I'll second the Jim Fox assertion.
Having worked with him, (and in full disclosure I consider him a very good friend) I know that he is completely prepared for just about every scenario that will arise with this new property. Jim doesn't do anything halfway. He is methodical and won't make a move without making sure he knows the potential results of the move.
KRXQ has always been an amazing property. And they're enjoying unprecedented success right now. Whether you agree with his decisions, or not, the station's success is all that matters. They win. He is the guy who leads. And so...he must be given credit.
As a personality, what's going on in radio is somewhat unsettling. Music is static. It is unchanging. Those songs are the same no matter where they are served.
It is what comes between the songs that is the difference maker. Always has been.
Right now, PPM is causing a lot of people to shuffle their presentation. "Music-intensive" seems to be the new "Content is king." What's being missed, is the presentation. It takes a musically-literate, credible personality, to make that song that you've heard 1,000,000 times, seem interesting.
The personality...is the personality of the station. Otherwise, we're just background noise. Unfortunately, right now background noise counts if there's a meter in the area.
How many Honda cars do you see every day in your daily life? Do you even know?
Imagine if the amount of Honda cars you pass every day in your life were monitored by your cell phone and reported. Even if you didn't see them. PPM is not a more accurate system. It doesn't measure any real listening at all. Is it a more defensible set of stats that can be used to aid sales presentations. And if you live by hard numbers, you will eventually die by them. In our "instant results" mentality...it won't matter. By the time clients and advertisers figure out it's even more passive data, the industry will have another, more tangible system of data gathering to present.
It is the system the industry has accepted. And therefore, whether you like it, or not, the ones who manipulate PPM to the best result are going to win.
I wouldn't bet against Jim Fox. Or Curtiss Johnson. There's a reason those stations continue to win.
I might be biased because I know them both. But, the results speak for themselves.
Perception is reality.