What I Did On My Summer Vacation

The headline of this article likely puts you in mind of the first essay you had to write every September as school began again.  I had the opportunity to visit a lot of fun places over the Summer.  My client travels kept me on the road for most of the year.  Although I had a couple of exceptional trips to New York City (always great food, fine wine and great company), a spectacular time in visiting Toronto across a weekend, (a Rock and Roll event) and I actually had an opportunity to lay beside my swimming pool for a little bit each week from Memorial Day to the 4th of July.  That’s really unheard of for me.

During my travels I met several very interesting people and had several interesting stories pop up that I believe should be shared.  The first is from visiting Dom’s Pasta & Grille in St. Catharines, Ontario.  The owner, Heather Fasulo stopped by the table to tell the airstaff and me how much she enjoyed listening to the radio station.  We always appreciate that.  The restaurant is one to be pictured as it is set in an old mansion and occupied by this restaurant for the last several years.  The old fireplaces, the marble on the mantel above them, tile on the floors in the common areas and beautiful hardwood floors throughout the rooms.

Heather is the epitome of customer service.  She told a story of an 80 year old man who wandered into her restaurant when it was first opened.  He asked for a grilled cheese sandwich.  She’s runs a fine Italian dining establishment and has no grilled cheese on the menu.  The 80 year old man wanted his grilled cheese sandwich.  He was really unhappy.  Mrs. Fasulo sent one of her servers to buy some bread and cheese.  She made the man a grilled cheese sandwich.  During the time she told the story the old man ambled by on his way to a table.  He comes by daily for grilled cheese sandwich.  He’s the only one who gets this dish at Dom’s Pasta & Grille.

She also shared the story on this most recent Mother’s Day a little boy was there and treating his mother to dinner.  She overheard the mother quizzing the little boy to see if he had enough money to pay for dinner.  The little boy was the one treating his mother and he responded, “Momma, I’ve been saving all year so I have enough.  You order whatever you want on the menu.”  Heather heard this comment, and remembered it.  So when it came time for the check she pulled the little boy aside to tell him that his dinner and his mother’s had been paid for.  He started to cry and said, “now I can buy my mother a gift.”  That’s customer service.  That’s exceeding the customer’s expectations.

I also learned a lesson about matching expectations.  The total package has to match if a product or a person, is going to be 100%.  One of the Hot AC’s/Adult CHR station’s we consult is programmed by a creative and ingenious young man.  Who I believe is one of the bright rising stars on the horizon for the future of our business.  I’d mention his name here, but he asked me not to say, he’d be too embarrassed. 

Walking into this man’s office on a recent visit I noticed a picture of him and Mariah Carey, autographed, sitting on his desk.  I love Mariah Carey.  I met her on her very first tour through Cleveland, which was performing for free for radio stations as an introduction to programmers.  She was beautiful then and she’s beautiful now.  I said to the programmer, “how beautiful is Mariah Carey in person.”  He said, “she has man hands!”  I erupted into laughter, I couldn’t help myself.  Mariah Carey has man hands?!

The fact that her hands weren’t as dainty and pretty as the rest of Mariah ruined it for this programmer.  The package has to match.

One of the sadder things that happened this past summer was watching the wind down of Greenstone Media.  Greenstone Media tried something new.  Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Susan Ness, Eddie Hillard, Jim LaMarca, Heather Cohen and their teams attempted to create a radio version of all the magazines targeting women.  The product itself was excellent.  Radio didn’t accept it and it had a short lived run.

What really hurt me was watching radio turn its back on the revenue it could have generated by tapping into the female consumer.  Magazines (Redbook, People, Modern Bride, etc.) make millions and millions of dollars by advertising the products that are specific to women.  Radio is leaving that money on the table.  Radio has turned its back on targeting females with something other than music.  Radio is wrong.

McVay Media programs a lot of different formats, although I myself am best known as an Adult Contemporary programmer.  I spend a great deal of time reading research on women, their likes & wants, and reading books that tell me best how to communicate with them. I acknowledge that as a male I will never fully understand women, nor will I ever be able to fully satisfy their entertainment needs.  I believe what makes me a rare man is that I acknowledge and accept these short comings. I am willing to try harder to better understand the fairer sex. (Ooops … that was a sexist comment!  I guess we all have a lot more work to do in understanding females.)

What was really difficult for me to understand is why radio, a media that screams over and over again for program diversity, didn’t try something new like female targeted talk.  There are enough lowly rated radio stations, (usually one in every cluster) that it should have been easy enough to have 25 affiliates.  The network barely reached double digits.  Hopefully what Greenstone has done will blaze a trail for someone who is to follow.

The most fun thing I did this year was spend more time in my 1957 Chevy.  I put the top down on an almost every Sunday basis and took “Rosie” (doesn’t everybody name their car) for a ride. If someone who is maniacal and driven and O.C.D. as Mike McVay can find time to relax, then we can all find time to relax. (I promise that I won’t start speaking about myself in the third person.) I hope your summer was as good as mine!