Let Me Second That Motion

The announcement from Country Radio Broadcasters that Jeff Smulyan will be given the 2015 Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award during the opening ceremonies of Country Radio Seminar 2015 is another great decision from the seminar's board.

If you want to peruse the many, many wonderful giving works Jeff has spearheaded and been involved in, click here to read the complete press release listing a lot of them.

I'd like to add a personal reflection on what Jeff has created for the people who work for and with him, which in today's corporate radio competitive environment is another level of humanitarianism.  As their company website notes:  "Emmis is the 9th largest radio group in the U.S (based on listeners) and has been voted the Most Respected Radio Company in a poll of industry CEOs."

Other owners wishing to establish a positive productive "family" environment for their employees would do well to go to click around Emmis.com and learn about a winning culture. 

He purchased my hometown baseball team, reunited two guys named Griffey and turned a losing ball club into a winner, though it wasn't a winner for Jeff.  He used radio marketing tactics and rallied a community to the team's side, getting attendance up after years of apathy by local fans.  He lost money on the deal, but made baseball fun again for Puget Sound fans.

That's when I first observed that this was a guy who did the right thing first and worried about bottom line secondarily.

"Emmis" is the Hebrew word for “truth," and I first got a chance to work with the company when they purchased "KIX" (now "The Arch") in St. Louis from Zimmer.  

We had a very good run and thanks to a wonderful group of people, managed to make a pretty good showing against a powerful incumbent.

In Nashville I was a fly on the wall when they made their first presentation to the Music City community after buying the now defunct KZLA, which was very impressive.  

Of course, from Terre Haute, Indianapolis and many other legendary radio stations, they have shown their ability to win long term in many markets.

I brought up the no-doubt painful Mariners, KZLA and KIX situations for two reasons, having seen Emmis' greatmedia.greatpeople.greatservice^® mission in action for a very long time, even in situations where circumstances led them in the infamous "other direction."   

Their people and the culture Jeff and his team have innovated show "class" even in places where it's not easy to do so, living Eleven Commandments of doing business with a humanitarian tone indeed.

Charitable works are terrific, and Jeff has performed many, but the way you live your life in all aspects is even more noteworthy.

Our entire industry is better because of the values exemplified every day by Jeff Smulyan.

The Negotiator

He's not William Shatner, but for people like A&O&B clients he may be even more fun, enlightening and entertaining when he speaks to our annual client get-together in Nashville.

Attorney James L. [Jim] Varnell, who for the past 42 years his wide-raging law practice (all the way up to the bar of the United State Supreme Court) has encompassed all types of trials, agreements, negotiations, entertainment law, the concert business, talent contracts with major radio groups and networks.


Jim in his usual tongue-in-cheek, yet straightforward, manner lists as his most significant career achievements:

• running a paper route with Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall and his 2 brothers in Sewanee, TN., in 1951; 
• playing a flawless bass guitar at a Seattle festival with members of Garth Brooks' band in 1998;
• and escorting songwriter Dean Dillon to George Strait's bus at a Knoxville, TN., concert in 2005.

He promises to make use of at least a dozen great country songs as the thread to tell stories of his experience, while sharing many of the lessons he has learned as he has dealt with major celebrities, promoters, agents and all facets of the music business.

Albright & O'Malley & Brenner will present our 20th annual Pre-CRS seminar Feb. 18 at the Ford Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

This is your formal invitaton to these yearly sessions on personal career growth, important topics facing Country radio and even new music from sponsor Republic Nashville. 

A&O&B's 9th annual perceptual study "Roadmap 2014" will show country P1 trends in music, digital consumption, social networking and more.  

The full agenda and presenter list will be announced over the next few days.

Please come! RSVP here.   

No, you won't need a Jim Varnell to negociate your way in to this private meeting, since admission is free to A&O&B clients as well as anyone else not in a competitive situation with A&O&B stations.  

And, since it's at the Country Music Hall of Fame, you do NOT need to be registered for CRS to attend (though of course we hope to see you at Country Radio Seminar as well)!

The Gloves are Off: Arbitron vs. Nielsen: A Candid Conversation on Rates and Ratings

All it takes is a fast look at the Country Radio Seminar-41 agenda for Friday, February 26 (2010) at 11:00 am to see that CRS attendees will face a very difficult session choice as agenda committee chair John Paul and his team has reserved the time opposite the session I am organizing on the competition between Arbitron and Nielsen for a “hot topic” to yet be announced.

Pity the poor agenda committee member whose task it is to arrange THAT session, since our panel opposite it is going to be very “hot” in its own right. (Not that my panelists, my session moderator and I are competitive or anything!)

In one corner of the "verbal boxing arena" will be the CEO of Arbitron, Michael Skarzynski and in the opposite corner is Lorraine Hadfield, Nielsen Media Research's managing director for North America.

Jess Hanson, Senior Vice President of Research for Clear Channel Radio will be refereeing the “fight” and will make sure that the first session ever for the two ratings giants to talk face to face at a broadcast convention will shed much more light than heat on the many questions and issues raised by the new competition in at least 51 markets for radio ratings leadership and perhaps new areas in the coming year.

Hanson has been intimately involved in evaluation of all types of radio audience research for many years and will make sure that we talk sample sizes, cell phone only homes, roster diaries, metered radio measurement and also allow time for you to ask the two executives your questions as well.

Both companies do constant research on how listeners use radio.

The partially Nielsen-funded Center For Research Excellence just released a unique study where researchers observed audio media usage in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Detroit, adding up to 752 “observed days” from the Spring and Fall of 2008. The unweighted data shows that broadcast radio’s daily reach is by far the largest of all audio media, at 79.1%.

Of course, Arbitron also provides monthly analyses of radio usage as measured by its Portlable People Meter (PPM) and funds otheir tracking studies as well, such as the latest (October 2009) “Infinate Dial” update which reports, among many other findings that about 42 million Americans aged 12+ listened to online radio in the past week and about 69 million Americans viewed online video in the past week. What’s more, about three in 10 Americans own an Apple iPod or iPhone.

We'll find out what other trends in radio usage they are seeing.

You want to learn about the hottest topics and the latest information on our industry? You’ll want to be in Nashville February 24-26 for the 41st annual Country Radio Seminar. The longer you wait, the more expensive registration becomes.

And, as a member of the agenda committee in charge of the ARB vs Nielsen panel, I can promise you an informative, interesting, engaging session should you decide to come in the door where the gloves come off between the two largest companies who are competing for radio’s research budgets in 2010..

If you choose to go into any other meeting room door at that time, I promise that you're going to be missing something which everyone will be talking about.

CRB: Music Scheduling For Dummies

Chris Huff, APD/MD, KSCS, Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX: Music scheduling is often considered to be both an art and a science, and in "Music Scheduling For Dummies (Better Music Logs in Less Time)", three of the most respected artists/scientists the format has to offer discussed the hows and whys of how they put together their music logs. This at a time when the increase of multi-tasking in radio means there is less and less time to dedicate to their craft.

John Shomby of WGH/Norfolk moderated a panel that included Greg Frey, Music Director of KILT/Houston and Gwen Foster, Music Director of KMLE/Phoenix. Both of those panelists are veteran music programmers in the format, and both also handle multiple other duties at their respective stations. They offered insight into how they manage their time to ensure that they are still able to dedicate the time necessary to make their stations sound as good as possible. Greg and Gwen also shared actual music logs to show how and why they schedule music the way they do.

Additonally, the panel included consultant Keith Hill who is regarded as one of the foremost experts on music scheduling. Keith detailed much of the nuts and bolts of the science behind scheduling music. Even the most seasoned music director can find something to take away from what Keith included in his handout... and that's the beauty of CRS - programmers of all experience levels came to this session and walked away with insight to take back home!

Click Here for the great session handout.

Sign up to receive Exec Memos like this by email at http://www.crb.org/.