Posts filed under 'Radio'
MOG, radio reinvented
And my MOG, yes there is another player besides iTunes. MOG lets you get unlimited tunes a month for under $10. And yes, they have millions of tune choices and phone apps!
Listen to millions of tracks from major-label and indie artists. Enjoy your music ad-free in high fidelity streams directly from your browser — no software download required. Select individual songs, explore playlists, or just sit back and listen to radio with no limitations. Hello MOG … Roll over radio!
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Add comment July 23, 2010
Houston Classic Rock nominees for Texas Radio Hall of Fame
Classic rock and the DJ’s who brought that music to local radio audiences long before the rock was considered "classic" are fading fast. But Texas Radio Hall of Fame has found one right here in Houston. A former disc jockey at several radio stations in Tampa, Ft Lauderdale, and Chicago, Dwight “Shotgun” Cook finally ended up in Houston, where he reigned as the No. 1 rock jock at 104.1 KRBE for 3 years running.
Support the Houston creative community and the mission of Only In Houston and place your vote for Dwight "Shotgun" Cook to hold a place in Texas radio history. Voting members of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame can find the 2010 ballot here. (http://www.texasradiohalloffame.com/2010-trhof-voting-ballot.pdf) Then join all the fans at the big, always sold out, awards event held in the city with the most voters. Let’s make it happen in Houston!###
Add comment June 18, 2010
Smart Phone Marketing
So, what does the announcement of the new iPhone 4 mean to you? Will you sell you old phone and make the switch next week? I’ve already seen tutorials on how to sell your old phone on ebay. I do love the improved camera (front and back), the HD video, better email, wireless keyboard support and more. But I’ll probably keep my iPhone 3gs till it’s time to renew my phone contract.
Why? This is not an earth shaking new product – it’s an improvement or next generation of a winning product. It’s release insures that the smart phone is the hot and growing client platform for many moons. If you are not marketing to the mobile customer and consumer you are missing the fastest growing segment of computing. The platform is affordable and powerful. In fact, in some countries the desktop has all but been replaced by a smart phone.
It happened to radio with the mp3 player. Most people I know use their cell phone – not a home phone. Next, I predict that the smart phone will take over more of the TV and desktop/laptop market. Excuse me, I have a skype call on my phone …
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Add comment June 11, 2010
The death of Air America January 25th?
Many conservatives will probably rejoice at the latest words from Charlie Kireker, CEO of Liberal radio network Air America Media. It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.
So, on Monday, January 25, 2010 Air America Media goes away? Conservative or liberal? It doesn’t matter to me, but I count this as a big loss. I hate one-party governments and singular views. I don’t like Air America, but without them conservative talk radio will have less to talk about!
But don’t hold your breath; this is the second time that Air America goes bankrupt. Is it really over?
1 comment January 25, 2010
Media shapes your belief ~ part 5 (the power of a story)
We are told that every picture tells a story and they are worth thousands of words. However, looking at images alone can make us feel rather than think. Think about it, the printed word is primarily processed in the left side of the brain along with logic and linear thinking. While images are primarily processed in the right 
hemisphere of the brain. When you see an image the brain processes it all at once. Describe the same picture and it is described in a linear process, word by word.
Some researchers believe that too much TV can make your brain lazy. Does TV make you hyper? dumb? lazy? distracted? What was the question? We love images, especially moving images, kind of like we love sugar. Sugar is enticing, tasty and eating it is a great sensual experience. But too much sugar is bad for your body, just like too many images without other input can remap and restructure your brain to think differently. There is a difference in the manner that electronic media saturated generations perceive the world compared to generations or people groups not exposed to to it. We must reach our image saturated culture with stories to satisfy the right brain preference people have today. Stories are well received by readers and non-readers.
Like it or not we are affected by the forces of our digital age. Stories echo with greater intensity than ever before. A friend of mine recently went to Africa to bring clean water to areas in Sudan. Most of the people he visited did not read or have TV but communicated with stories. They even had the ability to repeat a detailed story after heating it one time. Perhaps more messages can be communicated in story-form to bridge generational gaps and people groups. Stories could be an effective method of teaching. It’s really a blast from the past because pre-medieval people taught their history through stories. Several savvy marketing companies have already realized the power of stores and I predict we will see more messages communicated in this manner in the future.
This post was inspired from the book “ Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith” by Shane Hipps
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Add comment July 7, 2009
Media shapes your belief ~ part 3
I came home from work the other day and my wife told me how our cat had gotten so excited. She plays a game with our cat Ringo – he knows to look out the French doors if she says “look at the squirrels” or “look at the birds”. Well a bird came right up to the window and they watched for many minutes. The bird had become enamored with his own reflection in the glass. It took him a long time before he realized that it was not another bird. The bird did finally understand it was a reflection. We need to see 
things for what they really are – to see the difference between the message and the media.
The Greek mythological story of Peruses and Medusa offers a solution. If you were like me you watched the Sinbad movies as a kid you know this story. Medusa was horrifying monster in the land. Everyone that gazed upon Medusa was turned to stone. But Peruses uses his shield. He watched her reflection in his shield, the gaze had no effect and he is able to cut off Medusa’s head.
Both this tale and the story of Narcissus use media, a low tech mirror to receive the message of a reflection. Peruses understood that the mirror medium was a reflection but Narcissus did not. In the same way if we fail to realize the difference between the message and the media, things can take on god-like characteristics and we might become their servants.
This post was inspired from the book “ Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith” by Shane Hipps
… to be continued
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Add comment June 24, 2009
Who killed the radio star?
The demise of radio has been predicted many times over the years. I started my career in radio when radio DJ’s were entertaining, creative and full of personality. Announcers would spend hours each day to prep for a three to four hour show. Now, sadly, radio has become all too melba toast, less personality and more corporate. DJ’s are instructed to read cue cards and to stick to the script. Where has the fun gone? Can we blame ClearChannel and other corporate owners? Probably not entirely. Who can forget this classic song …
Video is partially to blame for the demise of fun radio. If I was to describe the making of a 100 ton ice cream sundae with 80 tons of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Ten fire trucks are topping this mountain of ice cream with whipped cream sprayed through their fire hoses. Look to your right, here comes an Army helicopter with a 10 ton maraschino cherry. They are now slowly lowering the cherry to the top of this gigantic sundae! Can’t you visualize this? It’s because radio, like a good book, can be the theatre of the mind.
Don’t get me wrong – I love the video medium, in fact I am a movie nut. But I believe video can hijack ones imagination. The AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics warns parents to not plop their children in front of a TV before the age of two. Studies have linked early viewing with a risk of ADD, autism, aggression, obesity and dyslexia. These studies have nothing to do with content or TV programming – it’s the medium.
Video is a flickering mosaic of light patterns that stimulate neural pathways to re-pattern the brain. These new pathways are opposed to pathways required for reading and writing. Video images are extremely stimulating to the brain and are not healthy in large doses – much like too much good tasting sugar is harmful to the body. Video watching is mostly a passive activity that can encourage a catatonic state. Video brought us the couch potato.
Reading on the other hand requires concentration and is like brain protein. Both good radio entertainment and a good read can be fun and stimulating. Perhaps bringing back good creative radio with personality is easier than we imagined, it takes but a push of a button!
I salute those radio personalities that still stimulate and entertain. Yes, there is still some good radio out there. One of my favorite things to do on a road trip is to scan the dial looking for good radio. I heard some great stuff on my last road trip from Houston to Nashville, but there was not nearly enough to for me. I found myself playing my MP3 player instead of my radio, but that topic is for a future blog article.
by Dwight Cook
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Add comment June 11, 2009
How to save BIG in your next production
Wanna save a little coin on your next broadcast production? Try using donut-style or open-tag copy, you can save nearly 70% in music licensing fees! Music is licensed per spot and if you create one spot with a blank area for voice over copy or tags – you are creating “one” commercial.
Why would you want to create several versions? You may want to localize the message with different addresses, prices and promotions. When the music license is filed you only need to pay for one license fee for that one commercial. This can be a big savings because music license fees add up quickly. If your commercial is to be completed at a radio station or broadcaster you will save even more on voice talent fees. Many of our clients don’t trust the broadcaster to complete the commercial properly and we create all of the alternate versions. Once all of the versions are created we deliver them via dataSlap.
With a little pre-planning it’s possible to save money with music licensing, voice talent fees and studio time. Plan a little before starting production and save some money. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about sound and video production – the best way to reach me is @dwightcook on twitter.
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Add comment April 29, 2009
Are you feeling lucky? DataSlap it.
We all know how sketchy email can be, especially if the file must get there. Sending data by email has a well-known pitfall – You don’t know if your recipients ever received it!. Was the file too big, was their mailbox full or did it get caught in their spam filter?
If you’re responsible for delivering large files here is a method that can help take away some stress from the task. Know exactly when your file was received for a cost that is negligible. DataSlap.com is the solution that delivers files and gives you an accurate confirmation report.
Let’s say you are an advertising agency and you purchased some radio time. After you produce your radio commercial don’t email it to your radio stations; DataSlap it. Just create a new account and upload your radio commercial for shipment. Then add your contacts for the file delivery and DataSlap does the rest. Each radio station is notified to pick up their commercial and DataSlap.com logs the date, time, call letters and person that received the commercial. Both the agency and advertiser can get an up to the minute delivery report to confirm the file was delivered before the scheduled run time. Plus it learns your work patterns and if future deliveries are to be made the same group of recipients they are easily reused and the file does not need to be reloaded should it need to be reshipped.
DataSlap.com rates are low – most likely they are 50% to 300% less than your present shipping method. You may use full-service or self-serve and save even more when you do it yourself.
DataSlap.com has successfully shipped files worldwide. This is a great way to ship any file that “has to be there.”
Add comment February 26, 2009
UH BUYS RICE’S RADIO STATION?
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Add comment August 24, 2010