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.