Category Archives: Books

Making radio relevant again

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I’ve been reading Douglas Rushkoff’s latest book (Get Back In theBox: Innovation from the Inside Out) and was delighted to come across an interview with Rushkoff at Radio Marketing Nexus. Mark Ramsey talked with Rushkoff about “how to make radio relevant again.” Ruskoff misses the same things about radio that I do. AUDIO

“Because of my book tours I’ve been in a lot of radio stations, and even from 1995 to 2005 the amount of change I’ve seen has been shocking. There used to be this kind of quality to an FM radio station – I hate to be stereotypical, but there was a certain kind of chick who would be the receptionist at an FM radio station. There was a certain kind of guy that worked in the album room organizing the albums. There was a certain kind of geek figuring out the emphasis rack.

But FM stations are not really like that anymore. They feel much more like almost any other office, and if you didn’t see the control room you wouldn’t know you were in a radio station at all. They don’t ooze their culture anymore.

There was a smell and a quality and a texture to everything radio that I think was the fun of the industry. There was something so real about it. In the early days when I was a kid, you had Ron Lundy and Cousin Brucie – you just somehow knew those guys were there even though they were playing top 40 stuff. You knew it was a world of guys with records and personalities. And there’s so little of that on the radio today.

There’s almost nothing in mainstream radio that has that sense of this as a club of people in a cool place having a great time sharing some of their ecstasy with those of us driving to work or sitting in our bedrooms who wanted to have a taste of what it’s like to be an adult who understands music, who reads “Rolling Stone,” who understands why we’re fighting the Gulf War, or whatever it is. And I want to piece of that.

When I turn on the radio now I don’t feel that these folks have a piece of anything that I can’t get a piece of by going into Allstate to work in the morning. It’s just another working stiff with some computer telling them what to play and when to play it and when to read the ads.

I don’t trust the voice behind the music anymore because I don’t know that he’s really an expert or that he really cares. He’s not part of a living, breathing, fertile culture whereas if I go online and look at these Podcasts I know these people have done it not for the money but for the love of it. And radio is going to have to go a long way now to convince me that there’s somebody there who cares about what they’re doing for some reason other than the cash.

Finally, I would say the purpose of radio is to keep people company. And in order to keep people company there’s got to be a human being on the other side of it. The more truly human your radio station is the better it is at keeping people company. And the more computerized and business-like it is the farther outside the box you’ll find yourself.”

So there you have it. The pure, distilled essence of what’s wrong with radio today. And it seems like it would be very easy to fix. To get back in the box. But I fear we don’t even remember where we put the box.

Life After the 30-Second Spot

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Between XM, Tivo, HBO, the nano, and the web…I don’t see or hear that many 30-second commercials anymore. So I don’t know why it should be difficult for me to imagine Life After the 30-Second Spot, the title and premise of Joseph Jaffe’s latest book. But it is. Maybe it’s because our company sells a LOT of 30-second spots.

The forward, written by Don E. Schultz, Professor Emeritus-in-Service at Northwestern University, sets the tone of the book:

Media advertising, as we have known, practiced, and worshipped it for the past 60 or so years, is in trouble. Big trouble. And it’s not going to get well. Ever.

I’m about half-way through the book and highlighting something on every other page. Jaffe might be full of shit, but just in case he’s only half-full, anyone remotely connected to advertising supported media should read this book.

The Art of Demotivation

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From the folks at Despair, Inc., a business book that’s “So Dangerous We Had to Put a Lock on It.”

“Ironically, managers attempting to motivate employees by increasing their self-esteem only compound the very problem they seek to solve. Reinforcing employee delusions of grandeur only increases their irrational sense of entitlement to the wealth, stature and privilege that justice dictates be reserved for the truly accomplished and inarguably worthy: namely, Executives.”

These are the same funny kids that produce the motivational calendars and posters.

Quality: The Race for Quality Has No Finish Line – so Technically it’s More Like a Death March.

I’ll share nuggets from TAOD here.

A Woman from Cairo

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Val Landi’s new novel, of A Woman from Cairo, sounds like a page-turner:

“A young Egyptian documentary film maker is recruited by the highest ranks of al Qaeda to create a documentary in Afghanistan about the leadership of the Holy War. The prologue of the book describes the accidental filming of the assassination of The Sheik, a fictionalized Osama bin Laden, and the film maker’s escape with the film footage to Pakistan and eventually back to temporary, fleeting safety in Cairo.”

The novel is in pre-production but there’s a website and the author has a blog.

100 Greatest Rock Songs

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Radio Randy insists this list is not ‘his’ top 100 rock songs, just “the most familiar songs of our generations.” He promises to post his list later. Whatever the distinction, it’s a pretty good list. At least as good as Lucas Davneport’s list.

Randy’s daughter, Jessica, comments: I hate to say it, but you’ve got a list full of old white guys in recovery. Oh well…its only rock and roll.

State of “flow” like playing jazz

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For several years now I have found myself in a semi-manic state of mind that, initially, had me concerned. Fortunately, a professional friend recognized what I have been experiencing as “flow,” and gave me a book that explains the concept:

“People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (author of Flow) describes flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

Robert Tanenbaum’s ghost writer

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I’ve walked out on more than a few movies but I almost never fail to finish a novel. I try to get through even the dullest of books. But I just can’t finish Robert Tanenbaum’s latest Butch Karp novel, Fury. I loved this series and was puzzled and disappointed as I slogged through the first hundred pages of the latest in the series. I couldn’t believe the words were written by Robert Tanenbaum. Then I came across a mini-review (of a previous Karp novel that I somehow missed) on Amazon:

“Unlike the previous books in Tanenbaum’s oeuvre, this one lacks the skill and verve of Michael Gruber (Tropic of Night), the uncredited writer largely responsible for making the series come alive on the page. Whoever took over needs to learn the difference between telling and showing before he or she tackles the next in Tanenbaum’s series.”

Pardon me? What the fuck is an “uncredited writer?” Just how much of Tanenbaum’s novels were written by Mr. Gruber? This probably happens in the publishing world all the time and I’m too far out the sticks to know about it, but it sucks. I’ve read my last Butch Karp novel and will let you know how I enjoy Mr. Gruber’s work.

In the meantime, I’m cleansing myself with John D. MacDonald’s Nightmare In Pink.

Best Songs of the Rock Era

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I was hoping someone had posted this and it makes perfect sense to find it on John Sandford’s “official website.” If you know who John Sandford is, you know who Lucas Davenport is: main character in a very popular series of novels. In Broken Prey, Lucas’ wife has given him an iPod and a certificate for 100 songs from iTunes. Woven throughout the novel are scenes in which Lucas tries to decide whether a particular song should or should not make his “Best Songs of thte Rock Era” list. A fun plot element that concludes with said list at the end of the novel. The thought of trying this myself is somehow exciting and frightening at the same time.

I suggested to Radio Randy that he should invited readers to nominate songs and he post the current 100. As a “better” song comes in, it bumps something else. Eventually, you wind up with his “best” and he heads off to iTunes. I’d love to see Terry McVey’s list as well.