Monday Monday

42° - clear at 10:53am

Busy day = late post.

Supervising pumpkin carving tonight. Kids and knives make for a nervous dad. Happy to report we made it through the night Band-Aid free.

Music Testing. I'm hearing a lot of classic rock tunes on television as of late. I don't know the answer - but I wonder if this "airplay" does anything for test scores and interest in featured titles?

What I've heard and seen lately:

• I Can See For Miles/The Who (Honda)
• Barracuda/Heart (Honda)
• All Right Now/Free (Monster.Com & Ford/Lincoln Dealers)
• Sweet Home Alabama/Skynyrd (KFC; still don't get it)
• Dreamer/Supertramp (Acura)
• Wild Horses/Rolling Stones (Movie "Bella")
• Gimme Some Lovin'/Spencer Davis Group (Ameriprise Financial)
• Whole Lotta Love (Concert Footage)/Led Zeppelin (Ziddio.Com)
• Let My Love Open The Door/Pete Townshend (Movie "Dan In Real Life")

Gotta be others I've missed. Why not include these tv spot "hits" on your next music test? Granted, there's some no brainers here - but I'm thinking the deeper tracks here by The Who, Supertramp, Stones, Spencer Davis and Townshend.

If I were doing AC right now, I might be testing this song - just to see what happens.

btw: good resource for finding song titles/artists used in commercials is here.

Idea For Radio: Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" morning show announced this morning the start of "The Show After The Show".

If I heard correctly - the morning crew will continue their morning show for another hour - past 9am eastern - on the internet. Have not seen an official announcement.

John Landecker. I love great radio stories. Rick Kaempfer talks again to the legendary Mr. "Records" Landecker - about WZZN, his new syndicated show - plus his story of getting started in the business.

John spent time here in Lansing radio while going to Michigan State University; and then a big leap straight to Philadelphia. And then there's Chicago. Read here.

More Chicago. Longtime talk/AOR personality Steve Dahl moves to WJMK (Jack-FM) and mornings starting next week his current home - WCKG - changes format to something only a few know for certain.

Rumors of spanish for WCKG are strong - as is active rock. If you're from outside Chicago and don't know the name Steve Dahl - chances are you have hear of this highlight from Steve's long career.

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.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

Happy Friday. Sunny/67° here at 10am.

Ask The PD. This morning I was perusing the website of John Hagar's WGRF/Buffalo and reading his "Ask the PD" feature.

I've written before about responding to listeners in an honest, visible, credible way through "Ask the PD" - but reading the letters and John's responses - here - reminds me again how important this can be. In this day and age, its all about listener participation and increasing your station's "sticky" factor.

Doing a feature like this on your website is an invitation for feedback. Another opportunity to establish a relationship. Its a no-cash investment that will pay off over time.

John Hagar gets it. A few minutes on his station website can be a real eye opener for any PD (or GM).

More flavors than Baskin-Robbins. Four variations of Classic Rock. 80+ formats. All from Clear Channel's "Format Lab".

The formats are designed for the new distribution pipelines: HD Radio, internet, cell phones, etc. Look and listen here.

The other day - I wrote here about programming live cuts; coincidently this weekend Chicago's WDRV presents the "Live Drive Weekend". Nice!

Thanks Rick! Yesterday, I received a press kit and copy of Rick Kaempfer's new broadcast novel "$everance". I'll be reading this weekend....

More on the book here.

Added: Rick discusses his new book with John "Records" Landecker in the latest Chicago Radio Spotlight here. Added to post Sunday 5/13/07.