Radio stations thinking about a timely promotion, should find out what people need. What are they talking about? What are they worried about? What would they love to receive as a prize? The answer is money - it's always money. Money to help pay their rent or mortgage and to pay bills. How about money to help them buy gas for their cars? A new Pew Research study shows that 90% of the public say they are hearing mostly bad news about gas prices. According to Pew, "Reaching the 90% threshold is a rare occurrence in public opinion surveys. In part, this reflects the tendency of polling organizations to focus on current issues about which there are often considerable differences of opinion. Nonetheless, even on issues where one would expect to find near-total agreement, the public's views are far from unanimous." ...
That's how hot the subject of rising gas prices have become, but like setting up relief funds for earthquake and tsunami victims, this too has to be acted on quickly. Radio can't afford to wait and jump on the bandwagon. It needs to start the bandwagon...
10 Timeline Memories:
1.44BC] Beware the Ides of March: Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of nobles that include Brutus and Cassius…
2.1919] An American in Paris: The American Legion is founded in Paris. Contrary to popular belief, the French Foreign Legion was not founded in America…
3.1954] Debuted on this date: CBS-TV debuts its “Morning Show” and any day now viewers will discover it. It's called "The Early Show" now...
4.1956] Another opening but not just another show: The Lerner and Loewe musical “My Fair Lady” opens on Broadway…
5.1964] Wedding Bells: Richard Burton becomes victim number five for Elizabeth Taylor. These two lovebirds are married for 10 years from 1964 to 1974 and then for an additional year in 1975 before finally calling it quits…
6.1965] The right to vote: Addressing a joint session of Congress, President Lyndon Johnson calls for new legislation guaranteeing every American’s right to vote. Johnson had just been sworn in just two months earlier...
7.1975] “Happy Trails“: Aristotle Onassis, husband of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, dies of bronchial pneumonia at 69…1998] Child care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock dies at 94 from natural causes…
8.2004] Not a good thing: Martha Stewart resigns from the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia 10 days after she is convicted in a stock scandal…
9.2005] Gotcha: Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers is convicted in New York of engineering the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history. He is later sentenced to 25 years…
10.2008] Crane collapse: A construction crane falls on a residential building in Manhattan, killing 4 and injuring at least 17. The city has ruled that the cause of the collapse was faulty rigging. 2008 will go down as the year of the crashing construction crane in New York...
Music Memories:
- 1954] Recorded on this date: The record that many believe is the first Rock & Roll record: "Sh-boom" - The Chords...1955] "Ain't That A Shame" - Fats Domino...
"WRKO...The Launch" (Part 11) (March marks the 44th anniversary of WRKO Boston. All month long, I will be serializing the story behind the actual launch of what would become one of the country's legendary Top 40 radio stations and today continues to be a mainstay with a N/T format in New England)...
Bob Henabery asked for and received my input on all the prospective disc jockeys we hired for the launch, which I thought was generous of him. It would also help me when I replaced Bob as PD in just a few months. I didn't know Al Gates when I heard his aircheck but I thought he would be an entertaining morning man for us. John Rode (Road-ie), who would follow Al from 9am to Noon was another story. John is someone I knew and worked with...John and I were both disc jockeys at Big WALT in Tampa in 1966, so I knew how good he was. John's looks belied his voice. His height was average but he was reed-thin. He wore Coke-bottle glasses for his bad myopia. John was never seen without his glasses because if he took them off he would never find them. If John were in a "Mr. Magoo" cartoon, he would be following Magoo. His voice was powerful and resonant. Rode had the kind of voice that everyone in the 60s didn't have but wished they did. John's profile and aircheck can be heard by clicking here and then going to "Talent Pages/Airchecks" & "John Rode"...
(Tomorrow: "WRKO...The Launch" - Part 12: A profile of Joel Cash 12pm-3pm)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Kevin Youkilis (32), Eva Longoria (36), will.i.am (36), Mark McGrath (43), Bret Michaels (48), Terence Trent D'Arby (49), Fabio (50), Sly Stone (67), Mike Love (70), Jimmy Swaggart (76), Judd Hirsch (76) and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (78)...
Timeline Countdown: 5 days until the first day of spring, 16 days until MLB Opening Day, 35 days until Passover & 41 days until Easter Sunday...
