HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

PAUL YESKEL

My dear friend, Paul Yeskel, has died. Paul and I go back to 1973 together, when I hired this enthusiastic young man from New Jersey to be my copywriter at WORJ in Orlando. Paul expanded that role to Copywriter-Promotions Director-DJ-Chief booker for The Southern Progressive Radio Network at WORJ. He was a true friend and will be missed dearly by me and my family.
My heart goes out to his wife, SHARON, daughters ALLISON and KATIE, brother DAVID, sister RONI and niece EMILY.

PAUL YESKEL, Founder/Pres. of AIM STRATEGIES, passed away in his sleep in the early hours of SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23rd. He was 56.

A memorial service will be held at Bloomfield Cooper, 44 Wilson Ave, Manalapan NJ 732.446.4242
Thursday, December 27th at 2PM

www.bloomfield-cooper.com

The family will be sitting Shiva on Thursday following the service and Friday only. 7 Kerry Ct, Old Bridge, NJ 732.679.6111

In lieu of flowers, if you wish to make a donation, please give in Paul's name to the NJ Sharing Network Foundation, 800.Share.NJ
www.sharenj.org

Hire Slow, Fire Fast

(from ADAGE's Marc Brownstein)

If there's one thing about managing that I've learned to be true, it's that you know pretty quickly when a new hire is a mistake. You can probably figure it out in the first 30 days.

If you have a strong culture, you'll see the early signs of a poor fit. If you measure job performance on a regular basis, you'll be disappointed. If you listen to your people, they won't hesitate to let you know when a new hire is not working out.

And as good as you may be at interviewing, there are always those candidates who interview better. And you get sold. We've all been there. The more senior-level the hire, the more disruptive it will be to your organization if he's a bad fit.

So, what can you do to prevent a bad hire? (Read MORE)

WELCOME BACK GREG!!

It's official - long-time rock programmer Greg Ausham is headed to Clear Channel rock WRQK/106.9 Canton "Rock 106.9" as program director.
Ausham will also fill the PD vacancy down the Freedom Avenue hall at the company's talk WHLO/640 Akron.

Ausham's programming history includes a Who's Who of popular rock radio stations, including WMMS in Cleveland, WLVQ in Columbus, Detroit's WRIF, Rochester's WCMF and of course LAZER103 in Milwaukee. He's been with syndicator Envision Radio Networks, where he landed after a stint programming ABC(/Citadel) Hot AC WDVD in Detroit.

He takes over the programming reins at "Rock 106.9" and WHLO on January 3rd.

Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven-O2 London-10 December 2007

A TRUE ROCK RADIO STORY!!

In 1982, legendary rock band The Who announced that they were about to embark on what would be called their “Farewell Tour.” As was the case for most mega bands of the period, The Who were going to pass over the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in favor of Chicago and Minneapolis. Milwaukee lacked a large enough venue and had long been considered a sister city to Chicago. Thus, the basic economics and mere proximity relegated the city to second class status.

In what has since come to be considered an urban legend, a true hearted DJ named Tim The Rock N Roll Animal decided he was not going to stand for it anymore. As he stepped out onto the 21st story ledge of his tiny independently owned rock radio station’s downtown penthouse, he vowed to stay out there in the cold Wisconsin fall elements until The Who would promise to add Milwaukee to it’s already planned and started American tour.

WHOoPLA: The Greatest Rock Radio Stunt Ever by V Scott Beddome is the true story of how that now mythical event came to be. It's a true Milwaukee tale about a time and place so abstract in comparison to today it almost seems like fantasy. From the inner workings of rock radio wars to the "cocaine culture" to the burgeoning early 80's new music scene, it all comes together in this "FM" meets "Almost Famous" meets "Boogie Nights" meets "Blow" non-fiction narrative. Look for new chapters every day over the next couple weeks, HERE.

Imagine

John Lennon Oct 9th 1940 - Dec 8th 1980.

We MISS you John!

GRAMMY NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

Kanye West topped the nominations with eight, Amy Winehouse scored six, and the Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and T-Pain each earned five nods. Akon, Dierks Bentley, Chris Daughtry, Feist, Tim McGraw, John Newton, Ne-Yo, Rihanna and Bruce Springsteen received four each. (FULL LIST)

THE INTERNETS

New York (AP) - The Internet will overtake radio next year in its share of global advertising spending, a leading advertising forecaster predicted Monday.

ZenithOptimedia, a major advertising company based in England, said that the Internet's share of advertising would rise to 9.4 percent in 2008 from 8.1 percent this year, while radio's share of the ad market would slip to 7.9 percent from 8.2 percent. (Read More)

SONGS TO PEE BY

What do The Allman Brothers Band ("In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"), The Beatles ("Hey Jude"), Derek & the Dominoes ("Layla"), Green Day ("Jesus of Suburbia") and Jane's Addiction ("Three Days" ) have in common? They are the pause that has allowed DeeJays to run to the bathroom and get back in time to hit the next song. Rolling Stone has the list:The Fifty Best Songs Over Seven Minutes Long.

“The Fat Budgie”

From the Blog: ROCK SELLOUT (A Terriffic Music Blog)

In 1965, John Lennon allowed Oxfam the privilege of using ones of his drawings for one of their Christmas cards. “The Fat Budgie”
(shown below) will once again make an appearance this holiday season.

Oxfam Christmas cards have reportedly been allowed by Yoko Ono to use the image once again celebrate their 50th anniversary this year. It has also been reported that Yoko has purchased 200 of the cards herself to send to family and friends.

Click here to purchase.

35 YEARS AGO, WE STOPPED EXPLORING

From the blog LOCUST STREET:

35 years ago this week, America launched it's Last mission to the Moon.

1972: On the evening of December 6, when a newly re-elected Richard Nixon is in Washington, when Harry Truman lies dying in a Kansas City hospital, the last manned lunar mission, Apollo 17, lifts off from Florida and enters space.

There is a general, if unspoken sense that this is the end: the last moon launch many will see in their lifetimes. In the stands watching the launch at Cape Kennedy, there is an odd assortment of people: Tom Wolfe, covering the launch for Rolling Stone; Charlie Smith, a 130-year-old man believed to be the oldest living American; and Ahmet Ertegun, who plays backgammon in the grass.

Playing on a transistor radio is the previous summer's hit, Elton John's "Rocket Man," in which space travel has become just another long commute. It's a song inspired by a Ray Bradbury story, or it's about drugs, or maybe about being a parent. The most telling lines, though, come in the chorus: I think it's going to be a long, long time...



The crew of Apollo 17 is Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt. Five hours after launch, Schmitt takes a photograph of the departing earth that later is known as "The Blue Marble." On December 11, Cernan and Schmitt become the last human beings to walk on the moon, bringing a Czechoslovakian flag (Cernan's parents were a Czech and a Slovak) and leaving a plaque on the surface, signed by the astronauts and Richard Nixon: "Here Man completed his first explorations of the moon, December 1972 AD. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind."


Harrison Schmitt on the moon

On the ride back to Earth, the crew hears Nixon speaking from the Oval Office: "This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the moon, but space exploration will continue." The astronauts are incredulous--the last time this century? It is only 1972. Schmitt actually weeps. But Nixon knows the truth.

The Moon is a white strange world, great, white, soft-seeming globe in the night sky, and what she actually communicates to me across space I shall never fully know. But the Moon that pulls the tides, and the Moon that controls the menstrual periods of women, and the Moon that touches the lunatics, she is not the mere dead lump of the astronomist...When we describe the Moon as dead, we are describing the deadness in ourselves. When we find space so hideously void, we are describing our own unbearable emptiness.

D.H. Lawrence, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D.H. Lawrence, 1930.