Either radio's black hole is sucking us in, or there's light at the end of the worm hole. Some indications:1. TalkRight Networks is reporting brisk sales of "Derf boned me" T-shirts, an apparent reaction to the networks' star Derf Kimbrough, his Boniva addiction, and his subsequent rehabilitation. A TalkRight spokesperson said they couldn't give his T-shirts away six months ago, but now consumers are willing to shell out $29.95 for the XXL-only sized shirts.
2. The price of a black market Arbitron diary has increased by an average of $25 over the Q1 price, according to an All The Excess! spot check of Craigslist in various cities. Analysts see this as a sign of higher demand for advertising and radio in general.
3. The planet Mercury is once again direct and won't retrograde through most of the summer months. The next Mercury retrograde begins September 7, 2009, which is when you should be especially aware of potentially dysfunctional situations.
4. A long-missing family of vultures has returned to its nest halfway up an auxiliary tower of KYZI-FM/Yuma, Arizona. According to local Native American lore, the return of the "Wampum bird" is a sign that there's only six more months of recession.
5. Semantics-R-Us has conducted an analysis of adjectives used in corporate press releases over the past two years, and uncovered a trend that positive words are gradually replacing negative ones. For instance, "heinous" was the #8 adjective in PR documents in 2008; now it's #14. Also falling in usage were "devastating" (#14 to #40), "debilitating" (from #11 to off the list), and "craptastic" (from #25 to #29). Gainers included phrases like "minor increase" (#29-#22), "glimmer of possible hope" (#59-#51), and "guardedly optimistic" (#48-#41). And on a very bright note, the Semantics-R-Us survey found the word "stoked" used only twice in any public document issued by a radio company since 1/1/2008.
