todd blog

I don't know about you but LJ was my very first blogging experience (thank you Amy!) and so when I heard that they just let a bunch of people go, I realized that I better download all those entries dating back to 2002 for safe keeping.

But how to do it?

Found a really simple program here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ljarchive/

Download the ljArchive-0.9.7.exe version if you get confused on which one to use. (Windows only!)


It worked like a charm and included all comments.  Very cool not lose those ramblings of young topcad.

"Radio is the theater of the mind; television is the theater of the mindless”

-Steve Allen

So, Russ Martin has gone and got himself fired and Live 105.3 is now the FAN. All right. Ehh, I met Russ a couple of times (although I am sure he has no idea who I am) and although I wasn't a big fan of his show (way too much dead air and not enough talent around him to make up for lack of show prep for my tastes), I am sure he will surface again at another station.

But I could be wrong and I will tell you why.

I love TV especially Good Day on Fox 4. Even though Megan won't return my calls anymore. But it's not a secret that I also loved Radio. Notice the capital R. When I worked for the Radio Advertising Bureau, that capital R was instilled in me from day 1. As a former exec once told me, why should TV be capitalized and not Radio? I have been on almost every station in DFW either doing traffic (Todd, todd the traffic god on Young Country 105.3), news (KZPS with John Boy and Billy) or jocking (used to love that Saturday night shift from 6p to 10p on 94.5 The Edge right before Jeff K's Edge Club). I have sold Radio commercial airtime (The Wolf) and I have taught hundreds of Radio salespeople how to write better Radio commercials. So let's just say that I know a little bit about the business.

And the business is dying.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="358" caption="I have one of these in my office"][/caption]

There is an interesting interview with marketing guru Seth Godin where he talks about his new book, Tribes and how it applies to Radio stations and program directors and how they are marketing to a crowd trying to grab the biggest numbers for ratings instead of focusing and leading their "tribe". Love it or hate it, Sportsradio 1310 is good example of an entire station devoted to a tribe - The P1. They aren't nearly as daring as they used to be before they became part of the Cumulus nation but they have a successful foundation and will continue to have success as long as they try and build on it. Kidd Kraddick on KISS-FM has a tribe but that tribe all jumps in their SUV's and stops listening after 10am. Russ Martin has a tribe and his followers will find him wherever he lands but the rest of 105.3 continues to wander aimlessly. We'll see what the FAN can do.

But here is an example of where the FAIL is . The same Cumulus company that supports the Ticket has dropped local programming at night on 99.5 The WOLF. Now the WOLF was a station that had attitude and excitement and a distinct personality that all went down the drain about 4 years ago when they watered down the product to reach the biggest audience. Radio touts one of it's biggest strength as being local. How can you be local when you're piping in a syndicated show at night? How are you going to grow your local talent when you are voicetracking jocks from California. (Actually, it's the jocks here in DFW that are voice-tracking other stations-I'm looking directly at you Clear Channel-I wish the powers that be didn't make you do that.). Hey Radio, guess what? Teens aren't watching TV at night. They can watch their favorite TV show anytime they want. They are on their computers IM'ing their friends or texting or twittering and if you want to build up a base of listeners that might just grow with your station then you need to have a LOCAL PERSONALITY TALKING DIRECTLY TO THEM AT NIGHT! They will listen to the Radio at night while they are on the computer or in their cars. And give them the opportunity to have fun, do contests, call in requests, no really play requests not just a song that happens to be in the rotation on the playlist. Let the jocks do phoners, do silly voices, just give them room to breathe and you might be surprised at the response.

Here's what I wish. I wish that it were illegal again for a company to have more than 2 FM stations and 2 AM stations in one market. In fact, I wish you could only own one 1 FM and 1 AM. And if you owned a Radio station, you couldn't own a TV station. Or a newspaper. (Looking at you BELO. yah yah I know that the DMN split off to it's own little company, whatever!) Imagine that! New owners, new creativity, better salaries for on-air talent (believe me I know. Unless you are an established morning personality, the pay is crap!) New chances being taken, new local music being heard, better commercials on the air... You know, I get excited just thinking about it.

Come on Radio. There's still room in my heart for you.

cool shot

I saw this 1 minute ago and I had to repost it here.
Patrick Nagel meet Princess Leia.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. – Herm Albright

I really like this quote and apparently so do quite a few other people because when I was trying to find out who this guy Herm Albright was, this is what I found at somebody else's blog.

It appears that Herm Albright's most famous quote is, "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." It's a funny quote, with several possible meanings.

A friend of mine posted that quote on her blog and then asked, "Who is Herm Albright?"

From what I've been able to determine, Herm Albright lived from 1876 to 1944, and he might have been a writer for the Saturday Evening Post. That's all I've been able to dig up, and I'm really curious. Wikipedia doesn't have an entry, and all the search engines turn up quote after quote, but nothing about the man or his life.

Anybody have old copies of the Saturday Evening Post? How about a little author bio? Anything would help.

Well Herm, I dedicate this picture and this Tuesday quote to you.

Where's Bush? Greeting from our nation's capitol. I am here for 3 days for a video shoot and I got a chance to go sight seeing today for a few hours. (This is a quick pick from my camera phone. I forgot the cable I needed to upload pictures from my real camera but I did get some cool shots. Show u later!)
1st impression of Washington?

• Cleaner and greener than I expected.
  
• Lots o' joggers and bikers
• Diverse population - all colors here and fairly friendly.
• Washington Monument is NOT solid white. More grayish and beige.
  

I must have walked about 8 miles today. Saw the White House, the Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial , Korean War Memorial and the new World War 2 Memorial. Very impressive. Had some great italian food tonight and so I'm fat and happy. Oh and by the way. The hight today was about 80. Hows that 95 plus heat working for you, Dallas? (just kidding)

Joe and Amy...this one is for you...

I went to the doctor last week. Nothing wrong, just wanted to use my insurance from my other job before it expired at the end of the month so I got a full check up. The full take your shirt off, turn your head to the side and cough now turn around and bend over and look at the mirror while I introduce you to my little friend kind of check up. Blood sample, urine sample, sper... kidding, they didn't ask for that even though I gladly offered.

Got the test results this week and.... I'm healthy as a horse. Cholesterol levels, blood sugar, everything is fine. Perfect. In fact, the only advice I got from my doctor is that I need to exercise more. D'uh. And now that I have the time, I can. Oh and he said that I look more relaxed then ever before. Maybe it was the tropical print shirt I had on?


Now with all that being said, I woke up on Thursday night at 2am with the most horrific pain in my right lower back that I have ever experienced. You know that scale of 1 to 10 that docs and nurses use when they are asking their patient how bad the pain is? Well this was a 9. A get down on your knees and repent kind of pain. I actually went and took a tylenol codeine after I had downed 2 aspirin earlier. I set the heating pad on high and tried to lay down and watch a replay of the Boston-LA game to take my mind off the pain. After about 30 excruciatingly long minutes, Boston won. Oh and the pain finally died down to a dull roar so I could fall asleep. (Actually really awesome sleep, thank you codeine!)

The panicky thought that kept going through my head the whole time I was in agony was, "I just had a check up. Everything is fine. What did they miss!"

And so I have 2 hypothesizes on what happened.
1. Kidney stone. I have had them before and they hurt like hell. And that's why I don't drink sodas anymore. There was a study that linked sugary soft drinks with the formation of calcium deposits that create kidney stones and so.... no more cokes for me. However, I didn't have any err, stream issues and so I think that theory is highly unlikely.
2. New office chair. I have a new job. A new office. And a horribly expensive form fitting office chair that I hate and can't get comfortable in and I wonder if it caused a muscle spasm in my back.

Holy crap, that really hurt. I wonder if my new company will buy me a bean bag chair to sit in?

I'm overdressed for this gig

WIth a little help from my family, I am slowly transforming my backyard into a  little oasis for me to go sit back and chill in. I bought a camera this week from Amazon and I tested it out yesterday...check it out!  (and by the way... that's me on the piano. I hope to have a real album full of instrumental music come out later this year.)

IF you haven't seen the movie, you won't really appreciate this clip...

Well, I guess the cat is now fully out of the bag. In case you haven't heard from Uncle Barky or little Timmy, I won't be doing the Team Traffic thing anymore on Fox 4 after this month. And let me just reiterate that I really really really enjoy being a part of Good Day and Fox 4. I mean, come on, I work with my best friend from college (Chip Waggoner), get to make crazy eyes to Megan Henderson in person, annoy the best stock market mogul/weather guy in Dallas (Evan) and learn sarcasm from the master (Tim).

Who wouldn't want that job?

The problem was the hours. And before you say, "Boo hoo, Todd has to get up early", Hey man! I don't mind getting up early. It's just the getting up and then staying up and working two jobs to make ends meet. The traffic gig was just part-time. I tried to convince FOX to do traffic during Regis and Kelly but for some strange reason, they wouldn't go for it. I'm tired of coming home at 6pm and seeing my kids for 2.5 hours and then going to bed. And being a single dad with twin 14 year old boys is enough to wear anybody out.

I'm tired of being tired.

When this opportunity opened up for me to do something that I really enjoy and still be comfortable, I felt like I had to jump on it.

Am I going to miss being on TV? You bet. It's a rush and I was lucky to be part of a group of people that I will truly miss seeing in person every morning.

Just not at 5am.

I am not a coffee snob. But I'm well on my way!

Look what I bought two weeks ago. Ah, oui , oui, it is zee french press! If you've never heard of a "French Press" don't worry, I had no idea how this contraption worked before a month ago. Quite a few years ago, I remember my much older brother-in-law saying that he had made coffee in a French Press and all I could imagine was some large contraption that had a pull handle and a flat plate where you put the raw coffee beans and "pressed" the coffee juice out. (I have issues with my brain). About 6 months ago, I saw a Good Eats featuring coffee and Alton said that the closest way to get to good "espresso" type coffee without using an espresso machine was through using a french press.

And finally, every time I watch the fantastic intro to Dexter, I see him using this infernal machine and I say to myself, "I gotta get one of those." And I did. Finally.

So, here's how it works.

1. You put 3 or 4 cups of water on stove in a small saucepan set on high


2. Grind the coffee beans for about 15 seconds. You don't want to get them as fine as you would for your drip machine.


3. Depending on the size of your press, put the amount of scoops of coffee you want into the bottom of the french press container.


4. Just before the water boils, take it off the stove and carefully pour into the press container almost to the top. Allow about an inch and a half.


5. Stir the water and coffee grounds up for about 5 or 6 seconds.


6. Cover the press container with lid/strainer combo BUT do not strain yet.


7. Allow 4 minutes for mixture to "brew."


8. Slowly push down strainer all the way to the bottom. (Just like Dexter does! See pic above)


9. Pour into your favorite cup and be prepared for one of the smoothest cups of coffee that you have ever tasted.


10. Drawback is that if you add really cold cream, the coffee will get too cool too fast.


11. Should it really take me 11 items of an ordered list to explain a French Press.


12. Probably not but I can't stop now.


13. It sounds like a lot of trouble to go through for coffee, but it's kind of fun and elitist all at the same time. "Look at me, you swine swilling drips! I am the master of the French Press. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"


14. Can't end on 13. That would not be good.

So I made a t-shirt design the other day and decided to try out Cafe Press.
I have to say, it's pretty cool!




If you have no idea what this is about, then watch this....




Oh and you are welcome Joe!

I have this fancy banquet that I am helping to host this sat in Richardson. So fancy that I have to wash my face, comb my hair and borrow a freakin' tux.  Drinks, dinner and dancing and....dateless. Yeah my "date" cancelled on me. Stupid funeral.    I really don't want to go to this thing by myself.  Maybe i should call my buddy, Eliot up in NY and see if he knows anybody that will go with me.

If you didn't see Tell it To Tim last week you will probably not get this, but...

EDITED: Ack, it didn't work on LJ. Well no worries, you can find my poor attempt at humor here:
http://toddcarruth.com/archives/136

Sorry about that.