A&O's Annual Pre-CRS Client Seminar

What a DAY to have chosen to send out the first press releases about Albright & O'Malley's February 23 (1 to 5 pm, just prior to the DJ Hall Of Fame banquet) annual client meetings!

Also in reporters' email boxes yesterday: news of the demise of ARB's Michael Skarzynski, 18 markets fail to get PPM MRC accreditation, Sarah Palin's announcement that she's contributing to Fox News. Whew!

When you send out news of a meeting that has been going on for as long as the A&O Pre-CRS Client Seminar, you pray for a slow news day as your only hope for ending up on page one of a trade magazine or two in spite of having "the best agenda ever."

Heck, "what could possibly happen?," I asked myself yesterday as I hit "send" on my release to the trade media.

Dixie Chicks are back in the studio? They chose yesterday to make the announcement?

So, it's just possible that you may have missed the first press on our client seminar. In the event you'd like to read a little "slow news," click here (pdf).

A&O Country Roadmap 2010: 21.3% Of Country Listener Homes Have Only Cell Phones

A&O's annual "Country Roadmap 2010" tech and perceptual survey, tracking usage and content preference trends among listeners to Albright & O'Malley client stations, went into the field on January 26 and will continue through February 14. Already, more than 7,000 respondents from almost 100 radio stations all over the U.S. and Canada have completed the survey.

“Based on this partial sample, it appears that the format has positive momentum with 42% of our respondents saying they are listening more to their local country stations and only 7.9% thus far, saying they are listening less,” according to Michael O’Malley, who will report on the research at A&O's Pre-CRS client seminar in Nashville on Tuesday, February 23.

Last year more than 14,000 listeners in the US and Canada took part in our online poll with each participating station receiving breakouts from their listeners as well as listeners nationwide.

It appears that this year’s final sample will be even larger.

Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Client Seminar
Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm
Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)
Open to non-clients in non-competitive situations by invitation only.
Sponsored by Lyric Street Records

"Like The Amazing Kreskin And Seth Godin Morphed Into One Guy!"

Yes, I did say that and I mean it.

If you come to A&O's Pre-CRS Seminar on Tuesday, February 23, you'll want to be in your seat right from the start.

Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels has been a high-profile player in Canadian radio for more than twenty-five years, recognized as one of the country's top broadcasters. He helped fashion the sound and focus of contemporary Canadian radio through his position as Senior Vice President of Programming for one of Canada’s largest national broadcast chains.

His presentation on how we and our listeners acquire our perceptions and make decisions will be the talk of CRS. Don’t miss it. He will also be opening the ‘Hot Topic’ panel on Friday at the CRS as well, so while everyone at CRS is gasping in amazement, you can say you saw him first!

Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Client Seminar
Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm
Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)
Sponsored by Lyric Street Records

Agenda:

1-1:20 - Tyler Dickerson Lyric Street Records artist
1:25 - 2:40 - Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels - Keynote on decision-making and perceptions
2:40-3;10 - Mike O'Malley - AO Country Roadmap national perceptual
3:15-3:55 - Daniel Anstandig - Interactive Media Action Plan
4:00-4:25 - Tripp Eldridge - Moments of Truth which grow or lose your listeners
4:30-5 pm - Jaye Albright/Phillip Beswick: Meet the Family 2010 Media Audit Country Qualitative

It's going to be well worth your time and attention! RSVP to Michael O'Malley or me, now.

We Are SO Smart

I went with that headline instead of just stealing the one atop the Country Radio Seminar's latest press release:  "Young Country Fans Use an Average of Five Different Social Media Sites" because "we are so smart" is what Mike O'Malley, Becky Brenner and I said to ourselves after seeing this yesterday:

Where should Country radio engage with its new generation of listeners? Everywhere and at once.  A new study on Country listening and media usage among 12-to-34-year-olds shows that the average number of different social media sites used by that demographic is an impressive 4.4. But 12-to-34-year-olds who listen frequently to Country music are even more prone to be using multiple social media sites simultaneously, an average of 5.0.

Edison Research’s “Understanding Country Radio’s Next Generation of Listeners” is the newest research on the music and media habits of 12-to-34-year olds. The full survey will be unveiled February 19th at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville by Edison’s Larry Rosin and Megan Lazovick, along with Jayne Charneski, an expert on “Millennials.” A follow-up session will be held February 20th.

Edison surveyed 1,550 12-34-year-olds, including nearly 900 respondents under age 25.   In addition, Edison conducted face-to-face interviews with Millennials about their attitudes towards Country music, Country radio, and music listening and media habits in general. Those interviews will be unveiled for the first time at the Country Radio Seminar presentation. 

The average number of social networks used is the number that respondents said that they used “actively or occasionally.”

“Broadcasters are at widely varying places in their social media efforts, and acknowledging the need to engage with listeners and potential listeners does not always translate to having a strategy,” says Edison Research president Larry Rosin. “Knowing that young Country fans are on even more networks than their already savvy peers means that Country needs a wide-ranging social media strategy that goes beyond ‘like us on Facebook.’ We look forward to helping guide broadcasters craft that strategy at CRS.”

That process already started long ago at A&O&B. 

That's why we hired Jacobs Media's Lori Lewis to help our clients navigate the future.  It begins publicly at A&O&B's Pre-CRS Seminar February 18 in Nashville, where you will want to hear Lori's presentation, part of our best client seminar EVER.

RSVP for 2014's 2/18 client seminar now (click)!

“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.

Meet the Family

“The better we know our target, the more we can make them a part of our station family, building loyalty and hitting the target where it lives.” - Phillip Beswick, The Media Audit

So, thanks to TMA, A&O's Jaye Albright will be presenting the current qualitative profile of the country format's radio listener as a part of next Tuesday's Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS client seminar at the downtown Nashville main library auditorium. The A&O presentation covers an extensive array of demographic, socioeconomic and consumer shopping information.

For example, TMA shows that country’s Hispanic audience has been growing, though the format continues to be 80% non-ethnic.

The Media Audit, established in 1971, is a syndicated, local market, multimedia, qualitative audience survey measuring radio, radio dayparts, TV channels viewed in total and by dayparts, TV newscast viewing, daily newspapers and other local and regional print publications, exposure to outdoor billboards, direct mail and local market internet websites.

This will be the third qualitative snapshot of country listeners The Media Audit has performed for the Pre-CRS A&O client meeting since 2006.

It has been two years since the last update, so we’ll focus especially on target changes which impact sales and programming.

It's Time To RSVP

AGENDA COMPLETE FOR ALBRIGHT & O’MALLEY’S 2010 PRE-CRS CLIENT SEMINAR
The event is cosponsored with Lyric Street Records, debuting Tyler Dickerson Tuesday, February 23, 1-5pm Nashville Downtown Library Auditorium, 615 Church Street, Downtown Nashville (a walkway to the library goes through the Bridge Bar and parking garage)

Agenda:
1-1:20 - Tyler Dickerson Lyric Street Records artist
1:25 - 2:40 - Mentalist/former radio programmer Eric Samuels - Keynote on decision-making and perceptions
2:40-3;10 - Mike O'Malley - AO Country Roadmap national perceptual
3:15-3:55 - Daniel Anstandig - Interactive Media Action Plan
4:00-4:25 - Tripp Eldridge - Moments of Truth which grow or lose your listeners
4:30-5 pm - Jaye Albright/Phillip Beswick: Meet the Family 2010 Media Audit Country Qualitat

Country radio specialists Jaye Albright and Michael O’Malley (click on either name to RSVP) are presenting yet another reason to attend this year’s Country Radio Seminar and arrive a day early. The consultants have lined up a four-hour slate of presentations, speakers and special events for their clients who are attending CRS, and now they are opening their Tuesday, February 23 meeting to the public by invitation only at the downtown Nashville Library Auditorium.

Anyone who works for an A&O client station has received their invitations now, and if you don't compete with an Albright & O'Malley client, you're also invited (free). But, you do need an invitation.

A&O&B Client Seminar 2013 Quotes

Thanks to Country Aircheck for being on hand for our event and for taking such copious notes:  "Beyond revealing their annual (client only ppt) Roadmap Study, the Albright & O’Malley & Brenner Pre-CRS Client Seminar touched on everything from being active, engaged and relevant with your audience via social media, digital tools and station branding, to tips for talent and what Gen Y will mean to our industry in the coming years."

• Of 6,272 Country P1 participants from 50 markets in the U.S. and Canada, 70% report being satisfied with the format. Of those who aren’t, song-repetition and commercials were top reasons. Country listeners are increasingly tech savvy, with 75% reporting using some sort of social media every day (up from 66% last year), and 31% report having an internet connection of some sort in their cars.
   
• Rick Barker says stations too often use digital tools to “push” information to the audience without “engaging” them. “You have to offer value,” he says. Among his examples: teaming with new artists you can’t yet include in your playlist who are willing to offer free song downloads via the station website and social media. Attached sponsorships can help drive NTR.
   
• “Content is key,” says Mike Stern. “Be a friend and a companion. Be a filter, give them something they can steal to use themselves, and focus on things that make you react.”
   
• Steve Zielonka encourages programmers to “always be collecting data (ABCD)” and use it to engage the audience. “You can’t just send out irrelevant information anymore. They’ll delete you, they’ll mark you as spam and they’ll block you. There are always negative consequences.” Use your tools to conduct surveys, for example. “Ask, ‘Are you a Toby Keith fan? Here’s a chance for you to sing on stage with him.’ Then follow-up with other Toby Keith-related
  contests. When you send a targeted email, you’ll see your open rates double and triple.”
  
  
• Newcap Radio VP/Programming and Brand Like A Rockstar author Steve Jones says, “Brands are feelings that live in the heart of the customer. Jimmy Buffett’s biggest song wasn’t that big of a hit. ‘Margaritaville’ peaked at No. 7. But at his shows, people are painting their bodies, getting drunk and having a great time because he sells the experience of being a beach-bum.” Make it a point to understand your enemy and let them help define your brand. “Walmart’s slogan ‘Save Money, Live Better’ makes it all about saving money,” Jones explains. “Then Target comes in with ‘Expect More, Pay Less,’ basically saying, ‘You’re above that crap they’re selling at Walmart.’”
       
• Grab a (client only) copy of "The Gen X Versus Gen Y Conflict" (pdf) my presentation about the population shift ahead of us. Gen Y is estimated at 78 million, much larger than the 40-50 million-strong Gen X preceding it, and it sees the world quite differently. It’s a group that Country programmers will need to adjust to."

A&O "Hearts" Country Aircheck On Valentine's Day

We loved CA reporter Jeff Green's article today, "A&O Seminar: Rules Of Engagement."

Everybody in Country radio is doing social media these days, but how much does it really matter whether a station and its personalities are actively involved with Facebook and Twitter? Evidently, a great deal. Findings will be unveiled by DMRInteractive COO Andrew Curran as part of a new Arbitron/DMR report, one of the many sessions of Albright & O’Malley’s Pre-CRS Client Seminar Feb. 21 in Nashville.

“If we look at the high-performing stations, they will have a larger percentage of their cume in Facebook than the average station,” A&O’s Jaye Albright says. “Andrew will point out how they’ve done several campaigns to increase the level of engagement on social networking, and it’s had a payoff in cume growth because it’s so viral. The truth is that we’ve just scratched the surface of what we can do to grow our cume and our usage and engagement using social media.”

A digital report card for the 72 leading Country stations in the top 50 markets is among the new presentations to be delivered during the event, which is free to anyone in markets non-competitive to A&O clients. The aim is a scientific approach to addressing criticisms leveled by CRS 2011 keynoter Shelly Palmer that most radio websites “suck.”

A&O partner Becky Brenner explains, “I examined each station’s overall web appearance and functionality, listener rewards program, email database, texting activity, presence on Facebook and Twitter, and what they do with new music on their web pages.” While promising some “surprising” insights, Brenner says, “I was thrilled to see that all 72 stations are active on Facebook. Their total reach is almost 1 million listeners. That’s a good number considering that most of these stations have only been active on Facebook within the last two years.”

Also new this year will be a team from BDS to present case studies and insights on differentiating your station musically, while industry executive and Vanderbilt adjunct professor Tim DuBois will share his ideas on branding and separating station product beyond music. WQHK/Ft. Wayne, IN executives will furnish specifics on listener-driven, revenue-generating new media promotions that can be deployed immediately. Also, talent coaches Randy Lane and Cliff Dumas will discuss training tools and techniques on developing “authentic storylines behind your character” and how to evolve them using social media.

The seminar kick offs with A&O’s seventh annual Roadmap Study of radio listeners’ perceptions on music, the state of Country radio and related topics including the impact of Pandora, Spotify,
Rhapsody and Slacker. Emphasizing a theme of “branding and engagement,” partner Michael O’Malley promises “a content-rich afternoon with takeaways for talent, programmers, promotions and sales.” Sponsor Broken Bow/Stoney Creek will present a performance by Dustin Lynch.

To receive an invitation including location details, click on this link:

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The Media Audit: Hispanic Listening To Country Radio Is Increasing

A new analysis, based on all country radio listeners in the 84 Media Audit Markets surveyed between 2001 and 2006, will be released in detail at Albright & O’Malley’s Pre-CRS “Sunrise Seminar”, which also shows growth in internet usage, support of the Republican party and a decline in country listeners who are registered Democrats

A&O are presenting yet another reason to attend this year’s Country Radio Seminar and arrive very early on Wednesday, February 28, 2007.

This first look at new data on country listeners provides evidence that the CRS-Edison Research project on what country music needs to do to appeal to Hispanic radio listeners is very timely, given that TMA’s 18+ telephone sampling shows an increase of 34% in the number of Hispanics who report listening to country radio in the last three years. We will present a detailed look at country qualitative trends at our Pre-CRS 'sunrise" seminar.

A few other highlights of the TMA national country radio usage data:

* The largest percentage of the country audience in 2006 is 35-44 (24%).
* Almost 77% of country radio listeners are between 18 and 54.
* Both 25-34 and 45-54 usage has been very stable over the last three years.
* The number of country radio listeners online at least once per month has almost doubled from 47.1% in 2001 to 80.5% in the last year.
* The percentage of country listeners who are registered Republicans has been on the increase for the last three years while the percentage who are registered Democrats has been decreasing for five straight years.
* 67% of all country radio listeners say they voted in the past year.
* 82.8% of country listeners questioned by Media Audit in 2006 are not reached by any other format.

Also to be revealed at next Wednesday’s A&O client meeting are the results of “Roadmap 2007,” a perceptual study of 10,062 listeners across the U.S. and Canada who completed an online questionnaire on the type of country music they like best, reasons for listening to their favorite country station, degree of satisfaction with that station, voice tracking, streaming, HD Radio, marketing preferences, their attitudes toward participating in a diary, telephone or metered radio rating surveys,

These two A&O research presentations are just a part of a terrific slate of presentations, speakers and special events for their clients who are attending CRS. Now A&O is opening the meeting to the public by invitation only.

A&O Pre-CRS Seminar '09 - At The Country Music Hall Of Fame

Jessica Andrews performed at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum and Rascal Flatts previewed their new video as the Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS Seminar opened, cosponsored by Country Aircheck and Lyric Street.

Pictured (l-r) are Disney Music Group's Doug Howard, Greg McCarn and Randy Goodman, CA's Lon Helton, A&O's Mike O'Malley, Andrews, A&O's Jaye Albright, Disney's Kevin Herring and Carolwood's John Ettinger and Chris Palmer.

Keynoter Jeff Vidler (Angus Reid Strategies) urged the assembled programmers to pick the right target demo in their markets, know and reflect that target, build a bold and relevant brand, and hitch that brand to digital media, "What’s Next for Radio."

Changing demographics:
• Leading edge of baby boom out of 25-54; miniboom now moving into 25-54
• 25-54s will get more diverse – white, non-hispanic declines
• Growth will be in more urban counties; metropolitan counties younger as well
• Hispanic median age 27 (black 33-34, white 41)
• Older, white, rural vs. younger, diverse and urban
• Challenge: How can country remain true to roots and values yet appeal to younger, diverse, urban?

Internet changes
• Consumer is in control and know it
• Expects everything faster, better, cheaper
• Want what I want when I want it
• Increased expectation for material success, more women in the workforce balancing family and aging parents, increased commute time (148 hrs per year)

Explosion of choice
• Number of brands on shelves – 15,00 in 1991, 51,000 in 2001, 135,000 in 2011
• Ad messages per day – 1960- 1,5,00 by 2010 = 9,000
• Unlmited media fragementation – 175M Facebooks uers, 250M my space, 2.2 million Twitter, 27 million Xanga users
• 83 M visited youtube in Jan 2009, 34% more vidfeos watched than last year, 150,000 videos uploaded each day

New Audio Alternatives
• Young – mass media is spam controlled by someone else and a poor alternative
• Share of past week listeningto all forms of audio (online consumers):18-34 – use less than half of 55+ (27%/60%); 35-54 47%; 18-34 46% of all audio is to personal music”
• 18+ - about 50% radio indespensible/important
• Why: distribution advantage (esy, convenient free) 40%; exclusive content 30%, non-exclusive conent 20$=%
• 18-34 place most value on easy/convenient/free

Recession Is the mother of Innovation

Format Core Brand Values:
CHR – young, in touch with trends
Country – down to earth, comfortable with self, family important
Rock – renegade party
Alternative – open-minded, discovery
Soft AF – refined, loving, being content

Richard Harshaw/Monopolize Your Marketplace

Record incentives aren’t helping sell cars: “What convinces is conviction” – Lyndon Johnson (no amount of logic will change a conviction)

Hyundai – up 14% in January (assurance program); Ford down 47%

Find out what’s really important in your products, i.e. "If you lose your job, we'll take the car back, no questions asked."

Confidence gap – increased knowledge/competition, choice/information, longer buying cycles, prducts are commodities, identical marketing messages

Inside reality vs. outside reality
What’s your inside reality for your station as it relates to advertiser relationship?

Outside perception – how people thing about you (no matter how good your inside reality is, the outside perception will drive the business)

Typical relationship is transactional: client gets exposure in exchange for dollars
You deliver ratings, offer a certain value – it is what it is
Sales staff is full of sales people (not necessarily marketing people)

Advertisers frustrations: they have budgets, but they don’t know much about advertising
Symptoms – they let ad reps write their ads for them
Continue to spend money on things that don’t work
They become skeptical of all new ad opportunities
Now scared because of recession

Outside perception – aad sales jobs often, wll do anything to get sale, try to sping numbers and cut prices in hopes of getting any sale

Three steps to Powerful Marketing
Have something good to say
Say it well
Saying it often

Have something good to say – your marketing job will be eaiser if you innovate your business
Become Fountain of knowledge:for customers – they need customers
What business are you really in – helping clients maximize their advertising opportunities

Psychology of persuasion
Repricocity (if I do something for you, you’d do something for me)
Consistency
Social proof
Scarcity
Liking (more likely to do business with people I like)
Authority (are they really an authority on the subject)

Become a beacon of light in hazy world of advertising; helping them make best choice of budgets, offer bonafide marketing advie and solutions; you have to be willing to lose sometimes

Be liked, authority, reciprocity – all weapons of influence

How to help… become fountain of all knowledge for client
Evaluate marketing messages
Weekly emails with marketing ideas
Monthly mailers/CDs (may be online, but you hand it to you)
Monthly tele-seminar
Website to download information
Live training seminars (put on seminar for clients)
Most ad reps have hand out for money – you hand out material)

Make sure your sales reps "have," so they can give

GARY MARINCE VP/Programming and Services Development

Radio gets better TSL by minimizing tune-outs
To increase your ratings, build a bigger hour
When marketing is high and station has high AQH quarter-hours, we need to keep these hour CLEAN
Highest numbers are often hours with most music
Strategic placement of spots is important – when commercials air, stations lose 20% of QH audience
Keep spots out of strongest quarter hours.

Find out what QHRs are strongest, and keep them clean; puts spots in the softest QHRs (lose 20% of listeners in a QHR that has fewer QHRs to begin with).

The biggest market quarter hours (most AQH persons) – keep ultra clean – minimal (or no) commercials, no promotional announcements, etc.

WYCD – national cume ratings leader for the country format. What do they do?
Highest cume rating – lowest number of titles (tight library)
Minutes in music – cume leader has most
Smallest minutes in mic time – cume leader keeps more audience from tuning away during non-music times
2 stop sets, lowest commercial load limit

Super Heavy User Quintiles: Heaviest users don’t listen at the same times/have a pattern. What have you done for them today?

Accountability – poor talent breaks can cause severe audience erosion; it’s all about the talent presentation/content and the expectations people have of the station

PP1s are even more critical in PPM – fewer number of meters

Voice-tracked do not appear to be penalized; ‘best of’ shows are penalized

Tommy Kramer coaching tips

• Question: What’s your goal a year from now? Answer: I’ll help you.
• Cultivate an environment where you can foster/nurture talent.
• Talent will keep doing the same thing until you show them it’s irrelevant
• Be the moon, reflect back to listeners what he/she care about with your observations and opinions makes you relevant
• You’ll become closer to listeners when you exchange opinions, share feelings
• For reticent talent: play worst break and ask them if that’s what they want to be known for? Do it quietly/one-on-one.
• Unique: where you only say what only you would say
• Find a way to put things on the air that are unique to you.
• With focus (on your listener) comes depth, and with depth comes vocabulary.
• Radio is about words and emotions.
• How to stand out: say things that are unique to you that you and your listeners have on their minds. (is it real, relevant, emotional AND interesting).
• Every meaningful relationship starts with things you have in common.
• Show prep is easy – just keep your eyes open (digital recorder for thoughts; flip camera; cell phone)
• If you’re only doing audio, you’re a dinosaur; all dinosaurs did top become oil was stand still
• The camera angle you use determines how you’ll tell the story.
• The first place you can get out, get out.
• We’re not DJs. We’re voice actors; jocks try too hard.
• How to be great – guaranteed – 5 things (Weigh yourself not against other DJs, but everything vying for listeners’ attention; your promos compete against Hollywood trailers.)
a. Say things once, well. No summing up. Say station first, say something worth hearing; shut up.
b. Getting to the point quickly is the name of the game.
c. Forget about your voice; big voices are less effective because it’s about real; big voices sound angry or tired.
d. Let go of caring how you’re perceived. Egos are the enemy of performance (except for Rush Limbaugh who is intentionally set up to be this).
e. Picture your listeners’ lives, then work back to the control room, then reflect it back featured through your opinions.

Click here to read Country Aircheck's recap of CRS events yesterday including quotes from A&O's Pre-CRS seminar. Thanks again to the Country Music Hall Of Fame for again hosting our event!

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.

Ask ARB's Gary Marince

Albright & O’Malley’s 2009 Pre-CRS Client Seminar and the Country DJ & Radio Hall of Fame Dinner, which has long been one of this industry’s most uplifting events kick off CRS week in Nashville on Tuesday March 3.

Our agenda begins at 12:15 pm at the Country Music Hall Of Fame's Ford Theater. During a 2:45 pm session, Marince. Arbitron’s VP/Programming Services answers your questions, and the ones you didn’t know to ask yet, about diaries, PPM, and much more.

Marince, vice president of ARB Programming Services and Development, leads the effort for development of diary and PPM-based software applications for use by group owners, managers and program directors.

Radio programmers benefit most from Gary's unique blend of major market radio experience: He served as chief engineer at WDVE Pittsburgh before moving across town to help launch the Oldies format at WWSW-FM (3-W-S Radio) and ultimately to become its program director. That station's success has been acknowledged by the industry through multiple Marconi awards. Using Arbitron data, Gary developed software that helped 3-W-S Radio identify and target key neighborhoods; Arbitron bought that software and now licenses it as MapMAKER DirectSM. Gary joined Arbitron to spearhead the development of other PD-oriented applications, such as PD Advantage and Corporate Roll-Up. He is currently researching and developing programming applications for Arbitron's PPM technology. Gary holds a B.A. in communications from Penn State University. He is also the proud father of a budding country music artist.

You do not need to be registered for CRS to attend, but (free) access is by invitation only. To get an invitation, RSVP by emailing Mike O'Malley or Jaye Albright.

MScore: A Music Revolution

Thanks to Country Aircheck for the ink:

Looking for a reason to attend Albright & O'Malley's 2009 Pre-CRS Client Seminar on March 3? With a keynote by media research specialist Jeff Vidler, Mike O'Malley's "Roadmap '09" perceptual study and the instantly applicable work of talent coach Tommy Kramer – not to mention live performances from Josh Gracin and Jessica Andrews – its not like this platform was needing any more support. But that didn't stop Jaye Albright from adding a real kicker. This one's big.

The event's final session, prior to Andrews' musical closing, is titled, "The PPM Music Test 'MScore Switch' Is On." MScore is a number developed by Media Monitors to indicate whether a song is more or less likely to make a listener switch away from a station. And it's based on hard data.

As attendees at Country Aircheck's 2007 PPM Seminar may remember, the ability to marry the PPM's moment-by-moment listener data with Mediabase airplay data now gives us the ability to see exactly how the audience reacts to every song. But where Arbitron's Gary Marince whetted that 2007 crowd's appetite, Albright is preparing to serve a meal.

Remember, 14 markets are currently live with PPM, and 19 more will be online by year's end. Turn one of Country's deepest thinkers like Albright loose on this growing pool of data, and the results are, frankly, beyond compelling.

Here's a taste, with quotes straight from Albright's presentation:

• MScore Makes Research Look Good: "If you see callout, auditorium and online music testing, you'll see very few surprises."
• Superstars Don't Matter: "With rare exceptions, songs matter."
• First Impressions Can Mislead: "Some songs take a while to grow on the audience."
• Familiarity Has An Edge: "However, some songs grow audience with the very first week of airplay."

Of course, there are other issues with far-reaching implications for programmers, not to mention record labels. Once PPM has extended itself into the top 50 markets, how with the number of currents be affected? Albright has a prediction. The balance between programming for TSL or cume also gets close inspection.

And then there is the very real concern that a P1 PPM holder – who may be providing data for years, unlike the regularly rotating diary takers – could inadvertently become the hub around which all of the station's programming revolves. Or, as Albright asks, "Should I drop a song when it is obvious that one or two of my heavy-user panelists doesn’t like it?"

Overall, it's clear we've only yet scratched the surface of this well of data, which promises to only get deeper. "The more you see," Albright admits, "the more you'll want to see." There's also little doubt that MScore has the potential to become yet another flashpoint between labels and radio. Albright likens it to when Country started doing callout research 30 years. "But," she says, "in the long run I think it's going to be very good for all of us."

After spending 90 days drilling through data on 17 Country stations in Arbitron's 14 PPM markets, Albright has put together an eye-opening 45 minutes to cap the A&O event. Admission is free and all are welcome, save those in competitive situations with A&O clients. Email Mike (mike@albrightandomalley.com) or Jaye (jaye@albrightandomalley.com) for your invitation.

The Interactive Media Action Plan

A&O is delighted to have Daniel Anstandig, recently recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the top five innovators in media and the President of McVay New Media addressing our Pre-CRS client seminar on Tuesday, February 23.

“In 2010, the difference between hitting your budget and not hitting your budget will be interactive advertising. Many of our clients have rewritten job descriptions of key managers in the organization, revised bonus structures to include interactive audience and revenue benchmarks, and adjusted programming and promotions to include on-air and online elements together. Program Directors have been transformed into brand managers. Sellers have been transformed into Client Solutions Specialists, developing marketing plans for their clients that include on-air, online, and on-the-go (mobile) components. The bottom line is that we are still in the business of selling access to audience, whether the audience is on the other side of a radio, computer screen, or mobile phone/PDA.”

...one more reason to RSVP now!

Tripp Eldridge: Does "The Truth" Hurt?

At the December Arbitron Fly-In Eldridge introduced the concept of "Moments of Truth" and equated them to a radio listening occasion:

“For programmers and marketers, the "Moment of Truth" occurs at the point where a consumer turns on the radio and (virtually instantaneously) makes the decision as to which station they're going to listen to. We looked at several PPM markets across all stations and found that, on average, the typical heavy radio listener has thirty-one unique "moments of truth" each week. That's thirty-one times where they turn on the radio -- radio listening occasions. (We used heavy listeners -- those who listen an hour or more a day -- because, while they represent just half of all consumers, they drive nearly all (88%) of the radio listening. However in case you're wondering, we checked and the average light user has just 7 listening occasions during the course of a typical week. The job of a programmer and marketer is to win as many of those ‘moments of truth’ as possible and the best way to do that is to win them first as soon as the radio is turned on.”

Tripp joined dmr as President and Chief Operating Officer in 1998. Prior to that, he spent 15 years in product management, consumer marketing, and media research.

A&O is excited that he'll be sharing "The Truth" and what to do about it at our Pre-CRS Client Seminar on Tuesday, February 23 in Nashville. RSVP now!

Country Listeners: 80% Caucasian, But Increasingly Hispanic

Just as Arbitron reports on Black and Hispanic radio audiences, The Media Audit newly-updated national country qualitative study presented this week to the Albright & O'Malley Pre-CRS client seminar shows that country’s Hispanic audience has been growing.

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.

A&O Is Behind (And Literally In Front Of..) The CMHOF

Comments from the more than 100 attendees to our annual 2007 Pre-CRS client seminar at the Country Music Hall Of Fame were extremely positive .. both about our presentations and the meeting facilities at the Hall. This place is not only worthy of a visit next time you are in Music City, but it's worthy of radio's full support. Contact Brandi Harris Vanantwerp at 615-416-2075. (Pictured, l to r: Our wise and all-knowing tour guide, JRN people including ACM national personality of the year nominee Danny Wright, Jaye Albright and Michael O'Malley)

Learning From The Politicians

Arbitron, Pandora, Edison Research and Ando Media are all playing "the game" well, right now.

What can you learn from it all?

1. Negative Advertising

• Show a meaningful comparison or reinforce existing negative opinions of your opponent (“proving someone’s dislike”)
• Use no unwarranted personal attacks
• Use humor to soften the blow
• Use candidates’ own words to associate them with negatives (you must aggressively monitor your competitors to do this)
• Use a “High/low” approach - talk about your positives while you attack a competitor’s position

2. Position Your Opponent Before He Positions You

• Don’t ignore a new competitor; they’re going to be noticed as soon as they start to market; act first
• One of the most powerful attacks for a new competitor is to hang the old/out of touch handle on you
• Respond rapidly. Unanswered advertising works (see don’t ignore new competitor)
• Whoever quits marketing first will suffer (Ross Perot was considerably stronger where he continued market after others quit)

3. Steal Their Issues

• Steal anything they do that is good
• Muddy the waters
• Shade the product towards the attacker to dilute their uniqueness

4, Conduct Opposition Research

• Dig up facts on competition; not only is it fodder for attacks, it helps foster an understanding of where they are likely to go
• Monitor everything they do

-- Larry Rosen, Edison Media Research, Applying Political Strategies to Radio (from a 1996 presentation to A&O's Pre-CRS client seminar)