THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

Thanks for stopping by (even though we did our best to padlock the gates and keep you from finding this page).

I have moved every bit of this blog to a new, more exclusive neighborhood. Please visit my convenient new location here.

Dan O'Day

FINDING, INTERVIEWING AND SELECTING A MORNING SHOW PRODUCER

by Ross Brittain

When we needed to hire a morning how producer, we put an ad in the CBS corporate listings. We said we were looking for a producer, but it was an entry level job, because we wanted to train her.

We also sent information to broadcast schools around the area.

We sent messages out to local college stations that we were looking for a producer.

We also put the word out at different radio stations around the area that we were looking for a producer. I didn't care if we hired somebody from another station.

We got about 50 responses.

When they came in, the first thing we asked them was:

"What did you think of the morning show? Did you listen to it this morning?"

Forty of those 50 said, "Oh, I didn't hear it."

What the hell is that? You're interviewing for a show....

The ten who listened to the show had a valid comment and knew what they were talking about. So we immediately cut out 80% of the applicants.

We tested for organizational skills. When someone walks into your office with a Blackberry or one of those appointment books, that's pretty much a tip-off that they're a detail oriented person.

We had the morning team ask questions about various things they were interested in. There were general pop culture questions, and we did a "hot box round" with the final candidates.

We gave them a test of general knowledge of the geographical area, so we were sure they could relate to Philadelphia.

A producer should have read the day's paper and know the top four or five stories, for your age group, for your target demographic.

They should have the ability to use Microsoft Word. They should be able to know how to word process; they should be able to use audio software.

They have to interact well with a group. You're not looking for a loner. You can pretty much tell if somebody's sitting huddled in their seat whether or not they're going to interact well with the rest of the team.

But you need a producer who's going to interact well and can be forceful in that initial meeting.

At the follow-up interview, we asked for ideas for phone topics, thought starters, Internet polls — because we have an Internet poll that we do every day to increase traffic to the website. We asked them for three ideas for each of those.

We looked for somebody with a sense of humor, who's able to not take stuff too seriously.

Also, I believe a producer should not be interested in being on the air initially.

Now, it's one thing if you're going to put these people on the air when somebody's on vacation. But unless you're specifically looking to combine the jobs of on-air talent and producer, the producer has enough on his or her plate to do off the air.

Some people don't have the budget for that, and I understand that, but one of our criteria was that they should not be interested in being on the air. Going in, we told them this was not an on-air job. When you say that initially, you screen out a lot of people who are into it for their egos.

(Excerpted from Ross Brittain's How To Find, Hire And Train A Great Morning Show Producer.)

MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: A LOUSY COMMERCIAL THAT I ENJOY

Here is yet another bad radio commercial that won a $5,000 Radio Mercury Award because it entertained the judges.

But that's not why I'm sharing it with you.

I'm sharing this spot with you because I love his explanation of why that was incorrect grammar:

"This isn't France."

Lousy commercial, but that's funny.

SPECIFICITY; REACTIONS TO MY COMMERCIAL CRITIQUE

The latest issue of my Radio Advertising Letter explores the principle of Specificity and features my critique of a radio commercial designed to attract more advertisers to that radio station.

This post is for my subscribers to use to add their own comments, thoughts, objections, examples, etc.

BOBBY OCEAN'S SUNDAY RADIO CARTOON: Radio Dinosaurs

Illustration © 2009 by Bobby Ocean

CALLING IN THE ARMY TO MAKE A BED

I have stayed in thousands of hotel rooms in 36 countries. But I've never stayed at a hotel where Housekeeping is even sloppier and more incompetent than I am at making a bed.

Until a couple of months ago, when I spent a week at Spangdahlem Lodging (Germany).

It was so bad that I turned to the U.S. Army for help.

O'DAY'S TRAVEL WOES #36: When Chocolate Chip Cookies Lose Their Luster

February, 1995 (continued):

A week after speaking to a public radio group in Nashville, I flew to Tulsa for a couple of days, where I conducted both HOW TO CREATE MAXIMUM IMPACT RADIO ADVERTISING and AIR PERSONALITY PLUS+ for Carl Smith and the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

As you might know, I conduct Customer Service seminars for retailers as well as broadcasters. Here’s a minor incident that illustrates an important Customer Service point:

The seminars were held at the Doubletree Inn. For years the Doubletree chain had cultivated a unique “benchmark” image by making it a point to deliver a couple of freshly baked (still warm!) chocolate chip cookies to the guest’s room shortly after check-in. You might consider this true “value-added.”

Like any value-added item, the first time the guest experiences it, it is a delightful surprise. On subsequent visits, the guest expects it (and, presumably, still enjoys it).

But when I checked into this Doubletree, the desk clerk completed my registration and wordlessly handed me both a key and a box containing two cold chocolate chip cookies.

Did I think, “Oh, great! Cookies”?

No. I thought, “Hey, these are cold. And usually they bring them to my room. And the desk clerk’s determined lack of human touch has reduced this ritual from a warm, personal contact with the hotel to something he simply is required to give me.”

In my seminars, I refer to every contact a business has with a customer as a “profit point” — a chance to enhance or strengthen the relationship with the customer. By transforming freshly baked cookies into just another part of the system, however, the Doubletree brand lost the profit point...systemwide.

COPYWRITERS: HOW TO OVERCOME WRITER'S BLOCK

Usually when we talk about writer's block, we're referring to the writer who just can't get words onto a page. That would be someone working on a novel or a play or an extended essay for publication; they just can't seem to get started or, more often, they've started but now they're stuck.

That kind of writer's block invariably is caused by one of two things: Lack of information...or Fear.

When I say "lack of information," I mean the writer hasn't worked out the story sufficiently or doesn't really know the characters; the way you solve that problem is to stop trying to write and instead work on understanding the story or the characters better.

But most writer's block — as the term usually is used by copywriters — is caused by fear. There is nothing more intimidating than a blank page.

So...Put something on it.

Here's a trick I learned a long time ago, and it works whether I'm writing a commercial or a newsletter or a book: Don't end your workday or your work session when you've finished an entire section. Start writing the next part, even if it's just a couple of sentences.

So if you're writing a book, don't stop when you've finished a chapter. Begin the next chapter, and tomorrow when you sit down to write you won't have to ask "What do I do now?" because you'll be joining a work in progress.

You see, for most writers the hardest part isn't writing; it's starting. And when you sit down at the keyboard to find that someone already has started writing the commercial for you, it's like you've given yourself a gift.

But for people who work for a radio station and write lots of commercials, often it's not really "writer's block;" it's lack of time. It's "Here's the copy order, goes on the air tomorrow, and our production guy is leaving early today for a doctor's appointment."

If you're writing commercial copy and you feel stuck and you've got at least a few extra minutes, here's an easy technique that will help you get started.

Call the client and ask, "How did you get started in this business?" — and then let him talk. Most business owners have a story; let your clients tell theirs.

Here are two more questions you can add. Let's say he owns a bookstore. Ask him:

"What's the one thing you love most about running a bookstore?"

"What's the biggest misconception people have about bookstores?"

Nine times out of ten, if you listen, the client will GIVE you a great story to use in your commercial. I don't mean putting that story directly into the copy; it might just be the feeling the story expresses.

A while ago I wrote commercial copy for a number of different restaurants, and again & again the restaurateurs would tell me the most satisfying aspect of owning a restaurant is seeing how happy their guests are while at their restaurant. I never would have guessed that; I probably would have guessed "being my own boss" or "hearing people rave about our food."

I also learned that is how they refer to their patrons: "Guests." Not customers. Not diners. "Guests."

And all of that helped me understand the experience I was going to try to convey in 30 or 60 seconds.

More techniques for overcoming writer's block in future blog posts.

Seven Steps to Better Radio Station Imaging

by Dave Foxx

1. DELETE every third word of your copy. If you can remove 1/3 of your words, your copy is too verbose.

2. PRODUCE the music track separately from the voiceover.

3. USE effects only to accentuate the music.

4. SHORTEN the distance between the idea and the expression of the idea. Rather than having one person write the copy, another voice the copy, and a third person produce it, cut at least one of those people out of the process. If you can write, voice and produce the promo, you’re in the best possible position. If you can write the copy, coach the voiceover, and then produce the spot, that’s almost as good.

5. FILL the creative well. When you’re not on the job, you’re still on the job. Regardless of what you are doing in your off-hours, always observe human nature. Those observations are the well from which you’ll draw your creativity when producing promos.

6. GIVE yourself enough time to finish a project without interruption. For the first 4 hours of your workday, hang on your door a sign that says “Radioactive: Do Not Enter.” Let everyone know that you mean it. Other people can bring you their problems and requests during the second four hours of your workday.

7. KNOW when you’re finished. When you’ve achieved your goals and it sounds really good, STOP. You’re done.

Dave Foxx will conduct a live teleseminar, fielding questions from radio station imaging people around the world. Here's all the info.

THE CHICKENFISH SYNDROME STRIKES AGAIN

David Srebnik is a public radio guy who's seen me speak at various public radio conferences. If you've ever heard my "chickenfish" story, his will make sense.

If you haven't....Well....

"Got into a little bit of trouble at the NATS game last night.

"I insisted on buying some Watercoke from the vendor who kept passing by our seats. Like many of us, I’m trying to eat healthy, and it sounded like Watercoke might be healthier than regular Coke.

"He refused to sell me the Watercoke…called Security, and I was taken to some security detention area at the stadium."

"Things got worse when I asked for the Chickenfish."

Over the years, a lot of people have mentioned the "Chickenfish" story to me.

If you ever heard me tell it, did it make an impact on you? Have you ever shared it with others?

(And if you did, how did they react? Probably just scratched their heads and looked puzzled....)

MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: I Don't Like This Spot

This is the fourth in a series of critiques of award-winning radio commercials — those honored as "the best of the best" by the 2007 Radio Mercury Awards.

I don't like this radio commercial. It's hackneyed, corny, false, fake.

But...

By the end of the spot I did get the message that when you fly Jet Blue, you get to watch Direct TV on the seatback on in front of you.

In other words: Good commercial.

CONTEXTUAL PROGRAMMING: Subscribers' Comments

The current issue of my Radio Programming Letter delves into what I call "Contextual Programming" — the only way to win in today's competitive media environment.

This post is for my subscribers to use to add their own comments, thoughts, objections, examples, etc.

BOBBY OCEAN'S SUNDAY RADIO CARTOON: You Can't Fool A Feline

Illustration © 2009 by Bobby Ocean

PETER FUERMETZ PRAISES DAN O'DAY, RADIO ADVERTISING GURU

Peter Fuermetz of Broadcast-Future! obviously is a big fan of mine. He's flown from Germany to Los Angeles to attend my International Radio Creative & Production Summit. He's flown me to Germany to speak at a huge radio advertising conference.

But why is he such a big fan? Is it my sparkling personality? Or is it the brilliance of my presentations?

Because "Modesty" is my middle name (long story, on my mother's side of the family some ancestor's name was changed at Ellis Island from "Modestovichonivichy"), I'll step aside and let Peter tell you in his own words how great I am.

MY TRAVEL HORROR STORIES INTERRUPED BY BAD RADIO MANAGER BEHAVIOR

June, 1995: On Fridays, usually I share my "road warrior" stories from seminar trips long ago. I've been publishing them in chronological order.

In looking through my notes for the next installment, I came across this little tidbit from the newsletter I sent to my clients 14 years ago this month.

Instead of sharing with you my misadventures around the world, this month I will do some sermonizing. Probably I shouldn’t. I’m sure you’d find it more entertaining to hear about my first trip to South America (and what the drug was in my carry-on suitcase that attracted the attention of the airport police in Bogotá)...or about my three-hour train ride in Germany with 150 skinhead soccer fans whose team had just lost.

The views I’m about to express might even offend a few readers. If you believe managers of radio stations never, under any circumstances, should be criticized, then you might be so upset that you’ll ask to me uninstall my blog from your computer.

It’s not hard to find a trade publication that takes radio personalities to task for dumb things they do. (Remember all the brouhaha years ago when Howard Stern said he hopes his antagonist at the F.C.C. gets cancer and dies?)

But what about when radio station managers act in ways that show contempt for their listeners and complete disregard for their obligations to their community of license?

Case In Point: KMJ is a radio station in Fresno, California. Each year they have a big outdoor event celebrating the political leanings of their big syndicated host, Rush Limbaugh. Lots of people attend, and KMJ makes lots of money on it.

(Remember, I am reprinting my notes from 14 years ago. I am not necessarily writing about KMJ as it is today.)

When KMJ’s program director, John Broeske, learned that it might rain on the day of this event, he instructed the station’s meteorologist, Sean Boyd, NOT to tell listeners it might rain. After all, said Broeske, it might not rain.

Boyd, however, thinks a meteorologist’s job is to tell listeners what the weather probably will be. And that’s what he did.

And it rained during the big Limbaugh festivities, just as Boyd said it would.

So KMJ fired him.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time KMJ had trouble with Boyd. Why, it wasn’t so long ago that their weatherman refused to say it would be sunny & dry on the day of a big KMJ golf tournament...when the real forecast was partly cloudy and windy. (Boyd’s forecast, again, was correct.)

Quite obviously, Broeske and KMJ General Manager Al Smith care far more about their advertisers and clients (and KMJ’s income) than they do about KMJ’s obligation to provide honest service to its listeners.

Why not lie about the weather? What’s the big deal? So some people get wet. The bottom line is...the bottom line. Of course.

To be fair, I’m sure KMJ doesn’t always lie to its audience about the weather. If KMJ will not profit financially by lying, I’ll bet they almost never do. But if there’s money on the line, don’t believe KMJ when they talk about the weather.

We now know that, if financial considerations are involved, KMJ will lie on-air about the weather.

Question: What else will KMJ lie to its listeners about, if the station might somehow profit from the lie?

How about the news?

I mean, sure, probably KMJ usually doesn’t lie about or slant the news...But what if the news involves a sponsor? What if there’s a news story that puts a major sponsor in a negative light? Do you think that might possibly effect KMJ’s coverage? That they might go easier on the advertiser, give the client more time to respond than they would another entity, make the coverage briefer, avoid mentioning it all?

KMJ wouldn’t do that, would they? I mean, Al Smith and John Broeske would not lie to their audience and community simply because it would affect their bottom line...Would they?

Final note: After the previous year’s KMJ Limbaugh bash, a local newspaper ran a photograph taken at the event. The picture showed Ray Appleton, the KMJ talk show host who follows Limbaugh. Appleton was holding up a bumper sticker that said, “WHERE IS LEE HARVEY OSWALD NOW THAT WE NEED HIM?”

The obvious and only implication of those words is that someone should assassinate President Clinton.

Well, when KMJ executives saw this newspaper photograph, they became enraged. Obviously, someone must pay for such outrageous, irresponsible behavior.

So KMJ called the newspaper and demanded that they fire the photographer who took the picture!

Makes you proud to be in radio, doesn’t it?

WORLD CLASS ADVERTISING

I ripped this ad out of an airline's inflight magazine. It's a vertical 1/2 page, 2 columns.

The entire ad is extaordinarily good, but I'll just share with you the right column "sidebar" — because the ad is designed so to make it jump out at the reader.

Well, okay, also the headline, to help set the stage:

Exercise In Exactly 4 Minutes Per Day

The typical ROM purchaser goes through several stages:

1. Total disbelief that the ROM can do all this in only 4 minutes.

2. Rhetorical (and sometimes hostile) questioning and ridicule.

3. Reading the ROM literature and reluctantly understanding it.

4. Taking a leap of faith and renting a ROM for 30 days.

5. Being highly impressed by the results and purchasing a ROM.

6. Becoming a ROM enthusiast and trying to persuade friends.

7. Being ignored and ridiculed by the friends who think you've lost your mind.

8. After a year of using the ROM your friends admiring your good shape.

9. You telling them (again) that you only exercise those 4 minutes per day.

10. Those friends reluctantly renting the ROM for a 30 day trial. Then the above cycle repeats from point 5 on down.

The more we tell people about the ROM the less they believe it.

Does the thing really work? I have no idea. But there's a heckuva lot of copywritin' goin' on there.

RADIO CREATIVE/PRODUCTION SUMMIT VETERANS PRAISE O'DAY

Well, this is just embarrassing, sharing these glowing testimonials for my annual International Radio Creative & Production Summit from three of the industry's most successful practitioners — who among them have attended the Summit 37 times (!).

But with Summit registration now open, perhaps if you've never attended this will convince you to take the plunge.

Bob Souer, Blaine Parker, Dick Terhune

SCOTT SHANNON'S FOCUS KEYS

When I speak of “focus keys,” I’m talking about making sure you keep the important things important.

Example:

One day when I was programming in Nashville, I was driving home from the station and thinking, “Man, I had a great day! I had a lot of fun, did an interview with the paper, went to lunch with a couple of record guys, and took some phone calls from people telling me how great I am.”

And then I realized something: I didn’t really do that much.

In fact, I didn’t accomplish a damn thing that day!

There’s only a couple of things about your job that are really important during any given week. Make sure those important things stay important.

Concentrate on the critical inch of your business.

Take all the power you have — your problem-solving abilities, your concentration — and focus on something that will make your station better.

You can do it. But first you need to figure out and isolate what’s important.

One station I consulted drove me crazy because it’s in a market where there’s not a lot of good morning shows. I told the PD, “Your morning show has a lot of potential and talent, but it needs nurturing and guidance. Your mission is to fix and maximize the morning show.”

After a couple of months I noticed the show hadn’t gotten any better, so I called him and said, “Are you spending enough time on that morning show?”

He said, “Yeah, I’ve got a concept sheet.”

I said, “All I want you to do is get your ass out of bed in the morning and go sit with them.”

“Well, that’s not my job.”

"No? What the hell is your job??"

He wasn’t focusing on the important things. I said, “You’ve got to make this morning show better. These guys have potential.”

“But I’ve never worked with a morning guy.”

“Well, now’s a good time to start!”

I’m sad to report he never did figure it out.

I’m not saying everybody’s got to sit with their morning show. Maybe not all morning shows are crucial to the success of the station. For this radio station it was important to maximize the morning show, and it wasn’t happening.

The critical inch on your station may not be the morning show.

It may be the music.

It may be marketing.

It may be something else.

But figure out what’s important, and allocate your time in such a way that the important thing gets a lot of your attention.

You need to spend time figuring out what’s important.

Excerpted from Living Your Dreams/Programming To Win by Scott Shannon.

© by Dan O'Day All Rights Reserved

MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: Is It Any Wonder Radio Advertising Is Held In Such Low Esteem?

Welcome to the third in a series of critiques of award-winning radio commercials — those honored as "the best of the best" by the 2007 Radio Mercury Awards.

This spot was awarded $5,000 as a "General Category Winner."

My Critique:

BOBBY OCEAN'S SUNDAY RADIO CARTOON: R.I.P. R&R

Illustration © 2009 by Bobby Ocean

THE UNEDITED VERSION: HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF EVEN MORE UNPOPULAR WITH RADIO EXECUTIVES

Recently I shared with you a snippet of a video shot at RAB 2009 by Broadcast-Future!'s Peter Fuermetz, when he pointed a video camera at me and asked for my honest evaluation of where radio is and where it's headed.

Peter was kind enough to provide me with the complete video. I'm sure it will make me even less popular with some radio people.

RADIO & RECORDS AND ME

Today's issue of Radio & Records is its last. Because R&R played an important role in my career, I thought I'd share a few of my personal highlights here.

I was a charter subscriber to R&R, from its very first issue (sent to me as a small market program director). At the time, Billboard had the big record chart, which I always found laughable because its weekly chart was an excellent guide to which records were most popular a month earlier. R&R was fresh, young...and published by radio people.

During its first year of publication, I came to Los Angeles on vacation. Not wanting to miss an issue, I went to R&R's office — which at the time was in Hollywood. Hollywood Boulevard, I think.

I introduced myself to the receptionist and explained that I was a loyal subscriber who couldn't bear to miss even one issue, and could I please have a copy?

"Yes, for five dollars," she said. I paid the five bucks.

Two or three years after R&R began, I started publishing my comedy service, O'LINERS. Just for the heck of it, I sent a complimentary subscription to its managing editor, John Leader. John liked it and asked if he could use some of my lines to fill space as needed. Sounded good to me.

My First R&R Convention

I have only one clear memory of the first R&R convention I attended, in Los Angeles, sometime before 1980. Each format had its own breakout sessions, and I arrived several minutes early for one of them.

The format editor was standing in the doorway. I introduced myself, and during our brief conversation he continually looked around me in the hopes of spotting someone more important to talk to. Because he was an R&R format editor, he thought he was a big shot. I've never forgotten that experience, and I've always tried not to act that way to others.

About 10 years ago I received a package in the mail. Some guy hoping I would hire him. Or, as he said in his cover letter, "to join the O'LINERS organization." No one else ever has suggested my operation is organized. I turned to my one employee and said, "So, which of us should we fire to make room for this guy?"

That guy was that former format editor who had been too important to be courteous to me.

Yes, I enjoyed it immensely.

Another, Fateful R&R Convention

In 1983 I attended the R&R convention in New Orleans. As I exited the taxi and made my way toward the hotel entrance, I spied John Leader.

"Hey, John!" I yelled. "When are you guys going to have a regular column just for jocks?"

"Why don't you write it for us?" he retorted.

Once we'd both returned to L.A. (where by then I was living), John and I met in his office and worked out the arrangements. He gave the column the extraordinarily unimaginative name of "Air Personalities," and for the next nine years I was a "regular contributing columnist" to (never an employee of) R&R.

An Aside: In my first conversation with R&R's founder, Bob Wilson, I discovered I'd had an earlier connection to him. He told me he'd been Program Director of KDAY/Los Angeles. I told him that I was 19, I'd won a Polaroid Camera during KDAY's "Christmas Wish" contest. "Oh, yeah," he said. "We gave away hundreds of those things."

I didn't realize it at the time, and I've never before made this public. But I can't see the harm now:

I didn't realize that R&R didn't pay any of its guest columnists, who happily submitted material in exchange for the industry exposure. And as a writer, I believed a writer should be paid for his work. So during that initial meeting with John I told him I wanted to be paid $100 per column, and I wanted two free classified ads per week (one for my comedy service and one for my Whole O Catalogue. And a free subscription. John said, "Fine."

Almost immediately thereafter, John left R&R and my new contact there was Ken Barnes (now an entertainment report for USA Today). Ken was my editor. To me, he was the perfect editor: He pretty much ran my stuff exactly as I turned it in. Not because he was lazy but because, I believe, he was a good writer and he recognized that my writing didn't require much hand holding.

The First Column (The Untold Story)

For my first column, I thought I'd do an interview with Don Imus. (This was back when Don was an entertaining disc jockey and not the topical talk show host he later became.) During his exile from New York to Cleveland several years earlier, we'd had a couple of cordial exchanges and he'd sent me a reel of tape so I could feature his program in my "Greatest Shows On Earth" series.

But now I couldn't reach him. I called his WNBC producer and said I wanted to interview Imus for my first column. "Call us back after it's been running a few months," he sniffed.

"Screw you," I thought.

Who else might be good for my first column? I'd never actually heard his work, but I'd seen a jock on a panel at a Gavin convention (another name from the past), he seemed interesting, and he'd just moved to New York from Washington, D.C.

It won't be until someone tells him about this posting that Howard Stern learns he actually wasn't my first choice for my first column and — much worse — that Imus was.

Because I'd never heard his show, it wasn't a very good interview. But somewhere I still have the thank-you note that Howard sent me: "It's about time someone did something just for us DJs."

By this time, R&R had become THE publication for radio programmers. And for jocks — except for the "Opportunities" section, which many PDs ripped out of each issue to prevent their DJs from learning about better jobs elsewhere.

I've always found it impressive that not once during my nine years as a contributing columnist did anyone at R&R request or even suggest that I write about people who worked for their reporting stations (the stations whose reports helped comprise R&R's weekly charts). I never even knew if the person I was writing about worked for a reporting station. I chose the topics, the interview subjects, everything. Never any censorship, no pressure to write about advertisers or industry big shots. Not ever.

That might possibly be because no one at R&R thought much about my little column. At least, they never seemed to notice.

But once when I dropped off my new column — yes, there was a time in the distant pre-email days when I would drive across town and hand in my latest piece — an R&R account executive took me aside. "You didn't see this from me, but I think you should know," he said, handing me a computer print-out.

R&R had conducted research to determine which parts of the paper were the most widely read. The most read section was "Street Talk" — the industry gossip page whose first editor had been Scott Shannon. Second most popular? The "Opportunities" section that PDs tried to hide from their jocks. And to the shock of almost everyone at R&R (according to that account exec), the third most read page was my "Air Personalities" column. I've never had a chance to brag about that, until now.

I like to think I would have achieved some industry success even if I'd never hooked up with R&R. (After all, about a million years ago I did win a couple of Billboard "Air Personality of the Year" awards, and I did have two successful radio comedy services.) But it was the tremendous R&R exposure that led directly to my conducting my first radio seminar.

After seeing my column every other week for the first 3 years, the PDs of one radio group decided I must be an "expert" and told their employer I was the guy they wanted to come talk to them about radio talent coaching. And the rest is...whatever it is.

When I was a young PD, I loved reading each week's R&R. It was my link to the limitless radio community that existed outside my tiny market.

I was lucky that John Leader asked me to create that column and that Ken Barnes (and his successors) let me do whatever the heck I wanted with it. R&R was a class act, and I was proud to be associated with them.

TWITTER TELESEMINAR REVIEWS

On Wednesday I conducted the world premiere of my Twitter teleseminar: How To Use Twitter To Increase Your Radio Stations' Ratings & Revenue.

I invited the participants to post their uncensored reviews. I suspect more will be added after registrants who couldn't attend "live" have a chance to listen to the entire 2-hour recording. (A ton of info. Even came with a 29-page Study Guide.)

BEST RADIO VIDEO EVER

It's 2:28AM. I've just finished putting the last touches on the "Twitter for Radio" teleseminar I'm going to conduct in less than 9 hours.

I need some sleep. But...Can I allow this to be the first morning without a posting since I began this blog ?

Rather than have you stare at a blank monitor, I present another viewing of a clip from the best radio video ever made.

That's Randy Michaels, recorded by Art Vuolo ’way back at our second PD Grad School.

A LITTLE MARKETING ASSISTANCE, PLEASE?

I was at the LAX Hilton for PD Grad School when I saw this:

No, that's not a billboard or a marquee. It's a rickety sign inside the hotel. (Look again and you'll see they scotch taped "Hotel Lobby" onto it.)

A jewelry & leather event was being held there. And what did the producers of this event decide to name it?

"Jewelry & Leather Event"

Oddly, despite that compelling title there was a conspicuous absence of crowds clamoring to get in. Go figure.

SLEEP DEPRIVATION UPDATE + TUESDAY DEADLINE

At 3 o'clock this morning, I put the finishing touches on the 29-page Study Guide that accompanies my How To Use Twitter To Increase Your Radio Station's Ratings & Revenue teleseminar.

Twenty-nine pages of resources, strategies, tactics, screen shots.

If I don't overlseep and miss my own teleseminar, I'm pretty sure radio people will find this to be tremendously valuable.

The teleseminar is on Wednesday. Registration deadline is Tuesday, 4:59PM PDT. Hope you'll join us.

MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN: A Shocking Award Winner

Welcome to the second in a series of critiques of award-winning radio commercials — those honored as "the best of the best" by the 2007 Radio Mercury Awards. Award winning commercials rarely are any good, so let's all keep our expectations low.

Surprise! This is a good spot.

Ironically, the judges probably gave it an award for the wrong reason: because they think it's so doggone clever. But the "true/false" conceit isn't at all original; it's been used for decades.

This particular version is done very well. They do an excellent job of "showing" rather than "telling." They never bother to tell you it's a True or False buzzer, and they don't feel compelled to explain what the situation might be that requires its use.

As long as the listener realizes, "When he lies, the buzzer sounds," no further set-up is required. They trust that you immediately will figure it out, and you do.

Do they do what I always preach: paint a picture of the results of the product or service? Well, no. They paint a picture of this guy answering the questions. But in doing so they drive home the fact that you can't get good seafood just anywhere...and that Legal Seafood is the place for good seafood.

My compliments to the team at DeVito/Verdi.