"Every creative act is a sudden cessation of stupidity." Edwin Land

"For people who live in the imagination, there is no lack of subjects. To seek for the exact moment at which inspiration comes is false. Imagination floods us with suggestions all the time, from all directions." Federico Fellini

"Creativity often consists of merely turning up what is already there. Did you know that right and left shoes were thought up only a little over a century ago?" Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

Today's image: Land, Sea and Sky by -Wink - Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

The Obvious

The obvious remains the hardest to see.

Take, for example, the goaltender mask used in ice hockey. The so-called goalie mask was created by Jacques Plante in 1959. While the goaltender mask may seem an obvious (and necessary) piece of equipment, it was not a part of the sport during hockey's first one hundred years of play.

Obvious and, for over one hundred years, hard to see until Jacques - tired of getting hit - said enough!

What problems are holding back your organization? What challenges are preventing your success? Enough! Imagine the needed and effective solution set to be the obvious.

"Perspective is worth ten IQ points."
Gary Hamel

We tend to get lost in the detail for the same reasons fish do not see water (it's an invisible part of their experience). Over time, we become fish in the water of our assumptions. It's a filter issue. We tend to lose perspective we once had when our ears, eyes and attention - our senses - were fresh, new to the market or new to the business card. The acuity at our command is influenced, our perceptions biased when we are immersed in the press of daily affairs - the problems, the personalities, the politics. The danger is we fall into the trap of no longer questioning market/company/industry dogma. This is the easy evil that is acceptance, allowing what is to continue; it's the inertia, the stasis, that deafens and blinds before it kills. It's acceptance that fuels the most creative rationale for failure. We hire on as defense counsel for the familiar, we go to work as advocates for what's smart, right about staying the course. We favor zone of comfort lock-in. In that process we too often champion the best of yesterday (optimization) when we should be competing for tomorrow (innovation).

When the new kids in school ask "Why do we do that?" or "Why do we do things this way?" it's an engine warning light coming on. Be alert, pay attention to the naive. LISTEN.


My suggestion is you rethink your situation and begin by asking...

W H Y ?

That's an important question we need to be asking way more often. In my experience, the best practice is to ask "why" daily. Test assumptions. Discuss "the rules" out loud, adopt a policy of brutal honesty.

Kevin Kelly has written a fine piece, Ratcheting Up Autonomy, on why we usually don't lose technologies. While it's current fashion to proclaim practically all media things dead (e.g., print, radio, TV), Kevin's writing offers some much needed perspective. Highly recommended, read it, here.

Closed circuit to rock radio: Ready for the fall sweep? Would you be interested in learning how to get better ratings? Want to improve fourth quarter sales? Need some unvarnished input as you begin your 2010 planning? Let me suggest you invite Lee Arnold to your market. Have him listen to your station and your market for a day then have him spend a second day with your team. On the second day share your thinking, your strategy, your plans. Programming, marketing, sales. Listen to what he has to say. Gain the competitive advantage of his perspective, let his recommendations encourage candid discussion and action. You'll benefit from this investment. Get Lee's contact info, here.

Bonus: Are you having fun? Must-see video. The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, here.

"He who moves not forward goes backward." Goethe

"Great minds are like eagles, and build their nest in some lofty solitude." Arthur Schopenhauer

"Do not allow idleness to deceive you; for while you give him today he steals tomorrow from you." Alfred Crowquill

Today's image: entrando nel mondo delle fiabe by confusedvision. Outstanding. Thank you for sharing.

As a result of two interesting discussions today please allow me to share a couple of observations...

1. The new definition of local. Discussing a "local" media initiative the topic became "what is local and what will local become?" My thought is the traditional definitions of local are increasingly anachronistic. My suggestion is you begin to abandon DMA, start forgetting popular census measures (e.g., block code), stop depending strictly on ip addresses. The new local is where you are within three meters. Think GPS. One trip to Asia will provide the proof. While it is not yet available in the US, handheld devices in Asia are able to provide you with real-time geo-centric information. Walk out onto the street and it is possible to become aware of the merchants and restaurants nearby, even specials on offer and tables now available for immediate seating. Think local, local, local (within three meters).

2. Never offer to resign. A refresher on how to leave seems appropriate as the terminations continue. Hearing from folks who are working in bad situations (some that might even deserve to be called toxic environments). My counsel is no matter how dark the circumstances may get you should never offer your resignation without first having a firm offer of other employment in hand. To qualify as a "firm offer" it must be, without exception, an offer in writing. This is not the time to be out of work as a consequence of something you said being used against you and accepted as your resignation. The economic difference between resigning and being terminated can be dramatic. My thanks to Lee Arnold, the radio programming ace and marketing maven, for sharing the "THE UH-OH MOMENT" via his blog, here.

"A word, a lock, an accent, may affect the destiny not only of individuals, but of nations. He is a bold man who calls anything a trifle." Andrew Carnegie

"The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence." Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing - to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." John Keats

Today's image: green windows and flowers by Elisabeth Gaj. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Here's the good news for those working at Clear Channel and Tribune. There is a better than even chance both firms will put an end to getting better and start getting different, begin discovering and inventing fresh new approaches, begin the critical process of abandonment. While it is certain to be messy, this break from business as usual, this embrace of creative collaboration and innovation will set these guys apart, put them deep into some serious learning and likely create sustainable competitive advantage. The economic pressures of both deals will move the focus from tweaking the numerator to changing the denominator. Accordingly, solution sets and results will shift from a preoccupation with market share to the strategic business of market creation. Clear Channel and Tribune may well prove to be two of the best outfits to work for today. My advice to grads and others looking for entry level jobs in ad supported measured media, hire on at Clear Channel or Tribune.

Previously: "Broadcasting can be reinvented just as the dead tree guys will yet find a way to survive. To start we need to make something happen on the air and on the street. It will be hard work, it will require inviting freaks to the party, real show business folks, the odd balls, the gifted creatives, the hardcore news animals, the geeks, and all those other "difficult to manage" types. And we need to fill the station with them...programming, sales, accounting, marketing, every department gets a carney, a certifiable loon. Every all hands meeting filled with dissent and snark, pregnant with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. Every department manager gets to take a flyer, make an educated bet, or guess, and spin the wheel. We have to learn how to fail faster to succeed sooner. We have to have the guts to do something for no other reason than because it makes great TV or killer radio." Read the entire post from the summer of 2005 here.

Can't find my way home: Congrats to CBS for offering a custom iPhone version of CBSNews.com but you guys forgot to provide a link to your main site.

Bonus: The Most Public Index via NowPublic, Crowd Powered Media.

Congrats & cheers: Radio programming ace and marketing maven Lee Arnold having the courage to stand up and tell it like it is - again - regarding the continuing failure of industry Halls of Fame to properly recognize the stars of the show. Read Lee's latest on this issue here. Eric & Kathy, Johnny B and Steve Dahl on their great Spring book performances.

"Indifference is the invincible giant of the world." Ouida

"To make the common marvelous is the test of genius." James R. Lowell

"Towers are measured by their shadows, and men of merit by those who are envious of them." Chinese proverb

Today's image: me by willvastine.com - Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

"I don't know"

Working on a talk for next week. Draft #5 or is it #6. No matter. A good measure of my talk is about leadership and adult learning. In my experience, the best three word lesson in learning may be found in having the courage to say "I don't know." Here's what Wurman said...

"...the most essential prerequisite to understanding is to be able to admit when you don't understand something. Being able to admit that you don't know is liberating. Giving yourself permission not to know everything will make you relax, which is the ideal frame of mind to receive new information. You must be comfortable to really listen, to really hear new information. When you can admit to ignorance, you will realize that if ignorance isn't exactly bliss, it is an ideal state from which to learn. The fewer preconceptions you have about the material, and the more relaxed you feel about not knowing, the more you will increase your ability to understand and learn."

Repeat after me, I don't know. Take that attitude, add curiosity, mix with discipline, voila!

No business like show business: Radio programming and marketing ace Lee Arnold continues his series, serving up Rocket Surgery Pt 3 here.

Midtown buzz: David Barrett, Susan Lyne, Judy McGrath, CBS

Misc cool apps of the moment: Twitter + FriendFeed = Plurk. Planning tool, Center'd. Read webpages later on your phone, LaterLoop

Congrats & cheers: Kim Johnson hires on at Tribune as SVP, Local Sales.

Closed circuit to CBS AOL Radio player team: Check the date on the Duffy ad. "Release 5/13 Pre-order now!" Is no one looking at this stuff? A Duffy offer on an HD2 Oldies channel? This is easy to fix and why use the inventory for a dated offer?

"I have also thought about calling a conference, since a conference is a gathering of important people, who, singly, can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done." Fred Allen

"Applause is the only appreciated interruption." Arnold Glasow

"Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause." Voltaire

Today's image: Sunset at the blue lagoon by asmundur. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Some great stuff from recent reading, listening...

Killer quote by Timesman David Carr during last week's IWM The Future of Media event: "Free, the only price point that matters." Bravos, David!

Spot-on observation by Michael Ruhlman quoted in the NYTBR "Recipes are guides and suggestions for a process that is infinitely nuanced. Recipes are sheet music." Brilliant! Kudos, Michael.

Closed circuit to the CBS Radio Player (beta) team: Pop-unders are so not cool. Please tell David Goodman he needs to find another way. Listening done via the AOL domain. Hint: where are they hiding the radio option in the nav? Had to use search to find it. The assets need to be discoverable!

The Steve Jobs 3G iPhone WWDC announcement, edited to less than 90 seconds here via Mahalo...




Radio programming and marketing ace Lee Arnold delivers on the basics, again. Read Rocket Surgery Pt. 2 here. Kudos, Lee. Well done!

"Ninety percent of the art of living consists of getting on with people one cannot stand." Samuel Goldwyn

"We do not meet success except by reiterated efforts." Francoise de Maintenon

"Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success." Francis Bacon

Today's image: You Win Again by trixie. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks to Ian Stewart we get a look at some interesting data from the third survey into music passion in Asia by MTV. 15-34 urban middle class respondents, N = 5,741. Three key points...

• 50% have downloaded music to their phone recently
• 74% want to replace their MP3 with a music phone
• "It's all going digital, fast. It's all going mobile, faster"

Check out the entire summary, Music Matters to MTV 2008, via slideshare here. My thanks to Ian for sharing.

Taddeo to shops - Drop Dead: Seems Jack Taddeo, among the latest to weigh in on the posting issue, is suggesting operators in the top ten markets are advancing posting merely to kiss up to agencies and buyers. Jack wants the RAB and big group owners to "leave the rest of us alone" his thought being lazy big market guys have created their own mess and need not visit their remedies on the hard working smaller market folk. The impression one gets is there's gold in them thar hills and things are, well, just peachy there, thank you very much.

Jack is right about one thing. Small market radio is different from major market radio. Further, measured markets are different from those not measured. With all respect to Jack, he and others are failing to recognize the sea change wrought by accountability and transparency. Nothing but great respect for operators who champion and succeed at direct, however, the world of direct is changing too.

One example. Our small market retail store. We are direct clients of broadcast. As part of every schedule we always include web assets. We track store and web traffic daily. We value traffic into our store and we also value traffic to our web site and to our web store. Our expectation is to generate online revenues equal to or greater than our in-store revenues. A friend and fellow local retailer is generating more dollars online than their very successful storefront. The world of online marketing and advertising is changing the rule set. This is not limited to major market environments, it's a rule set not bound by DMA. Buyer expectations are changing dramatically. Station A might well have better ratings than Station B but when Station B delivers more, is more accountable and appears to be more transparent, doing business with Station A gets questioned. Let me also applaud Jack on the merits of relationship selling. He's right. Local retailers understand that all things being equal we do business with the people we like and all things being unequal we do business with the people we like. What's emerging are new ways of keeping score.

Accountability and transparency are the real issues here. Advertisers and their AORs should hold media accountable. This is not to say that the same rules of accountability relevant in New York should be employed in New Orleans or New Buffalo. For radio to remain relevant and competitive it needs to embrace new measures of accountability and transparency.

LATER: Radio ace Jack Taddeo weighs in via comments. Jack also posted a comment via RBR here...

"For the record, I never said 'Drop dead' to anyone. Those were David Martin's words, not mine. My point is that the big groups can do whatever they want to do, even in conjunction with the NAB, but they should not be speaking for the business 'as a whole'. There are plenty of smaller owners who are doing just fine and have no problems with agnecies (sic) or advertisers because they produce results for them. Don't assume everyone in a 'flyover' state is an idiot. From 30+ years in the business I realize that accountability is of the utmost importance to any client. If the big groups screwed up then, by all means, they should fix their problems. Just don't assume that everyone is in that leaky boat."


My response to Jack: Jack is correct. "Drop dead" was my headline. The bigger point I was trying to make here is the rule set is changing. Online advertising initiatives are targeting clients without respect to size or geography. The internet reorders the traditional concepts of time and space. My suggestion being the very definitions of "...the business 'as a whole'" are changing. Google and Microsoft are developing and advancing tools for business owners to use no matter the size of market. In net effect, they are inventing, establishing new metrics, new scorecards. They are changing buyer expectations by changing the very experience of the advertising/media transaction/relationship. Moreover, Google and Microsoft are specifically targeting small business owners. Microsoft's Office Live Small Business offers free websites (including domain registration); Google Maps allows small retailers to design and offer printable online coupons for free. Local broadcasters are in an excellent position to take advantage of this sea change. As a second-generation broadcaster I'm optimistic that the glass is half-full and remain more concerned with who's pouring.

Previously: "You're making a big mistake" What radio sellers tell us when they don't get the order, how not to sell retailers - more here. "Working with Google to sell ads is not surrender" How broadcast needs to invent new sales channels - more here. "A technique to improve your closing by more than 80%" Lessons learned from legendary sales developer Kevin B. Sweeney - more here.

Word to the wise: Radio programming ace Lee Arnold holds a clinic on how to make the right things happen on the radio. You're invited here. Bravos, Lee! Well said.

Bonus video: Jan McGonigal talks about saving the world through game design. From The New Yorker Conference. What we can learn from the $50 billion multiplayer gaming world. [video]

Buzz: Yahoo! joins CBS Audience Network (video streaming).

Enjoy the video below, it's one minute and simply brilliant.

"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft." H.G. Wells

"It's all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date." George Bernard Shaw

"Never assume that habitual silence means ability in reserve." Geoffrey Madan

Today's image: Sienna 16 by Modetrend. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Where the hell is Bill Drake and Tom Donahue?

Radio programming ace and marketing maven Lee Arnold cares enough about the first tribe of wireless to ask that question. His suggestion...it's high time we revisit our so-called Halls of Fame. Lee's take is spot-on. Read his post here and another on the great Joe Kelly here. Bravos, Lee! Thank you. And please permit me to add: Where the hell is Chuck Blore, Bob Henabery, Rick Sklar, Bill Gavin, Ron Jacobs, Paul Drew, Kent Burkhart, Harvey Glascock, Scott Muni, Jack Thayer, Lucky Cordell, Jerry Boulding, Bill Kaland, Ted Atkins, Pat O'Day, James Gabbert, Rick Carroll, George Burns, Jim Schulke, Kevin Sweeney, Dick Rakovan, New RadioStar's Bob Hamilton, Jean Shepherd, Dick Harris, Larry Bentson, Bill Burton, George Wilson, Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg, John Rook, Al Heacock, Larry Glick, Al Benson, Jim Yergin, Ron Chapman, Jockey Jack Gibson and Dickie Rosenfeld. Don't get me started.

LATER: Dan Kelley, keeper of the flame for Classic Rock FM, joins the conversation adding Buzz Bennett, more here.

Michael Fischer: As serious a student of advertising (and popular culture) as I know, Michael offers up a recap of his latest trip to LA here. Kudos, Michael.

Tis the season: FriendFeed swag

Bonus: Veronica Belmont's Top 10 Up-and-Coming Web Applications. BrandDoozie (beta, natch, cool DIY marketing tool, check it out)

Congrats & cheers: Ali Partovi & team ilike OnHollywood overall winner. Other OnHollywood winners include, Bret Taylor and crew at FriendFeed [FD: N=1 most addictive, fav app of the moment], Loic Le Meur & company Seesmic. Nick Grouf & team Spot Runner. Ben Elowitz & WetPaint. Congrats to all [Complete list of winners]. The uber-cool Laurie Pracher named VP/Sales @ CBS Radio Sales, she was born to be great.

"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.

"There always comes a time when one must choose between contemplation and action." Camus

"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better." John Updike

"A lazy man is never lucky." Persian proverb

Today's image: Colors_II by gabsriel. Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Steal This Stuff

Readers of this humble blog are aware, posts here typically start with an image and three quotations, usually ending one or more items later.

Each day it's a work in progress. As things are discovered (or thought) they're added. It's a process not an event.

So, I'm talking with the legendary Fred Winston. He's just back from giving a talk in Nashville where he addressed radio programming execs. His talk was about coaching, getting the best out of talent and making amazing things happen on the radio. Subject matter about which he is a world-class expert (Fred happens to be, in his own right, an incredibly gifted talent, exceptional voice actor and inspirational coach).

"It all comes down to the basics. The fundamentals, blocking and tackling" Fred tells me.

So later, I'm talking with a CEO, my client on the day job. He's just back from a planning session for their upcoming senior leadership retreat.

"We would like you to give us another 'One hour Martinizing' and need a title for your talk. Got any ideas?"

After a few seconds of hesitation I say "Blocking and Tackling."

So, there I am, at 35,000 feet, heading home, reflecting on this week's guest blogs by Kelly O'Keefe and Joel Denver. Then, it becomes obvious. When you boil it all down, the eloquent words of Kelly, the unvarnished wisdom of Joel...it's blocking and tackling.

Time to outline the upcoming talk.

Use the best format, the one experience has taught me is the most effective...

Prep conversation > Have conversation > Encourage transfer of conversation

Prep: Send materials to those attending that gets them into the mindset of the conversation

Conversation: Deliver the talk in an interactive fashion

Encourage: Follow-up conversation with materials that prompt thought and action on the job

The goal of every talk given is exactly the same - make something happen back on the job. If something happens back on the job then the talk was a win, if not then it's a loss. A purely digital equation. One or zero. W or L.

So, back in the office, talking with serial entrepreneur and marketing ace Lee Arnold. A master storyteller, Lee shares a lesson and concludes "Getting it done was really all about being great, really great at blocking and tackling."

Lesson of the week: Blocking and tackling wins.

So, here are some of the items being considered for the prep portion of my upcoming talk. These are basics, fundamentals, the blocking and tackling stuff. My notion is you can put these to good use, make them your own. Please, steal them.

For the past five years John Spence, executive educator, consultant and speaker, has been working on his next book. In process, he now offers a fine article titled Achieving Business Excellence. John provides a list of six keys to success...

1. Vivid vision: A clear and well-thought-out vision of what you are trying to create that is exceptionally well communicated to everyone involved. A true vision is an exciting, focused, realistic and inspiring picture of what you and your people are all trying to accomplish together - it's the reason you come to work every day, the impact you want to make on the world, the kind of company and product you aspire to build.

2. Best people: Superior talents who are also masters of collaboration. The future of your company is directly tied to the quality of talent you can attract and keep. "...talent that does not play well with others is not talent." You need to put in the systems, processes and programs necessary to build a product pipeline that delivers a steady stream of bright, sharp, creative and hardworking people.

3. A performance-oriented culture: One that demands flawless operational execution, encourages constant improvement and innovation, and completely refuses to tolerate mediocrity or lack of accountability. The #1 issue that inhibits execution: Holding onto the past/unwillingness to CHANGE. "Once you start accepting mediocrity in your life, you become a magnet for mediocrity in your life."

4. Robust communication: Open, honest, frank and courageous, both internally and externally. Great companies do everything in their power to maximize the Voice Of the Customer (VOC).

5. A sense of urgency: The strong desire to get the important things done while never wasting time on the trivial.

6. Extreme customer focus: Owning the voice of the customer and delivering what customers consider truly valuable.

Read John's entire article Achieving Business Excellence by downloading or viewing in your browser via the free PDF here. Kudos, John. Well done.

But wait, there's more...

Hugh MacLeod, ad exec, uber-cool blogger, soon to be published author and official artiste of N=1 offers his 26 tried-and-true tips for being truly creative. Here are the first six...

1. Ignore everybody

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world

3. Put the hours in

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail

5. You are responsible for your own experience

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten

Read Hugh's How To Be Creative by downloading or viewing in your browser via the free PDF here. Bravos, Hugh. Well said.

My thanks to ChangeThis for both of these offerings.

Congrats & cheers: Cory Bergman joins MSNBC.com as director of biz dev. Peter Burton and Dave Beasing join Bonneville in LA.

My sincere appreciation and thanks, a tip of the chapeau to Fred Winston, Kelly O'Keefe, Joel Denver and Lee Arnold for their contributions this week. Thanks to my client for the opportunity and the challenge to make something happen. Finally, thanks to you for stopping by.

Don't even tell me that you are reading this before you checked out Spence and MacLeod. Scroll back up and please deal with it, now. I'll wait here. Thanks.

Bonus: "All science is either physics or stamp collecting" Physicist Brian Cox speaks at TED




See you next week in a brand new show. Remember Mom. "My mom was fair. You never knew whether she was going to swing with her right or her left" - Herb Caen. Have a wonderful weekend.

"One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done." Marie Curie

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery." Francis Bacon

"One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests." John Stuart Mill

Today's image: Tall grass setting sun by Kevin. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Rabbit rabbit.

Happy RSS Awareness Day!! Kudos to Dave Winer.

Dr Dave on fame at ROFLcon via Rocketboom here. Thanks Andrew!

Developing: Heard from a senior producer at one of the major TV news shops. The story concept is to chase down and out a couple of those people who spew hate behind anonymous screen names. The idea inspired by the Bissinger v Leitch much buzzed about kerfuffle on Costas Now. I like it.

The obvious, always the hardest to see: Dan Kelley offers up a wonderful and very green station promotion idea here. My sense is this would also be an excellent sales opportunity. Kudos, Dan! Also agree with Dan the go to guy on getting this item (or anything else your promotions dept needs) would no doubt be marketing ace Lee Arnold.

Have you ever wondered what was in the library of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Mozart or Hemingway? Check it out - I See Dead People['s Books] here.

Bonus: The Study Stack Flashcards: matching, hangman, crossword, word search, word scramble and flash cards. Hint: take a quiz.

Congrats & cheers: Google bows Google TV Ads.

Italian red: La Famiglia Pirovano, Barbera. A wonderful NV, dry. Outstanding value at $10.

"There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them." Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

"Two kinds of ballplayers aren't worth a darn: One that never does what he's told, and one who does nothin' except what he's told." Oail (Bum) Phillips

"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care." Colin Powell

Today's image: Josh and Footprints by Vu Bui. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Today, my response to the RBR article Why HD Radio may never make it.

"Jacta alea est"

The typing, not to be confused with writing, was not signed. We were told only that the keystroke artist was a "loyal reader" and "For business reasons, this reader cannot be identified by name." Since RBR chief Jim Carnegie did ask "Got a different take?" Let me now say that I do. Here's my scribble on each of the article's six points.

1) The name is wrong...already taken...Why unnecessarily create the impression of a brand extension...Rookie mistake.

Absent the suspect HDR Alliance research there is no empirical evidence to suggest HD Radio means much of anything to the mass audience, only a minority of the population even admit to being familiar with it (Jacobs Media Tech Poll, Arbitron-Edison Infinite Dial). In sum, the name remains innocent, benign, albeit undefined. A professional name lab developed the consumer brand name "HD Radio", the same firm that created the brand "Blackberry" among others. It is the inexperienced or lazy PD that blames the call letters then insists on changing them. Tylenol wrote the primer on rescuing brand names. When product tampering killed customers they stood firm. Radio programming ace Lee Arnold reminds me "The Beatles was a really lame name for a band until they had their first hit, come to think of it what kind of a name for a computer is a fruit?" We should leverage the TV messaging. This is not an act of brand extension but one of brand creation. HDTV = better television, HD Radio = better radio. Let me suggest the rookie here is the anonymous contributor, one needing to read Jones & Slater (or Rosser Reeves the wellspring of Trout & Ries).

2) HD Radio is not listener/consumer driven...neither compelling Content nor is it Convenient to use or understand...listeners do not have faith in the rank-and-file operators.

Physician heal thyself! "The play's the thing." Content is a station level operations issue. This is a leadership problem manifest in a massive failure of imagination, lack of serious investment, an aversion to risk and a growing tolerance, acceptance of mediocrity. On the subject of multicasting my proxy goes to Chuck Tweedle. Chuck, as you may recall, was the GM who built, from scratch, one of the most successful brands in American radio, KOIT. It was Chuck who said "Multicasting is the killer app." The fundamentals remain the same, put something on the wireless that they really want and they'll find it. More on this "product first" approach from Kent Burkhart (#201). Listeners only care about what comes out of the speakers, everything else is a footnote. Some 230 million are keeping the faith weekly and turning on their radios, they could care less about the "rank-and-file operators" (until those operators take away something they care about). As to the ease and convenience issues bear in mind that HD Radio is software driven, we're dealing with version 1.0, first generations of any tech product suck in hindsight. Greed will ensure things will only get better. Hint: Apple developed a hit form factor using a dated common software app.

3) Your introduction...is almost always a disappointment...does not make a good enough first impression.

The consumer electronics retail value chain plays by cutthroat jungle rules. Few working in the trade today can even remember the last time radio operators had to sell receivers. While the rule sets of CE were changing radio was busy harvesting the golden apples of bcf. Complacent in this rich Garden of the Hesperides radio took its eye off the ball. Driving folks to retail and having retail channels ready and productive while a serious significant challenge is not the Sisyphean mission some make it out to be. The most effective solution to remedy those first impression problems and help create demand is organic - product innovation. We also have an urgent need to get deeply involved at retail and point of sale.

4) It was designed to solve a non-problem.

A popular canard. Let me also quote the "honest liar" Jamy Swiss "I want to highlight the line between illusion and reality." Pay radio had nothing to do with the creation of HD Radio that's a convenient illusion. The reality is IBOC was designed to solve the problem of migrating radio to digital using the same licensed spectrum, a rubric fraught with the perils of "acceptable tradeoffs."

5) Hillary Derangement Syndrome...HD Radio is the Sheridan Whiteside of Media...Even Radio people have lost faith.

Too clever by half. Like Hillary, HD Radio is arguably better than its campaign. Communications from the HDR Alliance are what they are, anyone confusing a press release with reality is, to be kind, tragically naive. The single purpose of this Alliance messaging, imho, is to gin up favor with the street. To say that HD Radio is Whiteside is to infer that operators are Daisy Stanley (or at least the Stanley family). Further, this scenario implies that HD Radio is culpable of blackmail. This stuff smacks of a wacky grassy-knoll theorist mindset. Yes, some radio people have lost faith, some others never had faith, however, some do have faith and are working to make a difference. Again, this is a leadership issue. One needs to remember that at one time the majority of AM operators had no faith whatsoever in the future of FM (as before VHF guys laughed at UHF and the suits of broadcast tv once made jokes about those silly cable guys).

6) The commercials don't work...the more we keep advertising this non-starter, the more it becomes obvious the radio advertising must be the villain.

Poor creative execution is one villain here not the communications channel. The simple facts are advertising fails for a variety of very good reasons. If all one needed to do was run an ad to produce results commercial time would be traded on the gold exchange. There's nothing wrong with radio as an advertising medium. There was, as written here previously, something seriously wrong with the messaging. Peter Ferrara is still not getting credit for changing up the ill-starred "Discover It!" and inviting input after the failed "It's your radio" creative. Will the new campaign work? We need disclosure and transparency to begin that learning process.

In understanding the giant story arc that is radio and media behavior it benefits us to remember. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" so said George Santayana. The quote is probably familiar to most readers but let's put it into its proper context. Here's what Santayana said in The Life of Reason, Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense...

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

We are going around in one big circle folks. We've been at one of these inflection points before, this will not be the last. Observe! Think! Discuss! Decide! Act! Learn! Think! Repeat. Will HD Radio "make it" whatever that means? Yes, if and when operators get serious. Once we truly understand and respect the advantages inherent in being in perpetual beta. Wimps play defense. My sense is the HD Radio glass is half-full and I'm more concerned about who's pouring. Game on!

My response to the RBR follow-on article Part 2: Can HD Radio Be Saved later this week.

To send comments please use the contact me form (left column). Thank you.

"When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane." Steven Wright

"Eighty percent of success is showing up." Woody Allen

"Passion is born deaf and dumb." Honore de Balzac

Today's image: e Solo il giorno che Muore by Jody Art. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much: Madison Magazine and Next Generation Consulting hosted a cocktail party last evening to celebrate their latest collaboration - discovering the Best Places to Work in Madison. We had a fun time. We also learned that trust is an important characteristic of the best employers..."Working in an environment where information is shared and people act with integrity and respect." Winning companies get recognition in the magazine's March issue and during WISC-TV news segments. Smart.

The dialed-in wireless exec: Radio programming and marketing ace Lee Arnold shares his online reading ritual here. Honored to make the cut. Thanks, Lee.

Bonus: RocknRollDating. Thanks to Lee Arnold for the tip. The obvious remains the most difficult to grasp.

Australian red: Boarding Pass Shiraz 2005. Very good value at $15.

"To create one's own world in any of the arts takes courage." Georgia O'Keeffe

"...one of the hallmarks of a creative person is the ability to tolerate ambiguity, dissonance, inconsistency, things out of place. But one of the rules of a well-run corporation is that surprise be minimized. Yet if this rule were applied to the creative process, nothing worth reading would get written, nothing worth seeing would get painted, nothing worth living with and using would ever get designed." Ralph Caplan

"The ways of creativity are infinite: the ways of formal learning are numbered. Restless, curious, playful, contriving, the innovative mind feeds on challenge and makes its home in the province of mystery." Robert Grudin

Today's image: Street guardian by Rui Palha. Brilliant. Thanks for sharing!


Something discovered while doing research for an upcoming talk.

David Ogilvy, a memo to the Board, October 1978...

A Teaching Hospital

I have a new metaphor.

Great hospitals do two things: They look after patients, and they teach young doctors.

Ogilvy & Mather does two things: We look after clients, and we teach young advertising people.

Ogilvy & Mather is the teaching hospital of the advertising world. And, as such, to be respected above all other agencies.

I prefer this to Stanley Resor's old saying that J. Walter Thompson was a 'university of advertising.'

Beautiful. Ogilvy was indeed a genius.

Wanted: Teaching hospitals of the 21st century advertising world.

My sense is that project would require another Ogilvy. Leadership!

Bonus: Lee Arnold

"Perspective is worth ten IQ points"

That's wise counsel from Gary Hamel. As we begin another first quarter and another round of earnings calls what we need is some fresh perspective. The #1 challenge facing broadcasters continues to be broadcasters. Captives to history. As a practical matter, incumbency is worthless. Stop thinking about broadcast in the context of broadcast. Start thinking about broadcast in the context of everything else. Focus on the denominator. The most telling stat of all is share. Set aside CAGR, broadcast share is in decline - Danger, Will Robinson. First big important step - find the hunger. Forget about getting better, get pathologically competitive, obsessed about getting different. (My thanks to Thomas P.M. Barnett for the construct. Tom has said the difference between himself and the folks that work at the Pentagon is they think about war in the context of war and he thinks about war in the context of everything else)

Eagle flies in Iowa: Campaign Media Analysis Group estimates Iowa TV stations picked up $45 mil in the run up to yesterday's caucuses.

Congrats & cheers: For the first time, Disney Channel beat all the ad-supported cable networks in prime during 2007, delivering more average viewers than any other #1 network in cable TV history. USA posted second.

Blogging music: Daytrotter. Rock Sellout. My thanks to the Hey Nielsen crew for the tips.

Too soon to tell: Story about GSD&M creative for the HD Radio Alliance breaks in the trade. Gregory Solman writes it up in Ad Week, GSD&M Preps $200 Mil. + HD Radio Push. Meanwhile, Media Monitors proclaims the HD Radio Alliance 2007's #1 radio advertiser (national spot). 1,451,036 spots detected. My thought is those 1.45 mil units were only a part of the 2007 messaging efforts. Promos, IDs, et al by local stations were not insignificant and should be properly credited in any realistic accounting of investments made in the HD Radio initiative. As mentioned here previously 2008 is the third year of this initiative. Alliance members have pledged $230 mil in inventory. This represents an incredible opportunity and one that should not be wasted. The largest single multi-year investment made by and for radio in the history of radio should produce results. The HD Radio campaign should serve as nothing less than a practical demonstration of the power of radio advertising. The evidence must be empirical. Q.E.D.

“The best way I made things happen was by saying I could and then it forced me to do it. It’s one thing to keep it to yourself but if you say it to everybody, then you have no choice. It was either that or get out of the business. When you put yourself out on a limb- there’s no choice but to win.”

“If you have the confidence in yourself that you can pull off anything and if you leave yourself flexible enough to bob and weave where you have to... the goal stays the same... How you’re going to get there may change but “Here’s where the journeys gonna end”- How we’ll get there we’ll have to figure out along the way.”

"Everything in life is sales."

Lee Arnold

Today's image: Bare Trees by Fred Winston. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Today's quotations, all by rock radio raconteur Lee Arnold, are from a new writing. The true story of how one gifted radio program director and his staff, with nothing more than a great idea and their own relentless passion, made national news and history bringing The Who to their town. Sex, drugs, and a generous helping of wireless swagger, that radio surname magic one should properly call only by its given name, rock and roll...

WHOoPLA: The Greatest Rock Radio Stunt Ever by V. Scott Beddome. Highly recommended here. Closed circuit to Beddome: When casting for the big screen accept no other player than Johnny Depp to play the role of rogue warrior Arnold. (FD: In the previous century I served as valet, defense attorney and part-time concierge to the great Mr Arnold)

Bonus: Do you own a rock radio station? If you manage a rock station, should you be in charge of programming, sales or promotion for a rock station, consult or sell anything whatsoever to a rock station (or have need to arrest the attention of the rock radio audience), you'll benefit from getting Lee Arnold involved. This is not to suggest he will be available. Please, don't blame me if he ain't interested. It is only my best counsel for how to end 2008 much better off than you are ending this year, no matter how well you think you're doing. Rock on and good luck. You may find Lee here.

Bonus videos: Seth, Dr Dave and ten other thinkers share their video picks. Well worth the time, check them out here. Kudos to the gang at Twist Image!


Ex-dead tree guy gets it: Bravos to Jeff Jarvis for making the obvious, obvious...

"A newspaper (or, for that matter, TV or radio) company needs to set up a new, hyperlocal company that is designed to go after those 1,000 $100 ads. Let the big, old newspaper and online divisions keep serving and saving those big advertisers. Start a new company that makes small, local advertising its sole focus. That means they need to set up automated systems to accept and place highly targeted local ads and directories. That means they need to come up with new means of selling without on-the-street sales staffs: outbound phone sales, direct response, even local sales network (instead of citizen journalists, citizen sales people), making aggressive use of the promotional power of the newspaper while you still have it. That means they need to have lots of targeted local content without large editorial staffs. That means they need to set up networks with local bloggers and others and they need to encourage more people to join and the way they will do that is by sharing revenue and so these need to be both content and ad networks. This is unproven but I know that this won’t happen in the existing structure from print or even online staffs. It’s hard and its new but — as the Journal now well proves — if you newspapers don’t do it, your online competitors will."

Read Jeff's entire post with comments here.

"What counts can't always be counted; what can be counted doesn't always count." Albert Einstein

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot

"Life is good only when it is magical and musical, a perfect timing and consent, and when we do not anatomize it. You must treat the days respectfully...You must hear the bird's song without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs." Emerson


Photo: Wisconsin Road by chefranden. Great shot. Thank you! It is beautiful here, especially this time of year.

We all owe Lawrence Lessig. Just got an email from him about the upcoming five year anniversary of Creative Commons. WOW, five years! Seems like only yesterday that Lessig and others set into motion the copyright system we enjoy, and depend upon today. Now, Larry is announcing a new capital campaign - $500K to keep the effort moving forward for the next five years. Please do join me and give what you can. All the details are here. Thank you very much. And thanks, cheers to Larry for all of his great work!

Let's mark 30 and put another one to bed: In my salad days at WBZ the legendary Jim Yergin taught me..."Your audience is the inverse of your mail." All of us discovered, of course, that he was right. My sense always was those letters to the editor were doped. Today, your audience does not have to take writing instrument in hand and involve the federal government in delivery of a message - your audience is one click away. In the last several years another old school convention has become real again. At times in the last century we knew something was happening when the phones were hot even when nothing was coming in via uniformed federal employees. This, again, served to prove Yergin's thesis correct. Hot phones typically predicted a good book or in the least a hot show. One trip to the producer's station before a show began told you everything. During the newscast before a hot show all the lines lighted up.

Today, pvs, uniques and emails do much the same thing. It's wonderful. Listener/Viewer snail mail, as we once knew it, is dead and so too is Jim's once brilliant observation. We are getting closer to the ideal that the great genius Rosser Reeves first suggested - the fully connected always on feedback loop. What a great time it is to be working in measured media!

If, I owned, managed or programmed a rock station: No matter how certain I happened to be about how good my fall strategy was, I would invite Lee Arnold to give my team an opinion on what, exactly, we could be doing better. Excellent ROI. Highly recommended. He's one click away here. Ring this man up and win!

Contrarian, as ever: My wife and I have agreed. We are sending out dead tree holiday greetings this year. If for no other reason, no one else seems intent to play.

Post #501: What, hey, just a minute, really! Time does fly. Dear reader, my sincere thanks to you for your support of this humble blog. A great many have posted way into the four digits and I truly respect and appreciate them for showing the way.

Is your station guilty of spam?: Dan Kelley offers up an object lesson. Important stuff. Ensure your team is not a party to such bad behavior. Read all about it here. Kudos and thanks to Dan!

Bonus (2 poets, no waiting): Rives Derrick C. Brown

Congrats & cheers: Radiohead on their brilliant marketing move - putting price in the hands of fans. LA Times Op/Ed here.

Photo: I Love You More by Thomas Hawk. Killer image. Thank you!

"If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play." John Cleese

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." Sally Berger

"Be yourself. The world worships the original." Ingrid Bergman

Fox Business redirects domain, teasing 10/15 debut. Back story here. Site here.

Midtown buzz: Time, Inc. annual billing about $175 mil in online rev, running a CPM of approx $21. Compared to $5.2 billion in dead tree rev.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain: Predicting the future of media is, at best, a parlor game fraught with peril. Back in the last century I recall giving a talk at MIDEM and leading with a denouncement - CHR is not dead. I took up the task of telling the audience to ignore the idiot American consultant who, at a session earlier in the day, told the audience that CHR was totally dead. Predictions do make good copy. Last week, just about the time that Yahoo! announced they were closing up their podcasting business, we learned that the first tribe of wireless is, well, toast. The best used by date a bit less than 20 years ahead. Michael Harrison is quoted in the Mark Washburn column here in Charlotte Observer...

Harrison, who entered broadcasting in 1967 and has published Talkers since 1990, said he believes most listeners will abandon the traditional AM and FM radio services and migrate to new technologies in the next two decades.

"The next 15 years will be the demise of terrestrial radio as we know it and the rise of the extraterrestrial," he said. Just as Vaudeville gave way to movies and horses to the automobile, he said, radio will be overtaken by gadgets that serve people's needs more efficiently.

What comes to mind here is Orgel's Second Rule (i.e., "Evolution is cleverer that you are"). What media around 15 years ago remains the same today? That pesky four word qualification in the prediction (e.g., "as we know it") seems to prove there's no fist in that glove. Care to make a Long Bet Michael?

Lee Arnold gets Bob Dylan to deliver his mail to WRIF, no kidding, details here. Kudos to Lee, clever as ever!

GOP front runners to Tavis Smiley: Drop dead. In what is certain to be a calculated move the four leading GOP candidates were no shows at last week's PBS sponsored debate. Worst of the bunch would be Fred Thompson who did agree to attend and later backed out when hearing the big three were not attending. Tone deaf. Stupid without excuse. ABC News coverage here.

Bonus: John Maeda

Congrats & cheers: Warner Bros and NBCU stations renew Ellen through 2011. Hey!Nielsen on their beta launch. Rebecca Watson, Glynn Washington and Al Letson winners of the PRX Public Radio Talent Quest (more), entered by 1,400. Rebecca blogs here. Should you be a station person looking for leading-edge original music you need to get dialed-in to the guys all the smart kids are inviting to play; these guys are the goods: Bob Shannon and Bruce Upchurch on the success of their exciting and very cool new venture.