Strip the Tease

It’s only a tease if I am intrigued by what’s to come. Examples:

Not a Tease: ‘Beautiful Day’ is coming up in 20.

Tease: U2 just released a new song and we’ll play it for you in 20.

Not a Tease: We’ll check in with the latest headlines after this.

Tease: The cure for cancer has been discovered & we’ll tell you more in news!

Not a Tease: A very special guest is coming up in 20 minutes.

Tease: Bono checks in live from Africa in 20.

Please only tease something if it’s truly something worth sitting in my car at my destination while waiting to hear it on the radio.

T.M.I.

Dear Person on the Radio:

PLEASE do not overshare. Leave me wanting to hear more from you. Not less. When I’m talking to someone in person, I don’t want to know their life-story. At least, not all at once. Get to know me better. Talk about stuff I’m interested in. And it’s probably not, well, you.

Sincerely, Your Former Listener

P.S. I don’t care if you like a song or if it’s “your favorite”.

It’s The Talent, Stupid!

I’m struck by the people who fault the Yankees for winning. They get accused of “buying” championships because they pay top dollar for the most talented players. Isn’t it their job to win? The application to the business of radio is obvious. For radio to survive, we need the best “talent” available. And we ought to hire great coaches to develop the best talent we can afford. Why isn’t this “common” sense?

Uber guru Tom Peters further explains the importance of talent in this interview with The Business Voice.

End of a Radio Era

Radio stations across America today have entered a new era with the announcement of the “Howard Stern replacement strategy” for when he defects to Sirius satellite radio in January. Infinity Broadcasting has begun morphing many of the stations that contain Howard into a new FM talk brand called “Free FM”. And when Howard goes off the air, they will replace him with former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, Adam Corolla, or “Rover’s Morning Glory” on various stations. I don’t believe any of these guys will ever see the ratings success Howard has but neither will the Howard of the future.

What does “Free FM” exactly mean? The rock is out and more inane FM talk is in. That sounds incredibly risky (read: bad) to me. But so does the prospect of David Lee Roth hosting a morning show. Howard retorted this morning, “Wouldn’t it be funny if I started fronting Van Halen?”

I am no fan of Howard Stern but must concede his status as a legend. This marks the end of an era. Howard was the original shock jock and his time has passed.

Sirius satellite radio paid $30 million, check that $500 million for Howard. They may get their money’s worth in publicity but this is the beginning of the end for Howard. He has made his career on pushing the line of decency and fighting management. At satellite radio, there will be no line to push or boss to fight. He has free reign and will be forced to be more creative and I’m not certain he has it in him. We shall see.

It also became official today that Chicago radio legend “Johnny B” is headed back to “the Loop”. As excited as I am at hearing him again on Chicago airwaves, I’m afraid he may have peaked as well. I hope I’m wrong and he’s great again. But Jerry Seinfeld was on to something when he left on top.