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Right, yesterday. Well, I'd watched a movie on DVD with Fran ("21." Capsule review: Meh. Liked the book better, and even that was far-fetched). It was late, I was tired, it was the middle of the weekend, and, you know, I didn't have a lot to add about any Palin babies or the Phillies or my continuing cell phone crisis.
So I took the day off.
Now, today... wait, it's Labor Day and I spent most of it working. Executive decision:
See you tomorrow.
ShareLike everyone else, I'm trying out the beta of Google Chrome. So far, it seems... okay. It looks different -- very non-standard in Windows XP, no title bar. It's reasonably fast, but has some trouble with Flash and Silverlight. Pages display all right, mostly. It doesn't, as far as I can tell, allow exporting bookmarks, something I do several times a day and would be a dealbreaker for me. I like the idea of "sandboxing" tabs so they can't interfere with others; IE crashes at least twice a day, and I'm tired of losing all the other tabs when one can't handle Flash (although IE Pro is a good recovery tool).
But why do I need this?
I have IE, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. There are others. Does this do anything the others don't? When Google starts serving up ads through this thing, will there be an ad blocker like in the others? What's the grand accomplishment here?
I have to assume that Mr. Schmidt has an idea what he's doing. This could be a step towards an operating systrem, or at least an operating environment within the OS. Or it's... well, I don't know what. But I'm trying it out. I may be dense, but I'm just not finding a good reason to bother with this yet.
ShareI'm a little busy again today. No time for actual writing or anything. Letter tomorrow.
One YouTube nugget -- we're a little addicted to watching the old black-and-white "What's My Line" reruns GSN runs in the middle of the night. They're running them more or less in sequence, and they're just about up to March 1956 and the death of panelist and old-time radio legend Fred Allen. It's weird to watch the episodes that have been airing now, knowing that he would pass away within weeks. Naturally, YouTube has the opening and closing segments of the show that aired the day after he died, with tributes before and after the game:
How they were able to do the show, I can't tell you. Pretty interesting.
ShareYou might want to go back and read the items at AllAccess.com about the HD Digital Radio Alliance earlier this week to fully understand what drove my thinking behind this week's All Access newsletter:
The other day, there was a flurry of stories about the changing of the guard at the HD Digital Radio Alliance, and they were just fascinating, because... okay, they weren't fascinating. In fact, I can just feel the life drain out of everyone while they read about HD Radio. Speaking for myself, after three years of this, I've had enough, and I actually OWN an HD Radio.
But I read the stories and I can't resist. I know, I've already criticized HD Radio enough, but when I see the Alliance announce that "all of the major objectives for programming on which the Alliance was founded have now been achieved," I can only think... really? THIS is the result of three years of planning? A bunch of jockless music formats and brand extensions?
To be sure, there are a few more music formats on the HD2 channels I get that aren't available on analog stations, but, still, they're just music stations, and I doubt very much that a lot of people will go out and drop a hundred bucks or so just so they can get an all-bluegrass station or a channel with one local morning show repeated over and over and over and over and over and over.
All Access interviewed both the outgoing head of the HD Radio Alliance and the incoming chief, and Joel asked them, "What are the three most important things that can be done to make HD Digital Radio and HD2 programming successful?" The incoming leader of the industry HD group answered that question this way: "1. Keep the drum beating to keep market managers and PDs focused on the potential to engage the process of growth. 2. Continue our consumer marketing at a high level of saturation, driving home the benefits of unique programming. 3. Implement creative consumer-targeted campaigns, like our text messaging...."
What's missing from that?
Joel asked her about programming. Her responses involved marketing and management.
See, it's all a sales job. People just have to be convinced by clever marketing that they want HD Radio.
Ah.
Okay, she did add a postscript: "HD2 users are still users of local radio and the more content that they can get, the more time they will spend with local radio. We have to give them enough diverse content and variety to be engaged." But even here, she's missing the key element. It's not just "diverse content." It's not just more music formats serving the sub-1 share of the audience that's into an obscure music category. It's not just a "younger version" of the analog station. It's not just a bunch of jockless, commercial-free stations touting "variety." It's content that's so compelling and unique that people will buy the radios.
One group head was quoted in the press release about the Alliance changes as saying, "Whether we've used the 'extension' programming strategy or the 'complementary' strategy, we've seen real and tangible business benefits to investing in quality HD2 programming." Extension? Complimentary? No, no, no, no, no. People are not going to go out of their way to buy a radio to hear your business strategy. But they WILL if you give them something that's easily understood and worth their time and investment.
You want to get people using HD Radios? Here's one creative idea: I'm going to borrow an example Walter Sabo mentions when HD Radio comes up. He asked Adrian Sarbu, the media mogul in Romania, what he would do with HD Radio. Sarbu responded that he'd give it to the kids. He would let high schoolers take over and do whatever they wanted with it. And in doing so, every parent and every kid would go out and buy an HD radio. FCC regulations might put something of a damper on that here -- you'd have to watch for language -- but there's value in putting the people you want to use the service ON the service. (Another example: Talk radio callers) If your kid's on HD Radio, you'll put HD Radios in your car and home.
That's one idea. Or how about a major metropolitan station using one or two HD subchannels to provide local news, talk shows, high school sports, and other programming for an underserved area of the market? Like an L.A. station doing a channel just for the San Fernando Valley -- which has a population and business base larger than a lot of major cities but no station devoted to it anymore -- and one for Orange County, or a New York station doing a North Jersey channel and a Westchester-Rockland channel? If you lived in the Valley and there was a channel devoted to your news, your traffic, your local events, and your kids' schools, wouldn't you want to hear it?
You can come up with better ideas, but that's what the Alliance should have been doing while they were coming up with "complimentary" HD2 channels and marketing that didn't compel too many people to buy radios (and insulted analog radio in the bargain -- I STILL hear those spots!). But when the leadership of the industry thinks that they can market their way out of the problem, or thinks that HD2 is for extending the brand and being "complimentary" instead of offering compelling programming that stands on its own, I'm not optimistic about HD's chances. And as an HD Radio owner, I've stopped bothering with the HD2 channels. Nothing going on there. Moving on.
Enough of HD. It's time to move on to the plug for All Access News-Talk-Sports and the Talk Topics show prep column, where you can find a lot of material for your show that isn't about John and Sarah and Barack and Joe (and some that is). Included this week are items about a bad Brooklyn bus driver (no Ralph Kramden, he), diplomacy the Jude Law way, a badly dressed bandit, a big cell phone bill, educators with fake doctorates, another guy hit by a roller coaster, baseball in private, why not to feed the bears, what Clbuttic mistakes are and why they're hilarious, the gold mine that is "Margaritaville," why really high-class fancy restaurants are offering happy hour specials and bar menus all of a sudden, teaching while intoxicated, a possible robotic solution to cat hair all over the place, how the Three Stooges fought Hitler, Google Chrome, a lot of Skyline chili, and several weather-related incidents. Meanwhile, this week's "10 Questions With..." visits WHBY/Appleton-Green Bay host Robbie Johnson, and you'll also find all the usual great news coverage and columns and ratings and job listings and much more throughout AllAccess.com.
Next week, perhaps I'll feature some more Dictator of Radio ideas, including yours (did I promise those for this week? Oh, well). And in two weeks, it's Convention Time again. Consider yourself warned.
ShareMy usual Friday exhaustion is magnified tonight by my utter fatigue about politics. A lot of that comes from Facebook, where everyone uses their status line for political statements. Most of them are attempts at humor in the "Daily Show" vein, but a) they ain't "Daily Show" caliber, and b) a lot of them are just nasty and mean. That comes from both sides, and it just kinda sucks. I spend all week having to read and write about political issues, I have to listen to political talk radio, and when I go someplace I'm not expecting to see political commentary, it's jarring. I'm not saying people shouldn't make political commentary, I'm just saying that I don't really want to read it everywhere, every day, via Facebook and Twitter. My business is built on arguments, but at some point, I just don't want to hear it anymore.
That's one reason that I've turned away from political commentary here -- I want this site to reflect my interests, and while I AM interested in politics, my opinions would just contribute to the noise. Writing about pop culture and sports and mid-century cultural ephemera and the minor travails of life are what interest me now. Besides, I'm painfully aware of how many of my friends do not share much of my political outlook (even though I would put myself closer to the center than to the fringe, and my social opinions are far different from my economic and foreign policy opinions). I like my friends. I don't want to argue with them.
So I have two choices: shut down Facebook and Twitter, or just grit my teeth and ignore everything. (Or de-friend everyone who makes an irritating comment, as one of my friends does, but I don't want to do that) I know I'll just ignore the chatter, but some days it's just a chore, and this is one of those days. It's a good thing that it's Friday night, the Phillies won, and I get at least a few hours off. Nothing sweetens a sour day like some sofa-and-TV time. And, no, I won't be watching CNN or Fox News or MSNBC.
ShareToday is Shoe Day here in Southern California! Celebrations are taking place across the region, including parades in Pasadena and...
All right, it's not really a holiday. But it was Shoe Day for me, anyway. The bad thing was that I had to replace every pair I wear on a daily basis The good thing is that I'm pretty much down to wearing high-top Chucks -- $36.99 at Shoe City -- every day, everywhere. The other bad part is that I also wear running shoes daily, and a) they cost a lot, and b) I wear the heels and midsole down in a matter of a couple of months, meaning my running habit costs us a lot. But in one sweep through Torrance and lovely Lawndale, my shoe needs were satisfied and...
And this might be the lamest post yet. It IS Saturday. I don't do college football, the Phils and Mets got rained out, and I'm sitting here on the sofa watching a movie and that's what I have. Isn't the Internet fascinating?
ShareEagles won, Phils took 2 out of 3, nothing really bad happening, but my allergies are raging and I am, for no apparent reason, in a strangely bad mood, the kind where I think that if I write a lot here, I might say something I'll regret later. (Much like "The Letter," which always seems like that) So I'm just going to go in the other room and watch "What's My Line" reruns until I pass out. ("Mad Men" is on too late for me, a fact that makes me feel... old. But that's what a DVR is for)
Bennett Cerf awaits. Excuse me.
ShareI am in SO much trouble.
I've found a new, dangerous time-waster.
Google is adding to its digitized newspaper archives.
You can see papers, real papers, the way you'd see them if you go to the library and use the microfilm. Only with this, you can search them.
They already have archives of papers like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the St. Petersburg Times (and the old Evening Independent). You can see all the vintage ads, the comics, the TV section, even Parade magazine. Everything.
Like this ad from December 6, 1970:
Go. Try it.
It's addictive. They're trying to digitize as many archives as they can. And if they get around to the Philadelphia papers and the New Jersey papers and the L.A. papers, you may not hear from me again.
(See? It already has me writing like Bill Plaschke, one sentence paragraphs and everything)
ShareI would love to write something lengthy tonight, maybe about how good "Mad Men" continues to be this season or Lance Armstrong doing the Favre or maybe some ranting about the Zune and radio. But the computer keeps insisting that it must reboot, which I'm taking as a sign to knock off work.
So I will. But "Mad Men" is great, I don't care if Lance wants to come back, and the Zune radio deal is such an irrelevance that it puts into sharp relief how out of touch radio's leadership is. There -- everything disposed of in short order. Go ahead, Windows, reboot. See what I care.
ShareIt's a local dance show bonanza from YouTube!
From KHJ-TV/Los Angeles, circa '66, here's Danny Hutton -- later of Three Dog Night -- singing "Roses and Rainbows" on "Shivaree":
More "Shivaree," with Junior Walker and the All-Stars doing "Shotgun"!:
"Shivaree" with Sam the Sham (doing "Wooly Bully"!), P.J. Proby, Gene McDaniels, Dee Dee Warwick (Dionne's sister), and much more, hosted by Gene Weed:
Sam Riddle hosted "Hollywood a Go Go," and here he introduces The Turtles doing "It Ain't Me Babe":
Amazing: Also from "Hollywood a Go Go," the Bobby Fuller Four do "I Fought the Law" amidst much dancing:
Better: From WSTV-TV Steubenville, OH, it's "Teen Time," hosted by Del Curtis -- more about him in a second -- from 1968. Featured: The Hello People, singing mimes!
More, this time in glorious black and white, probably from around 1967, with teens dancing to "Nobody But Me" by the Human Beinz:
Del Curtis later headed to New York, where he was known as Del Demontreaux, longtime WHN jock and Mets PA announcer.
I love this stuff.
ShareThis will be this week's All Access newsletter, unless I change my mind. If I do, consider this an independent column. Whatever (and, incidentally, it does not make reference to 9/11 because it's scheduled to be delivered on Friday. I did not forget, and I will always remember):
Another convention is coming up, and I admit I'm not expecting much from it. The Fall show hasn't generated a lot of excitement for a few years now, and, perusing the agenda, I'm not finding myself tingling all over with anticipation. These shows always seem to go like this:
1. Financial forum in which group heads issue general platitudes about how prosperity is just around the corner and things will stabilize once the economy is better.
2. Presentations along the lines of "How Your Station Can Profit From (Podcasts/Streaming/Websites/NTR/Sending Your Promotions Director To The Corner With A Tin Cup And A Cardboard 'Please Help' Sign)."
3. Speeches from invited "visionaries," most of whom avoid talking specifically about, um, radio.
Mix in a bunch of guys in suits and there you have it. The last few Fall shows have been increasingly depressing. Last year, you'll recall, the NAB unveiled "Radio 2020," pitched as a major public relations offensive and revamping of the industry to boldly march into the future. At the time, I was unaware that the "2020" part meant that nothing would come of it until the year 2020. Anybody see anything about "Radio 2020" since then? Oh, maybe the "Radio Heard Here" campaign was part of that. Well, anybody see anything from THAT? I must be looking in the wrong places. Here on Earth, I haven't seen a single "Radio Heard Here" ad since the NAB Spring show in Vegas. I took some heat for criticizing that when it was unveiled. Apologies accepted.
And we've been through several cycles of conventions at which HD Radio was touted as the Next Big Thing. How's that workin' out? Yeah, I know. I'll stop. I can't shoot that particular fish in the barrel every week.
But, look, I don't know what we're going to see from this year's convention. Maybe something innovative will be launched. Maybe I'll be in for a pleasant surprise. Maybe not, if the big news this past Monday is any indication. I'm sure you're perspiring with unbridled excitement over the announcement that nine major radio groups are partnering in a deal with a prominent portable media player. No, not the portable media player everyone has. The OTHER one. The one that isn't as cool. The one of which a tiny fraction of consumers have even heard. The Zune.
Okay, considering that you can't get Steve Jobs to put a radio tuner in the iPod or iPhone, maybe you gotta dance with the only partners who'll say yes. But then there's the REALLY big announcement: The huge innovation is that if you listen to the radio tuner on the Zune and you hear a song and you think, you know, I'd like to buy that particular musical selection, you can press a button and "tag" it (why, yes, this is the same thing that they announced for HD Radio a while back that nobody rushed out to buy), whereupon you are taken to the Zune Marketplace, a mythical land of unicorns and music, and may then purchase the song, as long as you've purchased an adequate number of Microsoft Points, which are sold in blocks of 400 points for five dollars, or you have a monthly $14.99 "Zune Pass," and... no, really, that's how they do it. And then, your head explodes, because this is all ridiculously complicated and no consumers were asking for this and it entirely misses the point of what radio has to offer that isn't what you can get from, say, buying songs and putting them on your iPod (because you don't own a Zune). Remember, oh, I don't know, personality? Talk radio? The stuff that you have that competitors don't have? Sometimes I wonder if the people who run radio even listen to radio.
Radio is still a viable industry. I've previously discussed why, from the massive installed base to the efficient delivery of live programming to a large area without the need for additional bandwidth. And I still love radio. But when the leadership of the industry -- many of the same guys who have been in charge for the last, rather disappointing decade -- is concentrating on selling music and launching stillborn ad campaigns and touting technology nobody asked for or wants, it's hard to maintain enthusiasm. This convention will be an opportunity for them to demonstrate to people in the industry and on Wall Street that they have the vision to grow the radio business and adapt to a rapidly changing competitive environment. Or they can do what they always do. If the latter is the case, at least I'll be in Austin. Nothing takes the sting out of another radio convention like barbecue, beer, and music.
You can rest assured that the convention won't stop the topics from coming to All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep column, either. That's a good thing for the many folks who rely on Talk Topics for, well, you know, talk topics, the stuff you can use for an hour-long discussion or a quick kicker story to round out a segment. Examples from this week: the guy who's suing because he's still alive, the Kinko's-anarchy connection, a gardening dispute that escalated, a landscaping feature with a Secret Surprise Inside, the trouble with Trim-Trim the Clown, a firefighter who gave mouth-to-mouth to a cat, the hottest sports ticket in L.A. (and it doesn't involve the Dodgers or Angels), more peanut butter bullying, the adventures of Super Lice, several theories on what makes us fat, and plenty of material about the election, the weather, the economy, and anything else that can get people talking. Stop by "10 Questions With..." KQEN/Roseburg, OR PD Kyle Bailey and the rest of All Access for news, columns, ratings, jobs, music, and much more, too.
Next week, I'll tell you what I see at the NAB Radio Show. And if you're going to be there, do say hello -- I rarely bite.
ShareI left the column as is, and it went out this morning. It got a great response, which reinforces what I've known about "The Letter": The angrier I am, the more people like it. They take pleasure in my aggravation. Or they enjoy reading someone who clearly is writing himself into unemployability. Either way, give the people what they want, that's what I say.
Anyway, this is appropriate, sour notes and all:
And so is this, with cameo from notorious U.K. jock Chris Evans:
Let's try and have a good weekend, shall we?
ShareI'm sitting in the living room watching "The Shield" when I realize I haven't posted anything tonight. I have a choice: I could go into the office, turn the computer back on, and write a thoughful, lengthy piece on important issues of the day, or I could pop the iPod Touch on, bang out a filler item about nothing, and go back to my TV watching.
My choice was clear. I may someday have to answer for this, but, at the moment, I don't care.
ShareI know that I recently mused out loud here about whether I ought to be taking a break from this thing. I haven't really come to a decision, but I have to admit that I've been going at less than half speed here for a while. It's been hard to devote the time for it when I haven't had time to do anything else, either. The day job, it keeps expanding. I've already given up a lot of sleep for it.
So I'm going to put a little lame placeholder item up right now, and you're going to ignore it as usual, and... well, we'll see.
I did have time to see the Phillies sweep Milwaukee, and Zambrano no-hit the Astros. No football, though, and other than the morning run, I never even left the house today. I HAVE to get things back to a more favorable schedule one of these days. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.
ShareI'm getting ready to go to the NAB Radio Show 2008. I'm sure I've termed this show the Convention of the Living Dead before, and it's never been more true than this year, when the radio industry finds itself in worse shape than ever. The convention is full of "you should be podcasting" and "you can make money on the Internet" panels, several years after the fact, and the attendees tend to be oblivious to the fact that they actually need to create a product, and that the product is entertainment, which, ideally, should be entertaining. The problem is that the convention is full of salespeople and engineers, and they don't know what makes a good radio show. There are people who do, but most of them aren't in the business anymore.
So that's what I'm anticipating. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised, but I'm not expecting miracles. What I AM expecting is to try and enjoy Austin, where the only person I know will be out of town while I'm there... in L.A. Timing is everything.
In the meantime, I'm finishing up packing, trying to get everything into a carry-on and a computer backpack, watching the Eagles-Cowboys slugfest, mentally girding myself for Texas September (90 degrees, humid). I hope there's plenty of air conditioning.
ShareToday's photo essay: Pictures I Took While Bored Out Of My Mind Traveling To Austin.
Here's Long Beach Airport from the plane, while waiting to take off:
An Art Deco shoebox. I loveflying into and out of Long Beach. No hassles, no frills, just park, walk three blocks, quick security, you're on the plane.
Check this out:
That silvery thing is a weather balloon hovering over the West Texas-Southern New Mexico area. It was at about 100,000 feet. We were at 39,000 feet. How cool.
We ate dinner here:
Yes, the legendary Stubb's. The Hives and Eagles of Death Metal were playing, but we couldn't stay for that -- hadda work tonight. We did peek at the opening act, though. Stubb's rules.
That's not an ambulance out front, not a REAL one, anyway. It was this:
"Emergency Music Service." Okay.
And another classic spot down the street:
But it'll have to wait. Work and sleep come first. Convention tomorrow.
ShareThis morning in the "Executive Lounge" of my hotel, I heard one radio guy tell another that he was looking forward to the NAB Radio Show 2009. "Looks like a good one," he said, and the other guy agreed.
I wish I could have that kind of blind confidence in this thing, but I'm not like that. I looked at the agenda and thought "same old thing with a hint of desperation." Times are not good in this business. As Ed Christian of Saga said this morning, they're not good in ANY business. But... ah, but I need to hold that thought for tomorrow's "Letter." Today, it's all about surface impressions.
The convention does not seem all that crowded. The hotel's booked solid, as the reservations agent and the front desk clerk told me when I asked for a room upgrade. But there just happened to be a room available, for a small extra charge, which I gladly paid to hobnob with the industry's top echelon, which, apparently, includes a bunch of guys in suits murmuring about how the convention "looks good." But there's "free" food and drink in the lounge, so I'm happy.
The sessions haven't been as packed as in the past. The financial thing this morning, bolstered by some financial folks who were only there for that session, was crowded but I remember the one in Dallas being more crowded. (Was that last year or two years ago? Oh, yes, last year was Charlotte, almost forgot) The subjects are the same as before -- PPM is here! Business is shrinking! The Internet, it is eating us alive! -- and the panels have been equally illuminating, which is to say, they're not. Same steaming pile of blankness, different year.
This is, however, the first time since April that I've seen "Radio Heard Here," the amazing/colossal/sure-to-please ad campaign the NAB announced with great fanfare in Vegas that hasn't seen daylight since. Granted, there are very few "Radio Heard Here" logos in the hall, and none elsewhere, but... um, but nothing. The campaign's flopping. Great way to waste money, guys.
The R&R convention is going on in my hotel, too. It's part of the overall NAB thing -- your badge for one gets you into the other -- but the R&R part is much smaller, and has been getting smaller each year. A lot of that has to do with business -- companies aren't paying for their PDs to fly someplace to schmooze anymore. But the agenda there is more of the same. I'm not expecting a lot.
The number of familiar faces seems to be relatively low this time. I've seen my old boss -- the good one -- and my current boss is coming in today. I've seen a couple of friends I always see at these things. But other than the folks who tend to shrink away in fear when they see me (and, yes, those folks exist -- some are competitors, and some must just be fearful that I'll write something nasty. And some just plain don't like me, based, I'm sure, on my rather harsh writing about the industry. It can't be because I'm not a nice guy. They just don't know me. Probably.
Austin? First impressions aren't complete. We haven't seen the places where people actually live. Downtown's funky on the verge of dirty. We haven't seen a lot of architectural spendor yet (the state Capitol aside, which is... big. A big state Capitol building). But the local people we've met so far have been nice as all get out, and the food's been great so far. And I ran around Town Lake this early morning and it was, after some initial trepidation (at 5 am, it looks creepy), I discovered that it is, indeed, a great urban run. Yes, we'll do the bats-under-the-bridge thing, and we'll hit South Congress and we'll drive around to see what's out there. Grade it incomplete but leaning favorable.
ShareYes, it's time for the edition of the All Access newsletter that everyone just loves, the Convention Whine. Here ya go:
It turns out that it's all my fault. Again.
The NAB Radio Show has a theme this year, and it isn't the "Radio Heard Here" thing, more about which later. No, it's all about "perception." In fact, it's pretty much the same theme as last year, but I'm finding it interesting that the concept that there's NOTHING WRONG WITH RADIO and RADIO IS IN GREAT SHAPE and WE HAVE TO FIGHT THE NAYSAYERS seems to be popping up in every panel and speech I've attended. It's this year's set of talking points. It was last year's set of talking points, too, but the same words seem to be coming up more frequently and sometimes apropos of nothing. ("Hey, nice to see you, how's it going?" "There's NOTHING WRONG WITH RADIO!" "Um... okay.")
So it's all my fault, me and others who have noted that there ARE problems in the way radio's being run at the moment, because we should be positive and evangelize about how great radio is doing. All those firings and layoffs? Voicetracking? Making one PD do the job of six? Infomercials? Cookie-cutter formats? Terrible websites? Declining revenue? Speak not of them! We're doing great!
The most remarkable thing was to be in the room for the financial forum that kicked off the show. Group heads, analysts, and financiers were there, a veritable who's who of the very people in charge while the industry declined. I really wanted to hear someone take responsibility and address what had happened and what needs to be done, but instead all I heard was that things are going to get worse but, hey, it's Not Our Fault, it's all that negativity and, besides, the economy's bad and every OTHER industry is doing bad and stop picking on US. Blame the messenger.
That was also the theme of the NAB President/CEO's speech. It's the naysayers, he said. We need to correct the misperceptions. All is well. After all, we have a nifty P.R. campaign and everything. He played a "Radio Heard Here" PSA and he said, "When we tested these spots, listeners loved them -- especially younger listeners." I checked my notes and, sure enough, he said similar things about the original "Radio Heard Here" ads six months ago. Maybe they need a different focus group. He also said that they'd put together a GREAT website where people can "learn more about radio, find the most played songs, see new innovations and listen to great radio commercials." Yes, that's what the public wants to hear on a website, great radio commercials. The kids, they love their commercials.
I did go to the big "Radio Heard Here" presentation, but I must have missed the part where they explained why, up to now, I haven't ever seen the "Radio Heard Here" logo or ads anywhere but at NAB conventions. I have no idea what they've been doing with it so far. Apparently, they have that website, a YouTube video interview about the industry's laudable response to Katrina, and two blogs (unfortunately, not filled with LOLCats hugging radios ("IM IN YR RADIO, TAKIN CALLZ")). And they have new PSAs, one of which has Malcolm Jamal-Warner. Nothing says "modern" and "with it" and "hep" and "ginchy" like an 80's sitcom star. It's all supposed to be inspiring, but it left me sad.
"Many years from now," the NAB boss said, echoing "Braveheart," "you will remember this session." If nothing else, he knows how to set up a punch line.
But I'll say this: There IS a lot that radio does right. That tends to involve you, the people who create and distribute and sell the programming. That it may be getting harder for you to do those jobs, and that remaining gainfully employed is a tricky thing nowadays, is without question, but so is the dedication you put into your work. I'd like to see the people who run the industry take the passion with which they defend themselves and the abstract concept of "the industry" and apply it to defending and celebrating and employing all of you. You're the strategic advantage radio has that competing media don't have. If radio survives this storm -- WHEN it survives this storm -- it will be because of you, not a P.R. campaign or most anything else I heard this week.
There's been more, but that "Radio Heard Here" panel kinda took my last ounce of energy with it, so I'll just stop here and let you know that I've been updating All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics column with fresh topics all week, and the folks back at All Access are doing their usual great job with the rest of the site. There's also "10 Questions With..." Navy Radio Network football sideline reporter and basketball play-by-play voice Pete Medhurst, so go see what he has to say.
And I'll go hang my head in shame. After all, if it wasn't for people like me whining and complaining, radio would be in perfect shape. At least, that's what I got out of this convention.
ShareI have limited connectivity tonight, so this has to be short. All I can do is tease tomorrows wrapup of the convention with more pictures, the Alamo, and bats, lots of bats. All that and more, tomorrow. Or Sunday.
ShareJust flew in from Austin, and, oddly enough, yes, my arms ARE tired. I screwed something up with them at some point on the trip.
But the flight was delayed, and I'm totally exhausted. So here's a teaser. Where did I see this?
Hint: There's no pool and no spa there, whatever the sign says.
And where did I see this?
Texas, yes, but be more specific. The answers... tomorrow.
ShareOh, okay, here are some more non-vacation snapshots from Austin, with a side trip to San Antonio. Really, the Internet is like being trapped in a room with someone showing you slides from their trip to Branson, only you have the option of checking out pr0n instead. So....
One night, we ate a great dinner on South Congress, and although we didn't really leave room, we had to stop here for dessert anyway:
Great cupcakes from an old trailer in an empty lot on South Congress. How could we resist?
Another night, we did what everyone does -- we went to see the bats.
Click on the picture and you'll get a four minute grainy video clip of the bats. Because it's night, you can't really see them other than what looks like more graininess but is actually bats flying out from under the Congress Avenue bridge. This is about as well as you can see them. You CAN hear them, though:
Yesterday's picture of the guy in the foam hat was taken here:
The Alamo, of course. We took a side trip to San Antonio, hit the Alamo and had dinner at Casa Rio on Riverwalk. All very pleasant, and we enjoyed San Antonio, although there didn't seem to be a lot going on. Frozen custard on the way back up the freeway was a highlight, which tells you something about the excitement of I-35.
On Saturday, the Old Pecan Street Fair was setting up on a hot morning:
We went down early; it was busy but not too busy:
Sixth Street has a reputation for being a mecca for live music and great dive bars, but a lot of it is really all about schlock and tourism, like a hot-sauce store:
And the fair booths followed suit:
It wouldn't be Austin without softheaded liberal politics. There were plenty of Obama voter-registration folks out with clipboards, and there were booths like this one, which was selling "Dogs for Peace" t-shirts"
There ARE some legitimate landmarks on East Sixth, like the back door of Emo's:
And the Hotel Driskill:
The Alamo Drafthouse movie theater where you can see a movie and have a drink and dinner at the same time has a downtown location now in the old Ritz:
You tell ME what's going on in this place:
And you can find fine apparel on Sixth. Variations on this particular design were available at several locations:
There were several media sponsors of the festival, but only one media booth on site, this one:
We passed on fried-stuff-on-a-stick for lunch. Instead, we ate here:
Nau's Enfield is a real drug store with a real, unchanged-for-generations lunch counter in the back. Awesome burgers and shakes, a counter and everything. I love places like this.
Then, it was off for a quick ride to Lake Austin, where we stopped off to gaze at the water here:
West Lake Beach is another unchanged-for-50-years place, a basic plot of grass on the water, where yesterday's No Lifeguard sign photo was taken. Nothing fancy. But it was kinda peaceful and pretty in its own way:
And on the way to the airport, we stopped to take a quick stroll to the State Capitol. It's massive:
Now, THAT'S a dome.
The verdict: We liked Austin. It's pretty amazing how many places have live music (including at least one supermarket, H-E-B's Central Market), and the people are nice. South Congress, although the cool district is rather small and the shops close way too early. But there's a homeless problem that really needs attention, and the whole lifetime-grad-student slacker thig wears thin after a while. Any city with that much good BBQ, however, is fine with me.
ShareA few more snaps from Austin? Why, sure (actually, these are the ones I forgot)...
This wall is on a structure on South Congress:
That's typical Austin. But across the street is this:
Great candy store. Just great. Go.
Recognize this?:
That's the infamous tower where Charles Whitman went on his sniper spree, as seen from our hotel window. That would be the first stop on the Creep's Tour of Austin.
Speaking of creepy, at the street fair:
He doesn't seem to be all that jolly a clown, does he? But he would have to do.
And, finally, what would a fair be without...:
It's not just a pork booth, it's The Other White Meat Tour! No, we didn't go in. Should have, but I was afraid they'd make me eat some.
That's it for the pictures. (Actually, there are some more, but nothing you need to see. And there are others I SWEAR I took that somehow aren't on the camera. But this is plenty)
ShareMy all-day bad mood was pretty scary -- it didn't take much to set me off today. But I had a lovely early evening meeting up with my old college friend Mark, here on a business trip from Paris, at a dive bar in downtown L.A. Came home and got interviewed by a paper in San Diego about FM talk. And I still have Bluetooth problems with my phone, but I was able to reconfigure my e-mail on the phone to allow mail to be sent without going through Sprint's doomed domain (they're eliminating SMTP through their server), using GMail, so I'm actually... pleased. Pleased, even though the Phillies lost. Pleased despite battling traffic. Pleased even though the circumstances behind my bad mood will rear their ugly heads any moment now, and I'll be back in a funk.
While I'm still relatively even, I'm going to go spend what's left of the evening with Fran and Ella the World's Most Famous (and Meowy, lately) Cat. They deserve to experience me with a minimum of whining.
ShareSometimes, my job makes me want to scream. Take this press release I got the other day:
MEDIA ALERT
Beyond McCain and Obama: HD Radio is the Right Choice for America!
New Ad Flight from HD Digital Radio Alliance
Invites Listeners to VOTE for HD Radio During This Political Season
WHAT: During these challenging times, what other candidate can offer you extra content featuring fresh new formats and crystal-clear sound… all for free? America, HD Radio won’t burden you by asking for monthly fees. HD Radio will bring you unique and interesting formats. Never miss another new song again: HD Radio offers you iTunes Tagging!
If you want real change, choose HD Radio! Isn’t it time to upgrade that car, office and home receiver?
WHY: Because this message has been approved by HD Radio.
WHEN: Make the RIGHT Choice America: on September 29! The campaign will run through Election Day and then a new campaign devoted to gift giving will finish out the year to support a strong holiday selling season.
If you have the misfortune of running into this campaign, don't say I didn't warn you. And they want to know why I'm pessimistic about radio these days.
Share...the next few days are going to be way busy for work, so don't expect miracles here. "The Letter" will be here, but I'm going to be working on some paid stuff, so I'll need all the slack you can cut me. Thanks.
ShareNaturally, I was so busy, I forgot to post this week's All Access newsletter. Allow me to fix that:
After last week's convention rant, I thought I'd leave radio industry issues alone for now and talk about other financial infirmities, and for that, I'll go back to something more practical....
The matter of what you should be talking about on your show comes up every once in a while here, and the answer always centers on what's top-of-mind with your listeners; tap into that, I'd say, and you can't lose. Oh, and you have to make it entertaining, too.
So, what are you doing with the financial crisis? Are you talking about it? Or are you blowing it off?
I've heard stations and shows doing it both ways. Certainly, if you're doing a lighthearted morning comedy show, you can't be expected to devote hours to the finer points of mortgage-backed securities and collaterized mortgage obligations. ("Coming up, Ed McMahon makes a rap video, the latest on Lindsay Lohan, and your credit default swap questions answered, but first, a check on Timesaver Traffic with Captain Chuck!") But if you do topical material, and you're concentrating on the campaign and the political aspect of all of this, ask yourself this:
If you're a typical listener, and the news is telling you that the market is in danger of imminent collapse, what's top-of-mind, the election or whether your money is safe?
That's why I think more hosts should be doing a better job explaining what's going on with the bailout and what it means to the average listener. Sure, the whole debate and campaign bickering thing is news, but do you think for a moment that your audience isn't more into looking for answers to questions like "is my bank account safe?" or "should I sell everything and put the cash under my mattress?" or "am I going to have to pay cash for this bailout thing?" I found myself listening to shows taking sides on the debate-or-no-debate argument and thinking "yeah, but what does that have to do with me?" I wanted to know about MY bank account, MY money. I didn't care about debate schedules. I cared about what's happening with the economy and what that holds for my future. Judging by conversations with other folks, I think that's what most people are worried about right now, especially because they're unsure what the answers might be. Tell them what this mess means to them, in simple, layman's terms.
What? You don't KNOW what it all means, either?
Hmm.
Well, nobody said it was going to be easy to do this job. And nobody guaranteed you that all you'd need to do for show prep was a cursory glance at the headlines, either. The trick is not only to find easily understood explanations for everything, but to make it entertaining. And there ARE ways to do that. I heard Joe Soucheray at KSTP in the Twin Cities do it one way, trying to work out a suitable golf bet analogy to illustrate how certain derivatives work, with callers chiming in ("no, it's like if the CADDIES were betting that YOU would lose..."). Or you could do what Johnny Wendell does at KTLK in L.A. and bring on a plain-speaking tax attorney and a colorful day trader named "Johnny Venom" to talk about the economy like guys at a bar. The key in any case is to make it relatable. Abstract and arcane financial explanations -- no. How the news affects your bank account, your 401(k), your mortgage, your ability to get a car loan, with humor, in terms anyone can grasp -- yeah.
Oh, and this is something I find is better suited to talk radio than any other medium. Here's why: When I read articles about this stuff in the papers or online, it's just a wall of words and jargon. It's impenetrable. (Sort of like this letter) On TV, it's all a bunch of talking heads, Guys in Suits spouting what appears to be an alien language. But on radio, it's a conversation, and it's like a friend explaining it all to you, with the opportunity to call in and ask questions.
So, if you've been hesitant to talk about this stuff, or if you've been going at it from political angles that, frankly, don't have a lot to do with what's on your listeners' minds, see if you can't get that conversation started. You aren't going to get too many topics this big, ever. Seize the day.
Of course, you can't do nothing-but-financial-meltdown-news for a long time without your head exploding, which is why there's Talk Topics at All Access News-Talk-Sports with a huge pile of topics of all sorts for you, whether it's about the economy or bodily functions (I have no idea why, but there were several stories about that all at once this week). And you can find out about a police department that'll be letting some crime go due to budget limitations, a 4 year old beer drinker, a college basketball coach fired for swearing, why "breast milk" and "ice cream" are in the same article, ad a lot of other goofy stories, but there are a lot of stories about Barack 'n' John 'n' Sarah 'n' Joe, too, and some angles on the economy you might not have caught elsewhere. This week's "10 Questions With..." features WTNT and WWRC/Washington PD and longtime major market PD and News Director Greg Tantum, and, of course, the rest of All Access has all the radio and music industry news, ratings, job listings, and information you could possibly want, and more, all free.
Next week: Everything will be fine and we can go back to arguing about important things like the candidates' hair or whether they can properly pronounce "Ahmadinejad." Or we'll all be queuing up for our government cheese. Hard to tell right now.
ShareThe Phillies won the National League East today, hanging on for dear life and escaping with a 4-3 win. I'd like to think that anything past the first round of the playoffs will make me happy, but I want the World Championship and I want it now.
But some things about the team scare me. The offense is still way too streaky and prone to disappearing the way it did last year for the playoffs. The pitching's been dodging bullets all year, and Brad Lidge has been Mitch Williams-shaky every outing lately; he gets the save, but puts runners on in the process. I'm not sold on this team being The One, not yet.
Still, Ryan Howard's been spectacular lately, unlikely guys are becoming heroes, and Jamie Moyer, who's an old man by baseball terms (although still younger than I) has been amazing, 16-7, 3.71 ERA with a fastball I can outrun to the plate.
You expect memorable teams to win championships. This team has some of that going on right now. There may be great heartbreak to come, but for the moment, it's a good feeling to still be in the hunt. Bring on... er.. whoever we play next!
ShareI started to write a piece about Shea Stadium's closing but I took time off to watch the Eagles tonight.
Huge mistake.
And now I'm too aggravated to write anything. No excuses. That was awful. Goal-line leaps from the 3 yard line? Can't hammer it in from the 1? Missed field goals, rookie mistakes... funny how the euphoria of the Rams game and the defensive glow of the Steelers game are now distant memories.
Shouldn't matter, though. Wednesday... Phillies-Milwaukee... THAT'S what matters now. Thank you Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb and Marty Mornhinweg and David Akers, for reminding me what really counts this week. Turns out it isn't you.
ShareThe following was dictated through voice recognition software. See if you can tell:
I finally decided that I should take the plant ronn ICS headset that F. lying around and use it with Microsoft words voice recognition software to see if I can't get my hands are rest and speak some of what I write rather than tiny bit. I went through the training segments, and the been using it all afternoon. The results, I would say, are mixed. At times, the software can easily figure out what I'm saying, and there aren't that many spelling errors or four more choices. At other times, it's pretty brutal. I'm using a right now. Can you tell which parts are the brutal ones?
The first sentence should include the word " plant ronn ICS" but the software can figure it out. Can't figure it out. It didn't even get that one right. Let's see, P. L. a NTRON I C. S.. Plant ronn ex. Nope.
So it needs work. I could go out and buy naturally speaking, but that costs a few bucks and I'm too cheap. Saw keep trying -- let's try that again. I'll keep trying to make this work, if it takes me hours to train the software to understand my admittedly hard to follow mélange of mid Atlantic accents. When I get to the point where I spend less time making corrections than I would have typing the damn thing, I'll be happy. And it hasn't escaped my attention that it was able to perfectly spell mélange whilst growing up several other words.
I should use the keyboard for the next statement, but I'm going to stick this out until the bitter end: happy rush Hashonah. Rush Hashonah. Rush. ROSH. Rush Hashonah. It refuses to spell the first word of that name with an O. Clearly, the programmers were gentile.
ShareThere's a fierce hot wind and it's playing havoc with my sinuses. I took some Benadryl, and now I'm about to fall asleep. This has not been a great day.
I think I'm going to go sleep it off. Maybe everything will be better and my sinuses won't hurt then. I could use a break.
ShareThis page contains all entries posted to PMSimon.com in September 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.
August 2008 is the previous archive.
October 2008 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
