PPMIWYP

Portable People Meter (PPM) has been rolling out in major markets across the U.S.

For the first time – radio stations get credit for the people actually exposed to it’s broadcast. Rather than it’s ability to get people to remember & write their name down in a paper diary.

The prevailing “wisdom” developing around PPM was not difficult to predict.

Before PPM – our job was to get people to remember our station.

Now, PPM’s passive measurement is turning our job into making sure the people already listening don’t tune out.

We’re moving from trying to make a mark; to be remembered – to trying to not be objectionable.

Terms like “Mic Flight” were coined to explain what people do when a DJ starts talking.

PPM will not forgive a bad break, an unfamiliar song, a misguided promo, an obnoxious commercial, a boring interview.

Everything, at every moment is being measured and it all counts.

PPM Is Watching You Pee.

Which might be a welcomed thing if we had a tradition of developing and training our air talent to consistently deliver desirable content.

Instead, it’s largely demoralizing because we’re seeing that our “wing it” approach to most non-music elements is more likely to REDUCE listenership.

So – we’re looking at everything we do thru the EARS of PPM.

Do we need to identify the station at EVERY segue?

Do promos need to be :40 seconds?

Do our Disc Jockey’s have a real reason to open the mic – or is it just some old school habit?

Is it really worth playing an unfamiliar track? A B-side etc….

Certainly re-examining these things with PPM ears is important. I’ve always been an advocate of challenging conventional wisdom. PPM does help us with that.

My original excitement with PPM is that it changes the game.

The old game was fun – but it got boring to me. Everything was already figured out. There was no more exploration to be done. Change was almost impossible to achieve because “the way it works” (arbitron diary games) had already been figured out.

The rewards for status quo maintenance were far higher than for taking risks and trying new things.

With PPM, I sense we have a new guide to help us make radio more humane. More personal. More relatable and more responsive. To change it for the better.

I believe we finally have a tool that will reward us for daring and doing big things on the radio. PPM has proven great at measuring events. This should be a great inspiration for radio makers.

Instead – it appears the other side to the PPM coin; the fear based “tune out avoidance” meme is getting far more play.

And why not. It’s easier. It’s cheaper.

But it’s also the least forward looking, laziest, path of least resistance approach we can take. It will eventually lead us into a corner from which we will not be prepared to escape.

My fear – in our effort to shave potential tune-outs across our presentation – is that we ignore our responsibility of ADDING new value.

The result of our present approach will be to reduce our stations to little more than a streaming music service.

But with 12+ commercials an hour.

And no song skip.

And No “favorite”, “customize” or interactive functionality.

Sound compelling?

I’m not sure what it will take for us to approach what we do differently.

I don’t expect it will happen industry wide.

But courage is certainly going to a necessary trait. And until one of us steps up, tries something different and wins – business as usual (PPMIWYP) – no matter how stale or ineffective the results will continue to be the “prevailing wisdom”.

Talkin Bout a Revolution

Time for my annual blog post about radio.

This time, I’m responding to a request put out on Mark Ramsey’s Hear 2.0 blog.

Mark – in conjunction with Radio & Records is soliciting ideas about Radio’s Future.

The question:

What’s the recipe that every radio broadcaster needs to follow to get ahead of the game in 2009? What are the best practices that must be followed to compete effectively? What are the best-in-class ideas that every broadcaster can profit from in a turbulent year?

I’m not sure if this is the kind of response they were looking for – but it’s what I deeply believe.

So I decided to share it here also.

Please feel free to drop a comment and pass it around.

RADIO’S CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Radio’s future will be as much about what happens off the air as on the air.  Because of this – Radio needs nothing short of a top to bottom Cultural Revolution. 

We need to birth a new Culture of Innovation.  A culture that embraces new ideas & experimentation.  A culture that faces down old Fears in the pursuit of creating new products and services for our clients and audiences.  

It’s unreasonable to expect we can incubate a Culture of Innovation in radio before we get out from under the pervasive Culture of Arbitron.  

The problem isn’t Arbitron specifically. Arbitron is just a tool. The problem is what we’ve allowed Arbitron to become and the effect it has on our thinking.  

WE have put the tool at the center of our universe. If an idea doesn’t have the potential to move the Arbitron needle, we discard it before any resources are “wasted” on it.  We behave as if there’s no other way we can create meaning and value for listeners, clients and ourselves than by playing and winning the Arbitron game.  This, I believe, is a false and increasingly dangerous choice.  

Of course, Arbitron ratings are important. For now.  But we systematically choose to focus on what Arbitron does measure – at the EXCLUSION of everything else that Arbitron does not measure.  

We’ve been doing this for so long that our internal culture has become one of echo-chambers and feedback loops.  A process that asks the same questions that recall the same answers.  It’s led to a culture that is often quite hostile to any idea that isn’t about winning the Arbitron game.   

For example:

CBS launches KYOU here in San Francisco. Billed as “Open Source Radio” – they would solicit and broadcast pod-casts and audio created by the community and other sources. The station was closely integrated with it’s website.  It was an idea truly of this place & time.

It was put on a tertiary AM signal so there wasn’t much at stake from a traditional point of view.  Still . . . the inside reaction & chatter I witnessed from the radio peanut gallery – from the lowest to fairly high levels – was mostly snide mockery & derision.   

That kind of naked hostility towards new ideas doesn’t happen in Silicon Valley. I doubt you’ll find it inside Apple. Or Google. Or any organization/industry that thrives on it’s ability to generate IDEAS.  

We can’t be surprised that nothing new happens in radio. There is a systemic bias against it if it doesn’t square with Arbitron.  Think about the fear this creates and it’s effect on our culture.  When the easiest way to fit in is to mock experiments and new ideas – pretty soon there won’t be many new ideas.  

Even Detroit – despite all it’s troubles – still build concept cars that challenge their engineers and tease our imagination about the future. It’s a systematic, institutional process to create, expose and leverage new ideas.  

So.  What are we building?  

Why didn’t Pandora come out of our own Test Kitchens?   What were we so busy doing?   Shouldn’t it have rightly been OUR innovation?   Will we come up with the next idea that captures people’s affection?  

If we wait for Arbitron to tell us what’s important; what’s worth our time & effort, we will always be followers.  We will miss opportunities to create and define new markets.  To set new product standards.  We will abdicate leadership and control of our destiny.   

In an increasingly social, interconnected & symmetrical media space – we can’t afford a myopic world view of radio as a closed eco-system that can thrive without new ideas or innovations.  Business as usual is going to be an increasingly bad business.  

So how do we get there – to birth a Culture of Innovation? 

We can begin laying the foundation right now by rewarding Extra-Arbitron thinking.  We can do it throughout our industry. At every level. In every department.

We don’t need to stop thinking about Arbitron to begin thinking about what is possible in ADDITION to Arbitron.  

But thinking is only the first step.  Action needs to be empowered.  The veil of fear – of failure and ridicule needs to be lifted.  Experimentation needs to be encouraged and embraced.  

Here’s just one thought. Have you ever wondered how many passionate niche communities might exist within your “database” of generic radio contest players?  

Is there anyone in your group getting an incentive to 

A.) Find out

and 

B.) Create new products and services specifically designed for those passionate communities?

Passionate, engaged communities will command far higher CPMs than generic, passive crowds.  But we can rethink that also.

This is going to be the prevailing wisdom of advertising in the years to come.  A bullhorn will not be able to compete with a whisper from a trusted friend.  Advertisers are now learning this. Where will we be, and what will we be doing when this is common knowledge?

If we are only rewarded for playing the Arbitron game – this kind of idea (or even the 5 Extra-Arbitron ideas you just had) will be viewed as completely useless and a waste of time. They will die on the vine.  And we’ll be worse off for it.

I don’t see this as an Either/Or choice.  But –  BOTH / AND  

We can be BOTH great mainstream broadcasters on the radio – AND dig deep into creating credible products and services for the MANY niche communities/interests that ALREADY exist within our fan base.   We can play Arbitron without being a slave to Arbitron.

This, along with many other ideas can happen – for real – when we begin rewarding Extra-Arbitron thinking.  

Are we there yet?   

2009 can be the year we answer – yes we are.

–jeff schmidt

Where does change happen?

I’m often amazed at how unwilling the radio industry appears to be to embrace the obvious opportunities that sit right in front of us in the new media sphere.

Seth Godin’s latest – “When Culture Gets Stuck” gives as good of an explanation as any for the reason why people resist change.

Once something makes its way to the mass market, the mass market doesn’t want it to change. And once it moves from that big hump in the middle of the market to become a class, the market doesn’t just want it to not change, they insist.

Radio -as a very mature industry – is notorious for needing all kinds of supporting research for making any kind of move away from “what we know works”.   Personally – it’s the most unfortunate thing about radio.

Seth  -

Inside most fields, we see pitched battles between a few people who want serious change to reinvigorate the genre they love–and the masses, who won’t tolerate change of any kind.

History has shown us that the answer is crystal clear: if you want change, you’ve got to leave. Change comes, almost always, from the outside.

The people who reinvented music, food, technology and politics have always gone outside the existing dominant channels to create something new and vital and important.

So where is outside of radio?

Satellite is one.

We spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing over the Satcasters – but when we look at what they’re doing – they’re trying to change things – to make new things  – the kind of things that simply are not possible in the terrestrial radio world.   That frightens lots of people.  Unnecessarily in my view.   They see the world as “either-or”.

I’ve always thought there was a place for the Satcasters in the audio entertainment world.  Along with mp3 players internet streams etc..

There should be way more minds trying more things in different ways in the sphere of audio entertainment than commercial radio alone.

Commercial radio operates 1 way.  That’s not going to change much.  But that doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY way radio can be performed.

And it shouldn’t be the only way either.  Not anymore.
That’s why I often applaud efforts by the satcasters and internet radio who are trying new things – who are using their imagination to do things differently and why I get so frustrated with commercial radio people who think there’s only 1 way to do radio and scoff, mock or fear alternative approaches.

I believe the competition is good for radio.  It’s already making radio better.

Ripped from the Radio Headlines

Couple of bits caught my eye today.

From Inside Radio

Bonneville’s going to charge $4.99 a month for access to its Washington, D.C. classical service. This isn’t just any classical service — it’s the “VivaLaVoce.com” choral/vocal stream. It’s very popular and Bonneville says that’s the problem — “the increase in royalty and streaming expenses has outpaced our ability to support the station commercially.” Starting Friday it goes commercial-free – and subscription-only.

Who the hell wants to pay for radio . . . I mean geeze.  ,-)

I hope we’ll find out what happens to the service – does it thrive under the subscription model – or die on the vine?

I also wonder at what point along the axis does an internet stream become so successful it can no longer be supported with ads that would make it a viable AM/FM format.  Is there a hole between them – is that where Satcasters are living?   Is there a PAY RADIO space where terrestrial radio companies can/should be playing in?

Should we be investigating this BEFORE we go shooting off our mouths about how “no one should have to pay for radio”.

And this -

Christina Aguilera picked to host new Clear Channel online video show 

What do you mean online video show?   Aren’t we in radio?  ,-)

Back in July I posted

New Technology levels playing fields and removes barriers .

It means Newspapers don’t need FM transmitters or FCC licences to create audio entertainment that competes with radio. Neither does TV.

It means TV networks don’t need a printing press and a distribution channel to deliver written content that competes with Newspapers. Neither does Radio.

It means Radio doesn’t need space on a cable network to get the scoop on a world premier of a music video. Neither does Newspapers.

This the future of media – and it’s open to everyone that chooses to participate.

Clear Channel gets that.  But here’s the thing.  It’s not JUST other RADIO operators that we’re competing with – it’s ANYONE with a good idea.

As Hugh McLeod said in one of his cartoons -

The World is Changing  – and the parts that aren’t no longer interest me.

Word.

I’m way too cutting edge

Certainly living in the San Francisco Bay area for the last . . . . holy cow – almost 10 years  – has immersed me in a very tech savvy culture.

I often take for granted and as a given things like broadband access, watching video online, downloading & buying music almost exclusively online, blogs and blog search engines, getting my news through an aggregator so that by the time I get home and my wife puts on the “evening news” it’s all old to me.

It’s really easy to forget how far out in front I am from most people.  This is not  a boast – just an observation because most people don’t do all these things.  Yet.

But I was that way even before moving out here.  In the early 90s cNet had a Sunday morning tech show – remember that one?

And Soledad O’Brien hosted a tech show called “The Site” with a virtual character Dev Null.  Anyone remember that?  That was awesome!

Yes it’s true . . . I’m way too cutting edge.  ,-)  It’s important to me to be aware of where things are trending – but also not get so lost in being out on the edge I forget where everyone else is.

Anyway – by way of Scoble (who is a blogging SuperStar! but still – a very small fish in the very large mass market pond)  we learn that “98% of people don’t use RSS”.

At first I was shocked – and then immediately – almost the entire content of this post flooded into my brain.  It wasn’t really a surprise  – but it’s good to be reminded there’s normal people out there who are still totally unaware – who still have yet to discover some of the things tech geeks have already taken for granted.

Ramsey gets Godin on Radio

Mark Ramsey has one of my favorite blogs Hear 2.0- let alone “radio blogs” and today is an excellent example why -  he interviews Seth Godin about radio.

Solid Mark.

Real User Generated Content

The buzz around CGM or CGC is reaching an ever greater pitch and frankly – I’m a bit tired of it already.

Most of it is complete BS. I don’t even like the term CONSUMER generated . . . if we’re going to talk about people who use our product or service – I prefer to call them a USER. More humane.
I also don’t like user generated ADVERTISING. I find it vulgar to ask users to to create advertising messages FOR us – to use on them and others. Let’s face it – Advertising is a shit way to talk to people. It’s a great way to SHOUT and interrupt.  But a pretty awful way to engage in a conversation.

Now, I don’t mind if – on their own – users generate ad messages for products and spread them around the internet or where ever. If it happens organically, on it’s own – that’s great. We should be ready to get out of the way and not screw it up by manufacturing it ourselves or stopping it’s natural evolution.

But I’m totally opposed to companies making a “campaign” out of soliciting user generated advertising. It’s a sham. It’s a cop out. If creating advertising is the only way you can connect with your users you have a problem. If advertising (the act of INTERRUPTING complete strangers and presenting them with info about products and services they didn’t even ask for) is the only medium worthy of a users input and control – you have a problem.

Here’s a fact. PEOPLE DON’T USE OR PAY TO USE YOUR ADVERTISING – THEY USE AND PAY TO USE YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE. AND THAT’S WHAT THEY REALLY WANT TO CONTROL.

If you want REAL “user generated . . . blah blah blah” give users control over what they actually come to your company FOR.

For example form the Merc- Microsoft is opening up it’s developer tools for XBOX.

… will make available a stripped-down version of its game development tools for $99. The XNA Game Studio Express software will have everything someone needs to make a working video game.

With the tools, gamers can create their own games on Windows PCs and uploaded them into Microsoft’s Xbox Live network, which could theoretically sell them to console gamers via download. Moore said that game creators could share their work with others, for free or for purchase.

They can also upload them on their own weblogs and user forums too.

Compare how much deeper a user would be connected to XBOX in this scenario than in one that had Microsoft simply asking XBOX users to create another friggin XBOX commercial.

What’s the radio lesson? We need to DEVLOP more ways to put users in control of their experience – AND not just for themselves – but be able to SHARE their “versions” with others. That’s engagement.

To steal a phrase from Fred Jacobs – that’s NEO.

Viral! Spread! Word Of Mouth! CGM!!!

by way of Guy Kawasaki – a post about Seth Godin’s new book – “Small is the New Big” offers this quote from Seth about how and why ideas spread.

No one spreads an idea unless:

• They understand it.
• They want it to spread.
• They believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind.
• The effort to send the idea is less than the benefits.

There’s nothing in there about why WE – the creator want OUR ideas to spread – it’s all based on the recipient – the audience – the listener.

They decide – we can only set the stage that will ALLOW it to spread. Or as Hugh McLeod might say – remove friction.

The third point is particularly important. The ideas people spread are a commentary on the sender.

If spreading an idea makes ME look “cutting edge” or “funny” or “intelligent” I’ll spread it without hesitation. If the idea is all about how YOU or your COMPANY is soooo cool – it’s trashed.

No one “gets” an idea unless:

• The first impression demands further investigation.
• They already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea.
• They trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time.

There’s that word TRUST again.

Is HD Radio and the promotion we’re creating aorund it going to develop TRUST?

“Getting” the idea is essential for it to spread – but we can “GET IT” – and still think it’s NOT worthy of spreading.

Finally, Guy suggests in his post -

What a great test for design and marketing efforts. . . . hook yourself up to a polygraph and see if you pass it.

Me, Myself & I

It’s all about me. And you. And everyone else.

That’s the big lesson the tech explosion is teaching us.

In addition to the mass media everyone consumes (or at the expense of it – if you prefer) increasingly people engage in ME media.
ME as Journalist.

ME as a DJ. And a Programmer.

ME as a Radio host.

ME as Photographer

ME as a Filmaker

and now -

ME as a real time talk radio host.

BlogTalkRadio is targeting bloggers who want to hold a live telephone conversation with up to 5 people on a phone line at once. Anyone can listen live to the call on the phone or through Windows Media Player, like a live web radio show. Listeners can also download an archived copy of the conversation later. Revenue from contextual advertising is split 50/50 with show hosts.

Be careful about ignoring or otherwise writing these things off as being “small” and therefore “insignificant”.Unlike radio, they don’t attract mass audiences – they attract mass participants. That affects us on a very different level.

The explosion of choice and the tools it makes available means people are not only spending time with competing media – they are spending time CREATING COMPETING MEDIA.

Looking ahead – this will condition viewers/listeners/readers etc… to EXPECT to be able to re-fashion – re-make- re-mix – and generally modify ANY media to suit them.

Not being open to this kind of relationship won’t piss them off – they’ll simply find something else.

Old to New may not have a Tipping Point

So says Robert Paterson (consultant who is responsible for helping NPR re-create it’s entire organization that I blogged about here)

In his latest entry Robert says:

Until very recently, I thought that the rules of the adoption curve or the Tipping Point would apply and that eventually everyone would “get it.”

I no longer believe this to be true.

I see no signs of any airline other than AMR going the Southwest Culture route. I see no signs of the US or Israeli military matching their asynchronous opponents. I see no signs of the Commercial media other than Murdoch making a shift to true participation.

In fact I see all the signs of the establishment of Inquisitions and the choice to fail rather than to change.

This is really the way I feel when I read or hear people almost blindly defending our old methods – or using any out of context “research” or “study” to telegraph to the general radio community “everything’s ok the way it is – go back to scheduling your 10 song sets“.
Robert continues:

I think that the context that fits best for me is that of the religious wars of the 17th century. Is not Fundementalism a response to the modern commercial world? What compromise do we see there?

So this is why I see the choice so starkly. If you stay with the old, you will inevitably be destroyed by those that use these new rules.

These new rules have emerged and are now clear. So you get it or you don’t. For those that get it, you can now compete on the basis of culture and not money. You have the clear advantage.”

Damn.

I’m not one to see things so starkly – truth is often vantage point specific.

I also think those that don’t currently “get it” – while at a disadvantage, when faced with extinction will change their tune and find enlightenment.

Sometimes we just need to get our asses kicked before we start self-defense training.  Yes I’m aware that’s often too late.  And that is human nature.
And while not without Fundamentalist proclivities – Business is all about the cash.  As long as there’s money in a system to be extracted – business will extract it until it’s empty and then move on to “discover” the next thing.

Yes I’m aware that’s also very often – too late.  Again, human nature.

The current system is at an . . . uh . . . what’s the word . . . . PRECIPICE. ,-)

The OLD ways are still throwing off WAAAY too much cash for most people responsible for collecting all the money to even THINK about changing a thing.

But – as Robert points out – new ways are emerging that are changing the old systems – and in many cased killing them off.  Like it or not there’s no stopping it.

I admit I’d feel more comfortable if I thought the radio industry as a whole will suddenly “get it”.  I know there’s lots of ground troops in radio that “get it” – so the question is really put to the commanders.