"The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don't know how or why. All great discoveries are made in this way." Albert Einstein

"I get the facts, I study them patiently, I apply imagination." Bernard Baruch

"Either do not attempt at all, or go through with it." Ovid

Today's image: Royal Poinciana by Sanibeljac. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

"It's all in the casting"

That's wisdom attributed to the great directors. Steven Spielberg said "I feel that 40% of my creative effort has been realized once the people have been cast in the film. I use actors to service me in what I'm doing." [via]

This blogger holds a few truths to be self-evident including this one...

"We believe the recruitment, development and retention
of exceptionally gifted talent is the wellspring of every great enterprise."

Your business is only as good as the talent involved. The potential of your venture is equal to the potential of the talent engaged. The most critically important job of the manager is to recruit, develop and retain exceptionally gifted talent. Talent = Everybody. As Tom Peters has written...

Your brand = Your talent

Radio programming ace and marketing maven Lee Arnold pays tribute to Dick Meeder, the best manager he never worked for and in the process tells a good story and talks leadership..

"...Some were great at what they did. Some were 'dear' friends. Some left me alone to do my job. Others meddled constantly. Some were generous and out going. Some were cheap. Some were leaders. Some were afraid of leaders."

Read Lee's post here. Bravos, Lee!

Word to the wise: General Georges Doriot, Harvard Business School professor and president of American Research and Development (ARD)...

• One should not only be able to criticize but should always have a suggestion to make.
• Ask about prospects who didn't buy product.
• Always challenge the statement that nothing can be done about a certain condition.

My thanks to Fred Wilson for sharing these quotations. More here. Fred added another Doriot quote, a killer, via Tumblr "A team made up of the younger generation, with courage and inventiveness, together with older men of wisdom and experience, should bring success." Fred is taking these quotes from the book - Creative Capital by Spencer E. Ante [Amazon info]


Memorial Day 2008.

A day to remember.

The joys of our liberty were purchased by those who paid the ultimate price.

No matter your politics, those women and men who wear the uniform, those who once wore the uniform, honorably, deserve our respect and appreciation.

Those that put themselves into harms way in our name deserve more than they're getting.

This is especially true with regard to the discussions concerning a new revised GI bill. Let your elected representatives know how you feel about this important issue.

Image: Half-Mast by Tom Rydquist. Thanks for sharing.

Bonus: Tag Galaxy. [Related - backstory via Mashable]


Congrats & cheers: WGN America. Sean Compton, Randy Michaels, Lee Abrams & crew on the rebranding of Superstation WGN. Kipper McGee and company at WLS. The Big 89 Rewind is a smash. Kudos to Jim Smith for cooking a very cool, tight music log. [Related - Sneak of Art's 2008 video via YouTube]. NASA & JPL on the Phoenix Mars Lander touch down. HBO, Recount!

Grapes - overlooked reds: Some good values in red table wine under $10. Secret de Campane 2006 (60% Grenache, 30% Old Carignan, 10% Cinsault). Beringer Founders' Estate, Merlot 2004. Bogle Merlot 2005.

"Wooing the press is an exercise roughly akin to picnicking with a tiger. You might enjoy the meal but the tiger always eats last." Maureen Dowd

"Wagner's music is better than it sounds." Mark Twain

"All professions are conspiracies against the laity." George Bernard Shaw

Today's image: Enter Night by Celine C. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Radio: Doing exactly the right thing, precisely the wrong way

Two examples of radio getting in its own way, again.

Posting. The topic typically begins as a discussion concerning accountability however the real issue here is transparency. We are beyond the "to post or not to post" argument, it's now a matter of how and when. Radio should be leading the revolution, developing leading-edge tools that make it easier to buy and evaluate. It's been said recently that posting is "counter-intuitive." What's intuitive here is accountability and transparency are not fads, far from it, they are part and parcel to conducting the business of advertising in a new era.

PPM. The Cox and ICBC trade ad seems to be an ignoble attempt to foment a subscriber rebellion. This represents nothing more than a return to the good old fashioned sport of Arbitron bashing. Incongruous manners writ large. The ad's writers would have us believe that Steve Morris is somehow tone deaf on the serious issues and stakes involved in PPM roll out. Accordingly, they direct that Steve be dealt the proper and needed wakeup call. The ad evokes a kind of odd Howard Beale vibe. Clearly, the ad writers are mad as hell but it seems fair to ask - what does the ad actually accomplish besides being an embarrassment?

Posting and PPM will be what we make of them, both are works in progress. Each are opportunities rich with potential. What's needed now is the serious stuff and hard work of creative collaboration.

Buzz: Radio programming ace Jim Smith

Congrats & cheers: Uber-mensch Bruce Reese honored with the NAB National Radio Award. Radio Mercury Awards. Up against the Lakers v Celtics they pulled it off way good in Beverly Hills last night. The big $100k winner - Broken Heart ("What your mom would feed you, if your mom was a man") TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. Big ups to "voice of God" George Hyde, Jeff Haley, Rick Cummings, Perez Hilton, Big Boy, Rick Dees, Erica Farber, Mary Beth Garber. Doug and Justin did an outstanding job hosting the live stream, including the cool after set w/Big Boy All the winners 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!