HUGE Annoyance

I have a radio in my car.  No tape deck, no CD player, and no aux jack… so in my daily commutes I get stuck listening to radio.  With the West Michigan radio options already quite lacking, I struggle to entertain myself when a program I am listening to goes on commercial break.  There is often a lot of dial switching going on.

Not sure why the logo is cracking

Occasionally, I stumble upon WBBL 107.3  and if it’s in the afternoon I get to hear the HUGE (Bill Simonson) show… and I don’t like what I hear.  Maybe its the voice, or the whole on-air persona of all-knowing and talking down to callers of the show.  But those are minor things to what I really dislike… the constant barrage of sponsorships of everything, and all the ads that HUGE lends his voice over talents for.  It’s a constant to hear  Huge’s voice during the show, and throughout the whole commercial break.  Here is a small sampling of some of the advertisements that Huge does, and some of the sponsorships that I have heard:

Sponsored by The Ledger

• Fox Honda
• Meijer’s Mens Apparel
• Amway
• Buffalo Wild Wings
• CHC Testosterone Clinic (my personal favorite, I really enjoyed hearing the personal testimonial from Huge on his lack of testosterone)
• Metro Health Family Doctors
• Miller Lite
• Metafast

Show sponsors include:

• Amway Inbox
• Beat Huge Pro Football Pick Contest- Brann’s  & Beene Gartner (constantly name dropping Tommy Brann)
• Meijer the Official Team Gear Headquarters of the Huge Show
• Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Studios
• Show sponsor has been the Senior PGA with their event at Harbor Shores golf course in Benton Harbor
• Miller Lite the official beer of the HUGE Show
• Miller Lite Hot Line (which is different from the guest line)
• MetroHealth Guest Line
• Question of the Day from the GameRoom Guys

It's a HUGE Deal!

For a casual listener it seems like there is a mandate that advertisers must use the voice of Bill Simonson in their radio ads or else.  Or perhaps that booming voice just helps in tough talking people to buy product xyz.  I know that a lot of radio shows do provide voice over services, but on the HUGE Show the percentage of those types of ads is vastly above and beyond what other shows do. Additionally, The Huge Show also goes over the top with having everything associated with the show sponsored like an inbox, or a website, or the phone lines… and then the constant reinforcement of this sponsor is out of control.

Sponsored by The Ledger on Twitter

Luckily, I am not the only one who feels this way, check out one of the more interesting blogs I have come across called Beeotch of The Day which seems to be run by someone in the Grand Rapids radio business.  Bill Simonson was twice nominated for Beeotch of The Day… once for his over use of sponsors and voice over ads , and nominated for the second time for just being plain lousy in the Radio rankings, and even getting bested by the other sports radio show in town on 96.1.  Furthermore, in reading over some of the MLive comments that were made on this story about the Free Beer and Hot Wings Show imitating and poking fun at Bill Simonson, many people also share similarly negative thoughts of HUGE, and notably commenter Thirdplanet who wrote the following “The reason this is so funny is because it is all so true. The Huge show is like one 3 hour commercial and apparently Huge will endorse anything. “

Photo sponsored by The Ledger on Facebook

Lastly, what bugs me about Huge is that his Amway Inbox can be reached through his “State Wide” email address, and “State Wide” website.  “State Wide” email addresses and websites are available to anyone globally… so stop saying it, it sounds stupid, and makes you sound even more ridiculous.

Just listen to his show, and count the number of ads, and sponsors, its HUGE!

Out of curiosity is it cheaper usually to have a company produce its own commercial or to hire an on-air personality to do the radio spot?

Orlando Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide Steps Down Because of A Drunk Call

And you thought only young people drunk dial and usually toward their exes!  Well CEO of the Orlando Magic, Bob Vander Weide, drunk dialed the team’s star player Dwight Howard at 1am a few days ago.  The conversation involved Vander Weide stating to Dwight how badly they wanted him to stay in Orlando and play with the Magic, which is odd since he is not a free agent this year (but he will be after the 2011-2012 season ends).  As fall out of this phone call, Vander Weide is stepping down as CEO of the Magic, though it should be noted that his contract was set to expire on December 31st, so he might have been planing his exit for a while.  Though I doubt that the drunk dial was supposed to be the crux of his exit strategy.

Not sure what was louder the audio system or Bob's shirt

Now a little background on Bob Vander Weide.  He is married to Cheri DeVos, daughter of the Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos, so he is firmly entrenched in the DeVos family business (more on that below, and this previous blog post).  The Orlando Sentinel did a nice piece on Vander Weide in 2008, which can be read here (it also talks about his private Gulfstream jet).  It gives some background on Vander Weide and how he became a part of the DeVos family and began working for the Magic.  In addition to his Magic responsibilities, he had many other West Michigan business, roles and organizations to keep track of or be a part of, such as:

• Owner of VW Ventures located at 4940 Cascade Rd; Suite 220 in Grand Rapids.
• Of note VW Ventures owns the Ottawa Beach General Store that was purchased from bank after it foreclosed upon the Flipse’s, which you can read about in this past Ledger post.
• His family also runs the VanderWeide Family Foundation located at 126 OTTAWA AVE NW STE 500. GRAND RAPIDS, MI .
• Vander Weide is on the board of RDV Corporation
• President of the MVP Sportsplex gyms (very weird that the website is www.rdvsportsplex.com, couldn’t they get some form of mvp in the name? Or is it more promotion for the RDV corp?)

There are rumors going around that Vander Weide stepping down is also related to some marriage troubles with his wife, which Vander Weide flat out denies.  He also states that by leaving the role of CEO of the Magic, he can devote more time to his family which includes 5 children.  Since he will still be a part of the Magic organization in a consulting role, and likely still traveling back and forth from Grand Rapids to Orlando, I am not sure how much more time he will spend with them but per that Orlando Sentinel article, he makes it happen by working remotely in Grand Rapids, and flying around in the Gulfstream when needed.

I would be curious to find out how the story of the drunk dial got leaked?  Was it Vander Weide’s paddle (does he mean ping pong?) & wine drinking buddies (They must have egged him on to call), or was Dwight Howard pissed about the call, and told some people in management? Or was it just general gossip.

If interested in the the whole transition of power at the Magic, here is the official scoop (warning more DeVos names in article).

The Miller’s

Having driven down Main Street in Zeeland before, I never paid much attention to some of the businesses located on the east stretch of the road by Chicago Drive.  Then one day, while driving down Main Street, it hit me- Herman & Howard Miller!  These two similarly named businesses are located right across the street from one another.  I thought it was quite peculiar that the Herman Miller facility is located on the north side of Main Street at address number 855, and Howard Miller is located directly across from Herman Miller on the south side of Main Street at address number 860.  I even took a photo (amazing right).

Obviously, I had to research this  connection and come up with some wild theories on how this curious arrangement came to be.  I even had the “Brothers from Other Mothers” blog title developed (I guess the Miller’s will do).  But this all came crashing down, as soon as I read the following line from Wikipedia- “Howard Miller Clock Company was founded in 1926 as the Herman Miller Clock Company division of office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. It was spun off in 1937 and re-named, under the leadership of Herman Miller’s son Howard C. Miller.”  Digging into Herman Miller’s company history page they had a slightly different version of events, namely D.J. Dupree, the president of Herman Miller and son-in-law to Herman Miller, and brother-in-law to Howard Miller, spun off the company to Howard.   I should also mention that the companies are no longer affiliated with each other.

Sad to say but I am mildly disappointed, I was hoping for some more drama.  My great title, and all my wild theories went out the door, like pure coincidence, dueling brothers, extreme Herman Miller fanboy, or overly aggressive salesman trying to right the coattails of the Miller name and all along it was just pure nepotism (or was it), though maybe there was some dueling brothers-in-law back story.

Herman Miller Logo

But at least it makes sense.  Naturally having a company division spun off and close in proximity to the headquarters was beneficial back in the 1920s and 30s.  It would be interesting to learn more on why the Howard Miller was spun off.

Besides the same last names and H first names, and locations, there are some other similarities between the companies with their logos.  The rounded valley in the Herman Miller logo, and the rounded parts of the bottom and top of the U shaped parts that for the H in the Howard Miller logo.

Likewise, I also see a lot more similarities between Herman Miller logo with Motorola’s.  When I was new to the area I was always curious on why Motorola had such a huge presence in West Michigan (stupid, stupid, stupid).

Motorola

Read more about Howard Miller history here, and Herman Miller history here.

I wonder if they each have their own softball teams with the Zeeland Rec league, maybe that’s where the (most likely imagined) bad blood is.

Looking the Part?

I’m sure you’ve seen them, bad publicity photos, cheesy professional headshots.  You know those ones where it looks like the person is just smiling a little too hard, or they are holding their head at an awkward angle.  Depending on your position, having a good professional headshot is a must, and it should go without saying that the individual being photographed should dress professionally as well, and a president or CEO would be one such person.

Well the family owned business issue of “Business” the publication from Holland Chamber of Commerce brings us this:

Could you imagine if he had a lei on?

Jeff Mulder is the CEO and President of ODL (manufacturer of decorative door glass and other residential products) an international company headquartered in Zeeland, that employs over 800 people in 6 countries.  So he is not the CEO of a small machine shop in town, but of a pretty large company.  But why, oh why was it decided that wearing a Hawaiian shirt for a headshot was a good idea, and even more shocking, why was this photo submitted for use in this publication.  So maybe wearing the power suit with red tie, might not be the best choice of photo for the family business issue, so why not go with the ODL embroidered shirt from Land’s End?  Though it could be worse, they could have gone with the edited out significant other photo, those can always be found on Rapid Growth’s Jobs Landed section (Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3, Exhibit 4).

Why so serious?

Not to be overlooked but there is also just plain angry photos, like the above from one of the members of Status Creative.  Why is Scott Erickson so angry?  It looks especially odd right next to his co-worker Rob Bliss, who sports quite an affable look in his photo.

Do you have any favorite bad publicity photos you would like to share?  Share them here or on The Ledger facebook page.  Does a weird, bad, or awkward photo, change your thoughts of that person?

Culture Clash? Revue Acquires MiBiz

Last week Revue, a monthly West Michigan entertainment magazine, purchased MiBiz, a weekly West Michigan business publication (there has been no official announcement regarding the headlines though).  Both publications are now owned by Revue Holding Company.

As mentioned in the press release, Revue president Brian Edwards (whose name graces a local Grand Rapids PR firm – Lambert & Edwards & Associates) will come on board at MiBiz as editor and publisher of the magazine.  It will be interesting to see how these two seemingly different magazines will operate with each other since it’s stated that they will share best practices.  However, they do share some similarities:

1. Physical Appearance:  Both publications are of a similar (or same) size, made out of newspaper material, and are in color
2. Free:  Well to a certain extent.  Revue is free, and you can pick up a copy almost anywhere, whereas MiBiz is free for subscription if you have a fancy title (middle to upper management).  Also both publications make their entire issue/content available for free online
3. Advertising:  Both heavily rely on advertising for revenue, though their advertisers vary greatly.  Revue – bars, restaurants, and bands.  MiBiz – Banks, Insurance, and other boring/odd ads for businesses like this one.

Per the press release Edwards states that the MiBiz acquisition is just the first of several planned for the next couple of years… I wonder what is next – sports (maybe even high school sports), Rapid Growth (though maybe not after Revue’s Stad DiPonzi’s Vapid Growth comment), what else is there….The Ledger?  Maybe West Michigan isn’t a focus and they are looking to acquire publications in Central or Eastern Michigan.  Or perhaps Revue Holding Company is just positioning itself against Gemini Publications portfolio of magazines which include Grand Rapids Business Journal, Grand Rapids Magazine, Grand Rapids Family Magazine, Michigan BLUE Magazine, Michigan GOLF Magazine.  By the way, Gemini gets bonus points for all their creative and original publication names.

So what are your thoughts on what’s next for Revue Holding Company or about the acquisition?

Update on Scott Bosgraaf

Well its gotten to that point, where Scott Bosgraaf deserves his own post. Oddly enough it seems that he has been following in his former lessee, Brett Flipse’s footsteps.

Scott Bosgraaf in front of what could be a building (at least GR Press knows how to label file photos)

Last time I wrote about Scott Bosgraaf he seemed to be doing quite well, owning several companies and building developments, but as you can see many of these are running into trouble:

• Scrap Yard Lofts
• Baker Street Lofts - In Foreclosure
• Deli Joe’s - Part of Baker Street Lofts
• Baker Loft Event Center – Part of Baker Street Lofts
• Woodword Station – In Foreclosure
• Kirsch Lofts
• Central Lofts – In Litigation
• Auto Sports Unlimited – Filed for bankruptcy
• Faargsob LLC – Filed for bankruptcy
• Theodore’s Restaurant
• Bosgraaf Commercial – Part of Auto Sports Unlimited
• Holland Transmission – Part of Auto Sports Unlimited

Huntington Bank was a major financier for Bosgraaf, had enough, and decided to pursue action against Bosgraaf.  The bank began to take some properties into foreclosure, and initiated some lawsuits to receive payment on loans.  Auto Sports Unlimited (which was used as an umbrella company to Bosgraaf Commercial, and Holland Transmission Service) and Faargsob (Bosgraaf backwards) where used as collateral for some of his developments, and both have filed for bankruptcy.  The legal battles between Huntington Bank and Bosgraaf are ongoing so we will have to wait and see how this will all play out.

The situation between Bosgraaf and his lenders has been brewing for awhile.  Back in January 2011, I noticed lots of visitors to The Ledger were searching for “Scott Bosgraaf foreclosure” or some variation of that.  At the time I could not verify any of that information, but now the press has caught wind of the story.

Read more at Holland Sentinel, Grand Rapids Press, Argus Press, and my original post here.
Though I do love the title for this Scott Bosgraaf photo “Scott Bosgraaf of Baker Lofts stand in the wine cellar at what could be Theodore, the new restaurant at Baker Lofts. “  At what could be… really?