Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

60° - sunny at 10:49am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV...who - at the moment is doing a time-warp this this week in 1970.

Just played "Spirit In The Sky", "Instant Karma" and now "Come & Get It". Nice start to morning. Later: Bob's switched gears to 1975...and is now playing Kraftwerk's "Autobahn"....and its off vinyl....complete with ticks and scratches...too cool!

San Diego: Mark Ramsey points out a (copy-protected) campaign from AAA KPRI that tells the market "Don't Listen". A campaign designed to encourage trial. Perfect in the PPM world. Mark observes:

"...our goal should not be recall - it should be trial. The best way to get folks to remember they listen is for them to actually listen. Don't put the case before the horse.

So KPRI's campaign is obviously designed to seduce trial. Not to sell product attributes and benefits or, God forbid, awareness and recall. You can't know whether you like something or not until you try it, so why not?

And even smarter in the world of PPM, by the way."

Mark's complete post - including reader comments - is here. Anyone else here old enough to remember "Try It, You'll Like It" (I thought so..)


Last weekend: had the opportunity to check out night #2 of WCSX/Detroit's Birthday Bash featuring the J. Geils Band. Awesome time and kudos to OM/PD Doug Podell for pulling it off. The band only getting together for shows in their hometown of Boston and their adopted hometown of Detroit. 2 nights that sold out in minutes. Great time!

Speaking of: Noted that WCSX - after months with PPM data - has now shorted its morning drive show by an hour and gets back to music at 9am instead of 10. The station now kicking off its return to music with "9 at 9".

Haven't heard the feature yet, but I'm assuming "9 at 9" is similar to the "10 at 10" feature heard on other stations around the country.

Think summer. The sunshine today has me thinking warm weather (and mowing the lawn). Consultant Dave Lange has put together some ideas for radio in the summertime, noting:

"Radio has a real chance to shine as TV largely shuts down and our mobile medium has the advantage of being able to move with the audience. As they spend more time outside radio goes with them to the patio, the car, out in the community and even to the beach/pool. This is a time to hustle if you want to build your audience for the Fall."

Dave's suggestions for radio - including appearances, music, imaging and more here.

Great read: Rick Kaempfer's interview with Chicago radio legend John Gehron. Its been up for a week - but it was new to me this morning. Here. Also on Rick's Chicago Radio Spotlight is an interview with Chicago radio's Buzz Kilman. Worth the time here.

New Media Webinar: A "power lunch" this Tuesday at noon eastern from McVay New Media. SIgn-up and check it out here.

It's been another tough week for radio with cutbacks and furloughs at a few radio companies. I'm at a loss to offer anything positive. Bless the companies still investing in the product and people, both on air and off. And investing in real localism, radio's single biggest advantage over competitive media in this broadband/multi-media era. Think content that's difficult to duplicate.

There's people and programming assets that too many companies are foolishly throwing away. All in all a loss for listeners who can typically get what content is left through other sources. Example: how many sources are there on the internet for Ryan Seacrest? Don't need the local station for that. I'm just sayin'....

That said - the opportunity is may soon be ripe for a strong local competitor to take advantage of these MBA-programmed stations.

Related: this post from consultant Alan Mason.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

55° - clear at 1:15pm Left: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum - cell phone photo taken this past Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Good Morning/Afternoon. I do start writing this in the morning, but by the time I finish, a new daypart begins.

Catching up from a long week in Grand Rapids at the Great Lakes Broadcast Conference. Highlight of the show was watching and chatting with fellow blogger/new media evangelist Dave Martin.

During Dave's session on social media - it became obvious to me that more than a few in the room didn't quite get it, though they were trying to understand. Its hard to get over the fact that radio and television has always been a one-way "us to them" proposition; even with websites and email clubs. And there's fear of losing control.

Perhaps there needs to be a "deprogramming" retreat for the old media types who still don't see it - showing them the new ways and how other old media is using the new tools available (in most cases "free" and "almost free"). A great example here....all done by an air talent in less time than it takes to answer the request line.

That said - there's many OMs, PDs, MDs, and air talent who do "get it". Sadly however, many are working for management and ownership who don't and won't get behind it. Without support from the top down, these efforts are not as effective as they could be, benefiting sales and programming together.

And....thanks for the career tip Dave!

Listening this morning: a bit of Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV; followed by Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH. Mr. Palec in the middle of an excellent segment on the late Warren Zevon; with many more good things to follow.

Dave Lange. Dave posted a great read this past week on the demise of New York's WXRK. Dave shares his thoughts on why WXRK didn't work....and why some great stations are what they are. See here.

And for those of you running syndicated programming (Bob & Tom, Alice Cooper, etc.), Dave has a great piece on "Making a Syndicated Show Local" - here.

Programming Basics: Edison Media's Sean Ross writes about "Keeping your station moving". Here.

Another another read for PDs: "Are Your Personalities Heathers Or Karens?" In this week's FMQB - here.

Radio stories: Rick Kaempfer interviews WGN Radio's Mary Van De Viede on his Chicago Radio Spotlight. Here.

Spring is here...sort of...hope it is where you are. Have a great Sunday.

Monday Monday

32° - mostly cloudy at 7:35am

Last week turned into a busy one between the day job, the night job and everything else. And it didn't stop over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

From around my blogosphere:

Jerry Del Colliano has a great piece posted this morning: "Better Radio At No Additional Cost". In it, Jerry remembers Dick Carr of WIP/Philadelphia:

"When Dick prevailed at WIP he had one operating principle that always served him well. It cost no extra money -- it was a way to look for the additional benefits that make listeners appreciate you over and over again. He called it Another Reason to Listen."

"Everything that is done on the air should be designed to give the audience another reason to tune in and stay with the station. As Dick Carr puts it, "Work to create a listener expectation wherein once they heard "a shoe drop", they would instinctively turn to your station"."

Worth your time this morning. Read here.

Related piece from Dave Lange: Dave posts a great read on his blog "Opportunties Ahead #1" In the piece, Dave notes:

"Be Local: No doubt the biggest opportunity for radio is that it's LOCAL. While most of the new media, cable networks, broadcast networks and nearly all the web is national or even world wide most of the audience's world lies in their local area. We all know this, but in the end we do little to capitalize on it."

More here - including some thoughts on what you might do on a day-to-day basis.

Pass along to your GM/GSM: Alan Mason writes about those email "out of office" auto-responders - and something very clever your salespeople could be doing. In fact, I think even programmers or anyone on staff could be doing:

"Whoops. You've caught me at one of the rare times I'm not here waiting to help you. I'm gone for a short period but want you to receive royal treatment. This message has been automatically forwarded to our Sales Assistant, Carla ___. She'll be in touch with you forthwith. By the way, click on this link and you'll see a video of what happens when we do a remote at Van Chevrolet."

Alan does note that "If you're in business today, every e-mail should be forwarded to your PDA or cell phone." Read more here.

Welcome back David Martin. After a brief absence, Mr. Martin is back on his blog. Always worth your time. Read here.

And Dave: I did enjoy our conversation and intend to follow-up as promised. Last week turned impossible.

Belated congrats: To Fred Jacobs and Jacobs Media Web Guru Tim Davis, who created a custom station-branded iPhone application to listen to station streams. Read here. View below:

49° - overcast at 8:12am

Good Morning From Okemos, Michigan.

Congrats: To WDRV/Chicago's Bob Stroud on releasing Volume 10 of his Rock & Roll Roots CD series, with proceeds going to charity. The CD series an extension of his long-running Sunday Morning "Rock 'N Roll Roots" program. I covered the release of Volume 9 last year here. Read more about this year's CD on The Drive website here.

Election Day: Headed down the street to my polling place on the way to work this morning. Starbucks offering a free cup of java if you go in and tell them you voted. Harve Alan asks: "What "free for a day" styled promotion could radio be doing to rekindle interest in our aging brands?"

Meanwhile - Dave Lange makes some observations with "Lessons for Radio From Campaign 08" - a great read here.

Yesterday I wrote about the cutback virus that is spreading throughout the industry. Not to ignore those who find themselves out of work, but I feel that those who still have a job in radio need some TLC and attention during these tough times.

Dave Martin - in the second part of a series for media CEOs titled "Execution, Not Excuses", notes that 2009 is "mission critical" for HR:

"As a practical matter, making HR important beyond compliance issues will be a new concept for many media firms. We have to start treating our employees like our best customers. Every person on the payroll is talent. Employees help the company achieve its goals by becoming the best at what they do."

"Leadership must create the context in which people can do their best work. An important part of the D in R&D is HR-D. The key to growing profits is growing people. Employees deserve and need an advocate, that's a critical mission for HR."

As I've written here before - PDs have the responsibility of being an advocate for their staff as well as station listeners. Fear is counter-productive - and in talking to others still employed in the industry, there's too much of it getting in the way of the job.

As a sidenote, PDs also now - more than ever, need to be an advocate for their station's sales departments when neccessary...and find ways to make revenue opportunities integrate well with programming and listenership goals.

More later today. Get out and vote!

Wednesday Blogs

54° - clear at 7:39am

Good Morning from Okemos

Robert Feder. His retirement is radio's loss. Feder - well known columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times who's written with passion for the medium and his market has announced that he'll be accepting a buy-out package and leaving in the coming weeks. If you followed Chicago radio, you read Feder.

Sean Ross of Edison Media writes more about Feder here.

Weekly Update. Longtime friend and consultant Dave Lange now posting a weekly review of radio news with "The Radio Week That Was". Check it out on Dave's blog here.

More Voices. Audience Development Group's Kevin Robinson and Tim Moore are both offering their take on the business - each with a weekly email. Just started receiving this week. Subscriptions are free here.

Around The Dial: WZLX/Boston offering listeners a chance at cash with "Dilating For Dollars". Staffer Heather from the station's morning show is expecting.

The listener who comes closest to the date and time of birth wins. See more here.

Congrats to WLAV. The Grand Rapids classic rock station wins two Marconi awards at last week's NAB. Very awesome!

Will have more tonight. Have a great day.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

63° - overcast at 12:54pm

Happy Sunday from Michigan.

I be back. Lots of catching up to do over the past week; work and other projects just taking priority, but I do appreciate the visits to this blog.

Listening. This morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. Featured artist is Jim Croce who passed away 35 years ago. Later: Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH. As I tuned in, Steve was featuring U2 with some great sound bites. BTW...kudos to WKLH on their new website. Very nice!

NAB. Looks like one of the best radio shows (and that includes the R&R Convention as well as the Jacobs Media Summit) in years - wish I had been there.

I'm still making my way through all the press reports - but there's a couple of things that caught my eye.

In a session devoted to content - talent coach Steve Reynolds repeated a thought I've passed along many times on this blog before: "...Consumers are drawn to two things: truth and humanity. You can't BS consumers."

Indeed. (Dave Lange just convered this topic on his blog over the past month - and this past week offered part 4 of his series on authenticity here.)

Discussions on content appeared to have revolved around asking listeners what they want. Nothing new there; but sometimes just a reminder.

Along with traditional research, programmers in PPM markets now have a great tool to provide them with audience behavior; and knowledge gained through PPM will trickle down to the diary markets.

On the topic of: "PPM Prep School" attendees were given a PPM Tip Sheet that included:

• Teach and encourage airstaff the "Art of the Tease," the benefits of forward momentum, and appointment setting to garner another occasion of listening and its value.
• Keep an event log of you and your competitors' inordinate programming events (pro sports games/broadcasts, special weekends, dates of your marketing).
• PPM is a new world that measures actual exposure vs. recall so content is king.
• More listeners listen to more stations than we ever thought before (from 2-3 with the diary to 5-6 with the meter).
• Minimizing the reasons to tune out will be the new mantra.

R&R offers great coverage of what went down in Austin here. Be sure to read thoughts on talent coaching and development...good stuff. Let's rock.

Recruiting Air Talent. Consultant Jaye Albright tips us to one station's efforts to recruit with online video:


I'm unclear as to where the station posted this to attract prospective applicants, but its a great piece that tells a lot about the station, the co-host you might be working with - and the market. Nice!

Catching up with Rick: Every Sunday, Chicago's Rick Kaempfer posts some great interviews on his Chicago Rado Spotlight blog. This week he catches up with former WKQX AM Drive talent Alan Cox. Read here.

Last week Rick spent time with consultant Kevin Robinson. I've been fortunate to speak with Kevin in the back and I just admire his resume. A must-read here.

Have a great Sunday.

Wednesday Blogs

40° - clear at 7:18am

Good Morning from Mid-Michigan. Autumn appears to have arrived early; its a bit chilly.

Just a few things from my blogosphere......

The Death of Radio? I don't think so. Our industry receives so much bad press in spite of its domination.

Consultant Fred Jacobs offers up a great post this morning on his blog....the realities both good and not-so.

A highlight:

"...terrestrial radio is already a great distribution outlet that reaches well more than 90% of Americans each week. As an advertising vehicle and a way to drive web traffic, its long-term viability has been proven."

However:

"Radio still has some monster brands, but you'd never know it by the way they are often hidden from listeners and from advertisers. Only in radio do the highest rated stations so often get overlooked when it's time to dole out those precious marketing dollars. In radio, you don't get medical care until you get sick."

Ouch. And how true in too many cases. Catch Fred's piece here.

Dave Lange on Authenticity - Part 3. Dave continues his great series on being authentic. And in this installment takes a look at what's going on in Chicago - with a station often highlighted on this blog:

"While there are many stations that stand out with high Authentic scores one great example to listen to is The Drive in Chicago. The main claim for the station is basic and simple - The Sound Track of Our Lives. Notice that they use 'our' not 'your' - which would assume that somehow they knew Your life."

"The presentation is also low key. There isn't a big voice booming announcer making sweeping big balls statements. The avoid the laser shot gimmicks in the production and often rely on classic song hooks to showcase the 'soundtrack.'"

"And when you look at the results the Drive has pushed past the legendary Loop complete with Brandmeier. They have also run past WXRT which likely had the 'authentic' Q-score before the Drive signed on."

Dave's piece is a must-read (here); and also serves as another acknowledgment of the great strategy and execution by Greg Solk and Patty Martin at Bonneville/Chicago. Who owns the "authentic" score in your market?

Make it a great day.

Late Shift Post

63° - scattered clouds at 10:43am

Late night additions before bed...

Earlier today consultant Dave Lange offered another chapter in his series of posts on "Authenticity - The Key To Reviving Radio". Part 2 is on "over-hyping". Catch up here.

Fred Jacobs today announced the first two names for the "President of Radio" project. Congrats to Jerry Lee, owner of WBEB/Philadelphia - and to Harpo Radio GM John Gerhon. 8 more names to announce and one could be anyone. Details here.

Speaking of: Fred and brother Paul Jacobs wrote a great piece last week in FMQB titled "What is Programming To Win in 2008?". A must read on the present day realities of our industry - and the role of the program director. Here.

More tomorrow.

Monday Monday (Late Edition)

61° - cloudy at 10:29pm

Took the weekend off from the blog (not intentional) - hope it was good for you.

Around my blogosphere:

Dave Lange. Dave blogs about "Authenticity - The Key To Reviving Radio" here. Authenticity the backbone of progressive rock in the 60s and 70s - and AOR in the 70s and 80s. Part one of a great piece here.

Coincidently - after reading Dave's post today, I overheard the syndicated Ryan Seacrest weekday program on an office radio..and I swear I heard a sweeper soliciting listener "phone calls". This on a recorded/recycled bits show from Ryan's Los Angeles AMD program. How does that work? I certainly didn't hear any "listener calls" on the air. I immediately thought of Dave's piece where he writes about "gimmicks, hype and illusion". Whatever.

More authenticity: Coincidently, consultant Alan Mason writes about voice-tracking on his blog today. With apologies to Alan for over-quoting:

"...now I’m seeing talent and on-air PD’s who voice track their shows because they’re too busy to be on the air. I’ve even heard of talent who didn’t like their shift, so they voice track instead of being live. I can’t help but wonder, when did being on the air stop being a priority for on-air talent?"

"Yes, I know all the arguments about how busy you are, but let me ask you a question: How do you explain that to the listeners? "Well, I’d like to be engaging and interactive instead of just announcing, but I’m just too busy?”

"Think they don’t notice the difference? In case you haven’t noticed yourself, listeners are becoming more interactive, and want more relevance. It’s a big challenge to do that in voice tracking. But there’s an even bigger question: With all the competition from other media, and life becoming so busy for the listener that they often feel overwhelmed, isn’t it important for us to be as good as possible? And do you really think you can do that through regular voice tracking?"

Alan's complete post here. Full disclosure: As a PD, I've been put in the position of voice-tracking my shift simply because I was too busy. Handling multiple stations, I should have not been on the air at all. Not my call. And I'm certain there's many other PDs in the same situation.

More PPM: 20 MORE Things explained - numbers 6 through 10. From Paragon Media Strategies here. Numbers 1 through 5 here. The complete list without narrative here.

Mad Men. Must-see TV in my house, though not with me (yet). My wife and oldest son both addicted. Mark Ramsey blogs about AMC's smash hit and what it means to radio here.

Help. Asked over the weekend via email to help spread the word. From Dave Martin's blog this morning:

"Deborah Chesher is a published photographer [Amazon info]. Her rock star gets include George Harrison, Jerry Garcia and Frank Zappa. Now, her daughter is having brain surgery and Deborah is selling prints to help pay the bills. Get the story, see the prints here. If you're not able to buy a print, please share the link."

I read Deborah's story last night; please do what you can (and her work is wonderful).

More tomorrow including stuff I didn't have time for tonight. Thanks for stopping by.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

84° - partly sunny at 2:25pm

Good afternoon from Lansing. A stay-home weekend in our plans. Enough traveling for a little while. And its great to have the kids home from their time in Denver.

Surfing around the web during lunch today:

Your Website: McVay Media's Dave Lange blogs today about ways of making your website just a little more sticky. From Dave:

1. Podcasts - Some stations use them but I bet 90% of you have only 1 or no podcasts on your site.

2. You Tube clips - How much as your station or team posted from station events, guest shots on the morning show, or even just a tour of the station with some pranks from the staff.

3. Collections of morning show bits.

4. Replay the phone calls from your afternoon show.

5. How about a new rock pod cast every week that doesn't air on the transmitter but only on the web with comments on new artists and songs.

6. Maybe a place for local bands to showcase their videos and music complete with reviews and chats.

Dave doesn't mention - but msuci on podcasts might involve additional licensing - but still worth exploring. Dave's complete piece - a great read - here. And some of this material could also be used as stopset filler on your internet stream...lots better than another Ad Council PSA or a pesky P.I. ad.

Meanwhile: Mark Ramsey blogs about non-music content - and as part of his piece talks about value - plus something as simple as labeling:

"Is there a market for the entire podcast of your morning show from February 11, 2008 (for example)? Or is that morning's show so much like every other morning's show that the value of any one episode is diminished and not worth sharing or seeking out?"

"And how do you label such a show, anyway? I may want to find Howard Stern's interview with Pamela Anderson, but not "Howard Stern's show from February 11, 2008."

Good thoughts. Of course as Mark points out, the material has to be worth hearing again too! And someone has to be in charge of selecting the material and getting on the web in a timely manner. Read Mark's complete piece here.

More Alan Mason. Alan promised more the other day and delivers. Check out "There's No Instant Brand" here.

More over the weekend.

Sunday Evening Odds & Sods

75° - clear at 9:15pm

Good Evening From Michigan. Most of the weekend spent ripping music for the internet radio project. Did catch a bit of Bob Stroud's Rock 'N Roll Roots show this morning on Chicago's WDRV - first of a two-part salute to The Who.

Catching up on reading:

Great posts - both related. Fred Jacobs wrote Friday on a new JupiterResearch study showing that "despite all the other music discovery media and methods, radio is still #1" for discovering new music. Fred's post here. And back on Thursday, Mark Ramsey wrote a piece on Pandora - and radio's advantages - both music and non-music. A must read here.

Dave Lange. Dave asks "Sales solves all problems?". Read here.

Industry heros ignored. This past week Lee Arnold blogged that "the inductees for 2008 into the National Radio Hall of Fame were announced today (Friday). Scott Muni, Tom Donahue, Bill Drake, Thom O'Hare, Bill Vermillion and Jack Benny were not among the inductees." Lee - I think you and I need to start a campaign for next year. I'm certain others would join the effort.

Chicago Radio Spotlight. This week Rick Kaempfer interviews WERV/Aurora production director Jim McInerney. More great radio stories here.

Larry. Getting back to the state broadcaster's conference I attended early this week. Tuesday Night the annual Michigan Association of Broadcaster Hall of Fame Awards were announced. Five individuals were inducted into the Michigan Broadcaster Hall of Fame - all very deserving.

Among the five: Larry Estlack.

Larry has been in the business since his high school days in Muskegon, Michigan; has been an air personality, programmer, engineer, teacher and friend to many.

His influence is statewide - having (as engineer) constructed many facilities throughout the state - plus (at least) two television stations from construction permit to air in Lansing. Larry's day job is that of Director of Technology for the state broadcast association.

As an air personality and programmer, Larry's been on-air at several Lansing area stations during his career - and for the last 20+ years, has been hosting the All-Request Saturday Night Show on the classic rock station I formerly programmed here in Lansing.

Accepting his award Tuesday Night, Larry thanked one guy for the music he plays - and thats consultant Fred Jacobs. Larry and Fred attended (and taught) at Michigan State University together.

It was Fred Jacobs who nominated Larry for the Hall of Fame this year. Fred, along with many others were at the ceremonies to see and hear Larry accept the award; and yours truly fortunate to be there too. And glad to call Larry Estlack a friend.

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 Morning Odds & Sods

84° - clear at 10:11am. Above: the skies here Friday around 7pm.

Back to the blog. Just not enough hours in the past few days. Lots of severe weather here the last two nights...thunderstorms and funnel clouds.

Aside from work - my wife and I had to deal with someone stealing my debit card information and purchasing $500 worth of software on my dime. Contacted the company and had the money returned to our account; and with the help of the company (also a victim) was easily able to trace the culprit back to a telephone purchase I had made in the past month. I then exchanged email with the CEO of that company about his "people problem" and had my bank cancel the card. All minor in nature vs. the horror stories of others.

Listening: My usual Sunday morning habits. WDRV now. WKLH later.

Making HD Radio work. Dave Martin introduces a new blog dedicated to the cause. Here.

As I've point out before in this blog - in a reply to comments posted by one of the angry anti-HD fanatics: "HD is here - its the job and obligation of broadcast industry professionals to make it work to the best of our abilities. Our employers expect nothing less." Let's get the dialogue going.

Kudos to Randy Michaels, Lee Abrams and Sean Compton. The new branding and programming changes on WGN America have been noted. In recent years, I've found little reason to watch. Channel surfing Friday Night brought me to WGN and WKRP reruns. Schweet!

Also caught promos for WGN America's new primetime lineup. All this early in the game. I can only imagine good things down the road. And was that Casey Kasem doing the voice work?

P.S. to Randy: consider the name Neal Sabin if you haven't already. A guy in Chicago television who "gets it". I don't know Neal, but I know his work. He's a brilliant tv guy who could probably be a great radio guy too.

Speaking of WKRP: Dave Lange notes:

"Perhaps WKRP could have been a winner if the team had been paying attention more to the audience than how much office space Les Nessman had or who Jennifer was dating this week. But that wouldn't have been funny. KRP is not real it's a sitcom."

Dave's post - with his point - here.

Alan Mason. I've really been enjoying Alan's observations in his blog, especially over the past month or so. His latest post starts with a quote from a Tim Manners: "When that authenticity is compromised, the brand enters decline."

Alan refers to his cell-phone provider's "fine print" that qualifies their coverage claims compares this to what radio has done with its listeners in recent years:

"It’s not that far off of the kind of thinking that says, everyone else is running 16-18 minutes an hour of commercials, so I can too. Everyone else is voice tracking, I can too. Forget that the people formerly known as listeners have plenty of options to choose from, or that it’s doubly difficult to connect and engage through voice tracking, everyone else is doing it so the radio consumer should understand. Wow!"

"Where did things go so wrong, that we try to fool and manipulate the consumer? No wonder people change cell providers all the time, and there’s no loyalty. No wonder listenership and TSL is slowly planing down, there’s no loyalty. Like cell service, we’re in danger of becoming a commodity, where the cheapest (fewest commercials) radio service will be in the lead. You can’t fool Mother Nature, and you can’t fool your radio consumers. It’s not 1965 any more, and you don’t have a monopoly in attention. There are too many choices out there, and if we continue to lower the quality of the content, we’ll soon hear our own “boop-boop” as the consumers tune way, not tune out, but tune away."

Alan's complete post here. Apologies to Alan, I've just printed about half his post!

Gas prices. Lee Arnold comments on the travesty of it all and writes:

"Everyone in your audience is being adversely affected by this. To ignore it is to be out of touch. If you're not being hurt by this because you make lots of money, pretend it's hurting you. You can not have this disconnect from your audience and still be credible."

Lee blogs here (and also offers up a great video example on branding from Harley posted too!).

Have a great Sunday.