06 Mar Wednesday, March 6, 2019
This Week in The Lund Letter:
> Can listeners tell you are local?
> How to SELL not SAY your station name
> Hearing news on smart speakers and other media trends
Lund Management Memo: The Opportunity of Localization
Local content – it’s what differentiates a great station from others who program syndicated programming, out of town voice-trackers and dayparts that only utilize imaging. Opportunity: embrace your local market where your competitors are not and utilize all your tools in localizing.
Who does this well? Many small retailers and non-chain restaurants. Shops encourage their customers to give them great Yelp reviews, actively ask customers to vote in local publication readers’ polls, sponsor youth Little League and soccer teams, and they take part in civic activities. Local restaurants participate in local food festivals and community events.
Your station can follow this path. Ten ways to enhance your localism:
1. Direct air talents to show prep local events and activities and mention them during their air shift – something that national show prep services can’t do.
2. Encourage talents to attend and participate in local events and activities and post photos on social media and write blogs of the event.
3. Initiate a “Teacher of the Month” and “Good Deed of the Month” program saluting educators and community leaders on air and on the station’s website.
4. Depending on storytelling ability, have local merchants voice their commercials in their advertising.
5. In dayparts with no voice tracking or live air personalities, utilize imaging to embrace local landmarks and venues. The success of the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” shows the popularity of viewers seeing their local hidden gems. Include these local favorites in your imaging going beyond just mentioning city names.
6. For promotions, invest in station signage, vehicles, tents, and even a mascot for major community events; cross promote with station imaging and talent content.
7. Acknowledge the micro climates of your coverage area by mentioning specific weather conditions in various zip codes.
8. Use voices of local celebrities in your imaging. Many stations already use artist voices, but the voices of local notables separate you from out-of-town competitors.
9. Use phoners from listeners in your imaging. Have them identify the city where they live or a local workplace.
10. Throughout the year, partner with local charitable organizations to raise money or donations of food and clothing.
Consider the possibilities to set your station apart from competitors, and brand yourself as part of the fabric of your community. As a result, your station will truly sound local and P1 audience will grow, as will local advertising revenue.
Contest and Promotions Guide – Limited Time Half-Price Sale
Get hundreds of audience-building contests for ratings, seasonal times and holiday events, plus other fun programming and sales promotions. This recently updated Guide is packed with great contests designed to boost listening and ratings. Order it here.
For your sales promotions to be successful, your sales staff needs to ask the right questions. This guide covers everything from creation to execution to qualify each sales promotion to ensure the best possible results. We have 200 great sales promotion ideas for your station. The Lund Sales Promotion Guide is also 50% off right now.
Lund Programming Clinic 2019: FILO Impacts Recall
Ratings Methodology
Ratings can be quirky. You see that in Nielsen diary markets, some PPM markets, and with Eastlan. A lot depends on sampling. In one Midwest Nielsen diary market, over 60% of a station’s target audience for the three-month book listened in just the last month.
The spring Nielsen diary and Eastlan surveys begin March 28, which is the start date of the Nielsen April PPM. The past two weeks we detailed facts about rating methodology that affect all programmers.
#1- One must listen for 5 minutes for credit
#2- Cume – total audience listening
#3- TSL – Time Spent Listening
#4- Adjust Programming to Improve Ratings
#5- Increase Number of Listening Occasions
#6- Program to P1s
This week, the differences of methodology between Nielsen PPM and diary, and Eastlan, and the importance of “FILO” on recall.
Nielsen Diary
Listeners use it to write down what stations they listen to and when, then mail it back. The diary starts on a Thursday and the diary participant keeps it for a week. The diary methodology is very different from PPM.
The diary method is far simpler. If you think of PPM as playing Pokémon Go or Battleship, then, diary markets are like playing “Whac-a-mole.” Most people do not complete their diary on the day of listening. Sometimes it’s several days after the fact – maybe even a week.
Diary participants are twelve and older. There are 228 Nielsen diary markets in the US covering about 24% of the US population. While people are paid a few dollars to complete their diary, PPM participants are paid a lot more.
Nielsen PPM
PPM ratings are instantaneous; listening is measured in real time. Some PPM families are paid over $1000 a month. Those who are paid to carry a PPM are called panelists and they are 6 years of age and older. Audio of all stations is encoded, and the PPM picks up the encryptions. PPM stands for Portable People Meter and the small device is worn like a pager and detects hidden watermarks within a station’s audio stream.
Nielsen uses the PPM to gather radio ratings in the 48 largest markets in the US, which account for about 46% of the US population. Nielsen TV ratings are now using radio PPM devices in many markets.
Eastlan Ratings
Eastlan surveyed about 60 radio markets last year. It uses a combination of internet surveys and phone calls to gather ratings. Last fall 65% of respondents nationwide were from the web surveys.
Eastlan asks people to recall what they listened to today – and the exact times… and what they listened to previous days going back a week, not unlike the Nielsen diary.
Recall
If your market is rated by PPM, ratings success depends on actual listening. But for Eastlan and Nielsen diary markets, ratings depend on strong station name recall…especially for those who must remember what station they listened to several days ago. Most FM listeners report the exact station dial position while many AM listeners report the call letters.
FILO
Your air staff and imaging must say your station name frequently and with enthusiasm. FILO means saying the station name First In and Last Out of every break. The highest recognition occurs when the music ends and when the music starts. Say the station name between every song, and punctuate the station name so it stands out. The goal is to build recall for ratings measurement.
Planning Your State Broadcast Convention?
John Lund’s positive, fast-moving presentation, “The Science of Growing Your Audience,” includes training and coaching guidelines on the basics of attaining higher ratings and more listeners. Topics include the “basics” of radio programming, America’s top formats: who listens and why, tactics to get more listeners, talent coaching, and how to make voice tracking sound live and local. This presentation will be customized and expanded to meet your members’ needs. EmailJohn Lund for availability and info.
Lund’s Top 3: No & Low Cost Motivation Tips
Over the years, we have observed and/or developed several low-cost but high-result ways to motivate your staff. Here are a few more of our favorites:
1. Appoint a staff person to edit and email a newsletter for employees; information builds morale and team spirit.
2. Honor an employee of the month. Award a special parking space at the front door, have a photo in the lobby, give time off, or offer another perk. Reward hard work.
3. Use promotional teams. It takes teamwork for major promotions to work. Have a programming staffer and a salesperson join your promo director to oversee the event. Give them authority and accountability to succeed.
Next week – more No & Low Cost Motivation Tips. Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s!
Planning Your State Broadcast Convention? John Lund’s positive, fast-moving presentation, “The Science of Growing Your Audience,” includes training and coaching guidelines on the basics of attaining higher ratings and more listeners. Topics include the “basics” of radio programming, America’s top formats: who listens and why, tactics to get more listeners, talent coaching, and how to make voice tracking sound live and local. This presentation will be customized and expanded to meet your members’ needs. Email John Lund for availability and info.
Promotion of the Week: Car-Tunes
Every time the car-tune is played, the correct caller wins $100 cash and is qualified to win the grand prize… a car.
Even more fun when the chosen song features a car or driving in the lyrics.
Are You Locally Focused To Win Ratings?
Maximize your spring ratings with a top-to-bottom review and programming analysis. The Lund Strategic Programming Evaluation finds the strengths and weaknesses in your stations – music, promotions, talents, and strategy. Make sure you’re playing the best songs for your target demos. Get the edge back from your competition. Contact John Lund to discuss a timely Program Evaluation of your stations.
Lund Trend Watch:
Leaving Neverland
If your station plays Michael Jackson songs, you may want to consider putting them on hiatus for now.
Whole Foods Whole Again
In an effort to be seen as affordable, Whole Foods opened smaller stores called Whole Foods 365 a few years ago. These smaller stores had less overhead to help offset costs. But Amazon is not a fan of the misconception that there are “less expensive” Whole Foods stores out there. Their purchase of Whole Foods, lowering of prices and inclusion of Prime discounts has made that true of all Whole Foods stores. So 365 is ending, though none of the stores are closing. All the locations will remain open but will be rebranded so that they are all Whole Foods by the end of the year.
Fox News Channel
The February 2019 TV ratings are out and have confirmed Fox News Channel as the most-watched basic cable network for the 32nd consecutive month. The channel has 1.5 million viewers average in total day and beats out CNN and MSNBC among Adults 25-54. More of the numbers:
+ Hannity averages 3.17 million viewers, and Tucker Carlson Tonight is close behind with 3.09 million viewers. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show averages 3.07 million viewers (when discounting specials).
+ FNC has 8 of the top 15 cable news programs in total viewers and 6 of the 10 cable news programs in the 25-54 demo.
+ Fox & Friends had its 208th month as the number 1 cable news program in its timeslot with an average of 1.5 million viewers.
Alexa, Tell Me the News
According to an Adobe Analytics survey, smart speakers are most often used to listen to music, check the weather and set alarms.
News consumption is quickly catching up. 46% of smart speaker owners check the news with their device. 77% of those check the news on their smart speaker at least once a day.
Programmer’s Planner:
Mar 10: Daylight Saving Time starts
Mar 17: St. Patrick’s Day
Mar 28: Spring Nielsen diary and Eastlan sweeps begin
Apr 1: April Fool’s Day
Apr 15: Income Tax Day
Apr 21: Easter
Thanks for reading
The Lund Letter
Now more than 10,500 broadcasters get the Lund Letter each week!
We welcome your input. Email John Lund!
About the Lund Media Group:
For over 20 years, the Lund Media Group has provided programming, music consulting, operational guidance, and research to commercial and public broadcaststations throughout North America and overseas. Whether you program all sports, all
talk, or all music, the Lund Goal is to help stations get more listeners and keep them listening longer. The Lund Consultants are a multi-format custom programming and management consultancy.
Call John Lund for more information about how the Lund Media Group can help your stations achieve more listeners, higher ratings, and more revenue.
Phone: 650-692-7777.
Email john@lundradio.com.