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  • And the Winner Is… A&O&B’s Quick Online Poll of Listener and Industry ‘Takes’ on the 2013 CMA Awards Show

    • 11/08/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: Uncategorized
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    Blake, Taylor, and Florida-Georgia Line were among those who took home multiple CMA  trophies this week, but the show itself was a winner too with listeners and the industry in our quick and admittedly unscientific post-show online poll. And, just as I blogged  in our post-ACM Awards Show poll earlier this year, listeners were more

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  • “Re-Attention:” The Challenge of Getting Attention Again Once You’ve Lost It

    • 10/30/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: radio programming
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    Getting attention is hard enough. Getting “re-attention” may even be harder. Maintaining attention infers that attention is ongoing. “Re-attention” however suggests that there’s been a break in the level of interest, and that the reasons for this disconnect have to be identified and then reconciled before a relationship can be reestablished. There can be positive

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  • Thoughts from the Great Guerrilla Marketer

    • 10/12/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: marketing
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    I don’t remember when I first read something Jay Conrad Levinson wrote. I do remember though that it made me a fan. Having read Seth Godin’s blog last night that Jay – a former VP and Creative Director at the J. Walter Thompson and Leo Burnett advertising agencies – had passed away, I went to the office and pulled out my copy

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  • Country Too Pop? Too Rock? Listeners on Living in Harmony

    • 09/17/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio
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    We’ve all read it or heard it by now – the CJJR-FM interview where Zac Brown called Luke Bryan’s current single, “the worst song I’ve ever heard” and that some songs on country radio make him “ashamed to even be in the same genre.” Well, at least we know where he stands. And of course he’s

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  • Radio Algebra: Five Formulae for Success

    • 08/30/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: radio programming
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    “Radio Algebra: Five Formulae for Success” was something I wrote a number of years ago when Jaye and I presented a daylong programming and talent seminar in Atlantic City. I wrote them to be playful yet helpful, not of course to be serious math.     Through the years we’ve used the Five Formulae as

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  • We Are Bad Asks

    • 07/29/2013
    • Posted by: B Brenner Believes...
    • Category: Uncategorized
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        It seems like such a simple concept.   All you have to do is ask.  But the reality is, humans are inherently bad asks.  That was one of my favorite quotes from Conclave 2013.   John Baker did an incredible job demonstrating and educating about “The Asking Formula”.   He is dynamic, entertaining and well worth

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  • How Many “Web Gems” Were There On Your Show Today?

    • 07/19/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: DJs, radio programming
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    I love the All Star Game and Home Run Derby, but I’m glad baseball is back tonight. “Taters” and “Web Gems.” Bring ‘em on. Web Gems – for a long time an ESPN/Baseball Tonight staple conceived in 2000 and now a part of the vernacular for any great bit of glove work – featured the10

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  • Before And After Pictures: Country’s Musical Landscape In 2009 and Now

    • 07/15/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio
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    “Before and after” pictures can sometimes be startling. Especially when something that was iconic has changed dramatically, is no longer present or when something new “suddenly” appears. Because we’re paying attention to our formats on a daily basis and appropriately navigating our stations through changes, good programmers aren’t generally subject to before-and-after-shock. Even so, side-by-sides

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  • How Your Station Celebrates Holidays; Or, Once You Get Past “God Bless the USA…”

    • 07/05/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: holiday programming, imaging
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    Not surprisingly the most played gold titles on Country Radio yesterday (from Mediabase, July 4, 2013) were Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” and “American Soldier,” Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” and Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America.” While there are generally a handful of songs that can make up a

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  • PD “Muscle Memory” – A 5-Point Filter for Evaluating Daily ‘Opportunities’

    • 06/28/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: branding, radio programming
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    Using repetition to teach your body how to do something is a pretty simple way to think about muscle memory. Through repetition you can become very good (or in some cases, bad) at something – even if you go for a period where you don’t use those skills. While muscle memory is actually a type of

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