smays.com

Podcasting with GarageBand 3

That's the tile of a video training CD from lynda.com. The instructor, Scott Bourne, is really good. GarageBand a piece of Apple software most noted for making music but the latest upgrade includes some nice podcasting features. I have access to very good recording and editing hardware and software but I'd like to see what I can produce on the MacBook. The two CD set runs about $50 bucks but I think it's worth it. I confess I got hooked by working through the first few lessons on the lynda.com website. I think it was at the end of Lesson #3 that I realized I'd have to subscribe or buy the CD to get more. By then I was hooked. Well done lynda.com. Let me get through the two CD's and I'll put something together, post it here and you can judge for yourself if the training is any good. [Amazon]

Web Content Strategist

For the past 6 or 7 years, I have been working with our company's websites. Sometimes that means designing from scratch. Sometimes we outsource the design and/or development and I manage the project. I support usesrs --internal and clients-- on various content managment tools. And a bunch of other stuff. And from the beginning, I've struggled with a title for this position.

Some of our folks introduce me as "web guru." Hate that. Implies a level of mystical knowledge I will never posses. Same for "webmaster." I'm not even the master of my domain.

I've used Online Editor and that's not bad. Funky Web Monkey and Pile-Drivin' Digital Daddy are fun but I'm really not funky nor a driver of pile. I fall back on "Web Guy" (Web Boy wasn't working) from time to time.

Today, I spotted this title: Web Content Strategist. "Strategist" seems a bit grand but I do think a lot about what we're doing and where we're going with our growing number of websites. So, maybe.

Brushes with Near Greatness: Ben Brogdon

Small-town radio guy...studio musician in Nashville...bright lights of Broadways... Ben Brogdon has kept busy doing what he loves: playing music. He's had his share of Brushes with Near Greatness and was kind enough to share a few of them. The interview runs almost 30 minutes (11 meg MP3) so you might want to drag it over to the iPod.

I'm no expert but I write good

"What I think sets apart a good blog from a bad one in most cases is not the knowledge or experience of the blogger but how interesting they make the content."

That's how Chris Garrett begins a recent post ("Expertise; Is it Necessary?") on Performancing.com.

"If you are not an expert but can be interesting or write particularly well I believe you can more than make up for a lack of expertise. Have all that and expertise you will probably do even better but don't hold back because you don't consider yourself an expert."

I sincerely belive that I could write a decent blog on any number of topics about which I know nothing. Let me rephrase that, more in line with the point Mr. Garrett is making:

I can write a better blog about something for which I have little or no expertise, than the expert who just can't blog. As Mr. Garrett points out, if the guy who knows everything about fly fishing is also a good blogger...he's your guy.

This idea goes a long way toward explaining the growing success of AgWired and other professional bloggers. They don't have to know everything about...alternative fuels, for example... to blog about it. The information is out there. And, if you're doing it for a client, you'll have access to all the information and expertise you might need to be credible.

Footnote: Mr. Garrett was inspired to write his post by a satirical Wired piece by Stephen Colbert on how to be an expert

Why don't CEO's blog?

Randall Stross has a nice piece on CEO blogging in Sunday's NYT. Features Sun Microsystems Pres/CEO, Johathan Schwartz:

"C.E.O. blogging should no longer be viewed as extreme sport. Mr. Schwartz’s example shows that blogging fits quite naturally into the chief executive’s work week. In an exhortatory piece, “If You Want to Lead, Blog,” published in The Harvard Business Review last year, Mr. Schwartz predicted that “having a blog is not going to be a matter of choice, any more than having e-mail is today.”

“My No. 1 job is to be a communicator,” Mr. Schwartz told me last week. “I don’t understand how a C.E.O. would not blog if committed to open communication.”

The Times story starts with: "Chief executives are inclined to avoid activities generally deemed to be high-risk: Sky diving. Cliff jumping. Motorcycle racing. And blogging."

Learfield Top Guy, Clyde Lear, was born minus the risk-aversion gene. He'll try anything and encourage others to jump with him. So blogging doesn't scare him even a little. He's been travelling a lot this summer and it's cut into his posting but I think we'll see it pick up as the summer winds down.

Prediction: Don't know when... don't know what... but a day will come when our company will be glad we have the forum that GrowLearfield.com is becoming. You can say you read it here. [via Buzz Machine]

This is how all events will be covered

AgWired's Chuck Zimmerman shares a story that illustrates the power of the blog. Syngenta (a big biotech company) had Chuck come in and blog a "media day" event a couple of weeks ago:

"This event started around 8am and was finished around 3pm. I posted 20 times including over 20 pictures and 5 audio interviews and they were all on AgWired before the end of the day (same day). Many of the posts were done during the actual presentations.

At the end of the event I burned all the pictures and audio to a CD and left it with them. They can post them onto their own website and it’s my understanding that is exactly what they plan to do. Their investment in this is minimal and yet they have immediate multimedia content that’s online before the other media attending even get home to their offices."

No studio. No camera crew. No editors. One guy with some consumer grade gear and a truck-load of hustle. Is this journalism? I have no idea. And the people at Syngenta don't care (as long as what Chuck posted is accurate).

If I were in charge of media at Syngenta, I'd ask everyone that covered the event to send me a link to their coverage (or a copy of the magazine article or a video clip of the TV piece, whatever). Then I'd make up a little matrix showing the coverage; when it got "out there"; and what kind of Google ranking it produced.

Six skydivers die in plane crash

A small twin engine plane owned by a skydiving operation has gone down in the east central Missouri town of Sullivan. According to sources close to Quantum Leap Skydiving, the DHC-6 DeHavilland Twin Otter lost an engine on take-off from Sullivan Regional Airport about 2:00 p.m.Saturday, with seven skydivers and the pilot on board. The plane crashed in the backyard of a house about one half mile north of the runway (photo).

According to an eyewitness, there was a puff of smoke from one of the engines, and pop, and the plane banked over and went into the woods. A woman in her pool next door to where the plane crashed, said that it missed the top of the home by about five feet. Four of the people on board, including the pilot, were pronounced dead at the scene. The four remaining skydivers were transported to St. John’s Mercy hospital in St. Louis by helicopter in critical condition. Two of those people have since died.

An investigation will be conducted by the Misssouri State Highway Patrol, and the National Transportation and Safety Board. Sullivan is located on I-44 about an hour southwest of St. Louis.

Update: The story above was written by Sam Scott at Missourinet affiliate KTUI in Sullivan. More on the story at STLtoday.com

"Don't get all MySpace on me"

This is post is incomplete. While having after-work drinks yesterday, twenty-something co-worker Kasie said something about a friend "getting all MySpace" about something. Kasie explaied what that meant but I can't recall (I said I was drinking, okay?). People who live in MySpace would need no explanation but I do. Kasie: Would you mind explaining this again, with maybe an example. It seemed interesting at the time. And so you don't have to ask: Kasie, Jenny and Darin take part in Learfield's "Take A Senior Co-Worker for Drinks on Friday" program. Great for trans-generational communication and cooperation.

Help me score and I'll buy your lawn mower

I maintain a website called Missouri Death Row. No official connection to the Missouri Department of Corrections but it has become the de facto "official" website for capital punishment in Missouri. I struggle to keep the site current and was doing some research on one of the inmates currently sentenced to death:

"On December 9, 2002, Earl Forrest, who had been drinking, and his girlfriend, Angelia Gamblin, drove to Harriett Smith's home. Forrest and Smith apparently had a falling out over a dishonored agreement with Smith to purchase a lawn mower and a mobile home for Forrest in exchange for Forrest introducing Smith to a source for methamphetamine. Forrest demanded that Smith fulfill her part of the bargain. During the ensuing melee, Forrest shot Michael Wells, a visitor at the Smith residence, in the face killing him. He also killed Smith, shooting her a total of six times.

Forrest removed a lockbox from Smith's home containing approximately $25,000 worth of methamphetamine and returned to his home with Gamblin, where a shootout with the police ensued. The local sheriff was wounded and a deputy was killed. Forrest sustained a bullet wound to his face. Gamblin was shot twice, once in her shoulder and once in her back. Forrest finally surrendered and was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He was found guilty on all three counts."

Let me see if I have this right: I'll introduce you to a source for meth...if you'll buy my lawn mower and mobile home. How would two people ever come to that agreement?

"Come on, hook a sister up, will ya?"
"Well, I know this guy, but..."
"Look, help me score and I'll buy your lawn mower AND your mobile home."

Let's skip the comments on this one. One of the arresting officers was killed and another wounded. One more sad, white trash story.

The news is not supposed to be funny

Jeff Jarvis shares a funny segment from The Colbert Report.

The neon lights are bright on Broadway

A few days ago I posted on getting an email from Ben Brogdon who used to work in radio down in my neck of the woods (Northeast Arkansa/Southeast Missouri). As I always do, I Googled Ben and got a hit on the Broadway musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It ran from 1978 until 1982 (later made into a movie starring Dolly Parton, Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning et al) and Ben played in the Rio Grand Band, part of the original Broadway cast. I pinged Ben to see if he was "that Ben Brogdon":

"Yassir, tha's me. We had a western swing band in Nashville for the fun of it, and a friend of ours who produced Asleep at the Wheel (and some of Bob Wills later stuff, and Willie Nelson's early stuff, and who also played with Buddy Holly when he was killed) hooked us up to the powers-that-were, and we went to New Yawk on a trial basis and just stayed a while. It was a great experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I honestly didn't like living there very much. I will have to say, though, there sure was a lot of great music to hear, and some incredible restaurants. The play, by the way, was a lot better than the movie. I still sorta keep in touch with one of the authors of the play, Larry L. King. He lives in D.C., and still writes some. Great guy with a great mind.

In case you're interested, I've worked with some kinda big name acts, but most of them were country. (Stonewall Jackson, Dottie West, Donna Fargo, Barbara Mandrell, and others). I did work a club in Nashville where we backed a lot of different people doing showcases, or even just settin' in, and got to play with Tony Orlando, Lou Rawls and others. All in all, I'd say I've played bass for about 150 name or near name acts. And the number of great instrumentalists I've been fortunate to pick with still amazes me. I don't know if you've heard of some of them, but Lenny Breau and Danny Gatton, as well as Roy Clark, Chet Atkins and some others are some who I've gotten to pick for. Now, please, I'm not name dropping, but I've been in the bidness a long time and have been very lucky.

If you saw The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas in New York at the 46th street theater in '78 or '79, I was probably playing bass. I left and went back to Nashville after about two years. You'll also see me on a blues website, I think, and I'm on a lot of steel guitar things."

Talk about your brushes with near greatness! Ben has agreed to let me interview him and we're working on the details but it sounds like he's got some great stories to tell. Stay tuned.

Google AdSense for radio: Part Deux

From today's C|NET story on Google and radio advertising:

"So why the excitement? dMarc automates the process of buying ads, placing them in time slots and tracking them, which is usually done by ad agencies over the phone, experts said. Automation could lead to efficiency, and that means lower prices for advertisers while bringing in more sales for the radio stations. ... The Google-dMarc system would be a big change from the current ad-buying system, where ad salespeople establish personal relationships with radio stations. Advertisers could better quantify how well an ad campaign is doing and modify the ads quickly depending on the response rate from listeners."

Which reminded me of this from Chris Anderson's The Long Tail:

"Meanwhile on the other side, those ad-driven media have their own ad sales forces. They pitch the advertisers and their media buyers on the virtues of their advertising vehicles. If all goes well, millions of dollars change hands. All of it is labor-intensive and made even more costly by the expensive schmoozing that's required in businesses where a lack of trusted performance metrics makes salesmanship and personal relationships key to winning businesses."

Only time will tell if Google can make this elephant dance, but revenue in Google's most recent quarter was $2.5 billion, nearly double what it was a year ago. And Google has the money and time to figure this out:

"What's neat about this is the radio stations get to preview the creative copy and we pre-approve all rates before they get aired. Radio stations and Google will explore on a case-by-case basis which opportunities make sense."

The scariest quote in the story for me was:

"The fact that (what Google is trying) is more electronically based gives advertisers more comfort that they are getting what they are buying." Ad agencies and stations "are still faxing invoices to each other and typing up affidavits."

All of this brings back memories of Google's earliest days. Everybody that used it said, "Damn, this is cool! THIS is how search is supposed to work. But, uh, how are they gonna make any money with this service if it's free?" $2.5 billion last quarter. Maybe they'll figure it out.

Prison Goodies

Corrections Today Magazine ("Official Publican of the American Correctional Association") is really pretty interesting reading. The copy I browsed included articles such as: "Jail Time Is Learning Time"; "Reducing Risk and Responding to Mental Health Needs"; and "Use of Force: The Correlation Between Law Enforcement and Clinical Care." But the ads were even more interesting. My favorite was one for Keefe Group ("Everything you need for your commissary!").

If you can't hop in the pick-up and run down the the Quick Shop, where do you get the things you need to make a cell a little more liveable? The prison commissary. The coffee and snacks make sense. And if you don't have AC, an electric fan moves up the appliance ladder. The corrections officers like the idea of see-through TV's and MP3 players (?)... but what's the deal on the moisturizing bar? And I seem to recall reading something about status associated with pristine white athletic shoes (stepping on a guys shoes can get you killed).

Right and wrong aside, I don't do the crime... 'cause I can't do the time.

Hell freezes over

Phil Atkinson, head of Learfield's IT operation, was forced... I mean, he really had no choice... to purchase a MacBook Pro. As our company does more with podcasting and video and iTunes... having a Mac in the house will just make Phil's life a little easier. At least, that's the line he gave me. Here you see him closing the cover on the win box and opening the Mac. An image heavy with symbolism. He reports that Bootcamp makes it a snap to run OSX and XP (sound of cash register in Cupertino).

Webcasting to pork producers

I am at the office, preparing to monitor a webcast/teleconference by the Indiana Pork Producers Assn. It's panel discussion on what swine producers need to know about Pocine Circovirus Type 2. An hour of this would never air on a radio station, but it's important to those involved in the pork industry. This is an example of The Long (Curly) Tail.

Holly Farris and the Senath Light

I recently received an email from Ben Brogdon, a long-time radio guy (KLCN, Blytheville, AR) who stumbled across one of my websites:

"I Googled my old hometown radio station, KLCN, Blytheville, AR, and found a link to your Early Days At KBOA site. I sat and read every word of it, looked at every picture, and finally went to bed at 6am."

Ben is a musician at Dollywood and played in a jazz band in college with Wendell Crow (Sheryl's daddy). We bounced emails back and forth for a few days before he brought up "the Senath Light." This is (was) a well-known paranormal phenomenon (that I never witnessed).

"Actually, I never saw the light. Oh, we’d drive up from Jonesboro when I was living there playing in bands, working at radio stations, and attending class on occasion, and we’d sit patiently, not making a sound, those who smoked wanting a cigarette REALLY bad, and wait, but it never came out while I was there.

Others told me they had seen it, though. One of my jazzmates at school, Holly Farris, a trumpet player who has the distinction of being the only white musician James Brown has ever had, and who QUIT a gig with Steve Winwood to go back with JB after he got out of prison, DID stand under that tree in the middle of the road and supposedly got KNOCKED CLEAN OUT COLD by the light hitting him in the head, which most assuredly changed his life and his thinking process from that moment on.

I also worked with a piano player from Caruthersville who could talk to spirits, and was told that he had actually TALKED to the light, which surprised me, since we all knew if you made a sound, it would disappear. BUT, having him sit in my house and tell me it was inhabited by spirits, which I had suspected, and then say once when we were watching a storm that it would kill 35 people, and it DID kill 34, I somehow believe he may have talked to the light."

Why do I blog? So I can "meet" people that played with Holly Farris, the only white musician to play with James Brown.

Show business is my life

Radio Iowa News Queen O. Kay Henderson emailed this affiliate update: "As you know, KICD news director Brent Palm left to take a job at Minnesota News Network. His replacement is Tim Torkildson. Mr. T worked in radio 12 to 15 years ago. He left radio to become a clown and ringmaster for a traveling circus. He’s now left that career, settled in Spencer and is starting his third week on the job."

Welcome back, Tim. I'd surely love to interview you for smays.com.

Trent Tomlinson on Stern (Everything but the audio)

Sirius might be a great satellite radio service but I think their website sucks. My plan was to record Trent Tomlinson's appearance this morning by streaming the audio from the Sirius website. Couldn't get their three-day-free-trial to work. Even borrowed a password from a subscriber and couldn't get that to work. So, unless one of you recorded this, we won't get to listen. It shouldn't be this difficult to steal part of the guy's radio show.

Quick Google search found an amazing website called MarksFriggin.com. It appears this guy posts a detailed description of each day's show. I'll add the archive link as soon as he puts it up (tomorrow?) but if you find the show for 7/24/06 and scroll down to 7:30 a.m., you'll find his account of Trent's segment. Here's a portion:

Miss Howard Stern Performs With Trent Tomlinson. 07/24/06. 8:30am
After the break Howard said he was listening to country singer Trent Tomlinson warming up during the break and he was wondering why they were letting Andrea come in to ruin it. He said the song is a little more than country and he's not sure how he missed the song. He's not into country music so that's how he missed it. Trent told Howard about how he came up with the lyrics for his song ''Drunker Than Me.'' Howard told the guys to perform the song before Andrea came in since she was probably going to ruin it.

Trent and his band performed the song ''Drunker Than Me'' (from the album Country Is My Rock) which is the song that Andrea sang while drunk the last time she was up there at the Stern Show. Howard said he was amazed that Andrea could remember the lyrics to the song because they're not easy to remember. Trent said he even has trouble with them sometimes.

Howard said that Trent has opened up for bands like Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp so it's not strictly country fans that he's performing for. Trent told Howard that one of his guys used to be in The Black Crows but he had a falling out with them. The guys said that he's talking to the band now but he had to get out back then because they were playing too long for him. They turned into a jam band and would just keep going on and on while playing.

Howard spent some time talking to Trent about his career and how his father actually wanted him to be a basketball player. Trent said his father used to play himself so he tried to groom him for the same career. He said now his father is happy with what he does and calls radio stations trying to get them to play his songs.

Miltenberger Family Reunion: 2006

I didn't take a lot of pix on recent trip to Destin because Barb's brother Chris is a damned fine photographer and snapped about 500 images. I added 20 or 30 to my flickr set.

Someone hired a professional beach photographer to get some family shots. For some reason, all beach photogs have a thing for khaki pants and white shirts. There's a proof page here (very lo rez) but not for long. I like Chris's images better.

Say hello with video

I've been playing with the built-in iSight camera since I got the Mac Book. I park the video file on a server and link back. The guys at Odeo have a clever little tool that makes it even easier. I'm not sure if the clown nose button is intentional or lovely coincidence. And it appears I'm not the only middle-aged guy playing with this.

Nobody's reading books

These statistics --compiled by Dan Poynter-- explain so much. I found these on a Buzz Machine post last week and have been haunted by them since.

• One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57% of new books are not read to completion.
• Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
• Customers 55 and older account for more than one-third of all books bought.

I confess to being something of book pimp. I get really jazzed about a book (a la The Long Tail) and bore the shit out of the people around me about it. And I frequently "loan" books to people who really don't want to "borrow" them (let alone read them) but they don't want to hurt my feelings by telling me so. So they take the book and put it on a shelf or in a drawer and that's as close to reading it as they get.

It isn't their fault. If they wanted to read the book, they would have gone out an bought it. So no more loaning books unless I hear these words: "May I PLEASE borrow that book? I can't find it anywhere and I'm dying to read it. I promise to get it back to you next week."

How I spent my summer

Received this email from my brother: "I have been in Yogyakarta, Central Java (Indonesia), doing earthquake relief. Just got to an internet cafe tonight. Over 100,000 homeless after the quake here. Not as many deaths as Aceh (7,500), but lots of homes destroyed. Crazy what is happening here. Volcano active as well (Mount Merapi)."

And I'm in charge of all things trivial and meaningless.

The power of YouTube

I'm sorry, but I'm stuck on this Long Tail thing. It's everywhere I look. TV, for example:

‘‘Nobody’s Watching,” a 2005 pilot from the ‘‘Scrubs” guys, will finally make it to network television. Fans of YouTube.com have downloaded the unaired pilot some 600,000 times. The show, which failed to win a pickup from WB last year, will air original episodes on NBC later this season.The network also has commissioned original webisodes. Story at BostonHerald.com

I watched the first episode and thought it was funnier than anything I've seen on network TV for a while. And before the weekend is out, I'm going to watch the other episodes. On YouTube. [Via BuzzMachine]

Reminder: Kennett's Trent Tomlinson on Stern Show

A reminder for Kennett readers that hometown boy Trent Tomlinson will be on Howard Stern's show on Monday monring. I think I'm all set to record the segment and will post it here until the Sirius lawyers make me take it down.

I wanted to play the Drunker Than Me video for some neighbors last night and did a google search (drunker than me video). It still amazes me that smays.com is number five in the search results. Power to the bloggers!

Storm video: Busch Stadium

How strong were the winds during Wednesday night's storm in St. Louis? Somebody grabbed this little video clip with their cell phone or camera.

I love that there are millions of folks walking around with the ability to record...everything. And, more importantly, share what they capture. I would say "with everyone" but someone would remind me there are millions of poor people and villagers that don't have access to the Internet (and a bunch of U. S. Senators that don't know how to use it). So, let's just say "share it with a lot of people."

Google AdSense for radio

I've been intrigued (anxious?) by Google's plans for taking AdSense to radio but can't seem to find out much about it. A Technorati search this morning took me to the Google Operating System blog (pretty sure it's not connected to Google), and a post featuring excerpts from Google's Q2 2006 earnings conference call, during which Google CEO Eric Schmidt said this about AdSense for radio:

"We are in the process of introducing AdSense for radio, which is essentially the integration of the dMarc Console and management tools into our advertising network. The dMarc team itself is fully integrated. We're expanding it both in engineering and sales. We're also doing it worldwide, not just in the U.S. There's a number of very, very interesting deals being negotiated. They're on an integration schedule of about three months from now, so every week there are more milestones, and they're working very hard."

From that post I jumped to an earlier one:

"Schmidt thinks that "when he is listening to the radio in his car, radio ads should personally address him about his needs. For example, while driving past a clothing store, a radio ad should remind Eric that he needs a pair of pants and instruct him to turn left at the upcoming clothing store."

The GPS system should help radios deliver targeted ads based on information about the person. Google Maps could provide details about local businesses, the ads would be audio AdSense ads, while the information about user's needs could be obtained from the searches or from his ToDo lists (a gadget for Google Desktop and Personalized Homepage).

dMarc Broadasting, recently acquired by Google, "connects advertisers and agencies directly to radio stations with a robust advertising platform that automates everything from sales to scheduling, delivery and report". So this company is the first brick in the development of a new breed of radio advertising."

Here's what the dMarc website promises advertisers:

"dMarc Media Networks brings unprecedented immediacy to radio buys. Imagine the difference. In minutes instead of days or weeks, you can now build your own custom networks, selecting from 100's of stations in virtually any market, through a single, source.

* Real time reports generated without human intervention
* Buy individual or multiple stations in one market or many
* Buy only those stations you really want
* Monitor feedback in real time
* Be notified instantly when ads play
* Upload spots anytime, in seconds, 24/7

I have no idea if dMarc can do all of that. Or, if radio station would want them to be able to do all of that. But I'm damned sure these are the things advertisers want and --increasingly-- are insisting on.

The big question would seem to be, what's the incentive for radio stations to participate in such a "network?" Station owners must be convinced they can make more money (or more profit) with Google AdSense than they can make on their own. IF ...and it's a big if... Google could find a way to sell EVERY ONE OF MY AVAILS...EVERY DAY... at a rate that didn't jam me up with my local sales effort... then I might try it.

I confess it's difficult for me to imagine that. But if Google (and others) can condition advertisers to expect measurable results and accountability -- and that seems to be happening -- who knows. Newspapers probably could not imagine a time when some oneline service could take away their classified ad revenue.

And during the 17 years I called on radio station managers, the #1 problem (at least in the small and medium markets) was finding good sales people. Owners have automated everything else at the radio station, why not sales?

Can any of you radio guys out there educate me on the dMarc thing?

---

Update: I received this explanation from a small market PD here in Missouri. Name and some particulars withheld by request.

"We operate Scott Studio's for on-air. All hard drive audio music, liners, jingles, and commercials...with touch-screen operator computers. dMarc bought Scott Studios, and the primary commercial scheduling software Scott recommended for their system. Then Google bought dMarc.

We build our logs with our local commercials, then they can fill unused avails with their commercials. They fill the avails and upload spots all from their end, we never touch them....other than play them. I believe we have some controll over what hours they can fill, I know they don't fill in 7a, 8a, 9a, 4p or 5p. They are :60's and for refinancing, insurance, music collections (surfin USA the best of the beach, and stuff). Right now the clients aren't any major chains or local businesses.

At the end of the month they send us a check for what they have run. How much I'm not sure per spots but I've been told the monthly check is around $X,000.

They run a lot of them in the evenings when we don't usually have a lot of commercials scheduled. We carry Royals baseball. The 4 hour broadcast has 20 minutes available, they will fill several minutes of that and we get paid. When logs are lighter there are more in midday and afternoon.

The commercial content is not terribly exciting, it's more spots, but it's income that comes from unsold inventory mostly in evenings. Not a lot different than the ad's that used to run where you are paid if someone calls and 800 number and buys Hooked on Phonics or something. I know I should probably understand this better as PD but this comes from a small station where the owner is here and does mornings/logs, etc."

No, I think you understand (and explain) it just fine. Easy for the station. Easy for the advertiser. And I suspect the Google influence has yet to kick in. Classic Long Tail example. And I'm betting there are thousands of advertisers that will buy this time (if it's easy enough and the price is right) without ever treading on local sales. If there's a loser in this equation, I fear it might be programming vendors that operate on a barter basis.

6% of U.S. adults are listening to podcasts

Jeff Jarvis pulled a couple of stats from the latest Nielson report on podcasting. 6 percent of U.S.adulst (9 million people) have downloaded podcasts inthe last 30 day. The most successful podcasts are getting two million downloads a month. It has occurred to me that the same people (in my world) that pooh-pooh such reports, are the same people that insisted "this Internet thing" was nothing more than hyped-up fad that would soon fade. If you want to understand why people are creating and listening to podcasts, read The Long Tail.

We are turning from a mass market back into a niche nation, defined now not by our geography but by our interests. (Pg. 40)

A co-worker recently observed that most of the podcasts he has listened to were boring. That's like saying most of the books in the library are boring. I think that will change for him as he finds more and more podcasts dealing with things that interest and entertain him. It's no longer necessary to watch/listen/read boring stuff. For the first time in recorded history, it's possible to find all thing things (and only the things) that interest you. I'm sure glad I didn't miss this.

Net Neutrality explained

Daily Show Resident Expert John Hodgman explains the Net Neutrality Act. Brilliant. The segment includes a subtle nod to the Mac ads featuring Hodgman.

"The biggest mall-cum-nightclub-cum-7-Eleven parking lot ever created."

This is the best piece I've seen on MySpace. Written by Spencer Reiss for Wired Magazine, the story offers fascinating insights into the social networking site. All the smart kids thought Rupert Murdoch was insane for paying $580 million for MySpace (it's now worth about twice that).

MySpace reaches more kids each day than MTV sees in a week. Think of it as
"an 80 million-screen multiplex where YouTube videos are always showing. Or an infinite radio dial where the DJs spin only the records you want to play."

MySpace's ultimate value to News Corp.: the power to make hits. A Net-fueled word-of-mouth machine.

Rupert Murdoch is 75 years old. And, like my daddy used to say, sharp as a mouse turd.

iTunes video

Tonight I purchased (and watched) my first TV show from iTunes. I somehow missed the first episode of Comedy Central's Reno 911 (Seaon Four) but there it was on iTunes for just $1.99. I'm sure the cable channel will show the episode again (many times). But I wanted to see it now and I wanted to experience watching a TV show on my Mac Book (I don't have a video iPod). Took about 2 minutes to download the file and I found it to be very watchable on the small screen. I might just purchase every episode for the convenience of having them on my Mac Book to watch whenever/wherever. This is where it's headed folks.

Blogger motivation

Pew Internet & American Life Project survey on what motivates bloggers:

"The ease and appeal of blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world. A national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology. Blogs, the survey finds, are as individual as the people who keep them. However, most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression – documenting individual experiences, sharing practical knowledge, or just keeping in touch with friends and family." [via Micro Persuasion]

Phone Whores

Thanks to the brilliant Scott Adams for giving them a name:

In case you are not familiar with a term that I just made up, a phone whore is a woman who goes to the airport with no magazines, laptops, books, puzzles or other means to entertain her. All she has is a phone, and she’s going to use it, no matter how many people are annoyed.

The phone whore is motivated by the desire to talk with people. The phone asshole (male variety) is motivated by the need to have everyone on the flight know he’s negotiating important business deals and that he has staff members that must receive his wisdom.

Yes, I still take perverse and irrational pride in not carrying a mobile phone.

Senator Stevens is a tube

Whatever your position on the issue of net neutrality (or net discrimination, if you prefer), this speech by Senator Ted Stevens illustrates an amazing (and dangerous) level of cluelessness. This is old news but I want it part of this record.

Things your design team wishes you would know

Seth Godin explains why some organizations look great... and get great results from their design efforts and ads... while others languish in mediocrity.

Western concept of Self

John Burdett's second novel, Bangkok Tattoo, was as good as his first (Bangkok 8). Both stories are set in (you guessed it) Bangkok, where Thai police dective Sonchai Jitpleecheep solves bizarre murders. Sonchai is a devout Buddhist and the plot is laced with Eastern religion. I especially liked this description of the Western concept of Self:

"...a ramshackle collection of coincidences held together by a desperate and irrational clinging, there is no center at all, everything depends on everything else, your body depends on the environment, your thoughts depend on whatever junk floats in from the media, your emotions are largely from the reptilian end of your DNA, your intellect is a chemical computer that can't add up a zillionth as fast as a pocket calculator, and even your best side is a superficial piece of social programming that will fall apart just as soon as your spouse leaves with the kids and the money in the joint account, or the economy starts to fail and you get the sack, or you get conscripted into some idiot's war, or they give you the news about your brain tumor."

Ouch. The wannabe geek in me also enjoyed this password to a CIA online database:

AQ82860136574X-Halifax nineteen [lowercase] Oklahoma twenty-2 BLUE WHALE [all uppercase] Amerika stop 783

Won't even fit on a Post-It note.

And I'm never gonna leave, ever again

Saturday: 14 hours of Quality Time with Barb as we (mostly she) drove back from Destin. Sunday: Laundry, dogs, nap, more laundry. Brother-in-law Chris shot 500 pix (which I thinned down to about fifty), but just didn't get around to posting. Now that the bandwidth is deep and wide, we'll try to catch up here at smays.com. Like Dorothy said, there's no place like home.

Tips on linking

Chris Pirillo points to some excellent tips on using links properly:

• Traditionally, links are underlined as well, but that approach is often unnecessary and falling out of favor to reduce visual clutter.
• Links lack affordance, which means their visual properties don’t suggest how they are used and are understood only through experience.
• Link text should indicate the result of clicking on the link.
• Use different colors for visited and unvisited links.
• Don’t use color for text that isn’t a link because users may assume that it is a link.
• Always show either an underline (for any link text) or a button frame (for command link text only) on hover to reinforce visually that the text is a link.
• Don’t underlined text that isn’t a link because users will assume that it is a link.
• Use background colors that contrast with the link colors.
• Use link text that is the most relevant part of the text and are large enough to be easy to click.
• Don’t provide an infotip [in HTML, a title element] that is merely a restatement of the link text.
• If a link requires further explanation, provide the explanation in either a separate text control or an infotip, but not both.
• Place optional supplemental graphics that indicates the target of a link to the right of the text and use an infotip to explain its meaning.
• Link to specific content rather than general content.
• Use a link only if the linked material is relevant, helpful, and not redundant.
• Link only on the first occurrence of the link text.
• Don’t add “Click here” to the link text. It isn’t necessary because a link implies clicking. Also, “Click here” and “here” alone are poor link text because they convey no information about the link when read by a screen reader.
• Start the link with an imperative verb and clearly describe the action that the link performs.
• Don’t use ending punctuation except for question marks.

Making fun of Mac TV spots

The Mac TV ads have been properly spoofed. [Thanks, David]

Winston Churchill on due process

"The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious, and the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist." -- Winston Churchill

Hmm. Spotted this over at William Gibson's blog.

Saddle up

I've been to the beach. Almost every day for a week. I've enjoyed good times with friends and family. I've read a couple of books. Taken some naps. And I'm ready to get back to work. Looking forward to it, in fact. So let's call this vacation a smashing success.

The Long Tail

I tend to rate non-fiction books by highlighters consumed. And if I really like the work, I post excerpts here so I can find them long after I've loaned the book to someone that really didn't want to read it in the first place and promptly lost it.

I'm sure I'll be boring people with references to Chris Anderson's The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More, for many weeks. I've posted some of my favorite segments after the jump. And here's one to get you started:

News was the first industry to really feel the impact of the Internet, and we've now had an entire generation grow up with the expectation of being able to have on-demand news on any subject at any time for free. This may be good for news junkies, but it's been hell on the news business. (Pg. 185)

Kennett's Tomlinson a Stern fav

J-Dub (a foam-at-the-mouth Howard Stern fan) reports that Kennett singer/songwriter Trent Tomlinson gets some mega-exposure on on Stern's show:

Howard Stern plays one of his tunes frequently. Mrs. Howard Stern, a little drunk vixen, chose Drunker than Me as the tune to sing along to for Howard. They love it so much, that they play it all the time on the show. Good exposure for Trent.

I love the thought of Trent and Sheryl Crow co-writing and performing a song. I gotta believe somebody is already working on that.

How many people actually saw the commercial?

Seth Godin offers an explanation for why Nielsen is just now getting around to rating viewership of commercials:

The answer is that the networks are a critical client of Nielsen, and the last thing in the universe they want is to rate commercials. The surprising thing is that many advertisers don't want the ratings either. Why? Because as soon as you measure, you need to admit you failed. So you need to tell your boss you wasted a few million dollars...

The Internet has been messing with (disrupting?) traditional media since the beginning but I've always felt the real disruption would occur in the advertising arena. Who is listening and watching our commercial messages? What do they think about them? And how are they reacting to the messages? Answers: Lots of people. They love them. Racing to make a purchase.

Will Google Audio shake up radio advertising?

Steve Rubel points to a ZDNet report on Google's plan for a product "...that dynamically generates and changes a terrestrial radio commercial based on demographics and news/conditions in the local market. According to those who have seen the demo, if it's really hot in one area, McDonalds can switch from their regular burger ad to one that touts their cool drinks and frozen treats. In addition, while most advertising campaigns require a $20,000 spend, the new Google solution would require a mere $200 minimum."

I sure would like to see that demo.

And I'd love to know what Chris Anderson thinks of Google's plans to sell radio advertising. In his book, The Long Tail, Anderson demonstrates a clear understanding of how advertising works:

"The traditional advertising market is a classic, hit-centric industry where high cost enforce a focus on the biggest sellers and buyers. The way it works is that an advertiser, say General Motors, has a marketing budget. GM commissions an advertising firm to create some ads and then a media buyer to place those ads in television, radio, and print and online.

Meanwhile on the other side, those ad-driven media have their own ad sales forces. they pitch the advertisers and their media buyers on the virtues of their advertising vehicles. If all goes well, millions of dollars change hands. All of it is labor-intensive and made even more costly by the expensive schmoozing that's required in businesses where a lack of trusted performances metrics makes salesmanship and personal relationships key to winning business.

These days salespeople don't just twist arms, they also serve as advertising consultants, informing advertisers about the most effective ways to use a given medium or brainstorming creative new approaches to getting the advertisers' message out. That works well enough, but because it's expensive, it imposes a subtle cost: a focus on just the largest and most lucrative of potential advertisers."

Today, there are thousands of small Google advertisers who had never advertised anywhere before. Because of the self-service model, the measurable performance, the low cost of entry, and the ability to constantly tweak and improve the ads, advertisers are flocking to this new marketplace."

It's going to be interesting (Read: scary as hell) to see if Google can/will fundamentally change the way radio advertising is bought and sold.

YouTube and politics

"If any teenager can put up a video for or against a candidate, and persuade other people to watch that video, the center of gravity could shift to masses of people with camcorders and passable computer skills. And if people increasingly distrust the mainstream media, they might be more receptive to messages created by ordinary folks." [Washington Post]

Handicap Parking Permit Required

Can you remember the last time you saw someone park in a handicap space and get out with crutches or a wheelchair? Me either. I've ranted about this before so I'll keep this brief. My theory is that most folks using these spaces are suffering from a severe case of fat and lazy.

I wouldn't deny them their parking permit but I would require they have a small chip implanted. And once a year, completely at random, they would be paralyzed from the waist down for 24 hours.

Starbuck's Radio

Did I mention purchasing the new CD by Corinne Bailey Rae while getting coffee at a Starbuck's in Seattle? I heard one of her songs on the Hear Music channel (aka The Starbuck's Channel) on XM and the announcer said something about getting the CD at Starbuck's. It almost sounded like that was the only place you could buy it but that can't be right. I'm sure you can get it on Amazon and Wal-Mart and anyplace else music is sold. But I'm drifting from my point...

I was getting coffee this morning at one of the Destin Starbuck's and they were playing her CD. As I listened it occurred to me that Starbuck's was sort of like a radio station. A radio station that sells music. And coffee. And a nice place to enjoy both. All nicely wrapped in the Starbuck's brand.

I remember sitting in a bar in Des Moines (pre-Internet) listening to really good music. It was one of those subscription music services, delivered by satellite. I remember trying to contact the company in hopes of purchasing some of the songs I heard. Impossible, of course.

I don't want to play outside

"Addiction" is such a strong word. I prefer "passion." Sunday monring here in beautiful Destin and we're coming to you from the local Barnes & Noble ($2/hr). Mac Update: I'm unable to access any of the open wifi hotspots with the Mac Book but brother-in-law Chris is getting on with his ancient Dell. I had to put the Mac Book away to the hoots and jeers of a room full of PC users. Chris let me use his laptop but it was just too humiliating, so I slunk (slank?) away and came to B&N. I gotta go now. Mom says I have to go down to the beach and play with the other kids.

Oh, almost forgot. No HBO either. I think I'm Tivo'ing Deadwood and Entourage but will somebody please record these, just in case?

Dan Shelley headed for Big Apple

My old pal Dan Shelley is headed for New York to become the Executive Editor of Digital Media for WCBS-TV and WCBSTV.com. Yesterday was his last day at WTMJ in Milwaukee where he has been news director since 1995. Before that Dan was ND at KTTS in Springfield. I interviewed Dan in May, 2005, shortly after he was elected chairman of RTNDA, and he talked about journalism in a digital age. I'm trying to get a follow-up interview. Stay tuned.

Freedom is not given, it's taken

Scott Adams on flag burning:

It seems to me that the great thing about the flag is that it symbolizes something inherently indestructible: the concept of freedom. You can burn the flag as many times as you want and the concept of freedom is not only still there – it’s stronger. I like that about my flag. I would go so far as to say it’s my flag’s best feature.

Mr. Adams has clearly become my "what-he-said" guy.