From Fort Wayne, Indiana: A WJFX-FM 107.9 radio station employee was handing out bumper stickers Wednesday when a man believed to be carrying a gun demandedMcDonald’s coupons, police said. According to a Fort Wayne police report, the radio station employee had parked her work vehicle at the BP gas station at South Calhoun Street and East Rudisill Boulevard shortly before 10:15 a.m. when a man approached her and asked for coupons to McDonald’s. The radio station employee told police she handed the man a Hot 107.9 bumper sticker and told him she was not handing out coupons at that time, police said. The man lifted his shirt and showed the woman what she thought was a handgun in the waistband of his pants, police said. The man then told her, “I want McDonald’s coupons,” police said. The radio station employee told police that she was not sure whether the man had a gun or some other kind of weapon but that she was scared and told the robber that she would see what she could find in her vehicle, police said. Police said the woman was able to find a coupon for a free McDonald’s cheeseburger inside her vehicle and handed it to the man. Theman took the coupon, threw the bumper sticker back to the radio station employee and took off on a dark gray or black bicycle.
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Jay Sokolow can fill out 100 online contest entry forms in an hour with the click of his auto-saved name and e-mail address.
He leaves the radio on at work, holding a phone to each ear duringbreaks, speed-dialing stations during giveaways. He won so many times on one show that its producers instituted a once-a-month win limit: They call it the “Jay Sokolow law.”
Other husbands might spend their free time golfing or gambling. To hiswife’s aggravation, Sokolow enters contests. Grocery store drawings, sweepstakes, trivia games, raffles, he enters them every day, except on the Sabbath — Friday night through Saturday.
Read more about Jay…
Male drivers in Shirley, New York, paid $5 for a topless car wash — but didn’t exactly get what they were expecting. Young women held up signs along a busy road advertising the car wash and told the drivers where to go. But hidden behind a big tarp were shirtless male firefighters who were washing the cars. Female drivers enjoyed the gag, though some male drivers felt they were getting burned. All the money went to local charities.
We say: Put your morning show stunt guy out one morning and have the the first ever “Jock Show Topless Car Wash.” Or turn it into a fun Saturday live stuntraiser at a busy intersection. Make sure you donate all the proceeds to charity. (Line up a charity in advance, but be sure they’re in on the joke.)
The cast of the 15th season of “Survivor” was announced today and it includes 38-year-old South Carolina talk show host Leslie Nease.
Power of 10 has turned into a hit for CBS. Some of the statistical questions Drew Carey tosses out are pretty interesting, and are available on the CBS website. If some of the folks on your show don’t watch Power of 10, tossing out the questions the day after it airs is a fun way to talk about a topical TV show.
Much of the U.S. is suffering through terrible heat. Have fun with it by giving away a prize every time one of your CDs “melts”. Use a digital editor to slow down the back end of some songs and then take the tenth caller when listeners hear them melting.
Four months after Don Imus’ derogatory comments about the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team shocked America, ABC News has learned he’s on the verge of a comeback deal. Imus’ attorney confirmed that he is being courted by major media outlets as reports of a possible return to CBS, the company that fired him, swirl. A friend of Imus’ said his return to radio could come as early as January.
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From Forbes.com:
A Pennsylvania teacher resigned after winning a date with a porn tar during a satellite radio contest. The school board voted to accept Jaison Biagini’s resignation on Tuesday. While listening to the “Bubba the Love Sponge” radio show on Sirius satellite radio, Biagini won the trip last month to St. Petersburg, Florida, to meet with porn star Akira. Biagini, who uses a wheelchair, was interviewed on the radio show after returning home, and told a local newspaper that he was ridiculed for his disability and offended by how he was portrayed on the show. He also expressed concerns about his teaching job.
Looks like his concerns were well-founded.
In the late 1940s, Stratovision was hailed as a way to bring TV and FM radio to a wider audience. It worked, but the plan fizzled out. Read the story of Stratovision.
A web site called divShare could be just what your radio station needs to host and stream “best of” audio and video. And best of all, it’s free. I began experimenting with divShare in mid-April and a short time later started using it for my own morning show web page. Here are some of divShare’s numerous radio-friendly features:
IT’S FREE. Give divShare your email address and a password and you’re up and running.
LARGE FILES WELCOME. You can upload files as large as 200MB in size.
UNLIMITED STORAGE. Without a doubt, one of divShare’s best features.
SUPER-EASY UPLOADING. Click ‘browse’, double-click your file, click ‘upload’ and the transfer begins. A progress bar keeps you up-to-date on uploads which, in my experience, have been quick.
EASY FILE SHARING. Once an audio or video file is uploaded you have a number of ways to share it with your listeners, including an embedded player.
CO-BRANDED FILE DOWNLOAD PAGE. A click on the embedded player takes listeners to a page on divShare.com where your file can be downloaded. This page can be co-branded by simply uploading your station logo.
COMMENTING. On the co-branded page, comments can be made by visitors. This feature can be turned off.
GO AD-FREE. Upgrade to divShare Pro ($79.95 a year) and no ads appear on your co-branded download page.
I’m a geek. I love computers, the Internet, Podcasting, etc. But more and more I think radio stations need to stay focused on keeping it simple… doing what we do best. Audio and video on the station website is great, but the time vs. benefit may be quite large. You can spend hours a day adding nifty content to your site, creating web features, etc., but ultimately you’re better off spending most of that time focusing on your core product.
I’m not alone in this thought. Consultant Joel Raab reminds us:
Podcasts, uploading pictures and video. We’re all moving in that direction if we’re not there already. Do not assume however that your listeners understand your hot new contest which requires uploading or other technical skills. Bottom line is that we have to bring much of our audience along with us. Like too much unfamiliar music, too many unfamiliar technical requirements can doom your station’s promotion or message. Relevancy is key. We must balance the need to sound connected to today’s technology while helping the audience understand how to use it. Let’s not get too hip for the room.
And recently I saw this story:
A new survey is out about the technology people have, how they use it, and what they think about it. The study (by the Pew Internet and American Life Project) found that adult Americans are broadly divided into three groups: 31 percent are elite technology users, 20 percent are moderate users and the remainder have little or no usage of the Internet or cell phones.
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