Taylor Swift: Big CMT Video Awards Winner

My Space brought her to the attention of hundreds of thousands and then country radio. Kudos to CMT for a great show last night and for giving Taylor her due following impressive success in multiple media.

Hats off to Westwood One’s George Achaves, Lon Helton and Chuck Aly for being there with pens in hand (I loved their 'bizarre juxtapositions" line which could not have been more true), gettng the best quotes of the night out to radio:

• Snoop Dogg: “I love country music. I’m honored to be here. It’s underrated.”
• Joe Don Rooney: “I’m taking parenting tips from Gary [LeVox]. I’m preparing like any first time father -- sweating bullets, eating a lot. I’m eating for three now!”
• LeAnn Rimes: “Yeah, the prison outfit, thigh highs and garters. We’re kind of every man’s fantasy tonight.”
• Tom Arnold: “[Jewel’s boyfriend] Ty [Murray] shook my hand and I think he broke some bones.”
• Barack Obama: “Four words: Treasury Secretary Hannah Montana.”
• Taylor Swift: “I had these hot pink heels, but they hurt so bad. I walked past Faith and told her how my feet hurt, and she said ‘Take ‘em off.’ I actually accepted my award bare foot, and Faith Hill told me I could.”
• Gary LeVox: “The only reason we’re here tonight is because of the people in that crowd. It’s unfortunate that all award shows aren’t fan voted.”
• Trace Adkins: [Accepting Male Video] “I’d like to thank Country radio for giving me my first three-week No. 1. I’ve never had that before.”
• Donald Trump: [To Adkins] “Lose my number.”

April In Nashville: CMT Awards, Gospel Gathering, Marathon + More

AP's Roger Petterson opened up the "Events Calendar" at Nashville's Visit Music City website and (type "music" into the "Event Type" box plus the dates of your visit!) got enough fun events to find his list printed today in a bunch of Sunday paper travel sections.

* On Monday, it's the CMT Music Awards - www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards - at Nashville's Curb Event Center. Even if you can't get in to see the show, it will be broadcast live and will be simulcast on the CMT Web site. And some of the performers could turn up at other venues after the show.

* Nashville music isn't all country. The Gospel Music Association - www.gospel music.org - is holding its Gospel Music Week April 19 through 24, highlighted by the GMA Dove Awards on April 23 at the Grand Ole Opry House. Look for the GMA Week star logo and click on it for events.

* People even run to a musical theme in Nashville. The Country Music Marathon on April 26 - www.cmmarathon.com - features something called Bands on the Course. According to the entry under "Entertainment," 50 local bands will play on 28 stages along the marathon route. And there's a concert after the running. Imagine if they did this for the New York and Boston marathons.

Hot: The Practical Consumer; NOT: The Economy

BIG Research does a monthly consumer attitudes and lifestyles survey and it appears that looking for ways to save pennies is what folks are doing in April…perhaps because cooking at home and “Energy Star” appliances are hot this month!

Bike riding and gardening also rated particularly high among consumers.

The younger (under 35) set still enjoys dining out…women 35+ make Harrison Ford their action hero, while older men are on par with The Masters Tournament.

What’s Not? 80%+ say they wouldn’t be spotted in polka dots.

Dear BIA Financial: "Ouch!"

BIA economist Dr. Mark Fratrik predicts a tough two years ahead:

“Radio has considerable challenges for audience and advertisers, but it’s still viable in lots of places. It’s just more challenging than it was five or ten years ago.”

Good news: many small and medium markets are growing even as the CPP-driven majors are stagnant in '08 and projected to be in '09.

A&O Q&A: Using Your Stream Stats To Learn What Listeners Love/Hate

Q: We have metrics on the flow of our streaming audio audience showing the levels of online listening to the station. Can I use this data to learn about my rated listening as well?

A: You bet you can. Streaming metrics of numerous stations in all three PPM markets have been overlayed with the actual audience behavior as measured by the PPM and the matchup is uncannily similar. So, if you want to know if a specific repetitive and irritating commercial, a new song, or a special event (play-by-play on a music FM) is costing you real audience, just look at your streaming statistics. If you want to know if a contest or prize is working to improve your cume or moving your excisting cume to new listening appointments, check your stream data. Portable People Meter audience flow numbers tend to look very much like it.

Hard Work, Personal Contact - The Secret To Jewel's Country Radio Success

A&O's weekly AccuTest national average client research ranks "Stronger Woman" #19 with 21% of our client stations' listeners still unfamiliar with her song. Meanwhile, it appears that it will rank much higher in monitored radio airplay again this week, according to the trade charts.

Why the difference at a time when it seems radio can be slower than molasses on even tunes which test quite well with our client station listeners (for example, Brad Paisley's "I'm Still A Guy" ranks #6 and Jake Owen "Something About A Woman" is #14 in our national track of client listener research, which is running ahead of their monitored spin ranks, the more normal growth trajectory A&O seems to see and expect these days)?

Nashville Answer Man Neil Haislop found the possible reason: Jewel's personal outreach direct to radio programmers and listeners.

Have to admit, didn't know what to expect when I first sat down to talk to Jewel. After spending some time with this straight-talking, unpretentious star, who could've been every thing opposite, you get a better understanding of who she is, where she's coming from and where the music comes from.

So, it's not so surprising to hear from the label how she's handled her recent, intense radio tour. It's territory she's covered before...and it was tough enough the first time around in the 1990s she says.

“You know, all of my songs were so hard to get played on the radio. ‘Who Will Save Your Soul?’ just didn’t fit any format, and after a year of promoting it, alternative radio finally began playing it. It was just an uphill battle. ‘You Were Meant For Me’ was a simple shuffle at the time of the Spice Girls. And then ‘Hands’ talked about God on pop radio, which just was not done at that time,” recalls Jewel. “As a result of the struggles to be heard, I did more radio visits than most other pop artists. For me, it really took radio getting to know me and hearing me sing in person. I’ve often joked I went from living in a car homeless to living in a rental car and a bus traveling the country.”

Q: Why Am I So Smart? A: (smile!!)

I just started a new occasional blog feature which I called "A&O Q&A." You'd think perhaps I had seen this research or something...

SO. Do you have Q&A on your brand's site? If I was as smart as it seems, I'd recommend you do so.

When Your Local Baseball Team Needs Someone To Sing The National Anthem, They Often Turn To Country Music

Blogger Tom Roland actually did the math on it in the past week: Country music doesn't confine itself to the major leagues, either. Taylor Swift's version of the anthem inaugurated the 2007 season for the Reading Phillies.

Little Big Town, who practically toured ballparks doing the "Banner" for several years, led off the Nashville Sounds' season five years ago. And 15 years past, Vince Gill did the same thing, though he skipped a line of the song in the process, probably blinded by the rockets' red glare.

In Texas last week, Jack Ingram delivered the national anthem for the Houston Astros' home opener. This Monday (4/7), Neal McCoy will do the same when the Texas Rangers open their home schedule. Charley Pride -- who trained, as is his tradition, with the Rangers this year -- sang the opening-day anthem for the team two years ago. During this week a year ago, Clay Walker was voicing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Houston's Minute Maid Park.

Singing is not the only connection country stars have to baseball games, though. When the Arizona Diamondbacks won their first game 10 years ago this month, it was a moment of pride for Glen Campbell, a minority owner in the franchise. And 60 years ago, a pitcher with the Henderson Oilers in Texas got injured in his final game: That guy went on to be a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jim Reeves.

PS: last year's World Series was over in four games, but in two of them, it was country stars -- Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood -- who sang about "the home of the brave."

A&O Q&A: Q: Do charity radiothons grow my audience?

A: No. In fact they cost you audience big-time in the short term. This is a lesson from PPM markets which can be applied to every market where ratings matter.

A Philadelphia station did a three day radiothon during the Fall ARB and saw its AQH audience literally cut in half the first day of the call for pledges and go down even lower in the second and third days!

For me, this doesn’t mean that you need to stop doing radiothons, since they obviously have a positive impact on your brand, given that in spite of these real losses in listening levels during the event, the diary ratings show no loss in listening at all. In other words, the PPM shows that as many as 50% of your audience changes stations while you beg for bucks, but the diary shows that the sample understands that this is a nice thing for you to do so they don’t punish you for doing it by writing less listening in their books.

Recommendation: rethink the way you do Radiothons. Look at how your local public broadcasters do their fund-raising, promising to stop the drive the instant they hit their goal.

Cut the length of your radiothon in half and double the sense of urgency during the drive for dollars, letting the audience know how limited the time is to reach the goal.

One station in the City Of Brotherly Love tried this and raised more money than they did in the last three day radiothon in just over a day and a half.

Consider placing your radiothons at a time of year when they won’t do ratings damage and will give your normal audience a week to return/recover.

Your Audience Is Highest During Commercials? That's A Good Thing?

El Rushbo is famous for spin, of course, but I am scratching my head over this press release, out this morning:

"In a new study released today, Coleman Insights has found that Rush Limbaugh‘s nationally syndicated radio show generates higher listener shares during commercials than during the actual show. This finding shows that the Rush Limbaugh audience has extremely high anticipation for the show and tunes in through commercials—a testament to his extremely strong brand and the loyalty of his audience."

Hey, Rush: when your commercials beat your show, advertisers have got to feel reinforced by this fact, but I'd say you need to work on your content or watch your brand strength deteriorate! (I'd bet Sean Hannity's show does better than his commercials do..)

Dick Shuey Is Right. Let's Reinstate Hank Williams.

I can't even believe this is a "flap!" Here's Shuey's Opinion on the current Opry flap on Hank Williams...

"It's short n' sweet. We have the Hall Of Fame for the greats....now don't we...??? The Opry Makes the History...the Country Music Hall of Fame is the History. Hank Williams made his fare share of Country Music History and was at one time a integeral part of the Opry making History just like so many other great country music stars.... and his music plays on n' on. Who ever came up with idea to protest on such a cause as reinstatement to the opry for Hank Williams doesn't know much about Country Music & it's History."

Is there REALLY anyone who can possibly disagree with that?

Do You Make It Difficult And Unpleasant To Enter Your Contests (With Lots Of Busy Signals And Rude Phone Answerers) For Players?

Sammy Simpson at Lured.com demonstrates how it's done: make listening and winning fun and easy! Create a social network of your most loyal listeners, folks who enter your contests, sign up for your emails, and your insider rewards program. Show lots of LOVE to your prize pigs!

"It's your own reality show with its own social-network. I launched this site locally for those consumers who are addicted to winning contests. Easy to execute in your city too."

Kagan's 25th: Media Revenues Fragment And Soften

The SNL Kagan Radio/TV Values and Finance Summit today at New York Athletic Club spotlights the outlook for deals, values, revenues, competition and finance across the broadcast landscape.

Our summary table for publicly traded cable, direct broadcast satellite, telco video and overbuild triple-play providers for 2006 to 2007 shows total growth ebbed in fourth quarter 2007 for video, home satellite dish and voice, likely due to overall economic trends. However, revenue/sub quarterly growth was positive for all players, showing pricing resilience.

Social Networking: Can It Save The News Biz?

Erick Schonfeld is uniquely qualified as a former employee of Time Inc. and current writer for TechCrunch (one of the most influential blogs on the Web), to outline the ways in which traditional journalism is becoming more like blogging every day. From Eric’s post: “Just as more and more blogs are building up professional writing staffs, more and more newspapers and magazines are requiring that their writers start blogging….

“Our philosophy is that it is better to get 70 percent of a story up fast and get the basic facts right than to wait another hour (or a day) to get the remaining 30 percent. We can always update the post or do another one as new information comes in. More often than not, putting up partial information is what leads us to the truth — a source contacts us with more details or adds them directly into comments.”

How fast can your news department jump on a developing story, still get the facts right, and involve listeners in the news-gathering process at the same time?

Are You Making Money From Your Reward Insider Points Program?

Take a lesson from the airlines and incent sales to grow non-spot dollars with your loyalty program.

Here are links to a few designed for radio which I like and many, many A&O clients use.

You can also design and create your own as well, of course, which means you OWN the database, which is a more time and resources-consuming way to go, but is naturally the ideal.

These folks do it that way. I have asked them if they'd syndicate it and they prefer to keep it proprietary.

Smart, eh?

"Troubadour": Neil Haislop Reviews The LP Launch From Los Angeles

George Strait played L.A. this past weekend and KKGO morning drive star, Shawn Parr tells Haislop:

"I was blown away by how young the audience was that surrounded the stage cheering for George."

We figured there are two reasons for that. First, after 27 years on the charts, George Strait is singing better than ever, masterfully to be precise, and it shows on every cut of his new album. Also, he's a legend that young folks may come to a show to experience, then realize that he's lost none of his vocal power, charm and natural appeal. Amazing to see.

George also has to be super proud of his new, 12 song album, and says the title song is kind of about him.

"It's the title of a great song on the album and it just kind of f it. It's just a kind of romantic way of saying a singer-songwriter...I don't write many songs anymore, but at the time when I did go to Nashville I did write a few songs back then. And it wasn't really about me but it did kind of go along with what I'd done and so it just worked out that way."

The first single from Troubadour is “I Saw God Today” which was George’s highest debuting single ever – it is currently Top 5 and climbing on both charts.

George says, "I Saw God Today' is such a well-written song, it means a lot. Sometimes we take a lot of things for granted, especially anybody that's had a child. When they first see 'em if they're in the delivery room or not when hey first see that child it is truly a miracle and you just realize that all these things that God has given us and how many blessings that we have around us all the time that sometimes just take for granted if you just step back and take a look around you'll see what beauty we have around us and the things he's created for us."

Strait's "Troubador" is deep in strong material that he'll be able to release for a couple of years. One the SUPER STANDOUTS is a duet with a singer who gets credit for helping take Vince Gill to breakout star status in 1990 when she lent her vocals to his tune, "When I Call Your Name."

Patty has emerged strongly again joining George on a future Vocal Event of the Year winner titled, "House of Cash." We're reminded once again of Patty's status as one of the great country vocalists the format has ever had on this excellent ode to Johnny and June.

George says, "Well I've been a fan of Patty's for a long time and think that she's a great singer. It had kind of been in the back of my mind to sing something with her someday. When we got this song it seemed like the right one and I could just hear her singing it so we called her up and she agreed to do it and I think it turned out great."

The State Of News: Don't Tell Me. Help Me, Empower Me

Memo to the news department: "There is no single or finished news product anymore. As news consumption becomes continual, more new effort is put into producing incremental updates, as brief as 40-character e-mails sent from reporters directly to consumers without editing."

Smashing Pumpkin Smashes Music Label Financial Fairness

After filing a lawsuit claiming his former record label, Virgin, allowed Pepsi to use his band’s name in a promotion without permission, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan has decided to speak out.

“I’m sure they indicated to Pepsi that they had a right to do this, full well knowing they do not have the right,” Corgan told Billboard.com, adding that the soda promotion “crosses the Rubicon. You’re going to see more of this playing fast and loose with the rules, hoping they don’t get caught. At face value, it’s not a huge deal. But in terms of precedent, it is, because there will be much more of this coming.”

Read the Rolling Stone interview

Someone Wants A Piece Of Radio And Outdoor's Pie

The question is: can we also get a piece of THEIRS too? If we fail to do so, it won't be because we aren't in a great position today to make it happen!

Country Weekly Dishes On Blake And Amanda

Blake Shelton opens up about family, hard times, his new hit, life on his Oklahoma ranch . . . and girlfriend Miranda Lambert:

“I just love how my life is at the moment,” Blake sums up, and it’s not difficult to see why. His current single “Home” is among his fastest-rising ever and he’s also settled into a sprawling ranch he bought last year in Oklahoma. Plus, Miranda lives on her own farm about six miles away. As for their relationship, Blake admits that they’re taking it slowly. “I’m not in any hurry to get married again,” he tells Country Weekly. “She says she’s not in a hurry to get married. For once, I just want to enjoy bein’ comfortable with where things are in my life and how they’re flowin’ along right now.”

Want To Know About Tomorrow's 25-34 Demo?

Get to know about their goals. Or, if you're the parent of a 12-24 year old, ask them.

Can You Watch This Video And Replace The Word "Starbucks" With Your Brand Name?

Go to your nearest Starbucks and ask for a free copy of this book.

Then, watch this video and let me know what communications tools you use to get your team to execute the strategy this well!

Q: Do email blasts work to improve my ratings?

A: They sure do, IF they are relevant and topical, giving a benefit-driven reason to listen.

For example, on a recent client conference call I heard the story of a sports-talk station in a PPM-rated market which sent an email blast to their database announcing that the general manager and manager of the local team had just been fired and that they would be carrying the press conference that afternoon at 3 pm for the official announcement by the team owner live.

The following week, it was obvious from the PPM data that the station got a big hit in AQH and cume.

Email blasts which contain concert announcements and DJ news probably don’t impact listening at all and may actually hurt the impact of future ones as they lesson the open rate of future email blasts because they are all about the station and your advertisers.

Lead with a benefit to the reader in the subject line, make sure the message is relevant and make an appointment to pay off with an entertaining or informative event and watch your email marketing grow your AQH by improving your cume recycling.

Radio's Glass Is MORE Than Half Full

I just got a nice chance to spout off on my positive view of the radio business for David Wilkins, who was kind enough to want to interview me for the monthly client newsletter of the Gray's Harbor Radio Group in Aberdeen-Hoquiam-Ocean Shores (in lovely Coastal Washington):

DW: All of the news about old-school mass media these days seems gloomy. Papers closing, local radio stations being gobbled up by huge conglomerates, and the Internet threatening everything and everyone. How does radio--on its face the most anachronistic of the electronic media--stay competitive and relevant in the 21st century?

JA: Radio starts from a great place. In the face of all that publicity being generated by new media, "terrestial/analog radio" still reaches 94%+ of the 12+ population every week, and almost 100% every month.

The Arbitron Portable People Meter, which is the newest ratings technology now being rolled out in the largest markets and headed for the top 50 in the next decade shows that country music radio rates in the top three formats in Houston and Philadelphia, for example, with six to eleven year olds, so country is very hot right now and the vast majority of people - even in the face of personal digital media players' growth - still get their music on the (traditional) radio, the challenge for us in all media of course is to engage our loyal consumers and leverage our great brands to surround them as they turn to new media too.

We have a huge head start over all media and certainly the print media face a much more immediate threat to today's business model than radio or video does, but we all need to understand the emerging technologies, use them aggressively to entertain, inform and provide community where our current audiences live, work, drive and live all aspects of their lives.

Radio is already a multi-tasker's media, since you can do other things while using our products, and this is the wave of the future, multiple, simultaneous use of media.

This is changing the definition of "local' where once it meant a town or a community. Now, local is much more a one to one thing, much more personal and individual.

Radio has been the original interactive, personal medium for the last five decades. Our personalities relate to the community and have direct relationships, person to person already with our listeners. We simply need to adapt and engage at an increasingly micro and macro level, and just turn on the radio right now and I'd bet you will hear us doing just that.

Meanwhile, that PPM measurement, which is replacing the ratings diary - the leading way to measure radio audiences for the last forty years - is showing that radio today actually reaches on average twice as many people in an average quarter hour than diary ratings measurement has shown. Radio's reach from 6 am to 7 pm weekdays is as great as prime time TV and a lot bigger than the average newspaper's circulation. It's a great time to be in radio.

The biggest dogs which we compete for advertising dollars are under incredible pressure and are watching their reach fragment, splinter and decline. In that environment, radio remains stable and very cost-efficient. Meanwhile, as new media advertising grows exponentially, it will is less than two percent of radio's total revenues, so there is a huge upside potential for us to grab our piece of that new ad revenue-based "pie" which is emerging, Clearly, it's the place where growth will occur for most of us and we need to be specialists in helping our clients make the best use of multi-media marketing to grow their businesses.

DW: The biggest and most frequent complaint I hear about radio stations is the "vanilla complaint"--yes, I lifted that from your blog--stations play music that only caters to the largest and lowest common denominator, with a resulting lack of diversity and creativity in programming. There's a long history, especially among rock bands, of acts with huge followings that you never hear on the radio (Pantera, Iron Maiden, Phish, etc.). How can programmers > appeal to a wide audience without giving up relevance and stifling creativity?

JA: That's where the internet and HDRadio come in. As I said, radio right now remains a mass medium and we would be foolish to do anything to decrease the size of that audience by trying to narrow-cast or niche ourselves too much. When you reach 95% of the population every week, that does carry with it to serve as much as you can all of those people and so the only way to do that is to understand the universal and relatable common denominators which bring people together and don't separate them. If we cater too much to one small subsegment of our audience, we're going to make the size of our current audience go down and since advertisers look to us to bring them as many listeners as possible for the dollars they spend with us, of course everyone wants to reach the largest potential audience we can.

However, now we have HDRadio and streaming media emerging and as those technologies reach more people (at the present their reach is tiny, compared to analog radio's), we'll HAVE to develop creative new products of all sorts which aggregate more small communities within the reach of our mother ships.

DW: The way things are going it seems like one day soon we'll just have the Internet, sort of like the Telescreen in Orwell's "1984", and all the old media will be gone. What do you see as the future of radio?

JA: There is some truth in that. But, that won't happen until wireless broadband is available to 100% of the population. Of course, we are moving slowly in that direction. However, every household in North America has on average three or more radios. That's more than a billion radios just in America. And, they are built into many non-disposable things people use every day, their alarm clocks, their vehicles, home intercoms, even many of their portable media players.

It's going to take a long time before people throw away those radios which provide entertainment, lots of choice of their favorite audio and all for FREE.

Good Idea, Kenny Chesney!

Neil Haislop reports Chesney wanted to do something special for the folks where he now resides. Looking around the area where he lives south of town, he realized he wanted to do something for the working fans rather than Music Row who he knew would be taken care of - and so, the Shiftwork Section was born.

With tickets under $30, anyone who wanted to come when Chesney plays LP Field on July 5, could come. It was the kind of thing that has defined the songwriter’s rise from struggling hard country singer to the people's superstar.

“You look at the people in the Mini Mart, who're driving trucks or working in hospitals, and you realize, the money just doesn't go as far as it did a year ago,” Chesney admits softly. “I've always been about keeping the prices down, everyone knows that 'cause I want anyone who wants to be part of the party to be able and come out, especially here where I live.”

While details are being sorted, look for Chesney's “Shiftwork Sections,” in several markets on his Corona Extra sponsored Poets & Pirates 2008 Tour. With a universal price of $29.50, it's all about giving people a little play in their day, having some fun and hearing some great music from varying line-ups of artists who include Keith Urban, Sammy Hagar, Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Gary Allan, Luke Bryan and whoever else happens to show up, as is often the case when Kenny hits the road.

Watts and Wats

Thanks to my ole bud Sirius and CRB's Scott Lindy for tossing me a few softballs last week at CRS.

Good for a laugh, these videos shown during the Country Radio Seminar's New Faces Show (totally unrehearsed and VERY funny...), thanks to the hilarious Lindy (and the fact that he didn't make me look TOO dumb).

Need more info? Wiki: Wat and Watt

Blake Shelton Campaigns For A CMT Video Award

Blake's video, "The More I Drink" is up for the Comedy Video of the Year award, and this You Tube video also shows his funny side (or is that his desperate side?)

The State Of (News) Media

Columbia University's annual journalism/media study update shows radio still very strong with reach down only about a percentage point but the financial future unclear:

"Simply put, the concept of mass media has ended. It is less clear what will replace it and how advertising will play a role. What was once a matter of big media companies handing out content when and where it was most advantageous has morphed into a lengthy menu of à la carte options, with consumers deciding when, where and how they see, hear or read their selections. For users of media, this opening of the floodgates may well create information and entertainment nirvana. But, for advertisers, what was once the fairly easy job of planning and buying across a handful of options has turned into a Rubik’s Cube of twisting and turning possibilities... News remains an important part of what was once simply called radio. In many ways, indeed, the tradition of listening to the news — aural transmission is the original way people got news — is among the most enduring. But the radio business is undergoing no less of a revolution than any other part of media. The audience is fragmenting across new listening platforms. The revenue models are unclear, and which technology will emerge is uncertain."

Carrie Underwood To Join The Grand Ole Opry

Underwood will become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry after she was invited Saturday to join the long-running country music show. Randy Travis extended the invitation as Underwood finished "I Told You So," a Travis song that Underwood recorded on her latest album. Her official induction will be May 10.

The former "American Idol" winner sold 7 million copies of her debut album "Some Hearts" and shot to superstardom almost overnight with hits including "Before He Cheats" and "Jesus, Take the Wheel." Her follow-up album, "Carnival Ride," came out last fall and has produced two No. 1s: "So Small" and her current single "All-American Girl."

Underwood said backstage that the invitation was a complete surprise. "I felt like I just won something amazing all over again," she said. "The Opry has meant so much to me growing up, seeing people perform and wanting to do that."

Underwood, 25, becomes the latest young hitmaker to become an Opry member in recent years, joining Brad Paisley, Josh Turner and Dierks Bentley.

"Carrie has a heartfelt connection to what the Opry stands for," General Manager Pete Fisher said. "She shares the values we espouse at the Opry."

The Opry, established in 1925, is the longest continuously running radio show in the country. Legends such as Hank Williams Sr. and Patsy Cline were once members of the cast, and contemporary stars including Alan Jackson and Martina McBride are part of today's show, which airs every Friday and Saturday night on WSM-AM. Opry management says artists are invited to join based on their commitment to the show, as measured by the frequency of their guest appearances, and their overall contribution to country music.

"From Housewife And Mother To Budding Country Star": AP Profiles Ashton Shepherd

Country singers often joke that they're a "10-year-overnight success" because no one really makes it in this business overnight, but some have a faster route to success than others.

About two years ago, Ashton Shepherd was a young housewife and mother from south Alabama who wrote songs and sang them in her backyard shed. The extent of her professional experience was playing bars in a makeshift band with her husband, Roland, and brother-in-law, Adam Cunningham; Shepherd and Roland both played guitar, while Adam played bass.

She won a talent contest and recorded a three-song demo that by fluke landed her an audition with Luke Lewis, chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville, in January 2007.

Where It's All Going

NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY took 25 minutes on March 13 to talk Digital media — including MP3 players, peer-to-peer networks, music websites, and how they are changing how we discover, listen to and share music.

Click to listen to writer Eliot Van Buskirk discuss the new, digital landscape of music, and the resulting changes in the music industry. His outlook for radio hurts to hear, but if as I do you tend to agree with most of his other prognostications you have to take the critical look at our business model seriously too.

Big Research Update: Practicality is HOT, Cashmere Mafia is NOT

Please Mr. Postman…three-quarters of consumers are waiting for government rebate checks to hit their mailboxes this spring, making the Stimulus Package what’s hot this month.

Additionally, consumers find downloading music (69.6%) trendier than buying CDs (37.4%).

March Madness is sporting for the majority of men, while women agree that yellow is IN for this season’s clothing and accessories.

What’s Not? When it comes to TV shows about career women in NYC, viewers would prefer to put a hit out on Cashmere Mafia and brave the Lipstick Jungle.

It May Be An Election Year, But Celebrities Still Top Politicans As Buzz Topics

Top News and Media Content Search Terms (week ending 02/23/08)
News & Media category	Print category
Lunar Eclispe	Jennifer Lopez
Lindsay Lohan	Lindsay Lohan
Jennifer Lopez	Lunar Eclipse
Obama	Flat Belly Diet
Barack Obama	Barack Obama
Dancing With The Stars	Obama
Giant Sea Spiders	Dancing With The Stars
American Idol	Jody Tagaris
Kosovo	Lindsay Lohan Marilyn Monroe
Nevada Earthquake	American Idol
Source: Hitwise sample of 10 million users, March 2008

It's Almost A Wrap On "Beer For My Horses"

Primary photography for Toby Keith's film, "Beer For My Horses," is set to wrap up March 15th. Toby has been working his cinematic tail off since he appears in nearly every major scene of the film. Word is that it's Toby's best work as an actor, and screenwriter with the scenes are coming off as funny as he and Rodney Carrington wrote them to be.

Co-stars Tom Skerritt and Claire Forlani have remarked that they're "completely impressed with Toby's acting and script," say he's "great." Funny man, Carrington, is getting high marks for his comedic acting, as well.

The only downside to the filming in New Mexico is that it's been freezing weather for the past few days.

Written by Neil Haislop

WSOC: March (Country Music) Madness

Check out the women's bracket, the men's bracket, the groups, the wild cards and vote for your favorite artist to help them move on to (your guessed it) "The Final Four."

From "NO Videos" To "Show Us Your Videos"

Remember when concert venues prohibited videos and photos at music events as a result of copyright riders in standard star artist contracts?

Thanks to cell phones, those days are long gone, of course.

Leave it to Starstruck to be the first to make the most of today's reality.

What Happens To ARB In December?

Q: Why is it that AC does so well each December, and why did it do especially well in Fall of 2007?

A: The key to doing well in ratings 11 months a year is listening at work. In diaries, on average, almost 75% of all average quarter hours (and in the PPM in spite of cumes literally doubling, it’s still 50%) come from P-1 heavy users, the people who listen for 100 quarter hours a week or even more. Thus, under normal circumstances, the secret to doing well for country radio is targeting 25-54 non-ethnic individuals who work full time, at least 35 hours a week. Fulltime employed men are the heaviest users of radio. Women who are not employed full time tend to watch TV during the daytime hours and as a result listen to a lot less radio than the average radio user. Given these realities, a successful AC station must get at least 60% of its average quarter hours from ‘at work’ listening. A country station’s ideal profile is 33% of its AQH from at work, 33% from in car and 33% at home and other places. Then, comes the three weeks before Christmas and many listeners take time off work. So, the place where the majority of AQH comes from changes radically. Meanwhile, AC stations become the at home listening choice - especially for adult women - due to their solid Christmas music marketing and images.

That’s why, in PPM data, Arbitron has created a “13th month” which they call the Christmas book. AQH shares (which are of course a percentage of the available AQH audience) literally double for the solid Christmas music stations (B-101 in Philadelpha, for example, had a 25.2% share of adult listening the week before Christmas in the Philadelphia PPM data and then went right back to to 10 share the week after the Holiday).

As Arbitron's Gary Marince told the attendees at A&O's Pre-CRS client seminar, ".. the listening the Christmas stations pick up from the Country statiosn is in the form of 'occassions' and not a loss in cume or average time per occasion of listening."

No doubt, this is also the case in diaries as well, but due to monthly averaging, AC radio carries that December bump into the first two monthlies of the next quarter. It’s not because AC gets more listening in January and February as a result of the December at home AQH, it’s due to the monthly averages. In the face of this reality, to have a good fall book knowing that many of your listeners won’t be at work for a week or two of the survey period which makes it very hard if not impossible to keep your percentage of AQH from at work up to the levels you maintain the rest of the year, a country station needs to have an aggressive strategy to do as well as possible in the workplace during the first and second phases of the fall Arbitron survey and then play enough of your listeners’ favorite Christmas songs they can’t hear anywhere else while also balancing that with their favorite current, recurrent and power gold hits and encouraging the core to listen to you at home more than normal during those weeks away from their normal workplace. It’s a tricky balancing act because as research has shown for the last few years, about half of country’s heaviest users would love it if we played all Christmas music while the other half wouldn’t like that at all.

Next fall: get as many average quarter hours from at work as you can in the first nine weeks of the ARB survey period and then work to keep your partisans listening to you while they prepare for Christmas at home. Meanwhile, tell advertisers the Christmas book story and make sure they know that the distortions in the January and February rolling averages that make AC look stronger than it is are purely statistical and not real. The time to buy AC radio is the two or three weeks before Christmas, not in first quarter of the New Year.

"How Does It Feel?"

For two hours Tuesday night, I went to heaven. Being inducted into the Country Radio Hall Of Fame, simply for doing what I love and have wanted to do for the last 50 years has to be called one of the highlights of my life.

It was especially gratifying to have three generations of my immediate family on hand to witness the love and affection shower on all five of us who were fortunate enough to be given the honor from the almost one thousand radio people and one thousand music business people gathered for the annual Country Radio Seminar at the Nashville Convention Center.

Now, as I walk the halls of the annual meeting, everyone is asking "How did it feel?" and of course the answer is "Reinforcing, wonderful. "

For a couple hours the other night I was given the opportunity to listen as folks said very kind things about me, my career and it was an amazing personal reminder of what a great people business this is in spite of all the negatives that seem to surround us in the daily blog posts.

Radio still reaches more than nine out of ten people over the age of 12 every single week and my fellow honorees Bob Robbins, Bill Cody, Mike Owens, Bobby Kraig, the CRS promotion and humanitarian award winners are a great reminder of the difference we make every day in the lives of our local communities.

I am lucky to have attended some 35 of the 39 Country Radio Seminars and even luckier to have had an employer either pay my way or at least give me the time off without having to take vacation time to do so for more than half of them. But, the other half have been at my own expense, sometimes even using personal vacation days, so I have little patience with people who tell me they can't come to CRS to better themselves personally just because their employer won't pay for it.

As a result of attending this "annual class reunion" of the best and the smartest in the country radio and music business, I have received considerably more back from the cost in money and time than I put in. This is a wonderful community, as I discovered again this week.

If your company doesn't have the budget for a CRS registration, pay for it yourself (the 2009 meeting is only 51 weeks away). You'll learn, you'll meet artists and you'll build great relationships with an extended family that will remain a part of your life for decades. It's a wonderful, supportive community, and it's constantly inviting you to join it. Do it, even if you have to pay for it yourself and take time off to attend annually. I am living proof of what happens when you do that.

So, how does it feel?

Simply great.

I strongly recommend the experience to you too.

Why An Index Of 80 Or 90 Isn't Good Enough

While it's good to hear that ARB's Pierre Bouvard is back from his vacation fully-refreshed and enthusiastic for the radio ratings giant's sample improvement goals for the coming year (according to Inside Radio): “2008 is the year of 25-34s.”

After suffering through last Summer’s sagging PPM in-tab rates, IR's Frank Saxe reports he got a phone call from Bouvard yesterday, touring that Arbitron is increasingly confident it has solved the problem of how to hit 18-34 targets. Its performance among adults has been steadily improving, taking its biggest steps forward in recent months due to a focus on the 18-24 demo. It’s an effort that’s included higher sampling rates, richer incentives and more interaction between the company and its panelists.

Arbitron president of sales and marketing Pierre Bouvard says “We’re not done, but we have made a lot of progress in four months.” An upgrade to Arbitron’s software allows its research team to begin honing-in on the next target. Bouvard says “We said we were going to go on a jihad on 18-24s and we did. Now it’s onward an upwards -— 2008 is going to be the year of the 25-34s.”

Since last month they’ve done that by applying many of the same strategies and techniques used on 18-24s. Arbitron’s four-month focus on 18-24s has led to a 13% improvement in that Philadelphia demo — and it’s up 113% over one year ago. Bouvard says “It’s nothing short of spectacular. I’m feeling very good about how the panels are shaping up.”

Here's the problem: as you look at day-by-day, hour by hour and even minute by minute data in PPM, the sample is often four times as big as the daypart, day and even diary page sample. That's because so many diarykeepers 'forget' to write down at least half of their actual listening. The laws of statistical replication state that in order to double the accuracy of a probability sample, you must quadruple the sample size, so in one sense the minute by minute cume a daypart in PPM could potentially be more accurate even than weekly daypart data in the diary, which may be why it looks so reasonable and often passes "the gut test" (does it look believable?). ARB's PPM advocate John Snyder has been making this claim lately. He's a very smart guy, who makes very convincing Power Point slide shows.

However, the total panel sample is actually smaller than the random diary sample (to save money, of course) and a panel sample isn't exactly random either. Just because something looks 'right' most of the time doesn't mean that scientifically, statistically it is so.

I am hoping that ARB decides to start guaranteeing 100% of their targets for both PPM and diary markets in this year of the 25-34. No less than 100% accuracy is acceptable at a time when radio needs to convince advertisers that we are worth 100% of the money they spend on us, not 80 ot 90%.

World Trade Center Steel Goes To Sea, Thanks to CDB

Charlie Daniels performed during the christening ceremonies for the USS New York at Northrop Grumman shipyard in Avondale, LA., Saturday, March 1, 2008.

Approximately 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center are cast in the bow stem of the ship. The bow stem is the foremost section of the ship's hull on the water line. The New York will be officially commissioned in New York City in the fall of 2009.

PR CONTACTS:
Christy Walker-Watkins - AristoMedia - 615-269-7071 ext. 124 - christy@aristomedia.com
Paula Szeigis - Management - Charlie Daniels Band - 615-443-2112 ext. 123 - paulacdb@aol.com

Why We Shot Down That Satellite

Nashville songwriter Thom Schuyler hasn't blogged for about a year, but his fertile mind is back in action and his first post in too long a time is well worth a read: One Citizen's Conjecture

Meanwhile, if you want to nominate some things you hope were NOT in there, email me.

.. For example: the solution to ARB's PPM and diary sample placement woes?

Trend To Watch: Your Show's Audio On YouTube

Their recent topical and slightly controversial "Osama, Obama and Your Mama" bit gets the BD&B You Tube Site started. Thanks to the boys for keeping me informed on their latest attempt to get their email list fans to put their material on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites.

What have you been doing lately? Drop an email to jaye@albrightandomalley.com.

The First Happy Signs Of A Good Spring

In ARB PPM monthly 6+ share trends CBS country KILT-FM ranks #5 and Cox's KKBQ-KTHT combine for a 7.0 share in market #6 Houston while Beasley's WXTU is also #5 6+ in #7 Philadelphia.

The combined shares of the four country stations in the two PPM-currency markets are up 8% from December to January: (December) 11.6- (Holiday) 11.8- (January) 12.5, so it looks like maybe country's soft fall 2007 national averages were indeed (hopefully!) largely due to AC's all Christmas music tactic.

For me, that's an even more optimistic sign of an early, sunny spring than a robin on the lawn.

With I-Tunes, There Is No Bag

Maybe the NAB should just make their new ad contain a photo of a Wal*Mart bag.

Meanwhile, the Nashville buzz is that in the wake of the great traffic generated by Garth's latest repackaging of his hits for a bargain price ($11.88) the massive retailer is telling labels that they will cut back the amount of space for music unless labels cut wholesale prices to the point that the retailer can price albums for under $10.

It would cut further into record label already-shrinking profits, but I bet they decide that when the monster gets hungry the best short term play is to feed the beast.

Longterm, Donnie Snow in the latest TN Business Magazine talks to some of Music City's smartest people:

"If a country music fan in Pittsburgh could buy a custom sequined shirt from Manuel's Exclusive Clothier on Broadway and, via technology heretofore only known in science fiction, have the garment teleported to his or her home instantly (either for a nominal fee or free), the technology would, among many other things, revolutionize the manufacturing industry. And unless it had a stake in the technology, even a billion-dollar behemoth like FedEx would quickly become obsolete. But what is fanciful analogy for FedEx is an all-too-stark reality for the music industry. While it's not Star Trek technology, the Internet represents just as effective a technological dagger into the heart of the current distribution system and business model relied upon by label and listener alike for decades. And make no mistake, it's the distribution model and not piracy that will make or break the current system."

"The future is selling less of more." -- Tim Dubois

...But who's to say how that "more" will be sold? It may be that a major label becomes an umbrella distributor, which probably comes as small comfort to SonyBMG which has owned Napster for years now and has been busier suing itself than working with its competition to make that happen.

PPM = Nielsen Meters For Radio, With The Same Problems?

I think so. The diary measures engagement. The PPM measures behavior. And, they are not the same thing.

Mike Bloxham's Media Post blog today is about TV ratings measurement, but I think you could substitute the letters "PPM" and place "radio" where he says "set top box" and get a view of our future, now that Project Apollo is dead.

Remember these words:

"One thing is certain, however. As complex as the media ecosystem is right now, it is only going to get more complex - and at an ever-increasing pace. What looks challenging and difficult to navigate now will probably look like the land of milk and honey when we look back in ten years’ time. As such, it is equally certain that no one solution is going to provide us with what we need to optimize communications efficiency. We will increasingly go digital in our measurement systems, but we will still need to understand the context of media use that data harvested from devices and meters will never capture."

In a few years, you're going to say Mike had a crystal ball.

Why Have A Blog If You Can't Occasionally Promote Your Personal Fav's?

Thanks to Seattle P-I Music Critic Gene Stout for giving me a chance to say some nice things about a guy I first heard with Ichabod Caine and the Crew on KMPS, Vince Mira:

"Nashville is always looking for creative, new, exciting artists. This talent to sound like Johnny Cash is certainly a great thing for a 15-year-old, it's amazing. And I'm sure it's going to get a big 'Oh, wow' from people. But the real key is, can he then carry that forward with some songs that establish an identity of his own?"

(PS: He can.)

Americans' Major Concern Right Now: Debt

· 42.7% say their debt is too high…64% say their savings are too low.
· 68.6% strongly disagree or disagree with the statement: “The U.S. government is looking out for my financial interests.”
· 66.2% believe the media can stimulate a recession.
· 45.6% believe the U.S. is already in a recession…39.1% say the U.S. is not currently in a recession but will soon be in one.
· 50.2% would rather have Congress and the president work out long-term solutions to current economic challenges than get a rebate check.
· 60.7% blame problems in the housing market for the sluggish economy.
· 50.8% say they live paycheck to paycheck.

If those factoids aren't enough to give you ideas to use as you plan station promotions, get the whole report.

Contacts: BIGresearch: Chrissy Wissinger - chrissy@bigresearch.com (614.846.0146) or SSI: Jason Kannon - jasonk@keiler.com (860.674.3861)

Roadmap 2008: Sample Size WAY Up; Satisfaction STRONG But Down Fractionally

Nearly 17,000 heavy users of country radio across the U.S. and Canada took at least 20 minutes each to respond to an internet questionnaire over the past month and - according to the results of our “Roadmap ‘08” report - country’s vital signs remain very strong when compared to a year ago.

However, there is some evidence of loss of passion, especially among the younger side of country’s target.

Overall “satisfaction” with “your current favorite country station” fell slightly from 70% a year ago to 66.6% this year.

“To have two thirds of your core audience state that they are highly satisfied is a very compelling statistic,” says A&O partner Jaye Albright.

Fewer than 1% say they are very dissatisfied, but the number of folks who report being only ‘somewhat satisifed’ increased from 25.7% last year to 26.4% in 2008.

The changes are very small, but due to the huge sample size, they are statistically-significant.

There was a 68% increase in sample size from 10,062 in (between 1/20 and 2/18) 2007 to 16,712 (between 1/26 and 2/24) in 2008.

“There’s plenty of specific information in this data to help us understand what may be happening which drives these changes and to shore up our weaknesses now, before the next book begins,” adds A&O partner Michael O’Malley. “The mere fact that so many of our listeners were willing to take the time to give their suggestions and opinions to make countr radio better is a very healthy sign.”

Based on changes in the sample, it’s possible to hypothesize that our core is slipping 18 to 44 and growing 45+.

Demo composition (% of total sample) changes:

2007-2008 (change)
12-17: 1.8-1.8 = 0%
18-24: 8.2-8.1 = -1.2%
25-34: 20.7-17.8% = -14%
35-44: 28.1-26.6 - = -5.3%
45-54: 27.5-29.3 = +6.5%
55-64: 11.5-13.8 = +20%
65-74: .1- .2.3 = is this increase by a factor of 22 due to more internet use by this demo this year? Or, more usage?

The changes in demo composition of these P-1’s may be what is driving the music genre preference trends.

This sample, since it comes from A&O client station email databases, is 68.2% people who listen to country music radio more than two hours per day.

24.9% of the respondents listen between an hour and two hours per day.

6.9% reported listening less than an hour per day, so these stats reflect the preferences of country radio’s heaviest users in our client markets, but also include 1,155 light users as well.

Each A&O client station which had 200 or more of their listeners complete the survey will receive reports on both the national averages and also their local data in the next 14 days.

Highlights of the national data will be presented at the Albright & O’Malley Pre-CRS client seminar on Tuesday, March 4 from 2:00 to 5:30 pm in the Country Music Hall Of Fame’s Ford Theatre. Admission is free, but by invitation only.

“That’s Great! .. BUT...”

“How did they do it?” a client PD asked me last week.

“Do what?” I innocently inquired.

“How did those folks at WAXX, Eau Claire, get more than 600 of their listeners to do the questionnaire and we’re a bigger market but we only had just over 300.”

A&O client stations are competitive. I suppose that’s one reason why they hire us.

They want to have the latest intelligence and access to cutting-edge strategies and tactics. They love winning.

Rarely, however, do they have a chance to compete with each other and have every other client see the ‘score.’

And, I didn’t even know that this was a competition!

So far, more than 17,000 listeners across the U.S. and Canada have completed the “Roadmap ’08” national perceptual study (highlights of which will be unveiled at our Pre-CRS client seminar) a preliminary report on the results of the study went out to all of the stations who participated the other day.

It includes P-1 listener tracking data on more than 40 areas, from music style and genre preferences, content, information, new media usage, overall satisfaction and HD radio.

I was surprised to find that almost everyone who received it turned past the product and usage-related responses to the pages which detailed the sample sizes for each market which will allow us to break local data for out every station with at least 200 respondents. Everyone seemed to want to see how many of their listeners completed the 20 minute questionnaire compared to other cities of similar size.

The PD who made the statement’s station ranks #1 12+ and 25-54 in a situation where an aggressive direct format competitor ranks #5 in the Fall ARB survey, so I have long considered this programmer a winner and a big success I often point with pride to.

But, in his mind, he still needs to do better.

“We do contests and they do well for us, but then I see how the great Lincoln Financial Media team at KSON, San Diego, made “Double Your Paycheck” more than just a contest. They turned it into a statement of values the station stands for,” he started.

“Then, Pattison’s CJJR, Vancouver, “Tripled Your Pay” last Fall and had a terrific BBM.

“We also do a St. Jude’s Radiothon and raised lots of money for the great cause again this year, but then I saw how the Bonneville/Cincinnati crew at B-105 had their listeners pledge $415,361,” he continued.

“I look at loyalty rewards marketing stars like Larche Media/Barrie’s KICX, Morris Radio’s WIBW-FM, Topeka and Astral’s CFQX, Winnipeg driving thousands of new database signups. We, of course, do a similar program, yet I seem to run into the same 40 people who come to every remote broadcast for their ‘word on the street.’

“CBS Radio’s KMPS, Seattle, continues to dominate their market by innovating. I love their new “Yes.com” social network where they invite listeners to vote for their favorite songs and network with other listeners. How did they do that?”

Sensing that this very competitive programmer didn’t just want me to pat him on the back and say “hey, you’re #1, you’re clearly aware of those things other clients are doing and that’s a good thing, perhaps a bit of healthy sibling rivalry.

“You’re holding yourself to too high a standard, take it easy on yourself. You are really, really good at lots of things, but you can’t possibly be the absolute best at everything..,” so instead, I decided to simply remind him of the “Seven Magic Words,” which by the very questions he’s been asking me, whether he knows it or not, already show that he’s living them.

Being competitive myself, I wish I could say that they were my invention, but Mike O’Malley coined this useful seven word phrase years ago, when we did our first air personality seminar on the Boardwalk in Atlanta City. We called that session “Barnumizing Your Radio Station And Your Show.”

We taught attendees and still encourage our client stations to use the principles of P. T. Barnum. Never forget we’re in show business. Whatever you do, don’t just amplify it.

Explode it.

Plan each community service event, prep each content break, build each promotion, create each stunt, communicate each strategy and just when you feel that it’s your best, before finalizing it use the Seven Magic Words and see how far you can go with whatever you’re doing.

The words?

“Great! .. but what else could we do?”

Use them the next time your team brainstorms. Pretty soon, you’ll be the envy of your siblings too.

Tennessean Writer Peter Cooper Irks Fans, But Not ME

It's hard to disagree with Kix Brooks that it's time for the CMA to find a way to compensate the country superstars who are the draw each June for the CMA Music Festival (actually, it was a surprise to me that they all have been expected to perform free at what clearly is a big money-maker for someone) and Cooper's latest blog post following his story in last week's paper is worth a read:

"Earlier this week, I wrote in the newspaper about a hullabaloo concerning the CMA Music Festival. It seems that Kix Brooks — a member of superstar duo Brooks & Dunn, a past president of the CMA and a CMA board member — told a group of city business leaders that the future of the festival isn't assured until we find a way to pay the artists for performing. Immediately, some fans and observers took offense at Brooks' statement. "This festival is about the fans," they said. "Why can't artists take a night out of their lives to do something for the fans, without being paid?" Well, actually, they can. And they do. There are plenty of problems with contemporary country music, including but not limited to: samey production, safe and boring radio playlists, songs written by committees, albums conceived by committees who choose from those songs written by committees, headset microphones, "attitude fiddles," wind chimes, guitar tones that are straight from Journey's Greatest Hits, and... oh, friends, I could go on. But in terms of charitable endeavors and face time with fans, country artists get straight As."

It's Nothing A Few Great Artists With Exciting Songs And A Lot Of Great Country Stations With Engaging Personalities Won't Solve

Arbitron Format Trends of the 94 continuous measurement markets reports showed Country radio with a 9.7 share in spring 2007, which was the highest share since the first published Format Trends tracking began in 1998. The Fall ARB national shares just came out this week and country’s 12+ share dipped back to 2005 levels to a 9.0.

Meanwhile, Katz Media Group’s EVP Gerry Boehme and VP/Dir. Of Research Lisa Chiljean analyze all rated Fall 2007 Country Arbitron markets and even when you include the smaller metros in the averages country still shows a dip.

KRG’s Fall 2007 Average Market Format Shares show Country declining from a Fall ‘06 14.9 to 14.3 in Fall ‘07, the lowest figure since 2003. Fall is often country’s weakest book of the year. For example, the 17-year low was a 13.5 in Fall 2000.

But, outside the top 94 markets in the Fall of 2007, Country is still number one, topping Rock (14.1), AC (13.1), Urban (12.6) and News/Talk/Info (10.9). Next in Katz’s national rankers: Hispanic at 8.1, Urban Contemporary at 7.0, Top 40 with 6.8, News/Talk with 6.5 and AC at 6.4.

Average Age of the Country listener has reached 45 years old, following eight straight years of being either 43 or 44. The lowest mean ages in the history of the country format came in 1993 and 1994 when we hit a low of 38 years old.

Country’s average time spent listening hit new lows, declining in Men (down 16 minutes to 7:21 and Women (off 24 minutes in the last year to 6:33), 25-54. TSL was also off in both genders 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64.

However, even more frighteningly, the number of persons using radio is also down from summer to fall .. and that's not something that just a few more hit country songs will solve.

Love That Frog (Happy 15th Birthday Froggy .. A Brand That Has Endured)

15 years ago, I helped construct a brand relaunch for KVOX, Fargo and thanks to a wonderful group of winners (many of whom are still there, still reinventing their product and keeping it fresh and on top!), Froggy remains the market's top radio station. (click to read the article on the latest ARB: ‘Bob’ doesn’t lure ‘Froggy’ listeners)

There was a time when the previous owners had both of the market's country stations and I was moved to (the now-defunct) K-102 and I gave Froggy to Michael O'Malley to handle in order to keep both stations' competitive edge. That has proved to be a partnership which has also endured, I am very proud to say.

Congrats, happy anniversary and my ongoing admiration to Froggy, doing it right every day for 15 years now!

Nashville Star Moves To NBC

In New York yesterday, the network said it would embrace a year-round prime-time programming schedule, jettisoning the frequently criticized practice of saving most shows for the traditional September- to-May television season.

Meanwhile, as auditions continue for the new season around the USA after the announcement that the show would move from the USA Network to NBC's summer lineup, Stars & Strikes in Naples, Italy announced yesterday that auditions for military talent will happen in April:

Morale, Welfare and Recreation is sponsoring several auditions next week at military installations in southern Europe. The competition is open to U.S. active-duty personnel, as well as retirees, DOD civilians and dependents. Applicants must be at least 16 years old, with no upper age limits. Auditions at military installations in the United States are also under way.

Speaking of NBC: Jay Leno's musical guest tonight will be Garth Brooks!

Is The Future Of Radio Unfolding Now In Indianapolis?

You have to say this about market #40: almost all of the major consolidated groups compete there (including one of my personal fav's, Emmis, which possesses a unique culture, more vision and courage than most) and it seems the local managers are unafraid of experimentation and change, so it often is a test for things which could eventually impact all of us.

Reporter David Lindquist documents the past year of changes there in this morning's paper and it's worth a read.

"Advertisers spent $92.5 million at Indianapolis radio stations in 2007, following $99 million spent in 2006, according to California-based accounting firm Miller, Kaplan, Arase and Co. That's a 7 percent drop, and Emmis executive Tom Severino predicts another drop of 4 percent in 2008. To appeal to advertisers who may believe radio is past its prime, companies create stations that aim to deliver audiences composed of the correct ages (and often the correct gender). Executives say modern radio is more than what's heard in your car or at the office. They tout entertainment and information available at radio station Web sites, as well as concerts they present." (photo) Cumulus Market GM Chris Wheat, who says "patience is key with new formats."