FTC/NEW GEN PROGRAMMING COUNTRY SAFE LIST 01-31-10

Rank LW	Rank TW	Artist	Title	Label		Category
2	1	MIRANDA LAMBERT	White Liar	Columbia Nashville		POWER
4	2	JASON ALDEAN	The Truth	BBR		POWER
5	3	BRAD PAISLEY	American Saturday Night	Arista		POWER
6	4	JOSH TURNER	Why Don't We Just Dance	MCA		POWER
7	5	DARIUS RUCKER	History In The Making	Capitol Nashville		POWER

SHHH I'M HAVING FUN Chuck Geiger

I saw a piece on The ABC Evening News earlier in the month about a new trend in jobs and careers. It's called "gigging". Multiple jobs for the former bread winner of the household due to our lovely economic climate. My wife works full time at a national hospice company as the business manager. I have three jobs, running this web site along with Jessica, working in the morning part time at The Fresno Bee as an inside new business representative and working with Chip and Mary with New Generation Programming.

Finger Candy Friday- Where did all the BOOMERS go?

WHERE DID ALL THE BABY BOOMERS GO?

THE COUNTRY GOES POP Chuck Geiger

There have always been Country songs on other format playlists. We haven't seen this kind of surge since 1999-2000 when Shania Twain, Lonestar and Faith Hill had multiple pop hits. This week Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift are making noise on the pop charts. Sirius Hits One is also playing Zac Brown "Toes" and Glorianna "Wild At Heart".

Lady A is moving up the Hot AC, CHR and AC charts. Taylor Swift is #1 on the AC chart this week, Keith Urban "Kiss A Girl" is on the charts along with "Then" Brad Paisley. We will continue to see the 18-34 anchoring of younger sounding, Pop Country with CHR stations playing these tunes. We have always seen Country songs on the pop charts back to Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley and through the 60's, 70's and 80's. Will we ever see Pop songs on Country?

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Wednesday Morning Meeting for January 20, 2010:

So What! You have a Web site…


Take that headline and put it to the tune of P!nk’s smash hit and you’ll never forget this FTC post.  On second thought…

IS PPM ANTI-PERSONALITY Richard Harker

JANUARY 21, 2010

Is PPM Anti-Personality?

Radio personality and job stability are two phrases that have rarely appeared in the same sentence. Most morning personalities have a resume' longer than that of most college coaches.

Short stays have always been part of a developing talent’s education. Bouncing from station to station was the price one paid on the way to the big time. Today, however, holding down morning drive in a major market is a tough job. The list of major market talent on the beach is long and growing: Steve Dahl, Jonathan Brandmeier, J.C. Corcoran, Dave, Shelley, and Chainsaw, Jeff & Jer, Deminski & Doyle  to name just a few.

In most of these instances, the transition to PPM seems to have played a role. Strong morning drive numbers in the diary have been replaced with lower (and sometimes dramatically lower) PPM numbers.

As the role-out of PPM continues, morning drive people have reason to be a little nervous. Is PPM anti-personality? Did PPM just reveal the weaknesses of the sacked morning personalities, or does PPM unfairly punish morning personalities?

The first challenge PPM presents is lower morning drive listening. Diary TSL in most markets runs about five to five and one-half hours. The markets that have switched to PPM now have about three to three and one-half hours of listening. Two hours of morning drive listening has evaporated with PPM.

Adding to the problem is that PPM panelists seem to wake up later than diary holders. The greatest losses are in the first couple hours of morning drive. By 9:00 a.m., TSL of diary and PPM books are about the same.

Interest in talk is greatest in the first few hours of morning drive and declines in the later hours. Many people who prefer talk over music first thing in the morning are looking for music by the time they get to work.

It is bad enough that Time Spent Listening has declined by a third, but to add insult to injury, PPM cumes are higher. This means that the lower TSL that remains is spread across more stations. According to PPM, listeners are spending very little time with any one station. PPM panelists appear to listen to stations just a few minutes at a time. It is not unusual to see stations getting the majority of their morning drive quarter-hours one at a time. In other words, the PPM is registering a total of five minutes listening during most listening incidents.

Questions remain regarding the accuracy of PPM. Some critics believe participant panels are too small. They note that AQH and share are calculated based on a very small proportion of active panelists who actually carry their meter. Unfortunately, most personalities won’t get very far with their general manager rationalizing low numbers with methodological explanations.

The goal of a morning show has to be to produce ratings regardless of measurement issues or problems. PPM may be flawed and unfairly punish personality radio, but personalities have to understand that the game has changed. The personalities that survive will be the people who adapt.

We at Harker Research have studied morning shows for over thirty years. We’ve used Real Time Analyzers giving us continuous listener feedback to tell us what people like, what they dislike, and how long they listen to good and bad material.

The overwhelming evidence is that morning listeners want to be both informed and entertained. Very few listeners prefer music in the morning, and if PPM really is anti-personality, and music intensive morning shows outperform talk with PPM then something about PPM is badly mis-calibrated.

On the other hand, our research shows a change in the patience of listeners. Today they are less tolerant of self-consumed talent that wastes a listener’s time. Today listeners are less likely to sit through a rambling pointless story. Today’s listener demands interesting relevant entertainment.

We therefore believe that growing listener expectations have combined with PPM’s atomization of listening spans to create the challenging environment that personality radio finds itself in. The bar today has been raised so high for personality that radical change is called for. Morning shows of the past just aren’t going to cut it.

Some personalities won’t be able to adapt and radio will pass them by. Fortunately, the troubles created by this seismic shift at the same time create opportunities for personalities with the flexibility and skill to adapt. There will be space on the dial for personalities, but only for a new approach.

Here are the changes that personalities must embrace if they are to survive:

1. Shorten bits. A wandering five minute story was never entertaining, but now we can see it in the numbers. If panelists aren’t listening to morning shows much more than a few minutes, there has to be a pay-off every few minutes.

2. Ruthlessly edit your material. Now every word counts. Bits need to be shorter, but equally importantly, they need to get to the point quickly.

3. Talk to the listener. Teams must avoid the temptation to focus on each other. Talk about things that touch everyone. (Hint: most people don’t play golf.)

4. Constantly create surprises. Reoccurring elements made sense with longer listening spans. Today’s drive-by listening demands change and surprise.

5. Balance entertainment with information. Tell the listener something he or she doesn’t know but should.

6. Understand what is important for your listeners. Be in touch with what they are talking about, what they like and dislike, and the things that get their attention.

7. Be honest with the listener. Today’s listener has a very sensitive B.S. meter and we can no longer fake interest or relevancy.

8. Don’t “break” for news and commercials. Weave all elements on the station into a single cohesive product.

The majority of these recommendations are not new. What is new is the critical importance of them. High priced talent once thought that these basic principles applied to lesser personalities, but not to them. Because of their talent, listeners would put up with their indulgences. That is no longer the case.

PPM doesn’t have to be a career ending change.

Posted by Glenda Shrader Bos & Richard Harker on January 21, 2010 at 03:02 PM | Permalink

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THE SUPER BOWL OF SUPER STARS

Here's a fun SUPER BOWL music promotion you can start working on for the BIG GAME. All Super bowl weekend for the "live stations" and Friday for VT stations, you can have Country's best do battle on the musical gridiron. THE SUPER BOWL OF SUPER STARS. 

Start each hour with a challenger against the previous hours champion. The imaging should be very impactual and football sounding, with whistles, crowd, themes and more. After the challenger is played, take votes until the first stop-set or around :20. At :30, play the champion. During the first half-hour, you give the score, big plays and even penalties. The recorded penalties are comedic and funny. Rascal Flatts 15 yard penalty for being too pop-Country. You can use your imagination on these and make them real creative. 

Plan the battles out ahead of time and put them on the website. Use Facebook and Twitter too for votes.and make the listeners a real part of the process, lots of calls on the air with beds and NFL and MNF theme. This makes a great show case and fun lead into the Super Bowl. You can start in the 8a hour of the morning show on Friday and wrap up in the 5p hour. You can also break it up into half-hour battles utilizing 2 battles per hour. The two biggest artists from all the votes are the final battle - THE SUPER BOWL OF SUPER STARS - SUPER BATTLE.  

If you have any questions, hit me up: provencountrypd@gmail.com

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FTC/NEW GEN PROGRAMMING COUNTRY SAFE LIST 01-25-10 FROM MEDIABASE

Rank LW Rank TW Artist Title Label WPAW-FM Category
1 1 DIERKS BENTLEY I Wanna Make You Close Your... Capitol Nashville POWER
4 2 MIRANDA LAMBERT White Liar Columbia Nashville POWER
2 3 TIM MCGRAW Southern Voice Curb POWER
5 4 JASON ALDEAN The Truth BBR POWER
10 5 BRAD PAISLEY American Saturday Night Arista POWER
7 6 JOSH TURNER Why Don't We Just Dance MCA POWER
8 7 DARIUS RUCKER History In The Making Capitol Nashville POWER
6 8 LADY ANTEBELLUM Need You Now Capitol Nashville/Capitol STAY CURRENT
3 9 REBA Consider Me Gone Starstruck/Valory STAY CURRENT
12 10 BILLY CURRINGTON That's How Country Boys Roll Mercury MEDIUM
13 11 TOBY KEITH Cryin' For Me (Wayman's Song) Show Dog/Universal MEDIUM
11 12 JAKE OWEN Eight Second Ride RCA MEDIUM
9 13 LUKE BRYAN Do I Capitol Nashville STAY CURRENT
15 14 JASON MICHAEL CARROLL Hurry Home Arista MEDIUM
17 15 BLAKE SHELTON Hillbilly Bone w/Trace Adkins Warner Bros. Nashville MEDIUM
14 16 KEITH URBAN Til Summer Comes Around Capitol Nashville MEDIUM
16 17 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Temporary Home 19/Arista MEDIUM
19 18 EASTON CORBIN Little More Country Than That Mercury LIGHT
18 19 GEORGE STRAIT Twang MCA Nashville LIGHT
30 20 TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless Big Machine LIGHT
27 21 KELLIE PICKLER Didn't You Know How Much I... 19/BNA LIGHT
20 22 ZAC BROWN BAND Toes Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic STAY CURRENT
22 23 CHRIS YOUNG Gettin' You Home (The Black..) RCA STAY CURRENT
33 24 ZAC BROWN BAND Highway 20 Ride Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic LIGHT
21 25 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Cowboy Casanova 19/Arista STAY CURRENT
26 26 GARY ALLAN Today MCA Nashville LIGHT
35 27 JUSTIN MOORE Backwoods Valory LIGHT
23 28 DARIUS RUCKER Alright Capitol Nashville STAY CURRENT
25 29 BILLY CURRINGTON People Are Crazy Mercury RECURENT
31 30 JOSH THOMPSON Beer On The Table Columbia Nashville LIGHT
36 31 STEEL MAGNOLIA Keep On Lovin' You Big Machine LIGHT
29 32 JASON ALDEAN Big Green Tractor BBR RECURENT
43 33 LADY ANTEBELLUM American Honey Capitol Nashville LIGHT
24 34 DAVID NAIL Red Light MCA RECURENT
40 35 SARAH BUXTON Outside My Window Lyric Street LIGHT OPT
28 36 JUSTIN MOORE Small Town USA Valory RECURENT
37 37 ZAC BROWN BAND Whatever It Is Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic RECURENT
32 38 TOBY KEITH American Ride Show Dog RECURENT
38 39 TAYLOR SWIFT You Belong With Me Big Machine/Uni Republic RECURENT
39 40 DIERKS BENTLEY Sideways Capitol Nashville RECURENT
44 41 KEITH URBAN Kiss A Girl Capitol Nashville/Capitol RECURENT
34 42 CRAIG MORGAN Bonfire BNA RECURENT
42 43 LADY ANTEBELLUM I Run To You Capitol Nashville RECURENT
50 44 JOE NICHOLS Gimmie That Girl Show Dog/Universal LIGHT
41 45 KENNY CHESNEY Out Last Night BNA RECURENT
49 46 ERIC CHURCH Hell On The Heart Capitol Nashville LIGHT OPT
59 47 RASCAL FLATTS Unstoppable Lyric Street LIGHT OPT
45 48 KEITH URBAN Only You Can Love Me This Way Capitol Nashville RECURENT
53 49 CHRIS YOUNG The Man I Want To Be RCA LIGHT OPT
46 50 RANDY HOUSER Boots On Universal South RECURENT
60 51 ALAN JACKSON It's Just That Way Arista LIGHT OPT

100.7 THE WOLF SEATTLE'S FITZ from Bitboard Prep

Harmon: Fitz your life has changed so much tell us the story...

Well, I'll be honest, when I started, I was 17 years old and immersed myself in everything radio.  I worked 25 hours a day.  I lived and breathed it.  That being said, I was very lucky, early on, to work at some amazing stations in high profile markets.  JohnJay asked me to join him in mornings at KKBQ in Houston, then I pursued my own night show at KJ103 in Oklahoma City, shortly after, Todd Shannon brought me to do nights at KISS FM in Dallas.  When I was 24 years old, I got the tremendous opportunity to do mornings sharing and competing on the airwaves with my idol Kidd Kraddick.  During that time I was working at KRBV Wild 100.3 and I was blessed to have been able to learn from one of the greatest programmers in radio history, the late and great, Dan Kieley.  After WILD was flipped to JACK FM, John Cook brought me to KPLX, 99.5 The Wolf In Dallas, where we were working on a deal for me to eventually host mornings.  That's when fate stepped in.  I received a call from Scott Mahalick in Seattle, and was asked to launch Fitz In The Morning on KKWF, 100.7 The Wolf on January 3, 2006.  You asked how my life has changed,  please understand that when I began my career, I was a young, cocky, punk who didn't quite understand that while radio was fun and exciting, it was also a business.  As a young twenty something, starting out in my dream profession, I now realize that I could have handled myself in a much more professional manner.  This 31 year old, father of three, with full custody of his children, looks back and doesn't even recognize the young man I once was.  I realize now more than ever that all we have in this industry is each other.             

Harmon: Was there a radio star you loved growing up listening to?

Absolutely!!  I grew up in a small country town in North Texas called Bowie.  Every night, I listened religiously to Kidd Kraddick on KEGL.  I still have tapes of myself calling Kidd on the air while I was in elementary school.  I also loved listening to Domino doing nights on KISS FM.  I was an aircheck junkie... from Larry Lujack, Scott Shannon, and Jonathon Brandmeier.  Then three years ago, I was watching an ESPN interview with Vin Scully, the notorious voice of the LA Dodgers.  He was explaining how he would listen to recordings of his favorite announcers over and over again when suddenly, his boss told him never to listen to anyone else again!  The direct quote was "Everytime you listen to someone else, it takes away from what makes YOU unique."  It hit me like a ton of bricks... this profound statement changed my life.  Now, I search and look for content that other shows are doing but I do not listen to other shows.  I want to sound rare and I want to sound different than anyone else on the air.   
 

Harmon: What time do you get into the studio?

We go on the air at 6AM and I arrive around 5:30AM.

Harmon: How much prep happens before you even leave the house?

Honestly, I am a prep freak.  I handle most of my prepping the night before by preparing my "show sheet" and "daily road map."  Although many times, my show sounds spontaneous, I have a rule... "No winging it."   However, there are times during the show when something unplanned comes out of no where and we roll with it.  Luckily, I have an amazing ensemble of characters who know how to flow right along with me.

Harmon: How are you using Facebook?

I have teamed up with a professional networking business here in Seattle.  Check out what they have done for my page,www.facebook.com/fitzfan.  If I am having a guest on the show the next day, I will ask my Facebook fans what they want to know.  I will get hundreds of the most creative responses with questions and comments that I would never have thought of myself.  I NEVER underestimate my listeners.  They are brilliant and want to be a part of the show they love so much.  I also post videos and set up weekly chat times to have a more personal exchange with my fans.

Harmon: iheartradio.com yet?

There have been many talks with Entercom of distributing Fitz In The Morning in a variety of ways which I am very excited about.  However, for the time being, Entercom allows you to listen to me at www.seattlewolf.com.  LOL

Harmon: Here it is:  Give an example of one of the days you "owned one of your markets".

It just happened a little over a month ago, "Fitz In The Morning's Human Heart."  It was the biggest and most rewarding promotion that I've ever come up with.  It was proof of the power of radio.  (Please see press release with pictures attached)

Harmon: What's your biggest challenge for your show lately?

The biggest challenge right now is what I call "paralysis by analysis."  I think many people in radio are over examining PPM data.  If a show is consistently putting out compelling content, if you are an entertainer.... if the movie "Field Of Dreams" was about radio you would hear (in a whisper) "If you entertain them, they will come."  The formula is quite simple.

Harmon: You have had a lot of success with your show...what determines a hire for you?

Diversity equals compelling content.  I am lucky to have amazing cast members who can just bounce off of me during the show. I walk in, throw something out, and they react. They are complete professionals and we have such a great chemistry. We simply bring our lives to the air and do our best to come up with creative and funny bits daily. I have been working with my co-host Tony Russell for almost 10 years and we can improv well together. Tony does a lot of crazy and wacky voices.  Once again, we are all so different and it makes for such a unique cast. I am 31, a single father of three, with a really hot girlfriend, struggling with adulthood. My side kick Tony, is 42 and a pastor who loves to drink beer. Mary White is the female side kick. She is a twenty year Seattle radio veteran, who is 56 years old, with purple and pink hair. She is a tree hugging liberal meets Mother Earth. 

Harmon: Has your prep changed over the years?

I get so many ideas and bits by simply asking my listeners.  You would be surprised at the fascinating bits and creativity that is generated from our listeners at my fingertips just by utilizing Facebook.  As far as prep from members of my show, I ask for a daily one sheet from each of them so I can pull things that are happening in their lives to incorporate in the show. Other than that, I handle all the prep. My life is prep...seriously, the greatest show prep is LIFE. A day I haven’t spent prepping is a day I hand over to the competition.

Harmon:  "The best BitBoard bit we ever tried was....." 

"Why Are You At The Courthouse?" is becoming a fan favorite and gets huge TV exposure for me on my Fitz on Fox segment on Q13 Fox News in Seattle.

Harmon:  Changes or tweaks for Bitboard you might like?

I would love to see a weekly "Bit Hit List" selected by the genius Bit Board employees.  The "Bit Hit List" would consist of only the A+ , home-run material from all boards on the Bit Board Site. This would guarantee a compilation of only the "GOLD."  As a host it would be great to know, I could rely on a weekly list of proven market winning bits.    

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Don't Get Lucky-Get Results! 21 Ways To Get the Most From Twitter Jessica Northey

I write about Twitter a lot because next to MySpace it is one of the easiest platforms to use in order to grow your Social Media Network. Facebook, LinkedIn, your Blog are limited to the people you bring to them, so it can be difficult to grow outside your existing network. Twitter is also a great tool to increase traffic to your other Social Media Platforms including your Blog, YouTube, Facebook Fan Page, MySpace or even LinkedIn.  I have clients who report increases of website traffic up to 5000% through Twitter efforts.

Currently I have close to 40,000 followers on Twitter.  I still try different stuff on my account all the time and experiment to see what works.  RSS feeds, quotes, great articles, Re-Tweets, strategically following people who follow people I think I have things in common with to increase the potential for them following me back, as well as helpful Twitter Applications. 


During the process I am also developing my own Socialality…Socialality is different for everyone and just like your ‘Personality,’ your Socialality should reflect your brands unique attributes including behavioral, temperamental, emotional and mental that give you character. If you focus on your message and target people you share common ground, you WILL get results with Social Media! 

Here are some of the ways you can get the most out of Twitter: 
1.) First define your goals and manage your own Social Media expectations!
2.) Use a great photo of you that is engaging and shows your personality, this will be your benchmark for success.
3.) Only use your logo if you have a personal AND a company profile.
4.) List a website, blog, MySpace or url link (test that it works) to a place where followers can get more information about you.
5.)  Make sure that “Protect My Updates” is NOT checked!
6.) You need a great bio that includes keywords that are strategic to the market you are trying to grow you/your brand too.
7.) Re-Tweet and Re-Tweet again, this is a great way to validate others. It shows that you are listening and care about what they are saying! Also be sincere…Re-Tweet things you care about.
8.) Use the Twitter Search tool (http://search.twitter.com) to find subjects, keywords, trending topics that are important to you and follow the people who are talking about them.
9.) Use anything but the default Twitter Avatar and Background.  Nothing says, ‘I don’t care’ MORE than the default Twitter Bird Avatar or default Blue Cloud Background.
10.) Promote Twitter on your other Social Media Networks and vice versa.  This is also GREAT for SEO-Search Engine Optimization.)
11.) Consistently talk about your Social Media Participation when you are out in public.
12.) Download a Twitter Application into your phone making it as easy as texting.
13.) You really DO NOT need an automatic Direct Message.  It can come off as insincere and most people are put off by them.
14.) Thank EVERYONE who Re-tweets you and reply back to EVERYONE who @replies to you.
15.) No one cares what you had for breakfast or the last time you made a bowel movement! There is such a thing as TMI!
16.) Try to make Social Media useful for your Followers by providing information and tips that benefit THEM!.
17.) Twitter is GLOBAL and PUBLIC. Everyone who follows you can see what you are saying.  That means if you are Twittering you will want to make sure you use the same public relations rules you use for yourself or your company.
18.) Use Twitter to have discussions with your followers. You can ask them for feedback and see what they want!
19.) Download Tweetdeck, Seismic or Twitterific for a better understanding of how to use Twitter to its full potential.
20.) Try to spend at least a half an hour a day on Twitter.
21.) Try to spend only a half an hour a day on Twitter!

Jessica is the Social Media Editor for Full Throttle Country-Country Radio's newest full-service and free interactive idea sharing and new media on-line service. She has over 19 years experience including Radio, Television, Internet and Print Sales as well as an On-Air Radio personality.  She is an Entrepreneur who owns MediaJess.com servicing all website needs including domain names, hosting, SSL Certificates etc. She specializes in big ideas and is known for the ability to create complete marketing campaigns and bridge marketing partnerships. Her company Finger Candy Media provides social and new media optimization planning for businesses, brands and individuals. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO SET UP A CONSULTATION YOU CAN CONTACT JESSICA NORTHEY at jessicanorthey@gmail.com

Even if you are starting from scratch or have already created Twitter, Facebook, a Blog or any Social Media Platform accounts, we can work with you to design a comprehensive system with synergy and content that provides an interactive experience for your audience. There is not a "One-Size-Fits-All" answer and prices vary per individual project!

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TO ENDORSE OR NOT Chuck Geiger

This had got be tough especially in our business climate, making the choice not to endorse a product or service. Recently we heard about the morning talent in Orlando that was fired after not reading or endorsing a product and it wasn't first time. I guess I am pretty much a carnival barker as Howard Stern described most disc-jockeys. I have read everything in 36 years.

How do you determine what you will produce, endorse, read or sell? To me it's always been an assembly line. As a programmer I had a rule no "gentlemen's club spots before 10p" and everything else was fair game. It's revenue and there is always an eager AE bringing these spots to the party. When I worked at KSLQ in St. Louis in 1977 there was a jock fired because he wouldn't dub a spot for a political candidate he was against. He was shown the door. KZSN Wichita there was a talent there, who wouldn't do lottery remotes or  bar remotes, a spiritual beliefs thing.

I can't imagine telling the program director in this day in age, you won't read something. They are ads, just because you read them doesn't mean you believe in them. Most jocks are whores, from lasik eye surgery to food, they will endorse anything, as long is there is a talent fee.

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Wednesday Morning Meeting for January 20, 2010 Bobby KNIGHT

Crisis in Haiti: American Radio’s Lackluster Response

I like to call the 2000s, the decade of giving and caring.  Think back to your station’s response during the aftermath of September 11^th and of Hurricane Katrina.  Just about every radio station was holding some sort of charitable drive on the air and on the Web.  Now in 2010, we have the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti.  More people are expected to die in Haiti than in 9/11 and Katrina combined; more people are displaced, injured, starving, and thirsty than in just about all recent disasters combined.  Where is American radio?  Where is Country radio?  


Country radio’s audience is the most loyal and generous P1 grouping in America and we’re asleep at the wheel!  Every station should be putting together some sort of disaster relief drive in its local community.  And it doesn’t have to be the same old “canned food drive” or “radio-thon,” it could be the next generation of charitable giving that is sponsored:

• Donate your old cell phone for earthquake relief.  Think of all the Hatians who are unable to communicate with family in the States.  Partner with a local call phone provider to offer free minutes on these donated phones;
• Work with your local beverage bottler to bottle “water” instead of soda/beer and send to the Red Cross;
• Do a “Pay-for-play” weekend and charge listeners $25 per request. Proceeds go to relief organizations;
• Throw a “bikini” carwash where your air staff (guys included) do the unthinkable!

And, all these drives could be sponsored to offset cost for your station.  Sell a title sponsor, sell hourly sponsorships, sell the heck out of it. Just be sure that a significant portion of your proceeds heads to Haiti, not corporate. 

As always, I welcome your thoughts.  Please e-mail me: bknight@harrison-edwardspr.com or follow me on Twitter @BobKnightAdMan  


Next week:  So, you have a Web site. So what. 

Bob Knight is Vice President, Advertising and Digital Media with Harrison Edwards PR & Marketing in New York and oversees the company’s advertising and HEdigital divisions, which include podcasting, webcasting, blogging; and print, electronic, and broadcast advertising and media buying. Prior to joining Harrison Edwards in 2005, Bob worked for some of the nation’s largest broadcasting companies, successfully developing programming in some of the most competitive markets including Chicago and San Francisco; his stations and shows were consistently top-rated.  In addition to Bob’s work as program director and on-air personality at AMFM, Inc., Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, Entercom, and NextMedia Group, he served as a consultant to Internet radio stations during the dot com boom. Bob’s national and regional radio commercials have won a Gold Clarion Award (AWC) and Gold “Big W” Awards (Ad Club) for commercials he produced. In 2008, Bob was named a “Rising Star Forty Under Forty” by the Business Council of Westchester and is a graduate of Leadership Westchester (Class of 2009).

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SKILLS ARE REQUIRED Chuck Geiger

One of the tough parts of the new broadcast economy, you have to find a way as a Country programmer to make it work, within or out of the budget. If you are a new programmer in a competitive situation, you are going to need talent who get what you need to do; They need to be a player in your scheme and bring a skill set to the sound of the station. These are the air talent who make a connection with the audience and more importantly to the client and businesses.

Now comes the budget; You only have a certain amount to pay for the position. What do you do? Is there a way to get the talent you need, that have applied or do you join the doldrum club and promote a part timer or hire someone with less of a skill-set because of the money. What a web we weave.

Thank god we are seeing a turnaround in the cheaper point of view and a return to building a franchise and staying in the salary cap. Is there something that can be reduced or moved in the budget for the talent you need? Do they have a web skill set that can employed in other markets, or production, imaging and marketing? Cmon' it's only 10k more

This is one of the reasons I think openings stay open for such a long period of time. The puzzle of finding the perfect hire for what you have to offer. No one is making what they use to in radio. Even major markets are not paying what the use to. Creative and sound design oriented programmers are hiring personalities with skill sets, talking about the community, staying local, topical and interacting with the life group, while music head programmers are hiring 10-in-a-row liner card readers telling us Kenny Chesney got two new dogs over the holidays. The big question is at what cost?

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What Radio should learn from Domino's Pizza Chuck Geiger

When I first saw the new Domino's Pizza commercials airing during Football, I thought they had lost their minds. The old rule of thumb: Never admit it and never spotlight negatives. They basically admit they suck in their new television commercials. They first part of the spot is a focus group and the respondents talk about how the crust tastes like cardboard and the sauce like ketchup. Then they talk about how they've listened and how they are improving the crust and the ingredients. The even admit in the spot they suck and they are changing for you. On their website, they have posted their Twitter comments and some of them are not very flattering. http://www.pizzaturnaround.com/

Could you imagine a radio station doing this? A station that plays too many commercials, music problems and a disregard from the life group? It would take a wheel barrel full of balls to do this. Most stations would never   do anything like this, they would be afraid of client fall out. If you had poor performance on a ratings level, chances are you suck in the sales area too. Of course, no one will do anything close to Domino's, but we can learn from the campaign: Take a look at our image, even though we don't perform perceptual research, we can gauge our performance and image from listeners, customers and through simply asking. With so many listener and customer choices, it might me difficult for anyone to even remember you, if you are not top of mind and make a connection the to the audience and clients.


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FTC/NEW GEN SAFE LIST FROM MEDIABASE FOR 1/17/10

Rank LW Rank TW Artist Title Label Category
2 1 DIERKS BENTLEY I Wanna Make You Close Your... Capitol Nashville POWER
4 2 TIM MCGRAW Southern Voice Curb POWER
1 3 REBA Consider Me Gone Starstruck/Valory POWER
6 4 MIRANDA LAMBERT White Liar Columbia Nashville POWER
7 5 JASON ALDEAN The Truth BBR POWER
3 6 LADY ANTEBELLUM Need You Now Capitol Nashville/Capitol POWER
10 7 JOSH TURNER Why Don't We Just Dance MCA POWER
9 8 DARIUS RUCKER History In The Making Capitol Nashville MEDIUM
5 9 LUKE BRYAN Do I Capitol Nashville STAY CURRENT
8 10 BRAD PAISLEY American Saturday Night Arista MEDIUM
11 11 JAKE OWEN Eight Second Ride RCA MEDIUM
12 12 BILLY CURRINGTON That's How Country Boys Roll Mercury MEDIUM
15 13 TOBY KEITH Cryin' For Me (Wayman's Song) Show Dog/Universal MEDIUM
16 14 KEITH URBAN Til Summer Comes Around Capitol Nashville MEDIUM
14 15 JASON MICHAEL CARROLL Hurry Home Arista MEDIUM
20 16 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Temporary Home 19/Arista MEDIUM
22 17 BLAKE SHELTON Hillbilly Bone w/Trace Adkins Warner Bros. Nashville MEDIUM
19 18 GEORGE STRAIT Twang MCA Nashville LIGHT
23 19 EASTON CORBIN Little More Country Than That Mercury LIGHT
18 20 ZAC BROWN BAND Toes Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic STAY CURRENT
17 21 CARRIE UNDERWOOD Cowboy Casanova 19/Arista STAY CURRENT
24 22 CHRIS YOUNG Gettin' You Home (The Black..) RCA STAY CURRENT
26 23 DARIUS RUCKER Alright Capitol Nashville STAY CURRENT
13 24 DAVID NAIL Red Light MCA STAY CURRENT
25 25 BILLY CURRINGTON People Are Crazy Mercury STAY CURRENT
31 26 GARY ALLAN Today MCA Nashville RECURRENT
34 27 KELLIE PICKLER Didn't You Know How Much I... 19/BNA LIGHT
28 28 JUSTIN MOORE Small Town USA Valory RECURRENT
51 29 TAYLOR SWIFT Fearless Big Machine LIGHT
27 30 JASON ALDEAN Big Green Tractor BBR RECURRENT
33 31 JOSH THOMPSON Beer On The Table Columbia Nashville LIGHT
29 32 TOBY KEITH American Ride Show Dog RECURRENT
39 33 ZAC BROWN BAND Highway 20 Ride Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic LIGHT
21 34 CRAIG MORGAN Bonfire BNA RECURRENT
45 35 JUSTIN MOORE Backwoods Valory LIGHT
35 36 STEEL MAGNOLIA Keep On Lovin' You Big Machine LIGHT
30 37 ZAC BROWN BAND Whatever It Is Atlantic/HomeGrown/BigPic RECURRENT
40 38 TAYLOR SWIFT You Belong With Me Big Machine/Uni Republic RECURRENT
46 39 DIERKS BENTLEY Sideways Capitol Nashville RECURRENT
47 40 SARAH BUXTON Outside My Window Lyric Street LIGHT
32 41 KENNY CHESNEY Out Last Night BNA RECURRENT
42 42 LADY ANTEBELLUM I Run To You Capitol Nashville RECURRENT
56 43 LADY ANTEBELLUM American Honey Capitol Nashville LIGHT
43 44 KEITH URBAN Kiss A Girl Capitol Nashville/Capitol RECURRENT
38 45 KEITH URBAN Only You Can Love Me This Way Capitol Nashville RECURRENT
44 46 RANDY HOUSER Boots On Universal South RECURRENT
36 47 BRAD PAISLEY Then Arista RECURRENT
41 48 BRAD PAISLEY Welcome To The Future Arista RECURRENT
58 49 ERIC CHURCH Hell On The Heart Capitol Nashville LIGHT


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