Photo: Picnic07 Photo Booth by silvertje

Picnic 07 was a smash! Kudos to all involved in this great event.

Check out the Picnic07 photo booth.

Check out the video of the David Weinberger Picnic07 presentation here. The session ends with a discussion moderated by Walt Mossberg with Dr Dave and Andrew Keen. (1 hr 25 min)

Picnic 07, day 1 - video by Mindcaster here.

We join the conversation, already in progress: Martin Weller began the discussion on The Future of Content, part one here. Ray Corrigan contributes part two here. Patrick McAndrew takes up part three here. Will Woods offers up part four here. Martin explains the format of the conversation (structured, distributed blog article) here. In total the four writings are long, however, certainly worth your bandwidth. Highly recommended. Kudos to Martin, Ray, Patrick and Will for a good read and a job well done!

Congrats & cheers: Programming ace Jhani Kaye, my friend and former colleague, on KRTH winning the well deserved R&R award for Oldies/Classic Hits Station of The Year. Jhani's afternoon star Shotgun Tom Kelly wins Oldies/Classic Hits Personality of The Year. And to my pal Kevin Metheny on winning Oldies/Classic Hits Program Director of The Year. David Rehr, John David, George Hyde and Erica Farber on (as I'm hearing it in catching up) their outstanding shows.

Photo: Snow on Mauna Kea by Ron Fell. Beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

"You have to learn to treat people as a resource...You have to ask not what do they cost, but what is the yield, what can they produce?" Peter Drucker

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress." Alfred Montapert

"Formula for success: Underpromise and overdeliver." Tom Peters

Forbes has published a list of the highest paid TV performers (June 06 to June 07 earnings)...

1. Oprah $260 mil
2. Seinfeld $60 mil
3. Simon Cowell $45 mil
4. David Letterman $40 mil
5. Trump $32 mil
6. Leno $32 mil
7. Dr. Phil $30 mil
8. Judge Judy $30 mil
9. George Lopez $26 mil
10. Kiefer Sutherland $22 mil
11. Regis Philbin $21 mil
12. Tyra Banks $18 mil
13. Rachael Ray $16 mil
14. Katie Couric $15 mil
15. Ellen $15 mil
16. Ryan Seacrest $14 mil
17. Matt Lauer $13 mil
18. Barbara Walters $12 mil
19. Diane Sawyer $12 mil
20. Meredith Vieira $10 mil

Read the entire article via Reuters here.

Must-read: The future of content - Part One by Martin Weller. Outstanding writing here. Bravo Martin, very well done!

Thank you very much: Thanks to those kind enough to send along links of things to read. This afternoon a couple of folks sent me a link to a writing by a former radio person. The writing puts down the Radio 2020 initiative and calls into question the players involved. My thought is it's less than intellectually honest to put down an initiative until you know enough about it to make an informed comment. It is my understanding the NAB commissioned Kelly O'Keefe (his website here) to do a research project and provide consulting on a national radio positioning campaign. Seems like a good idea to me. Kelly and his crew have a good reputation. Let's wait and see what they have in mind before we pass any judgment. My personal opinion is the writer with the bad attitude is hurt, hurt that they were not invited to participate in the new program. Further, my suggestion is the writer is not even qualified to be involved in any such initiative. This appears to be another sad case of an angry, bitter industry ustabe. The good news is nobody that matters is listening to the self-proclaimed genius. Finally, no link here to the ustabe. Read some of the stuff and found not much more than negative rant after negative rant. To be fair I did notice the writer did offer to help make the industry better but gave no hint of any brilliant or game-changing ideas. I'll pass, thank you. Full disclosure: conflicts here include my being on the record as a fan of David Rehr, of NAB and RAB. Let me add I have heard nothing but good things about Kelly O'Keefe and believe he should be given the at bat.

Radio pioneer passes: Dr. Wendell F. Cox launched Detroit's WCHB-AM in 1956, adding WCHD-FM later. Detroit Free Press story here. One small error of fact. WCHB-AM was not the first black owned and operated radio station. That honor belongs to WERD-AM, Atlanta. It debuted in 1949 and my dad was on staff there.

Congrats & cheers: David Rehr, the NAB CEO, on his address to the radio industry yesterday. You can read David's prepared remarks here. Radio 2020 is a good idea and it's great to see collaboration with the RAB. Expect the usual suspects to discount the initiative and know that they are, once again, dead wrong. Amy Baer on joining CBS to head the net's new movie division. NBC News SVP Phil Griffin named skipper at MSNBC. Cameron Death joins NBC Digital Entertainment as VP Digital Content.

"Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence." Napoleon

"You can either take action, or you can hang back and hope for a miracle. Miracles are great, but they are so unpredictable." Peter Drucker

"It's a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you will very often get it." W. Somerset Maugham

There is never an excuse for bad manners: So it now seems that FCC chair Martin will get his way. The solicitor general will ask the Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision that threw out the FCC policy on broadcasting profanity. Related AP story here. My sense is Chairman Martin is exactly wrong on this one. You may recall the FCC argument is concerned with the so-called fleeting expletives which were broadcast during the Billboard Music Awards and later The Golden Globes. At the end of the day we have Cher, Bono, Nicole Richie and Janet Jackson to thank for this mess. Fortune writer Roger Parloff offers us a good back story here. When did it become acceptable for performers to cross the line? When we allowed it. We teach people how to treat us. No matter that Bono used the F word during an international broadcast, he is still welcomed, you could even go so far as to say he is still celebrated by television producers, hey, he's Bono. The dude with the foul mouth remains a solid get, he's cool.

What chairman Martin seeks to do is create consequences for bad behavior, he does this in the name of children. Broadcasters should hold those responsible to account. It is not as if Bono does not understand where he went wrong, the same holds true for Cher, Nicole Richie and Janet Jackson. Would Bono use the F word in an appearance before the Queen of England and her court? During an appearance at the White House? No, it's a safe wager the boy would be on his best behavior before the British royals and the American power elite. But an awards show broadcast on the tele? What's the big f'ing deal. Allow me to suggest it's manners that matter here, it's taking responsibility for one's actions. It would seem that Cher, Bono, et al simply have no sense of shame.

One of the old school rules applies here. You are an invited guest in a stranger's home, act accordingly.

Manners, related: In recent years I continue to hear from folks who are out of work and not able to get employers to return a phone call nor respond to an email. Folks are doing as they are told, following instructions and making application for employment - never to hear anything in response. So it would seem the days of a proper rejection letter are over. The majority of the time it seems employers today are not offering any response whatsoever. Folks apply for a job and nothing happens. The once popular EEO tracking form is no longer sent to most applicants. Which does make you wonder what kind of EEO model some employers now consider adequate. However, back to my point, it would seem that most employers today have no shame and that is clearly wrong. It's bad manners and there is simply no excuse. Understanding there will always be a few bad actors out there, in the ranks of the employed and unemployed, it seems today there are just too many rude folks at work on the employer side.

"Keep your eye clear and hit 'em where they ain't"
Wee Willie Keeler

Check with HR, talk with your hiring managers during the next department head meeting. Establish firm contact protocols, set yourself apart from others. Hiring remains an activity of critical importance to every enterprise. It would seem most are doing a bad job of managing contact and hiring, properly the act, make that the art of recruiting, is a contact sport.

The bad manners of others have created a golden opportunity for you.

With a little hard work it's now possible to become an employer of choice. Show some manners, do the right thing, start responding to applicants. Understand that this process is always personal. When someone is attempting to put food on the table, to pay their bills, to care for their family, it's very personal. When folks solicit you for a job show them some respect, show them some empathy, show them the courtesy of a timely and professional response. The return on this investment is priceless.

Apply the golden rule in these cases. In doing so you can't lose. Further, you place yourself light years ahead of all the other employers - it's another example of differentiate or die - to be the most admired employer you need to truly believe that manners matter!

LATER: Dan Kelley makes an important observation in chasing the topic of manners, he writes "Think of the impression of you and your company in the eyes of the applicant." More from Dan here. Thanks for the mention Dan!

Doh! Thanks for the many emails about the image used on yesterday's post. Forgive my mistake in not telling you anything about the picture. The image is that of a personal hero - the legendary genius Joan Miro. This photograph hangs in my office and was a gift from my creative godfather, the great Bob Henabery.

Bill Gross is one smart guy. Erick Schonfeld gets an interview with Bill for Business 2.0 here.

Congrats & cheers: The Live Search Team at Microsoft on the debut of their new Live Search. The Halo 3 team setting the new record for most money earned in a single day by an entertainment product (previous record holder was Spiderman 3 opening day bo) Microsoft rang up $170 million in first day sales. This is another tipping point: games eclipsing film. Jeff Jarvis on his upcoming Networked Journalism Summit now officially sold out! My thanks to David Cohn for the update and good news.

"Teach thy tongue to say 'I do not know,' and thou shalt progress." Moses Maimonides

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." Goethe

'When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." Hemingway


Congrats & cheers: Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and company - The War. Very well done. Keith David does an outstanding job with narration.

"The great thing in this world is not so much where you are, but in what direction you are moving." Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles." Bob Richards

"Diligence is the mother of all good fortune." Miguel de Cervantes

Photo: Untitled by m.pastwa. Wonderful shot. Thank you for sharing.



The next newsroom: Check this guy out and send a link to your station ND, webmaster....Newsroomnext by Michael Amedeo Tumolillo

Bonus: LiveMocha (learning language via social net)

Re-reading two classics. Highly recommend both. Tolstoy and Drucker.

A great line from Tolstoy, Prince Vasili says "Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the society of clever women."

Drucker writes in his first chapter preface "Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or a different service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced. Entrepreneurs need to search purposefully for the sources of innovation, the changes and their symptoms that indicate opportunities for successful innovation."

Drucker provides a number of "do's" - things that have to be done...

1. Purposeful, systematic innovation begins with the analysis of the opportunities...The search has to be organized, and must be done on a regular, systematic basis.
2. Innovation is both conceptual and perceptual. The second imperative of innovation is therefore to go out to look, to ask, to listen.
3. An innovation, to be effective, has to be simple and it has to be focused. It should do only one thing, otherwise, it confuses.
4. Effective innovations start small. They are not grandiose. They try to do one specific thing.
5. ...a successful innovation aims at leadership. It does not aim necessarily at becoming eventually a 'big business'; in fact, no one can foretell whether a given innovation will end up as a big business or a modest achievement. But if an innovation does not aim at leadership from the beginning, it is unlikely to be innovative enough, and therefore unlikely to be capable of establishing itself.

Drucker goes on to suggest a few important "dont's"...

1. The first is simply not to try to be clever. Innovations have to be handled by ordinary human beings, and if they are to attain any size and importance at all, by morons or near-morons. Incompetence, after all, is the only thing in abundant and never-failing supply. Anything too clever, whether in design or execution, is almost bound to fail.
2. Don't diversify, don't splinter, don't try to do too many things at once...be focused!
3. Finally, don't try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present!

Finally Drucker writes about "three conditions...All three are obvious but often disregarded."

1. Innovation is work. It requires knowledge. It often requires great ingenuity. There are clearly people who are more talented innovators than the rest of us. Also, innovators rarely work in more than one area...But when all is said and done, innovation becomes hard, focused, purposeful work making very great demands on diligence, on persistence, and on commitment. If these are lacking, no amount of talent, ingenuity, or knowledge will avail.
2. To succeed, innovators must build on their strengths.
3. ...innovation is an effect in economy and society, a change in the behavior of customers...of people in general. Or it is a change in a process - that is, in how people work and produce something. Innovation therefore always has to be close to the market, focused on the market, indeed, market-driven.

"Don't follow trends, start trends." Frank Capra

"There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; it's what we do with them that's important." Ruth Ross

"The first thing a great person does, is make us realize the insignificance of circumstance." Emerson

Create your own social network for anything - in less than two minutes - for free. That's what Ning now has on offer. Kudos to Marc Andreessen. Get all the details here. Marc has also written a good post about The three kinds of platforms you meet on the internet. Level 1 - Access API (e.g., Flickr, Delicious); Level 2 - Plug-in API (e.g., Facebook); Level 3 - Runtime Environment (e.g., Salesforce.com). A good read here.

Being #1 requires no explanation: As true today as when it was first said by Paul Drew. Kudos to programming ace Brian Kelly and his team. 103.7 KISS FM is again #1 18-34, with double digits no less. While it's only a trend you can bet the farm (without worry) that these guys have a lock on #1. When next you hear or read that the youth market is not listening to radio don't buy it. Brian Kelly and his team are proving this notion to be nonsense. The truth of the matter is too few understand how to put on a show for the youth market and fewer still are getting it done. Brian Kelly is the exception that makes the rule. Teens and the 18-34s will listen when you give them something worth their bandwidth.

Today's image: sometimes the road gets rugged and it's hard to travel on... by dlemieux. The image was one of the top fifty finalists in the Smithsonian Magazine's annual photo contest. Congrats to Diana! Awesome image, thank you very much for sharing.

Courage: The Dan Rather story is sad, very sad. You may read the work of Gold, Reich and Parker, Dan's 32 page complaint here (in PDF, thanks to TMZ). Read the view of Mary Mapes along with 295 comments, and counting here. Read Rather Revolting, the post by Michael Rosenblum with comments here.

Bonus: The 10 rules of Twitter (and how I break every one) - Scobleizer. 62 comments and counting. Rock on Robert! There is only one rule - there are no rules!

Bonus 2: Xobni. Are you an Outlook user? You can not live another day without Xobni. Very cool, very smart. Not open to the public, yet. Chase all the action on their blog here. The thesis is your email usage is a social network - agreed. Genius!

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it." John Ruskin

"The world isn't interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship." Raul Armesto

"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower

True or false? If you build it they will come.

That line from the film Field of Dreams reminds almost everyone of another line.

Emerson most often gets the credit for it - "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door."

Scott Berkun brings this up in his cool little book The Myths of Marketing. Scott writes "More than 4000 mousetrap patents exist, yet only around 20 ever became profitable products." Scott goes on to reference the work of historian John H. Lienhard...

"Rarely, if ever are the networks that surround an innovation in its
earliest stages given the credit they are due...a better mousetrap,
like anything else, will succeed only when those who envision
the idea convince others to join in their new venture - as
investors, suppliers, employees, retailers, customers, and
even competitors."

Berkun then tells us "When we bemoan our favorite restaurant going out of business ('but they make the best cannelloni!') or why our favorite band can't sell albums ('they have the best lyrics!'), we're focusing on the small part of the picture that effects us personally, which is only one factor in the environment determining its fate. These environmental, or secondary, factors have as much influence as the quality of the idea, the talent, or the innovation itself." (ibid)

We are living in times of significant and wonderful change. In the media business the object of the exercise is to reach out, to get into the places where people happen to be, to be a part of their moment. To earn and therefore deserve the big prize, the honor of repeated invitation. The privilege of being in the evoked set of daily media. My sense is this is complex and subtle, calculus rather than arithmetic. Perhaps the best metaphor is fashion, in fact, fashion retail.

Enjoyed a really good conversation about widgets last evening. The take away is we need to stop expecting people to come to us, that is, expect 100% of our traffic to end up dead ending at a specific destination, some single url. We must begin to imagine/invent ways for us to get present, be present, stay present, to play a part in the world of others. Widgets are an attempt to do just that (so is TiVo, VOD, the iPod, et al). It's becoming more about export and the trend in media consumption seem to be less about import (a complete reverse of the traditional producers' perspective).

Marshall Field got it right - "Give the lady what she wants" - the only update needed to that wise counsel is "Provide it when and where she wants." Utility. We should be focused on exporting valuable stuff rather than simply and only importing people. What is value to the user? How can we make it simple and easy for them to get value from a sustained relationship with us? Loyalty and engagement are the first products, the second and third effects, of trust. Trust is earned. Get into the export business, time to focus less (even prepare to someday abandon) the aging import model. Arbitron PPM is about getting into places, it's about penetration of personal and public spaces; you need to be played to be exposed and to be played you're going to need to be invited. Getting invited requires you to be known and "findable." Export vs. import.

Reach

It will become critical to dominate the commons of your target demo.
The winners will be those who discover ways to play some persistent role on a much bigger stage, that of the commons at large.

Imputed: an added importance in the dimension of occasions, that being sense of place. The skill set required is an acuity, a sensitivity to space. The player with the greatest and most consistent measure of reach, that is, the player that is most cognizant of place, the one able to be present, without regard to elected usage (or preference), becomes the player most likely to succeed.

This starts with an understanding of where they are, where they happen to be and it takes you to everywhere they want to be. Therefore, the only standard of pure excellence becomes nothing less than ubiquity. Places are properly defined by they. And, now, after an entire career of learning about what they say and what they want, you need to discover and study where they are (and in real time). May I please show you something in geo-parsing? Place, the next important frontier. Be there.

Building the better mousetrap, creating engaging content, offering the best programming is certainly important, yet, it's not really enough to ensure sustained success. It is becoming the start, the first big step whereas, once upon a time, the very same work product was considered to be the finished art. It would seem that the best used by date on that traditional approach is drawing near. Welcome to the 21st century. Game on!

Thank you very much: Programming ace Lester St. James for the ping and kind words.

Congrats & cheers: Hey!Nielsen getting ready to go public, days away now. My thanks to Steve Ciabattoni for the very cool HeyNielsen sneak preview. Powerset Labs is set to swing their doors open, standby for launch! (Thanks to Mark Johnson for keeping me dialed-in). Michael Rosenblum on the occasion of Current's Emmy win. We can all learn something from Michael Rosenblum (and he's just getting started).

Have an amazing weekend. Back next week with a brand new show.

"Our plans miscarry if they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind." Seneca

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." John Steinbeck

"The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer." Thomas J. Watson


Yesterday Dave Winer posted an interesting take on the need for convention reinvention. You should take a moment and read Dave's post Time to shake up conferences?, I'll wait here.

This was certainly not the first time Dave has written on the topic but it was the first time I took chase of that subject matter on this blog.

The accepted conventions of conventions are just not working any longer.

My guess is what's at work here is inertia and, perhaps, a wee bit of early entropy.

Let's be honest. The subject matter needs attention, deserves work. It's not about getting better, it's about getting different. It should be about the shared experience(s), about outcomes.

The world has changed and conventions are being staged and presented pretty much the same way they were ten if not thirty years ago. The hang (i.e., the social aspects) is almost always good and worth the trip but, hold up, what we are paying for? Why are we away from home at some hotel, resort or convention center? Where's the continuing professional education? Why the same format of talking head panels or sage from the stage? Why the same speakers (the usual suspects plus some average keynote du jour working the circuit pushing a book)? Why are so many panelists allowed to "wing it" rather than being required to come prepared with something of substance. Why the continued acceptance of sessions with low and sometimes zero practical take away? You've been there. "How was the session?" "Uh, it was ok, I guess."

Are we better off having attended? Did we get real value for our dollar?

Where's the conversation, the interactivity? Where's the learning? Where's our chance to participate, what opportunities were baked-in to the program to get everyone involved?

This happens because we allow it to happen, we continue to register, to pay, to attend while we fail to really complain, formally. We just accept it and bitch. We say "It is what it is." We fail because we don't demand to get back real value for our dollar, for our time. Over time attendance falls off. Increasingly, companies are not paying the freight and why should they? The ratio of vendors (sellers) to attendees (buyers) has never been more pronounced. Hint: the status quo ain't working for the vendors either.

It doesn't have to be this way.

My schedule has me in a different part of the world at the start of this year's NAB Radio Show. I like and respect David Rehr, John David and this year's event chair, Rick Cummings. Moreover, much respect for Erica Farber, a pal and former colleague. I wish them all very successful shows. I'm most certain they will allow me a respectful question.

What if ?

What if you could attend the NAB Radio Show or the R&R and not have to go to Charlotte?

What if you were able to attend via webcast, able to download ppts, word docs, PDFs? What if you were able to attend a dinner in your town or some other place close by to hang out and discuss the issues of the convention day with like minded folks? It is a fair wager that more people from your market and in your neighborhood are at home than attending the conference. (For example - how cool would it be to hang out at dinner with Dave Logan, Scott Sutherland, Dave McDonald, Steve Rivers and other PNW folks in Seattle. Let's say you're unable to attend for whatever reason, Seattle is the city most near you and you have an opportunity to enjoy dinner with others, like you, who are not away attending the main event?) What if you could jump to a place online to engage in an active conversation of the day's issues? Wiki fueled session by session forums? Presenters signed on, full live interaction (If Howie Kurtz and the other big dogs at WaPo can do online sessions live certainly conference speakers can as well). And if you missed it live you can catch the action in archive.

I agree with Dave Winer that Tony Perkins' gang at AO are doing an outstanding job of serving up cool ways to discover what's happening, ways to catch the vibe without leaving the comforts of home (I was in the city for one day of AO Media this year and able to take in some of that missed via the web). My question is why not borrow from what Dave, Tony and others are suggesting and doing?

Fire up different, richer experience(s), a deeper, more meaningful conversation? The trainer in me wants to ask about transfer of training. Do these events produce more productivity back home? Are we, at least, having folks come back pumped and excited about doing much cooler work, inspired and on fire about doing work that matters?

The very cool thing about tech is we can do more than ever before and reach more people than at any other time. We need to change format.

Let's reboot the conference, time for convention reinvention. Let's allow the committee of sleep to work on it. By the way, I'm confident David, John, Erica and others will listen. Your thoughts are welcome here, always.

My thanks to Dave Winer for the inspiration.

Full disclosure: My bias is clear. As someone who delivers an annual brief at or concomitant to a number of industry events including the spring NAB (Mediascape: the digital futures update) and is also engaged to give talks at conventions, meetings and in closed sessions (client and corporate) it is in my self-interest to improve attendance, satisfaction and take away. My employer invests in my continuing professional education as a trainer; I remain a serious student of developments, advances and best practices in the fields related and applicable to adult learning. As this post clearly shows, I'm a fan of Rehr, David, Cummings, Farber, Winer, Perkins, Logan, Sutherland, McDonald, Rivers and Steinbeck. I remain pro meeting and especially pro pro-am meeting.

P.S. A bonus of ten additional IQ points (with all commensurate advantages) to the first organization to invite Dave Winer in for a meeting to talk about what's now possible. NAB, RAB, R&R, CRS, Conclave, MS Bootcamp, RTNDA, NATPE, Promax/BDA, BEA, CTAM, NASBA? Nothing but upside. Listen to Dave.

Congrats & cheers: GSD&M on another great AT&T execution. njoy@utube idk my bff rose + bffjill Outstanding creative! Kudos too to Mark Prince the very smart media strategist that gets these flying through the air and racing through the wires. Brian Stelter bows his very cool new - and must-read - TV blog, TV Decoder via NYT here.


Light blogging ahead - on the road - time zones away.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish." John Quincy Adams

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits." Thomas A. Edison

"I have learned the novice can often see things that the expert overlooks. All that is necessary is not to be afraid of making mistakes, or of appearing naive." Abraham Maslow


On the day job about one-third of my time is spent presenting papers (including my annual brief), giving talks, facilitating training and the travel related to those engagements. This week I'm heading out for a series of meetings and giving two more talks along the way. So when a smart guy like Dave Winer talks about reinvention of the convention I'm dialed in...

"...I'd work to develop more ways for the back-channel to participate, to come to the front. That's the key to the future of conferences, how to extend them into the net, so the communication path is every way imaginable, not just from the venue out to the world. I want to feel like I'm in a nerve center, whether I'm at the venue or sitting in my living room in Berkeley. I had that feeling, btw, or an inkling of it, watching the AlwaysOn conference eariler this year, which had excellent presence on the net, real-time. The TC40 conference promoters, amazingly, actively thwarted the back channel. I don't know what their thinking was, but I think it was wrong."

This is certainly not the first time Dave has been ahead of the curve nor is it the first time he has suggested a reboot of the conference. Bravos Dave! Read Dave's Time to shake up conferences? here. P.S. Dave's right on every point and his idea about having a dinner in every major city is brilliant! We could have a geek dinner in each city and those attending virtually, or not, would be welcome to continue the conversation. Closed circuit to Dave: If one worked with a chain (e.g., Starwood) you could get the hosting venue and related expenses free in exchange for making a commitment to book the same day dinners at twenty, thirty, whatever of the same chain's restaurants. How cool would it be for thirty F&B managers around the country getting business because of a one or two day meeting hosted at a sister property hundreds or a thousand miles away? 20 cities x 30 people = dinner for 600 on the same night. Not a bad take for a meeting room, soft beverages, some light catering and connectivity. Plus an uber-cool pr angle is baked in (Starwood Hotels, owners of Westin, Sheraton and W Hotels played host to a national conversation today, an important discussion of technology and American life, etc., et al).

Internet ad spend: VS&S is out with their projection on Internet advertising, to wit: the Internet will become the single biggest ad segment, pacing ahead of newspapers and broadcast TV in four years. The details...

Segment - 2006, 2011 (in billions)

National - 16.9, 39.0
Local - 6.4, 19.2
Social Media - 0.4, 3.8
Total - 23.7, 62.0

Congrats & cheers: PBS, John Goberman, Kirk Browning, and Yo-Yo Ma on last night's incredible performance Live From Lincoln Center. Bob Pittman and Tom Rogers on their preview launch of PeopleJam. Pud (aka Philip Kaplan) on being the last ad exchange guy standing; AdBrite, so the buzz goes, will soon fetch a pretty penny for all involved including Sequoia Capital (a nice tuck-in for AOL?). The Mint crew taking top prize at TechCrunch40. Andy Berndt on joining Google to head a new global unit (is this Google's move into the agency biz?).

More later today.

"People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to." George Allen

"Play the game for more than you can afford to lose...only then will you learn the game." Winston Churchill

"All the sugar was in the bottom of the cup." Julia Howe

Todays image: Last Shot in the Life of a Lens by Thomas Hawk. Awesome. Thank you!

It's that time of year when we get involved in helping clients imagine the new year just ahead. This year we are suggesting teams consider management innovation. Dr. Gary Hamel, our favorite business strategist, is writing and speaking on this very subject matter. From HBR last year (Feb 06)...

The Elements of Management Innovation

In most companies, management innovation is ad hoc and incremental. A systematic process for producing bold management breakthroughs must include

1. Commitment to a big management problem
2. Novel principles that illuminate new approaches
3. A deconstruction of management orthodoxies
4. Analogies from atypical organizations that redefine what's possible

To maximize the chances of a management breakthrough, you need to start with a problem that is both consequential and soul stirring. If you don't have such a problem in mind, here are three leading questions that will stimulate your imagination

1. First, what are the tough trade-offs that your company never seems to get right? Management innovation is often driven by the desire to transcend such trade-offs, which can appear to be irreconcilable...Your challenge is to find an opportunity to turn an "either/or" into an "and."
2. Second, what are big organizations bad at? This question should produce a long list of incompetencies...Push yourself to imagine a company can't-do that you and your colleagues could turn into a can-do.
3. Third, what are the emerging challenges the future has in store for your company?...If you scan the horizon, you're sure to see a tomorrow problem that your company should start tackling today.

Gary Hamel's new book is a must-read. The Future of Management (Amazon info)

Congrats & cheers: Dan Mason, Jennifer Donohue, Brian Thomas, Lenny Bloch, and team on a game-changing trend at WCBS-FM. Vinny Brown on a killer trend at WBLS. Drew Horowitz, Jerry Schnacke, Greg Solk and team Bonneville-Chicago on another incredible trend.

"Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself." Paul "Bear" Bryant

"Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility...in the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have...is the ability to take responsibility." Michael Korda

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet." Theodore M. Hesburgh

Photo: renewed by Karoli Kuns. Wonderful. Thank you!

The Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun (Amazon info) is one of the books we are recommending this fall. A good read. Scott makes a strong point when he writes "The passion of creation leaves us partially blind; we're focused so intently on what we're making that we forget the good things already here, or that our innovations might leave behind...The best philosophy of innovation is to accept both change and tradition and to avoid the traps of absolutes. As ridiculous as it is to accept all new ideas simply because they're new, it's equally silly to accept all traditions simply because they're traditions. Ideas new and old have their place in the future, and it's our job to put them there."

He's back: That Flack named Jack. This time around he's giving advice to Rupert here.

Congrats & cheers: Marianne Gambelli promoted, named president ad sales for NBCU. Also at NBCU - Debbie Reichig named SVP, market development, John Sabino named SVP, commercial excellence. Chris Neimeth promoted, named CEO of Salon Media Group.

Coming soon: WADV Kudos to RAB and the Advertising Week gang.

Coming surge in local web advertising. The Media Life Magazine writing by Diego Vasquez where we get more inside dope on the eMarketer report concerning the future of local online advertising. Diego interviews eMarketer analyst David Hallerman here.

The Jack worth listening to: Jack Myers has updated his ad spend projections. You may review all of the data at his site www.JackMyers.com Here's a sort of some of the 2007 data showing how this year ends and his growth projections for next year.

Media - Share - %growth 07 - %growth 08
Newspapers 19.8 -4.6 -2.4
Local+Nat Spot TV 11.3 -6.0 +13.5
Custom publishing 9.1 +14.0 +9.0
Radio 9.0 -2.0 +2.5
Broadcast Network TV 8.2 +2.0 +3.2
Cable Network TV 7.7 +5.0 +7.0
Online/Internet 7.2 +20.0 +24.0
Yellow Pages - Print 6.3 +0.5 -1.5
Consumer Magazines 6.2 +4.2 +3.8

"I didn't get where I am by thinking about it or dreaming it. I got there by doing it." Estee Lauder

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." Sun Tzu

"When someone says they don't mind, they mind." Johnny Martin


The 10th and most important step. The one I took off the list, making the list nine in number.

That was totally wrong.

Here's the deal. If you had asked me to give you only one suggestion, a single suggestion that would make a difference in the performance of your talent, my one BIG idea, it would have been the 10th step, the one I took off the list.

Day job anecdotal evidence: This single suggestion is the secret of how we were able to take a #6 morning radio show to #2 without changing any of the players, without a penny of promotion or advertising. This simple suggestion is how we were able to take a #4 11pm news show to #2 without changing any of the players, without a dime of additional promotion. In both cases our 2008 goal is to be #1 and we will be (our clients are in total agreement and are now budgeting as the market leader). This approach helped us to take the #4 billing cluster to the #2 biller position (same sales team, same ratings). On the day job we have a deep understanding, appreciation and respect for this approach because we know it produces results.

I share this here today in the hope you will take advantage of the concept and, understanding this to be nothing less than really, really hard work, know that it is work that you can master. So here it is...

Performance is process. You must honor the moment. You need to fully understand and appreciate the incredible power of your influence. The #1 hobby of every talent is watching, listening to and talking about you and others on the crack management team. Talent are sensitive creative animals, they are dialed-in to nuance. They are children walking around in adult bodies. One of the very best returns on investment is getting serious about adult learning.

Let me introduce some literature from learning theory...

"The most important question which remains is that which asks how a teacher's expectation becomes translated into behavior in such a way as to elicit the expected pupil behavior." (Reference - PDF)

Pygmalion

Here is the theory in brief. When managers expect the best from performers they get the best. When managers expect the worst they get it. J. Sterling Livingston is author of the now famous 1969 Harvard Business Review writing - Pygmalion in Management. Good old J. said...

"What managers expect of subordinates and the way they treat them largely determine their performance and career progress."

Please read that last sentence again. Write it down. Think about this everyday. Two words...

Expect

Treat

Those are the two keys that will unleash incredible success with talent.

What you expect of them.

The way you treat them.

Expect great things and treat them like stars and you will get success beyond your dreams.

Stanislavski taught...

"Stimulate in an actor an appetite for his part. This preserves the freedom of the creative artist."

It was the legendary Paul Drew who taught me the lesson; being #1 starts with thinking about, planning on and being #1. "Dave, every NFL team begins the season with a playbook, a detailed plan to take them to the Super Bowl. Dave, what is your plan?" As ever, PD was spot-on! Thank you very much Paul!

Go for greatness! Nothing less.

All things Classic Rock: Dan Kelley offers up a blog for radio programmers here. My thanks to Dan for his kind words and for links to this humble blog.

Congrats & cheers: Matt Creamer now blogging here. Thanks to Max Kalehoff for the tip.

Bonus: The brilliant Bob Henabery on Bill Drake and Rick Sklar - a killer writing here.

Have an amazing weekend. See you next week in a brand new show!

"Plans are nothing; planning is everything." Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Preparation. I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture." Amelia Earhart

"Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought." Bernard Baruch


Final two of the nine suggestions.

8. Schedule a "locker room" session. Get the entire team together. Come prepared to say something positive about each and every talent. Praise each talent using a specific example of recent good work or excellence. Review the game plan for the sweep. Have each talent offer their thoughts on the competition (see yesterday's #5). Don't lead the meeting, guide the meeting. Involve the talent.

9. Catch them doing something right. To improve performance nothing is more powerful than sincere positive recognition.

Lots of emails on yesterday's post. Two recurring themes...

Why allow talent to select their best work? Are you suggesting we not offer our critique?

Our objective is to get talent listening to their work on a daily basis. This behavior alone will improve their performance. By asking them to select their best work we encourage them to compare, contrast and think about their work. By having them explain what's good about their performance we learn how they define quality, we begin to understand how they think.

In my experience one should listen to the performer. Should you offer a critique keep it positive. The error you need to avoid is leading the session, telling the performer what you think went wrong. Pointing out obvious mistakes puts the focus on compliance. Allowing the performer to lead the session and talk about what went right puts the focus on compassion. We want to learn how they feel about their work.

"The difficult should become habitual, the habitual easy, the easy, beautiful"

S.M. Volkonski quoted by Stanislavski

Photo: Pencils by Richard Steih Beautiful shot. Thank you!

"The true bottom line is, and will always be, talent and excellence. Whatever you decide to do, the important thing is to do it well. You can't always find the job or opportunity you may most desire, but whatever job you do get, do it well. And it will lead to other opportunities." Ahmet Ertegun

"Success is a spiral with trying, failing, learning and growing, and that's what excellence is." Ben Cohen

"Recognize that people from headquarters, particularly staff, never know what is going on. Ask the workers directly and you will learn a lot more." Richard A. Moran

Sharpen those pencils

Nine ways: Nine days and the fall radio sweeps begin. What can you do in the nine days remaining to get your talent performing at their best? Here are nine ways.

1. Call-in sick. Take a day away from the office. No heads up, no tip, no wink, no nod, no clue. Just burn a sick day. Get up a 5am. Listen to your radio station(s) all day. Using a second radio play your biggest share stations "against" yours in real time. Take notes, write down everything you hear, everything you feel. Think about what you're hearing. Note what you are not hearing. At the end of the evening write down what you learned. Make a to-do list of things you need to tighten up. Doing this the right way you can count on your dinner tasting great and sleeping really well - you'll be mentally wasted. Done right, it's a two legal pad day.

2. Get a second opinion. Got a group programming exec or a consultant or a good friend in or outside the firm? Set it up that they will listen to your station on the day that you know (and they have no idea) you will be calling in sick. With their input you can check your homework.

3. Assign your talent some homework. Ask your team to prepare for a one-on-one meeting with you. They need to come prepared to discuss the following:

A. Why do people listen to our station? What are they listening for? What sets us apart? What does WXXX mean to people? What do they expect? What do your friends think of our station?
B. Why do people listen to your show? What makes your show different from everything else people can listen to while you are on the air? What do people expect to hear on your show?
C. What can I do to help you to be more successful?

4. Discuss homework. Meet with your talent to talk about their homework. Listen. Take careful notes. After the meeting ask yourself - What did I learn? What can I do? What can we do?

5. Provide talent with audio. Give each of your talent airchecks of the programs that are up against them, the in-demo competition that are now (perhaps) only call letters in an Arbitron ranker. You need for them to hear them as shows, as real competitors. Have them do a second homework assignment. Have them listen to the airchecks and tell you why...

they think people listen to the competitor, what they believe people are listening for, what they feel sets the competitor apart, how do they think the competitor is different from us, how is the show they heard different from their show, what can we do better?

6. Ask talent to listen to themselves. They agree to listen to their aircheck after every show every day for five days - on the honor system. They select what they believe to be their best show of five.

7. Schedule a pre-game. A one-on-one with you, each talent brings their best aircheck into the meeting. Listen to the show together and have them tell you about why the show was their best of five. Ask them to tell you what would have made it a better show. Listen carefully. Take notes. Reserve comment.



Next: The two BIG steps that ensure the winning performance.

Bonus: 7 Stupid Thinking Errors You Probably Make - via lifehack here.

The Quotable Mel: The guy that admits he's just no good at being a #2 is having a hard time, again. Playing #2 to regulators and lawmakers, well, that really sucks (especially when it's costing money). Mel seems to love running his mouth and saying stupid things that get picked up by business writers. The guy has a history of playing agent provocateur. Check out his comments about the CBS Evening News in BW (Peter Elstrom filing). "Let's eliminate it. You know, I mean who cares?" Plug and play CNN? Ends up it was all bark and no bite but it's so quotable. My sense is Mel would have been better served taking a meeting with someone smart, someone that really understands news and video, someone like Michael Rosenblum. Keep in mind, Mel is the same guy that once said William B. Williams was a hack; that Mel, he kids but he is so money. My odds on the merger remain 6 to 5 against. This is only the second time I have bet against mighty Mel. The first being his odds of hanging on at Veeahkom, he never had a chance.

Congrats & cheers: Michael Maness named Gannett's new VP of Innovation and Design. Linda and Robert Williams.

"Do not desire to fit in. Desire to lead." Gwendolyn Brooks

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." Vernon Jordan

"While you're setting goals, don't be afraid of failure. Fear of failure is a far worse condition than failure itself, because it kills off possibilities. The worst thing that can happen if you risk failure is that you will fail." Michael Eisner


Canary + Coal Mine: Domestic ad spend down two consecutive quarters. Joe Mandese has detail here. TNS MI data...

Internet display +17.7%
Consumer mags +6.9%
Outdoor +3.6%
Cable +2.8%

Network TV -3.6%
Spot TV -5.4%
Syndi TV -5.3%
Dead tree - local -5.7%
Radio -2.7%

Meanwhile, Q4 scatter is white hot (MW here). The upfront ain't dead yet.

Case closed - now let's all get back to work: Everything is a platform - conclusive proof here. Thanks to Dr Dave for the tip.

Goodbye To The Public Eye: Brian Montopoli leaves CBS' Public Eye to work a CBSNews.com beat (political). Kudos to the Eye team on refreshing their political pages, good luck to Brian (and thanks for two good years leading PE).

Launch plus 74 days: Apple sells iPhone # 1 million.

Jamie Kantrowitz SVP, EU Marcom, MySpace - interview via paidContent:UK

Adweek offers up their third annual Digital Hot List and the winners are...

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. YouTube
4. TMZ.com
5. Disney.com
6. Veoh
7. Funny or Die
8. Discovery.com
9. digg
10. imeem

Bonus: Mark Deuze

And thanks to Mark, I'm reminded of Clay Shirky...

"...in a world where an email address constitutes a media channel, we are all producers now"

Congrats & cheers: Technorati gang debuts their new main page (and new search features). Matthew Felling the new honcho at CBS' Public Eye. Shelley Ross new EP at TES. Angie Kucharski named VP, Media Strategies, CBS TV O&Os.

"In your journey toward the realization of personal goals, don't make choices based only on your security and your safety. Nothing is safe. It is not safe to challenge the status quo. But challenge it you must." Toni Morrison

"Like every generation, we must move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality." John F. Kennedy

"Be bold, be bold, be bold." Susan Sontag

One of the cool things about living in Wisconsin is the rich experience of seasonal change. Each year as fall approaches change is set into motion and the big show begins. Last evening we heard the honking and watched the V-formations of Canada geese arriving from Hudson Bay. Soon the migratory flyway overhead will be stocked with waterfowl. The photo above is of Horicon Marsh a wetland habitat. Marlin Perkins comes to mind as I write this post opening. As we provide a safe habitat for wild birds so must managers provide protection for their teams.

Scott Berkun makes this point in his new book The Myths of Innovation (Amazon info)...

"One thing a genius can't do that his manager can is provide cover fire. Whether through power, inspiration, or charisma, managers have the singular burden of protecting their teams. Innovations always threaten someone in power, and executives in search of budget cuts frequently target them first. The manager's unique role is to use whatever means necessary to shield innovation while it's too young to defend itself in the open. Steve Jobs took the Macintosh project into a separate building at Apple headquarters, sequestering it from the rest of the company. The first laptop at Toshiba was rejected by corporate leaders, and Tetsuya Mizoguchi, the team leader, fought to keep the project alive until he won executive support; three years later, the project had 38% of the market. Any story of breakthrough work has someone acting as a shield, defending innovation while it's happening...Managers can take larger bullets for the team than anyone else."

The effective manager provides protection

There has never been a more exciting time to be working in ad supported measured media. The sea change taking place is not the stuff of evolution but rather disruptive game-changing revolution. This time of incredible opportunity demands effective leadership and the effective manager must provide protection. As the Toni Morrison quote above says "It is not safe to challenge the status quo. But challenge it you must."

The dead tree guys are holding a clinic on this sea change. Here is part of a writing by Jeff Jarvis on Newspapers in 2020...

"So by 2020, I predict, the surviving news organizations will be built on large and efficient advertising networks. They will place advertising not only on the content they create but, in far greater volume, on the content others create. This means they need to encourage others to create more quality content. That, I argue, is the key strategic challenge for newspapers: how to gather more and produce less, how to enable others to produce more content so we can build a larger network around them. This reduces our cost while increasing content for our communities. It also reduces our cost while increasing our potential for revenue.

So we become networks of content and content creators. By 2020, most news coverage will not be created by people employed by our organizations. Much of it will still be created by professionals, by people making a living off journalism. But many of those will be independent. All over the world, I see journalists laid off from their jobs who start their own independent news ventures, and many are starting to make an economic go of it. I also see newcomers creating their own enterprises."

Jeff also says...

"So how do we make sufficient revenue in the future? I argue that we need to operate advertising networks, finding and selling the best of what exists both within and without of our walls and sites. And if we do that quickly, we have a few timely advantages: First, we have the relationships with and the trust of advertisers; if we assemble the best networks, we are well-positioned to sell them. Second, advertisers have been even more timid about this new age than we have, and so we can be their guides. If we do not do this, be assured that Google will."

Read Jeff's entire essay here. Bravos Jeff! If not Google, then certainly Microsoft or a player to be named later. Agree with Jeff on one other very important issue, the importance of incumbency...

"Who is best to get us there? No rule says that it will be the incumbents: today’s newspapers. If these products, brands, and companies are to survive and prosper in 13 years, they must aggressively innovate today, leading – not following – their readers and advertisers into the new universe, reimagining and revinventing their service – and journalism itself – to exploit this new architecture of media and news. Their advantage born of their control over content and distribution will become increasingly meaningless. Their businesses are losing value as circulation and advertising decline. Their brands are losing equity as trust declines (a recent Pew survey said 53 percent of Americans think news stories are often inaccurate). New competitors have the advantage of operating more nimbly, without the burden of infrastructure and with a keener understanding of – and no fear of – the new opportunities technology affords."

Jeff is spot-on here. My sense is incumbency, as a practical matter, is meaningless in everything except political campaigns. Being an incumbent no more secures success than does being the first mover. Both are canards. Both dangerous notions past their best-used by dates.

Back to the manager as protector. At one time the sales department provided cover for product innovation. All of my greatest successes in delivering numbers to the sales department were made possible only by the creative collaboration with and full support of sales. A great sales manager buys time for product and audience development. It was Lee Simonson, Drew Horowitz, Bill Hartman, Chuck Tweedle and other exceptional leaders that played critically important roles in my ratings successes - they bought priceless time for me and my team.

It was a crisis of confidence in the sales department and a massive failure of imagination that brought down WCBS-FM in 2005, that killed the 19 year-old Oasis franchise in Dallas, and it's that deadly combo which continues to kill off good stations. Nothing can do more harm to innovation than a sales department that's not producing. Nothing builds the brand like time; the support of a productive sales team is key to the ongoing success of every great station.

Perhaps the most improper deployment of a productive sales team is keeping a bad station alive. We all know of stations that are not able to break a two share yet are allowed to continue posting mediocre ratings because a good sales department has the station on life support; the numbers are modest but additive to the cluster, it's the station that brings in the buy. We see this too often. It is the responsibility of leadership to produce results. It is the responsibility of leadership to bring out the best in others and to achieve the full potential of the assets under their management. A perfectly good full-powered station should never be allowed to deliver mediocre ratings (or sales) performance without getting the serious attention needed to correct the situation. Hard working sellers deserve a credible product in advance of competitive numbers. Give them a story. Make something happen that they can hear (or see) and believe in.

If there is one thing too often missing in today's broadcast enterprise it is the productive creative tension between programming and sales. To take advantage of today's many opportunities, to make the best of the revolution at hand, to navigate one of the greatest sea changes in ad supported measured media we need great sales managers. Nothing less will get the job done. Nothing.

Programming ace Tom Teuber reminded me of something I had said in one of our earlier conversations. The role of program director as sometime defense attorney. Here again, we are talking about the effective manager as protector. It's one of those additional duties as assigned and it's very important. Talent need protection. Providing the right environment for creative people to do their best work is certainly critical, however, standing up and being their advocate is equally important. Over our recent lunch in Chicago Tom quoted Gordon McLendon "Get people to talk about your radio station." Very wise counsel. Long, long before it became vogue to hold forth on the power of word of mouth, viral marketing, et al, Gordon was making it by the truck load and to incredible affect. To get folks talking you need to do something. One needs to go off the rez and take a calculated creative gamble. This involves a measure of risk as does any successful creative endeavor. Talent will perform at their potential only when they feel they have an advocate to champion their work. Great performances come from talent being focused on performing rather than being preoccupied with consequences. Talent need to know they can run the yellow lights.

Bonus: Build A Sales Machine

Bonus 2: The legendary Paul Drew, Jaywalking with Leno. Outstanding PD! Congrats & cheers!

"It is not a sprint that you are running; it is more like a marathon. And remember, you have to keep running." Sir George Martin

"Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in." Alan Alda

"Listen to that small voice from inside you, that tells you to go another way. George Eliot wrote 'It is never too late to be what you might have been.' It is never too early, either." Anna Quindlen

Social networking stats - stuff discovered on the way to finding other stuff...

comScore data offers some interesting insights on the uniques of some social nets. The entire release may be found here. Total worldwide, home and work, 15+, selected urls not a pure ranking. June 07 (June 06) uvs, percentage increase, shares (comp) of uniques by region (leading):

My Space 114,147,000 (66,401,000) +72%, 62.1 North America
Facebook 52,167,000 (14,083,000) +270%, 68.4 North America
Hi5 28,174,000 (18,098,000) +56%, 31.0 Europe
Friendster 24,675,000 (14,917,000) +65%, 88.7 Asia Pacific
Orkut 24,120,000 (13,588,000) +78%, 48.9 Latin America
Bebo 18,200,000 (6,694,000) +172%, 62.5 Europe
Tagged 13,167,000 (1,506,000) +774%, 29.2 Asia Pacific

What an amazing year for social networks. My sense is the only faster adoption rate would have to be fire, however, stats are not available to confirm that notion.


Congrats & cheers: Joshua Schachter and the del.icio.us crew on their very cool, totally refreshed 2.0 code. It's now simply delicious. Catch the details about the new version via the Michael Arrington exclusive sneak here. Bravos to Michael and team, great job!

Next: Where have all the great sales managers gone? Why sales departments are becoming the single biggest enemy of innovation.

"Imitations are redundant. Your self is what is wanted." Anna Quindlen

"All creative people are dissatisfied with themselves at one time or another. That too is part of the process. The after indulging in glorious self-pity, they get back at it again. And again. And they work, and they suffer, and they understand, at the bottom, that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that's as much fun as this." Jules Feiffer

"Talent is possibility; ability is the knack of getting a certain thing right more often than you get it wrong; creativity is a mixture of both." Stephen King

The Media Audit offers wonderful insights with their data. Here are a few snapshots from their 2007 data releases...

Nationally 73% of adults are going online.

27% of adults have visited a local TV station website in the last thirty days.

Markets where 50% (or more) of the adult online population visits a local TV station website at least once a month: Raleigh, Tulsa, Denver, Columbia, Little Rock and Madison.

In the top fifteen markets - top five at converting adults online to local TV website visitors: Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Detroit and Seattle.

Bonus marketing lesson: Four Mistakes Apple Made With The IPhone Price Drop. Terrence Russell offers up a solid lesson via Wired here. Bravo Terrence!

Congrats & cheers: Ray De La Garza named Vice President, Programming at Radio Disney.

Photo: Gizmodo - Apple's The Beat Goes On

Fun facts from today's Steve Jobs' show...

iTunes is the #3 music retailer in the US: 1. Wal-Mart 2. Best Buy 4. Amazon 5. Target.

32% - percentage of all music releases in 2006 that were digital only.

Bonus: Richard MacManus shares his 10 Future Web Trends. Bravo Richard! Well done.

"I'm a prisoner of hope, even when there's evidence to the contrary. William James said it so well when he talked about faith being the courage to act when doubt is warranted." Cornel West

"This is the hard work of your life in the world: to make it all up as you go along, to acknowledge the introvert, the clown, the artist, the reserved, the distraught, the goofball, the thinker." Anna Quindlen

"I suppose I became successful by a combination of dumb luck, low cunning, and risk-taking born out of curiosity." Sting


Survey says: Media Life Magazine ran an online poll of buyers. Lisa Snedecker shares the findings including...

• Buyers believe ABC has the best fall schedule (52%), followed by CBS (18%) and Fox (17%). MyNetworkTV has the worst sked (32%) with NBC following (26%).
• Two thirds believe Don Imus will return to radio by Christmas.
• Forty-six percent believe Murdoch bought Dow Jones to bolster his coming cable biz channel, rather than any intense desire to battle NYT or for reasons of pure ego.

Read Buyers see tougher go for older media - Lisa's summary here.

A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web: Marc Canter, Joseph Smarr, Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington take up the task of a first draft. It's a good one. Bravo guys! Read the Bill of Rights here, Scobleizer's take, Joseph weighs in here. Awaiting: takes from Dave Winer, Doc and David Weinberger.

"Give us one big idea that will make a difference, help us to achieve better results" That, dear friends, was the final Q&A comment put to me at the end of this morning's conference call. I decided to quote Scott Berkun and said "Good managers of innovation recognize that they are in primary control over the environment, and it's up to them to create a place for talented people to do their best work." Thanks to Scott I also added two chasers. Tom Kelly: "Innovation flourishes in greenhouses. What do I mean by a greenhouse? A place where the elements are just right to foster the growth of ideas. Where there's heat, light, moisture, and plenty of nurturing. The greenhouse we're talking about, of course, is the workplace, the way spaces take shape in offices and teams work together." Lewis Thomas: "One way to tell when something important is going on is by laughter. It seems to me that whenever I have been around a laboratory at a time when something very interesting has happened, it has at first seemed to be quite funny. There's laughter connected with the surprise - it does look funny. And whenever you hear laughter...you can tell things are going well and that something probably worth looking at has begun to happen in the lab." So I ended my comments with this question - how much laughter are you hearing in your stations?

Congrats & cheers: Yahoo! buys BlueLithium (one of the bigger ad networks). Michael Wolff, Caroline Miller, Ken Doctor and the Highbeam Research crew as their new project Newser bows in beta. Kudos to the Faster, Smarter News guys and dolls. Michael's back story, Is This the End of News, here via VF.