Good News for AM Radio

[vchimpanzee]

Giving a translator to AM operators is a form of a bail out. That's not such a bad thing, but it should only be for small, low wattage type stations, graveyard stations, daytimers and stations that used to cover a metro well but no longer do because of sprawl. . . And the translator should be out there on the other side of town or the county, the place where the AMer doesn't quite reach but is now part of the market. It does nothing to "save the AM band" if a station is given a FM and every one downtown listens to FM now cause it sounds better.

The rules say you can't put a translator in a location where the AM doesn't reach. Which makes no sense at all.

 

[Avid Listener]

Bassackwards as usual. The situation you described is exactly what we have in radio NOW, with Delilah or Rush or Ryan Seacrest running everywhere at once. Tune across the AM dial late night and you'll catch George Noory in progress anywhere you go. In TV, before the clustering started, most local stations took pride in how much local production they did. In my market, not only was there news, but local kiddie shows, movie hosts, interview shows, game shows, musical shows, live sports remotes, you name it. And network shows not only could be but were pre-empted for local ones. The buying of syndicated shows was different too; stations competed for the ones they wanted rather than having them stuffed down their throats by corporate HQ. I don't know why I'm even bringing this up, though, you'll just turn it around again. Also as usual.

First, I said that networks would be carried almost 24/7. I don't give a damn what sort of time-fillers are aired on AM stations at night. Why would anyone be listening to an AM station when they could be listening to FM, or watching TV, or surfing the internet? The live shows in the early days of TV were aired only because the networks didn't provide content 24/7, so the local stations had to air something. As soon as more economical alternatives came a long, including expanded network feeds and syndicated programs, local origination shows disappeared. They were too expensive compared to the alternatives.

And yes, during the late evening hours, when most folks are watching TV, surfing the internet, or doing almost anything but listening to the radio, one station per market takes advantage of running Delilah After Dark. And other station do the same with On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Big freakin' deal. Setting aside the crap on AM, which is the best thing one can do with AM radio, you mention two whole syndicated radio music shows a few hours long. Both are often used as nothing more than a cost-saving alternative to having a local personality on the air. And of course, there are the hundreds of voice-tracked shows pretending to be local.

But I'm talking about national radio program networks that operate like TV networks operate now, or like radio networks back in the day, being the dominant content on most radio stations. Not just Delilah After Dark in the evenings when almost no one is listening to radio (relatively speaking, compared to drive times), but during all day parts. Locally produced content on radio will become as common as local content on television.

 

[JeffM]

First, I said that networks would be carried almost 24/7. I don't give a damn what sort of time-fillers are aired on AM stations at night. Why would anyone be listening to an AM station when they could be listening to FM, or watching TV, or surfing the internet? The live shows in the early days of TV were aired only because the networks didn't provide content 24/7, so the local stations had to air something. As soon as more economical alternatives came a long, including expanded network feeds and syndicated programs, local origination shows disappeared. They were too expensive compared to the alternatives.

And yes, during the late evening hours, when most folks are watching TV, surfing the internet, or doing almost anything but listening to the radio, one station per market takes advantage of running Delilah After Dark. And other station do the same with On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Big freakin' deal. Setting aside the crap on AM, which is the best thing one can do with AM radio, you mention two whole syndicated radio music shows a few hours long. Both are often used as nothing more than a cost-saving alternative to having a local personality on the air. And of course, there are the hundreds of voice-tracked shows pretending to be local.

But I'm talking about national radio program networks that operate like TV networks operate now, or like radio networks back in the day, being the dominant content on most radio stations. Not just Delilah After Dark in the evenings when almost no one is listening to radio (relatively speaking, compared to drive times), but during all day parts. Locally produced content on radio will become as common as local content on television.

Maybe radio would sound better to you if you pulled your head out of your butt hole once in a while...

 

[Avid Listener]

Maybe radio would sound better to you if you pulled your head out of your butt hole once in a while...

This is a classic example of the kind of a post that a liberal would run to the moderator to complain about. As a conservative, I'll simply note that it says much more about the character of the ******* who posted it than anything else.

 

[Avid Listener]

In case anyone wonders what it was, in the previous post, the censored word is *******.

 

[JeffM]

In case anyone wonders what it was, in the previous post, the censored word is *******.

[/QUOT
Frankly, I wonder if they shouldn't change the name of this site from Radio Discussions to Radio ******bags. It's being occupied by pompous pontificators like FL (news/talk) and MH (music/programming) who spray everyone else's ideas with hot bladder juice without contributing one useful thought of their own (my own theory is that they are "paid consultants" who do not intend to give away any advice, good or bad, for free) and snarky trolls like you and SMG, whose only response to anything is "Oh, yeah??" As far as "running to the moderator" is concerned, that's all in your mind. Call me whatever you like; I'll stand my ground.

 

[davideduardo]

Not just Delilah After Dark in the evenings when almost no one is listening to radio (relatively speaking, compared to drive times), but during all day parts.

Using an average of five of the top 10 markets, the slightly rounded numbers are as follows...

Nights average just a tad under half the level of morning drive.
Nights average about 40% of the level of Middays and PM drive.

At the cume level, with 11,000,000 12+ persons in LA (and the results are barely any different in New York or Dallas or Chicago or San Francisco)...

Cume persons in AM drive: 7,635,000 persons
Cume persons in Middays: 8.575,000 persons
Cume persons in PM Drive: 8,782,000 persons
Cume persons in Nights: 6,554,000 persons.

And so much for your inaccurate portrayals of listening in the different dayparts.

 

[Avid Listener]

Using an average of five of the top 10 markets, the slightly rounded numbers are as follows...

Nights average just a tad under half the level of morning drive.
Nights average about 40% of the level of Middays and PM drive.

At the cume level, with 11,000,000 12+ persons in LA (and the results are barely any different in New York or Dallas or Chicago or San Francisco)...

Cume persons in AM drive: 7,635,000 persons
Cume persons in Middays: 8.575,000 persons
Cume persons in PM Drive: 8,782,000 persons
Cume persons in Nights: 6,554,000 persons.

And so much for your inaccurate portrayals of listening in the different dayparts.

And you wonder why I am so skeptical about the accuracy of the ratings.

 

[semoochie]

In that morning drive is less popular than middays or afternoons, do you have a thought as to why it still pays the best and has more prestige or does it still?

 

[Avid Listener]

In case anyone wonders what it was, in the previous post, the censored word is *******.

Frankly, I wonder if they shouldn't change the name of this site from Radio Discussions to Radio ******bags. It's being occupied by pompous pontificators like FL (news/talk) and MH (music/programming) who spray everyone else's ideas with hot bladder juice without contributing one useful thought of their own (my own theory is that they are "paid consultants" who do not intend to give away any advice, good or bad, for free) and snarky trolls like you and SMG, whose only response to anything is "Oh, yeah??" As far as "running to the moderator" is concerned, that's all in your mind. Call me whatever you like; I'll stand my ground.

Ever notice that the jerks who whine and kvetch the most about how other peoples' posts don't meet their lofty standards seldom post anything of substance themselves? If JeffM's nastygrams were all deleted, there would be no indication that he had ever posted in here.

 

[JeffM]

Ever notice that the jerks who whine and kvetch the most about how other peoples' posts don't meet their lofty standards seldom post anything of substance themselves?

Yes, I have. But I somehow still feel obligated to reply anyway.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Ever notice that the jerks who whine and kvetch the most about how other peoples' posts don't meet their lofty standards seldom post anything of substance themselves?

You rang?

 

[davideduardo]

In that morning drive is less popular than middays or afternoons, do you have a thought as to why it still pays the best and has more prestige or does it still?

It's the shift that most benefits from a personality approach, and is also the foundation that delivers audience to the next dayparts.

The conventional wisdom is that people wake up and like to have their "contact with humanity" reestablished. Whether you believe that rather all-encompassing statement or not, music stations seem to benefit from an appropriate degree of high profile hosting in mornings, while other dayparts require less or none.

 

[davideduardo]

And you wonder why I am so skeptical about the accuracy of the ratings.

We were led to believe mornings had the highest listening based on the diary system. Prior to that methodology, mornings was not as highly rated on a Persons Using Radio basis... and if you go back a few more decades, many stations did not even sign on until 7 AM!

The diary did not register the many interruptions in listening in mornings that are part of the way people behave in those hours. Folks did not write down "6:07 to 6:18" because at 6 the alarm went off, but they pushed "snooze" and at 6:18 they went into the shower... they just wrote down "6 AM to 8 AM" and the name of a station.

All of which makes the PPM seem vastly more credible and certainly more precise.

 

[Avid Listener]

We were led to believe mornings had the highest listening based on the diary system. Prior to that methodology, mornings was not as highly rated on a Persons Using Radio basis... and if you go back a few more decades, many stations did not even sign on until 7 AM!

The diary did not register the many interruptions in listening in mornings that are part of the way people behave in those hours. Folks did not write down "6:07 to 6:18" because at 6 the alarm went off, but they pushed "snooze" and at 6:18 they went into the shower... they just wrote down "6 AM to 8 AM" and the name of a station.

All of which makes the PPM seem vastly more credible and certainly more precise.

And yet the ratings from diaries was considered absolute gospel all the the time that it was used. And all of the conclusions about pretty much everything in the way of radio programming based on the ratings back in those days is still practiced and regarded as being engraved in stone today. How long has PPM been around? How many changes have been made in programming practices as a result of the data from PPM?

 

[davideduardo]

And yet the ratings from diaries was considered absolute gospel all the the time that it was used.

And that was because the diary produced true weekly cume, while Pulse and Hooper did not. And it provided much more granular data than the other two, so it was perceived as being the best thing possible... in 1965 when it rolled out. And it is good enough for advertisers to give the diary market Nielsen surveys MRC approval for the over 200 markets the diary is still used.

And all of the conclusions about pretty much everything in the way of radio programming based on the ratings back in those days is still practiced and regarded as being engraved in stone today. How long has PPM been around? How many changes have been made in programming practices as a result of the data from PPM?

PPM started rolling out in multiple markets around 2008, so it is about 6 years old now.

Some of us began mapping a new PPM Playbook around 2002-2003 if we were party to the Philadelphia tests. We definitely developed a transition strategy when the more complete real time testing in Houston began several years later. As for myself, I conducted PPM seminars in house before any market rolled out live... and that included changed procedures in many areas.

To begin with, the diary measures three things, TSL, cume and memory. The PPM does not measure memory, so the constant reminders of station names and benchmarks that were need to insure that a listener remembered to "write you down" are not needed in the PPM. Stopset times have changed on nearly all stations, moving to quarter hour transitions instead of centered inside a quarter hour. Morning shows have become more concise. MScores, a PPM derivitive, show us burn or stiffing of songs. Talk may be less attractive in certain dayparts. Benchmark shows like Delilah and Lovelines clones didn't work in PPM along with many other diary benchmarks that were part of the "memory game".

If I told you more, I'd be looking for work. But everything from library size to rotations to imaging and jock work as well as contests, promotions and street presence has changed with the PPM. There has likely not been as much change in radio since the radio networks died with the lifting of the freeze in 1953!