Got Dem Post-Holiday Blues, Mama...

Hope everybody had a nice Christmas; got a lot of cool toys and stuff.

This has gotta be the absolute worst week of the year; very little happening in the way of broadcast industry news - I'm the kind of person who needs that regular shot of fresh, new information every few minutes or so - and just a general feeling of everything being put on hold.

On the world stage, there's the Bhutto assassination in Pakistan, and the passing of Stu Nahan, the original play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia Flyers, and a TV staple of my childhood.

Other than those sad events, there's a whole lotta nothin' going on. Hurry up, January...

A Little Good News

OK, I was feeling a bit ornery when I layed down that previous postin'.

Not to wimp out, but in fairness I can say there are indeed some hopeful signs. To wit:

The continued meltdown of certain mega-companies will mean more diversified ownership...

More of said companies going private means less pressure from the Wall Street bean-counter types...

The return to prominence of programming-oriented people like Dan Mason and Randy Michaels...

More and more industry captains are coming forward and prescribing serious changes to our troubled industry (check Tom Taylor's excellent newsletter for updates). Even puffpiece publications like Talkers magazine are beginning to acknowledge that all is not right with the biz. Recognizing the problem is the first step...

With the continued downtrending of conservaclone squawk radio in many markets, eventually, even management will get the message...

It's still pretty grim out there, but there are indeed hopeful signs. Keep fightin' the good fight...

We're Doomed! DOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

Earlier today I got one of those “predictions for next year” questionnaire things from a broadcast trade publisher. Below you’ll find the list of questions along with my cheery responses:


The Biggest Obstacle Radio Will Face in 2008 is...

...the ongoing "brain drain" as the industry's best and brightest continue to be driven out of the business...


The Surprise Format of 2008 Will Be...

Well, FM Talk should be the surprise format; unfortunately, the industry, focused as it is on the quick fix, will continue to resist this, as well as any other true formatic innovation.


In 2008, Satellite Radio will...

Stay about the same. Yawn...


In 2008, HD Radio will…

...turn out to be a false messiah...


In 2008, Internet Radio will...

Plateau...more of the same ol' same ol'...


Radio Consolidation More? Less? About the same?

Clear Channel will stabilize, Cumulus and others will pick up the pace...


Personality Radio: More? Less? About the Same? Other...

Will decrease in both quantity and quality...


Howard Stern Will Return to Terrestrial Radio in 2008. Yes? No? Other: explain.

No...why would he jump back on a sinking ship...


By this time next year, PPM will…

...be a fiasco; the straw that killed the Arbitron monopoly (but maybe that's too optimistic)...


2008's Hottest Rising Female Personality Will Be...... (include calls or network)

Automation...


2008's Hottest Rising Male Personality Will Be...... (include calls or network)

Automation (deeper voice)...


2008's Hottest Rising Show Will Be...... (include calls or network)

Boring Rush clone...


By This Time Next Year, Don Imus will...

...be the world's highest-paid white elephant...


In 2008, Look for this TV Celebrity to Crossover to Radio...

Paris Hilton (why not, she's done everything else...)


In 2008, Look for this Radio Personality to Make a Crossover to TV...

Telegenic, boring Rush clone


For Radio, 2008 Will Be... A Better Year? Stay About The Same? Other...

Other… as in worse (notice how this puffpiece merchant can't even bring himself to write the "w" word). Music listeners will continue the exodus, turning to I-pods and other media. FM talk will not happen, despite a great potential, hobbled by the lack of imagination and courage on the part of the industry's top-level decision makers.

Radio is on the way out - and has only itself to blame.


Sorry to be so doomy-and-gloomy, guys - but the handwriting's on the wall as far as I'm concerned. Then again, I remember the words of a certain firebrand Political Science professor from my undergrad days: "I base all of my hope for the future on the fact that I've always been lousy at predicting it..."

-JW

That's The Sound Of Tancredo's Head Exploding...

If I were hosting a talk show these days and some dittohead asked for my position on the "immigration question"...

I'd tell them without hesitation...

"I share Ronald Reagan's view on the subject..."

Season's Greetings From Jimbo And The Boys

Yeah, yeah yeah...

Brass Monkeys, cont.

Just a couple of weeks ago (or so it seems) we were pushing a daytime high of sixty.

Temprature as I write this: ten below.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate winter...

The End (Boooooooong) Of An Era

Funny the things you remember over the years...

"A friend of mine saw a car with Alabama plates, and a bumper sticker that read, 'Drive 80, and freeze a Yankee this winter…' ”

It was the fall of 1979, and I was the morning DJ at a long defunct Top-40 station in Chester, Pennsylvania. I used that one-liner over the intro of the then-recurrent The Devil Went Down To Georgia. The line came out of a free sample of a radio comedy service called Fruitbowl. The first of many lines from said publication.

It was also the start of a beautiful friendship.

Three decades, two wives, and countless broadcast jobs later, I’m sad to report that Fruitbowl (more recently known as One-To-One) is closing up shop forever. Times have changed and the proprietor, a gentleman named Jay Trachman, is moving on to other things.

I’ve never been one for tearful farewells, and in any event it’s not so much an end as a transition; Jay and I will still be pals (I hope) because our relationship transcends our respective lines of work.

So, to Jay I’ll just say what I always like to say to anyone going through any kind of serious life transition:

Onward…and upward…

-JW

And You Know Who You Are...Don't You...

I had planned to post a comment here about a certain individual well-known for his defense of a certain religious organization - a comment of the "and the horse you rode in on" nature.

Then I realized that by doing so I would be playing right into his hands, giving him the one thing he really wants - free publicity (not that this blog is widely read, but hey - it's the principle of the thing).

Suffice to say, when a certain movie starring a certain ex-wife of Tom Cruise comes out this weekend, I intend to spend my hard-earned dough and see it.



So there...



Jesus, I need to get out more...

A Hazy Shade Of Winter

Here are a couple of shots from the storm last night here in Bismarck...

I Like The Cold - It Keeps Out The Riffraff

The Bismarck, ND Police Dept. has concluded that when the weather is really crappy out, fewer people like to go out and commit crime.

No...seriously...

Thanks to...no, not the Onion...the Bismarck Tribune (motto: Yesterday's News Tomorrow) for this gem...