Media Watch

If you're one of the sad sacks that works (or worked ) for a company that doesn't think a web site is of any consequence...well, that's telling of your company AND you. Commercial media is about attracting an audience and convincing advertisers you have a big one. The only remaining issues are value, orders and collecting revenue. That's been a constant for hundreds of years and the dynamic is not likely to change this century. However, it's not gonna be 1970 forever; audiences, advertises and technologists change their minds about the particulars from time to time. So the recipe for success? Adjust methods accordingly. Season for taste. Always serve hot.

Click to Play

Click to Play Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson visits with Van & Bonnie on WHO Radio, Des Moines, Iowa.

According to the Des Moines Association of Realtors(tm), over the past 30 years, the median price of existing homes has increased an average of 6% every year. And since 2000, the average home sale price has increased more than 25%. Sound sustainable? If the median inflation rate is 3%, then for the past 30 years, homes have outpaced inflation at twice the rate. And in the last decade, the sale prices have skyrocketed. And the only thing that can mean is that people are able afford less home than in years past -- unless, of course, you remove borrowing restrictions and open up mortgages to people who can't pay back the money.

My first paid ad was for a place called “Computer Center”, located in Central Plaza in Fort Dodge and I got the gig as a creative contest winner while in college. Their business was computer training and troubleshooting. Their goal was clear; they wanted walk-in business prospects. The spec was for a 15-second ad: (SFX: Downward sweep to bass chord) “Computer Center will train you. Computer Center will troubleshoot. Computer Center. Computer Center for today's competitive business. Central Plaza. Fort Dodge.” (SFX: upward sounder) The strengths of the ad were bullet-point branding and memorable audio punctuation. Unfortunately they vacated the campaign in short order and failed altogether by the following year.

Hopefully you're already sold on the fact that you need a web site. Now we're planning what should be presented therein. Remember to give your customers a point of action that’s easy, like visiting your easy-to-remember web site, the half-step between your advertising and your brick-and-mortar store. Therefore, it should identify clear benefits to the visitors. Every step of marketing is a sales pitch. From the first words in your advertising, you're trying to convince people to stay with you throughout the pitch. Later in the process, you're asking prospects to take specific actions. After they've visited your web site, the next step should be clear: to call, email or visit. Unless you're closing the deal on an ecommerce web site, its purposes should be as sales literature and a point of contact, not a dumping ground for hard-nosed disclaimer speak, dry facts and boring data that makes legitimate prospects cringe. Some business people have become hardened ...

When you run a business and wait on customers who have chosen you over a sea of competitors, you owe it to them to objectively judge how well you're doing. Put yourself in the shoes of a customer from time to time. Look at the hoops they have to jump through before they’re able to get back to their lives. Pay attention to wait times, and what people see while they're waiting. If someone’s standing at a counter waiting, they're keenly aware of the performance of your employees. They see your people plod along oblivious to customers. I actively count employees are on the job and compare them to active orders being filled. I tend to resent watching employees perform tasks unrelated to serving customers ahead of me. When nothing is being done to advance orders, the wait seems endless. It’s frustrating to watch servers stand in one spot as they wait for people who plod along behind the scenes, who have no sense of purpose and who are oblivious to the business at hand -- a...

Magazine advertising aside, newspapers get the bulk of ad dollars, far ahead of radio. And in fact, more is spent on Internet ads than radio campaigns by $1 billion. But none of that changes the apples-to-apples demonstration that proves radio’s response is 14 times more effective than newspaper’s when it comes to driving traffic to a web site. Want to see the test? http://www.mondaymorningmemo.com/?ShowMe=ThisMemo&MemoID=1768

If you're in retail business, don't make the mistake of thinking you're in the entertainment business in your marketing. Awards don't sell snow blowers. Be cautious not to use cute ideas for cute-sake. Grab attention in an unfamiliar, attention-getting way, but remember to bridge your opening line in a believable way, and support the opening and bridge in your copy. Opening example: "Now would be a horrible time for a flat tire!" If you've placed this ad during morning drive, at the height of morning rush hour, you now have seized the attention of every driver on the road at that moment, and each are now imagining what a flat tire would do to their day. The ad doesn't have to be about tires or tire repair. In fact, that would be too obvious an opening even for a towing service. But now that you have their attention, carefully craft your bridge to bring people into your story. Bridge example: "You don't have any spare time today and there a...

I recently saw part of a silent television commercial for a local car dealer, and I'm frankly surprised I even noticed it. I missed at least the first half of it because I was enthralled by a piece of lint that was hovering in the air at that fleeting moment. Then my advertising brain took note of the spectacle before me. As a broadcaster for more than twenty-five years, I've learned the power of sounds in advertising. I'm a huge believer that the right sounds are capable of longer life in the mind than a visual. I'd never let a client of mine waste that moment. It was reminiscent of that cable TV channel that's dedicated to placard advertising with some generic music in the background. Back to the car ad. It was clearly trying to be clever in its silence, but failed miserably in the message, which unsurprisingly I cannot relay to you. A silent television ad may as well go into a newspaper or on a web site. Use clever audio to get attention if you think it...

Click to Play Billy McGuigan is as comfortable playing Beatles or Buddy Holly music and he demonstrates the ease as he sat down with Larry Cotlar on Cotlar & Company on KXnO.  Billy's next stage progect involves Beatles music, which you can see him play here.

Click to Play HTML clipboardMichael Gartner was the "Designated Bonnie" Monday, September 29 with Van Harden on WHO Radio in Des Moines, Iowa.  Michael is a past president of the Iowa Board of Regents; was a sports reporter and eventual president of the Des Moines Register, executive of Gannett and USA Today; writer for the Wall Street Journal and USA Today is currently Chairman of Racoon Baseball, owner of the Iowa Cubs.

Click to Play Erin Kiernan guest-hosted the WHO Radio morning show along with Van Harden as "Designated Bonnie".  Erin is the co-anchor for Channel 13 News at 5, 6, & 10 -- and is married to Des Moines City Council Member Michael Kiernan.

Click to Play Stacy Keach in Des Moines for his part in the theatrical production Frost Nixon at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines through October 5, 2008.  He visited the WHO Radio studios and talked with morning show host Van Harden about the performance, golf, favorite leading ladies and recent project.

A paper note was issued to students today referencing the firearm incident: Dear East High Community, I want to make sure you are aware of an incident which occurred at school on Monday September 29th, 2008. While conducting a routine investigation into another matter, it was discovered that a student had inadvertently left a small caliber target rifle in their vehicle. The weapon was not loaded and was cased. There was no ammunition found. There was no evidence of any sort of threat against a student or staff member. However, we take any incident involving the possession of a weapon on school grounds very seriously, and students who violate the school district's weapons policy are subject to disciplinary action, which may include expulsion. I am thankful to our staff at East High School who worked on this situation, and I want to make sure that you heard from us first hand about what happened. The safety of our students is always a top priority. If you have any questions, ple...

Click to Play Brandon McHose performed the title song from his new CD Token on KXnO's Cotlar & Company, Des Moines, Iowa.

You've probably heard of the web sites that let you logon and see how your kid's doing in school. Not in Des Moines's district, but in many progressive communities. Sure, we get a notification in the evening (when it's too late to call and find out why) that your student missed a class, but you can't reply & hope for any further details. In 2008, I'm floored that our school's in the dark ages when it comes to useful technology. There's a lot that should be going on that isn't, as I eluded to in a a recent business discussion group. I would propose a state-wide network that connects all able students via connected computers. They logon to the school server every morning when school commences and their entire day is managed within their account. Exercises and assignments, including tests and reports are done through their accounts. School administrators, teachers and parents can watch, in real time, student activity and progress. Statewide st...

I'm a nut for the Fourth Amendment and I think privacy is an important right that can't be taken lightly. So it's from this basis that I'm inspired to comment on the growing level of general video surveillance by US governments, locally and nationally. Europeans have installed millions of surveillance cameras they call CCD , a name derived from ‘charge-coupled device’, the actual electronic retina of a video camera. The US is playing catch-up in major metropolitan areas, implementing their own camera programs. It’s all in the name of security, but some wonder if Uncle Sam is becoming Big Brother and challenging our rights to privacy. In assessing whether government surveillance of ordinary citizens in public view goes too far, we have to analyze whether citizens should have a reasonable expectation of privacy in any give area or circumstance. The constitution provides for the right to privacy, but that doesn ’t apply in open areas where you or your personal affects a...

For years, football fans have parked at Iowa City's Olive Court and passed a ball, grilled brats and enjoyed a beverage. But the former owners say they're tired of cleaning up the mess. Sheryl Neuzil is quoted on KGAN's web site as saying they parked 700 cars every home game for a fee of $25 per car. That comes to $17,500 per home game. At that rate, six home games per year generates $105,000. Were they really tired of it or did they see much higher dollar signs by selling it off to a developer? KGAN: "Neuzil signed a deal Wednesday and 31 condos will be here next fall." She said she was sorry it happened, but "...that's the way it goes." The "it" being business, I imagine.

I like complaining about the way media professionals misspeak regarding the Internet, not really understanding how it works. They'll skip the "." between the "www" and the domain name and say, "w-w-w-c-n-n-dot-com". Or they think they have to refer to a slash in a web address as a "backslash" (clearly a regular old "slash"). My other big pet peeve is putting spaces in filenames. This would've been unheard of back in the DOS days, when filenames were limited to 11 characters ('mypost10.txt', for instance) and when spaces were simply not impossible. Filenames were also not case-sensitive. But today, with long filenames, people try all sorts of crazy things, like long desriptions, complete with caps and spaces and bizarre characters. And while most technology supports long filenames, not all are fully friendly to them, most notibly web browsers and email programs. Case in point: when you upload a file that has spaces ...

I'd put Des Moines' school district budget at $385M, from the State of the Schools speech last fall. That's wildly outdated today. Board member Jon Narcisse said [on WHO Radio] on August 2 that the budget was $415M this year. Plus he said the district had tapped its $20M reserve. Assuming that's accurate, I'll adjust my figures and restate the cost per pupil is now $14,500 this year or $80 per day, assuming 30,000 kids still attend school in the district. $80 per day! With a student-to-staff ratio of 6:1, that's like paying each of the 5,000 district staff members an annual salary of $87,000 to teach your kids. If you could entrust three competent people with 18 students and say, "go spend 180 days with these kids, secure the needed resources, and teach them what they need to know," would it cost $261,600? For that, you could build the classroom, feed and cloth the students, equip them each with notebook computers, fully loaded with world-class...

I was reading a welcome message by Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy Sebring (http://www.dmps.k12.ia.us/schoolboard/1sebring-index.htm) and her State of the Schools speech entitled. "EDUCATING DES MOINES. THEN. NOW. TOMORROW." (http://www.dmps.k12.ia.us/schoolboard/1stateoftheschools07.pdf) from October of '07. From these two sources, I retrieved some facts that paint a picture. Here, let me help you with that brush. The budget for school year '07/'08 was $385,500,000.00 (that's 385-point-5 Million dollars). There are 30,000 students and 5,000 staff. That seems like a lot of money and a lot of staff, doesn't it? I think so. I'll break the big numbers down into the most singular form possible for context and to help us get our mind around what they represent. Let's start by figuring the per-student dollar figures. It's $12,850.00 per year and $71.39 per student per day for 180 days. There's a 6:1 student-to-staff r...

Smartphone Start-Ups Have a Friend in This Fund - NYTimes.com This could be something. iFund invests in select startup companies that write applications for the iPhone. To give you an idea of popularity of these apps, Apple's iPhone App Store has served 60 million of then since the store's launch last month. Blackberry maker RIM (Research in Motion) sees this trend and will announce a yet-to-be-named fund specializing in developers of applications for its smart phone. Are we paying attention? One thing we don't fully appreciate about hundreds of millions of smartphones in users' hands is that they have eyes, ears, know their location and are connected to the Internet. Developers can leverage these assets to unimaginable ends -- with potentially questionable aims, possibly creating a transparent world or the mother of all big brothers.

I don't believe the paper's decline is because of any perceived liberal bias, dittoheads. Fewer readers get their information from print because there are so many free and instant sources -- including this web site. 1. Local delivery audiences are dying off -- literally; and 2. local advertisers don't understand how to market to an audience that's obviously shifting to online sources. Consider that a typical newspaper reporting staff today is comprised of two-thirds online content producers. That's telling. And it lends a lot of credence to the Craigslist argument in the comment section of this story; my baby boomer mother uses it. And partly because...it's the economy, stupid. This is an awkward time for traditional media, but I assure you that "liberal bias" is nothing more than a branding campaign aimed at the feeble-minded.

When we see what has become of our nation and the impending crisis that faces it, we the people should take action and not wait around for the next election cycle. Problem The economy, the war, forced taxpayer charity, immigration issues, diminishing standard of living and inaccessible health care in this country are all related to the ineptitude of congress, who acts as agency for corporate and foreign interests instead of its constituents. Solution A temporary national charter mandating the legislature, executive and judicial to implement and support the following measures immediately: Recall all diplomatic personnel, armed forces and materiel to US soil and ports Withdraw from world financial complex Eliminate Homeland Security Secure all borders and waters Place a moratorium on all all foreign trade and aid Eliminate national income tax Redesign transportation infrastructure to support universal electrified rail Replace coal and petroleum derived energy with wind, solar, hydro and ...

In 1794, Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees. James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object, saying, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." James Madison, you'll recall, is the acknowledged father of the Constitution, and he couldn't find constitutional authority for spending "on the objects of benevolence." Your congressman might say, "Madison was all wrong; after all, there's the 'general welfare' clause." Here's what Madison had to say about that: "With respect to the two words "general welfare," I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by...

Narrow-minded partisan hacks look pretty silly calling each other names, while extolling the virtues of politicians who facilitated the sale of our country to China and the Mideast at bargain-bin rates. Because of these petty distractions, people still hope, sadly, that the outcome of the presidential election will make a difference. And before long, they may also feel silly. The power base is comprised of banks, insurance companies and investment houses who derive immense benefit from war, open borders, free trade and skimming your paycheck -- and they care not about national boundaries. It's laughable that they watch the money flowing into the Mideast and China, yet they sit in their protective bubbles and engage in ignorant online debates about which idiot will be most useful, as US President, to the quality of their individual lives.

Under what authority can the government buy flooded private properties? James Madison said it doesn't exist, referring to "objects of benevolence", which is a compulsory levy, usually assessed by kings, with no other authority than the claim of prerogative. When the government is in the business of charity, like funding and administering buyouts of private homes, it becomes taxation without representation, which you're compelled to hand over, as if a king had demanded it. My fear is that we're moving fast toward a nation where lazy, ignorant clods comprize the majority, who elect criminals to lead.

My 17-year-old son, a multi-generation US citizen, was approached recently by a foreign national living in the US illegally, who solicited his identity for the sum of $5,000 to help him bring members of his family to the US and work under assumed identities. Fortunately, he declined the offer. But others will accept. Far more citizens will have their identities compromised. There's great value in the identity trade, which has become a commodity industry, and there's a reason for it. And while the political class watches you all bicker about who's fault it is, your fellow citizens are getting soaked by the financial complex and raked over the coals. The solution is to make compliance the new path of least resistance -- a financial no-brainer -- by causing great expense to the individuals reaping the benefits of cheap labor, who promise the cheapest possible labor force. You'll know who they are because they speak loudest for immigrants' rights. One of the extrem...

DSL Over-the-phone-line (sometimes called PSTN or Telco), the "digital subscriber line" is piggybacked data over regular copper phone wires, doesn't interfere with normal phone calls, but data noise (hissing sound) must be filtered or most telephone equipment will not function correctly. Special customer equipment, service and ISP are required. With DSL service, you're getting a special data connection between you and the phone company, but not to the internet. You will also have to enter into an agreement with an ISP (Internet Service Provider), who then makes the fnal connection between the phone company and the Internet. In many cases, DSL and ISP are bundled, simplifying your installation. Cable Through your cable-TV provider (sometimes called CATV), the data is passed on the same coax cable as your cable television signals. A special cable modem is required, as well as a special high-speed cable internet service, also through your cable company. No addition...

Howard Fineman appears to be reasonably intelligent and is good for political insight if you pull his chain -- and NBC does quite a bit of chain pulling when he's in the room. But the more I see him on the various talk shows and read his op-eds, the more I believe his function is to feed the discomfort level of enthusiasts. Kill troop morale A favorite tactic in any battle is to try to add to the discontent of the groundpounders on the other side. The purpose is, of course, is to weaken the position of the other side. But the battle's won, so what's Fineman trying to accomplish? To pour salt in wounds and watch them fester. To cause a reaction that will be heard around the world. Being one of NBC's go-to guys for punditry is probably a pretty good way to get paying customers, but none of this advances political discourse. Fact-based analysis isn't supposed to inject emotion of itself, but to reflect the facts. This adolescent tendency to want to be seen as ...

In this story, the DM Register says the Chief of Police of Postville claims his department doesn't routinely act as an immigration-enforcement arm because it can't afford the training, and that he wants immigrants to feel comfortable reporting crimes to his officers without fearing that they will be deported. Well, actually, the police chief is referring to illegal immigrants, foreign nationals in this country without a visa or other authorization -- referred to as "illegal aliens". Let's be honest. What if the chief had said his department doesn't go after shoplifters? And that he didn't want drug users to feel uncomfortable reporting other crimes for fear of arrest? That's an equivalent argument. In the military, I believe we refer to this as "dereliction of duty", punishable by death in times of war. Food for thought. As I've always said, if the laws are wrong, then let's change them. If we can fairly increase the number of imm...

Des Moines residents and officials brace for flooding, the likes of which have not been seen in 15 years -- and more, in some cases. This playlist as a day-by-day visual account of the flooding.

The Allen Bishop Show Monday, May 26, 2008 - Memorial Day Misc ----------------------------------------------- killer twisters rip through Oklohoma and Iowa this weekend. Politics ----------------------------------------------- You may remember I predicted Obama would claim victory as his party's presidential nomination. Well, he made the trip to Iowa last week to bring his nomination fight to, symbolically, do just that. Defending staying in the race, Clinton brings up the June '68 RFK assasination in California. Media feeding frenzy ensues & predictions are that she spends the rest of her Presidential run on the defense. She has one hope left; that something terrible will happen to Obama before the convention. Obama & McCain will exchange barbs through November. But neither have a sustainable healthcare plan, effective economic package or a realistic foreign policy. Ron Paul nailed healthcare, saying we don't have free market medicine (or government medicine),...

Click to Play The Miz came down the the KXnO Studios May 20, 2008, before his appearance at wells Fargo Arena.  Contains exclusive footage of The Miz performing for our cameras as he left the building.

Bush says those who want to negotiate with terrorists are taking the false comfort of appeasement. Sen Joe Biden didn't care for that remark. He appeared on This Week telling George Stephanopuoulos "This is raw, raw politics, demeaning to the presidency of the United States of America".

ABC asks if Obama's delegate lead create an insurmountable problem for Clinton's campaign. That lead and powerful symbolism may provide Obama with an opportunity to claim victory this week over Clinton.

Sen. Ted Kennedy is in the hospital after he had a seizure at his Cape Cod home Saturday. His condition is serious, but he's not in imminent danger. Doctors original thought he was having a stroke. By day's end, Kennedy was watching the Red Sox and joking with family members and friends who were summoned to the hospital. ABC reports the event sent an earthquake across the political world.

Click to Play Colbie Caillat performed at Capital 106.3 (KPTL-FM, Clear Channel Radio) "Studio C" in Des Moines, Iowa courtesy of Universal Music Group.

Click to Play Colbie Caillat performed at Capital 106.3 (KPTL-FM, Clear Channel Radio) "Studio C" in Des Moines, Iowa courtesy of Universal Music Group.

Click to Play Colbue Caillat at KPTL in Des Moines, Iowa.

Which of the Baldwin Brothers wants to be in politics? Alec, the outspoken one that is said to have promised to move out of the country if Bush was elected president. Bush was and Baldwin didn't -- and now he claims he said he simply would have been a good time to move. Baldwin was on 60 Minutes with Morley Safer and says acting is not his life and he could see himself running for an office.

Once Indiana and North Carolina were tallied up, Obama firmly positioned himself as McCain's opponent -- not Clinton's. Never the less, Hillary continues to act as though she has a fighting chance. Does she know something the rest of us are missing? Do the Clintons have an ace in the hole they haven't brought out yet? Is there a gotcha moment in Obama's near-term future? Doesn't appear so. The supers are all lining up behind Obama and it's pretty much a sealed deal. In fact, she's done all the damage she can do to the party, as long as Obama continues to fix sights of MacCain and stays clear of mixing it up with Clinton, and it's really her own position that will falter as she continues to fight this losing battle. And when you look at McCain's abortion flip and add that to his scam healthcare plan, I think he's washed out too.

EXPORTING WEALTH Are the Chinese siphoning off American wealth? DEBT Why isn't the $9.5 T national debt part of political discourse? From 1980 to 1992, the national debt rose from $1T to $4T. In 12 years, it quadrupled. From 1992 to 2000, its growth slowed and began to decrease, settling at $6T in 2000. From 2000 to May, 2008, the debt once again climbed by another $3T, leaving us $9T in debt. ANTIQUATED COMBUSTION ENGINES Why aren't presidential candidates offering non-combustion alternatives to the discussion on gas & oil prices? NUCLEAR ENERGY With nuclear power, there is the question about spent fuel. Energy companies won't deal with it, so tax payers fund cleanups, transportation and hiding of radioactive waste. US OCCUPATION OF FOREIGN NATIONS It's a gross understatement to suggest that many in the Mideast don't particularly care for US military occupation. CRIMINAL REFUSAL TO RENDER AID Refusing to render medical aid is criminal and morally repulsive...

Interesting observations in this story and a unique setup for hungry brokers. The Sunday paper has always been a realty mainstay, but it can't offer virtual video tours. Radio can develop, host and drive traffic to video tours for audiences on their way to work, where they become online listeners/web visitors. Same story for the return commute: radio listeners become online consumers when they get home. The key here is that a real estate broker could easily own a station if not the entire medium of radio/online. You combine reach & frequency with well-known online services -- and the scarcity of competition in this apace. Wouldn't that be the killer app in marketing? While cohorts are in the Sunday paper, hitting their traditional weekly audience like a slow drumbeat and you've already shown homes to dozens, virtually, through online video -- and maybe even set several appointments. The article gets into the nuts and bolts by asking how many new homes must one clos...

The Washington Post covered Sen. John McCain's visit to a cancer research center in Tampa today and report that he rejected calls by his Democratic opponents for universal health coverage, and for his part embraces a market-based solution. But McCain's so-called market-based solution still relies on insurance companies, which has effectively isolated the market from the providers for generations, causing health care costs to explode. As an example of the affects of health care greed, in 1960, a typical birth cost an uninsured middle class family about two weeks salary. Today, the expenses associated with child birth can easily soar past six months salary, whether the family has insurance or not. McCain's web site suggests that the government would make health care insurance innovative, portable and affordable if he's elected President. Let's focus on the insurance element by itself for a moment. When groups of people pay continual premiums into a fund managed by c...

Click to Play Drake Basketball point guard Adam Emmenecker joined KXnO's Cotlar & Company in-studio Monday morning, April 28, 2008.

Click to Play A joint task force consisting of Des Moines Police and Iowa State Patrol troopers executed a sting operation in an effort to raise awareness of the speed limit along I-235, the metro freeway.

Hard not to notice an emerald tint on the media, but not everyone's happy someone named "Liv Greene" has popped up on their AOL/Gmail buddy list; people think it's all gone too far. This blogger's viewpoint isn't an isolated one. Stephen Foskett says, "AOL seems to have invented a whole new way to annoy us all with advertisements: injected AIM buddy bots! Yes, it’s another way that social networking companies are annoying the very users they (supposedly) covet! Well, today my (gtalk) buddy list was invaded by 'Liv Greene', a shill for the web site, Greenopolis. And check out the astroturf-with-a-hammer campaign on AOL’s bot page! Way to get your bot ranked number one! I’m so sick of this. Note to all social network providers: Never inject a new “friend” into my network without my consent."

Click to Play This is April, right? The promise of rains this month is our assurance of flowers next. So what's the deal with these huge snowflakes?