I promised to tell you all about my weekend in Dallas with the other Affiliate Directors. There is an overwhelming excitement in the air due to initiatives enacted by the new DI CEO, Chuck Cadle. He has heard the ADs asking for help in marketing the DI program and he is giving us much support. Public Service Announcements have been sent to over 1200 stations in the U.S. and so far, a few Maryland stations have indicated that they will run them. Be listening to the following stations and please let me know if you hear the PSA -

Washington, DC - WJZW FM 105.9, WMAL AM 630, WRQX FM 107.3, WBZS AM730

Salisbury - WESM FM 91.3

Another exciting attention getter is the Destination ImagiNation Reality Show contest. DI is inviting six teams to video their DI experiences this season. Then one team will be selected to be featured in next year's marketing campaign. Check out all the details at http://www.idodi.org/index.php/-start-a-team-reality-show .

Though the ADs sat for hours in meeting after meeting, we were able to have a little fun, too. We spent Saturday evening at the Texas State Fair, the largest state fair in the country. They do everything bigger in Texas - that is, except for the funnel cake. Maryland's fair takes the prize on that. Of course, there was every kind of fried food you can imagine, including fried coke, fried latte, fried donkey tails, fried butter and much more. The highlight was the pig races, which were held in a huge auditorium. There were cheerleaders and a retired racing pig weighing 980 pounds. There were about 25 minutes of hype and 3 minutes of actual racing. Just good old fashioned fun!

Lots more great DI things happening. Stay tuned to my blog for more news soon. It's a great DI day in Maryland!