The "Multi Media" Inauguration By the Numbers

I read with interest the "TV By the Numbers website" today and they announced according to Nielsen ratings that The Obama inauguration was watched by 37.8 million, second only to Reagan’s 41.8 million in 1981. The story went on to say that News websites at their peak had 5.4 million visitors at per minute at it's peak.

Personally, I took advantage of all the different mediums on Inauguration Day. In the morning on the way to work, I listened to the radio, in the office, I listened on the radio and I watched with great interest via the internet on my computer, back in the car on the way to an appointment, I was listening on the radio again. As a side note there was absolutely NO traffic on the roads as I drove from downtown Scottsdale to downtown Phoenix during President Obama's speech.

Throughout the day while not near a radio, TV or internet computer, I was checking the Inauguration news on various news websites through my Blackberry. When I got home in the evening, I watched the entire inauguration and subsequent festivities (six hours) on my DVR which I had recorded earlier in the day.

Furthermore, I have been to youtube numerous times to watch President Obama's speech, the flub on his swearing in and the featured music from the Inauguration.

According to the Washington Post, while the Regan Inauguration of 1981 might of had more television viewers than Obama's, there were actually more viewers when you aggregate television and internet viewing? Their math comes out to more than 49 million viewers. I don't know if that even includes DVR/TiVo viewing too.

Either way, It's official, we live in a multi-media world. Even our new President carries a Blackberry!

Here are the links to the stats:

Updated: Will Obama break 1981 Reagan record for inauguration Nielsen ratings? No.

From Nixon to Bush 43: Presidential Inauguration Ratings

Obama Inauguration 5th Most Watched Net Event Ever

With Right Math, Inauguration Is Second to None

Finally, I thought that the music during the Inauguration was extraordinary. Here are the links to Aretha Franklin singing "America' My Country Tis Of Thee" and "Air and Simple Gifts" arranged by John Williams for the Inauguration and preformed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill & Gabriela Montero.

Click on the links below to watch and listen:

Aretha Franklin singing "America' My Country Tis Of Thee"




"Air and Simple Gifts" arranged by John Williams and preformed by Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill & Gabriela Montero.

Makes Me Wonder

Back in the late sixties, I was the kid that would lay in bed at night and listen to top-40 stations around the country on my Panasonic, AM, transistor radio. One of the stations that I always enjoyed listening to was the legendary CKLW from Windsonr/Detroit. Not only was CKLW a great top-40 station, they were famous for their 20/20 news. These weren't just newscasts, they were expertly crafted, high-energy, sometimes shocking accounts of what was happening in the Detroit/Windsor metro right now!

The newscasts were as important as the music on the station. The news anchors always had that deep anchorman voice, they were Disc Jockey's without the music. It was fun to listen to, informative and the listeners were engaged, they never tuned out. These newscasts were radio's version of reality shows, and they were updated twice an hour.

I ran across this tribute to the CKLW 20/20 news and it made me wonder. Would this work today? We talk about how radio needs to be local. What's more local than local news? Reality shows are hot right now. This is reality at it's best.



I'm not suggesting that music radio stations today have a local news staff totaling twenty-four. That would be cost prohibitive in this environment. Although, with technology today, you could probably to the same work more efficiently with less than a quarter of the staff. What I am suggesting is that offering, live local, relevant content in a unique way is what is needed between the records today. It will only enhance the listening experience and create brand loyalty. What can be so wrong with that?

Commercial radio is reinventing itself as it has done throughout history. It might make sense to look at what others did before us, see what worked and made them successful. I've always believed that you can learn from the past.

Think about the re-purposing, podcasting, video and website opportunities CKLW could have had back in the day. They'd be sitting on a gold mine!

As Maroon5 says.... Makes Me Wonder......

I did It !

I did it! I finally broke down and bought an Apple MacBook. I justified it by telling my youngest daughter that we could share it. Big mistake! We fight over who is going to use it all of the time. I see another MacBook in my future.

Once again, everything about the Apple experience has been superb. The staff at the Apple store was more than friendly and helpful. They helped me chose the software that I would need and also suggested what software I did not need to buy.

When I got home, it was easy to set up. Although, I did make a few mistakes connecting and transferring my music over from my iPod, No problem. A quick call to Apple Care and it was all figured out. Within five minutes of my call, I received an email from them with my case number and a note suggesting that if I had any other problems I should call back and reference the number.

Went to Chicago last week and used the MacBook to watch movies and listen to music on the plane. I also updated the blog from the hotel connecting through the built in Wifi. While in Chicago, stopped in at the apple store, bought a few accessories and asked a lot of questions. Once again, the staff was friendly and helpful. I'm like a sponge with the Apple. Always asking questions and taking it all in.

Finally, I figured out how to use my Blackberry as a tethered modem through the bluetooth connection. Now, if Wifi is not available, I can access the internet through my phone.

I'm beginning to see why people who use apple computers are fanatics! It is a great experience all the way around.

I was talking with our friend Holly who is getting her MBA. She was telling me that they reviewed a case study on Apple and that Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot of any retail store. No surprise. Great product, Great Service!

Wallstrip.com featured Apple this week and detailed why they are successful.

The Internet is Better than a Chamber Mixer

A nice thing happened to me the other day. I received an email in my FaceBook account from Jan, a woman I worked with more than 20 years ago at KNIX. The note said "Mikey", do you remember me? Attached to her email was a picture of herself (I swear it was a picture from when we worked together because she hasn't aged). I was excited to get the note and we traded emails with each other bringing each other up to date on our careers, family and what we have been doing since we last saw each other.

Today, received a note from another friend Melissa. She was one of the first national buyers to place commercials on MEGA more than five years ago. She asked me to join her network on LinkedIn and also asked me to write a recommendation for her that will stay in her LinkedIn Profile. I gladly obliged. This sequence of events has repeated itself many times over the past year or so.

Over the last few years I have reconnected with many old friends, from people I went to camp with, old teachers, people I've worked with and kids I went to school with. All this was done through the internet using search engines like Google, Yahoo and/or social networks.

The implications for social networking are tremendous. Social networks bring people together, by region, school, industry, musical preference and any interest, issue or cause you can think of. LinkedIn, a business professionals site has more than 20 million subscribers across 120 different industries. There are more than 200 social networking sites from the small boutique/niche social networks to the large sites like MySpace which is one of the most viewed websites in North America. Social networking is so big the Rupert Murdoch's Fox paid $580 million for MySpace in 2005.

I subscribe to FaceBook, LinkedIn and Flickr. I also subscribe to a few groups on Yahoo and read a bunch of Blogs and forums on topics ranging from travel to pianos, photography, broadcasting, gadgets and much more. Technology allows me to network from anywhere with people anywhere anytime of the day. For me, this is nothing more than a modern day network mixer on steroids.

Social networking is fun, practical and will play a big role in our future!

Reality is Reality and it Works

I’m a simple guy and I admit that I love reality television shows. I first got hooked on them years ago when the Biography Channel was launched. In recent years I have been a big fan of the celebrity reality shows like The Osborne’s, Breaking Bonaduce, Run’s House, Rob and Big, Little People Big World, Growing up Gotti, MTV Cribs, Hogan Knows Best, Snoop Dog’s Fatherhood, Dog the Bounty Hunter, The Anna Nicole Show, Scott Baio is 45 and Single, Celebrity Rehab and my favorite, Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

Of the professional reality shows, I like Dr. 90210, Miami Ink, American Chopper, The Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers and Dirty Jobs.

Reality is huge. Just look at YouTube!

The one thing that all of these shows have in common for me is that in some way, shape or form, I can relate to almost each and every one of these people. We all have issues! They have the same issues, problems, joys and challenges that we have.

On a recent episode of Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the Simmon's dog Skippy runs away and the family is in a panic. Who can't relate to this? When you cut through it all, are these people really that different than us?

They might be rich and/or famous but other than that, they are just like us. Viewers can relate to that and I contend that is why these shows are popular. People, by nature are nosy too and they have a voyeuristic side to them. We like to peer into other peoples lives. Also, the shows are produced just like a soap opera. You get hooked and can’t wait until the next episode to see what happens. All of this is why I enjoy watching them.

In our business of radio, we are seeing an increase in testimonial commercials, or in today’s vernacular, “Reality” ads. A Reality ad is when you craft a commercial around interviews with customers and they speak about the GREAT experience that they had at a particular business. These ads work for the same reason that people enjoy watching reality shows. The listener can relate to the person giving the testimonial because it is a regular person just like them.

My friend Michael Crawford the General Manager/Partner of Peoria KIA is a master at this. He gets testimonials all the time from his customers. He puts the customers in his radio ads, TV ads and even includes them in his infomercials. Why? Because it works, and Michael can sell more cars because of it!

This is how it works.....

Suzy from Glendale hears the Peoria KIA ad on the radio with Tina in Tempe talking about how even with her bad credit Michael Crawford and Peoria KIA figured out how to get her into a new car and how nice the whole buying experience was. Suzy could relate to what she was hearing Tina say in the commercial, because she too has bad credit and furthermore, she was not treated so nice at another dealership because of that. So what does Suzy from Glendale do? She heads down to Peoria KIA to see if they can help her out of her credit jam and get her into a new car.

Reality/testimonial ads can work for any type of business, not just the automotive category. The one key to a reality ad is that it must be real and not contrived. The listener or viewer is to smart for that and can sniff out BS a mile a way.

So get real, It works!

The Future is Here.... Almost

Brian Cooley of CNET TV reports in from the 2008 Geneva Auto Show on the new unrestricted, built in access to the internet that BMW will be launching on select models in Europe. BMW is the first automaker to launch this service. They are using the EDGE technology to connect to the internet. This is the same technology used by many mobile phones, including Apple's iPhone.

BMW is also partnering with Google to download maps for navigation too.

Think about it. I can be driving through Europe in my new BMW and listening to my favorite "Old School" songs on MEGA from Phoenix. You know the other manufacturers can not be far behind. This is the future and the implications are tremendous across all electronic media.

I love technology.........