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No Music Research, No Problem
January 14, 2014
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One of the hardest things to do is to make ends meet when things are tough. Back in the Great Depression, backyard gardens were less expensive than buying produce at the store; and some people used every part of a chicken for food, including the feet and the gizzard. Fast forward to radio and let's take a look at what some radio stations are doing without.
PD: Research has been cut from our budget and we are not a monitored station. I have to track my competitor the ol- fashioned way with one of us writing down what is played. If we were at least monitored, I could look at playlists in the format to check on the hot stuff, but we are not. I keep hearing from the owner that his friends are telling him his station is not playing this song or that song. I am grateful to be working, but it is hard to get things done without all the tools. I will appreciate anything you can do to help me.
Coach: Your situation is all too familiar. Let's work on your problem; first I need to know if your competitor does research or is monitored.
PD: They are monitored and I think, but I'm not sure, they do use someone for callout research.
Coach: Then the solution is simple, make friends with someone outside your market with access to monitored music, have them copy or print out a few days' worth of your competitions music, and have them share with you what they find. It will at least give you a fighting chance to keep up with the competitor. I programmed a station without call-out and would immediately start blasting a new song my rival was playing because I knew he was doing call-out. It never comes down to who played it first, just who gives it enough audience impact spins to maintain the perception of being the music leader. In fact, one time I took another stations promotion, increased the frequency of the impressions, and added a couple of tweaks to improve on the execution. It's the same with music.
PD: Makes sense; I am on it!
The Research Work-Around
Whenever there is a direct competitor or competitors in the market, find out if they conduct auditorium tests or weekly callout research. The best way to obtain this information requires some James Bond-type maneuvering. Casually find out who on your staff knows people at the other station. If they do, have them make inquiries over a lunch or dinner that you pay for. Sometimes engineers and salespeople make the best spies.
Friends always help friends. If you have any ex-employees from the competitor, use them for the espionage. Finding out is the key -- regardless if the other guy does testing inside or uses an outside company. Just be sure to be clear that auditorium testing is what you need to know.
If your station is not current-based, apply the same theory of a friend outside the market to get you a seven-day glimpse of a competitor's daily music logs. Or if you do not have a direct competitor and just want to stay on top of your format, get a friend to get you a copy of another station's list whose audience is similar to yours with a history of airing only researched music.
One other way of accomplishing the end result is the barter system. There are companies offering such services, like Carolyn Gilbert's NuVoodoo. They use interactive charts in exchange for commercial time 45 out of 52 weeks of the year. There are always ways to solve a problem. The old adage is true -- work smarter, not harder.
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