Local Radio Has History On Its Side…

Friday, October, 17, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

(Weekend Edition) 

Can Local Radio cut through the recession?  Robin Flynn, analyst at SNL Kagan says that “Local radio has traditionally led other media out of recession and radio’s medium-term success will be guided by whether this still holds true in today’s media landscape.”  Flynn will be one of the panelists at ‘Forecast ‘09′ to be held at the Harvard Club in Manhattan on December 2nd…

“Radio’s Battle for Relevance in a New Media World” will ponder that subject.  Executives from Clear Channel, Emmis, Google and others will form the panel that tackles the new media world, hoping to channel some Harvard smarts and offer insights on where the new revenue streams are and how to develop them.  This comes at a time when the economy is lower than the Red Sox were before turning around the playoffs last night.  “Radio revenues are widely expected to be down next year, especially in light of an ailing automotive industry and an extremely weak overall economic outlook.  The size of the drop will depend on station owner’s ability to expand new revenue streams, including Internet advertising and mobile and their success in convincing local business that they need to keep advertising and take advantage of radio’s lower CPM vs. other media, even in tough times” says Robin Flynn…

Hey, if the Red Sox can do it, maybe local radio can too…

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1931] “Happy Trails“: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison dies of natural causes in West Orange (NJ) at 84 (10/18)…1982] Former first lady Bess Truman dies of congestive heart failure. At 97, Bess was the longest living first lady (10/18)…1991] Tennessee Ernie Ford loses his battle with liver disease at 72 (10/17)…2007] Comedian Joey Bishop dies of natural causes at 89 (10/17)…2007] 50s singing sensation Teresa Brewer passes away from neuromuscular disease at 76 (10/17)…
2. 1933] Brainiac sighting: Physicist Albert Einstein arrives in the U.S. as a refugee from Nazi Germany (10/17)…
3. 1954] Bad call-letter move: WNNNNNNNNNBC Radio changes calls to WRCA but not for long. The call letters will soon revert back to WNBC (10/18)…
4. 1964] Pinstripe parade: The Yankees fire manager Yogi Berra, hiring Johnny Keane whom they faced in the World Series against the Cardinals (10/17)…1978] The Yankees beat the Dodgers in 6 games to repeat as World Champs. They do not make a managerial change (10/17)…1984] Lou Piniella is named Yankee manager (10/17)…1988] Dallas Green replaces Piniella as Yankee manager (10/17)…
5. 1965] That’s fair: The 1964-1965 World’s Fair closes after 2 years. More than 51 million attended, including this WMID jock who did a show live back to Atlantic City for those 2 days with music and all from the New York State Pavilion. The remote was set up on a phone line (10/17)…
6. 1969] Effete feat: VP Spiro T. Agnew calls anti-Vietnam protesters “an effete corps of impudent snobs” which is better than “nattering nabobs of negativism” I think (10/19)…
7. 1977] Reggie-Reggie-Reggie: Reggie Jackson makes World Series history with back-to-back-to-back home runs, each on the first pitch. No one did it before or since (10/18)…
8. 1977] Psst, it’s the SST: The supersonic Concorde makes its first landing in New York City, shattering windows at Archie Bunker’s house (10/19)…
9. 1989] A whole lotta shaking going on: A funny thing happened on the way to game 3 of the Oakland-San Francisco World Series - an earthquake. The Giants sweep the A’s in 4 games when the WS resumes a few days later (10/17)…
10. 2004] The bloody sock: Curt Schilling, bloody sock and all, pitches the Red Sox to a 4-2 win over the Yankees, setting up a winner-take-all game 7 for the ALCS showdown (10/19). The Sox win the World Series that year…

Music Memories:

• 1957] Debuted on this date: Paul McCartney makes his first appearance with the Quarry Men in Liverpool (10/18)…
• 1962] Number One on this date: “Monster Mash” - Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt Kickers (10/17). In 1973 it reaches the top 10.  This clip contains Bobby and Zacherle performing together…1969] “I Can’t Get Next To You” - Temptations (10/19)…1972] “My Ding-a-Ling” - Chuck Berry (his only #1 hit) (10/17)…1976] “If You Leave Me Now” - Chicago (10/18)…1986] “True Colors” - Cyndi Lauper (10/19)…1999] “Supernatural” - Santana (10/17). Santana’s first Number One hit in 28 years…
• 1964] Released on this date: “She’s Not There” - Zombies (10/17)…1970] “After Midnight” - Eric Clapton (10/17)…1973] “Photograph” - Ringo Starr (10/19)…

Commentary:

Sorry to hear that game-show host (”Dotto”, “Concentration”, etc.) Jack Narz, passed away from complications of a stroke.  Narz was 85.  Narz and brother Tom Kennedy were the only brothers to make their living primarily as game-show hosts and both of them were good…Actress and singer Edie Adams, former-wife of the late Ernie Kovacs but a Tony Award winning actress as well, died from pneumonia and cancer at 81…Both Narz and Adams bring back some good memories from a good era for TV…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

(10/17) Wyclef Jean (36), Eminem (36), Ziggy Marley (40), Norm MacDonald (45), Mike Judge (46), George Wendt (60), Margot Kidder (60), Michael McKean (61), Gary Puckett (66), Jim Seals (67) and Jimmy Breslin (78)…(10/18) Wynton Marsalis (47), Jean-Claude Van Damme (48), Martina Navratilova (52), Pam Dawber (57), Mike Ditka (69), Keith Jackson(80) and Chuck Berry (82)…(10/19) Chris Kattan (38), Amy Carter (41), Ty Pennington (43), Evander Holyfield (46), Jeannie C. Riley (63), John Lithgow (63), Peter Max(71) and John le Carre (77)…

Timeline Countdown: 4 days until the World Series opener, 14 nights until Halloween and 15 nights until Standard Time (back one hour)…

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