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  • The “Kings of Radio:” How Listeners Define A Great Talent

    • 05/25/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: DJs, radio programming
    No Comments

    With Cousin Brucie, one of CNN’s Top 10 As reported this week in All Access, CNN posted an article on the “Kings of Radio,” their Top 10 List of “All-time Great DJs” complete with mini-bios and audio clips. Fun? Absolutely! It’s worth clicking just to hear one of Casey Kasem’s signature teases from 1963 and Howard

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  • You Can and You Must

    • 05/14/2013
    • Posted by: B Brenner Believes...
    • Category: Uncategorized
    No Comments

      If you work in Country radio, you absolutely must review Jacobs Media’s Techsurvey9; especially if you are a Brand Manager, On-air Personality, Promotion Director or Digital Creative Director.   The findings will not shock you but they will certainly reaffirm what we veterans have known for a long time; Country is a mainstream format with passionate

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  • Sharing the Love: Connecting with Listeners by Expressing Passion for the Music

    • 04/19/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music, country radio programming
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    “Lovin’ on the Music” is a phrase we use at one station group to remind ourselves that we need to regularly demonstrate our passion for music just as our listeners do. That we remind ourselves of this is both deliberate and strategic. We remind ourselves because we recognize the distractions that come with working at

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  • The NAB Crystal: One of Radio’s Most Special Awards

    • 04/10/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: radio
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    I’m a fan of meaningful awards (meaningful being the key word).  Ideally, they showcase the ‘best of the best,’ those who have risen above their peers. And as such, they not only shine in the spotlight themselves, they give the industry they represent that same opportunity as well. Country is coming off a great night

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  • Are You A Radio “Iron Chef”?

    • 03/19/2013
    • Posted by: B Brenner Believes...
    • Category: Uncategorized
    No Comments

    The best radio talent understands how to mix everyday ingredients to create an exceptional recipe.  If you’re not familiar with Iron Chef America, you should study it.  All 4 chefs are given the same five ingredients and an hour to create a masterpiece.  The competition is fierce, fast paced and brutal.  Welcome to radio.   Think

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  • Making A Difference – for Better or Worse

    • 02/17/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: air talent
    No Comments

    How cool for country radio to have two of its artists- Darius Rucker and Randy Houser – featured on Saturday Night’s Making a Difference segment on NBCNightly News (watch that segment here). Both are members of Musicians On Call (Chuck Wicks, Chris Young, Joanna Smith and Mark Wills are also among the Nashville-based volunteers) an organization that connects musicians

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  • When the Ratings Are/Aren’t What You Expected: A Process for Uncovering What’s Important

    • 01/30/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: radio
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    Ratings data is noisy. Along the pathway to “is this real?” meaningful data rests alongside the spurious or even potentially misleading. And usually when those results are better or (fortunately less often for our stations) worse than expected, there are questions. Also usually within the data there are some (but likely not all) answers. You’ll

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  • Welcome Back: Country Returns to New York Metro. What Drove Past Success

    • 01/22/2013
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: Uncategorized
    No Comments

    Something that’s been a long time coming happened yesterday (Monday, 01/21) in the nation’s number one market: New York City got a country station again. Having launched WYNY as a country station for NBC and programming it from 1987-1992, I know that the New York metro is a great country market.  As with many formats,

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  • Country Music 2012 Year in Review Part 2: How 2012’s Music Compares to Years Past

    • 12/28/2012
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music
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    2012’s music has something big going against it: 2011. 2011 of course was a great year for country. We saw new high water marks for a number of our metrics including overall Like A Lot and Total Positive scores.  So any comparison to 2011 has to take that in to account. Having said that, 2012

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  • Country Music 2012 Year in Review Part One: Is Luke Bryan Worthy of All Those Awards and Kudos?

    • 12/21/2012
    • Posted by: Mike O'Malley
    • Category: country music
    No Comments

    Oh yeah. No doubt.  Fueled by Tailgates and Tanlines, 2012 was Luke Bryan’s year. This month alone, Luke racked up 9 awards including Male Artist of the year and Artist of the Year on the fan-voted American Country Awards December 10th on Fox (plus, earlier this year, an American Music Award).  He also was singled out

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