Show Must Go On

Friday morning (2/27) panels were heavily attended after a long and eventful night of music at CRS 2015. The educational value of "How To Create A Win-Win For Music Events" drew a full room to hear agents, a programmer and an artist management rep walk through the entire station event process. KZPK/St. Cloud, MN OM/PD Matt Senne detailed his station's journey from hosting its first event with a $10,000 budget to one that is now a $500,000 production. WME's Becky Gardenhire urged stations to be prepared with their budget and dates when they make the talent inquiry call, but said agencies will also help walk newbies through the process. CAA's Blake McDaniel explained the offer-confirmation-contract timeline. Red Light's Megan Wilson said agreeing to a show involves factors ranging from routing and ticket prices to recent plays in a market and radius clauses. Explanations were offered for hard- and soft-ticket dates, circumstances in which shows might be canceled, airplay expectations and the need to super-serve the artist team and listeners.

Sharper Image

Classic Rock KLOS/Los Angeles Dir./Production Stew Herrera and voiceover pros Lloyd Sherr and Jeffrey Hedquist joined moderator Lon Helton for today's (2/27) "Imaging From Both Sides Of The Mic" session sponsored by ReelWorld. Panelists discussed effective engagement and strong copywriting and imaging. "Great copy engages your audience and tells a story," noted Hedquist, who urged the audience to focus on the listener, not the station. Other takeaways:

• Write from a peer perspective, not an authoritative one.
• Good writing is good editing and there's always room to edit further.
• Write in the present tense (think "right now"; drop suffixes such as "ing.")
• Don't be afraid to self-deprecate, even with position statements.

On maximizing impact while exercising brevity, Hedquist recalled a six-word story often attributed to novelist Ernest Hemingway. The account suggests a bet between Hemingway and other writers to craft a story in six words. The result? "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn." "When the listener thinks 'This station knows me,' then you've got something," noted Hedquist.

Thon Of My People

iHeartMedia stations raised $3.7 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital during last week's (2/19-20) simultaneous radiothons in 34 markets. Participating stations included WACO/Waco, TX; KWNR/Las Vegas and WUSY/Chattanooga. The total is up from $3.1 million raised last year.