Wow...I Want Candy & Need you Tonight... it's Flashback Lunch on KEARTH 101, now if they play Patience or Sweet Child O' Mine from GNR I will know that world will be ending soon
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The new krth
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Edison's version was the B side (of a cylinder?) of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," IIRC.
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Thomps2525
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Edison referred to his recitation as "a little piece of practical poetry." Could we consider Mary Had A Little Lamb to be the first rap recording?
And what is this about KRTH having a "Flashback Lunch" program? Apparently KROQ never bothered to copyright that name. By the way, when KFWB was top-40 (1958-68), they referred to their oldies as "flashbacks." Could no one at KRTH come up with a better name? And I'm guessing that the "Flashback Lunch" will feature the same songs that are played during the "Parade Of Hits Weekend"---in other words, the same songs that play every day of every week of every month of every year.
And what is this about KRTH having a "Flashback Lunch" program? Apparently KROQ never bothered to copyright that name. By the way, when KFWB was top-40 (1958-68), they referred to their oldies as "flashbacks." Could no one at KRTH come up with a better name? And I'm guessing that the "Flashback Lunch" will feature the same songs that are played during the "Parade Of Hits Weekend"---in other words, the same songs that play every day of every week of every month of every year.
Isn't the word "FlashBack" on KRTH a wee bit redundant??
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Thomps2525
Guest
In the early years, KRTH's jingles and DJs never used the word "Oldies." Management didn't want the listeners being reminded that they're getting old. So yeah, what is the reason for the "Flashback Lunch" name? At least it's better than "Blasts From The Past" or "Groovy Goldens."
If they are not lost hits, then why bother. Checked the 12 noon hour slot, nothing special.
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Thomps2525
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Around four years ago KRTH had a "Lost Hits" weekend. Not only were the songs not "lost," they weren't even obscure. KRTH played Runaway, Hello Mary Lou, Judy's Turn To Cry, Just One Look, Palisades Park, Tossin' & Turnin', The Lion Sleeps Tonight and dozens of other early 1960s hits that just hadn't been played for a while. "Lost"? Bah, humbug!
I suppose we can consider them "lost Hits" now, since KRTH has eliminated the 60's, except for that coveted 1967 "hit".
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Thomps2525
Guest
Today at 5:30 KRTH played Brown Eyed Girl---again! I wish they'd lose that song!
Then it will be other songs in the 70's and the 80's that will receive endless spins. "Low Rider", "Don't Stop Believing" and "Boys of Summer" are three good examples. I remember the "Oh Pretty Woman", "My Girl", "It's the Same Old Song" and "Unchained Melody" discussions a few years back too.
8:31 this morning too! PM and AM drive times...heavy exposure.
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Vacuum Tubes
Guest
They actually did the "Lost Hits" Weekends a number of times, and although many of them were, as indicated above, simply older tunes that had been dropped, there were a few unusual tracks in there each weekend. But it was nothing you couldn't hear on XM any old time on the 60s channel.
They also repeated the "lost tracks" a bunch of times. So you'd hear the original "I Want Candy" from 65 (not the Bow Wow Wow one) and think it was a surprise. Then you'd hear it two or three more times that weekend.
No, it was definitely the PPM people, the real deal. I know because I did in fact get picked to wear one, and did so for maybe a year.
The screener also told me, when I said I listened to the radio frequently, "Oh good, that is what we need, heavy listeners."
As for incentives, it was pocket change. A check for $25 or something for a month of wearing the rather large, clunky meter, docking it each night. It was like a part-time job. I will say it is very hard to wear the meter, and I thought this: "Only a very rigid, regulated, disciplined personality type could do this for any length of time." I wonder if that same personality type also would tend to like more conservative, safe music? Think about the people you know in your life: don't the ones who are into routines and habits tend to have fairly conservative listening habits, generally speaking? I think so.
The PPM is pretty much only sampling people willing to wear a PPM: by definition, not a sample of the population at large.
Anyway....I knew the sample size was so small that my listening habits might have some kind of impact, so I did it as long as I could bear. So if Indie 103's ratings were a little higher for a slight period of time, I might have had something to do with it. Was my favorite station at the time. Though I felt bad when I was listening to Indie, but had forgotten the meter at home yet again!
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What you are saying violates all kinds of internal Arbitron and Nielsen policies and controls and also would throw the MRC into a frenzy to see how fast a market could be un-accredited. That all makes your observations very interesting and worth pursuing.
First, I have to ask when this happened. There was a period of pre-recruiting before the PPM went live when all they wanted to do was establish procedures. That year of "testing" did not get published.
Also, were you part of a dwelling unit / household. The only time a single individual gets recruited is if they are the only occupant at a specific address. Otherwise, if there are more than a single person, everyone has to participate or they do not include a person in the panel.
When you have a panel that includes several individuals, the potential to buy the new refrigerator or whatever is quite high.
That's because Nielsen (Arbitron) rewards carrying the meter, not heavy listening. You carry it ever day, you get points. You carry it more than the minimum hours a day, you get more points. The household is totally compliant during a survey week, you get points.
A person who said anything about liking heavy listening was violating policy. Arbitron is supposed to measure a proportional sample of the population, which includes non-listeners as well as medium, heavy and light listeners. Any reference to "listening" instead of "carrying" is totally wrong and totally violates the MRC accreditation (if the market you are in is accredited) or the potential for accreditation.
As to the sample itself, remember that the meter is the standard for TV, and ad agencies were the force behind going to the meter for radio. If the methodology is sufficiently robust for ad buyers to have confidence in the results, then the sample is valid.
Agencies don't want to know specifically "who's on first". They want to know the rating of each station in whatever demo they buy so they can establish a price point. So if the margin of error is several percent, it does not matter. There is no "win" or "loose" in radio as in a given market, a dozen or more stations can be big, big winners.
Sure, not everyone will carry a meter. Not everyone will answer a political poll or participate in any survey. But statistical samples are the closest we can come within a somewhat affordable price range that allows time buyers to have a metric for their job.
Nielsen has a huge department of people who "coach" metered families. If a meter is not carried, as shown by the motion sensor, they are called. If a meter is not carried enough, they are called. If a meter is not docked, they get called ("calls" may be real calls, or texts or emails). If a household has any member who does not comply for a period of time, they all get kicked off the panel.
If this was a recent event and not something back in the start-up period, both Nielsen and the industry should know about it. If you are willing to "come forward" I can get a contact email at Nielsen and you can explain what happened so they can take action. I don't have to know the details, but I do know that what you describe is totally mishandled and wrong and that Nielsen is very responsive to investigating mismanagement of the recruit and panelist supervision aspects of PPM.
That "Oh good, that is what we need, heavy listeners" statement if verified would be headline stuff in the trades as that is not what radio is paying Nielsen to do nor is it in compliance with MRC policy.
Thanks for posting such a complete narrative. It's interesting. And scary.
Here is the actual, real, factual spin data on Brown Eyed Girl on KRTH
For the week of the 18th to the 24th, the song played 7 times.
-3 times in overnights.
-Once in AMD
-Twice in 3 PM to 7 PM
-Once in Evenings.
Looking at other songs with averages of over 5 plays a week, it's fairly apparent that there is nearly one matching overnight play for every 6 AM to Midnight play. That, again, leads me to suspect that they are "recycling" the music into overnights from the daytime dayparts. And that is something almost all gold-heavy or gold-based stations do to optimize salable hour (M-F 6A - 7P) horizontal and vertical rotation.
Also significant is that one of the 3PM-7PM spins was on a weekday, and the other on a weekend, so even saying "it played twice in PM Drive" is kinda' wrong since listening habits are documentably different on weekends.
You can't just count the spins. You have to look at when songs were played relative to past plays.
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No, the vast majority of listeners (12 minutes at a shot, two or three times a day, max...some days maybe zero if they aren't listening to the radio when they usually do/punch a different button because they're in the mood for something other than classic hits/whatever) probably didn't hear any of those spins.
David, KRTH's weekly cume is a shade over 2 million, right? What's their average quarter hour listenership like in daylight hours?
Cume 2.2 million 12+, AQH persons 6 AM to Midnight it is around 40,000 and 6 AM to 7 PM it is around 56,000.
And there, Semoochie and all, is the key:
Any given play of any given song on KRTH is heard by only about 56,000 of KRTH's 2 million listeners (fewer in nighttime hours).
Which is why there isn't a repetition problem for the audience at large.
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