Steve's Schedule

Wow! What a great time I had with this group. We had a full three hour programming session and covered so many areas of programming the time flew by. I'd really like to hand it to Marty Riemenschneider and his staff who worked very hard on this event. We were at the recently re-opened Marriot Cornhusker Hotel which gets out vote as a great place to stay if you ever visit Lincoln. The day before the event, I had a change to tour the state capitol building, including the Governor's office. That same evening Governor Heineman attended the opening Hall of Fame dinner. I made many new friends in Lincoln and look forward to working with the association members in the future.

This session will always be special since my presentation was on Friday, July 22, my birthday! I had always wanted to visit Sun Valley since I saw a set of ViewMaster slides as a kid. This was my first time to the region, stopping off for an evening in Boise and a visit to the state capitol building. The Sun Valley resort was breathtaking as I punctuated my visit with a ski-lift ride up the mountain and a few hours of outdoor ice skating. The Idaho Broadcasters and Executive Director, Connie Searles were a warm and friendly group. Although small in number, the attending membership made me feel at home and were enthusiastic about my presentation and the possibilities to work together in the future.

It's always great to visit my many friends in Kansas City. This time it was a special treat to have an enthusiastic room full of programming folks for our afternoon session. The annual conference comes on the heels of the pioneering efforts by Don Hicks and MBA members to promote and GET PASSED legislation to remove all the disclaimer information on radio spots in favor of a toll free number. Other states are looking at this model for the future.

Following the conference, on Monday, June 13 I visited a few clients in St. Louis. Then on Tuesday, June 14, I stopped by KMMO in Marshall, MO for a very informative and fun visit with the air staff. It's exciting to find a small market, stand-alone station that is still "live" 24/7.

Hats off to Jennifer Burigana and the Executives of MichMAB for an extremely well-organized and attended Great Lakes Expo. We hosted two full sessions and were overwhelmed with questions and participation. The event was off to a great start with a reception at the newly refurbished Governor's residence where Gov. Granholm (below) met with the broadcasters who were invited to sample Michigan munchies and wine.

I had a really great time meeting the folks from Kansas. This was the first time I had done a presentation since RADIO:The Book (4e) was published, so we were ready to go with lots of new information. Special thanks to Harriet Lange and her staff for a wonderful (but rainy) weekend.

This was the first time I've had to re-kindle many of my professional relationships from my year teaching radio at the IAB in Montreux, so it was a homecoming of sorts. It was also my first trip to Portugal and the experience of this fine country and its people was warm and welcoming. In addition to meeting old friends and getting caught up on the state of radio in many countries, it was just a few weeks before luncheon speaker Mel Karmazin announced his move to Sirius. We're hoping to work with some more international clients in the coming years. Previous editions of the book were big sellers internationally, so we're looking for a boost with then new edition.

Nice to be home again. Originally coming from Indiana, it was a treat to meet people from all over the state and from stations I listened to growing up.