Bob Vander Plaats on Mickelson.

Bob Vander Plaats appeared on Jan Mickelson's show Thursday (6/18/2009) and explained his positions on a state constitutional amendment for banning same-sex marriage, legislative activism and the governor's power to use executive orders to remedy bad court decisions. Bill Salier was guest-hosting that day.

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Real estate sales: no good news

The local media has widely reported improved real estate sales from April to May of this year, citing figures furnish wholesale by the Des Moines Association of Realtors, the real estate lobby group.

Despite those claims, the Polk County Assessor's database shows there were 2,860 residential deeds issued in Polk County, Iowa in the last six months (Dec-May), compared with 4,013 issued during the same six month period a year earlier. That's a 29% drop, not an increase.

The total sales numbers for that period are even worse, suffering a 45% decline from more than $600 M last year down to about $400 M this year. And while realty agents are doing their best to stave off commodity pricing through incentive kickbacks and other perception management practices, even the average sale price took a dive from $152 K to $140 K, an 8% loss.

This look is a broader picture than the one being offered by the realty association because it covers six months, but even residential sales between April & May of this year (and compared to last year) look dismal.

While my research did involve only one county, can the picture for the greater metro look remarkably better? No matter how you slice & dice, there's nothing good in these numbers.

So what's the deal here? Are reporters too lazy to do their own research? Or is there a bigger menace lurking, like media influence? Or maybe I'm just wrong.

Everyone's a social media marketer. Not.

I hear a lot of social media marketing advice pointed at business and it's being circulated by people who've been around a long time. I suppose they're seasoned, and I imagine their audience feels they're adequately qualified.

Nevertheless, this is worth considering. Educated marketing managers have become dispensible comodities because every Joe thinks he's a marketing whiz and can take the reigns on a moment's notice. And largely due to the boardroom's GMOOT syndrome, they get their chance -- for about two years.

Still, almost without regard for the quality of the CMO, budgets often get fixed in the marketing dept. instead of examining the sales strategy.

Real estate numbers drop again

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the National Association of Realtors finds some good news in the realty market, but the real story for Polk County isn't good, according to the County Assessor's numbers.

Residential sales in terms of total sales in May of '09 compared with May of '08 figures are down by almost half. That's inline with the quantity of sales, reflecting 44% fewer sales. The average sale prices was 5% lower than last year's sale.

And the spring numbers aren't getting better, as we might expect. Instead, compared to April of this year, May sucked for real estate pros. A $10M drop in total sales, more than 100 fewer and average price fell by another $10k.

Those are the real numbers, provided by the Polk County Assessor, but don't expect NAR to advertise this fact with the media.

FCC warrantless searches?

According to this story, an FCC agent investigating a possible pirate radio station in Boulder, Colorado this month, posted a note quoting FCC policy at the residence suspected of hosting an unlicensed transmitter.  The statement apparently said, “Whether you operate an amateur station or any other radio device, your authorization from the Commission comes with the obligation to allow inspection.”

This statement alone has spurred concerns by citizen groups that FCC officials might, at some point, engage in warrantless searches of private residences.  It doesn't seem so.

While the statement might look to be asserting authority that transcends Fourth Amendment protections, one should consider the intended audience of this notice and the actual practices of government enforcement officials.  I don't think we're talking about baby monitors rated in miliwatts of transmitting power or devices that generate minimal levels of RF interference.  If a cop asserts some official-sounding administrative rule in order to trick a subject into consenting to search, that's an entirely different matter.

Yes, the Fourth subjects the government to a probable cause standard in the case of private homes.  It seems plausible that if there's an unlicensed station operating on the premises, probable cause is met and a warrant could be issued on that home and its occupants.  If the station is licensed, then it seems that implied consent to inspect is already established.

However, is a warrant even necessary if we're talking about a business, which is generally held to be open to the public during business hours?

And by broadcasting to the public over the public's airwaves, is one holding himself out as a radio station (which is a business operation), therefore no longer a private residence?

One essential question is, does a private residence lose its Fourth protection when it looks and acts like a radio station?  The FCC's position has been that radio stations are open for business during all hours of operation.

If an inspector (or firefighter or rescue worker) observes the presence of contra ban, they can report it to law enforcement.  I believe the Supreme Court has maintained that this is probable cause to issue a search warrant.

Lauren Zakrin interview at 105.1 Channel Q in Ames

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Lauren Zakrin talks to Tony Tarbox of 105.1 Channel Q in Ames, Iowa about the theatrical musical production of Legally Blonde at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines through February. Lauren has been playing Belle and will play other roles thoughout the musical's tour.

Lauren Zakrin interview

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Lauren Zakrin speaks with CJ of Kiss 107 FM in Des Moines, Iowa about the theatrical musical production of Legally Blonde at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines through February. Lauren has been playing Belle and will play other roles thoughout the musical's tour.

ADS: Media struggles to monetize wares

A Time article suggests that CNN, AOL/Time/Warner, etc., aren't making a go of it online and their bean counters are marking down the value of their companies -- in some cases to zero + hard assets.

This is a horrible time to judge the value of content in an advertising environment that has lost 30% of revenues...and more. The ugly truth is that media companies and businesses in general don't understand the new media enough to leverage its major strength, which is to highly target consumers in a meaningful way -- both with bona fide content and advertising.

Companies, with guidance from Madison Avenue, should be partnering with social media developers to find the best way to localize their message, learn all it can about the online creature, and finally stop being so annoying.

Media still thinks in terms of channel brands and they should be focusing on the quality of their individual products.

We need a watch dog on the school board

There are six school staff for every student listed on the books, a cost ratio of $87k. It costs $14,500 per student, whether active or inactive. That's $80 per day. For that kind of money, students should be eating gourmet meals and enjoying the safety of steel-reinforced bunkers while receiving the best, most intense education in the world. But they're not getting that because the money goes to administrative BS and world-class salaries instead.

On top of that, the sense among many of us is that the school board approves questionable big money deals and its members have questionable ties to notorious crooks.

So as taxpayers and parents, we need a watch dog to follow the money and hold the school board's feet to the fire. Sure, I'd rather have someone who could effectively communicate with parents instead of making unsubstantiated claims or feeding us shovels full of incomprehensible drivel, but Jon Narcisse is all we've got.

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City)

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City) announced his forming of a candidate committee to organize and raise money for the 2010 Gubernatorial race in Iowa on Jan Mickelson's program on WHO Radio (Des Moines) this morning and we caught up with him in the afternoon on Steve Deace's show.  Watch the video below.

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Grassley to meet with Des Moines "Tweeps"

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) wants to meet with members of the social networking web site "Twitter" in what's called a "tweet-up", a physical gathering intended for discussion and networking. This town hall-style "#dmtweetup" is scheduled for Friday April 17, 2009 from 3:45pm to 4:45pm at Impromptu Studio, 300 SW 5th St, Suite 220, Des Moines, Iowa.