GS
June 8th, 2006, 07:30 AM
I love XM's non-bubble gum approach to counter typical FM commercial
radio... as detailed in this blog:
Lee Abrams' Blog
Monday, June 05, 2006
MORE FROM THE XM PLAYBOOK
We are not "there" yet...it takes time, but here are a few things we
preach. Do we deliver? Not always? Do we try? Hell yeah. Why am I
telling people outside of the building about these "secrets"? Because
if someone thinks like this--we want to know. Here are a few items----
AFDI: (Actually Fucking Doing It)The battle call. The center of our
programming universe. Instead of researching EVERYthing, commitees and
"we can't do that"...the idea is to actually EXECUTE on the ideas that
are created.
SWAGGER: The way we carry ourselves on and off the air. An air of
confidence based on AFDI and collective ego. Radio has been beaten up
by other media--time to fight back.
MINUTE BY MINUTE: The musical bottom line. Forget Depth. Forget Tight.
If you, at any given point in time (minute by minute) are playing a
cool song, you will win the music battle.
ARTIST OWNERSHIP: Re-claiming artists. Bringing them back to radio. XM
Radio.
Radio has given up on trying to own artists...given up to MTV, Print
and Cable. XM must bring artists back to radio.
CELEBRATION: We don't simply "play" important music. We celebrate it.
A Gospel Church may celebrate the Lord...well, we’re the Gospel Church
of music.
AUTHENTICITY: In a plastic world, we are the real deal. No
compromises. Ward Cleaver and Manny Malig run XMLM our Metal channel.
They bleed metal, and listeners will hear and respect that.
SONICS: It's the evolution of "Imaging"...it's the SOUND of your
channel. Don't think bumpers & promos. Think beyond that.....it's all
about a whole sonic environment you create.
SONIC DENSITY: The intensity and frequency of sonic pieces.
CAUSE I WANT TO: Doing things on air, "because you feel like
it"...maybe a break in Swahili....or Pig Latin.....
HUMVEE CRASHING: The art of crashing an R/C humvee into the wall
during an important meeting. XM must live and breathe in the hallways
too!
NATIONAL & PROUD OF IT: Local radio is quaint....National radio is the
future.
SUPRISE ATTACKING: Wanna mess up the competitors mind: Run a Top 5,000
three weeks BEFORE Memorial Day. You will screw up their system...
24 HOUR MORNING SHOW: There is no morning. We don't shut down at 10am.
We are always on.
JUST DO IT!: No bragging...no cheezy claims . No "Most Music" "Best
Mix" "Never a Bad Song"........Those claims have no credibility. Just
deliver the goods and our fans will know.
FANS: To Ad Sales they're listeners....to Marketing they're
customers...to us: They're Fans. Treat listeners like Fans. Think like
a Fan. This is show business. Relating to listeners as numbers is
fine---for the sales people.
MUSICAL CONFIDENCE: Delivering the goods musically. Not lying about
how musical we are...actually delivering music to the point where
listeners believe we're in it for "The Passion not the Cash". Cash is
a nice reward if we make people happy.
BIBLE OF MUSIC: Your station is the center of your music's' universe.
You have the chart. You have the answers. You are in command. You must
deliver. You must deliver. You must deliver. MTV, Rolling Stone,
Spin...fine entities, but YOU must own the charts, the info,
etc...listeners must come to YOU to know what's going on musically.
CINEMATIC RADIO: The sound of your station is more like a wide screen
movie soundtrack than a radio station. You should close your eyes and
your sonics ignite with cinematic brilliance. Even News....Even
Classical...no format is exempt from creating cinematic magic between
the songs.
BAGGAGE: Old radio thinking. There's allot of radio thinking that's
timeless...like playing the best songs...but there's a king bong of
baggage too....lose it.
ER: Bigg-ER.....Badd-ER....Intense-ER. Think like Walt Disney did in
the 50’s..."ER". Rides were fastER, parks were cleanER, etc…
OTT: Over-the-Top. Subtle sucks. Want to cut through the Internet,
AM/FM, print, TV etc....well, you ain't gonna do it unless you do
everything OTT
TOP DOWN SOUND: There is nothing more magical than driving down a
freeway at 100mph...top down...great station blasting at top volume!
XM will bring this experience back to Americans. Think about this
experience as you program. It's more than great songs...it's the whole
package...it's the essence of "The XM Sound"
ECCENTRIC...ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK: Doctors, Repairmen, Cops should
not be eccentric! We should be....all the way to the bank. Smart
eccentrics make the great art.
WRCX: (or any other station we worked at): Lose it. Kill it from the
memory. These stations are NOT the standard to compare. If we are to
compare the XM Sound to something, make it a Kubrick movie......a
Beatle epic.....a Radiohead track. NOT radio stations we used to work
at.
CREATIVE BATTING AVERAGE: % of ideas you come up with that work. 300
Average is All-Star. Ya gotta take some swings to get hits.
CLICHE BUZZER: Three buzzes and sayonara. But the real cliche buzzer
is in your head.
SONIC DIVERSITY: Using the World of Sound. Not some damn production
package or pre-cut promo factory CD. USE SOUND!
Thunderstorms..static...busy streets....short wave radio
tuning....sample a TV Newscaster and repeat "In Todays News..In Todays
News..
over and over. Discover the world of sound. Use it.
VOICE DIVERSITY: Discover the world of voices. I'm mildly depressed
that Fine Tuning was the only format that at CES used foreign voices,
voices off the street, etc....
"Professional" voices are fine...but you're only using 2% of the
voices out there.
There is magic in the human voice. There is cliche' in the radio
voice!!!
THE GEORGE MARTIN GENE: Everyone has it. Activate it. It's the gene
that tells you to diversify your sound. There are no rules. Our Reggae
channel can have signatures that combine Gregorian Chants with Steel
Drums. WE MUST RE-INVENT THE WAY RADIO SOUNDS. There are no barriers
except your imagination.
CONVENIENCE HIRES: It's only natural, and often correct to bring in
people you know and trust. But, it's also natural to bring in people
who are convenient. We must hire only the brilliant.
IT FACTOR: Some people got "it"...some don't. If you don't get
"it"....please see me asap
MOUTH OF AMERICA: XM should sound like America. From hicks in
Mississippi to Brothers in Chicago to Mothers in San Francisco to
Yuppies in St. Louis. We must open the phones to reflect the magic of
National Radio.
MOOD/RELIABLE: Mood listeners tune you in when they're in the
mood...Reliable listeners never tune you out. That's the secret to
rating success (or satisfaction in our case). The only way to achieve
this balance is to never compromise....stay pure....play "your"
hits...don't fear tune out. In other words: Do your thing, but do it
brilliantly and consistently.
STAR WARS: Those goofy laser sounds that must die
THE CHUCK VAN ROGERS FACTOR: OK, if you have a radio name and don't
want to change it...fine. Especially if you've had it for years... But
if you do want to change it..Go for it! Mike O'Morgan (whoever he is)
just reeks of fake, old, tired radio. This is Show-biz. Like the WWF,
who's gonna win the bout? Bob Stevens or The Masked Killer from Mars.
Again, not a requirement, but
cool names, real names (Frank Schmutzbaum is cooler than Mark James)
or Nicknames that are "XM" are great. Why does radio have this thing
with TWO first names?? Robert Stevens, Steven Roberts, Michael
Williams, William Michaels?
PAPER TIME vs REAL TIME: On one of our deeper formats we'll tend to
look at two lists: A 20,000 title list and an 10000 title list. 10000
probably makes more sense...though on paper 20,000 looks better or 200
if you’re an old school research guy. This is the difference between
paper and real-time listening.The point is separating paper from
reality.
TODD STORZ: The creator of Top 40 on Real-Time listening: Just when
DJs are going to strike because_____is still on the playlist is the
same time Mama is learning to hum the verse". The point: Paper Time
vs. Real Time. Think like a listener/fan not a DJ in terms of music
rotation.
CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE PAST: An appetite
to learn about the history of contemporary radio. If you weren't
there, learning about the great battles will arm you with powerful
knowledge.
THE LETTERMAN FACTOR: Disco Demolition, Hit This Plane & Win $5,000,
Snow Sharks, and other stunts are pure America. People love it. The
more radio versions of "Stupid Pet Tricks" we create, the better we'll
be….on the RIGHT channel of course.
THE CULTURALLY CHALLENGED: We must never be "too hip for the room". We
target everyone from musical elitists to the culturally challenged.
KNOW YOUR PLACE. Sophisticated humor on "America" is as bad as stupid
contests on XM Classics. Knowing WHERE the edhe is and delivering
right on it is an art.
WARPED: A way of looking at things. Akin to eccentric. If we can take
an angle and warp it, we've done our job. Clapton warped his guitar in
'67 by using a wah-wah pedal....Warping is taking a sound or idea and
modifying it to "the XM Sound"
SMELL THE SPEAKERS: Our formats should be SO sonically dense...SO
pure..so authentic, that they should smell. Smell the speakers during
Frank's Place and it's martinis, an old deck of cards and Sammy Davis
Junior’s cologne.
AUTHENTICITY: XM is to FM what EPCOT is to Reality. We aren't a model
of the real thing....we ARE the real thing.
PURITY: Every format must be pure. There's magic in what you DON'T
hear. You'll hear Deep Tracks and never hear Foreigner...You'll hear
BONEYARD and never hear Steven Stills, etc.....We must avoid
Good-Good------Good-----, meaning a few "correct songs" then a ----
(or misplaced) song. Every song will get played SOMEWHERE on the XM
band...the key is in purity so each song happens where it's meant to
happen.
YELLOW PAD: Everyone should be filling these up with ideas. Document
your dreams.
AS ACCESSABLE AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT LOSING LISTENER CONFIDENCE: The goal
shouldn't be how "deep" can I go. It should be how "far" can I go
WITHOUT LOSING listener confidence. It's a magic zone where you reach
the most listeners and satisfy them all simultaneously. Too commercial
and there goes satisfaction...too deep and there goes the volume of
fans.
WHACK FACTOR: "Where in hell did these guys come up with
that!"....thats what listeners should often think.
AVERAGE SUCKS/EXTREME RULES: Ever been to Ben's Chili Parlor down the
road?
It is a dive...a dump....and it's magical. It's extreme. Give me Ben's
over a nice clean Denny's anytime!! The point: Amazingly good or
Amazingly bad---who cares, as long as it's amazing. Anything but
average!!!!
2001FACTOR: Pre 2001 (the movie), all Sci-Fi was goofy robots crushing
Tokyo. Then 2001 reinvented Sci-Fi. Lush Space Scapes...Classical
Music....a whole new approach. It changed Sci-Fi forever. No "Help Me
Will Robinson cliches" no spooky Theramin sound effects.(though those
are kinda cool in a campy way) THAT is how we must change radio sound.
It's happening in publishing. It’s happening in video…radio is next—if
we let it happen
THE MILLIONAIRE FACTOR: Like the TV show completely re-invented game
shows...we must completely re-invent radio. It ain't evolution...it's
revolution.
EMPATHY: Walking the halls, I'll often hear how "Stairway to Heaven"
and Creed really suck. Well, if those aren't part of your potential
playlist...cool..they suck. BUT---if these belong on your list, you
need to learn empathy, because these are major. In 1970, I was a hard
core Prog Rock fan, but worked at an early FM Top 40 where we
"celebrated" Donny Osmond. I learned there, the importance of empathy.
I hated that ----, but learned how and why it worked, and never whined
about a song again. Even, neutral programming via understanding why
things(songs/artists) work.
ENVIRONMENT: Song environment is key. Stairway next to BTO & Doobie
Brothers is a snooze, but next to Traffic and a cool Hendrix track,
the songs' magic can emerge. That's a great thing about XM: Even the
most tired "great" popular songs can live on a format where they can
find new life by what they're surrounded by.
NOTHING IS SACRED: We urge you to re-think EVERYTHING. Many things are
indeed evergreen, but Struber must be commended for re-thinking the
6-10/10-3/3-7 show (never shifts!) configuration.
YOUR HITS: XM is hit driven. Every format. But the definition of a hit
differs by format..dramatically. And inour world hit isn't driven
necessarily by sales. Hits can mean:
-Song driven. The standard hit song as with Oldies formats.
-Artist Driven. as in Deep Tracks. Santana, Cream, Beatles...but not
the same three songs. Careers...not just the most played tracks.
-Novelty Driven. The Jetsons theme never charted..but its a hit
-Sound Driven. "Hit" is irrelivent..it's the "sound"...a Coltrane
piece may not be a 'hit' by traditional definition but in the frameork
of Real Jazz...it is.
-Non Radio Driven. Edgy car ads can be hits
...the point is: A Hit to XM means simply: An important song that gives
you minute by minute musical excellence. KNOW WHAT "TYPE" of hit works
for you...every format is different.
CANNON BALL/FORT THEORY: If the Fort's destruction is your goal, then
each cannonball that hits the fort is a hit. Miss the fort, it's a
stiff or an un-necessary song. More hits on the fort and the faster
the fort falls. Every song must serve a purpose, regardless of it’s
chart position or traditional hit definition.
THE RECORD BUSINESS & MUSIC PRESS ARE LOST: There are some smart
people and there are some clueless people.
That's why I constantly impress the need for you to study the genre
you serve....know your genre beyond passion. Passion is easy... but
balance that with knowledge and that's what makes you dangerous . The
reason college radio has never been a factor is because it's all
passion....
but find a college radio person who balances passion with
understanding--and there's a positively dangerous person--that we
should hire!We must continue to absorb REALITY and not simply feed off
the industry and press..
CULT/FRINGE: Every successful artist has fans who are cult or fringe.
Know the difference and program appropriately. Cultists are REALLY
into the artist....Fringe fans like the artist for the fleeting
hit(s). Doing a big Spectacular?? You're wasting your time if the fan
composition is heavy fringe.
SPECTACULARS: They enhance your image...recycle listeners and create
buzz.
Run them prime time (NOT 11pm Sunday Nights). Build them. Think about
them.
Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly. Go OTT. (Over-the-top) Repeat
them. The classic cliché is taking a cool program and burying it
because it varies from the song/dj/song format.
MEAT: When you promote...promote Meat. Never: "Great Music Coming
Up"....give 'em something to chew on: "The lost Elvis tapes found this
morning"
INCIDENTAL SOUND: Sound that just happens. Sound that "fills in the
cracks"......Audio theater.
THE XM TRAVEL AGENCY: XM Formats must take you places. Too often the
music takes you to the stars...then THUD. The reality of a "radio
break". XM must be an "out of ear" experience. Bluesville takes you to
the land of Bluesville..you ARE there. 60s on 6 takes you back to the
sixties. Fed takes you inside Fred's mind... These are truly "mind
fucks"....this is cinematic radio. Movies take you places.....XM must
take you to the same places. Never "Thud" people.....Sonic
Density.....
MOXIE: You should know what this means.
THE BIG THREE: Music....Character (Magic between the Songs)...Muscle.
THE PLAYBOOK: Terrestrial is: Get a morning show...test the
library...throw up some billboards......and everything is fine. Great
radio is complex. Develop a playbook. A gameplan. A mission beyond the
obvious.
THE TRUTH: XM tells the truth. Don't like Hendrix? Fine...don't listen
this Friday. XM 20 on 20...the top 20 over and over and over...until
you're sick of them. TELL THE TRUTH.
HUMOR: XM is about reality humor. 99.9999% of all funny things on
radio are only funny to the staff. The best humor is reality humor:
Old TV themes....real stories, etc....
Other than our Comedy channels humor is delicate....few things will
cliche you back to the FM Band than things that really aren't funny.
---: Worst than bad humor. Don't you "love" those Rock stations that
have promos "We have the biggest balls"--Oh wow--He said "balls"
Anyone who thinks, that in 2006, talking about tits is clever, go back
to FM. It's tired, stupid and annoying. The key is: If --- is an
angle, lets come up with a fresh way to approach it please.
Particularly you Rock guys.......Leave it to O&A who specilaize in it.
THE XM CREATIVE METHOD: Starts with the blueprint.....then PD builds
it....Producers and Talent decorate it. We are Frank Lloyd Wright not
Hill Valley Homes. Ever wonder why every home sorta looks the same? Me
too. If FM is safe suburbia...we are edgy Frank Lloyd Wright.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME: The opportunity to change radio window is open. If
we don't do it, we should all be shot. It'll never happen again in our
lifetimes. Remember my cycles in music chart....we are at the
beginning of another 56, 64, 69, 81, 92 up curve. we are in sync with
history.
TRADITIONAL RADIO RESEARCH SUCKS: It's flawed. If it worked, why does
every station sound like it does? Everyone does research....it's
proven it doesn't work in it's traditional form.
POPCORN CAN RADIO: An old Z-Rock trick. Huge Popcorn can was in lobby
after contents being consumed. Clever DJ decides to do entire show
from inside the popcorn can (mic and all). Now THATS radio!
STUDY SOUND: Collect it. Warp it. Radio is in last place in the sound
department. Movies are light years ahead of us in sound...TV
commercials are too, so is MTV, hell...so is NBC.
Use it. We live in a world of sound, yet sometimes we're deaf to all
but WRCX (nothing personal against WRCX employees of the past.....but
it's symbolic of "radio"..nothing more, nothing less).
SURGERY: We are operating on radio. This ain't out-patient. This is
somebody on a death bed....penecillan (research) didn't work....new
drugs (consultants) didn't work. This patient is dead unless we come
up with a radical operation.
SOUL: Radio has lost its soul...we must bring it back. A
consciousness...a spirit....a genuine desire to bring radio back to
the people...and AFDI. You must know the business side of things, but
not at the expense of your soul. What I'm saying is SO
unfashionable...SO uncool in today’s' lets make a deal environment,
and I'm not in any way bad rapping that critical side of our
business...but the front line of programming needs a heart. We must
bleed XM colors....cry at the magic of a great song (or break),
program for the people, live and breathe art, move forward with fist
clenching intensity and desire to win through brilliance and
imagination. Funny thing is that as un-Wall Street as that might be,
that sort of thinking will deliver the kind of radio that XM needs to
win the war. Think and program like an artist. A smart artist. Kinda
like Springsteen. Uncompromising. He just "Does it". An American
Original...........
CAMP: XM must celebrate life in North America. The good, the bad and
the ugly. That's why we love TV themes, old commercials, homeless guys
doing promos, heavily accented people doing IDs, bagpipes in bumpers.
Celebrate America by DELIVERING THE SOUND OF NORTH AMERICA.
ANTICIPATION: There is ALWAYS something coming up on XM. We program
forward.
SELLING: Sell the Music...sell the programming...sell the specials,
etc...Selling is a lost art.
I'm not talking about selling Used Cars...I'm talking about ridding
ourselves of the Radio Inferiority Complex and selling the ---- out of
the cool stuff we're doing. This isn't bragging, because bragging is
generic, bordering on lying. Selling is talkin' it up and DELIVERING.
If we sell AND deliver, credibility will occur!
This is a mission...not a gig.
Yet I fear (as this reader comment details) XM will be forced into
medocrity to compete with sirius.
Anonymous said...
All of this sounds great, but very little of it is happening at
XM. You've dropped the great niche channels like WorldZone, duplicated
the hits channels offered by Clear Channel which is a total waste, and
over-channeled the system so the sound quality has decreased
dramatically.
Have you actually listened to XM with headphones lately? How long
does it take for you to get a headache? When you switch between MP3s
and XM content on the Inno, the XM sound seems like it's playing
through a bath towel.
Please wake up and listen to the reality of XM's programming and
sound quality in mid-2006 versus the fantasy of what you're writing in
your amusing blog.
Stop trying to win the battle with Sirius by having the MOST music
and instead try to have the BEST music -- in diversity of genres and
superior sound quality.
GS
radio... as detailed in this blog:
Lee Abrams' Blog
Monday, June 05, 2006
MORE FROM THE XM PLAYBOOK
We are not "there" yet...it takes time, but here are a few things we
preach. Do we deliver? Not always? Do we try? Hell yeah. Why am I
telling people outside of the building about these "secrets"? Because
if someone thinks like this--we want to know. Here are a few items----
AFDI: (Actually Fucking Doing It)The battle call. The center of our
programming universe. Instead of researching EVERYthing, commitees and
"we can't do that"...the idea is to actually EXECUTE on the ideas that
are created.
SWAGGER: The way we carry ourselves on and off the air. An air of
confidence based on AFDI and collective ego. Radio has been beaten up
by other media--time to fight back.
MINUTE BY MINUTE: The musical bottom line. Forget Depth. Forget Tight.
If you, at any given point in time (minute by minute) are playing a
cool song, you will win the music battle.
ARTIST OWNERSHIP: Re-claiming artists. Bringing them back to radio. XM
Radio.
Radio has given up on trying to own artists...given up to MTV, Print
and Cable. XM must bring artists back to radio.
CELEBRATION: We don't simply "play" important music. We celebrate it.
A Gospel Church may celebrate the Lord...well, we’re the Gospel Church
of music.
AUTHENTICITY: In a plastic world, we are the real deal. No
compromises. Ward Cleaver and Manny Malig run XMLM our Metal channel.
They bleed metal, and listeners will hear and respect that.
SONICS: It's the evolution of "Imaging"...it's the SOUND of your
channel. Don't think bumpers & promos. Think beyond that.....it's all
about a whole sonic environment you create.
SONIC DENSITY: The intensity and frequency of sonic pieces.
CAUSE I WANT TO: Doing things on air, "because you feel like
it"...maybe a break in Swahili....or Pig Latin.....
HUMVEE CRASHING: The art of crashing an R/C humvee into the wall
during an important meeting. XM must live and breathe in the hallways
too!
NATIONAL & PROUD OF IT: Local radio is quaint....National radio is the
future.
SUPRISE ATTACKING: Wanna mess up the competitors mind: Run a Top 5,000
three weeks BEFORE Memorial Day. You will screw up their system...
24 HOUR MORNING SHOW: There is no morning. We don't shut down at 10am.
We are always on.
JUST DO IT!: No bragging...no cheezy claims . No "Most Music" "Best
Mix" "Never a Bad Song"........Those claims have no credibility. Just
deliver the goods and our fans will know.
FANS: To Ad Sales they're listeners....to Marketing they're
customers...to us: They're Fans. Treat listeners like Fans. Think like
a Fan. This is show business. Relating to listeners as numbers is
fine---for the sales people.
MUSICAL CONFIDENCE: Delivering the goods musically. Not lying about
how musical we are...actually delivering music to the point where
listeners believe we're in it for "The Passion not the Cash". Cash is
a nice reward if we make people happy.
BIBLE OF MUSIC: Your station is the center of your music's' universe.
You have the chart. You have the answers. You are in command. You must
deliver. You must deliver. You must deliver. MTV, Rolling Stone,
Spin...fine entities, but YOU must own the charts, the info,
etc...listeners must come to YOU to know what's going on musically.
CINEMATIC RADIO: The sound of your station is more like a wide screen
movie soundtrack than a radio station. You should close your eyes and
your sonics ignite with cinematic brilliance. Even News....Even
Classical...no format is exempt from creating cinematic magic between
the songs.
BAGGAGE: Old radio thinking. There's allot of radio thinking that's
timeless...like playing the best songs...but there's a king bong of
baggage too....lose it.
ER: Bigg-ER.....Badd-ER....Intense-ER. Think like Walt Disney did in
the 50’s..."ER". Rides were fastER, parks were cleanER, etc…
OTT: Over-the-Top. Subtle sucks. Want to cut through the Internet,
AM/FM, print, TV etc....well, you ain't gonna do it unless you do
everything OTT
TOP DOWN SOUND: There is nothing more magical than driving down a
freeway at 100mph...top down...great station blasting at top volume!
XM will bring this experience back to Americans. Think about this
experience as you program. It's more than great songs...it's the whole
package...it's the essence of "The XM Sound"
ECCENTRIC...ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK: Doctors, Repairmen, Cops should
not be eccentric! We should be....all the way to the bank. Smart
eccentrics make the great art.
WRCX: (or any other station we worked at): Lose it. Kill it from the
memory. These stations are NOT the standard to compare. If we are to
compare the XM Sound to something, make it a Kubrick movie......a
Beatle epic.....a Radiohead track. NOT radio stations we used to work
at.
CREATIVE BATTING AVERAGE: % of ideas you come up with that work. 300
Average is All-Star. Ya gotta take some swings to get hits.
CLICHE BUZZER: Three buzzes and sayonara. But the real cliche buzzer
is in your head.
SONIC DIVERSITY: Using the World of Sound. Not some damn production
package or pre-cut promo factory CD. USE SOUND!
Thunderstorms..static...busy streets....short wave radio
tuning....sample a TV Newscaster and repeat "In Todays News..In Todays
News..
over and over. Discover the world of sound. Use it.
VOICE DIVERSITY: Discover the world of voices. I'm mildly depressed
that Fine Tuning was the only format that at CES used foreign voices,
voices off the street, etc....
"Professional" voices are fine...but you're only using 2% of the
voices out there.
There is magic in the human voice. There is cliche' in the radio
voice!!!
THE GEORGE MARTIN GENE: Everyone has it. Activate it. It's the gene
that tells you to diversify your sound. There are no rules. Our Reggae
channel can have signatures that combine Gregorian Chants with Steel
Drums. WE MUST RE-INVENT THE WAY RADIO SOUNDS. There are no barriers
except your imagination.
CONVENIENCE HIRES: It's only natural, and often correct to bring in
people you know and trust. But, it's also natural to bring in people
who are convenient. We must hire only the brilliant.
IT FACTOR: Some people got "it"...some don't. If you don't get
"it"....please see me asap
MOUTH OF AMERICA: XM should sound like America. From hicks in
Mississippi to Brothers in Chicago to Mothers in San Francisco to
Yuppies in St. Louis. We must open the phones to reflect the magic of
National Radio.
MOOD/RELIABLE: Mood listeners tune you in when they're in the
mood...Reliable listeners never tune you out. That's the secret to
rating success (or satisfaction in our case). The only way to achieve
this balance is to never compromise....stay pure....play "your"
hits...don't fear tune out. In other words: Do your thing, but do it
brilliantly and consistently.
STAR WARS: Those goofy laser sounds that must die
THE CHUCK VAN ROGERS FACTOR: OK, if you have a radio name and don't
want to change it...fine. Especially if you've had it for years... But
if you do want to change it..Go for it! Mike O'Morgan (whoever he is)
just reeks of fake, old, tired radio. This is Show-biz. Like the WWF,
who's gonna win the bout? Bob Stevens or The Masked Killer from Mars.
Again, not a requirement, but
cool names, real names (Frank Schmutzbaum is cooler than Mark James)
or Nicknames that are "XM" are great. Why does radio have this thing
with TWO first names?? Robert Stevens, Steven Roberts, Michael
Williams, William Michaels?
PAPER TIME vs REAL TIME: On one of our deeper formats we'll tend to
look at two lists: A 20,000 title list and an 10000 title list. 10000
probably makes more sense...though on paper 20,000 looks better or 200
if you’re an old school research guy. This is the difference between
paper and real-time listening.The point is separating paper from
reality.
TODD STORZ: The creator of Top 40 on Real-Time listening: Just when
DJs are going to strike because_____is still on the playlist is the
same time Mama is learning to hum the verse". The point: Paper Time
vs. Real Time. Think like a listener/fan not a DJ in terms of music
rotation.
CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE PAST: An appetite
to learn about the history of contemporary radio. If you weren't
there, learning about the great battles will arm you with powerful
knowledge.
THE LETTERMAN FACTOR: Disco Demolition, Hit This Plane & Win $5,000,
Snow Sharks, and other stunts are pure America. People love it. The
more radio versions of "Stupid Pet Tricks" we create, the better we'll
be….on the RIGHT channel of course.
THE CULTURALLY CHALLENGED: We must never be "too hip for the room". We
target everyone from musical elitists to the culturally challenged.
KNOW YOUR PLACE. Sophisticated humor on "America" is as bad as stupid
contests on XM Classics. Knowing WHERE the edhe is and delivering
right on it is an art.
WARPED: A way of looking at things. Akin to eccentric. If we can take
an angle and warp it, we've done our job. Clapton warped his guitar in
'67 by using a wah-wah pedal....Warping is taking a sound or idea and
modifying it to "the XM Sound"
SMELL THE SPEAKERS: Our formats should be SO sonically dense...SO
pure..so authentic, that they should smell. Smell the speakers during
Frank's Place and it's martinis, an old deck of cards and Sammy Davis
Junior’s cologne.
AUTHENTICITY: XM is to FM what EPCOT is to Reality. We aren't a model
of the real thing....we ARE the real thing.
PURITY: Every format must be pure. There's magic in what you DON'T
hear. You'll hear Deep Tracks and never hear Foreigner...You'll hear
BONEYARD and never hear Steven Stills, etc.....We must avoid
Good-Good------Good-----, meaning a few "correct songs" then a ----
(or misplaced) song. Every song will get played SOMEWHERE on the XM
band...the key is in purity so each song happens where it's meant to
happen.
YELLOW PAD: Everyone should be filling these up with ideas. Document
your dreams.
AS ACCESSABLE AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT LOSING LISTENER CONFIDENCE: The goal
shouldn't be how "deep" can I go. It should be how "far" can I go
WITHOUT LOSING listener confidence. It's a magic zone where you reach
the most listeners and satisfy them all simultaneously. Too commercial
and there goes satisfaction...too deep and there goes the volume of
fans.
WHACK FACTOR: "Where in hell did these guys come up with
that!"....thats what listeners should often think.
AVERAGE SUCKS/EXTREME RULES: Ever been to Ben's Chili Parlor down the
road?
It is a dive...a dump....and it's magical. It's extreme. Give me Ben's
over a nice clean Denny's anytime!! The point: Amazingly good or
Amazingly bad---who cares, as long as it's amazing. Anything but
average!!!!
2001FACTOR: Pre 2001 (the movie), all Sci-Fi was goofy robots crushing
Tokyo. Then 2001 reinvented Sci-Fi. Lush Space Scapes...Classical
Music....a whole new approach. It changed Sci-Fi forever. No "Help Me
Will Robinson cliches" no spooky Theramin sound effects.(though those
are kinda cool in a campy way) THAT is how we must change radio sound.
It's happening in publishing. It’s happening in video…radio is next—if
we let it happen
THE MILLIONAIRE FACTOR: Like the TV show completely re-invented game
shows...we must completely re-invent radio. It ain't evolution...it's
revolution.
EMPATHY: Walking the halls, I'll often hear how "Stairway to Heaven"
and Creed really suck. Well, if those aren't part of your potential
playlist...cool..they suck. BUT---if these belong on your list, you
need to learn empathy, because these are major. In 1970, I was a hard
core Prog Rock fan, but worked at an early FM Top 40 where we
"celebrated" Donny Osmond. I learned there, the importance of empathy.
I hated that ----, but learned how and why it worked, and never whined
about a song again. Even, neutral programming via understanding why
things(songs/artists) work.
ENVIRONMENT: Song environment is key. Stairway next to BTO & Doobie
Brothers is a snooze, but next to Traffic and a cool Hendrix track,
the songs' magic can emerge. That's a great thing about XM: Even the
most tired "great" popular songs can live on a format where they can
find new life by what they're surrounded by.
NOTHING IS SACRED: We urge you to re-think EVERYTHING. Many things are
indeed evergreen, but Struber must be commended for re-thinking the
6-10/10-3/3-7 show (never shifts!) configuration.
YOUR HITS: XM is hit driven. Every format. But the definition of a hit
differs by format..dramatically. And inour world hit isn't driven
necessarily by sales. Hits can mean:
-Song driven. The standard hit song as with Oldies formats.
-Artist Driven. as in Deep Tracks. Santana, Cream, Beatles...but not
the same three songs. Careers...not just the most played tracks.
-Novelty Driven. The Jetsons theme never charted..but its a hit
-Sound Driven. "Hit" is irrelivent..it's the "sound"...a Coltrane
piece may not be a 'hit' by traditional definition but in the frameork
of Real Jazz...it is.
-Non Radio Driven. Edgy car ads can be hits
...the point is: A Hit to XM means simply: An important song that gives
you minute by minute musical excellence. KNOW WHAT "TYPE" of hit works
for you...every format is different.
CANNON BALL/FORT THEORY: If the Fort's destruction is your goal, then
each cannonball that hits the fort is a hit. Miss the fort, it's a
stiff or an un-necessary song. More hits on the fort and the faster
the fort falls. Every song must serve a purpose, regardless of it’s
chart position or traditional hit definition.
THE RECORD BUSINESS & MUSIC PRESS ARE LOST: There are some smart
people and there are some clueless people.
That's why I constantly impress the need for you to study the genre
you serve....know your genre beyond passion. Passion is easy... but
balance that with knowledge and that's what makes you dangerous . The
reason college radio has never been a factor is because it's all
passion....
but find a college radio person who balances passion with
understanding--and there's a positively dangerous person--that we
should hire!We must continue to absorb REALITY and not simply feed off
the industry and press..
CULT/FRINGE: Every successful artist has fans who are cult or fringe.
Know the difference and program appropriately. Cultists are REALLY
into the artist....Fringe fans like the artist for the fleeting
hit(s). Doing a big Spectacular?? You're wasting your time if the fan
composition is heavy fringe.
SPECTACULARS: They enhance your image...recycle listeners and create
buzz.
Run them prime time (NOT 11pm Sunday Nights). Build them. Think about
them.
Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly. Go OTT. (Over-the-top) Repeat
them. The classic cliché is taking a cool program and burying it
because it varies from the song/dj/song format.
MEAT: When you promote...promote Meat. Never: "Great Music Coming
Up"....give 'em something to chew on: "The lost Elvis tapes found this
morning"
INCIDENTAL SOUND: Sound that just happens. Sound that "fills in the
cracks"......Audio theater.
THE XM TRAVEL AGENCY: XM Formats must take you places. Too often the
music takes you to the stars...then THUD. The reality of a "radio
break". XM must be an "out of ear" experience. Bluesville takes you to
the land of Bluesville..you ARE there. 60s on 6 takes you back to the
sixties. Fed takes you inside Fred's mind... These are truly "mind
fucks"....this is cinematic radio. Movies take you places.....XM must
take you to the same places. Never "Thud" people.....Sonic
Density.....
MOXIE: You should know what this means.
THE BIG THREE: Music....Character (Magic between the Songs)...Muscle.
THE PLAYBOOK: Terrestrial is: Get a morning show...test the
library...throw up some billboards......and everything is fine. Great
radio is complex. Develop a playbook. A gameplan. A mission beyond the
obvious.
THE TRUTH: XM tells the truth. Don't like Hendrix? Fine...don't listen
this Friday. XM 20 on 20...the top 20 over and over and over...until
you're sick of them. TELL THE TRUTH.
HUMOR: XM is about reality humor. 99.9999% of all funny things on
radio are only funny to the staff. The best humor is reality humor:
Old TV themes....real stories, etc....
Other than our Comedy channels humor is delicate....few things will
cliche you back to the FM Band than things that really aren't funny.
---: Worst than bad humor. Don't you "love" those Rock stations that
have promos "We have the biggest balls"--Oh wow--He said "balls"
Anyone who thinks, that in 2006, talking about tits is clever, go back
to FM. It's tired, stupid and annoying. The key is: If --- is an
angle, lets come up with a fresh way to approach it please.
Particularly you Rock guys.......Leave it to O&A who specilaize in it.
THE XM CREATIVE METHOD: Starts with the blueprint.....then PD builds
it....Producers and Talent decorate it. We are Frank Lloyd Wright not
Hill Valley Homes. Ever wonder why every home sorta looks the same? Me
too. If FM is safe suburbia...we are edgy Frank Lloyd Wright.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME: The opportunity to change radio window is open. If
we don't do it, we should all be shot. It'll never happen again in our
lifetimes. Remember my cycles in music chart....we are at the
beginning of another 56, 64, 69, 81, 92 up curve. we are in sync with
history.
TRADITIONAL RADIO RESEARCH SUCKS: It's flawed. If it worked, why does
every station sound like it does? Everyone does research....it's
proven it doesn't work in it's traditional form.
POPCORN CAN RADIO: An old Z-Rock trick. Huge Popcorn can was in lobby
after contents being consumed. Clever DJ decides to do entire show
from inside the popcorn can (mic and all). Now THATS radio!
STUDY SOUND: Collect it. Warp it. Radio is in last place in the sound
department. Movies are light years ahead of us in sound...TV
commercials are too, so is MTV, hell...so is NBC.
Use it. We live in a world of sound, yet sometimes we're deaf to all
but WRCX (nothing personal against WRCX employees of the past.....but
it's symbolic of "radio"..nothing more, nothing less).
SURGERY: We are operating on radio. This ain't out-patient. This is
somebody on a death bed....penecillan (research) didn't work....new
drugs (consultants) didn't work. This patient is dead unless we come
up with a radical operation.
SOUL: Radio has lost its soul...we must bring it back. A
consciousness...a spirit....a genuine desire to bring radio back to
the people...and AFDI. You must know the business side of things, but
not at the expense of your soul. What I'm saying is SO
unfashionable...SO uncool in today’s' lets make a deal environment,
and I'm not in any way bad rapping that critical side of our
business...but the front line of programming needs a heart. We must
bleed XM colors....cry at the magic of a great song (or break),
program for the people, live and breathe art, move forward with fist
clenching intensity and desire to win through brilliance and
imagination. Funny thing is that as un-Wall Street as that might be,
that sort of thinking will deliver the kind of radio that XM needs to
win the war. Think and program like an artist. A smart artist. Kinda
like Springsteen. Uncompromising. He just "Does it". An American
Original...........
CAMP: XM must celebrate life in North America. The good, the bad and
the ugly. That's why we love TV themes, old commercials, homeless guys
doing promos, heavily accented people doing IDs, bagpipes in bumpers.
Celebrate America by DELIVERING THE SOUND OF NORTH AMERICA.
ANTICIPATION: There is ALWAYS something coming up on XM. We program
forward.
SELLING: Sell the Music...sell the programming...sell the specials,
etc...Selling is a lost art.
I'm not talking about selling Used Cars...I'm talking about ridding
ourselves of the Radio Inferiority Complex and selling the ---- out of
the cool stuff we're doing. This isn't bragging, because bragging is
generic, bordering on lying. Selling is talkin' it up and DELIVERING.
If we sell AND deliver, credibility will occur!
This is a mission...not a gig.
Yet I fear (as this reader comment details) XM will be forced into
medocrity to compete with sirius.
Anonymous said...
All of this sounds great, but very little of it is happening at
XM. You've dropped the great niche channels like WorldZone, duplicated
the hits channels offered by Clear Channel which is a total waste, and
over-channeled the system so the sound quality has decreased
dramatically.
Have you actually listened to XM with headphones lately? How long
does it take for you to get a headache? When you switch between MP3s
and XM content on the Inno, the XM sound seems like it's playing
through a bath towel.
Please wake up and listen to the reality of XM's programming and
sound quality in mid-2006 versus the fantasy of what you're writing in
your amusing blog.
Stop trying to win the battle with Sirius by having the MOST music
and instead try to have the BEST music -- in diversity of genres and
superior sound quality.
GS