"Difficulty is the nurse of greatness." William Cullen Bryant

"Find a purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best." David McKay

"Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought." Thucydides

Today's image: an amiable split by Lorrie McClanahan. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Say it ain't so: WADV is the RAB streaming audio platform which will be dedicated to covering next week's Advertising Week V. WADV will be streaming a great many sessions next week however The Radio CEO Summit session will not be one of them. There is no good excuse for this. Yahoo! buys a full-page ad in the Advertising Week V program, the insertion is far-forward, check, it's left-facing, uh, ok, the ad copy uses a url that does not work, no, please, no! There is no good excuse.

Bonus: Marketing maven Tom Asacker offers his take on Microsoft's new Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld campaign, The Bill and Jerry Show w/videos, here. But wait, there's more...

Tom has also posted a new thought piece that you need to read and share with others on your team. A Little More Action..."turn up the volume of your childlike sense of wonder, compassion and rampant enthusiasm." Find the article here. Bravos, Tom. Spot-on.

Congrats & cheers: CBS Radio programming ace Mark Edwards and his KEZK team taking home the AC Station of the Year hardware from R&R and leader of the CBS Radio gang Dan Mason honored as Radio Group Executive of the Year. Others honored in the first round included Mike McVay, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Owens, Bob Call and Eileen Woodbury. MadTown's WJJO picked up Active Rock Station of the Year. Complete list of winners here.

"Zeal without knowledge is like fire without a grate to contain it; like a sword without a hilt to wield it by; like a high-bred horse without a bridle to guide him. It speaks without thinking, acts without planning, seeks to accomplish a good end without the adoption of becoming means." Julius Bate

"Experience is the universal mother of sciences." Miguel de Cervantes

"The use of a thing is only a part of its significance. To know anything thoroughly, to have the full command of it in all its appliances, we must study it on its own account, independently of any special application." Goethe

Brilliant on the basics: CBS Radio's Mark Edwards pulled one out of the Gordon McLendon playbook yesterday. A totally unexpected stunt. His KEZK "Christmas in July" food drive generated big word of mouth, created awareness for the St Louis area foodbank, encouraged online foodbank donations and generated earned media. KMOV (CBS), KTVI (Fox) both sent shooters to the station and ran packages in their 10 shows. Kudos to Mark & crew. Ryan Farmer also gets a nod, the KEZK marketing maven came up with the idea. Bravo Ryan.

Holding a clinic on great radio: Jerry Schnacke is doing an outstanding job leading the Bonneville Chicago stations. WTMX and WDRV are two of the best stations in the nation. WTMX creator Barry James continues to build the groups third property, Love FM (WILV). The Bonneville Chicago team deserves high marks for doing things right.

Irrational exuberance redux: R.H. Donnelley buys business.com domain name for $345Mil.

Congrats & cheers: Doug Podell, the Doc of Rock, and his WRIF team on another great book. Eric & Kathy, WTMX, continuing to set the gold standard in Chicago morning radio. Johnny B getting it done for Emmis in Chicago and delivering an excellent book. Steve Mitgang named chief executive of Veoh Networks.