Clear Channel

63° - clear/sunny at 8:25am

Welcome to another work week.

When I started writing this blog post this morning, I had six other topics I was going to include. My first topic however, was Clear Channel and I've run out of room. This is a piece I didn't want to write.

Still doing a lot of reading as details trickle out about Clear Channel's latest changes, including its "Premium Choice" programming, which essentially syndicates some of the company's better talent to stations around the country. I've found it difficult for me to critical of Clear Channel. My years with them were pretty good ones that I would be hard to trade for anything else.

If what I hear is true, its disappointing to hear that "Premium Choice" won't be localized, unlike the out-of-market voice-tracking the company had been doing - where the local PD would actually schedule the music and ship a log, liners and market information to the remote talent, resulting in a local sounding airshift with some good talent.

How weird to be nostalgic for that period!

This must explain the company's rush to "localism", which is essentially an increased PSA load. Advance damage control but hard to do much otherwise with a skeleton staff.

One PD who works crosstown to a Clear Channel cluster recently described Premium Choice to me as sounding like "bad 70s satellite." I hope not! On the other side of the coin, a large market PD with the company told me via Twitter "Wait till you hear how it sounds. I think you'll be stunned."

OK, fair enough. I haven't heard the product yet.

But apparently gone from any station "opting in" (your definition of "opting in" may vary) to Premium Choice is local scheduling of music. The national playlist rears its ugly head. Interesting that this comes from a company that spent a lot of time over the years denying that there was a corporate playlist (and when the did there really wasn't).

While its true that the hits are the hits are the hits, I don't need to mention that there's always been differences from market to market (that's what local music research was all about) and this research is what gave stations a competitive advantage. Added: in the very simple sense, it was finding out what your local audience wanted and giving it to them.

Given the present economy, Consultant Harve Allen noted in this piece he posted over the weekend that "It's the perfect storm--negative cash flow and bland & sterile local radio stations."

And Harve adds: "Are you mad yet? I hope a little bit."

Harve hints at something that I've said many times one way or another: it's unique hard-to-duplicate content that makes for a winning radio station. And I'm simply repeating something that (love him or hate him) Randy Michaels said to group of programmers at a Dan O'Day conference years ago.

Pulling back the local personalities and becoming music intensive (and with a national playlist at that) offers nothing unique and difficult-to-duplicate. Nothing. Anyone can do that!

There was a day when a smart crosstown competitor would take advantage of a situation like that. I really hope those days aren't over yet, but my guess is that the MBAs making the programming decisions at Clear Channel are betting that there's nobody in most of their markets who will come in and kick their ass.

Or maybe they simply don't care.

Wednesday Blogs

64° - overcast at 9:21am

Good Morning from Okemos.

More catching up....

National Vinyl Record Day. It was yesterday - a somewhat informal celebration organized by Madison's Jim Bartlett (who also does weekends on classic rock WHLK). Catch the action on his blog here.

Rick Kaempfer. Rick has posted a number of great radio pieces on his "Chicago Radio Spotlight" as of late. This includes an interview with the legendary Clark Weber; WXRT's Lin Brehmer; WIMS/Michigan City owner Ric Federighi; and actor/personality KC Lupp. Good stuff. Start scrolling back here.

Bob Buchmann. Yesterday All Access quoted a New York Daily News article on the now-former WAXQ/New York PD. He applied for the Q104.3 job ten years ago after the then-manager of WNEW-FM declared that "rock radio could no longer work in New York". And on philosophy:

"We always took the long view," said BUCHMANN, "You can get a quick bounce by a TV ad campaign, but that's not the way we wanted to do it. If you build one listener at a time, they'll stay with you."

Good words. Brands are not built overnight. The Daily News piece is here. Another great read.

New York's Rock & Roll Tour. Had an email back on Monday from Jonathan Paisner with a company called City Listen. The company is offering an audio "guided Rock & Roll Tour of Manhattan":

"Walk in the footsteps of Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and many more. New York City DJ Ken Dashow (WAXQ) takes you on a fascinating tour throughout the East and West Villages in Manhattan to some of the most legendary locales captured on vinyl."

Very cool. Website here. Reading that starts the brain thinking about what a station in a city with great rock heritage could do on air and on the web. Brainstorm with your staff if your city fits the mold.

Congrats. To Clear Channel programmer Tony Coles on his promotion to oversee the company's Chicago cluster. A great guy who will make great things happen.

Home today with a bug of some sort. More later.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

17° - light snow at 8:54am
left: downtown Lansing early this morning

Snow here again this morning. 3-4 inches possible today. Relief in sight with temps predicted in the 40s sometime next week.

That said - welcome to Friday. Reading this morning:

Reality check from Fred Jacobs:

"It's time to stop all of the hand-wringing about PPM, declining revenue, satellite radio, and all of the other excuses. Sure, these are problems, but the solutions are right in front of our faces. Who does event marketing better than radio? And what medium lends itself best to digital solutions."

Fred's complete post here.

Mark Ramsey on the radio & the internet: "What would we be and do if we didn't have a broadcast tower at all and only had a website? How would we build this thing?" Its a great read from Mr. Ramsey here.

The Clear Channel Pespective. From the company's EVP of Content Development Tom Owens. In this week's FMQB.

Read highlights here.

Wednesday Blogs

+9° - light snow/wind at 7:23am

Snow day for local schools here today. Last night's rain turned to ice covered by snow. This kids are happy - but its a mess for my commute downtown.

Thinkin' local again. Fred Jacobs sums it all up:

"As WiMax makes it way into cars, and AM/FM Radio is forced to compete against everything else on the Internet, our brands and local identity will be our lifeblood."

"Of course, that's assuming we still have viable brands, strong personalities, and a local presence left. Most broadcasters have worked their entire lives to build great radio stations, but in the past decade, many heritage call letters have eroded into mere shadows of their former selves. No longer do people define themselves by the radio station they listen to, hence the lack of bumper stickers on Camrys and Malibus."

"So, what's it going to be? Slash expenses, shut up, and save money. Or go against the tide of fear and panic, and rebuild great stations, grow and nurture personalities, build viable roots into the local community, and invest in radio's future."

Read Fred's complete piece "Crossroads" - here.

Lots of chatter in the blogosphere about the budget situation at Clear Channel.

Its an unfortunate situation that challenges market manager and programmers to continue to perform with even more limited resources. Time to get creative. Using the resources available to their fullest.

I'm certain we'll see some of radio's brightest and best continue to win in a less-than-ideal environment. The biggest task at hand: keeping staff motivated.

Reminder: As we posted late last night, Coleman Insights offering a free webinar today at 10am and 1pm eastern. "The DNA of PPM" looks to provide some great insights for programmers - both in PPM and diary markets.

Registration and login details here.

Added: Listened more than watched Jon Coleman's presentation this morning. Terrific insights! Complete presentation available after 5pm tonight on the Coleman Insights website.

Lee Abrams. Once again Lee offers some great insights in his weekly blog post:

"..if you are supposed to provide service, provide it-- or people will DIY." "Companies forget that in today’s environment, it’s easier and easier to DIY if you aren’t at the absolute top of your game."

(DIY: do it yourself - as in consumers using iPODS and other alternative media). Lee's complete post here.

Dreams Come True

28° - clear at 11pm

It happened in Dallas today. After 3-1/2 years, the Eagle has landed - again.

All Access reporting:

"It's like old times again in DALLAS, as CLEAR CHANNEL has revived Rock KEGL (THE EAGLE), effective immediately. The new format replaces Spanish-language Oldies "LA PRECIOSA."

"CC/DALLAS Pres./Market Manager J.D. FREEMAN told ALL ACCESS that the EAGLE left in MAY of 2004, and we've done research since then. We found two things: 1) that there was a large base of rock fans in DALLAS; and 2)The EAGLE still had a terrific reputation with that audience. That why we decided to use the EAGLE brand."

As much as I'd like to say "we called it" - the truth is we were just daydreaming a few weeks back:

Welcome back Eagle! See the new website here - it gets straight to the point!

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.

I'm Just Saying.....

Radio-Info.Com reporting over the weekend that late Friday Night - Clear Channel's KEGL/Dallas dropped its "La Preciosa" spanish-language format and went all Christmas. A typical prelude to a new permanent format.

CC Market Manager J.D. Freeman not disclosing what the next format on KEGL's frequency will be post-Santa. Me thinks that it might be a real shame to let those legendary KEGL call letters go to waste!

Add that Dallas adopts PPM in late 2008, rock on 97.1 might make a lot of sense, given the resurgence of the format so far in Arbitron PPM markets.

I'm just saying....

Added (12/3): Radio-Info.Com's Tom Taylor suggests this morning that La Preciosa might have been a victim of PPM: "...in this Summer’s Arbitrons, it was ranked #17 12+. That made it especially vulnerable to the Arbitron People Meter, which seems less friendly to ethnic formats than the diary." Read here (free registration required).

Bad Week in Columbia

37° - overcast at 10am

Arbitron. Nobody seems to be happy with the ratings giant these days.

Yesterday the trades reported on a letter sent to the company's Columbia headquarters by Clear Channel, Cox, Radio One and Cumulus - over PPM sample sizes.

The letter - sent to key Arbitron executives - opened with:

"All of us have been vocal supporters of the concept of electronic measurement in radio for several years, and we remain committed to the need for accurate, high quality electronic ratings as a way to program and sell our stations. As of this writing, the PPM system has been implemented in two markets for several months, with one month of information available in New York. To date, PPM has not provided accurate or reliable data for all demographic groups."

"We are calling on you to take immediate action to resolve this."

"The most immediate issue is sample size, especially with regard to 18-34 year olds and ethnic groups. The situation is clear: To secure a legitimate representation of listener activity, the number of people participating in the PPM survey must be increased."

Radio-Info.Com reports that the customers are demanding a larger sample - and to pay for it - they suggest eliminating the age 6-11 demographic and focus on the traditional 12+.

They would also like to see the company "key in on a better sample for ages 18-54, where most advertising business is done."

Added: Dave Lange on "Sample Sizes and PPM" - read here.

Earlier in the week - Arbitron was taken to task by WSRT/WKLT/WFCX Traverse City, MI GM Charlie Ferguson for sending survey participation invitations to two more staff members - plus one invite to "resident" at the station's address.

As you may recall - the Traverse City spring book was reissued after it was discovered that two WSRT employees may have filled out diaries.

Ferguson asked that Arbitron consider a database of station employee addresses and names to avoid future problems but reports that idea received a cold reception. Charlie was quoted in All Access:

"If my staff has gotten three separate invitations to fill out diaries, how many of my competitors have received them as well? What if they didn't turn down the opportunity? We can't be the only stations whose staff is being contacted, can we? Arbitron has a real responsibility to insure the integrity of the ratings and that radio station/company employees don't participate in the survey, but the opposite would appear to be happening."

Arbitron's Tom Mocarsky reportedly responded in Radio Business Report with:

"The sampling rate is so high in Traverse City that its inevitable that households with radio station employees get selected. With each survey, approximately on out of every 45 households gets selected to be in our starting sample. And, once the survey is done, one out of every 129 people in the market ends up in our survey. Despite the odds of getting selected, people in the radio industry are remarkably honest. It is an uncommon event for us to re-issue a report because of media affiliation."

(On keeping a list of radio station personnel) "This would be a logistical nightmare and it raises significant privacy issues."

Let's hope the folks at Arbitron can pull it together; the industry needs a source of credible data.

And nobody likes it when the customers are screaming - no matter what business you're in.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

50° - clear at 11:50am. Frost last night!

Happy Sunday. Morning coffee accompanied by radio via the 'net. The usual. Later: Kids flag football - plus pumpkin and costume shopping.

Halloween fun: "Dead Bass Player Days" - from KKZX/Spokane - here. I did laugh out loud...very clever!

This Weekend: WCSX/Detroit is offering listeners a "Monsters of Classic Rock" Weekend (4 song blocks) - here.

WAQY/Springfield is doing a "Ghosts of Rock" Weekend. Its dead rockers. Here.

What is your station doing on air for halloween?

More Ghoul Tube. We mentioned WGRF/Buffalo's "Ghoul Tube" here the other day. A couple other stations on-board with the concept too. WCSX/Detroit has theirs here. Likewise with Citadel's KHYT/Tucson.

Clear Channel has "scariest music videos" on many of their station websites. Click the link here to see. Look at clip #12. LOL!

Classic Rock A to Z. Watching television last night - it looks like Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee Movie" might have some clips suitable for letter "b" imaging. Find trailer and clips here. I'm just thinkin'....

Geico Caveman. Rachel Veness at Geico emails to tell me that the Caveman's Crib interactive website has been updated. Fun stuff. Check it out here and be ready to point and click.

And: the actor who plays the Caveman for Geico - John Lehr - has a website. See the transformation to Caveman here.

Have a great Sunday!

KBZT: Its More Than The Music

Cool move in San Diego. Inside Radio reported yesterday:

"Lincoln Financial dropped alternative programming on KBZT and turned over the 94.9 signal to the news team at NPR affiliate KPBS, after they lost their transmitter in the fire overnight. Before handing over their airwaves to KBZT jock Tommy Hough told listeners "These are extraordinary times and this is an extraordinary situation. It's in everyone's best interest to hand over our airwaves to KPBS"

I've read elsewhere that KPBS has the largest radio news staff in San Diego. And now without a transmitter. Translation: a brilliant move (on at least a couple levels) by the folks at KBZT. Tom Taylor in his Radio-Info.Com Newsletter adds:

"LFM corporate programmer John Dimick says KBZT programmer Garett Michaels called him early yesterday morning and proposed a lifeline for KPBS – letting it borrow the KBZT 94.9 frequency. They got it done quickly and it’s a terrific arrangement. Dimick tells me they figure on continuing it for another 48-72 hours, “until we’re sure that everybody who could be helped by the information on KPBS is out of danger.”

Kudos to Garett Michaels, John Dimick and everyone at Lincoln Financial Media. Added - Fred Jacobs writes: Sometimes its NOT about the music:

"If you got into this business to make a difference, know that you do, every day. Sometimes it's by playing a favorite song or making people laugh. And sometimes it's by doing what's least expected but most needed."

Read Fred's entire post on KBZT here.

Inside Radio reports this morning that Clear Channel is simulcasting its news/talk KOGO on all seven of their San Diego signals, including classic rock KGB-FM.

Listening this morning to the "Clear Channel San Diego Radio Network" via KGB's stream. An excellent job (its overnight on the West Coast as I listen and write) by The Clear Channel staff.

Another proud moment for radio. Thank you.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

58° - cloudy/windy at 10:11am

Summoned this week for my civic duty - but escaped the call to serve.

Last night: Storms and tornadoes hit much of Mid-Michigan with at least three different warnings affecting our town between 8pm and 1am. Tornadoes reported to have touched down doing damage just east of here.

More winners from the summer book: WGRF/Buffalo - programmed by the brilliant John Hager posts its best 12+ numbers in five books. 97 Rock - another station that is totally locked into both its market and listeners. Another one to admire.

And in Minneapolis/St. Paul - longtime 12+ leader KQRS does it again . I wrote about KQRS the morning of the bridge disaster in that market - during the summer book here.

Added: More 12 + numbers released Friday. In Milwaukee - WKLH up a half point. KCFX/Kansas City up just shy of a full point.

Added even later: Randy Raley emails to point out the performance of classic hits KCMO-FM/Kansas City. KCMO-FM is #2 12-plus in the summer book; its best performance in at least four books. My bad for overlooking!

Randy also with some kind words for KCMO-FM PD Don Daniels: "He is truly one of the last great guys left in the business and I couldn't be happier for him."

Verizon rocks. First AC/DC. Now Zeppelin. Fred Jacobs writes here and calls it "The marriage of classic rock and digital technology".

Admitting your mistakes. I give a lot of credit to Clear Channel/Chicago RVPP Darren Davis for saying this yesterday: "I obviously made a mistake in replacing MELISSA a year ago, and the ratings have suffered."

Darren referring to replacing morning drive talent Melissa Forman with syndicated Whoopie Goldberg on Chicago's WLIT. Davis now dumping Whoopie and returning Forman to the morning drive shift. There's much credibility and respect to be gained by admitting "you blew it" to your listeners. Kudos to Darren!

Great interview. KINK/KLTH Portland PD Dennis Constantine. Deep roots in progressive rock radio and one of the original KBCO/Boulder staff.

See FMQB here.