Afternoon Update

"Overnight we have scores of PPM experts offering station and group folks assistance. Some of these same experts would have us believe they are qualified to confront Arbitron and take the lead in what amounts to an ongoing ratings police action. My opinion is most of these so-called experts are not qualified to discuss the subject matter at any serious depth." - David Martin.

Read Dave's post here.

All Access reports: "the cumes for an in-tab based on the partial sample that was improperly processed was just about the same as the full properly processed sample."

Meanwhile: Paragon Media has been updating readers on the Arbitron Consultant Fly-In with its new blog. A recap of yesterday posted this morning; I'd expect another one soon. Read here.

Other notes of interest:

You Tube: Using embedded You Tube videos on your station site? Google's new You Tube ad strategy is now kicking in.

Do you mind their ad inventory on your website? Something to ponder. Your mileage may vary. Jaye Albright on that topic here.

btw: kudos to Google for monetizing its You Tube investment in a user-friendly way. More from Mark Ramsey here.

Satellite merger update: All Access reporting (Wednesday) that Entravision has told the FCC that if the Sirius/XM merger were to happen "the agency should allow existing terrestrial licenses to form a consortium and proceed to establish and operate a qualified competitor".

The company also "asks the FCC to require SIRIUS and XM to relinquish their spectrum so that competition can resume".

Giving up half of the combined spectrum entered my mind early into this merger talk. (this last piece reposted from yesterday; it wound up on my "bumped" list. I was "oversold". Poor inventory management on my part...oops...LOL)

HD2 & New Programming

83° - partly cloudy at 12noon

The week just flying by; a great morning as my two boys talked me into a bicycle ride to Starbucks. School here for them resumes right after Labor Day. Its been my first summer ever as a "stay home Dad".

I've written here before about active rocker WRIF/Detroit and their HD2 effort Riff2.

Station management and ownership deserve lots of credit for allocating the resources they have for this sidechannel. It appears to be a tremendous committment.

The programming boasts a full airstaff; and I recently found a revamped and totally cool website that just screams "community". Radio meets MySpace. Peruse the site - you might get some inspiration.

Listen to the stream too - its so much more than an automated jukebox; been listening most of the morning. A real jock - plus concert updates; sports updates. A real radio station. A local Detroit station.

Riff2 came to mind after reading Fred Jacobs' blog this morning:

"We have heard many stations and broadcasters say they will sink more into programming when there are more radios in the overall population."

"But the chicken-and-egg-of-it is that selling more radios isn't going to happen on faith. It is great content that will drive purchases. It is word-of-mouth that will convince people to try HD Radio. It is the ability to be able to walk into a store, hear HD Radio, and tune in cool and interesting programming that will move these units off the shelves."

Riff2 is a great example of developing a great sidechannel product; and adopting various forms of new media with their website.

Clear Channel has also been very active in development with their Format Lab. Inside Radio's Mike Kinosian profiles some of those efforts here.

HD - and radio in general - regardless of the delivery method needs more efforts like this. HD Radio's alleged "lack of interest" appears to more of an issue of awareness. This awareness really won't happen without an investment in programming.

Increased choices for consumers through technology like HD Radio. WiFi and WiMax open many opportunties for today's broadcasters; but those efforts have to expand beyond various flavors of iPod-type formats. Whats in it for you and me? I'm hoping for more job opportunities for programmers and airstaff alike.

Jobs are a good thing.

Wednesday Blogs - Afternoon Edition

91° - sunny and 52% humidity at 6pm

Good afternoon...

Posting delayed today with Blogger being unavailable this morning - and then other priorities took over the day.

PPM in Houston: Lots of talk about Arbitron's PPM troubles in Houston. Both consultant Randy Kabrich and Cox Radio President Bob Neil were quoted on All Access yesterday expressing concerns about quality control.

Yesterday consultant Harv Blain wrote on his blog: "I will be at Arbitron for a two day conference on PPM starting tomorrow. You think that may be a topic of discussion in the hallway and in the conference room?" More Harv here.

Meanwhile: McVay Media's Dave Lange writes: "Before you work with any research or ratings data the most important analysis tip we can pass on is LOOK AT THE SAMPLE. How far off of the population estimates is the return?"

More: "Are you feeling real good about gains that were more the result of a few diaries weighted way up that will disappear in the next report? Or are you looking at a downturn that's really an illusion?" Read Dave's complete piece here.

Having spent much time in small markets, I've had great books and bad books - some I never believed one way or another simply because the in-tabs were so small. Of course, we still celebrated the wins with the staff regardless!

Paragon Media Strategies is now blogging on PPM and more. They've got ten PPM "rules" (so far) for programming. Rules that make good sense PPM market or not. Read here.

Music: This weekend Little Steven's Underground Garage will debut the new single ("Radio Nowhere") from Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. Sweet!

Steven is asking affiliates to resist the temptation to lift and air the song from the show ahead of time.

Mr. Van Zandt says "HIS Boss will really be pissed at him if the song gets played before it premieres on The Underground Garage." And we know who his boss is, right?

Added: At least one outside monitoring service already has the song in its database ready to detect airplay.

Around The Dial...

69° - cloudy - at 1pm - more rain coming
left: an original "Mac" - way before Steve Jobs.

Good afternoon.

Uhh...who has a "dial" these days?

Getting local. I've hinted before that classic rock has an excellent opportunity to bond itself to the local musician community. There's lots of poor musicians out there looking for attention - many likely listen to your radio station - along with their fans.

One suggestion was to use unsold time - on a station's webstream - here - to highlight and promote local bands - especially, but not limited to those area favorite cover bands that play the same songs your radio station does. Its about building/extending a community.

Here's a station doing something similar: Clear Channel's Fox Rock Network - based in Ashland, OH (a three signal simulcast) has a local rock report on the air - and on their website. Too cool. And its sold!

Added: And in a very bold move, the station also plays local bands on the air during the weekends too - with excellent response according to Program Director Jeff Schendel.

See the webpage here. Scroll down on that page; the love they give - through promoting local music and musicians can only pay off in the future. PR money can't buy.

Do it for the troops. WRCK/Utica has a real neat promotion going on: "Tunes For Troops".

Listeners are encouraged to drop off new or used CDs - or iTune gift cards at select locations with the music to be distributed to the "men and women of the Armed Forces". Very excellent!

This sounds like something the listeners of almost any radio station could get behind. And it would appear there may be some NTR dollars in it too! More on their homepage.

Added: "O&A ain't making it". At least not in Chicago. If not Chicago - where outside of NYC? Certainly not nearby me in Grand Rapids. Dave Martin offers his take on the first phase numbers from Chicago - click here and scroll down.

And - from the "new to me" file: Lou Reed's take on "This Magic Moment". The classic Drifters tune - later done by Jay & The Americans. Wonderful. Heard over the close of TNT's new Saving Grace last night.

Listen here.