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Re: songs

>
> Besides the slight umbridge taken at the pandering usage of
> "dude," I don't see any of your points as being relevant or
> correct.


Dude: I see yours as doublespeak and in denial.
>
> > The days of stations caring about listeners are over
> > it's the advertisers they cater to.
>
> You are aware that radio has been ad supported from the
> beginning? Why, oh why, do you think Westinghouse
> established KDKA? Did you know that Paley bought WCAU to cut
> his ad expenses for his Cigar company? Did Sarnoff build the
> red and Blue nets of NBC because he was altruistic and a
> real nice gent?

Thanks for the slightly abridged history,but you served up my point well.
>
> Radio is an ad medium. Poor Richard's Alamanc was an ad
> medium. Commercial media attracts users (readers, viewers,
> listeners) and offers access to them via advertising. This
> surprising fact has been in play for over 80 years.
>
> > Lowry said it himself in
> > more ways than one.
>
> Lowry would be lying were he not to say that. Radio makes
> money from advertisers, and makes none directly from
> listeners. The business of radio is selling ads and that is
> the reason why stations will do everything possible to be as
> appealing as they can to listeners.

They cater to advertisers solely and you know it,the listeners are being further and further ill served each week (and to paraphrase a line from you )" You know it.
>
> > So a station's management will skew to
> > what an advertiser seeks,and if some facts get lost along
> > the way,so what? If they can still make money selling the
> > spots,so be it.
>
> Advertisers seek sepcific consumer groups. A commercial
> station can not survive programming to unattractive groups.
> So station programming is determined based on its
> possibility in collecting lots of listeners in a salable
> demo. Once the target of a station is determined,
> programming is developed to deliver this demo. That means
> that every effort will be made to make the station
> appealing.
>
>
> > Research organizations are suported by stations who get
> > support from advertising.
>
> So? The research company is simply trying to find out what
> the listener interst is given a specific target or to
> provide data that will make the station more competitive.
> Research companies do not interface with advertisers. They
> study listener likes and dislikes so a station can do its
> best in reaching a specific group.

SO? Is that it? You missed that point. NO O B J E C T I V I T Y in research is conducted.
>
> > A daisy chain if there ever was
> > one. Some research organizations belong to a huge
> > corporations much like radio stations in major markets.
>
> The research companies that do programming studies come in
> two flavors. One is owned by the staiton group itself, and
> is a service department intended to deal specifically with a
> company's stations to improve them.

AND carry a greater weight than an outside researcher.

The other consists of
> mostly small, entrepreneurial companies like Coleman,
> Paragon, Pinnacle, Haarker, Parakhal, etc. who are
> specialized in radio research techniques, many having highly
specialized products that are radio-specific.
Who have had invested interests from stations, making them partial in some of their findings. Nothing like accuracy.


>
> > They
> > are very apolitical and do not want to lose a client
> > themselves by saying their pet station in a market is
> > reeking.
>
> A research company does not say a station is good or bad.
> The listeners do that.
Come again? If they say,you have low numbers in this particular demographic, format then a station is bad, and vice versa



A research company does not give
> opinions. It asks questions and tabulates the answers. The
> station decides what the results mean by interpretation.
Questions can be worded and have been to give a projected response. Again no objectivity.
>
> > Some research organizations have themselves been
> > invested into by media owners. No bias there,right?
>
> No. That is the ideal situation, since the reasearch company
> does not have to observe confidentiality about findings in
> other markets that may be from projects done for competitive
> companies or stations. An in house research company will be
> able to share other market findings openly, and have the
> opportunity to deal with sensitive confidential subjects.


Once again you missed the point. No shock there.
>
> > Individual stations need to conduct their own research,but
>
> > that would cost the research organizations money and they
> > can't have that,could they?
>
> Individual stations are, with nearly no exceptions, not
> qualified or trained or equiped to do local projects on
> their own. How many staitons have someone qualified to run a
> music test data set through SPSS to get a Pierson
> Correlation break into clusters? Huh


A name dropper huh? Funny how some stations used to ASCERTAIN the local community,without outside help. The corporate structure eliminated that,with their non-caring attitude towards a community of license.
> >
> > It's "Consultants" by the way.
>
> Consultants don't do reasearch. Consultants, in house or
> outside, are often brought in to make the best use of
> reserch, both in interpretation or implementation.

Consultants can and have misread results, will SPIN to make their analysis seem credible to a green GM or a non caring( of a particular station) Regional VP,even though the interpretation can and has been questionable by other who have no say,but have more knowledge in decision making.
>
> > I know you got in a hurry
> > with a need to reply to anyone who dares to disagree with
> > you. Consultants are spin doctors and can make disasterous
>
> > numbers look good.
>
> A good consultant is hired to make bad numbers improve. And
> to hold good ones even in the face of competiton.

Consultants Put the SPIN on things to make themselves appear to be credible.



>
> > It's all politics,removed from reality.
> > Get some rest.
>
> There is no politics at all involved.


Politics in government,you would be correct on a technicality.
Corporate politics,you are wrong.
>
> Today's #1 station in Dallas has a 5.7. In Spring of 2002,
> it had a 1.5. It did research to determine how to improve,
> and used in house consultants to interpret and implement
> together with the local programming staff.

We all know how arbitron has been very reliable and has come under increasing fire for the way they tabulate the findings. A station should do what it needs to do to improve with a LOCAL staff,not a large company ceo.
>
> As I said... no politics at all involved.
>As I said Politics plays a role with this.

You will dispute,fume,argue,and never will conceed any point presented in opposition. You are a master of SPIN. One day the rotation will slow to a crawl.
I know you're chomping at the bit to respond to this and others who have the audacity to point out you're wrong. You will continue to do so. I made my points,and they were made solidly, whether you agree or disagree. One day you should go back and work in a studio instead of at a desk with a computer,it might help you. I won't respond to you further,this thread has gone on enough.
 
Re: songs

(Taken from the end of your post)

> I know you're chomping at the bit to respond to this and
> others who have the audacity to point out you're wrong. You
> will continue to do so. I made my points,and they were made
> solidly, whether you agree or disagree. One day you should
> go back and work in a studio instead of at a desk with a
> computer,it might help you. I won't respond to you
> further,this thread has gone on enough.

Generally, the sign of a lost argument is the unilateral decision to close it to further discussion. This is where the "don't bothe rme with the facts, my mind is made up" comes from.

BTW, I was on the air early in my career, and was fortunately advised that I had no possible future in it unless I moved to Ishpeming in the winter. Being on the air does not uniquely qualify a person to give programming opinions, either, and I don't see why you think it should.

BTW #2. I spend most of my time outside station "on the street" talking to listeners. See how your stereotypes and "ready, fire, aim" conclusions fail to pan out?

> You will dispute,fume,argue,and never will conceed any point
> presented in opposition. You are a master of SPIN. One day
> the rotation will slow to a crawl.

No, I will try to argue cogently my point as I feel you are giving a wrong and jaded impression of radio management, consultants and researchers.

The fact that you have known a few incompetent people does not mean all people are incompetent. There are dolts, dweebs and dumb ones in insurance companies, auto dealers and, gasp!, the government. Dealing with them shows th emettle of a competent person.

> >
> > You are aware that radio has been ad supported from the
> > beginning? Why, oh why, do you think Westinghouse
> > established KDKA? Did you know that Paley bought WCAU to
> cut
> > his ad expenses for his Cigar company? Did Sarnoff build
> the
> > red and Blue nets of NBC because he was altruistic and a
> > real nice gent?
>
> Thanks for the slightly abridged history,but you served up
> my point well.

You mean that radio is an ad medium? If you are unhappy with the eonomic model of radio and, in a sense, the USA, you might find some nation with only non-comercial radio a joy. I believe the few such nations still in existence are in sub-equatorial Africa, however.

> > Lowry would be lying were he not to say that. Radio makes
> > money from advertisers, and makes none directly from
> > listeners. The business of radio is selling ads and that
> is
> > the reason why stations will do everything possible to be
> as
> > appealing as they can to listeners.
>
> They cater to advertisers solely and you know it,the
> listeners are being further and further ill served each week
> (and to paraphrase a line from you )" You know it.

No, I do not know it and I dispute it. To appeal to advertisers, one must deliver a product. The product of radio is listeners or listener delivery. One does not get listeners without having decent programming.

>
> > study listener likes and dislikes so a station can do its
> > best in reaching a specific group.
>
> SO? Is that it? You missed that point. NO O B J E C T I V I
> T Y in research is conducted.

How can you say something like that? Good research is blind. One surveys a random sample of potential or existing listeners and questions them on music or programming issues. Unless you want to purposely destroy the station and throw away the cost of a project (An AMT can run in the $30 thousand range for just one!), everything is done to be transparent.

> > The research companies that do programming studies come in
>
> > two flavors. One is owned by the staiton group itself, and
>
> > is a service department intended to deal specifically with
> a
> > company's stations to improve them.
>
> AND carry a greater weight than an outside researcher.

So? This is only because an inside division enjoys the ability to participate in more confidential data, so can thus better design a project. Otherwise, there is no difference in the actual way research is conducted.
> >
> > A research company does not say a station is good or bad.
> > The listeners do that.

> Come again? If they say,you have low numbers in this
> particular demographic, format then a station is bad, and
> vice versa

Research companies that do program research do not do quantitative audience research. That we get from Arbitron.

Having low numbers does not mean a station is bad. The format may be bad. The format may have limited upside. The format area may be too thinly divided. The signal may be inferior. It takes more than a ranker to determine the health of a station.
> >
> > Individual stations are, with nearly no exceptions, not
> > qualified or trained or equiped to do local projects on
> > their own. How many staitons have someone qualified to run
> a
> > music test data set through SPSS to get a Pierson
> > Correlation break into clusters? Huh
>
>
> A name dropper huh?

No, just making a point that research is a specialized field. You do not have the sales manager fix the transmitter, do you? Or represent yourself in court?

> Funny how some stations used to
> ASCERTAIN the local community,without outside help.

Ascertainment was a legal FCC requirement, and had no programming benefit. Stations used to use different research... I did record sales and juke box plays in the 60's, and that was research. i did street intercepts in the 70's, and that was research. We have just gotten better with the times. And, of course there are no 45 rpm single sales to research any more.


>
> Consultants can and have misread results,

And pilots have flown into mountains. Generally, like the pilot, consultants do not get a second chance to do the same thing again.

> will SPIN to make
> their analysis seem credible to a green GM or a non caring(
> of a particular station) Regional VP,even though the
> interpretation can and has been questionable by other who
> have no say,but have more knowledge in decision making.

Interpretation is generally the responsibility of the local station. Researchers are not responsible, and bad interpretation does not affec the quality of the research, any more than a bad driver invalidates a good map.
>
> Consultants Put the SPIN on things to make themselves appear
> to be credible.

Those that do last very little time.
>
> We all know how arbitron has been very reliable and has come
> under increasing fire for the way they tabulate the
> findings. A station should do what it needs to do to improve
> with a LOCAL staff,not a large company ceo.

Arbitron, in fact, is very, very riliable within the constraints of the sample size. There is no question about how they "tabulate" the finding.

the non sequitur to corporate management is unfathomable.
 
Re: songs

I said Politics plays a role with this.
>
> You will dispute,fume,argue,and never will conceed any point
> presented in opposition. You are a master of SPIN. One day
> the rotation will slow to a crawl.
> I know you're chomping at the bit to respond to this and
> others who have the audacity to point out you're wrong. You
> will continue to do so. I made my points,and they were made
> solidly, whether you agree or disagree. One day you should
> go back and work in a studio instead of at a desk with a
> computer,it might help you. I won't respond to you
> further,this thread has gone on enough.

You have noticed that like so many others on this and other boards I see. I just roll past his tower of Babel. You should do the same.
 
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