Marty's Musings!

The REAL CRTC leadership criteria

2012-01-25T14:18:00.004-07:00

The following is an excerpt from the head hunters description for their search for the new head of Canada's regulatory group - the CRTC.

"As Chief Executive Officer of the CRTC, the Chairperson establishes the corporate vision and values, defines the strategic priorities and plans and sets up the organization structure and operational systems and processes to guide the work of members and staff. This includes assigning members to panels and providing strong functional direction and expertise to members to enhance their conduct of delegated panel responsibilities and other areas of activity and to ensure executive direction of professional staff. He or she directs the development of policies, recommends their approval to the CRTC members and oversees their implementation."

I think we need a more ground level look at exactly what this position is going to demand in the coming years.

First off - REAL POWER

The new head of the CRTC is going to have the toughest challenges 'ever' in a rapidly changing media world. He/She will have to have enough power to work directly with the heads of the many 'billion dollar corporations' who have multi holdings in cities big and small across our country that impact on each other on a daily basis.

These giant media companies have radio stations, television stations, cable tv operations, satellite distributors; cell phone companies; internet companies; specialty channels; music companies; program distribution companies, and on and on and on.

In recent CRTC hearings it was quite obvious that some of the leaders of these companies feel they are indeed 'above the agenda' and to quote one very very rich gentleman who spoke at a hearing last fall "this is a total waste of my time."

The recent 'throttling' of internet speed is yet another concern that is an example of 'we're over and above' the rules and regulation in Canada.

The new leader will have to have the 'balls' to separate each and every one of these regulated business into a 'sole issue' where his/her decision is focussed directly on the one company that is dealing with the CRTC rather than the impact it could have on one or more other holdings down the line that the broadcaster holds in Canada.

Next: TECHNOLOGY SAVY

More than ever before technology is moving faster than the speed of the decision process and radio and television, specifically, is being affected by new devices, new ways of viewing/listening, and new 'options' for the consumer.

He/She will have to be fully up to speed 'personally' on all the technological developments that are happening around the world that will affect viewing and listening habits due to advances in technology. This alone requires a very hands on understanding of the cause/effect of new 'appliances' being developed as the border is now virtually gone between Canada and the United States with cyberspace delivery so much a part of our daily lives.

NEXT: COMPASSION

It's far too late to close the barn door as the horses are long gone from the pasture with our licencing process. Consolodation is here to stay and the 'chain store' style of running radio and television stations is now a coast to coast reality.

However, it must surely be realized that the game 'can' be changed by allowing new competitors on to the landscape with a 'real' opportunity to provide new and innovative programming in both radio and tv.

Over the past decade it has been nearly impossible, other than in the smaller markets, for this type of programming to evolve due to the decision making process of granting new licences.

In market after market, in the major cities in Canada, these new competitors have been licenced in 'stand alone' situations only to find that it is nearly impossible to compete on an even playing field with the billion dollar companies.

In markets where the new radio stations have been granted a licence the stations often only last about a year or two before they are a) either flipping formats 100% and giving up a 'niche' format or b) appearing before the CRTC again asking for 'another' licence with the criteria being that they need a second (or third) licence 'simply to survive.'

In television the United States has just seen the biggest quarter 'ever' of cancellations for cable/satellite service as viewers are moving to a 'mobile' platform - and when you're in the US you can now access virtually every major networks entire year of programming on demand (with few commercials or promos) via PC, laptop or tablet viewing.

Mobile is becoming a huge growth area and the new smart phones and tablets have triple the power they had a few years back with screen sizes (or apps to transfer to a big screen) that are very easy to watch.

The growth of Apple's iPad alone should be frightening to any terrestrial broadcaster - and as we've seen in the recent past when the impact is financial the only way to react is to 'cut service' (ie programming and people) to survive.

Finally, to me, the loss of the CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS (CAB) a few years back was a sad statement meaning there is little meaningful dialogue between the broadcasters and the regulators.

The 'smaller market' guys are the ones hit the hardest - and they're the ones that need the greatest assistance to crash through the barriers to success that they have to deal with in Canada.

There hasn't been a 'major' review of CAN CON levels in years and we never did come up with a 'new and emerging music' policy so that new talent isn't being forced off the air by 40 year old badly over played Can Con. (With the deepest apologies to Trooper!)

Indeed we need 'more communication in the communications business.'

It's going to be a tough gig. This person will have to be 'extremely' in touch with where the radio and television industries are going as viewing and listening habits are being affected by the biggest paradign shift in a lifetime.

He/She will also need a Canadian Government that also understands these changes AND the CRTC must be given a set of rules and regulations that are strong; clearly understood; monitored; and practical so that the Canadian airwaves don't just simply slide away from the next generation of consumers at all levels.

To quote from today's POSTMEDIA article:

Whoever inherits the job, a successful tenure may hinge on whether the appointee can convince Ottawa to rewrite the rule book.

The Broadcast and Telecom acts — two pieces of legislation written decades ago — continue to dictate the commission's decision-making. The anachronistic framework has come to undermine the CRTC's powers, the departing chairman has warned repeatedly.

"Our present tools are very inadequate," von Finckenstein said late last year.

Since taking over in 2007, the former Federal Court judge has advocated merging legislation to reflect a consolidating marketplace that has seen the biggest broadcast entities bought up and integrated with larger telecommunications operators, such as Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc.

Updated rules must also contemplate new web-based services such as Apple TV and Netflix Inc., which skirt Canadian regulation altogether."

I concur!

It's a mobile video world!

2012-01-07T17:04:00.002-07:00

We've come a long way from the 2 channel universe. At one time in Edmonton, believe it or not kids, we just had CBC and CFRN Television - and yes in gorgeous 'black and white.'

Yes I'm old enough to remember when we had one of these beauties - and I can actually remember the full television line-up from Sunday nights back in the late 50's. The World of Disney followed the 6 o'clock news; then Gunsmoke; followed by the Ed Sullivan Show. (It was off to bed after that)

The evolution of television, to oversimplfy it, then evolved through the 1960's - adding more 'local' television stations (ITV - which is now Global TV) - and finally cable came to town, offering television signals from Spokane, Washington.

In the 80's the evolution then turned to satellite - and many of us had these giant units in our backyards - bringing in (at that time) FREE television from the United States that often was 'scrambled' - meaning we'd have to either buy black market codes for the channels we wanted OR actually PAY for them, a la carte (which I loved).

Now that 2 channel universe became the 500 channel universe and it dwarfed that famous Bruce Springsteen song "57 Channels and nothing on."

Today, as I scan through my cable television guide in both Canada and the United States it's absolutely amazing to scoot through the 'hundreds and hundreds' of channels and end up saying that same statement..."there's nothing on television tonite."

It's a matter of personal choice but the amount of programming we now have is nothing short of amazing - and guess what - we're getting more!

If you have an ipad, or any other tablet, you can sign up to several MOBILE Video services, including iTunes and Netflix. You can now 'rent' video's that appear on your tablet for a 30 day period for anywhere from 99 cents to an average of $4.99. You can also 'buy' those video's as well.

Netflix service is available now in both countries - and in Canada for less than $8.00 a month you have unlimited viewing of an ever growing library of movies and tv shows.

Me? I'm addicted to the old classic shows - the Mad Mad Worlds; old TV shows like Rockford Files; the great documentaries that often were aired only once and on a specialty service that was so far up the channel guide you'd often miss the program.

In the United States there has been an unprecedented 'cancellation' of traditional cable and pay services since the introduction of 'mobile video'. One of the reasons, quite simply, is that we are 'over paying' for our cable/satellite service for the actual usage that the average viewer consumes. We are now also paying a premium to watch in High Definiation (HD) - as it is an add on to your regular cable meaning you're actuallly paying TWICE to watch it in HD instead of 'regular' cable.

*We subsidize the channels we don't watch by paying more for channels that we do watch!*

Where am I going with this?

Well at this moment I'm sitting in Edmonton Alberta Canada watching my Netflix feed from my condo in Phoenix Arizona on my ipad. It's a MOBILE world and the huge growth in tablets and the success of services like Netflix are 'only the beginning' in the mobile world.

There are 'several' new services being developed in the States, mostly from satellite and cable companies, or from companies like Disney that have huge libraries of movie content, that will be available to the consumer 'shortly,' and the consumer is only going to put up with being over charged for so long.

With devices like Slingbox we also now live in a borderless world and can access our home television virtually anywhere in the world on our tablets and smart phones.

We've come a long way from the two channel black and white universe - and I look forward to seeing where our giant Canadian cable and satellite companies go with this immense amount of competion that is very quickly coming to our borders.

Radio comes late to the app party

2011-12-29T10:20:00.004-07:00

In my radio career I spent as much time learning about 'psychographics' as I did about 'demographics.'

Yes the ratings are based on the 'age' of the person listening to your radio station but I always believed you'd get more mileage (ie. expand the demo's) if you understood the lifestyle of the listeners.

I, for example, don't really fit the profile of my 'age' - or as my good friend Terry David Mulligan so glibly said "Marty - you're not the poster boy for retirement."

My lifestyle is 'very' active - and I enjoy a great deal of the same music that both of my daughters (age 24 and 27) enjoy - on both ends of the spectrum from rap to rock. (God Bless Pitbull - I wanna hang with that guy) - and God Bless Dave Grohl - I'd kill for his hair (or any hair for that matter.)

As such my 'digital tastes' tie in to my work with Radiowise Inc. - and it's again evident to me that Radio is coming too late to the party with radio apps.

I also believe we should throw out the Gen X and Gen Y terminology and start to use the "M Generation" (mobile) because they're the ones that are really shaping where the entire media scope is going - in reading, viewing, and listening to media.

The "M" Generation is a psychographic - and it's age span is wide and growing wider each day.

As such one thing that really surprizes me are the current APPS that radio has thrown out there in the past year or so.

Ths M generation is all about a) choice and more importantly b) SPEED.

In the 'good old days' you'd stand in line at the bank for ages - while today if there's ONE person at the ATM you simply walk away because you're steps away from another one.

Same with radio.

Space is 'precious' on mobile units - iPhones, iPads, smart phones, etc. so the M Generation are terribly happy with that one stop thing - in other words using an app like TuneIn Radio.

This app can find virtually 'any' radio station in the world - and has a search button for a certain city (where you can find 'all' the stations in that market) - by music choice - by talk station - by sports - has a 'pre set' for favorites button - and you can also 'record' on the app.

In Canada when I'm looking at the big corporate Apps I'm surprized at many things.

First off 'few have search buttons' - 'most' don't have record buttons - most make you scroll through city after city after city to get to the one you want and if you have multi brands under your umbrella you'd have to literally go across the country to find the 'correct' one.

Another fascinating part is that most station apps have little to keep me 'sticky' on the site. I really don't want to read a blog that a station posts from a person who is really not that interesting to listen to on the station in the first place.

Blogs can be a great extension of the person - but it takes work and creativity....not what you did on the weekend or Grandma's recipe for cupcakes.

Give me something 'different' please.

"Stuff the CRTC doesn't let me say on the radio station."

"Tips - advice - links to other really interesting stuff."

Next, "loyalty is everything."

Many stations have now opened up Facebook "Fan" sites - but leave them almost blank.

As I scan through many of them it's amazing to see they only have 'about a hundred fans' - Information is long out of date - there's nothing interesting at all - no prize opportunities - little station information or really no reason to actuallly LIKE the page.

If you go to the big highly successful companies Facebook fan sites - ie. McDonalds and Starbucks - you can see the real power of these pages. With 'one click' of the mouse these giants can reach from ten to twenty five MILLION people.

Their sites are complete brand extensions - great looking pictures - offerings - discounts - 'contact' with the customer.

Radio's missed that!

The mobile crowd is quickly redefining media, as I've mentioned, and they consume Mobile capacity like crazy. They are NOT going to junk up their mobile units with every radio stations/corporate app when there are way more efficient app's to get the content they want.

If your radio station General Manager - Sales Manager - and Program Director are not 'active' on Facebook - Twitter - Sound Cloud - Pandora - Flipboard and other digital platforms it means that nobody at the top of the heap is pushing the Digital guy or girl in the office to move the platform forward too.

Sit in a room with the M crowd - listen to their opinions of your local or corporate app - and you just may be surprized to find out how far behind you're tracking in their expectactions.

I love digital. It's exciting. It's creative. It's interactive. It's fun. It's engaging - but I really do feel that most radio companies have missed the opportunity and this M Generation is quickly redefining what they will and will not listen to on their mobile units.

How does your station/company stack up?

I'm right huh!

Customer Service - the Giant Abyss

2011-12-07T11:10:00.002-07:00

I hate big business.

Check that - I 'really' hate big business.

The reason I hate big business is that the bigger the business gets the bigger the potential for 'customer service' problems exists.

Over the last decade or two customer service has really turned into the abyss in Canada - and technology has a great deal to do with it, sadly.

When I was growing up if you bought something and it didn't work you'd just take it back to the place you bought it and 'nine times out of ten' you'd receive an apology and an instant refund OR they'd give you a replacement product for the one that didn't work.

Try that now.

First off, Big Business has so many built in WALLS OF AVOIDANCE now that it is almost impossible to a) reach somebody instantly or b) speak to a human being.

Most 'customer service' departments are now off shore and you end up speaking to somebody in a land far far away who I can safely say "doesn't give a poop about your problem" and most struggle with the English language which truly adds to the frustration.

The next best WALL I love is the 'instant email' response that you get with the big disclaimer on the bottom that says "THIS EMAIL IS NOT MONITORED - PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO IT" - so I look for a phone number, name, or any other place where I actually might get to find some assistance - and "nope."

Or the other great one is the WALL OF WAIT where the auto answering system can actually tell you how long you will have to wait to talk to a customer service agent. "YOUR WAIT WILL BE APPROXIMATELY SIX HOURS" - Huh! (I don't make this stuff up folks!)

But a few of my most recent favorites include these classics.

This fall I cancelled my cell service. Now I'm not going to name any companies because it doesn't really matter because there's a built in "I don't give a poop" attitude among them all because they're owned by giant corporations that have some much money coming in from 'other' virtual monopolies that a few hundred cancellations a day means nothing.

In fact there's a great 'break even' system going because you have to move your account to another one of the giant corporations so one customer out - one customer in.

Google "most hated companies in Canada - guess who's in the Top Five?"

In any case I'd been with this company since the day cell phones were launched in Canada - 1986 in this instance. I can't imagine the amount of money I've spent with these guys. Last year they screwed up my account so bad that it took me 8 weeks and 6 different agents to get it fixed. The last lady was the biggest bitch I've EVER dealt with in my life - and she ended up literally screaming at me. I informed her that this was THEIR MISTAKE (again) and that "I" was the customer.

My final question to her was "What department are you in?"

Her response: "Customer service."

My response: "You're in the WRONG department."

The ultimate slap was an "email" saying they "cared about my business" so "please provide us a reason why you cancelled."

You bet. No human being got back to me.

The reason I finally cancelled this time was they sold me a ONE MONTH roaming package to use in Europe for my 3 week trip. When I got the contract, in the fine print, was a clause that stated this is a mandatory 3 MONTH charge.

When I called back to discuss it they confirmed the charge and I asked them to "logically" tell me how somebody would design a package that was 9 weeks longer than I was even IN the continent - no response!

So I moved to another provider - and it took SEVEN visits to their kiosk at Best Buy to finally get my account right.

Or at least I think it's right - but I haven't gotten a bill since September so this could or will be yet another cellular adventure.

****JUST IN: Rogers/Bell are now major shareholders in the company that controls the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bitter rivals in phones; cable; television - now 'partners in crime." Go Figure!***

Next my latest fun with "customer service."

My Christmas present to my wife and kids this year was a cruise to Hawaii on a well known cruise line. In fact they'd probably be rated in the TOP THREE in the world.

Again I won't name them but a hint might be "they are named after the country Norway."

My daughter has had some major health struggles over the year but we saw a nice window to get away and 'relax' with her. Then the bad news. Double hernia. No Travel. So I phone them to see if I can 'postpone' the trip. Not cancel. "Postpone due to a health problem."

Their answer was "we don't do that - you'll have to cancel it and pay a 50% cancellation fee."

I repeated - "No I'd like to take the trip so you won't lose the booking."

Response: "To bad - you should have bought cancellation insurance."

My response: "I'm sure you understand that I'd NEVER EVER travel with you again?"

Their response: Zip!

Now I DO have the American Express Platinum card so I do have some protection - but start filling out all the forms; get your Doctor to stop his/her important work to fill out paperwork that he/she has to do for you; send that email that gets the DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL message; then MAIL your documents because they don't provide an email to you and I'm sure I can expect my cash to be returned by about the time the Times Square New Years Eve ball is being polished up for 2013.

And Finally:

Four unions. Four strike threats. Try using your AEROPLAN flights for a 'simple' trip. If you want to see the country - or several for that matter - try to use your points for a Business Section trip.

A direct trip to Frankfurt that I booked last year "could" have had me actually travelling geographically 'backwards' - then stop in 3 American cities after I left Canada before heading overseas - and booking on line is almost impossible to do simply so back to the phone.

Oh Oh!

I'm not unique. We all have these problems but the real problem is that "there's nothing we can do about it."

Cancel one cell provider - move to the others. (Check that most hated list again)

Say you'll never fly on one airline again and realize they are almost the 'only game in town' and you're back on that airline for your next flight.

Try to talk to a human being.

Try to contact a "true" Supervisor who cares.

Try to let THE BOSS/OWNER of the business know your problems and see if you can get a response.

Try to find the NAME of anybody on a website that you can direct your problems to now!

Fire a note out on Twitter or Facebook and those poor buggers in the social media "customer service" department face the wrath of the web world because they are almost powerless to do anything other than "apologize" for their companies problems.

Somewhere in between UNDERCOVER BOSS and HORRIBLE BOSSES lies the solution.....and maybe instead of Occupy (your city goes here) the protestors actually sat on the front lawns of these billionaire companies top guys the customer may finally get some attention, and quickly.

For ME, as a former boss, I'd be embarrassed to be on that "most hated list" - and if I was a shareholder of one of those companies I certainly would remind the guy at the top of the heap that his/her responsibility is to FIX these problems.

I answered each and every email I got 'daily.'

I spoke to each and every person who complained about my radio stations 'the same day.'

If it was our error - I made it right.

If more of us were really proactive instead of complaining these days we'd start a simple giant rally of CANCELING and DOING WITHOUT these guys services.

Hit them in the pocket book good. Have a huge DON'T USE THIS SERVICE DAY and boycott the business.

I'm not a radical but a business that sits empty for a day - or longer - might get that needed mass media attention that says "I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Might be tough. Might be worth it.

Occupy "that."

Otherwise realize that it just isn't going to get any better quickly - so I'll meet you at the bottom of the Customer Service Abyss - again!

"Always look on the bright side..."

2011-12-02T11:01:00.003-07:00

One of my good friends recently told me that he enjoyed being around me because I always had a positive attitude and that I, to quote the great Monty Python, 'always looked on the bright side of life."

As such I was taught early in life to "not sweat the little stuff" and to "not worry about things that I can't change."

It's helped lesson my stress as well.

As I look towards the year 2012, and that always refreshing "things will be better as soon as the clock strikes midnight and we roll over in to a new year" belief here are a few thoughts on things that I think 'can' be changed if we really try.

First off - the economy.

When I was over in Europe recently I noticed something very odd and that was what I call the 'ping pong' effect of the worlds stock markets. As you wake up in the morning and check the media you could easily get a handle on what the stock market was like because each continent looked at the other continent to see how 'they' did yesterday so that they could react in either a positive or negative manner. Same thing over here - we blame Europe or Asia.

In Canada, to some degree, we look domestically at how we are doing yet will jump all over a trend from both aforementioned countries and somehow would adapt their scenario to ours thus a good day or bad day on the TSX.

Now I'm no stock broker or investment genius but one thing surely seems apparent to me.

The amazing amount of 'instant worry' we feel when we see any modicum of bad news in the investment world means we panic and the great sell off happens.

In the US there are 'trillions' of dollars sitting in corporate savings accounts that surely would be better spent if companies decided to again a) make stuff and b) hire domestically.

In Germany it was overwhelming to see a country that so dominates the automotive world, to just use one example, and how that country seems to be in a 'leadership' role. If you grade the top automobiles in the world BMW, AUDI, Porsche and Volkswagen are the kings of the castle.

If more companies decided they want to 'lead' instead of 'follow' with their products methinks we'd be in better shape than we are now.

Next - Politics.

It seems the only role for Political parties now is to 'get the other guy out at all costs.' This past year has been spent watching the Republicans do everything they possible can to 'stall' the Democrats and it takes months and months to get anybody to agree on anything while the country continues to collapse in economic ruin.

Don't get me wrong - I'm also not an expert on politics but when you hear an announcement from the banks like we heard this week in that "they promise not to evict anybody from their homes over the Christmas period" we simply are in a terrible and highly insensitive time."

Next, I don't know why 'anybody' would run for politics anymore unless they have a totally pristine record (and who doesn't have a skeleton or two in the closet.) It seems the instant somebody declares they want to run for office, almost at any level, the media goes into high gear to find something terribly wrong with them. Granted there are some 'bad people' in politics but surely having your entire life time rolled out in front of the rest of the world to see (including your own family) for some meaningless 'mistake' that they learned from and corrected in their lives can't be a good thing.

The recent gathering of the so called 'super committee' was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen and I can see things going virtually 'on hold' until the US election is completed in early 2013.

Lock 'em in a room. Throw in a bunch of sandwiches until they make a decision and 'get 'er done' as that famous comedian Larry the Cable guy so eloquently lays it out.

*By the way check his website, it's absolutely amazing!

Next - Share the wealth

I think the Occupy (your city goes here) program's theme is admirable, however how they operated it over the time period they did before being thrown out of every cities downtown core was their downfall.

They simply stated something terribly obvious and that is the gap between the rich and the poor is growing at a tremendous pace. Yes the 'bottom of the food chain' makes every excuse in the world to not work but somewhere in the pack are a bunch of people/families that simply can't make a living anymore due to downsizing and distribution of 'corporate profits.'

(If I hear the word 'restructuring one more time I'm going to throw up)

Hey I'm all for companies and people making a lot of money and if your skill/talent is in high demand 'good for you.' But with all that cash DOES come a responsibility to share some of your wealth.

Paying our athletes or entertainers millions and millions of dollars to perform for us is now at the 'insane' level especially when their deals go up with the excuse "If Bobby makes 3 million I'm better than him and need to make 4 million."

There are many many fabulous sports and entertainment stars that visibly give back - and are totally involved in making life better for others but there are thousands and thousands more that are simply 'jerks' and carry on like total assholes in public while being so called 'roll models' for our children.

It doesn't take 'much' to make a difference too. My favorite quote from the Haiti fund raising event came from Stevie Wonder who said "it takes a whole lot of littles to make a whole lot of lots."

And if you make more money in a year than an entire country - yes - you make too much money.

(Insert picture of your favorite jerk here - there are far too many to host in just one blog).

OK - then just one...(don't sue me...I don't have any money!)

The list of things to make the year 2012 so much better than the previous three or four years is a long one - but the 'big three' to me are:

1. Fix the economy - please! Stop day trading and jumping in and out of the stock market on a daily basis because the rest of the lemmings are following along. We were on a nice roll a few years back; things ARE getting better; but it's now time to get it together.

2. Stop the bickering at all levels of government and 'serve the people' who put you in office in the first place. Set an agenda with a high priority of 'fixing the obvious things' and the rest will fall in to place later.

3. Share your wealth. Roll your sleeves up too and 'get involved' in some project in your neighborhood. If you're taking your fans money from a particular city please put some back. One of these days our stadiums and arenas and movie theaters just might not be "Occupy-ide."

There...I'll step down now.

Happy 2012. I don't know about you but "I'm looking on the bright side!"

Radioviz.com

2011-11-30T10:16:00.004-07:00

I'm very honoured to have been interviewed for Radioviz - a site dedicated to great broadcasters.

Please check out at http://radioviz.com

Thanks...
Marty

Thank goodness there are '2' Thanksgiving Days

2011-11-24T11:09:00.003-07:00

I get a ‘do over’ on Thanskgiving.

For the past two years I’ve missed our annual Forbes family gathering as I was in Europe but today is Thanksgiving in the United States and I’m in Arizona getting immersed in their Turkey Day - NFL football, and watching the city virtually shutting down, and focus on “family.”

Yes I love turkey and stuffing, but the best part of my Thanksgiving is sitting around a room with my wife, kids, and in-laws reflecting on how lucky I am to have not only a great extended family, a family name that brings me great pride, but also the fact that I have three of the best girls a Father/Husband could possibly have in my wife Kim, Daughter #1 Lauren (thats by birth rite not that you are my favorite - cuz it’s a tie Lauren) - and Daughter #2 Rayanne.

Both daughters have always given me ‘immense’ pride.

Both are incredibly bright, kind, and beautiful all in one package.

Lauren figured out early in her life that the Father and Daughter bond is stacked in Dad’s favor. I’m just not going to play Barbie Dolls or Dress up - so she, at a very young age, started to watch hockey and football with me - and ‘loves’ motorcycles.

The first day she took lessons I gave her the most important advice a biker Dad could possibly give her - yet she did exactly what I told here NOT to do and rode at a pretty good pace directly into a bunch of tires that were set out to protect the turn.

As she came to me with tears in her eyes I said “are you ok?” - thinking that she was hurt, but her response was 'no...I’m ok - I just didn’t want to disappoint you.”

Rayanne is unique as all hell. Strong - confident - and determined. She knows exactly where she is going in life and god help you if you stand in her way.

Rayanne has gone through the “toughest disease I’ve ever heard of” with Graves Disease over the past several months. Throughout it all, and through great pain, her entire focus is on ‘learning’ as much as she can about it and ‘helping others.’

Her blogs are incredibly well written - compelling - and sad all in one.

Our entire family is ‘praying’ for her as she continues to beat the remaining problems she still has to encounter after surgery in the spring.

Rayanne will win.

She always does.

Both went through their school life in the French immersion program - which was very tough, especially in the early school years, - but later in life those lessons certainly helped them appreciate a different way of life.

One of our best family holidays I enjoyed was when we all went to Montreal and Quebec City and the girls (approx Grades 7 and 11) did ‘all’ our of our conversations during the trip in French. They checked us in at the hotels, ordered at restaurants, etc. At the Quebec City Carnival I responded to a carnival guy trying to sell me something by saying “Sorry - I’m English” - whereas he went on for about a minute yelling at me entirely in French. When I asked Lauren what he said her response was a simple “it’s not very nice Dad.”

In the West Edmonton Mall Rayanne would hear people speaking French and would wander over to help with directions, etc.

Neither girl has caused me ‘one minute’ of grief in my entire life. Their judgement in who they hung out with was pristine. Neither got out of control with drugs and alcohol and neither would be considered ‘prudes’ in any manner.

Both go out of their way to be nice to other people. Both are extremely generous in sharing what they have. Both have incredible senses of humour and both make me laugh every time we are together.

OK I laugh at Laurens constant changing of her hair color - and how much makeup Rayanne wears but ‘what the heck eh?” What are Dad’s for?

One time when Rayanne’s room was a complete disaster I lost it on her and demanded she clean it up. As I came down the stairs muttering to myself my wife Kim met me on the way up and had a line I’ll never ever forget - and it was simply “if this is the worst you have to deal with her we’ve done pretty good.”

You’re so right Kim.

As you get older the more time you can spend with your children - the better.

I know so many families whose kids leave the nest and don’t spend a great deal of time with their families - which is sad. My Dad died at age 58 and I simply feel robbed that we didn't have more time together. Mom is 83 - still makes me laugh every time we talk - which isn't "often enough." *I'll work on that!

I often hear people call their Dad “my old Man” which, to me, is the ultimate phrase of disrespect.

Mine never have - I think!

So today as I sit around reflecting on giving “Thanks” for my lot in life the three people who deserve 100% of the credit for my happiness are...

Kim Forbes

Lauren Forbes

Rayanne Forbes!

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

There - I got my ‘do over.”

Saluting Media pals and Community Work!

2011-11-19T10:30:00.012-07:00

In the media business ‘success doesn’t happen overnight’ and these three good pals know that so well.

Pal One: Terry Evans - K97 Mornings. Blame Terry for the weather. Every time he ‘lives in a truck for the food bank’ it snows or the temperature plummets. In 2009 Edmonton was the second coldest place on the planet - and Terry was in an 18 wheeler, away from his family, with ‘few’ comforts filling the truck with food for those less fortunate. This is Year Four for the K97 Christmas Rig and it's at 15367 Castledowns Road starting today. Terry won’t leave the truck until you fill it up. “Last year was a record year for the amount of time it took to fill the truck. I hope we are looking at another speed record this year.” Terry is one of those ‘extreme’ guys and one of the most fun events I recall is when he donned a suit of armour and had people take golf shots at him to raise money while we worked together at The Bear several years back. And Terry's one of the first guys to jump on a 'need' in Edmonton 'year round' as well. Good work again my friend.

Pal Two: Way back in Mr. King’s math class at (then) Bonnie Doon High School - a guy used to tap me from behind saying “introduce me to your father.” (Jerry Forbes/CHED) That guy was Holger Peterson who has gone on to near ‘legendary’ status on CKUA, CBC Saturday Night Blues, and as the owner of Stony Plain Records. Holger has just released a book called Talking Music - and it is filled with anecdotes from some of the most talented performers in rock, and roots/blues over the last several decades. Talking Music, a compilation of 19 in-depth interviews with artists ranging from guitarist Ry Cooder, Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood, gospel star Mavis Staples, Sun Records’ founder Sam Phillips and singers Lucinda Williams, Maria Muldaur and Bonnie Raitt.

Maintaining a ‘music business’ in this digital age is a major challenge - except for Holger - who’s artist base goes back to the days of vinyl - and would be considered of ‘collectible’ status. Many highly successful artists owe their careers directly to Holger.

Pal Three: Terry David Mulligan - CKUA - and a bunch of other places. Originally from Red Deer, TDM as he’s affectionately known, has been a television star; acted in big time movies; hosts Mulligans Stew each Saturday afternoon ‘and’ now hosts a very informative program called Tasting Room Radio specializing in ‘wines and celeb’s’ from around the world, also on CKUA. Terry too has a new book - Mulligans Stew My Life So Far. In it he also chronicles legends in entertainment and pop culture. Highlights? “Interviewing Robin Williams - it was like riding a roller coaster...naked, in the rain, on acid. Frank Zappa - brilliant, opinionated and no drugs. He hated drugs and held up the drug culture to ridicule. And finally Sting - open, honest and lucid.” Terry is one of the most active guys in the media business and his show on CKUA is 'refreshing and vibrant' to say the least.

Google those titles to find out where you can purchase those books please!

Finally, there are several great media folks in Edmonton who ‘constantly’ give back and to salute just a few Bruce Bowie, Rob Christie, Yukon Jack, J’Lyn Nye, Mike Sobel, Chris Sheetz, the recently retired but still giving back Gord Whitehead, Carrie Doll, Daryl McIntyre, Gord Steinke, Garner Andrews, Nick Lees, Jason Gregor, Seanna Colllins, Graham Hicks, Danny Hooper, - oh and yes I know I’m forgetting a few - BUT to get to this level of respect in the business you have to sincerely ‘get involved’ in our civic issues and for a very long time.

*PS: Congrat's to Seanna Collins for winning the 2011 ACWS Lynda Steele Media Award. (Alberta Council of Women;s Shelter)

There are several new radio stations in town - lots of new morning shows/announcers who have just come to the city, tv journalists, etc. - and plenty of good causes to support - so if you really want to ‘make it’ in this great city you new comers here’s the number one tip for you...“get off the couch - get known - put your butt on the line - and use the power of your media to reach out to HELP make Edmonton an even better city to live in.”

It's a sacrifice of time away from your family but so very much part of being in the media in this town, and it pays off in both ratings and client support!

Dedication and commitment counts...Trust me!

I believe these folks, and many other Edmonton media vets have done their part - so ‘over to you’ - the gauntlet has been thrown down!

Spelling is a lost art

2011-11-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share the response note I got back from a recent email to Canada Post. I'm guessing their 'customer support' person may not have completed their "schoolin."

Count the spelling mistakes!

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your message to Canada Post.

I have documented your concern, If you require further assistance we would need details on the mail items.

If an item is a trace item and has a Tracking Number we would be able to trace the item. If not, unfortunatly we are then limited as to what we can do to locate an item that doesn't seem to be ariving.

If you note anything unusual with your mail deliver you should report it.

Sincerely,

Canada Post Customer Service Team

My Brother Gord's 'guest' appearance blog on SALES

2011-11-03T12:45:00.004-06:00

For those of you who 'don't know' my brother Gord - he has also spent his entire life in radio - 35 years in Vancouer alone - and also did a stint with the Vancouver Canucks - He shares his wisdom and experience with this blog in the world of 'Sales in Radio'.

Gord is reachable at gcforbes@shaw.ca -

***Please give it a read and an RT if possible!***

==============================================================================

The other day I was reading through a series of Linkedin group discussions about the “single most important attribute a sales person can have”.

Meandering through the replies, I came across a great number of thoughts and rationales to support them…many of which were good, in and of themselves, but I would say the most often quoted was “being a good listener”.

Obviously it’s important to understand your customer’s needs through great listening skills…and if we got paid to be excellent listeners we would all be driving big cars and living in fancy houses.

In reality, the journey from your prospects office through to the execution of a successful campaign is fraught with challenges that only the most creative, versatile, well rounded and determined sales people can make on a consistent basis.

The business has changed dramatically since I first started producing spots back in 1973 at the Mighty 630 CHED…but never so significantly than since I left it in 2005 to work in the crazy world of Sports Marketing as VP Business Development for the Vancouver Canucks.

I see in the Linked in group “The Sales Floor” a few people that I worked with back in the “good ol’ days” when we basically showed up for work, took a few orders over the phone, had a nice bottle of wine with lunch and schmoozed clients with free tickets to Eskimo Games or dinner at The Point After with Bob McCord or Chuck Chandler (who were legitimate “Rock Stars” in the community).

Those old timers (Hi Len Thuesen) that have been able to stick with it for so many years should be like an encyclopaedia* for the younger members of this group because for these veterans to still be making a living in an environment that has evolved into what it is today takes a considerable amount of malleability and is truly remarkable.

Without getting into all of the industry and corporate challenges that have made your job so much more challenging, it still really comes down to one (complex) question for radio sales people.

How can I negotiate through the myriad obstacles within my station and actually deliver what the customer needs for him/her to justify this expense?

Yes, it’s important to listen carefully to what your prospect is saying…you will need some of that information to craft the execution of his/her campaign…but the most important piece of information you need to get is their definition of what constitutes success in their eyes.

Knowing where they need to get is the only way that you can possibly build the road to get there. To quote the inimitable Yogi Berra "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

Other than agency buyers, I never dealt with a client who said his idea of success was reaching 60% of adults 25-34, 3.5 times a week”. Clients have real needs like, I have to sell 50 of these things before next Tuesday when my loan payment is due.

Part of the problem I see these days with radio sales people is that many of them still believe that a catchy 30 second spot with a discounted, drive-heavy schedule on their top rated 25-54 station is something that clients are salivating for.

In the meantime, your lunch is getting eaten by some geeks at the Mountainview head office of Google who are equipping their sales people with data that allows your prospect to target their message directly to the guy in your neighborhood who has two kids, changes his own oil, travels once a quarter to Vegas and is hunting for the best deal on a 2011 Prius Hybrid in black.

How do you compete with that?

Folks, the days of selling spots based on cume and average quarter hours are long gone. Radio tuning in North America is down a measly 4%. Revenue is down 25%...and if you haven’t seen the revenue growth curve for Facebook, Google, Twitter etc., it is a shocking example that shows where your money is going.

So the question becomes…Is Radio still a viable ad medium in the face of this new reality…or should I go get a job selling Google search.

The answer to the question is yes…radio is still relevant and I believe that you will be able to continue to make a pretty good living at selling it…but not the way you have been.

When Sony introduced the Walkman back in 1978, pundits predicted that it would obsolete traditional radio, as we knew it. Since then, many iterations of portable music devices have come and gone, finally ceding dominance to the current Apple iPod which has become the category standard.

The idea that everyman was a better programmer for their own musical tastes than a Program Director, (even with hundreds of thousands of dollars cast against music testing and research) was appealing to the early adopters. Today, online stations abound.

Streaming has become easy and ubiquitous, yet the local radio station still exists, despite corporate cutbacks that have left them understaffed, overworked and under resourced.

Why is that?

I would propose that the combination of maintaining a local focus, with likeable personalities, relevant news and information and the ability to have an intimate relationship with listeners is the key reason that people still tune in from day to day.

Here in Vancouver, waking up every morning to Larry and Willy, getting the traffic and weather information I need to plan my day, hearing how the Canucks, Lions or Whitecaps did the day before and what concert is coming to town next week is just part of what people need from the medium…. but to save time preaching to the choir let’s all just agree that radio is still a great medium and get back to how we use its key strengths to sell advertising solutions to Joe’s café.

Our listeners are our friends. We keep them company, play them music, give them information, talk to them, ask them questions, send them on trips or to concerts or games…even let them talk on the radio. We send them Tweets. They “Like” us on Facebook. We reward them for their loyalty and listenership in many creative ways.

So suffice to say that we have nurtured this great relationship with our listeners in an effort to keep them listening more often and for longer periods of time… but what do we actually know about them?

There is this terrible measurement platform called PPM, which is at best a wild guess of extrapolated data as to who is listening, when and for how long. We get a few hundred people on the panel and hope to hell that a few of them tune in when we give away the Foo Fighters tickets and dinner at the Keg during our peak AQH.

Oh yeah, BBM can give us another guess as to the demographic makeup of our audience and then we take that information to our ad agencies and join our competitors in chasing the rates into the ground. (I know, I know…Agencies account for a large portion of our overall revenue so we have to play their game, but that’s a different problem that I’ll save for another post.)

If you have a loyal listen club, you should at the very least know their names and email addresses…but what if we knew how many times they came to our web site and what pages they visited. What if we knew where they lived and could plot them on a map to see where they were concentrated so that we could work with advertisers in areas where we had high penetration?

What if we knew how many contests they entered on our site without winning?

What if we knew what products they are in the market for? Do they have any pets? What if we could help them get a better deal on a new car? What if we could personally invite them to a product launch or restaurant opening? How much would it be worth to your advertisers to know this kind of stuff about your listeners?

While your competitors are in the local car dealers office extolling the benefits of being the number one station with Adults 25-54 in the Edmonton CMA, You are next door putting together a deal with his competitor to send a personal incentive to the 25 listeners within 5 miles of his dealership who have told you they are looking to buy a new car in the next 6 months.

Dear listener. You told us that you might be in the market for a new car so we went to Joe’s Ford down the street and asked him if he could do something special for loyal CXXX listeners like you. He told us that if you purchased a new car from him in the next 10 days, he would give you an additional $1000 off the price…just because we’re all friends.

Do you think it might be easier to sell a campaign with this kind of information as opposed to your cume figures? Of course it would. It’s what Facebook, Google and Yahoo are already doing that is taking billions of dollars out of the pockets of traditional media ‘peddlers’ around the globe.

In essence, we can do a lot of what Google et al do, but better. Better because of the relationships we have with our listeners and the fact that they will share stuff with us that they wouldn’t share with the big search engine guys.

They will share it with us because we understand them and communicate with them on an intimate level and because we live in the same city, know the same people and go the same places. We wake them up in the morning, get them to work, share their opinions and play their favourite songs over, and over, and over….

So how does a sales person thrive in this new world reality? Listening well – yes, but also by learning about the tools that are available to be able to take to their advertisers a focused activation that is hyper-targeted to a small group of really interested people.

It includes spots. It includes a creative solution to their expressed needs and it includes pre-determined metrics on what success looks like. Most of all it includes knowing your listeners and working with a team of people at your station who are all focused on creating and executing a more holistic and ambitious solution to your clients needs.

The problem with all of this is that it’s more work and it’s more time consuming. Yup, it is…but the upside is huge once you get the reputation for proving customers successful executions. Plus you can stop wasting time casting a wide net by cold calling uninterested and unqualified prospects so that you can fill up your ‘call sheet’ and focus on bigger sustainable campaigns with more sophisticate marketers.

Some of the biggest challenges you will face in your efforts to save the industry will be from inside your own building.

Will your GM or group President invest in the tools to help you make more sales?

Will the PD buy into the concept of marketing to your listener database?

Will your GSM accept creatively packaged executions? Is your creative department staffed with “creatives” or are they just “writers”…but most importantly, are YOU determined to make a difference in the way you help your sponsors meet their expectations within the parameters that are set by your management group?

To be frank…my experience tells me that, with a couple of rare exceptions, (like Astral who are making the investment in tools), the key decision makers across the country haven’t yet made the link.

Most stations still look at their interactive properties as “something the promo guys can update”, and not as a serious potential money-maker. Stations have become so ingrained in “cutting back” that the idea of making an investment in the resources to forge new directions is out of the question.

The industry hasn’t yet attracted the kind of visionary technicians, who can drive these initiatives, nor will it until such time as the pain of losing money to ‘search’ becomes greater than the prospect of investing in the tools and training to reverse the flow of money out of the industry.

I would be happy to chat with anyone that would like more information on the tools and techniques required for relationship marketing.

Glossary for the younger readers.

*(an encyclopaedia is a book** that has information about every thing one would ever want to know).

**(A book is a bunch of paper with words on it that is bound into a document)

Social Media Tips

2011-11-02T11:32:00.006-06:00

The phone keeps ringing here at Radiowise Inc..

People and businesses in Canada are starting to catch up to the growth patterns seen in the United States and Europe with many 'trying to understand' this thing called 'social media.'

First off - if your business is NOT on Twitter - why not?

It's a tremendous business platform and the companies that are using it properly are reaping the benefits of 'customer engagement.'

If some businesses could see what is being said about them on both Facebook and Twitter they may be shocked.

The good companies are monitoring and reacting 24/7 and there are some 'great ones' out there. Just a few include Best Buy; Edmonton's Airport; many Media outlets, and for the most part Westjet.

I say that because 'some' companies RETWEET only 'compliments' and some don't even react to the complaints, which is a terrible mistake as you then become the target of the unhappy consumer(s). Showing a little vulnerability and fixing a problem can be a very positive experience - instead of avoiding it!

I love seeing a "happy ending" - somebody who complains and gets the proper reaction from a company and thus their concern is handled. That same complaint probably helps 'hundreds of others.'

The CELL companies are the worst. Sorry - it's a platform of mine - but a 'form letter' response to a complaint from a customer you have lost after 25 years simply 'doesn't cut it.' Have a REAL PERSON find out what the problem is/was and I'll bet a potential cancellation can turn in to a happy customer and a problem solved. Your businesses are NOT big enough to handle a 'wave' of people bailing on you and eventually you'll pay the price.

(Google "most hated companies in Canada" - you won't be surprized)

A few tips:

-find somebody in the company who knows and is engaged in Social Media. You may be surprized to find one in the building simply looking to help out - and if they know your business practices you can eliminate one very big step in the evolution of your social media plan.

-if you can't find one HIRE ONE. A full 30 to 35% of the mobile crowd is doing either research or buying on their smart phones, which is a pretty good stat to 'be where the consumer is going' - and that growth will multiply quickly especially with the next line of smart phones that are on the way - very powerful; full motion video; and interactivity.

-get on Twitter. You don't HAVE to tweet but you should 'monitor' what is being said out there. People are sick and tired of waiting on your 1 800 lines for hours upon hours OR reaching a person somewhere overseas who is struggling with the English language.

-newsletters, generally speaking, are now too long (or only come out once a month/quarter) and people don't have time to scroll through pages and pages of 'offerings.' What they DO have time is to click through on a link when they are on twitter/facebook/your web site - and looking for the one particular offering that is of interest to them.

The 'stream' of information you present can be very helpful - and again a RT of your message can be a very positive thing.

-sign up for the 'good' tip sheets. Emarketers. Marketingcharts.com. Hubspot. Comscore. Mashable. There are several of them that are 'free' and very easy to follow along to with the growth and evolution of social media. Follow these companies on Twitter as well.

For companies that have not 'reviewed' their websites in the past few years please 'take a look' at what you present.

If you have a boring main page then you'll have a boring site.

More importantly LOOK at your site on a mobile phone - 'most' companies sites do NOT look good on a smart phone OR they take forever to load. Simplify!

What's the most 'attractive' part of your business? Bring it forefront.

For media companies - I use the term "hockey boards" - if your websites are nothing but endless commercials and pop ups you're also way behind the wave. Clean 'em up. Have only your most INTERESTING content available. I can't tell you how many 'boring' blogs are being thrown out there by media companies.

And work to the 'full capacity' of technology - if there's an amazing thing happening on the radio station take a VIDEO OF IT and share with your listeners. Audio is one thing - video is a whole other thing - 'more please.'

OK that answers 'most' of what I'm being asked by
clients these days.

Most importantly "don't be afraid of social media - LEARN ABOUT IT!"

Radiowise Inc. has had a banner year working with some 'great' forward thinking clients - like Boston Pizza of Northern Alberta; Telus World of Science; Strathcom Media; Children's Miracle Network; Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree; - and others.

Build it and take it to the next level.

Done right you will reap a great benefit from your clients and customers for years to come.

Germany's amazing driving machines

2011-10-14T05:53:00.001-06:00

Just back from the trip to Europe and wanted to share a few thoughts as I adjust to the jet lag and 7/8 hour time zone changes....the 'fun' part of travelling.

First off I travelled the Autobahn and can safely say that's the craziest highway I've ever driven on, albeit their system works like crazy. Most of the highway we drove on was three lanes wide and the drivers adhered to the respective 'lane situations' very well. The very right hand lane is reserved for trucks, slower vehicles, and large buses. The middle lane is reserved for people who travel at 'approximately' the normal speed limit (120 kph) while the left hand lane is for the 'give 'er' drivers and you are advised to keep an eye on who/what is behind you because they're coming 'fast.' There is NO passing in the right hand lane so it certainly eases the worry about idiots scooting by you at any speed from any side. But the most overwhelming part of driving in Germany is the 'quality' of vehicles you encounter. Porsche; BMW; Mercedes; Audi and Volkswagen rule the roads and, especially in Stuttgart, a quick survey of the ten cars parked at a traffic light shows that 8 out of 10 are one of those cars. Quality is the key and when you visit the car museums over there you'll see a stark reminder of not only how great these cars are built but how long they have ruled the car business. The buildings alone speak of the dynamic.

We arrived at the Porsche Museum as it opened, and at about the exact time that the fire engines arrived for a 'false alarm' in the building.

After huddling outside with the staff; the cooks (yes they have TWO restaurants inside the building); a Porsche representative came outside after about 20 minutes and shouted instructions into a megaphone, whereas everybody walked back in to the building to be met with a nice 'bonus' - FREE ADMISSION due to the false alarm. (Cost is usually $8 Euro's) Inside the building you walk around on ramps that chronicle the history of Ferdinand Porsche, and his all important 'credo' about why he started Porsche.

It takes about an hour or so to wander through the various vehicles and you are amazed at the sheer 'power' on display - let alone how many millions of dollars of vehicles are sitting in this impressive building.

Next up was the Mercedes Museum, which is beside the Mercedes Arena, an impressive all purpose arena that houses top soccer and 'football' matches - practice fields, etc. This building too is 'magnificent.' (Cost $8 Euro's but for me the seniors special - half price)

The Mercedes Museum was hopping and security was huge. Everybody had to check their jackets and back-packs and once that was completed was sent to the top floor of the building by a George Jetson type fast elevator that looked right out of Star Wars.

You're up about 8 stories and this display goes back to the beginning of time in the Mercedes world - at around 1890 - and there are hundreds upon hundreds of simply mind blowing vehicles on display - everything from the Pope Mobile to buses to 'future' Mercedes concept cars.

The eras are broken up so that you can see a chronological history of the brand as well.

So although our Tres Amigos do Europe Tour 2011 was focussed on 'two wheel' travel throughout five different countries, one of the best highlights was spending a day looking at these magnificent automobiles at the Porsche and Mercedes Museums in Stuttgart, Germany. It's a very 'young' city that was totally rebuilt after severe damage in WW II, and the fact that it is a University town makes it very young focussed and dynamic. If you get a chance to visit either, or both, of these fine tributes to automotive delights I 'highly' recommend you attend....it's a great way to spend $4 Euros (my special price for the day) Both have websites for full information and I have posted about a hundred pictures on my personal Facebook site as well.

Opps...'that's Europe for you."

2011-10-06T09:24:00.001-06:00

There will be NO pictures in today's blog...for a very good reason which will become evident.

The Tres Amigo's do Europe 2011 crew decided to make today a rest day, prior to Mr. P heading home to Scottsdale and Mr. N and I heading to Stuttgart so we wanted to visit the most famous water spa in Germany.

It's called Therme Erding and if you want to Google it go ahead - and dial it in on the English feed.

It's about five times bigger than the West Edmonton Mall's waterpark. It's complete with about a dozen huge water slides - an amazing main pool area with special 'jets' (more on this later) - sixteen sauna's - several other mini pools - a steam room - food kiosks - swim up bars - indoor/outdoor swim pools - and the ah, 'special rooms.'

We paid about $25 Euro for the full pass and were told that there were special rooms where the cost was 'extra.' When you check out you find out - like about a ten minute steam costs another $11 Euro.

You're given a key, and a wrist bracelet with an electronic insert that you hold up to get past the security entrances to the extra rooms.

Well we change in to our bathing suits and immediately hit the big pool - and this thing 'lights it up.'

There are hundreds and hundreds of jets throughout the pool that go off in sequence...some from the walls - some from the roof (cave) - some from the floor - and all extremely high powered. It's the most relaxing sensation you can imagine as the water is set about 34c.

Oh, and the roof to the pool can be 'opened ' for prime weather conditions too.

By the way, there is virtually NO English either spoken or on signs so our challenge was formidable as we walked around trying to figure out what each room was all about.

After about a half hour in the main pool Mr. N and I check into the 'clothing optional' section of the complex thinking that 'optional' means just that...by choice - so we weren't too afraid of what would happen when we walked into the area.

Well we quickly found out that 'optional' means NUDE. Very NUDE. All NUDE. Everybody but us NUDE.

Well Europeans have no qualms whatsoever about walking around totally in the buff - but obviously North Americans don't share that confidence. After a quick swim, and walk through, we headed over to the water slides to grab Mr. P to tell him about hour little 'wander into nudism' trek.

A few runs down the slide - and Mr. P is now in tow wanting to see himself.

That's when we got 'busted.'

A nice young employee wanders over to us - again with 'barely' any English - and politely explains to us that we are now in the 'all nude' area and we should either a) doff the gear or b) leave the area.

We took option b) - well at least Mr. N and I did but Mr. P, with his Italian heritage, dropped the trunks and headed for the danger zone.

It was quite the experience and even though we were thousands of miles from home; away from any potential family or friends, clients or associates Mr. Happy was kept hidden in the Fruit of the Looms where he remained quite pleased. (Honest Kim)

So - very simply I think you'll understand that - there are 'no pictures' in the blog today!

Switzerland

2011-10-03T10:27:00.000-06:00

Another beautiful day of riding through western Europe.

It appears we’ve hit a ‘record’ weather week with clear skies, little wind, and perfect road conditions although today is a holiday so the highways were a tad busy.

(By the way Mayor Mandell - in the four riding days so far in mountain countries we’ve seen ‘nary’ a pothole so it CAN be done!)

We road from Northern France this morning back through a section of the Black Forest, ending up in Switzerland.

We stopped for some ‘authentic’ Black Forest cake in Germany and some of the guys grabbed some Black Mountain Ham - which has the most beautiful aroma you can imagine when you walk in to the little cafe on the mountain.

Today my mind was on inspiration and in studying our other riders all who have come from very different scenarios.

The prime motivator is Jack Cartright from southern California. Jack is 76 years old and travels all over the world ‘riding’ motorcycles by himself. He reminds me of Jack Palance - a good sized man - rugged - and totally ‘in shape’ as he rides his bicycle ‘at least 100 miles a week.‘ His sense of humour is immense and can tell stories til the cows come home.

Then there’s Ray and Teresa Silva, the only Harley Riders in the group, and they’ve taken a fair amount of ‘fun’ heat about that fact but he’s a hell of a rider and keeps up with the BMW’s easily.

On the back of Ray’s jacket you can see his inspiration - a cancer survivor.

The two “Johns” are Dentists and it’s their first trip over to Europe. Both are as wide eyed at the rest of us about the stunning topography; the amazing ‘new’ foods; and the head clearing two wheel feeling you get on a ride like this.

Patricia and Stan Hickle from Hanna, Alberta have had the toughest time as they have had a few ‘spills’ due to the fact that they are both self described ‘big people’ and are riding a much smaller bike in the BMW 1200 than what they are used to on their Honda Gold Wing. They too have property in Arizona.

Every time Patricia ‘falls over’ she gets up with a laugh and hops right back on the bike. Today they bumped into Jenn (our guides) while making a turn and both bikes hit the tarmac. Little damage and as Jenn says “shit happens.”

Another ‘almost’ bad accident happened when one of the kids from Taiwan was waiting by the roadside. A car came past him and ‘clipped’ the side of his bike sheering the turn signal clear off - then the car kept on going. The kid was fine but again both incidents remind you of how vulnerable you are out there on the road.

I’d have to guess the ratio of motorcycles to cars is close to 50% over here - so cars and trucks are quite used to bikes on the road, mostly giving us lots of space, but there have been a few times when we’ve had to be ‘very’ aware of traffic conditions on the motorcycles.

Today I decided ‘not’ to use the term “Bucket List” anymore - simply because it has a finality to it.

I’m going to call it the “Dream List” because this surely is a dream that I’ve had for many many years - and when you sit here at the end of the day ‘bagged’ from riding and look out at the beautiful homes, churches, castles, and buildings it’s just such a positive feeling that you get rushing through your head.

Many people say I’m lucky - and for that I concur - but by having a list of things you really desire as a basis to ‘getting it done’ truly is a blessing and I’m allready thinking about the next place in the world I’d like to visit.

Even though language is an issue the people who have all helped, or served us, along the way have truly been great and congenial.

Sometimes it’s just fun pointing at something on a menu and saying ‘lets go for it’ - to discover yet another delight from this part of the world.

The other aspect that is forefront all the time for me is the fact that my late step father Mike Sheehy lost his leg in the Second World War fighting for our freedom. I wish he was alive now so I could ‘truly’ thank him for his sacrifice for I ‘most likely’ would not appreciate the gift of travel like I do.

Plus - if indeed we all are reincarnated in the future - I promise to pay attention in school the next time around because there is ‘so much’ to learn from the past.

This has been ‘great’ - with more to come.

The Tres Amigos do Europe 2011 tour hits Lietchenstein and Austria tomorrow.

Best of Europe bike trip continues

2011-10-02T07:58:00.002-06:00

First off the weather has been spectacular and the riding the same. Yesterdays ride from Heidelberg (check this castle) through the Black Forest was simply amazing with more 'twistees' than I've ever been on before.

We rode through about 50 different villages and I swear it was like being in a 'fairy tale' with the beautiful Bavarian homes. We also went past several vineyards - and farms growing feed corn as well as cabbage.

It was a real test of skill as you go around those curves fairly swiftly with the rest of your crew (about 21 other bikes) about 2 to 3 seconds behind you so 'no goofs.'

And at about the half way point we stop at a beautiful lake area for a quick rest. Our two guides are amazing. Jenns (pron: Yens) speaks 'at last' 4 different languages and will use all four throughout a conversation making sure that everybody knows what the heck is going on.

Then theres Sigg (Ziegfried) who we believe is "map challenged" - either that or he HAS to take a smoke break every 45 minutes so pulls over to check a map and lights up.

We are now in a small town in Northern France called Ribeauville, which is part of the Alsace district which wine lovers surely will recognize.

We've met some great people and I'll try to highlight a bit of info about each with these updates.

Bob and Donna Torche are from Washington - and in fact "the Pentagon" - and have some really interesting stories...They bike all over the world and Donna is a total character.

Language can become an issue when you're this far into the countryside - and the look on some of the peoples faces when we try to order something in English is hilarious as they shrug their shoulders and grin.....at which time the game of Canadian charades breaks out as we point at whatever we want.

At lunch the 'special' was something we had never heard of but Donna 'jumped at it' - so the entire crew ordered this....which 'was' spectacular.

Today is a rest day but most of the guys took off again across the country side for another ride while Brian and I rested our butts, literally, in town. The BMW's are great bikes but their saddles are as thin as wafers and a 7 hour ride can be a tad painful - but as you can see in this picture - we're taking it like grown up MEN.

Tomorrow we cut back through the Black Forest and stop where the 'real' cuckoo clocks are made and for a piece of authentic Black Forest Cake. We then ride through what Jens says is some 'spectacular' Alpine mountain riding and end up in Switzerland.

Boy what a guy won't do for his Edmonton Sun Publisher!

Cheers everybody - miss you Kim, Lauren, Rayanne and the mighty Duke.

Munich Oktoberfest

2011-09-27T18:54:00.002-06:00

Day two in Europe was spent on a relaxing train trip from Frankfurt to Munich. Relaxing if you mean cruising the rails at up to 300 kph.

Arriving in Munich we check in to the hotel and hook up with our "Tres" Amigo Mr. Gary Peruzzini who has been here a few days and scouted out the city.

The biggest highlight - we're two blocks down from the biggest party in the world. Now I've been to Stampedes and Superbowls but his is "massive." Thousands upon thousands of people, mostly dressed up in their Bavarian costumes, with the men in their shorts and women in those wonderful outfits that put a nice accent on their best parts. (Remember - I'm married!)

There is a constant stream of people going both in to the event - and staggering OUT - with several of the guys being 'carried' on the shoulders of two pals who survived the marathon better than he did.

Police are 'everywhere' and armed to the teeth but pleasant as hell as they walk around the festivities. Many pose for pictures - others take pictures - and seem to be enjoying themselves.

As you walk around the grounds it's quite like Capital Ex or the Stampede with rides, cotton candy and other unique German treats and kids are everywhere almost oblivious to the rowdy drunks around them.

On the inside is where it is just insane. Beer guys are yelling and screaming to get out of the way as they deliver giant steins of beer - or Beer ladies with your food.

Food highlights seemed to be roast chicken, but the strangest looking bar b cue's were out front preparing a very blackened type fish that I'd guess was Mackeral.

There are about 20 giant beer halls, each with performers perched at the end. They have all their signature tunes - like roll out the barrels - and when certain keys are hit most of the patrons jump up on the tables - sing along - and dance with the neighboring tables. It's hot - loud and incredibly zany.

The funniest moment of the night was one very over served guy staggered beside us - and as we thought he was about to tip over - dropped trow and let Mr. Happy out - and started peeing on a tree right on the main road in to the Oktoberfest in front of everybody, again, children included. Mr. Norrie posted the pic on his Facebook and again all our pics are on Tres Amigos do Europe 2011.

It was great to hook up with Mr. P who is having a ball. His head start got him to Paris, London and Prague and he is in total holiday mode with nary a worry about returning home especially with the major highlight just ahead of us - the ride itself.

Mr. N continues to hand out our 'signature' pins to almost everybody we meet and this morning handed one to our cab driver who yelled out a racial slur to another cab driver who wouldn't move over for us. I won't print what he said but it did have the word 'camel' in it.

Mother Nature continues to be cruel to me and I'm still struggling with a bad head cold, sore throat and touch of flu. Plus the jet lag/time difference hasn't been easy as I'm now writing this at 3 am in Munich while my body continues to operate like it's the early evening back in Alberta.

Tomorrow off to Erding and meet our fellow bikers from Taiwan, Brazil, eastern US, and the one other couple from Canada - from Hannah. I'll be sure to tell them how the announcers here pronounce the name of their home town band "Nee-kl-Bock!"

Guest update from my tough kid...and you can't begin to imagine how proud I am of her!

2011-09-10T08:43:00.008-06:00

"There are 3 things you cannot recover in life.

The moment after it's missed, the word after it's said & the time after it's wasted."

Someone wise once told me that when you are sick, you have two choices.

“You get bitter, or you get better.” If you’re like me... you choose to
get better…but like most things, it sounds easier said than done.

For those who know my story & have been following me throughout my ‘journey’;
you know I have something called “Graves Disease.” It has been almost a year
since I have been diagnosed.

I was listening to the radio the other day, when I heard the lyrics:

“I wouldn’t trade the pain for what I’ve learned” … So my friends, this is what I’ve learned:

For anyone’s whose been sick, and I mean life changing sick, you will
understand my words perfectly, but for those who…like myself until recently,
believed nothing bad could ever happen them- this will be a much more eye
opening read.

I received what doctors believed to be an ultimately lifesaving
surgery when they removed my thyroid to control my constant, dangerously high
heartbeat.

I feel like they didn’t just ‘take’ my thyroid. They took away what I
thought was a perfect world. They took my sense of adventure, they took my
dreams and they took my ability to believe anything was possible. The beautiful
trusting world I knew suddenly became cracked and dark looking.

People go about their lives trying to plan every detail about their future, but what
happens when you suddenly get sick and you have to quit your job, plan your day
around dozens of pill doses to keep your heart functioning normally and spend
your days in & out of hospitals?

Back in February, I was admitted to the hospital where I spent nearly a month in isolation
and in black & white terms- it could, and in some cases have been deadly.

I had 600 white blood cells trying to keep my body going when I should have had 6,000-12,000 per
micro/L.

If I caught any other sickness floating around in the hospital air, I would not have recovered.
I think that was about the time I really started to worry.

When you’re sick & you don’t know what is going to happen to you, and no one else knows either…
you go into protective mode to those around you.

They are anxiously and carefully trying to piece together exactly how to say things to you without upsetting you, and in my case….I, in return, tried to make other people laugh as much as I could to lighten up the mood. If we pretended we knew it would be ‘ok’, it would be… Right?

The most bittersweet moment of my stay was when my Dad told me he bought me tickets to Taylor Swift in August/2011.

Although it was some of the motivation I needed to get better & out of the hospital, I didn’t know for sure some days if I would get to go home. Several months& one daddy-daughter concert later…

I found out what I figured to be the worse was just a warm up of the never ending powerhouse of
medical problems called “Graves Disease.”

After surgery, my weekly or bi-weekly blood tests turned into monthly.

If you remove you’re thyroid, you have to take daily pills to supplement your TSH hormone level.

From July of 2010 to September of 2011, I had not had a normal blood thyroid level.

I found out the effects on your skin when you’re thyroid level isn’t right; my
face started looking like a 14 year old boy with the daily breakouts.

I was always either so tired it was hard to get out of bed or so awake I couldn’t
sleep… Depending on how high the dose of ‘Synthroid’ the doctors had given me
that month.

On September 7th of this year, I found out for the first time in over a year, it had finally levelled itself out to a safe number.

I am in the process of finding a nice frame for the piece of paper revealing the results. It’s amazing how such a little accomplishment can mean so much in the big picture of things.

There are two theories that doctor’s decisions are split on for treatment of
Graves. One is to melt away the thyroid with radioactive iodine; the other is to surgically remove it.

The reason being is that for certain patients, like me, the radioactive iodine
treatment can cause severe eye symptoms later on down the road to recovery.

My time was split under the care of two different doctors at two different hospitals who had very different believes on the appropriate treatment.

One doctor made me drink radioactive iodine on three separate occasions pre-surgery that my body is paying for now at one hospital before being transferred to another.

For me personally, this has been the worse part of this illness.

The pain I feel in my eyes is virtually indescribable to someone who hasn’t gone through it.

The feeling of having so much pressure from behind your eyes that it protrudes them forward is incredibly painful.

My vision is decreasing, I get double vision, I have severe sensitively
to light and worse of all, when I look in the mirror… the person I used to see
staring back at me is gone.

I wear long false eyelashes every day to try and balance out the size of my eyes now. The only way to fix this problem, as there is no ‘cure’, is to get a surgery to take out the eyeballs themselves, scrape out the extra tissue that is growing behind the eyes and put them back in.

This is the next surgery the doctor’s told me to prepare for.

None of the other surgery’s scared me until this one.

I don’t think an explanation is needed either; just the mental image of it resembles a
scene out of a gory horror movie.

The psychological part of having Graves has been equally hard to deal with.

After going from feeling like the world is yours for the taking- to just thanking the ‘big guy upstairs’ that you are here to see the sun rise in a matter of months; you’re brain starts playing tricks on you.

Always feeling a sense of 'loss'; I find myself calling or asking people obsessively
where they are going and when they will be back.

I keep things that had any meaning to me during hospital visits like the admitting bracelets or cards given to me.

I have never kept a card in my life except the ones from this year. I hate being alone
now and spend a lot of time at home as it is extremely hard for me to be out
around people my age who have never had to go through something like this in
their lives because I don’t feel like they can’t relate to me anymore.

This process aged me mentally 20+ years and the paranoia I feel daily that I will get
sicker and end up back in the hospital tortures me.

After being freed from the invisible prison bars of a hospital, you immediately feel
appreciation for absolutely anything & everything.

The appreciation gradually (but never fully) disappears& the uncertainty of the future overshadows the beauty of each day with the discovery a new health problem associated with Graves Disease.

I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am for the family I have. My sister always goes out of her way to put a smile on my face, my parents have been the shoulder I needed to cry on & they
have spent thousands of dollars on my pills in the last year alone.

Most recently, my Dad found out that the American Graves Disease Foundation holds a
conference every year for patients and top doctors studying Graves to get
together and learn from each other.

http://www.ngdf.org/

In November of this year I will be flying with my mom to Boston to try and learn what to expect will happen to me in 1 year, 5 years or 10 years from now. Never in my life did I think attending a medical conference all weekend for 10 hours a day would be exciting; but then
again I never thought ‘this’ would be MY life.

If there is anything I hope readers take from my blog is that if you are blessed with perfect health, listen & ponder the words of someone who has seen both sides of the fence;

If you feel like you are having a rough day, take a few seconds and think about all the
amazing things you have to be thankful for.

If you get to go home and sleep in your own bed, be thankful because I assure you there are family’s everywhere sleeping slumped over in lime green ‘pleather’ hospital chairs watching their loved ones battling far worse than I have dealt with to date.

If you are able to go home & give your parents, sisters, brothers a hug- embrace that moment because there will come a time that you don’t have that luxury anymore.

One of my favourite quotes is;

“Live your days as if they were numbered, because they are.”

I believe you should never regret something that once made you smile and that there
is beauty in every situation- you just have to choose to see it. Not every day is going to be sunny & wonderful, because if it were… we would not be able to appreciate the good
times when things don’t go our way.

I didn’t always make the best long term decisions and my life path lead me to this illness that I didn’t understand

until recently. What I lost in creating fun memories with friends over the year,
I gained in wisdom that I can hopefully share with someone else.

I found out that when times get rough, the people that love you will always be
there no matter what and you should remind them as much as you can just how much
that means to you.

So to my family; Marty, Kim, Lauren, Jeremy, my extended
family & the many friends who have been there to put a smile back on my face
during my darkest days…

This blog entry is to celebrate YOU & all you have done for me this year & beyond.

I would not have gotten this far without you.

I love you.

I will keep updating on my progress every few months.

Thank you for taking the time to see a glimpse into the world of
“Graves Disease”.

-Rayanne

***Final picture: That's Rayanne jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. She told her Dad "after" she did it so as not to worry me. I fully expect to see her at the top of Mount Everest one day with a big poster that says "Screw You Graves!"

Love you Punk - and the rest of my family - we are indeed very lucky people!

Tres Amigos do Europe 2011

2011-09-08T14:03:00.003-06:00

The countdown to Tres Amigos do Europe 2011 is officially on.

The packing is underway (or in Brians case 2 months ago) - Gary Peruzinni is allready there touring London, Paris and Prague, and Brian Norrie and I depart on Sunday, September 25th to Frankfurt, Germany.

We're joining 22 others from Taiwan, Brazil, the United States, and Canada on a 9-day tour of Germany, France, Switzerland, Leitchenstein, and Austria on BMW motorcycles.

Of those 9-days seven are with the group and two days are on your own.

We're going over a few days early to get 'un-jet-lagged' (if there is such a thing) by touring through some of the legendary car museums of German built cars - including Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes.

Then we hook up with the group in Erding, Germany. Each day we are given a choice of two separate routes, each with their own attractions. We'll average about 125 to 150 miles per day and go through some of the most stunning topography known to mankind.

We're staying in 'boutique' type hotels and each morning bring down our luggage, where it will be loaded on to a truck and shipped to our next stop where it awaits us at the end of the ride.

Each day we'll start with a group breakfast, get our co-ordinates and maps, and head out through these beautiful countries.

In Germany we start on the legendary Autobahn where there is 'no recommended speed limit.'

There'll be castles to tour; churches about a 1,000 years old; historical statues and landmarks that we studied in school several years ago; great food; and interesting people at each and every stop we make.

On the two open days we're in the Black Forest in Germany, where famous cuckoo clocks are made and, of course, Black Forest Cake. As well it's Oktoberfest in Germany so the entire country will be in celebration mode.

The part I'm looking forward to the most is the Alpine riding in both Switzerland and Austria. I've watched 'every' Rick Steeves PBS special on these two areas, and I can safely say the visuals will be 'overwhelming.'

My daughter Lauren spent three weeks 'studying' in Switzerland a few years back and tells me the lake areas are simply overwhelming.

My two partners are both highly experienced riders, and each have owned several types of bikes over the years. Currently we all have Gold Wings in Arizona, and I ride a Yamaha FJR 1300 that is kept in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

It's the first time over for both Gary and Brian, and it's now my fourth visit to Europe.

Without 'over hyping' them we've been talking for about a year about this 'bucket list' trip and I'm looking forward to their impressions of almost 'everything' being different from our normal North American lifestyle on the other side of the world.

**the pin was 'designed' by Brian Norrie and will be 'exchanged' with others in the group and friends we meet on the trip! Great idea!**

The title of this blog is also our Facebook site where each of us will be feeding the site with pictures, blogs, and thoughts on the trip. Feel free to 'like' our page and join us. Also, I'm chronicling the trip for the Edmonton and Calgary Sun newspapers.

When we wrap up the motorcycle portion of the trip Brian and I head to London, England for a few more days of r + r. London, arguably, is the most dynamic city that I've ever visited in the world.

There simply is no way to describe the history, culture, people, and sites of this amazing city.

Sincere thanks to our very understanding ladies (Kathy and the two Kim's) who each said "go ahead....enjoy...it's a boys bucket list trip...we get it." (You can imagine the nice gifts they'll be getting though eh?)

And as I say to my friends "yes - I'm the luckiest guy in the world to SEE the rest of the world."

More to follow...in a few short weeks.

Memorable Moments Series - Piece #1

2011-09-03T14:02:00.002-06:00

Many times since I 'almost' retired from radio about three years ago several pals have suggested I write a book to chronicle the 'halcyon' days of the broadcasting business.

I've thought about it often but it would be difficult as I likely couldn't use real names for threat of legal action from the 'guilty' parties nor has the statute of limitations expired from some of those little indiscretions that some may constitute as 'crimes' today.

I do have some fun times that I'd be happy to chronicle though and I can do that with snippets from time to time through this blog....like my 'worst interview ever' in the business.

In the mid 1970's England's Monty Python were huge and they were doing a world tour performing and promoting The Holy Grail when they arrived at the station that I was working at as a writer and weekend swing.

It was at CKXL Calgary which was a powerhouse Top 40 station then, owned by Moffat Broadcasting,

Who could forget "bring out your dead - the Black Knight fighting with no arms/no legs and calling his adversary a chicken - or skits like the Lumberjack song! (Most are on YouTube now)

I was lucky enough to be chosen to interview the lads and as one of their biggest fans (along with my roomie Myke Thomas) we would often 'over imbibe' on liquids and other distractions at home and listen to Monty Pythons Long Play albums over and over again until we could literally do each skit word for word.

The station was buzzing that day as Eric Idle, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin arrived and we paraded them through the building and finally got them settled in to the main production room for the interview.

I was like a kid in a candy shop excited to be interviewing these guys.

Back then the station had one giant 'boom' mic in the production room that would be situated in front of the announcer, or guest, to do his/her voice work.

With the entire troupe in the room we situated them around the table with the instruction to please put up your hand if you wished to answer that particular question that I posed.

So away I went.

As I finish my first question a hand goes up (sorry, too many years ago to remember from whom) and the mic was carefully guided over the heads of the other guys for the answer....and then in true Monty Python style I became the brunt of a great bit.

The question gets answered at the exact opposite end of the table...so I fall for it.

We move the mic over to that cast member and at the exact moment the mic is in place for him the original guy answers the question.

So we swing it back!

Nobody broke a smile...and I, like an idiot, continue on for three or four more questions as each wrong guy answered my various questions. Never once did the mic get anywhere near the guy who answered the question.

So finally I break into laughter realizing that this joke had no end, and these guys were having their way with me so I politely say "I guess I'm not going to get my interview eh guys?"

With a grin on each of their faces it was evident that weren't going to break cast for me so I said "thanks for your time" and they headed out the door leaving me high and dry, other than autographing my album for me.

I got nothing.

Zip.

Not a word from the most legendary comedy troupe in the world that we could use on the air.

So when people ask who was my best ever interview while in radio I say..."Monty Python - sort of!"

My second worse interview was with The Eagles, again in Calgary. They were so wired on 'something' we only got about 20 seconds of useable verbal.

Next blog...Radio 'pranks'!

PS: CKXL had some amazing talent back then including Donnie Burns, Robert G Lowe who later became Rob Christie, Tom Tompkins, Jim Davies, Hal Gardiner, Bill Powers, Dieter Stachow, Dr. Dan to name just a few.

Random thoughts at the end of summer '11

2011-08-18T09:48:00.002-06:00

If you ever want to see why they call it the 'world wide web' just write a blog. Other than readers in Canada, which I expect, my number two - three - and four readership comes from the United States; Russia; Australia; and Germany. Simply amazes me. Going to have to learn a little Russian to throw in to the mix soon.

I love how each season we qualify our weather with "we had a bad winter - so we'll have a good summer" - then "we had a bad summer so we'll have a good winter." So in the bad summer/bad winter/bad summer streak we're currently enjoying in Northern Alberta so far your prediction for winter...is.....

Howard Shultz, the CEO of Starbucks was on Piers Morgan recently and stated that "US business has more than 3 TRILLION dollars sitting on the ledger right now...HIRE people!" Howard has an iconic brand and does his part to spread the wealth. It seems clear to me that if we 'ever' rebuild the middle class again that spending and stability should return to the world of economics. We live in a time where so many have 'too much' and even more have 'too little.'

And big corporations you're scaring the daylights out of the next generation. You're headed for a big surprize over the next ten years as people refuse to support you and your products simply because you report insane profits at about the same time you 'downsize' large numbers of staff out of your industries. I'm now in a 'boutique' shopping mode trying to help Ma and Pa shops evolve back to that way it used to be.

As for the aforementioned sports still doesn't get it. In watching the NFL lockout/strike or whatever it was called the Billionaires couldn't figure out how to share with the Millionaires. Not weeks after the scenario was resolved one clown player decides to "sit out" because he wants to be the highest player in his position....somewhere in the neighborhood of $14 million a year or just under a million dollars a game to carry a ball about 15 times. I'm guessing he failed math - and social studies! Don't sign him.

For my Snowbird friends it appears the US is having a change of heart. As most of you know Canadians are only allowed in to the States for 181 days a year (complicated system if you come/go throughout the year too) and US Customs were quizzing us quite heavily over the past two years. The Snowbird Association of Canada is currently in discussion to get an 'excemption' for the 55 Plus club. You will have to state that you won't do business while in the US; have to prove that you can afford your house down south; prove that your Canadian residence is the primary residence; and a few other small promises. This comes after the economic crunch of the past two years across the line. In Arizona alone there are 90,000 perminant Canucks and more than 'half a million' visitors annually. By allowing us to stay over the 181 mark 'surely' the sunshine states should know they will enjoy a large uptick of dollars back into their neighborhoods.

I'm doing a lot of work with QR codes lately, with a brilliant group of people in Vancouver at Mobio. If you ever want to see 'dynamic' applications start following the progress in Scan codes. Progressive and innovative companies are 'building' exciting new applications and the usage of these codes is breaking through 'big time' these days. Our group is working on both E-commerce and the rapidly evolving M-commerce field. The obvious billion dollar aquisitions of mobile phone companies should be enough evidence to know these companies recognize where the consumer is heading - and it's researching and buying on their 'smart phones.' It's also nice to be back into a mood of 'building' creatively instead of operating on old school advertising and commerce platforms that are in a slow decline. Check out www.getmobio.com or like them on Facebook; follow them on Twitter.

The gift of travel is my greatest pleasure in this new phase of my life. I've counted that I've been on approximately 68 airplanes since I 'almost' retired from radio 2 1/2 years ago. My next adventure is at the top of the Bucket List that my family and friends hear me talk about often - and I'm truly thrilled to be travelling to Europe with two very good friends who will be going overseas for the first time. Our Tres Amigos do Europe 2011 trip has a Facebook site, and I will be doing special columns from Europe in the Edmonton Sun while we are on the road Sept 25th to October 12th. The other side of the world is 'truly' amazing and seeing how people live in different countries around the globe is not only enjoyable but very educational in understanding the crazy world we live in.

Our City of Edmonton should be 'so proud' of the Festivals that we put on. Each and every one of them is spectacular and attracts a ton of world class talent. The organizers and 'supporters' of these should all take a bow themselves - and we should 'thank them' as much as possible personally because these festivals are the 'banner' on which we hang our tourism hat on these days. So guys "THANK YOU" for bringing all this amazing performing talent to our fair city!

Finally, as the Baby Boomers head into retirement the number one reference I'd like to pass along to them is "volunteer." I'm working on some absolutely great projects that will benefit people for several decades to come and the upside is that the people who you meet in these projects are some of the smartest, wisest, and most rounded people you can ever meet. I learn something from them every day when I'm in the planning sessions for these events and projects. It's amazing how much of the'dollar' value of work is when you sit down and count it up too. I've proud to say I've been part of projects raising more than $22 million dollars over the last couple of years alone - and our new $20 million dollar Jerry Forbes Centre (Dad!) is closing in on the 'shovel hitting the dirt' phase shortly too. Children's Hospitals; Edmonton Public School Board Foundation; Stollery; The Edmonton Singing Christmas Tree; Santa's Anonymous - all 'touch' people in a very positive way and I'm totally 'honoured' to be involved in each and every one of these fabulous projects.

Just my random thoughts.

Calling out the BAD GUYS

2011-07-26T09:07:00.000-06:00

Page Six isn’t going to win any investigative reporting awards with my written words, however reflecting what is going on Edmonton streets certainly is a priority of mine.

As such I’m ‘really pissed off’ at the current Edmonton murder rate.

Now my brother Gerry in Calgary and I are proud to have the “Battle of Alberta” on everything from CFL and NHL to ping pong but winning the whacking rate by such a huge margin certainly isn’t pretty for me/us.

My condo in Arizona is under the jurisdiction of a gent by the name of Sherrif Joe Arpaoi – and he is known as the ‘toughest lawman in all of North America.” He’s 83 years old and has no plans to retire in the near future.

He has many claims to fame including putting the prisoners in “pink underwear.” When asked Why his answer is succinct. “Cuz they don’t steal ‘em!”

When people claim he’s racist for arresting a large Mexican population he quickly states – “I understand the concern so lets go to the actual facts. A full 85% of the criminals ‘convicted’ in Arizona are here illegally, and from the border just south of here. So I guess that makes ‘me’ a racist!”

Prisoners are often put on ‘chain gangs’ and go around the county cleaning up along the roads and highways and if you’ve ever been to Phoenix I’m sure you’ll note how incredibly clean it is. These prisoners live mostly in ‘tent city’ – which has ‘no’ air conditioning when it’s plus 100f degrees outside. I doubt if they have room service!

He gives them 'ice' to sit on during these summer heat waves.

My point is “we’re just too damn nice to our criminals here.”

When I hear the people in power in our city say it’s a ‘safe’ city and that their plan to make it even safer is to ‘ban knives’ – I cringe. Do that right after you ban speeding or texting would you?

Next, the young offender act needs some major “go to your room” time. I suggest that “IF your son or daughter does the crime that DAD or MOM does the time.”

Maybe then Pop’s and Mom’s will pay a little more attention to the gang their kids are hanging around with and when they do bed checks at midnight the intent is to see that the little punkin’s are safely at home or playing XBox where they belong instead of breaking into the neighbours home or car.

If Little Johnnie is 23 years old and driving a brand new hopped up Caddy Escalade with “Little Wayne” playing on the sound system so loud that you can hear it 3 blocks away I can pretty well guess that he didn’t make his cash delivering the Sun or working at McDonalds.

C’mon parents – if I hear one more “he’s such a good kid – he just started to hang out with the wrong crowd” I’ll throw up.

And one word for 18 year olds with 3 kids – “condom.”

As Crosby, Stills and Young wrote ‘back when music was good’ – TEACH YOUR CHILDREN!

And ‘half way houses” – close ‘em.

You're either IN the slammer or OUT - not 'half way' in or out - or 'gone.'

If you do your full time in the BIG HOUSE then you get out to go to YOUR house – not a nice comfy spot with a big screen tv, three squares, and a bunch of other ‘really nice fellows’ that you can walk away with because there’s not adequate supervision.

And to our civic leaders who say ‘don’t worry - it’s a safe city' - when there’s a gun battle happening in the parking lot while I’m chowing down on an Earl’s bigger better burger in broad daylight then I’m sorry but I just don’t buy it.

I understand we’re arming up with more Detectives but until we get harder on ALL crime in Edmonton - in Alberta - and in Canada then I think we’ll continue to see the totals gaining at this unprecidented rate.

In Florence, Arizona, just down the road there’s a shop at the end of the property where arts and crafts that are made by the inmates are sold. There’s actually some really nice stuff there. When the prisoner gets out he/she gets the profit from the sale of their stuff to have some money to live on instead of reoffending because you’re broke from being behind bars.

Plus it's a way better use of a knife to carve out a nice statue instead of your 'cell mate.'

There – I feel better. And as you read this I’m in Arizona – buying some famous pink underwear to help support Sherriff Joe!

My Old gig is open! Congrat’s to Astral Media’s Stewart Meyers who is heading back to Calgary to run CJAY - Classic Country - and Virgin Radio there after replacing me a few years back here at The Bear - Virgin - and Team 1260. They are currently hunting for a replacement.

Guest appearance

2011-07-02T08:17:00.005-06:00

Here's a quick update on my daughters health situation and a new site she has started to "help others." She's a strong kid and I'm damn proud she continues to focus on helping people understand the magnitude of this strange and debilitating disease!

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What do rapper Missy Elliot, 41st president George H. W. Bush, famous Italian mobster Sammy Gravano & Rayanne Forbes all have in common?

They were all struck by the cruel “Graves Disease”.

Haven’t heard of it?

Neither did I until 2:07am July 19th of 2010.

My name is Rayanne Forbes & that morning was the beginning of the worst year of my life. After spending a night in the hospital with breathing difficulties, heart palpitations & giving blood; I was diagnosed with Graves Disease.

It strikes the young, the old, the rich, the poor & the unsuspecting. You may have it and not even know it. This disease takes charge of almost every aspect of your body and because there are so many symptoms it is easily confused with other health problems.

The popular "Work It" hit-maker Missy Elliot has recently made public her battle with the Disease saying; "You live with it the rest of your life. I couldn't write because my nervous system was so bad. I couldn't even use a pen."

Elliot was diagnosed with the disease in 2008 and has been receiving radiation treatment to help alleviate symptoms like dizzy spells, lumps in her throat, mood swings, hair loss, and bulging eyes.

Graves Disease is an autoimmune disease where the thyroid is overactive, producing an excessive amount of thyroid hormones. Symptoms of Graves Disease can cause a dramatic neuropsychological and physical signs and symptoms.

Graves Disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in children and adolescents, and usually presents itself during early adolescence.

It has a powerful hereditary component, affecting up to 2% of the female population, and is between five and ten times as common in females as in males. Symptoms include- but are not limited to- a rapid or irregular heartbeat, tremors of your hands or fingers, anxiety, irritability, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, protruding eyes, an increase in perspiration, sensitivity to heat, weight loss & brittle hair.

Although managed through medicine, radioactive iodine treatment or surgery; once diagnosed, you have Graves Disease forever. If you think you may have this Disease ask your doctor to send you for simple blood work to rule out the possibility.

With such little information available online for newly diagnosed people like me I began blogging about the trials and tribulations I went through for other people to look to for inspiration during this seemingly endless fight.

Countless hospital visits later, 8 months off work, daily handfuls of pills & one thyroid removal surgery later I was feeling overwhelmingly alone in my experience so I recently created the "Edmonton Graves Disease Support Group on Facebook" for other sufferers to meet with each other & discuss their stories.

If you are looking for more information or would like to contribute; please do as I am always updating the page!

Vancouver thugs.....

2011-06-16T14:30:00.004-06:00

I'm not a big reality tv guy.

OK I do suggest that The Bachelor actually marries The Bachelorette - and that if they make it together as a couple for a year they get the million bucks - but the REAL reality television that we saw at the Vancouver downtown 'riot' has me reflecting on media and how well they handle mind blowing events such as this.

First off major KUDO's go to CTV's Vancouver affiliate who went wall to wall on the riot for about four hours as they fed the National CTV Newsnet from the centre of the action (more on their locale later).

When you get thrown into such a situation, on mere moments notice, you operate seemingly 'on fumes' because the rule book simply doesn't exist on how to handle this type of event when there are drunk or stoned 'thugs' operating mere feet away from you - while you dodge rocks, sticks, hammers, pepper spray, tear gas, and various accelerants - simply doing your job.

To do it with 'composure' is an art unto itself and the CTV crew were simply amazing as they did continous' play by play' of this most horrific event.

CTV reporters were on almost every corner 'hot spot' with live hits complimented by a reporter chiming in from the news helicopter above. The video was as compelling as anything you'll see in a Jason Bourne movie - except that it was all very REAL.

Cars on fire. Guys jumping over the cars while others flung mailboxes and porta potties at them. Glass breaking everywhere - 'hurt' people (kids) on the ground - and all the while the CTV crew were composed and seemingly calm on the outside while, most likely, worried about their personal safety on the inside.

One vibrant female reporter gagged through a report while fighting back tear gas only to be told "please" stop - get to safety inside - and get back to the station. There's an adrenaline that kicks in during these times and often it is 'viewers needs first' that motivate them...it's a very special skill sort.

CBC, mere steps away from the action as well, seemed to struggle and only had a few of their staff on hand while CTV called in their team and sprang to action with exposure from several fronts throughout the night.

Of note a number of former Edmonton media were involved in the telecast. For example, recent arrival in Vancouver, Lynda Steele (formerly of Global) reported from her condo above the fires. Perry Solkowski, another ex ITV (Global) guy was interviewing the Mayor in the heat of the battle. Rob Brown, ex of A Channel (now CITY) was the guy who carried on in the heart of this insanity for over four hours and didn't even flinch once as he held on to his gas mask while standing beside two 'powerless' security guards and his camera man.

As mentioned, this destruction was going on outside the front door of both of these television stations and could 'easily' have had these same thugs throw bricks threw THEIR windows and take over the television station. It's not beyond the realm of possibilities.

The sad part of this event to me was the complete lack of a game plan from the Vancouver Police. Now I don't mean to be cruel to them because they did the best they could under unimaginable conditions but they certainly did NOT have a formal game plan in force to be ready to guide 100,000 people in a safe manner.

To hear that "it was only a few people doing this" was simply disrespectful to Vancouverites.

To say "we have additional help coming from around the mainland" meant RCMP and surrounding Police forces had to travel for 'at least' an hour to just GET to the melee which, to me, was certainly a sign that there was not enough manpower on hand 'at the beginning' of this sad event.

Then to see them standing in the centre of the riot without proper equipment (many just had on the yellow vests - no helmets - no gas masks) - showed that they were really afraid of the "human rights" cry out from the G8 type gatherings and when these goons saw nobody was getting thumped back by Police simply broke into retail outlets like London Drugs, and The Bay, and 'destroyed' the businesses right in front of the Cops standing mere steps away.

Hard to fathom!

Officers on horseback simply 'moved forward' to force the people out of the 'retail areas' issuing a command for them to go home - which was near impossible because the transit system was virtually shut down and these goons were stranded in the downtown core prolonging the damage.

It was almost impossible to get in to douse the fires - and assist the hurt - because Emergency Services (rightfully so) would also have been targets.

In Europe they have special tank type machines that fire cold water with a special red dye in it on the goons which quickly ends the thuggery AND identifies the goofs as the dye is almost impossible to wash off. Show up to work the next day with red skin and bingo you're off to the slammer.

And this was one of the first riots where "social media" had a major impact.

Several FACEBOOK sites have quickly been set up so people can feed pictures of these idiots on line so that Police can identify and arrest them. Hundreds and hundreds of pictures are allready posted.

Beauty!

So - to wrap it up - think of the danger you have to worry about on a day to day basis and compare it to the media who handled this world wide embarrassing night - and I'm sure your respect for these people will climb to the same territory that mine did watching them in action last night.

GREAT broadcasting 'is' reality tv (and radio) and these reporters, anchors, and camera people all deserve our respect and a 'huge raise' for the amazing job they did on covering this event.

Kudos and compliments to those people!

And my thoughts to the 'real' hockey fans and great people from Vancouver who will have to deal with this 'crap' each and every time their sporting teams get to the big show down the road.

Media -Slave Lake

2011-05-21T11:03:00.001-06:00

I just want to say a big "thank you" to the Edmonton media for all their thoughtful hard work in regards to the terrible fires in Slave Lake this past week.

First off, my sincere thanks and respect to every radio and television station that quickly rallied around the need to "help" these poor victims of the fire with both fund raising and "filling the 18 wheelers" with essentials.

Big or small it didn't matter - radio "jumped" on the tragedy and provided much needed relief to these families - and it simply is something radio does 'best' at these times of need.

Next another Thank You to the crew of news personnel that quickly got to the scene and gave us such vivid content surrounding the horrible tragedy.

I was out of the country and checking my iPad for updates and it was clear as a bell with information from the media and especially with the over whelming pictures or video.

The US media carried only a snippet of information mainly because they were dealing with severe Mother Nature tragedies of their own with the floods back east.

Of note "social media" was a huge help as people at ground level fed their video to both the media and the web so that viewers could see the 'real' impact that was going on in a community that is simply not 'top of mind' in the big city!

The video was compelling and powerful, to say the least, and certainly made us all realize how horrible this fire was as it raged through their community

When you read industry blogs and related websites it seems all too often the focus is on criticizing media for various reasons - sometimes valid and sometimes just downright stupid - so it's important for me today to say "thank you media" for an amazing job in handling the Slave Lakes event and for the subsequent rescue plans that were put in to place by smart owners; Managers, and Program Directors in Edmonton.

Ditto Editors of the papers; promotion departments and street teams; and to the citizens of Edmonton who donated 'anything' to help the cause.

I hope the Government (both Provincial and Federal) act quickly to help the rebuild. The gift cards were a good step but when you have lost "everything" you are likely going to have to relocate to survive and the Slave Lake area will not only lose good citizens but 'businesses' that are needed to help it thrive and survive down the road.

Now how about a giant media Habitat for Slave Lake building bee to get these people back into homes as quickly as possible?

Lets not forget this area is going to need a massive rebuild quickly because these types of events are quickly forgotten in a busy world - and lord knows the snow will be flying again in mere months adding to the effect of the loss.

It's all about you Mom!

2011-05-07T10:05:00.001-06:00

If anybody ever wants to debate the effect that divorce has on children I'm the guy to debate.

Very simply our lives changed at exactly 1:30 pm on July 15, 1961 when my Mother and Father divorced in Edmonton and the three boys and Mom boarded a flight to Toronto.

Flights were about 6 or 7 hours to the big smoke back then but I will never forget my first taste of 'jet lag' and moving from a really nice house in Parkview with lots of good friends into the basement of my Aunt Isabels house on Donlands Road in Toronto with 'no' friends.

Over the next several years Mom somehow saved enough money to by a condo for us; then we ultimately moved into a nice small house in the Don Mills area; as we started all over in a totally new environment as a single parent family.

It took me many many years to ask my Mother about those days as I was, at age 10, far too young to understand the impact of what was going on - as were my younger brothers, aged 8 and 5.

Child support for the three of us was $150 a month and Mom worked a full time job to support us too.

I guess we were latch key kids because I remember we would walk to schools then return home after classes where Mom would get home just in time to make us all a good meal.

Throughout the next several years we 'lacked for nothing,' somehow, as Mom found enough money to put all of us into sports; music lessons (accordian Mom - what were you thinking?) buy us each a bicycle, and we had a great 'black and white' tv so that we could watch the two Canadian channels we had and the three from Buffalo that came in over the air before cable.

Mom helped us with our school projects all the time, and we 'squeeked by' each year and eventually got into enough trouble (though nothing serious) that kids that don't have a dominant male around can easily get into. The day we got caught breaking into the Double Bubble company to steal gum (?) was a classic.

About 1964 Mom met a great man, Mike Sheehy, and as a guy who served in the Canadian military brought us that discipline that came in real handy later in life - and that was something that we didn't truly understand or appreciate like we should have until we finally 'grew up' many years later.

I don't want to bore you with all the details of our lives because we were extremely fortunate to have a mother like Noreen Sheehy because it was 'all about us' all the time and I just want to say an overdue "thanks Mom."

I know it must have been tough on you especially every summer on the 'last' day of school in Toronto when we would board the plane back to Edmonton to see Dad and every day on the 'last' day of summer when we would return - robbing you of the summer fun that a normal family would enjoy during theschool break as we were out having fun in Alberta with Dad.

We cried when we left you - we cried when you picked us up again upon our return - that I will never forget.

Mom is now 83 years old and each and every time we chat on the phone she makes me laugh. My brother still has her go 'on the air' with him in Calgary and her Stump My Mom contest is a blast.

She has endured strokes, heart attacks, a brain aneurism, broken bones, and several other maladies that would knock down lesser women but each time she somehow comes back stronger and stronger.

She raised the three of us; bore another great son Neil, and has trained dogs that made it all the way to Hollywood films (James Garner/Mary Tyler Moore flick) and continues to be a grandmother to three more 'boys' in Toronto to this day while she trains yet 'another puppy' in the household.

I've written several times publicly how much my late father Jerry Forbes influenced me in my life; ditto the very positive things I learned from my step father Mike Sheehy - but I just realized today that I've never done a 'written' tribute to one very special lady - Noreen Elizabeth Sheehy.

Mom, may you live to be 100 - we need you around until we finally grown up and really appreciate how much of a huge influence you were and are to us as being good 'people' in this world.

Enjoy the flowers - they really can't say enough about how much you mean to Gord (Josh, Joel, Cally) , Gerry, Neil, my daughters Lauren and Rayanne; your three grandchildren in house and of course ME!

Happy Mothers Day!