DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

EXCITEMENT REIGNS AT RADIO PRODUCTION SUMMIT

by Dan O'Day on August 8, 2008

The day before each year’s International Radio Creative & Production Summit, a secret, closed door meeting is held of our Repeat Offenders — radio producers, commercial copywriters, and voiceover artists who are attending for at least the second time.

Everyone is sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell you what goes on behind those closed doors. But it’s always stimulating and invigorating.

Here’s a picture taken just hours ago of the Repeat Offenders. Even via a blurry photograph, I’m pretty sure you can sense their excitement.

Radio Production, Radio Imaging, Radio Station Imaging, Radio Production Summit, Radio Creative, Radio Seminars, Radio Production Seminars

(Click on photo to enlarge)

{ 0 comments }

O’DAY HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO ANGRY READERS

by Dan O'Day on August 7, 2008

Responding to some of the input I received from readers on Tuesday….

It’s tempting to do the Commercial Smackdown 5 days a week. God knows there’s no shortage of awful commercials that are worthy of attacking. And, actually, that might be the surest way to drive lots of traffic here. But then the tone here would be relentlessly negative, and soon I wouldn’t feel like showing up for work here.

Why don’t I share good commercials here? I do that in my (free) Radio Advertising Letter, which is more of an instructional tool than a personal soapbox.

One reader spoke of the value of keeping company with others who “get it.” That definitely is part of what I’m trying to achieve.

The person who said he checks my blog each morning made my day. Also made me wonder about the quality of his life, but still….

Part of the challenge of blogging is having quietly satisfied readers: people who enjoy the blog, visit regularly, but don’t post. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s like having a radio talk show with none of the phones lighting up.

Today, by the way, I leave to set up for the Summit. I may or may not be able to get postings up for Friday and for the weekend. I do, however, have Monday’s Commercial Smackdown all ready to go….

{ 0 comments }

O’DAY REFUSES TO RESPOND TO BLOG POSTERS

by Dan O'Day on August 6, 2008

Yesterday I asked what you guys would like to see more of in this blog. Today I was going to respond to your responses. But then I realized that before I can respond, I should explain why I have a blog.

Some Very Good Reasons Why I Should Not Have A Blog

• I’ve never had a desire to blog. I suspect few people care what I had for breakfast today. (Chicken sandwich. I cook the boneless chicken breasts at 150° for at least 2 hours. Sometimes I forget, and it cooks for 5 or 6 hours. At that temperature, it’s not a problem. That’s my typical breakfast. Thanks for asking.)

• I believe the world already suffers from too much chatter. I’ve no desire to add to it.

• I actually have a life. Not as exciting as yours, but I don’t need shout into cyberspace in the hopes that someone echoes back proof of my existence.

• I’ve got too much to do already.

• I’m a slow writer, so writing a daily blog post eats up a huge chunk of my time. For example:

Turtle

See that word, above this line? It took me 45 minutes to think of and then write that word.

Why I Decided To Blog

This year I’ve drastically cut down on my travel. Why? What do you mean, “why”? Have you been in an airport lately? It’s torture.

But I make much of my living conducting seminars — which I really enjoy. I haven’t stopped traveling altogether — I’ve got one European seminar trip scheduled for September and 2 other “possible” European trips and a trip to Japan before 2009.

Side note to all the UK and European radio people who, over the years, have said they’d love to have me come to their markets to conduct seminars and/or do morning show tune-ups, but I’m too expensive:

Have you looked at the value of the U.S. dollar lately? With the present exchange rates, I’m HALF-PRICE to you. “Prices will never be this low again,” unless the dollar continues to plummet.

Anyway…During the past year I’ve been conducting teleseminars (fancy word for “big telephone conference call”). I’ve discovered that:

• They require a lot of preparation and having to rely on outside technology is a bit stressful, but not as stressful as doing a Strip Search Perp Walk for TSA employees.

• I enjoy the actual live performance of the teleseminars just as I do in a physical seminar setting. It’s still live, so the adrenalin is there.

• People really seem to like them. Even when they have to pay.

So for the foreseeable future I expect to do a bunch of teleseminars (and other events) on various topics within my areas of expertise. There’s a limit to how much email I comfortably can send to my subscribers and customers, so this gives me another way of reaching them.

Hopefully I can keep you coming back with good content, and when I’ve got some project to announce I can do so without wondering if you opened the email (or if it even reached you, in this wonderful world of spam filters and Information Prevention departments).

Also, my two newsletters are published only every 3 or 4 (or 5) weeks, and they’re devoted to pure teaching/problem solving. Although they reflect my personality and style, it’s all about “content.” They’re not a venue for whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment, and I write a little more “professionally” than I do here.

Finally, in my newsletters there’s very little opportunity for discussion. I wanted a place where there could be more “give and take,” just us pro’s talking.

And THAT is…uh….What was the question?

{ 0 comments }

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM THIS BLOG?

by Dan O'Day on August 5, 2008

This blog still is quite young. In fact, I’m still in the stage where when I’ve written a day’s posting, my work has just begun. Then it’s an hour of two of tweaking the formatting in an effort to make it look good on a variety of browsers.

(Blogger.com generously gives me a “preview” mode — which shows me precisely what any particular posting would look like if I happened to live in a parallel universe. In this universe, the “preview” version is to the published version as my passport photo is to my actual face. Except my actual face doesn’t suddenly change formatting between, say, my lower lip and my chin.)

So far, I’ve pretty much been writing whatever the heck I want to — and to a large extent, that won’t change. It is, after all, my damn blog.

A friend of mine has a blog that attracts many thousands of visitors each day, and he has learned that whenever he writes about AMERICAN IDOL, his traffic for that day increases. Apparently “AMERICAN IDOL” is a popular search engine term. So he writes about AMERICAN IDOL oh, maybe 5 days a week.

I, however, never would pander to my audience like that. For one thing, I’ve never watched even a single episode of AMERICAN IDOL. If I’m not interested enough to watch AMERICAN IDOL, I’m certainly not going to spend any of my severely limited time finding ways to weave AMERICAN IDOL into my writing.

If I lose out on search engine traffic by not mentioning AMERICAN IDOL, so be it. I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing I stuck to my principles, and by golly that’s enough for me.

When I ask “What do you want from this blog?” I mean in terms of making it as valuable as possible to you as:

• A radio programming person

• A radio production person

• A radio station manager, sales manager, promotion director or account executive

• A radio advertising person

• A voiceover guy (“voiceover guy” automatically includes women, but I’d no sooner say “voiceover gal” than I’d refer in writing to a “deejay”).

I am not, however, pretending this is a democracy. This isn’t like AMERICAN IDOL, where people get to vote. But if I can write about things you care about and/or will help you without sacrificing my principles or requiring much work on my part, that would be nice.

So please tell me what you’ve enjoyed most about this blog so far and what you’d like to see in it in the future. Whether your name is Paula, Abdul or Ryan, your opinion matters to me. This blog is like clay, akin’ to be molded to your needs.

As Superman’s adoptive father said in one of my favorite episodes, “Clark, son — “ Well, no need to go off on a tangent.

So please — politely, if possible — tell me what you like in and/or want more of from this blog. I’ll consider all serious suggestions, but none that would compromise my principles.

I’d write a bit more about this right now, but I’m really thirsty. So I’m going to have a cold, refreshing drink and I’ll see you tomorrow.

{ 0 comments }

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM THIS BLOG?

by Dan O'Day on August 5, 2008

This blog still is quite young. In fact, I’m still in the stage where when I’ve written a day’s posting, my work has just begun. Then it’s an hour of two of tweaking the formatting in an effort to make it look good on a variety of browsers.

(Blogger.com generously gives me a “preview” mode — which shows me precisely what any particular posting would look like if I happened to live in a parallel universe. In this universe, the “preview” version is to the published version as my passport photo is to my actual face. Except my actual face doesn’t suddenly change formatting between, say, my lower lip and my chin.)

So far, I’ve pretty much been writing whatever the heck I want to — and to a large extent, that won’t change. It is, after all, my damn blog.

A friend of mine has a blog that attracts many thousands of visitors each day, and he has learned that whenever he writes about AMERICAN IDOL, his traffic for that day increases. Apparently “AMERICAN IDOL” is a popular search engine term. So he writes about AMERICAN IDOL oh, maybe 5 days a week.

I, however, never would pander to my audience like that. For one thing, I’ve never watched even a single episode of AMERICAN IDOL. If I’m not interested enough to watch AMERICAN IDOL, I’m certainly not going to spend any of my severely limited time finding ways to weave AMERICAN IDOL into my writing.

If I lose out on search engine traffic by not mentioning AMERICAN IDOL, so be it. I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing I stuck to my principles, and by golly that’s enough for me.

When I ask “What do you want from this blog?” I mean in terms of making it as valuable as possible to you as:

• A radio programming person

• A radio production person

• A radio station manager, sales manager, promotion director or account executive

• A radio advertising person

• A voiceover guy (“voiceover guy” automatically includes women, but I’d no sooner say “voiceover gal” than I’d refer in writing to a “deejay”).

I am not, however, pretending this is a democracy. This isn’t like AMERICAN IDOL, where people get to vote. But if I can write about things you care about and/or will help you without sacrificing my principles or requiring much work on my part, that would be nice.

So please tell me what you’ve enjoyed most about this blog so far and what you’d like to see in it in the future. Whether your name is Paula, Abdul or Ryan, your opinion matters to me. This blog is like clay, akin’ to be molded to your needs.

As Superman’s adoptive father said in one of my favorite episodes, “Clark, son — “ Well, no need to go off on a tangent.

So please — politely, if possible — tell me what you like in and/or want more of from this blog. I’ll consider all serious suggestions, but none that would compromise my principles.

I’d write a bit more about this right now, but I’m really thirsty. So I’m going to have a cold, refreshing drink and I’ll see you tomorrow.

{ 11 comments }