This Fall marks 10 years since Arbitron rolled out the Portable People Meter™ (PPM™) to the top 10 markets in the United States, following initial tests in Houston and Philadelphia (markets 11-50 rolled out in 2009 and 2010.) A year after the rollout was complete, I wrote “Top Ten Things to Do as a New … Continue reading 10 PPM Tips for Program Directors: 10 Years Later
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There’s nothing more sobering than watching a focus group of your radio station’s listeners talking about your beloved product. You might watch in horror as they: Refer to your station by its previous brand name; Are unable to name any of the people on your year-old morning show; Are certain your station plays 70s music, … Continue reading Images Are Like Icebergs
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Years ago, I was presenting some results to an internal client. He was a sales rep who had seen dozens of quantitative research studies my team conducted. We had asked a question about social media, and he said, “Why are they using Friendster instead of Myspace [it was a long time ago]? What’s the difference?” … Continue reading Getting to the Why
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For radio program directors, the question of which songs to play and which to leave out is as old as the medium itself. If it was only about playing popular songs, radio stations would be broader than they are. Why is that? Well, just like restaurants don’t all serve the same popular foods and generally … Continue reading Should I Play That Song On My Radio Station?
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As the Carolinas continue to feel the effects of Hurricane Florence, let’s take a moment to recognize and celebrate two entities that often shine at their best during times of adversity. Local radio stations …and (wait for it!) Waffle House. Let’s start with local radio. Local radio stations play a vitally important role to their … Continue reading Here’s to Local Radio and Waffle House
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In theory, if you turn on an Adult Contemporary radio station in 2018, you should be hearing a healthy dose of 90s music. If you graduated high school in 1995, for example, you would be around 41 today—right in the wheelhouse of the 25-54 demographic. But of the major eras played on most Adult Contemporary … Continue reading The 90s Music Research Conundrum
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Back in March of this year, I wrote a blog post called Why Toys “R” Us is closing. In it, I argued that while market forces and new competition played a role in its business decline, it was lack of brand depth that did in Toys “R” Us, a company that had complete domination of … Continue reading Why Radio Stations Are Like Toy Stores
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Recently a great, long-time client of ours disclosed to me that they fielded a research project with another company. This is not unusual; we often encourage our clients to get other perspectives on challenging situations. In this case, however, the client told me that they were no more than two or three PowerPoint slides into … Continue reading The Great Data Quality Summit
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On Friday, October 2, 2009, I was programming 96rock in Raleigh, NC and preparing the station for a major live broadcast the next day. U2 was set to play nearby Carter-Finley Stadium as part of its 360 Tour, and there were a number of last-minute logistics to run through. That’s when the phone rang. It … Continue reading Preparing Your Radio Station for U2
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Most museums are a celebration of art and culture, but not the Museum of Failure. The Museum of Failure, as it bills itself, is the world’s largest collection of failed products and services from around the world. Based in Sweden, this eccentric house of gaffes is traveling the globe as a pop-up museum with stops … Continue reading Research and the Art of Calculated Risk
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