> > Really? Not that popular? Then how come any time a readers
>
> > poll or newspaper poll happens KEXP comes out on top and
> > their DJs are named the favorites (the time, seattle
> weekly,
> > the stranger, etc)? Once you step outside your old time
> > ratings system, KEXP is extremely popular.
>
> Well, when you step into the principles of a proper sample,
> you'll find that it is not as popular as you want it to be.
>
> The polls that count, done by Arbitron, are comprised of the
> population, age, gender and race balance proportionate to
> the market.
>
> Polls, where done by The Seattle Times, The Stranger, The
> Weekly, whatever are tallied of people who choose to
> respond. Just like those polls on CNN, MSNBC or whatever,
> they are not scientific and are done by the people who
> choose to take them.
Scientific? How scientific is writing what you listened to on the radio on a piece of paper? If Arbitron research is "scientific" in any way, then my grocery list is the Rosetta Stone.
And I thought ALL polls and research were done by people who CHOOSE to take them. And I've known people who have stopped sending their diaries back to Arb because it was too much hassle for 5 lousy bucks. Or were sent/given to radio people I've known who manipulated them-including myself (and the eventual ratings-it's easier and happens more often than you think.) And you call THAT scientific?
Radio research is the most fatally flawed of ALL polls. That's why I say in the end, ratings don't matter. It's fun to look at the numbers and see who's (allegedly) going up or down. But it's a FAR cry from a REAL science because REAL science takes careful measures to insure the best accuracy. The diaries don't. Too much is taken on faith and faith and science do not mix.
However, if there is a poll in the paper (or online), then somebody has to WILLINGLY do it and if they are going to make that effort for no reward, they might as well make it mean something to them.
Yes, stuffing can happen here too. KISW was once disqualified in the '80s from a Rolling Stone Favorite Radio Station poll for stuffing. But the industry does not depend on these polls for cashflow and job security, but they do for Arbitron's because a higher Arbitron can mean higher spot rates and maybe a bigger year end bonus for everybody on top of this particular food chain and of course, job security. And some of the WORST stuffing happens here. I have personally participated in it at the request of my former PD 17 years ago. And that's nothing shocking and nothing new. It's been going on for DECADES. To THIS day. In EVERY market...
It's NOT science my friend. It's just organized bulls--t.
>
>
> > People contribute their hard earned money because it's
> > valuable to them. Radio is a dismal place and outside of
> > Seattle, radio is even more dismal. When I moved out east,
> I
> > was devastated at the choices for radio, but thank GOD I
> can
> > stream it. That's why the listeners give them money. They
> > love it, they love the music and it's worth it to them.
>
> But the argument by many, including Larry, says that people
> are not listening to regular radio anymore. Supposedly,
> they are switching to iPods and internet radio because of
> the bad choices.
More like the LIMITED choices. AC, Country, CHR, AOR, Alternative, Public, Smooth Jazz, Christian, News/Talk, Oldies and Classic Rock are the virtually the ONLY formats you find up and down the radio dial. There has to be something different than the same old same old. Radio isn't doing much to buck this. It's just doing what it's always done, just keep reinventing the wheel.
Along comes internet radio, Music Choice, satellite radio, iPods and MP3 downloads. And all of a sudden, the radio and recording industries are trying desperately to justify their business practices, to say nothing of their very existence after 20 years of giving us a limited selection of stale "researched" music repeated ad nauseum over and over and over and over and over and over on the airwaves. The recording industry is in a LOSING battle to stop file sharing and in 10 years, either their business model will change dramatically and give the artists more creative control and profits from their recordings as well as lower CD prices for consumers or they will all die a horrible death as more and more artists begin using the internet as a means of direct music distribution. Radio may go the same way if they don't start bringing back what made radio so popular, the personality jock with creative control over his/her program.
>
> People are free to give their money wherever, land of the
> free home of the brave. It's beyond me why when you can buy
> a custom music playing device over lining the pockets of a
> the third party.
Well, I can understand the shoegazing apathy of some radio folks today. Most of them were INDOCTRINATED into the formula model at broadcasting school and now that all that is becoming obsolete, they are faced with challenges they never even IMAGINED even 5 years ago. But radio isn't radio without imagination. It is a business, but it is also personal. Radio needs to bring back it's human element. An iPod can play music, but it cannot interview the artist. Internet radio has LOTS of variety, but you can't take it with you. Satellite radio sounds good, but you have to pay for it and it doesn't tell you what's happening in your community. Radio is still the happy medium of all of these and that's why it can still be a viable industry if we can please focus less on the $$$ and focus more on the music and the people
>
>
> > I love this fall-back, cliche response. It's been used
> since
> > I lived there in the Stranger and by all kinds of critics.
>
> > Too bad it's not true. If any of you'd done any of your
> > research about this station, you'd know that Paul Allen
> gave
> > KEXP a certain amount of money and time to grow and get on
>
> > their feet from KCMU to KEXP and they are completely
> > independend of him now. It's in their public radio stuff.
>
> Yes, but they'll be asking for more money when funds start
> drying up in the future. It might not be next week, next
> month or next year. But just as the "Jack" format wears
> thin after awhile, KEXP's novelty will wear out and funds
> will not come in as much.
>
>
> > If it meant nothing, did nothing and didn't matter, no one
>
> > would even be discussing it.
>
> In the grand scheme of Seattle radio, KEXP has zero
> influence. Again, if it had an impact, the commercial radio
> stations would be reacting to them. Instead, they are
> reacting to Jack...not KEXP.
>
> Listen, I have nothing against KEXP. They can do whatever
> they want. But to position them as this huge thorn in
> Seattle radio's side and being this popular monster is
> incorrect.
>
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