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.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

44° - rain at 12:23pm

Good Morning/afternoon from Okemos. Listening this morning to my usual Sunday Morning routine: WDRV/Chicago and WKLH/Milwaukee via the 'net.

I note some fresh imaging (voiced by Nick Michaels) on The Drive; very nice! I also sense that the station is working on their streaming presentation, especially with ad-insertion.

This past week I spent a few hours in Detroit listening to WCSX. OM/PD Doug Podell has really put some life into that station in recent months; at least since my last listen. The tempo is up....the entire presentation, not just the music. The station sounds so alive.

Reading. Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0. Mark posted some great content this past week. Working backwards, Mark features an interview with author Richard Goldman, conducted by radio consultant Doug Erickson. Goldman is co-founder of Men's Warehouse. From that interview:

Radio right now seems unable to manage risk. It's trying to cut its way to profit by slashing "expense," by cutting research, marketing, promotion, management and staff. How did you handle risk, in the face of recession, in your successful retail career?

The easy fix is always to cut expenses. But at some point you run out of expenses to cut. At Men’s Wearhouse, we certainly tried to cut expenses, but more of the effort was spent in trying to increase sales.

You're a marketing expert. Any ideas on how you would market a radio station?

I would get out of the current mindset—if a listener could be transported to any city in the country and turn on any radio station (especially FM), they’d think that they were in their own home town.

Alice, schmalice—I’m sick of the format and disgusted with the way that radio has become so homogenous.

Read the entire piece here. (btw: CBS head honcho Les Moonves said this past week that "more staff cuts to reduce expenses are probably not a good idea. "There comes a point where you’re cutting into the bone." Nice to read. More here. -dan)

Another great Ramsey post featured Seth Godin speaking at the Country Radio Seminar. Read here.

Speaking of CRS: Consultant Alan Mason blogged about a topic he'd be speaking on this past week in Nashville. In a list he's made for a PD in today's environment he notes:

"Think in terms of the future , and new titles. Are you a PD or are you Brand Manager and Director of Listener Experience? Do you have a promotion director, or a director of listener engagement? You can see that one title operates in the past, while the other looks to the future. Of course you actually have to be and act like the new title - this is much more than a change of clothes."

Alan writes here.

Learn from Paul. A Great read from Dave Martin: "Six Lessons from Paul Harvey". Read here.

Chicago's Rick Kaempfer brings us up-to-date on Chicago radio people he's interviewed in the past. Read here. Check out Rick's piece on the late Paul Harvey too.

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

21° - overcast, light snow at 12:38pm

Good Morning/Afternoon from Okemos! Snow coming down...winter ain't over yet.

Signing off: Paul Harvey. I recieved the news last night from KFAB's Tom Becka via Facebook. The end of an era indeed. Good day.

Listening earlier: This morning to WDRV and Bob Stroud's Rock 'N Roll Roots program. Aside from some Who music celebrating Roger Daltry's birthday, Bob also featuring lots of music from the Brian Jones era of the Stones. I think Bob mentioned that Brian would have been 67 today.

Listening later: Steve Palec on WKLH. Steve playing some Jeff Beck as I write along with some sound clips of Les Paul talking about Beck. Very cool; and as usual, Steve's production, planning and use of sound is noted! WKLH: end the madness with your internet fill spots. Enough with the repetitive debt reduction and ad council PSAs!

Congrats: To Milwaukee's Lee Arnold - celebrating the second anniversary of his internet station WORJ-dot.com. Lee the inspiration for my OkemosBrewing-dot-com. I missed the Heartsfield concert he was airing yesterday...damn!

More on "staffing the station." The other day I quoted Jerry Del Colliano - who noted that there's lots of social networking tools (Twitter, Facebook, email, etc.) for talking with listeners, but that all require that "someone be home".

This morning I ran across a post by consultant Jaye Albright about stations on "auto-pilot"...and I'm going to take the liberty of printing Jaye's entire post:

"The flight from Seattle was within miles of Houston when the flight attendant came on the intercom to say “welcome on board Continental Airlines. ” Then, she paused in mid-sentence as the first few rows of frequent fliers came to the realization that what she had meant to say was the traditional “welcome to Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport” announcement, which she no doubt delivers at least three or four times a week.

Instead, unthinkingly, she started to do the typical take-off announcement, which she routinely gives three or four times each day. “If she’s not going to think about what she’s saying, I sure won’t,” I thought.

The same is true on radio. Computers now make it so easy to walk away from the control room and have the station run itself for quarter hours at a time. Meanwhile, request lines ring unanswered, listeners text, email, social network, hoping to interact with you, the brand they hear on the radio.

Radio, of course, was the first interactive medium from the very first days of top 40 radio a half century ago, when Gordon McClendon famously put that juke box in front of KLIF, Dallas, and listeners drove by the station wanting to choose the music and become more engaged. So, previous generations of air personalities have created some expectations out there in radioland.

If you’re on the air, it’s your choice. Take the easy way, do jingle, liner and sweeper auto pilot radio. Sound like you’re a machine. Or, get busy. Commit to answering every phone line as quickly as possible. Record every phone interaction, edit the best stories and integrate them into your content.

Text listeners. Interact with the audience on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, your chat room, your blog and use the best of that on the air too. Yes, it’s a lot to do. But, this I guarantee: you’ll never get bored doing it that way. And, listeners can tell.

Southwest Airlines revolutionized air travel by encouraging their flight attendants to get creative with the take off and landing announcements, even the federally-mandated safety announcements. Their reward? Profitability and some of the most loyal users in the industry. Perhaps those zany announcements had a role in that.

One thing for sure, encouraging their flight attendants to have more fun and ad lib resulted in flight crews who don’t just mouth the same words repeatedly so that they sound like they’re doing them in their sleep. Like a lot of radio stations do today. You?"

Jaye's blog is a must-read, no matter your format.

Related. Heard a story from a friend in Chicago attending a club appearance by a heritage band last night. She noted that the sponsoring station, despite sponsoring the concert, had no on-air staff at the show (there were two former staff members there...). Yipes!

Catching up on Rick. If you haven't stopped by Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight, check in and read some great radio stories.

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

33° - light snow at 12:02pm

Snow! Woke up this morning to snow just starting to come down here in Mid-Michigan. Enough had fallen in just a few hours to motivate #2 son to go out in the backyard and take advantage of the changing season.

He's outside and away from the computer and the TV...cool!

Listening this morning to Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. This morning Bob featuring the music career of Joe Walsh. Later: WKLH/Milwaukee and Steve Palec - who's featuring Aerosmith this morning. Nobody does puts together sound bites (especially on the local level every week) like Steve Palec.

FMQB: The magazine has a great piece online this week: a cover story interview with KSWD/Los Angeles (100.3/The Sound) PD Dave Beasing. Read here. One highlight of the interview is Dave's enthusiasm for his employer - Bonneville:

"This company sees an economic slowdown the way Warren Buffett does, as a good time to invest. Our marketing director, Sammy Simpson, is brilliant, and he’s going to be just as aggressive throughout 2009 as he was during our first few months."

And on The Sound and the AAA format:

"In many ways, AAA is today’s Album Rock radio. It’s simple, really. We’re playing good music from all eras and artists. There are several good Rock stations here already but they only play a tight list of hits, and that’s a smart strategy for them. But there’s room for one station that dares to be different."

Radio stories. This week Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight shines on Jeff Schwartz. Jeff not an on-air talent, but someone who's been behind the scenes at some of the Windy City's top radio stations.

Among some great stories - Jeff shares how the infamous 1979 "Disco Demolition" came together. A great read here.

And if you want video - here's a 25th anniversary Keith Olbermann broadcast remembering the event:


More video on YouTube here.

And...back on Tuesday, I heard an interview with Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange this past week on NPR's Fresh Air program. Artie holds nothing back with Fresh Air host Terry Gross. Listen here.

Added: Caught this on The Consumerist website: "Sirius XM Merger Reveals True Face: Fewer Channels And 'Sanitized' Programming". Read here.

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

37° - overcast at 11:14am

Good Morning from Okemos.

After a week of continued great autumn weather with daytime highs in the 70s, colder weather finally traveled across Lake Michigan and yesterday colder temperatures and rain hit with predictions for snow. No white stuff here yet. Spoke too soon. White flakes are coming down as of 10:30am eastern time.

Recharging my batteries. Yesterday the day job hosted its 4th annual "Broadcast Career Builder Conference" (BCBC); a day filled with industry leaders talking to college and trade school students who want to enter broadcasting/electronic media. It was awesome to see/feel the enthusiasm for this business from those who want to enter, even after some of the sessions were quite blunt about downsizing, consolidation and the changing skill set needed in today's environment.

One of the highlights of the day was a session titled "Marketing Yourself for a Successful Career in Broadcasting", moderated by local WLNS-TV News Director Phil Hendrix that included a great presentation by Jay Kruz of Bonneville's WSWD/Cincinnati; plus participation by Midwest Communications (Kalamazoo) OM Brian Hayes and former XM air talent Sari Zalesin.

Jay Kruz - who at age 24 and a PD in market 29 was an inspiration for many attendees and wonderful to chat with aftewards. One word of advice from Mr. Kruz to his college audience was to Google yourself and clean up those Facebook pages, among others - if neccessary.

Related: Consultant Harve Alan talks about your online brand (you, not your station) here.

I also had a chance to chat with Rich Padgen from Detroit's Radio Disney station (WFDF). Want to dive head-deep into promotions? Work for a Radio Disney station. They're on the street all the time.

Props to MAB's Julie Sochay for organizing the event for a fourth year as well as to MAB President/CEO Karole White; and to Citadel/Saginaw Market Manager Chris Monk, this year's Committee Chairman of the Conference.

Listening this morning: My usual Sunday routine...WDRV/Chicago's Rock 'N Roll Roots followed by WKLH/Milwaukee's Rock 'N Roll Roots program.

Reading this morning: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight shines on Mancow, who - aside form his long running syndicated morning show - just landed a prime gig on some legendary call letters. Read here.

Programming: Still getting caught up on posting reading recommendations from my blog hiatus. A series of great posts are from Country consultant Jaye Albright who writes about "Ingredients Of A Great Country Music Radio Station."

Let Jaye's comments serve as thought/discussion starters for your station no matter the format. Part one here. Part two here. Part three here.

Contribute To Revenue. One session yesterday at the above-mentioned BCBC was "Creating Job Security By Creating Broadcast Revenue". Couldn't spend much time in the room with other responsibilities - but as a related sidenote, Fred Jacobs writes in this week's FMQB about PDs contributing to sales in this day and age, offering some specific suggestions. A great read here.

Follow-up: On Tuesday, I pointed to a Seth Godin piece on "Marketing Lessons from the US Election" - and how those lessons relate to radio. Seth's piece also caught the attention of Mark Ramsey. Read here.

Fun Read: John Gorman continues to offer a glimpse into the glory days of WMMS/Cleveland through his Buzzard Blog - and offers a great piece on fighting the battle with the competition. Read here.

Speaking of: Gorman offers a ton of audio, video and related material on WMMS on his blog. As an example, John offers audio from a 1979 Pete Towshend interview here. An example of memorable and timeless material that should be archived and available on the station's website! Audio/Video/Photos...whatever.

Is there someone in your station responsible for archiving your treasured programming assets and making them available on your website? If not, there should be. In radio, too much of what goes over the air is never heard again. This material makes great long-term web content.

Aside from the web, there's got to be much material that can be recycled for use in imaging and special artist weekends. Watch VH-1 or MTV. They save everything and reuse just about all of it sooner or later.

Have a great Sunday.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

57° - sunny at 10:50am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Time just seems limited lately with much going on with the day job, including increased duties and responsibilities; sometimes the best intentions to post get sidetracked.

Today its car repair 101 (replacing a ignition switch in the family mini-van) as well as my youngest boy's first flag football game on the season.

Listening: This morning to WDRV's Bob Stroud (surprised?); later if time permits its Steve Palec on Milwaukee's WKLH.

HD Radio. By now you've probably read that there's a proposal to require HD Radio capabilities to satellite radio receivers. ARS Technica reports that the bill would require this of satellite radios that also recieve AM & FM broadcasts. Thinking deeper, this could simply mean that satellite radios could be built without AM/FM capabilities - and thus, no HD.

Of course, would Detroit do installs of (pay) satellite-only radios? I think/hope not. Certainly the requirement could be a shot in the arm for HD. Of course why not simply requiring HD in all radios? Yeah, I understand the Ibiquity royalty deal. Perhaps Ibiquity would have to rethink their license deals. FM didn't take off until it was required in most radios starting in 1974. Before that date, I'm sure their were lots of naysayers questioning whether FM was either neccessary or something the public wanted.

In the meantime - HD-2 and HD-3 channels will succeed with programming thats not neccessarily mainstream - just as FM itself was back through the mid-70s. That includes today's version of "underground radio" (think Detroit's Riff-2), classical music and foreign-language programming.

I pointed out on an engineering discussion list a few days ago that in the early 70s, Chicago had three class B FMs that devoted much, if not all their broadcast day to brokered ethnic programming. Much of this has since gone to weaker suburban AM signals or subcarriers requiring special receivers.

Welcome Jay Philpott. Received an email this past week from Jay who turns me on to his blog and a great piece with audio on Bruce Springsteen - who apparently will be playing at the forthcoming Super Bowl. Check out a piece of rare, wonderful audio from The Boss here.

Congrats: This past week to Detroit's Mark Pennington - who was promoted to PD of the legendary WRIF by OM Doug Podell. A well deserved promotion. Thats to Lee Arnold for the tip.

More Radio Career Stories. Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight this week shines on KXNT/KSFN Las Vegas Program Director Jack Landreth. Read here.

Have a great Sunday.

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.

Monday Morning Quotes

53° - clear at 8:15am

Good Morning from Okemos.

My oldest (Tyler, pictured left) turned 13 yesterday. Everybody says it - but its true: time passes way too fast with kids.

Labor Day Weekend coming up. I promise to run down special programming in the next day or two. What have you got planned? Please share!

Some quotes seen over the past couple days - first from Fred Jacobs:

"And yes, if it was a radio programmer running the Obama campaign, that text would have gone out at 7:20 Thursday Morning."

Fred - writing about Obama...and "whats the digital application?". Makes for a great read and food for thought for your radio station. Here.

A quote from Greater Media VP/Program Development Buzz Knight:

"As programmers, we have to understand that cultivating new air talent is critical to the future of our business. We have to be sensitive to how we are grooming new talent, a challenge for every company."

"Great talent adds great value to your brand. It is incumbent upon us to create talents that are great brands. We have to evolve with the times in our thinking of how to develop strong personalities. We as managers have to play significant roles in that process."

That's part of a great interview with Buzz in the current issue of FMQB. Read here.

Next from Dave Martin:

"...The six-word job description of the PD remains "Deliver numbers to the sales department." The PD is advocate for the group(s) formerly known as the audience. The four-word job description of the SM remains "Convert deliverables into cash." The SM is advocate for the paying customers."

"In the most effective organizations PDs and SMs are involved in an ongoing creative collaboration. The work is akin to the real-time improvisation one finds integral to jazz. A mix of equal parts art and science. Each player has a deep understanding and respect for producing results. Accordingly, there is art in commerce. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

Dave reviews the classic product vs. sales debate here.

And from the brilliant mind of KEZK-KYKY/St. Louis PD Mark Edwards:

"I think sometimes management doesn't let talent do what they were hired to do. Whether its a big money morning man, a rookie weekender, or a PD, you have to let your people do their jobs. I have a tremendous amount of respect for great Air Personalities, partly because I was never that good on the air, but mostly because I've always tried to build a team with people who are specialists in what they do."

"When you clamp down on any kind of talent, you don't let them do what you hired them to do, so I'd rather let them do their "act", critique when its necessary, and make sure they know their limits, whether it be what they can talk about or how long a bit should be. Great local talent will always be broadcast radio's best weapon, and you have to let them be themselves as well as good station ambassadors on and off the air."

Mark is interviewed on Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight here.

More later. The day job awaits...

Wednesday Blogs

64° - overcast at 9:21am

Good Morning from Okemos.

More catching up....

National Vinyl Record Day. It was yesterday - a somewhat informal celebration organized by Madison's Jim Bartlett (who also does weekends on classic rock WHLK). Catch the action on his blog here.

Rick Kaempfer. Rick has posted a number of great radio pieces on his "Chicago Radio Spotlight" as of late. This includes an interview with the legendary Clark Weber; WXRT's Lin Brehmer; WIMS/Michigan City owner Ric Federighi; and actor/personality KC Lupp. Good stuff. Start scrolling back here.

Bob Buchmann. Yesterday All Access quoted a New York Daily News article on the now-former WAXQ/New York PD. He applied for the Q104.3 job ten years ago after the then-manager of WNEW-FM declared that "rock radio could no longer work in New York". And on philosophy:

"We always took the long view," said BUCHMANN, "You can get a quick bounce by a TV ad campaign, but that's not the way we wanted to do it. If you build one listener at a time, they'll stay with you."

Good words. Brands are not built overnight. The Daily News piece is here. Another great read.

New York's Rock & Roll Tour. Had an email back on Monday from Jonathan Paisner with a company called City Listen. The company is offering an audio "guided Rock & Roll Tour of Manhattan":

"Walk in the footsteps of Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and many more. New York City DJ Ken Dashow (WAXQ) takes you on a fascinating tour throughout the East and West Villages in Manhattan to some of the most legendary locales captured on vinyl."

Very cool. Website here. Reading that starts the brain thinking about what a station in a city with great rock heritage could do on air and on the web. Brainstorm with your staff if your city fits the mold.

Congrats. To Clear Channel programmer Tony Coles on his promotion to oversee the company's Chicago cluster. A great guy who will make great things happen.

Home today with a bug of some sort. More later.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

69° - clear/sunny at 9:40am

Good Morning from Okemos.

Listening. My usual Sunday Morning routine with Bob Stroud on Chicago's WDRV. Bob featuring music from the summer of 1968....and as I write has just played Eric Burdon & The Animal's 7-minute + epic "Sky Pilot" - followed by Clarence Carter's "Slip Away". Wonderful stuff.

Later logging into WKLH to catch Steve Palec's Rock 'N Roll Roots.

Rockin' The Workforce: Back on Thursday, Fred Jacobs wrote a great piece on marketing to those at the workplace - and radio's increasing importance.

Noting that American's are now spending 60% of their waking hours on the job - an all time high - radio is the ideal medium to reach those workers.

Read Fred's piece here. Share with your sales manager.

More PPM: This week's FMQB features Pollack Media Group's Pat Welch reviews what we know so far. Pat opens with:

"...programming tactics that are more PPM friendly should be done regardless of how soon your market is scheduled to make the conversion. Think of this as the world’s largest research project, and take advantage of the lessons learned from markets that have already made the conversion."

Pat's thoughts here. PPM market or not, learn from the research PPM is providing into listener habits.

"Monday is the new Thursday in PPM." #3 in a list presented last week at the Morning Show Bootcamp. See the list here. Jaye Albright points us to a simple promotion to hype Mondays from country KYGO/Denver. Here.

Launching A New Station. Consultant Harve Alan launched a radio station this week and shares the excitement in a piece here.

There's nothing like a start-up!

Seth Godin. Seth writes about the "experience": "A concert isn’t about the music, is it? And a restaurant isn’t about the food." Read here.

Think about "the experience" with your radio station; I do everytime I go to the ballpark.

In case you missed (I did). Last Sunday, Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight was on WLS/Chicago PM drive talent Bill Leff. Read here.

Have a great Sunday.