Category Archives: Personal History

Twenty-two years and counting

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It’s almost that time again. On June 4th I will have been chained to a Learfield galley oar for 22 years. I am proud to say that Learfield founder and CEO Clyde Lear recruited and hired me and changed my life forever. I’ll resist the usual cult-rant and point you to Clyde’s blog. Everybody whose CEO is blogging with this kind of candor an openess…raise your hand.

Some can remember six years ago when things around here weren’t so rosy. We lost money. All of you took a pay cut for several months; I went six months with no salary at all. Remember what I told you then?

This either makes you real uncomfortable or it gives you goose bumps. I love it, of course. Clyde is a natural blogger. He got it immediately. Many (most) do not.

We met with a prospective client today and in a two-hour meeting, radio came up twice…in passing. When I asked the client to rank their website (with all forms of communication) on a scale of 1 to 10…she gave it a nine and couldn’t think of anything that was more important in getting their message out. She also confided that her website wasn’t very good. When I suggested she consider adding a blog…it was as though I had suggested adding child porn.

It’s really quite amazing. Reactions to blogging are highly polarized. A (very) few know about blogging and are eager to put it to use for their company or organization. Many (most) have no idea what blogging is and –simultaneously– are petrified by the very idea.

We have established this formalized communication made up of press releases, brochures, slick media kits and, yes, Main Stream Media… that is as stiff and structured as a Greek drama. But we all have our parts and know our lines. We have a script. And out of nowhere, come these bloggers and podcasters writing and saying any damn thing and it’s scary as hell. Line, please!

What was I talking about? I remember… 22 years at Camp Learfield. Halfway there.

“Life After Radio”

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Bill Page says he’s packing it in after 20 years of radio. Got a job as a police dispatcher. I’ll bet I know a dozen radio guys that became dispatchers after leaving radio. There must be a Association of Police Dispatchers Who Were Formerly Radio Guys.

Bill would email me from time to time with updates from Kennett and the local station, which was my first and last radio home. Doesn’t sound like he was having much fun near the end.

“Anytime you have to vomit before you go to work guess that’s a warning sign that you need a change.”

Yes. Yes it is. My guess is, Bill will post for a few days and then, as he gets on with his life, he’ll let it slide. But who knows.

WSJ’s Walt Mossberg on Internet and Radio

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One of the highlights of this week’s NAB 2006 Las Vegas convention was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s Radio Luncheon, the Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist, Walt Mossberg. Some of his comments, as reported by Kurt Hanson:

“Internet” won’t be an “activity” in a few years. Currently, we talk about ‘surfing the Web’ or ‘being on the Internet’ or ‘I’m going online tonight’ as a discreet activity we perform on a PC, but in ten years, those phrases will sound absurd. When you watch TV, you may be on the Internet; when you listen to radio, you may be on the Internet. The Internet will not be an activity you do on a PC – it will be like the electrical grid. It will be all around you! I predict that talking about the Internet will fade, as we talk instead about devices, about software, and about services and content.

On the effect of iPods on radio:

“We passed a milestone: There are now 50 million iPods out there. My music tastes don’t fit into the little boxes that Clear Channel in my market has decided I need to fit into. Your job is not just to string together a bunch of songs in a row, but to put on exciting new programming to attract new listeners and beat the iPod.”

I wonder what Walt would say to the upcoming meeting of StateNets, the trade group that represents state networks (like the ones Learfield owns). A co-worker in the office next to mine helps organize the event. I’ll ask if they have a keynote speaker. Props to the NAB guys for inviting Mossberg.

Always connected

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Sitting in the Coffee Zone, slurping some Rocket Fuel, connected to the world. The way it was meant to be. In all fairness, I rarely lugged my Thinkpad around. Just too heavy. Not IBM’s (at the time) fault. I bought one of the heaviest models they offered. No idea why. But on the few occasions I took the thing on the road and attempted to connect wirelessly, it was usually something of a chore. Again, probably not the fault of Microsoft or IBM. I just never took the time to learn how to make it all work. It was too much trouble.

This morning I fired up the new Mac…it saw the open hotspots…I picked one…and here we are. All things in life should be so easy. Why wouldn’t a boy just keep his laptop with him all the time? Stay tuned.

Christmas Morning Plus Two

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I’m up and running on the Mac but it hardly seems worth mentioning. I commented on the “Mac Lust” post that I will –by popular demand– file progress reports from time to time. First observation: There are enough presents under this Christmas tree to (further) cut into my blogging. Right now I’m opening up the train set and playing with that for a few minutes…then ripping open the Erector Set and spreading the pieces out on the floor… and then… well, you get the idea. Got me a book that Henry assures me will make the Windows-to-Mac transition easier. I keep insisting that I will maintain dual citizenship (Windows AND Mac). Be interesting to see what my at-home computing habits are 6 months from now.

My first Mac

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Steve's First Mac

The deed is done. Henry drove us to the Apple store in his space car and we were in and out in 30 minutes with a brand new MacBook Pro. My first time off the PC reservation. It’s still in the box, seal unbroken. I don’t plan to post much about my Adventures in Mac Land. PC users don’t want to hear it… and Mac users have heard it all. How about this? I’ll tell you if I return it.

All we need is (another) ending

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I’m probably one of the last to hear about the guy that made a bet with his girlfriend that he could make a website that would get 2 million hits. If he fails, he admits he’s an idiot. If he gets the 2 million hits, his girlfriend will do a threesome with with another girl. The guy is obvisouly not an idiot because the site he created (HelpWinMyBet.com) appealed to every horny geek on the Internet and there’s waaay more than 2 million of those. He’s passed 3 million hits and his girlfriend has conceded defeat. They’re now reviewing applicants for the trois of the menage.

The site looks legit but who knows. When Darin forwarded this link, all I could think of was the screenplay that jumped out of my inbox.

As you know, I’m a terrible casting director but I could see Jack Black (maybe Ben Stiller) as the geeky boyfriend. Perhaps Janeane Garofalo as the girlfriend. Not sure who should play the other woman but here’s my take on the story…

Starts off just like the "real" story. Guy wins the bet and starts putting photos of "other girl" candidates on his website. Which comes to the attention of a publicist for a rock (movie?) star whose career is starting to fade. The flack talks the star client into joining the threesome by putting together a movie deal that will jump-start her sliding career. (We’re talking movie-within-a-movie here, right?)

At first the geeky boyfriend is giddy with delight. He’s going to be in a movie where he has sex with his girlfriend and the star. But the star and the girlfriend become pals. Not lovers, but friends. As they begin to have fun with the whole idea, the boyfriend starts having second thoughts.

As regular readers know, this is where I run out of ideas… and my friend Kay bails me out with three or four really good, boffo endings. But you can play, too. Just click the comments link below.

PS: If this movie has already been made, let me know.

PPS: If this movie ever gets made, how pissed will I be?

PPS: Ooh, how about this. Starving (blocked) screenwriter scours the web looking for ideas. Comes across a blog where this smart, funny guy keeps posting movie idea without endings. The blocked writer is ass deep in good endings…steals the blogger’s plots…and sells them to Big Studio where they bescome megahits. The blogger recognizes his ideas on the big screen and road-trips to Hollywood to confront the (now wealthy) screenwriter. I think we might have two movies here. Any ideas on who should play me?

Mic Flags: Tiny little billboards

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Mic FlagMic flags are those little plastic signs that radio and TV reporters attach to the end of their microphones. It’s a little harmless self-promotion. Let’s the public know that KXYZ News or TV24 was on-the-scene. And we radio guys love it when our mic flag appears on the 6 o’clock local TV newscast or the front page of the Daily Bugle.

Now, our listeners already know we were at the big news conference because they’re listening to us. So the purpose of the mic flag would seem to be to let the TV audience or the newspaper readers know we were there. Isn’t this a little like having one of the newspaper guys come up while we’re recording an audio interview and whispering –just loudly enough to be heard– “News Scene 13!” so it could be heard in the background of our piece when it airs? No? Different somehow? Okay.

So let’s say mic flags are a good thing. How big should they be? The size of a pack of Kools? Bigger? How about, as big as possible and still fit in the little satchel with my recorder?

You see? This is why I’m not running a business. I’m terrible at self-promotion. I hate tooting my horn. And I really hate tooting my horn at someone else’s recital.

Who gave you your first cigarette?

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As I drove back from lunch today, it seemed every other driver was smoking. Doing that little ash-flick thing out the open windows on a warm spring day. I found my self wondering how they all got started. Did they just decide one day to go to the convenience story and buy a pack of smokes? Or did someone give them that first cigarette? That seems more likely. A friend, maybe?

Maybe your brother or sister gave you your first cigarette? Perhaps your wife or boyfriend. I’d like to think no parent ever gave a child their first Lucky Strike, but who knows.

Here’s my point: What would it be like to watch a loved one dying of cancer and know that you introduced them to the joy of smoking? How could you live with that?

“Hey, he’s an adult. He can make his own decisions. I didn’t make him light up.”

“Come on, she wanted to try it. If she hadn’t gotten it from me, she would have gotten it somewhere else.”

So here’s my question for all my smoking friends: Did you ever give someone their first butt? Are you sure?

The Perfect Day

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I’m still struggling to post regularly. How in the hell do people with kids find time to blog? How do people with jobs find time to blog? (Yes, I hear whining, too) Between work, the dogs, Barb (not necessarily in that order), exercise, eating, sleeping, American Idol and a weekly nap…there’s just no time left. I’m telling you, this blogging thing would be a lot easier if you were out of work.

09:00 a.m. – Get out of bed. Shower and shave (optional)
09:30 a.m. – Breakfast at the Towne Grill
10:30 a.m. – Large Rocket Fuel at The Coffee Zone
10:45 a.m. – Barnes & Noble
11:45 a.m. – Lunch (Pastrami on Rye at the Sub Shoppe)
12:45 p.m. – Home. Half hour of fetch with Luch and Ripley
01:15 p.m. – Nap
02:30 p.m. – Surf the Web/blog
05:00 p.m. – More fetch with Lucy and Ripley
05:30 p.m. – ABC World News Tonight
06:00 p.m. – Feed the dogs
06:05 p.m. – Check email; surf/blog
06:30 p.m. – Dinner with Barb (microwave something or take her to Chili’s)
07:30 p.m. – Free time
08:30 p.m. – Surfing/blogging
10:00 p.m. – Daily Show
10:30 p.m. – Colbert Report
11:00 p.m. – Unstructured online time
12:00 p.m. – Reading in bed
01:00 a.m. – Lights out

Of course, things would slow down a bit on the weekends.