Today? You're Memorializing Whitney Today?

Hopefully, Radio Ink's headline this morning "Radio to Honor Whitney Houston Today" was wrong, and as you read their story it appears that it is, since the info under it reads "the outpouring of prayers, thoughts, feelings and condolences was immediate and overwhelming.."

It's Monday. The event happened Saturday.

My Facebook friends and the Tweeters I follow were digging into it within an hour of the time that police set her time of death.

If you're still talking about it this morning, you better have some new info on it all that I haven't heard multiple times over the weekend or at least a very fresh perspective. That's relevance.

Rehashing old news is irrelevance. (thanks to Mark Edwards for a great read this morning)

C D = clearly deceased

Country Aircheck this week asserts: The CD, our panel agrees, is sliding toward obsolescence. Weekly country sales figures have dipped below 400,000 units for 23 of this year’s 42 weeks, a low only experienced in four previous weeks – all in 2007.

“In fairness, we experienced a longer tail than other genres, but finally everyone gets to the finish line, and we’re there.” -- UMG/Nashville EVP/Sales, Marketing & New Media Ben Kline.

Arbitron, Media Audit and BBM estimates would indicate that there are roughly 41 million 18+ adults across North America who listen to country music radio for at least five minutes (weekly cume) in an average week.

Extrapolating those audience figures and the dismal Soundscan sales, it’s possible to make the assumption that the average country radio station has less than one percent (.098%) of its weekly audience buying a CD in a store this week.

It’s time to stop calling them “CD’s” and begin referring to the music we play as “songs.” Why should any air personality, other than offering some charity to our dying friends, ever bother to talk about “the latest from” or a new album being "available in stores?"

I’m a big believer in “selling” the music, if that means relating to each song and artist in a passionate way, as if you love it as much as the listener does. But, please reassess the words you're using. Old habits die hard, but you may be trying to sound “in,” but actually sending the message that you are - like the CD - a has-been.

(Still) More Ingredients Of A Great Country Radio Station (III)

My first and second nomination lists of things I love hearing on country's perennial award-winners, have stimulated even more:

* At the start of each hour of the morning show (5:59 and 6:59), they immediately promote to 6:20 and 7:20 am with a specific reason to listen an extra quarter hour.

* At 7:50, they do a powerful, compelling, content-driven, listener-relevant reason to take the station to work.

* They establish strong 'reason to listen' benchmarks in the 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm hours with fixed-time appointments to listen regularly, featuring powerful pay-offs to heavy users of the station. These are reinforced both on the air and in interactive media, online and text.

* They don't rely on radio-talk crutches like double time sells (analog and digital), say (time) "now," (temp) "outside," or use back announce audience-losers like "before that, we started off with, the latest from." PPM is powerfully demonstrating that radio "announcers" have conditioned listeners that commercials are coming and it's time to tune out unless the voice is a unique character the listener considers a "brand," who engages in emotion-sharing and story-telling first and foremost, with something important to say.

* No mixed messages, cynical attitude, dirty stuff. Funny, entertaining, bright, warm, friendly attitude.

So, what ARE you hearing right now that you like?