You know that Freddy drove from Pennsylvania to Dallas for the Freddy Needs Gas Tour. You know that Kidd Kraddick is helping Freddy try something new: user-generated music. Well, fan-influenced, anyway. 

But you may not catch Kidd Kraddick in the Morning every time they give a Freddy update, and you're looking for something new. What's he doing now? Is he recording new music yet? Where do I go to help Freddy record his album? Where do I vote on the lyrics, album art, and chords?

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If you've been listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning for the past week and a half, you know about Freddy. Well, the Freddy Needs Gas Tour is over, and as I predicted, Freddy was seriously let down. Honestly, you don't make a big deal nationally about a talented musician and follow him from Pennsylvania to Texas just to have him talk and sing live in-studio for one hour without some sort of greater payoff. The Freddy Needs Gas Tour was interesting, entertaining, but not rewarding.

So, Freddy and Kidd talk. Whether it was Freddy's idea or Kidd's, doesn't matter. Regardless, Freddy posed the idea to Kidd on the air Monday morning of recording his album here in DFW and letting the KKITM fans vote on each song, the album art, etc. In other words, Freddy wants to be the UGC (user generated content) of the music industry.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

This is an excerpt of Freddy's most popular song. He had two million hits on his MySpace music page before taking the songs down.

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I'd like to know what other people think about Freddy. Do you like his music? Do you find him sincere or pre-packaged? Feel free to share your comments on Freddy here. 

Another video or two on the way. 

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The whirlwind tour ends tomorrow with a live concert on the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning radio show. The concert should start around 7:30am in Las Colinas on the canal or next door to the studio at Texas Bar & Grill. Here's a quick video excerpt of Freddy's road trip from Philly to Dallas.

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If you haven't been listening to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, a nationally syndicated morning radio show, you're missing out on history in the making. That's a bold statement, and one that may be a tad overemphasized, but those of you who enjoy being there from the beginning of a musical artist's career, you can't afford to miss out on this. 

Freddy is a 21 year old college student in Pennsylvania. Three years ago, he signed a record deal with a major music label and was flown out to California to become a superstar. In a tragic twist of fate, Freddy's record label was bought out by another and his contract was dropped in the shuffle. Having abandoned college to become a rock star, Freddy came back home and began the painful process of rebuilding a life filled with disappointment.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

I just revisited the KiddLive website for the first time in a while today, and noticed that some changes have been implemented over the past 6 months. I like to see the progress, but there's still a long way ahead. If being the best morning radio show with web presence isn't the goal, ignore the rest of this post. This is only intended to be read by those who make things happen.

Two major changes I've noticed include:

1. The move of all KKITM blogs to the WordPress server
This was not exactly what I recommended, but Kidd's tech crew might have decided that adding PHP WordPress to their server was an issue, so I'll give them a pass.

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Popularity: 25% [?]

If you're like me, you have trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. There's so much work to do, and balancing of job, family, fitness, and fun. So I've been relying on 97.1's 24/7 Christmas music to keep me focused on celebrating the season.

I'm flipping through my preset stations in the car today, and suddenly 97.1 FM doesn't sound so Christmassy anymore. In fact, it sounds a lot like a rock n' roll station. In fact, it sounds A LOT like The Eagle reborn. In fact, it is.  

For those of you whining about the lack of rock on the radio in Dallas / Fort Worth, your prayers have been answered. Tune in to the all new 97.1FM The Eagle…. just don't ask me to listen with you.  

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If you've been waiting to find out which member of Kidd Kraddick in the Morning is leaving the company, the suspense is over… Taylor is leaving Kidd Kraddick in the Morning. It came as a total shocker to me. I read through each person's letter of resignation and my vote would have gone to either Kelly or Dino (Big Al was my sleeper). I thought there would be no way that either Taylor or JC would even consider leaving the show at this stage of their careers.

I considered Taylor the third biggest lock on the team (Kidd simply can't leave and Shanon holds the ship together). But no… no. Despite being the lucky winner of the Radio Dream Job Contest, Taylor's heart belongs to Hollywood.  

Taylor has become extremely popular among the show's national fan base. She's brought a little Highland Park attitude to the show. Whether she's pretending to be JC's embarrassing wife out in public or conducting a flirtatious interview with the visiting band members, Taylor has forged an identity on Kidd Kraddick in the Morning that frankly will be difficult to replace. 

What is Taylor up to now?

Next Wednesday, she will hop on a plane to Hollywood and take a shot at being an actress. I wouldn't be surprised if Kidd hooked her up with a few connections. It would be in the show's best interest to have one of the voices turn successful Hollywood actress. Don't be surprised if you see Taylor guest starring on a show or film in the next three years.

Who will replace Taylor?

I haven't heard word yet, but don't be surprised if Kidd throws another intern contest. I have seen KKITM post an ad recently looking for interns, so maybe that was related… maybe not. The morning radio show had excellent chemistry with Taylor on the show. Kidd, Kellie, and Big Al are reliable, established brands and JC and Taylor were the fresh, young voice of the morning show. Her leaving will create a serious gap that Kidd will HAVE to somehow fill. As popular as Kellie Raspberry is, Taylor brought a feminine balance to Kidd and JC's never ending bursts of energy. 

So look for Kidd to throw together some sort of contest to replace Taylor. They need the youth to keep the show going strong.

Taylor will be missed. Best of luck, Taylor. Come back and visit the show. 

Popularity: 16% [?]

Will.i.am, leader of the Black Eyed Peas, called in to the Kidd Kraddick in the Morning show today. He called from Korea, where the band is on an unbelievably comprehensive Pepsi concert tour. Tour locations include Korea, Kazakhstan, Moscow, Poland, China, India, Ethiopia, Ghana, Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico City, and at least ten other countries worldwide. 

During the phone interview, Will discussed the upcoming release of his new album, "Songs About Girls", scheduled for release September 25, 2007. The Peas' new single, "I Got it from my Mama" is now available online.

Will disclosed to Kidd Kraddick that his mentor is Michael Jackson. Will is helping Jackson out on his newest album. Will was the driving force behind Fergie's solo debut album, which they recorded on a bus during the Black Eyed Peas "Monkey Business" tour. 

From a marketer's perspective, it was fascinating to hear Will.i.am's take on the current state of the music industry. Kidd Kraddick asked Will about his goals for the new album, which brought up the subject. While the last album sold some 15 million copies, Will admits that the same standards cannot be held in today's consumer economy. While he didn't outright mention iTunes, it can be assumed that online music stores such as iTunes and free file sharing website applications like BitTorrent and LimeWire have completely transformed the music biz landscape. 

Will says he no longer measures success by the number of albums sold, (since millions of fans will go online and buy singles only or download illegally) but instead he is participating in a new concept gives the fan/user the power to make money off of the Black Eyed Peas new album as an affiliate marketer. 

A new media player will be available for download that each person can place on their favorite social media sites (MySpace, Hi5, Facebook, Blogger, etc). This player will allow visitors to purchase and download the songs directly from the player widget, and the person who posted the player receives a percentage of the sales profits.

It sounds like a brilliant way to take thousands of fans who would normally download for free and turn them into entrepreneurs who will actively seek to help spread the gospel of Will. Of course, with the record will only appeal to a certain demographic, but this could mark a new business proposition for dozens of labels in the future. Imagine if the most popular MySpace profiles sell thousands of music downloads from hundreds of artists. Social media suddenly takes on a new face. The competition would be fierce, and social media marketing efforts would intensify as the average joe enters the fray and attempts to compete for music download dollars.

But Will is the face of the new thing. Put the power of affiliate sales (think Mary Kay) into the hands of the people, and see how far the people can take your business. It is very likely to work only in a limited number of business verticals. Of course, people are already making money from affiliate advertising/sales. But turn the widgets into mini emarkets and you have a million little stores everywhere, all competing for the same market. The oversaturation would eventually be the cause of its demise, but an intelligent marketing strategy could put the power of sales or increased eshop products into the hands of a select few (a thousand or so) successful sellers. Limit the number of people who can sell so that the widgets/players/stores don't become so common that people ignore them just like banner ads.

A lot of potential here. It will be interesting to see how this concept develops, and whether the music industry jumps on board to save itself.  

Popularity: 9% [?]

It's been a while since I offered Kidd Kraddick both online marketing and blogging advice. Now is a good time to back up those initial tips with a few extra methods of online promotion that the #1 morning radio show in America needs to execute in order to grow the brand online. 

As a side note, I started using a Mac notebook computer since my last post about the KKITM show, and discovered to my dismay that the "Listen Live" option does not appear to function properly on the Mac. It opens the same window for a media player, but instead of listening to the remainder of the show as I still can on my Dell, the Mac plays a repeated loop of the show every five minutes. So I only get to hear 5 minutes of the show without closing the application and restarting. This is apparently only an issue with my laptop, however, since a coworker of mine said he's listened to the show on his Mac with no problems. So I'll put that complaint on hold while I investigate my laptop settings.  

My issues with listening live online drove me to these additional online marketing recommendations. These are predicated on the assumption that there is an audience to be had out there that cannot listen to part or all of the show each morning due to work restrictions or radio/internet availability. Here we go. 

Number One: The New and Comprehensive Kidd Kraddick in the Morning Show Blog
Cover all topics including funny quotes and pics in each day's post. The blog can be posted to hourly/twice an hour during the show for people who are not allowed to play music/radio out loud or listen to headphones but still have access to the Internet. 

***RSS Feed Bonus***
Assuming the blog is built on a WordPress platform (non-negotiable, must-have for maximum usability), The show blog comes equipped with at least one automatic RSS Feed. For workers who cannot be seen logging in to Kiddlive.com or any other website that looks cool or fun, the RSS feed can be read in various formats and through various feed readers, which the user can select according to their work needs and preferences. This RSS feed puts the regularly updated show posts into their feed reader so that they can select the time frame they missed and catch up with only the info they haven't accessed yet.

Number Two: A Double Opt-In Daily Email Update
Some readers might not have a clue about RSS Feeds or might not be able to access non work related content online. A sign-in form on the KiddLive.com website would allow people to register for email updates that can be sent to either their personal or professional email addresses. The email would be formatted in rich text only and HTML in order to reach all audiences successfully. Daily email updates summarize the day's show (providing either brief summaries or exact copies of the blogs that are already written online) in a format that everyone with email access at work can enjoy at their own convenience. 

Kidd Kraddick benefits from this process as well by cultivating an extremely targeted list of email addresses. The show can sell a couple tasteful ads to be posted on each email and thereby add another potentially lucrative stream of revenue. It goes without saying that an email marketing campaign such as this must follow email best practices guidelines including a one click unsubscribe option at the bottom of each email and providing legitimate subject line titles. An additional bi-monthly email list can be cultivated via sign-up which sends more advertisements/schedule updates/concert announcements/etc to those who opt in for it.

An additional monthly email would be sent to all subscribers containing a poll and requesting user feedback on how to improve the effectiveness and enjoyment of the KKITM email updates. This is an essential part of effective customer relationship management, allowing the users a voice to help tailor the product towards their needs.

Number Three (Optional): Full-Fledged Transcript of Each Show
While most people will not take the time to read a full transcript of 4 hrs of talk each day, A full-fledged transcript provides the added benefit of natural search engine optimization (SEO). This means that the more content you preserve from the show, the more phrases you can rank for in the search engines. This third option is labeled "optional" simply because it competes to some degree with the Show Blog recommended in #1. Some of the content would obviously be duplicate, which some search marketers will warn against. 

The overall concept here is twofold: a complete transcript allows for natural optimization and will drive at least a trickle of search traffic to the website, thus creating the opportunity to gain new listeners and extend the fan base; the extensive content also provides hundreds of opportunities for text link ads. I know of an ad company or two who would go crazy buying text link ads on the Kiddlive site. It's not a lucrative ad revenue model, but it is a stream of revenue and traffic generation which could likely be implemented using a voice to text transcription application so that the majority of the process is automated.

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The beauty of interactive marketing (Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Blogging, Email Marketing, etc) is that it is customizable to the user. Nowhere else does the user have as much power to help create the ultimate entertainment experience. Organizations like the DFWIMA (DFW Interactive Marketing Association) exist to help corporations understand the interactive marketing industry and to excel in said market. 

Radio, television, and print ads are the traditional form of marketing revenue. While they are still essential for branding (building brand awareness in the minds and social lives of the public), they are completely untrackable. This means that advertisers cannot measure the results of their campaigns. They can tailor a campaign towards a specific market at a specific time, but the results of the campaign are completely immeasurable. Email and web-related ads, however, are completely trackable. Track ad impressions, click through rates, and user feedback to hone your ad campaigns and generate more ROI.

Radio shows are missing out on millions of interactive advertising dollars due to the lack of comprehensive online presence. Each stream of online marketing is valuable because it reaches people the others can't, while simultaneously providing real-time analytics (measurable results) in most cases. 

Popularity: 6% [?]