This is a report worth studying and sharing with your news staff, owner and, yes, even with sales.
WHAT DOES NEW ARTIST JAKE OWEN HAVE IN COMMON WITH GARTH BROOKS AND CELINE DION?
Newcomer Owen is making a name for himself with his catchy, danceable, relatable new single “Yee Haw,” but, he almost had his radio tour promoting his song interrupted when his wallet was stolen at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, leaving him without a photo ID to board the plane for his next
appointment. So, Jake and the RCA rep approached the counter with a brilliant plan, “We’ll talk our way through it,” said Jake with the dogged determination of a 24-year-old. With his cache of his own CD’s and 8 X 10 photos, Jake explained the situation to the customer service manager. “Well, we were prepared for a strip search and a heavy round of interrogation when Diane (the service manager) told us this same exact thing happened with her many years ago with another young singer,” Jake said, with bit of surprise in his voice. “She said it was a female singer with the same problem. The singer gave her some music that day too and signed CD's for her as well. So I said, ‘Is it anybody we know?’” To which she replied, “Probably, you’ve heard of Celine Dion?”
As it turns out, in a post-9/11 world, Jake was lucky that saved the day for him, considering Garth had a rougher time when he once faced the same situation pre-9/11. Brooks was farther along in his career than Jake when he showed up at an airline counter in Pittsburgh, PA without his ID. The gate agent didn’t recognize him and wouldn’t let him on the plane, even after his companion pulled out a Garth CD with his picture on it and showed it to the agent. Eventually, after a lot of convincing, the agent believed him and let him head to his plane. Garth says as he rounded a corner, a group of fans exiting an arriving flight, rushed over to him and asked for his autograph, giving Garth one of those “Where were you when I needed you moments!”
The folks studying trends in public radio listening are starting to sound like commercial radio conglomerates of a decade ago.
Read Interim Report 4: An Historic Loss of Momentum for their focus on their local programming and, especially, the financial implications for stations.
If they also stop providing local content because it's too expensive, the small owners who didn't pay too much for their properties and thus can still offer live and local - whether commercial or public - are in for a very productive decade ahead unless the big guys start thinking longterm and make the most of terrestial radio's local impact and strength while they (we!) still have it.
WGAR PD Meg Stevens: “We just play the song. We’re taking e-mail and phone feedback during morning drive. It’s 85-90% positive and is among the top nine requests on our ‘Hot 9 at 9.’ I think it’s a hit. It will be interesting what local research says when we have enough spins.”
WUSN PD Mike Peterson: “So far it’s about 80% very positive,” he says.“The negatives are mostly anti-Chicks, but not anti-station. We’ve only got a few ‘won’t listen if you play’ calls."
KEEY PD Gregg Swedberg feels that it’s all about the music. “Early reaction has been about equal on both sides,” he says. “But, in general, there hasn’t been much reaction at all. We aren’t going to play politics with the music, we’re just going to play it and ask the audience what they think the way we do with allour music — via callout, auditorium tests and RateThe Music . “We aren’t getting on the air screaming, ‘The Chicks are back! Listen to this! Tell us what you think!’ Why open old wounds? Why start an argument that isn’t really important anyway? We’re not supporting the Chicks for political reasons. We’re just playing a newsong by a multiplatinum country band."
R&R received a different spin from WKIS PD Bob Barnett, who questioned the label’s choice of singles: “Programmers invited to preview the new Chicks music at CRS universally, unequivocally asked Sony not to release ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ as the first single. We hoped to put the bashing behind us. There are so many strong songs on the CD, there was no need to mess around with the statement song.“ Then ‘Not Ready to Make Nice’ is released. And this Chick-friendly PD thinks, ‘Why would they do this?’ If the goal was to get the Chicks back on the air, they may have just made a horrible decision. So, all bets are off for me. If they don’t care about their relationship with Chick-friendly stations, I’m not sure I’m ready to keep taking [listener] bullets for them anymore. I put the song on to let the listeners decide. Now it appears it’s a song that not only further damages the perception of the Dixie Chicks, but puts the station in a difficult position. I’m weighing the negative impact of those offended by Natalie’s desire to further rub their noses in the drama. I pulled it out of my test category as of this past Sunday."
Nashville Star has started up again for their 4th season. 4 tries at finding a true star, and looking back at the previous 3 "winners," do we truly have any winners? Buddy Jewel is without a label, Brad Cotter never really sold many albums and is without a label, Erika Jo had her hit and has disappeared.George Jones Still on Bandit Records
George Jones has signed a special one-time single deal with Category 5 Records. This is a special deal that will allow Jones to record one song as a "guest artist" for Category 5 Records as part of a tribute album they are producing to honor Jones' long and remarkable career.
Some sites reported earlier this week that he had signed a recording contract with them, which is not true. He remains on his current label, Bandit Records.
'... to those of us who 'get it,' the consumer has ALWAYS been incharge...[ie: the customer is always right] but I know and understand that some businesses have forgotten this adage along the way. Along this line, I like to let my listeners do as much of my show as possible: traffic, introducing music, announcing upcoming events,etc. They love it. I can tell, because when I air someone, all the lines light up, and each caller in their own way, is atempting to say something I feel they think MAY get on the air. Heck, let THEM be the star. After all, they ARE. THEY decide my fate and future in this business, right?"
Tim McGraw: "I spent a lot of time in Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish. It was 100 percent devastated. Everything there was gone. Being down in the middle, they were still rescuing people off the roofs when I was down there. People were still coming in and just clinging to you. ... It's hard not to get political here, but I do not understand how we could not have done a better job -- and still can't do a better job. It's outrageous that you see it every single day on the TV of how it is. I went back just a couple of months ago, and it had not changed one bit. Not one bit."Faith Hill: "There were kids living in tents. Not a door moved. Not a car moved."
"The same shrimp boat was sitting in the road that was the same shrimp boat sitting in the road a few days after the storm," McGraw said. "It makes no sense to me. I don't understand where the problem is. I don't understand the blame game. I don't understand how this person blames that person. To me, there's a lot of politics being played and a lot of people trying to put people in bad positions to further their agendas. I don't understand that. When you have a lot of people dying because they're poor and because they're black or poor -- and they're white or whatever they are -- if that's a number on a political scale, then that is the most wrong thing. That erases everything that's great about our country ... to let something like that happen and to continue to let something like that happen and to continue to not do anything about it."
While we do applaud the idea of surveying cell-only households (country is one of the top four formats among these according the ARB test data), it doesn't look to us like the rest of this is any at all help in preventing the wild swings we see in 25-54 for country or ANY format that targets a 25-54 LIFEGROUP.
Specifically, we don't see how these adjustments encourage more confidence in Arbitron from country stations in Anchorage, Portland or Reno, for example, (where the "center" of the format life group according to Arbitron has been in three completely different 10 year demographic spans in the last three surveys, which of course can not be true!).In fact, we are actually LESS confident. It looks like a continuation of a policy designed to address primarily males and any household to which five additional dollars would have an impact.
Is one answer better qualitative balance of every sample cell across the board in every surveyed ARB market, not just the ones with horrendous weighting in 18-34 male and 25-34 female cells?
Elise Nordling, music director at SomaFM, pointed to the important companion role that radio plays. Deejays do more than just pick songs, they often build a bond with listeners. "People want company."
Meanwhile, music industry consultant and KCRW commentator Celia Hirschman pointed to the importance of nurturing listener relationships, which are created by establishing trust and maintaining a high level of programming integrity. "The quality of the music is important."
The radio landscape is clearly evolving, but what do listeners ultimately want? Consumers now have access to virtually unlimited collections of music – both on-demand and through streaming formats. Outlets like Rhapsody deliver on-demand access to thousands of albums, while providers like XM Satellite Radio offer just as many niche genres. But somehow, having everything is only part of the puzzle, and listeners usually want someone else to sift through the barrage of possibilities. "Just having access to a sea of material is not going to push the ball forward," said Tim Westergren, head of recommendation service Pandora.
This week, we kicked off a brand new contest that has been a lot of fun. We've been holding auditions on our morning show, and Skip Clark has been doing the same in his evening show, to find an official reporter for the upcoming CMT Awards show . Some lucky winner will get an all expense paid trip to Nashville that includes seats on the Red Carpet, tickets to the CMT Award Show, a private concert with Josh Turner and even spending money!! Plus, the winner will call in a special report for us to play for all our listeners! The best part is you will decide who the reporter will be! Starting this Monday, go to b1047.net and vote for your favorite reporter!!
"From now on, a smart candidate will reach you through your cell phone,
your friends, the organizations you belong to and the websites you visit."
-- RNC chairman Ken Mehlman
Mediaguide To Drive Digital Music Discovery And Sales
Mediaguide will provide its audio fingerprinting technology and airplay data to support music discovery and viral, social network sales through Intent MediaWorks (www.intentmediaworks.net), a legal P2P distribution service that crosses all major P2P networks; and Glide Effortless (www.glidedigital.com), a web-based, multi-media management environment and social network.
Mediaguide will connect its airplay data, sliced by format, genre, market, time and label type, to tracks available for purchase or sponsored download to give the over 250 million worldwide digital consumers the widest, most targeted and deepest view of music that was played on college, non-commercial, specialty and commercial radio. For content owners, this means any play on any station could lead directly to digital sales.
Mediaguide software will identify songs in individual user accounts within these services to determine which have been licensed for sale or sponsored download. For content owners, this means that every fan and personal playlist can be a marketing outlet and viral sales driver.
Want to learn more? Contact music@mediaguide.com.
Join Scott Dolphin from the Moo Crew at Carmax (located at 8200 ~ 120th Avenue in Kenosha) on Saturday, March 11th, starting at Noon for a 106-minute van stop. Experts will be on hand to be sure that your child's car seat is used safely and correctly. Plus, we'll be giving away 40 booster seats to the first 40 vehicles there, and we'll have free subs and chips from Daniel's Catering. Try our prize machine for your chance to win great prizes. Also, if you are an Eteam Rewards member, make sure to ask our staff for a bonus points card! From Continuous Country Favorites of Yesterday and Today, FM 106.1!
Spring Break and Beach vacations top our list of What’s Hot this month. Alternative medicine and March Madness also rate high with consumers of all ages. RFID Consumer Buzz, When Customers Cross Shop
“When the lights go down and the show begins, they will not go back up for 3 hours,” Faith says.
“There’s no intermission, it’s a seamless show.” Tim adds, “And how all that works out we can’t say.”
“It would give it away. We’re just going to give it to the fans like they’ve given to us all these years, we’re going to give it back to them ten fold,” Faith promises.
Together with co-host Kathy Hart, they've dominated listenership among advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-olds for most of the 10 years they've been at WTMX-FM (101.9), the Bonneville International adult contemporary powerhouse known as the Mix.
The secret to their success -- or at least one of the secrets -- has been their ability to keep their show edgy enough to engage grownups but clean enough to sail right over the heads of youngsters.
In the first Radio Super Session, delegates heard the mantra that has been often repeated concerning the new digital age: It's going to be all about the content. However, Newcap Broadcasting president and COO Mark Maheu says it's also about response. "Other session highlights:
Microsoft's Skip Pizzi: "The good news for consumers is that all this competition is going to make terrestrial radio better. We've already seen a reduction in commercial loads and new formats are beginning to come out of the woodwork. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"The good news for broadcasters is that you have a 2 billion receiver lead on all these
mediums. That lead is hard to catch. And people know how to use receivers. "Finally, you were licensed as a broadcaster, but it doesn't stop you from becoming a content player in other platforms. Broadcasters have a very powerful synergy of on-air and on-line and you have to start thinking of yourselves as offering two separate companies."
Zomba Group co-founder Ralph Simon, the visionary who introduced ringtones to the Western world and currently the chairman of Americas Group, Mobile Entertainment Forum, sees the role as an essential part of the future. "Mosicology is the way the new mobile lifestyle impacts everything you do, with various lifestyles marrying themselves to the medium of the mobile phone. As far as music is concerned, this is the most important medium in terms of the mobile world." Simon says we live in an age where the mobile phone is the lifeline for many consumers -- especially many young consumers -- who act on impulse. They want immediate access, one that wants to experience music OTA - over the air -- one that belongs to a community that will promptly share it with their friends. Simon notes it's a rapidly growing market that is now only beginning to penetrate North America.
“This is very special to me. I have owned Maddy for a couple of years and have performed at this event several times, but this is the first-time ever that I get to ride in the Houston Rodeo competition,” says Walker.
