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10 Questions with ... Jon Miller
October 16, 2012
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
College: University of Maryland, College Park (2002). Degree in Broadcast Journalism
- Worked at the college radio station (WMUC) in the sports department as a color commentator for football and basketball broadcasts.
- Interned in the newsroom at WBAL-AM in Baltimore during college
- Worked for Clear Channel in Washington at WTEM-AM (programmer, producer and reporter), then for Westwood One in the sports affiliate department before coming to Arbitron in 2004.
- I started at Arbitron in the customer service department answering calls and helping customers with training and technical issues. Moved from there into a trainer role before landing the CBS Embedded PPM Account Manager position, which was the first of its kind in the industry. Held that role for five years before being named Director of Programming Services in 2011.
1) Where and what was your first job in radio? Who were some of your early your mentors?
WTEM-AM in Washington, DC in 2002. At the time "SportsTalk980." First paying job out of college was overnight board op. I worked my way up to producer and reporter and did several years of beat reporting before moving on. When I left I remember feeling burnt out (and broke), but I look back now on how cool of a job that was ... 22 years old and with a press pass going into NFL and MLB locker rooms. I was always able to treat it as just a job and not get caught up with the celebrity, but the one "wow" moment I did have was at Wizards media day in 2003 when Michael Jordan was playing in D.C. I stood in the back of the room at the press conference like an awestruck kid. I mean, come on ... it was Jordan! I remember calling all my friends that night "Dude, I was in the same room with Jordan!" That was cool.
My mentors were Sue Kopen Katcef, my journalism professor who introduced me to radio; Johnny Holiday, who is the voice of Maryland football and basketball for the local sports radio network; and Chris Johnson (CJ), my first PD in radio.
2) Sample proportionality has been one of issues that has kept a lot of Urban programmers up at night. What progress has Arbitron made in this area?
Arbitron continues to evaluate and implement changes to improve the demographic representation of the sample. Several initiatives in both PPM and Diary are currently in development and targeted for implementation in 2012 and 2013.
By the end of 2011, we implemented address-based sampling and expanded targeted in-person recruiting across all of our PPM markets to reach households that we cannot recruit on a landline phone. In-persons sample is rich in younger and ethnic demos. We currently have tests planned to collect key demographic information to enhance the our ability to more closely target needed sample in a market through our sample stratification process; and we plan to add the ability to target sample based upon gender and more discrete 25-34 and 35-44 age breaks vs. the combined 25-44 age break.
In Diary, we have continued to increase the sample targets for cell phone sample as cell phone sample is rich is the harder to reach demos. We have expanded our use of address-based sample through the inclusion of landline households that respond to our screener, and indicate the presence of harder to reach demos. We have also begun including no-phone households in the sampling process and investigating how we can use stratification techniques as a method to target demos that are hard to reach.
3) What are some of the things you have planned for this year's Client Conference and Urban PD Clinic in December 5th-6th at The Westin Hotel in Annapolis that could provide a ratings advantage for those who attend?
I'm really pleased with the content of our Urban PD Clinic and am looking forward to this year's event, which leads into the general Arbitron Client Conference. On tap for the clinic, we have Philippe Generali from Media Monitors, who will talk about the best ways to use the Mscore product. As you know, Mscore measures audience behavior during individual songs, and it's a great tool to gauge which titles are causing the most switching among your listeners when the song airs. That should be a great session. We'll also recap the current state of Urban-formatted radio in the U.S. What trends are we seeing around the country and what has Arbitron learned from five years of PPM measurement that we can pass directly onto programmers. Plus, social media success stories and best practices from around the urban radio world, and how you can drill into the numbers to find areas of opportunity that will have direct and measurable impacts on your revenue.
Register for the Urban PD Clinic by clicking here.
4) There are going to be some first-time programmers who are still working in diary-measured markets. With all the emphasis on PPM, are there still some things that are going to be presented this year that could help them?
Absolutely, because both the Urban PD Clinic and the overall Arbitron Client Conference aren't aimed at one set of markets or focused solely on PPM over Diary. We strive to provide content and sessions that can help you create better radio, period. At the Urban PD Clinic we're putting together a panel of programmers from both Diary and PPM markets, and one topic we will be discussing is what has PPM taught the industry that can be applied in a Diary market? We will also have multiple sessions at the conference that deal with building and maintaining brand loyalty ... a really important topic in today's media world.
5) How important are morning shows in 2012. In PPM does it really matter if the morning show is live or syndicated as long as it is connecting with the audience?
One way to gauge the importance of morning shows is to look around the country at all of the money invested in morning talent. Many of the high performing stations that we see in the ratings have strong or dominant morning shows ... which speaks to the importance of the daypart. It's unlike any other time during the day in terms of how people are listening and what they are looking for when they tune in. And if the show connects with the audience, that's what will drive ratings success more than where it's based. You can see that by looking at some of the top-rated morning shows from around the country ... not all of them are local.
6) What is the future of Internet audio measurement from Arbitron's perspective? If a fan of a station decides to stop listening at work on the clock radio at their desk and instead shoves ear buds into their computer and switches to the stream, will that listening likely be lost in a PPM world?
Arbitron currently measures Internet listening for encoded broadcast stations using the PPM service. Panelists that use headphones to listen to radio are provided with a headphone adapter and instructions on how to use it with their meter. With the introduction of the PPM 360, all members of a household who carry the PPM 360 receive their own equipment box which includes a headphone adapter and instructions. The headphone adapter is also easier to use with the new PPM 360. Arbitron also continues to develop our new Integrated Audio service that combines over the air & digital streaming audio. This service leverages both panel (PPM) and census (log file) approaches to present an aggregated view of listening across platforms and make audio easier to buy.
7) What types of future measurement improvements should we anticipate from Arbitron, particularly with PPM?
In addition to the Sample Stratification changes planned for PPM, Arbitron continues to work on initiatives focused on response rates. We have piloted and implemented special recheck procedures to re-attempt to recruit households who had declined to participate in the PPM panel using new mailing materials, targeted bonuses and additional in persons contacts. These response rate initiatives are designed to recruit and retain the hardest to reach panelists. We also have introduced in 2012 the new PPM 360. All new panelists in a subset of markets are now receiving the PPM 360 as well as all in-person recruited panelists. We are also using the PPM 360 as a tool to target households who would otherwise have left the panel. In 2013, we are planning to provide all new panelists across all PPM markets the PPM 360.
8) There have been Urban stations in markets such as Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Baltimore, Birmingham, New Orleans, Charlotte and Norfolk where Urban and Urban stations are not only format dominant, but also market dominant. Are we likely to see this trend continue in the future?
PPM continues to prove that there is not a singular, cookie-cutter approach to ratings success. Different markets have unique characteristics and, as a result, we see a wide variety of formats atop the ranker based on the season and what's going on in mainstream music at the time.
Recently Arbitron profiled the Black Radio landscape (watch below) and found that three formats (Urban AC, Urban Contemporary and Rhythmic Top 40) alone reach three out of every four African-Americans in the country. And when you look at the ranker, you can find these formats ranked in the top 5 for adults 18-34 in 38 PPM markets ... and for adults 25-54 in 27 PPM markets. That's impressive.
9) Historically, radio format innovation hasn't started at successful, group-owned, major-market stations. Invariably, smaller-market, single-station-owned stations that took chances because they were hungry and had little to lose, so they "swung at the fences." Do you think this is still true today?
One thing I can say is we have many more additional options for broadcasters who want to distribute fresh content today. Think about the success stories from around the country that we have seen with non-traditional formats such as comedy popping up on HD channels. And the potential that exists online seems almost limitless when you consider that geographical and hardware limitations disappear in those situations. I think the sky is the limit going forward for broadcasters because they can try out new and innovative programming on far more platforms than just AM or FM.
10) Is Urban radio moving swiftly enough in keeping pace with outside media competitors attempting to invade its space, especially given the streaming options growing in auto dashboards?
That's a good question to ask for all radio, not just Urban-formatted stations. And a great reason to join us at the Arbitron Client Conference in December. One of our highlight sessions that we have on the schedule is a presentation from Valerie Shuman who is VP of Industry Programs for the Connected Vehicle Trade Association. Valerie is going to talk about the pace at which auto manufacturers are adopting technology in the dashboard that offers consumers a wide variety of in-car entertainment ... and where radio fits in that model. She will also talk about when we might expect the majority of cars to be "connected" and how radio has an opportunity to be a part of that future. I'm really excited for this session at the conference and I hope your readers will be, too.
Bonus Questions
As you look back over your career ... any regrets? Missed opportunities?
First, I've only been at my career for a little over a decade, so I have a long way to go and a lot to learn! But I can honestly say that professionally I don't have any regrets looking back. Certainly everyone makes mistakes along the way but by learning from them you come better prepared for the next challenge. That's the best thing about working in the radio industry...every day presents a new and unique challenge. It's never boring!
What would people who think they know Jon Miller be surprised to learn about you?:
That I'm a weather geek. One of my bucket-list items is to fly into a hurricane on one of those storm-hunter planes.
What the best piece of advice that someone has ever given you that you still use on a daily basis?
Always consider the other side of the story, no matter how distasteful it may seem.
Do you feel that Urban stations should be more careful not to blindly copy formats but tailor them specifically to the age and racial make-up of their own markets?
Sure. That's good advice for any format. Do your homework, what's the makeup of the market and, more importantly, are there key areas not being currently served? Read some of the classics about marketing and branding (Trout & Ries) about how to break into an already crowded marketplace and make your brand stand out. That's a side of the industry that I wish we all paid more attention to.
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