Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Old Habits Die Hard

PPM statistically-proved several years ago that a longtime staple of morning radio, song parodies, seem to entertain the personalities more than they do the listener.

Yet, as I travel, I still hear from morning jocks whose prep services continue to provide them, if there's ever a place where they fit and do not lose audience.

In general, I feel like they don't achieve anything affirmative for the real driver of usage and loyalty, authenticity, personal values and character-building.

However, two comedy masters used this one to deftly pay off on a six month stunt, that I have to say works for me.



However, television and even the internet isn't morning radio, and as priceless as this great story line is, I worry that it still would lose more listeners than it would keep if it had been a radio bit.

PPM duration of the totality of all listening occasions for the vast majority of listeners (a mode of two and a half minutes) means that more folks would have missed the setup or have had to leave before the ending than would have been there for the whole thing.

For anything that goes much longer than 2:30, it's likely that the only people you can be absolutely certain have heard the beginning, the middle and the ending are in the control room.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think a parody has to be incredibly well produced and drop-dead funny to go beyond a minute. The prep service parody songs are just not funny, though you can use a few seconds of them to set up a discussion or phone calls about what the parody is on.

Anonymous said...

I hate to be the "anonynonous" on this post...but I agreee. And I do that with the upmost in the true nature of being humble. I, like most radio purists, love the "art" of the bit or parody. Song or not...it is an expression...but here's the catch: this is a time (and for the foreseable future) where the listener just isn't "that into you." But the non-egotistical view is that...they just aren't into anything. Don't give them something they can observe (third person)...give them soemthing they will engage in. It's sad? Yes...trust me. But try a topic versus a "bit" and you will see the difference.
It's a fake world we now live in. Give them something real and you will affect.more than just TSL.