Your Listeners Are A Creative Resource

Jeff Stone saw this item in his local Sunday paper:

Meet 37 year old, Green Bay East High School and UW-Oshkosh graduate DEAN JULIAN. He still loves the Packers, bratwurst and musky fishing, and especially loves the fact he has one of the hottest scripts in Hollywood. A futuristic thriller entitled "UTOPIA".

After Graduating from College, Julian left his hometown of Green Bay to pursue his dream in the entertainment capital of the world. He then did voice over work for radio, and television programs, including MTV Beavis & Butt-head and VH-1 Illustrated, Julian has found his true calling through his writing. "As a writer, you get to create a whole universe...I've always had quite an imagination, and I can't imagine a more enjoyable way to make a living." says Julian. The Story takes a glimpse 25 years into the future: Global democracy is finally achieved...but the US Military---reluctant to share it's power---Stages a coup and becomes the most feared terroist organization ever to exist on the planet. Bill O'Riley has a small cameo role as an 80 year old, and is the "Voice of reason" in the scary post 911 world created by Julian. "it was pretty cool......I was actually on Bill O'Riley's radio Program last week. The guy just makes sense on so many social issues...and UTOPIA deals with the heaviest of them, so I decided to write his character into the script. "

Stone says that this same Dean Julian was on his Green Bay radio request line 15 years ago: "He was in college and it was late and he decided to call the station I was working and he was doing these crazy character voices...So of course I saw a way where I could use this guy and I talked him into coming in and recording some drops for me.

For the next 9 years he was my voice and comedy guy....he was amazing....His talents definitely get me some jobs! Just With his Clinton Voice alone through the early 90's was very helpful.....Just wanted you to see what happens when you talk to your listeners...you can find some talented people...His movie by the way will star Mel Gibson the way it looks....I will let you know more when I know more....it is a great story....I have the script... he sent it to me and it is awesome!"

MORAL: be extra nice to those voices on the phone. They can make your content better right now, and also you never know what they may "grow up" to be!

Contact Jeff at stonevo@doorpi.net, call 920-256-9537 or click on http://www.jeffstoneproductions.com/.

'All News, All the Time' Turns 40

Radio World is always a fun read, yet I find many managers and programmers never take time to open it because the CE usually grabs the station copy the moment it arrives. Check out the latest one online:

"Got 22 minutes? They'll give you the world. Infinity station WINS(AM) in New York, known there as 1010 WINS and identifiable by its familiar old-style newswire sound effect, is noting its 40th anniversary as an all-news station.

"Among its promo activities is a "top 40 newsmakers" poll on its Web site. After two weeks of voting in several categories, the station will air several weeks of profiles from its station archives based on the votes. An event in the fall will benefit the New York City Adopt a School program."

Tiny Tot Idol

John Michaels of Montana's (KDBR) "The Bear" did Tiny Tot Idol for 4 Wednesdays in a row:

"We pushed it by saying...Hey parents if your child is 11 or younger & ya think they have talent then call in...we will give em 30 seconds to show their stuff on the Bear morning country club tiny tot idol stage...we took calls between 7 & 8 & after 8 we selected the top 2 or 3 & from 8 to 8:30 listeners could call in & vote for thier favorite...The response was great...parents, teachers, everybody was calling in to vote..when we chose the winner we would call thier school & the teacher would get the class to cheer....I felt the bit was very family friendly & fun..the kids were cute..."

Gown Town Extravaganza

Ace & TJ are in the midst of their Mother's Day promotion this week, but in spite of that they filled a Charlotte mall with some 200 women last weekend who wanted a free prom dress.

It was their sixth annual Gown Town extravaganza. They invite listeners to donate dresses they no longer need to area high school girls who couldn’t otherwise afford prom attire.

Their press release on the event says: “Women donated bridesmaid and prom dresses that they’ll never wear again — the mall gives us an entire store for a day, and we set everything up with the dresses racked by size and a section for accessories and another for shoes. These people got to come in and have the whole shopping experience."

How's Your "Return on Listener" Investment Doing?

In their upcoming book, Return on Customer, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., answer today's foremost business question: What's the right balance between current profit and long-term value? Excessive focus on the short term has led not only to a rash of business scandals, but also to a culture of bad management and poor corporate governance. Nevertheless, current profit is still important, and investing now to achieve long-term value is hard to reconcile with the need for immediate results.

Read more in Peppers & Rogers Group's "Return On Customer". Want to see more? Register now or Login to P&R's website.

The ROC metric for us = TSL. One more thought for you to ponder as you think about how a programmer can tabulate your 'response rate' from your listener customers: is your TSL trending up (satistaction with the product) or down? How are your exclusive cumes (loyalty) trending?

If you have any doubt about what drives those two metrics, let's talk.

As Peppers & Rogers postulate in their open letter to Wall Street that starts their new book, the underlying value of a radio company is trending downward no matter how good our financials look, unless their TSL and the exclusive cumes are at least 'flat' or, even better. trending upward.

If You Target Anyone Under 24..

You must read this article. Yes, it's on education (and certainly, since most of us have kids in school, that's one reason why you should care).. but roll the ways 'they' consume media (very differently than YOU do!) around in your mind too as it relates to our youngest listeners...

The book is called "Digital Natives and Immigrants" by Marc Prensky: Today’s learners represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. The numbers are overwhelming: over 10,000 hours playing videogames, over 10,000 hours talking on digital cell phones; over 20,000 hours watching TV (a high percentage fast speed MTV), over 200,000 emails and instant messages sent and received; over 500,000 commercials seen—all before today’s kids leave college. And, maybe, at the very most, 5,000 hours of book reading.

As a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. “Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures, “ says Dr. Bruce D. Berry of Baylor College of Medicine.

Substitute the word 'teachers' with air personalities over 25, and 'students' with young listeners in the following paragraphs:

Digital Immigrant teachers typically assume that learners are the same as they have always been, and that the same methods that worked for the teachers when they were students will work for their students now. But that assumption is no longer valid. Today’s learners are different.

The people sitting in their classes grew up on the “twitch speed” of video games and MTV. They are used to the instantaneity of hypertext, downloaded music, phones in their pockets, a library on their laptops, beamed messages and instant messaging. They’ve been networked most or all of their lives. They have little patience for lectures, step-by-step logic, and “tell-test” instruction.

If you need to read more before running out to buy this book, click here.

Save The Payphone

Sara B. Miller, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, wrote a report that has appeared in numerous newspapers this week:

"Long gone are the phone booth's golden days when Superman metamorphosed inside and anonymous informers called in tips from the street corner. But even as the plastic cracks, the cords are snipped, and wads of old chewing gum jam the coin returns, a modest movement to preserve the phone booth is rippling through state legislatures. To the phone booth's defenders, it is more than a matter of simple nostalgia: It cuts to the roots of social equality, public safety, and common sense..."

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the number of pay phones in the US dropped to 1.5 million in 2003, down from 2.1 million five years earlier - as the number of cellphone users surged.

Phone topic: pay phone stories. If payphones could talk, what stories would they tell?

Children's Miracles in Winnipeg

PD Janet Trecarten sends this release: For the first time ever Standard Radio Inc. radio stations Hot 103 and QX 104.1 Children’s Miracle Radiothon will broadcast live from Children’s Hospital (840 Sherbrook Street). Ace Burpee and Chrissy Troy from Hot 103 and Ron Able and Caroline Hunter from QX 104.1 along with Dr. Goodbear will spend all three days in the main playroom at Children’s Hospital. Each year the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba commits over $2.6 million in support of child health and pediatric research, programs and equipment at Children’s Hospital and the Manitoba Institute of Child Health.

I love the way QX-104.1's website puts it: "be part of something life-changing."

CHAM: “We’re Heard Everywhere”

820 CHAM, Hamiton’s Mike Naburrs, Co-Host of the Legendary Morning Show and Traffic Specialist, re-wrote the song “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Hank Snow as a promo piece for the station. But, it took George Fox, who recorded the song years back, during the station's "Legend Launch" week in January to do it justice.

http://www.milkmanunlimited.com/tunedin.htm reports that Mike offered up the lyrics and asked if George could take a run at it, fully understanding if the answer was no. Months went by until CHAM Production Manager Matt Bazinet got a call saying the track was done. 820 CHAM The Legend now has a one of a kind GOLD promo piece for the station, the kind that stations used to pay top dollar for, presented courtesy of country artist George Fox. Visit www.georgefox.com.

It always pays to ask. The worst than can happen is that they say NO.

As CHAM found out, if the request is unique and creative they often also say "YES."

Gretchen Wilson Meets American Icon In Ireland

It took traveling to Dublin, Ireland for Gretchen Wilson to meet the American music icon that left his heart in San Francisco.

Prior to her performance at famed club The Village, Tony Bennett came in tomeet her and wish her well on stage that night. She was so thrilled to meethim, she dedicated the Billie Holiday song "Good Morning Heartache" to him.

Gretchen is on her way back to the U.S. after performing last night in London on her way to hooking backup with Kenny Chesney's sold-out tour in Sioux City, Iowa on Thursday.

Standard Radio Toronto Makes World Fundraising History

The Toronto area community has shown its overwhelming support of The Hospital for Sick Children by donating a Radiothon world record amount of $ 3.2 million dollars during the Have a Heart for Sick Kids Radiothon.

Have a Heart for Sick Kids is the largest Radiothon in Canada with Standard Radio stations; Mix 99.9, Newstalk 1010 CFRB and 97.3 EZ Rock broadcasting live from the atrium of Sick Kids April 13th – 15th, 2005.

More than 200 patients, families and staff told their amazing stories and experiences during the three-day Radiothon including the mother of 5 year old Inara Amarsi - the "miracle" girl who survived a 15-metre fall after being thrown off an overpass by her father. Inara's mother Shamsha Amarsi credits the Hospital for Sick Children for "giving a new life to my child".
Last year, Standard Radio Toronto and its listeners raised $2.3 million and broke the record for the most money raised by a Radiothon in North America. The money raised during this three-day event will be used for the highest priority needs of the Hospital for Sick Children.

All three stations created radio history when Newstalk 1010 CFRB and sister stations MIX 99.9 and 97.3 EZ Rock simulcast live for the final hour of the Radiothon with hosts; CFRB's Ted Woloshyn and John Moore, MIX 99.9's Humble & Fred and Steve Anthony and 97.3 EZ Rock's Mike, Christine and KJ as they joined forces for this historic simulcast of the final hour.

"Being able to stop the world for three glorious days and simply do good for others is a tremendous priviledge for our staff and our listeners. At the end of the day, that's what this is all about; helping others and expecting nothing in return except a good warm personal feeling. To know that these monies will absolutely save Children's lives makes it that much more magical"
-- Pat Holiday - Vice President and GM -Standard Radio Toronto.

Morning Show Boot Camp - The Battle of the Bits

MSBC is having their first annual Entertainment Awards. There's only one way to win: ENTER.

GMA Week -- We’re all in this together!

The Gospel Music Association’s annual seminar, GMA Week took place April 9th-13 at the Nashville Convention Center. It’s a large event, with “tracks” for radio, retail, and “MAPS” (Managers, Agents and Promoters). Our friend and production/voice whiz Glenn Nobel attended and since many of our clients share as much as 25% of their audience with Christian radio, he provided us with this report:

You don’t have to be a Christian Broadcaster to learn here. GMA Week started with a full morning of sessions with the legendary “Broadway” Bill Lee (afternoons - WKTU, New York).

Broadway Bill started each session by doing a live talk-up over the ramp of a song. These ad-libbed intros featured his well-known rhyming patter and served to get the audience in the mood for some great content! Lee said that while most jocks think “show prep” is sitting in front of the internet or a bunch of newspapers thinking about things to talk about, his belief is that you have to think about your listeners’ lives and make that your content. The real “prep”, in Lee’s opinion, is in editing, “Edit, edit, edit...all the way up until you actually speak into the mic. Keep thinking of ways to say it shorter and better.”

Running at the same time as Lee’s sessions were panels on promotions (with Jones Radio’s Donna Britt -- formerly of country “The Mountain” in Bend, OR) and sales.

Saturday afternoon featured more powerful talent-focused panels, including one with some of the top Christian jocks in the country, WPOZ/Orlando’s Lisa Williams, WCVO/ New Albany OH’s Jake Sommers, KTIS/St Paul MN’s Chuck Knapp and AIR 1’s Mike Schaeffer. All of the panelists focused on the fact that their success came from learning to be themselves on the air -- real people with a real interest in their listeners and their lives.

Sunday at GMA Week featured roundtable “mini-sessions” over breakfast. Topics included everything from setting up remotes to selecting music to putting together winning promotions -- information that could benefit ANY broadcaster, regardless of format.

Monday’s radio seminars featured more highly usable information. Brian Wright from Audience Development Group led “Building TSL.” Wright’s premise: we can’t expect listeners to listen longer. No one is going to be late for work on purpose just to win a CD. To a listener, LIFE is much more important than radio. However, we CAN, through good content and purposeful recycling get listeners to tune in more OFTEN -- and remember that they did. And, in the current Arbitron-driven landscape, that’s what translates to higher TSL -- more listening occasions. In fact, Wright thinks we should refer to TSL as “TimeS spend listening.”

Wright also broke down TSL to a goal any air personality should be able to reach: convince just 6 people to listen 2 or 3 additional times each. That’s all you have to do during the course of a ratings period. According to Wright, “When we open our microphone we envision many thousands of people out there. It makes it really hard to focus…having to set appointments for 200, 000 people. You don’t have to. With a total or 200,000 people in the market, the total Diary Holders equal 700. Broken down by month, there are only 233 -- or about 58 per week. Or those, your station probably gets mentioned 35 times. From the people in you target, you get mentioned 12 times. Success happens, Wright says, “If you can convince just ½ of these target listeners to listen on just 3-4 more occasions PER WEEK it’s a mathematical certainty that you will see enormous ratings growth. So your real primary goal to rating success is to convince 6 people to listen 3-4 more occasions per week. That all.”

In “Stationality 101” McVay Media’s Daniel Anstandig stated that “stationality” is nothing more than the personality of your radio station. How do you want to be perceived? As fun? Relaxing? Focus your stationality around those adjectives that stand for your radio station. But saying it isn’t enough. You can just run liners saying you’re “the fun station” and have listeners believe you. You have to actually BE fun. The session was named “Stationality 101” according to Anstandig because, “Your stationality is based on a One on One connection with the listener.”

More on reflecting the needs and desires of the listener came later in the afternoon when Brian Wright returned with his session “Branding your station takes more than a hot iron on the butt.” When you say “cola,” people automatically think of Coke. Same thing happens with shoes and Nike. But if you ask someone in your market about “radio,” what comes to their mind? If it’s not your call letters, you haven’t done a good enough job of branding. Wright goes on to explain that you have to make sure your station name is attached to everything you do...and that you have something you’re famous for. That “thing” can be as simple as “The 10 minute weather guarantee,” but make sure when listeners need weather information, YOU are the station they go to (because you’ve “branded” well).

Other GMA seminars included time with promotions genius Doug Harris from Creative Animal, leadership lessions from Curt Swindoll of Cool Strategies, and “What You Don’t See in the Future” with Eric Rhodes of Radio Ink. Radio stations spend a great deal of time and energy worrying about the station “across the street.” But today, we’re losing more listeners to ipod, satellite, and all the other electronic media than to other radio stations. Opportunities to learn from each other become more and more important every year.

There’s another radio seminar in Nashville besides CRS -- and it has a lot to offer every broadcaster. But BYOB. No open bars at GMA (which probably helps with the learning!)

4/19: Ten-year anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing

WUBE, Cincinnati's Bill Wyte and Amanda Orlando are looking for the custom mix that country radio played in 1996 of Garth Brooks' "The Change" in commemoration of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing. bill.whyte@infinitybroadcasting.com writes: Amanda remembers a Garth song with audio clips produced for the OKC bombing. Do you have that…or anything like that on file? If so…could you shoot it to us in time for tomorrow’s show? (Tue)

From Google: Where is the home of Garth Brooks?
Q: I've heard of a statue that shows Christ weeping. Can you tell me where this is?
A: St. Joseph's Old Cathedral Church in downtown Oklahoma City erected this statue as a result of the Oklahoma City bombing that occurred in 1995. The church is located at 307 NW 4th Street, just south of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. You will find the statue of Christ weeping behind their church, which is open to the public 24 hours a day.

From: http://www.planetgarth.com/news/article.php?cid=01015:
Garth Brooks' 1996 single "The Change," remembering those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995, but the song also addresses how this world has changed. Brooks said his tour was in Miami on April 19, and he and his wife at the time (Sandy) held hands at 10:02 a.m. eastern time, which meant it was 9:02 a.m. in Oklahoma, and said a prayer. "We didn't get the honor to be in Oklahoma on that day," he said. "But we sent a message -- they will not be forgotten."

If you have any audio that might be helpful, please let me know.

Are You Interesting, Peculiar, A Story-teller?

"If radio news is to survive, it will be because of story-telling. If we can continue to tell compelling stories better than anyone else - which is what's behind the current surge in the popularity of talk radio - we will all remain viable.

"My high school aged son doesn't have a radio. He can't give you radio station call letters or dial positions. He finds radio to be kind of quaint and old. Meanwhile, he plays an iPod like a violin. So, I know if I am going to reach this young man, it's going to have to be through a different technology, such as podcasting or downloading the news to him on demand.

"I remember when radio news was full of peculiar people. Paul Harvey, John Cameron Swayzee, Edward R. Morrow. Peculiar is interesting. Different is interesting. Storytellers who fascinate me are interesting.

"Interesting is what will attract my son and his generation. Just being good, but vanilla, I don't think that cuts it anymore."

-- Jack Swanson, PD, KGO-KSFO, San Francisco at the R&R Talk Radio Seminar

2,000 Audio "Drops" for $500 Cash (not barter)

Radio Phil has gone from longtime morning guy to small businessman. I'm impressed by his wares, on display at www.dropinhear.com. Check it out.

Another Clear Channel "US" Country

US 103.5, "Tampa Bay's Best Country" launches, and rather like happened in San Diego when KSON's morning show "Tony & Kris" crossed the street to a brand new country station early in 2004, WQYK morning guy Skip Mahaffey becomes the new station's first employee.

If you love your morning show, do they KNOW it?

Blink

From Vallie-Richards' Radio Focus monthly newslette, a review by my old friend (and former boss at EZ Communications) Dan Vallie of the biz book BLINK:

“Ever wonder how certain managers have the ability to make the right split-second decisions? Or how certain programmers have the right intuition to focus or adjust a station product? If so, you may find BLINK an interesting read. It’s written by Malcom Gladwell, who also wrote The Tipping Point. Malcom reveals that great decision makers aren’t those who process the most data or take a lot of time deliberating, but it’s those who have perfected “thin slicing”.

"Having the ability to filter the very few factors that matter from overwhelming data. He also talks a lot about how the best instincts belong to those with experience and that the ability to make a successful snap decision is largely a function of years of training, knowledge and experience---all kinds of things that allow people to educate their unconscious. He warns to be careful of people who have instincts but no experience.”

Dead Radio

Deadline is May 15 for entries in Oink Ink's "Dead Radio" Contest. The agency wants "frustrated copywriters across America" to send in "their best radio scripts that suffered heart-wrenching deaths on clients' conference tables." The agency will produce the winner for free and send the winners to New York or California for the recording session. The company has been doing the promotion for eight years. It says two of its past winners went on to become Mercury Finalists and winners of National Addys.

ENTER THEIR CONTEST

Frightening Fact To Challenge Your Assumptions

Melissa Lavigne at Youth Intelligence (212-277-5208/mlavigne@youthintelligencecom) reminded me this morning: "According to a recent study conducted by research group Nielsen Entertainment, men spend more money on video games than they do on music."

If you're still back selling music by saying "that's the latest single from..." who are you talking to and WHO CARES?

KGNC, Amarillo, Audience On Reality TV Show

Tim Butler, OM/morning guy at Morris Radio in Amarillo writes:

If Any Of Your Stations Are Following The New "Reality" Show On CMT "Popularity Contest"....They Filmed The Show Last Fall In Vega, Texas Which Is About 40 Miles West Of Amarillo On Interstate 40. I Watched Last Night's Episode 1 And Actually Knew A Few Of The Towns People In The Show. A Bunch Of Them Listen To KGNC-FM. I Tried All During The Fall To Get Someone To Talk About The Show And Everyone Who Participated Signed A Letter Of Agreement Not To Divulage What Happend.

Here Are A Few Contact Numbers If Your Stations Want To Talk To Several Of The People In The Show.

Oldham County Sherriff.................806-267-2162
Oldham County Judge's Office.....806-267-2607
Groneman's Service Station (Groan-A-Manz) 806-267-2206

Maybe That Will Help Someone, -- Tim

Classics - BUT Still Worth Reading

It has been a couple years since I posted these, but if you haven't seen them, I bet they prove helpful even now:
- SampleOpsManual.html
- MorningIdeas.html
- TargetingandBranding.html

Maine Heroes Parade

Portland, Maine held a community parade last Friday, during which 30,000 people showed up to pay tribute to America’s war veterans.

The parade featured veterans of every war since WWII, bands, floats and six of the World Champion New England Patriots and owner Bob Kraft, with all three of their Vince Lombardi trophies in tow! The Pats made it clear that they were there to salute Maine’s heroes — not to be saluted themselves.

Two Jumbotron screens with a live satellite hookup for a family reunion with area soldiers in Baghdad and a personal greeting from President Bush added to the festivities.

America Idol Update

American Idol 4, April 12: They Were Just Babies Then!

Ousted finalist Nikko Smith: "After being voted off twice, I have no regrets."

If you have AOL, you can watch replays of all performances.

Click here for updates on all Reality Shows every day.

Nashville Star Weekly Recap

For a full synopsis, visit http://nashvillestar.yahoo.com

NASHVILLE STAR 2005 - Episode # 7 - April 12
Sara Evans was guest host, filling in for LeAnn Rimes, who was sidelined this week by a broken blood vessel in one of her vocal cords. Rimes has had to postpone several personal appearances and performance dates. Rimes' illness is the result of a severe case of viral bronchitis. Although there is no timetable for her return to the stage, her doctors expect a speedy recovery. LeAnn plans to return to 'Nashville Star' in timefor the April 26 finale.

Seven weeks into the season, Jamie O'Neal kicked off the show with her hitsingle, "Trying to Find Atlantis." Backstage correspondent Cledus T. Judd (sporting outrageous pink rimmedglasses!) moved to center stage -- co-hosting with Sara Evans.

Justin David was eliminated from the competition. Next week: highlights from contestants' hometown concerts. Tuesday, April 19, on USA Network at 10 PMET/PT/9 PM CT.

Idaho Radio Works Together on PSA Campaign

If you heard it, you will likely never forget it, and you are not alone. Thursday at 5:04 p.m., dozens of radio stations across the state played the same public service announcement, a "radio roadblock" geared to alert people about shaken-baby syndrome, a devastating form of child abuse (read more - Idaho State Journal)

CMT Video Music Award Winners

Loretta Lynn faced an arena-wide standing ovation as she accepted the Johnny Cash Visionary Award from presenters and admirers Gretchen Wilson, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire.

Lynn was also honored by friends and family in a moving pre-taped tribute, featuring Elvis Costello, Crystal Gayle, Faith Hill, Sissy Spacek, Keith Urban and Wynonna.

* Breakthrough Video Of The Year
Gretchen Wilson - "Redneck Woman"

* Collaborative Video Of The Year
Brad Paisley featuring Alison Krauss - "Whiskey Lullaby"

* Female Video Of The Year
Rascal Flatts - "Feels Like Today"

* Most Inspiring Video Of The Year
Tim McGraw - "Live Like You Were Dying"

* Hottest Video Of The Year
Toby Keith - "Whiskey Girl"

* Male Video Of The Year
Kenny Chesney - "I Go Back"

* Video Director Of The Year
Rick Schroder - Brad Paisley featuring Alison Krauss - "Whiskey Lullaby"

* Video Of The Year
Keith Urban - "Days Go By"

CSI KYGO

Denver's KYGO is tying in listeners' love for country concerts and the TV series "CSI."

At KYGO the letters stand for "concert scene investigators."

PD Joel Burke reports that winning listeners are "sworn in" as CSIs, then fly to different locales to watch country concerts and "file a report" on them on air with the station's morning team Kelly, Jonathan and Mudflap.

The idea is for the morning show to "debrief" them so KYGO listeners can get a preview of what they'll see when these concerts come to Denver. One winner each week gets to see Reba McEntire in Tampa, Fla.; Alan Jackson in Virginia Beach, Va.; or Kenny Chesney in Washington, D.C. (All qualifiers also win tickets to the tour stops in Denver too)

Florida College Students on Family Values Radio

Mind Fodder, found in the campus newpaper amidst news of more than 2,500 people gathered to hear first-year UF football coach Urban Meyer speak at “The Rally:”

Telling people they can’t curse on the air is not something that we can or should complain about. The airwaves that radio and television stations broadcast on are public airwaves, and it’s a very scarce resource. Thus, those airwaves must be used in a way that is of the greatest use to the public. That’s why they’re called “public airwaves.”

A broadcaster telling people, “They can just change the channel if they don’t like it,” is fine, but they had better be serving the greater good of the public in some way. The problem is deciding what the greater good of the public is (read more - Alligator Online)

How To Burn A Bridge

Q: Gotta get me some scoop on why Sam Malone isn't at KRBE anymore! Waz up with that??? -- Karen Winkler, Houston ...

A: Malone quit KRBE suddenly — on the air — to take a job with the Clear Channel group of radio stations. He has to sit out a few months, but then he'll be back on the air. It was quite a shocker when Malone announced he was leaving, but I still give the edge to Channel 11 news anchor Marlene McClinton's leaving in a public huff. She closed a newscast by basically saying, "I don't like what TV news has become, and I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm out of here."

I was so outraged and appalled (wink wink) by McClinton's action that I offered $100 to any other anchor who would quit on-air. People like me need people like her (read more - Ken Hoffman-Houston Chronicle)

"Jacking Up" Hot AC

The arrival of Gen Jones and Gen X-driven anti-hype formats like "Jack FM" and "his" many cousins has the rest of us scrambling not to seem out-dated and over-hype/bogus in our stationality.

PD Barb Richards at WAJI, Ft. Wayne has just renamed their workday kickoff all music hour with something with more attitude: The New 95.1 WAJI now starts the workday at 8 am and ends it at 5 pm with two "shut up and play the music" hours.

How do your images, positioning, benchmarks and stationality stack up? Authentic is 'in.' Simpson's and 70's TV show drops don't send the same message they did a decade ago, unless your target is now ten years older than it was then.

In the country format, you don't want to be so weird in chasing younger fashions that 45-54's scratch their heads in wonder, but it's also important to remember their 'attitude age' isn't at all like your parents were at the same age. When in doubt, let real listeners speak for you in their own words.

Radio's Funniest Bits of the Past Year

A great idea from www.newradiostar.com's Bob Hamilton: THE NEW RADIO COMEDY COMPETITION CD IS OUT...AND READY TO SHIP TO YOU IMMEDIATELY!$14.98 plus $6 shipping. Click here to see and hear more

Does Your Station Have A Mission?

What do you stand for? Do your listeners know? Check out what San Diego's KBZT has on their website. Go to http://www.fm949sd.com/home/index.cfm and click on the words "Here are 11 ways we strive to be different" and watch what pops up.

Shouldn't you do something like this?

Now?

Learning From Fox News

USA Today's Peter Johnson has a fun (if not 'fair and balanced') profile of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes portions of a recent media breakfast, who says Fox News has no agenda. His charge to his reporters and anchors is simple: "If you make a mistake, get on the air as fast as you can and admit it. ... Do your homework. Make sure you reach out to a point of view you don't agree with to be sure you have some balance in your piece, because journalists, despite the public perception, are not empty-headed fools. They actually come to the job with some ideas and biases."

Ailes certainly practices what he preaches in his late 80's book, "You Are the Message." Fox News' success is proof that it works. If you haven't read Ailes' "Identity-Based Communications" philosophy, I highly commend it to your attention.

Pet-A-Palooza

KMXB, Las Vegas, (Mix 94.1) just had their sixth Annual “Peta-palooza.”

PD Charese Frugé: “This one was our most successful yet. Over 15,000 people and their dogs showed up for a day in the park. It was truly an amazing event, and the icing on the cake was our celebrity guest host, Gilbert Gottfried, who made light of the fact that there were so many dogs in the park and not one pet owner lost their dog — but at least 30 parents had to be summoned to the stage to find their lost children. His outlook on it was, ‘Don’t worry, just pick up one of the lost ones here on stage; they’re probably much cuter than the one you originally had in the first place.’”

The event featured acoustic performances by Better Than Ezra and Lifehouse.

The Arbitron Answer Man

Whenever I have a question, I turn to John Snyder at ARB for the answer.

For example, a client PD asked...

If I were going to rank the metro counties based on how they impact the ratings, would it be done strictly by population? Does each county count XXX amount based on the number of people in it?

JS says "the bigger the county (in population) more diaries should go there. Thus if county A has 20% of the metro population, 20% of the diaries should go there, if not those diaries will be weighted up or down depending on the diary return to equal 20%. The diaries are weighted geographically based on return. Diaries in HD areas are weighted separately but so are diaries in any sampling unit ( for example a split county). If we under sample an HD area (or any sampling unit) those diaries will be weighted up, meaning one diary might equal 450 people instead of 350 people."

Lorna Ozmon Tips

From CRS 2005: 7 TIPS TO CREATING MORE COMPELLING RADIO

CISN's 100 Days of Tim McGraw

Edmonton's 103.9 CISN is giving away a small city. 1oo pairs of tickets the see Tim = "the largest ticket giveaway for the city’s hottest concert."

Two Big Levers

Denver-based personality coach Doug Erickson found and forwarded the following link, accompanied by this thought:

Ever wonder what the marketing budget of the original KHJ was? How about WLS at its zenith? As long as there have been Program Directors, there's been moaning about a lack of marketing. And these days, I'd have to agree most of them are right. But have you ever thought about what your listeners experience IF you actually get them to try your station, if the marketing actually works? Because if they get a very ordinary experience from your station -- and let's face it, we're all more average than we'd like to believe -- how effective will your ads be with those listeners in the future?

When's the last time YOU were amazed at what you were hearing when you tuned into your own station? Why do we expect our listeners to feel any differently?

As this piece from Branding Blog, posted by David Young (Permalink), points out, maybe it's time we applied the same BS meter to our marketing as we do to the spots we see for other products:

In the Advertising Performance Equation, there are two giant factors that will make the difference between a poor-to-middlin' ad campaign and a campaign that will amaze you with its effectiveness. Unfortunately, you cannot necessarily count on your advertising reps or your agency for either of these.

First, is the Personal Experience Factor. Others call it the delight factor, or the wow factor -- the amazing things you do for your customers. In short, if the ACTUAL customer experience exceeds the expectation created by the campaign, you can likely expect repeat business and referrals. HOWEVER, if the experience delivered by you and your staff fall short of expectations, expect us to tune out your subsequent advertising and tell everyone we know that you're "not all that."

Second, once you get your customer experience tuned up, the Impact Quotient of your message is what will cause us to perk up and pay attention. I'm not talking about the kind of schtick usually spouted by the average car dealer. You can yell to get my attention, but once I figure out it's an ad (and a poorly written and executed ad at that) my BS filter kicks in and you never even get to whisper to my prefrontal cortex where buying decisions are made. It's not as simple as just getting my attention. You must keep it. Ah, now that's the hard part.

If you can wrap your arms around both of these principles, your advertising will exceed your expectations.

If you ignore one or the other (or both) the only way to compensate is to spend more money. Lots more. And be prepared to keep spending more, because over time your campaign will diminish in effectiveness as more consumers tune out your ads or figure out your poor experience.

Dreaming of HD Radio

Be watching next week's Airplay Monitor for an article that sounds like a lot of fun being written now by Phyllis Stark. She's asking folks, "With HD Radio looming, I thought it would be fun to touch base with some prominent industry executives for a light-hearted look at you'd do with a second (or third, fourth or fifth) channel if you had one to program now."

Here's my response to her questions:

PS: If you had an additional channel or two complementing your current stations, what would you do with it? Any niche music or type of programming that doesn't work in today's competitive terrestrial radio environment that could work as a bonus channel?

JA: Every single terrestual country radio station will have more digital side channels than either of the satellite radio companies .. and we'll be LOCAL as well. If we're smart, our formats will be much more interactive and personal than anything we can offer now. Hopefully, once we have six or seven times the current available space for commercial inventory, we'll recognize it as an opportunity to cut down the amount of commercial clutter compared to today's levels on all of them.

PS: Also, what kind of programming do you secretly hope someone else may sign on in your market that you'd listen to as guilty pleasure? Mariachi music? Celtic lullabies? Polkas? All bagpipes all the time? Some niche talk format?

JA: The John Phillip Sousa, Kent State University, Ohio State University, University of Washington marching bands channel. The Broadway show tunes channel The "songs Jaye Albright thought were going to be hits but aren't" channel.

PR Fuel - "Blog Rules," a White Paper

Ben Silverman is currently Director of Development and a Contributing Editor for FindProfit.com (http://www.findprofit.com), an independent investment research service. His personal weblog is BenSilverman.net(http://www.bensilverman.net). Previously, Ben was a business news columnist for The New York Post and thefounder/publisher of DotcomScoop.com:

PR giant Edelman and market research firm Inteliseek have released a white paper, "Trust MEdia: How Real People AreFinally Being Heard - The 1.0 Guide to the Blogosphere for Marketers & Company Stakeholders."

The version available to the public is a good primer for PR, marketing and advertising professionals who are looking to get a better understanding of the blogosphere and how to deal with it (and not deal with it)."

Blogs represent a paradigm shift that presents new challenges and opportunities for the advertising, public relations and marketing communities - challenges and opportunities that require quick responses, protocols and policies," the paper states.

One of the more interesting sections in the paper highlights how automaker Mazda dropped the ball when it attempted to use blogs as a marketing tool and instead created a PRproblem. There also are some handy tips, such as, "Are you willing to enter the world of blogging with honesty, frankness and humor? If you cannot get past 'marketingspeak' and defensiveness, then do not blog."

I am actually pleasantly surprised by the content and tone of the paper (just when I thought the big agencies had their heads in the wrong place, I'm proven wrong), which I believe most people in our profession will find useful. It's worth noting that organizations that utilize either Edelman or Inteliseek's services are given a list of the most influential bloggers.

Links:
White paper - http://www.edelman.com/image/insights/content/ISwp_TrustMEdia_FINAL.pdf
Press release - http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050404/nym225.html?.v=3

Ben can be reached via email at bensilverman@gmail.com.

Papal overkill?

"I have seen the future of the blogosphere, and I'm out of breath. Before I get to that, though, I want to reassure those of you who think the pope's passing has been the most heavily covered story in western history that you're not crazy.." - (read more - Howard Kurtz-Media Notes)

"Wikicities"

Trendcentral.com reports that Wikia Inc., the company behind the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has launched Wikicities.

On the company’s first ad-supported site, Internet users can create their own free websites on a specific topic and other visitors can change the site’s appearance or information using tools included on the site. While each topic is overseen by an administrator, pretty much anything goes here. Look out for more open-source communities to form.

Country Music Radio, at its very best, the original open-source community. How are you doing in the daily challenge of connecting with your target listener?

Ouch!

"Commercial radio is trying to keep listeners from tuning out." One has to laugh at that statement in Sean Piccoli's March 27 article. Listening to the radio, one hears DJs who say incredibly stupid things, commercials that scream at you, songs that are repeated every two to three hours and ridiculous contests that try to get you to listen longer. All of which make me want to tune out (read more - Sun Sentinel)

You know that there's truth there and we who can do something about it need to act now.

Defining "Stationality"

Be watching www.mcvaymedia.com for an upcoming article being written right now by AC boy genius/McVay Media consultant Daniel Anstandig.

One of the folks he asked to contribute perspective was A&O's Jaye Albright:

1. In a few sentences, how would you describe STATIONALITY?

JA: Bringing your unique brand values to life in a way that target listeners feel (and I do mean FEEL, emotionally) like the station has been built (perhaps even by them) for them.

2. What radio station(s) come to mind when you think DISTINCTIVE STATIONALITY? Note: These stations don't still have to be on the air today.

JA: Alliance's Young Country stations in Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle as designed by Rick Torcasso. In reality, I think their stationality was superior to their programming, which is why none of them exists anymore. The best recent one for country was KPLX, Dallas's relaunch as "99-5 The Wolf" several years ago. One of the architects of that project was Brian Phillips, who is now doing equally innovative things at CMT.

Before that, it was "KFRG, Kay-Frog" in San Berdardino when Keymarket launched it. It was so distinctive that it's being copied now, but few of the copies are as good as the originals.

Some of the best ones that I have ever been associated with were: "Bob 100 FM, in Minneapolis," "Kay-Duck," the very first Young Country station in the world, which went from nothing to almost a ten share in just two books and Froggy 99.9, which took KVOX-FM from worst to first in two books in Fargo because the entire air staff - all of which had been with the station before the rebranding - really embraced and executed the concept flawlessly. They didn't even change the call letters, yet the audience almost immediately 'got' Froggy 99.9 FM and still does, thanks to brand continuity and great personality training and consistency.

3. What one or two things do you believe contribute most effectively to creating a unique stationality? Why?

A totally unique brand name and a creative plan to make that NAME come to real life listeners can hear almost immediately by personifying the values the name stands for.

4. Is there a format that you believe has done a better job than the others in creating "formatality?" :-) If so, what has helped them?

I think that there have been great examples of formatality in literally every type of station.

Rush Limbaugh brought it to AM radio, WEBN and K-Rock do it in rock. KIIS, LA has evolved very successfullt in CHR. Jack in pop rock. KVIL in Dallas under Ron Chapman. Smooth Jazz, classic alternative, Hot Talk to Al Hamm's Music of Your Life, Chick Watkins' AM Only and many more have created target-specific stationality. Cluck Blore, Bill Drake and Rick Sklar were masters of the art.

Bonus Question: Is there a brand outside of radio that you believe has a distinct personality?

Ben & Jerry's, Starbucks and Amazon.com

I'll bet Daniel would welcome YOUR responses to his questions too! Click on his name and send him an email.

Want to hear some examples? K-Rock, New York's new "Ours is Bigger" campaign. Or, click on http://nickmichaels.com/ and go to "philosopy" to read how Nick does it and then "radio" to hear some examples of "a whisper becomes a scream" created for The Drive in Chicago (artist ownership and station imaging), WFLA in Tampa and several others. Call (Jaye) 206 498-6261 or (Mike) 732-937-5757. We can recommend LOTS more stationality pro's.

The "Word of Mouth Marketing Association"

WOMMA is a one year old organization that just wrapped up its first national summit in Chicago this week.

Big companies and major ad agencies are taking this stuff seriously and incorporating word-of-mouth into sophisticated marketing programs.

LEARN MORE AT: Tremor BuzzMetrics

Their watchwords come from Oscar Wilde: "There's only one thing worse than being talked about .. and that's NOT being talked about."

BUZZ in the wake of the conference: it's time for a bit of discipline and professionalism to enter the blog and street team biz. WOMMA is working on formal 'best practices' for the budding industry.

What Ever Happened To..?

Ever wonder what happened to: Eddie The Eagle? The chick who shot Andy Warhol? That 'Mikey' kid from the Life Cereal commercial?

Here's a website with all the answers to the question "What Ever Happened To?"

Great Guests and Interviews

It's more important than ever right now to have impressive celebrity and/or expert guests on the morning show. Reality is in, and having fun with it is a powerful image-builder in competitive situations.

Some ground rules..

First, watch out for 'trained responses' (boring): http://www.anniejenningspr.com/pages/mediatraining.htm. Get them out of that 'media training' mode.

Great interviews arise from careful groundwork. You can ace your next interview if you:

1. Enter into a state of relaxed concentration. This is the state from which great basketball players or Olympic skaters operate. You'll need to quiet the negative self chatter in your head through meditation or visualization prior to sitting down in the meeting. You'll focus on the present moment and will be less apt to experience lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. LISTEN! Then, respond for your heart and emotions.

2. Act spontaneous, but be well prepared. Be your authentic self, professional yet real. Engage in true conversation with your interviewee, resting on the preparation you did prior to coming to the meeting. Conduct several trial runs with another person simulating the interview before it actually occurs. It's the same as anticipating the questions you'll be asked on a final exam.

3. Set goals for the interview. Stick to them.

4. Know the question behind the question. Ultimately, every question boils down to, "Tell me something interesting and revealing about yourself?" Find away to address fears if you sense they are present.

5. Follow up with an effective "thank you" letter. Don't write this letter lightly. It is another opportunity to market yourself. Find some areas discussed in the meeting and expand upon them in your letter. This gets the next one and will make it even better

6. Consider the interviewee's agenda. These as well as other questions will be heavily on the interviewee's mind. Got those things out of the way fast, edit them out later if you don't want to use them on the air, then get to the 'real' good stuff.

7. Avoid the question, "Tell me about yourself." This is a pet question of prepared and even unprepared interviewers. Try to keep them out of 'auto-interview' mode.

8. Watch those nonverbal clues. Experts estimate that words express only 30% to 35% of what people actually communicate; facial expressions and body movements and actions convey the rest. Make and keep eye contact. Walk and sit with a confident air. Lean toward an interviewer to show interest and enthusiasm. Speak with a well-modulated voice that supports appropriate excitement for the opportunity before you. Pick up on and bring up any non-verbal cues your interviewee is using.

9. Tease the interview the day before and ask listeners to call in with their questions for the person. Then edit those down to the question only and make it sound like folks are calling the guest live with them.

10. Don't hang out dirty laundry. Be careful not to bare your soul and tell tales that are inappropriate or beyond the scope of the interview. But, if the interviewee's body language communicates that they are OK with the question area, GO for it. If you get a scoop, be sure to do PR releases about it to local and trade media.

OK.. now, how about your interview secrets?

Radio Must Expand Its Reach In Order To Compete

Jim Boyle of Wachovia Securities: "Broadcast has always faced competition, but what is different today is the speed at which consumer habits are changing vs. the pace at which nontraditional media is keeping up."

Boyle's report singles out the expanding popularity of technologies like digital video recorders and video-capable cell phones.

While certainly true, content and context, not technology is what will pull the ears to new media when they go. I believe that there's a solid future ahead for those of us who recognize that we're not in the radio business. We're in the entertainment .. information .. companionship .. dependability .. trust, "values" business.

The Papal Passing - A Suggsted "Plan"

Thanks to Dave (President) and Mary Hoxeng (GM) and also Kevin King (PD) at WYCT, Pensacola for sharing their plan of action for when the Pope dies:

Pre-record the "scripts" below and record it until it soundsnatural. Be watching CNN or CNN Headline News.When we get confirmed word that the Pope has died, Fade out the song that is playing, and read this cold-(No, do not wait for a "break".)

We just heard from the Vatican that the Pope has passed. So, in respect for this man of God, beloved by billions, we pause to reflecton this great man's life and all that he has done for humanity.

Do 15 seconds of silence. Then, play this cold:

His Holiness Pope John Paul the Second was born in 1920 near Cracow (CRACK-OW), Poland. He was ordained a Priest in 1946. He becamePope in October of 1978, at the age of 58. As the Father of the Catholic Faithful, Pope John Paul the Second published five books, and has completed over 100 visits outside Italy. He was very involved with the youth of the world. We join millions of Catholics in mourning his passing.

5 seconds of silence

Then, play: "Go Rest High on the Mountain" (by Vice Gill). Follow it with (no jingle): "That's What I Love about Sunday" (by CraigMorgan).

After you start the Vince Gill song, call your PD to decide if you should take calls on-air about the Pope's passing. (Depends on who's on the air and if they can handle it tastefully)

For the following two hours, please mention the Pope's passing every 15-20minutes. Here are two "scripts" that you can work from:

If you haven't heard the news, the Pope passed away at__________ (time). He will be remembered as God's Ambassador who did great things for mankind.

OR

If you haven't heard the news, the Pope passed away at__________ (time). He was beloved by millions and was a great man of God.

These comments can be made over a music "bed", but use care in the selection of the bed.

Memorializing the Pope

Check the news (Full Coverage) for the latest, of course, but Saturday morning's (4/2) New York Times has these quotes and updates:

"This evening or this night, Christ opens the door to the pope."
- BISHOP ANGELO COMASTRI, vicar of the Vatican.
MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/international/europe/02rome.html?th&emc=th

Millions of Roman Catholics around the world interrupted
their routine to stand vigil and offer prayers for Pope John Paul II.
MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/international/europe/02vigil.html?th&emc=th

Jay Thomas, Acting PD at WWYZ, Hartford reports that "Country 92.5's Bosh and Cory will have some folks on the show Monday from a local Catholic church to talk about the Pope's impact locally.

"Also, Connecticutt has several large Polish neighborhoods, so we'll have a leader in the local Polish community on the air as well.

"I saw a report on last night’s 11pm news on NBC30 of a church in New Britain, CT where the Pope visited in the 60’s when he was a cardinal. We'll ask listeners to talk about it."

Email Jay at JayThomas@clearchannel.com. Check out Bosh & Cory's web page. WWYZ streams from its website.

Battle of the 'Burbs

Karen Dalassandro, Scott Dolphin and Radar (The WMIL Moo Crew) are in the midst of a fun parody of March Madness as they qualify 16 players, each one representing a different Milwaukee area suburb, neighborhood or town in a 'tournament' to find out which "'Burb"'s team knows the most about the area. The Moo Crew comes up with an evocative team nickname for the contestant, which then answers trivia questions in an elimination tournament. For more, email Karen Dalessandro, Scott Dolphin, Radar (aka Tony Hess).

A Last Minute (No Prep and Easy!) April Fool

Did you hear that April Fool's Day has been cancelled this year?

Yeah. Really. It sure is. Of course it is. Truly. Genuinely. No doubt. Actually.

Imagine! April 1, with no April Fools pranks in 2005.

Yep, that's how it is. Honest. For sure.

I heard that anyone doing April Fool stunts is liable for possible arrest. Be sure to tell your friends. You'd hate to see them get in trouble...

RIP Dr. Don

Hats off to KFRC, San Francisco, PD Bob Harlow for having the smarts to memorialize the station's best known air personality of all time today.

All of us to talk on the radio and work to be entertaining, authentic and topical owe Dr. Don a huge debt. He pioneered our path.

Some history:
www.broadcastlegends.com/rose.html
http://doctordonrose.com/

There's a brief tribute to him from Jaye Trachman's One to One Family Member Jim Walsh: www.121online.net

Familiarity - have you looked at your music research in this light?

A nice article on "Jack" on the front page of the March 18 Wall Street Journal with lots of thought-provoking quotes.

The best, I thought, came from Paragon Media Strategies' Mike Henry: "...listeners want to hear familiar music, but a larger selection and variety of it. So Jack plays only songs people will recognize, albeit from a variety of styles and timeframes. (regarding the train wreck segues of the Jack format)`You're only challenging them on a stylistic level,'' says Mr. Henry. ``You're not challenging them on a familiar/unfamiliar level.''

This hit me right where I live because country has always been 'the train wreck segue' format - and our listeners love that variety from "Baby Likes To Rock It" to "Love Me."

No doubt that's why Jack can hurt a country station who's not prepared for the new approach from pop/rock, normally focused on 'fit' and 'core' sounds.

Suggestion: continue to sort your research (first) on like a lot, (and then) good balance of crosstabs across men, women, young, older, core and secondary users, but, start also taking a close look at familiarity too. Are highly familiar songs with no negatives slipping out of your library, hurting your perceived variety image just because they miss the cut off of pop scores by a few percentage points?

I've seen stations increase their cume and TSL by doing nothing but increasing the average familiarity score threshold of their music, as long as it doesn't require cutting the size of the playlist unreasonabily or compromise 'common threading' across all target segments of the audience.

Even better if it increases it. The same 250 songs played over and over simply don't work anymore!

Saga Leads. Let's ALL Follow

Saga CEO Ed Christian is canceling syndicated shows that also air onXM or Sirius: "when a person gets in a car the choices are AM, FM or satellite. So (he told Inside Radio's Tom Taylor) syndicators, make your choice - them or us."

THAT SURE BEATS SIMPLY RUNNING A "HEARD IT ON THE RADIO FIRST" AD (the same artists also cut ads endorsing satellite too of course).

Congrats on a brilliant and courageous move, Ed. Let's get behind this movement and deny satellite our best personalities and programs!

PS: EMarketer reports a new survey by BIGresearch indicates that interest in purchasing satellite radio subscriptions remains low. BIGresearch surveyed 7,000 US consumers about their purchasing intentions for satellite radio and found that 4.2% of respondents already had satellite radio and that only 2.5% planned to subscribe in the next 6 months.

Just over 16% planned to subscribe "someday." Most, however, said they had no plans to subscribe.

Nearly 25% said they weren't informed enough to make a decision. Younger respondents, those ages 18 to 35, were more likely to be informed about satellite radio and more likely to buy.

Kids Are Media-Saturated TOO

The Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2005 sends this sobering release:

Today’s young people (those 8-18) lead “saturated media lives,” spending nearly 6 ½ hours a day with media. However, because of simultaneous media usage, they actually cram more than 8 hours of media into a day.

As reported by the Center For Media Research, television and music are the big players among today’s youth, with those surveyed spending an average of three hours a day watching TV, and about 1 ¾ hours a day listening to the radio or to CDs, tapes, or MP3 players.

Interactive media come next, with young people averaging just over one hour a day on the computer outside of schoolwork, and just under 50 minutes a day (playing video games.

Reading is close behind, on books, magazines, or newspapers for something other than schoolwork. Here are the dominant media used by young people in a typical day, ranked by the percentage of 8-18 year-olds who use them:

• Watch TV (81%)
• Listen to the radio (74%)
• Listen to CD/tape/MP3 (68%)
• Use a computer (54%)
• Read a magazine (47%)
• Go online (47%)
• Read a book (46%)
• Play console video games (41%)
• Watch videos (39%)
• Play handheld video games (35%)

At least we're in second place, but it's close!

Lovetingle

I can't vouch for who this is or much more than the fact that I received this email from "ellie@lovetingle.com." The front page of the site looks innocent enough, but please check it out further yourself before sending listeners to it to be sure it conveys the values of your show accurately..

SHOW PREP FROM LOVETINGLE.COM
*You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, or use on the air. Credit lovetingle.com*
CRAZY LOVE FACTS
>Canadian porcupines kiss one another on the lips.
>Ladies in nudist camps tend to use more makeup than women elsewhere.
>Marital fights hit their peak in July. It's also the biggest month for riots, criminal violence and filing lawsuits.
>The average person falls in love seven times before marriage.
>10,000 people acquire marriage licenses each year but never actually get married.
>Women can talk longer with less effort than men. Why? Because the vocal cords of women are shorter than those of men and release less air through them to carry the sound.
>Studies by Dr. Karl F. Robinson of Northwestern University prove that men change their minds two or three times more often than do women.
>The average woman uses up approximately her height in lipstick every five years.
>Caesar was 54, Cleopatra 21 when they were dating.
>The longest kiss according to the Guinness Book of World Records lasted 417 hours.

-4 Free ways to show them that you love them TODAY:
> Use a thesaurus to help you describe your lover: charming, beautiful, alluring, stunning, gorgeous, exquisite, marvelous, magnificent, enticing, fabulous etc.
> Leave a trail of your clothes from the front door to the bedroom before they get home. >Hide a love note in a bottle of daily vitamins, or in the pants your significant other will wear that day. >On a cold morning warm up your lover's car for them. (They'll think about you their entire day)
>A lottery ticket and a note: "I hit the jackpot when I married you."

Another great idea:
>Send a dozen roses: 11 red and one white. Write a note that says: "In every bunch there's one who stands out - and you are that one."

Nowhere To Go But UP

WENS-FM switches to country format

CLICK TO CHECK OUT: Real Life, Real Music.. The Hank.

Bob Moody, VP/Programming at Regent Communications on this stunt: "Depends on what Emmis wants to accomplish. It could be an effective "ankle biter", but if you tell a Country listener that you play "anything Country", you better have some old Faron Young and John Schneider albums handy."

Also "brand" new in the last week:

* Rogers' Country 107.1, Abbotsford, BC (eastern suburbs of Vancouver)
* Clear Channel's Q Country 102.9, Centralia, WA (southern suburbs of Seattle)

The price of being on the upswing as a format is that we get the (sometimes silly) competition we really don't need in many markets. Is there a station with a 1.8 share in your market? Are we headed back to 1994 already? Looks like we may be (if you don't know what I mean, call 732 937-5757 for Michael O'Malley or 206 498-6261 for Jaye Albright - we have been here before).

AC guru Mike McVay: "I guess this is disco for the 2000's. AC must be dead. (BIG smile)"

Mercury Research's Mark Ramsay puts it all in context on his blog: It's a Trend...No, it's a Virus

IT'S TIME TO ATTACK YOURSELF NOW.

Those Who Fail To Learn From The Past

Two items in the news today made me think of that old saw.

1. Why Terri Schiavo? Why now? Heart-rending though her case may be, none of the issues are new. But she has been elevated to a national symbol by cable news, which wasn't as tabloid a few years ago and didn't exist when Quinlan was hospitalized. When I was a New Jersey newspaper reporter in the 1970s, we ran many stories on the saga of Karen Ann Quinlan. The case drew national attention when the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that the 21-year-old brain-damaged woman could be taken off a respirator, although it turned out she survived until 1985. During this furor over Terri Schiavo, I've been looking back at other such cases. Turns out there were a lot of them (read more - Howard Kurtz-Media Notes)

2. This letter to Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher of Radio Business Report:

The debate continues on :60s vs. :30s.

My first job out of college was a radio sales position. At that time (1976), thirty second commercials were the local/ regional/ national "spot buy" industry standard. Every station in the market had a published ratecard. The standard rates in every daypart were based on a :30. There was a premium charge of approximately 25-40% for a :60 depending on the station's format. At that time practically no advertisers bought :60's with the exception of car dealers, who needed the extra time for the legally enforced disclaimers, re: finance rates, etc.

As I see it, the issue is NOT really spot length but rather COPYWRITING! When the industry moved to "units" rather than "minutes" and :60's became standard, the need to write and produce really good copy was relaxed. No one that tries to write really effective radio copy will argue with the fact, that writing a really effective :30 is much harder than writing a mediocre :60 that relies heavily on repetition to make a point or deliver a message. The reality is that at the local level, the majority of commercial copy is at best mediocre ( I'm being kind).

Most local commercials regardless of length don't, as Paul Weyland would say, "stand out above the crapisphere!" Agencies are as much to blame for this as local sales people forced to write their own copy for direct accounts. Even large group owned stations that employ copywriters simply churn out formulaic, mediocre copy. In the 70's and early 80's ADDY AWARDS were the most competitive for radio at the thirty second level. Frequently, there would be NO ADDY awarded for a :60, because of the lack of quality entries. I know because I won several of those awards in various markets. Whether, Clear Channel is effective at resurrecting the :30 as a standard unit, will depend almost entirely on the effectiveness of those commercial messages that their stations air for those advertisers.

Reconfiguring the commercial breaks to accommodate selling :30's, is about 25% of what they need to be successful. The harder 75%, of WRITING and producing "EFFECTIVE" :30's that work for their clients is, as I presently "hear it on the air" in this market, yet to be considered, let alone addressed.

If the "less is more" is to have the desired effect on programming and listener retention, the "MORE" part of the equation, needs to be addressed by not only Clear Channel but, the entire industry, regardless of commercial length.

-- Mark CortnerTulsa, OK

IMHO:

Howard Kurtz's question highlights the fact that every generation is not exactly the same and the lessons that one 'thought' they had already learned may not apply to the next one.

Cortner's points are excellent, as long as we remember that all the research in recent months continues to support that move to UNITS because it was soundly based on listener reaction to multiple messages, no matter what the length, and that still seems to apply (witness very recent data from Paragon Media Strategies, Bridge Ratings, and Navigauge).

PS: Mike O'Malley does the math.

If we want the listener to notice our efforts to cut back on clutter we need to reimpose absolute limits on both units and minutes. I like Clear Channel's 12 minutes in the morning and ten the rest of the day, but worry if that opens the door to more than 10-12 units an hour too, regardless of length.

I thought we'd already learned that lesson in the 1980's. Hopefully, we don't have to learn it again now, the hard way.

Another Push to PODCAST

Larry Shannon's www.radiodailynews.com reports traditional broadcasters are also seizing on podcasts as one more way to reach audiences, including those not currently tuned in.

KOMO-AM (1000) was one of the first commercial stations in the nation to offer podcasting, through its Web site, www.komonews.com "There's a voracious appetite for it, once people figure it out," says Stan Orchard, assistant director of news and programming at KOMO Radio.

KPLU-FM (88.5) yesterday launched podcasting for locally produced news stories, "Jazz Kitchen" with Dick Stein and "BirdNote." Its Web site, www.kplu.org and KOMO's provide explanations to listeners on what's needed to set up and receive podcasts.

(read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI)

The Best Advice I Ever Got

Fortune Magazine has what could be the start of a great phone topic..

Warren Buffett
You're right not because others agree with you, but because your facts are right, says the 74-year-old CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Meg Whitman
Be nice, do your best—and most important, keep it in perspective, says the 48-year-old CEO and President of eBay.

Jack Welch
Be yourself, says the 69-year-old former chairman and CEO of General Electric.

Sallie Krawcheck
Don't listen to the naysayers, says the 40-year-old CFO of Citigroup.

Vivek Paul
Don't limit yourself by past expectations, says the 46-year-old president and CEO of Wipro Technologies.

Dick Parsons
When you negotiate, leave a little something on the table, says the 56-year-old chairman and CEO of Time Warner.

Andy Grove
When 'everyone knows' something to be true, nobody knows nothin, says the 68-year-old chairman of Intel.

Anne Mulcahy
Remember the parable of the cow in the ditch, says the 52-year-old CEO of Xerox. "One piece of advice I got has become a mantra at Xerox. It came from a very funny source. It was four years ago, and I was doing a customer breakfast in Dallas. We had invited a set of business leaders there. One was a plainspoken, self-made, streetwise guy [Albert C. Black Jr., president and CEO of On-Target Supplies & Logistics, a logistics management firm]. He came up to me and gave me this advice, and I have wound up using it constantly. 'When everything gets really complicated and you feel overwhelmed,' he told me, 'think about it this way: You gotta do three things. First, get the cow out of the ditch. Second, find out how the cow got into the ditch. Third, make sure you do whatever it takes so the cow doesn't go into the ditch again.' Now, every time I talk about the turnaround at Xerox, I start with the cow in the ditch. The first thing is survival. The second thing is, figure out what happened. Learn from those lessons and make sure you've put a plan in place to recognize the signs, and never get there again. This has become sort of a catchphrase for the leadership team. It's just one of those incredibly simple commonsense stories to keep people grounded. I bet that businessman had no idea what kind of legs his story would have."

Brian Grazer
All you really own are ideas and the confidence to write them down, says the 53-year-old Academy Award-winning movie and TV producer.

Rick Warren
Regularly sit at the feet of Peter Drucker, says the 51-year-old Minister, founder of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose-Driven Life "In life you need mentors, and you need models. Models are the people you want to emulate. I recommend that your models be dead. I'm serious. You don't know how people are going to finish up. A lot of people start out like bottle rockets. They look great, but then the last half of their life is chaos. That can be quite devastating. In my life, I've had at least three mentors: my father, Billy Graham, and Peter Drucker. They each taught me different things. Peter Drucker taught me about competence. I met him about 25 years ago. I was invited to a small seminar of CEOs, and Peter was there. As a young kid—I was about 25—I began to call him up, write him, go see him. I still go sit at the feet of Peter Drucker on a regular basis. I could give you 100 one-liners that Peter has honed into me. One of them is that there's a difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Efficiency is doing things right, and effectiveness is doing the right thing. A lot of churches—not just churches, but businesses and other organizations—are efficient, but they are not effective. Another important thing that Peter has taught me is that results are always on the outside of your organization, not on the inside. Most people, when they're in a company, or in a church, or in an organization, they think, Oh, we're not doing well, we need to restructure. They make internal changes. But the truth is, all the growth is on the outside from people who are not using your product, not listening to your message, and not using your services."

Jim Collins
The real discipline comes in saying no to the wrong opportunities, says the 46-year-old author of the bestseller Good to Great.

Peter Drucker
Get good—or get out, says the 95-year-old business consultant.

Ted Turner
Start young, says the 66-year-old founder of CNN and former vice chairman of Time Warner.

David Neeleman
Balance your work with your family, says the 44-year-old CEO of JetBlue.

Mickey Drexler
Bail out of a business that isn't growing, says the 60-year-old CEO of J. Crew.

Brian Roberts
Let others take the credit, says the 45-year-old CEO of Comcast.

Marc Benioff
Incorporate philanthropy into your corporate structure, says the 40-year-old founder and CEO of Salesforce.com.

Hector Ruiz
Surround yourself with people of integrity, and get out of their way, says the 59-year-old CEO of AMD.

Donny Deutsch
If you love something, the money will come, says the 48-year-old CEO of Deutsch Inc. and host of CNBC's The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch.

Klaus Kleinfeld
Keenly visualize the future, says the 47-year-old CEO of Siemens.

Tom's TSL Tip

The average person listens to radio approximately two hours per day and samples three different stations within that one day of listening. Take that two hours per day (which is 120 minutes), and divide it by the three stations they have sampled, and you will find that you have someone using radio for about 45 minutes-to-one hour per day -- not all-in-a-row. They take "snapshots" of your programming throughout the day: A little bit in morning drive, a bit during the workday, and then some in the afternoon. If you look at your research you will see that after 7:00 pm, the bell-shaped curve drops significantly with the 25+ demo as they go to TV, family, movies, ect. Therefore, it gets down to what “benchmarks” or “triggers” do you have built into your programming throughout the day that make your station memorable (read more about TSL at www.tomwatsononline.com)

Arbitron has appointed Bob Michaels to Vice President, PPM Programming Services (visit Arbitron)

How Does Your Legal ID Compare?

www.tophour.net is a web site that has been 'up' and 'down' for three or four years .. devoted ONLY to legal ID's! Brian Davis just relaunched it at www.tophour.net and it's worth browsing, contributing to. Enjoy!

Ya Simply GOT To DO it

M Street Journal relays a cautionary tale (actually TWO of them):

If you miss doing a correct legal ID for ten straight weeks — it may lead to a big fine. Like $5,000. It’s been ages since the FCC has cited a station specifically for violating 73.1201, the line in the rules that requires stations to identify with their call letters and city of license “hourly, as close to the hour as possible.”

So it was an eye-opener to see the Commission propose a $5,000 fine against Leighton Enterprises’ KBOT, Pelican Rapids, MN(104.1) for failing to run a legal ID for 10 weeks. KBOT told the FCC it was an “inadvertent”programming error in its automation system that replaced the proper top-hour ID with a promotional announcement that included the station’s slogan(“Wild 104”) — but not the calls and city of license.

An expensive phone call for a Montana station. KZMN, Kalispell (103.9) broadcast a call in November2003 between DJ Paul Gray and a woman who called the station to complain about a turkey that was hanging froma window of the station’s building. (The turkey was thereto advertise the station’s Thanksgiving food drive.) The woman was transferred to the studio to talk to Gray, who was taking food drive pledges on the air. So far, so good— except that the woman then handed the phone to a coworker, who apparently wasn’t told the call was being broadcast. The co-worker wasn’t pleased (especially after Gray told her to “quit complaining...and listen to the station”).

She filed a complaint. KZMN fired Gray and apologized to the woman — but the FCC says that’s not enough. It imposes a $6,000 fine.

You know what to do: legal ID every hour and notify every single caller that they may be on the air. Ya got to do it.

Nashville Star Weekly Recap

If you are following Nashville Star each week and are afraid you may miss an episode, Karen Byrd is charged with PR for the show from her Franklin, TN., office and emails a quick recap right after each week's program. Then, she posts one at http://nashvillestar.yahoo.com later in the day.

For Nashville Star assistance:

Karen Byrd Public Relations
2020 Fieldstone Pkwy. #900-219
Franklin, TN 37069
Phone: 615-595-1500
Email: karenbyrdpr@comcast.net
Fax: 615-595-6844

She adds: "Don't miss the next episode of "Nashville Star" on Tuesday, March 29, on USANetwork at 10 PM ET/PT/9 PM CT. PHIL VASSAR will kick off the "Original Songs" episode with a medley of his biggest hits, and LeANN RIMES and BRET MICHAELS will perform a special duet. Plus, we'll get to check out thesongwriting talents of our remaining contestants. Last week, (Episode #4), Sara Evans looked and sounded great as she opened the show with her #1 smash'Suds In The Bucket.' Casey Simpson was eliminated from the competition (see details below)."

Get Great Listener Testimonials For Your Promos

Hoppy Gilmore (Send E-mail to Hoppy Gilmore), PD/Morning cohost at Froggy 99.9 FM, Fargo says they never have a problem getting fresh, new testimonials because every single morning as their morning stunt person goes out they play "The Froggy UM Game."

To win a prize, every listener is recorded saying why they like Froggy - the more specific the better - and to win they have to go the full :30 without ever saying "um" or "uh."

This practically guarantees that every listener has a lot of energy and a big smile in their voice as they talk about what matters most about your station to them. Then, run don't walk back to the station and add this great real life, real listener stuff into your self-promotion so it sounds like real people are the voice of your radio station.

Ear Worms = Fun Phone Topic

To the tune of "It's A Small World After All," "Living La Vida Loca" or "Disco Duck.."

Why that song sticks in your head: Seattle PI

KLOS Goes Classic Rock After CBS-FM Goes Jack

Fred Jacobs has a great blog on the issues facing rock formats, and a lot of his brilliant musings are universal truths.

i.e. when one station vacates a format, it always seems like one company's dead lawn is another one's greener pastures.. and so it is in LA right now:

First: No "Happy Jack" In L.A.? Not long afterward: Jack LA - Postscript

Does Your Morning Show Suck?

It does, says Mercury Research, San Diego's Mark Ramsey if it has stopped trying new things - and occasionally failing at these experiments: Does Your Morning Show Suck?

He adds: If your station is in a head-to-head format battle, then you're in a "drag-race." And here's a great example of how to compete in a drag-race to win from my friends over at Marketing Playbook. The players in this case are iPod accessories, but the rules are universal.

E-quest Text Alerts - Check This Out!

I just got an email from WMIL, Milwaukee's "Moo Crew" morning team: "Have you ever wondered when FM 106.1is going to play your favorite song? Are you convinced we play your song right after you turn off the radio?

"We’re going to make it so you never have to wonder again. Introducing FM 106.1’s E-Quest Alerts. Just click here, select your favorite songs and we’ll let you know by email or text message exactly when they will play.

"FM 106.1 is participating in a test of this brand new system. You will be one of the first people in the entire country to try it. We believe this will be a lot of fun and want your opinion. Watch for feedback links in your alerts and let us know what you think."

What Karen Dellesandro, Scott Dolphin and Radar are referring to is called "E-quest alerts."

More info from: Hal Fish - hjfish@radiotraks.com 866-614-1499 or Bill Hard - bill@billhard.com 609-654-7272.

Who Is Surrounding YOUR Listeners?

Hats off to R&R Marketing/Management/Sales Editor Roger Nadel (rnadel@radioandrecords.com) for a thought-provoking column in the 3/18/05 edition called "Insights from Radio's Biggest Customer."

It's a synopsis of Home Depot VP/Merchandising and Marketing John Costello's keynote speech at February's RAB Managing Sales Conference. Costello says that Home Depot has developed a simple strategy for its media partnerships:

1. Segment. Build strong relationships with your (and their!) most-valued customers.
2. Stand out. Differentiate your brand from others.
3. Surround the customers. Determine how to connect with customers.
4. Do more with less. Make productivity a way of life. It's all about Return On Investment.
5. Choose the best (marketing/promotional/merchandising) partners. Great partnerships equal great results.

Sounds like a system we should be using with ours too!

Country Legends Interviews

Big Joe Marshall at K-Bear in Anchorage does a daily "Legends at Lunch" feature and as a part of it he's been getting phone interviews with the artists whose music he plays every day: "I wanted to tell you how Legends is going. Incredible! I have 6 or so interviews canned already, Mel Tillis, Mickey Gilley, Janie Fricke, Vern Gosdin, Bill Anderson, it goes on and on..."

If you'd be interested in what Joe's doing, I know he'd be delighted to share:

Big Joe Marshall
Morris Alaska
KBEAR 104.1 Alaska's Hottest Country
907-275-2266
bigjoe@kbrj.com
www.kbrj.com

Did All Radio CEO's Really Want To Be Morning Jox?

Sounds like it..

Outgoing Jefferson-Pilot Radio President Clarke Brown took his lumps during Wednesday night’s annual John Bayliss Foundation roast in New York as industry buddies teed off on Brown.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan: “All of us wanted a job in radio, but Clarke got a job at Jefferson-Pilot.”

Interep President/Sales Jeff Dashev: "Let’s face it; he’s in the twilight of a mediocre radio career.”

Brown got the last laugh: “When Jeff’s wife said she wanted him to buy her a diamond, he bought the Seattle Mariners.” He then claimed that the youthful-looking Smulyan has benefited from botox and plastic surgery.

As proof, he flashed a “before” picture on the big screen — a photo of Mel Karmazin.

Miranda Lambert in Sunday's Parade Magazine

WHAT'S COUNTRY STAR MIRANDA LAMBERT'S BACKGROUND?
According to WalterScott in this Sunday's issue of PARADE magazine, after Miranda finishedthird on USA Network's "Nashville Star," the Texas native was signed toSony. For her CD "Kerosene," released last week, Lambert wrote all butone song. She tells us in PARADE: "I'm just 21, but my parents areprivate investigators, and I've seen a lot of reality. Relationshipsinspire my work." Her song "Me and Charlie Talking" has gotten a lot ofattention and even hit the number one spot on a few Country charts.

PARADE MAGAZINE'S WALTER SCOTT THINKS THE NEW FARRAH FAWCETT REALITY SHOW COULD BE THE FUNNIEST SHOW SINCE "SEINFELD."
On Wednesday FarrahFawcett's new show on TV Land, "Chasing Farrah" hits the airwaves. AndPARADE magazine's Walter Scott says he can't wait for the show tofinally hit the air. According to Scott, if the 58-year-old ex-pinupacts as weird as she did on her infamous guest appearance with DavidLetterman in 1997, "Chasing Farrah" will be a runaway hit.

Topic Idea: If you could pick one wacky celeb to be the star of a reality show, who would it be?

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES DEREK JETER WILL FINALLY TIE THE KNOT?
Walter Scott notes in this Sunday's issue of PARADE magazine that Jeter and his newgal pal Stacy Lynn Spierer are tight, but don't count on him settlingdown any time soon. The 30-year-old Jeter just has too much of a historyof loving and leaving 'em. The Yankee slugger's exes include pop divaMariah Carey, video jockey Vanessa Minnillo and actress JordanaBrewster. So possibly the best piece of advice for Spierer, who's'appeared in minor TV and film roles, would be to don't give up your day job.

Topic Idea: What did it take for you to finally tie the knot with yourspouse? Ladies: What's the most important trait you look for in apossible mate? How about the guys, what do you look for?

www.Paraderadio.com is written and created for radio from the pages of PARADE Magazine by John Ford who would enjoy hearing from you: john_ford@parade.com