I Went For The Love Songs And Stayed For The Content On Dating

Dating Online Blog just emailed to let me know that they have an article on "100 Love Songs" which included a mention of my blog post on their "#59. George Strait - The Chair."

If dating topics of any kind come up on your show, you'll find some fascinating info, tips and opinions at the Dating Online Blog that should get your phones ringing with fun stories and experiences.

Barbara Mandrell Goes Into The Country Music Hall of Fame In Good Company

With over 75 major awards and 38 years in show business under her belt, Barbara Mandrell was welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the prestigious Medallion ceremony last night at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum with fellow Hall of Fame inductees Charlie McCoy and Roy Clark (pictured together at last night's event).

Known as the "Sweetheart of the Steel," Mandrell was a multi-instrumentalist by the time she was 10. She was on tour with The Johnny Cash Show by age 13 and had her first Billboard chart record at age 21. Her NBC variety show, "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters" drew nearly 40 million viewers weekly and introduced a nation to country music. Now, Barbara joins fellow inductees, Roy Clark and Charlie McCoy, as one of the newest members of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.

As she addressed the audience in the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's Ford Theater, Mandrell remarked, "Irby Mandrell was my manager as well as my Daddy over my 38-year career. He taught me, guided me and directed me. It is his name, Mandrell, that I am blessed to have, and it's the gracious loving public and fans that made our name known and popular. So tonight I thank you with my entire being for putting the Mandrell name into the Hall of Fame."

The ceremony was packed with musical performances to honor the three inductees. Performers included Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss, Reba McEntire, George Jones, Michael McDonald, Rodney Crowell, Josh Turner, Jelly Roll Johnson, Louise Mandrell and more. Barbara's musical tribute began with GRAMMY winner Alison Krauss singing Barbara's 1973 No. 1 hit, "The Midnight Oil." Her sister, Louise Mandrell, who claimed to be "the first Barbara Mandrell fan," sang "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed." The night took a soulful turn when Michael McDonald performed his rendition of her No. 1 song "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Want to be Right." Of course, the night wouldn't have been complete without the performance that came from Reba McEntire and George Jones of Barbara's chart topping signature number, "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool." It was during this song that inductee Charlie McCoy honored Mandrell when he stepped in to play harmonica.

Barbara was officially inducted by her longtime friend Ralph Emery, who said to Mandrell, "You've done country music proud in every way." The induction ceremony culminated as Mandrell, Clark and McCoy were joined by other Country Music Hall of Fame members in attendance as they sang "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame has now increased from 105 to 108 inductees.

As the song says, Barbara was "Country When Country Wasn't Cool." She learned to read music before she could read words. Over the years, she added steel guitar, alto saxophone, bass, banjo, mandolin and Dobro to her arsenal of instruments. At age 11, her father took her to a music trade show in Chicago where she performed and caught the attention of legendary country guitarists, Chet Atkins and "Uncle" Joe Maphis. Maphis invited Barbara to join his show at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas, which became one of the single greatest influences on her musicianship. By the time Barbara was a teenager, she was touring with The Johnny Cash Show, which included- Cash, Patsy Cline, George Jones and June Carter.

Throughout her career she earned over 75 major awards, including two consecutive CMA Entertainer of the Year awards (1980 & 1981, making her the first artist ever to win two years in a row), CMA Female Vocalist of the Year (1979 and 1981), ACM Top Female Country Music Vocalist (1980 and 1986), NARAS Grammy Award for the Best Inspirational Performance (1983), Grammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performance (1984), Dove Award for Gospel Album of the Year (1983) and nine People's Choice Awards (1983-1987). She is one of only six artists to have received the "Triple Crown" by winning all three of the most coveted awards, Top New Female, Top Female and Entertainer of the Year. Her autobiography, "Get to the Heart: My Story" debuted on The New York Times Best Sellers list and remained there for six months.

When she retired in 1997, her final concert was filmed at the Grand Ole Opry House for a highly-rated TNN concert special, "Barbara Mandrell and the Do-Rites: The Last Dance." In 1999, Mandrell was inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The next year, the Academy of Country Music honored Barbara with their most prestigious award, The Pioneer Award.

BNA Records paid homage to Mandrell in 2006 with She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool: A Tribute to Barbara Mandrell. The album featured many of today's top artists performing her classic hits, including Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark, Sara Evans, Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney, Willie Nelson and Shelby Lynne, Lorrie Morgan, Randy Owen, Brad Paisley, Leann Rimes, Gretchen Wilson, and gospel singer Cece Winans. She was inducted into Nashville's Music City Walk of Fame in 2007. People ranked her among its "100 Most Beautiful" list in 2007 and "100 Most Beautiful at Any Age" list in 2008 and 2009.

For more information: Angie Gore or Kristie Sheppard - 615.321.3211

Winning Brands Must Live Digitally

A four-minute education in Reality Marketing from BestBuy CMO Barry Judge:

"In order for our brand to be relevant in the future, we gotta live digitally... with our communication and the products we sell. And the brands that figure this out are the brands that will succeed in the future."

Read his blog, follow him on Twitter, where you'll also find thousands of BestBuy employees.

(Thanks to KMPS, Seattle, MD Tony Thomas for the link.)

Fearless Authenticity

I have to agree with Seattle Times reviewer Mary Guiden who was also a bit put off at first by the high school musical production take on "You Belong With Me" which kicked off Taylor Swift's sold-out Key Arena concert Friday night.

"Swift provided genuine hugs to nearly every fan she passed. Later, she carried her own mike stand down one of those big staircases (on stage). Those kinds of moves make it easier to shove the Disney-fying of the night by the wayside. Here's hoping the talented young woman continues to move in that direction."

But, heck, she's 19, reflects the values of her many Gen Y fans, and perhaps the reactions of older folks like Mary and me says more about us than about the undeniable, talented Taylor.

"I still do not understand reviewers of any media who fail to understand the audience of what it is they are reviewing. Taylor Swift's audience IS the HSM set. So why is it wrong that she seek to appeal to them as opposed to some middle aged concert reviewer?" - blogger rob98109

Country radio, as we have in the past, will find a way to create room on our playlists for both Taylor and her high school fans as well as the very different audience and appeal of Jamey Johnson, who recently also stole a sold-out show of his own at the BMI Key West songwriters festival.

Taylor and Jamey's diametrically-unique personnas and fan bases make it a tight fit, but hopefully, that's what listeners mean when they say they want more variety.

The common thread: be real, who you are.

Is THIS Why They Call The Future "A Brave New World"?

Director of Technical Sales for RCS Barry Hill's Conclave webinar last week was a fascinating presentation of the new analytical tools Media Monitors has been developing to help us all understand the new world of radio listener usage and behavior data coming online in both the U.S. and Canada, thanks to PPM.

For example, since it has always been a leap of faith requiring a certain amount of bravery to add new music, it was very comforting to see what appears to be the "normal pattern of a typical song's spin life" on the average station in this Miley Cyrus song's history of airplay and listener tracking:

After six or seven weeks of growing familiarity and acceptance, the courageous programmer is rewarded with 14 weeks or so of positive listening growth each time the song plays to be followed by the inevitable burn which turns into more tune-out than tune-in.

Before you jump to the conclusion that PPM clearly demonstrates that the average current hit's life is 20-22 weeks, take a gander at this one (guaranteed to give Alanis' promotion team some heartburn) a good example of the fact that PPM panelists sometimes do what they do and it simply defies obvious logic:

Up in August, down in September, up in October, down in November, up in December, down in January, then up for nine weeks in a row! Huh? Is it somehow seasonal in its appeal? Does it burn after four weeks and then stop being negative in another month in spite of/because of continued airplay? Are some panelists going away for a few weeks and then coming back into the panel? Or, WHAT?

"Ironic," indeed.

If you have a more plausible explanation of what's happening with this tune, I'd love to hear it. Meanwhile, this info should serve as proof that radio programming remains 50% science and 50% art and no high tech tool - as yet, at least - has changed that.

There Are Many Reasons I Read "The Main Street Tattler" Each Week

.. not the least of which is Tom Kay's sensibilities when it comes to cartoons in every issue!

Green Shoots

Despite the rising unemployment rate, tempering pump prices and the 8K+ DJIA appear to be bolstering consumer sentiment in May…nearly one in three (31.2%) consumers is confident/very confident in chances for a strong economy over the next six months, rising five points from April (26.0%), nearly 12 points from a year ago (19.5%) and the highest reading since January ’08 (33.5%).

The Garth Factor

Former publicist Patsi Bale Cox has written a Garth Brooks biography entitled The Garth Factor: The Career Behind Country's Big Boom, out this month.

Cox worked with Brooks in the '90s and describes the book as being about "celebrity, record labels and creativity." She adds, "I neither asked [Brooks'] permission to write this book, nor did I ask him to participate. I told him what I was doing and that was that."

Read more at Cox's blog here. A book reception will be held at Nashville's Davis Kidd Booksellers June 4 at 6pm.

Backstage at the taping of the George Strait Artist of the Decade, Garth was asked by Neal Haislop if he knew there was new book coming out about him. When he asked who was writing it and they said, Patsi Bale Cox, Garth said, "If it's by Patsy that will be a good one."

TV/Radio Writer Mark Washburn Is Charitable

He kindly uses the word "volatility" in his story on the market's Winter '09 ARB ratings:

* Nancy Haynes, a principal in the media buying firm of Collins, Haynes & Lully, asked Arbitron to double-check the figures because of double-digit changes in key groups. Arbitron is reviewing the data.

* “There's some strange things in there,” said Rick Jackson, general manager for Greater Media's WBT-AM and WLNK-FM. “Rush Limbaugh was No. 2 with teenage girls 12-18 years in age. That makes no sense at all. He's never competed in that gender or that demo. There was a lot of change from year to year – double digit for almost everyone.”

* Another statistic of note: Six of the top seven stations are within one percentage point of each other in overall share.

Bob Pittman: "If TV Is America’s Hobby, Radio Is America’s Companion"

Jim Carnegie at RBR just snagged a fascinating interview with "The Father of MTV” and former AOL Time Warner COO who has remained an active investor in broadcasting:

"The way I’ve used it as a marketer in the past is I used TV to create desire – I’m going to go visit Six Flags this summer. The problem is people think I’m going to do something and then they forget about it, it drops out of their mind. I use radio to remind them – constantly reminding them, remember we’re going to Six Flags, let me tell you about Six Flags. I’ve created the desire to go with TV. I’ve created the reminder to go with radio. I think it still does that extraordinarily well.

"One of the reasons the prices are so low is it’s almost impossible to get much leverage, much debt, much credit and if you own a bunch of TV stations and you already have a credit facility you don’t want to start all over again because you’ll never get a deal as good as what you’ve got now. So I think you’re finding even though everybody recognizes the opportunities are out there, there are some impediments to buying them. I think the second issue is that everybody is looking for deals and everybody who has got the TV stations are like people that have an apartment in New York. The prices are down a lot, thank God I don’t have to sell. All it says is buyers right now are shopping for a deal because of lack of credit and a lot of other issues so they will only buy if they can get it at distressed prices and unless you’re distressed you won’t sell."

Longneck (Baby) Bottle? Longnipple Bottle?

Lisa Roth, sister to Van Halen rocker David Lee Roth and creator of the Rockabye Baby and Hushabye Baby lullaby CD's has created a new album for baby: "Lullaby Renditions
of Garth Brooks," which hits stores on June 2.

And, yes, “Longneck Bottle” is one of the tunes on the collection, along with “Friends In Low Places” and “If Tomorrow Never Comes.”

“One of my favorites so far is Queen,” Roth told the Tennessean in Nashville the other day. “‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is track No. 1, and it’s adorable, the cutest yet."

If she can make lullabies out of Aerosmith, Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails, "Longneck Bottle" by legendarily dedicated dad Garth was probably an easy fit.

Beasley Broadcast Group President/COO Bruce Beasley Says What Arbitron Hasn't

Last week, he blamed poor Arbitron PPM panel management on his quarterly analyst earnings conference call as one reason why the company’s Philadelphia revenues (off 31%) have been down more than the market average (which slipped 21%).

It’s not a secret that country’s core target is 35-54 and largely non-ethnic living more in suburbs than in the center of cities, so just as ARB was working to placate unhappy ethnic stations by improving the proportionality of African-Americans and Hispanics and calling its sample “solid” (September 2008) it now admits (according to Beasley) under-indexing of the 35-54 demo in those same months last fall of WXTU’s ratings decline.

Beasley claimed that 92.5 XTU had been consistently in the market’s top six or seven during the first year and a half of pre-currency and then the initial currency PPM monthlies, leading the company to believe that PPM was going to be kind to country radio, but, as minority broadcasters pushed ARB to improve the index of their listeners’ in the PPM panel, for some reason, WXTU fell to the low to mid-teens in the rankers.

Every country manager and programmer needs to demand, hope for, ask for, beg for, pay for excellent sample balance each month, at the very least within 10% +/-, in our targets too.

The Beasley exec last week told investors he feels that Arbitron is now correcting the problem:

“Recently we’ve seen some progress on 35-54 sampling and expect the revenue trend at WXTU to improve.”

He also said he “expects that [Arbitron] will not repeat the issue that impacted us in Philadelphia..” in Miami, where the company also owns WKIS, the country station in another highly ethnic market.

Are the same ARB people who provided those "solid" assurances last fall the ones promising Beasley that things are now under control in their markets?

Ask any researcher: sampling is both art and science. As sample sizes get smaller, “panel management” is the name of the art which Arbitron must consistently master equitably or everyone’s business is going to suffer.

Playfulness Promotes Productivity

Do you have a humor bulletin board at your workplace? David B. Posen, MD, recommends one. He says that humor reduces stress and builds creativity. He spoke to the British Columbia Association Of Broadcasters' convention yesterday and says he spotted this on the wall at a hospital:

"Due to cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice."

One fun exercise he led us all through: brainstorm as a group a new punch line to a well-worn setup. The BCAB group, he said, came up with more good ones than he had ever experienced before, which shows what happens when you get a room full of radio and TV people together. Maybe you had to be there to fully get this one, but it made me laugh: "My hometown is so small that...... (wait for it) the CRTC only granted three licenses there."

Keith Urban Tour Update: Jennifer Nettles On Vocal Rest

The latest info is at Keith's website:

Keith's "Escape Together World Tour" today named Jason Aldean and Little Big Town to replace Sugarland for Keith's opening performances at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. This, coming as a result of Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles being put on vocal rest.

Aldean appeared last night (May 7th), while Little Big Town will open tonight's performance (May 8th). An announcement will be forthcoming regarding Keith's appearance in State College, PA on May 9th.

Timing Is Everything (Or, Maybe Not)

It's taking Nashville promoters and country radio so long these days to go from launch to charting that even major artists on both sides of the 49th parallel are now releasing songs in the spring which probably have listeners scratching their heads, since the lyrics will finally make sense in terms of listeners' lives in about six months, after two seasons have changed.

Brooks & Dunn make it sound like they think its fall right now in their new one, "Indian Summer," while Canadian charter Aaron Pritchett's new one "Hell Bent For Buffalo" has ice on I-90.

If an artist happened to be planning to commemorate Father's Day in song, looks like they should have released that tune before Thanksgiving!

When Programming Values Conflict With Personal Ones

Representatives Jim Moran (D-VA) and Robert Brady (D-PA) just introduced a bill that would also limit erectile dysfunction commercials to be broadcast between 10pm-6am. Airing the spots in other hours would be an indecency violation subject to a $325,000 FCC fine.

It's tempting to advocate for it because penile enhancement ads offend all of my programming sensibilities.

There's no one who wishes network programmers and sales executives would have the good sense to turn down all sex aid advertising, twenty-four/seven more than I do.

Sometimes two of them run in a cluster on country radio's night-time programming and you know that they have to be a huge turn-off to our listeners, who live right at the intersection of "virtue and meaning."

However, I am also a free speech advocate and if a business is stupid enough to air anything that drives their listeners away, as these offensive spots clearly do, the marketplace will teach them a lesson as long as listeners have a choice.

There's no need for a law until someone repeals good business practices, competitiveness and common sense.

Now And Then, Life Reaches Out And Gives You A Hug

I just got one from WTCM, Traverse City's Jack O'Malley on his 25th anniversary at the station. It so happens that I was the consultant there a quarter century ago and thus I could not resist calling him to express my admiration for his staying power and passion.

What I got from Jack was this amazing email message:

May I say that it was something you told me 25 years ago that I have quoted many times and I believe is the cornerstone that the last 25 years have been based on. Once while you were here I asked you if you thought that WTCM could compete with a Detroit or Chicago country station. You looked at me and said "no, but you don't want to be too hip for the room". That has stuck with me and has become my credo! I tell the staff all the time...RELATE to your audience, give them what they want...not just what you think is good. I listen to the stations around town and so many are doing what they think is good and not necessarily what people in these parts want. So you impressed a young mind of mush with the compass point and I thank you. Please know that a part of my 25 belongs to you. I mean that sincerely! Thanks for all you do for radio and the people who listen to it! It's a great medium and I am hoping that I can keep it alive for the next generation of young mushed minds to come along!

So, a bit of my advice for you too: be encouraging as you coach and train the people around you. Every now and then, guidance you even forgot giving floats back to you like a lovely bouquet of flowers.

Thanks, Jack, for taking time to tell me that as well as for 25 years for great local radio, making a positive difference in your lovely community!

Only 27% of North American Radio Stations Have Websites? Ouch!

It seems unbelievable (not a single A&O client does not have one), but even in spite of that "fact," radio ties with TV in percentage of total revenues coming from internet initiatives.

An odd thing occurred last year amid the relentless bashing of legacy media companies.

While Yellow pages and newspaper companies crashed into bankruptcy and TV and radio station revenues hit the brakes, their online hybrids zipped right along.

Last year $12.6 billion was spent in online advertising by local advertisers. Sales were dominated by pure-play Internet companies with no ties to legacy media – the likes of Google, Local.com, Interactive Corp., Marchex, ReachLocal and many others. However, for the first time since we began tracking local shares in 2001, pure-play companies lost ground. The second-biggest shareholder, newspaper companies, effectively arrested their online share decline in 2008 after losing an average of four points per year since 2005.

Could it be that the legacy media companies have finally turned their aircraft carriers? It’s possible, especially considering that they have an important asset that the pure-plays don’t: an estimated 98,000 feet-on-the-street salespeople who have existing relationships with local advertisers and can cross-sell online advertising products. And they are adding “Internet-only” sales reps at a rapid pace. At the beginning of 2009, this sales force numbered about 9,000, up 30 percent from a year ago.

The importance of online advertising to these legacy media companies intensified in 2008. Yellow Pages companies averaged nearly 11 percent of their gross revenues from online sales, while newspapers saw 7.0 percent and radio and TV stations 3.4 percent each. This dependence is likely to climb, bringing their online ventures into even sharper focus as they find ways to give the pure- play companies a run for their money.

Celebrity Apprentice's Tuna Surprise

Chicken of the Sea executives thought a country jingle was too limiting so Clint Black gets fired from Celebrity Apprentice??

Clint Black goes out like a martyr for the genre.

Trump liked Clint's jingle — though did he really? Or was it just an excessive, ego-stroking pat on the back? But Trump acknowledged it was the project manager's fault, and FINALLY fired Clint. Bummer getting fired for the challenge that catered to his exact skill set, but it was a long time coming.

Clint, I think you made us all VERY proud!!

Close Up And Personal In Vancouver

Capping the Spring BBM survey period, JRfm's "Win to Get In Fan Jam with Jessie Farrell, George Canyon and Aaron Pritchett" last week was an awesome example of engaging entertainment.

It's more than an acoustic performance by a popular artist. Pattison Group Vancouver PD Gord Eno says: "I think we've developed a successful model for memorable Fan Jams. We gave JRfm fans something that they could never get otherwise, an intimate, spontaneous experience with three great performers who tore down the barrier between stage and audience. The audience was allowed to see a side of Aaron, Jessie and George that they hadn't seen before. It was real. Very real to us who have come to know these three people over the years and saw glimpses of their private personalities emerge. (Personalities Karen Daniels and Bob Say hosted and MC'd).

"The experience for our listeners to see the stars talk to each other, have fun, tell stories about their lives and the motivations behind lyrics was something they will talk about for the rest of their lives. This event didn't just happen. The idea started with a single phone call and evolved. Our generous listeners filled a big truck of baby supplies and stuffed over six grand into the donation box. We are already looking forward to when we can do something like this again."