Manny, Manny, Manny. A few reactions.
1. You are correct. I spoke poorly, KPND does not subscribe to Arbitron. I love your precisenesss, spoken like a beancounter. Show me literature that says if a station does not subscribe they are published anyway in the market ratings, then I'll believe you. Until then, I've always had the common understanding that if you don't subscribe, they don't publish your #'s no matter how well you do. They keep them internal.
2. You are going to put an arbitrary standard on what is success? Do they need to turn 1 million, 5 million or 50 million in annual billing? An unfinished (granted, it's been like that awhile) website and no streaming are clear indicators of failing? Wow. This is Sandpoint, ID. Not San Francisco, Denver or Houston. This is Blue Sky Broadcasting, a small local group. Not Citadel, Cumulus or Clear Channel. I think you have your baseline metrics all wrong as to the standard of 'success.' KPND has been moving along doing its own thing for quite a few years. Blue Sky undertook a large investment with the new transmitter and site. The station continues to have 100% live drives and middays, only going voiceless automated overnights. The station continues to make inroads in Spokane with no advertising or marketing of that fact. The station's spotload seems healthy. When I roll through town, I notice that. Granted, I don't see the books and never will. However, just hearing a healthy spot load is at least a hint of how the sales are going.
You want to apply big city radio on them. They aren't that. You say failing, I say small town success story. They don't play your game and you shred them for it. I shredded Morgan Murphy and The River because it had a beancounter programming it; it had failure written all over it.
You have lived and breathed Arbitron for so long you can't envision a world where a station functions without playing that game. Without being too controversial, that makes you suspect in AAA. If you can't think outside of the box, shouldn't you operate in a more regimented format? I'm afraid your type of regimentedness neuters the format and leads to the 96.9 The Rivers of the world. It's gotta breathe here and there.
3. Programming. It's obvious you are a metrics, demos and marketing guy. AAA is not a format that is easy to qualify and quantify across the markets it serves. What works in Freedom, CA is different than Seattle and Sandpoint. You know that AAA isn't a cookie cutter format. I find it humorous that you criticize KPND for doing what works in it's little world.
KPND is organic, local and well programmed contrary to your pronouncements otherwise. Go spend a week in Sandpoint, you'll hear KPND on all over the place. I'd love to see your list of changes programming wise you'd put into effect if you were PD. Then we could really have a discussion. As I see it, KPND station embodies the true nature of AAA. Which is to say; a little familiar, a little unfamiliar and a little interesting with local people who care about the music.
Additionally, citing Yes.com's reported playlist isn't reliable nor 100% accurate. That is well known. That site is notorious for dropping songs and getting them wrong. I don't think you can deconstruct any playlist with accuracy from that site.
For clarification, I believe metrics, demos and market research all have its place. Even focus groups do from time to time. However, in the world of AAA, there has to be a balance of those essential business functions alongside a love and appreciation of the music. It can't be a hollow empty exercise. The AAA audience is smart enough to see through phony empty liners, like The River.
Your comment about KPND being hobbyists is simply elitist and unwarranted. That in itself reveals that you don't get the true underpinnings of what AAA really is. If you smiled at KPND's old school ways and thought it charming, then offered your thoughts, then expounded on what the realities are of the more corporate world, that's fine. If you had a a true appreciation of the soul of the format your tone would be different towards KPND. Your absolute elitism is strange.
Lastly, If you ever come around these parts I'll buy you a beer. I'd be happy to sit and listen to your dissertation of what makes a real AAA. (I'm not being snotty, I'm dead serious). I'm sure we'd have a rousing debate.
Manny Michaels said:
Bongwater said:
Have to agree on KPND on both points. Yes, KPND does sound "old school", but ain't nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's probably what's kept them going this long. Everybody loves an underdog - especially with AAA.
Regarding KPND, the station is a Class C broadcasting at 56,000 watts at 2503 feet; its local signal completely covers Spokane,
Coeur d'Alene and Cheney. Yet, it fails to register in the Spokane book. Why is that? Stephanie's assertion that some AAA's don't report to Arbitron is misinformed. Stations don't report to Arbitron, they subscribe. And even non-subscribing stations are rated if they receive the diary entries. But KPND receives none. And if the model is working so well, why can't they afford to stream or even a website for that matter.
If you look at KPND's Yes.com monitor, you'll find a hodgepodge of titles, with a lack of any semblance of balance or order. If that's what you mean by "old school," that's fine. But I submit that it's not working in the sense of either business or programming. KPND is a case of hobbyists indulging themselves and, in my opinion, failing at a format that can be very profitable.
