PLEASED WITH THE PD'S

The Country stations that just hired PD's are making progress in the listener appreciation and customer service retention battle. Lance Tidwell at WWYZ Hartford is the perfect hire as Mike Wheeler OM puts it, for the mission of the station. Anthony Allen at KZSN Wichita is working on the sound and presentation of the station. John Sebastian at WWQM Madison is taking off the brakes and letting er' rip. This is great for the listeners and customers in these markets. KNIX sounds the best they have in years under interim program director Mark Medina from sister CHR KZZP. Springfield, Boise, Rochester and Kansas City will soon have new leaders, expressing creativity in Country radio. The early word, is the new guys are doing a great job with their products and people and making progress. Anthony tells me: "I really think it's about making it your own and having a sense of ownership in your station. Every PD has their "signature" whether it be imaging, station voice, music, rotation, etc... There's always a lot for a PD to wrap their head around when starting at a new station" Clear Channel is lucky to have these two new leaders, in Hartford and Wichita and Midwest Family in Madison with John Sebastian. It's all about doing passionate, dedicated and creative radio and these PD's are!

MORNING SHOW PREP POINTS BY BOB GLASCO

Planning is the key to more quality entertainment, spontaneity, chemistry, creativity and consistency. Hours and hours of prep go into one hour of the Tonight Show, Kidd Kraddick, Mancow and others are ferocious planners to enable them to be confident to be spontaneous. Block out some uninterrupted time daily for planning the show for the next day. Meet with the Program Director at least once a week. Ideally, you touch base daily, but by meeting, we mean, ask for an hour of his/her time. If the meeting is nothing more than exchanging gossip and small talk, fine, but stay connected. Program Directors are KEY players on many winning morning shows. Each player should spend some time working on the show individually. The time can be used as you see fit. Sitting in a park or mall people watching, reading prep services for ideas, networking with other morning show personalities for ideas or calling home to Mom to set her up for a bit. At some point in the day, arrange to meet via the phone or IM to put your individual ideas together for the next show. Arrive at the station early enough to go through the papers, net and outside prep services to make last minute adjustments. Therapists around the country have discovered after years of prodding people’s psyche that those in a hurry or rushed have less satisfactory careers and lives. Give yourself the gift of time! Morning show hosts that arrive earlier than they need to are much less likely to start the day off on a wrong note. Once you’ve ticked off your radio partner/producer or engineer at 5:45am, it’s much harder to feel good about doing a fun sounding morning show. Arriving at work 15 minutes earlier to work each day than you think you need to will make you a better personality, a better worker, and a more confident person. A quarter hour of time a day is a wonderful investment in you that will pay off with big dividends by year’s end. Have a plan for all segments before the show starts. It can be as simple as a piece of paper with the stopset times noted, and blank space next to and under it for filling in your plan. Hold a weekly planning and “brainstorming” meeting, not for the next day’s show, but for future planning (e.g. Valentine’s Day, how can we put a new twist on the hot topic at the time, etc.) Have each person be responsible for at least one idea from the following categories (depending on the nature of content on your show): Phone topics Personal experience stories Feature/game audience interactive Guests/interviews Production piece (song parody, etc.) Promotion/stunt idea A continuing story-line idea Go into all planning meetings with the intention of creating memorable radio. Look for the angle that will maximize an idea and generate talk. Can the idea be taken and made more extreme, controversial, or funny? Great content is about making an emotional connection with listeners. That is, to make them laugh, cry, inspire them, anger them etc. Adoring listeners are great, angry listeners are great, it’s the bored and or ambivalent listener that is to be feared. - Focus content in four key areas: Hot and topical (including local) content Entertainment/celebrity/pop culture information and gossip Relationships, male-female topics Real life experiences and genuine emotion. Develop a bank of local experts you can call on when something on that subject pops up in the news (legal, medical, academic, etc.) And last but not least; don’t become a prisoner of your prep. If something happens during the show that takes on a life of it’s own, don’t smother it with the next bit you prepared. All the prep in the world rarely is as good as those golden moments.

AUSTIN AND BEN ONE-ONE ON SOUND

Austin Keyes FTC is the day to day practical manuscript of Country Radio Programming. The whys and How To’s if you will. We all agree that one of the key reasons people listen to Country Radio is the sound of the music and how that sound make us feel. So if Audio Quality ranks high on the got-to-have list, why is it that we come to the production studio with so little training? How many on your air/production staff have ever been sent to a workshop or class on audio post/production? Any hands up? In the past mentoring was the way people were trained and groomed to fill the ranks of our business, but that sort of took a major crap, since consolidation of budgets and staff. But Radio people are resourceful and being connected can be the solution to some of our ills. We can help each other. And so we’ve invited our colleague and friend of Full Throttle Country, Ben Blankenship to lend a hand. Ben is the production director for a 4-station Saga cluster in Jonesboro, AR. He is very knowledgeable about all things related to audio production and Imaging Radio and has years of experience behind the mic and as a producer. Ben: This will be a multi-part series about processing your Audio Tracks for Imaging and Commercials in a radio production room setting, using your DAW of choice. My choice for editing has always been Pro Tools. Many use Adobe, Cubase, and others. Today I’m starting with, what I think is, the most important step to processing your vocal tracks…EQ. All though I use Pro Tools, the general ideas in this article can be easily used on any DAW as most have a “Paragraphic EQ”. That’s a mix of Parametric and Graphic. That allows you to choose the Frequency and the Boost/Cut settings as well. I started basing my techniques on the sounds of the Agency ads coming into the stations. Most of these ads were and are regional or national, and for the better part are held to a very high (pro level) sound standard. So I figured they were the bar to shoot for in everyday production. I’ve noticed over the years that the sound of many locally produced imaging and commercials tends to be the same. Go for the Bass and eat that Microphone!!! Most seem to forget that your station probably uses some sort of Optimod, Prism, or other processor for the final “to the air” sound of the station. Many times this final processing incorporates a lot of bass and pulls the mid-range down a bit. Thus, when we produce with too much bass it makes the vocals sound lost in the mix. As well, most people crank that bass up in their cars and what not. Many producers think they need that bass on the front end to enhance the sound, to make it bigger and more powerful.It’s too much compensation. First, when you work the mic in the production room it needs to be a bit “off axis”. We all use front address mics and side address mics. I know that many producers are stuck with RE-20s…and they sound great on air. Trust me, they can sound just as Pro as the national stuff if you use them right. Get a Pop filter instead of a foam windscreen and…Don’t eat the mic. Instead place it about 4-6 inches away and above, pointing down toward you. This alone takes much of the bass proximity effect off the sound, as well as controlling “P” popping. Most mics can sound much more pro when using this technique. Once the main track is recorded you can either process the “region” at once or add the EQ in real time to the track’s plug-ins. It’s really simple. The idea is to take out any “p” popping and make it sound real, not “from the studio”, but “there” with the listener. Here’s the breakdown (nuts and bolts)… Simply boost the high end just a bit to add crispness in the 7000hz range, then lift the Mids in the 1500hz range, and finally drop the bass in the 120khz range (as shown in the photo of the Pro Tools basic Plug In. The bass drop is not from the lowest end, but the “low-Mid” end. Playing with these settings can really give you that pro sound when accompanied by Off Axis working of the mic. This can be applied to Commercials and Imaging. I work with 3 different Voice Guys on a weekly basis and each requires different settings. Two of our VO Imaging guys come in pretty much ready to go or “plug and play” in the EQ department. One though, uses a cheaper mic and processor and it shows. Love his voice, hate having to re-mix everything he sends me. BUT, it must be done to un-muddy him and make him cut through. And that’s the whole point to your imaging sound…Cut through. If not, then the words get lost and the message never makes it to the ears. The very first thing I do with their raw tracks is to EQ them as a region, or process them completely before even editing them at all. Play with your EQ, you won’t go blind or get hairy palms, but you may just find that magic sound that makes you and your station stand out and sound very PRO! Any station, no matter the market size can sound like the Imaging and Commercials were produced in LA or NY. It takes patients and eventually making presets for yourself, but the outcome is really worth it. NOW…Break out that EQ Plug In and get to experimenting. You’ll get addicted. Once you find the settings for certain voices, save them to your presets and save time. Austin: You can hear examples of Ben’s VO work, using the Off Axis mic technique (even on big Automotive ads), at www.benvoice.com or benblankenship.blogspot.com. Reach out to Ben with any questions you may have, or simply Comment on this article. Future articles will deal with compression/limiting and Mastering techniques.

END THE SELF-PROMOTION MOTION NOW

http://www.burnsradio.com/articles/content_analysis.htm I hope you get to read the great research from Alan Burns and Associates that every one is talking about. Every Market Manager, Program Director, Consultant and VP/Programming needs to read this today and react. Bob Glasco use to warn me as my consultant, when the friendly-conversational, wire into the listener-vibe started getting over taken by station promotional banter. In this study less than 9% of HOT AC/AC and CHR talent use listeners and less than 2% talk about life experiences or themselves. What are the programmers doing? A slave to the administrative process, just plain gave up or in Country, spending too much time on music issues. Bob Glasco and I chatted today and he brings up; real shortened, inter-focused,non-listener balanced PPM gimmicks as almost more hype. Bob spoke of the success in San Francisco and Seattle with the Prime Minister - Entertaining Country radio with panel PPM life group participants and performance in the PPM world. How does this happen? Alan says that we get lazy as programmers and managers and let the talent do what they feel is comfortable and some of it is the new PPM methodology that all the breaks need to be short and sweet. Drake "Boss" radio was short and to the point, but the jocks said cool things over :08 second intros. Even when I was a Top 40 talent in the 70's and 80's, we never read liners, we gave the information as part of a break in a listener-oriented fashion, through a phoner or in a cool way that it didn't sound like hype or radio crap. From the study, this is the thesis of how to solve the problem and what the problem is. How Did We Get to This, and What Can We Do About It? Radio stations have valid needs they’re taking care of – particularly the “Three Ps”: Positioning, Promotion, and Platforms. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for talking about music or the audience. In addition, most air personalities are... -not trained to think about the audience -not taught how to talk to the audience about the audience’s world efficiently -easier to shut up than to teach. -All that being said, we feel there needs to be greater focus on and inclusion of listeners’ interests. Program Directors can... -be aware of the need to leave room for listener addresses in clocks -encourage and require it -show their air personalities how to build lists of what the audience is doing, thinking, and dealing with in their lives, even down to hour-by-hour during the jock’s show. -use, and encourage their air staffs to use, every opportunity to talk to listeners about their lives and their interests. Those opportunities can come via focus groups, informal listener advisory panels, and one on one conversations. Many smart programmers do try to craft station messages in listener benefit terms, and that can increase the listener’s interest level. But that’s still talking about the radio station rather than the audience or the music. General Managers and owners play a crucial role as well, since they set priorities, incentivize behavior, and frequently decide how much “business” has to be built into the air personalities’ content slots. Those who plan to be in the radio industry for the long-term stand the most to gain, or lose, from music radio’s battle to remain relevant.

RADIO IS AN ADDICTION

Hi my name is Chuck, I'm a radio-holic (Hi Chuck). Can you just imagine a 12-step program for radio freaks. We would have the blue book written by Bill (Drake). It would outline ways to overcome our addiction to the wireless and the showbiz and entertainment part of it we love. We would go to meetings in the basement of the First Church Of Christ at 7p on Wednesday nights. We would start with the 12 steps and 12 traditions of radio. You can see the irony between alcoholism and radio. We are addicted and powerless over radio. As much as I want to find another position and parlay my radio and programming experience into it, it's difficult. When I sit in interviews for positions not with a radio station and far from it, I think to myself, Why can't I be talking to a Market Manager about how his morning show needs help or how to produce great imaging? Speakers at the meetings would be great, they would talk about how their addiction to radio and their lives mingled and crashed through the hour glass of their lives. Stories of moving from town to town, up and down the dial. How their lives were affected by firings and ratings, managers and program directors. The bigger question here is, do you want to stop the addiction? Is your higher power, what we called "the ratings Gods?" We will never be able to stop it, just like an addict is powerless over narcotic or alcohol addiction. But we can manage it.

THE CASSETTE DECK DOESN'T WORK ANY MORE

Wow, I sure hear a lot of talent isn't reviewed or critiqued by the program director. What happened to the cassette recorder? I guess it's 2010 and we don't use them any longer. I have seen this used as an excuse to why we stopped reviewing air talent. Is it no longer the talent's responsibility to air check? Unless you can provide a digital recording device or they record parts of their shows into Cool Edit or Audition or the digital playback system. For around 35-$50 bucks you can buy a recordable MP3 player with an FM tuner from Best Buy or on-line. I suggest you buy one of these for every talent on the staff and it's their responsibility to air check every show on it. Smaller ones can record 2-3 hours. They can be USB connected to a computer and played back through the computer as an external audio device or recorded into a sound file. Also a great way to record the station for audio profiles or composites. This unit pictured above can also record with an internal microphone at events for liners and promos, plus the morning show will love using to record folks for the show. This simple unit ends all of the excuses to why you don't air check and why you can't record listener drops.

GRAB A MENTOR AND HANG ON FROM BOB GLASCO

Do you have a mentor, someone you confide in and learn from, share with? Bob Glasco is indeed that for me. I have had a few; Bob, Scott Mahalick, Jerry Clifton, the late Bob Hattrik, mentors help file off the rough edges of what you already think you know: I have been extremely fortunate throughout my broadcasting career. I don’t mean because of the positions I have held or the financial rewards they brought. Those things came mostly as a result of the influences of others that I’ve taken to heart. When I first began as an air talent, Robert W. Morgan was the king of mornings in L.A. on KHJ. I wanted to be just like him. I never had the privilege of meeting him, but I listened to hundreds of hours of his airchecks and tried to capture the warm, natural sound he had. Later, I worked with a couple of guys whose influence helped me develop my own style and let my personality out from behind the incredible bashfulness it was hiding behind. I will forever be thankful for the friendships of Bill Gardner and the late Ken Sasso. Their different, but successful styles on the air showed me there was more than one way to entertain an audience. When I first became a program director, I had no real mentor. I more or less wandered around in the wilderness for a few years. I read everything I could find on people management, relationship development, etc. I listened to every aircheck I could get my hands on of the successful stations of the day to ascertain what made them tick. A few years later, I had the good fortune to be consulted by George and Reg Johns. They taught me how to unlock the right side of my brain. It was a little scary at first! I mean, did we really need a three-minute promo on the air? With my right side fully engaged, I fell under the influence of a couple of the finest strategic thinkers of our world. First it was Bill Moyes, followed soon after by Rusty Walker. You might say that is when I graduated. However, as my former company motto goes, “I don’t have all the answers; I just try to be confused at a higher level every day.” Who are your mentors? How long since you’ve talked to them? How long since you’ve really thought about the things they have taught you? Can you be a mentor for someone? I’ll bet you can. I know you should. Without people like you and me taking the time to help those folks who have not had the good fortune we have had, there will be no “radio” to continue to inform, entertain and help shape people’s opinions and prod their emotions.

FINGER CANDY FRIDAY YUM YUMS

Finger Candy is what I call the QWERTY keyboard on my blackberry and lap top. It’s also where radio stations can design campaigns that engage listeners and provide meaningful, relevant and personalized content direct to the listener’s handset. Mobile phones outnumber TV sets 2 to 1, internet users 3 to 1, and the total laptop and desktop PC population by over 4 to 1. You’re listeners are mobile and they probably have Facebook, MySpace or Twitter applications downloaded on their phone. You need to be there too-giving them relevant, timely information like traffic, news, entertainment, concert info, new music etc. Even when they aren’t listening, they have their phone with them! Mobile phones globally totaled over 4 billion (that’s with a “b”) in 2008. Meanwhile computers (including desktops and laptops) are currently estimated at 800 million globally. So let’s focus on enhancing Social Media and New Media Marketing/Communications to interact with our listener on their mobile device....this can be accomplished many ways by providing interactive experiences on mobile handsets through social media networks. It is important to know that there is not a "One-Size-Fits-All" answer when it comes to Social and New Media. The first thing I ask a client is what do you hope to accomplish with your social media marketing efforts? What are your goals? Expectations? Resources? Management plans? How to translate followers to dollars? Here’s how I view social media: LinkedIn: Who I am. Facebook: Who I used to be. MySpace: Who I want to be. Twitter: What I am doing right now. I am going to cover some very general Facebook and Twitter info to engage with your “Tweeps”-Twitter People and “FeeBers”-Facebook Followers. 1.) First things first…get your name! If you haven’t done so already you need to go to Twitter and Facebook to secure your name. I suggest you get your call letters, station ID or if you are a DJ, your name! 2.) Make things easy for yourself. Install Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Twitterific. I use Tweetdeck but this will be your preference. There is an option that will let your Tweets become your Facebook updates-you will want to allow this. If you want to send a Twitter update without it going to your Facebook use your username @yourname before you tweet, it will post to Twitter but won’t send an update to Facebook. The biggest concern I hear is having enough time to update social media network. It is advantageous to have one place where you can TweeBer (Tweet and update Facebook) I am in the process of trying ping.fm to do all things social at once. Again this will be your preference. There is no “right way” to do any of this. Just the way that ends up working for you. 3.) Make sure that you keep all passwords and ID’s together. You will be able to give your DJs “fan pages” off your Facebook and give them Admin permission on it. I suggest you run contests between day parts of who can get the most fans. You can reward your Tweeps and FeeBers with incentives, prizes or specials (and you can sell these to advertisers). 4.) I signed up for a Twitter account a while back and didn’t understand it. Twitter can be adopted by all kinds of people, busy or not. You can integrate it at your own pace. It’s crazy addictive but once you understand how to use it, it can be a great tool. A few ways I have seen, heard or used Twitter for: personal branding, getting feedback hiring people-outsourcing jobs, directing traffic back to websites, emergency news updates, Amber alerts, weather, traffic updates, making new friends, use it as a To-do list, grocery list, business management, company intranet, let customers know about new products and services, take notes, event updates, find prospects, provide live coverage, time management and analysis-use as a detailed record of what you are doing every day, set up meetings, voting and building trust/relationships with other people. Twitters Tweet Smell of Success: Twitter.com continues to grow in popularity and importance for consumer and business. No longer ‘just for fun’ it has become an important component of brand marketing. -Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year to year -475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009 -Largest age group on Twitter is 35-49 -Nearly 3 million unique visitors, comprising almost 42 percent of the site’s audience. (source: Nielsen News) 5.) Radio has the advantage to drive people to their social network site. You can have unlimited Followers on Twitter. Facebook only lets you have 5000 friends-this is why you will want to take advantage of Fan Pages and Group Discussion Pages. There are Fan Pages or Business Pages. Instead of being called "Friends" your Page gets "Fans." Like your Facebook profile post, Fan Page posts will shows up on home page news feed, you can use video, pictures, events and maximize SEO here. Fan Pages are visible to unregistered people and are indexed. Group Pages allow you to send out “bulk invite” (you can easily invite all your friends to join the group while with pages you will be forced to drop some invites manually). Groups are thus better for viral marketing, meaning you can also send bulk invites to friends. FeeBer info….or did you know: -30 million users update their statuses at least once each day (13 million did per month at the beginning of the year) -8 million users become fans of Pages each day (up from 2.5 million per day at the beginning of the year) -10 million videos are uploaded each month (up from 4 million) -900 million photos are uploaded to the site each month (up from 700 million) -1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared each week (up from 15 million per month) -35 million active groups exist on the site (up from 19 million) -30 million users access Facebook each month through a mobile device (source: Inside Facebook) 6.) Talk about show prep! You can have content for years from some of the Twitter and Facebook postings/drama I have seen. It is way better than reality TV. It’s real people sharing their real life in an open forum. Because you follow them and they follow you their personalities, wants, likes, dislikes, art, dreams are out there. I have witnessed in real time cat fights with Perez Hilton and many people, Lindsay Lohan breaking up with her girlfriend, a war in Iraq and a new way to run for President. 7.) Cash in with promotions…It's inevitable that those with big followings will begin to leverage their accounts as media channels. -Perez Hilton, the celebrity blogger with nearly 1.2 million followers, has linked up with Sony for its new release The Ugly Truth. His rep firm put together a promotion that included him sending out sponsored tweets about the movie and changing his background to promote it. -Sponsored News, Traffic, Weather similar to Metro Networks and less expensive then SMS Text Message Marketing. -Sell Tweet-Up Remotes and Facebook Friday Happy Hours -Sell/Leverage your pages on Facebook to Advertisers -Have listeners Tweet and RT phrase that pays Make sure to remind listeners to do MORE than just follow you on Twitter or Facebook. Encourage then to sign up for the SMS updates option on Facebook and turn Mobile Device update on for Twitter. DO NOT forget to buy your .mobi and "mobilize" your current website! Don't let your competition beat you on the Mobile handset! If I can be of service or offer guidance please don't hesitate to contact me! Add me on Facebook and Twitter facebook.com/jessicanorthey twitter.com/jessicanorthey For all your Internet needs including domain names, SSL Certificates, Affordable Hosting, .mobi's go to http://www.mediajess.com Jessica is a well rounded media professional with over 19 years experience including Radio, Television, Internet and Print Sales as well as an On-Air Radio personality. Her knowledge of media buying and planning, copy writing, commercial production, interactive concepts, fundraising, public relations and event planning makes her a valuable asset to creating an effective campaign. She lives in Tucson, Arizona where she attended the University of Arizona and majored in Political Science, Communications and Chemistry. She specializes in big ideas and is known for her ability to create complete marketing campaigns and bridge marketing partnerships. Jessica Northey Social/New Media Solutions Twiva and Design Rep Finger Candy jessicanorthey@gmail.com 559-349-5933 twitter.com/jessicanorthey facebook.com/jessicanorthey

ARE YOU WINNING AT WORK?

Country chases the same audience 10a-3p Mon-Fri that AC does, we direct the radio station in all design at 25-54 adults. Country stations in their sound design seem to make no attempt in imaging and conversations to direct any midday programming, live or voice-tracked at the work place audience and let AC bang us up pretty good. Every station has: COUNTRY CAFE, HIGH NOON SALOON, ALL REQUEST LUNCH HOUR and they offer little more than radio jargon and lip-service to the at work users. The plan is entrench the workday audio in a mirror of what the at work listeners are doing, on the job, in the workplace, on the road, in the shop and at home. Relate to them in their prospective environments. With Twitter, Facebook and texts, we have a three-tiered approach to communicating. Radio station websites with postings for win this, win that will not work without using the medias the listeners use to communicate. The communications with the at work life group doesn't need to be all contest based. Take the Twitter simple premise "What are you doing at work" and apply to the bonding with the work place listener ship. Here's some ideas that can be used to bring some audio magic to the midday, work place day part. 9A-4P WORKIN’ WITH THE WOLF. Pack Leaders Junior Pack Leaders Increase your chances of winning free stuff. Workin’ with The Wolf Shout outs from the Wolf Work Force. All breaks and imaging needs to focus on WORKIN’ WITH THE WOLF. 12N Every day – Wolfin’ it down w/ The Wolf. Tweets, requests, calls, texts, workplace drama. Movie Monday – free movie passes at work. Two Fer’ Tuesday – Double winners, you win at work and your co-worker wins too. Wolfin’ It Down Wednesday- Eat and greets with Ken and Corey. Trippin Thursdays – Free Concerts or getaways out of the fog. Free For All Friday – You select the sets on The Wolf with tweets, texts and more. 11:50a-1:20p – Focus is on the lunch break – Tweets, texts, calls, emails used for requests. Focus on workplace breaks. Talk to PACK about what’s new in the office or on the job site – Workplace drama. What the company does. Listeners who listen more than 957 minutes a day at work qualify to be Pack Leaders. They get priority in the pack.They record sweepers: I’M DIANE CHO OF LAMBERT PACKING IN SAN BRUNO AND I’M WORKIN’ WITH THE WOLF. All WOLF listeners who are WORKIN’ WITH THE WOLF less than 957 Minutes per day. We thank them and encourage them to listen more. More Fresh Country and winning at work. Encourage P-2’s to become P-1’s Encourage streaming from the web site and other applications.WORKIN' WITH THE WOLF break covers on-line. All done by listeners, who invite more of the WOLF WORK FORCE to lead the PACK. Have a simple, but cost creative plan to work some magic 10a-3p and make it a real daypart other than just music and music tidbits from artists. This will go along way in positioning your station against the AC for workplace ratings.

KEEPING THE MONEY YOU MAKE

The 5 Things You Should Do With Your Finances So You Have More Control Over Your Radio Career By Loyd Ford www.middleclassmoney.com I’m probably like you. I’ve been in the radio business since I was 14 years old. I think about the future all the time, and I still love this business and many of the people in it. It is hard to see the economic realities of “employment reductions” that you know happen disproportionally to programming because of how bean counters see this business. However, there is more stress now because of the realities associated with budget strain and overall company debt in the radio business. If you feel stressed about your job, your income, your future and your ability to continue to stay employed, you probably wish you had more control or a secret weapon to help your family navigate these tougher times. The truth is that most Americans are likely not prepared for the next ten to fifteen years. It’s not just the broadcast business. Without getting dramatic, we have had the wind at our back in the global economy for the last sixty plus years and the wind has just changed. Many Americans don’t yet understand that. You shouldn’t be one of them. The new more global economy means that millions of people in other places in the world are willing to work for so much less than you and me that we are not in the same position we were in just fifteen years ago. This impacts every job in the U.S. now and especially in the future, and it impacts income in the future. How do you gain more control of your life? That’s what you want, isn’t it? No broadcast company (or anyone else) is going to be responsible for your personal finances, and success with personal finances will give you more freedom to seek better jobs and have more security in today’s volatile broadcast business. We all need that. You may already know that I write two personal finance blogs and am involved with helping people develop their own plan for financial security in any economy. This is not my day job, and I spend very little time doing it. However, I do enjoy it. No, I am not a stock broker or a financial planner. However, if you spend some time with either of my free blogs (www.stickyasset.com/blog and the secondary Word Press blog located at www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com), you will see that I offer easy-to-understand strategies that work to help you develop more savings, better investments and can put you and your family on the path to financial stability and freedom – even in the radio business! Who does not need that IN or OUT of the radio business in 2009? SHOW PREP-LISTENTER CONTENT OPPORTUNITY As you read the five steps below, think about how this information is helpful to you and to your listeners. Consider linking our blogs on your blog (if you do one). We encourage you to use our blogs and group with your Facebook interactions with listeners or as on-air content. After all, the idea that the middle class needs help in fighting back in this economy is universal. We consider this the #1 topic for adult listeners. Imagine if you are the one in your market who shares this information with them? That’s one of the reasons we offer fresh blog content about every two to three days. WELCOME TO YOUR STEPS TO FREEDOM You have to see the money you make, the bills you pay and even your own checking account from a different perspective if you want to survive and thrive in the next ten years. Here are some tips to get you thinking like the rich think about money. If we are successful, we will encourage you to move you from paycheck-to-paycheck over to seizing more control of your life. Ultimately, you will build security for your family. Here is a fast-primer: 1. Review the last six months of your personal finances. Look at what you spent. Every penny. Separate things into wants, needs and bills. Look at the things you spent money on that you could have done without. Add it up. Take that amount of money on a monthly average and put it in savings as soon as you get paid. This will be the beginning of your savings. 2. Do you have a proper emergency fund for 2010? That old line about 3 to 6 months of expenses is 1980s and 1990s advice in a 21st Century World. Do you know how long it may take you to get a new job and actually replace your income if you lose your job today? Longer. We recommend that you develop a plan for having 15 to 18 months of expenses in savings. The first six months should be in money market savings (with an FDIC-insured bank). The balance should be in laddered certificates of deposit. You won’t do this overnight, but you should commit to it and you will be surprised how quickly it adds up! Imagine how different your work stress will be once you have built up the proper emergency fund. 3. You should have a plan for reducing and eliminating debt, and that plan should begin with credit cards. Do you have credit cards? Do you know the interest rates on each credit card you have? Call the credit card companies and tell them you have “been hit hard by the economic meltdown.” Tell them you don’t want to go bankrupt and that you just need them to take your credit card interest rate to zero. Stay firm and expect a lot of back talk. Ask for a supervisor. Don’t be concerned that you will have to call back again and again to wear them down. Remember – your goal is to get them to “give.” Be open to suggestions. The goal is to see what they will give you. It is very possible they will not take your interest rate to zero, but they may lower it substantially. And you must stop using your credit cards. Then, you can start paying the minimum payment on all but your highest interest credit card. When you pay that off, move to the next one until you have no credit card debt. Debt is the biggest wealth creation killer out there. If you don’t believe me, ask the broadcast company you work for today. 4. Begin to see your checking account for what it is: A money laundering account for other people’s money. Any excuse you can use to take money out of that account as soon as it hits and relocate it to savings, you should do it! Your life will improve every time you do this. 5. A lot of people ask: How can I save money on my income or with my bills? The first thing I tell them is to start with your next paycheck. Take only 1% of your after-tax income as soon as you get paid and REMOVE that amount to savings (Your after tax paycheck X .01 = XXX). Then, each paycheck after that add another 1% going to savings. Make this the first thing you do when you get paid. That way, you don’t “shock your lifestyle” and you build your automatic savings each month eventually to 20% of your income (which is what it should be). The key is to stop thinking about what you earn (paychecks are not important) and find additional ways to save (what you save from what you earn is 70% of what that matters). Focus on what you save and focus on purchasing assets after you have built your proper emergency savings fund. Think about living paycheck-to-paycheck. Try these strategies and you will have more strength in the coming months. Your savings will build faster than you think. Seek knowledge on things like purchasing pure assets and generating passive income and you may find yourself in a completely different place. Want more ways to boost savings and build wealth? You can sign up for our free monthly e-saver @ www.stickyasset.com/blog. Just look for the e-mail sign up window to the right-hand side of the current blog entry. We have written a personal finance e-book. It is the only thing we sell on any of the blogs or in any association with the personal finance projects we are involved with today. The e-book is called “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” and it is only $4.95 at www.MiddleClassMoney.com. Why such a small price? Because we want this information to be accessible to everyone who has an interest. It’s about the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. If you like, you can join our Facebook group. Just do a search for Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves™. It’s free to join and we tie all the free blogs and other information on saving and investing for the 21st Century on that group page. Feel free to link our blogs to your sites or content and tell listeners how they can join our free Facebook group Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves™. Remember: It’s free. Your listeners will appreciate your favor by showing them this group on Facebook. There is no such thing as get rich quick for most of us, but if you focus on building your own plan for surviving this financial mess that is impacting everyone, you will build wealth for your family. You will be the hero, and it will make you feel empowered to have more control over your career, your life and your fears. That’s worth it. Thank you. Loyd Ford www.middleclassmoney.com www.stickyasset.com/blog www.boostmywealth.wordpress.com www.stickyasset.com www.squidoo.com/boostmywealth Loyd Ford is the marketing and ratings strategist with Americalist Media Marketing. He works with radio stations in all market sizes and all formats to boost ratings. Loyd has programmed in a variety of medium, small and large markets in the U.S. and has programmed some of America’s best country stations (including WSSL, KRMD and WBEE). Loyd and his wife, Theresa, have also written a personal finance e-book for his children that friends encouraged him to share with adults. This is why Loyd created www.MiddleClassMoney.com and the blogs and free Facebook groups a

SALUTE TO THE TROOPS 7A WEEKDAY MORNINGS

Got up this morning and CMT was playing "The Good Lord and The Man" from John Rich and it made me think about wrapping ourselves in red, white and blue. We forget that our format has naturals, that relate the format and music to the life group. These naturals are Country, red, white and blue, our fighting men and women and more which we will cover here before Fall. Each weekday morning, I would recommend a group of songs that play at 7a. RIDING WITH PRIVATE MALONE DECK OF CARDS THE GOOD LORD AND THE MAN NOVEMBER 8TH BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERET BUMPER OF MY SUV FIGHTING SIDE OF ME IF YOUR READING THIS COURTESY OF THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE AMERICAN SOLDIER ARLINGTON SOME GAVE ALL IN AMERICA STILL IN SAIGON WHERE THE STARS AND STRIPES AND EAGLES FLY I JUST CAME BACK FROM A WAR LETTERS FROM HOME THEY ALSO SERVE ONLY IN AMERICA TRAVELIN' SOLDIER Record local service men and women to do the feature intro, the wives of deployed service men and husbands of deployed service women. Make sure it's The Wolf Salute to the Troops, paws up for the troops, The Cat, Moose or frequency. On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, you will have a library of songs to rotate and make an impression with your military side of the life group. Dont' forget to play I WANNA BE YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTOR Abagail Mead (R. Lee Ermy from FULL METAL JACKET CADENCE RAP), in USMC markets is huge.

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE SAME THING

Today begins the release of the Spring 09 complete Arbitron ratings. Will downward spiraled broadcasters be able to grab a hold of the ground above the hole and pull themselves out? I wonder if radio commercial advertising is so deep in the hold, that these ratings stories make no difference to the sales managers of radio stations trying to make an income. I ask a sales manager in a FACEBOOK chat last week "How's business, do you see an up-tick" and he replied "I'm mopping the floors". The RAB President danced around revenue issues at The Conclave. Instead giving examples of how products and customers have digitized. Programmers used to be excited when ratings came out, especially when they had good trends and the final quarterly would take control of the ratings period with the added weighting. We would plan ratings parties, The air staff wold ask how was their day parts?, ways to present the information to the sales staff in hopes that there would be increases in numbers to sell more. Why has this changed? Are we so use to the doom and gloom, we now just look at the ratings and fail to find stories, knowing that it will be the same old song dance for over a year. The battle cry needs to be; Get back to basics, live and local, community spirited radio, personality posture, out on the streets, in the social network and make impressions. Are the sales departments selling these stories or are they Wishin' and Hopin'?

AFTER ALL, WE ARE A RADIO STATION

Sunday reflection from Bob Glasco: This may come across on the harsh side, but considering the times we’re in, and what’s happening to our business, it’s time for some harsh realities to be spoken. Is it possible that we are trying to be too many things to people? We are, after all, a radio station, with a core duty to entertain and inform our listeners. I just read another in a long line of blogs, memos, tirades, etc. about how radio stations have to be the masters of the Internet to survive and that if we don't have a blog, a web page or a Twitter presence that does everything but cook hot dogs, we're doomed. The industry seems to be gulping this down as fast as the “experts” feed it to us. Are we abandoning what as always been a perfectly good cash flowing business to embark on a new journey to try to conquer (or at least get a large piece of) an entirely different industry? Why? If you talk to Internet marketers they will tell you permission marketing is far and away the No. 1 moneymaker on the Web. I don't hear anyone talking about that. I do hear a lot of nice catch phrases written by people who I would wager have never made a dime on the Internet, and who are watching their radio station's (if they even work for one) revenue dry up because they've taken their eye off that ball. Where is it written that Internet commerce will take the place of radio advertising revenue? I’m afraid Radio is spending all it’s time trying to write that right now instead of taking care of what made us famous in the first place. If you want to extend your brand, fine. Just don’t kill it in the process.

WHAT WENT WRONG ON OUR SIDE

You will have to be in this business longer than 10 years to remember the following. When radio station’s had openings and they actually recruited for the best sounding talent available to fit the motif in place. Program Director’s would have openings and search the Country, without streaming and MP3’s to find talent. Networking and hard work applied on the employers part to find talent that fit the direction of the station. You knew you had to be of certain caliber to apply for certain jobs in radio, regardless of the format. Salaries and benefits were instinctual. You never dictated your own level of involvement, we worked weekends and didn’t care, not one person complained. Or there was a Gerry Cagle story about a full-timer that told Cagle he didn’t want to work Sundays, he would miss football, Cagle told him (in Cagle style), you don’t have anything to worry about now, you have seven days off and fired the jock. We worked hard, we didn’t clock watch, and radio station’s had a magnetic sound, that catered to the listener and only the listeners. Sales departments and General Managers were not involved with the product identity of the stations. They sold spots and plenty of them. At KFRC on 415 Bush St, there was a drinking fountain, it was the line between business/sales/management and programming/engineering. Now to find a job, you need to fit in, not with the sound of the station, but the game, politics and that crucial piece of the puzzle, how low will you take the job for and how close do you live to the opening without massive relocation costs. There are very little students of radio left, who can tell you about how they loved KHJ, Z-100, WMAQ, KLOS or WLS. They have been at their twenty thousand something job for 7-10 years in one market, they think the world in flat once you get passed the city limit sign. The smaller the market, the worse it is. Talent at smaller stations are worrying about everything but making the radio stations sound great. There is no welcome to the outside world and what exists at today’s winning radio stations regardless of format. I was called a “hard ass, or bull in a China cabinet” because I ask talent to be part of the process and made it my number one priority and let no one deviate from it. One GM asks me if I was ever in the military. Managers began finding sacred cows and protecting them from programmers. Thanks We loved new trends, great new ways of producing sweepers, a jingle that sounded better than the flavor of the week, Crazy-ass promos and legal ID’s. Find me someone that cares about this today and I will show you a rarity – And now ask me what is wrong with radio today. We need to stop blaming the owners and operators of radio stations and casting dispersions on the companies – Most of this problem is one we let transpire. We let talent for the last 10 years dictate their level of involvement in the process of winning radio and hid our head in the sands. Who's responsible for today's mess, not just manager and operators, but the talent and the program director's. Everyone is to blame. Now get involved in the product again, mend the fences and start creating great radio that has a street and social buzz to it.

SOCIAL NETWORKING IS KEEN!

Before we jump into Steve Kelly PD of K-Country 104 Albany, GA's great piece today, how about what Wikipedia says about social networking: A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige. Social network analysis views social relationships in terms of network theory about nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. The resulting graph-based structures are often very complex. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a number of academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals. In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines. The days of listening to an actual radio is dwindling Mr. PD which means your website and social networking site for your station is becoming as important as your turnover ratio ! In a recent survey in US Weekly showed that Thirty-three million Americans age 12 or older or 13% of the population listen to an Internet Radio station during the average week and it went on to say that 63% of online radio listeners have a profile on a social network site, compared with 24% of the general population of Americans 12 or older. The top social networking sites among online radio listeners was MySpace (28%) followed by Facebook (24%) Many old school GM or PD frown at their jocks having social networking pages, but I am here to tell you that it is it OK for your on-air staff and your station to have their own websites, My Space, Facebook page. So as you can see it is time to start paying more attention to your websites and this is not just a PD thing, remind your Sales team that this is a GREAT way to make extra revenue for your radio station. Does your station have what it needs to compete in this Internet world ? Thoughts ? Anyone Anyone Bueller Steve Kelly Program Director WKAK - K Country 104 / WGPC-AM - The Fan 1450 1104 West Broad Ave. Albany, GA 31707 229-485-1205 steve.kelly@cumulus.com www.kcountry104.com

WOW THANKS TO JAYE ALBRIGHT

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Bye, Bye R&R, Hello Full Throttle Country This ugly guy is nowhere near as handsome as R.J. Curtis, but his new blog is more than filling the void on my favorite country bookmarks where Radio & Records used to be. Congrats, Chuck! I know you'd love to find a job, but in this economy so would thousands of other very qualified radio geeks right now. They all have my sympathies, but you, old friend, have my admiration for building something useful and informative that no doubt goes a long way to keeping your name, style, attitude, values and skills out there!

WHAT'S AHEAD FOR FULL THROTTLE COUNTRY

We have been trying to figure out the next level to take Full Throttle Country to. Better serve Country programmers, air talent and imaging specialists, seems to be the best avenue. I want to take my communications abilities with Country radio and my large networking base and put it to work for you. Through Country-only programming publishing and imaging development as well as talent engagement for open positions. 1.) Imaging writing and development is available through FTC. I currently write imaging packages for Country consultants and want to extend the service to you. Samples by request. I listen to the station, view the website and localize it with on-line support material for your town. If you are interested, I will email you an imaging in-take sheet to get you started. This material is written exclusively for your station and market and is not cookie-cutter. 2.) We list every open position we hear about and through networking, sometimes days before the position appears in other on-line trades. Our goal is to take your materials and through conversations, figure the best approach to take with your talents for the open positions. if it's a programing position, I would like to hear what you are sending for audio, station composite and imaging, what your write in a letter of philosophy and how we can tie your talents directly into the needs of the prospective employer. Contact me for more information on Dynamic Placement from FTC. We are going to monetize the page through sponsorship and thanks to you, we have great views in our first month of tracking. Over 1700 users and 2900 page views. 1,782 Visits 2,912 Pageviews 1.63 Pages/Visit 72.95% Bounce Rate 00:05:07 Avg. Time on Site 43.04% % New Visits I am real excited where we are going and growing. Thank you for reading and spreading the word. Dynamic Placement and Instant Imaging are low cost. Times are tight and tough and we need to keep the compensation requirements at an accessible level.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION WEDNESDAY?

Today's WHAT'S YOUR OPINION WEDNESDAY question is open ended and would love to have you thoughts: Are you confident about the current posture or position of Country radio? - use the comment field on the bottom and go at it - IT'S A FREE FOR ALL.

YOUR MENU SUCKS

Kitchen Nightmares on The BBC America and Fox is a great show for helping struggling radio stations and/or talent situations. Figure out what is wrong with their prospective products. Ramsay fixes these problematic eateries with the finesse of a back alley thug. But – he gets it done. I was watching an episode where all three of the principles wanted to be the manager and nobody was addressing any of the problems. He asks them to figure out their roles and actually used several terms we use in programming when dealing with morning shows. He called it “role development”. He works with the managers, servers and chefs to understand basics and a routine that leads to success. Much like programmers work with air talent and specifically morning show players, he helps them understand how to get the job accomplished, park the ego at the door and do it successfully. He found out what each employee was good at and moved them into that position. How many times do we have the wrong people in what we think is the right place? Most of the time it’s a past programmer or a market manager that has made that call. Look into their skill-set and find out what they excel at. Ramsey addresses the menu, (playlist) to find out what to prepare and cook to serve the public after research. He actually went on the streets and started asking residents of this Liverpool suburb where the restaurant was located, what they would like to eat for lunch. Many of these restaurants he fixes are all over the road menu wise and nobody addresses any of the problems due to ego and apparent self satisfaction of being a manager. Doesn’t that sound familiar? If a struggling station or morning show problem was addressed in this manner (of course without the four letter words), what a sense of accomplishment and success would be created. Much like Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction, what if we could call on someone to help us with this kind of basic instincts and skill-set to turnaround problematic situations. I have worked with morning shows where I would have called Gordon Ramsay in a New York minute. We of course can follow his plan of attack to fix situations. Take time to overview the situation, come up with basic plan, talk to the individuals involved, be straight forward and blunt, get them to sign on, be prepared to make personnel changes if there isn’t buy in, work the plan and have fun doing it and watch the customers come in droves. BTW How many different ways can you prepare bland English food anyhow?

WAIVE A MAGIC WAND

Let’s say, a magic wand has been waived and you came to work today (Monday 7-13-09) and it was like 10 years ago, there was a research budget, spot sales were on the incline, you had a budget for live air talent around the clock and you have marketing money. What would you do? Would you question this miracle? Would go over the top in your spending? But, wait you know what’s going to happen in ten years, would it make you frugal, would you become a conservative manager of people and resources, knowing that in ten years, it would be hopeless, with cuts in every department, spending on the decline and reduced adverting income. This is what I get for watching my DVR of Twilight Zone’s from the marathon last weekend. We’re hoping that in several quarters to mid-2010, we will we see a resurgence. Everyone is hoping and praying that a miracle will happen; that broadcast companies will resume becoming broadcast companies. Even when they do, we have to perform at a higher level with lesser dependence on promotional/marketing budget line items. Times have changed with multiple media offering and social networking, new forms of receiving music and programming and the employment of PPM, there will be less reliance of gimmicks and games. Thank God. If we knew then, what we know now, would we have changed out method of operations? If we could have prevented this social-economical decline in the advertising aspirations of media, would we have done so? Hard to tell; we want more and always did. We need a new business model, we needed one in 2000. When business returns and the resurgence of capital returns to broadcasting, maybe we can look down the road and remember what we’ve been through, preventing the next decline.

LOOK INTO MY CRYSTAL BALL (FROM 8/08) ALL ABOUT COUNTRY

...I wrote this about a year ago for All About Country and the predictions have come true, Country performing well in PPM's, then we only had real numbers from Philadelphia and Houston with Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco pre-currencies. Now we have Atlanta, San Jose, San Bernardina-Riverside, Boston, Washington, Phoenix and Seattle. And social networking over radio websites is the main victory we have achieved. The floodgates are opening and the PPM world is here. We need to ask ourselves, do we want 100 real people representing, real listening or 1,000 people trying to remember what they listen to and writing it down. Alex, I’ll take 100 people for 100 real profiles of listening. We are starting to see how well Country is doing in Philadelphia and Houston and with the pre-currencies in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Strong cume and real listening. The news/talk, urban and Hispanic bloom has fallen off the PPM receiver. This helps propel our format into the ranks with AC, CHR and rock. How do we keep it rolling and make sure the sonic sound of the station stays on people’s radios in our new world of audience measurement? – We need to keep the sound cohesive, popular, mainstream and focused on a sound design that is contemporary and keeps the interruptions and talk to a bare minimum. The talent will have to perform in a shorter world of talk mechanics. Mornings shows will have to encompass music and shorter, more relatable breaks. Long winded promos and sweepers will have to be shortened to help in creating the mosaic that will stay on the longest and be used by our listeners more frequently. Music design will be a balance of hit titles with impact, active songs that people want to hear with a focus on keeping burned songs to a minimum. Arbitron has seen a link between poor music programming and lessoned listenership in the PPM world. Prepare to battle head on with at-work AC’s for listenership. The perfect template for midday listening is US 99.5 Chicago. No bumps and grinds in the music and presentation. It is set for long-term away from home listening 6a- 7p. Most of the listening will be done away from home, at work and in the car. We will have to figure out fast what part of the new technologies the listeners want to take part in to enhance their listening experience. Constant mentions of “email me or check out my blog” will make no sense to people on the go listening. Radio listeners use the internet to check out news, social networks and correspond with friends. Most of these activities cannot be performed on the go or at work. They will have to wait until they are home. Maybe nights and weekends are the time to sell web components the right way. If we begin planning for the PPM future now, we will have a handle on what we’ve seen in Houston and Philadelphia. PPM articles and interviews should be required reading and look for trends and changes based on electronic measurement to help you when PPM comes to your market.

TWITTER THIS, TWITTER THAT

We’ve been posting quite a few pieces on TWITTER lately, but it’s the entire buzz. Now radio has gotten on the bandwagon, late of course. Country radio is doing a decent job with tweets to the peeps. There is a lot of appointment setting for contests and morning show material, which if it’s interesting and acceptable to the life group, it’s a good thing. Beverlee Brannigan, Operations Manager of Journal Wichita and PD of KFDI tells me they are getting into following the artists and talking about it on the air. This is all it takes to start the on air connection to what’s happening with TWITTER and Country radio. She was laughing as we chatted about Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, The George Burns and Gracie Allen of Twitterdom. Twang beer salt and smackin’ the kid at Wendy’s is funny stuff. Nashville news will be a thing of the past, why will we care about a morning show telling us what Taylor Swift wore on the show last night, she’ll tell us with Tweets. Label rep TWITTER PATTER AWARD goes to Lois Lewis of Republic/Nashville. She has the best up-dates on the road and visiting stations and towns. Then there’s the cool Sugarland promotions in markets where they are performing. Tweets to the fan base to win tickets, passes and merchandise. Direct marketing the band to the Twiitterbase. Damon Moberly Doctor of Promotion for Mercury tells me “Shani is thinking out of the box with the Sugarland promotions on social media and we would love radio to be involved”. Gloriana is talking to their fan base about performances and how there song is doing on New Music Challenge features in markets they’re in. Ol’ T-Byrd is tweeting too – Here’s the top Country artists hittin Twitter: Darrius, Sugarland, Dierks, Glorianna, Carter Twins, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen, Zona Jones, Randy Houser, Luke Bryan, Jimmy Wayne. Bob Glasco, former VP/Rusty Walker Programming Consultants says “Now radio has to be involved with these artist to fan bases, by listing all of the artists Twitter accounts on their websites”. KNIX Phoenix is onto something with FOLLOW FRIDAY. They post all their followers/following and talk about them. Winner gets a $100 Wal-Mart Gift Certificate. Austin and I were doing this at KQSR Yuma, blending Twitter into the workplace and talking to the followers on the air and in sweepers. Bob also chimes in “There needs to be a balance between funny, comedic quips and information, even trivia and fun postings”. We have to stop telling people what salad dressing we’ve ordered. That is what’s killing Facebook. The content on social media sites needs to be entertaining, cohesive, fun and pungent. Think of it as on the air content and manage it like talent breaks.

FAMOUS AMOS

Bob Glasco is missed in the daily Country programming ranks, but as soon as this circus called radio is straightened out, he will be back. As a programmer and consultant of full-throttle Country stations, Bob would often share his insights in his monthly newsletters. The most basic piece of information we should all have in the foreground of our consciousness at all times is; “how do I want my station to be thought of by my listeners?” “What do I want to be famous for?” Without being thoroughly immersed in this, how can we ever hope to sell our station to the listener? How can we describe, or define our station to potential or current P-1’s? How can we know what needs to be perpetuated through how we do what we do, and what, in fact we do? As you go through your day, whether it’s writing promos and sweepers, working with talent on their content and presentation, or any other , “sound” decision you make, remember; every thing you do on your air, and every appearance the station makes on the street are all a part of imaging the station to the listeners. Do you know what your station should be famous for in order to compete successfully in your market? This, “word” or thought should be your programming and marketing, “filter.” Every decision you make on air or off should be run through this filter. Will it reinforce it? Is it true to it? Does it fit? The station’s, “position” defines its personality. There are a couple of exercises I’d recommend you do with your staff at the next meeting, if you haven’t already done so. First, write a description of the typical listener in the center of your station’s target. You might even give the listener a name to help the talents focus. Second, write a description of the radio station as it is now. Do they match? The station’s, “description,” must be in harmony with the target. It’s, “description” is its position. There are , of course a couple of nice side benefits from doing this with the staff; everyone immediately gets on the same page concerning who the target is, and what we want to be famous for. In addition, with this newfound focus, the staff can and should become contributing writers to your image promo campaign. It also helps the talents frame their thinking better. Knowing who the target is allows them to refine their content, and knowing what we’re all about let’s them refine their presentation of the content. As you put together the station’s, “description,” remember focus. A person or entity can’t try to be famous for more than one or two things at most. Everything else on the list will be in support of that one thing.

WHAT IS TWITTER ALL ABOUT

As we continue to embrace TWITTER as a prime example of social media and it's abilities to connect people fast and brief, We need a basic overview of what it's really all about. It is replacing CALLER 10? by Douglas Taylor Are you wondering just what is twitter good for? The answer really depends on who you ask. If you give the question to the people at Twitter themselves, they’ll tell you “Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time”. I would define Twitter as a micro blogging website that allows you to send out short messages that are called tweets. You are limited to 140 characters in your messages. Some people just do not seem to understand the question, what is twitter good for. They think people are spending lots of time on this site and not really saying anything useful. Yes, there’s a component of that happening. And it is sort of amusing in a sad way. What goes on underneath the surface is where the real value is. People often share important thoughts and plans. You will find experts in many different fields offering help and guidance. There are even potential customers that could be yours talking about what they would like to see in products and services. It’s a huge and growing population. A chunk of it is boring everyone to death by sharing details about the dressing on the salad served at lunch. There’s a substantial user population, however, that’s making exciting things happen. If you’ve believed the critics and you’re not part of Twitter, it’s time to rethink your position. You can become a part of this exciting collection of social networks. And I promise: You won’t be forced to share your lunch stories with anyone. Honest. If you want to stay on top of things then you need to be on the lookout for new tips, and tools. Generally speaking, the Internet moves quite quickly. When it comes to new “hot” properties like Twitter, the speed and activity multiplies. This makes it a wise use of your time to understand what Twitter is all about and how it can benefit you.

THE KASEY KRUZ VIEW OF NEWS AND TRAFFIC

Kasey Kruz is the news and traffic director of the Clear Channel cluster in Fresno and also does syndicated news delivery to six other client stations across the Country. Immediate access to information now dominates society. We're in an age like no other where we can log on and get what we want when we want for as long as we want. So, how is this impacting news and traffic in the radio industry? It's hard to say really. Is there a monitoring service that assesses news and traffic reports? I don't know of one off hand, but I do hear feedback from listeners, especially if I screw up a name or leave out an accident in an area not usually covered in the cluster reports. Listeners want quick, concise reports without alot of fluff UNLESS it is entertaining. With traffic, I find that it is far better just to say what it is, where it is, and how it affects the commute. Now, I can indulge a bit if I see a report of 200 sheep causing traffic to come to a standstill on a minor roadway not usually considered a point of interest. The fact that 200 sheep are blocking the road makes it a point of interest. Listeners respond to the craziness of those reports. News, of course, is a different beast. I find that some stations want more entertainment news than hard news. "We like to keep it bright and upbeat in the morning" is the oft uttered phrase, and quite frankly, with all the doom and gloom going on, it's understandable. But, (there is always a but isn't there?) is the lack of hard hitting news negatively affecting ratings on fluffy morning programs? Are people tired of "If it bleeds, it leads" mentality? Some indicators suggest yes when it comes to local news. The current state of radio listenership may indicate that they want something more, something new, something interesting again. I say give it to them. FM Talkers and just now emerging on the scene at a greater frequency than before, and back in the day, FM Talk went over like a turd in a punchbowl, but now I think it's inevitable. That's where is seems to be headed so embrace it and focus on the local. Not just robberies and killings, but the other stuff, like city council meetings, police blotters, feel good inspirational stories of how a cub scout helped the little old lady across the street. Make radio local again and gain back the local audience. Give listeners what they can't get from premium choice; Live, Local, Community based information, and give it to them now, or someone else will. With the obvious financial troubles Clear Channel is facing, there is no doubt that a sell off is coming. When that happens, I see some real programmers snapping up these forced sell-offs for pennies on the dollar and attacking the remaining corporate-run entities with a vengeance. How the battles will be won is through local programming for a local audience. You can't get any more local than traffic and news. With the right people in place, these FM Talkers can be the dominators in the market.

INSTEAD OF CALLER 10 - HOW ABOUT YOUR IN THE RIGHT AISLE AT WAL-MART!

Sugarland is taking social media to new heights. How would you like to be a Green Bay fan of Jennifer and Kristian and receive a tweet, go to the automotive aisle at the local Wal-Mart and look for the envelope with tickets and passes. Sugarland Marketing worked with the store to put the promotion together.

Social media direct from the management company to the fan base of the group. This is the new promotional vehicle for future promotions.

This is what is different that Jaye Albright talked about on her blog last week. Replacing the traditional caller 10 and enter on-line syndrome with the real deal from the group.

Sugarlandmusichttp://twitpic.com/9pktg - Walmart 2440 West Mason (Green Bay), Aisle with gasoline cans in automotive, envelope taped under second shel ...

tsand .@Sugarlandmusic No luck finding tickets at Wal-Mart, but had fun making a video of the experience. :) http://bit.ly/QHj2b

1. Befunky_1__normal" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/201191221/BeFunky_1__normal.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: transparent; width: 48px; height: 48px; ">mcschlief @Sugarlandmusic - quite the stir at Walmart for the tix. DM me for details. Good stuff!!
2. Aaa_normal" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/179899252/aaa_normal.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: transparent; width: 48px; height: 48px; ">jennydriessen @sugarlandmusic Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!! :)
3. Kaylatweet_normal" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/135356203/Kaylatweet_normal.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-color: transparent; border-right-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: transparent; width: 48px; height: 48px; ">ikandi88 @Sugarlandmusic Welcome to Wisconsin!!
   

   jenscibs on July 8, 2009

   This makes me even more excited for the show this Friday in Michigan!!! I hope I find the key ;)
   

   Maj1972 on July 8, 2009

   That is the coolest thing ever! YOU guys are too cool! :) Don't forget the cheese curds! LOL!
   

   lindsey_dick on July 8, 2009

   My roomate and I raced over there but they were ALREADY GONE.... but pshhh.... IT HAPPENS!!! ;P
   

   chad166 on July 8, 2009

   You guys are too much...love it !!
   

   navygirl8908 on July 8, 2009

   Could you guys do something like that when you hit Colorado. . .except I know your performing in Denver but could you hide some tickets or something here in Longmont Colorado? I'm leaving for Navy boot camp in October and I would love to see you guys in C