Let There Be Baseball ...

As you will soon discover, the 3rd and final thing that is a big deal in my life is baseball (the first two being my family and radio).

If you hate baseball, I apologize: but the fact is that it is part of my tri-fecta and only relevant for half of the year. I get into it pretty heavily. My wife calls it my addiction.

So here goes: my thoughts/questions for the crew in '07 and my big picture prediction: the 2007 World Series.

For the Brewers ... it's the preseason and Nobody Asked Me ... but:

• Are we to expect that the hitters will lower their strikeouts? I have not heard what Bill Hall, Rickie Weeks and Geoff Jenkins have done to fix their K problem? I'm afraid the pitching euphoria has hidden this problem.

• My buddy in KC laughs when he reads we gave Suppon the biggest contract in franchise history. His beloved Royals had Suppon for a long time and he tells me that he is indeed a guy that will give you 7 innings regularly - but he'll need 4 runs from the offense to stay in the game.

• We are in the NL. Are we going to play small ball? C'mon: it's been 10+ years ...

• Is Cappy better? Man I hope so: I love to watch this guy pitch. He melted down at the end of last year ... and hasn't looked any better in Arizona.

• I am thrilled to have Craig Counsell back on the team. I know, he's a mid 200 hitter - but this is the guy I want up at the plate when the season is on the line. Craig may not be good for my fantasy team: but I want him in the real world with a bat in hand.

• Turnbow: use the force!

• Is Jenkins Jungle moving back to the left field stands ... or will they let that die?

• I really like Corey Hart. I just hope he's ready for the "show" on a regular basis.

• We've got to have another big year from Dave Bush. A repeat of last year and we got our $$ worth.

• Big Ben: Win the Cy this year. I think it's now or never for Sheets.

• If the new sausage wins on opening day - the thing is rigged.
  
  
  

I do not see the Crew in the series this year. I don't even know if they will win the division because I can't get a handle on the other teams just yet. But I do think they have to win the division. The wildcard ill come out of the east or west (I'm guessing Phillies or D-Backs). I think the Crew will win 85 games (92 if they play more small ball)

I can't belive all the pundits are predicting Yankees for world champs. My prediction for the 2007 WS: Indians - Mets, with the other New Yorkers taking the trophy to Queens.

Where is My FLUX-CAPACITOR?

I'm a time shifter.

No - not some cool thing from a sci-fi movie. I just realized I don't really take vacation, I just shift time around.

I am leaving for a week's vacation in Florida tomorrow morning. In order to prepare for the vacation, I have been working late every night this week - not to mention spending some time last weekend writing reports.

Then when I get back, I will most likely have to work late a few days to catch-up.

So what I really did was do a week and a half's work this week - and the same when I return.

BTW: I saw something on-line talking about the physical possibility of traveling through time. If you have ever studied physics, you understand about dimensions. Time is one of them.

Like Marty McFly said: "It's heavy stuff."

Decide for yourself:

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewnews.php?id=89882

I off until 3/26 with no blog access: Happy Trails!

Your Traffic - Your Commute

Remember the old days when you actually had to wait for us to get to the traffic on the air? By old days - I mean last month.

We just launched a brand new FREE traffic service that is just for you. Once you sign-up, you can get a custom traffic report based solely on your route home. You can also check out other 'jam' spots around town and look at some cool maps with pulsing lines where things are jammed-up.

You can get there by clicking the EYE ON TRAFFIC line on our home-page. Here's a direct link if you want to take a peek right now.

http://www.traffic.com/Milwaukee-Traffic/Milwaukee-Traffic-Reports.html?AWOPARTNER=WKTI

I just love technology. I still remember my first VCR ... my first walk-man ... my first answering machine ... my first personal computer (the Texas Instruments 99/4).

http://computermuseum.50megs.com/brands/ti994.htm

It didn't even have a disc drive. I backed up everything on a regular cassette using a regular cassette machine. It was a long process that was not very reliable - yet we were blown away.

I can't wait to see what blows us away in the next 20 years.

Try A Little Tenderness

Just the thought of having to go down to the DMV scares most of us.

I am one of the scared ones.

The DMV has become the poster-child for what is wrong with government. The people who work there are constant fodder for radio and TV talk-shows. If you want to describe people who are miserable at their jobs: it's the DMV.

Right?

Yesterday I renewed my drivers license at a Milwaukee office. The people who worked there had the scowl and little tolerance for anything out of order. What a miserable experience.

Yet for the first time - I began to understand. I sat close to the counter during my 30 minute wait and over-heard some of the most pathetic conversations of my life.

• First was the kid who showed up to take a driver's test - without a car! I guess he thought they provide one. He kept saying someone was going to meet him with a car.


• Next was the person who didn't have any cash or a check to pay. Do you take Discover?


• Another guy was looking for an ID ... with no documents to prove who he was ???


• If that wasn't enough - people would show-up ... wait in line ... only to discover that you had to pick a number and wait to be called. HOW COULD YOU MISS THIS? The numbers flash and make a loud 'bing' every time. Then someone walks-up with the number. I overheard someone arguing with the agent about having to get a number and go to the back of the line.

I wondered if it was physics at work: every force is met with an equal yet opposite force. (or something like that). So I thought about applying a positive force. Here's what happened:

I get to the counter of the agent who had to handle the guy who forgot to grab a number (lucky me). I gave the agent my completed form with check made out to the proper amount and she went about her work making no eye contact.

ME: "How about this warm March weather ... reminds me of those days in high-school when the cool teachers would have class outside on the lawn..."

HER: "We had no lawn at my school."

Silence ensued ...

HER: "But I sure loved having church out on the lawn"

Smile and eye contact.

From now on: I'm on their side. I cannot imagine having to deal with the crap they see/hear every day. If anything - I commend them for not going postal (is that still a relevant reference?)

How Many Zeros in One Billion?

News today that Viacom is going to sue Google (owners of You Tube) for a billion dollars. Never mind how they came to that nice rounded number. Here is their statement:

"YOUTUBE's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws."

What Viacom (owners of CBS, MTV, etc) is saying is that ordinary people like you and me are posting content - like Letterman's top 10 list, or some classic MTV moment - and that You Tube is not doing enough to keep us posting their copyrighted material.

Accurate: Posting CBS content is breaking copyright laws. The suits got that right. But once again - they cannot see the forest for the trees: and this is nothing new in the circle of "old media" brass.

I am old enough to remember when the big music companies tried to stop the whole "walk-man" craze of the late 70's and early 80's because ordinary people like me were borrowing their friends records and making "greatest hits" tapes.

Next it was the VCR (what - ordinary people with the power to tape Letterman and watch him tomorrow?).

Most recently Napster. Imagine if instead of fighting Napster, the music companies had invented iTunes.

Nope: While they were busy wasting their investors money on trying to hold on to the past with silly legal lawsuits, Steve Jobs and Apple pioneered the next frontier in music.

I still remember one of the major record label guys dismissing iTunes because of the inferior sound of a compressed file - and the lack of album artwork. He finished by saying "who doesn't love to collect album artwork?"

Apparently - almost everyone.

These are the same guys (different generation) who said railroads would always have a place in transportation because people love the comfort and experience of the train ride.

I can almost imagine a SNL skit in which the skinny caveman who invented the wheel is sued by a group of big, bulky caveman who's job it was to drag things around.

I just hope I can share it with friends on You Tube

I found George

I had heard of the web site that follows dollar bills around the country. While my interest has never been enough to start a bill on my own. I was sure I would enter a bill if I ever got one.

I got one on Sunday at the Speedway Store at the corner of Washington Ave and Highway "C" in Cedarburg.

As the day went on, an excitement was starting to build. My bill was from 2001, very faded and wrinkled. This bill must have racked up millions of frequent flyer miles! So last night I went to the web-site - excited to follow the travels of my dollar bill around the country.

Washington? Tucson? Seattle? Atlanta? Houston? Nope. My bill came from:

West Bend.

It had traveled 12 miles in 2 years.

www.wheresgeorge.com

When Did We Lost Sight Of What's Important?

Someone called me earlier this week asking for my help on a project this Saturday.

I declined - stating that it was my son's 5th birthday on Saturday. I would be happy to help on Friday.

The person goes on saying "well, it would only take 45 minutes - an hour tops."

I was a little taken at first. I hope this doesn't sound sexist - but it was a women calling: and I assume women to have higher standards when it comes to family time (okay - you can call Oprah and turn me in).

I was firm saying my day was booked and the conversation ended then (a little on the cool side I might add).

I'm used to doing things for the office on Saturday - it's part of the biz. Honestly - some of the people who ask us to participate in things do so under the premise that we have a license to operate in the public's interest - and therefore we should be at the 'beck and call.' Fortunately - those people are the few.

In life - the 5th birthday may be in the top 3 in kid importance (10 and 16 being the others). Even if it was 6, 9, or 11 - I'm going to be there. I didn't have kids to hear about their lives from others.

His birthday party with all of his little buddies isn't until 4pm, so my wife and I asked him what he would like to do the rest of the day. Now we have a tentative schedule:

• Get up and have something fun for breakfast (pancakes?)
• Play a game (maybe Sorry)
• Go outside and have a catch (assuming it's not below freezing)
• Have lunch at his favorite burger joint
• Watch Return of the Jedi
• Have his party - open gifts.
• Watch Deal or No Deal (we DVR them during the week)

That may seem lame to the person who assumed I would slip out for an hour. But I can't wait.

Signs Of Spring

I have a calendar hanging in my office with great photos of the Milwaukee metro. Each photo represents what you might see in that month - except March.

Since Spring technically begins in March, the photo is of flowers in bloom ... or green grass ... or people venturing outside for a stroll. Even for March 31st - that's a stretch!

I hate flipping it to that picture on March 1st - because it's really an April 15th type of photo.

But the calendar aside, I am starting to get a slight spring vibe - and it feels good:

• Driving home and there is still some daylight.


• Hearing Bob Uecker call a spring training inning.


• The first calls to KTI asking about our Dells Weekend.


• Signing up the kids for baseball/softball.


• People sitting outside at Kopps (granted, they're still pretty bundled.)


• Taking my time to close the car window at a drive-thru (as opposed to the "close it before you get frost-bite" method of February.)


• That dripping sound of snow melting off rooftops.


• Divider Lines re-appearing in the parking lot.


• Passing thought that "ah ... winter wasn't so bad after all."


• Turning off the heat half-way home.

Now this would be a more honest March picture - huh?

The snow is just gone,

No leaves on the trees

The mud left behind is just waiting for unsuspecting shoes ...

We've Got The Power ...

E-Mail from a Shorewood native who just moved to the Fox Valley

"I can listen to 'KTI on my computer at work, but cannot get the station clearly when driving around town. How come?"

All broadcasting stations (radio or TV) have a licence to broadcast on a specific frequency, with a specific power (for FM, height of tower and power output). WKTI, like other Milwaukee stations has a class "B" license. Our tower is behind Radio City on Capitol Drive, so our signal originates here. A good example of our coverage map would look like this:



If we broadcast with a higher power output, we would interfere with stations not only in the Fox Valley, but in Chicago. The same is true for stations in those areas - they would interfere with our signal if they were allowed to crank-up their power.


The red circle is our heaviest signal area. You could probably pick us up without an antenna. Extending to the purple circle is where you would need some sort of antenna - a wire or whip. You might also have interference by buildings and/or hills & valleys. The Blue circle is our complete coverage area. In the outer circle, you would need a solid antenna - like a whip on your car - to tune and there would be some static.

BTW: The portion of our signal that goes over Lake Michigan - engineers call that 'feeding the fish."

Then What Is A Better Plan?

No radio post today.

There has been something else bugging me now for a few months. It's the fate of Midwest Airlines.

I remember the first MW flight I ever took. It was from San Francisco to Milwaukee before 9/11. I had never flown MW (my cab driver had never heard of MW). I figured it was some small operation and I was going to be lucky if I didn't have to sit over the prop.

When I stepped on the plane - I had to re-check my ticket. This was it? Two across leather seating - friendly agents (even in SF) and a general feeling of happiness to be flying. Happy people filing into roomy seats ???

It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone - To what parallel universe did I just gain access?

Then about 45 minutes into the flight they brought a soft drink ... then salad ... then a real meal ... then fresh baked cookies ... and champagne to top it off. I was full, comfy and actually caught a few winks (I never sleep on planes).

Again - a check of my ticket showed I bought a coach ticket - one that cost the same as United or Northwest.

Post 9/11 the steak knives and champagne glasses are a thing of the past. But I do not care. That stuff was fun - but not what makes me fly MW every time. It's the 2 across seating with enough room to feel like more than livestock.

I wish they would switch their slogan to THE ONLY HUMANE AIRLINE.

What's really bugging me is Airtran's statement that Midwest's business plan is outdated - flawed. I'm not a business school graduate. But something seems wrong here (not to mention MW made money last quarter ... AT took a bath).

I've been gnawing on this now for months and here is what I think.

• I cannot think of one other brand that has my business 100% of the time (when going to a MW destination).


• I cannot think of one other brand that I would go out of my way to recommend. Heck, my colleagues are jealous when they found out I came into a business meeting on MW.


• I cannot think of another brand that I would go so far out of my way to use (including flying into an airport 100 miles away and driving the rest of the way - just because it's a MW destination).


• I cannot think of one other brand for which price is not my #1 concern (BTW: MW is not only competitive - but usually cheaper????)


• I cannot think of one other brand that would pain me to see go away (other than WKTI, naturally).

How can fierce loyalty be the result of a flawed business plan?

When I get where I'm going, I rent the cheapest car. I stay in the place that is closest to my meeting. I eat the easiest food.

If Airtran takes MW, I guess I'll just to to Orbitz and book whatever flight is cheapest. I have nothing against Airtran and have used them to fly into areas with no MW.

I have nothing against them ... and feel nothing for them. They're a line on my Orbitz.

Is that a better business plan? I sure hope not.

BTS: WKTI Jingle Session

One of the fun things I get to do every couple of years is to produce a new jingle package for WKTI. I like jingles because they identify the station while giving it personality. The last session I produced was back in September with a company in Dallas Texas.

I was cleaning out my CD rack this morning and found a session CD. That is a raw recording of the jingle session as it is being produced. The director of our session was cool enough to let me slip a blank CD in and record the whole process. I've always loved to know how things are done - so I thought I would share the process with you.

The first step is for me (the client) to meet with a director and find the right jingle package. Any reputable company will have a decent catalog (just like a musician would do looking for their next hit song).

Before anything else, the music tracks are laid down. Typically percussion and guitar go first. Then if there is any brass or keyboards - they are laid down next. By the time the musicians are done, we have the entire track done as an instrumental.

Next, the singers come into the studio and lay down their tracks. This is always the hardest part for me - because they lay down the harmony first. All I hear through my headphones is an off-key version of our jingles. Then they lay down the main chorus and it all begins to take shape.

Finally, each track is taken into a digital recording studio and goes through the process of post-production. This is where they process the singers voice and match it with the level of the music on the track. It's quite a lot of work for 5 second jingle!

If you click the link below, it will take you directly to our PODCAST PAGE at WKTI.COM where I have posted a condensed session of our "Great Milwaukee Weekend" jingle. The stage I have posted is where the musicians are done and the singers are trying to get the lyrics correct. Remember, this is before the 'post-production' stage, so levels are not as important.


http://podcast.wkti.com/WKTIEvents/tabid/931/Default.aspx

It sure sounds like they are having fun - I know I did ...

Letters ... We Get Letters ...

From the mailbox at WKTI.COM ...

... you keep saying new music alert before songs that have been out for months and it drives me crazy ..why?

The word NEW is pretty subjective. Some people will get a car and call it new for months - for others it's maybe a week.

New job - 6 months?

New relationship? 3 months for men, 8 months for women?

There is no standard for using the word new - so this is how I do it.

We know from all of our music surveys how many people are familiar with a certain song. Once I see it familiar with 85-90% of the audience, I no longer call it new.

So you may have downloaded Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape months ago. But others did not and are just hearing it for the first time. At the moment, that song is only familiar with 78% of you.

So for now - it's new music. Cool?

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words

Dan Kyle entertaining a full house at Shank Hall last night.

The top 10 finalists in the Verizon Wireless Rockstar Project performed last night in front of a packed house at Shank Hall - and the judges. While it was all fun and music last night, today the judges are working on the FINAL 5 - the first of which will be revealed on Monday morning when Lips Labelle ambushes them at their home/office/school.

You can see all of the pix from last night if you go to:

http://www.wkti.com

Click the Rockstar Project
Click the RSP Pictures Button