The Owens Family

It's in their genes.

Buck's nephew and General Manager of Buck Owens Productions, Mel Owens, as a click on these weblinks demonstrates is carrying on the tradition of world-class entertainment and consistent community service today.

It was my great good fortune to be OM/morning personality at that Bakersfield music mill when Buck's middle son Michael was made GM.  I have worked for some terrific managers over the years, but Michael was the very best, having been groomed for business by his father from his high school years when he ran Buck's record shop.

We were in the midst of a competitive battle.  Michael and I created a budget for our contest with a grand prize of 50 times your age in cash.  We took the plan to Buck who challenged us to do better.  "Why don't we do 97 times?  That's our frequency, after all."

Leaving that office thinking to myself that I better not mess this promotion up since Buck had just doubled our budget.  I knew he'd be expecting spectacular results for his money.

He got them.

The man who recorded 26 consecutive #1 hits didn't accept second place.

So, when Michael was made manager at KTUF-KNIX/Phoenix, he took a similar approach, vowing to earmark roughly 10% of monthly gross revenues to marketing.

Even in those days that was unheard of.  Radio owners were famous for selling advertising to others but the creatively aggressive ones often felt that they could generate buzz with programming, trade-outs and co-promotions.

Michael did things differently.  He took a very good radio station and using high frequency television for several decades, he built a brand.

The more they billed, the more they advertised.  During those years, KNIX was often the heaviest TV advertiser in Phoenix.

Was it worth it?

In March of 1999 when Jacor purchased Owens' Phoenix cluster they were the market's highest billing properties, justifying a sale price of $142 million.  A reported $84 million for KNIX and and another $58 million for KESZ.

The Owens Family taught me that spending money on marketing is an investment, not a cost.

Larry Daniels

It is quite ironic that his last few years before retirement were spent successfully consulting country radio stations because my 32 year consulting career would never have started if Larry wanted to do it in 1981.

A little history:  when I first heard KNIX/Phoenix in the early 1970's I knew I simply had to meet its obviously brilliant programmer.

I had never heard a country station so upbeat, well-produced, populated with compelling personalities and totally in synch with the crossover success of Arizona's Glen Campbell among many others.

It was incredibly contemporary in its appeal, clearly "Phoenix, Arizona, country."

Fortunately, a mid-70's joint promotion between KHOS/Tucson and KNIX offered ample opportunity as four of us spent several days together peddling 128 miles from the Pima County Fair to The Phoenix Zoo in what we dubbed "The Great Arizona Bike Race" as a kickoff for the state's Cancer Society annual fund drive.

Later, Larry helped me land one of the best radio jobs of my career at KUZZ/Bakersfield, where he served as my group PD.

Then, in 1981, when Drake Chenault attempted to recruit him as a consultant, he turned the job offer down, recommending me instead.

I was enjoying selling for KEEN/San Jose after having been morning personality/program director and the phone call from Southern California came completely out of the blue, but - knowing that Daniels was convinced I could do it - I jumped at it, falling in love with consulting before very long.

Larry Daniels' personal modesty in spite of incredible long term career success is an inspiration.

He always let his deeds speak for his accomplishments and demonstrated to me (and many, many others) how to mentor.

PS:  I confess that Larry and W. Steven (the two bikers on the right) won that bike race because, as usual for Larry, they were simply much better prepared for it than Dan Gates and I (the pair on the left). 

That was another lesson.  We all had fun working together for a great cause, of course, but Larry Daniels went into battle quietly fully mentally and physically equipped to win.

Tom Weidle

He spent the 1970's at KLUC, Las Vegas, first as PD and later as Sales Manager before helping write Sacramento radio history as GM of KZAP.

Long before all that he hired me twice, first as Promotion Director/Night Jock in the late-60's during his tenure as PD of Bud Crowl-owned WAVI/WDAO in Dayton and then later to do "rock 40" mornings in Vegas under owners-managers Rick and Bill Phelan.

During that tenure he saw something in me - that even I didn't - which changed my life forever.

When Western Cities Broadcasting purchased a country station in Tucson, Tom encouraged me to be their first program director there.

Knowing nothing about country, but wanting to program, I accepted the opportunity, which led to more than four decades of constantly-increasing country radio passion and continuing personal and career growth.

Tom Weidle taught me:  challenge and promote people based on their attitude and aptitude as least as much as their past experience.

Joe Portraro

I had watched him on TV while I was in school, so it seemed like a big celebrity was coming to help us relocate our studios and transmitter when my General Manager (Bill French) at KTBT-FM, Orange County first introduced us to Joe two decades later.

We were changing the brand to KORJ and the format to AC.  This was a few years before that 94.3 frequency and I both went country.

The owner sent Portrero in to handle oversight of the site selection and construction project.  The biggest challenge he faced was to navigate all the hurdles of putting a transmitter, tower and antenna atop an existing building at a reasonable price.

Engineering consultants and the traditional broadcast tower installers were proposing extremely expensive projects that had little chance of getting zoning approval.

It was then that Joe came up with the idea of adding a free-standing flag pole to the top of the building which would be sturdy enough to hold an FM antenna too.

It got the job done and it was amazing to watch on a Sunday morning as a helicopter lowered it into place, looking very nice and at a cost that was far lower than the professional tower experts ever thought would be possible.

When someone tells me something simply can't be done, I am grateful to Joe Portraro.

It simply means you haven't considered enough possibilities ... yet.

Bob Martin

I knew that he really liked me from the first day the Program Director of WCUE, Akron, hired me.  Bob and his wife Barbara made this first-time Production Director feel like a part of their big family, welcome to their community.

He suggested an idea for a client spec spot which I wrote and produced.  It got the buy.  In fact, it went on to win one of the RAB's "Best Locally-Produced Radio Commercials" of that year nationally.

Bob gave me full credit, never mentioning to anyone that the core creative concept was actually his idea.

He taught me how to motivate a young person, making them feel important to the mission and competent. 

Thank you, Bob Martin, for teaching me that generosity is an important motivational leadership tool.

Russ Jones

He owned a local appliance repair and sales business in Salem, Ohio, my hometown. 

After Westinghouse Broadcasting gave up on FM radio in the early 1950's, Russ purchased their used 100,000 watt FM transmitter from KDKA-FM and applied for an FM license about the same time I was entering high school.

Russ constructed what was then WSOM-FM (105.1) on the top of a hill just outside town, ran it for several years and sold it to a Youngstown-based company.  It has changed hands multiple times over the years at higher and higher prices/multiples.

It's still doing very well almost 60 years later as WQXK, now licensed to Youngstown, covering a wide swath between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

I think of Russ each time I hear someone say that "HD Radio" is a waste of effort.

He taught me that evolution takes dedication and time.

Success requires patience, courage and vision.

Shared Strengths

It's so empowering to receive a prestigious award, but let me tell you a secret that winners know.  It's really shared with other amazing and inspiring folks who helped immensely along the way.

Last Friday at The Conclave I took a few minutes to thank my parents, Dick and Jane Albright, who taught me "good, better, best, never let it rest, when your good is better, make your better best" and imbued the values that have driven me all my life. 

I mentioned Chuck Crouse, the night jock on my hometown radio station when I was a high school kid (he went on to much bigger things) who found time to teach me the basics. 

I recognized Rusty Walker, for making me better with his passion, smarts and energy during more than three decades of competition.

Then, I ran out of time, so over the next few days, I'd like to mention some others who were very important to me and a lesson I gleaned from my experience with them.

Radio Advertiser? Don't Waste Your Money.

Heard at The Conclave:  Tim Burt maintains that only one percent of all radio ads really work to convince and get results.

His tips to use with your clients to be certain that they get more than they expect from their investment:

1. As you refine their message ("a radio commercial is a business card, not a brochure") ask them "why shouldn't I go to your competition."
2. Challenge them to think about their spot as if they had :15-:30 seconds to talk to the crowd at the largest stadium in your town.  Would they say "open Friday night till 9 at our convenient location, stop in or call or visit our website"?
3. Have them take "the competitor script challenge."  Replace their direct competition's name in their ad and talk about whether their ad is the same as the guy across the street except for the brand name in it.  ("if you were lost in a forest, would you dress up like a tree?")

Make sure the communication contains ONE core, easily understood message, the element of surprise, an undeniable, irrefutable fact (results), exudes safety/trust and tells a story, ending with the principle of closure.

You Will Thank Me For This

1.  Go to Twitter.
2.  Search for this:





3.  Thanks to all of the prolific Tweeters, you'll feel like you were at today's Conclave Jacobs Radio School.

Here's To The Survivors

Novels have been written about sinking ships and the ramifications of powerful Captains' fateful decisions on what to save and what to toss overboard.

The turbulent economic seas of the past two decades in the radio business are replete with stories of stations and companies which crashed after executives under horrific pressures made sad decisions about people (dead weight? powerful fuel? ballast?).

That's why yesterday's Access Atlanta tribute by writer Rodney Ho to an impressive list of that city's long-lasting voices who still remain on the air after a decade or more is essential reading.

Most radio personalities are really only known to the folks who use one station or format.

What's important to success is the depth of awareness and loyalty from that group of listeners.  Occasionally, there is a person on one station with an opportunity to really break out and totally impact the entire market.  That kind of person is rare these days, given the fact that most listeners use between three and seven radio stations.

Getting on that radar requires exceptional abilities as well as extremely broad appeal.

"I’ve been blessed to work with some very talented programmers through the years.  I always try to put the listener first and think like (what I believe) the audience is thinking.  I’m imagining I’m with the listener in his car and what would be informative and entertaining, and try to come up with ways to relate and interact with him without being annoying in our hellacious Atlanta traffic.  The listener is my ultimate boss, so if I’m not connecting with him I fail.  I believe consistency has been important to my success, as well. I show up for work every day and on-time, and I work hard.  That may sound silly, but you don’t realize how many people aren’t consistent. I also enjoy my co-workers. Then, of course, there are always the elements of luck and timing, and I believe I’ve had my share of those!"  -- Kaedy Kiely

Thanks to Ho for spotlighting Atlanta's survivors of 2013 - Kaedy, Cadillac Jack. Jenn Hobby. Capt. Herb Emory, Scott Slade, Clark Howard, Mark Arum, Kirk Mellish, John Kincade, Buck Belue, Chuck Oliver, Matt Chernoff, Christopher Rude, Dallas McCade, Kevin Avery, Taylor Scott, Parks Stamper, Art Terrell, Silas “SiMan” Alexander, Jordan Graye, Ryan Cameron, Greg Talmadge, Melissa Carter, Steve Goss, Lois Reitzes, The Regular Guys’ Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler, Axel Lowe, “Southside” Steve Rickman, Bert Weiss and Jeff Dauler, Rob Stadler and Mike Bell.

Every city has them, deserving more recognition for their daily toil than they receive.

This week at The Conclave in Minneapolis let's all toast as many of them as possible, paying close attention to the life lessons they have to offer.

Let's Go To Summer School

It's an honor to be a part of The Conclave's kickoff event this year.  Many thanks to the Jacobs Media team for inviting me to be a part of it.  Here is what's in store:

1:20 – 1:40 Mobile 2.0 – Paul Jacobs runs jacAPPS, radio’s #1 mobile app developer.  In this presentation, he’ll show some new findings from Techsurvey9 and talk about 2013 state of the art for mobile apps, revenue generation, and how stations can get involved.

1:40 – 2:10 One-to-one with Jaye Albright – The Rockwell winner has a great story to tell and in a no-holds barred conversation, we’ll hear her amazing story, how she and Country have been great partners, what today’s radio stations need to do to stay more competitive, and a host of other issues from one of radio’s brightest minds.

2:10 – 2:30 Simply Social – Lori Lewis demystifies social media at the station level.  She’ll review some top-line Techsurvey9 findings, and then dive in with a simple, straightforward look at the basics, as well as an overview of new social media platforms that should be on radio’s collective radar screen.

2:30 – 2:50 Building from the Outside In – Building a great morning show is like building a house. You start by picking a neighborhood (your market), a plot of land (your format) and the outer structure (your listeners).  In this presentation, Jacobs Media’s newest consultant, Mike Stern, will give you suggestions about how to focus your efforts.

2:50 – 3:20 Target Social Media – Target’s social media specialist, Joe Curry, takes us into the backroom of how this amazing retail chain connects with its customers and grows its relationships.  
 
3:20 – 3:50 Inside the Mind of Dave Hamilton – An interview with one of the finest programmers in radio.  Dave will discuss his programming philosophies, his success with KQRS in Minneapolis radio for decades, managing and growing great talent, and his view on the state of the industry.
 
3:50-4:10 Radio & The Connected Car – The lion’s share of radio listening now takes place on four wheels.  A look at the landscape and a deep dive into what the automakers are thinking, doing, and planning.  You’ll see great video with the movers & shakers of Ford, Cadillac, Fiat, Chevy, Toyota, and others.  This is a hot topic that will get Summer School attendees thinking.

4:10-4:35 Let’s Go To The Mall – Erin Vande Steeg is the Mall of America’s PR head and social media pro.  This place is like its own city, and Erin will talk about the challenges of managing the social life and culture of the biggest shopping mall in America. 

4:35-4:55 10 Things I Know For Sure – Journal Broadcasting’s VP of Programming, Beverlee Brannigan, brings her wealth of experience to Conclave, focusing on stretching, trying new things, growing your brands, and your careers.   And the reality is that broadcast executives are only sure about maybe 20% of what they do.  Beverlee will present 10 things she’s totally sure about – great advice for broadcasters in all markets.

4:55-5:10 16 Habits of Highly Effective Programmers – In his three decades of experience in radio programming and brand building, Fred Jacobs takes a look at how today’s PD’s can sharpen their skills to meet the challenges of modern-day radio.

Researching Music: Ages And Stages

This week's Billboard Top 40 Midweek Update had a fascinating Rich Appel overview of SoundOut, HitPredictor, RateTheMusic and Mscore, spotlighting the many research tools available to programmers these days.

• CBS Radio VP of research and audience measurement Gary Heller: “It wasn’t long ago when all radio had was callout, requests, sales and gut to help determine a song’s potential.”
   
• Mediabase/Clear Channel executive VP of integrated music marketing worldwide Alyssa Pollack, who oversees the service used by 200 stations, “Rate TheMusic is usually four to six weeks ahead of the curve. If PDs want to know what songs work with women 25-34 listening in afternoon drive, we can get that deep.”

Thanks to Bullseye Research and Billboard, the country format gets a weekly look at both callout and listener database online test data and, due to the format's high proportion of heavy users compared to the pop formats, the differences between the two doesn't seem to be driven by the age of tunes.

The newest titles on the database online test were eight (Florida Georgia Line) and nine (Lady Antebellum and Chris Young) weeks.  The callout test's newest song was only four weeks old (Taylor).  Swift didn't make the top 20 with the database members.

The #1 song in the callout is 15 weeks old (Carrie Underwood), whereas the top one in the online poll was 27 weeks (Jake Owen).

Average age of the top 5:  callout = 24 weeks, email databases = 25 weeks
# 6-10:  26 vs 22 weeks
# 11-15:  10 (driven by Taylor) vs 20 weeks of airplay
# 16-20:  17 vs 12

The average number of weeks of national airplay of both top 20 rankers is practically identical.  Callout = 19.25 weeks vs database = 19.75 weeks.

There are differences between the two music test methodologies, but I think they reflect more the nature of country station loyal listener club members compared to the more random characteristics of country radio users reached by phone and their preferences than merely how long a typical song has been exposed.

Conclusion:  there are more research tools available today and a programmer would be getting only a part of the picture if she or he didn't look at all of them.

Paying Attention/Paying FOR Attention

The ad world according to Google:

Google uses the age old sales funnel of "AIDA" while taking all the credit for online processes leading to sale. 

Notice it also gives ZERO credit to any touch except online sources.

My take:  what online media misses is the "attention" part of the equation.  In traditional media we are so busy trying to be in that online space with them that we miss what we do best--generate attention for advertisers.

Occasionally, rarely even, online generates a "viral" action which brings people to the forefront without mainstream noise (see Psy, or Jena Marbles, or Ship My Pants) 

What we sell is attention. 

We are better at it than anyone. 

When you are on radio, you are on center stage.

Focusing on our strengths is a better use of our time and energy rather than trying to play a game on the other guys field.

KGHL/Billings General Manager Ray Massie spoke for me last month when he blogged: "You really don’t get anything for free–you pay for it with stress, time, opportunity, or cash."

So, radio seller:  Ask for a reasonable share of their budget.  Uncover their selling proposition.  Create a powerful message.  Run a good, consistent schedule.  Be a hero and get results.

That's worthy of your attention.

The Solution To Every Problem

• Dropbox wants "to be your always-on hard drive" and so they're scheduling a developers conference.
• YouSendIt responded to the assault by announcing yesterday that they plan to change their name.

That will certainly make a big difference your users will appreciate.  Ya think?

Makes about as much sense as worrying about which media try to stake their claim on the word "radio."

RadioInfo publisher Michael Harrison nailed it yesterday, “AM and FM broadcasting have never held a monopoly on the word ‘radio.’  I do not recall reading anything in history about Marconi playing records, dropping in jingles, doing the news, taking calls, interviewing guests, doing promotions, scaring people about a Martian invasion, selling advertising, or being involved in the community.  It never occurred to me that a taxi driver calling in to the dispatcher was doing a ‘show.’  I do know, however, that the definition of the term ‘radio’ as it applies to our industry has come to take on a very distinct meaning similar to the way such terms as ‘the theater’ or ‘the movies’ can also be applied to a specific art form and industry.  To me ‘radio’ as we use it in this business is not necessarily limited to AM and FM – but rather to the essence of its purpose and perception.  I define ‘radio’ as being audio-based media utilized for the conveyance of information and entertainment that creates a product significantly greater than the sum of its parts.”

People don't listen to "radio."  They listen to YOU.

Apps

Stop for a moment and look at your smart phone.  How many apps have you downloaded out of the "hundreds of thousands of possibilities?"

How many do you actually use on a regular basis?

My point, if you're a radio station or a radio personality, is not to discourage you from creating your own custom app, but before you do, think about what daily, hourly problem for your listener does your new app solve.

Especially if your app is going to be free.  There's no point in spending the thousands of dollars it's going to cost if it doesn't have a sustainable way to make money with it somehow well beyond that investment.

Of course, if you can create a fun, viral app that you can sell for 99 cents and gets downloaded 50,000 times in a day (which happens daily, of course), GO for it.  If you can replicate that trick once a month, you have earned the right to be called an app genius.  Maybe Apple, Google or Microsoft will buy you, turning you into the next Mark Cuban (or at least Fred Jacobs, who'd be the first I'd ask if I wanted to build an app since he has built a going business around apps)

I have downloaded almost 100 apps to listen to A&O&B client radio stations and even though they pay me to do it, I still seldom actually actually use them.  I find it more convenient to simply bookmark the station's streaming page and get there that way.

I admire TuneIn, SHOUTcast, iHeartRadio and the rest for what they are trying to do, but I find myself using Real FM Radio on my Android Phone where I already have my local fav preset.

Don't bother building an app for me unless it offers something better than that.  At the very least, include an "alarm" to wake me up to my favorite morning show, but the one already in my phone works well enough that I'd have to love your program a lot to go to the trouble to download and set it up, compared to just turning you on when I want to hear you.

Am I unique?  Perhaps I am, but at the very least put yourself in my shoes before you build your new app.

Garbage In

Someone recently told me that streaming will surpass AM/FM listening in less than five years.

"Huh?"  "Where in the world did you hear that?" I asked and was told that they saw it online.

I guess that means 'if you saw it online, it must be true?'

So, I put the assertion in my trusty search engine and got back a number of results:

• Stitcher Survey: Consumers Believe Streaming Will Surpass AM/FM ...
  radiomagonline.com
• Stitcher Survey: Consumers Believe Streaming Will Surpass AM/FM ...
  www.radiojobsonline.com 
• Consumers Believe Streaming Will Surpass AM/FM Listening by 2018audiostream.net/?p=101609

Naturally, it hit the social platforms too where it got reTweeted and forwarded:

Twitter / bevilwooding: Consumers Believe Streaming ...

https://twitter.com/bevilwooding/status/336425949740535808‎

Consumers Believe Streaming Will Surpass AM/FM Listening by 2018 says Stitcher Survey.

Just because it's titillating doesn't make something a fact.

Read the study. A&O&B's Mike O'Malley did so and noted:

• The focus of the study is on "archivable media" - tv, movies, etc. 
• Even music is presumably included as archivable. 
• There's no info in the report on live radio talent (we're talking REAL talent) with relevant, entertaining and in the moment content.
• The data points are from 18-34s, not 18+ as the survey says it is. seeing the 18+ would add perspective.  Could there be a reason they didn't include it?  Perhaps it didn't fit the narrative the PR company was hoping to push?

WYCT/Pensacola's "Captain" Chris Clare was also part of our conversation on the report as well and had an important perspective:

To me it's a blurring of the words "on demand". To say that you imply that the user has the ability to program what's next. In no music service medium, not even on an iPod do you control what's next. What's next is what comes up in the rotation. If you don't want to hear a song on your iPod, you skip to the next one. On a radio, Pandora, Slacker...you change stations until you hear a song you like. It's all the same thing.

The only true, on demand radio is the one you get to play and pick in real time. That doesn't exist for a consumer and if it did there aren't a lot of people who will take the time to set it up. It's why satellite radio didn't take off like they thought. Does it give you more choices? Yes. But it's still a lot of skipping around to hear what you want at that minute and it comes at a cost.

The advantage radio has is it's free to skip around on. No iTunes downloads or monthly fees. As long as the playing fields stay even (royalty payments) people will pick the free option most times because it's no different than other choices that make them pay especially since many of them have found you have to sell ads to make ends meet.

People will only pay so much for something that they can get for free.

So, to cap it all off:  the study wasn't even about whether FM goes away anytime soon (i.e., the next 15 years), let alone predicting it will for today's adults.

Caveat lector.

The (PPM) Show Must Go On

With Calgary's downtown flooding (which actually happened two weeks ago) still scuttling some "Stampede" events as recently as this week, it's going to be very interesting to see how the disaster affected radio and TV usage when BBM's PPM monthly data comes out for clients only next month.

BBM reported in the midst of the torrent "closely monitoring our panels in Alberta to assess any impact on the ratings data.  At this time, BBM only has overnight preliminary metrics to be relied on for any insights.  Certainly these events will have affected the lives of many individuals on our panels.  At this time we are seeing minor reductions in panelists’ participation.  Both the Calgary EM and the Calgary Central panel are performing within their respective targets."

They have observed in-tab samples on overnight data that represent approximately a 4-8% reduction in comparison to previous weekend levels and state that they are confident that there is no one age/sex demographic underrepresented at this time.

The chart below illustrates the differences observed on performance metrics flood weekend, versus the previous weekend.  Fridays were included in this weekend comparison as the displacing events began.

BBM is currently contacting broadcaster members in the Calgary market to ensure they have captured any disruptions to station encoding during this period since a number of major station studios are downtown.

Watch this space for what you know will be the only good news to come out of this disaster - media heroically covered it non-stop (notwithstanding one talker's rant about it) and listening/viewing levels will again show the impact and power of the old, reliable "reach media" during times of community need and disaster.

One More Surprise (Thanks To RateTheMusic.com)

And, it's a good thing (I think).

It its screener, RateTheMusic.com asks respondents how much they listen to country music radio every day.  The folks who say they listen two or more hours daily are 79% of this particular week's sample and the ones who report listening less than two hours are the remaining 21% (talk about a perfect example of the Pareto principle!).

This is important because high performing stations have a higher proportion of “P1” listeners than other stations (P1 is defined as the station that earns the most time from a listener).

• Lighter users like the very best testing songs a bit more than the core listeners do.  This tells me at least one reason why the format is growing now. 
• The two groups appear to agree on five potential "power" songs, but disagree on others.
• The non-core "likes" the Darius and Band Perry but doesn't seem to "love" them like the heaviest users do.  
• Meanwhile, they "love" Kip, Brad, Easton and Brantley more than the two-hour-a-day users.
• Among what might be "medium rotation" testers in the 60's, Keith Urban and Billy Currington perform better with the lighter users vs the core.
• Those in the bottom third of the test ranker by core positives that rank higher with the lighter users:  Lee Brice and Kacey Musgraves.

The decisions being made each week by smart programmers on factors like these show why programming music is both an "art" and a "science."

It starts with understanding the differences in the many subsets within your audience and then making intelligent decisions based on them.

For more on programming to P-1 tastes, click on Coleman Research, ARB's Bill Rose, Gary Marince, Mark Ramsey, Roger Wimmer, Arbitron Training Handbook (pdf)

Are You Dating Yourself?

What you play and choose not to expose sends a message to your target about how old you are and how old you think they are.

A few generalizations just to get the conversation started:

• The top-rated song with 25-39 scores higher than the highest one with 40-54.
• 25-39 rates nine currents high enough to be powers.  40-54 rates 4-6 that highly.
• If you call 60% positive or higher strong enough to be a secondary or power, both age groups give 20 tunes that level of acceptance. 
• Artists doing better on this test with younger listeners:  Luke Bryan, Randy Houser, Tim & Taylor, Easton, Hunter, Brett Eldredge, Justin Moore, LA and Tyler Farr.
• Stronger with the older end of the target this time:  Blake, Darius, Carrie, Gary Allan, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Henningsens and Lee Brice

Music testing is as much about proper targeting for maximum impact as it is to check familiarity, burn, negatives and positives.

- thanks to RateTheMusic.com for sharing this data from last week's national test, 25-54