A micro blog with micro thoughts. Actually mostly links to interesting things I've found while mindlessly surfing the Interwebz. Another place with the musings and observations of broadcast and online content innovator Mark Edwards. Posted from St. Louis, MO.
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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Future of Pandora: To Ubiquity and Beyond
ATTENTION AM AND FM RADIO STATION OWNERS: Read this. And start believing that the future is mobile, parity, and the personalized user experience.
Mark Edwards (markedwards) on about.me
Remember how you resolved to do the best things for your business in 2011? There’s still time to do that. HIRE MARK EDWARDS! about.me/markedwards
Great Radio Job That I’m Not Qualifed For, But Maybe You Or Someone You Know Is
I’m in the midst of looking for a job right now, and most of the things I see are straight commission sales “opportunities” or something that I take an hour to fill out an online application and get an automated rejection letter in two days. THAT is another blog post.
I came across this listing, and while I’m not qualified
to do the job because of the whole lots of sales experience thing, this could be a tremendous opportnity for someone who is ready to plant roots and do REAL radio. Here’s the listing:
Do you love small market radio? Are you known as a street fighter and problem solver that leads by example? Would subordinates praise your people skills and leadership abilities? Would superiors commend your work ethic, character and ability to produce results? Is one of your dreams to live in a beautiful area like the Northwoods and Lake Country of Wisconsin? Heartland Communications Group has an exceptional opportunity for a great General Manager to lead WERL-AM and WRJO-FM in Eagle River, Wisconsin. Email your resume in confidence with contact information and references to Dave Martin erheartland@gmail.com [EOE]
I hope you ro someone you know finds this job of interest. Good Luck!
Oh yeah, if you hear of anything for yours truly, feel free to drop me a line at mark@markedwardsworldwide.com or call 773.336.2753. Thankyouverymuch!
Trick Or Treat! I Need A Job!
I had the joy of being downsized out of my job yesterday, joining a LOT of people in radio who are now out of work. I’m not too proud to use the power of the Interwebz to get my story out, so below are links to many career related links about me.. Even a quick glance will show you a long and successful career in radio, a growing track record of accomplishment in new media, social media, Web 2.0, or whatever you’d like to call it. Most importantly, it shows that I’m available now for your employment or project pleasure.
MY LINKEDIN PROFILE http://www.linkedin.com/in/markedwardscubfan
MY GOOGLE PROFILE (LOADED WITH LINKS TO MY MANY INTERNET OUTPOSTS) http://bit.ly/markedwards
MY ABOUT.ME PROFILE http://about.me/markedwards
I’m available anytime via phone at 773.336.2753 or e mail at edwardsmark@gmail.com.
Don’t make me wait in line at the Unemployment Office. Get me while the getting is good. Fresh Mark Edwards is ready to be served!
The Kind Of Radio Contest They Could Only Do In Somalia
Many thanks to The Inquisitr for finding this story. Being a professional broadcaster (and not just playing one on television) I find this quite amusing and disgusting at the same time. The only kind of contest I can do is give away tons of cash on 99.7 The Point in Kansas City. Not that there’s anything wrong with that….
Win A Children’s Radio Contest Get An AK-47, Thanks Somalia
The last time I won a radio contest I was given tickets to some crappy concert nobody wanted to go and see however if I had been a child in Somali I could have potentially walked away with an AK-47 assault rifle.
A Somali radio station run by extremist group al-Shabab held a contest this weekend for children aged 10-17, each child was quizzed on Islam and al-Shabab and the winner and runner-up walked away with a treasure trove of money, al-Shabab books and the customary jewelry of choice in Somali an AK-47 to dangle from their necks.
Third place I have to admit got the shaft, they only received two live hand grenades.
Apparently the contest was a big deal with an entire awards ceremony taking place outside of Mogadishu.
In true Islamic extremist fervor Sheik Muktar Robow Abu Monsur of the al-Shabab sheiks lamented:
“Children should use one hand for education and the other for a gun to defend Islam.”
Al-Shabab is an offshoot of al-Qaeda and controls much of Somalia since the region has no central government.
Don’t be surprised if his “education” comment isn’t taken seriously, al-Qaeda members and regions they occupy are typically full of illiterate people who learn to fire a gun before they ever open a book while people in Somalia will never see the inside of a book.
So there you have it Somali radio stations are hard at work training the next group of Somali pirates and al-Qaeda operatives who will take over ships of innocent freight workers.
What do you think about the contest? Makes that last prize you won from a local radio station seem a bit lame does it.
TV Broadcast Morning Shows Add 1.2 Million Viewers in Past Year (probably from radio)- TVNewser
Much like their evening news counterparts, America’s morning shows are on the rise as well. In the just finished second quarter, NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’s “The Early Show” added a combined 1.2 million viewers compared to the same period last year.
ABC’s “Good Morning America” was up the most in Total Viewers ( 14.75%) and A25-54 viewers ( 8.8%). This was the show’s most-watched second quarter in six years in Total Viewers and the most-watched in three years in younger viewers.
“GMA” still trails NBC’s “Today” by an average of 700K viewers each day. The #1 morning show, which saw an anchor change earlier this month, is up 9.6% year-over-year in Total Viewers and up 5.6% in A25-54 viewers. “The Early Show” was also up in Total Viewers ( 2.4%) but it was the only show to shed A25-54 viewers (-1.21%).
The averages for Q2 2011:
- Total Viewers: NBC: 5.60M / ABC: 4.90M / CBS: 2.51M
- A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2.52M / ABC: 1.85M / CBS: 988K
The part in parenthesis is MY edit of the headline.
This is kind of a “closed circuit” post to my brothers and sisters in radio. Where do you think those 1.2 MILLION morning show viewers came from? And what about all the people watching the shows before the network shows? I’ll give you a minute to think about that and how you’re going to come up with something more compelling to keep your listeners. Wait, you’ll need a LOT more than a minute to figure this problem out. We as radio broadcasters have GIVEN these listeners to TV.
Now how do we get them back?
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99-7 THE POINT IS HOSTING AUDITIONS FOR THE BACHELOR!
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Tales From The Programming Den
I usually don’t use my blogs to talk about my work, mainly because I like to keep my job and sometimes talking about work can be a breach of various company policies. But, I have a great work story to share, and this is the forum in which to do it.
I program a radio station in Kansas City 99.7 The Point. Our Morning Man, Kelly Urich, is enamored with Peggy Bunker from ABC TV’s World News Now, the show that runs on the network overnight.
Yesterday morning, Kelly was as happy as a little girl because he had “friended” Peggy on Facebook and she accepted his request. He was so wild about it that he talked about it on the air.
Kelly Urich Friended By Peggy Bunker
Pretty cool, I must admit. Being the troublemaker that I am, I sent Peggy a note to let her know about what Kelly had to say. She wrote me back, and Kelly’s partner Mackenzie read the exchange on the air.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Kelly is a happily married man, but he’s also a big fan of Peggy’s. And its cool for any of us to be friends, either fake Facebook friends or real friends with someone on TV.
Well, the good people at World News Now SOMEHOW got the audio of Kelly talking about Peggy and their close personal friendship. They posted it on their Facebook page, which you can go to by clicking the link above. Just scroll down and you’ll see it.
I let Kelly know about the posting, and he reacted to it on the air this morning. He was co-hosting with Danni Boatwright, a Kansas City person who, among many other cool things, won Survivor and they talked about it AGAIN this morning.
Kelly Urich reacts to Peggy Bunker Day 2
Radio is supposed to be fun, and we shouldn’t take what we do too seriously. Kelly and Peggy have created a great “bit” that I hope will go on for a good long time. But I still think Danni could “take” Peggy. And me too. Probably at the same time.
The Next Chapter Begins Monday In Kansas City
From www.allaccess.com
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Mark Edwards To Program KUDL & KGEX
October 28, 2010 at 6:24 AM (PT)
Former CBS AC KEZK & Hot AC KYKY (KY 98)/ST. LOUIS PD MARK EDWARDS bounces back fast (NET NEWS 10/1) landing the PD post at ENTERCOM AC KUDL & Adult Hits KGEX/KANSAS CITY. He’s replacing MARK HAMLIN who left the post recently (NET NEWS 10/28).
EDWARDS, who worked had previously worked for ENTERCOM as PD of AC KOSI/DENVER, and also as served as PD of AC WLIT/CHICAGO, told ALL ACCESS, “I couldn’t be more excited to be rejoining ENTERCOM as PD of KUDL and GenX in KANSAS CITY.
“I want to thank (VP/Market Mgr.) DAVE ALPERT, (SVPP) PAT PAXTON, (Regional President) WEEZIE KRAMER, and the entire ENTERCOM team for giving me the opportunity to revitalize another heritage AC with KUDL and develop GenX into a huge player in the KANSAS CITY market. The team in KC is tremendous, and I’m looking forward to working with everyone there to make truly great radio. And the CUBS are playing THE ROYAL in KC this SUMMER! Yeahhhhhhh!”
Clear Channel dims Lite FM luster by outsourcing talent | Feder | blogs.vocalo.org
Kevin Gossett
For a good part of the ’90s, a crown jewel of Chicago radio was WLIT-FM (93.9). The adult-contemporary station known as Lite FM not only dominated the ratings among adult listeners, but did so with quality, consistency and class.
It took a savvy program director named Mark Edwards seven years to turn the soft and sleepy station he inherited from a 14th place also-ran in its target 25-to-54 demographic into the No. 1 music powerhouse in the market. Everything about the joint — from its personalities to its playlist to its promotions — sounded just right. And it didn’t hurt that Edwards’ bosses spent a ton on advertising and marketing the station throughout that time. (Remember those incessant “Turn on the Lite” television commercials?) It was the station on in every office.
But then came the sale of Lite FM in 1997 by Viacom Inc. to Evergreen Media Corp., which begat Chancellor Media Corp., which begat AMFM Inc., which begat Clear Channel Communications. A series of horrendous management decisions followed (including the incomprehensible ouster of Edwards), resulting in the decline of what long had been a ratings and advertising juggernaut.
Today, under Clear Channel ownership — and in the new world of consolidation and Portable People Meter ratings — Lite FM is far from the blue chip brand it used to be. Barely hitting the Top 10 in the 25-to-54 demo, it’s known more now for its annual Christmas music stunting (which seems to run practically from Halloween to Groundhog Day) than for anything else.
What brings this to mind is the latest talent change at the station. After almost two years as afternoon personality, Kevin Gossett signed off from Lite FM Tuesday to devote full-time to his job in Phoenix as digital program director for the eight Clear Channel stations there while continuing to host afternoons at KESZ-FM. Chicago, you see, was nothing more than a spot on the map where Gossett sent his recorded voice tracks each day.
That’s also the case in mornings, when Lite FM imports the voice of some guy named Sean Valentine from Los Angeles. And at night, too, when that strange Delilah woman comes to us from who knows where.
At least Gossett used to work in Chicago when he hosted mornings for five years on the former WNND. So whenever he’d mention something about the Water Tower or Walter Jacobson, he wasn’t just reading off a liner card. But starting today, his replacement is expected to be Chris Davis, who’ll phone it in from WNCI-FM in Columbus, Ohio. According to his station’s website, Davis also voice-tracks for Clear Channel stations in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Anchorage.
I’m not saying you have to be born and raised in Chicago in order to talk on the radio here. It’s true that many of our greatest broadcast legends came from somewhere else. But unlike the current crop of carpetbaggers at a certain news/talk station in town, they all paid their dues, learned about the market, and got to know the audience before stepping into the most lofty positions.
It’s no accident that the top-rated adult stations here these days are all owned by Bonneville International and all have live local personalities from morning to night.
In the case of Lite FM, Clear Channel doesn’t even require most of its hosts to set foot in Chicago — ever. The company pats itself on the back for its “local spirit” with a self-serving “Clear Choice” public service campaign, but can’t see fit to staff all of its stations in the third largest market in America with real live human beings.
What’s good for Anchorage, you might say, is good for Chicago.
About The Author
Robert Feder
has been keeping tabs on the media in Chicago for 30 years. A lifelong Chicagoan and graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, he was television and radio columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. At age 14, he founded the first and only Walter Cronkite Fan Club.
Other posts byRobert Feder
Many thanks to the esteemed Robert Feder for the kind words. Programming WLIT was a once in a lifetime experience, and I couldn’t have succeeded there without the support of Phil Redo, our General Manager, and the entire Viacom team.
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