Christmas!!

I haven't posted in quite a while, but after seeing this last night I just had to put it up this morning. I think many of us have seen this piece every Christmas season for most of our lives, yet we never grow tired of it. Simple. Meaningful. True.

Merry Christmas.

Innovation

Saw this on a blog this morning. Interesting look at good ideas.

Holy Cow!!

A salute to the engineers who do this work. A job most of us would never do.

It's all about me

This is from a media guy named Mark Ramsey. He makes a good point about content and how we present it on every platform.

Wow!!

And the winner of the creepier than Troy Polamalu contest is.....

Cruise ship video you gotta see

A cruise ship was sailing along merrily when it hit some big swells. Check out the madcap fun that resulted in the dining room. By the way, Gilligan was not involved with this incident in any way.

Delicious Food for Thought

From my friend Jim Strom in Moose Jaw. Very interesting read about the talents an announcer needs to bring to the table in the 21st century.

Facebook Fans on the air

Using Facebook for your station? (Hint: the answer should be yes). Here is an interesting twist to add a little value to it.

I'm not sure renaming the station is the right thing in all cases, but acknowledging Facebook followers is.

The Nutty Professor

Watch Jerry Lewis lose it on todays Hollywood youth. Keep you head down Lindsay and Paris.

Less is more.

From media coach Darren Robson. "The age old question. Quantity vs. quality. In Social Media, it's all about quality". Post less but make it count.

What????

This has got to qualify as a serious personal grooming mistake. What is with the stash?

High Finance at the Lake

Building a college nest egg. One glass at a time.

Credibility

With little argument against the obvious fact, this guy was the most dominant pitcher of all time in MLB. He likely won't be remembered for that.

The importance of protecting credibility and reputation can't be overstated. Once lost, they are often surrendered forever. It's a shame.

http://tiny.cc/6crrq

Had Lunch Yet?

Wow. How's this for good wholesome eating.

When Record Jackets were Art!!

There was a time when a cool jacket for the latest LP was all the rage. Some designers missed the "cool" part. Click WHEN RECORD JACKETS WERE ART and you'll know what I mean.

When something bad happens....

In all our communities, from time to time, something sad happens that we need to talk about on the radio. How do you do it?

The issue came up today in High River. Here is a great piece of conversation between a morning host and his mentor (Ryan Switzer in Swift) that gives good advice on how to handle the issue. The be real part resonates very strong with me.

******************************

Hi Ryan,

I'm having a little issue today. Usually the morning show is happy, lighthearted, etc. However, the big news story today is a massive fire at the Museum of the Highwood in High River. It's currently burning and fire crews have been trying to put it out all morning. How do I balance the lightheartedness of the morning show and the seriousness of the fire?

****************************************

It's important to maintain a consistent character on the radio, but at times like this, breaking character is OK.

Check out this vid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xut56q77GK0

Not what one would expect from Letterman. Totally humbled...even said he isn't the best person to talk about the issue. Be real. Give props to the firemen and everyone who has helped out. Find some people with ties to the museum and see if they want to talk.

Call me if you want to discuss...

Switz

Star Wars

Great show last night. Star Wars in concert. A full symphony orchestra playing Star Wars music while scenes from the movies played on a 3 story screen. The host of the evening was Anthony Daniels, the guy who played C3PO in the series.

It was fun looking around the crowd. Lots of kids. Lots of people in costume. Lots of guys like that comic book dude from the Simpsons.

Flood Schmud

This was posted on Facebook today. Brilliant!! Click on the title to watch the show.

Check out the picture. This is our family dog "Boomer". Here are some of the things I've learned from him.

• You get a lot more by wagging your tail then showing your teeth.
• When ever you can, have a nice little nap.
• Play hard.
• When you see someone you love it's alright to get a little excited.
• Loyalty is a noble thing.
• Eat like you're going to "the chair".
• Every once and a while it's OK to chase your tail. It's pointless. But it's fun.
• If there is something you really want, dig for it. Don't stop until you get it, or you get locked in your kennel. Either way, you didn't cheat yourself.

Oh yeah. Don't pee the floor. It really @$!*'s Dad off.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word.

This is a great article. It speaks to honesty and no spin. Give it a read and listen to the audio embedded in it. Thanks to Darren Robson for posting on Facebook. http://tiny.cc/7nb0i

In case you're sick and tired of hockey....

A release this morning...

Canadians will be b-u-z-z-i-n-g with excitement this week as TSN has coverage of the prestigious SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE on Friday, June 4. Spelling gets underway at 2 p.m. ET on TSN with Early Round coverage, followed by live coverage of the final round at 8 p.m. ET. SPORTSCENTRE will also feature the Top 10 Spelling Bee moments.

Certainly TSN has a core audience. I wonder what they will think of a spelling bee on the network they go to for hockey highlights? "Looking for the Jays score? Sorry....we've got the Spelling Bee on".

Can wait for those Top 10 Spelling Bee Moments.

I miss Bob Cole

If hockey is about tradition, something is missing from the Stanley Cup finals this year. We have an original 6 team in the Chicago Black Hawks. We have a 1967 expansion team in the Philadelphia Flyers. We have everything but a legendary voice calling the play by play.

God bless Jim Hughson; he's good. But doesn't it feel like something is missing?

Think of Danny Gallivan. Dick Irvin. Dan Kelly. Anybody remember Ward Cornell? Jim Hughson just ain 't in the same league as those guys.

For all the times he might mix up a name, or call a shot a pass.....I miss Bob.

Famous hockey brothers

Opening night of the finals tonight. To salute the moment, the Flyers Scott Hartnell and his famous brother, Sideshow Bob

Relevance

Relevance.

• It's what the audience is interested in. Not us.
• It's what the audience is thinking about right now. Not us.
• It's what they will be talking about today. Not what we want to talk about.
• It's the information they want right now. Not the information that's convenient for us to deliver.

Relevance trumps almost everything. It cuts clutter. It jumps out. It makes people notice you.

Separated a birth

Scott Hartnell of the Flyers and Chewy from Star Wars. Intergalactic line-mates.

From the mouths of kids.....

Read something interesting in a news story about a fund raising event some kids where doing. The organizer said....

"They don't see the obstacles in the way like adults tend to see. They have a vision for what is possible instead of what looks too difficult."

Perspective and attitude are everything.

On a couple of recent conference calls we did a session called "30 Ideas in 30 Minutes". Here is a sampling......

1) Use an incentive program to get user generated content on your website. "Send us your story and photos and if we use it we'll give you (prize)"

2) Ten clients in ten weeks. Jocks make calls with sales people once a week for 10 weeks to meet clients and talk about how radio works for them.

3) Send the staff out to lose 50 or 60 golf balls at a local golf course. Over the course of the season golfers who recover the balls and bring them to the pro shop win a small item and get an invitation to a year end tournament where a big prize is given away.

4) A mentor program where senior announcers mentor and coach junior announcers.

5) Get the summer events staff to bring back a ton of news stories, photos and video.

6) Video golf tips.

7) Stop selling remotes and make them all live shows. Sell the sizzle.

8) Trade out a Vespa scooter for the summer and give it away in the fall. Have your summer events person drive it around to give it, and the sponsor, plenty of exposure.

9) Have your front line air talent tracked on weekends from 10a-3p.

10) Put all your community projects under a common station umbrella. Eg: "The Country Cares Campaign".

11) Create special positions in your clocks to play local/regional artists and highlight the material with breakers and jock content. Put these profiles online as pod-casts.


There we're a ton of other ideas. If you have any to add, hit comments below.....

Thanks!!
Barrie

I don't know if you've been following this story or not. Jerry Jones, the guy who owns the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, was caught on tape in a bar making less than kind comments about Bill Parcells and Tim Tebow. Parcells is a legendary NFL coach, and Tebow is a Heisman Trophy winning college quarterback.

The story here however isn't about sports. It's about the question "is this really news"? Does secretly recording a guy in a bar make for a news story?

I thought this perspective was kind of interesting. Posted by a friend of mine on Facebook. Check it out at this link.

http://tinyurl.com/y7m4lwo

Worth Reading

This is pretty good!! Click on the "Worth Reading" title above and enjoy the story.

We started sharing some "connection" comments yesterday. Here are a couple more.

Connection to the community

The thing that makes our stations unique is that they are created especially for the communities they serve. Our sword in the stone is local content and connection.

-In many cases, our centers are small enough that we can make regular flesh to flesh contact with a great many of our listeners. Do it. Be out and been seen.
-Make yourself aware of local issues and make that knowledge part of your show.
-Get local voices on the air every day.
-Name drop shamelessly. People love to hear the name of their town and it's landmarks on the radio. They love to hear the names of people they know on the radio.
-Be creative with PSA’s. Don’t just read them, know what they are about and make them sound great!!

Connection with the audience

There are some important things to remember.

-Radio is a one to one medium. We will have thousands of people listening, one at a time. Talk to one person.
-Use the language of “you”, “we”, and “us”. Not “me” and “I”. Think of making everything inclusive.
-Know the stations target. Create the content the audience wants to hear. It may may not line up with the stuff you want to do but remember, it's their station.

I was part of a web-ex this morning and the conversation turned to simple things that make radio stations successful in reaching their audience. We hit on four major points of connection. I'm sure there are many more. In any case, here are the first two we talked about. Two more to come tomorrow.

Stationality

Much of our on-air pop and sizzle will come from how passionate we are about our station. We need to spend time giving our audience as many reasons to listen as possible. We can best do this by talking in compelling and exciting ways about all the great things that are happening on the radio.

-Deliver stationality with passion and conviction. Be creative.
-Do at least 3 bits of station related material per hour. If you understand the laws of time spent listening you know it's not too much. Do it quickly and creatively.
-Do the big stuff every hour. Radio is the science of frequency. The more we mention something the better it will resonate with our audience.

Connection to the music

Most music fans have a passion for the artists and the songs they love. We need to reflect that passion by showing it ourselves on the air. This means sharing information about the artists, being in touch with what the songs are about, and in general, just sounding like we “get” the music.

-Do artist info at least twice times per hour. Make it quick and current. In and out will be best.
-Feel the love in a song. Feel the energy in a song.
-Keep the music moving. In sweep positions don’t let the music stop. Edit your content to fit over intros. Keep the station moving forward.

Local Music

Check this out from Drum FM. Note that after the song they back-sell the singer and song name to finish the local angle of the bit. This is pretty cool.

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Video on Portals

A tip of the hat to the folks in Portage for their video work at the Manitoba Winter Games. Check it out using their portal http://www.portageonline.com/

Social Media on the Air

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My friend Tara from High River/Okotoks sent this to me. It's about being Canadian. Works for me.

We never claimed to be perfect,
That means we’ve learned to be humble.
We say excuse me and I'm sorry…as well as please and thanks,
Even when it's not our fault we apologize.

Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise,
But when the earthquake struck Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say…”We’ll help.”
And yah, there is a fence around the torch,
But you can walk right up and shake hands with our prime minister and most
famous Canadians.
We put Gretzky in the back of a pickup, in the rain, not surrounded by
police…and he was okay, And by the way... the great one is Canadian…
and HE wasn’t complaining!

It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week…
but let’s not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't.
We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time…but we will, eventually,
Just like we did when we invented the zamboni.

Citius altius fortius
If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger?
Was the first quad jump perfect?
Should we not have given snowboarding to the world "in case" it didn’t take off?

We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but, per capita,
we ponied up for some pretty kick-ass venues in the worst global recession ever.
Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets, but our health care is universal.

We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration and song,
but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic event...together...spontaneously…
and unrehearsed.

What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet,
fiddlers with piercings and a lesbian singer tell our story to the world while
our multilingual female Haitian-born, black head of state shares a box with her
first nations equals.

We’ve shown the world that you can strive for excellence,
but not get hung up on perfection.

So take your cheap shots.
We're bigger and better than that.
What's more we're finally starting to believe it!

Do you believe?

You'll recall in the Olympic hockey game on Tuesday night between Canada and Germany, Canada scored a goal that went through the net. The goal was not counted until the play was reviewed, in large part, because the goal judge didn't put the red light on.

Here is a picture of that goal judge. He saw nothing.

A number of our radio stations are now making it a regular practice to post on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter. Congratulations!! This is a great point of engagement between you and your audience.

One thing to keep in mind when you post. Think two way communication. Think engagement. Create a reason for the audience to reach back to you. Use social media not just to push information to your audience, but also to pull information back from them. A few ideas that might work.....

• "What song should we play for the drive home at 4pm? Takin' Care of Business by BTO or Satisfaction by the Stones? Post your preference on the CXXX Facebook page and we'll play the song that get's the most votes at 4".
• "If you were Mike Babcock who would you start in goal tonight against the Russians? Luongo, Brodeur or Fleury? Tell us which one and why on the CXXX Facebook page right now. Someone who posts will win a pair of tickets to see the Anytown Flyers take on Mellonville this weekend".
• "If you could ask the Mayor of Anytown one question, what would it be? Post your question on the CXXX Facebook page and we'll use some of your questions when we talk with Mayor Joe Blow in our regular Ask the Mayor segment this Friday".

These sort of posts invite conversation and interaction, and that's what social media is about.

Have fun!!

Everybody is talking about the Olympics.

Generally speaking, the games in Vancouver has been going well. The crowds have been good. Our Canadian athletes have had success. The celebrations at the medal presentation have been off the charts. The opening ceremonies have been widely praised as some of the best ever. There is a lot to feel good about.

Yet there is an element of the media (largely the left wing element) that continues to not only look for problems, but to magnify them, and if necessary, manufacture them.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that we don't get sucked into this vortex on our radio stations. Our job is to keep our comments fresh, positive, and upbeat. I'm not talking about fiddling while Rome is burning, but I am suggesting that we make the choice to see the good first and the the rest second. If we make that simple adjustment in attitude it will be reflected in our on-air comments.

Let's take a moment right now to recalibrate. The glass is far more than half full.

So we get back from Disneyland last night and one of the things I'm really looking forward to when I wake up this morning is picking up our mini-wiener dog "Boomer". Off to the kennel I go, I pay my bill, and me and the dog go jogging outside.

The dog is sure footed on ice. I'm not. My almost 49 year old body does a slip and fall like you can't believe. Right out of the cartoons. I swear I levitated for a couple of seconds before I fell flat on my back. HARD. I don't think I've had the wind knocked out of me since I quite playing contact hockey, but this morning that unforgettable crushing feeling returned.

So there I am. Flat on my back, I can't breath, and I'm holding on to an overactive, half wild wiener-dog. Once I can draw air again (10 seconds or so) my next thought is the old "geez I wonder if anyone saw that"? Someone did.

Parked about 20 feet from me was an ambulance with an EMS guy sitting there looking at me. He didn't move. Didn't roll down the window and ask "you OK buddy"? Nothing. He just.....sat there staring at me. I got the feeling I could have been unconscious and the wiener dog would have been more help than this guy.

Like radio folks, EMS workers are always on the job. And even if they are at the kennel picking up their dog in the company truck on a Sunday morning, they gotta answer the bell.

I'm fine by the way. I think the wiener dog saved me.

Lyndon passed this along to me this morning. It's from the latest Broadcast Dialogue magazine. It's a good reminder that what we do really matters, and that our radio brothers and sisters in Haiti are doing some amazing, important work right now.

HAITI: The charitable donations by Canadians for Haitian relief has been well documented in the mainline media. And our broadcast media has been doing outstanding work, from the largest of chains to the smallest of community stations. But in Port-au-Prince, it’s Signal FM, the only radio station left standing, that has broadcast non-stop since the earthquake. As you might expect, the station has been THE key source of information. Journalists and hosts announce names of the missing and provide info about stores that are open and
dead celebrities, all the while calmly dealing with frantic calls and e-mails. Outside, people crowd Signal FM’s parking lot hoping that the on-air people will help them locate family members or provide locations where the hungry can be fed. As one spiritual leader in Port-au-Prince is quoted as saying: “The radio station is the people’s life right now. Without (it), the country is dead. Without the radio station, we can’t communicate. We don’’t have
anything.” And out on the dusty streets, it’s common to see survivors trudging along with tiny transistor radios pressed to their ears...

Anyone who has had a chance to visit Central America and the Caribbean knows that life is tough for most people in this region. They are poor. They can't afford proper food. They lack proper shelter. They struggle day to day with the simplest things that we take for granted.

The poorest of the poor live in Haiti. Imagine being in their shoes this week? There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.

Next week radio stations and portals in all our centers will be taking part in Haitian Earthquake Relief Day.

Please make it count for these people. Details to come.

Radio Resolution #1: Education vs. Entertainment

• Education = putting what you have been told into action.
• Entertainment = saying "that's interesting" and doing nothing.

How often do we take something that was meant to be a piece of education, and let it slip to entertainment. We set it aside and do nothing with it. Let's make this the year we take the things we learn and put them into action, rather than putting them on the shelf.

No one can do this for us. We each have to do it for ourselves.

Radio resolution #2: Content Factories

Imagine if we all took 15 or 20 minutes a day, and in that time stopped putting labels on ourselves. For 15 or 20 minutes we aren't jocks. We aren't news people. We aren't engineers. We aren't managers. We are content providers who work in a content factory.

In that 15 or 20 minutes we contribute something that the center can use on the air and online.

• A quick picture from your phone of something you drive by.
• A couple of notes and a photo from your kids school play last night.
• An overview and a picture from the service club meeting you were just part of.
• A quick email to the newsroom about the snow clearing that you saw on your way to the station.
• A quick voice clip from the high-way on road conditions.

If we let our minds imagine the possibilities they are nearly endless. The concept is incredibly simple. It's about producing CONTENT. We all can, and should, contribute

We are perfectly positioned to be Content Factories.

Radio resolution #3: Editing

One of the cardinal rules of radio presentation is that nothing you say can't be made better by using fewer words. So how do we do that? Here are a few ideas....

• Listen back to your breaks. Write out every word you say. Then edit the break. You'll start to actually SEE and HEAR where you can use words and phrases more powerfully and effectively.
• Stop using the words "I" and "ME". Start using the words "you", "we" and "us". Talk to the audience, in the language of the audience, about the audience. Not about yourself.
• Cut to the chase by avoiding long set ups. Just do it.
  
• Once you have made your point, leave it alone. Move on.
• Understand the art of the "Mulligan". "Mulligan" is a golf word which means "do over". In our voice track shows we have every opportunity to "take a Mulligan". We don't do it nearly often enough. I would suggest that before you upload a break you listen back to it, and if you know you can do it better........do it better!! Take a "Mulligan".
  
• Put yourself on the clock. Watch the actual length of your break. How many seconds did it take you to make your point?

When it comes to editing there are lots of tricks you can use. As you start to work at this, you'll discover some of your own. Let me know as you do.

Radio resolution #4: Frequency and Simplicity

Radio is the science of frequency. The more times a simple message is conveyed, the better it is understood. Please consider....

• The message must be simple. Use too many words and your effectiveness decreases. Try to cover too many details and you water the message down. Over produce a promo or splitter with too much showbiz and the message is lost. KISS. Keep It Simple....Silly.
• Run your message often. If you have a big station event or promotion happening get it on the air up to 3 times an hour. One splitter and a couple of jock mentions. Remember, quick and simple.
• Make your message compelling. Hearing the same message over and over isn't boring, but listening to it delivered the same way is. Variety is critical. You need several versions of splitters and jocks need to be creative and thoughtful with their phrasing and delivery. Keep your message in the moment, and update it frequently.

Tomorrow, editing...creativity...and the art of the "mulligan"

Hello and Happy New Year. Over the next week I'll be sending out some suggested "Radio Resolutions" for our stations. Even though they will be marked 1-5, no single one is meant to be more important than the others. Let's start with......

RESOLUTION #5: Improve weekends and holidays

It became apparent over Christmas and New Years that we have a bit of a "set it and forget it" approach to our weekends and stats. We need to change that. Here are a few ideas...

• While I agree that we need to trust the technology we need to do a much better job of managing what the technology does for us. That means making sure things run when they are suppose to. Not 20 minutes late or 15 minutes early. Who is in charge of this at your center?
• I would suggest that programming needs to compare the schedule against the TOC in merge to make sure all weekend/holiday elements are loaded.
  
• We need to make sure all dispatches are correct. Hearing an overnight weather at 6:30 in the morning makes us sound very out of touch.
  
• We need to support our weekend announcers with air-checks and coaching. These folks work in some of our most listened to day parts and often get the least attention of any announcers. We need to fix this right away.
• Some of our web portals were pretty much ignored over Christmas and the results were a little embarrassing. We need to have plans in place to keep them fresh. That is what our viewers expect.

Perhaps most important, we all pay attention to what is happening at the station on the weekend and stat holidays. If many hands make light work, many ears do the same. This point may be especially critical for the center leaders.

Tomorrow......frequency.