Fallout shelter radio ads

I remember well the back-yard fallout shelter craze (mania?). The family that lived behind us had one. It was clearly large enough for just one family but it was considered uncool to talk about who would live and who would die. And we lived in the landing approach path to the Strategic Air Command base in Blytheville, AR. Generally considered a prime target for a Russki ICBM.

The nice folks at DinosaurGardens.com have posted some creative radio spots for Survive-All Fallout Shelters. (“Civil defense approved, FHA approved, no money down, five years to pay!”)

  1. Maximum Protection (General)
  2. Comparison
  3. Value
  4. Equipment
  5. DYS
  6. Maximum Protection (Steel and Concrete)
  7. DYS (short)
  8. Maximum Protection (Steel and Concrete) (short)
  9. Maximum Protection (General) (short)

Interview: Jason Rodgers, Fez-o-rama

RogersWith one of his custom designed fezzes sitting comfortably on my head, I got Jason Rodgers on the Skype horn today to find out the story behind the fezmonger and Fez-o-rama.

Some are born to the fez, others are called. I believe Jason falls into the latter group. I was surprised –don’t ask me why– to learn that Jason is trained in fashion design and might have written a text book or two.

I asked him about celebrity clients, his favorite designs, The Cult of the Eye, his fictional partner, “Joe,” and ukuleles.

AUDIO: Interview with Jason Rogers 11 min MP3

Jason is the newest member of The Royal and Exalted Order of the Fez.

This American Life: Poker Pros

“Ira travels to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, gets hooked, and tries to figure out what it would mean if he ditched his job in radio to become a professional card player. What he learns: a professional gambler can suffer two heartbreaking losses back-to-back, costing him over $100,000, and moments later, at the casino bar, calculate the million-to-one odds of his unlikely losses…in his head.”

By all means, go to the This American Life website and listen to the program there. (26 minutes)  As always, this is brilliant story telling, but it’s a must-listen for anyone that ever thought they’d like to play cards for a living.

iPhone Confessions: George Kopp (Week One)

George is a serious Techno Boy. He has a geek job with the state for his day job (all Windows) and moonlights on Macs (and some PC’s) for love (and a little money).

George knew he’d eventually own an iPhone but thought he could wait awhile. He made the mistake of stopping by the AT&T store (Day Two) for a look-see and wound up springing for the 8 gig model.

George’s love-of-all-things-Mac is tempered by his no-bullshit-geek-o-rocity. By that I mean, he expects much from his techno-toys. But once he got the iPhone in his sweaty little hands, it was prom night. I got caught up in that as we talked and had to edit our chat more than I intended. Sorry, George.

Listen/Download: 5:30 MP3

iPhone Confessions: Dave Morris (Week One)

Dave MorrisDave Morris is the voice of great radio stations and television stations, film studios, syndicated shows and more. World wide. I know this because it says so on his website. He’s also a blogger (a good one). And a gadget junkie.

He was one of those crazies standing in line the day the iPhone went on sale, so we called him up for a report on Week One.

Unlike some of the others we’ve chatted with for this series, Dave is not a Mac guy. Windows all the way. But he’s only slightly less “gushy” about Apple’s latest creation.

Download/Listen: 12 min MP3

iPhone Confessions: Tom Piper (Week One)

If the hype surrounding the iPhone hasn’t subsided yet, it will soon. Then what? Once the new has worn off this Next New Thing, will users still love ’em, or will they –like your mom’s cooking– be taken for granted. Or, worse yet, will the shortcomings (so well chronicled) become annoying and tiresome?

Tom PiperThose are some of the questions I hope to answer with a series of  interviews I’m calling The iPhone Confessions. Brief visits with a few friends who took the iPhone plunge. Are they still gushing at the end of Week One? Or grumbling?

We’ll start with a visit with Tom Piper, a looonnnggg time Mac enthusiast and Early Adopter (LTMEEA). He was there when the iPhone was announced and in line to buy one of the first batch. The interview runs about 12 minutes.

Download/Listen: 12 min MP3

Interview with Dave Shepherd

Dave Shepherd Fifty years ago, Jerrell Shepherd mastered a form of broadcasting alchemy that turned small town radio lead into gold. It wasn’t much of a secret, however, since he readily shared it with countless radio station owners and managers who made the pilgrimage to Moberly, Missouri, in hopes of bringing some of Shepherd’s sales and programming magic back to their stations.

While most small market broadcasters were content to get “their fair share” of local advertising budgets (the bulk went to the local newspaper), Shepherd’s sales reps were trained to ask for it all and believed in their hearts they deserved it.

Mr. Shepherd’s approach to programming his stations was deceptively simple: report anything and everything that happened in each of the communities covered by his stations’ signals. The KWIX and KRES “Red Rovers” showed up just about every high school football game, junior high choral concert and chamber of commerce ribbon-cutting. And the Shepherd stations put it all on the air. Always with local sponsors. Lots of local sponsors.

Dave Shepherd grew up in the radio business and built on his father’s success, growing The Shepherd Group to 16 stations before selling them to a Florida-based company called GoodRadio.TV, for $30 million earlier this year.

I got Dave on the phone for a little chat and he talked about where small market radio has been… and where it’s going. He shared some thoughts on the Internet, iPods, HD, satellite and Google Radio.

He says he decided to sell because it just wasn’t as much fun as it used to be. And, in the next breath, he wondered if some of his father’s small town magic might work in The Big City.

AUDIO: Interview with Dave Shepherd 25 min MP3

Voice recording on the iPod nano

One of my rationalizations for buying a new iPod nano was the Voice Memo feature. Plug a mic in and record directly to the iPod. I had no idea how well this would work until tonight when I plugged in a tiny little mic called the iTalk Pro from Griffin Technology.

Pops into the bottom of the iPod and records in mono or stereo. The interface on the iPod is a wonder of simple design.

I’ll let you decide on the quality but I can certainly imagine recording an interview with this delightful little gadget. And I’ve always got the nano with me anyway, so…

Interview: Dan Shelley, WCBS-TV

In July, my old friend Dan Shelley left WTMJ in Milwaukee and moved to New York as Executive Editor of Digital Media for WCBS-TV. I spoke with him this morning about digital media, journalism, blogging, radio, life in NY and riding in the elevator with Andy Rooney. Dan is pumped about his new job and living in Manhattan.

AUDIO: Interview with Dan Shelley

Dan offered this warning to broadcasters: “If you don’t do more than just stick your toe in the water, if you don’t plunge head-first and totally immerse yourself in the digital media future, and do it now, you will die.”

For those that might have missed it, I interviewed Dan in May, 2005, right after he took over as chairman of the Radio and Television News Director’s Association. He talked the “digital talk,” and now he’s “walking the digital walk.”