"Gut Wrenching"

A&O&B works with all parties involved in yesterday's huge transactions and so all of us have been busy counselling buyers, sellers, executives, employees, all longtime coworkers at broadcast groups, radio stations and networks we have come to love and admire.

Mergers and acquisitions require adaptability and change.  Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt wrote the book on the subject back in 1998. 

"Increasingly, the companies that win are those that learn faster, act quicker and adapt sooner. They will compress time by making and executing early, informed decisions about economic value creation, ruthless prioritization and focused resource allocation. They will use these decisions to take early firm stands on management deployment, organization structure and culture. Their actions will increasingly be linked to long-term, sustained economic value creation."

As someone who manages or works for one of those companies, you know intellectually the truth of of that paragraph, yet your individual needs and fears add relationships and emotion to the personal calculus which can work against getting what needs doing done.

I have another time-tested book I recommend that everyone read at least once a year which helps me with that process.  @ParachuteGuy Richard Nelson Bolles is now semi-retired, but his work goes on as the need is greater than ever.

Recent graduate of Villanova Law School Andrew Dellaripa blogs that it's important to be cautious about giving advice in situations like this:  "Good advice sticks to your very soul. The kind of advice Obi-Wan’s ghost gives.  Bad advice, though, is outdated, archaic clichés pulled from large-font posters of cats in baskets."

So, I'll go light on advice for you except to suggest that this weekend is a great time to think about your own personal goals, abilities and career.

The clearer you are on what makes you succeed the better communicator you'll be when that new leader you'll be working for begins opening up about your new role.

If you need a mentor to help with this process please reach out to any of the A&O&B team.

Your success is our success.

Peak Broadcasting Takes Boise For A Balloon Ride

Check out PEAK BROADCASTING Top 40 103.3 Kiss FM night slammer NATHAN FAST and morning diva MICHELLE HEART as they take to the sky on opening day of the 2011 Spirit of BOISE Balloon Classic.



Peak's Senior VP Kevin Godwin has a right to brag:

For five mornings and the Friday Nite Glow Concert…we were front and center in the community and across the many media outlets that featured Peak & the event. Estimates from previous Riverfest operators/producers were 20,000-25,000 people attended over the 5 days this year and as you can imagine most of everyone in the valley knew what was going on with balloons overhead for five straight days. We confidently had over 10,000 people just at the Nite Glow concert Friday evening. We were able to fly all five days, with 4 days providing us a “box” wind to get a few balloons back into Ann Morrison Park to land. I believe we did a great job of communicating and super-serving our sponsors and their needs throughout the event and I have heard from many of them on how much they enjoyed being involved.

Is it worth the hard work? Godwin sends along these links to some of the coverage the event received:

• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/03/1784566/spotted-spirit-of-boise-balloon.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/02/1782230/balloons-floating-above-boise.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/01/1781075/get-a-taste-of-the-high-life.html#storylink=misearch
• http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/08/31/1780464/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/08/31/1780464/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic.html#storylink=misearch
• http://www.ktvb.com/boise-balloon-classic (multiple stories, reports, pages, photo galleries, video, etc., plus live coverage Wed-Sat morning from 4-8 person production/talent crew)
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15377933/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic-2011
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15340735/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15348403/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic-is-this-week
• http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/03/a-lot-of-hot-air-in-the-capital-city/
• http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/02/balloon-rally-fills-boise-skies-color/
• http://www.spokesman.com/search/?q=balloon%20classic&type=blogpost&sort=pubdate
• http://www.idahopress.com/news/veteran-pilot-makes-balloon-classic-a-tradition/article_0235f7ce-d522-11e0-a7b5-001cc4c002e0.html
• http://www.idahopress.com/news/spirit-of-boise-takes-to-the-air/article_5c9bafe2-d455-11e0-b4b2-001cc4c03286.html
• http://www.idahopress.com/community/hot-air-balloons-to-take-flight/article_c6e179aa-d06c-11e0-a91a-001cc4c002e0.html

A&O is so proud to work with Peak Broadcasting's country stations. They think big, and over-deliver on experiences for their listeners, which is why they are winners.

The Truest Words I Heard All Day Today

The ratings go up

1. It's the GM, CEO, CFO
2. It's the PD, MD, or new voice guy.
3. It's the Jox.
4. It's the secret sound contest we ran for a week.
5. It's the remote on Saturday done from a car dealer by the weekend person
where we gave away 3 T-shirts and 6 month old CD's from the prize closet.
6. We got lucky with the sample this month.
7. It's our new logo.

The ratings go down;

- It's the consultant
- It's corporate.
- It's the sales department.
- The music is weak.
- The news was bad.
- The weather was hot, cold, wet, or dry.
- The morning newsperson was on vacation.
- We got screwed with the sample this month.
- It's our new logo.

- Spoken by longtime exec and media guru Bill Figenshu as we celebrated a great trend for GM Patty Hixson, PD Mac Daniels and their entire Peak Broadcasting KSKS/Fresno team today.