Wednesday Blogs

70° - overcast at 8:20am

Good Morning from rainy Mid-Michigan.

Caught the Don Felder interview last night on Bloomberg; interesting insight into the politics of The Eagles. Video here.

Added: More spring winners: KQRS/Minneapolis up over a point a half to break a 10 share 12+. WRFX/Charlotte rebounds after a few rough books.

News: WAXQ/New York PD Bob Buchmann resigns, leaving Q104.3 in great shape with great numbers. I hope he's moving on to something wonderful after years of success in the Big Apple.

Around my blog-o-sphere:

Jaye Albright's "Favre" Stunt. Read here.

Dave Martin. Dave shares a great "trade secret" regarding Mel Karmazin negotiating with a potential hire. Read here. As a PD (and in life), we've reached that point in negotiations.

And if you missed it, Dave shared another trade secret/tip with this blog in comments a few weeks back. Scroll to the bottom of this page to read. Share with your air talent and web people. Well worth your time.

Sounds like a great radio station:

"A healthy balance of depth tracks and familiar hits. A true connection to community. A strong moral compass. Relatable human values. Direct audience relationships."

Paragon's Mike Henry on "Boss Radio" here. (I've had the "experience" Mike writes of four times in my own life...)

Added: Consultant Alan Mason writes about branding and radio. A great piece:

"...the tangible parts of your “product” are what first attract people, but the intangible parts are what bring them back again and again, and build loyalty. In a radio brand the music or talk/news programming are the tangibles, and any facet of them, except how it adds to the experience, are still tangibles. So slight variations, shades of gray, aren’t meaningful to the consumer. That’s why smart brand marketers, like Apple, always advertise based on the intangible parts - those that live in the mind of the consumer."

"How’s your imaging today? As you listen, are you focusing on the experience and intangible parts of your station? Or are you, like most of us, still talking about the beans and the water?"

Read more here. And in a second post (here) - Alan writes:

"The “everything counts” principle simply lays it out that there is no neutral, or any get of of jail free card in anything we do. That no only includes the commercials, but also how the receptionist answers the phone. Or rather how the voice mail answers the phone these days. It includes how your your talent act at the remotes. It includes you having voice-tracked “weak ends” instead of weekends. It includes jocks who aren’t show prepping and sound like it."

"It includes the jock who tried to make a date on the Internet who turned out to be a cop. It includes the salesperson who demeans the product by giving it away at a ridiculously low price."

"Anything that doesn’t reinforce and solidify the brand then detracts from the brand."

Read his second post here. And Alan promises more tomorrow!

Have a good night.

Sunday Afternoon Odds & Sods

48° - mostly cloudy at 1:19pm

Happy weekend from Michigan.

Listening. This morning to Bruce Springsteen's first album as I'm ripping music to use on my soon-to-come internet station. I've forgotten what a great record 1973's "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." is.

My internet station - purely a hobby - remains nameless, but formatics are coming together in my head. Still determining whats practical for a one-man band. Still 2-4 months away from debut.

PPM Lessons. In this week's FMQB, Arbitron's Gary Marince talks about branding, focus, call letters, music and more. A great read here. Quoting Gary:

"It’s all about anticipating what the brand promises and delivers. Bottom line, listeners will tune to your station at their convenience. If they tune to the station in the middle of a four spot break, and they know through experience that they’re very close to hearing their favorite song, they will stay with the station through the commercial break. So it’s not the minute-by-minute analysis and programming that made the audience hang through the commercials, it is the brand and the expectations people have for the brand."

April Fools Day. Before you plan anything for Tuesday, read this from Radio-Info's Dana Hall.

No Repeat April. Heard from friend Roger King on Thursday. Roger is production director (or some title like that) at Clear Channel's KRFX/Denver.

Roger was in the midst of putting together imaging for a "no repeat April" - with the station promising not to repeat any song 10a-7pm weekdays for the entire month of April.

I asked if that meant lots of "deep cuts". The reply: "deep and wide, baby!".

Spring book begins Thursday. But you knew that.

DJ Update. Rick Kaempfer (pictured) catches up with Bob Skafish for an update on his (almost) new job as afternoon driver on Chicago's WDRV (97.1 The Drive). Plus updates from Scott Childers and Wendy Snyder.

Read the Chicago Radio Spotlight here.

Spring cleaning this weekend at the Kelley home. Time to get back to it.

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.

Very Cool Mr. Hager!

On Tuesday, this blog posted a piece inspired by a recent Sean Ross article on "The Show After The Show" - read here.

With Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in town tonight, WGRF/Buffalo (97 Rock) PD John Hager sets the bar a little higher with this post-concert feature:

It will be a great night for 97 Rock listeners - who will not only experience a great concert; but will also continue the moment with a great drive home with the car stereos cranked up to WGRF.

I'm certain Little Steven's Underground Garage affiliate guru Mark Felsot played no small role in this either. Congrats to both John and Mark (as well as Mr. Van Zandt) for putting something truly memorable for 97 Rock listeners.

Awesome radio!

Tuesday Tuesday

22°- overcast at 8:09am

Good Morning From Michigan.

The Show After The Show. Turning on the radio after leaving a concert and hearing a set of music by the artist you just saw has always been great. One of the best things about album rock radio back in the 70s and 80s.

Its capturing the moment - and might include a phoner and show wrap from the venue by another station jock. Capturing and sharing the moment with the audience.

Sean Ross reviews what some NYC stations did following a recent Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood tour stop.

Read here.

Mark Ramsey. Mark posts a great piece about listener engagement citing Oprah as an example. At the very least, it might make you rethink the name of your online "listener club". But Mark's piece goes beyond that. Read here.

Related: Building Relationships. They do take time. And my feeling is that the long term health of any radio station is time spent building and harvesting relationships with its listeners.

Hard to do in a world that desires quick fixes and fast results.

Seth Godin shares a note from a member of the Bruce Springsteen "Tribe"....its a great read here.

Speaking of Seth. The "Agent of Change" has posted a piece on the music business. Its an excellent piece here.

Posted later: Bad day for both Led Zeppelin and Green Bay Packer fans. Lee Arnold blogs here.

Added: Bob Lefsetz on "Plant says no". Here.

Monday Monday

72°- overcast at 3:50pm

Good afternoon from Okemos. Big win 21-6 (I think) for my 8-year old's flag football team yesterday; my guy responsible for some of those points.

Not to make light of a tragedy: but watching news of the Malibu fires I swear I heard a Fox anchor say Sunday that those fires "shut down 25 rehab centers." Huh? I couldn't have heard that right or did I??

Fred Jacobs wrote this morning:

"How can a radio station create an experience that's more entertaining than someone's iPod or TiVo? These are the questions we should be asking listeners in perceptual studies. And they are questions we should be asking ourselves in strategy meetings."

"Which station is the concert station?" or "Which station plays too many bad songs mixed in with the good ones?" is no longer relevant to the larger issues that are facing broadcast radio."

Fred's entire post here. Our industry/our world is changing fast. In the past few weeks, I put together a station perceptual based on some of the information that came out of Mark Ramsey's PPM presentation at the NAB....questions the station wasn't asking before.

More classic rock depth. Sean Ross follows up on this discussion here.

Rocktober: All Access reporting today that the Colorado Rockies are attempting to register the name of classic rock radio's long-used promotion as their own. The trademark registration would give the team exclusive use of the term on various merchandise. Does this mean no more station "Rocktober" t-shirts?

ARB diary scam: Again from All Access. In a note to trades - a person claiming to be the PD's wife takes blame for diaries sent from household in spring survey; says it was an accident gone wrong - didn't intend to mail; but son saw them and left for postman. Filled out and sealed apparently. Wife also states hubby PD had no knowledge.

All a little hard-to-swallow.

Additionally - PD's wife was sales rep for same station; both apparently resigned at request of the station's GM.

That Northern Michigan station appears to be an unfortunate victim in this; no doubt a very difficult time for them.

Springsteen. Bruce #1 in Street Pulse again for the third week!

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.

Mail, PPM, Zeppelin + Bruce & WPLJ

51° - overcast at 11am

E-Mail. A nice note yesterday from legendary programmer John Rook.

John shares notes from a conversation he had with another legend - Chicago radio talent Larry Lujack - after Mr. Lujack was named to the NAB Hall of Fame. Here.

Also a kind note early this morning from Dave Martin. Dave has a Lujack story on his blog too. Here. Earlier in the week email from Bob Stroud and Steve Seaver. Thank you.

Speaking of Chicago: Sad news. Rick Kaempfer passing along word that Citadel's oldies WZZN has made no offer to retain veteran air talent John "Records" Landecker. The Chicago Sun-Times story here. Its reported that John's 12+ ratings lead the station.

One of the coolest moments in my radio life was spending a few hours in the WLS studio back in the mid-70s watching Landecker do his shift (complete with "Boogie Check") and being able to chat with him off-mike. After moving here to Lansing a few years ago discovered than John also logged time here early in his career. An incredible talent.

PPM: Arbitron released latest PPM cume numbers in Philadelphia and Houston yesterday. Find them in the usual places.

Meanwhile - Arbitron and DMR Interactive have released a new study: "P1s in the PPM World: Insights into the listeners who matter most". Dave Martin breaks out the highlights and provides a link to the entire study here.

Fred Jacobs writes this morning about the "PPM Conundrum" - concluding with a question to ponder. Its a great read. Here. And I'm to believe that balance is the answer.

Led Zeppelin. Another radio station promotion taking advantage of the rock reunion of the decade:

Congrats to KYZX/Colorado Springs. I just really hope that if they (or anyone else) bought tickets off eBay, they've read this and have it covered.

Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere". On August 24th, I wrote here about a "certain New York City AC station" leaking the record before its official release to radio; learned through one of the playlist monitor services that morning. Just caught this from Bob Shannon writing on All Access:

"....according to Wikipedia, WPLJ's Scott Shannon and Todd Pettengill played this song twice on August 24th. After the first airing, a voice representing himself as a disgruntled Sony representative called in ordering them not to play it again I'm not sure if this was real or a bit. Either way, Scott and Todd told the caller they wouldn't play the song again as long as he was on the phone with them. Then, they hung up and played "Radio Nowhere" for a second time."

Now you know....(Paul Harvey pause).....the rest of the story.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

81 - sunny at 11am

Happy Sunday.

This afternoon its game #2 of my 8-year old's flag football season. Last week his team ("The Chiefs") won 20-8.

Listening. Yesterday - to WDRV/Chicago's HD2 "Deep Cuts" channel - hosted by Steve Seaver. Still hearing tunes on that channel that I haven't heard in years.

Yesterday's highlight was a Simon & Garfunkel track - "The Only Living Boy in New York". Kudos to whoever has their fingers on The Drive's HD2 Selector database. And the research.

Weird....haven't heard that track for at least 30 years but I could still sing along in my head. My second Simon & Garfunkel moment in as many weeks. And I haven't had any S&G in my collection since I got rid of all my vinyl.

Also listened a bit to WCSX/Detroit yesterday and "Saturday Morning Over Easy". Plus WBFX/Grand Rapids.

This morning its coffee with "Rock & Roll Roots" on WDRV - Bob Stroud celebrating John Lennon's birthday (67 this coming Tuesday. Lots of great tunes.

At 11am eastern - its a switch to another "Rock & Roll Roots" on Milwaukee's WKLH. Steve Palec featuring the music of Harry Nilsson - lots from the Nilsson/John Lennon era of the mid-70s.

Streaming is a wonderful thing; if anything to listen to 'KLH and commercials for car dealer Ernie Von Schledorn. So Wisconsin.
Memo to WKLH: Please fix your streaming insertion.

Alan Mason. In his latest post - Alan writes about listening to your critics - your detractors - about what they're saying (or writing on the 'net) about your radio station. Alan blogs:

"If someone says something bad about your station, the worst thing you can do is react defensively. Instead you need to keep listening to those conversations, and thank your detractors for making you better. Some conversations are worth avoiding all together. Others are ones you can join into, but not direct or lead. Talking isn’t the goal, listening is."

More from Alan here. I suggested some ideas here a few months back ways to keep an ear on the 'net about your station.

I recall something that CBS Radio President Dan Mason said during one of the recent R&R sessions in Charlotte: "I may be the only president that reads radio message boards but I want to know what the people are saying about our radio stations".

Bruce. Tonight "60 Minutes" talks to Mr. Springsteen. CBS-TV 7pm Eastern (or right after NFL Football).

Might be worth rolling tape/TiVo for bites.

Imus. Lots of mixed reports whether its a done deal or not - but Citadel apparently very close to a deal to put Imus back on the air by the end of the year; likely on WABC.

Citadel boss Farid Suleman quoted as saying “He did something wrong. He didn’t break the law."

Added: Lee Arnold here with "Why Can't I Get Tickets To The Concert?"

Lee's story - from the New York Times - mentions that fans have sometimes found tickets to a concert or event at many times face value - just minutes after the public sale has begun. Say what?

Added: Rick Kaempfer profiles WFGR/Grand Rapids Program Director Len O'Kelly here.

Len a fellow Chicago person; I love his story about having a young airstaff and being "the old married guy".

Wednesday Blogs

56° - clear at 8:35pm

Late Wednesday post. A busy day here with an opportunity to learn some music research tools as part of my continuing education.

From my blogosphere:

Classic Rock "Jacked". Edison Media's Sean Ross notes some shifts toward classic rock by some Jack-FM and Bob-FM outlets. Sean writes:

"For all of the format's variety image, we've already asserted that they were, at the core, Classic Rock formats for those who grew up in the late '70s/'80s and have poppier sensibilities." Read here.

CGM. Fred Jacobs blogs on CGM promotions - sharing some tips from Ben McConnell and Shahi Ghanem - accompanied by his own comments.

A great read here.


"We can think we know what the listener wants, but you’ll only know when you start talking with them." - Consultant Alan Mason writing here.

In the news:

Bruce Springsteen: Streetpulse - via All Access reports the new CD #1 based on Tuesday sales. Very nice Boss!


Bill Figenshu. Congrats. Just announced new job as President/Broadcast Operations & Development for Peak Broadcasting - a relatively new company with stations in Fresno & Boise.

I don't know Fig - but I know his background and reputation. A one-time "progressive rock" jock. Brilliant Programmer. Later ran Viacom Radio. His resume here.

In comments posted today both on All Access and (in-depth) on Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0 - Fig offered these thoughts post-NAB:

"The leaders of radio companies are looking very tired. Seven years of creating no value for their stockholders and investors is taking the toll. Other than DAN MASON, radio companies need to put operators in charge again. It will be a hard decision for current CEOs to give up some power, but until creative people start to run radio companies again, with a vision beyond sales and revenue, there will be more of the same. Revenue is important, but we are being challenged creatively, and have not responded effectively."

"Radio is good at serving it’s communities every day. Radio is bad at positioning itself. Radio people are great at positioning their stations, bad at positioning themselves."

"The press has created stars out of financial operators. We have made company leaders personalities, who now believe they can operate radio from the budget line, not the content line. Senior executives with creative content ideas, on-air and online, will be the trend in 2008. Not bankers."

"Radio must start paying attention to trends of young people. On-line and on-air, they are telling us about song repetition, format diversity and lack of local content. We talk about it, but we don’t go far enough. The content must get better. In 2008 and beyond, it will be about quality, not quantity."

Let's hope. And thanks Fig.

Condolences: To family and friends of well-known air talent Tawn Mastrey - who passed away yesterday. Click here.

I recall Tawn's work from radio syndication (Westwood One) and MTV. Her resume includes KNAC, Pirate Radio/LA, KSJO, Sirius Satellite and others.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

58° - clear at 9:22am

Welcome to Friday; Sun shining this morning for what seems to be the first time in days. Nice autumn weather.

More news to programmers from the NAB during the weekend.

The Boss. Appeared this morning on NBC-TV's "Today Show". I knew about it; missed it - but just caught the video here on the web. Very cool.

Paul Shaffer. That nutty guy from the Letterman Show. Now doing radio. "Paul Shaffer's Day In Rock" - a sixty second daily feature distributed by Envision Radio. Just picked up starting Monday by WAXQ/New York City.

Demo is great. Listen here. Book it by calling Greg Ausham at (216) 831-3761 or grega@envisionradio.com.

Cara Carriveau. Cara's latest podcast has her chatting with Jim Peterik - formerly of Survivor and The Ides of March, along with former Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison and Night Ranger singer/drummer Kelly Keagy.

All three are performing together next week at MelodicRockFest in South Bend, Indiana. Listen at Cara's Basement here.

Dave Martin. Yesterday Dave wrote here about employers, job seekers and manners:

"In recent years I continue to hear from folks who are out of work and not able to get employers to return a phone call nor respond to an email. Folks are doing as they are told, following instructions and making application for employment - never to hear anything in response. So it would seem the days of a proper rejection letter is over. The majority of the time it seems employers today are not offering any response whatsoever. Folks apply for a job and nothing happens...."

"It's bad manners and there is simply no excuse. Understanding there will always be a few bad actors out there, in the ranks of the employed and unemployed, it seems today there are just too many rude folks at work on the employer side."

Guilty. Me. On the employer side I've had applicants fall through the cracks that I never responded to. Most I did. But that doesn't matter to the ones I failed. As Dave said - there is no excuse.

Its something that might not seem mission critical until you become the job seeker. One soon discoveres how valuable a response - any response - is to the applicant. Think of the impression of you and your company in the eyes of the applicant.

Noted for my future. And thanks Dave.