Dan O'Day On Radio

54° - cloudy with light rain at 6:59am

Good Morning from Okemos...

This past weekend, the brilliant Dan O'Day posted this on his own blog (I found it via his post on Facebook). Dan prefaced the post with a note that this may offend radio executives.

I believe there's some truths here that need to be heard and at the very least can give owners, executives, GMs and PDs something to think about:


Dan's blog btw, an excellent read here. Make it part of your daily diet.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

38° - mostly cloudy at 11am. Snow likely.

Welcome to Saturday.

Production Idea: I'm writing this morning listening to WDRV/Chicago's stream (bet you're surprised) and the station is doing a "Ten at Ten Weekend". Ten at Ten a daily Mon-Fri feature that highlights ten great songs from one great year - accompanied by some sound bites from news events, movie and TV from that year.

On a 1985 "Ten at Ten" - and I heard a movie trailer for "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". The clip was apparently streaming audio - and low and behold I found links for the trailer at IMDB here. Check the left-hand column.

Another source is Retrojunk. Here. Found it through IMDB. Got any others? Feel free to share!

What PPM doesn't change. Paragon Media's Bob Harper reminds us that recall and remembering are still important - in both the PPM and diary markets.

Read here.

Guitar Hero. Fred Jacobs writes here about the new Guitar Hero III video game. This one includes cowbell. LOL.

The other night I caught up with some friends from WMMQ here who talked about how well Guitar Hero is working for bar promotions. Rock on!

Dan O'Day. His 2008 PD Grad School speaker lineup has been finalized - and it looks like another excellent two days well-spent!

This year's school includes Edison Media's Larry Rosin, McVay Media's Mike McVay, WOGL's Ross Brittian, internet radio and interactive specialist Rockie Thomas, author Tim Sanders and (of course) Dan O'Day himself.

Dates are February 22nd & 23rd in LA. Dan's PD Grad School is one of the few events I've been truly excited about traveling to attend. Download the brochure here.

Mark Ramsey: TV star. Mark Ramsey has just debuted the first installment of what he labels "The Radio Industry's First TV Show". See here. Designed for short attention spans - and he plans to roll out one every month or so. Cool!

This is something any radio station can do on its website with relevant listener information. See this example a while back from KGB/San Diego.

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!

Wednesday Blogs

81° - Sunny at 10am

From my blogosphere:

Share of Mind. John Moore via Consultant Alan Mason here on the "The Visionary's Handbook". John points to some thoughts from the book that makes things like this very important for share of mind.

This is all about marketing for actual listenership. And Mark Ramsey writes about that topic as it applies to PPM here.

Your station's vibe. Not on air - but around the office and studio. Seth Godin writes that "the vibe changes everything". Read here.

Your internal vibe. Still excited about what you do? If not, Jay Trachman here with some ways to get out of your rut. Added: David Martin here - this morning - on enjoying what you do.

Seth Godin on radio. Next week Mark Ramsey's blog presents "7 Days of Seth" - with the "Agent of Change" sharing thoughts on the future of radio as well as his new book "The Dip". More here.

The Conclave. Dave Lange writes here on this year's event in Minneapolis; wish I was attending, but the Kelley family budget is just too tight. Next year perhaps.

Both the Conclave and Dan O'Day's PD Grad School are the best values for the dollar for any programmer - if you've got the budget - personal or company.

McCartney. Street Pulse reporting via All Access that Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full" debuted at the #1 position for overall sales this week. Paul is working this one hard - and with radio. Stations around the country have been sending listeners to a secret, private "invitation only" performance.

The cynic in me. The past few days I've had Court TV on as I do other work - watching the Duke prosecutor hearing and Phil Spector's trial.

Oreo Cookies has been running a saturation campaign on the channel with what they're trying to pass off as YouTube-style CGM commercials. They just appear to be a bit too perfect to pass my " B.S. Test". I could be wrong, but....

Wednesday Blogs

My wife - in Florida for a few days with her job - sent pictures last night of the ocean as well as this sunset shot from an outdoor patio.

Happy Wednesday. From the blogs:

Stimulate An Audience. A couple of writers sharing some thoughts: First, Alan Mason on "The Cry For Creativity". Then Fred Jacobs on something that "morning shows and entire stations ought to aspire to".

"It's the environment songs are in that often make them sound bad". Lee Abrams talks about the art of song placement - and lots more - in his latest post here.

Streaming Royalties. In case you haven't heard, the Copyright Royalty Board denied all appeals on the new rate structure. Is it now a matter of legislative relief?

Kurt Hanson's RAIN has the latest.

I hope to write soon about ideas to monetize your webstream - something I'm certain your management is thinking about.

Your station website: McVay Media's Dave Lange introduces us to "widgets" and what they can add to your station website here.

Dan O'Day is presenting his 12th Annual International Radio Creative & Production Summit in Los Angeles August 17th & 18th. Dan's workshops - this and his "PD Grad School" - held annually in February - are always packed full of ideas that you can use back at your station. More info here.

This year's summit will include voice-over pro Don LaFontaine - "The King Of The Movie Trailers" - who is currently being seen on-camera in Geico Insurance commercials.

btw: Don's website is fantastic! Have a great Wednesday.