So how many spam emails do you get each week from people wanting to be on your show? Someone somewhere sold my radio station email address to a database or two a couple of years ago and now I’m getting every book publisher, political expert, comedian and weird psychic wanting to be interviewed. This one landed in my inbox today. Worst media spam ever. Here it is, unedited:
If you heard something good on the radio You probably did That’s because a good radio has you gossiping all day about what you heard
Why have a psychic on your station basically because it is good gossip It is fun and entertaining (if its the right psychic ;me LOL) Listeners love to hear the interactions with the callers and the guest Yes the phone lines will light up as they do for all contests to win but what they win when they call the psychic is something just for them
I am a fun talented radio personality who wants to be on your station
All the listeners to your show can go to my web site and get one free question which will be answered within 3 weeks Yes it is true being on stations for years and having listeners complain that they cant get through has lead me to offer this Of Course my real desire is to be on air with you I am known as a very entertaining psychic who makes the audience smile as i look int the future of listeners
You can call my cell to set up a time to be on air with you or just link and give your listeners a freebee
Media Psychic
cell XXX XXX XXXX
Wow, you’ll answer my listeners’ questions in 3 weeks? How do you work so fast?
Some time ago I suggested divShare for hosting and streaming your audio files. The service is free (with ads) and offers an embedded player, perfect for your best-of bits and podcasts. Well, I’ve just read that divShare is for sale. I’ll be honest, I haven’t been using divShare for my own show audio for some time. For starters, the website was so hungry for money it began using pop-up ads. Who the hell still uses those? I also discovered that it’s streams are sometimes choppy. And while this may seem nit-picky, their embedded player is ugly.
So what have I been doing for audio hosting? Well, I’m exploring the idea of hosting my show audio myself, using a simple Flash player that I found on the web. (I can do that since I have gobs of server space here at InterPrep.com.) But I’ve also been using Box.net off an on. You can read Box.net post here. It’s proven to be a reliable service with what a appears to be a good business model (not just hosting files in exchange for pop-up ads).
In the meantime, it looks like divShare users would be wise to be sure their files are backed up elsewhere, just in case.
My friends Mary-Lynn and George recently launched the Bigg Success blog, “The How-To, Can-Do Place.” They want to help people “find daily solutions for a better work/life balance. Tips that will help you: advance or change your career, make more money, promote yourself, increase productivity, and manage your time … inspiration when you need a lift, and motivation when you need a push.”
This may sound like some late-night infomercial shtick, but it ain’t. I worked with Mary-Lynn for years and she’s a true go-getter with enough goals, dreams and fortitude for a dozen people. (And I don’t use the word fortitude to describe just anyone.) But more importantly Mary-Lynn is a caring person, and I truly believe she and George want to help others not just succeed, but be happy.
The biggest part of their blog is the Bigg Success Show, or podcast, if you prefer. They’re short, conversational, sometimes funny, always inspirational, never rambling, and very well produced. Oh, and I think they’re putting enough work into them to justify them being called “shows” and not just podcasts.
If you’re looking for a bit of daily career inspiration, I’d suggest bookmarking Bigg Success.
Don Imus, who recently signed a deal WABC radio in New York, will also be returning to television, says the Associated Press:
Don Imus is hanging his familiar cowboy hat in a new television home: RFD-TV. The radio personality, who returns to the airwaves Dec. 3 on WABC-AM, will debut the same day on the seven-year-old cable and satellite television station that caters to viewers with homes on the range, the Rural Media Group, Inc., announced Wednesday. … The program will also be available to RFD’s nearly 30 million homes through on-demand services, Gottsch said.
When my first program director showed me Chase’s Calendar of Events, I knew it would become a staple of my show prep library. Chase’s is, without a doubt, the single best source for holidays, anniversaries, celebrity birthdates, religious observances, sporting events, offbeat occurrences, and more. Program directors, producers, sales manager, print journalists, teachers, librarians and other professionals have come to rely on it to find out what’s going on that day, in a week, or even a year ahead. It’s the bible of special occasions, and it should be in every studio.
The contest has wrapped up. Click “comments” to read some good ideas.
Time for a little blog brainstorm experiment. I’m going to toss out a promotion idea and your job is to come up with the promotion details. Everyone who offers up a legitimate promotion is qualified to win a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate.
What we’re brainstorming: “Ugly Christmas Sweater contest”. Click the comment link below to post your idea. Email addresses are not displayed, but are required for entry in the contest. And since we’re experimenting, I’m not going to set a hard deadline — let’s just say this contest will wrap up in a week or two.
Perhaps you’ve heard of “The Bedroom Project.” A number of the trades have covered it, including Radio World:
It sounds like something vaguely kinky to be sure — a bunch of guys in their 50s and 60s wondering what’s happening in the bedrooms of people in their late teens and 20s. But Jacobs Media founder Fred Jacobs assured a crowd at the NAB Radio Show in Charlotte that the intentions of “The Bedroom Project” were completely above-board: an attempt by his firm, with strong support from Arbitron, to learn much more, in detail, about how people aged 17–28 really relate to the many technology and media options at their disposal. “Arbitron had the desire to dig deeper, to learn more about this demographic, which we all know are difficult to research,” Jacobs said. But getting into the heads of his research subjects — 31 men and women from Columbus, Ohio and Los Angeles — required more than the usual focus-group studies. Instead, Jacobs turned to a growing field called ethnographic research, in which researchers spend extended periods of time with their subjects, interacting with them in their homes or other intimate settings. “Ethnographic research is done by the Procter and Gambles of the world. This is the first time we’ve seen this in radio,” said Steve Goldstein, executive vice president of Saga Communications, as he introduced Jacobs’ first presentation of the “Bedroom Project.” “One of the keys to ethnography is making subjects comfortable,” Jacobs said. To accomplish that, Jacobs and Arbitron couldn’t use their usual — older — researchers. Instead, “The Bedroom Project” hired and trained a crew of interviewers in the same age group as their research subjects, sending them out to conduct two-hour videotaped interviews in the subjects’ homes and vehicles.
Read the full story here.
I personally have witnessed two “winning key” contests that didn’t go as planned. This mishap didn’t happen to a radio station, but it’s more proof that “winning key” promotions just aren’t worth it. At the end of any big contest you want your qualifiers — your listeners — to feel they had a fair shot at winning the grand prize, with no shadow of a doubt.
The Drudge Report had the scoop back on October 15, but it was confirmed today: Don Imus will return to the airwaves December 3 on New York’s WABC-AM. Citadel Broadcasting Corp. made the announcement Thursday, confirming long-rumored reports that Imus was returning to morning drive time in the same city where he was banished in April. Imus’ newsman, Charles McCord, is returning with him, says the Associated Press.
Was there ever any doubt he’d be back on-air?
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