Idea Thieves
Some people don’t see stealing the creativity of others as a big deal. I call those people idiots. …
radio
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
On Monday we slathered a fresh coat of paint on the ol’ radio station. If you listen to radio, you know how often announcers say the call letters or slogan. Perhaps you can imagine how tricky it is to start saying something different all of a sudden. More on that in a moment. Â …
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The Cheese Stands Alone
Media went nuts last week over a gossipy story released as an “exclusive” to QMI – Sun Media – but a few of us wouldn’t touch it and I’ll tell you why. …
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Less-Than-Friendly Competition
It’s possible that you’ve noticed a love/hate relationship between newspapers and radio stations. Â At the papers, many believe radio newscasters merely rip off their work and put it on air. (There is basis in fact for this, which I’ll get to later.) At radio stations, there’s a belief that papers will go out of their way to overlook the whole medium and not name a specific station if they can help it. Â This is also sometimes true. Â …
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Follow The Leader
Blackburn Radio is a medium-small company, as far as broadcasting outlets go.  We’re dwarfed by Corus, Rogers, Bell and some others but our owner has no desire to compete on that level.  Richard is happily running a regional broadcasting network but many of the people who work for him could compete in any arena. Case in point: our web and social media team and our brand new Blackburn Radio app. Get to know it because it’s going to be copied by everyone else in short order. …
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Tragic, Violent, Controversial and the Rest
I’ve always told students to stay away from using adjectives in news writing. Â An example: never describe news as good or bad. Â Don’t tell listeners whether something is tragic or controversial. Â I have reasons for this even though it goes against the grain of what many of my broadcasting brethren and sisters do. Â …
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Brandt’s Randt – Industry Slang
This week I reveal, as well as randt, about something I discovered. …
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My First Celebrity Interview – Sept. 24, 2002
My first celebrity interview was to be The Rovers. A Canadian music staple, they were going through a rebirth and thus were no longer Irish in name. It was an attempt to go mainstream country and leave their green-alligator-and-long-necked-geese persona of a novelty act behind them. I was very excited. Who hadn’t seen them on TV? They were real Canadian stars at that time. …
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Embrace Your Mistakes
You get to a point in your career where you think you’ve made all of the big boo-boos you’re going to make. Â I expect to continue to make mistakes, but not like the legendary error I made on Friday. …
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Old Tyme Radio
Derek had the shell of an old radio. We have a couple of intact ones upstairs but this one was in no shape for a prominent display area. It was missing chunks of veneer, the speaker cloth – not to mention a speaker – and a piece of one corner of the footing was broken off in a jagged mess. …
Professor School
I spent most of last weekend at Fanshawe College taking in a series of seminars and presentations designed to teach me how to teach.  There were a few dozen of us, some with teaching experience and some without, and it really astonished me in hindsight that a couple of other colleges unleashed me, and many others, on unsuspecting students with no training whatsoever! …
Back to School
I’ve been surrounded by students lately! It’s intern-mania in London radio newsrooms right now. I’m impressed by the calibre of talent coming out of Fanshawe College. And now I’ve been offered the chance to help it grow. …