DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S., and between the turkey and the football not many people will visit this blog today.

If I write about radio, six people will read this.

And I don’t want to write one of those “I’m thankful for…” essays.

But somehow it seems natural to share with you two powerful musical performances. There’s a good chance you’ve seen one or both of them, along with millions of others on YouTube.

Still….

I thought John Cale had the definitive version of this Leonard Cohen song until I witnessed kd Lang’s performance.

Not saying one is better. Just different.

Cale’s is mournful. Lang’s is anguished.

I will say, though, that I had a better understanding of what the song’s about after hearing Lang.

Anyway…Happy Thanksgiving, my radio brethren around the world.

Jason Potter writes:

“I just wanted to let you know how much I LOVE the math problem authentication for leaving comments on your blog. (ok, maybe ‘love’ is too strong of a word for something like this…maybe ‘enjoy’ or ‘appreciate’ is more appropriate?)

“It is so annoying to try to read the normal, swirling combination of letters and numbers when ‘authenticating’ on other web sites. As always, you took the boring and mundane and have found a way to make it your own!”

In my radio morning show coaching, I teach how to build a “brand” for the program that is so strong it gets credit for things it doesn’t even do.

Example: You own the “celebrities visit in-studio” position in your market and someone hears a big celebrity on a different local station but assumes it must be your show.

Jason’s complimentary words are an example of “getting credit for things you didn’t even do.”

Often I find the traditional CAPTCHA format to be incredibly annoying. (Is there a reason that Google, of all places, routinely offers the hardest-to-read characters?)

A while ago I stumbled upon a website that used the “arithmetic” solution method. Because one of my few skills is the ability to add or subtract 1- or 2-digit numbers in my head (which served me well in my days as a semi-professional card counting blackjack player), I loved it. No more repeated attempts to decipher blurred images.

So I emailed my webmaster a link to that page and asked, “Can we do this on my blog?” The new CAPTCHA was in place the next day.

Jason flatteringly assumed:

1. I looked for a method that would be more “fun” for my blog visitors. Actually, I was just trying to make it easier for people and to remove the hassle factor. (Which is related to “more fun,” but not the same thing.)
2. I found a way to make “prove you’re not a robot” my own — possibly by creating it from scratch. In reality, I discovered the arithmetic method that someone else had created.

But because he hadn’t seen it elsewhere, Jason assumed I created it.

For Jason, at least, my “brand” = “more fun” and “original” — making whatever I do “my own.”

And he’s right: I do try to make mundane things enjoyable when possible. For example, the standard “404 Error” message that you get when you click on a broken link.

For years I assumed that was some sort of non-customizable Internet standard. But when I learned I could make that “error” page say or do anything I wanted, I changed it to what now happens when you click on this example of a broken link.

How would you like your competitors regularly to report to you all of their upcoming radio promotions, format changes, etc.?

Well, you could plant or recruit a spy at all competing stations. Among other drawbacks, that might be illegal (“industrial espionage”).

Or you could take the suggestion of radio promotions guru Doug Harris:

Join all of your competitors’ “loyal listener” clubs.

Like most great “creative” ideas, this one is elegant in its simplicity and potentially rich in its rewards.

This was recorded live at the 2011 International Radio Creative & Production Summit.

By the way, there is exactly one copy remaining of the entire event on multiple DVDs.

View the radio promo critique video here.