Radio Free JoJo

The Olympics are in essence historical events, with markers and records laid every four years. Everything is framed in historical terms, such as: Michael Phelps won the most gold medals in a single Olympics since Mark Spitz in 1972, or US boxing hasn’t done this poorly, winning just one medal since 1948.

One such event soaked in history is the decathlon. Derived from the ancient pentathlon, the multiple event contest has lifted the names of Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, and Dan O’Brien to the ranks of sports legends. Now we can add one more: Bryan Clay, the “Worlds Greatest Athlete.”

Yesterday Clay became the first American to win the decathlon since O’Brien in 1996 in Atlanta. To win the gold, Clay had to get enough points in each of these ten events over two days:

• 100 meters
• Long jump
• Shot put
• High jump
• 400 meters
• 110 meter hurdles
• Discus
• Pole vault
• Javelin
• 1500 meters

In these days of highly specialized sports with their consultants, coaches and trainers, it’s amazing that someone could be so versatile in their abilities to place strongly in so many diverse events. It really takes a special athlete to even attempt to compete in the decathlon.

That’s why in 1976, when Bruce Jenner won in Montreal, he was a major celebrity, appearing on Wheeties boxes and television for months after closing ceremonies. Given the diminished presence of track and field in the American sports psyche, and the apparent short shrift NBC has given Clay’s performance in their coverage, I didn’t want to let his accomplishment go unnoticed.

So here’s to Bryan Clay of the United States, gold medal winner of the decathlon, the World’s Greatest Athlete!

Tonight, Chris Matthews actually said on Hardball something I agree with regarding the race for the White House: “I’ve seen this race before, back in 1988.”

It seems for months we’ve been hearing wistful comparisons of 2008 to 1968, with liberals clamoring for the end of an unpopular war and a McCarthy-esque intellectual leading the way. Some are even raring for a 1968-type civil disobedience meltdown between demonstrators and the police (I can’t vouch for rumors about organizers supplying free Geritol for the warmed over aged hippies) at next weeks Democrat National Convention in Denver.

Instead this year’s lead-up to the election feels more like 20 years ago, rather than 40. In 1988, the once-popular Pres. Reagan had seen his approval rating drop after Iran-Contra came to light. The excitement for his VP and the Republican candidate George H.W. Bush was muted. Meanwhile there was incredible hype and excitement for the Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. That was the first campaign that I remember what is now called a “convention bump.” But any lead was soon squelched as Dukakis was successfully branded as a Massachusetts liberal and a card-carrying member of the ACLU (proudly self-identified); then there was the video of his time in the Abrams tank, with his head poking out.

Add to all of that the questions regarding his patriotism, since the Governor had opposed the mandatory reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sound familiar?

Of course everyone remembers how 1988 turned out: Poppy Bush won 40 states, including California, and Illinois. Dukakis won 10, with the electoral count 426-111.

Maybe the difference between 1988 and 1968 doesn’t matter since it was Republican Nixon with the electoral landslide forty years ago: 301 to Humphrey’s 191, with George Wallace getting 46 electoral votes.

Either way, if history repeats itself, its increasingly possible the Presidential gold metal will elude Sen. Obama.

One of the coolest apps on the web is in danger of extinction, and it is a story of patience and greed.

Pandora, the music site that allows you to create up to 100 custom personal radio stations, and suggests music based on songs you pick, was in the Washington Post Saturday, claiming that the music royalty rates the company is forced to pay are about to kill their business.

It was in Spring of 2007 when the Copyright Royalty Board ordered a doubling of royalties that internet radio stations would have to pay record labels for the privilege of airing a song. According to the article, those rates would force Pandora to hand over 70% of its gross revenue to SoundExchange, an arm of the RIAA record company association. Some in Congress have attempted to intervene, yet no agreement is close after months of talks. Pandora’s CEO is saying that unless something gives, they’ll have to pull the plug.

Meanwhile the labels are sniping back, saying that the web streamers are not doing enough to generate revenues for their business models. Talk about a “pot/kettle” scenario! It’s these same record companies who refused to change their models for years after the arrival of the internet, and now are scraping to stay relevant.

The lack of patience on the part of the record industry is shocking as well. The expansion of broadband internet has only reached the majority of the country in the last three to four years. It’s been only recently that the large radio companies have done anything to build their online streaming presence. Everybody is doing this at a loss…so I feel that the RIAA has gored their calf about three to five years before it will turn golden.

Of course, all of this back and forth does little to help music artists proliferate their music, and shows no recognition of the still important role that music on the radio plays in selling records. If radio airplay, terrestrial, satellite, or internet, has little bearing on record sales through CD’s or I-tunes, then why do the record companies spend millions on promotion departments and independent promoters?

I say that you’ve got to let the models and the ad market play out; we are still very early in the digital transition for the movement of money from the traditional media to the digital (Google Jeff Zucker from NBC Universal). Sure, go ahead compensate artists for their works, just make sure that there is a delivery system left over after the bill is paid.

Anybody whose known me for a while knows that I’m a big supporter of the Community Blood Bank. In my previous job I conducted dozens of on-air blood drives over the course of a dozen years, with WCTL winning “the Battle of the Broadcasters” at least twice when I was there. I’ve had the privilege to take part in their banquet a couple times, and I’m getting close to my second gallon donated.

That’s why it goes without saying that I’m asking all of my readers, whether they live in the Erie area or not, to give blood this week. If you are here, you need to go to the Community Blood Bank at 26th and Peach Sts. for the Erie Blogs Week II blood drive. It only takes about 45 minutes from entrance to exit and you’ll be so glad you did.

Please make sure you mention Radio Free JoJo when you donate, ok? That would be greatly appreciated! And wear the Band-Aid proudly…you did something great!

The Erie paper has a front page article this morning analyzing the possible running mates for the two presumptive nominees. This comes after the hug-fest between former PA Governor Tom Ridge and Republican Senator John McCain early this week. The ETN suggests that current Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell could make a good number two to Senator Barack Obama run, admitting though that Mr. Rendell has articulated his lack of interest multiple times.

All of this talk has the premise behind it that Pennsylvania is in play for the General Election. My take is that since you have to roll back twenty years to find the most recent Republican Presidential candidate to win the Commonwealth when Bush 41 took the state over a flawed Dukakis, this state is Obama’s to lose.

On the other side of the Commonwealth continuum, you have Virginia, which used to be a safe take for the GOP. But with the population growth in Northern Virginia turning the Old Dominion to the left, we could be enduring a Beltway-sized wait on election night to color the state red or blue.

However, the inclusion of governors from each state as the vice-president pick could be enough of a catalytic event to flip these battleground states. For PA, the popular Tom Ridge brings a national presence from being the original Homeland Security secretary. His biggest and perhaps insurmountable negative is his pro-choice abortion stance. Ridge’s inclusion on the ticket could turn the state red, yet have little impact on McCain’s likeability in the Midwest and South.

Likewise, if Obama were to pick Tim Kaine, the current Governor of Virginia, it would probably generate enough momentum to bring the state to the blue tipping point.

It really depends on the math: as the campaigns run their models if they find that the electoral votes of Pennsylvania and Virginia are so critical to the success of either campaign, you just might see this scenario play out. That’s if you believe that VP choices even matter to voters anyway.

The Spring Arbitrons have been released and the competition for the ears of Erie is more heated than ever. Long gone are the days of the near 20 share of audience celebrated by Star 104. In this latest book Star is tied for 1st place with Classy 100 in Total Persons 12+ for the entire broadcasting week. The big story is the blasting of Bob, with WXBB losing almost half of its audience in the year since its debut in early 2007. Last spring Bob was tops 12+; this spring he tied for 4th with Country 98, who beat The Wolf handily. And will somebody put a fork in the 1330 signal?!?! The once glorious home of WRIE has not been a factor on Erie radio in decades.

In fact, the story of this book if the trends hold up is that there really aren’t enough Classic Rock, Country, and Sports listeners to support two stations each in those formats. Hopefully our operators will get that someday and we might see a Smooth Jazz, Real Oldies, or FM Talk station eventually.

Finally, it was actually somewhat of a weird book, with stations in Ashtabula, Warren, Meadville, and Southern Ontario showing up. That usually means that folks south of I-90 got a bunch of diaries. Still the sample is such that it is a good estimate of where listeners lie. Now if we could just get the advertisers excited again about terrestrial radio!

UPDATED: The ratings are available on RadioandRecords.com (no registration required).

In preparing for my talk, “What are you afraid of?” this past weekend at McLane Church, I shot a video interview with my brother Jeff Natalie, who is a prominent family counselor in Erie and founder of the ErieKIDS.org website. You can reach him through the site. I thought his insight on children and fear was really helpful and I want to share the entire interview with you. The YouTube video is embedded below.