Photo:

Gull

by

Ron Fell

Very cool shot.

Bravo Ron. Thank you very much!



"The world is not perishing for the want of clever or talented or well-meaning men. It is perishing for the want of men of courage and resolution who, in devotion to the cause of right and truth, can rise above personal feeling and private ambition." Robert J. McCracken

"One nice thing about silence is that it can't be repeated." Gary Cooper

"Don't follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise." David Seabury

Back to the countdown: Jim Smith again answers the call checking in with the name of our missing KSFX GM. "It was Joe Parish who replaced Don Platt in July 1979. Joe left to manage WPLJ at the end of March 1981, and Ron Denman moved up from GSM to replace him." Thanks Jim!

Congrats & cheers: Brad Saul on moving his First Access Bank project forward, he's now looking for investors; the first fully accessible online bank for people with disabilities is another big step closer to being a reality thanks to Brad. Robert F.X. Sillerman and his CKX gang. This guy is so money; the brilliant serial entrepreneur is going private - and taking Idol, Elvis and the Champ with him, stay tuned. Mark Masters, Jim Watkins and the TRN team on signing the great talent Phil Hendrie. Smart, very smart.

Strategic opportunity: What Phil Hendrie does is uniquely entertaining - sui generis - one of one. Therefore, his act is the perfect fit for evenings or late nights especially on stations like WCKG. What talk stations need at night is not yet another network pundit reheating the issues of the day (e.g., Glenn Beck) but rather a fresh and very different pov. That's what makes Phil's act so engaging, the show is totally original. Talk programmers should recognize this as an opportunity to drop the me-too and wannabe shows. All you need do is listen for what's not there. The object of the exercise is to create contrast. How, exactly, is what you are now doing dramatically different, arresting at a visceral level and authentically unique when compared to the other options available to your listeners?

Consider another perspective.

The legendary programmer Bill Stewart talking with Claude Hall about the incredible overnight success of WTIX..."Storz put on what was really the first music station in town. It was singularly successful because no one else was doing anything even remotely like it." (My emphasis) The old school fundamentals still apply - carefully study the market, discover what everyone else is doing, then do the opposite, put on offer what is not there, ensure that nothing is even remotely like your programming. Signing Phil you pull away from the pack. My sense is adding Phil Hendrie represents a genuine game-changing strategic move. Stop being concerned about getting better and start obsessing on getting dramatically different. "Less Clausewitz, more Sun Tzu" to quote Thomas P.M. Barnett from an earlier post. In the case of this opportunity, being brilliant on the basics, as ever, yields the best ROI. (FD: I have previously served as an adviser to TRN)

James Carville speaking this morning on Russert's MTP about the possible run of Al Gore in 2008..."Running for president is like sex, you don't do it once and forget about it."

Bonus: Bruce Rave offers up his latest Go Deep - the 5/31 webcast is highly recommend - find and listen here. Bravos Bruce!

Image credit: Always On
Thanks Tony.

David Carlick has written a two-part piece on marketing and advertising. Part one, Messy Online Marketing here. Part two, The Future of Advertising here. Kudos David!

Fred Winston blogs about the beauty of Cleopatra here, and stamps that tastes like pork here. As original a blogger as he is a radio star.

For the first time in school history Wisconsin hoops are #1 in the AP Top 25 poll. Booyah! Congrats to Bo Ryan and team.

"Beautiful forms and compositions are not made by chance, nor can they ever in any material be made at small expense. A composition for cheapness, and not for excellence of workmanship, is the most frequent and certain cause for the rapid decay and entire destruction of arts and manufacture." John Ruskin

"The price of progress is trouble." Charles Kettering

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." John Quincy Adams

Congrats & cheers: Jerry Schnacke promoted to Bonneville's Chicago market manager. Well deserved! Jerry is a gentleman, a mensch and a good broadcaster. Edward Sussman promoted to EVP of Mansueto Ventures and prexy of Mansueto Digital a new division.

Bruce Rave, maven of indie rock, offers up a new (2/13) Go Deep webcast here. Bravo Bruce! Enjoyed the tunes and your commentary too, thank you.

Thoughts on the business of music: Fred Wilson has written a thoughtful post on what's happening, and not happening, in the music business here. Fred also tips us to the Bob Lefsetz writing The End of Innocence here. Kudos to Fred and Bob. (Thanks Fred for sharing the new Modest Mouse track Fire It Up).

We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: The moment I first heard the title of the new Modest Mouse project - thanks to Tom Teuber on WSUM - my sense was this was music worth waiting for and so far the early reviews are strong. Love that title.

Miles to go before they sleep: This morning's call with Karmazin & Parsons - Ryan Saghir live blogged it here. The first buzz, as Borat would say, is "not so much." Jimmy Guterman rounds up the early bidding, Thumbs Down, here. Nice work Jimmy!

QE2 + QM2: Ron Fell told us, via his blog, these two ships would be in Sydney harbor at the same time this week. An event their respective namesakes last experienced during the 1940s. Certainly someone at NRO, for security reasons alone, must have been asked to task a KH or other EIS platform to provide imagery cover of this historic 21st century event. Perhaps Ron has images to share? LATER: Related story here - QM2 has set sail leaving her smaller sister behind. LATER2: Ron checks in from Sydney to say it was a spectacular event replete with first-class fireworks but, sadly, he has no images to offer up. Thanks Ron!

What he forgot to say: My thanks to Lee Arnold for his very kind words. The simple facts are I was the one that worked for Lee, he was one of my bosses. It was an honor, a privilege and my pleasure to serve and support Lee. The job of corporate staff is to serve those in the field, to help them to make things happen, to assist and support them in producing results. Corporate is nothing more than a cost center. Everything that's important in the enterprise happens in the field period, paragraph. Staff's mission is to serve the field. It's all about servant leadership. My first staff job required me to leave behind a good company and a field job in Chicago, I had to move to the city. I'm reminded of the words Eisenhower wrote after a week at his new desk job in the War Dept "There are lots of amateur strategists on the job, and prima donnas everywhere. I'd give anything to be back in the field." Early on in my new corporate post came a meeting with a consultant to the firm. Commenting on one of our station people, the consultant said to me "he can't be any good, he works for us." Unable to get him to understand why that kind of thinking was plainly wrong I let him go. He was later rehired after I left the firm. The lesson here is subjective issues are too often nothing more than issues of politics. I remain proud of the fine work that Lee and his Detroit team achieved during and after my watch. I am blessed he is my long-time friend, Lee is one very remarkable and gifted professional.

Really good red wine <$10: My love affair with Spanish wine continues. One of the best reds for the money is the 2005 Casa Castillo, Monastrell Jumilla. This is a 100% Mourvedre varietal (the Spanish call it Monastrell). The second leading Spanish grape variety after Grenache.