Late Night Reading

From David Martin's N=1:

Be an advocate

To be a successful and effective leader one needs to be an advocate.

The broadcast leader as advocate:

The general manager is an advocate for ownership and for the enterprise. The sales manager is an advocate for the advertiser and for the seller. The program director is an advocate for the listener or viewer and for the talent.

(Dave's original post is accompanied by a great moon photo - here)

The Weekend Classic Rock FM

75° - sunny & windy at 10am

Happy Friday from Okemos

New Bruce. Via Underground Garage affiliate guy Mark Felsot: a new CD from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - titled "Magic" - is scheduled for an October 2nd release.

Longtime Springsteen producer Jon Landau labels the album as a "high energy rock CD". More here.

This (hopefully) means an album more radio-friendly than "The Seger Sessions" - and is likely a release classic rock radio should embrace and celebrate. Consider it as part of your fall programming plans.

Mike Bettelli. Yesterday, this blog suggested spending a day outside the station listening to both your own station and the competition. In this week's FMQB, The Jones Radio programmer/consultant writes:

"A critical part of the job of programming is to know and understand the competition. How much inventory do they air every hour? Are the other morning shows in your market more entertaining, relevant, or higher rated than yours? Maybe you’ll need more resources to level the playing field – especially with regard to talent. It is also possible that your talent can be improved with a little coaching and more tools."

Read Mike's entire piece here.

Tom Taylor: "One last thing about Yankee broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, who died this week at 89: His contribution to Meat Loaf’s epic “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” about young love (or lust) helped make the song the overblown (and perfect) production that’s a staple of classic rock."

Sign up for "Taylor on Radio-Info" - for free here.

More here Sunday Morning. Have a good weekend.

Thursday Late Edition

70° - clear at 8:50pm

Good evening from Michigan.

I just read today's post on David Martin's blog - and then read it again. It's a brutal look at our industry - its "talent crisis" - and leadership. A must read. Here.

I normally provide a quick quote from a piece I'm linking to - but found myself wanting to copy and paste Dave's entire post. Its that good of a read.

More great weekend radio. In my inbox this morning was a listener email from Milwaukee's WKLH - announcing a "Storytellers Weekend".

Great tease in the piece: "John Lennon’s denial of drug references on the Dick Cavett Show. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side” studio tricks. A Doors song that might’ve been called “Hit Me”. It all begins Saturday on KLH’s Storytellers". I can't wait to hear it.

I mentioned before that WKLH is simply a great radio station - and an excellent study for any classic rock programmer.

Nuts & bolts: The fall Arbitron starts September 20th; and I spent a little time this afternoon looking through some old notes.

Likely nothing you haven't heard:

1. As suggested here - find someone you trust to listen to your station -either via airchecks or live on the internet. Get some honest feedback; an outside ear can be helpful.
   


2. Get out of the office for a day and do some critical listening of your own station (and your competitor). You can't do this at work with all the distractions and interruptions. Make sure you have a notepad.
   


3. What about a Selector review? Again by someone you trust - perhaps another PD in your group. Another resource would be an outside Selector consultant such as Keith Hill. Keith spent a couple days in my last cluster - and can quickly see and resolve problem areas and "tune-up" your database to help achieve your goals. Speaking of Selector - try this.
   


4. Freshen up your imaging and promos.
   


5. (And in light of David Martin's post) What have you done to help (direct) your on-air talent?
   

Stuck in the back of my head has been a suggestion I heard years ago: "What 3 things can we do differently to positively impact the upcoming book? Think music, marketing and mornings."

Wednesday News and Blogs

76° - very cloudy at 2pm

Good afternoon from Michigan.

Imus. Lots of speculation about where he'll turn up next now that him and CBS have settled.

Is Citadel Broadcasting in his future?

Added - from All Access: "Employment is a large driver of ratings in a PPM world. In examining MEMORIAL DAY ratings, employed respondents showed much lower listeneing levels versus non-employed respondents. Much can be attributed to their non-commute on a holiday and no in-office listening." PPM market or not, Classic rock is ready-made for long weekend specials to keep your at-work audience listening. Here.

Royalties. The NAB drove a point to members about the discussion of performance royalties for terrestrial radio by sending a mock invoice to its members. Read the NAB release here.

Steven Van Zandt said it best a few weeks back: "I am a songwriter and a performer and I own record companies and publishing companies and I do not believe radio should pay anything to anyone. And I mean every kind of radio."

Meanwhile: RAIN reports that the new internet streaming royalties are in effect - even though Sound Exchange may not be enforcing them pending ongoing negotiations. More here. Danger Will Robinson: liability for the new rates has begun and is very real.

Little Steven on WCBS-FM: "...don't tell us WCBS is back, implying that it's back the way we remember it—we being the demographic that you decided meant nothing when you blew it up and now you're praying is still there."

(from Steven's upcoming column in Billboard later this week).

More Management. Consultant Gary Begin writes this week on All Access about "Managing Beyond The Basics". Some great thoughts. See "Consultant Tips".

This piece also found on Gary's website here.

Fred Jacobs wrote yesterday about an experience I've had more than a few times in my career...while dining with management and staff.

Share this with your GM or sales manager.

Have a great day.