Should Country Cut More Collaborations?

Albright & O’Malley’s just-released second quarter gold sort included four collaborations among the top 25 testers (the Zac Brown Band/Jimmy Buffet “Knee Deep” was the top tester this quarter). 

Others in the top 25 were Zac Brown Band/Alan Jackson, “Walking Away,” Blake Shelton/Trace Adkins, “Hillbilly Bone,” and Brad Paisley/Carrie Underwood, “Remind Me.”  Jason Aldean/Kelly Clarkson, “Don’t You Wanna Stay” was in the top 50. The Chesney/Potter duet was a bit behind that.

Collaborations have not only done well the past two years, they’ve had decent staying power. A&O’s best testers of 2011 included 3 in top 25, all in the top 10 for the year. Our research in 2010 had two in the top 25, both of which were in top 10 for the year. All five are in our top 50 this quarter.

Successful collaborations have included country-country and country-pop combinations.

This year CMT’s Crossroads featuring Carrie Underwood/Steven Tyler had the highest ratings for the show in 7 years.

I’m not at all suggesting that county needs to import artists from another format. We’re doing great, thank you very much.

But country listeners have proven very open to good collaborations. 

Meanwhile, a quick check of today’s CHR chart found 9 collaborations in the top 25 while AC had 4 and Hot AC had 3 (including the Matt Nathanson/Sugarland song).

Formats who deliver a good number of our P2s are certainly quite enthusiastic about collaborations as well.

New Job Survey: Radio Personality Ranks Worse than Trash Collector, Better than Lumberjack

Collecting trash is a better career than being a DJ.

So says CareerCast.com which just released its ranking of 200 jobs based on physical demands, work environment, income, stress, and hiring outlook primarily using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other government agencies.

Being a Garbage Collector ranked 159 while being a DJ ranked 180^th and a Broadcaster 191^st - two positions better than dishwasher.

Of course lists like this can be hard to take seriously.  A good career or job is in part what you make of it.

And that's the point here. 

San Francisco State University Professor of Management John Sullivan, Ph. D.,who also consults companies on employee recruitment and retention says a good job:

• Reflects your passion
• Provides an opportunity to learn a lot quickly, grow, change, and ideally includes a good mentor
• Is with an "EOC" (Employer of Choice for whom lots of people want to work and will carry weight in future job searches) or an "FPW" (Fun Place to Work).

Number one is probably a gimme for most of us but it’s important to remember how much control we have over the other points. We can be passive and wait/hope for something good to happen or we can be an initiator building-wide or, if necessary, just for ourselves. And we can do that whether we're managing or being managed.

Last week the programming department at a station I work with felt their building needed a 'lift' and, with the GM, organized an employee-only Easter egg hunt with small prizes ranging from restaurant trade to a comp day.

The staff agreed that the station definitely improved its FPW quotient that day.

This is not to pretend that times aren't extremely difficult. There are certainly significant factors that are out of our control.

But if you have passion for what you do, personal growth opportunities, an environment that inspires you. and a love for sharing what you know and exploring what you don’t, you don’t need a list to tell you that your job – radio or otherwise – is a lot closer to the top than the bottom of the list.

Not there yet? What will you do to change things?