Recommended

This thing ROCKS! Broadcasters, podcasters, voiceover artists: Get studio-quality sound on your computer, Windows or Mac. Just plug-it-into the USB port. And you’ll think that the price is a mis-print.

As the radio bloodbath continues…

Making a living without a job? I attended Barbara Winter’s daylong seminar of-the-same-name back in the 80s. The day began with her clarifying that it’s NOT making-a-living-without-working. It’s making-a-living-without-a-full-time-employer. She outlines and details 7 ways…three-or-four-of-which I was already intuitively doing at the time, I realized…just not as-deliberately as she detailed.

By the time The Beatles had “their first burst of success in 1964, they had performed live an estimated twelve hundred times. Do you know how extraordinary that is? Most bands today don’t perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers.”

Malcom Gladwell, whose new book is an instant phenomenon. His “Tipping Point” became an everyday catch phrase. And his “Blink” explored “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.”

Here’s the palm-size camera I used for most of my YouTube videos.
And I never even read the instruction booklet. Just point-and-shoot, then flick the little switchblade USB gizmo and plug ‘er into your computer to download videos. Or use the cable provided to see and hear videos on your TV.

You might already have video editing software on your computer and not know it! Mine came pre-loaded with Windows MovieMaker. No learning curve there either. Just drag-and-drop…and have fun with cool effects.


“You’re spamming listeners…”

…according to Seth Godin. “With the web and satellite radio and WiMax, radio’s not going to be one-way communication any more. It’s going to be two- or three-way,” he tells spellbound audiences when he speaks. Godin is author of the ground-breaking “Permission Marketing,” [Read a chapter FREE] “Unleashing The Ideavirus” [Download entire book, FREE] (PDF)

“99 Cows” [Download entire book FREE] (PDF)
“Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable” [Read a chapter FREE]
“Free Prize Inside : The Next Big Marketing Idea” [Read a chapter FREE]
“All Marketers Are Liars : The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World“

“Clear Channel is busy throwing parties for the Iraq war. And I hardly think that’s something you should be throwing a party for. So I didn’t support that and the next day I was fired.”

Howard Stern, announcing he was leaving “terrestrial radio,” on “Late Night with David Letterman,” November 18, 2004; recalled in recently-published “Right of the Dial: The Rise of Clear Channel and the Fall of Commercial Radio” by Alec Foege. Citing what it calls the author’s “objectivity,” the Publisher’s Weekly review characterizes Clear Channel as “one of the most reviled media conglomerates in the U.S.” Click the cover to read excerpts.

Over the next 10 years, the number of 50+ consumers will increase at a rate of 9 times faster than the growth of their children’s and grandchildren’s generations.

Every day in the USA, 10,000 people turn 50.
Local direct advertisers want to meet them.

How-To Make Money With How-To Shows: FREE: the 24-page Sales Manual I wrote for my client The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show. Beyond the Home Improvement category, this document will suggest a strategy for selling all your “how to” shows. Click here (PDF).

 

“Some little garage operation can only take away, say, .001 percent of market share from one of these monster companies.

However, a hundred thousand garage operations can take it all – and given the new business dynamics the Internet brings to bear, this can happen overnight.”
THAT’S what I say when I’m asked if podcasting is a threat to broadcasting.
But I’m only quoting the four smart guys who wrote “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” SEVEN YEARS AGO, years before the word podcasting was coined. This prescient book is MUST reading…and you’re not late. What you’ll read is still ahead-of-the-curve to most of radio.

Suddenly, your newscasts sound better: THE — repeat, THE — best book on the subject, period. Follow Mervin Block’s nuts-and-bolts tips, and your newscasts WILL be more interesting and relevant. Read excerpts Emmy award-winning NBC News correspondent Bob Dotson shares actual scripts, and tips that WILL make your news copy more sharper and more interesting…even when you’re working on hellish deadlines. CLICK HERE to read more about Bob’s book.

Seen your web stats lately? Are visitors bailing? Is your site intuitive? Or an obstacle course?

Usability design is one of the most important — yet often least attractive — tasks for a Web developer. Steve Krug offers excellent, to-the-point examples. Need more income from your site? Click the cover to read two chapters FREE.

Commercial and promo copy writers: Sell to “the old brain.” Christophe Morin recommends that ad messages target the most primitive part of the brain, what he calls “the old brain.” He identifies six stimuli that connect with this part of the brain:

Focus on THEM. “The message should be centered on the customer, not the company, product or solution.” Emphasize the before and after. Because the primitive brain responds to contrast, “the consumer must quickly understand the difference between the ‘now’ without the product or service and the ‘tomorrow’ with the product or service. No contrast, no decision.” Keep messages clear and concise. “Words don’t have much impact on the old brain unless they are simple, repeated and supported by images.” Make it visual. Incorporate compelling images in your copy. Focus on the intro and conclusion. “The old brain pays attention at the beginning of an interaction and at the end. So it’s essential to provide a strong introduction and a strong conclusion.” Emphasize emotions. But you already knew that, right?

“Radio had abandoned the idea of providing variety to listeners and instead concentrated on putting just a few well-tested songs on ‘heavy rotation.’ Who would tolerate such unimaginative programming when there were iPods?”

Read this book.
Even before I myself read it — and based only on its Wall Street Journal review — I bought a pile of copies, and sent ‘em to clients. Have a look.