You Can Get Into This Picture

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

The Grand Ole Opry Has Been On MySpace For Years

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

Taylor Swift SensatioNaL on SNL

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

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

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

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

She also referenced her nasty breakup with Joe Jonas:

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

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

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

One of her best moments was singing "Untouchable."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Both companies do constant research on how listeners use radio.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whose Toes?

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

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

Strait And Reba Tour Together In 2010

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

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

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

Make Your Remote Broadcasts A Positive, Not A Negative

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Often Do The Members Of Your Database/Social Networts Interact With You?

Once a week?

"New media users overwhelmingly believe companies or brands should not only have a presence in new media (95%) but also interact with their consumers (89%). The majority of consumers are still seeking out companies and brands on traditional Web sites (58%) and through email (45%), but anywhere from a third to a quarter of consumers want to interact with companies and brands in social networks (30%) and via online games (24%)."

Almost 80 percent (78%) of new media users interact with companies or brands via new media sites and tools, an increase of 32 percent from 2008 (59%). And, the frequency of interaction is increasing, too, with more than a third (37%) of users engaging companies or brands via new media at least once per week (up from one-in-four last year). These are among the findings of the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study, which explores consumers’ interactions with brands, their engagement with corporate responsibility practices and their support of social and environmental issues.

For more: Andrea List (617.939.8418)

Wise Words

“You have to make sure you have the right people doing the right jobs and that the entire staff is on the same page. To quote a phrase from the great Woody Hayes, "You Win With People.”

“Visibility in the market for any of your personalities is essential and if you don’t have the marketing tools to tout the virtues of an imported show, syndicated show or even a live and local show, it can adversely affect the adaptor process.”

“Less experienced programmers have a tendency to look at music research and callout and place too much emphasis on songs at the top. Certainly the research helps guide us with what our customers like or want, but sometimes there’s an over reliance of playing those songs over and over. There are a lot of different factors that come into play and should be considered.”

“The sales department has identified the digital platform as a viable area for revenue growth and the onus is also on programming to make sure we’re delivering content and getting our content spread among the platforms, especially the unique content we generate through our personalities.”

-- Rob Morris, OM KDWB/KTLK & PD KDWB, Minneapolis to FMQB's Fred Deane

"We Used To Do That"

Looking today at the bats flying over the Halloween-themed branding on the website of Vancouver's new Shore 104 FM, I was reminded back when the internet was a new thing and we all had fresh, topical, clever screen-savers and wallpaper available for downloading to listeners' at work desk-tops.

Whatever happened to that idea? It's a little like giving your at work listeners Post-its with your brand on them. Yes, in many ways, so "yesterday," and yet who doesn't need an extra pad of Post-It's today and a screen saver?

I say these words at least once every day: "The epitaph on the tombstone of many a dead radio station is 'we used to do that.'"

Three Reasons Radio FAILS At Social Media

Long-time music and radio marketing whiz Beth Warren says that very few radio stations are using social media well.

Most aren’t using it at all.

In this economy and the state that terrestrial radio is in, you THINK they’d be all over it.. after all, more listeners = more ratings = more money. But they aren’t. They are either just not bothering or they are doing it poorly.

For three reasons (click to read her blog post on them):

1. Radio does not engage.
2. Radio doesn’t promote itself.
3. Radio vastly underestimates Social Media’s value.

Warren points out that of over 12 THOUSAND radio stations in the United States but only 121 of them are on Twitter. (http://radioontwitter.com/)

Do You Know Where You Are Going?

Tamara Stanners is APD of Vancouver/AAA The Peak. She recently conducted some air staff coaching while I was a fly on the wall and since PPM in Canada is a minute-by-minute game, when she talked, I listened:

"One of the first things we learn as writer/communicator!s is to start with the end in mind. To have a clear goal of where we want our radio magic to go. What some of us seem to have forgotten is that knowing where to go is just the first step."

We also have to make sure the journey to our destination is well thought out of and concise. Meandering all over the road and going backwards to retrace steps just doesn't work on the radio.

It doesn't work in life either. Don't waste the listener's time. Don't waste your own.

If they've figured out what you're saying, they may stop listening even if you don't stop talking.

Think things through. Write them out if you have to. Make sure the beginning/middle and end are all worth doing. If they are not, don't do it. Do nothing. It's better than sounding like you don't know what you are doing.

Be GREAT! That is why you are here.

Killing The Goose

As news-talk consultant Holland Cooke keeps predicting a tsunami of talk FM stations should Congress ever grant the record industry's wish to get a royalty for radio airplay of their music, it's easy to shrug and say that it's surely never going to really happen because at the end of the day the RIAA will realize that they'll lose a lot more than they gain should they win this fight.

If that's how you feel, please take an hour and listen to NPR's On The Media this week.

History demonstrates that labels have a long track record of shooting themselves in the foot by putting the people who are in position to grow their business .. out of business.

Will Christmas Music Take Another Fall Book Toll On The Country Format?

As A&O clients received our 48-page Christmas 2009 package this week, we started it off by resurrecting a Mark Ramsey quote from last year’s hear2.0, saying that, with the extreme turbulence in our economy today, this will be the biggest year for Christmas music on the radio EVER.

He said, “I don’t mean just the number of stations doing it. I mean the volume of listeners finding safe refuge in it.”

AC Consultant Mike McVay notes that 100000watts.com and M Street counted 418 stations which went all Christmas last December and states

“We expect all of these and at least another 50 this year. Obviously, there are another 1,000 radio stations that play partial XMAS music or go to 100% Christmas a few days before 12-25. Most every radio station will play "some" Christmas music before 12-25. That includes news/talk stations.”

But, he also takes issue with Ramsey:

“I hope that Mark is right. We consult more AC stations than anyone else, so it behooves me if he is right, but I think that the Christmas following 9-11 was the biggest ever. Having said that, it is difficult to compare apples-to-apples, since the PPM is now a part of our world.”

"We Really Need Good Music From The Marquee Artists"

"A sign that country!s popularity pendulum is maybe beginning to swing in the right direction is the number of artists who have been recently exposed on the TV talk show circuit.

"Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts and Tim McGraw have had some face time in the last couple of weeks. Taylor Swift was on Oprah, will be on SNL in a couple of weeks and Carrie Underwood has her special coming up. And Garth can still draw massive attention to his press conferences, even if it is to show he can still shoot himself in the foot with Chris Gaines accuracy.

"Really, making a “coming out of retirement” announcement should never include an “I won’t be doing any new music for 5 years” statement." -- Gord Eno, PD, www.jrfm.com/http://www.thepeak.fm/

Focus On Your Heavy Users

Charlie Sislen and the team at The Research Director have been keeping stats on diarykeepers and now PPM panelists for many years.

Here's a quick A&O recap of what they've learned and what to do about it:

How important to average quarter hour share is the proverbial "P-1" listener to the average radio station? Their findings, based on 91,409 Arbitron diaries from 297 radio station mechanicals in market sizes ranging from #1 to #253 (since all Research Director clients must also be Arbitron subscribers, the results tend to have a bias toward ratings leaders, top competitors and research savvy station and not all formats were represented (religious, non-commercial, adult urban and big band were missing from the analysis, but all other formats were represented)):

* Nearly three-quarters of all station quarter hours come from just over a third of the average station's diaries.
* Exclusive audience, people who report listening to only one station, gives more than double its share of quarter hours, compared to its percentage of diaries.
* A small number of diarykeepers makes a big difference in the average station's ratings.
* Those heavy listeners who give the average station 100 or more quarter hours per week of their time are less than ten percent of all diaries, but account for four of ten of ALL quarter hours of listening. This stat from diaries, hold up in PPM as well.
* THE ballgame is decided at work!
* On average, it would take almost twice as many at home and four times as many in car listeners to equal the contribution to the normal station's time spent listening that at work diarykeepers make.
* The first and second day of the diary week ARE almost ten percent more likely to have reported listening in the diary, but don't forgot those other weekdays too. They are written down by more than half of all diarykeepers. Two out of three diarykeepers write no listening on Sunday.
* PPM listeners are found equally in every minute of every hour, seven days a week.
There are really two ways to increase your time spent listening, by increasing the number of listening occasions (the diary average is 6.2 times per week which are written in 3.4 days in the diary) and the length of time spent each time.
* If you do any special marketing to diarykeepers, do it in the last phase of each survey, focusing on week 4, 7, 8, 11 and 12.
* PPM rewards, instead, consistent tuning minute-by-minute and day-by-day, yet "events" still spike usage.
* Finally, outside marketing efforts appear to have only a very small (but positive) impact on your P-1 listeners. However, your P-2, P-3 and P-4 listeners devote almost twice as many quarter hours to the average station when you do TV, telemarketing or direct mail. For example, Sislen reports that one station received 24% of ALL their quarter hours for the entire book in one week, the week that their full market direct mail piece hit mailboxes!

To win in the ratings, diaries or PPM....

1. Develop a relationship with and appeal to first preference listeners.
2. Recognize the impact of heavy listeners. Include them in all research and marketing efforts designed to improve TSL.
3. To improve TSL...
increase the number of listening occasions
more days
more locations
more reasons to tune in at specific times
increase the duration of listening
give reasons to continue listening
remove tune-outs
4. Market to develop and cultivate new listeners.

Radio, Outdoor Rates Down Compared To Last Year

The good news is: a) we're not alone and b) though the first half of 2009 has drops in ad spending across all media—even online— advertisers are more optimistic about the latter part of the year, according to JPMorgan.

The bad news is: Ad pricing is down across the board, as the majority of media buyers and planners reported they were paying less in 2009 than the previous year for ads across all media. Nine out of 10 respondents said prices had gone down for radio and outdoor, while 85% reported the same for magazines and newspapers.

Spins And Spin

Spanish Broadcasting System sent out a press release last week announcing that it is finalizing plans to roll out a network-style, legal pay-for-play program in overnight hours at its 21 radio stations.

Chief revenue officer Frank Flores says the Musical Infomercial program is intended to monetize fringe dayparts and level the playing field for independent artists.

The bundled airplay has been approved by the company’s legal department, including one package of roughly 48 plays a week per station. Each song will be billboarded with an announcement that it is ”brought to you by” the sponsoring entity from 11 pm-6 am and Saturday-Sunday from 11 pm-10 am.

"Ideally this could serve as a launching pad for new artists.” Flores says that SBS hopes to gain more buy-in from indie labels and artists.

Decoded: 48 plays a week on enough stations means that it could be possible to "buy" a top ten chart hit, which actually could receive no airplay at all at times when the sun is shining and the majority of listeners could hear it. This will be a launching pad for new artists and indie labels whose bank accounts are larger than their talent.

The irony: this comes at the same time the music industry is pushing for radio stations to pay labels and artists a performance royalty for airing their music.

Decoded: we'll pay you lots of money to play the songs and artists whose quality won't justify airplay without the paid spins. If you want to play songs and artists your listeners like and enjoy, radio needs to pay us for that.

Premiere’s “After Midnight” is also after record label dollars. Blair Garner’s new web video feature “Fresh Catch” gives new and emerging artists a chance to promote their music.

Garner sees it more about helping break new artists. “This new web feature gives the public a chance to check out the best new talent, learn more about them and even buy their music online.”

Decoded: ... if they have the money to pay for it. The FCC has no pay-for-play rules online, just on air. I do have to say that since this approach won't distort airplay charts, it's more acceptable to me than paid "group" spins. If Blair's listeners like the new artist music online and the songs start to test well enough for broadcast airplay, that could prove to be a win for everyone.

ARB CEO Michael Skarzynski: “Over the past nine months, Arbitron has made significant advancements to improve sample quality,”

Decoded: Total installed persons in New York in September are at their lowest levels all year, down by over 300 meters since last December. Arbitron is having long-term difficulty with 35-44 year-olds. In another PPM market, for example, I just printed out a ranker on 35-44 and 45-54 women and out came five or more pages of stations with zeros in their audience estimates! What are buyers supposed to do with that information, just not buy any radio during the end-of-summer weeks and the Labor Day holiday?

H.R. 1147 (The Local Radio Community Act) directs the FCC to “ensure that licenses are available to both FM translator stations and Low Power FM stations. And that such decisions are made on the needs of the local community.”

Decoded: interference is acceptable to lawmakers if it comes from schools, churches and other community-based organizations? Sounds like another Docket 80-90.

How Will Your Self-Promotion Fare?

Accountability IS the future, and now that new measures are evolving to check - down to units smaller than a minute in the not-too-distant future - to see which of the things we broadcast engage/relate and which things are counter-productive to both usage and brand-building, you don't need to listen to very much radio to get very worried about our medium-term future.

We simply MUST stop talking about ourselves and what we do, and begin to sell benefits instead of features in entertaining and compelling ways.

"Content" is not where your next remote broadcast is going to be, or who the guest is going to be on next Sunday's 5:00 am public affairs show.

"Data is going to begin changing the way ... advertising is purchased or managed -- finally -- and "tune-in" is quite likely to be first in line. It certainly won't happen overnight, but the multiples involved are clearly too great to be ignored. 2% improvements won't move markets, but 20% or 2X improvements will. This is going to have a lot of impact in TV measurements, metrics, processes and, very likely, business models. It will certainly be disruptive to many of the incumbents -- and will also present many of them with extraordinary new opportunities -- but it will certainly be crazy getting there."

How many media pundits/research studies have to say this and for how long before radio starts to sound like it's stopped being narcissistic?