Monthly Archives: November 2006

Ole Camp Meetin’ Time

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Nostalgia Alert: We’re going back to 1947 in this post.

When KBOA went on the air (July 19, 1947), one of their first –and most popular– programs was “Ole Camp Meetin’ Time.” It was the creation of Ray Van (Hooser), the station’s first program director. The program featured hymns and gospel music but was far more than a “record show.” And it was immediately and immensly popular.

Sometime in the early ’50’s, Rudy Pylant (“Mr. Rudy”) took over Ole Camp Meetin’ Time and gave it his own special flavor (think Will Rogers-meets-Jerry Clower). The program continued to be hugely popular.

I was reminded of Ole Camp Meetin’ Time this week when my (life-long Kennett) friend Joann sent me one of the original Ole Camp Meetin’ Time Song Books. Published in late 1947, the radio staiton gave away thousands of these. Seems hopelessly quaint now but in 1947, these were like iPods.

If you grew up anywhere within a hundred miles or so of Kennett, Missouri, in the late 40’s or ’50s… you probably have memories of sitting at the breakfast table listening to Ole Camp Meetin’ Time. As I write this, I realize I don’t have the skill (or perhaps it is not possible) to convey how important this radio program was to the people that listened to it every monring. But, fortunately, I have some oral history that might come close.

You can read the introduction to the song book by station manager Paul C. Jones, after the jump.

So here we are sixty years later (gulp!) and it ain’t your father’s radio anymore. I have no illusions about returning to those days. But as I listen to the men that built KBOA talk about their love of radio (I’m not sure they would have said “the business” of radio)… I wonder if that same passion still exists today. I’m not in many stations these days so the flame might be burning brightly and I would not know. I’ve turned the comments on for this post for those than might.

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Two kinds of Republicanism

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In a Rolling Stone article titlled “Ohio Burning,” Matt Taibbi offers one explanation of what happened November 7th.

There were really two kinds of Republicanism in the Bush years. There was the Bush/Rove/DeLay revolution, a brilliant perpetual plan for winning elections, raising money and concentrating power. Even if they were never verbalized, everyone implicitly understood the revolution’s prime directives: support the president blindly, demonize the opposition and never break ranks. It wasn’t hard to be this kind of Republican. If you could read at a fourth-grade level, pray to Jesus and exhibit genuine terror before photos of men holding hands, you could ride the revolution all the way to Washington with a ten-point cushion. There was room for even the very dumbest in this revolution.

The other Republicanism was the old-school conservatism that supposedly provided the revolution’s ideological underpinnings. But somewhere along the line, the Bush revolutionaries broke free of those principles and sailed off into the unknown.

I really like the way Mr. Taibbi writes. Maybe it’s just seeing his words in Rolling Stone, but they reminded me of Hunter Thompson. I would give an appendage-to-be-named-later to write so well.

George Carlin on mindless marketing blather

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AdRants points us to a wonderful 4 min bit of a George Carlin performance:

“More than half of what comes out of your mouth in that client presentation is mindless, pointless, idiotic sounding, space-filling blather. Don’t you want meetings to be shorter? Aren’t you sick of fake words that mean nothing? Wouldn’t you rather be actually creating something rather than killing it with the boatload of words you throw at it before you ever show it to the client? Of course you would. So stop talking like an idiot.”

I’ve been working hard in recent years to do more listening than talking in meetings with clients. I’m not there. I still talk too much. But I’m making progress.

The experiment I’m dying to try is to record (audio) one of the client presentations. And then transcribe it. That is when we will see just how mindless and pointless most of our blather is. The simple truth is, we can’t hear how dumb we sound while we’re talking.

Website: Expense or investment?

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Mark Ramsey poses the following questions to broadcasters:

1. Is the purpose of your website just to put online what is already on the air, or is it something else?
2. Are we investing the necessary resources and talent in the development of our website, or are we having an intern update stuff in his spare time?
3. Are we giving people what they go to our station for in all its shapes and sizes on the web? Or are we offering one stream and a bunch of photos of our personalities?
4. If the content described in this article (Fast Company) can generate considerable traffic, can we convert that traffic to revenue? If so, why aren’t we investing for traffic instead of seeing our websites as expensive necessities?
5. If we keep crowing about how “local” our radio station is, exactly how does our website express that or service that?

Chicken LittleA couple of days ago, a broadcaster called me for advice on possible speakers/topics for an association meeting next spring. She wanted someone to come talk to them about “new media.” I asked her why?

“Uh, we need to figure out how to make some more money.” Or words to that effect.

I imagined thirsty villagers taking buckets and empty containers to a nearby well in hopes of finding water for their thirsty families.

I suggested that before you’d have anything to sell (to advertisers), you’d need to build an audience and that would take time and money. An investment.

“No, our owners won’t let us spend any money. We need to find some more money. That’s why we were thinking about the Internet.”

To completely exhaust the metaphor… if you don’t have the will or the resources to drill a new well… pray for rain.

Why you didn’t get the business

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Mary Schmidt (“Business Developer, Marketing Troubleshooter”) explains why you didn’t get her business. Her original list grew so long she’s posting these little goodies in three parts. Here are a few of my favorites from her first batch:

4. Your web site looks abandoned. (Copyright 2004? Are you even still in business?)
5. Your web site doesn’t tell me how to call you.
6. You never, ever answer your phone. It always go to voice mail.
7. You did more talking than I did in our first meeting.
8. You insisted on going through your entire sales presentation, slide by slide, line by line – even when I said, “I already know that” and “Yes, I already saw that.”
9. You talk about “solutions” but never tell me how you’re going to solve my problem.
10. You’re “invisible.” Like it or not, showing up in a Google search (or not) is a credibility factor these days.
11. You only call or email when you’re trying to sell me something.
12. You think having my business card with my email address is the same as having my permission to flood my inbox with junk.
16. Your “free education seminar” was nothing more than a sales pitch

This should be required reading before every sales presentation. Thanks to David for the pointer.

KBOA, Studio A

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I’m fortunate to have many photos from the early days of KBOA (Kennett, MO). This one of John Mays, cueing a record in the control room, was taken by Johnny Mack Reeder or Bob Miles. Probably in the early 50’s.

You can see into Studio B which served a number of purposes over the years. Live newscasts and commercials orginated from Studio B. Later it house a large “disc cutter” used for recording spots.

I’ll never forget the pleasantly musty smell of these ancient rooms with their massive doors

John Mayer on Sheryl Crow

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John Mayer and Sheryl CrowSheryl Crow and John Mayer recently toured together and during the next-to-last date, John Mayer come onstage during SC’s set, dressed as a bear. The following night, Ms. Crow interrupted his set, wearing a bikini and waving around a baton (I’m pretty sure she was a twirler in high school). Based on this post from Mr. Mayer’s blog (10/12/06), they had a good time:

“Sheryl – I hope you realize, even if for a fleeting moment just once a day, that everything you’ve ever hoped you would be, you are. I’ve never heard you sing a sour note, your record collection could freeze a Lower East Side hipster dead in his tracks and you have one of the hardest to find traits in a musician; you believe that nice isn’t the opposite of bad-ass. Add to that the great people you surround yourself with, and it’s no wonder I walk away from every conversation with you feeling like I expend twice the energy but say half as much as you do.”

Ms. Crow looks pretty good (for any age). There’s no permalink to the specific post on the Mayer blog.

HBO documentary films

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While channel surfing last night, I came across a documentary on HBO. “Thin” is the story of four women with eating disorders who are “dying to be thin.” Heartbreaking.

Tonight I watched “Hacking Democracy” which exposes gaping holes in the security of America’s electronic voting system. If you voted in 2004 –or ever plan to vote again– you should watch “Hacking Democracy.”

ESPN launches local podcast network

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ESPN is launching a local podcasting network. Sounds like they’re starting with shows from their five owned-and-operated stations while inviting affiliates to be part of the podcast network.

For more than a year, ESPN has been offering about 20 podcasts of national ESPN programming through PodCenter and selling advertisers two spots, one 15-second spot rolling prior to the content and a 30-second post-content spot. The new local podcasting network provides advertisers the opportunity to buy a local podcasting network or target individual markets or regions. Participating affiliates will get a share of the network revenue sold.

The local stations could (and may be) podcasting on their own but I have to believe this approach (whole greater than sum of parts) makes sense. Once clearance becomes a non-issue, there might be an explosion of such podcast networks. [Mediaweek via Radio and Records]

Scott Adams on The Future of Voting

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“I’d also want to see the list of experts lined up on both sides of every argument, along with their political affiliations. If 90% of economists favored one fiscal policy over another, that would sway me. If 90% of recently retired generals supported one method of fighting a war, that would sway me too. I’d also like to see opinion poll results that are limited to independent voters above a certain IQ range who have passed a knowledge test on the specific issue. It doesn’t help me to know that 80% of the ignorant, brainwashed masses support something. I want to know what the well-informed, bright, independents think. That way if I don’t have the time or interest to study an issue, I can still decide to vote with the bright, informed people.” (Posted 2006)