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.