Friday, May 1, 2015

READER QUESTIONS & COMMENTS



I received a couple of nice messages from fans of CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN - thank you.  

Q: What happened to the show - when did it end?

A: CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN ceased production in 1995. There were three reasons why the program ended:

1. Billboard made a major change in their classical music chart, the basis for the "countdown" in CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN. Prior to the change, the Billboard chart was based on an intuitive system that combined retail sales, radio airplay and other factors.  It was a GREAT chart for a countdown show. 

Then, in 1995, Billboard switched all of its charts to reflect only retail sales as measured by SoundScan. This change put cheap classical wannabees at the top of the charts.  The Billboard chart lost its credibility.

2. Format focusing began to change the carriage landscape. Stations were moving away from dual formats such as NPR News and Classical. This trend towards just one type of programming is still happening today.

3. Neither Rich Capparela (the host) nor I owned CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN. It was, and probably still is, owned by California State University – Northridge (“CSUN”). CSUN and KCSN back then had a huge turnover in leadership. Rich and I decided to not take chances on incoming bureaucrats.

REGARDING MY FROM TUESDAY: JARL MOHN, BRIAN WILSON TO APPEAR AT THE “15th Annual NON-COMMvention”


Q:  So, is REAL Brian Wilson appearing at the NON-COMM?

A:  Yes, I confirmed with a conference planner that Brian Good Vibrations Wilson will appearing at the NON-COMM [LINK].  It will happen Friday 5/15 between Noon and 2pm on the NPR Music Stage

REGARDING MY RETRO FRIDAY VIDEOS

Q: I liked some of the RETRO FRIDAY history videos but I haven’t seen any new ones recently.  Will there more?

A: I decided to take a break because the quality of my work varied too much from week to week. There were a couple of hundred viewers for some of the RETRO FRIDAY posts but others hardly had a pulse.  I decided to concentrate daily news and commentary. But there will be occasional video posts in the future.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

NATIONAL PROGRAM CASE STUDY: "CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN"

The other day someone asked me about CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN, the classical music program is created and distributed from Los Angeles in the 1990's.  I love it when folks remember CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN because I am proud it. CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN was my first nationally syndicated hit program.

I thought up the program but Rich Capparela is person who made it happen.  His deep knowledge and love for the music was, and still is, contagious and passionate. Rich hosts morning drive now on KUSC, LA.

There wasn't much money at the start -- just enough to pay for the satellite time. Rich Capparela lifted CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN to remarkable success.  I am forever grateful to him. I am proud to call him a friend.



I found a promo kit for QUARTERDECK CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN.  QuarterDeck, a go-go software company, bought an exclusive national  sponsorship for a six figure amount.  Scroll down to items from the promo kit:

SLIDE ONE: PROGRAM HISTORY


SLIDE TWO: CLOCK


SLIDE THREE: CARRIAGE LIST (3 pages)



SLIDE FOUR: LA TIMES STORY WHEN CLASSICAL COUNTDOWN WAS LAUNCHED
SLIDE FIVE: PRINT AD USED IN CURRENT, RADIO & RECORDS & BROADCASTING



Wednesday, April 29, 2015

DEEP DISH TAKEAWAYS FROM “JACOBS TECH SURVEY 11”


The good folks at Jacobs Media [LINK] have just released JACOBS TECH SURVEY 11. This highly praised ongoing series of reports monitors of trends in the usage of radio and digital media. The Jacobs reports are becoming an industry standard. You can download the entire report at [LINK].

Jacobs also does similar research about public radio listener’s media usage.  The next report in that series will debut at the Public Radio Programmers Conference in September [LINK].

The release of JACOBS TECH SURVEY 11 has been widely covered by industry news sites.  I’d like to focus on a few of the factoids that probably won’t be headlines.

[NOTE: I have several questions about the methodology used in this research.  Scroll down to see more.]

SLIDE ONE: TOPLINE DATA




SLIDE TWO: THE MAIN REASONS 
PEOPLE LISTEN TO RADIO


SLIDE THREE: PEOPLE LIKE TO FEEL CONNECTED TO A COMMUNITY




NOTE: "LOCAL" means different things to different people.

SLIDE FOUR: PEOPLE DON’T LIKE
COMMERCIALS ON ANY PLATFORM




 I was pleased to see that lots of other people feel the same way about Pandora as I do.  Their commercials are speed bumps and the transitions from song to song are clunky.  Some hours of Pandora end abruptly -- sort of like an old 8-track tspr -- because the automation demands a cutaway at the exact top of the hour.

SLIDE FIVE: PODCAST USAGE 
CORRELATED BY FORMAT


This slide shows that most of the in-tab respondents listen to commercial music stations.  Commercial AAA is a close cousin to NPR News in the higher than average use of podcasts.

SLIDE SIX: RADIO IS THE PLACE 
FOR NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY



QUESTIONS ABOUT METHODOLOGY


I’ve included the Methodology as it appears in the report below. 


• The report does not say if noncommercial or public radio stations, or their listeners, were part of this survey.  This is important because the primary way people were contacted to participate in the survey was via station e-mail lists.

• The formats shown in the report seem to mainly be commercial radio music.  So, the results may be skewed.

• The report does not separate Canadian respondents from US respondents.  There may be differences between the two groups.  Not stratifying this data could lead someone to believe there were a larger proportion of Canadians in the in-tab than the population warrants.
 



Tuesday, April 28, 2015

JARL MOHN, BRIAN WILSON TO APPEAR AT THE “15th Annual NON-COMMvention”


NPR CEO Jarl Mohn should feel right at home when he appears at 15th Annual NON-COMMvention May 13-15 in Philadelphia at WXPN and World Cafe Live.  I know Jarl sort of remembers the great radio conferences like R&R and Gavin.  There was music from breakfast until late into the night.  That’s what the NON-COMM is like also.

Better yet, the NON-COMM is about integrity in business, public service and music discovery. This is Jarl’s kind of place.

There is still time to register.  More information is at [LINK].

[PLEASE NOTE: I haven’t confirmed that the “Brian Wilson” on the schedule is the Good Vibrations guy.  But I think it is. Besides, I’m sure Jarl doesn’t mind him as his opening act.]

NON-COMM SCHEDULE IS FULL OF HITS AND HISTORIC APPEARANCES

Dan Reed, the Founder and Producer of the NON-COMMvention has the released the full schedule.  One name from the past made me wish, oh wish, I could be there: Buffy Sainte-Marie.

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE


I played the grooves out of her records back in the day. Universal Soldier – as true today as it was then. And the elegant, mysterious song God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot. They were in heavy rotation when I hosted an early progressive rock show called Holding Together.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is a Cree, indigenous Canadian woman. She came from northern Saskatchewan, not all that far from where Joni Mitchell grew up.  Unlike Joni, Buffy returned to Canada where she now a multi-media artist and social activist.  She founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an educational curriculum devoted to better understanding Native Americans and Canadians.

ALSO RECOMMENDED AT THE NON-COMMvention

• Wednesday 5/13 7pm – Midnight: MUSIC SHOWCASES

Performers on the NPR Music Stage include Buffy Sainte-Marie and Shelby Lynne. Performers on the PRX Stage include Elle King and Ryley Walker.

• Thursday 5/14 9:30am – 10:30am: SESSION – Competing with the Devil

Noncom Triple A stations are seeing an increasing number of commercial stations trying to carve away listeners and sometimes artists.  I’ve been writing about 89.3 The Current’s commercial competitor Go 96.3. [LINK]

• Thursday 5/14 1:15pm – 2:45pm: ALL CONFERENCE MEETING – Dan Reed Interviews NPR President Jarl Mohn

• Friday 5/15 9:30am – 10:30am: SESSION – Triple A & Community Stations

• Friday 5/15 Noon – 2pm: MUSIC SHOWCASE – Free at Noon on the NPR Music Stage

Billy Bragg & Joe Purdy, Calexico, Brian Wilson

• Friday 5/15 2:15pm – 3:30pm: THE MUSIC MEETING

Songlines promoter Sean Coakley hosts the annual rate-a-record session.

I wish I could be at the NON-COMMvention this year but my vision problems prevent it.  I hereby assign my drink tickets to Chris Wienk from WEXT.  Chris is the hardest working person in noncom radio.

Monday, April 27, 2015

BEHIND THE JUDGING: PRNDI TALK SHOWS (THE SECOND ROUND)



Public Radio News Directors (“PRNDI”) hosts an annual awards competition called The PRNDI Awards as part of its yearly conference. The 2015 PRNDI Conference is being held [LINK] Wednesday 6/24 – Saturday 6/27 in Salt Lake City.

I am leading the judging for the talk show category.  I am aware that going behind the scenes of awards judging is a risky endeavor. The purpose of my reporting is to inform people who might be entering any kind of media competition about -- best practices and what not to do.  I assure that I will maintain complete confidentiality and objectivity.  I always appreciate feedback on my work [publicradio@hotmail.com].

Today’s post is the final post in this series. After the PRNDI Awards are presented in late June, I’ll post the winners and more about thecompetition.

THE SECOND ROUND

The purpose of the Second Round is to focus on entries the judges feel are candidates for First or Second place winners – sort of like the quarterfinals in a sports competition.

Truth be told, my judging panel hasn’t finished the First Round yet – and that is a good thing.  There are many excellent entries in the big newsroom category.  This causes the judging to slow down. So be it. 

Last year over half of the entries could have won First or Second.  I wish there was a way to acknowledge more than two winners.  At this point in the judging, decisions are often subjective.  Here are some of the X factors:

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Panels are often useful to get a range of opinions on issues. Sometimes panels are cumbersome and cease to be “radio” as we know it.  Let me give you an example.

A couple of years ago one entry explored an important local law enforcement dispute.  The program contained a panel with four people, the program host and several callers.  In the first 20 minutes the judges counted 7 (SEVEN!) different voices. The discussion was impossible to follow despite the importance of the topic.  The panel guests might have been household names in the entrants’ city, but you had to be from there to understand who was speaking and the context of their remarks.

This is not only an awards judging issue, it is Radio Program Design 101 – use practices that work on each platform. Panel discussions work in person or on video because frame-of-reference material is available.  Edit the material for broadcast.

ENTRY TIP: Put yourself in the judge’s shoes when you consider entering a program featuring a panel discussion.  Remember the judges probably aren’t located in your city. Some names, voices and places you take for granted aren’t familiar to the judges (or even some of your listeners. To test the program’s effectiveness send the program to friend in a distant city to ask if they can follow the discussion.

BROADCASTS OF LIVE EVENTS

Several years ago, a major NPR News station entered a program in the PRNDI Awards with live coverage of the opening of a new cultural center.  It was an exciting moment for the city.  The program went live on the air. The ceremony started with music.  Then the unexpected happened.

The event organizers failed to dounle check the audio amplifier.  The host started to speak but his mic was not turned on.  No one could hear anything except muffled voices and crowd noise. Back at the station, the board operator left the audio on the air for over a minute (that seemed like an hour). The board op didn’t say what was happening, then played a prerecorded PSA for a blood drive.  Then he played a promo for a station event.

Finally the stage audio came back on with a feedback shriek. The program resumed and it sounded pretty good.  But the judges could never get over the snafu. I’ve hoped that the folks who entered it did so to give the judges a welcome laugh.

ENTRY RTP: Consider covering live events like they are a sporting events.  Rather than airing a continuous live feed from the stage, provide segments of play-by-play describing the event.  This puts the station in the role of observer – same as the listener. Remember, when you are considering airing a live event, keep as much RADIO CONTROL as you can.

DO THE RESULTS EVEN MATTER?

Of course the impact of a program matters. Sometimes there are tangible results that can be measured: a bill passed in the legislature or a commission to investigate a societal wrong. Most of the time there is no metric to show the impact of a story – what happened because the station aired it. This is tough to get across to the judges. They are most often judging the sound of the entry.

Sometimes (not often with the PRNDI Awards) creative contests become beauty pageants. Here is an example from my Mad Men days. In the 1970s I was part of a judging team for a regional Addy Awards competition in Omaha.

One of the most unusual entries was a print campaign for a Solid Gold Swizzle Stick.

SOLID GOLD SWIZZLE STICKS (not the ones in the story)


The creator of the Solid Gold Swizzle Stick was a wealthy businessman with too much time and money on his hands. (He was rumored to be the black sheep of the Buffet family.) The goal was to get his name and the Solid Gold Swizzle Stick listed in the Neiman-Marcus catalog.

He hired one of the best ad firms in town.  He paid to have a Japanese photographer (who also worked for Playboy) to take promo pictures of the Solid Gold Swizzle Stick. A friend who worked at the agency back then said it required three trips to Tokyo.  The pictures were beautiful. Neiman-Marcus added it. But I never heard if any Solid Gold Swizzle Sticks were actually sold.  They were $10K for a set of 12, as I recall.

The ad agency decided to enter the photos and brochure in the Addy Awards. The Solid Gold Swizzle Stick won Best of Show – the top award.  People were outraged at the choice.  But that didn’t matter because it was the judges’ decision: Beauty won over content and common sense.