#thefutureofradioisatstake‬

Fred Jacobs' latest blog post, as usual, inspired me into action, especially after I read the response to it by legendary LA GM Roy Laughlin (click the link to read that too).  
I wrote:

There’s no question that Roy Laughlin is a genius and built a lasting dynasty that continues to dominate the Southland thanks to the amazing teams he managed over the years, but before we do a complete 180 lets really study how our streaming listeners use us across all our platforms.

Now that Voltair has “proven” (to me at least) that PPM technology misses a lot of usage, it is tempting to go backward to what we did before, but the industry embraced PPM because of the many flaws of the old diary, not the least of which is the move from landline phones to mobile devices.

Let’s accept that the landscape has completely changed and make use of all the tools in our kit to understand what aspects of our programming work best in each potential venue and customize our content to make the most of all the ways our target is using and will use the new and old technologies based on adoption and usage.

Just as NPR has employed Podcasting to move from their “non-commercial” crowd-source funding over the air analog model to become commercial competition for traditional radio, all of the audio business simply must be open to new business models the internet is opening up.

Since anyone who has seen minute-by-minute reports of streaming usage at local radio stations and compared them to Nielsen PPM data in the same time period know that the two track each other quite accurately, let’s hope that a new, more reliable audience measurement matrix evolves soon that can combine everything we now know about how listeners behave, both quantitatively and qualitatively.


PS:  Do you "like" A&O&B on Facebook? If not, you're missing a lot.

"Brand" new? Nope

In 50 words or less, here is an abbreviated history of brand identity on American and Canadian radio.

• Fibber McGee And Molly
• The Jack Benny Show
• NBC
• The Mighty 690
• 77 WABC
• Color Radio
• 93 KHJ
• Westinghouse Broadcasting, KDKA
• WCCO, Real Radio
• WSB, Atlanta
• Paul Harvey News
• The Big 8
• Cash Call
• The Best Variety
• K-Lite
• CHUM
• EZ
• The Most Music
• CKNW
• Froggy
• Magic
• Continuous Country
• 12 in a row
• Mix
• The all new…
• Country 105
• BOB FM
• Double Your Paycheck
• Kiss
• Jack

.. and the tradition continues.

How does your branding stand up?

Chuck Buell

He is a headline selection this month on the largest radio show aircheck archive around, ReelRadio.com.

• The ridiculously talented Bobby Ocean spotlights one of Chuck's old radio shows from 1970 WLS (click Bobby Ocean's Aircheck Channel CB WLS Edition.mp3 to listen to a segment).
• Here's the 2013 Chuck Buell, with work that is still totally "precise, personable, powerful" and yet clearly updated for today's culture and target listener.

 Chuck Buell, for 45 years adapting his content and style, a perfect role model for talent wanting to remain relevant decade after decade.

Jim McGovern

The names I am going to drop in this post need no introduction from me.  Both of them are better known and have done more big things in their radio careers than I could ever hope to do.

Jim McGovern was the GM at KMPS who made me a Seattle PD.

Pat O'Day told a very revealing story at Jim's wake:

When Les Smith and Danny Kaye owned WUBE/Cincinnati, Jim was the manager and Pat went to visit his old Seattle friend over a long Memorial Day weekend they decided to drive up to see the Indianapolis 500.

The instant the idea came up, O'Day got on the phone and started calling in favors.  Eventually, he was able to pull strings and get a pair of passes to both the pits and the press box.

As they were walking from the car to the track, McGovern asked O'Day to wait a moment so that he could try to sell the pair of tickets he had in his pocket all along.

Pat exclaimed, "you let me go through all that and you had tickets????"

McGovern replied, "sure, because what you were getting was much better than what I had."

The lesson I learned from Jim McGovern:  don't micromanage.  Your team will often exceed expectations.

Jim always had a "plan B" -- which the people who worked for him seldom found out about (as long as their "plan A" was superior to it).

Larry Daniels

It is quite ironic that his last few years before retirement were spent successfully consulting country radio stations because my 32 year consulting career would never have started if Larry wanted to do it in 1981.

A little history:  when I first heard KNIX/Phoenix in the early 1970's I knew I simply had to meet its obviously brilliant programmer.

I had never heard a country station so upbeat, well-produced, populated with compelling personalities and totally in synch with the crossover success of Arizona's Glen Campbell among many others.

It was incredibly contemporary in its appeal, clearly "Phoenix, Arizona, country."

Fortunately, a mid-70's joint promotion between KHOS/Tucson and KNIX offered ample opportunity as four of us spent several days together peddling 128 miles from the Pima County Fair to The Phoenix Zoo in what we dubbed "The Great Arizona Bike Race" as a kickoff for the state's Cancer Society annual fund drive.

Later, Larry helped me land one of the best radio jobs of my career at KUZZ/Bakersfield, where he served as my group PD.

Then, in 1981, when Drake Chenault attempted to recruit him as a consultant, he turned the job offer down, recommending me instead.

I was enjoying selling for KEEN/San Jose after having been morning personality/program director and the phone call from Southern California came completely out of the blue, but - knowing that Daniels was convinced I could do it - I jumped at it, falling in love with consulting before very long.

Larry Daniels' personal modesty in spite of incredible long term career success is an inspiration.

He always let his deeds speak for his accomplishments and demonstrated to me (and many, many others) how to mentor.

PS:  I confess that Larry and W. Steven (the two bikers on the right) won that bike race because, as usual for Larry, they were simply much better prepared for it than Dan Gates and I (the pair on the left). 

That was another lesson.  We all had fun working together for a great cause, of course, but Larry Daniels went into battle quietly fully mentally and physically equipped to win.

Tom Weidle

He spent the 1970's at KLUC, Las Vegas, first as PD and later as Sales Manager before helping write Sacramento radio history as GM of KZAP.

Long before all that he hired me twice, first as Promotion Director/Night Jock in the late-60's during his tenure as PD of Bud Crowl-owned WAVI/WDAO in Dayton and then later to do "rock 40" mornings in Vegas under owners-managers Rick and Bill Phelan.

During that tenure he saw something in me - that even I didn't - which changed my life forever.

When Western Cities Broadcasting purchased a country station in Tucson, Tom encouraged me to be their first program director there.

Knowing nothing about country, but wanting to program, I accepted the opportunity, which led to more than four decades of constantly-increasing country radio passion and continuing personal and career growth.

Tom Weidle taught me:  challenge and promote people based on their attitude and aptitude as least as much as their past experience.

Joe Portraro

I had watched him on TV while I was in school, so it seemed like a big celebrity was coming to help us relocate our studios and transmitter when my General Manager (Bill French) at KTBT-FM, Orange County first introduced us to Joe two decades later.

We were changing the brand to KORJ and the format to AC.  This was a few years before that 94.3 frequency and I both went country.

The owner sent Portrero in to handle oversight of the site selection and construction project.  The biggest challenge he faced was to navigate all the hurdles of putting a transmitter, tower and antenna atop an existing building at a reasonable price.

Engineering consultants and the traditional broadcast tower installers were proposing extremely expensive projects that had little chance of getting zoning approval.

It was then that Joe came up with the idea of adding a free-standing flag pole to the top of the building which would be sturdy enough to hold an FM antenna too.

It got the job done and it was amazing to watch on a Sunday morning as a helicopter lowered it into place, looking very nice and at a cost that was far lower than the professional tower experts ever thought would be possible.

When someone tells me something simply can't be done, I am grateful to Joe Portraro.

It simply means you haven't considered enough possibilities ... yet.

Bob Martin

I knew that he really liked me from the first day the Program Director of WCUE, Akron, hired me.  Bob and his wife Barbara made this first-time Production Director feel like a part of their big family, welcome to their community.

He suggested an idea for a client spec spot which I wrote and produced.  It got the buy.  In fact, it went on to win one of the RAB's "Best Locally-Produced Radio Commercials" of that year nationally.

Bob gave me full credit, never mentioning to anyone that the core creative concept was actually his idea.

He taught me how to motivate a young person, making them feel important to the mission and competent. 

Thank you, Bob Martin, for teaching me that generosity is an important motivational leadership tool.

Russ Jones

He owned a local appliance repair and sales business in Salem, Ohio, my hometown. 

After Westinghouse Broadcasting gave up on FM radio in the early 1950's, Russ purchased their used 100,000 watt FM transmitter from KDKA-FM and applied for an FM license about the same time I was entering high school.

Russ constructed what was then WSOM-FM (105.1) on the top of a hill just outside town, ran it for several years and sold it to a Youngstown-based company.  It has changed hands multiple times over the years at higher and higher prices/multiples.

It's still doing very well almost 60 years later as WQXK, now licensed to Youngstown, covering a wide swath between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

I think of Russ each time I hear someone say that "HD Radio" is a waste of effort.

He taught me that evolution takes dedication and time.

Success requires patience, courage and vision.

Not Just Another Anti-Radio Rant

This blog post (Is Good Radio Winning?) started out like so many others by burnt out naysayers who seem to endlessly wax on about how wonderful things used to be and then complain about how things are now that I almost deleted it.

Then I got down to the section of the article that so few like it have.

The part headlined "solutions."

If you are employed in an authoritative position, mentor a young professional. Bring in interns and let them work. Be OK with mistakes and teach people how to correct mistakes. Don't think about the next trend or book. Think about the trend or book three years down the road. Service your local advertisers, regardless of budget. Find out what your listeners want. Program for the masses while still respecting the fringe. Be cool again. Be cutting-edge. Don't be scared to piss people off or to make them feel good. Respect the airwaves. Respect your community and be a part of it. Care about making a profit but be OK with occasionally losing money within reason. Don't just skim through music. Listen to music.

Don't treat radio as a commodity. Radio is a canvas that can entertain and educate. It can make profits and support families. It can be an authoritative voice and a voice for the people but it is not a commodity.

Respect the profession. Respect the industry. Take chances. Reflect your community. Good radio is winning.

DYK: The Creator Of Radio's Cash Call Also Sold Real Estate To Diane Sawyer, Henry Kissinger And Joan Rivers

Tom Zarecki called my attention to this obit for David Klemm in the Danbury (CT) News-Times and then added some personal insight about his early career in radio:

I worked for Dave for 6 years in the early 80's. He taught me the delicate art of consulting radio PD's and jocks. What I learned from Dave over those years I was then able to parlay into my own radio successful radio consulting business from 1986-1994.

Klemm worked for Blair Radio, a major national radio rep firm based in New York City, for many years, from the sixties into the early 80's when he began Klemm Media, his own radio consulting firm. During that era, Klemm personally coached literally hundreds of radio programmers, station managers and air talent, including many legendary jocks in all of America's top 20 markets as well as many other stations in groups in all market size, before making his final radio segue into a real estate career with his wife, Carolyn, in 1986.

Besides writing hundreds of slogans, station jingle lyrics and designing radio ad campaigns for top-rated stations nationwide, Klemm was generally credited with inventing the original and highly successful "Cash Call" radio call-in contest of the late 50's and early 60's, later duplicated by hundreds of other stations.

To Affect The Future, Understand The Past

.. and I cannot think of a journalist with a better perspective on it all than Bob Shannon.

Many of his friends, including me, have been telling him for several years as we avidly read his columns in Radio & Records and AllAccess, "you need to turn this great stuff into a book."

Congrats, Bob, for taking that advice. The book is impressive!

Buy a copy, and learn about the building blocks of great radio.

Did Radio In The U.S. Begin In 1909? Or, 1920?

As KCBS celebrates its 100th anniversary and credits the needs created by the San Francisco earthquake as the birth of broadcast, there's one thing for sure in the "who was first?" competition: CBS radio owns two very historic properties!

Radio Oldtimers Love To Tell Stories

If you enjoy reading and sharing them, check out the new community built by 35-year broadcast vet Jack Allen. At present, it focuses on stories of Puget Sound radio, but it's going to be fascinating to watch where it goes from here.

Where Will CHUM Relocate?

An iconic Yonge Street building that for a half-century was a vital part of the history of popular music in Toronto has been purchased (for $21.5 million!) by a major developer.

Hopefully, lots of the music and radio history artifacts contained inside those walls will move to a radio hall of fame somewhere, if not to the new CHUM offices, wherever they end up being.

Great Stunts Live On Forever

Don Riggs retired from KMPS earlier this year and he was awarded a Crystal Soundie award in May by the Puget Sound Area Broadcasters Association.

I went to the ceremony but had to travel right after it, so I was doing an internet search to read the news coverage of it when I came across this newspaper article from 1998!

Is it worth it to spend the extra time creating fun stunts takes? You bet. Great PR just goes on and on.

Lessons From The Master

Very impressive of R&R Publisher Erica Farber to end 2007 with a profile of one of the best programmers I ever worked for, Bill Drake:

State of radio: Competition is such that today people are excited about a 3 share. There are so many wasted signals. Our policy was, we didn’t go into a market without the intent of being No. 1, period, boom! No niche this or that. And we made it 90% of the time.

What we can learn from yesterday’s successes: Whoever puts the best on the radio wins. Obviously today you’ve got iPods, satellite and all kinds of goodies. There are some good programmers, but some lousy-sounding stations—and some of them have incredible signals. There doesn’t seem to be that fever anymore. I know when we were doing it we were like a brotherhood. We went in to win and did whatever it took. We were totally, absolutely dedicated. It doesn’t come across on many radio stations now. A lot of people just don’t know what they’re doing. Of course, that’s always been true, thank you, Jesus.

Count Me As One Of The Many Fans Of Larry Nelson

Larry's famous voice has been silenced.

His family was with him as the end came at 3:28 a.m. this morning and they now ask for some time alone.

A memorial service is being planned and will be announced as soon as possible.

If you want to be inspired by a wonderful tribute to a great Pacific Northwest broadcaster click here (Remembering the KOMO Breakfast Table). Spend some time listening and thinking about the impact the best among us can have on the community.

I was at KMPS when Larry was at the height of his popularity in the early 1980's and I never drive by Mt. Vernon and La Conner without thinking about Larry's evocative yearly spring broadcasts from the tulip fields in bloom.

Rest In Peace, Porter

His name was among the first group added to the Country Music Hall Of Fame's "Walkway Of Stars," exactly four decades ago this year. He was born exactly four decades before that (in 1927) in West Plains, Missouri. This was his 50th year as a member of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.

Porter Wagoner is walking today on "The Green Green Grass Of Home."

WSJ's Review Of Craig Havighurst's New WSM History

WGST, Atlanta PD Randall Bloomquist writes an insightful review of this new book which traces the unlikely birth of "Music City" in Nashville to the need of insurance sales.

In the midst of commercial radio's struggles comes a reminder of its glory days, when stations' soaring transmitter towers seemed like monuments to the broadcasters' influence. "

As history, "Air Castle of the South" is engaging but less than definitive. It's long on anecdote and sentiment ("demanding that WSM live or die by the media economy's new rules feels a bit like asking your grandmother to work at Burger King to make ends meet") but short on analysis.

Recent years have seen the dissolution of Gaylord's "Opry"-centered media empire and the final stage of WSM's descent from broadcast powerhouse to radio curiosity. More thorough contemporary reporting would have helped buttress the book's contention that Gaylord's corporate strategy -- which included the much-criticized closing of the Opryland USA theme park in 1997 after attendance began slipping -- has endangered Nashville's future as a major hub of the entertainment industry. Still, Mr. Havighurst has done a service in preserving the colorful and instructive history of WSM -- and in reminding us that giants once lived on the radio dial.