"The shortest distance between two comedians is a straight line." Ron Fell

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws." Douglas Adams

"Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number fourteen...

"It takes longer to write cleanly and crisply. It shows respect for the time of others when you do.

Learn to type with your thumbs on a Blackberry-like device. That will really discipline you to use shorter sentences and shorter words.

As you grow in position and assume roles of increasing responsibility and complexity, you truly appreciate those who communicate with brevity and clarity. Their emails, notes and reports will get read! Conversely, and sadly, good ideas in hard-to-open packages wrapped with complicated bows may be overlooked."

Going mobile: Empowering People through Mobile Technologies in Developing Regions, A presentation by Nokia's Joe McCarthy via slideshare here.

Radar Quiz: Fox Business Anchor or Porn Star? Take the quiz here. Kudos to Neel Shah. I scored 7 correct out of 10.

Steve Dahl delivered the mail. Changes at CBS Radio in Chicago. Steve to mornings on WJMK (JackFM), Monday, November 5.

Congrats & cheers: Rob Barnett and his My Damn Channel crew on their two nominations in the TV Guide Online Video Awards competition. Jacki Kelley joins Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia as sales chief and Yahoo! loses another player. Newser principals Patrick Spain and Michael Wolff on their formal debut tomorrow.

"Practice shows that those who speak the most knowingly and confidently often end up with the assignment to get the job done." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number thirteen...

"Here again, the key is to be a contributor of substance. If you speak up when you are knowledgeable on a particular subject, you will inspire the confidence of your management and you will get assignments that will allow you to demonstrate your worth. However, if you speak up when you are not knowledgeable, you may well sign on for an assignment you can't handle.

This is a great example of how a willingness to volunteer, coupled with a 'no fear' attitude (slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean), got me some great assignments. But beware, there is a hugh downside to volunteering if you are just 'winging' it!"

Excellent counsel. My thanks, again, to William Swanson

YouTube: 10% of all internet traffic, streaming 1.9 billion minutes of video a month. Elise Ackerman does a nice job reviewing the latest Google-YouTube ad model. Read Now playing on YouTube: in-video ads via The Mercury News here. Miguel Helft offers up a solid reading of the news w/video, Google Aims to Make YouTube Profitable with Ads via NYT here.

Kudos: Speaking of Google, kudos to Jess Lee and the Google Maps crew on their formal release of YouTube-style embeddable maps. Bravo! More info here. The smart money is on Google releasing a geoparsing API. Sweet indeed.

Banner Blindness: Usability maven Jakob Nielsen tells it like it is...

"The most prominent result from the new eyetracking studies is not actually new. We simply confirmed for the umpteenth time that banner blindness is real. Users almost never look at anything that looks like an advertisement, whether or not it's actually an ad."

He tells us the three design elements that are most effective at attracting eyeballs are

1. Plain text
2. Faces
3. Cleavage and other "private" body parts.

Read Banner Blindness: Old and New Findings here.

Jakob's ongoing confirmations serve to prove the wisdom of our earlier best practices counsel to clients. Investing funds in cpm deals is clearly a poor move especially when one is offered the alternative of cpc or cpa investment. The same holds true on the seller side. Banner bucks in all but national placements seldom produce results that lead to renewal.

Buyer beware department: sites that use auto-refresh to ramp up page views. Is one trade pub using this technique to pump up their lackluster stats? My sense is - yes. Sad that folks have to do such things. Watch it out there, things are not always as the seller represents.

Bonus: blogging for cooks - 24 boxes. Scott Meyer offers up Basic Instructions. Thanks to the Blogger crew for both tips.

"However menial and trivial your early assignments may appear, give them your best efforts." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number eight...

"It is important to set high standards for your career and to be demanding of yourself - to want to perform challenging tasks well. However, you are more likely to be given the opportunity to take on complicated, difficult assignments if you first demonstrate that you are willing and able to perform simpler tasks well. You will be surprised how much your performance may be recognized if you execute even a mundane task with a little pizzazz.

Conversely, if, early in your career, you act as if the simpler assignments are beneath you, then your manager may feel you are challenging his or her judgment and your peers may feel you are not a team player. Building strong relationships with management and peers early in your career will help you immeasurably later on.

Everything you do, no matter how menial or trivial it may seem, has your name associated with it. For that reason alone it is worth doing well.

Remember that if your manager is good, he or she will always be trying to develop talent - you. When you are a manager, you will want to do the same."

More wisdom from William Swanson. My thanks to him. The last sentence of this unwritten rule contains a critically important concept - "always be trying to develop talent." Finding, recruiting, developing and retaining talent should always be job one, however, that is rarely the case. Quality of leadership makes a big difference here. "Differences in teacher quality account for more than 90 percent of the variation in student achievement" say education writers Rosemary and Harry Wong. In my experience this holds equally true for business leaders and those they lead.

Congrats & cheers: Tony Coles - during his watch Portland's K103 has come back. #1 cume, #1 12+, #1 25-54 Adults, #1 18-49 Adults.

Photo: Guitar Town by Thomas Hawk. Fine shot. Thank you!

"I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself." James Taylor

"The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice." Andre Segovia

"Constantly review developments to make sure that the actual benefits are what they were suppose to be. Avoid Newton's Law." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number seven...

"Follow-through is just as important as good decision-making in the first place. When deciding on a course of action, set measurable objectives that can be monitored over time to make sure the decision is yielding the intended benefits. By "Avoid Newton's Law," I mean that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Assume that your decision may have second- and third-order effects. Monitor the progress of the actions you set in motion to make sure these effects are not counter-productive, and if they are, that they are addressed early.

At Raytheon, our program managers use various process disciplines that enable them to evaluate how well the program is proceeding and whether mid-course corrections are needed.

When used properly, these disciplines are a powerful management tool to keep programs on course. However, it is essential that the manager use the disciplines to gain insight into his or her program and its progress, and not simply as a way to 'check the box.'"

Excellent counsel from William Swanson. One of the subjects touched on in my brief talk at French Lick this past week (Broadcast Management Futures Summit) was the critical importance of measurement. My suggestion is you need to employ a daily dashboard as an approach to keeping current on what is happening and what is not happening in your enterprise. Daily. Weekly or monthly is simply not current enough, you need fresh data points, feedback loops need to be tight enough, close enough to be actionable.

Housekeeping: Added the blog of Tom Asacker to the Other Voices column at left. Impressed with Tom (first meeting him earlier this week) and find his writing interesting. You may find his blog here. Added current reading to my reading list which always seems to lag, all apologies. Click book titles for links to Amazon info. David Weinberger - Everything Is Micellaneous. Howard Moskowitz and Alex Gofman - Selling Blue Elephants. William Ury - The Power of a Positive No. Finally, one of my summer fiction reads Granta - Granta 97: Best of Young American Novelists.

The $225,000 parking space: Only in the city; Vivian S. Toy has the story via NYT here.

Save Net Radio: My friend Kurt Hanson continues with those out front and leading the charge to encourage congressional action that keeps internet radio alive. The latest news here. This is one of the most important issues of 2007. Please click on the Save Net Radio banner, at left, and contact your members. Let them know you want and need congress to take action to protect the rich and growing diversity of voices.

Doc on the social nets: "For all their goodness, these 'networks' are silly. They are also as temporary and annoying in their competitive isolation as Compuserve, Prodigy and AOL were, back in the day (or the decade). Those things were Net-unfriendly long before their surviving members became Net-native." Bravo Doc, well said! Read Doc's post here.

The shopping cart: Working on building an online store for the retail shop. Your suggestions on shopping carts, hosting, software (browser based and packaged goods) and any/all other e-commerce solution issues welcomed and appreciated. Please use the contact me utility in the left column. Many thanks.

Bonus: Jack Pendarvis

Bonus 2: Postel's Law. Thanks to Dave Winer.

Bonus 3: Meet Me at the Fountain. A mad cool indie music news site. Thanks to Bruce Ravid for the tip.

"Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him." Goethe

"Whatever course you have chosen for yourself, it will not be a chore but an adventure if you bring to it a sense of the glory of striving - if your sights are set far above the merely secure and mediocre." David Sarnoff

"He is the best leader who most fully understands the nature of things, so that his plans are not doomed to ultimate failure; who possesses an active, far-ranging imagination which can see many possibilities; who has a sense of values, so that among possibilities he is able to choose the most excellent; who has a sense of order, to give form, design and program to the values and purposes he selects; who has practical sense and judgment, and so uses the most feasible means to accomplish his ends; and who has the energy and enthusiasm to carry his plans persistently toward fruition." Arthur E. Morgan

"Confirm the instructions you give others, and their commitments, in writing. Don't assume it will get done!" William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number eleven...

"The point is that we often believe we have communicated clearly when we have only transmitted clearly. It is just as important to make sure that the message has been properly received and that you and your team agree on what everybody is committing to.

Confirming instructions and commitments in writing helps to give structure to the communications process and to ensure that everybody knows what needs to be done, and who will do it.

In addition, verbally ask others to replay your instructions back to you, then put the instructions in your own words and make sure you still get an affirmative nod from the recipients.

Keep the confirmation of instructions and commitments clear and crisp so as not to bureaucratize the process."

Bravo to William Sullivan! Dedicating understandings to the written word is important for all involved. Equally important is his suggestion to ask others to "replay your instructions back to you." Smart, very smart. Please keep in mind, it's not what you say that's important, it's what they hear.

In my experience, there are eight words that will help you to make a complete and total difference in practically every outcome; it's one of the secrets that sets the winners apart from everyone else. It's one of the golden rules of business, break it and you put yourself at risk, you set yourself up for failure or, in the least, a potentially expensive disagreement. Here are eight words to live by, no exceptions, period...

"If it's not in writing, it's not real"

Google's Marissa Mayer on The Future of Search, a presentation at Searchnomics 2007. Nitin Karandikar provides an excellent recap via Read/Write Web here. Jeremiah Owyang offers up good detail on Marissa's session via Web Strategy here. Kudos to Nitin and Jeremiah for their outstanding coverage of the session.

Danger, Will Robinson: FTC suggests caution in any Net Neutrality regulation. Staci D. Kramer has the story via paidContent here. My sense is this, properly, is an FCC issue. By their 5-0 vote to do nothing the FTC leaves any decision making to others. The telecom tribe will read this FTC report adoption as favorable.

Very cool iPhone vid: NYT's Dave Pogue shows off his new phone here (YouTube). Bravo Dave, very well done!

Oldies revisited, again: Sean Ross reviews the bidding on oldies..."Oldies broadcasters have to ask themselves: What can they do to reactivate the passion for the format that now manifests itself as several potential shares' worth of phantom cume? Stations hear from those listeners when they change format. But broadcasters--particularly those considering new Oldies stations--need to figure out how to activate that passion now." Bravo Sean! Read his entire post with comments here.

Bonus: Bruce Ravid weighs in with a field report to wit "I was recently in the bay area for a few days...I thought that KFOG was the most compelling station that I heard in the market. I've always thought Benson has done a good job, but it seemed even more enjoyable this time around." Kudos to Dave Benson and team on getting the Ravid Rave and thanks, as always, to Bruce for the intel. Bruce has posted his latest Go Deep webcast here. Highly recommended.

"Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump!" William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number twenty five...

"We all spend many, many hours doing what we do. It is much more pleasant to spend those hours with people who have a bounce in their step and a smile on their face than with those who mistakenly associate professionalism with being sour and dour.

I enjoy what I do. I like working with others who feel the same way and I believe the work product reflects this.

I know our customers appreciate a team that enjoys what it does."

Bill is so totally on the mark. Are you having fun?

Which reminds me of David Ogilvy...

"Advertising agencies are fertile ground for office politics. You should work hard to minimize them, because they take up energy which can better be devoted to our clients; some agencies have been destroyed by internal politics. Here are some ways to minimize them:

1. Always be fair and honest in your own dealings; unfairness and dishonesty at the top can demoralize an agency.
2. Never hire relatives or friends.
3. Sack incurable politicians.
4. Crusade against paper warfare. Encourage your people to air their disagreements face-to-face.
5. Discourage secrecy.
6. Discourage poaching.
7. Compose sibling rivalries.

...Try to make working at Ogilvy & Mather fun. When people aren't having any fun, they seldom produce good advertising. Kill grimness with laughter. Maintain an atmosphere of informality. Encourage exuberance. Get rid of sad dogs who spread gloom."

Agree with the great Mr Ogilvy especially the "get rid of sad dogs." You have an obligation to your team to get rid of the sad dogs. In my experience this is also a mitzvah, an act of kindness that benefits, ultimately, the sad dog terminated. "If you are not happy here, if you are not having fun, we need to talk." In those cases where you are not able to work with the sad dog to better their situation and get them performing or they are not willing to step up, do their part to better the situation then you must part ways. Tolerating or excusing the behavior and attitude of sad dogs ("That's just how Jennifer is, you know, always in a bad mood, hates her job"), working around sad dogs ("Let's give this assignment to Alex, he'll do a much better job than Zach") or wasting valuable time attempting to change them (this qualifies as ill-starred missionary work) is simply counterproductive. Stop! Get rid of sad dogs that spread doom. Your team will thank you and someday so may the sad dog.

Telling it like it is: It's always personal, never say it's not. A close friend of mine was fired this week in another one of those downsizing moves. The division president said "it's not personal, it's business." Well, the division head is wrong. When you end a person's income, when you take away the ability of that person to put food on the table and pay their bills it's personal. You can't get any more personal than disrupting someone's ability to pay their bills. Firing is always difficult, the effect is always personal.

Anthony! The flash data indicates the Soprano's last show clocked in at 11.9 mil (the previous single episode high being about 13.4 mil). This would translate into about a 10.3 share of households (provided my arithmetic is correct based upon a data suggesting a total 115 mil TV households).

TV 101: Les Moonves on the obvious..."Networks aren't brands anymore. They used to be when it was a three-network universe. Shows are brands. CSI's a brand, Survivor's a brand, Two And A Half Men is a brand. I don't think CBS is a brand. You'd like to be known for quality, a place you can go to get good stuff. But we have some garbage on too." More via Louis Hau writing in Forbes here. People are not loyal to TV stations, they are loyal to shows. The play's the thing.

Road trip! Another fun lunch with programming ace Tom Teuber yesterday. We have decided a lunch run to Chicago is soon to be the order of the day; I'm assigned the usual concierge duties (arranging day/date/venue/A-list company). That sign post up ahead - one very cool lunch to remember. Thanks Tom.

Congrats & cheers: Google Analytics team on the upgrades - killer - thank you!

Bob Shannon wraps his four-part profile of the legendary Fred Winston. Bravos Bob, well done! Read Bob's All Them Big Dogs via AllAccess (free reg req)

Paul Christy has passed away.

He served as music director and performer at Chicago's WCFL. Years later when I checked into Marina City the engineers had stories (the engineers always have stories, that's how I first learned my office had once belonged to the famous caped capon Chickenman).

Paul did wake ups at Detroit's WCAR and was a Motor City legend. He was an ace programmer and with Bob Liggett put a very successful Top 40 format on WLOL in the Twin Cities. A good man, a good broadcaster. Paul will be missed.

"When facing issues or problems that are becoming drawn-out, 'short them to ground.'" William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number thirty...

"If you sense that your organization is spending more time on the bureaucracy of solving a problem than on the actual solution, you need to simplify the problem-solving process.

'Shorting issues to ground' means finding the quickest path - from problem to solution - avoiding non-value-added procedures and delays."

Congrats & cheers: Slacker the online radio service has raised $40 mil in a second round. David Kaplan has more detail via paidContent here. Troy Kelly named SVP, Nate Swenberg named VP both new hires at Havis' Arnold. Katherine Pope named prexy of the NBC Universal Television production studios.

Lewis Lapham speaking on C-Span2's BookTV In Depth yesterday made an interesting observation. Lapham said the language of journalism has become focused on "data" not style or the subtleties of language. My thought is that depends on the journalism, however, in the majority of cases he would seem to be correct.

Katie stands up for DC; CBS talking seamless segue: Friday on her 6:30 cast Katie Couric did a story on the District getting a voting member of congress. Separately, in her online Katie's Notebook video, she endorsed the idea that Districts residents have a "vote" on the hill. Katie having an opinion on a story bothers me less than the buzz that CBS wants local affiliates to segue directly into the CEN without a break for commercials or promos. An incentive seems fair. Another local avail in the cast.

Doing the arithmetic: Don Kaplan writing in the New York Post, The Surprise & Fall of Katie, compares anchor salaries and audience size. He says CBS is now paying $2.51 per viewer with Katie anchoring the 6:30 show (Schieffer was paid 48 cents per viewer, Rather about a buck a head). ABC paying Gibson 89 cents per viewer. NBC paying Williams 55 cents per viewer.

"Our policies should reward broadcasters that honor their pledge to serve that interest and penalize those that don’t....If you need convincing that something needs to be done, consider that only about 8 percent of local TV newscasts in the month before the last presidential election contained any coverage whatsoever of local races, including those for the House of Representatives. This low number is just one example of how poorly stations are serving their viewers. Do stations that make so much money using the public airwaves, but so plainly fail to educate viewers on the issues facing them, really deserve to have their renewals rubber-stamped?" FCC Commish Michael J. Copps from his NYT Op-Ed here.

I agree with Mr. Copps on one issue - good broadcasters deserve credit and reward for doing good, those that fail to serve should pay the price up to and including revocation. The renewal process, as is, fails to provide meaningful public service standards.

Did you catch Senator Joe Biden commenting on public campaign financing? The good gentleman from Delaware was chasing comments on earmarks during last night's debate. Yes, we've heard this one before. If candidates didn't have to raise campaign funds they would not risk the appearance that they did this or that because they were sensitive to the needs of one or more big contributors or special interests. Of course any such proposals usually include free TV advertising. The argument goes broadcasters get operating spectrum, owned by the people, for free. Candidates spend the majority of their campaign funds on TV advertising. Providing candidates with the people's airwaves, that is free TV, would greatly reduce the funds needed to run a campaign. Uh, no. Not such a good idea. What happened to the marketplace? Without respect to campaign funding candidates still need to get votes. Should a special interest "get out the vote" for a candidate would they not expect access, expect to be heard "on a vote" or another matter before congress? Of course. Sorry Senator, with all respect, it's a false argument. Why not stop earmarking or give the president line item veto authority? How about taking campaign contributions only from individuals and with a cap? Better yet, take the example set by Wisconsin's Senator William Proxmire in 1976 and 1982 - don't take contributions.

Georgia on their minds: The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame is having their induction dinner and awards program on Saturday, September 22. More info here. Doctor Don Rose, Elmo Ellis and Jim Davenport III among the inductees.

More Spanish red: Castano 2005, Monastrell (Yecla red wine), Bodegas Castano. An outstanding red, highly recommended. Under $10.00, we found it for $7.99, drinks like a $50 wine. Another gem from the Eric Solomon European Cellars imports. More info here.

"Be extremely careful in the accuracy of your statements." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number fifteen...

"You should be passionate and inspiring, but what you say must be true. People are counting on your words for information and may act on what you tell them. When you say something, you want people to be able to 'take it to the bank.'"

Elizabeth Spiers is the subject of Friday's Jon Friedman MarketWatch post, Blogger Spiers knows where old media go wrong. In this latest installment of his wits of May series Jon writes "Old media have suffered self-inflicted wounds, Spiers contends, because they prefer to jump on a trend instead of trying to come up with something wholly original. Their mentality seems to be to throw money at a problem, rather than daring to be different." Bravo Elizabeth! The legendary founding voice of Gawker is scary smart and her take on old media is spot-on. The focus of old media is too often on getting better when they should be getting different. Kudos to Jon on another good writing. Hey Jon, why stop the series in May? You're on to something.

What is your mobile strategy? Back of the envelope arithmetic: about one billion internet users, about one billion TV households, about 2.5 billion mobile customers. MediaFLO USA now live in 27 domestic markets with video content partners including ESPN, CBS, FOX and NBC. They are using the Verizon platform now and others are coming including ATT. They're broadcasting using channel 55 nationwide. They will reach millions. Opportunity for radio folks: they will offer audio. The killer app will be designed for mobile rather than any content re-purposing. Think obvious, topical, local. Why wait? Team up!

Photo: Spring Flowers Series 50

Kelly Hafermann

Cool pic, thank you!

"Presentation rule: when something appears on a slide presentation, assume the world knows about it and deal with it accordingly." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number five...

"Don't think that what shows up in a presentation is private. It will come out. Accept this as a given, and deal with this fact up front. As a leader, when people try to convince you that something you are looking at on the screen - proprietary, competition sensitive and so forth - will never leave the room, assume it already has and deal with it accordingly.

In fact, assume that it will be published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times or The Washington Post. And always maintain an atmosphere of total integrity."

Recently the day job has me involved in a number of new initiatives where an NDA is required. After decades of work in the confidential activities of startups, turnarounds, acquisitions and divestitures my sense is William Swanson is correct. As a practical matter the NDA is not worth much. It does serve to memorialize the sensitivity of the situation, it does put all parties on notice creating a record in the process but it does not prevent disclosure. Further, it does not provide for any realistic remedy. Seems to me you either trust those involved or you don't. Swanson is right. Total integrity, always.

Congrats & cheers: Paul Gallis, Clark Weber and Jim Scully on a simply outstanding event! The Chicago's Music Row reunion was one to remember, a rare moment filled with bold-faced names. The magic of the gathering was the diversity, the depth, the rich mix of those attending. Different generations from different career paths coming together. New kids on the block, folks at the top of their game, and pros from all walks hanging out with true legends. A heady time for us mortals in attendance. Many played catch up, others met for the first time. Fun for all attending. Art Vuolo rolled video and is certain to release one if his commemorative DVDs. Paul tells me the official photog will have pics to share soon. If you happened to have been at the event and have pics to share please send them (jpeg) to Paul at Chicagosmusicrow (at) gmail (dot) com.

While in Chicago enjoyed an incredible dinner with the legendary Fred Winston. Fred has a knack, a gift for discovering and sharing really exceptional small rooms; he finds places packed with character and overflowing with amazing food. The groceries were terrific and Fred's company purely one-of-a-kind. Tom Kent said it best recently. Referring to the Robert Redford character in the film The Natural, Tom said "Fred is the Roy Hobbs of radio, he is the best that ever was."

Speaking of Redford his first Sundance Cinema opened here yesterday. As a former theatre circuit owner allow me to say it is one beautiful property. Kudos and cheers to Redford and company. Dean Robbins has the back story via Isthmus here.

Where is the line? Who draws it? It's the topic of discussion. Imus, Sharpton, O&A, JV & Elvis. How far is too far? What should the consequences be? My suggestion is the marketplace is the best arbiter and should be in all cases not involving violations of the law. It's a shame, too many operators are afraid to stand up today. What is needed now more than ever is for operators to stand up in support of their performers. We need operators who understand the importance of doing the right thing, standing up to defend their way of doing business. Operators willing to allow the marketplace to decide.

Leadership must take responsibility. Performers don't just go off the rez by themselves. In my experience this most often happens as a result of benign neglect. What management allows it encourages. Performers need guidance, need coaching, need direction, need to understand where the boundaries are (even the ones we draw in chalk, having a show road map on a magic slate is far better than no understanding). The Imus, O&A and JV & Elvis incidents each represent a failure of leadership. Consistently, the #1 complaint of performers is "no feedback," the #2 complaint is "when feedback is given it's negative." The secret is to catch performers doing something right. The process begins with a deep understanding of standards, expectations and consequences.

The operating practice "not to offend" was born in the earliest days of broadcast. From his new book, Same Time, Same Station, James L. Baughman writes "They (CBS & NBC), in effect, collectively signed a social contract by entering radio. They would curtail their freedom of expression - laboring not to offend the moral guardians - in exchange for continued access to the great audience of radio listeners...Television's first generation of executives and producers understood radio's basic commandment: the moral sensitivities of any significant portion of the great audience must not be upset. That 'portion' might not represent most viewers. Indeed, a minority adept at letter-writing wielded extraordinary power...Broadcasters were expected to behave...Remarked the actor and producer Desi Arnaz, 'You are coming into their house." ("The Mother of Television", pgs 15, 25).

The notion of being "an invited guest" in someone's home, the once accepted operating mindset, may now seem quaint, indeed anachronistic. Too often it remains the single perspective of law makers, regulators and the gang of self-proclaimed media watch dogs. Work done or positions taken in the name of protecting our children has become a popular, albeit potentially chilling, cause celebre.

Perhaps the lesson learned is the power of the freak show. The monster that must be fed. The always on world of the 24-hour news cycle. Sound bites driving storytelling without the homework of proper context.

Closed circuit to TV producers: Stop calling Al Sharpton. The man is a hack past his best used by date. Granted having him comment on matters of race is the quick and easy solution to getting a "black pov" into the mix but here's the deal - Sharpton has a pattern, he does not speak for others but only for his own benefit. Hint: neither Jessie, Tavis, or any other single public figure speaks for or represents the community. What's needed here is clear. Do the homework and develop a stronger, more relevant rolodex of qualified thought leaders. You should not be waiting for a race issue to invite persons of color to join the conversation. When the talking heads are all white and male you have lost your way.

"Work for a boss to whom you can tell it like it is. Remember, you can't pick your family, but you can pick your boss." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number six...

"The point here is that in the workplace, unlike your family, you have a choice. You will have many bosses in the course of your career. You are not totally passive in the process of 'selecting' your boss. You have a choice, more than you may realize. Be proactive."

A good friend called to catch up earlier this week. We talked of many things and ended up discussing office politics. Sometimes good people get into bad situations. They end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The miasma of misfortune sets in. It comes time to delegate blame and they are asked to take one for the team. Life is not fair and no one is going to save you, you have to save yourself. Three lessons, taught me by experience, seem appropriate to mention:

We teach others how to treat us.

Whatever you allow, you encourage.

What you count, you improve.

Beginning of the end: Harvey Mackay suggests the way to end your meeting...

"What are the five things that could go wrong, and what would we do about each?" (Thanks to Tom Peters)

"The difficult we do at once. The impossible might take a few minutes." Sign posted in the newsroom of KLIF, Dallas during the Gordon McLendon era.

"Never try to tell a joke in Japan, Germany or at the Vatican." Christopher Buckley (Good counsel, wish I'd known this prior to my first presentation at MIDEM)

"Either way, struck forte or pianissimo, novelty is the designer's main note. The most impressive designs are those that seem naturally right, unimprovable, inevitable." Raymond Loewy

The glory: Our favorite ninja interviews Will Ferrell. Kudos - outstanding! Via YouTube here.

Something bad wrong here: That's exactly what my Georgia relatives would say should they hear about what Kathy Sierra has put up with this week. Kathy tells her story here. I agree with Seth here and with Hugh here. Kathy is a good person, no one deserves this twisted stuff less than she. There is never an excuse for bad manners but this is clearly beyond the pale. Darker than Mahler's 6th symphony. No excuse is good enough, none whatsoever. Kathy, you may count me in your corner.

"Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats." Howard Aiken

"It is easier to get into something than to get out of it." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number two...

"One should not be timid about committing, but one should commit only when one has a clear sense of goals and means. Invariably, it is more complicated and potentially more costly to undo an action already under way than to change a decision before it is acted upon.

This principle has specific meaning in many fields, including the transition of engineering solutions to manufacturing...

By involving all elements of the team - including manufacturing - early in the design process, producibility will be built in. Designing in quality is a lot more effective than inspecting - or testing - it in later. Customers understand this acutely. Get your suppliers on board, too.

Put another way: remember your first speeding ticket? It was so easy to exceed the limit, but there would have been so much less pain in the long run if you had observed good process - and the speed limit."

Enjoyed the annual sxsw Bruce Sterling rant. Some almost quotes (from my notes): "2007 is the year of video" "Video is the worst medium" "You pitch Google and Wikipedia together and it's kind of game over for the eighties." "There are downsides...it's a new world of laptop gypsies where there used to be sorta solid professionals." "Mashups are novelty music...it's bad music...it's a pastiche." "Fan art is terrible, it's not good and it's never gonna be good." "Folk culture is for hicks." "The teens are coming...native internet generation cares nothing for the proprieties of the 20th century media...time is not on the side of the incumbents." "It's hard to find a blog that will make you cry." On blogs, a form he sees as transitional: "I saw this, this, this and this. Sort of like watching you get beaten to death with croûtons." "The media are not converging, they're all becoming sort of different flavors out of the same mixing machine." Bruce talked about the writing of Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, and spoke about "commons-based peer production" and quoted Benkler "Computers are platforms for self expression rather than well behaved appliances." Bruce also spoke of Henry Jenkins, Lev Manovich and Richard Stallman. Bruce left us with the words of Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz "Gift." Bravo Bruce! Really well done.

Bruce is spot-on about the teens. Cohort replacement is a beautiful thing. My sense is the only thing getting in the way of progress with the internet (and media), the root of today's problems, may be reduced to three words: old white men. The wrong old white men. We have too few enlightened seniors and way too many that are scared. Afraid to let go of the past. Dedicated to keeping everything the way it was. This will be messy, this will not be a smooth evolution. There is a genetic blindness at work here. Arrogance + ignorance + money = really stupid stuff happens. As Gary Hamel has said the bottleneck is at the top. It's a leadership problem.

Melapalooza: Mr Karmazin goes to Washington, this time the Senate. He's at bat before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The hearing, by the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, begins this afternoon at 2:15 eastern. Mel's guest stars this round include Mary Quass, David Balto and Gigi Sohn. The hearing "The XM-Sirius Merger: Monopoly or Competition from New Technologies" will have Chairman Herb Kohl (WI) presiding. Check out all the action via the Senate webcast here. As the great Gary Owens is fond of saying "Don't miss it if you can."

Honors: John Long, RKO Super Achiever and legendary programming ace, emails to say he is involved in the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame. Great idea. Perfect place to honor Drake, Drew, Ellis, Burkhart, Jockey Jack Gibson (and the entire WERD gang). Congrats and cheers to the Longman!

Photo: Queen Mary 2 under the Golden Gate Bridge by niallkennedy. Thank you!

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick

"Learn to say, 'I don't know.' If used when appropriate, it will be used often." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number one...

"How many times have you been in a meeting with someone who felt compelled to contribute even though he or she obviously did not know what to say? Silence is golden in these circumstances.

If you are asked to contribute and don't know what to say - or don't have the answer - then say 'I don't know.' Maybe you should know the answer, but if you don't, say so. Learn for the next time. Even better, volunteer to go get the answer.

It is my belief that if you behave this way, you will be respected for your honesty and candor. You are not expected to know the answer to everything.

We've all been in this position, and will be again. 'I don't know' are powerful words when used appropriately."

Gettin outta Dodge: Fred Winston is packing. Check out his post and his very cool photo here.

Congrats & cheers: Amy Anderson and Alex Gould on their engagement. A more perfect "wedding cake couple" simply does not exist. I am reminded of Goethe - "Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be."

Rosenblum for philosopher king: Michael Rosenblum is writing stuff you need to read, his unvarnished take is refreshing and right on the money...

"In 1452, Gutenberg’s printing press changed forever the relationship between power and average people. It put the power to publish into the hands of anyone with an idea… and a press. The Constitution, a printed document begins with the words WE THE PEOPLE. It does not say, ‘we the anchors’. ‘We the celebrities’. ‘We the hosts’.

Now, 500 years later, video on the web puts the power to publish images and video into the hands of anyone who wants to do it. It fundamentally changes the relationship between power and average people. The potential now exists in the world of video, television and images, to change the basic nature of our relationship to the machine.

We need only take it."

Read Michael's post We The People, here.

Sam says: Sam Zell tells Bloomberg reporters "My inclination would be to not break it up". More on the Zell-Trib story by Leon Lazaroff and Suzy Assaad here.

Bonus: We Want Media

"Don't overlook the fact that you are working for a boss. Keep him or her informed. Whatever the boss wants, within the bounds of integrity, takes top priority." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number sixteen...

"The intent is not to encourage fawning behavior or narrowness of scope, but only to suggest that for the organization to achieve its goals, everyone must be on the same page. If you are going around your boss, you've left a key contributor out of the loop.

On the other hand, if you believe that your boss is not seeing the big picture or is headed in the wrong direction, you should speak up and be straightforward about your concerns. If you have a good boss, you candor will be appreciated and valued; in fact, it will improve your relationship.

When your boss gives you an assignment, make it a priority, even thought you may want to work on something else. Remember that you often don't know who gave your boss the assignment in the first place. It could have been the President or CEO."

Terry Heaton has written an very good essay Voyeurism: Journalism's 21st Centry Crisis...

"The traditional press has no choice but to continue its quest for a mass audience and serve the harsh taskmaster that ad revenue has become. This will not change, nor should it. Business is business, and it's vital that traditional media companies stay alive and financially healthy. A sudden collapse of the Media 1.0 hegemony would destroy our economy, so the mainstream MUST live on.

This means that the changes necessary to evolve won't—in fact, can't—come from the legacy brand, for it has no choice but to play in the world of Anna Nicole Smith. If they don't, they run the significant risk of alienating what's left of their audience, for people have come to expect — whether they'll admit it or not — that one of the roles of contemporary media is to satisfy their voyeuristic information needs."

Bravo Terry! Read the entire essay here. (Thanks to lostremote for the tip)

Mr Karmazin goes to Washington: Staff will brief members - this is the guy who was before us on that Super Bowl-Janet Jackson-half-time-TV mess. This is the guy who took C-SPAN off his service. This is the guy who wants us to help him to merge with his only competitor and create a pay radio monopoly. This is the guy the NAB and the broadcasters from back home have been telling us about. Yeah, this is that guy from New York. PS, he is also generous in supporting campaigns. This show is more about Main Street than Wall Street. It's potentially the time when one letter to a member from an unhappy ex-subscriber grandmother becomes an important issue of discussion because she's a consumer, a voter, a constituent. It's politics. Good luck Mel, you're going to need it.

It ain't either-or, it's and: Latest data from Arbitron indicates satellite users are heavy AM/FM listeners to wit: "Satellite listeners spent an average of 33 hours a week with radio compared with the typical listener who listened approximately 19 hours a week to radio. Also, people who listened to satellite spent more time with AM/FM radio (14 hours) than they did with satellite radio (10 hours 45 minutes) or Internet (8 hours 15 minutes)." But wait there's more..."Arbitron's recent analysis revealed that the highest share of quarter hours for an individual satellite radio channel was 0.2 percent. The average satellite radio channel had a .009 percent share of quarter hours, which would not be high enough to meet Arbitron’s minimum reporting standards." Ouch! Complete release via Arbitron here. As has been said here before, there's no there, there. To capture only 3.4% of all radio listening after investing billions of dollars is perhaps the most telling stat of all. The pay radio folk need a new business model, pronto. To be fair, Arbitron should remove all listening attributed to non-commercial channels. If they have included channels not accepting commercials the numbers would be artificially inflated. My sense is while the pay radio guys may not now pose any real threat to the first tribe of wireless they may yet prove to be a serious threat to those holding their equity and their debt. A serious threat, perhaps, even to those employed by them. Those without the protections of a golden parachute. Too early to tell, stay tuned. Inquiring minds wanna know: what channel is getting that top-rated 0.2? Is it Howard or is it Fox News? Columbia, please provide a top ten. Thank you.

Later: Thanks for all the emails on the Arbitron pay radio numbers. My point about reducing the estimates by those channels not accepting commercials is to reach a better apples to apples comparison with commercial radio. Given that Mel and his team have high hopes for advertising as a rev stream what kind of weight do they bring to the market is my question. No disrespect intended for the commercial-free music channels. Listening estimates providing both commercial and non-commercial channels separated could provide a better understanding of pay radio listening and the commercial potential of ad-friendly channels. Again, thanks for feedback.

Closed circuit to Michael Harrison: Thanks for sharing the Heavy Hundred.
p.s. you did a good job with Howie last Sunday, congrats.

Photo: Ron Fell
Beautiful shot, thank you!
(click on pic for larger image)









"In doing your project, don't wait for others; go after them and make sure it gets done." William Swanson

Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management: unwritten rule number ten...

"This rule is about perseverance...Don't be passive, don't just react, and don't assume.

Decide and act. Make sure everybody is on the same page and moving out with you. Ask for help if you need it. Understand what it will take to keep the project moving.

Follow-up is essential and will help ensure success of the project. When done, be sure to share the credit."

They must have research (but so did New Coke): The National Association of Newspapers launches a literacy campaign, celebrity spokesperson included. Optimus Prime. You can't make this stuff up. (Thanks to Rex for the tip)

Early odds: Six to five against the XM Sirius hookup. Potentially the greatest single sale of Mel's career but can he close? This deal is pure politics. No matter the outcome it will be interesting to watch. Meanwhile, Doc opines...

"I don't care how diverse the programming becomes, it's still coming from too few companies. When the choice gets down to one, I guarantee that programming will have a homogenous quality to it. There's already a self-sameness to both Sirius and XM, and that's sure to be the case with Xirius or whatever they call the new company."

"Many listeners, which we used to call "consumers" are now also producers, for themselves and others. Where does satellite radio fit in that picture? I don't think even Mel Karmazin knows. Meanwhile, the whole system continues to leverage an understanding of How Radio Works that is, to say the least, not current — much less future-proof." Read Doc's entire post here.

Commercial radio has self-destructed: Howie Kurtz writes...

"In short, I think the appeal of satellite radio transcends Howard Stern, Oprah Winfrey, and baseball and football games. It's filling a void created by the utter sameness and existential lousiness of commercial radio. Just as the timidity of broadcast television gave rise to cable, the same thing is happening on the radio side." Read Howie's take, Satellite Synergy, here.

At Pacifica programmer Ernesto Aguilar's blog, Rolas de Aztlan, he offers up 3 Reasons Why XM/Sirius News is Good for Radio here.

As only The Onion can: Onion XM/Sirius MOS here. Bravo!

"Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination." John Dewey

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing." Alfred Einstein

"Every man stamps his value on himself. The price we challenge for ourselves is given us by others. Man is made great or little by his own will." Johann Schiller

Bonus: Crazytopics

Bonus 2: "You can't swing a poodle in business without hitting a tail-wagging-the-dog scenario, where some process, policy, procedure, or program controls user happiness. Where we become slaves to the needs and demands of the IT department, efficiency, accounting, PR, legal, marketing, next-quarter's results, Upper Management, etc. We've heard all of the justifications and excuses. Worst of all, these decisions are nearly always made by people with the least amount of contact with Actual Employees, let alone actual customers." Outstanding! Well said. Read more from Kathy Sierra