John McDermott

Category: media blog

  • Great time for comedy on TV!

    jack and triump

    I found myself thinking about random things at 4am again (my brain comes up with most of my programming ideas then) and found myself thinking how great the comedy scene on TV is.

    What I like is that there are shows that are really out there right now.  I hate lame.  I hate the set-up/punch/laugh-track sitcom.  You know, fat husband, hot wife, someone calls him fat, everyone laughs.  Boring.

    But right now we have….

    Jack and Triumph.  Wonderful.  Absurd.  Doesn’t worry about the premise, and just goes for the jokes.

    The Eric Andre Show.  How would I even explain this show to my wife?

    Broad City.  Nice fast pacing.  And the second straight show I mentioned with Hannibal Buress.

    Man Seeking Woman.  I’m still not over the Hitler scene and the scene with BSG’s Michael Hogan as a general in the SitRep room.  (And Eric Andre again!)

    It’s Always Sunny.  After all these years the show somehow feels stronger than ever.  We are in the middle of a terrific season.

    And on the old school broadcasts networks (does that matter to anyone under 30?)

    The Odd Couple.  What?  Yeah, the writing is pretty crisp. It strays a little into formulaic hack, but it does go for the old Bob Hope six-jokes-a-minute so even if something doesn’t land you only have to wait ten seconds for the next attempt at a laugh.  However….OMG CBS PLEASE DIAL DOWN THE LAUGH TRACK.  I almost stopped watching the pilot because of the HAHAHAHAHAHAHA every two seconds.  Let the show breathe, both leads are fantastic.

    Last Man On Earth.  I had no interest in this until I channel surfed last night and saw Kristen Schaal on the show.  I had no idea she would be on this one.  Now I’m in.

    and on March 17th we’ll get the return of Community!  Six seasons and a movie!  

  • Link: Ipsos study about how actual consumers use car radios

    carplay in a ferrari

    Click through the link (you may need to log in) for a good read about a new survey about what the actual humans are listening to in their cars.

    Among the findings are that 99% of the humans like car radios to have actual AM/FM buttons rather than have radio be an app on some sort of interface thingy.  I agree, and I think if AM/FM ever becomes something you have to dig for (and thus on par with various audio services) it’s going to fade quickly.

    We also learn that people are still using CDs!  Yay, I am not alone.

    I don’t understand the math below (and don’t point that out to be a jerk, just to let you know I too find it confusing) but interesting on several levels including that AM/FM is down to 80%.  80 sounds like a great number until you remember it was 100.  Again, wait until all those apps are on equal footing with AM/FM and twenty minute spot loads.

    80% of consumers chose AM/FM car radio as the top option for their car’s entertainment system, followed by the CD player at 68%, satellite radio at 45%, and a streaming music service at 34%.

    via Latest Radio News, Talk Shows, Sports, Hosts, Personalities | AllAccess.com.

  • Good read: A Simulcast No Longer

    Good read: A Simulcast No Longer

    Good article here with some thoughts about how AM/FM is eventually going to have to get off the crack that is 20 minute spot loads.

    Part of the problem is that there is no budget in today’s radio for ancillary products. And most of what broadcasters do online – simulcast or otherwise – is an ancillary product. Why would you hire an airstaff for a side channel?

    via Wise Buddah.

    I never believed in HD Radio because of the staffing issue.  If you are a PD and you work on an HD channel you open yourself up to criticism that you are not focused the next time the GM wants to get on your case.  So let the junior staffer or the intern do it.  And how are you going to promote it?  Hey stop listening to this thing that pays the bills and go listen to 98.5 HD-2!  I don’t think so.

    Anyway, I don’t want to steal the article’s thunder.  It’s a definite must read.  I don’t expect anyone to take the advice in the next ten years but there are some good discussion-starters there.

  • Google and Apple Fight for the Car Dashboard – NYTimes.com

    Pretty exciting.  Will be interesting to see where in the mix the AM/FM button is.  Will it be up front or somewhere down in a menu with the other options?  I’m personally 95% listening via my phone connected to the cassette deck with the other five going to business, traffic, weather and the walkup on WCBS-AM, I listen from :55 until :00 and then I’m gone.

    One of the most widespread adopters will be Ford, which this year will begin offering both Android Auto and CarPlay in conjunction with the revamping of the automaker’s much-criticized Sync system. By the end of 2016, they will be available on all Fords sold in the United States.

    via Google and Apple Fight for the Car Dashboard – NYTimes.com.

  • That time I hired the 139th best guy from SNL – and he was great on radio!

    That time I hired the 139th best guy from SNL – and he was great on radio!

    breuer unleashed

    Rolling Stone made a list of the top 141 folks on Saturday Night live ever which we can all slice and dice and argue about, but the list named Jim Breuer as 139th best.  So for sake of argument, let’s assume that’s true.

    One thing I would explain to folks is that not everyone is good on the radio.  Some people are good guests.  Some people can even carry a week.  The folks that can carry 5 days a week for years at a time are known in the trade as Talent for a reason.

    Jim Breuer is radio talent.

    Back in the early days of Sirius I got a call from Jim.  He wanted to do a show.  Sure, come in and meet.

    As I told the story between that day and earlier today it would go something like, “Now, if you told me to hire someone from SNL I would have started at the top of the list with the Will Ferrells of the world, Jim is what probably the (here I’d make up a number like) 83rd best ever?”

    Then my story would discuss the meeting.  Jim came in.  Was he high?  Doing an act?  The pitch was something about him, his friends, some dude named Pete (Correale) and he was gonna tell stories.

    Jim left and I knew two things.  First, I didn’t get it.  But more importantly I had been absolutely entertained by this guy for the past hour and had been laughing for most of it.

    I called Jim and told his as much and suggested he come in and do a demo.

    Jim did that demo, with his friends, and Pete Correale, and it was bar none the best demo I have ever heard in my career.  Gold.

    How good?

    I made a copy of the CD and left it on my boss’s desk with no note.  No endorsement, no “from John” just a mysterious CD to be played.

    Jeremy Coleman listened and heard what I heard.

    We moved some budget around and figured out a way to fund the show until the end of the year (maybe seven weeks or so, once a week).  Jim took the leap of faith.

    The show immediately clicked.  We found more budget.

    Then one day we decided to go 5 days a week on the comedy channel.  What would happen?  Would people be mad that we weren’t playing standup?  Would people call in?

    We went live and….BOOM the phone lines exploded.  Breuer Unleashed was a hit.

    That hit lasted about five years until Jim wanted to get back into heavy touring, so we dialed back down to a week, and eventually the show had run its course and ended.  But man, for a few years there, this show was as good as anything in the similar space.

    Sidebar story:  right before we went to five days the big boss Jay Clark ran into me in the coffee room and said “I got the money for the guy you wanted.  You sure you wanna do this?”

    I knew Jay well enough not to be wishy washy.  “Yep!”

    Jay retorts, “Remember you said that.”

    Well that was scary.  But I was right.  We did a survey somewhere along the line (re-Howard) and Jim was the most popular show on Sirius.

    The lesson?  Somebody might be 139th best on some list, but you should still take the pitch meeting.  The next big thing might be trying to have a meeting with you.

    Jim, if this comes your way I hope things are well after an awful year for your family.  And you know that for even being 139th on some random list there are 13,000 guys who wish they were on this list at all Goat Boy.  Catch ya down the road.


  • Research firm: 1 in 5 cars will be connected by 2020

    car play demo

    I know 2020 sounds like THE FUTURE but it’s actually closer than 2010 is. 59 months away.

    Click the link for more about the study.

    One in five cars will be “connected” by 2020.

    via Inside Radio, The Most Trusted News in Radio.

  • Roads not taken: the Indiana Jones radio spec demo

    Roads not taken: the Indiana Jones radio spec demo

    Oh man I am so excited I found this in my files.

    Back when there was talk of a fourth Indiana Jones movie I proposed we approach Lucasfilm to see if we could do a stunting “pop-up” radio station to tease the new film.

    The challenge was we knew almost nothing about the film other than “Russians” (and weren’t sure of the correct version of the film’s title). We also weren’t going to have access to Harrison Ford.

    I love such challenges, so we positioned it as an old-time radio serial being aired on the “British World Service” – and used static bursts and dropouts (presumably you were listening on shortwave in the Theater Of The Mind) to work around the challenges.

    A fully realized version of this would have run 24/7 and over time “leaked” some teaser plot details. I also would have timed it out to make the news actually run at the top of the hour because I’m particular like that.

    The project never went forward, but this was one of my favorite side-dreams form back in the day.

    Audio production by Greg Schweizer, voices by Ghosty, script by me.

    You can find some of my other work in my portfolio. If you’ve made it this far you probably would also be interested in Star Wars Celebration Radio, also one of my favorites with some great imaging pieces featuring the cast from The Clone Wars.

  • Link and comment: Streaming Audio Now Bigger than AM/FM Radio among US Teens – Edison Research

    An interesting study.

    Now having taught college kids for two and a half years I can tell you that they DO NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT AM/FM RADIO and these are students that signed up for a course about radio!

    About a year ago I really changed up my curriculum and spent a lot of time talking about the various streaming services, and also a lot of time talking about royalties (since the economics of streaming are so different than your AM station in 1995).

    American Teens now spend more time with streaming audio services such as Pandora and Spotify than they do with AM/FM radio including both over-the-air and the online streams of AM/FM stations, according to the fall 2014 “Share of Ear” report, new research from Edison Research.

    via Streaming Audio Now Bigger than AM/FM Radio among US Teens – Edison Research.

    Now one thing I like to do with the class is ask them how old they are.  They are 18-22.  Let’s call it 20.

    And in five years how old are they?

    And in 10?

    And in 15 – which is the same distance we are away from the millennium which feels like yesterday.

    So in 15 years your’e going to have a 35 year old who DOES NOT CARE AT ALL ABOUT AM/FM RADIO.  It’s not part of their life, and I will bet you a dollar they’ll have a connected car by 2030.

    Very very interesting.

    I know radio has been dying since the talkies came to the movie theater, but audio is audio, and the kids don’t care about your metal tower in the swamp, nor the 22 minutes of commercials that pays for it.

    Maybe it’s time to reevaluate the sales department and ask yourself it is really worth running all those ROS spots to fill time, or do you need sports updates every 20 minutes, or is anyone actually coming to you for traffic reports (in some cases yes, in many NOOOOO) – reduce the clutter and give yourself a fighting chance?

     

  • Link: Should free data be a crime? – Business – The Boston Globe

    Someday a deep-pocketed media company like ESPN might use the Syntonic service to send TV shows — with commercials — to your phone, at no data cost to you.

    But among Net neutrality purists, sponsored data is a Trojan horse, designed to help big companies monopolize the Internet.

    via Should free data be a crime? – Business – The Boston Globe.

  • Link: Start saying your goodbyes to your car’s CD player · Newswire · The A.V. Club

    As the Los Angeles Times reports, Hyundai has announced that its 2016 line of cars will feature a new touchscreen audio system that communes via Bluetooth with your Apple or Android phones and can support third-party apps—but doesn’t take CDs.

    via Start saying your goodbyes to your car’s CD player · Newswire · The A.V. Club.