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.

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!

"This is Tom Donahue, general manager of station KSAN in San Francisco. If the disc jockey you're listening to at this moment has not played a rock n roll record in the past ten minutes, please send me his name and he will be fired."

Tom's "Fire the DJ" Legal ID

One of the dramatic differences in great radio stations is their attitude. There is a measure of delight and surprise in listening to a station that does not take itself too seriously. Great stations have a perpetual sense of good humor about themselves. The Tom Donahue Fire the DJ legal ID is a perfect practical example of this refreshing, playful and creative spirit at work. Another example, the famous sign-off of KSAN gnus guy Scoop Nisker..."If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."

Attitude!

This is not a life saving hospital, we're not looking for a cure for cancer, it's only a radio station. It's show business. On with the show.

It was Tom Donahue who wrote the seminal FM rock radio manifesto, the 1967 Rolling Stone piece "AM Radio Is Dead and Its Rotting Corpse Is Stinking Up the Airwaves." He wrote "The disc jockeys have become robots...performing their inanities at the direction of programmers who have succeeded in totally squeezing the human element out of their sound...They have succeeded in making everyone on the station staff sound the same - asinine. This is the much coveted 'station sound.'"

Back to our rock radio inquiry - more on KSFX thanks to Ron Fell. Tom Yee a former KSFX staffer shared this info with Rosie Lee Allen...

The KSFX PDs while Tom was there. John Catchings, Sean Conrad, Gloria Johnson and Jim Smith. The GMs during Tom's run were George Yahres, Don Platt and Ron Denman. Also, there was another GM between 1976 and 1983 but no one is able to remember his name.

Bonus: 1977 Pacific Bell Yellow Pages, San Francisco Radio Stations

Image: Millionaire by Hugh MacLeod. Bravo Hugh and thank you!

"No profit grows where is no pleasure taken; in brief, sir, study what you most affect." Shakespeare

"Knowledge conquered by labor becomes a possession - a property entirely our own. A greater vividness and permanency of impression is secured, and facts thus acquired become registered in the mind in a way that mere imparted information can never produce." Carlyle

"Big shots are little shots who kept shooting." Christopher Morley

Who were the programmers at the ABC rocker KSFX, San Francisco? The game continues. The estimable Ron Fell checks in to say he too is "stumped" on the query. He does offer the witness of Rosie Lee Allen, a former KNBR colleague of Ron's and later KSFX talent, she also remembers Gloria Johnson as the PD during the late 1970s. Ron shares news from Rosie Lee that "Gloria is out of the biz but in the Detroit area." Tom Teuber pings us after chatting up Tom Yates. The brief: Yes, Conrad, Catchings and Christensen are all names Tom Yates remembers. More soon from Tom Yates via the inimitable Tom Teuber, please standby.

Lee Arnold rings us up and invokes the real question: "What must it have been like to even think of taking on the house that Tom Donahue built?" Lee is spot-on. Jacta alea est! By the late 1970s Bonnie Simmons and her gang at 345 Sansome Street were writing their own sheet music. To put it into proper perspective - since 1968 KSAN was the goods, so was it even plausible that KSFX could make a competitive showing?

Our friends Bob Shannon and his wonderful wife Patti are in from Seattle. Their first time to Wisconsin. We had a fun dinner in Madison at The Old Fashioned, later walked down State Street and enjoyed dessert at Porta Bella. In addition to his writing on AllAccess (All Them Big Dogs) Bob has a book in the works. Patti continues to be involved in a number of successful entrepreneurial ventures. We are blessed to know Patti and Bob.

Photo:

Capitol Bokeh

by

WisDoc

Wonderful shot!

Thank you very much.

"To take a photograph is to participate in another person's mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt." Susan Sontag

The earlier post about the ABCs of PDs - late 1970s has involved me in a number of interesting conversations these past days. The quest this round - name that rock radio programmer - wherein we search for the PD(s) of the ABC FM San Francisco O&O KSFX, circa late 1970s.

Jim Smith was the first to weigh in and while we have not yet connected live we have e and voice mailed. Sean Conrad says Jim was the most likely to have programmed KSFX in the late 1970s. The ever assiduous Mr. Smith adds "Bill Todd was replaced by Roger Skolnick in 1977. Gloria Johnson moved from WRIF to program KSFX at about the same time replacing Sean Conrad." The always resourceful rock ace Lee Arnold checked in after chatting up Ben Fong-Torres ("I dunno. The station was pretty much run out of ABC in New York...John Catchings became PD when it went Top 40") and John Catchings ("...believe it was Eric Christensen who recently retired after a long career as Sports Producer for KGO-TV"). Dan Kelley, one of rocks' young turks, was in touch to say Jeff Finch was "...more than just a newsman; he was very versatile - and also served as a jock on the station. And a very good one at that...he moved on...NBC's SOURCE....WDAI...was a great radio station." Dan would certainly know, during the station's best years in rock he was a local.

My sincere thanks to Jim, Lee, Dan and the many others who reached out with suggestions and comments. My sense is we should "go local" for the definitive answer. Perhaps the very best of men Ron Fell or the Duke, Dave Sholin can enlighten us further.

So what have we learned? Some lessons here.

The first tribe of wireless has done (and continues to do) a really poor job of preserving our history. As George Burns once said to me "the industry has failed to create any body of literature." In the main, he may well be right, however, I commend George for his excellent contributions of scholarship over the years.

The first tribe of wireless continues to do a really poor job of recognizing and celebrating the best and brightest, the real heroes. How is it possible that Bill Drake and Rick Sklar have not been inducted into the major Halls of Fame? Deaths in the family also need attention. As one programming rock star said to me yesterday "There is something seriously wrong...one example...when Thom O'Hair left us the trades failed to pay any tribute, did not show the proper honors Thom had earned and certainly deserved." Absolutely correct. No excuse good enough; one of the pioneers of rock radio, an icon, passes without a single feature story in any trade. It's a safe wager, as a group of professionals we will probably never be accused of doing an exemplary job in showing respect for our elders.

Enough!

Read more about my friend Thom O'Hair thanks to Ben Fong-Torres here. Learn about the radio station that dared to call itself the Jive 95 here. Read a memo from a legend to his air staff here. Want to learn more about the legends of wireless? If you are not a regular reader of Bob Shannon @ Joel Denver's AllAccess may I recommend you become one. Read Bob's column - All Them Big Dogs - free reg here. Now on offer, part two of his Fred Winston profile. One you do not want to miss.

Congrats & cheers: Marv Dyson, a rock star and the best dressed gentleman in wireless, on being named Broadcaster of the Year by the Illinois Broadcasters. Well deserved! More here.

Someone sent me this link yesterday. It's a post by Jaye Albright. Laura Ellen Hopper, I Wish I Had Told You Something. Thanks Jaye. Know how you feel, I wanted to say some things to Laura Ellen too. My mistake was thinking it would keep, it could wait.

It's a damn design flaw, no one gets out of here alive. Moreover, there's a very serious and ongoing shortage of good Hollywood endings in this deal.

In response to the question "How are you", Dwight Case would always say "I got up this morning, a lot of guys didn't, how bad can it be. I'm great, how are you?" On the occasion of accepting his honor as a Broadcast Pioneer in 2006, Dwight said "I've never had a bad day in this business." Want to know the truth? He never did. The gentleman is an inspiration. I love Dwight Case and appreciate all he has done for me, my family and my career.

Take a moment today to make a list.

Your wish I had told you list.

Pick up the phone and make the call.

Send an email.

Walk down the hall or across the office.

Make it the last thing you do before leaving work today. Make it the first thing you do when you get home tonight.

Do it.

One day, a day sooner than you can now image, you will not be able to tell someone how you feel.

Don't put it off.

No, it can't wait another day.

Today is all you have.

Today.