Forget About Thursday. Here Comes Friday: In the People Meter world, the era of doing your biggest contest on Thursday is about to end. As reported by in R&R Today, you'll see how startling things will be changing once (or if) you become a People Meter Market:

According to the June 2007 PPM radio ratings in Houston, Friday had the largest weekday average quarter hour radio audience among persons age 6 and older from 6 a.m.-midnight.

The Houston tally looked like this: Monday - 477,300 persons; Tuesday - 489,300; Wednesday - 494,100; Thursday - 497,500; and Friday 518,800.

In releasing this week’s Arbitron “Fun Fact,” senior VP of press and investor relations Thom Mocarsky noted that in the PPM system, “There is no ‘first day’ of a survey week. Once in the panel, the PPM respondent is asked to carry the meter with them throughout the day, every day for as long as they are in the panel, which can be as long as two years.” He also noted that the bigger "lift" in Friday Houston listening in June started at 3 p.m. and peaked in the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. hour.

As interesting as this little tidbit is, Mocarsky cautions, “This is only one month of data from one market. It's much too soon to draw any general conclusions about what day is the biggest listening day for all of radio. However, it does highlight the power of the PPM to give us a detailed look at how people listen to radio.”

Mike Boyle, R&R

We can work the respective methodologies best we can, but whether it's PPM or Diary, I maintain that compelling content making for destination listening is what will ultimatley drive ratings. What do you think?

Country Heats Up: Today's USA Today gives an illustration of how well Country is doing on radio. A good read. Note to Country PD's: Stop complaining about A/C playing our music. Every time A/C plays Carrie Underwood it's a great "ad" for Country radio.

By Ken Barnes, USA TODAY
So far, 2007 is a great year for country music … on the radio. In this year's first six months, country songs accounted for nearly one-fourth of radio's top 100 songs, as measured in all formats by Nielsen BDS, Arbitron and Radio & Records. Country's 24% share is nearly double the 13% it claimed at the end of 2006.
R&B/hip-hop dominates music heard on the radio, as it has since the all-format chart began in 2002, but its share is declining from previous highs above 50%. Last year, it commanded 49% of the top 100; so far this year, it represents 44%. Country is just ahead of pop, with rock trailing.

The impact of American Idol finalists, who have often met a chilly reception at radio, is notable this year: Both the top country song (Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats, which also crossed over to pop formats) and rock song (Daughtry's It's Not Over) are from the Idol stable.

The bright picture for country fades somewhat on the sales lists. Pop artists lead the genre pack on the top 100 best-selling albums of the year, with 33%, trailed by R&B/hip-hop with 29%, rock with 20% and country with 15%. (Three multi-genre anthologies make up the remaining share.)

And pop artists own an even bigger share of the top 100 digital songs chart, with 40%, followed by R&B/hip-hop with 32%, rock with 20% and country with just 8%.

Radio airplay and track downloads continue their tight symbiotic relationship: Of the top 20 radio songs (see chart), half are also among the top 20 downloads. Reversing the perspective, virtually all the top download tracks were radio hits as well, though such million-download songs as Cupid's Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes (No. 2 download, No. 25 radio), Maroon 5's Makes Me Wonder (No. 3 and 44, respectively) and Fall Out Boy's This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race (No. 4 and 102) had less appeal for radio audiences than to paying customers.

Those purchases allowed the top download tracks to outpace the top albums by a considerable margin. Just six albums sold more than 1 million in the first half of 2007, compared with 15 tracks (when different versions of songs are combined). Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape sold 1.78 million downloads, edging the year's top album, Daughtry's self-titled debut, which sold 1.73 million copies.

Other million-selling tracks included T-Pain's Buy U a Drank, Daughtry's It's Not Over, Nelly Furtado's Say It Right, Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, Fergie's Glamorous, Carrie Underwood's Before He Cheats, Akon's Don't Matter, Timbaland's Give It to Me, Shop Boyz's Party Like a Rockstar, Mims' This Is Why I'm Hot and Rihanna's Umbrella.

Finding Out Who Your Friends Aren't: Sony BMG apologized to radio for attempting to strong-arm programmers into dropping the Tracy Lawrence/Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw hit, "Find Out Who Your Friends Are". When this controversy started, I fielded several calls asking my counsel. I am not a lawyer and don't play one on the radio. In my position I have to look at both sides. While everyone seemed to be skewering Sony BMG, I wondered, what's their side of the story? A Sony source told me that CO5 (on behalf of Tracy Lawrence) was encouraging stations to play the version with the three stars, when they had agreed that they would not promote that version.

Sony may be reluctant now to discuss their side since they looked so bad sending out their emails. The bottom line though is that Sony BMG appeared as the big corporate machine trying to shut down the little guy who's simply trying to break through so that Sony songs would have a better shot at the number one chart position.

Wonder what Kenny Chesney thinks about all this?

I've never been a fan of mass consolidation in the music industry. The more that is under control of one company, the less chances we'll see being taken, at least by the majors. The good news though is that independent labels are breaking through with real hits from Tracy Lawrence, Emerson Drive and Jason Aldean. Radio is to be commended for looking past the majors to find the best music to fill the slots.

ACM Awards Rocked Vegas: This year, I had the privilege of viewing the show from the comfort of my living room. Reba as host struck just the right notes. Faith Hill never sang better. The Reba/Kelly Clarkson "event" truly was one. The highlight for me though was Taylor Swift singing "Tim McGraw" to Tim McGraw with Faith Hill looking amused. One large point that should be noted: For the most part, the stars sang hits. And there was tempo. I don't recall any back to back ballads. Even the out of place TV stars didn't really bother me this year. They're at OUR party, so welcome! Independent record labels were acknowledged with awards: Equity's Little Big Town and Curb's Rodney Atkins. I do wonder though if the block voting hurt Big and Rich and Rascal Flatts who lost the Album of the Year Award to an equally deserving Carrie Underwood. How cool was it that the great Vince Gill, who hasn't a big hit in years rocked the house, too. I'm sure there were flaws in the show. This time, I chose not to notice them.

Too Hip For The Room?: Podcasts, uploading pictures and video. We're all moving in that direction if we're not there already. Do not assume however that your listeners understand your hot new contest which requires uploading or other technical skills. Bottom line is that we have to bring much of our audience along with us. Like too much unfamiliar music, too many unfamiliar technical requirements can doom your station's promotion or message. Relevancy is key. We must balance the need to sound connected to today's technology while helping the audience understand how to use it. Let's not get too hip for the room.

Finding The Next Big Thing: In the world of Country music, if you don't move to Nashville and starve there for a few years, you don't stand much chance of being noticed by the decision makers on Music Row. There is something both good and bad about a music genre's hub being in one city. The good is that you know where to go (perhaps after being told where to go)to get noticed if performing is your aspiration. The bad is that great talent in places all across America may be missed because that person has not ventured out of his or her own city.

Country music historians remember a time when there were two different cities with their own sound; Nashville and Bakersfield. In the 1970's Buck Owens had a recording empire that strongly competed with Nashville with tremendous raw energy.

My point is that both the music and radio industry can work together to find the next big thing. As I noted in an earlier blog we haven't had one for a few years. For radio, let's look in our own back yards. For the music industry, look beyond the backyard. Let's open a dialogue about how we can work together to take Country music all across the Country and find the Next Big Thing.

Imus Firing: If there was some positive in the Imus firing it was that radio as an industry captivated the headlines for nearly a week becoming front and center in the national conversation and reinforcing our relevance.

Here's my prediction for Imus. He will (wisely) take a year rehabilitating his image, if not his own psyche, and will start his own radio network and or end up on the Fox News Channel. Where there's money to be made, we'll see and hear Imus again.

By the way, the two best stories I've read on this subject were yesterday's (4/14) Wall Street Journal chronology on the events leading to the firing and Frank Rich's column in today's (4/15) New York Times.

Is Country Dead? Noted writer Chet Flippo explores the notion on cmt.com's "Nashville Skyline" in a thoughtful article. The reality is that we are three years away from the last big thing. Gretchen Wilson, Big and Rich and others from the "Class of 2004" are having mixed success. When the next big thing comes along, CD sales will recover and the format will again gain coverage on 60 Minutes, Newsweek and other mainstream media.

I can't help but wonder if the chase for crossover success is not once again slowing us down in more ways than one. While the new Big and Rich song is terrific and possibly bound for crossover success, has the music in general gone too soft? When was the last time Montgomery Gentry gave us a dose of their famous turbo twang? Anyone trying to schedule music on a radio station these days knows how difficult it is to maintain tempo. The good news is that there ARE great Country songs of all styles and tempos to choose from. Let's not be afraid to play the good ones, or we risk Music Row retreating and focusing on the Hail Mary crossover strategy. As always, your thoughts are welcome.

Here's a link to the "Is Country Dead" Chet Flippo article:

http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1556504/20070405/mcgraw_tim.jhtml

Gretchen's Back: Had a chance to preview Gretchen Wilson's new CD. Sounds like a number of potential hits. This is not only good news for her, but good news for the Country format. While radio has been cautious regarding her recent material, she still has a willing and eager fan base that's ready to rock (or twang-out) to her new stuff. I've always maintained that Gretchen Wilson is the real deal. An authentic talent who doesn't sound or look like anyone else. Welcome back, Gretchen.

Country And Hispanics. Now What? Larry Rosin of Edison Research did a great presentation on how we can and should maximize Hispanic listening, especially in major markets with large Hispanic populations. In a perfect world, we would devote resources in those markets to converting that lifegroup; a group that expresses interest in our format. Here's the catch 22. I don't have to tell you how tight marketing budgets are right now. We often don't have enough money to pursue those with a natural proclivity to listen to our format. Where will this extra money come from? Conceptually, Larry is dead on. We have to address the change in our nation's population. The trick will be to do it ways that maximize our limited resources.

To see the study: www.edisonresearch.com/home/archives/2007/03/hispanics_and_c.php

XM Gets Sirius: A merger of "equals"... two companies that, equally, have lost a lot of money. I know a lot of good people who work at both companies and you know that if this goes through, layoffs of equals will ensue. Bottom line: Satellite has a long way to go to get close to FM/AM radio in terms of reach, influence and most importantly, profits.

Too Many Hoops To Listen Online: With more and more stations streaming everyday, we do our listeners (and potential listeners) a great disservice by making them jump through hoops to access our stream. When you turn on an FM radio, do you have to fill out a form to listen? It is a mistake to use the web stream as a carrot to sign listeners to our databases. What we should do is make the audio stream one easy click from our website, and then entice those listeners to sign up for all the goodies our stations have to offer. Let's encourage, not discourage more listening of our brands on the web. What do you think?

Not Everyone Hates Commercials: In today's NY Times, there's an article about how TiVo users actually WATCH the commercials! This research confirms what I've always believed: GOOD commercials are informational, and properly programmed and positioned, don't have to harm your programming. Here's a link the article:

Viewers Fast-Forwarding Past Ads? Not Always

Just For Fun: Can't be serious all the time...What songs are cousins of other songs? In other words, which songs have "borrowed" the melody of others. Some that come to mind: "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift bares a melodic resemblance to "Paint Me A Birmingham" (lyrics of course are very different); or how about the beginning of Keith Urban's "Better Life"? Play it next to the Bee Gee's "Jive Talkin" (though that's where the similarities end). Here's a stretch. The "hook" of Faith Hill's "This Kiss" ("it's the way you love me, it's a feeling like this...") sounds remarkably like the hook from the 1963 Top 40 hit "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto. Country radio veterans remember Ronnie Milsap's hit "I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World" bares a strong resemblance to "I Never Knew Love Like This Before."

They are all "so fine" aren't they, my sweet Lord?

Which ones can you think of?

Streaming: Two Things. First, as Rock consultant Fred Jacobs pointed out at the Consultant's Fly-In at Arbitron, we are facing a ratings issue as more and more of our listeners tune in to our streaming. The problem is that reported listening to streaming does not count in Arbitron ratings if your stream cuts or changes over the air commercials. Big problem. And I echo those who say we must resolve this issue.

Second, for those who stream, some are doing a great job on the internet cutaways, while others are not. Remember, that when listeners tune into your stream, make sure everything is up to date including fill music, promos, positioning, etc. There are other tips I have reserved for paying clients to help them maximize ratings during the stream. Bottom line: Sound great on and off line.

Symbolic Thought: As many of you already know, I'm a fan of the Wizard Academy's Roy Williams. The following is from his weekly memo, always a worthwhile read. This week he delves into four kinds of thought, according to Dr. Ricardo Gattass:

Verbal Thought is hearing a voice in your mind.
Analytical Thought is deductive reasoning that seeks to forecast a result.
Abstract Thought includes fantasy and all things intangible.
Symbolic Thought reconciles the pattern recognition of the right brain with the deductive reasoning of the left-brain to connect the unknown to the known.

If you will educate, encourage, or persuade, you must symbolize the abstract by pointing to a concrete thing that shares an essential attribute with the abstraction you're trying to describe.

This can be done using:

(1.) Words.
"Your life and her life have become intertwined like two ropes, joined in a knot. And that's a good thing. It gives you both something to hang onto. If you're in love, you know exactly what I'm talking about." These three sentences were the opening lines of a radio ad that sold thousands of a specific item of jewelry.

"What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." Jesus gave the farmers of his day a glimpse of another realm by comparing it to a seed with which they were all familiar.

(2.) Pictures.
In his book, Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud uses graphic sequential storytelling to illustrate how we attach complex meanings to the way simple lines relate to one another. He's not talking about comic books. He's talking about visual symbolic thought. Grasp what he's teaching and you'll hold a lever that will move the world.

Buy the book. It's one of those rare, breakthrough books that will make you suddenly see things that have long fluttered at the edge of your consciousness.

Know Your Catchphrases: (from RBR Business Report) Fresh from the coiner of metrosexual is a list of ten phrases or terms which may get, and generate, buzz during the year ahead. It is of the utmost importance for those in the communications business to be ahead of the curve when it comes to language usage issues, and it's even more important, whenever possible, to be ahead of the curve on the cultural trends underpinning the evolution of the language. Here then, are the 10, from Marian Salzman, EVP and chief marketing officer at advertising agency JWT: Adultescence, Bangalore Envy, Brand Sluts, Churchonomics, Cougars, Gastroporn, Microgeneration, She-E-Os, Truth Lite, and Unilanthropy. The list comes from Salzman's "Next Now: Trends for the Future," written with Ira Matathia. Does the list have you scratching your head? Are you wondering what they're talking about but don't want to wait for the book? Click here to get the definitions:

http://www.rbr.com/epaper/pages/january07/07-7_news2.html

Bring On The Stars! 2007 is starting with a bang, as three of the formats biggest acts are kicking off the year with uptempo, strong songs. Kenny Chesney's "Beer In Mexico", Tim McGraw's "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" and Sugarland's "Settlin'" are giving programmers extra reasons to celebrate the New Year. Carrie Underwood's "Wasted" and Rascal Flatts "Stand" sound like mid-tempo hits, too.

Is Country the new Top 40? Check out some of the 18-34 numbers the format is generating lately. What do you think?

New Year's Resolutions: I thought it would be fun to start the New Year sharing the musings from some of today's current and budding Nashville stars:

Trace Adkins: "I quit doing that years ago because I never kept any of them. I said, 'Why keep humiliating myself and defeating myself?' "

Blake Shelton: "Lose weight."

Michelle Branch of the Wreckers: "To Drink More Water."

Eric Church: "To not have any more resolutions. If I want to change something, I'm going to change it today. And if I want to accomplish something, I should start trying immediately."

Nashville Star co-host Cowboy Troy: "My New Year's resolution is to take over the world one eardrum at a time ... you'll understand when the new record is released. Hopefully it will inspire each of us to be kind to each other." (www.tennessean.com)

On Vacation: Have a great holiday and New Year. Please check back in in 2007.