Boom 973 Toronto - Monitor.

Station Monitor.

Boom 97.3 FM Toronto, Ontario Canada.

CHBM-FM.

Strapline: 70s, 80s 90s.

Monitor: Thursday, Feb. 9^th 2012.

2:51-3:51PM Local Time.

On-Air Presenter – ‘KJ’ (M).

Duran Duran – The Reflex.

Live Link 1: Back of outro, over intro.

Re: New ZZ Top album coming in the spring. Song ID.

Dur: 14 secs.

ZZ Top – Tush.

Splitter. Produced. MVO. Boom Ninety Seven Three.

Dur 1 sec.

Platinum blonde – Situation Critical.

TOH Promo. Produced: MVO.

“This is CHBM-FM Toronto. But you, well you can just call us Boom Ninety Seven Three. (six song montage). The 70s, 80s and 90s are on Boom Ninety Seven Three”. Dur: 32 sec.

Def Leppard – Photograph.

Live Link 2: Over intro. Re: Weather comment. Song ID.

Dur: 18 secs.

Devo – Whip It.

Splitter: MVO. Dry.

“We tested positive for 70s, 80s, 90s on Boom Ninety Seven Three”.

Dur: 5 secs.

The Guess Who – Undun.

Live Link 3: Generic link over intro.

Dur: 7 secs.

Split Enz – I Got You.

Splitter. Produced. MVO.

“More 70s, 80s, 90s. Boom Ninety Seven Three”.

Dur: 6 secs.

Blue Rodeo – Diamond Mine.

Produced Promo: Station promotion ‘5 Seconds’ to win a holiday in Cancun.

Dur: 50 secs.

Commercial Break. 9 commercials.

Dur: 5 mins 10 secs.

Total Stop Down: 6 mins.

Station ID. Produced. MVO.

“Boom Ninety Seven Three”.

Dur: 2 secs.

Ramones – Blitzkrieg Pop.

Live Link 4: Traffic report. Over intro.

Dur: 15 secs.

BTO – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.

Splitter: Caller insert:

“Boom started it all off for me. Your music always kept me happy”.

Dur: 4 secs.

Murray Head – One Night In Bangkok.

Live Link 5: NHL Winter Classic 2013 announcement between Toronto and Detroit. Forward Sell next three songs.

Dur: 1 min 10 secs.

Commercial: 4 commercials.

Dur: 1 min 58 secs.

Legal ID: FVO:

“Boom Ninety Seven Three a member of the Astral family”.

Dur: 3 secs.

Commercial.: 5 commercials.

Dur: 2 mins 28 secs.

‘What’s Going On’ Feature. MVO intro/outro. FVO Read.

Dur: 40 secs.

Total Stop Down: 5 mins 9 secs.

Tragically Hip – Courage.

Live Link 6: Weather comment over intro.

Dur: 10 secs.

U2 – Beautiful Day.

Splitter. Produce. MVO:

“70s, 80s, 90s on Boom. Yep, that covers it”.

Dur: 6 secs.

Billy Joel – Only The Good Die Young.

Live Link 7: Sell for station Promo- win tickets to see Van Halen in Montreal.

Dur: 20 secs.

Van Halen – Jump.

Synopsis

Number of times ‘Boom Ninety Seven Three’ mentioned:

Live: 5.

Produced: 9.

Number of times ‘70s, 80s 90s Boom Ninety Seven Three’ is mentioned:

Live: 3.

Produced: 2.

Number of times website is mentioned: 4 (produced).

Number of live presenter links: 7.

Total duration of live presenter links: 2 mins 34 secs.

Number of commercial minutes (excl.promos): 9 mins 36 secs.

Number of commercial minutes (incl. promos): 10 mins 26 secs.

Number of Produced Splitters/TOH etc: 8.

Total Duration of Splitters/TOH etc: 57 secs.

Number of songs played: 15.

Total duration of songs played: 48 mins 37 secs.

http://www.boom973.com

http://www.bmacmedia.com

Why Radio?

Radio Presenter Workshop CD.

50 Minutes of The Very Best from the Live Presenter Workshops...all put together in a nice and neat studio-recorded package for you.

Five hours of intense radio coaching compressed into 50 minutes. 

Perfect to get your show kick-started !

Info: brian@bmacmedia.com

Available in January.

Wow ! I can NOT wait for 2012 to kick off. This blog will be at full steam. I have Radio Presenter Workshops lined up, Voice Over work to do, a Radio Instruction book to finish and this little baby to launch in January :-)

While the new Blog waits for it's New Year re-launch, I thought I might as well share my new Video Ezine Series with you here.

This is Video number One :-)

Radio Is Simple !!

Getting ready for Feb 1st :-)

Brian Speaks about being 'Honest' on the Radio.

Brian Speaks about being 'Honest' on the Radio.

What is the 'Thinking Behind The Talking'?

I was asked the other day, "Can you give an example of the Thinking Behind the Talking" Workshop.

Happy to.

Here's the type of thinking we do...

I was trying to think what would be a good way to begin the New year. Continue as before, or set the next twelve months up in a 'looking forward' sort of way?

Then it struck me.

Trawling through some notes in, what I laughingly call, my office - I came cross a piece I wrote for an industry magazine ages ago but never shared with you here.

I've adapted it a little bit , but the same message stands.

They are The Three Principles of Communication (Tah-Dah)!!

Well, we are communicators, so it makes sense to know a bit bout the thinking behind how we speak.

So, here goes:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->The Bonding Principle. People need people. That's a given. On the radio, knowing how to bond with your listener is essential to building up your relationship with your listener.

           There are a few easy ways you can do this:

a)  Enter their world.    Put yourself in their shoes and try to see things from their point of view. Use the word 'you' instead of 'I'."You might have seen...", instead of "I saw...".

b) Mirroring. Using words and phrases that your listener can relate to. The classical music presenter won't use the terms spoken by an Urban CHR presenter and vice versa. Know who you are speaking to. We do this in life anyway with the different people we come in contact with each day. No doubt you speak differently to your doctor and your best friend!

c) What’s in it for them? In our Workshops we call this the 'Who Cares' angle. If your listener doesn't care about what you have to say, then what's the point in saying it?

Bonding builds an emotional connection between you and your listener...essential to any successful relationship.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.       <!--[endif]-->Consistency Principle: When you know and understand your radio 'voice', then you will automatically know how to maintain it. Consistency doesn't mean saying or doing the same thing each day. It means your 'personality' is consistent. Your overall beliefs, values and thoughts develop into a particular pattern.

The brilliant thing about this is that you can then change your style when you need to. This might sound like a bit of a contradiction, but the thing is - when you are consistent it allows you to break out of your familiar pattern when you want to. Then return to the usual 'you'. Consistency actually frees you up so that your listener can accept the surprises more easily.

The principle says that you will be consistent and 'will change to ensure this is so' !

So, if you're the crazy, funny on air guy - it's OK to become serious or sad.

If you're the serious presenter, then being goofy sometimes is cool.

Consistency allows you to be free.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.       <!--[endif]-->Understanding Principle: Understanding other people is one of the basic keys to successful life relationships. Radio is no different. It works two ways - understand yourself (your radio 'voice') and understand your listener.

Understanding can come from past experiences together, shared moments or feelings, or habit. As Valerie Geller says "A great radio host is one I would be willing to share a five hour car journey with". Imagine your listener is in their car for the duration of your show - the ultimately successful relationship will mean that she is happy to spend that time listening to you.

That comes from a mutual understanding. It's a form of mental association.

Now, you don't get competent at these principles by time-checking and saying 'Coming up next'.

You achieve by planning and captivating.

I've often been told by presenters "But I work on a CHR with 20 second links...how can I do that"?

Doesn't matter. Work at it, plan it, captivate your audience. 

Twenty seconds or twenty minutes - the length of your link is irrelevant.

What IS relevant is what you do with your time. YOU. No one else.

Ultimately you are responsible for your gig.

Try these before your next show:

* Is the purpose of your link to entertain/connect/inform?

* Does each link have a 'Who Cares' payoff?

* Is the link relevant/inclusive/interesting?

* Are you talking (not reading)?

* Do YOU sound compelling and convincing?

* Does your link contain visuals for your listener? Can they 'see' your words?

One of the best books you can read on this is by the above mentioned Valerie Geller, called 'Beyond Powerful Radio'.

Let's make 2012 the year that brings the magic back onto radio.

You're part of this industry. You have the chance to be great and make your show great. Why not do this every time you go into the studio?

Be real, be you and try the three principles.

Build that relationship. You do it the real world already !

Adapt the three principles to your way of thinking because only YOU know how to get the most out of your show.

Next Workshop, Dublin Feb. 1st.

What Makes a Radio Star !

Is it having a great radio voice?
Is it being a 'solid jock'?
Is it the ability to 'hit the post'?

Nah.You know it isn't.
It's the connection you make with your listener. Through the words you use.

Listeners 'recognise' you through your words.
They also recognise themselves through you.
You are their mirror.
They either like what they see...or they don't.
They either stay with you...or they don't.

Have you ever made a connection with a particular radio presenter?
Is there one on air person you love listening to?

Ask yourself why?

Then ask yourself, are you creating that relationship with your listener?

Radio Stars know how to connect.
They allow their listener 'recognise' themselves through the words they choose.

http://www.bmacmedia.com/category/workshops/

Is It Time, I Wonder...?

It seems to me that a lot of radio blogs have closed down over the past year or so.
That's a pity, isn't it?
Well, I think so.

Is it time for this one to come back to life? I am giving it some serious thought. 
If you're reading this post it means the RSS feed is still active, so that's a start :-)

Let's see if the video stream still works :

Yup. That looks OK from here.

The more I think abouit this, the more fun it seems.
Maybe we could do contributions too...fancy writing stuff about radio?
Let me know.
The email is bmacaudio@googlemail.com

See you in a bit,
Brian.

It's Been Fun.

Well, I'm outta here !
Updating and maintaining this blog has been fun, but due to time pressures, I find that I'm not able to devote enough effort into the heart of the thing - so for the time being, I have to say Adios to blogging.
Thanks for reading it and thanks for the positive comments.
The whole idea behind this blog was to highlight the good in radio and purposely avoid the negative. I hope it managed to do that.
If you still want to read some of my stuff then you can subscribe to the weekly Ezine or hook up on Twitter. If not...hopefully I'll see you around.
Thanks again.

Cheers,
B.

It's good :-)

Saw this liked it...passing it on.

Billboard for KissFM Boise, idaho.

UK Radio Player.

What are the odds that this will be avaialable in Ireland?

A website that offers all UK stations will be running by Christmas and should be available to listen to by the middle of next year.

There are a couple of decent articles explaining it:

here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/single-website-for-all-uk-radio-stations-by-early-next-year-1809420.html

and here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6436051/Website-to-offer-all-British-radio-stations.html

The Mirror has a write-up about the fact that it could go mobile as well:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology/2009/11/19/bbc-uk-radioplayer-coming-to-mobile-115875-21835259/

Glasgow.

Robin Banks and Ali Mak from Virgin Radio in Dubai after our Workshop in Glasgow.

Glasgow.

Thanks to everyone for coming along to our Workshop in Glasgow on Saturday. It was a great day.
I arrived at the venue pretty early and was sitting by a window having a coffee and catching my breath when - Bam Bam Bam!! There's Robin Banks banging on the window at me with his big wide smile and infectious enthusiasm! So the day began and so it continued.
There were people there from all over Scotland, from London, Ireland and Dubai. All levels represented too, from rookie to 30 year radio vererans.
There were dis-agreements and debates but most of all lots of laughing and lots of fun.
Oh and sambos too.
There's more about it in this week's Ezine...just email me if you would like a copy sent to you.
So this note today is to acknowledge everyone we have met in the past 12 months across Ireland and the UK and to say 'thanks'. Been a hell of a year and I've enjoyed every bit of it.
This radio lark could catch on y'know ?!

Speaking of Christmas...

It's not always a good thing for you if you work on a station in North America and the format flips to Christmas music. I'm just saying.

This one has just been spotted and is the first one I've come across this year:

WNTR Indianapolis is now 107.9 The Christmas Station.

http://www.christmas1079.com

It's Christmas.

It's quite possibly been the most talked about and well received temp station in recent times (if the feedback I heard is anything to go by) and it's on the way back!

Christmas FM will return to the dial on November 30th - this time in Cork (on 106.7 app) as well as Dublin. Cork listeners will get a kick out of this station.

Christmas FM managed to attract a really top class range of on air people last time out and I know Garv and the team are making sure that this year's output is at the same level.

As Louis Walsh would say on 'X-Factor, "It's fun"!

People really took the station to their hearts last year and that's not easy in temp licence world :-)

From their website, herewere some of last year's presenters:

Keith Shanley ( Country Mix), Noel Mc Caul ( 4FM),Lynsey Dolan (County Mix), Bernie Jameson (4FM), Stephen Keogh (KFM Breakfast), Chris Murray (LMFM Breakfast), John Dunne (KFM), Hugh O'Brien (ex Nova, 2FM), Paul Scanlon (Ocean fm) Mike Moloney (ex Ocean FM, 2FM), Robert Walshe (Northern media group), Shane Pearce (Shannonside), Gerry Wilson (ex 2fm), Ollie Clarke (Northern Sound), Chris Maher (4FM).

Features and promos were voiced by the likes of Bob Gallico (ex Nova, East Coast), Enda Caldwell (Radio Riviera), Andrea Hayes (TV3), Gary Hamill (ex Nova), Dave Adams (Setanta Sports) and Daragh Roberts (98FM)

http://www.christmasfm.ie/

Ratings.

So the JNLR's came out yesterday. Hope everyone is pleased with their numbers. Although, we never fully are, are we.
In some cases if we go up we can feel as though we 'dodged a bullet'. Othertimes people will say "That's me employed for another three months!" and so on.
As Debbie Allen from Q102 puts it : It's like getting the leaving cert results every three months.
For high pressure shows like the breakfast gigs and big profile talk programmes, it is quite unnerving. The sightest movement can make all the difference. I've known some folk to have restless nights leading up to the book.
The JNLR isn't the world's greatest ratings system, we know that - but it's all we have, so we need to take notice of it as a barometer of sorts. Is the North American PPM system better (every month)? Who knows.
All I know is that radio is strong in this country and listeners are still talking about it. It's still relevant in this part of the world and that's down to presenters, producers, programmers and everyone involved in the business here.
Ratings? Sure they're important but they come and go. I'ver had some stinker books and then some amazing ones...and I'm still alive to tell the tale !
It's like anything in radio: some people will like you, some will dislike you and the rest are unaware of you. The unaware group is the one who's attention you want to get!
Anyway, no numbers breakdown from me this time - I'm sure you have sources for that.
Try here:
http://www.bci.ie

98.

So, Dublin's 98 hit the big 20 yesterday. Nice

I have a lot of great memories of working for that station. Back in 1998 I did the breakfast show (The Dawn Patrol) with Debbie Allen and Morgan Jones. I never laughed so much in my life...we were fired after three months ! You know what? They were dead right too. We were having a ball, but the show was awful! When they're right, they're right.

Then in 2000, I went back for more. Starting off with a year on the 1-4pm shift, then the guts of six years on afternoon drive (The Home Run) and the last year on the late night gig.

The great friends I have met in there include Dave Moore, Dermot Whelan, Hugh Cahill, Marty Miller, Adrian Barry, Johnny Lyons, Teena Gates, Brendan O'Loughlin, John Taylor, Liam Quigley, Barry Dunne, Debbie Allen, Lisa Sport, Tony Kiernan, Dee Woods, Cormac McDonagh, Robbie Fogarty, Tara Duggan, Claire Brock, Claire McCarron, Dara Quilty, Trina Mara, Emma McEvoy, Mark Byrne, Louise Hearghty, Toni Tenaglia, Matt Dempsey, Dan Healy, Mick Brady and on and on.

Of course there are some folks who don't know how to leave a place - such as Dara O'Beirne, who I first met in Sunshine 101 back in '86 and has been a fixture in 98 since day one!

Then there's Morgan Jones, who I went to college with (strange world sometimes).

To all the people who have worked on Classic Hits 98FM/98FM/Dublin's 98 - nice knowing you folks. To the real radio people who keep a station like this alive and kicking: great job :-)

Dusty has placed some audio on his website from the opening day...also, did you know that his DAP studio is in the original 98FM studio in the city? Take a look and listen here:

http://www.digitalaudioproductions.com/98-launch/

Obama Weather.

Always on the look out for funny and original ways to get the same message across?

I was on the KSON San Diego website and thought I better share this with you, if you haven't seen it already:

Obama Weather.

Instead of the usual blah-dy blah about wind and temperatures, they just show you what Obama would wear in this weather. Brilliant !

Today's Obama Weather.

I'm delighted to have the chance to take part in an A&O conference call across North America tomorrow with KSON morning man Cliff Dumas and legendary radio consultant Jaye Albright. If you are part of that call - talk tomorrow (literally) :-)

http://www.kson.com