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 Morning Odds & Sods

38° - light rain at 10:45am

Day off yesterday. Much needed after a long week. "Next week" begins this afternoon with some time spent at work to meet deadlines. Its all good. Played radio yesterday with some automation software on my laptop.

Ripped some music from CD, added sweepers leftover from my WMMQ days and was in heaven. Thanks to Lee Arnold for both the software tip and the inspiration.

Listening: To Chicago's WDRV this morning. The usual. Just heard "Raindance" from The Guess Who segued into "Easy To Be Hard" from Three Dog Night. Cools!

Noted: animated "raindrops" on the WDRV website header (above); not sure whether this is synched to the actual Chicago weather - if so - a very sweet touch!

Streaming. I've wrote here months back that listening on the 'net should be hassle-free for listeners; even suggesting a desktop icon that would provide instant audio, rather than navigating a station website simply to listen to a station.

Earlier this week, Mark Ramsey wrote about one streaming provider who intends to keep you listening on their terms. And as Mark notes here - this is bad.

Adding to Mark's words are reader comments - with Tom Asacker writing:

"Instead of acting like a friend and giving someone the most direct, hassle free directions to get where they want to go, radio is trying to force them down their road so that they can sell the traffic to billboard advertisers. Big strategic mistake."

Mike Henry. The Paragon Media consultant sums up what many have been feeling (I'm part of that club):

"Radio may be dead on Wall Street, but it is alive and well on Main Street. Add up all the iPod users, satellite radio subscribers and internet radio subscribers, and go ahead and throw in all the illegal music downloaders, and they still wouldn’t add up to the number of people who listen to radio EVERY DAY."

"Local radio is still omnipresent. Listeners still wake up every day and turn on the radio. Radio still has a positive impact on local communities, when it wants to, because radio is still the most local and community-oriented of all media."

"Radio should rejoice and say, “Good riddance to Wall Street.” To the real radio operators out there, I say, “Welcome back to Main Street.” And please, leave the bean counters on Wall Street where they belong."

Mike's complete post here.

With all thats been written following Jim Cramer's comments, I'm compelled for full disclosure: my corporate radio experience - for the most part - have been positive; particularly with the so-called "evil empire".

The resources and support system provided to this programmer were never better. Those in the trenches are some of radio's finest and its an experience I wouldn't trade for much of anything.

If you've been reading this blog for some time, you'll also know that I've had first hand experience with the not-so-pleasant side of corporate radio too!

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Rick Kaempfer continues to feed my fascination with radio career stories and this week his light shines on WXRT/WBBM air talent Ken Sumka. Read here.

Ken makes note of the possible move to WXRT from its longtime stand-alone Belmont Avenue home to the corporate world downtown, saying:

"...there's a vibe at that building that comes from being away from downtown. There are some unknowns that cause a little worry-like what sort of consolidation might happen with us sharing a space and personnel."

Yep! Its all about "the vibe".

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

47° - sunny at 9:10am.

Good Morning. Almost hit freezing here last night; some parts of Michigan did overnight.

Autumn in the air. Leaves starting to turn.

Listening: Started early this morning with WCSX/Detroit and "Sunday Morning Over Easy" hosted by Pam Rossi. Nice and laid back - the soundtrack to a perfect Sunday AM.

Pam is featuring Gordon Lightfoot this morning. He's from Canada - but is so Michigan to me. And heard The Guess Who's "Sour Suite"; plus Joan Baez' "Diamonds & Rust". Wonderful.

Very cool: A glance at the the WCSX "Over Easy" webpage - the site offers a podcast for independent artists to feature their original music. Check out how they handle the legal end of things to protect the station from the rights organizations.

Congrats in order: Both WRIF/Detroit and KBCO/Boulder receive the NAB HD Radio Multicast Award - to be presented during the NAB Radio Show at the end of the month.

Last month I applauded WRIF's "Riff2" channel here. AAA KBCO's HD2 is "The Studio C Channel" - highlighting years of in-station performances by the artists KBCO has hosted over the years. Very tasty stuff.

Added: More on the Multicast award winners from Lee Arnold's Blog here.

The Buzzard. WMMS/Cleveland clips the wings of its 33-year old mascot - as well as frequent mention of its legendary call letters. To ID primarily by frequency. More from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer here. Thanks to Radio Daily News for the tip.

Respectfully disagreeing: What becomes of the soul and character of the radio station? Is the using the frequency alone cold and sterile? What becomes of the stationality and emotional connection - that allows the listener to describe the station "like a person"? Isn't this one of radio's strengths? Just wondering.

More wondering. I've been spending a lot of time listening to oldies radio in the car. Why does "Wooly Bully" still get the airplay it does?

This still tests?

Why hasn't this song been banished to the novelty category with "Gitarzan" and "Gimme Dat Ding"? Damn - I feel better for getting that out; had it stuck inside for days - LOL.

Getting serious:

Calls for Leadership. At least twice in the past week.

From those like myself who have spent their lives in radio - love the industry and can't think of doing anything else.

Back on Monday - Paragon Media's Mike Henry wrote:

"While the news keeps flowing quickly on both sides of radio’s future…positive and negative…the leaders of our industry are strangely quiet. No offense to the NAB or the RAB, but radio leadership needs to come from…radio."

Read Mike's piece - along with reader comments here.

And yesterday David Martin blogged:

"I dream of companies that actually deserve the passion and creativity of the folks who work there, and naturally elicit the very best that people have to give. Of course, these are more than dreams; they are imperatives. They are do or die challenges for any company that hopes to thrive in the tumultuous times ahead - and they can only be surmounted with inspired management."

Read Dave's complete commentary here.

Ponder that and have a great Sunday.