My wife, partner, and friend of 40 years, Delena “Dee” Kelley, was laid to rest today. We met 41 years ago — November 25, 1970 — and I have cherished every moment of our time together, even when we occasionally disagreed on topics large and small. When Delena was diagnosed with liver disease in early [...]

Most people intuitively understand the concept of supply and demand. When you have an abundance of something (bananas, I-Pods, gasoline) and demand is low, prices decrease. When those same products are short in supply and demand is high, prices tend to increase. Despite the best efforts of man and government to the contrary, the supply [...]

Hallmark Cards adopted the slogan “When you care enough to send the very best” to distinguish their line of greeting cards from the competition. It has served them well over the years mainly because it is a “truism” — when one really cares, only the very best will do. In 2011, how are your stations [...]

There was recently much buzz in the trade press about clutter on Radio. This revelation was about as shocking as announcing there are peanuts in peanut butter or corruption in government. Of course Radio is cluttered, and it’s primarily due to the never-ending desire of owners for increased revenue. Back in the early days of [...]

One of the most painful radio station experiences is being forced to give away profits. Specifically, giving away cash in the form of an F.C.C. fine. Yet several times a year I am amazed to see stations forced to surrender thousands of dollars — often ten thousand or more — in fines because of missing [...]

Recently, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission “clarified” that body’s latest dictate requiring a “non-discrimination disclaimer” be included on all broadcast advertising contracts. Chairman Julius Genechowski, displaying a level of naivete possible only by a government bureaucrat, expressed his belief that a station would routinely decline a schedule that even hinted at any discrimination [...]

It’s Friday night and you’ve got dinner plans. You’ve been looking forward to enjoying the delicious tacos at your favorite Mexican restaurant. The food is so good that you went there Monday night and now it’s time for another visit. Oh, sorry! You can’t go to your favorite Mexican eatery. The federal government has a [...]

In Greek mythology, the first female — Pandora — was given a box (actually a jar) she was told not to open. Of course, she failed to heed the warning and opened the box…allowing all the evils inside to escape and plague the inhabitants of the earth. As of late, the internet web site Pandora [...]

When station revenues begin to decline, management quite sensibly looks to reduce expenses. One obvious example of red ink on the P&L is the monthly payment to Arbitron (or whatever ratings service your station employs). While it’s tempting to not renew the ratings contract and pocket the savings, most sales people shudder at the thought [...]

It has been another long year of discontent on the economic front and Radio, to my disappointment, has yet to recover along with the rest of the country. With two years to encourage renewed economic growth, the current administration has been able to barely make the needle quiver. While Radio station operation is a far [...]