Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

Sunny and 53° here at 10am.

Minor League Baseball. Last night, the family and I attended another Lansing Lugnut game. What a great time!; And it didn't matter that the Lugnuts lost 3-2 to the Clinton (IA) Lumberkings.

Its the experience. The Lugnuts get it: from the greeting as you enter the front gate - to keeping it fun and involving the fans throughout the game - to saying "thank you and good night" as one leaves the stadium. The game itself is just a part "the Lugnut experience".

I've mentioned this before: Here in Lansing, the Lugnuts are the best family entertainment value for our dollar. Without question.

More on the experience: Read this from Bill Jacobs. And thanks to Bill for turning me onto the Fish website.

Listened to Bob Stroud - WDRV this morning. Bob mentioned that another Bob - Bob Seger - celebrated his 62nd birthday yesterday.

Last Sunday. We mentioned a piece written by Jim Kerr of Pollack Media on Lone Star 92.5/Dallas - and how that station was designed for streaming on the internet. Pollack Media now has it posted on their website here. A good read.

Breaking The Rules. When is it OK for the talent to break the rules? Never? Now and then? Jay Trachman writes about this in FMQB - here.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

Good Morning from Chicago. We're actually staying at my brother's home in the community of Gurnee - north of Chicago right near the Wisconsin state line.

Had a family reunion last night in Deerfield - my hometown. Good times.

More Lone Star 92.5: Pollack Media Group's Jim Kerr - writing in his company's weekly "Pollack Media Confidential" observes that the revamped KZPS is "a radio station built to be streamed".

Jim makes the point that with station's new commercial policy - no traditional recorded spots - the station eliminates all AFTRA streaming issues. And with that, Lone Star 92.5 can receive full credit from Arbitron for any online listening.

If you were not aware - Arbitron will not give your station credit for online listening if the stream isn't 100% simulcast with the on-air signal......commercials and all. Should Jim's piece be available online at some point, we'll be sure to pass it along.

Mike McVay. Mike writes about an old pair of shoes and creating emotional attachments with listeners. Here.

Jay Leno. Chicago's Rick Kaempfer shares a great story about a Jay Leno moment on his "Celebrity Snippets" blog here. And do check out Rick's Chicago Radio Spotlight this week for his interview with former radio writer/performer Jeff Hoover. I never get bored reading and hearing radio war stories.

More here Monday.

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

Happy Friday! Random bits and thoughts:

Spring Is In The Air. McVay Media's Dave Lange here on preparing for the spring '07 book.

Yesterday while writing about WLUP/Chicago's 30th Anniversary, I thought about the "Loop Stores" that were spread around the Chicago area. They were basically retail locations inside other businesses where one could buy station-logo'd merchandise: T-shirts, hats, etc. You just don't see that sort of promotional activity anymore (yes, some do it online now).

The value of a great brand with a great logo can't be underestimated.

Related is a post at Pollack Media: "The Lost Art of Radio Brand Extension". Read it here.

Kids, Schools, Classic Rock & NTR = a great promotion. Look what KUFX/San Jose (98.5 K-Fox) is doing here.

Getting the story out. This past Monday, Fred Jacobs wrote about Buffalo's 97 Rock sending an email blast to its database over last weekend regarding the death of Boston's Brad Delp. An excellent move by PD John Hager. Another opportunity to bond with your listener community and strengthen your brand.

I recall last year doing something similar following Bob Seger's return to the concert circuit. Some amateur video of Bob's first show of the tour wound up on You Tube the morning after (2 or 3 complete songs!) We quickly did an email blast with links to the videos suggesting they catch them before they disappear.

And it was very sad this week to read of the circumstances surrounding the passing of Boston singer Brad Delp. My heart goes out to his family and fiancee. Boston's Tom Scholz writes about Brad Delp here.

May all your St. Patty's day promotions be safe and successful!

More Sunday.