Radio Mercury Awards move to NYC's "Ad Week" in September

The annual competition for best creative radio spots, aimed particularly at agencies, has traditionally made its “call for entries” in late Winter and awarded its $100,000 grand prize and other trophies in June. Now the sponsoring Radio Advertising Bureau and Radio Creative Fund believe the competition will gain more attention by its inclusion on the list of events for the September “Advertising Week” that brings many industry members to New York. This year, the call for entries will go out in early April. Advertising Week executive director Matt Scheckner says “as we continue to elevate the caliber of Advertising Week across the board, we are thrilled to have the Radio Mercury Awards join the programming slate for 2010.” RAB President/CEO Jeff Haley announces this year’s co-chairs for the final round of judging, from the agency side. They are Mike Hughes, President and co-chief creative officer of the Martin Agency, and his newly-hired partner, co-chief creative officer John Norman. The Martin Agency has worked on accounts such as Geico, Wal-Mart and UPS.

RAB opens up "The Best of Radio" to inspire creative minds

CEO Jeff Haley envisions the website as a rich resource that also offers social networking. The foundation is the RAB’s interactive library of creative spots. Each :30 or :60 spot will offer “the original campaign plan, client results, award recognitions, scripts and digital components.” The site is already loaded with all the winning Radio Mercury Awards spots, plus additional quality radio spots from agencies Arnold, BBDO, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, DDB, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, JWT, The Richards Group, TBWA\Chiat\Day and others. See “The Best” here.

A Motel 6 spot from The Richards Group wins this year's $100,000 Radio Mercury grand prize

The RAB and the Radio Mercury organization hope to defuse this week’s controversy by doubling the cash amount of several other prizes – after the judges declined to give prizes in the “Station Produced”, “Political”, “Student Produced” and “PSA” categories. Next year’s Station Produced prize will be doubled from the usual $5,000 to $10,000. Same with the others: the Student prize goes from $2,500 to $5,000, for example, and the charitable donation involved with the PSA prize doubles to $5,000. As for this year – the other Radio Mercury awards given out at the Lighthouse at Pier 61 in New York City went to JWT for the first Integrated Campaign Award (client Jet Blue, prize $10,000). To Young & Rubicam New York for Office Depot. To BBDO New York for AT&T. To DDB Chicago for Anheuser-Busch. And To Grupo Gallegos in the Spanish Language category for a spot done for Comcast named “Epic.” There was another first-time category – Marketer of the Year. Winner is McDonald’s. Radio Advertising Bureau CEO Jeff Haley also announces a new collaboration with the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter, overseen by former Ogilvy executive Rick Boyko – this year’s Chief Judge.

This year's Radio Mercury awards won't have prize winners in four categories

No “station-produced commercial” or best political ad, student-produced spot or Public Service Announcement – because the judges didn’t find that the entries rose to the level they expected. The “station-produced” category had been revived several years ago, and over time the competition as a whole has added and dropped categories alongside its main $100,000 prize – designed to stimulate better creative work by agencies. This year’s chief judge was Rick Boyko, former co-president and chief creative office of Ogilvy & Mather and now director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter. The 2009 Radio Mercury winners will be announced tomorrow evening at the Lighthouse on Pier 61 in New York City.

ACM Award Nominations Honor The Ladies; Montgomery Gentry Win Humanitarian Award

It’s a good year for the ladies in the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Award nominations, announced today. Lady Antebellum (pictured) leads the list of nominees with seven. Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood earned six each. Taylor Swift scored five.

Today’s Music News: Lady Antebellum, Jack Ingram, Jimmy Wayne, Reba and More

Lady Antebellum will promote the Jan. 26 release of their new CD, “Need You Now,” with multiple TV appearances and bonus content for fans . . . Jack Ingram will pack his guitar and kick off a one-man tour of listening rooms Feb. 13 . . . Jimmy Wayne’s new single, “Just Knowing You Love Me,” features guest vocals from Warner Bros. artist Whitney Duncan . . . Reba McEntire has launched her a line of gifts at Dillard’s department store. The line is called Studs & Stitches and falls under McEntire’s Harmony for the Home collection.

Hallam Earned The Industry’s Respect, Even When Some Wanted To ‘Wring His Neck’

So there was Dene Hallam, trussed up like an overgrown calf and peering out from the cover of Radio Ink magazine. At that point in his career, it was exactly how a lot of record label people wanted to see him, and Hallam knew it. To his everlasting credit, the cover pose was actually Hallam’s idea, recalls his former KKBQ (93Q) Houston APD/MD John Trapane (pictured with Hallam, center, and Clay Walker, right).