The Weekend Classic Rock FM

70° - sunny at 10am
Left: old bridge just up the road here

Welcome to the weekend. A busy one for our family - shopping for the kids - clothes, school supplies.

School resumes here on Tuesday.

PPM. Arbitron's Gary Marince writes in this week's FMQB: "WARNING: While learning about programming through PPM, resist the temptation to form hasty conclusions."

Gary continues with some observations on the PPM increases by male-dominated formats - especially rock:

"If you think about it . . . the majority of the workforce is male dominated. And someone who works is more likely to be out-and-about either working or coming to-and-from work. Often, the unemployed, which includes everyone not working, spends more time with TV than radio. More simply stated, there is a greater likelihood that an employed male is using radio – they have more listening occasions with radio."

There's lot more here - read Gary's complete piece here.

Meanwhile - Mark Ramsey "Seduces PPM" with a presentation at this year's NAB Radio Show.

Mark writes: "We looked at several months of PPM ratings across both Houston and Philadelphia with specific attention focused on what stations did from a marketing and programming standpoint, whether or not it worked, and how it worked."

More on the presentation here.

Big wow in Albuquerque. Its only a trend - but classic rock KIOT jumps from 12 to 6 in rank 12+. Congrats.

This blog is pretty low key on criticism - but KIOT really needs to fix their web presence. There's no (apparent) strategy. Someone doesn't get it - big time.

Say goodbye to KIOL/Houston. Radio-Info's Tom Taylor reports that the station will trade classic rock this morning for Jack. This move likely to benefit classic rock KKRW.

Enjoy the last weekend of summer.

More Labor Day Weekend Programming

61° - overcast at 9am.
Left: downtown Lansing 9am. Current image

Big downpour here last night as thunderstorms moved through Mid-Michigan. Cool weather made for a great night's sleep!


Heard yesterday that KRFX/Denver will have Night Ranger's Jack Blades in the studio - in morning drive and again this afternoon. Night Ranger in town for two free shows Saturday at the annual "Taste of Colorado".

Years ago, my station had Night Ranger in for a concert - and the entire band was great about appearances around town before the show. Very radio and fan friendly.

Listening to KRFX's Lewis & Floorwax this am; heard an absolute killer track from Devon Allman and his band Honeytribe. Apparently they were live in studio earlier in week. Devon is son of Gregg. Check them out here.

Labor Day Weekend Programming - Part 3: KGB/San Diego is doing a no-repeat weekend "with deep cuts and KGB classics". Sponsored too!

WKLH/Milwaukee is serving up an artist A to Z weekend. Have a sponsor behind it also.

WAQX/New York is doing a request weekend with a twist: "sing us the song that you want to hear live on the air, and earn the song you want to hear. Embarrass your friends, family, and of course yourself, and we'll play your request!" Here.

WCSX/Detroit - aside from broadcasting from the Detroit Grand Prix - is doing a Classic Rock Live Tracks weekend; plus Aerosmith ticket giveaways for a September 8th show. Here.

Mainstream rock WMMR/Philadelphia is doing a "back to school" A to Z this weekend.

I just love this graphic from their website!


WZLX/Boston celebrates "Zeptember" - spotlighting Led Zep with "exclusive interview audio from the ZLX Vault…the hits, deep cuts and lost classics from the Zeppelin catalog."

Added: More additions to the "PPM Rulebook" from Paragon Media Strategies. Read here.

Wednesday Blogs & Beyond

80° - sunny at 9:40am Left: webcam shot of light tower on Lake Michigan at Muskegon this morning. current image

Good Morning.

From my blogosphere:

Defining Classic Rock. Edison Media Research's Tom Webster: "What is it? So, here is my question--and I'd love the rock programmers reading this to chime in with comments--what defines "classic?" Popularity? Importance?"

Read and comment here.

A "40-something" cab driver talking radio: "The eye wants the new, but the ear wants the familiar." Mark Ramsey goes for a cab ride here.

Your station website. Some thoughts and resources from Jacobs Media's Tim Davis here.

Added: Lee Arnold with a post about CBGB owner Hilly Kristal - who passed away yesterday. Read here. CBGB - and the music that came out of it in the mid 70s - stirs thoughts of a great era in my head.

Beyond the blogs:

Ted Nugent on Bill O'Reilly tonight on Fox News Channel (8pm ET). Nothing new here. I'm a bit ho-hum on Ted's shtick. Wears thin fast.

Springsteen Tour. Kicks off in Hartford October 2nd. See the dates here.

Another hot promotional opportunity for classic rock this fall.

More Labor Day Weekend: WDRV/Chicago is repeating their "Live Drive Weekend" - live tracks all weekend long.

KZEP/San Antonio kicks off "Zeptember" (celebrating the station's namesake) this weekend starting with a Led Zep A to Z. Here.

Less personality: Overnights go jockless in Chicago - on two stations owned by Emmis. Read Robert Feder here. Sorry to hear this; there's always been something very cool & intimate with a live voice talking to the third shifters, insomniacs and freaks of the night.

Cool Wallpaper from WMGK

Kudos to WMGK/Philadelphia for the clever idea of making custom classic rock "wallpaper" available to their listeners via their website:

Here's the link. Wouldn't you love to have your station call letters on the desktop of your listeners?