smays.com

Northwest Hospitality

We wrapped up our first full day in Seattle with a delightful boat ride (do you call a 54 foot yacht a boat?) on Lake Washington, courtesy of Rob Harris and his buddy Rich. Rob is a friend and business associate of Roger and Clyde and owns a little company called Pacific Market International (they make Stanley and Alladin containers).

Rob gave us a look at Bill Gates' lovely home ("Wave to the security man with the binoculars.") and the houseboat where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed. The Seattle skyline at sunset was gorgeous...the weather was perfect...and Rob and Rich could not have been nicer. Not hard to see why people who live here love it so. [flickr set]

Avoid plowed fields and broken pavement

Favorite line from the show notes for Living Healthy Podcast #36 (Knee Pain): "For many people avoiding certain activities such as running or walking on irregular surfaces like plowed fields or broken pavement can help a lot."

Experience Music Project

RG and I hiked up to the Space Needle and did a quick walk-through of the Experience Music Project (a museum). The Jimi Hendrix stuff was cool, but I'm just not a museum guy.

Roger visits Starbucks #1

Roger's efforts to get us bumped up to First Class were unsuccessful and the flight was packed. I sat next to Ma and Pa Kettle and the lady in the seat next to Roger had a chicken in her lap. Got all checked in at the lovely Marriott Waterfront (hi-speed net access for $10 a day. Given the room rate, you'd think they could throw in the broadband) and headed over to Starbucks #1 to get Roger a cup of joe. [larger image]

Beautiful weather here in Seattle. Like the song says, "The greenest skies you've ever seen." Had a great meal...walked along the waterfront...and traded stories from Learfield's early days.

Vacation

Three or four days at Gnomedex plus two weeks of vacation adds up to the longest time I've taken from work in...forever? Vacations have always been something of a "forced interlude." You get it out of the way and then get back to what you do. This one feels different. On the other hand, I'm certain to spend a good chunk of time online every day so the lines between work and non-work grow ever more blurred.

But I need change my physical space, if not my virtual space and hopping back a few times zones (Seattle) will be a good start. And I'll be with 300 people who eat, sleep and breath blogging, podcasting and all things digital. I'm looking forward to being the dumbest guy in the room. (Insert joke here)

A Joyful Noise

Warning: This post contains material that some might find offensive. But now you know and can spare yourself any discomfort or embarrassment by stopping here. If you do decide to listen to this very amusing parody song, you forfeit any right to piss, moan, bitch or otherwise complain. Are we good? Enjoy. [Thanks, Terry]

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." -- Mark Twain

Blogging isn't a business

Doc Searls was one of several blogger biggies taking part in BloggerCon IV ("Celebrating the art and science of weblogs"), this weekend in San Francisco. Looks like all of the sessions are available as MP3 downloads and I'm looking forward to the one titled "Making Money." Doc's take on blogging and business makes a lot of sense to me:

First, blogging isn't a business, any more than emailing or phoning are businesses. It is, however, becoming more important to many businesses. And to the nonbusiness lives of millions. This is an example of what I call The Because Effect. In the Making Money session yesterday, John Palfrey called this "making money Off blogging" ("as opposed to making money by blogging").

The Miltenbergers (circa 1965)

Barb, Jan, Lew, Chris and Beth. The Miltenbergers. Fashion ran a close second to ultraviolet protection on Miltenberger family vacations.

Clyde's Tips for Success

Our company is experiencing something of a growth spurt and there are lots of fresh, young faces in the hallways. Learfield Grand Poobah Clyde Lear offers the new kids some advice:

Throw yourself into your job. Learn it very well. Show your superiors you're grateful to have work -- many don't. Be inquisitive about Learfield, about what all is going on around you. Ask about things you don't understand; push for answers. Feel free to offer suggestions. Don't feel hurt if your great ideas are scuttled; push for reasons why. Go to lunch, or otherwise find outside social opportunities to be with associates -- all of whom probably outrank you. Arrive early and stay late. Walk briskly with your head erect. Dress better than average. Remain quiet --not outspoken-- in departmental meetings. Become involved in a community of friends outside of work. Be respectful, but not intimidated, by management; feel free to email or stop by our offices anytime. Expect to advance and be bold in seeking new opportunities. And, read my blog everyday!

My Wilderness Adventure (5 min video safari)

In Living Healthy Podcast #35, Dr. Domke leaves the colon and anus behind, and moves on to anxiety disorders. There are five general kinds but he focuses on Generalized Anxiety Disorder ("Exaggerated worry and tension, which fills most days. Always anticipating disaster.") A little close to home for smays but I resisted the temptation to ask for a prescription while we were still recording. This was a good one.

Five days. 120 hours. And then I'm on vacation. Sort of. On Wednesday Roger Gardner and I head for Seattle and three days (for me...RG will probably get geek toxic after a day or so) of Gnomedex. I'll get back just in time for the long 4th of July weekend. I'll rest up a few days after that and then it's off to Destin with the lovely Barb where we gather with her clan for a week. While I won't be completely off the grid, I will be away from the office and I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope to see my pal Jim Mathies, who lives in Destin. Search for some open wi-fi. And try to get better acquainted with the Mac Book. I feel like the guy that's due to be released from prison in three or four days and is afraid to leave his cell for fear of getting shanked so close to freedom.

I'll explain the provocative headline, but first, a few words about smays. I don't photograph well. Too much gum showing (or none). More grimace than smile. But I'm not self-conscious about it, as evidenced by the frequent images here at smays.com. Then, every once in a while, someone takes a photo that I really like. Henry took this shot and it nicely reflects my mental image of myself. Sort of "Keith Richards-without-the-guitar-or-the-money." It's probably as simple as: good photographers see things differently than the rest of us.

Speaking of really good photographers. One of the people working with Henry and Bernard on the tree house project is their long-time friend Nick Kelsh. I thought he was just a sweaty, middle-aged guy yelling instructions at me down on the ground. In fact, Nick is a nationally prominent photographer, co-founder of a successful Philadelphia design firm and the author of eight or nine books. What Nick is not, is self-conscious. This is what Nick called his "gay porn" pose, chosen to showcase his improvised safety harness. Nick's son, who was on the ground with me, seemed neither embarrassed nor surprised, leaving one to wonder if this was the first time Nick has done this sort of thing.

When I grow up, I want to have friends like Nick and Bernard.

Mark Cuban: "I like to curse. I like to curse because I enjoy how it gets everyone in an uproar. I won't curse in an environment where I have accepted an invitation or am a guest of someone else. I will play by their rules. But if you come on my home turf and want something from me. Its my rules." [via Doc Searls]

Yes. Yes, indeed. And smays.com is my turf so you should expect to see a profanity or an obscenity from time to time. Please reference this post.

Lt. Steven Hauk's (Bruno Kirby) wonderful line from Good Morning, Vietnam. It was brought to mind by this observation in a story about Ze Frank:

"Most people aren't funny, and most funny people are not funny most of the time." -- Clay Shirky, adjunct professor at New York University (interactive telecommunications program)

For my part, I'd rather be funny than know how to fly.

Mark Ramsey gazes into his crystal ball and offers some predictions of what will happen now that Howard Stern fans can stream his show online. The one that caught my attention was #4:

Radio stations will finally begin to realize that web-based programming is a more severe threat to its future than satellite-based programming per se, and the obsession with HD Radio will be replaced by an obsession with the Internet. Better dive in - assuming you have the "content" with which to compete.

Ramsey concludes his post with a question: What do you think is going to happen when all our cars are equipped with Internet reception? Uh, my radio dail becomes a web browser?

My buddy Chuck is blogging and podcasting his way across the US, covering something called the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convey. It's a paid gig for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

This is just an amazing opportunity to to demonstrate the power of new media and Chuck is firing on all 8 ethanol-powered cylinders. No biggie, but check out the little video clip as the convoy heads out of San Francisco. Man, you talk about "being there."

How would the client have promoted this in the previous century? Well, we'd send out some news releases, inviting the media to come to our kick-off (free snacks!). And, uh, we'd send out some more news releases about what is happening along the way. What else? Oh, we'd take some pictures and put them on our website. And if we were really clever, we'd hire a film crew to shoot a little documentary of the journey. In a few weeks (or months), after the thing is edited (down to say, 30 minutes)...we'd send copies to the media in hopes they'd watch it and be so enthralled they'd do an interview with us and put it on their (Network, TV station, radio station, magazine, newspaper). And if they did do an interview, we'd send out a news release telling everyone about that.

Or, you could invite everyone that might possibly give a shit (or should give a shit) to come along for the ride. And if it's easy enough, and fun enough... a lot of them will.

After I purchased my iPod nano (a year ago? two years?), I installed iTunes on my home desktop Windows machine. And for the most part, that has worked fine. This morning I migrated everything over to the Mac Book and sync'd up the nano. My original thought was I wanted to be able to update podcasts wherever I might be. Before, I had hook up to the home PC...now I sync with the Mac Book which I am keeping with me more and more.

I've also loaded my Outlook contacts back on the nano (I've found this to be extremely useful). First time I did this it was a bit of a pain. Had to export the contacts from my Win machine at work and jump thru a couple of hoops to get the file on the nano. These days, I keep my Mac Book Address Book sync'd with work (I just drag and drop a file) and sync'ing the nano with the Mac Book is... well, you've seen the TV ads.

Pre-Mac, I tended to keep a lot of stuff scattered between home, work, laptop. I find myself looking for ways to get my most important stuff on the Mac. I'm looking forward to my first road trip with the Mac.

I mentioned the tree house Bernard and Henry (and friends) are building. I spent the morning with the crew, helping out with a few menial chores and shooting a little video. This runs about 6 minutes and the higher quality file is big (26 meg .wmv). I stuck a lower quality version on YouTube if you're in a hurry. Bernard is blogging the project here (including photos by Henry). This one is mine, however, and (L-R) features: Nick, Chaz, Sam, Bernard and Henry. Following this morning's work, Henry gave me a short tour of the Prairie Garden Trust. It was spectacular.

Radio Iowa News Dirctor Kay Henderson covered the Iowa GOP and Democratic State Conventions today in Des Moines and her "tool of choice" was her blog.

Kay is not double-jointed (as far as I know) but she has a knack or skill (super power?)...she can type blazing fast. Her posts from the conventions are not verbatim but they're damned close.

As I read them, I was reminded of an earlier post here at smays.com where I pondered the best tool for covering a live event. I guesss a live video or audio feed of these speeches would have been cool but I think I can make a case for Kay's posts being "better." I mean, Jesus, the speeches are on line before the applause dies down.

This is what happens when you equip a really good reporter with a blog.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced today that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company he co-founded to concentrate on charitable work...but will continue as the company's chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period. That has a familiar ring to it.

Impossible not to wonder if Bill doesn't see some writing on the wall for MS and wants to step down before the company looses it's place in The Great Digital Scheme of Things. Or, maybe it's just time to do something different. Why not?

While it's difficult to imagine a world in which Microsoft isn't a major player, I can remember watching nuke-laden B-52's skimming over Kennett on their way to the SAC base at Blytheville, Arkansas. Couldn't imagine a world without the USSR. Then, one day, it was just gone. Poof. What? You think comparing Microsoft and the fall of the Soviet Union is a stretch? Maybe it's just the effect of resting my wrists on this Mac Book.

Personally, I'm grateful that Mr. Gates came along and gave us Windows. He made computing easier and more fun for smays. I wish him well.

How many conferences have you been to where one (or all) of the sessions went something like this:

The moderator gets up and welcomes everyone to the session...provides a brief overview of the session topic...and introduces the panelists. Each of the panelists gets up and does a little presentation which may or may not have anything to do with the stated subject of the session. And, as a bonus, these are often self-serving pitches for the panelists' company, product or service. Each of the panelists runs over their alloted time so the last guy gets screwed. If there is any time left, the panel fields questions from the audience. Most of these are usually off-topic and self-serving as well.

In recent years, something called an "unconference" has gained some popularity. Dave Winer is a big proponent of this format and they're employing it at Gnomedex later this month. Dave does a nice job of explaining the concept:

We don't have speakers, panels or an audience. We do have discussions and sessions, and each session has a discussion leader. Think of the discussion leader as a reporter who is creating a story with quotes from the people in the room. So, instead of having a panel with an audience we just have people. We feel this more accurately reflects what's going on. It's not uncommon for the audience at a conference to have more expertise than the people who are speaking.

The discussion leader is also the editor, so if he or she feels that a point has been made they must move on to the next point quickly. No droning, no filibusters, no repeating an idea over and over.

Gnomedex 6.0 will be my first "unconference" and I'm looking forward to it.

Three new "Get a Mac" TV ads. I think these are funnier if you have your hands on one of the new Mac Books as you watch them. It's the pity in the voice and face of the Mac kid that just breaks your heart. You can deal with gloating or taunting, but the sympathy is a killer. When the Mac kid hops out of his nice, white box and leaves the PC guy in his brown cardboard container...I want to reach in and lift him out and give him a hug. Brilliant ads.

In early 2005, I linked to an Adrants item about Cadillac trying out five second commercials (and made the obvious reference to Max Headroom). According to Advertising Age, Clear Channel is considering one-second commercials (called Blinks)

The Blinks could be used in a number of ways. Clear Channel's Creative Services Group crafted a demonstration spot using the McDonald's jingle, and placed it between one hip-hop song and another. The group also created a Blink for BMW's Mini Cooper with a horn honking and man's voice saying "Mini," and placed it before miniaturized news reports. (Neither marketer has a deal with Clear Channel for Blinks.) Other audio mnemonics that could use Blinks are the Intel chime and the NBC bells.

Sounds like a publicity stunt but who knows. Not sure how this syncs with CC's "less clutter" philosophy. If anybody has heard one of these (or, better still, could send me a wee air-check), gimme a shout. [Thanks, Jackie]

My buddy Henry and his pal Bernard are building a tree house. They've tried to cobble together some reasons for doing this but finally admit they're doing for the pure, simple joy of making and have a tree house. You can follow their adventures on their blog. They plan to post photos of the project and have invited me (okay, I sort of invited myself) to come out and shot a little video. Stay tuned.

After 38 years (!), Morris James has hung up his headphones and started blogging ("Purging Radio from My System"). He started in radio when he was 14 and his most recent gig was KRZK in Branson, MO. I met Morris when he was news director at WOW in Omaha (a Great Empire station at the time) and I was doing affiliate relations for Radio Iowa. Morris was instrumental in getting us on that great station.

He lurks regularly here at smays.com and calls his new blog Ozarks First Word ("News, Views and Tidbits"). Sounds like he's working for the local newspaper and is exploring ways to make blogging pay.

Not sure how much time he'll have for blogging and podcasting but here's a guy with a boat-load of experience and a love for reporting. Give him six months or a year and he might just become "Ozarks First Word."

Doc Searls on Robert Scoble's value to Microsoft:

"Job titles, boxes in org charts, are so last-millennium. They are relics of an Industrial Age that was born of the doomed notion that people are best understood as cogs in corporate machines. ... What matters most in the long run is who you are. Not who you work for."

If you're unfamiliar with the Scoble story...

A thoughtful and well-linked post by Jim Mathies, wondering how a potential employer might reflect on his (Jim's) online persona. I've posted on this topic a few times and thought about it again last week following an interview with a young man who was interested in a job with our company.

The job in question is web-related so I asked if he had anything online that I could look at. "Not really," he responded. He read a little surprise on my face and added, "I have a My Space page."

When I pressed him for a look, he reluctantly pulled up his page, which launched to the sound of music that could best be described as "urban." And there was a nice photo of the young man striking a bit of a "gangsta" pose. (Like I'd know)

He seemed a little uncomfortable so I attempted to reassure him that I'd rather see his My Space page than some dry, lifeless resume.

But, as Jim's post (and the NYT article that prompted it) reminds us, a lot of who we are it "out there," just a Google or Technorati search away. I have no doubt I have written something that would keep a prospective employer from hiring me. But I wouldn't want to work for a company that would not hire me based on something they read here. Younger bloggers might not have that luxury.

So, do you let the world know who you really are by letting it all hang out on your blog? Or, do you craft a sanitized, lifeless, carefully worded resume? Most pros would argue for the resume and they'd probably be right. Unless I was doing the interview.

I don't do yard work. Or, I do it so rarely that neighbors flock to the scene with coolers and folding chairs to bear witness to these rare occurrences. ("Is it really him?" "I can't be sure, with the goggles, the helmet and the ear-protectors. It might be him.") Yesterday was Weed Wacker Day and here's 40 seconds of before-and-after video. I was using the Terminator Blade and found the three hour ordeal sweaty but very satisfying.

Debbie Weil at BlogWrite for CEO's:

"...blogs are really just next-generation Web sites. Every company will have a blog-like (interactive, two-way) component on their home page a couple of years from now. And the word blog may not be used."

Ms. Weil references a survey of marketers (49% won't use blogs in the next year) that reflects what we're seeing with many of our customers. I agree that someday (soon) all websites will be blog-like but we won't notice or care.

Two former Learfielders met up in Nashville yesterday where they were working the big country music event called Fan Fair. Chuck Zimmerman is blogging the event for New Holland Tractor. Ben Krech is a (the?) production director for XM Satellite Radio which, obviously, has a bunch of CW channels. Chuck shares a brief (6 min) interview with Ben. I mention this because they're friends and because each has moved into interesting new media directions.

If you are under the age of 50, skip this post. In Living Healthy Podcast #33, Dr. Domke talks about colon cancer. Very bad juju. Second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. But easily treated if detected early and much of the half-hour podcast deals with colonoscopy screening. Long-time readers will recall that smays had his first screening a couple of years ago and it was a walk in the park. Seriously.

I hate being nagged and would never recommend it but if you have a loved one that is over fifty and has not had a colonoscopy, ask them to. Then insist that they do. Then make their life a living hell until they do. Like Henry says, how many chances do you get to save someone's life?

Potential presidential candidates, campaign representatives and Washington reporters were in abundance Friday at the YearlyKos 2006 Convention, a three-day gathering of bloggers in Las Vegas. Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Daily Kos and the blogger for whom the meeting is named:

"Both parties have failed us. Republicans have failed us because they can't govern. Democrats have failed because they can't get elected. So now it's our turn."

Uh, our turn to do what? Never mind. As someone who jots about radio and blogging frequently, I found this observation interesting:

"The blogosphere has become for the left what talk radio has been for the right: a way of organizing and communicating to supporters. Blogging is nowhere near the force among Republicans as it is among Democrats, and talk radio is a much more effective tool for Republicans."

You can read the full story here (Thanks to Henry for the pointer).

Idea for documentary film: Send Kay, Darin and John to YearlyKos 2007. Crew follows each around the convention. Kind of a living Left, Right and Center. Assuming, of course, Darin gets released from blogger rehab by then.

For the next month, Snapple will be the only advertiser on Boston radio station WFNX. It's a $2 million deal that includes Snapple mentions by on-air talent; event sponsorships; etc. The station's programming and listener demos were a match for the Snapple folks, so...

Listeners can just punch away if they get tired of Snapple mentions but how do you keep the station announcers from blowing their brains out. [AdJab via iloveradio.org]

My nominee is L. A. Confidential (1997). Lots of longer, high-explosive endings, but I have to put LAC on the short-list. If you've seen the movie, you'll remember a scene where Russell Crowe's character is in a bar, talking to some tough guy, when he (Crowe) reaches down and grabs the guy by the family jewels. I couldn't help but wonder if the scene wasn't inspired by Mississippi Burning (1988). Gene Hackman got a similar grip on Michael Rooker. For 100 Bonus Points, can you name other movies where somebody grabs somebody (else) in this sensitive area?

That's one of the findings in a market research study by Student Monitor. The iPod surpassed beer drinking as the most "in" thing among undergraduate college students. Nearly three quarters, or 73 percent, of 1,200 students surveyed said iPods were "in" - more than any other item in a list that also included text messaging, bar hopping and downloading music.

The head of our company made a pretty big announcement this morning, about some high-level promotions. But the exciting thing for me is how the announcement was made. Our CEO posted it to the corporate blog. And I think he did it from Ireland or Paris or somewhere. Now, I'm sure someone sent around the requisite Word document but the blog was the medium of choice for getting the word out to our employees (and the world). The Big Guy could have called a big company-wide meeting or circulated some kind of "eyes only" memo but he didn't. Someone probably did a news release but even that was something of an afterthought. Clyde's post is better. It's a real, live person...speaking in a human voice...telling one and all what's going on at our company. How hard is that? Damned hard.

Bill Page was discovered dead Tuesday in the bedroom of his home in Kennett, Missouri. Bill was 39 years old. According to a brief story on the Daily Dunklin Democrat website, Bill died of natural causes.

I never met Bill but he emailed frequently and I referred to him in a number of posts. Our connection was KBOA. He was passionate about local radio. I am sorry to hear of his passing. He started a blog in early May but hadn't posted recently. I can't help but wonder how long it will remain up. When you think about it, every post might be your last.

74% of all terrestrial radio listeners --across all demographic groups-- are satisfied with what they hear on the radio. According to latest research from Mark Ramsey and the folks at hear2.0. They surveyed 1,000 people, nationwide, aged 12-54. As for all this hoo-haw about iPods and satellite radio and such... only 11 people of the 1,000 surveyed, said they didn't listen to radio at all.

If you own/manage/work at a radio station, you might look at this a couple of ways. Radio ain't broke so there's nothing to fix. Let's go cut some spots. Or, let's hedge our bets and get our shit together online, just in case listeners ever do get bored or dissatisfied.

I've been feeling a little ancient lately, but Halley Suitt reminds me that's not one of the five things that matter. Five for five.

Algernon didn't get to the prom until almost midnight but did remember to bring his Pat Boone and Patti Paige record collection.

When I bought the MacBook, I decided not to purchase Microsoft Office. I can't remember the last time I felt the need to write something in Office. And few things make me go nuts faster than getting an email that says "see attached Word doc" in the body...and the Word doc has two lines of crap that could just as easily have been written in the body of the email (Get a clue you ignorant hillbilly!). What was my point? Oh yeah, MS Office...

Don't need it. Don't need Powerpoint. And --as of tomorrow-- I don't need Excel.
Google is set to launch a Web-based spreadsheet program that will allow people to view and simultaneously edit data while conducting "in-document" chat and supports the import and export of documents in the .xls format used in Excel and the .csv (comma-separated values) format.

I'm not a heavy spreadsheet user and I'm guessing the folks in our finance and accounting department couldn't get by with the new Google spreadsheet. But I'm doing fine without Office and finer tomorrow.

Say howdy to the newest Learfield blogger (the Ramblings of Rick), Rick Kennedy. I normally give newbies a few days to get their feet under them, as it were. But I have a feeling Rick will stick. His first post is a gracious nod to a few of the the other Learfield bloggers, including smays:

Perhaps the most diligent blogger I've ever known is Steve Mays. He's not an "old guy", but is an older gentleman. He's of an age from which one wouldn't expect much computer savvy, let alone tight, quality blogging. He blogs every day, lets loose his conviction, political views and general moral fibre (or lack thereof) and packages it all in very entertaining and informative prose.

Older gentleman? Let's face it...from 58 you can throw your walker and hit 60. But it's tough to see in print, even in the middle of some very kind words. Colonel Sanders is an "older gentleman." Mark Twain is an "older gentleman." (Okay, they're dead, but you get my drift) I want to be your Funky Web Monkey. Or, your Pile Drivin' Digital Daddy. Almost anything but an "older gentleman." (Sigh)

But let's not make this about me. Let's keep an eye on The Ramblings of Rick and encourage our new Brother in Blogging.

Update: I couldn't sleep, worrying about "Ramblings of Rick" as a blog title. I humbly offer the following as alternatives:

Ricky, Ricky bo Bicky Bonana fanna fo Ficky Fee fy mo Mickey, Ricky! Dot Com
Brother Rick's Traveling Blogathon
Rick Shaw, Kung Fu Blogger
Rick's Place
Rickaford Nation

I've come across Zing a couple of times this weekend. I gather this little gizmo is still in prototype but it sounds interesting. For lack of a better word, they're little radios that have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios built in. The radios are used to download music and to upload data about what you are listening to. If you have one of these players, you can do cool things, like see what your friends are listening to, then play samples of those tracks, or buy songs and albums directly from the player. The first Zing-powered players should ship this year, carrying the Sirius brand.

As I read about this I mentally pictured all the people I see listening to iPods. Which begs a question: Why don't I see anyone walking around with a transistor (do they call them that?) radio? I mean, there are some really great radio programs...are we only listening to them in the car or at the office? Why? If I'm willing to stand in line at Subway with nano earbuds hanging down my face...why not listen to my local radio station?

After all, what could be easier? No iTunes to futz with and sync. Just drop your little transitor radio in your pocket and go. I'm missing something here, aren't I?

...I started working at Learfield Communications. Yeah, I know I mention this every year but what's a blog for if not to make note of such things. Look closely at the the photo on the right...and the little second-floor sun porch jutting out from the rear of the house. It's just above the satellite dish. That's where my cube was. Right next to Roger Gardner (now Learfield's Chief Operating Officer) and Susan Rampy. Damned hot in the summer and damned cold in the winter. And about 24 inches from the most popular rest room in the building. To say the company has grown in the last 22 years is an understatement. This short (5 min) video is a segment of PBS' New Tech Times that aired in the spring of 1984.

Some dumb-ass working for the government takes a laptop full of veterans' records home and it gets stolen. Naw, that doesn't surprise me. Big accounting firm like Ernst & Young pulls a similar stunt and loses 230,000 records belonging to one of their big clients. Okay, that's a little hard to imagine... but it happened. Could it happen at a company like Amazon? Not if we can belive Werner Vogels, the company's chief technology officer:

"...to get to Amazon customer credit cards you will need a small army of Marines. Although recently we have been discussing (how) to place physical and electronic booby-traps such that the servers will self-destruct when compromised, to deal with such full physically attack ..."

Now that's what I call contingency planning. I always to try buy from/through Amazon. Mr. Vogels is one of the discussion leaders at Gnomedex.

Sometime this past week I posted for the 2,000th time. I can't think of what to make of that milestone, if anything. More later.

One of our affiliate relations reps was calling on a station manager in Burlington, Iowa. The manager --whom I knew many years ago-- asked about me but couldn't remember my name. The best he could come up with was:

"He's a great guy... he is nuts!"

Our rep immediately responded: Steve Mays

There are a lot of "great guys" at Learfield and many of them are a little nutty. I'm flattered beyond words to think I might be near the top of that list (in anyone's mind). And of all the ways I might be remembered, I can think of none better.

Seth Godin calls this the most important "marketing pothole":

Great marketing pleases everyone on the team, sooner or later. But at the beginning, great marketing pleases almost no one. At the beginning, great marketing is counter-intuitive, non-obvious, challenging and apparently risky. Of course your friends, shareholders, stakeholders and bosses won't like it. But they're not doing the marketing, you are.

Mark Ramsey on the (near?) future of All-News radio stations: "If you're an All News or News/Talk station and you're NOT making deals right now to deliver your content to mobile phones, then you are going to see your audience evaporate, slowly and surely. It's as simple as that. Newspapers and TV stations are already putting those pieces together."

A boy has to wonder if this isn't equally true for radio news networks. Tell me again why the big metro newspapers in Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa can't produce exactly the same content our state networks produce? Forget for the moment our network of affiliate radio stations...that's just distribution and rapidly becoming irrelevant. I'm talking about covering the right stories, with audio. And photos. And what the hell, let's throw in some video.

The Missouri Broadcasters Association just concluded their annual meeting and I didn't see anything on the agenda (PDF) that seemed to address Mr. Ramsey's concern. The Illinois broadcasters meet next week and they don't seem worried either.

And you know what? I'm not worried either.

LHP #35: Generalized Anxiety Disorder

In Living Healthy Podcast #35, Dr. Domke leaves the colon and anus behind, and moves on to anxiety disorders. There are five general kinds but he focuses on Generalized Anxiety Disorder ("Exaggerated worry and tension, which fills most days. Always anticipating disaster.") A little close to home for smays but I resisted the temptation to ask for a prescription while we were still recording. This was a good one.

Counting the hours

Five days. 120 hours. And then I'm on vacation. Sort of. On Wednesday Roger Gardner and I head for Seattle and three days (for me...RG will probably get geek toxic after a day or so) of Gnomedex. I'll get back just in time for the long 4th of July weekend. I'll rest up a few days after that and then it's off to Destin with the lovely Barb where we gather with her clan for a week. While I won't be completely off the grid, I will be away from the office and I'm really looking forward to it.

Hope to see my pal Jim Mathies, who lives in Destin. Search for some open wi-fi. And try to get better acquainted with the Mac Book. I feel like the guy that's due to be released from prison in three or four days and is afraid to leave his cell for fear of getting shanked so close to freedom.

Gay Porn Tree House

I'll explain the provocative headline, but first, a few words about smays. I don't photograph well. Too much gum showing (or none). More grimace than smile. But I'm not self-conscious about it, as evidenced by the frequent images here at smays.com. Then, every once in a while, someone takes a photo that I really like. Henry took this shot and it nicely reflects my mental image of myself. Sort of "Keith Richards-without-the-guitar-or-the-money." It's probably as simple as: good photographers see things differently than the rest of us.

Speaking of really good photographers. One of the people working with Henry and Bernard on the tree house project is their long-time friend Nick Kelsh. I thought he was just a sweaty, middle-aged guy yelling instructions at me down on the ground. In fact, Nick is a nationally prominent photographer, co-founder of a successful Philadelphia design firm and the author of eight or nine books. What Nick is not, is self-conscious. This is what Nick called his "gay porn" pose, chosen to showcase his improvised safety harness. Nick's son, who was on the ground with me, seemed neither embarrassed nor surprised, leaving one to wonder if this was the first time Nick has done this sort of thing.

When I grow up, I want to have friends like Nick and Bernard.

Mark Cuban on cursing

Mark Cuban: "I like to curse. I like to curse because I enjoy how it gets everyone in an uproar. I won't curse in an environment where I have accepted an invitation or am a guest of someone else. I will play by their rules. But if you come on my home turf and want something from me. Its my rules." [via Doc Searls]

Yes. Yes, indeed. And smays.com is my turf so you should expect to see a profanity or an obscenity from time to time. Please reference this post.

"Sir, in my heart, I know I'm funny."

Lt. Steven Hauk's (Bruno Kirby) wonderful line from Good Morning, Vietnam. It was brought to mind by this observation in a story about Ze Frank:

"Most people aren't funny, and most funny people are not funny most of the time." -- Clay Shirky, adjunct professor at New York University (interactive telecommunications program)

For my part, I'd rather be funny than know how to fly.

Howard Stern now online

Mark Ramsey gazes into his crystal ball and offers some predictions of what will happen now that Howard Stern fans can stream his show online. The one that caught my attention was #4:

Radio stations will finally begin to realize that web-based programming is a more severe threat to its future than satellite-based programming per se, and the obsession with HD Radio will be replaced by an obsession with the Internet. Better dive in - assuming you have the "content" with which to compete.

Ramsey concludes his post with a question: What do you think is going to happen when all our cars are equipped with Internet reception? Uh, my radio dail becomes a web browser?

Blogging the U.S.A

My buddy Chuck is blogging and podcasting his way across the US, covering something called the AASHTO Interstate 50th Convey. It's a paid gig for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

This is just an amazing opportunity to to demonstrate the power of new media and Chuck is firing on all 8 ethanol-powered cylinders. No biggie, but check out the little video clip as the convoy heads out of San Francisco. Man, you talk about "being there."

How would the client have promoted this in the previous century? Well, we'd send out some news releases, inviting the media to come to our kick-off (free snacks!). And, uh, we'd send out some more news releases about what is happening along the way. What else? Oh, we'd take some pictures and put them on our website. And if we were really clever, we'd hire a film crew to shoot a little documentary of the journey. In a few weeks (or months), after the thing is edited (down to say, 30 minutes)...we'd send copies to the media in hopes they'd watch it and be so enthralled they'd do an interview with us and put it on their (Network, TV station, radio station, magazine, newspaper). And if they did do an interview, we'd send out a news release telling everyone about that.

Or, you could invite everyone that might possibly give a shit (or should give a shit) to come along for the ride. And if it's easy enough, and fun enough... a lot of them will.

Mac migration continues

After I purchased my iPod nano (a year ago? two years?), I installed iTunes on my home desktop Windows machine. And for the most part, that has worked fine. This morning I migrated everything over to the Mac Book and sync'd up the nano. My original thought was I wanted to be able to update podcasts wherever I might be. Before, I had hook up to the home PC...now I sync with the Mac Book which I am keeping with me more and more.

I've also loaded my Outlook contacts back on the nano (I've found this to be extremely useful). First time I did this it was a bit of a pain. Had to export the contacts from my Win machine at work and jump thru a couple of hoops to get the file on the nano. These days, I keep my Mac Book Address Book sync'd with work (I just drag and drop a file) and sync'ing the nano with the Mac Book is... well, you've seen the TV ads.

Pre-Mac, I tended to keep a lot of stuff scattered between home, work, laptop. I find myself looking for ways to get my most important stuff on the Mac. I'm looking forward to my first road trip with the Mac.

Swiss Family Domke

I mentioned the tree house Bernard and Henry (and friends) are building. I spent the morning with the crew, helping out with a few menial chores and shooting a little video. This runs about 6 minutes and the higher quality file is big (26 meg .wmv). I stuck a lower quality version on YouTube if you're in a hurry. Bernard is blogging the project here (including photos by Henry). This one is mine, however, and (L-R) features: Nick, Chaz, Sam, Bernard and Henry. Following this morning's work, Henry gave me a short tour of the Prairie Garden Trust. It was spectacular.

Best tool for the job (Example #2)

Radio Iowa News Dirctor Kay Henderson covered the Iowa GOP and Democratic State Conventions today in Des Moines and her "tool of choice" was her blog.

Kay is not double-jointed (as far as I know) but she has a knack or skill (super power?)...she can type blazing fast. Her posts from the conventions are not verbatim but they're damned close.

As I read them, I was reminded of an earlier post here at smays.com where I pondered the best tool for covering a live event. I guesss a live video or audio feed of these speeches would have been cool but I think I can make a case for Kay's posts being "better." I mean, Jesus, the speeches are on line before the applause dies down.

This is what happens when you equip a really good reporter with a blog.

Bill Gates hanging it up

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced today that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company he co-founded to concentrate on charitable work...but will continue as the company's chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period. That has a familiar ring to it.

Impossible not to wonder if Bill doesn't see some writing on the wall for MS and wants to step down before the company looses it's place in The Great Digital Scheme of Things. Or, maybe it's just time to do something different. Why not?

While it's difficult to imagine a world in which Microsoft isn't a major player, I can remember watching nuke-laden B-52's skimming over Kennett on their way to the SAC base at Blytheville, Arkansas. Couldn't imagine a world without the USSR. Then, one day, it was just gone. Poof. What? You think comparing Microsoft and the fall of the Soviet Union is a stretch? Maybe it's just the effect of resting my wrists on this Mac Book.

Personally, I'm grateful that Mr. Gates came along and gave us Windows. He made computing easier and more fun for smays. I wish him well.

The Unconference

How many conferences have you been to where one (or all) of the sessions went something like this:

The moderator gets up and welcomes everyone to the session...provides a brief overview of the session topic...and introduces the panelists. Each of the panelists gets up and does a little presentation which may or may not have anything to do with the stated subject of the session. And, as a bonus, these are often self-serving pitches for the panelists' company, product or service. Each of the panelists runs over their alloted time so the last guy gets screwed. If there is any time left, the panel fields questions from the audience. Most of these are usually off-topic and self-serving as well.

In recent years, something called an "unconference" has gained some popularity. Dave Winer is a big proponent of this format and they're employing it at Gnomedex later this month. Dave does a nice job of explaining the concept:

We don't have speakers, panels or an audience. We do have discussions and sessions, and each session has a discussion leader. Think of the discussion leader as a reporter who is creating a story with quotes from the people in the room. So, instead of having a panel with an audience we just have people. We feel this more accurately reflects what's going on. It's not uncommon for the audience at a conference to have more expertise than the people who are speaking.

The discussion leader is also the editor, so if he or she feels that a point has been made they must move on to the next point quickly. No droning, no filibusters, no repeating an idea over and over.

Gnomedex 6.0 will be my first "unconference" and I'm looking forward to it.

New "Get a Mac" TV spots

Three new "Get a Mac" TV ads. I think these are funnier if you have your hands on one of the new Mac Books as you watch them. It's the pity in the voice and face of the Mac kid that just breaks your heart. You can deal with gloating or taunting, but the sympathy is a killer. When the Mac kid hops out of his nice, white box and leaves the PC guy in his brown cardboard container...I want to reach in and lift him out and give him a hug. Brilliant ads.

:30's, :60's and :01's

In early 2005, I linked to an Adrants item about Cadillac trying out five second commercials (and made the obvious reference to Max Headroom). According to Advertising Age, Clear Channel is considering one-second commercials (called Blinks)

The Blinks could be used in a number of ways. Clear Channel's Creative Services Group crafted a demonstration spot using the McDonald's jingle, and placed it between one hip-hop song and another. The group also created a Blink for BMW's Mini Cooper with a horn honking and man's voice saying "Mini," and placed it before miniaturized news reports. (Neither marketer has a deal with Clear Channel for Blinks.) Other audio mnemonics that could use Blinks are the Intel chime and the NBC bells.

Sounds like a publicity stunt but who knows. Not sure how this syncs with CC's "less clutter" philosophy. If anybody has heard one of these (or, better still, could send me a wee air-check), gimme a shout. [Thanks, Jackie]

Bernard & Henry's Tree House

My buddy Henry and his pal Bernard are building a tree house. They've tried to cobble together some reasons for doing this but finally admit they're doing for the pure, simple joy of making and have a tree house. You can follow their adventures on their blog. They plan to post photos of the project and have invited me (okay, I sort of invited myself) to come out and shot a little video. Stay tuned.

Radio Colonic

After 38 years (!), Morris James has hung up his headphones and started blogging ("Purging Radio from My System"). He started in radio when he was 14 and his most recent gig was KRZK in Branson, MO. I met Morris when he was news director at WOW in Omaha (a Great Empire station at the time) and I was doing affiliate relations for Radio Iowa. Morris was instrumental in getting us on that great station.

He lurks regularly here at smays.com and calls his new blog Ozarks First Word ("News, Views and Tidbits"). Sounds like he's working for the local newspaper and is exploring ways to make blogging pay.

Not sure how much time he'll have for blogging and podcasting but here's a guy with a boat-load of experience and a love for reporting. Give him six months or a year and he might just become "Ozarks First Word."

Who you are

Doc Searls on Robert Scoble's value to Microsoft:

"Job titles, boxes in org charts, are so last-millennium. They are relics of an Industrial Age that was born of the doomed notion that people are best understood as cogs in corporate machines. ... What matters most in the long run is who you are. Not who you work for."

If you're unfamiliar with the Scoble story...

Your online presence

A thoughtful and well-linked post by Jim Mathies, wondering how a potential employer might reflect on his (Jim's) online persona. I've posted on this topic a few times and thought about it again last week following an interview with a young man who was interested in a job with our company.

The job in question is web-related so I asked if he had anything online that I could look at. "Not really," he responded. He read a little surprise on my face and added, "I have a My Space page."

When I pressed him for a look, he reluctantly pulled up his page, which launched to the sound of music that could best be described as "urban." And there was a nice photo of the young man striking a bit of a "gangsta" pose. (Like I'd know)

He seemed a little uncomfortable so I attempted to reassure him that I'd rather see his My Space page than some dry, lifeless resume.

But, as Jim's post (and the NYT article that prompted it) reminds us, a lot of who we are it "out there," just a Google or Technorati search away. I have no doubt I have written something that would keep a prospective employer from hiring me. But I wouldn't want to work for a company that would not hire me based on something they read here. Younger bloggers might not have that luxury.

So, do you let the world know who you really are by letting it all hang out on your blog? Or, do you craft a sanitized, lifeless, carefully worded resume? Most pros would argue for the resume and they'd probably be right. Unless I was doing the interview.

Slash-and-Burn

I don't do yard work. Or, I do it so rarely that neighbors flock to the scene with coolers and folding chairs to bear witness to these rare occurrences. ("Is it really him?" "I can't be sure, with the goggles, the helmet and the ear-protectors. It might be him.") Yesterday was Weed Wacker Day and here's 40 seconds of before-and-after video. I was using the Terminator Blade and found the three hour ordeal sweaty but very satisfying.

Blogs really just next-generation Web sites

Debbie Weil at BlogWrite for CEO's:

"...blogs are really just next-generation Web sites. Every company will have a blog-like (interactive, two-way) component on their home page a couple of years from now. And the word blog may not be used."

Ms. Weil references a survey of marketers (49% won't use blogs in the next year) that reflects what we're seeing with many of our customers. I agree that someday (soon) all websites will be blog-like but we won't notice or care.

Former Learfielders meet up at CW event

Two former Learfielders met up in Nashville yesterday where they were working the big country music event called Fan Fair. Chuck Zimmerman is blogging the event for New Holland Tractor. Ben Krech is a (the?) production director for XM Satellite Radio which, obviously, has a bunch of CW channels. Chuck shares a brief (6 min) interview with Ben. I mention this because they're friends and because each has moved into interesting new media directions.

Colon cancer: Bad. Colonoscopy: Good

If you are under the age of 50, skip this post. In Living Healthy Podcast #33, Dr. Domke talks about colon cancer. Very bad juju. Second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. But easily treated if detected early and much of the half-hour podcast deals with colonoscopy screening. Long-time readers will recall that smays had his first screening a couple of years ago and it was a walk in the park. Seriously.

I hate being nagged and would never recommend it but if you have a loved one that is over fifty and has not had a colonoscopy, ask them to. Then insist that they do. Then make their life a living hell until they do. Like Henry says, how many chances do you get to save someone's life?

Political bloggers meet in Las Vegas

Potential presidential candidates, campaign representatives and Washington reporters were in abundance Friday at the YearlyKos 2006 Convention, a three-day gathering of bloggers in Las Vegas. Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Daily Kos and the blogger for whom the meeting is named:

"Both parties have failed us. Republicans have failed us because they can't govern. Democrats have failed because they can't get elected. So now it's our turn."

Uh, our turn to do what? Never mind. As someone who jots about radio and blogging frequently, I found this observation interesting:

"The blogosphere has become for the left what talk radio has been for the right: a way of organizing and communicating to supporters. Blogging is nowhere near the force among Republicans as it is among Democrats, and talk radio is a much more effective tool for Republicans."

You can read the full story here (Thanks to Henry for the pointer).

Idea for documentary film: Send Kay, Darin and John to YearlyKos 2007. Crew follows each around the convention. Kind of a living Left, Right and Center. Assuming, of course, Darin gets released from blogger rehab by then.

Snapple sole radio station sponsor

For the next month, Snapple will be the only advertiser on Boston radio station WFNX. It's a $2 million deal that includes Snapple mentions by on-air talent; event sponsorships; etc. The station's programming and listener demos were a match for the Snapple folks, so...

Listeners can just punch away if they get tired of Snapple mentions but how do you keep the station announcers from blowing their brains out. [AdJab via iloveradio.org]

Category: Best End-of-Movie Shoot-Out

My nominee is L. A. Confidential (1997). Lots of longer, high-explosive endings, but I have to put LAC on the short-list. If you've seen the movie, you'll remember a scene where Russell Crowe's character is in a bar, talking to some tough guy, when he (Crowe) reaches down and grabs the guy by the family jewels. I couldn't help but wonder if the scene wasn't inspired by Mississippi Burning (1988). Gene Hackman got a similar grip on Michael Rooker. For 100 Bonus Points, can you name other movies where somebody grabs somebody (else) in this sensitive area?

iPods more popular than beer

That's one of the findings in a market research study by Student Monitor. The iPod surpassed beer drinking as the most "in" thing among undergraduate college students. Nearly three quarters, or 73 percent, of 1,200 students surveyed said iPods were "in" - more than any other item in a list that also included text messaging, bar hopping and downloading music.

Tipping point for blogging at Learfield

The head of our company made a pretty big announcement this morning, about some high-level promotions. But the exciting thing for me is how the announcement was made. Our CEO posted it to the corporate blog. And I think he did it from Ireland or Paris or somewhere. Now, I'm sure someone sent around the requisite Word document but the blog was the medium of choice for getting the word out to our employees (and the world). The Big Guy could have called a big company-wide meeting or circulated some kind of "eyes only" memo but he didn't. Someone probably did a news release but even that was something of an afterthought. Clyde's post is better. It's a real, live person...speaking in a human voice...telling one and all what's going on at our company. How hard is that? Damned hard.

Bill Page dead at 39

Bill Page was discovered dead Tuesday in the bedroom of his home in Kennett, Missouri. Bill was 39 years old. According to a brief story on the Daily Dunklin Democrat website, Bill died of natural causes.

I never met Bill but he emailed frequently and I referred to him in a number of posts. Our connection was KBOA. He was passionate about local radio. I am sorry to hear of his passing. He started a blog in early May but hadn't posted recently. I can't help but wonder how long it will remain up. When you think about it, every post might be your last.

Americans not bored with terrestrial radio

74% of all terrestrial radio listeners --across all demographic groups-- are satisfied with what they hear on the radio. According to latest research from Mark Ramsey and the folks at hear2.0. They surveyed 1,000 people, nationwide, aged 12-54. As for all this hoo-haw about iPods and satellite radio and such... only 11 people of the 1,000 surveyed, said they didn't listen to radio at all.

If you own/manage/work at a radio station, you might look at this a couple of ways. Radio ain't broke so there's nothing to fix. Let's go cut some spots. Or, let's hedge our bets and get our shit together online, just in case listeners ever do get bored or dissatisfied.

The five things that matter

I've been feeling a little ancient lately, but Halley Suitt reminds me that's not one of the five things that matter. Five for five.

New Media Strategy #37

Algernon didn't get to the prom until almost midnight but did remember to bring his Pat Boone and Patti Paige record collection.

Google spreadsheets

When I bought the MacBook, I decided not to purchase Microsoft Office. I can't remember the last time I felt the need to write something in Office. And few things make me go nuts faster than getting an email that says "see attached Word doc" in the body...and the Word doc has two lines of crap that could just as easily have been written in the body of the email (Get a clue you ignorant hillbilly!). What was my point? Oh yeah, MS Office...

Don't need it. Don't need Powerpoint. And --as of tomorrow-- I don't need Excel.
Google is set to launch a Web-based spreadsheet program that will allow people to view and simultaneously edit data while conducting "in-document" chat and supports the import and export of documents in the .xls format used in Excel and the .csv (comma-separated values) format.

I'm not a heavy spreadsheet user and I'm guessing the folks in our finance and accounting department couldn't get by with the new Google spreadsheet. But I'm doing fine without Office and finer tomorrow.

Colonel Sanders was an "older gentleman"

Say howdy to the newest Learfield blogger (the Ramblings of Rick), Rick Kennedy. I normally give newbies a few days to get their feet under them, as it were. But I have a feeling Rick will stick. His first post is a gracious nod to a few of the the other Learfield bloggers, including smays:

Perhaps the most diligent blogger I've ever known is Steve Mays. He's not an "old guy", but is an older gentleman. He's of an age from which one wouldn't expect much computer savvy, let alone tight, quality blogging. He blogs every day, lets loose his conviction, political views and general moral fibre (or lack thereof) and packages it all in very entertaining and informative prose.

Older gentleman? Let's face it...from 58 you can throw your walker and hit 60. But it's tough to see in print, even in the middle of some very kind words. Colonel Sanders is an "older gentleman." Mark Twain is an "older gentleman." (Okay, they're dead, but you get my drift) I want to be your Funky Web Monkey. Or, your Pile Drivin' Digital Daddy. Almost anything but an "older gentleman." (Sigh)

But let's not make this about me. Let's keep an eye on The Ramblings of Rick and encourage our new Brother in Blogging.

Update: I couldn't sleep, worrying about "Ramblings of Rick" as a blog title. I humbly offer the following as alternatives:

Ricky, Ricky bo Bicky Bonana fanna fo Ficky Fee fy mo Mickey, Ricky! Dot Com
Brother Rick's Traveling Blogathon
Rick Shaw, Kung Fu Blogger
Rick's Place
Rickaford Nation

Where are the transistor radios?

I've come across Zing a couple of times this weekend. I gather this little gizmo is still in prototype but it sounds interesting. For lack of a better word, they're little radios that have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios built in. The radios are used to download music and to upload data about what you are listening to. If you have one of these players, you can do cool things, like see what your friends are listening to, then play samples of those tracks, or buy songs and albums directly from the player. The first Zing-powered players should ship this year, carrying the Sirius brand.

As I read about this I mentally pictured all the people I see listening to iPods. Which begs a question: Why don't I see anyone walking around with a transistor (do they call them that?) radio? I mean, there are some really great radio programs...are we only listening to them in the car or at the office? Why? If I'm willing to stand in line at Subway with nano earbuds hanging down my face...why not listen to my local radio station?

After all, what could be easier? No iTunes to futz with and sync. Just drop your little transitor radio in your pocket and go. I'm missing something here, aren't I?

Twenty-two years ago today

...I started working at Learfield Communications. Yeah, I know I mention this every year but what's a blog for if not to make note of such things. Look closely at the the photo on the right...and the little second-floor sun porch jutting out from the rear of the house. It's just above the satellite dish. That's where my cube was. Right next to Roger Gardner (now Learfield's Chief Operating Officer) and Susan Rampy. Damned hot in the summer and damned cold in the winter. And about 24 inches from the most popular rest room in the building. To say the company has grown in the last 22 years is an understatement. This short (5 min) video is a segment of PBS' New Tech Times that aired in the spring of 1984.

Keeping customer data secure

Some dumb-ass working for the government takes a laptop full of veterans' records home and it gets stolen. Naw, that doesn't surprise me. Big accounting firm like Ernst & Young pulls a similar stunt and loses 230,000 records belonging to one of their big clients. Okay, that's a little hard to imagine... but it happened. Could it happen at a company like Amazon? Not if we can belive Werner Vogels, the company's chief technology officer:

"...to get to Amazon customer credit cards you will need a small army of Marines. Although recently we have been discussing (how) to place physical and electronic booby-traps such that the servers will self-destruct when compromised, to deal with such full physically attack ..."

Now that's what I call contingency planning. I always to try buy from/through Amazon. Mr. Vogels is one of the discussion leaders at Gnomedex.

2,000 Posts

Sometime this past week I posted for the 2,000th time. I can't think of what to make of that milestone, if anything. More later.

If you can't recall my name...

One of our affiliate relations reps was calling on a station manager in Burlington, Iowa. The manager --whom I knew many years ago-- asked about me but couldn't remember my name. The best he could come up with was:

"He's a great guy... he is nuts!"

Our rep immediately responded: Steve Mays

There are a lot of "great guys" at Learfield and many of them are a little nutty. I'm flattered beyond words to think I might be near the top of that list (in anyone's mind). And of all the ways I might be remembered, I can think of none better.

What will the boss think?

Seth Godin calls this the most important "marketing pothole":

Great marketing pleases everyone on the team, sooner or later. But at the beginning, great marketing pleases almost no one. At the beginning, great marketing is counter-intuitive, non-obvious, challenging and apparently risky. Of course your friends, shareholders, stakeholders and bosses won't like it. But they're not doing the marketing, you are.

Tomorrow's All-News network

Mark Ramsey on the (near?) future of All-News radio stations: "If you're an All News or News/Talk station and you're NOT making deals right now to deliver your content to mobile phones, then you are going to see your audience evaporate, slowly and surely. It's as simple as that. Newspapers and TV stations are already putting those pieces together."

A boy has to wonder if this isn't equally true for radio news networks. Tell me again why the big metro newspapers in Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa can't produce exactly the same content our state networks produce? Forget for the moment our network of affiliate radio stations...that's just distribution and rapidly becoming irrelevant. I'm talking about covering the right stories, with audio. And photos. And what the hell, let's throw in some video.

The Missouri Broadcasters Association just concluded their annual meeting and I didn't see anything on the agenda (PDF) that seemed to address Mr. Ramsey's concern. The Illinois broadcasters meet next week and they don't seem worried either.

And you know what? I'm not worried either.