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Archive for the 'Radio stuff' Category
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Last month marked the last time many markets would be getting Arbitron ratings from paper diaries… yes, despite being in the 21st century, radio ratings data was gathered by asking people to keep track of their listening habits and send them in. They did pay you $1 though.
The next time around stations will be shaking their fists not at diary distribution, but at Arbitron’s new PPM. The Portable People Meter. Or as I like to call it… the “One eyed one horned flying Portable People Meter.” It will be in all top 50 markets by 2010. Goodbye Space Shuttle, Hello PPM.
I like the idea that they are incorporating more advanced technology in calculating ratings and all, but it seems a little too “Big Brother is watching” to me. Here’s how it’ll work: Radio stations will all have their own unique sub-audible tone… the Portable People Meter is like a pager, and whenever you are listening to a radio station, it’ll pick up the tone and make note of what station you are listening to.
It’s certainly a lot more accurate than just asking people to keep track of or remember their listening habits, but still seems like it has a lot of the same problems that the mail in diaries had… since the numbers could change drastically depending on who happens to have the meter at a given time. Not to mention the fact that it seems like it would be easily fooled by people like me who are constantly changing stations.
I wonder if dogs will hear the tones…
In case you were wondering, they just released the last “old” Arbitron ratings for Chicago and WGN Radio was at the top of the pile with their best spring book in three years… hmm, Dan Deibert shows up and suddenly they have their best spring book in three years. Coincidence? I think not.
Back at Christmastime when I got a copy of $everance by Rick Kaempfer, if you would have told me that it would take me until July to actually finish reading it, I would have thought you were nuts… but it took a couple of two hour airplane rides for me to finally plow through it. That’s not a commentary on the quality of the book of course, I’ve just been a busy guy.
$everance revolves around Tom Zagorski, a morning DJ who does what many radio station employees have wanted to do at one time or another… he’s had enough of the ubiquitous budget cuts and emails the faceless CEO of the massive media company with a few “suggestions” for streamlining things even more than they already have. The problem is that the money-grubbing CEO loves the suggestions, and rather than firing Zagorski for his insubordination giving him the severance check he craves, he promotes him to second in command and takes his advice… putting basically the entire radio industry out of work.
I won’t spoil any of the story for you, I’ll just say that it’s absolutely hilarious, and a great glimpse into the world of corporate radio, from someone who has probably had his fair share of run-ins with corporate bureaucracy and budget cuts over the years.
Kaempfer was a long time radio producer in Chicago, before turning to writing and blogging. Proving that we may have been separated at birth, he runs blogs that deal with both the world of Chicago radio and the Chicago Cubs. Kaempfer also co-authored The Radio Producer’s Handbook with WTMX morning producer John Swanson.
