Is Triple A Music Becoming the Soundtrack of Our Lives?

Triple A isn’t just for Starbucks anymore.

• Coldplay can be found in your grocer’s freezer section
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers pump it out at the cardiologist's office
• The locksmith grooves to The Black Keys while waiting on customers
• White Stripes are what’s hot in the home decorating department
• My Morning Jacket now available for all sizes at the Gap
• Train tracks play in Grand Central Station

You hear it in your local grocery store, almost any neighborhood bar without a jukebox and at your chain restaurants. From TGI Friday’s to Chili’s to Outback Steakhouse the speakers bleed Triple A .

It makes us wonder. Public radio news stations thrive by offering a valuable public service that isn’t available anywhere else.With Triple A turning up everywhere, is it making it more difficult to raise money around this music?

Where were you surprised to hear Triple A? Let us know.

WOUB 1-Day Thursday: Relationships

There's a great Irish music session on Tuesday nights at Jackie O's brew pub in Athens, Ohio. Most nights, you'll find WOUB-FM music host Mark Hellenberg on percussion and WOUB Program Director and music host Rusty Smith playing guitar.

This past Tuesday, a new guitar player sat in on the session. It wasn't until one of the breaks that he was introduced to Mark and Rusty. His reaction was priceless. It turns out that the WOUB folks had introduced him to lots of new music and inspired his musicianship. It was a truly joyful moment for this guy to meet the radio people who brought so much good into his life.

It's a good reminder that relationships with our audience aren't built through web sites, eblasts, newsletters, and such. Those are just tools. Relationships are built through shared values and meaningful personal experiences.

When was the last time you witnessed a listener-moment like the one at Jackie O's last Tuesday night? I'm not talking about getting compliments at a major donor event or advisory board meeting. When was the last time it happened when you least expected it?

Please, share your stories.

1-Day Drive update. Under 100 pledges to go as of 2p,