Monday Monday

77° - mostly sunny at 11:44am

The Boys Are Back. Arrived back from our day trip to Midway Airport, Chicago to pick up our two boys (9 & 12) coming back from 3-weeks at my wife's parents in Denver. Pulled in the driveway at home about 1am Sunday Morning.

Home life has returned to normal; the last few weeks have been like the inside of a station control room with the monitor turned down.

During the road trip back and forth had a chance to listen to a lot of radio - both the small and medium markets between here and Chicago. Heard some great stations as well as some not-so-good.

In the latter category - spent some time with a variety hits/AC station where every segue was a train wreck; even my wife asking "what is this"? I replied "George Benson/On Broadway". "Not the song...the station". The station just needed a little attention to detail...(a sweeper or dry "voice guy" liner would have done the station wonders). Road trips are great for PDs; hearing the good and the bad.

In Chicago our radio was stuck on WDRV. A station both me and my wife can agree on. If you're a regular reader to this blog, I'm certain you're not surprised.

Wise words. Dave Martin blogged last week on recruitment and coaching. A great read here. Two highlights:

"Every talent benefits from having a coach but too few enjoy that advantage. Talent want to be led not managed. We need to catch them doing something right."

"Are you providing your stars with an environment to be successful?"

Life Lessons: Mike Mallace writes about a recent experience on "going the extra mile". Read here.

XM/Sirius - keeping it positive: Greater Media CEO Peter H. Smyth released a statement late Friday after the merger was announced:

“Obviously, I strongly disagree with the FCC’s decision and I am very disappointed by it. Although I fail to see the public interest benefits of a satellite monopoly, I am confident that free radio will continue to be the local connection for our listeners, the most reliable source of information, entertainment, and support in our communities, and the most innovative and powerful marketing vehicle for our advertisers. These are qualities that satellite radio - a national, subscription based service, can never achieve.”

I couldn't agree more. In talking to others over the weekend, most reflect Peter's thoughts as well as mine posted here late Friday.

Added: More Spring ARBs today. KSLX/Phoenix shows its best 12+ numbers in recent history. Classic Hits WGRR/Cincinnati up a half point.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday Monday

48° - clear/sunny at 7:29am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Weekend leftover. The Wall Street Journal on Saturday posted a piece about the drama, risk and reward behind resolving the Adam Corolla/Danny Bonaduce clash. A good read here.

Been a fan of Adam since Loveline many years ago. Props to US99.55/Chicago's Drew Walker who sent it to me late Saturday - and to Radio-Info's Tom Taylor for reminding me this morning in his newsletter.

Using Your Website To Drive Listenership. Most stations look for the on-air signal to drive website visits. This morning Fred Jacobs looks at using websites to drive listeners to the radio - using a TV superstar as an example. Here.

Isn't this all about the "package" that makes up the brand?

Storytelling. McVay Media's Daniel Anstandig writes on the McVay website:

"Radio is a business born out of passion, and many stations have histories that run miles deeper than “bought by this company, sold to this company.” But in the last few years, many of us have forgotten the stories that brought us (and our radio stations) to the dance."

"Most people don’t know the story or vision behind their own radio station—not just how the radio station was founded, but the contemporary vision for the radio station. Who does the station serve, and why? What does this radio station do that no one else does in the community? What problem do you solve?"

Daniel's article is a must-read. Here. And if you know the story and contemporary vision, does everyone on your staff?

Days gone: Michael Mallace writes about his youth - my youth - and radio. Here.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

57° - clear at 10:20am

Very cool: KUFX/San Jose has put together some great packages that the station will be auctioning off to benefit local charities. What makes this special is that each package involves a member of the station's airstaff, including morning guy/musician Greg Kihn. Very cool. See here.

Listening: This morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. Featuring three hours of this week in 1969.

Very tasty stuff. "Sweet Cherry Wine" by Tommy James playing right now. My evil twin also loved "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" from Paul Revere and The Raiders. Thanks Bob.

Later: Stroud played some Booker T & The MGs. Iinspired, I found myself at Amazon.Com to buy some Booker T downloads: "Time Is Tight" - plus a not-to-major hit titled "Melting Pot" - some great tracks I long forgot about.

Most of Booker T's work recorded at the sloped-floor (a former movie theater) studios of Stax Records in Memphis. But I digress.

Once again, this promotion thing the music industry uses (called "radio") works. Not the only downloads I purchased this morning either - thanks to radio. And my wife will remind me when she reviews our bank statement.

Last Sunday: We noted the words of Bonneville New Media Director James Webb - stating that we ought to think of our cume as "users" rather than "listeners".

Dave Martin blogged on the topic this past week and offered the words of one Chris Locke:

"we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. we are human beings - and our reach exceeds your grasp. deal with it."

My take: With respect for all parties - whether you call them listeners or users - they're one of two sets of customers (the other being advertisers). Let's find ways to serve and engage both on the air and off. Its all about relationships.

How to ruin a relationship. Mark Ramsey points us to what I hope isn't a trend. As a program director, one of my primary duties was being an advocate for the listener and preventing things like this from happening. Please read.

Just a good read: Highlights from FMQB's Think-Tank Symposium. Here.

More radio stories. Rick Kaempfer interviews WCBS afternoon news anchor Steve Scott here.

Added: Michael Mallace on "Big Ron" O'Brien - and WCFL - here.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

64° - cloudy at 10:10am

Good Morning from Okemos and welcome to the weekend.

Winter Arbitron. Numbers still rolling in. The Big Story in the last day has been in Tampa - where Cox's WHPT rose from just over a 2 share to almost a 5 and a half.

This growth via the addition of Bubba The Love Sponge in AMD. All Access headlined the news with a line about "worst to first".

AA reports that Bubba "took top honors in Persons 12+, 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and 35-64, unseating crosstown WFLZ/TAMPA rival MJ from the top spot across the board in a very tight race."

My take: Bubba's strategy appears to be right out of the old Randy Michaels playbook.

In Kansas City, KCFX continues to climb. 12+ demo shows the heritage classic rocker climbing book-by-book. The station up over a point and a half since Spring '07.

Contributing to that growth somewhat has to be the flip of KYYS to AAA; but KCFX is a great sounding radio station nonetheless with an airstaff that really talks to its listeners.

In Denver - the race is pretty tight between Clear Channel's KRFX and Entercom's KQMT. Looking at 12+ there's only two tenths of a point between the two.

The Fox (KRFX) just did a "no repeat April" while KQMT has reportedly tightened up its playlist in recent months. I hope to look at how deep The Fox went with music in April here soon.

WKLH/Milwaukee is up a tenth of a point while crosstown WQBW remains flat.

Noted: Someone on the radio engineering list I subscribe to observed an interesting "race" in 2008 Radio Hall of Fame nominations. In the same category are Dr. James Dobson (Focus on The Family) and....Howard Stern. Miles apart but both have made their impact on the industry.

Also in that same category (national) are Bob Costas and Dr. Laura. Voting is now open here.

Jay Mitchell. He's back with a new post after a long absence - but he's been a busy guy. I should have - but didn't realize this - Jay is also publisher of the Small Market Radio Newsletter.

While I haven't seen SMRN personally in years, I can highly recommend for any medium and small market broadcaster....each issue filled with programming, promotion and sales ideas.

Jay's blog is here.

Hello Phoenix. In the email this morning was a note from Mike Mallace, GM of KAJM and KNRJ.

Mike grew up in Chicago and started in the business about the same age I did - and during his high school years worked at the same suburban radio station (a few short years after I did). Mike blogs about radio, media and life here.

More here over the weekend.