Radio has always been adept at playing off of TV trends. When “Survivor” broke out as a hit in 2000 we used it as springboard to a myriad of promotions that locked listeners in bathrooms or cars or stuck them on roller coasters. And it was good.

In 2006, Idol debuted and that begat a slew of localized talent competitions. Some were good. Some were like bad karaoke nights at the VFW. The actual best that I witnessed first-hand was Saginaw Idol that was done by WIOG: there was some serious talent in the room. As a celebrity judge I had to go and ruin it by giving my deciding vote to a dueling piano player, which is some kind of egregious sin in Amateur Talent Circles. Whoops.

And then…we just kind of walked away and conceded musical talent shows to television, which seems kind of stupid. We are the music medium. We have some cred.

“The X Factor”, “Idol”, “The Voice”, “America’s Got Talent”, even “The Next Top Model” is a form of talent show, and TV wouldn’t be running these in heavy rotation is there wasn’t an audience for them. There’s even a talent show for kids.

So there-in lies a big gapping hole that a station could fill. Read more…

Growing up in the rough and tumble western suburbs of Minneapolis where life was cheap and good men died like dogs in the gutter, the height of swank for my family was to go to the Foo Chu restaurant on Excelsior Blvd. in St. Louis Park.

It was old school and not some strip mall space-occupying joint. It actually looked Chinese from the outside. Or what a 9 year-old in Minnesota kid imagined Chinese to be. They even had a lounge: THE PAGODA LOUNGE. It was like getting a high ball with Mao.

You walked over little bridge from the lobby into the dining area, past a very realistic faux waterfall and were led to your table, where the real fun began. Why? Because they had a menu with columns. Pretty fancy huh?

You chose a big item from Column A, another shareable entrée from Column B and then an appetizer for the family from Column C. I fantasized that this was how the Kennedy’s dined on New Years day.

We’re on the cusp™ of a season where there are a lot of potential menu items (promotions) being shoved down our throats by servers (advertisers) and no one has ever won when they get everything on the menu, ie, you have 63 promotions on the air in December. You don’t win because it’s a morass of Win-A-Gift-Cards and the clients don’t win because their promotion is sinking in the morass. Read more…

“Hey, it’s almost 10. Turn on the radio. Seacrest is about to start.” Said no one, ever.

I was on Maui and visiting with a friend who had successfully fought and beat cancer like it was her bitch. A celebration was in order. And on Maui, a place so laid back that an EKG would be hard-pressed to pick up a sign of life, a celebratory party like this involves a backyard barbecue. A dozen friends. Some coolers of beer. A pig on a spit and some music.

We were well into it the festivities, sitting around in lawn chairs, wind in the palms, enjoying the dinner and each other’s company when a neighbor, Wayne, said “Get the radio! The pirate’s about to start!” and someone dashed inside to get an old beat up boombox. He came back out, plugged it in, the party continued and I was exposed to The Polynesian Pirate and a couple of hours of the most amazing Radio I’ve ever heard.

Read more…