great opportunity for an aggressive competitor to acquire some great name talent that has suddenly become available.

There are still some great companies not - as Fred puts it "Mortgaging the future in order to"re-express" better results this quarter".

Fred also blogging on Friday about "Led Zeppelin: Opportunity Lost or Found" - running down stations that took advantage of this monumental musical event - and thinking about those that didn't.

Fred offers comments from an industry friend, reviewing playlists via Mediabase, remarking "many music logs looked like they might have been scheduled two weeks before. There simply wasn't any extra Zeppelin content".

Fred adds: "as he pointed out to me, a new definition of "In Through The Out Door" may as well have been "Out The Door At 5." Sad to read; reminds me of what I wrote here this morning regarding weekend service elements in a weather emergency.

Also mentioned are some upcoming opportunities for classic rock stations to sound current. A great read right here. Mark your calendar, pull the staff together and use your imagination.

Jay Mitchell: This past Monday Jay emailed me a copy of his new newsletter "Radio Voices" - aimed at on-air talent and filled with some great wisdom and advice.

Jay also offering a free teleseminar for air talent on January 3rd. Details here at his Killerjock website.

More Jay Mitchell: On his blog this past week Jay writes about "The Procustean Problem". A great read here and something I've seen too many times.

Still reading: The story of the Lee Arnold and the WQFM/WLPX (Milwaukee) early 80s rock war in "WHOoPLA: The Greatest Rock Radio Stunt Ever" here at 93QFM: The Halcyon Daze. A great story authored by Scott Beddome. Chapters 1-15 now online for your reading pleasure.

E-Mail: Received a note on Thursday from WHLK/Madison's Jim Bartlett. The station (93.1/The Lake) was hosting an all-day radiothon to benefit the Madison police canine unit. JB writes:

"We've taken the morning show's last letter game and stretched it out all day. (Somebody requests a song, and the next request has to start with the last letter of the previous one.) We've got cops and dogs in the studio, and plenty of music we don't usually get to play. It's already produced some of the coolest radio I've heard in a long time."

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to listen online - but doing something special out of the ordinary (and creating the staging for an opportunity to "dig deep") is very cool. Thanks again for sharing Jim!

Advice of the week: "Be so good they can't ignore you." That advice from the brilliant Dave Martin - who notes here that he's been offering that response year after year when asked about how to get the big job or the big break.

Dave's blog is required reading each day.

More tomorrow. Its on the calendar.

Wednesday Blogs

35° - overcast at 7:07pm

Good evening from Michigan!

Top 40 TV...uh....radio. There's been some buzz on the engineering boards about a New York City low-power TV station on channel 6 thats about to come on the air with a top 40 format. But it will be run as a radio station. Website here.

TV 6 audio is at 87.7 and is received by most FM radios; and this same concept was run successfully in Anchorage, AK not long ago. See here. Only problem is that Arbitron won't list a TV station, even if its run as a radio station.

From my blogosphere:

Your positioning line. Mark Ramsey writes:

"And anyone who thinks your radio brand is no more than your positioning line should be reminded that this is not the 70's, and just because you're stuck on Band-Aid, doesn't mean Band-Aid's stuck on you."

A good read here.

Arbitron. I still believe one of the most reasonable remarks over the current PPM issues is summed up by Consultant Harv Blain:

"Why they (Arbitron) aren't asking the consultants who work for a lot of their customers for brain trust power escapes me."

Harv Blain writes here.

McVay Media's Dave Lange adds his two cents on the PPM issues - concluding:

"The advertisers just want real - believable data and the diary and old sample systems can't do the job. But, the problem boils down to the old foundation of any research - getting a representative sample. Hopefully we can deliver it as an industry and quick - there are other places to spend media dollars out there."

Read Dave's entire piece here. Jaye Albright also has a great post on the Arbitron's PPM problems ("ARB's PPM New York Fiasco Didn't Have To Happen") here.

Air Talent Who Want To Win. A great piece by Jay Mitchell here.

What Were You Thinking?

Over the years as an Operations and Program Director, I've had the occasion - more than once - to ask air talent "what were you thinking?" (This has always been followed by my own self-analysis of what I didn't do as a manager to prevent the incident from occuring.)

From "Inside Radio" this morning:

A really bad idea - using "nappy-headed ho" as "the phrase that pays."
17-year WSBG, Stroudsburg, PA personality Gary Smith was riffing on the Imus blowup and that's why Nassau canned him instead of issuing a suspension. At the same time - the Pocono Record newspaper notes that Smith laid down quite a record of community service in northeastern Pennsylvania.

An apparent momentary lapse in judgement that turned into an unfortunate situation for the station, its listeners - and the air talent.