2010

Chuck Geiger wrote:

What is on the horizon in 2010 for Country programming?

My thoughts:

-Music: In 2010, 50% of 18-49 will be the Taylor Swift generation, 36% Gen X and only 13% leading edge boomers. This will prove to be a game-changer and a huge growth opportunity for country, as long as we understand the underlying values which unite our transitioning community.

-Imaging: Crisp, concise and compelling.

-Stationality: No more shouting at listeners in 80's CHR style. More authentic, funny, listener-driven.

-Morning Shows: Benchmarks and bits are replaced by today's hot topics, interacting with listeners about them in entertaining ways.

-Talent and VT development: No more punching out six hours of v/t's in 45 minutes with no prep. 2010 country listeners want to help create our content, using all forms of new and old media. Construct a social network which shares on all of your traditional and new media channels.

-Social Media: Don't put Facebook on your show, put your show on Facebook, on your blog, your podcasts, your texting. Allow listeners to have a voice in the music you play, but not in the old one person's request changes the station way of thinking. Listeners vote, and see how others vote, to champion their favorite songs and artists.

-Marketing: Viral and buzz, driven by content + direct marketing to hot zips + TV to own the proper music quality image and give free samples of the product. Thank goodness over the air and cable TV both still need to trade with us. Be smart about your trades and concentrate force for maximum reach and frequency on a consistent basis. Loyalty marketing to drive more listening occasions daily and more days per week.

-Research: Online music and perceptual research is now virtually free to everyone, so if you aren't doing it, your competition may know more about your listeners than you do. If that's the case and your in-house research efforts raise more questions than you can answer, it's going to be increasingly helpful in 2010 to hire an expert. A few years ago, everyone was doing traditional strategic studies and auditorium testing. In 2010, only the big winners will be doing it, making it more useful than ever, even more worth the money it costs.

CMA Tweets Awards

Remember when radio used to simulcast the CMA Awards because there was no stereo TV? Remember when radio listeners asked us not to spoil the awards broadcast by announcing the winners before they were shown on TV?

That all was sooooo "YESTERDAY"! (click to see what the CMA is doing today)

You Can Get Into This Picture

That's ADX Broadcasting's WYCT/Pensacola PD Kevin King with Sugarland, celebrating the station's ACM 2009 wins. Now, it's time for you to enter next year's radio award competition.

The Grand Ole Opry Has Been On MySpace For Years

.. but, this is something new: a solid hour, simulcast online, right from the stage of the venerable venue.

Taylor Swift SensatioNaL on SNL

A&O asked Nashville Answer Man Neil Haislop to review Swift's hosting of SNL (Saturday Night Live) Saturday: (click to watch her opening)

She was everything she wanted to be before the show, she helped create some genuinely funny gags, like the teenager with monster braces who established a hotline to protect children from bad parent drivers.

In her terrific opening "musical monologue" she took a shot at Kanye West, and her ex boyfriend, Joe Jonas,

"You might be expecting me to say something about Kanye and how he ran up on the stage at the VMAs," she sang. "But there's nothing more to say, 'cause everything's OK. I've got security lining the stage."

She also referenced her nasty breakup with Joe Jonas:

"You might think I'd bring up Joe Jonas, that guy who broke up with me on the phone, but I'm not gonna mention him in my monologue. Hey Joe, I'm doing real well. Tonight, I'm hosting SNL but I'm not gonna brag about that in my monologue. La la la. Ha ha ha. La la la."

Later she spoofed Kate Gosselin, complete with reverse mullet, on 'The View.'

Plus her hip swinging performance of 'You Belong With Me," reminds us that the 16 year old we all grew to marvel at, is now an adult 19 year-old adult that we marvel at...especially, Taylor with a goatee playing a scare-them-straight-inmate putting the fear of God into juvenile delinquents.

One of her best moments was singing "Untouchable."

How Many Stations And Formats Is PPM Going To Kill Off?

An 18-34 ranker in one of the PPM markets ARB released last week is six pages long. Almost three of those pages have next to no numbers at all on them.

Prediction: we will see more WDTW's giving up trying to be the #2 player in PPM, which will be a boon to the one which lasts.

Ironically, WYCD outlasted its previous competition (WWWW) nine years ago too and now the CBS/Detroit team is once again celebrating the glow of being a format dominator, so there's a lesson in this as well. Don't pull the plug too soon, if you think the other guys may do it first.

Being the only country station in a PPM market may be as powerful as being one of two or three - fighting for metered time spent exposed in this format with geographic hot and cold spots - is difficult.

The Gloves are Off: Arbitron vs. Nielsen: A Candid Conversation on Rates and Ratings

All it takes is a fast look at the Country Radio Seminar-41 agenda for Friday, February 26 (2010) at 11:00 am to see that CRS attendees will face a very difficult session choice as agenda committee chair John Paul and his team has reserved the time opposite the session I am organizing on the competition between Arbitron and Nielsen for a “hot topic” to yet be announced.

Pity the poor agenda committee member whose task it is to arrange THAT session, since our panel opposite it is going to be very “hot” in its own right. (Not that my panelists, my session moderator and I are competitive or anything!)

In one corner of the "verbal boxing arena" will be the CEO of Arbitron, Michael Skarzynski and in the opposite corner is Lorraine Hadfield, Nielsen Media Research's managing director for North America.

Jess Hanson, Senior Vice President of Research for Clear Channel Radio will be refereeing the “fight” and will make sure that the first session ever for the two ratings giants to talk face to face at a broadcast convention will shed much more light than heat on the many questions and issues raised by the new competition in at least 51 markets for radio ratings leadership and perhaps new areas in the coming year.

Hanson has been intimately involved in evaluation of all types of radio audience research for many years and will make sure that we talk sample sizes, cell phone only homes, roster diaries, metered radio measurement and also allow time for you to ask the two executives your questions as well.

Both companies do constant research on how listeners use radio.

The partially Nielsen-funded Center For Research Excellence just released a unique study where researchers observed audio media usage in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia and Detroit, adding up to 752 “observed days” from the Spring and Fall of 2008. The unweighted data shows that broadcast radio’s daily reach is by far the largest of all audio media, at 79.1%.

Of course, Arbitron also provides monthly analyses of radio usage as measured by its Portlable People Meter (PPM) and funds otheir tracking studies as well, such as the latest (October 2009) “Infinate Dial” update which reports, among many other findings that about 42 million Americans aged 12+ listened to online radio in the past week and about 69 million Americans viewed online video in the past week. What’s more, about three in 10 Americans own an Apple iPod or iPhone.

We'll find out what other trends in radio usage they are seeing.

You want to learn about the hottest topics and the latest information on our industry? You’ll want to be in Nashville February 24-26 for the 41st annual Country Radio Seminar. The longer you wait, the more expensive registration becomes.

And, as a member of the agenda committee in charge of the ARB vs Nielsen panel, I can promise you an informative, interesting, engaging session should you decide to come in the door where the gloves come off between the two largest companies who are competing for radio’s research budgets in 2010..

If you choose to go into any other meeting room door at that time, I promise that you're going to be missing something which everyone will be talking about.

Whose Toes?

George House, PD/AM cohost at WAXX/Eau Claire is asking his entire jock team to take photos of their bare feet this week so that listeners can do a "Match the Toes" of the WAXX airstaff web contest.

"We'll have one column with our staff photos and a different set with JUST OUR FEET! Listeners will have to match the jock with their correct feet. The winner who gets the most correct, will be on the WAXX fun bus to see the Zac Brown Band! ("Toe's in the sand" and all). Give little clues if you'd like (I might paint my toes Green & Gold!) You can take any angle you'd like; top, bottom, feet in grass, feet on carpet, extreme close-up feet, whatever...use your imagination...but have fun :)."

Strait And Reba Tour Together In 2010

Don't put the hat you wore at the opening last spring of the new Dallas Cowboys stadium away!

Seventeen-time CMA Entertainer of the Year nominee George Strait will kick off his arena tour early next year and this time, he’s bringing along Reba McEntire. (click for their itinerary)

The superstar acts performed together for the first time in many years for a sold-out crowd at the Cowboy’s Stadium Inaugural event in Dallas. Selling out in less than an hour, fans and critics proclaimed the show one hot ticket, hailed by the Dallas Morning News as “an extravaganza” that “showcased Strait at the pinnacle of his musical game” and Ft. Worth Star Telegram wrote “Reba’s performance was a breathtaking master’s class in effortless brilliance.”

Make Your Remote Broadcasts A Positive, Not A Negative

Former WYRK/Buffalo (where great programmers have historically seemed to work and play as Radio Ink's list of America's Top Programmers shows, with a tip of the A&O hat to current PD there Wendy Lynn) and KUPL/Portland (another place where JP was succeeded with the sale of the station by another programming champ, Scott Malalick) PD John Paul (his final rating books at both places should be a source of pride to him) just started blogging articles he has been writing for A&O clients.

His blog is titled "The Way I See It" and he and I see it the same way when it comes to doing commercial appearances:

I think they are a great way to billboard your station, (as long as there are tons of banners and the vehicle is parked in a highly visible place) meet listeners and welcome new ones. Most PD’s despise remotes and consider them a tune out. I don’t agree. It’s the client’s :60 commercial. If you weren’t doing the remote break (where you have total control over what goes into that break) traffic would fill the :60 with something else. Most likely something you don’t have control over. Look at remotes as another :60 seconds that you can control. With proper guidance and coaching they don’t have to be a tune out.

My personal top four of his nine tips to make remotes entertaining content:

• Try not to do the breaks via cell phone. Take a laptop and do them in Audition then FTP them back to the station.

• Edit the break down before it goes on the air. If you have to interview the client, edit them down and make sure it’s the best :60 seconds. Not only does this benefit the station, it also benefits the client.
  
  
• If you have a street team/interns with you on location, don’t talk about them being there or put them on the air. Nobody cares.

• Focus on the benefits for the listener. Keep the message focused and brief. Your job is to get people to stop by. You don’t do that with a laundry list of things going on. A long list doesn’t make it sound any more exciting. Things the listener cares about will make it more exciting. Find the biggest benefits and promote those.