DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

 One surviving team of writers from last year’s Sitcom Room. (Note the remnants of the bad Chinese food we always provide to the writers.)

If you’ve ever yelled at the TV, “I could write funnier stuff than that!”….

If you’ve ever imagined yourself as part of a world-class TV sitcom writing team….

If you’ve ever wondered, “What if…?” or “I wonder if I really could do it?”….

Treat yourself to one of the most exhilarating, exhausting and rewarding weekends of your life:

2012’s The Sitcom Room.

I produce this event each year along with Ken Levine, a former radio guy (his air name was “Beaver Cleaver”) who went on to a stellar, Emmy award winning career as a TV sitcom writer/producer/director (M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, Simpsons, etc.).

We accept only 20 participants. We officially opened registration yesterday, and we’re more than half sold out.

So if this sounds intriguing to you, check it out here.

When at the end of the transaction the customer says, “Thank you,” “No problem” is not an appropriate response.

Of course it was no problem.

“No problem” implies you did the customer a favor.

You’re not being thanked for doing the customer a favor.

The customer is thanking you for the service you just provided them.

Your words probably are the last the customer will hear before leaving the store. As such, they play a significant role in defining their shopping experience.

I’m just sayin’….

First, the radio commercial:

Radio advertising solves problems.

The fact that Arizona State University offers classes that are 100% online doesn’t solve the problem of “degrees not being created equal.”

It might solve the problem of adults who want to earn a college degree while holding down a fulltime job…or while being housebound.

But we’ll never know what problem, if any, Arizona State University’s online program can solve for targeted listeners. At least, not from this radio commercial.

P.S.  What idiot promotes an online product and gives, as the Call To Action, a telephone number instead of a Web address?

The newest AT&T Yellow Pages appeared on my doorstep the other day.

At the front of the book, I noticed a full page promoting AT&T’s White Pages: “White Pages advertising complements your Yellow Pages advertising to get you results!”

This headline intrigued me: “High Usage”

Huh?

“67% of consumers reference the White Pages on an average of 2.8 times per week.”

Huh??

I searched for and found the source, alongside an asterisk in the smallest font on the page:

“Yellow and White Pages Usage Study, October 1999.”

Hmm. I wonder if White Pages usage has changed during the past 13 years?

Is This Legal?

AT&T’s declaration that “67% of consumers reference the White Pages on an average of 2.8 times per week” is a lie.

Does that mean AT&T is at risk of legal action by the Federal Trade Commission?

I dunno. But I’m guessing no, because the page is not identified as an advertisement. The claims are made by the publisher in what probably would be considered “editorial” content.

Editorial content can be erroneous, false, misleading, dishonest…and it’s none of the FTC’s business.

If my guess is correct, then:

1.  AT&T lied to the world.

2.  AT&T’s lie is immune to action by the FTC.

3.  AT&T should be ashamed of itself. “Don’t worry, we can’t be prosecuted” does not justify lying in your marketing.