Spring Book, PPM and Special Programming

73° - partly cloudy at 10:20am

Spring Arbitron: Yesterday's New York City numbers showed classic rock WAXQ flat 12+ from winter - but dropping #4 to #6 A25-54 and from #1 to #2 M25-54; likely affected by revived rocker WXRK.

David Martin noted on his blog that the "new" WXRK moved from #14 to #5 A25-54. PPM hits NYC starting with the fall survey - should benefit both WAXQ and WXRK.

Added: Will classic rocker WAXQ soon feel the squeeze from the other side? Tom Taylor rightfully speculates "that the new classic hits/oldies incarnation of CBS-FM will be the most-watched station of the current Summer Arbitron." Read Tom's newsletter here.

Added: (Speaking of CBS-FM) - Sean Ross emails a link to his latest piece - talking 80s with oldies - classic rock - and even AC/Hot AC. Read here.

Back to Monday Arbitrons:

In Allentown - classic hits WODE maintained a solid #2 position 12+. In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - classic rock combo WEZX/WPZX jumps from #4 to #2 12+. More markets released today include Chicago, Milwaukee, LA - after 5pm in the usual places.

More special programming: Fred Jacobs writes today about PPM and programming - and why things like "Top 500" countdowns continue to pull for radio - even though "many programmers have come to dislike these "evergreen events" because they often sound essentially the same year after year."

Fred offers some thoughts on keeping them fresh.

Yours truly has been (and continues to be) a fan of these programming staples. They seldom fail - and I believe the audience comes to expect them as part of the "classic rock experience".

Not long ago I stumbled across an on-line discussion room - archived from Memorial Day Weekend 2006 - where listeners were discussing the countdown that was on my station - arguing over the rankings of various songs. They were so into it. Very cool to read - even a year later!

Fred also notes that "people love lists" and "A look at VH-1 shows you the importance of "List Programming". Fred's entire piece is a great read - here.

Meanwhile - a few months back I compiled a "list of lists" from various CR outlets; perhaps this can be the start of some brainstorming at your station. Find that here.