tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-264278472011-11-06T18:36:01.550-05:00Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.comBlogger1041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-88208236946629537622008-03-26T07:22:00.000-05:002008-03-26T07:23:35.777-05:00

Effective April 1, I will be heading to Chicago. My new email (After April 1) will be: labrams@tribune.com Heard a lot of rumors about why I am leaving XM for the Tribune. There is only ONE reason: A remarkable opportunity. I guess I have this thing for danger. Going with FM at a time when FM was literally housed in closets playing Doctors Office music...Going with XM at a time when no-one

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-27254549869626963752008-03-17T07:10:00.000-05:002008-03-17T07:12:38.283-05:00

TRAVELOGUE: THE GEORGE STRAIT TRIPWe signed a 24/7 George Strait Channel. Here’s a strange adventure and how that how that came down. XM's Eric Logan, a Country music devotee and the guy who admittedly wears the suits around XM (and likes it), comes back from Nashville with stars in his eyes. He spent time with Erv Woolsey, George Strait’s manager and they talked about things we might do with

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-39588798814698356152008-03-12T09:29:00.000-05:002008-03-12T09:31:52.974-05:00

I love XM. Everybody from the guard I wave to every morning to the people here who have been through the pain and joy (and outrageous parties that literally destroyed my house) that come with building something new…from nothing. But I’m leaving. In upcoming blogs I’ll have some juicy XM stuff (all good), though on April 1, blogging will cease as I take on the ONLY thing that could ever peel me

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-40113986017621234062008-03-04T08:21:00.000-05:002008-03-04T08:22:21.406-05:00

GOOD HEALTH, BASEBALL AND MORE ABOUT SAVING THE WORLDWent to the Doctor for a routine physical. He said that the fact I lost 70 pounds in 5 months borders on medically impossible. He suggested a book. I’m thinking infomercial…Nah. But I will say it does feel amazing. Now I’m going on a major workout program, now that I have the right approach to my passion for the culinary. Doctor says I

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-78336779786205611182008-02-25T09:49:00.000-05:002008-02-25T09:51:20.658-05:00

INSPIRATION CAN BE COOL AGAINThe number one song in New Zealand over the Holidays was one that only Dogs could hear…right—humans couldn’t hear it. Well, it’s certainly a very creative approach to the shrinking CD market.Big week for Celebrity Crimes Against Humanity:*Lindsey Lohan posing nude as a modern Marilyn Monroe in New York Magazine. The thing here is that junk culture is SO bankrupt,

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-90298618808645804872008-02-19T09:25:00.000-05:002008-02-19T09:26:41.800-05:00

MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE THROUGH SOUND & VISIONBill Hutton is a very inventive guy here at XM. He's an Audio Andy Kaufman. He had an idea for a live "request show" for Saturday nights on our LUCY channel. OK fine. A few days ago he asked if I'd listen to a tape with him. He was fearful no-one would "get" his show. So...we listened. Wow! This show is COMPLETELY whacked. It makes NO

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-42276511267091650842008-02-11T08:24:00.000-05:002008-02-11T08:25:06.434-05:00

FEVER, CHILLS & TVFever & Chills...really sucks. A lot of it going around the office and I got nailed with it Wednesday. Uh oh--my annual cold. First step was going to Webmd.com. Bad idea. By the time you are done there, you are convinced that it's NOT a cold, but something far worse...maybe a rare smallpox that masks itself as a cold? Brought on by the Thai Food from the prior weekend?

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-85381231986250809682008-02-04T09:27:00.000-05:002008-02-04T09:28:52.064-05:00

MORE ON INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL…AND THE “REAL” PEOPLE TRENDLooking around media and music, there’s so many negative emotions:*Scared*Defensive*Backward looking…nostalgic for the old days...or worse: OPERATING as if it were the old days.*Confused*ParanoidTime for re-thinking. A lot of people call wondering about the best course to take to be a DJ or a Program Director. I tell them to

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-2995542289638849612008-01-28T08:42:00.000-05:002008-01-28T08:43:08.668-05:00

THE DIY THING, CHANGE FROM THE OUTSIDE, JUDGEMENT AND THE COMMON SENSE ERA!Went to a big book store looking for an old title. I couldn't believe how many books there were about the secrets of marketing and success. In scanning through a few of them, many of them struck me as ego trips for the writers...or simply nonsense akin to a Sunday morning Informercial. Few addressed common sense or

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1646504156622743852008-01-22T09:47:00.000-05:002008-01-22T09:49:17.996-05:00

I was going through some notes...old notes…scribbled stuff on legal pads. I wrote out the "notes" seen below in 1998 in preparation for joining XM. I also remember talking to other “programmers” from other National media to get some feedback. The only thing is, none of them were really programmers. They were “deal guys” who SIGNED stuff but rarely created anything. Often Smart guys, but it

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-89853758690174536842008-01-14T11:07:00.000-05:002008-01-14T11:08:30.241-05:00

INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLLThere has always been music…but in 1955, it all changed, there was ROCK N ROLL which went far beyond “music”. AND here in 2008,—there has always been news/information and some form of technology, but the opportunity is to do to information and technology what Rock n Roll did to Music is what's moving the meter. It's all been happening for awhile

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-90703650223823128972008-01-07T09:24:00.000-05:002008-01-07T09:27:56.651-05:00

THE WORD REVOLUTION & THE BOYS CLUB VS. THE REBELSUh oh, we are entering “Awards Show” season. Celebrating everything wrong with entertainment. The whole “the red carpet” thing…the tux clad crowd trying to out fashion each other…and having been to some of these: The small talk and bullshit. “Hey there’s Artie Fufkin! ---Hey Artie, you rock...love ya...long time no see big guy (hug)”…then five

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-32275223629688145772007-12-31T10:19:00.000-05:002007-12-31T10:26:33.021-05:00

THEY GREYING OF AMERICA…AND PUTIN/EINSTEIN FOR PRESIDENT?There’s a “Baby Boom” retirement trend that is emerging as a mainstream news item, and it IS huge. A massive population hub entering the post work years. I guess I’m closing in on that age….soon. But an interesting thing about this demographic is that so many are healthier, hipper and more engaged that prior “upper demos”. Hell, I can

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-11540252639940441282007-12-26T10:39:00.001-05:002007-12-26T10:39:49.311-05:00

HOLIDAY INTERNET FUN…AND THE NEXT BIG TREND: BULLSHIT FREE MEDIA aka TRACTION BY ACTIONCheck out this “mis-interpretation” Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter”.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VUU Then…something scary:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3X1K93ff5l Now, something cool:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qNVvRXnWCk …TRUTH: Last week, in hearing looking and watching the Mitchell

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-91728812635537655232007-12-17T10:10:00.000-05:002007-12-17T10:13:04.831-05:00

STEPHEN KING’S CULTURE STANCE, A LOW MAINTAINENCE LED ZEPPELIN (?), OBAMA’S GAME SHOW, STEROIDS, AND XM IS A FUNNY PLACEI always liked Stephen King. He writes brilliantly, He’s an XM listener, then here’s an excerpt from his recent interview in TIME:Do you actually think Britney and Lindsay should be on our cover?Yeah, I do.Sort of a, 'This is what the media's actually interested it, so let's

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-79692799332503888552007-12-10T09:43:00.000-05:002007-12-10T09:52:09.515-05:00

RE-DISCOVERING LED ZEPPELIN, DOES DON IMUS REALLY MATTER AND WHINING VS. FIXINGGeorge Taylor Morris and I flew up to New York for Artist Confidential with Josh Groban. Big, mostly female crowd was hyper with energy and excitement. I’m not a huge fan of his stuff, but those who were, were electric. Funny thing about Josh. He’s a real nice guy. Reminded me of Larry Bernstein from grade school…the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-78752408797628936562007-12-03T09:08:00.000-05:002007-12-03T09:09:16.754-05:00

ELECTRONIC INDUSTRY CONVENTIONS, TV CLICHÉ 457-B, AND DUMBING DOWN THE WHITE HOUSEMusic and Radio Industry conventions used to be “must attend” events. In fact everybody DID attend them. This was in the pre e-mail halcyon days when the music industry was flush with cash and promise. It was a chance to argue or just watch the arguing. The argument focus was the same very year---Record

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-24609410621632184582007-11-26T09:08:00.000-05:002007-11-26T09:10:00.455-05:00

A FEW DAYS AS A MEDIA CIVILIAN, HULU.COM, TRACE ADKINS & DURAN DURANWe had an Artist Confidential Double header in New York. Used the Legacy Studios on 38th street instead of the typical Jazz at Lincoln Center which we are associated with. "JLC" was all booked up with Holiday activities, so off to West 38th street it was. Great facility over there. Extremely accommodating, comfortable, and the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-55828688098131504232007-11-16T14:34:00.000-05:002007-11-16T14:35:09.013-05:00

ELECTION ADVICE FROM SOMEONE RELATIVELY NORMALArlo Guthrie did Artist Confidential. What a storyteller! From a young Bob Dylan knocking on his door to meet his dad, to well…you gotta listen. Arlo is what Artist Confidential is all about. The stories! Then two days later we did Diamond Rio. Sweet harmonies and great guys. A joy. Did a Christmas Edition. Jon Anthony subbed for George

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-2536536211158796412007-11-12T07:57:00.000-05:002007-11-12T08:05:24.331-05:00

LED ZEPPELIN, DESIGNING REVOLUTION, IDIOT CULTURE AND MERLE HAGGARD’S WISDOMLED ZEPPELIN: we have launched a dedicated Led Zeppelin Channel. Not easy to put that one together as there are 3 managers, 1 lawyer, and a record company. I had to work phones overtime to get this one closed…and lost sleep along the way.Despite all that—It’s done and will be very cool. On channel 59. Our production SWAT

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-82593330247970358182007-11-05T08:18:00.000-05:002007-11-05T08:19:29.469-05:00

SCRAPBOOK: NOVEMBER 2001My computer is running at a snails pace. I’m about to go back to ink. Then our I.T. Department tells me that the fact I have over 200,000 emails on my laptop may have something to do with it. SO---I went back…and started clearing out…and found a whole bunch of oddball emails from the month we launched XM. A simpler time. Below are a few of these---kind of “scrapbook”

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-30038293639137398992007-10-29T08:45:00.000-05:002007-10-29T09:02:42.177-05:00

IT, IRELAND, CADILLACS, CARTER, CHILI THE CANCELLATION EFFECT, ERIC'S CORVETTE & FIRESIT is on. IT is the chronological history of pop music. Literally every song to hit the charts from the 1930’s to today. Starts on our 40’s channel then moves to the chain. It’s pretty remarkable. SO many songs, not just the obvious chart toppers. Plus it’s interspersed with tons of audio clips that give the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-90467526034248711822007-10-22T07:51:00.000-05:002007-10-22T07:52:25.365-05:00

MORE COUNTRY MUSIC…RANDOM THOUGHTS AND THE BIG MILLION DOLLAR OPPORTUNITY IN THE RECORD BUSINESSWe’re doing A LOT of Country Artists for Artist Confidential lately. Not sure why, but hey—it’s good. They’re usually great to deal with and have extremely passionate and long term fans. Last week it was Trisha Yearwood. While George Taylor Morris usually hosts, Lou Brutus and BK Kirkland have done

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-9815408676151000042007-10-15T08:25:00.000-05:002007-10-15T08:26:32.254-05:00

PLAY BY PLAY, TV & PRINT NEWS, THE CUBS, THE VENTURES, STEALING FROM TRASH CANS AND OTHER STUFFThere was a 100 foot ceiling and ¼ mile visibility leaving DC. In about 30 seconds we climbed over the overcast to remarkably blue skies. The West Virginia Mountain tops were breaking over the cloud tops and once it cleared up a bit, the fog laced valleys were punctuated by shafts of rain that created

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-68542152971912339842007-10-08T07:07:00.000-05:002007-10-08T07:08:27.952-05:00

FAITH HILL’S CURE FOR THE BLUES...AND HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLDSometimes I get depressed about XM. Not about the service or anything like that, but at how there are so many issues to deal with that really aren’t about what comes out of the speakers. Yeah, those issues are part of reality. I know that. But every now and then an event so purely XM and so purely about the mission happens…and

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-16481807793390024812007-10-01T08:06:00.001-05:002007-10-01T08:06:29.744-05:00

PRESIDENTS, PUNK THE BEATLES AND CELEBRITY CRIMES AGAINST MANPOTUS means “President of the United States”—A new XM channel geared to deliver 24/7 unbiased coverage of the upcoming election. It was Hugh Panero’s idea…Even though he’s not on site, he’s all over the thing. I think it’ll get a good head of steam as we get closer to the election and evolve into a pretty cool one stop shop for

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-74235681055473806752007-09-24T08:13:00.000-05:002007-09-24T08:15:06.297-05:00

AMERICA'S BIG BLUR AND THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF RESPECTFirst off--Tom Petty is back on board for a new season of shows. Like with Bob Dylan, Tom is totally engaged in his show. He scours his personal library for some real gems that touch everything from the Ventures to Van Halen. His style is very…Tom Petty. I love guys like this on the air because they have NO radio baggage. They just talk.

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-88485484586285531342007-09-17T08:01:00.001-05:002007-09-17T08:01:36.435-05:00

THE IRRELEVANCY OF MTV AND OTHERS LOST IN THE 90’s…AND THEN THERE’S GEORGE CARLINLes Garland is a guy I've known forever as he was Program Director of the famous CKLW in Windsor/Detroit. Later he was a key part of the MTV launch team. I was hired as a consultant back then and we've stayed in touch ever since including a wild and short lived ride as part of Quantum Media, Bob Pittman's company.

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-7598852963859238232007-09-07T07:52:00.001-05:002007-09-07T07:52:58.221-05:00

RANDOM STUFF FROM THE ELECTRONIC WATERCOOLERHeld a "bootcamp" with about 50 members of our ever expanding marketing department. They’re a busy group. Most of the people I spoke to in our two hour session are relatively new here. The idea was to give them the creative Kool Aid so they could drink it. as XM gets bigger it's easier to forget the core values aka the soul of the thing, as

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-69814543917848650952007-08-31T08:36:00.000-05:002007-08-31T08:38:01.632-05:00

ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOTE: REBUTTAL!There was a nice get together for Hugh Panero at the Capital Grille here in DC. Small group of long time employees from the early days as well as Nate Davis of course (who is actually a ‘long time employee’ since he’s been on the board from the start, though just recently assumed the helm—along with Chairman Parsons) and most of the senior executives. Low

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1584958421587330272007-08-27T07:56:00.000-05:002007-08-27T07:57:14.208-05:00

KOOL STUFF AND A TRIP TO THE AGENCYMany comments about my exclusion of Hip Hop in the musical trend blog a few weeks back. Understandable as it should have been prefaced that the overview was focused on Rock music trends. There are similar but distinct lines that track different music genres such as Hip Hop as well as Country and other popular genres.My mistake for not clarifying that. I do

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-57816218817015259172007-08-20T07:36:00.000-05:002007-08-20T07:37:29.494-05:00

A HUGH PANERO STORY (PART ONE)... AND A NEW LOW IN CUSTOMER SERVICEHugh Panero came from the cable side. About a month into XM (then AMRC) he asked if I could introduce him to people in the music Industry. So, we went to LA and I took him around to meet various people. He came up with the concept of “Expanded Head and Deflated Head”. This refereed to people who did tons of drugs in the 70’s

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-89328940787652976012007-08-13T07:36:00.000-05:002007-08-13T07:38:11.599-05:00

KORN, THE MOODY BLUES, MANDY MOORE AND THE MENTAL INSTABILITY OF CELEBRITIES & POLITICIANSThe XMX Channel two is on the air and it is off the charts. For example, To REALLY hear Bob Dylan and Tom Petty do their shows…tell their stories…play an eclectic mix that only guys of this musical caliber can play is mind blowing…then you hear Quincy Jones’s shows—My God! Then to REALLY hear the Artist

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-81919042608666081252007-08-06T07:56:00.000-05:002007-08-06T07:57:43.296-05:00

MUSICAL LULLS AND A TRAVELOGUE TO BASEBALL LANDIn the early 50’s, it was Doggie in the Window era. Mitch Miller, Doris Day and the like were making snappy and happy songs. The underground was brewing with a sonic gumbo of Black artists and Hillbillies, but in the mainstream, it was all pretty, safe and happy. A musical LULL. During lulls, the mainstream music culture:*Features harmless

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-63010650853532871852007-07-30T07:37:00.000-05:002007-07-30T07:38:35.399-05:00

SATELLITE RADIO, PREDICTING TRENDS, KELLY & CLIVE AND THE HOMOGINIZATION OF MEDIAHugh Panero is leaving. Gonna miss him. As soon as he leaves I’ll share a few classic Hugh stories…has to wait a few days since he can still fire me. I’m the only original employee left (other than Chariman Parsons who has been here since about 1955)Satellite Radio is where the action is. In preparing for XMX (our

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-11252277137424870522007-07-23T07:44:00.001-05:002007-07-23T07:44:49.515-05:00

SALUTING A POP RADIO PIONEER…GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACIES AND THE NEXT XM CHANNELOne of my early all time favorite Deejays retired recently. Miami’s Rick Shaw. Been in Miami radio for almost 50 years! I first heard him in about ’63 when our family took vacations to Florida each winter. WQAM had tried an early experiment with automation in the early 60’s—a dismal failure, but bounced back to full

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-52848039603906290422007-07-16T08:04:00.000-05:002007-07-16T08:06:21.335-05:00

A NEW CHANNEL, LIVE EARTH, THE FIRST RAP STAR AND RETAIL HELLWe’re launching a new channel—XMX. It’ll be a central point for all of our exclusive music programming. Desperately needed! There is so much cool stuff from Dylan and Petty shows to Artist Confidential, and an arsenal more…It gets lost. With this channel, it’s practically on demand. We had some debates about the channel name ranging

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1266130370371004772007-07-07T10:57:00.000-05:002007-07-07T10:58:18.899-05:00

OLD THINKING FOR NEW MEDIA AND NEW THINKING FOR OLD MEDIAWhen we put XM together, a lot of it was actually about “old” thinking. The technology was strikingly new---but the programming was in some cases…old. In this case, much of it was about bringing back the joys of radio which had pretty much vanished, at least on the music side. I think this is critical in today’s break neck speed of life.

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-23185810917710843342007-07-02T07:58:00.000-05:002007-07-02T07:59:10.017-05:00

BLUE MEN, SATELLITES AND STALE BEEREddie Kilroy who does mornings on Willie’s place just won the Will Rogers award from the “Academy Of Western Artists” for Country and Western disc jockey. He deserves it. He’s the real deal, right down to the spitoon and belt buckle the size of Lubbock. When we first interviewed people to program Hank’s Place (Willie bought the joint---so it’s now Willie’s

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-70834498008348351682007-06-25T06:40:00.001-05:002007-06-25T06:40:44.019-05:00

ECCENTRIC MUSIC, TESTING THE UNTESTABLE, PITTSBURGH, HILLARY AND OTHER OBSERVATIONSA 40th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn will be released August 28. A three-CD set is on the way, in a box set made to look like a cloth-covered book, with remastered versions of the record in stereo and mono, along with bonus tracks and a reproduction of singer Syd

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-76761669755972103892007-06-18T07:26:00.000-05:002007-06-18T07:29:01.459-05:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS, CLIPPINGS, EARLY XM AND SEXISM AT CBS!Bill Black is one of our Audio Animators at XM. If you ever visit, he’s hard to miss. He has a NATURALLY booming voice, and wears America’s largest collection of Negro League Baseball jerseys… he either wrote or found this:A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoerace on the Missouri River .Both teams practiced long

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-31698892596436421702007-06-11T07:34:00.000-05:002007-06-11T07:35:39.753-05:00

WHAT IF MICROSOFT HAD SOUL?The world of music is getting very sophisticated, complicated and driven by dealmakers...But what if Microsoft had soul? Not the software or systems, but their foray into music. Big monolithic highly successful companies who get into music talk about devices, systems, distribution---but what would happen if they also had soul. Pure non-corporate love-of-music as a

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-78772272685898431462007-06-04T08:54:00.001-05:002007-06-04T08:54:44.442-05:00

IT WAS NINE YEARS AGO TODAY....AND TRAVELS!It was nine years ago last Friday that I arrived in Washington to join XM. Fresh off a 16 hour drive from Dallas inspired by the incredible lack of imagination on the plethora of radio stations I listened to on the ride. In fact I ended up listening to AM 1590 type local stations more than anything as at least they were somewhat interesting, even

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-58840946479357183182007-05-27T07:31:00.000-05:002007-05-27T07:32:40.214-05:00

FOX, THE FUTURE OF NEWS....AND HOW GEORGE DID ITI’m obsessed with News. I think it’s in a similar state as music—from a media perspective and at least in the way it’s presented. I think Fox does a good job—at least I get why they are #1.It’s interesting that I’m sensing a “flexing” with the culture, as discussed in other blogs. They had an ACLU guy on the air—and they were actually NICE to

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-36363387982219474012007-05-21T07:25:00.000-05:002007-05-21T07:26:21.559-05:00

BEING IN SYNC WITH CULTURE SHIFTS WILL DETERMINE THE NEXT WINNERS & LOSERS...AND THE FREEDOM OF A HEALTHY SINUSWell, had Sinus surgery to clear out a stuffed nose. Not too bad except that you can't do anything for a week. So--I sat at home...all week. No phones. Isolated. At one point I got so bored, I wrote an update to the staff--hoping for sympathy. Not medical sympathy...boredom sympathy..

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-71282742233144956622007-05-10T15:13:00.001-05:002007-05-11T06:18:13.658-05:00

YESTERDAY + TODAY = TOMORROWWent to the Musexpo conference in Los Angeles. Interesting gathering of managers, artists and the like. Completely different from the old conventions which were complete self serving orgies…but who’s kidding who—they were a blast. This one was infinitely more toned down and focused, but I couldn’t get over how mellow these things are compared to days gone by. I

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-20870279208783639612007-05-07T07:00:00.000-05:002007-05-07T08:03:24.231-05:00

WISDOM FROM A BASEBALL GURU AND LOSING THE CLASSIC ROCK WAR…Aaron Lee is the guy that is "floor producer" for ARTIST CONFIDENTIAL. He also mixes these shows with great precision, editing, listening, dealing with artist comments and turning them into killer shows. So, I invited him to come flying. Not an easy task as he's about 8 foot three and weights in at about 600 (exaggerating—he’s just

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-78673105541920670792007-04-30T09:21:00.000-05:002007-04-30T09:22:52.972-05:00

THE XM RADIO THEATER: BOB DYLAN, GEORGE CARLIN AND LARRY KINGThree things have happened on XM that re-enforce our commitment to the theater of radio.We have re-upped with Bob Dylan for a multi year term for him to continue creating his award winning “Theme Time Radio Hour”. I gotta tell you that this has been an absolute highlight in my career. His show is consistently amazing. It’s Bob

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-62909750948897488622007-04-22T11:39:00.000-05:002007-04-22T11:43:58.401-05:00

THE COMPLETE RADIO EXPERIENCE AND A NEW STATION IN DCTook my car in for servicing and got a loaner. It only had AM & FM, so I scanned the dial. Found this new station I'd heard about called "The Globe". The right idea, but they're still saddled with radio baggage that weighs them down. The production is simple--no laser beams with a goofy booming voice. Just spoken. That alone if refreshing

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-55118995722327408062007-04-16T07:15:00.000-05:002007-04-16T07:16:41.713-05:00

DON IMUS, JUNK CULTURE, THE DUMBING OF AMERICA---AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT"American Radio icon Don Imus disgraced, fired after threat to reveal 9/11 secrets" --Pravda headline April 13 I really don’t care for Don Imus. To me, a bitter mean old geezer. Has a lot of fans, but I personally don’t care for him on the air. But the fanfare around his stupid comments is fucking ridiculous. The

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-8746350728210484352007-04-09T07:11:00.000-05:002007-04-09T07:12:24.891-05:00

WILLIE NELSON TRAVELOGUE AND XM THINKING FROM THE EARLY DAYSOur Traditional Country Channel is "Willie's Place"...used to be Hanks Place but Willie Nelson 'bought it'. Instead of simply a press release and a hollow "artist endorsement", Willie actually listens and has ideas. I think he likes the fact that it's an AUTHENTIC channel. Smell the speakers and you'll smell chewing tobacco, stale

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-35934123197302074802007-04-02T07:50:00.000-05:002007-04-02T07:51:33.628-05:00

GETTING EMOTIONAL ABOUT MUSICWe've been doing a lot of "special" channels recently. Channels that are temporary and geared to support and celebrate a day/days that are emotionally impactful to people. It all started with the Holiday Channels. Pretty obvious and nothing new, however we have the luxury of presenting every flavor of Christmas. From the traditional to the orchestral to the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-12105666259037326432007-03-26T07:20:00.000-05:002007-03-26T07:21:08.549-05:00

NPR, PAUL'S DEAL, and YOUNG LISTENERS--HOW TO ATTRACT THEM...OR IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE? ...AND GUITARSThe audience for NPR shows hit a new high in the Fall book. That was a recent headline. The cume of 26.5 million is up 2% from the previous Fall (2005) and up 4% from last Spring. National Public Radio says listeners ship to its member stations - which buy programming from NPR and other sources,

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-68653158520467693922007-03-17T10:43:00.000-05:002007-03-17T10:44:08.072-05:00

THE HORRORS OF CLEARING CUSTOMS…AND GOOD TIMES IN CANADAWent to the Canadian Music Week Conference in Toronto. Pretty well executed event fueled by intense Nationalism supporting the Canadian music cause. Unlike the industry conventions of the past, the vibe wasn’t who had the best dinners, who has the best after hours suites or the classic radio vs. records debates, but more about the new

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-15105148159368250352007-03-12T07:45:00.000-05:002007-03-12T07:46:55.608-05:00

DISCOVERING MUSIC: LISTENING VS. LUNCHINGAnother kind of radio that I think has lost its way is "Alternative". What says it all is that originally it was called that because it was an...Alternative. Along the way though, it became a format name seemingly meaning current era artists that don't fit the old AOR or CHR definition. A throw-away. Alternative isn't an Alternative...it's a format name

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-12476182274211597012007-03-05T08:53:00.000-05:002007-03-05T08:54:02.541-05:00

RADIO'S DILEMMA WITH THE YOUNG AND RESTLESSThis is not a jab at Top 40 radio, the stations or the people running them. It’s a question mark. A possibility that I think needs addressing:I wonder if the model for Top 40 radio is dead. Pop, CHR, mainstream Top 40 (or whatever you want to call it)songs are certainly pretty dominant but I gotta wonder if the way it’s presented on radio which is

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1172494332167876032007-02-26T07:50:00.000-05:002007-02-27T10:00:16.606-05:00

BRANDS: THE MARKETING BUZZWORD--BUILDING 'EM AND BLOWING 'EM.....AND LATINO CONFIDENTIAL!A marketing buzzword that borders on cliché is "brand". You hear a lot about stations as 'brands'. Actually, this is a critical factor in what makes great, lasting radio stations that actually mean something with that reward meaning with LONG term success in an era where everyone seems to be focused on the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1171656509601293782007-02-16T15:07:00.000-05:002007-02-25T15:47:39.916-05:00

JUNK CULTURE: AMERICAS NERVOUS BREAKDOWNI think American Culture may be having a nervous breakdown. Popular Culture is one of our greatest resources and exports, but “junk” culture is clogging the arteries of our lives. I tune in a “respectable” news channel and hear, in order:*A critical update on who the Father of Anna Nicole might be, along with ongoing coverage of Anna Nicole’s death. Since

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1171372586752207032007-02-13T08:15:00.000-05:002007-02-26T17:36:10.706-05:00

AN AFTERNOON WITH A SOUND GOD AND THE YOUTHFUL CRUSH OF COLLEGE SPORTSBob Ludwig is the Guru of mastering engineers. An ear of gold. Check just about any amazing album and you’ll see his name. So, via Randy Ezratty, we set up a trip to see his setup in Portland Maine.Saturday morning early, I met XM Audio animator John Stevens at the Manassas Airport. John had been up all night and told me

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1170682822845457382007-02-05T08:38:00.000-05:002007-02-20T21:14:57.316-05:00

THE DESIRE TO CHANGE…HARRY CONNICK AND MY FIRST PLATINUM VOCALMy Blackberry had officially crapped out. Reason is too many undeleted E-mails. So I went back and started deleting. You find some crazy stuff. This was a memo to the staff---or the staff that was actually on board at this early date. Six years ago today.2001 is the beginning of the future of radio.......it's just a matter of

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1170076306693354672007-01-29T08:11:00.000-05:002007-02-27T10:27:15.006-05:00

RADIO GUYS DOING TV & XM CD’SI read with great interest how Randy Michaels has bought into a sizable group of TV stations. I shot him a congratulatory note, where he proceeded to reply in self effacing "I must be crazy to buy into TV" rant. On the surface maybe, but this guy doesn't do too many crazy things. Well---he's known to do some crazy things on the air, but in a business sense, he

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1169473632160802152007-01-22T08:44:00.000-05:002007-01-28T17:46:12.243-05:00

BRILLIANCE OF WYNTON MARSALIS...THE XM APPROACH TO "ARTIST POWER"Back around 1999, two years before XM went on the air, we wanted to engage timeless artists to be a part of the XM “Artist Family”. The idea was to work with important artists from as many genres as possible. By “Timeless” I mean we were looking at artists that would not only be around when we actually launched, but will be around

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1168789162007288772007-01-14T10:38:00.000-05:002007-02-01T17:26:38.676-05:00

THE C.E.S. CONVENTION 2007Just got back from the CES Convention. As usual it was a mind boggling array of everything gadget. XM had our usual “booth” which was more like a section of the enormous North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Our marketing group was in full force as the masses descended on us, looking for information, interact, or simply to schmooze. A mix of Tech guru Stell

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1168265515033079442007-01-08T09:10:00.000-05:002007-02-20T07:24:00.343-05:00

MISGUIDED BUT INTERESTING ADVENTURES ON THE MUSIC SIDEXM Adds Nearly 1.7 Million New Subscribers in 2006 for Total of More Than 7.6 Million Subscribers, Achieves Positive Cash Flow From Operations During Fourth Quarter 2006. That is good news. Having been here 9 years, it’s clearly a milestone!…and now to a completely different subjectIt’s easy to complain about the Music business, just as it’

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1167744566737446302007-01-02T08:28:00.000-05:002007-02-03T20:37:40.126-05:00

THE ART OF THE LOGO, BOSTON, HOT GENRES AND 2007!My New Years wish to the programming staff is better use of the XM Logo. Throughout the holidays I was in a lot of stores and restaurants and damn, if that five note “audio signature” didn’t cut right through. Without it, I would have had no idea that it was XM being piped in. The signature is part of the XM audio DNA. It’s a way of saying XM

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1167140895963044542006-12-26T08:47:00.000-05:002007-02-18T00:20:01.896-05:00

PERSONAL NUGGETS FROM THE ATTICI wasn't going to blog this week. Not many people are around, so why bother. Then I thought what the hell. Though I'm working through the holidays, there’s a lot of down time, so I've been rediscovering my collection. Digging out vinyl (I still have a turntable), cassettes (Lots of demos, airchecks and strange stuff there), CD's, I-Pod and of course XM. I let my

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1166447812973978612006-12-18T08:15:00.000-05:002007-01-25T01:54:07.986-05:00

AHMET, TOP 40, MARKETING THE XM MUSIC GURUS, YOKO AND MIAMI STORIESWell, Ahmet Ertegun passed away...a few months ago Arif Marden too. Who will carry on? Are guys like this just part of an era in music that'll go down as...an era? Is it too late? Will guys like this with Music in their genes re-emerge? At this very moment I tend to think that music guys REALLY controlling the music business

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1165846334774901942006-12-11T09:10:00.000-05:002006-12-17T21:02:35.163-05:00

GONZO MARKETING, EARLY FM CRAZINESS… AND THE XM EXECUTIVES ON MUSICIn 1980 or so, got a call from General Electric. They were looking to do something with their "beautiful music" (muzak) FM in San Francisco, KFOG. This station had everything. A great signal, cool call letters for the Bay Area, not to mention studios overlooking the Bay at Ghirardelli Square. Kinda knew that another AOR

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1165237358304611422006-12-04T08:00:00.000-05:002007-01-03T21:04:49.580-05:00

HIRING AND THE VIBE OF THE CREATIVE SPACERecently I’ve been speaking at quite a few colleges. Very refreshing since there’s no baggage accumulated from the trenches, just honest and idealistic points of view—many extremely informative and eye opening. Obviously one of the big questions is “how do you break into this business”? Of course there’s no magic button. In fact, it’s gotta be about

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1164636012656324542006-11-27T08:59:00.000-05:002006-12-03T12:25:06.000-05:00

THE DANGEROUS ADDICTION TO THE RULE BOOK… AND DOES ROD STEWART MATTER?Sometimes our biggest challenge is the rule book. Veterans of radio and music business are especially vulnerable as the rules have been pounded in for years, but newcomers are also susceptible because they tend to assume following the rules is what you "have to do" and this is magnified by the fact that their bosses also

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1163859379410674832006-11-18T09:06:00.000-05:002007-01-22T09:05:15.226-05:00

BRITNEY'S DIVORCE.... TO BOB DYLANI'm scanning Direct TV the other day and there are five channels covering the Britney Spears divorce. Complete with authoritarian "in the know" attempts at journalism. Does ANYBODY really care? The answer is probably Yes, and that's pretty sick. It's mind candy. Not healthy but a quick cultural sugar fix for those who are addicted to that kinda thing.

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1163531327537760552006-11-14T14:07:00.000-05:002006-11-21T11:10:12.070-05:00

THE VIDEO BLOGBack in the late 90's, XM was just an idea. We had a skeleton staff that was growing by the day, but we were not yet on the air. One of the challenges was to tell the story of the programming mission. There was no shortage of those who viewed XM as an "audio service", a generic array of white bread channels that would have all the soul of ......an audio service.In reality,

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1162820221818548162006-11-06T08:36:00.000-05:002006-11-17T17:21:29.970-05:00

AVERAGE SUCKSLast month we were on our weekly Conference call with Snoop Dogg's management and decided to do a month long "celebration" supporting Snoop's newest release. Dion Summers who runs our Urban group came up with the name "Dogg-Vember" a play on the incredibly tired 'Rock-Tober'. Dogg-Vember is SO awful, it's brilliant.It gets back to the idea that AWFUL is great and BRILLIANT is

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1162217802833648262006-10-30T09:13:00.000-05:002006-12-17T22:49:26.776-05:00

THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICAN MUSIC...AND RISE AGAIN?Friday we had a field trip. We took the XM Programming Staff that's based here in DC to one of those arty but modern theaters called AFI. American Film Institute. I did a short warm up rap, Jon Zellner did an intro then we showed the entire staff the movie "Before The Music Dies". I gotta tellya, this is a revolutionary film. It's not a

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1161608286795426212006-10-23T07:56:00.000-05:002006-11-02T13:32:15.483-05:00

STUNGI have been chasing Sting for XM's Artist Confidential series for three years. Finally, the night arrived. 400 people met in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. A giant three story glass wall overlooking Central Park, with a full moon was the backdrop for a remarkable evening.Setting this thing up was intense. Sting is surrounded by a competent and professional

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1161003316051420282006-10-16T07:54:00.000-05:002006-10-21T13:25:09.213-05:00

THE GREATEST STATION THAT NEVER WASAs discussed in the last blog, there was the Chicago story....it was Christmas time 1972..... After pitching John Tenaglia who ran the General Cinema radio group, I got the call. "No, you can't consult our entire group of stations with your new Album Rock concept, but we are interested in you as Program Director of our FM in Chicago we just bought". After

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1160342390679703722006-10-08T16:18:00.000-05:002006-11-24T10:38:27.513-05:00

Bill Wax who runs our Bluesville Channel pulls me aside to play me something. It's really, really good in a very rootsy way. Then he shows me the CD cover and tells me about the artist. It's a "kid" named Sugar Chile Robinson. He's 12 years old! One problem: It was recorded in 1951 ! Apparently a clothing company is using him in an ad. Bill did his "research" and found the CD on a

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1159793614498282562006-10-02T07:50:00.000-05:002006-10-05T15:18:19.500-05:00

WILLIE NELSON AND NOTES FROM THE XM MUSIC BOOTCAMP 2000A few months ago Willie Nelson "bought" Hank's Place, and thus the channel is now "Willie's Place". While the channel hasn't changed one bit, Willie IS actively involved, so Dan Turner, "Jinx" (aka Jim Bonner) and Eddie Kilroy hopped in the Cirrus to head to the Philly area for Farm Aid to hang out with Willie in his famous bus. It's

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1159195869134059762006-09-25T09:50:00.000-05:002006-11-07T15:53:43.900-05:00

THE PERILS OF TOO MUCH DATA AT THE WRONG TIME...AND AN EYE-OPENER AT USCI left Washington around 8pm last Sunday to head out to Los Angeles to spend the day at USC. Took the late flight so I could catch the White Sox lose depressingly to Oakland. I should have taken the earlier flight. Upon arrival, Mike (no relation) Abrams picked me up at LAX as he was out West for a Dance Convention. Not

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1158679397631297862006-09-19T10:19:00.000-05:002006-10-05T21:50:50.753-05:00

I'll never forget the magic of listening to the AM radio, circa 1966 at 2am. Just quiet enough so I wouldn't wake my parents. There is no feeling like it. It is timeless...majestic...an American experience that I wish everyone could have felt. You were reaching over the horizon listening to well tuned AM transmitters beaming the tale of their city with a homegrown DJ, homegrown ads and a

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1157980283636431692006-09-11T08:07:00.000-05:002006-09-18T12:03:03.666-05:00

Chicago! Terry Young on 60s on Six, salutes the Great Top 40 Stations of the 60's every Friday at 4pm Eastern. This coming Friday he's doing WLS in Chicago and Ron Riley, the legendary early evening DJ from '63 to about '68 will be joining Terry. Ron brought a massive box of "stuff" from that era at WLS. Being from Chicago and an avid WLS fan, I was asked to contribute some advertisers that would

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1157465889434741012006-09-05T09:15:00.000-05:002006-09-30T20:13:09.003-05:00

Our trip to Cooperstown to see Bob Dylan was scrubbed. The idea of seeing a twilight concert at a ballpark on a summer evening amidst the pastoral backdrop of upstate New York was squashed by the forecasts of heavy turbulence, rain and the other remnants of Ernesto. Looks like we'll take a rain check (literally) on that gig.Nonetheless, no shortage of things to do during the traditional down time

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1156768115211743702006-08-28T07:19:00.000-05:002006-10-11T14:05:34.363-05:00

I'm pretty excited about next Saturday. Going on a field trip/sleepover that involves four of my favorite things: Music, Flying, Baseball and Hangin' out. Dan Turner and Jim Mc Bean and I are flying to see Bob Dylan who is playing at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dan found us three rooms at an off brand Motel 6 outide of Cooperstown. The rate is something like $28 dollars a night--roughly the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1156162893484581602006-08-21T07:18:00.000-05:002006-12-07T22:14:20.916-05:00

Had lunch with Nate Davis, our new COO.---Actually there's nothing new about him since he's been on our board for years. He's a good guy and in my opinion will be enormously beneficial to many operational areas of XM--no small feat. When we started it was all pretty simple--but the bigger XM gets and the more competitive life is, the more demanding the nuts and bolts get. Forget the

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1155562823721651842006-08-14T08:39:00.000-05:002006-12-19T04:08:39.466-05:00

It was a remarkably nice morning in Washington. Clear with a respite from the paralyzing heat. Got in the plane for a short trip to Baltimore to pick up Paul Bachmann who is our Senior Programmer of the XM Classical cluster. He brought his Wife and very young daughter for a flight up to the Berkshires in Massachusetts to visit Tanglewood, a magical venue nestled in the woodsy and hilly region

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1154954548041114742006-08-07T07:42:00.000-05:002006-12-14T11:10:24.906-05:00

Last week there was the announcement that I-pod would be in cars. Great.I have three I-pods. Great devices. Other than the fact that I erased all 3,000 songs accidentally when I got a new lap top, they are a wonderful technology....Then all of a sudden I got quite a few emails about this announcement as well as seeing a few blogs that spelled the death of radio both satellite and terrestrial

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1154356182332766572006-07-31T09:29:00.000-05:002006-08-04T13:16:32.486-05:00

Big weekend for Baseball. Because we’re tied to the hip with the Major Leagues, great seats are relatively easy to acquire. So, took full advantage of that and on Saturday went with Kurt Gilchrist (Decades Sr. Programmer), Bill Evans (Program Director Program Director of Café) and Bart Taylor one of our Production aces, to see The White Sox play the Orioles at Camden Yards. Interesting game. 36

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1153493927445044742006-07-21T09:58:00.000-05:002007-01-16T21:03:44.150-05:00

Last week was "jingle week" at XM. Jingles can be kinda hokey when used on the wrong channels, but on the right channels they add to the listening experience. The ultimate example is 60's on Six where they contribute mightily to the authenticity factor, where we are trying to re-create a Top 40 station in about 1966. We believe that this is infinately more satisfying to a fan of that era than

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1153140341373950422006-07-17T07:34:00.000-05:002006-08-13T08:05:35.876-05:00

Some random thoughts...SYD BARRETT: If you look at the charts, you won't see much on Syd Barrett, but I think his influences are monumental and his character is certainly worthy of a mini series. If you don't know who Syd Barrett is, find out. If you do know then I think it's in your best interest to re-familiarize yourself with "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" the early Pink Floyd masterpiece. The

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1152561771236711692006-07-10T14:57:00.000-05:002006-07-20T20:45:13.170-05:00

It’s easy to get overwhelmed here. Shit is happening from all sides. Personally I kinda like it. Activity. Growth. Intensity. Beats being bored. You might read things and think the world is caving in, but it’s not…makes good press though. It’s just a crazy world out there, especially in ANY media. It used to be so mellow…rolling along under the radar. Now, the radar is full tilt on XM,

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1151845012367947952006-07-02T07:55:00.000-05:002006-07-09T00:07:06.983-05:00

So me, Ray Knight, our Senior Country programmer and Randy Ezratty, master of live production and the guy who runs XM Productions, fka Effanel, and I pile into the plane and head to Nashville. Getting to the local airport was a trip as half of DC was flooded from the storms, but we got there and took off at 7am into the heavy humid Summer air. Once at 10,000 feet it was cool and clear as we made

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1151083310561224822006-06-23T12:20:00.000-05:002006-07-09T19:41:55.876-05:00

It's been an interesting week at XM. After years of pounding, someone comes up with some production that is absolutely horrible. Depressingly average. Man in the box filtered voice bullshit lies. The best music, circa 1980 st-st-stuttering sampled effects. Textbook crap. The person was pretty new so we realize it takes time to de-cliche---but it underscores the importance of liberating people

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1150717818487360122006-06-19T06:47:00.001-05:002006-09-25T21:56:32.866-05:00

We have a new series called "OFFSTAGE". It’s where we go to an artist and record a radio show--usually in their home where they are totally relaxed and can focus on music. They have total control over the song list, what they say, everything. It’s a chance for an artist to do radio like they think it should sound…tap into their music collection without the pressures of a weekly show. The first

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1150116557688930792006-06-12T07:44:00.000-05:002006-07-20T13:10:01.760-05:00

Bob Lefsetz, the mother of all Industry bloggers,visited XM. I’ve known Bob for many years. His blogis must reading for anyone remotely connected tomusic. He doesn’t give a shit about anything oranyone in terms of his opinion. If he thinks God isan asshole, he’ll say it. Whenever I visit LA, wehave a free form dinner somewhere and rant about thestate of life. While Bob was an early believer

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1149510453466691012006-06-05T07:26:00.000-05:002006-07-19T22:47:15.613-05:00

We are not "there" yet...it takes time, but here are a few things we preach. Do we deliver? Not always? Do we try? Hell yeah. Why am I telling people outside of the building about these "secrets"? Because if someone thinks like this--we want to know. Here are a few items----AFDI: (Actually Fucking Doing It)The battle call. The center of our programming universe. Instead of researching EVERYthing,

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1148992035916864012006-05-30T07:26:00.000-05:002007-01-17T14:18:55.076-05:00

The Dixie Chicks performed an ARTIST CONFIDENTIAL at our Jazz at Lincoln Center facility in New York last week. I personally don't like the kind of music they do, but there sure are a lot of people that DO and combine that with their volatile point of view and you've got a pretty electric version of the series. I really wish they hadn't made those comments about Bush. Not for political reasons

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1148312941137086662006-05-22T10:48:00.000-05:002006-07-08T22:19:27.266-05:00

Most people passionate about radio have an all-time favorite station. Usually it’s one they grew up with. That station you’d listen to late at night under the covers. The station would paint pictures with the music and the magic that happened between the songs. Often it was a cinematic experience. True theater of the mind. It was for me. When I first started listening to radio I was amazed

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1147710896445885712006-05-15T11:30:00.000-05:002006-06-27T00:04:47.893-05:00

ADVENTURES WITH AN XM PROGRAMMER: TRAVELOGUE (TRIP ONE)Mike Marrone is PD of the Loft. He’s extremely opinionated about EVERYTHING…I suppose that’s one of the reasons the LOFT is so effective. He cares…has high standards and no shortage of moxie about what gets on or off the channel. What really gets me though is when he starts doing his “New Jersey is superior” routine. Not easy for a

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1147179256628704842006-05-09T07:52:00.000-05:002006-05-18T09:37:40.330-05:00

1952: "RADIO IS DEAD. WITH THE LONE RANGER AND JACK BENNY GOING TO TV, BYE BYE RADIO" --TELEVISION MAGAZINE Well, radio didn't die. It entered the true golden age. Guys like Todd Storz and Gordon Mc Lendon "re-invented" radio with the Top 40 Concept, which is the foundation for most every competitive format 1955-onwards. Storz and McLendon were the marketing, carney and science guys.

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26427847.post-1146596620214711742006-05-02T14:00:00.000-05:002006-12-02T22:23:20.303-05:00

ENGAGING THE ARTIST XM launched in 2001. Quickly we became known for quality music, something to this day we hold of paramount importance. It’s kind of like Word War two where it took the American GI’s to liberate Europe against evil. XM is the modern day musical equivalent as it’s up to us to help liberate American ears from the creative evils of consolidated radio. As we built our musical

Lee Abramshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08893951008540934421noreply@blogger.com3