Billboard Wars

The Battle for Market Share

Radio stations in highly competitive markets used to battle for attention with billboard wars. Along the Tri-State Tollway around Chicago there used to be several touting various formats as stations vied for another ratings point in a lucrative market.

The billboards increased awareness and were also meant to develop branding identity. Effective campaigns could do that with simple, uncluttered messages. It wasn't as effective at creating ratings share. In markets that were measured quarterly, there would often be a new crop of billboards for the Fall and Spring books in the hopes of building an audience.

On our most recent trip around Chicago, I didn't see any.

What's Changed?

I don't have the answers, but I can surmise.

Social Media - 

Social media is much more cost effective and with the right strategy can engage listeners directly.

Audience Measurement

The advent of PPM give Content Directors almost instant gratification on an hour-by-hour basis.

All things being equal, the data can give the station a pretty good idea if the billboard campaign is moving the needle at all. PPM also reinforces the idea that the most effective thing you can do is create great content and make effective use of forward promotion. Solid radio practices go a long way. Meeting listener expectations on a consistent basis generates loyalty and increases share.

Cleaning Up Your Act

Blah - Blah - Blah

With federal grant money in danger of being pulled, what we do now matters more than ever. What you air and what you say matters...all of it. Building audience and loyalty will increase funding. To do that takes a shift in thinking. Change from inward focus to audience focus.

I worked at a couple of music stations in public radio system where the stop sets would often run in excess of five minutes. That ain't nothin' compared to commercial stations that may run 12 minutes of back-to-back to-back-spots. The local ESPN outlet has been known to run 33 minutes of spots and promos in an hour. And yet...the public radio stations mentioned could do a whole lot more to build audience if the announcers would just stop rambling. Nobody cares...except maybe your grandmother. It doesn't take much to cause tune-out.

I used to go to listen to folk singers in clubs. They all seemed to feel they had to spend five or ten minutes setting up the next tune. Not really. It was all so tedious. Then on one occasion, from the back of the room, "Shut-up and play the music!" Laughter rippled through the room, and for that night we heard a lot more music and a lot less talk. He didn't stop telling stories about the music. He just did a better job of editing. What he had to say gave context without drowning us in words.

Fred Jacobs has a blog about improving the commercials in the commercial experience, and at the beginning of the blog he writes about "the era of the PPM ratings methodology has taught programmers about the value of minute-by-minute programming. Meters can migrate on a dime, reacting to everything from a rambling DJ to poor encoding to a weak-testing song."

Public radio should have such an advantage for building audience. No commercials. Yet the numbers often lag. The numbers are important when it comes to listener and underwriting support.

So what are you doing to eliminate the tune out? It could start with "Shut up and play the music." Or...you could focus your breaks. Make them more appealing. Instead of stopping,..move forward. Inform and move on. Advance the story and give context without overwhelming us.

Why Do Commercials Have to Suck?

Gaming the Ratings?

Voltaire claims to smooth out the rating bumps.

Does it work? Is the magic box, Voltaire, junk science, or voodoo technology? Nielsen has looked into the processor. Nielsen's testing was done in a lab. Now the Media Rating Council (MRC) is looking into the technology using real world testing by working with stations that use the processor.

There are plenty of complaints in public radio circles about the wild swings in ratings under the PPM system. Part of the problem of PPM is the short sample time which will lead to volatility in the ratings. I prefer to look at ratings over periods of time to help eliminate bounce. Six month trends seem more stable.

Voltaire claims to improve sound processing to enhance PPM's ability to measure a station's encoding.

The tests by MRC will continue through August.

PPM may bring jazz back

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette is reporting that Pittsburgh Public Media (PPM) is moving ahead with plans to acquire WVBC-FM. WVBC-FM is currently owned by Bethany College. If PPM can raise the funds   necessary by February First and, the FCC approves the sale, the station will carry Jazz full time.

PPM acknowledges that WVBC-FM does not cover Pittsburgh. PPM Board President Chuck Leavens says they will try to boost the signal so it will reach Pittsburgh.

The programming will be provided by PubMusic. Among the hosts is Scott Hanley the former GM of WDUQ.

Summer Try-outs For Public Radio

I think it is great that new program ideas are getting a chance on public radio.


I come to this season of try-outs for public radio with a big question. With such short try-out periods for NPR's Ted, Ask Me Another, Cabinet of Wonders, and PRI's Q from the CBC, how are the networks and stations measuring success. It takes months (years actually) for programs to gain real, measurable traction with the audience. That was the experience with A Prairie Home Companion, All Things Considered and Car Talk. Car Talk and APHC were local programs before they went national.

In the late 70's and early 80's there used to be debates at public radio conferences about how to measure the audience. Programmers would argue that a letter represented 10 listeners and callers would represent five. Or was it some other number? It doesn't matter. The letter writer and the caller represented two listeners. The caller and the letter writer represented themselves and nobody else. Getting a call or letter meant somebody was listening. It did not measure audience size or the popularity of the program among those willing to contribute voluntarily.

The same holds true for Public Media responses. The numbers can be a lot larger. Several thousand likes nationally for a program is impressive...as far as likes go. The only thing being measured is the propensity of an individual to click the like button. Social Media is a great way to listen and engage. It is super for customer (listener) service. It does measure the appeal of a program for larger audience segments (cohorts).

Some measuring can be done because of PPM technology in the top 50 or so markets over a short period of time. But, a lot more data over a longer period is needed to get any sort of a trend.

Focus groups and surveys can be used. Surveys on Social Media are self-selected samples. And, if you've ever tried to make a programming decision based on focus group results, you understand that it is not fool-proof method for programming decisions. Focus group results can help inform decisions but, not give the final answers.

I think this is a legitimate question. How are the networks and stations measuring success for these programs? I'm curious. To be clear, I think it is great that new programming is getting a chance on public radio. 


You know what would really be great? A new public radio format aimed at a younger or, more diverse audience.

Positive Audience Trends for Public Radio

JC Patrick shared some positive audience numbers on the PRADO list today.


Subject: [PRADO] Article on Research Director Public Radio Benchmarks

From today’s commercial radio enewsletters -  this one from All Access:

§  RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. recently published a series of ratings benchmarks
for radio stations in PPM markets. The original study examined over 1,700
radio stations in the 45 non-embedded PPM markets, and segmented them into
various format groups.

As a follow-up, RESEARCH DIRECTOR has now produced benchmarks for
non-commercial News/Talk and Classical stations. The same time period was
utilized (average of the OCTOBER 2010 through SEPTEMBER 2011 surveys). The
non-commercial News/Talk format group's performance was also compared to its
commercial All News and News/Talk counterparts.

Among the key findings:

* The average non-commercial Classical station has a P6+ total week time
spent listening of 3:19. This is higher than 15 of the 18 commercial format
groups analyzed.

* Non-commercial News/Talk stations do a great job recycling between drive
times. Of the typical non-commercial News/Talk radio station’s AM Drive cume
audience, 64% also tune in during PM drive. When compared to the average
station (all formats, commercial and non-commercial), that is 16% above the
norm.

* Non-commercial News/Talk stations also perform significantly better than
their commercial counterparts when it comes to weekday-to-weekend recycling.
Of the typical non-commercial News/Talk radio station's weekday cume
audience, 42% also tune in on the weekend. Compare that to 28% for
commercial News/Talk and 36% for commercial All News.

RESEARCH DIRECTOR Managing Partner MARC GREENSPAN said, "These benchmarks
are designed to help public radio stations assess their rating position and
determine ways they can grow."

Pres. CHARLIE SISLEN added, "With tighter budgets, it’s difficult to attract
new listeners, and therefore grow cume. Alternatively, stations can focus on
taking their existing cume and getting them to listen longer."

RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC.'s report, "How Is My Station Really Doing? Public
Radio Edition" is available here
<http://www.ResearchDirectorInc.com/newsvault.asp> . The complete PPM
Benchmark study for all formats, originally published in DECEMBER 2011, is
also available there.





J.C. Patrick

Marketing and Fundraising Consultant

Hartford Metro Drops Rank

This and That

According to the Arbitron Ratings Service, the Hartford Metro is no longer in the top 50 markets. Recent ratings releases show the Hartford Metro has fallen to number 52. In the 2010 Census Hartford County actually had a population increase of 4.3%. The increase was  not enough to increase the growth in other markets. The Hartford New Haven DMA is still ranked 30th. Market rank and population help determine the rates commercial radio and television stations use for advertising. Public broadcasters also use the market designations as a benchmark for hiring staff.

WNPR is the top ranked public radio station in the Hartford Metro. Nobody else is coming close.
According to Arbitron and RRC (Hartford Metro PPM Person's 6+ October 2011):

WNPR     4.1% Share

WJMJ      1.4% Share

WFCR     0.9% Share

WYBC     0.9% Share

WQTQ     0.7% Share

Everybody else is listed as having a 0.1% share. WNPR may be benefiting from the way PPM collects information. PPM picks up actual listening among those chosen to be in the sample. The diary method used recalled listening. Under the diary system, WNPR used to run neck and neck with WJMJ and WFCR in the Hartford Metro. WNPR's decision to focus its format on Public Radio News and Information from a split format also has helped improve its share. WFCR's numbers in the Hartford Metro are skewed by it's signal. WFCR's signal covers the northern half of the Hartford Metro. Signal strength also skews WNPR's coverage. WNPR effectively covers the southern two-thirds of the Hartford Metro. 

WNPR recently reached an agreement with WAIC and American International College to broadcast on their frequency out of the Springfield area. The added frequency fills in some of the holes in the northern part of the Hartford Metro for WNPR.

A Market Opportunity
The region's only full-time AAA station, WRNX, Amherst recently switched formats to Country Music. WRNX has a weak signal into the Hartford Metro, but could be heard in the northern portions of the Market. A full-time AAA station might be an opportunity for a non-commercial station in the Hartford and Springfield markets. WRNX used to pull in between a 1.5 and 2.0. WRNX is owned by Clear Channel.

Show Prep / Topical Connections

In the PPM world it has become more important than ever to use the basics of AQH maintenance. We share with so many more stations than was assumed in the old diary method. Besides, there's a lot of competition for our listeners.

The idea is to keep the listeners listening and to increase occasions. Not only does it help ratings, it helps develop listener loyalty. A loyal audience is more likely to voluntarily contribute.

I'm consciously looking for those promotable moments. I work at a music station in Boston that specializes in Americana and all the elements that feed into that format. I'm always on the lookout for things that might entice the listeners to stick around or tune back in. There are two items that stood out for today's airshift.

A couple of days ago The Atlantic published an article about Ray LaMontagne. LaMontagne's album, "God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise was in our Top Ten Albums of 2010. His 2004 release, "Trouble" is featured in an ad for The Travelers." Plus, he now lives in Western Massachusetts. I'll be connecting to the article and fashioning a tease to increase TSL.

I'm also on the mailing list for the World Cafe produced by WXPN. The Wold Cafe will feature Amos Lee today. Amos Lee has a new CD Mission Bell. I'll offer the same treatment with a couple of teases to promote TSL and use vertical promotion for our broadcast of World Cafe which airs on WUMB weeknights at 10pm.

Nothing is forced in either case. I'm working with music already scheduled on our play-list. Both artists are well within our format. Both artists are a draw for our audience. My topical connections will be short and to the point, but still give enough information to draw the listener in. It would be impossible to for me to do this without some advance preparation.

Shifts In Radio Listening Habits

The Personal People Meter…the new method for measuring radio listening habits…is changing the classical music landscape. Two high profile changes came about last year when WCRB and WQXR were sold to public radio stations. Recently KING-FM in Seattle reported they would change to a non-profit status and take donations. According to KING-FM, advertisers were no longer willing to support the station. At least in the numbers needed to sustain the programming.

A New York Times article by Stephaine Clifford from December 2009 (Never Listen to Céline? Radio Meter Begs to Differ) asserted that classical music fans listened to classical music on the radio a lot less than they had been reporting under the old diary method.  My experience in Connecticut would seem to confirm that. When the station I worked for started getting information from Audience Research Analysis (ARA), the Audigraphics information was adjusted to eliminate diary keepers who seemed to be listening to our station 24 hours a day. Eliminating those four or five diary keepers per quarter had a minimal effect on our weekly cume, but it had a great impact on core loyalty figures and station use figures. It was the first evidence I had that diary keepers were willing to put down what they thought should be in their diaries rather than a true reflection of their listening habits.

Do I listen to Celine? The answer is yes, but only if I have to. It depends on who I am with and who has control over the radio. If I’m riding in the car with my sons, I get to listen to a lot of hip-hop and urban contemporary. That is not my preferred format, but if I had a PPM device on my belt, those station would register as part of my listening habits. Under the diary system, because I did not choose hip-hop, I might not have put that station down as part of my listening. Under the PPM system, my listening might be considered collateral damage depending on your point of view.

According to research from The Radio Research Consortium, it turns out most of us listen to about 12 radio stations on a regular basis. That three to four times as many as previously thought under the old diary method. The common wisdom was that most of us shared our listening with three or four stations. In actuality we spend a lot less time with our favorite station than previously thought.

The resulting lower numbers means that advertisers are gravitating to stations that do better on the PPM system. According to the article in the Times, Country, Oldies and News have fared better. Niche formats like Smooth Jazz and Classical have not.