smays.com

Maybe means no

I spent a good chunk of 1987 driving around Iowa, trying to sign radio stations to the new statewide news network we were starting. My first pitch (Roger Gardner was with me) was to Larry Edwards, the GM at WMT in Cedar Rapids. Probably the #2 station in Iowa at the time. We told him what we were planning to do and he asked if we had a contract with us. We did, and he signed it on the spot.

The next day we met with Betty Baudler and Rich Fellingham (GM and Ops Mgr) at KASI in Ames, Iowa. We told them about the network and they signed on the spot. I think the same thing happened a few days later with Andy Anderson at KMA, Shenandoah.

The point here is not that I'm a great salesperson (I'm not). The point is, these managers did not say "maybe." Eventually, we got to some that wanted to "think about it." But these guys understood what we were going to do and decided --on the spot-- they wanted to be part of it.

They weren't all that easy and I got a lot of "maybe's" over the years ("Could you send me another copy of your proposal?" or "Let me talk it over with my program director and we'll get back to you.") Somewhere in about year 15 I remember saying to a couple of prospects:

"If you had to give me a yes or a no today, which would it be?"
"Uh, I don't like being pressured!"
"No pressure, I'm just curious. If you HAD to say yes or no right now, which would it be?"
"If you're gonna pressure me, then the answer is no!"
"Great. I won't take any more of your time."

Anybody that was EVER going to say yes would have stopped me before I got to the door. Or called the next day to say she changed her mind. Never happened. (End of 20 year flash back)

In Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin reminds me that "maybe means no." He also explains the intellectual dishonesty that is behind most "maybe's."

"Dealing with change ultimately does make you confront one thing: dishonesty. And dishonesty--intellectual dishonesty, decision-making dishonesty, not-willing-to-face-the-music dishonesty--is the greatest enemy that a company can have. We disguise it as waiting to get more informaiton or looking for more input. In fact, the real deal is that we're not willing to look the situation in the eye and make a decision, right or wrong. And so companies and individuals put off acknowledging what they already know and acting on it. They don't commit to a decision until they have to--even if they've already made the decision in their minds, and a delay in making it official means spending more money, making mistakes, and staying up all night to catch up." (Pg. 133 Small Is the New Big, Seth Godin)

So maybe I'll respond to the next pitch I get with:

"I'm not going to say "yes" to your proposal. Ever. You can have a "no," or a "maybe." Which would you perfer?

Digital Rapture

Marketing vs. Advertising

I've heard people talk about "marketing" for years and never really understood the concept. I was pretty clear on "advertising," but fuzzy on the difference between the two. About.com has a nice, clear explanation that makes sense for me.

MSTA Podcast: The Pulse

Todd Fuller and Gail McCray produce and co-host The Pulse, a weekly podcast for the Missouri State Teachers Association. The 25 podcasts they've produced since January, 2006, cover a wide variety of topics. When I listened to one of their podcasts last week, I was immediately struck by the quality and professionalism of the production. Not sure why I was surprised, since they're both communications pros but it drove home one more time that anyone with something to say now has the means to be heard.

Near the end of the 30 minute chat (AUDIO), Todd mentions something I found very interesting. The association endorses political candidates and it's a big deal (at least to the candidates). Typically those announcements would be made via news release to the big newspapers and media outlets. This year, MSTA plans to make the announcement on their podcast as well as putting the word out via blogs. I think that is brilliant I'll bet they get a lot of play out of it.

Todd and Gail are making great use of podcasting and I have no doubt other associations will see the impact of what MSTA is doing and jump in the water.

PS: In addition to Todd and Gail, you'll hear David Brazeal in a couple of places... but we lost him due to my lack of experience with Skype.

Halloween 2006: Tasteless yet simple

In 2005 the Tastless Costume Award went to Prince Harry for his casual SS outfit. Back in the 70's, we took great pride in coming up with the most offensive costume for the annual Halloween party.

Let the record show that my pal John is the first to cross the line of common decency with his John Mark Karr costume: Baby Blue knit shirt with Ban-Lon slacks, worn just below the armpits.

Old Navy age limit

I bought some Old Navy pants and shirts today but I have to take them back. They looked great in the TV ads. They even looked good in the store. But when I got home and tried them on... just wasn't happening. You almost wonder why they don't stop anyone over 50 from entering the store.

"I'm sorry, sir. There's really nothing for you in here."
"But I have a credit card."
"Please, sir, it's for your own good. There's a Sears in the mall right across the street. I'm sure they have some things that will look great on you."
"But, I don't wanna wear Sears clothes!"
"Lance, will you help this gentlman to the door, please?"

Oh, well. I've got the MacBook. And the nano. And almost a full pack of Camels.

Google Juice: Blogs

Because of the way Google Page Rank works, blogs tend to rank higher than traditional websites (whatever that means in 2006). Most bloggers are well aware of this but it hit home for me this evening as I Googled "Learfield" ...the company I work for. 105,000 search results. The corporate home page at the top, with the Learfield Sports "home" page (really a sub-page on the corporate site) at #2.

Coming in at #3 is the company blog, GrowLearfield.com. And it's only been up for six months. Want more traffic for your business/association/organization? Make your home page a well-tended blog.

On a personal note, more and more of the people (from outside our company) with whom I come in contact, have found their way to smays.com. I confess that makes me a tad uncomfortable. If you drill down about three pages (nobody does) in that list of 105,000 "Learfield" results mentioned above, you'll find smays.com.

Despite periodic disclaimers that this blog is in no way sanctioned by or officially connected to Learfield, I'm "out there" (just like George Costanza's mother). Sort of like forgetting to remove your company windbreaker before getting the lap dance. You know nobody is looking at your jacket, but you're aware you have it on.

PS: Yes, this post was prompted by the photograph of two (possibly) fornicating turtles.

Turtles

Barb discovered these two next to our house and insists they are doing the wild thing. That seems unlikely to me, but I can think of no better explanation.

Pontiac going all-web for new model launch

Every one of Pontiac's marketing dollars to introduce its sporty G5 coupe is being spent online.[AdAge.com]

No idea if Pontiac will do anything particularly clever but thus Belgian men's magazine did... and I thought these were pretty nifty as well.

Leveraging your customers (fans)

One of the ideas Seth Godin talks about (on his blog, in his speeches and in his new book) is turning your best customers into marketers. Make it easy for them to tell your story. One of the examples: The Beastie Boys gave digital cameras to fifty of their fans and invited them to film one of their concerts. They edited the best of these into a film.

I'm only remotely aware of who the Beastie Boys are but I love the idea. I'd love to try this with one of our sports properties. Some big rivalry might be fun (Missouri vs. Kansas?). The idea isn't to get great play-by-play shots, but tail-gate fun, etc. I don't know what you'd get but you announce that the resulting video will be on the Mizzou website (brought to you by Sponsor To Be Named?).

A lot of work? Sure. Big money maker? Maybe not. Lot of fun? Maybe.

Problem with Gmail account?

This might be nothing, but I've noticed a dramatic drop in the number of emails I get at stevemays at gmail.com. If you've tried to reach me in the last couple of weeks and did not get a response, please let me know. You can also reach me at smays at Learfield.com

But I'm constantly peeing

From a new study in the The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition:

"If you drink three or more cups of tea a day you might be doing your health more good than drinking plain water. This new study found, among other things, that the urban myth that tea dehydrates could not be further from the truth - tea hydrates as well as water does, say the researchers. Not only will tea rehydrate you, it may also protect you from developing heart disease, and even cancer. Apparently, three or more cups a day may also protect your teeth and strengthen your bones. The researchers say they are not sure why, but believe that flavonoids, polyphenol antioxidants, which are found in abundance in tea, may play a major role. Flavonoids help prevent cell damage." [Medical News Today]

I drink gallons of iced tea, year round. Can't get enough. And it's good for me.

Onion Radio News

"A 14-year-old Doyle Redland began working at the Onion Radio News Office as an office page in 1963. After leaving to receive a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a short lived job at CBS Evening news, he returned in 1974 to the Onion Radio News to become an anchor, where he has remained. Redland is fluent in two languages, enjoys cooking, and is an avid cross-country skier. He shares a home in Racine, Wisconsin with two black Labs, Freedom and Liberty."

Two observations: One, The Onion is funnier in newsprint than online. Two, listening to someone read the stories...isn't funny. Don't know why, but it's true. But the description of Doyle Redland is right on the money. Every radio news guy I ever knew.

Blipvert update

Clear Channel Radio has found its first buyer for blinks, its new one- to three-second radio spots. Fox Broadcasting Co. is the first to purchase and use two-second radio spots in an effort to promote the fall season premiers of "Prison Break," "House" and "The Simpsons." [AdAge]

Tod Maffin calls these "pop-up's for radio."

A looonnnnggg time

Part of the answer to one of ten questions Hugh Macleod posed to Seth Godin:

"I'm astonished at how long it takes an idea to filter from the early adopters to the masses. What sort of person just read the Da Vinci Code or just discovered the iPod? I was standing in a nice store in a nice suburb and heard one 25 year old explain to a 30 year old what gmail was... it's so easy to assume that everyone already gets it."

Podcast bread upon the water

We have a lot of talented, experienced radio people where I work. What if one of the honchos called us (I'm including myself based on experience, not talent) all together and said, "I've been reading about these podcast things and I think we should have one. Money is no object, but I want a show that delivers 100,000 downloads a week and you have one year to deliver. Go get 'em."

Could we do it? Where would we start?

Topic. Do we pick a topic in which we know there's a lot of interest? Or is that space already too crowded? Does it matter if the people on our team know anything about the topic? Must we be passionate about it or will our "professionalism" carry us through?

Talent. Do we want a veteran broadcaster? Or a fresh, undiscovered talent? Should they be funny? Young? Old? Do we go with co-hosts?

Format. Do we make it slick with lots of production values? Or do we go for from-the-basement, hand-held camera realism? What about frequency/length? Daily five minute update or weekly half-hour magazine?

Promotion. Okay, we'll submit our feed to iTunes and all the podcast directories... what else? We'll pester all the A-list podcasters in hopes of a link or a mention. Should we buy some spots on MSM outlets?

Sheesh! So many questions. And probably not that different from what radio and TV programmers do all the time. If they can't deliver the ratings within a reasonable time period, the show gets yanked. But they're starting with an audience. What does it mean when you have zero listeners on Day One?

And every day there is more competition for attention. The potential audience is ever more fragmented. And if they try you once and don't like what they hear, they never come back. In the Old Days, you listened to your local radio stations... or you didn't listen. So we get ONE SHOT with each listener, who has HOURS of podcasts on her nano. She can't listen to what she has, so why will she listen to our new podcast?

If I were a honcho, I think I'd approach this differently. I'd put out an open call to everyone one in the company (not just the reporters and producers and writers and "talent.") Anyone wants to produce a podcast... we'll provide the equipment, technical support (hosting, bandwidth, etc), and give everyone half a day every week to produce their podcast. You pick the topic but you must produce a show every week or it's back to the cube. Then we sit back and watch what happens.

Many (most?) will give up after the first few weeks. Too much work, not as much fun as they thought it would be. Would we get any break-out hits? Don't know. What I do know, you'd wind up with something very different than from the first model. Instead of a podcast with 100,000 downloads... maybe we wind up with 100 podcasts, with 1,000 downloads.

Seth Godin on Radio's future

Mark Ramsey (hear 2.0) talks with Seth Godin about his new book, Small is the New Big, and the future of radio. Mark posts some transcription but take 15 minutes to listen to the full interview. My three favorite clips are here, here and here. And, yes, I'm trying to get off the Seth Godin kick, but I'm a fan.

Couch Change: 082306

Sheryl Crow guests on Larry King tonight at 7:00 p.m. CDT. Talks about living with cancer and life without Lance Armstrong.

Cute video on the dangers of cyber sex.

Anybody want the domain ThirtiesAndSixties.com? I thought I'd do something with it but have not and probably will not. Expires 11/3/06. I'll give it to anyone that has a good idea for using it.

Final Skype check

This is a closed-circuit post for David and Henry. A couple of ancient radio guys and budding podcasters, checking their equipment (you should excuse the expression).

I noticed David was online (via his Skype icon) this evening so I Skyped him and we were chatting away. He in his hotel room in Kansas City...me here at home. And then Henry called in, to check out his new Skype account. Once we figured out how to hook up for a conference call we chatted for a bit (3.5 min), just checking out levels.

David was on a laptop PC on hotel wireless with a Realistic (Radio Shack?!) mic. I was running a Heil PR-20 mic through a little $40 Behringer mixer into the MacBook. Henry was using the built in mic on his MacBook and some headphones. My level was too hot but I wasn't expecting to talk to either of them, so...

It was Henry's maiden voyage on Skype so he didn't know what to expect. But David and I recall many nasty dial-up phoner from our local radio days. But we were all impressed with the quality of our first Skype three-way (you should excuse the expression).

Behinder

Just received my copy of Seth Godin's new book, small is the new big and flipped it open to page 155:

"The number of channels of communication is going to continue to increase. And either you'll have a channel or you won't. Either you'll have access to the attention of the people you need to talk with (notice I didn't say "talk at"), or you won't.

So the real question to ask isn't, "How much will I get paid to talk with these people?" The real question is, "How much will I pay to talk with these people."

The title of the book refers to a blog post from June, 2005. Godin talks about the new book in a half-hour, moderated Skypecast this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. CDT.

Update: Poor old Seth had to introduce himself because the moderator has tech issues and was late getting into the Skype call. Looked like about 25 or 30 folks on the call and they never got around to taking questions. Typepad -- which sponsored the Skypecast-- plans to post portions of the audio on their blog.

The value of "influencers"

Robert Scoble: "I’ll tell you what executives from big companies (like Kraft, Procter and Gamble, GM, and others) who were at MSN’s OWN ADVERTISING CONFERENCE told me. An influencer is worth THOUSANDS of times more than a non-influencer (influencer is someone who tells other people stuff, which is why blogging is getting so much advertising attention lately). That’s why Google is charging more per click than MSN is (Google has more influential users)." [via Gaping Void]

Ricky Gervais faux training videos for Microsoft UK

Somebody at Microsoft UK has a sense of humor (or the absurd). They hired Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to do a (spoof) training video with Gervais playing David Brent, his character from the original Office. The first part runs for 20 minutes and the second for 17 minutes. They've been uploaded to Google Video and it's like watching the lost episode of The Office. [via Sydney Morning Herald]

Reading backlog

This is a good problem but mildly stressful nonetheless. I'm buying books faster than I can read them. Combine my need for instant gratification and low impulse control with Amazon One-Click purchasing... and you wind up with a bunch of books stacked up over Bedside International:

The Religion War, Scott Adams
The Corporate Blogging Book, Debbie Weil
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Henry Jenkins
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, David Pogue
The Macintosh iLife 06, Jim Heid
Prioritizing Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen & Hoa Loranger
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge

Non-fiction is outpacing fiction by more than 2-to-1 and that's what's causing the backlog. But I'll get to and through them all in time.

Ivy League Long Tail

The company I work for owns (leases?) the multi-media marketing rights for some of the largest collegiate athletic progams in the country. So this story in USA TODAY about smaller colleges and conferences turning to the web to to deliver football and other sports, jumped out at me.

"Northern Arizona offered webcasts of home football games last year. Using the four cameras already set up to provide replays on the stadium scoreboard, the school added audio from their radio broadcasts along with continually updated statistics. Fans will be able to choose which team's audio feed to which to listen. Games will be archived and can be downloaded to portable devices like Apple Computer's iPod.

This fall, ESPN's new online channel, ESPN 360, will show 30 football games, 10 of them, involving teams such as Virginia Tech, Purdue, Miami and Minnesota exclusively on that website. The site, available to about 6 million homes, will also have such features as chat rooms, statistics and online polls.

The schools don't see the Web replacing television. Major conferences make millions of dollars from their football and basketball television contracts, but many also plan to webcast other sports, such as volleyball or swimming.

The Big Ten Conference announced plans this summer create its own cable channel for minor sports. The Big Ten Channel also will be available through the Internet, iPods, cellphones and other technologies."

Note to Learfield Senior Management: Read The Long Tail to understand why and how this is happening and what it might mean for those of us at the "head."

(Almost) End of Deadwood

Since the beginning of this season of Deadwood, I've been wondering if this is the end. Scott points us to the answer at TVseriesFinale.com.

When it was announced that HBO would we cutting the series short after three seasons, fans signed petitions, took out an ad in Variety, sent letters and made calls indicating that they would cancel their HBO subscriptions at the end of Deadwood's third season (next week). http://www.savedeadwood.net/

As a result, Deadwood will return next season, but instead of a full-blown 12-episode season to complete the series, HBO and (creator) Milch will instead produce a pair of two-hour movies.

Milch has said that he wasn't in favor of doing a six-episode season because each episode of Deadwood has typically represented one day in the lives of the characters and South Dakota area. Shifting to two-hour movies will allow him to break that format and to be able to complete the storytelling he had for the final season.

Podcast monetization

From Podcasting News: "About.com, a New York Times property, has launched a sponsored medical podcast about heartburn and acid reflux. Each podcast will be approximately three to five minutes long and will be introduced monthly. The series --the first of its kind on About.com-- is sponsored by AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company that makes Prilosec and Nexium heartburn and acid reflux medications.

"The podcasts allow us to provide educational information to patients in a unique and creative way," said Dana Settembrino, brand communications manager, AstraZeneca.

Topics to be covered include: What Causes Heartburn; Acid Reflux and Your Diet; How to Talk to Your Doctor about Acid Reflux; Exercising with Acid Reflux; and How Stress Affects Your Acid Reflux.

According to Marjorie Martin, general manager, ABOUT Health, "Podcasts provide an exciting new format for delivering trusted health information. Users can now choose to listen online or take the information with them. This series on heartburn and acid reflux disease should provide the millions of sufferers with the tools to better manage their condition."

Dr. Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H. is the program's host. "Dr. Mona" is a quadruple board-certified practicing physician and Emmy award-winning medical correspondent."

We covered heartburn on the Living Healthy Podcast back in February.

I find Henry's conversational style more to my taste than Dr. Mona's scripted read, but I'm hardly objective. Would love to know what AsstraZeneca is paying for this and their expectations. But one can assume they think this makes more sense than 30's and 60's. About.com seems like a good fit. You go looking for info on heartburn...and find a podcast on the subject.

But how sustainable is this? I think sponsoring something with broader topic scope might make more sense.

It's just a commercial, dude.

Justin Long is the actor that plays the Mac guy in the new Apple ad campaign. But not all PC users are clear on the "acting" part. In an interview in the LA Times, Long reports:

"I had a guy come up to me, in my face, saying, 'You think you're so cool? You're not cool' and I'm saying to him, 'Dude, it's a commercial.'"

Almost twenty more spots are in the works, the newspaper says, in addition to the already aired seven. [via MIT Advertising Lab]

On the head of a pin

"...perhaps the answer is simply one:
one female angle dancing alone in her stocking feet,
a small jazz combo working in the background.

Poet Billy Collins' answer to the philosopher's question (from Questions About Angles)

50 Common Interview Q&A

I'm pretty sure I wont' be asking such questions again and --god willing-- I won't be answering them. But these are pretty good.

Prairie Garden Trust Podcast

My friend Henry Domke has produced and posted the first Prairie Garden Trust Podcast. Friends and supporters of PGT can now get regular updates via podcast. While I'm not exactly an "outdoorsy" guy, I'm stoked about Henry using this new technology. He invested a couple of hundred bucks in a podcast starter set (mics, mixer, headphones, etc) and is using GarageBand3 (MacBook) to produce. In a matter of hours, he had his first show online, ready for subscribers. His first show has a couple of rough edges but he'll smooth those out as he goes.

In The Old Days, he might have tried to find a radio station that would give him (sell him?) some time on a Sunday morning. Today, he's global. Anybody, anytime, anywhere. If they care about his topic, they can listen. Still another example of The Long Tail at work. No topic is too obscure. If one person cares enough to produce the show ... and one cares enough to listen, the costs of production and distribution are so close to zero, there is no barrier to getting started.

Record Skype calls. Easy.

Call Recorder from ecamm network provides a really simple, inexpensive ($13) way to record a Skype call. For Mac users. David and I chatted for 2 minutes last night so I could check this out. I was using an inexpensive LogiTech headset/mic and I'm not sure what David was using. He sounded a little hotter than I did and Call Recorder does not give you a way to monitor levels (that I saw). But this is literally a one-button plug-in for Skype.

The resulting audio file is a Quicktime .mov file. Call Recorder comes with a few conversion tools that turns your call into an MP3 file. And one of the tools converts to two channels so you can work with either end of the call. For price and ease-of-use, I don't know how it can get much better.

The quality will only be as good as your connection and your mics. But I think this sounds a lot better than anything you'd get with a regular phone call. And I think I can tweak this for better results. I've got a couple of interviews coming up that will give me a better test drive. And, as I told David, I'm sure that are Windows apps that will do this as well or better.

Why Jon Stewart should run for President

Stanford student Stuart Coleman thinks "Jon Stewart should run for President of the United States. I know I'm not the first to suggest it, and I doubt I'm the first to seriously consider it as a possibility, but I've given the idea some thought, and I've come up with 8 reasons he should run."

smays is spending more time on digg these days and they make it soooo easy to blogg the stories you digg.

read more | digg story

Dell Customer Support Implodes

"Dell's notorious customer support operation seems set to implode under the weight of millions of complaints following the huge 'exploding battery' recall. The phones are overloaded most of the time. Once you are in the queue there is a good chance that you will be disconnected and have to go through the whole thing again."

read more | digg story

All Skyped up and nowhere to go

With lots of advice and a little luck, I came up with a simple way to record a Skype call. But nobody's home. At least none of the handful of Skypers I know. But I did sample a couple of "Skypecasts." (Think Internet conference call) Most were as boring as you'd expect but coming up on August 22 (4pm CDT), best selling author Seth Godin will be talking about his new book, Small is the New Big, and we can take part.

Godin is pretty well known and the Skypecast is well promoted. I plan to listen, just to see how they moderate what is likely to be a bunch of folks.

KATG: Please watch this trailer

Keith and the Girl fans received an email today, touting a new movie coming out in a couple of weeks. Crank stars Jason Statham (Snatch, The Transporter, The Italian Job) and opens September 1st. The email pointed me to the trailer:

"It’s a cool ad, and it brings KATG a little scratch whenever it’s viewed. So take a look-see and pass it to your friends. And then get back to work! How are we gonna survive as a society if everyone’s watching movie promos all day?!"

I really like Statham so I was glad to know about the movie. And I'm even more inclined to watch the trailer (and tell others) because it helps KATG... and I'm a fan. Do you see how this is different than just running the ad on one of the TV networks? Would love to know how much KATG got for this. Hope it was a lot.

How about some pictures of our jocks?

The ever-alert Mark Ramsey (hear 2.0) points to a B&C article on the growing trend toward video on newspaper websites:

"39 of the top 40 daily newspapers in the U.S. use video on their sites, according to a recent study by online-clip distributor The News Market and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Of 150 print publications surveyed, 79% are capable of producing video. “Both newspapers and TV stations need to have video to be competitive online,” says Web consultant Steve Safran, president of Safran Media Group. “The goal is to provide the best local news in a multimedia format.”

Ramsey asks: "If you think downloadable audio covers you, then why are newspapers sending out reporters with DV cams?"

Anybody got an answer for Mark?

Problems for XM and Sirius?

WSJ: "Many people are simply having iPod adapters installed in their cars and skipping satellite altogether, a concept that was barely on the horizon when the industry was young."

Not sure how big a problem this is. But I'm one of those folks spending more time with the pod and less listening to satellite radio. If I had to renew today... I would. A year from now...?

TechTV reborn as "UndoTV"

I loved TechTV and hated seeing it die. And now it sounds like it's back. Sort of.

Drunk guy in police station

I pulled the embedded YouTube player on this clip. It was taking too long to load. If you are one of the six people on the planet that haven't seen this 90 second video, you can watch it at YouTube.

Car stereo with USB port

Eric Benderoff (Tech.Buzz/Chicago Tribune.com) loves his JVC KD-G720 car stereo, an aftermarket item into which he can plug (via USB port) an iPod, or a thumb drive filled with MP3 files. The songs play through the car stereo, and he can control the volume and song selection directly through the unit, not the iPod. When his iPod is plugged in, the car stereo charges the music player as it plays. And the song information scrolls across the stereo's screen, telling him the artist, song name and album title. The thing can also receive satellite radio from XM or Sirius, spin CDs (in WMA and MP3 formats) And play terrestrial radio stations. All for about $200, not including installation.

This just makes so much more sense than some proprietary, factory-installed hardware. I might have to get me one of these. Yum. [via RAIN]

Skype from Norway

I just spent half an hour chatting with Chuck Zimmerman who is in Oslo, Norway covering the annual meeting of the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists. More on that in a moment...

The purpose of the call was to play with Skype (and teach Chuck the correct pronunciation of fjord). Chuck's had a Skype account for a while but --like me-- really didn't know a lot of folks using the service. I'm guessing a half-hour telco call would cost a few bucks, but the Skype-to-Skype call was free. And the quality was damned good. I'm not gonna post on this again until I can include some sample audio.

One final observation on Chuck's coverage of the IFAJ conference. Of the approximately 200 journalist attending, Chuck guesses 95% are print and the rest are PR folks and a few radio types.

I'm guessing most of the attendees are there to drink beer, eat cheese and have a good time. Which, I assume, Chuck is doing, too. But not one of them is blogging the event. Chuck is doing it because the folks at Pioneer are paying him but, still...

Anyway, Skype was slicker than snot and I promise to get you a sample for those that haven't played with this amazing service.

Butterfly Walk

Dr. Henry Domke shares some wonderful images from the Fifth Annual Butterfly Walk at the Prairie Garden Trust. Eighteen people took part in the walk, led by Donna Brunnet, and Henry reports they saw more butterflys than usual. At the risk of getting all Walden Pond on you, these images remind me how seldom I stop to notice the natural beauty that's all around us.

If you're afraid, vote for me

John Seery (at The Huffington Post) thinks George Bush has lost the war on terrorism:

"Let's face it: Osama bin Laden, holed up in his cave somewhere, must be laughing at us. He's calling the shots, and he really doesn't have to lift a finger. Why? George Bush is doing his bidding. His administration has suspended many civil liberties and deftly defied the U.S. Constitution. Junked the Geneva Convention. Tortured prisoners. Oversaw criminal acts at Abu Ghraib. Ignored due process at Guantanamo. Engaged in domestic spying without court supervision. Flushed billions down the toilet in Iraq. Weakened our military readiness. Set much of the world against us. The Middle East is now ablaze in terrorism. At home, we live constantly in "elevated fear" levels (whether color coded or not). Our internal politics have become poisonously divided, not united. Osama bin Laden is playing George Bush like a cheap fiddle."

For some reason, Seery's post reminded me of George Orwell's 1984 (Amazon notes):

"Oceania is eternally at war with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and Eastasia. At any moment, depending upon current alignments, all existing records show either that Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with Eastasia, or that it has always been at war with Eastasia and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith knows this, because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the constant "correction" of such records. "'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"

Update: Ashcroft Finds Private-Sector Niche - "Former U.S. attorney general John D. Ashcroft, whose tenure saw the creation of a burgeoning homeland security industry, has emerged as the highest-ranking former Bush administration official to lobby for and invest in companies in that field." [MSNBC]

Is your "stuff" good enough to pay for?

"Alltel Wireless customers will be able to access XM Satellite Radio programming via their cell phones for $7.99 per month. The deal links the fifth-largest mobile service provider in the United States with the world’s largest satellite radio company. Like its competitors, Alltel is facing the imminent prospect of market saturation, so the company is seeking high-value content to gain additional revenue from its customer base."

Seems to me you'd have to be a big fan of XM to pay an extra eight bucks a month to listen on your cell phone. And wouldn't that be hell on the battery? But the more interesting question (for me) is: Do you have the kind of content that someone would be willing to pay for?

As businesses figure out that they can --if they're clever enough-- take their message directly to their customers, they'll stop paying to have their messages jammed down people's throats. We are approaching a time when the only reason people will listen to an (unwanted) commercial message is because they can't figure out a way to avoid doing so. If you want to talk to your customers, you better start listening to them.

If you don't know how to do that, you're in trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool.

Acid test for news websites

When the shit hits the fan, do people go to your news (radio station/TV station/newspaper/network) website to find out what's going on? When Mark Ramsey went to the website of his local news radio station, he got one measly little paragraph (about the foiled terrorist attacks). Click.

"...all my questions were answered at the TV station's website. None of my questions were answered at the website for the radio station that purports to be San Diego's ground zero for news."

The news used to be so nicely divvied up. Radio stations did radio news... newspapers did "print stories"... the TV station did the video. No longer. Increasingly, news organizations will be graded on how well they cover the story online (including mobile devices). Hopefully they'll flip on the radio to hear what's happening but when they want more... are they coming to your website? What will they find there?

Here's your homework assignment: Send me the url of a radio station website that is doing a better job with the news than the newpaper and and TV stations in the same market.

Niche audiences

Rocketboom's Andrew Baron on possible sponsorship opportunities:

"While Rocketboom reaches a mass audience, Baron sees his next opportunity in niches. As an example, he suggests a program to target "high-end tennis players." It would be natural for Wilson Sporting Goods to advertise tennis racquets and "Viewers might actually be interested in the commercials," Baron said. He believes that while only 10,000 people might watch, it's so cheap to do Internet video that such programming is economically feasible."

Skype: "The whole world can talk for free"

Finally got around to trying out Skype. Amazing. I waited so long because I couldn't imagine that it wouldn't be a bitch to set up and use. Wrong. Took 5 min to install and set up. Typed in David's Skype name and we're jabbering way. Sounded like he was in the room with me. I know this is no longer new technology but I had a little 21st century flash of: "Watson, come here! I need you!"

Of course, I remember when it was cool to be able to put a phone caller on the radio. But Skype is cool. A little latency and --once in a while-- some of the digital sound, but sooo much better than a regular phone line.

As soon as I figure out how to record a call I'll post a sample. And you can have up to 5 people on at once. Made for podcasting.

So who's using Skype? If you're willing to chat with me as I figure this out, drop me a line at stevemays at gmail.com.

No more average listeners

Mark Ramsey on the the mythical "average" radio listener:

"It’s the “average” we measure to figure out what music to play. It’s the “average” person who votes on our songs. It’s the “average” we reduce our stations to when we’re out to cut expense. In today’s media environment, the “average” no longer exists. That’s because music fans no longer need to share common tastes with others in order to find a radio station “they can all agree on.” In fact, the very idea of “agreeing” on a station is antithetical. Who needs to agree when your perfect, ideal station is one set of earbuds away?"

The radio ads I want to hear

Tod Maffin is looking forward to the day his satellite radio delivers ads he wants to hear:

"So, let’s take this to its natural next step in, say three years. You call up XM or Sirius and activate your radio. Besides asking for your billing address, they also seek out some basic demographic information. How old are you? What are your interests? Suddenly, your radio begins playing ads that are aimed at you and people like you. With my demographic profile in hand, the satellite service could have screened those (crappy spam-like ads) out and sent me ads specific to my interests."

I sort of dread going through some long "check the products and services you're interested in" procedure, but you'd only have to do it once and then keep it updated. Then, maybe once a month, they send me a link to a web page where I see a list of all the advertisers that hit my reciever in the past 30 days. I remove any that I don't like. Sort like signing up for Netflix. Or, maybe they just have a bot crawl this blog and figure out what I care about.

Free Fall

Learfield Collection Specialist and Free Style Cliff Diver Daren Darin Jobe shares this image of his winning dive at this month's Acapulco Open. This larger image captures the full majesty of this world class athlete at his peak. The miraculous quality of this photo might also be attributable to the concrete Blessed Virgin lawn ornament in the background.