interesting story in RADIOINSIGHT . . . 6/18/26

[alok]

for The Big A

you mentioned problems with Nielsen, (#4 ), for me, not understanding too well the ratings . . . what do you see as the problems?

 

[TheBigA]

for The Big A

you mentioned problems with Nielsen, (#4 ), for me, not understanding too well the ratings . . . what do you see as the problems?

The way PPM measures digital media is a problem. If you go back to the article you posted in #1:

“One of the biggest challenges for advertisers has been evaluating broadcast radio within a unified, cross-channel measurement framework,” said Cameron Hendrix, CEO and Co-Founder of Magellan AI. “AudioGraph helps close that gap by making radio listenership addressable and attributable within the same systems as digital and podcasting. That alignment gives marketers a way to translate their media mix into the same language, enabling a more complete view of performance and proving the incremental reach and value broadcast radio delivers.”

My take on that is balancing broadcast and digital measurement methodology so it's more of an apples to apples comparison. Here's a link to the iHeart press release on Audiograph:

Broadcast Radio Enters New Era: iHeartMedia First to Bring ‘AudioGraph’ to Market, Introducing Digital Precision and Measurability to the Largest Audio Audience in America

New advertising capabilities connect broadcast radio to the digital ecosystem by enabling precise targeting and measurement, providing additional reach and scale for brands, and leveraging the live cultural moments created in broadcast iHeartMedia, the No. 1 audio company in America today...

investors.iheartmedia.com

 

[phildavis]

It will be interesting to see how the music charts address that issue. Because the truth is the only reason radio stations have local playlists with local music directors is because they're required in order for those stations to be chart reporters. The charts have that rule because the labels want it. The labels pay for the charts. Now perhaps the entire system collapses because the labels prefer national playlists in order to save labels time & money.

But the truth is that most currents-based formats all play basically the same music anyway. It's been that way for 70 years.

Not really, though. WLS and WABC did not sound alike when both were doing the same format under the same corporte owner. Plus you had regional hits, groups that only made it in one market while barely cracking any others.

 

[TheBigA]

Not really, though. WLS and WABC did not sound alike when both were doing the same format under the same corporte owner.

Rick Sklar was made corporate PD of the ABC AM stations. He hired the PD of WLS. In Rick's book, he talked about trying to make WLS more like WABC, adding the echo chamber, and tightening the playlist.

Plus you had regional hits, groups that only made it in one market while barely cracking any others.

That wasn't as widespread as you think. Small garage bands quickly got major label distribution once they got played on the radio. Question Mark & The Mysterians had a small regional hit called 96 Tears that went national. They were a small garage band from Saginaw. The local radio PD heard them and got them a deal with Cameo Parkway. He wrote the liner notes on their debut album. It became a #1 national hit. So radio played a part in making those regional hits national. The trade magazines wrote about new music, and PDs in other cities wanted to play songs that were doing well regionally. But by the end of the 60s, the record labels started to consolidate and shut out a lot of the smaller regional labels. Columbia took over the band Big Brother & The Holding Company from the regional Mainstream record label. Atlantic canceled their distribution deal with STAX and took over their more successful artists. The move towards nationalization of music began in the 60s.