Just for fun...

Arbitron PPM and Great Moments in Consulting

58° - rain at 8am
left: downtown Lansing 8:10am - current image

Good Morning; another rainy day in Michigan; skies are dark.

Reminders: Fall SIPs are due back today at Arbitron. Book begins one month from today. But you knew that already.

PPM lessons learned: Consultant Mike McVay and WBEB/Philadelphia PD Chris Conley have put together a list of key points of what they've learned from PPM and BBM (Canada); based upon personal experience with client stations over the past year.

Some highlights:

• Managers should focus primarily on programming and marketing tactics that drive TSL of the heavy users of the product. In other words it’s not about “driving cume”. It’s about getting your P-1’s to make additional appointments through compelling programming and tactics. Keep them coming back!

• Time Spent Listening is built by repeat tune-in. It’s not necessarily getting someone to stay from one quarter hour to the next, but rather getting them to come back in repeat sittings. The more occasions of listening, the longer the Time Spent Listening.

• Fewer stop-sets that are longer make for the best Time Spent Listening.

• Positioning remains an important part of programming. Despite the fact that the People Meter captures the station name and frequency, listeners need to know WHO they are listening to and WHERE to go back to, in order to have repeat occasions of listening.

• No Talk Segues should make your station sound cleaner. It exaggerates your more music position. It may not increase your TSL, but it certainly enhances the music you play.

Lots more here. Kudos to McVay Media for sharing with the industry.

Meeting of the minds: Consultant Harv Blain writes about a market visit he had last week. Also there - two other consultants who handle other stations in the six-station cluster.

The result: two very productive days to strengthen and fortify the client's cluster. Very cool. Read here.

Harv concludes: "It raised the bar in strategic thinking, brainstorming, and creativity. It was something different that we all felt we should repeat."

Even from outside that market - unassociated with the stations or its competitors - wouldn't you still want to be a fly on the wall?

Similarly - when with Clear Channel a few years back - I attended a management meeting in Vail of Lee Larsen's Rocky Mountain Region - with General Managers, Sales Managers and (like me) Program Directors.

One of the programmer highlights was an informal session about finding solutions for real problems in different markets within the region.

Programmers offered their opinions and suggestions on specific situations presented by a market's OM or PD. Three or four markets left the two-hour session with some great thoughts from the collective brain trust to take back home. Time well spent by all.

More Influence From Lee Abrams

My recent posts about upcoming releases from Bruce Springsteen and The Eagles brought to mind a column Lee Abrams wrote over ten years ago.

Lee's piece was about creating music credibility with your audience - including celebrating new releases and making them big events:

I'll now share a few ways stations can increase the confidence listeners have in their stations:

*Celebrate new releases. The core artists. The competition may have cash call, but you have the new _________! Some ways to accomplish this include:

--Don't add, locally premier. And number your premiers. In a year it'll sound like you've "broken" more music than anyone on earth.

--When you get it in, roll the whole thing. Then by popular demand roll it again at 6pm.

--A day before you get the CD, get the label guy on the phone. To you or I it's a business friend. To a listener it's like CNN talking to the head of the FBI after a bombing. Do a quick phoner to "set up" the release on the air.

--Throw a party at a club. If the band is Aerosmith, you can premiere the CD at a club, along with Steve Tyler lookalike contests, Aerosmith trivia contests, air guitar, etc. Turn a new release into a party.

--Cut special production to welcome the
new release to the air.

If you handle the important releases correctly, you could probably add five CDs a year and be perceived as the "new music" station (half jokingly).

-Excerpt from "Creating Music Confidence" - All Access/May 1997.

Still valid ten years later? I think for the most part - yes. Some of this might not work today - certainly not with every release. But making an event out of a music event - such as a new album from a superstar band or artist - should be a no-brainer. Let's get excited again.

Sunday Morning Odds & Sods

57° - rain/drizzle at 11am

Good Morning from Michigan; feels like an inside day today.

It appears there's more rain headed across the lake later.

Listening yesterday to WKLH/Milwaukee and their "Storytellers" weekend. Marilyn Mee on the air - very much "live & local" chatting about the previous night's Brewers game. WKLH doing a great job with "Storytellers" - very casual with the air talent introducing segments - not overproduced.

Check it out today online after 1pm eastern.

Its not difficult to pull off what 'KLH is doing. Whether you pull sound bites together on your own or using a production service such as ABC Radio's Avalanche - a great resource for artist and song setups. Turn an ordinary weekend into something special.

Quoting David Martin (again) from his blog yesterday: "Take advantage of lazy competitors".

Listening this morning to the new Ann Wilson (see below); followed by Bob Stroud's Rock & Roll Roots on WDRV/Chicago.

Your dog, your listeners and loyalty. A terrific post from Mark Ramsey:

"Your dog isn't loyal because you ask her for loyalty. She's not loyal because you enter her into a contest where she has a one-in-a-thousand chance of a doggie treat."

"Yes, she'll jump through hoops for you, but she doesn't do it because you demand loyalty. She does it because she loves you." More from Mark here.

Phase one summer ARBs: The numbers start to roll out tomorrow.

New music: The Eagles. WZBA/Baltimore has the first single ("How Long") off their forthcoming CD posted on their website. Listen and download here.

The album - titled "Long Road Out of Eden" to be released in late October.

As we mentioned with Bruce the other day - another release classic rock radio should embrace and celebrate.

Heart's Ann Wilson has her first solo album ("Hope & Glory") coming out September 11th. It features covers of songs by Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others - and guest appearances by many.

Check out a few tracks here. Ann's vocals still rock - as strong and great as ever.

Be sure to listen to "Immigrant Song". With apologies to Mr. Plant, you can clearly hear all the words.....

Added: Rick Kaempfer's Chicago Radio Spotlight interviews Scott Dirks (WLUP, WRKR, WXCD, WZZN). A good read with lots of war stories - here.

Enjoy your Sunday.