Tag Archives: library

BREAK THE RULES????? CRS 360

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, Dr Jada Watson, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Jada Watson, Keith Hill, library, music, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, On the Verge, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, Tenille Townes, tomato gate, unconsultant, uOttawa / July 26, 2019 / by Keith Hill

BREAK THE RULES?

Yesterday was another CRS 360 Webinar. Let’s play what did we learn!

Joey Tack is new to the Country format.

Chris Huff has been in the Country format his entire radio career.

Cumes in Country are atrophying.

More share erosion is on the younger end nationally.

There is speculation that the “sameness” is a sound problem.

The chart speed is an issue for radio and records.

Tack said, make your station exciting. (Homer Simpson says doh!)

I didn’t expect Huff who is a smart programmer to give up any secrets. But I’ve noticed that after being the bride’s maid several times (APD who didn’t get the PD nod) that now as PD of KILT for the first time KILT is beating KKBQ.

I’ve listened online, I hear why KILT is now winning. Bravo Chris!

But can I posit an idea?

Let’s go back to something really basic.

Define “Country” as a music genre.

25 years ago at Country Radio Seminar Moon Mullins stood up and said, “it’s songs that have some twang, with themes of a country lifestyle about real-life and that folks could relate to. AND we’re still a format where you can hear the words.”

I think the “sameness” argument masks the REAL PROBLEM.

First. There is cume atrophy because we are the big fish and there are lots of smaller fish nipping at us. Lots of DSP online choices now compete with us for attention and time. Hence, some of the cume erosion is real. For the fix please see the “make your radio station exciting” suggestion above.

Second. Too much of what is purveyed by Nashville doesn’t match the expectation of the country music consumer.

There are sonics that they expect in country music.

Third. Take Chances YES! But don’t be stupid. I’m amazed that so few radio folks do not understand that Spotify, YouTube, and purchasing music product is a very different experience from listening (using) radio. Streaming and Shazam data are about as helpful to radio as a thermometer would be to measure linear distance. Great tool. Wrong application.

Right now there are precious few who have figured it out.

However, there a few who have figured it out.

The great news is they have chosen not to participate in the “Country Ratings Decline.”

If you need help choosing not two participate in the “Country Ratings Decline” email unconsult@aol.com or call 252-453-8888

Look For The Simple Solution or Simple Answers

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, Dr Jada Watson, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Jada Watson, Keith Hill, library, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, On the Verge, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, Tenille Townes, tomato gate, unconsultant, uOttawa / June 30, 2019 / by Keith Hill

Look For The Simple Solution or Simple Answers

I’m amazed at how often folks make things much more complicated than they need to be.

Four and a half years ago I said “tomato” at a radio industry conference and for the past four years, not a lot has changed.

Here’s an inventory of what has changed.

Marissa Moss writes a lot of articles complaining about the plight of women in country music.

I pointed out an easy to count metric.

Why Dr. Jada Watson took over $50,000 to sit and run Mediabase reports that folks in radio have already run. Then she published them as a so called, “Research Study.”

Marissa Moss has written even more articles complaining.

Tracy Gershon, Beverly Keel, and Leslie Fram have not changed the conversation, they have just had more of it.

Emily Yahr has done what Marissa Moss has done.

The Grammy Awards are voted on by industry elites that are disconnected from the real folks listening to the radio.

A substantial portion of those votes are cast from Europe.

In Europe, they hate mainstream country. They LOVE the esoteric country music.

Going to Concerts is a dramatically different kind of event than listening to free radio.

When you go to a concert and pay you tell yourself “I’m having a good time and enjoy this” otherwise you feel bad about the expenditure.

Marissa Moss has written even more articles.

I have nothing against the women in the country music industry but, they think I am a big part of the gender imbalance. Uh NOPE!

The simple answer is that radio airplay is not connected to awards and festivals.

The simple answer is the songs on the radio and the spins they get are because of the response of primarily female listeners.

The simple answer is this is a FREE MARKET issue.

Now Marissa Moss will write even more articles on the topic.

The simple truth is Marshal McLuhan was right. Which means we’re in for even more articles about this gender inequity in radio air-play.

At the 5 year anniversary of “tomato gate,” nothing will have changed except…

Marissa Moss will write even more articles.

NOT ON THE VERGE ANYMORE?

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, Dr Jada Watson, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Jada Watson, Keith Hill, library, music, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, On the Verge, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, Tenille Townes, tomato gate, unconsultant, uOttawa / May 15, 2019 / by Keith Hill

Maybe someone from iHeart will email me.. is Tenille Townes – Somebody’s Daughter not “One The Verge” Anymore?????

Marissa Moss are you paying attention? Dr. Watson?

Keith Hill

unconsult@aol.com 252-453-8888

Dan + Shay “Speechless”

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, Dr Jada Watson, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, Keith Hill, library, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, tomato gate, unconsultant, uOttawa / May 2, 2019 / by Keith Hill

Just so you know. I will remove the tape and keep talking!!!!!!

Coming soon more lessons about Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Tenille Townes records. I did not say “payola” .. I whispered “new payola.”

Keith Hill

252-453-8888

COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR 2019 50TH YEAR!!!! AKA WHAT’S WRONG WITH COUNTRY?

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Keith Hill, library, muisc logs, music, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, tomato gate, unconsultant / January 27, 2019 / by Keith Hill

COUNTRY RADIO SEMINAR 2019 50^THYEAR!!!! AKA WHAT’S WRONG WITH COUNTRY?

I love country radio seminar. I’ve been to a lot of ‘em.

Me and Martina before I said “tomato”

Tom McEntee and those folks who helped create the seminar had a great idea. Country can be a strong format by embracing the labels, artists and sharing information and intel.

The Motto was and remains “Growth Through Sharing.”

Easy for anyone to say the agenda may not be what we need. In fact I know they have tried to address the input that “there needs to be more for small market folks.”

Here are thee most important things that won’t be discussed in any session.

Those would be:

Charts Are Useless

The charts are virtually useless because of the large numbers of stations from the same companies. Then those companies play the same new songs all in unison. It’s the New Payola. Two major corporations make a deal. The big label group gets major chain to play the same new record multiple spins a day on the same days. In exchange that group gets valuable promotional trips to give away to see one of the labels other major superstar acts.

The New Payola

The New Payola warps the charts and creates worse product for radio airplay. It’s in the labels best interest to keep cranking out new acts that get streamed. It’s immediate cash. Protecting the Mount Rushmore Superstars isn’t something the labels worry about. Those stars make more money from touring. The labels don’t’ get much of that pie. That’s why the labels do more to create a Russell Dickerson than to keep a Luke Bryan at a high profile level.

Who? Nameless Faceless Acts

This chart and label combination is the cradle and incubator of creating many more nameless and faceless artists. They manufacture their careers via artificially trumped up played singles. Radio needs stars much more than it needs songs.

Is This Even Country?

The strength of country has always been the excellent and robust song writing community. Then their fine material gets recorded. Have we stretched the production rubber band past its breaking point? I think what can be presented as country can be quite wide but now more than ever radio has listeners complaining about the music saying, “that ain’t country.” I am not suggesting we dust off Hank Sr. and Ernest Tubb. What I am suggesting is that there needs to be a production discussion. The problem seems to be the streaming revenue model will never reflect what radio needs. So revenue from streaming is more than just a competitor for time it pulls the product further away from what radio needs.

Radio Could Be Better – Two Things Scream For Attention

Radio is a local medium. The concept of voice tracking from outside of the market feeds the transmitter but leaves a lot not done. Who is cutting the ribbon at the remote opening the new cell phone store? Who is at the high school tailgate party? If the highest profile personalities are from four states away they can’t do these things. Let alone describe the weather, road closures, or things that are happening in that local marketplace.

Partly because there are fewer local radio announcers there is less time to write and produce quality commercials. Radio (Country Radio and all formats) run awful commercials. Poorly conceived, poorly written and produced with about as much care as taking out the garbage.

Our big problems are USELESS CHARTS, THE NEW PAYOLA, STREAMING HAS LED TO FACELESS ACTS, A LOSS OF AN IDENTIFIABLE COUNTRY SOUND, VOICE TRACKING, AND AWFUL SPOTS.

Sure could use a robust industry discussion on these topics.

The CRB Board isn’t interested in my voice. Why I actually share and tell uncomfortable truths. I’m politically incorrect. And the folks who run the CRS are political and politically correct. If they let Keith Hill have a voice why he’ll say that we actually play 15% women and then say the word “tomato.” God Forbid!

Keith Hill

252-453-8888

unconsult@aol.com

FUN FACTOR – CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Keith Hill, library, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, tomato gate, unconsultant / July 24, 2018 / by Keith Hill

FUN FACTOR – CHRISTMAS IN JULY

This blog is going to be FUN!

Your mission if you choose to accept it is to listen to KKBO Bismarck on July 25^th.

KKBO is 105.9 BIG RIG COUNTRY.

The excellent PD / Morning Man is Sid Hardt. Great voice, great with listeners, cares about the community and understands that building a radio station audience involves making things memorable. Often that comes as the result of being FUN!

Tomorrow on the BIG RIG it will be “Christmas In July!”

You’ll definitely hear “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” and if you listen long enough I suspect you’ll her Burl Ives, Bing Crosby and Gene Autry.

You’ll hear Santa Claus! (if you recognize who Santa is voiced by post in on The UnConsultant Facebook page.

Ho Ho Ho. Prize, Christmas records and FUN!

The best way to communicate this FUN FACTOR today is listen to 105.9 BIG RIG COUNTRY!

http://streamdb9web.securenetsystems.net/v5/KKBO

BIG SUCCESSFUL RADIO BRANDS

RADIO BRANDS

Last week I was at Conclave in Minneapolis. It’s always good to dust off your brain and go to class to learn. The first panel was the best for me.

Jim Ryan talked about WCBS-FM. It had been a big brand in New York for years. Then it was Jack for a short run. Then back to WCBS-FM, in part because that brand was so BIG.

Jim told the story of needing to update the 60’s and 70’s based station to become an 80’s station. Who was the personality who played those songs as currents? Why Scott Shannon recently jettisoned from Cumulus WPLJ.

Jim felt that the addition of Scott along with that 80’s product would be a combination that worked. Boy has he been right. WCBS-FM has been in the top 3 rankers 25-54 all the time.

Jim also told the story of Patty Steele being diagnosed with breast cancer. Jim encouraged her to take it to the airwaves not only as bonding and sharing with the audience but to help other women going through this.

Ratings spiked. It turns out our personalities being real is important. Furthermore those cume numbers we look at are more than numbers they are real people. They have lives. They have life hassles too!

Jim also shared the truth of Fresh 102.7 being a poor brand. They went out and asked folks what kind of radio station Fresh 102.7 is? No one could really articulate a clear singular message.

Now it’s been relaunched as NEW 102.7. It’s up against Jim’s old home of WLTW (Lite FM) he knows Lite’s strengths for sure.

WLTW is Iheart and they are playing two very long stop sets every hour. (sometimes 9 minutes)

NEW 102.7 has some commercial free hours and limits the non-commercial free hours to two 5-minute stop sets. I think if WLTW doesn’t respond they will be given a hair cut of some kind for sure.

Jeff McCarthy of Midwest Communications talked about the mega CHR he has WIXX-FM.

One of his stories is about partnering with the iconic Green Bay Packers. When the Packers won the Superbowl the WIXX-FM van was the first thing in the victory parade. WOW!

Scott Jameson shared stories of the 50-year legacy of 92 KQRS. It was clear that while there are thousands of reasons for KQ’s giant successes. None more prominent than the long tenure of powerful morning man Tom Barnard.

I’ve been in sessions in the past where air checks of Tom doing top 40 at WDGY were played. Tom was also the booth announcer for KSTP-TV 5 in the Twin Cities. Hometown boy slays dragon. Bravo Tom.

Big personalities. Being real. Giving back to the marketplace. Thinking BIG!

When asked how to build a successful radio brand Jeff McCarthy said, “THINK BIG.”

Is your station thinking BIG?

Card tables and duct tape won’t do it. Voice tracking won’t do it. Standing in the back of the room at remotes won’t do it.

It’s a lot of work. Be prepared to get tired and achy. You can be very successful 30 years later.

Wanna Build A BIG Successful Radio Brand?

Call Keith Hill 252-453-8888

SUMMER REPORT CARD

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Keith Hill, library, muisc logs, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, tomato gate, unconsultant / July 12, 2018 / by Keith Hill

SUMMER REPORT CARD

Half the year is over. The second half of the year is ahead.

I suggest its time to give your radio station a mid-year report card.

For your convenience you can print this section out and fill in the grades.

MUSIC

Check Your total active library size A B C D F

Check the turnovers of every category A B C D F

Check the most played in every category A B C D F

Check the least played in every category A B C D F

Check your core artists for last 90 Days A B C D F

Check histories of all currents A B C D F

Check histories of most played in every cat A B C D F

Do clocks and logs have The right mix A B C D F

Music computer specs and speed A B C D F

Overall music grade A B C D F

MORNINGS

Aircheck entire morning show from today.

Were we local every half hour? A B C D F

Were we topical every half hour? A B C D F

Was there fun every hour? A B C D F

Was there “ear candy” every hour? A B C D F

Were the longest breaks short enough? A B C D F

Phones? A B C D F

Were the listeners the stars? A B C D F

Basics Time/Temp/Weather A B C D F

Image & Name Of Station A B C D F

Overall Morning Grade A B C D F

PROMOTIONS

Cluttered of uncluttered? A B C D F

Easy to understand? A B C D F

Fun to listen to? A B C D F

Prize Appealing to the target? A B C D F

Promos fresh and interesting? A B C D F

Too many or too few? A B C D F

Street level (how do we look?) A B C D F

Website and Social Media Space A B C D F

Overall Promotions Grade? A B C D F

INSIDE THE STATION – BUILDING AND STUDIOS

Studios clean and neat? A B C D F

All equipment work correctly? A B C D F

Enough computers to get the job done? A B C D F

HVAC right? A B C D F

Sound proofing? A B C D F

Lighting? A B C D F

Chairs? A B C D F

Conference Room? A B C D F

Look that guests, winners and clients se A B C D F

Overall Studios and Building A B C D F

PEOPLE (Software)

Morale? A B C D F

Feeling of Team? A B C D F

Communication inside the building? A B C D F

Management in the tranches? A B C D F

Is their leadership A B C D F

Stress level? A B C D F

TECHNICAL (Hardware)

Transmitter health A B C D F

Transmitter building (clean? cool? dry?) A B C D F

Audio Chain (loud, clean, no distortion) A B C D F

Automation (ease of use and health) A B C D F

STL (clean and reliable?) A B C D F

Generators A B C D F

Software for air checks A B C D F

Mic processing right? A B C D F

Robust reliable internet? A B C D F

Streaming clean and reliable A B C D F

Alexa skill working correctly A B C D F

Overall Technical Grade A B C D F

Overall Station Grade A B C D F

Now there are many other things that can be on this list. I think now is a good time (after the Spring book sampling period) to reflect and make a to do punch list of things to work on.

There are lots of things that will be station specific. There is a lot to this one.

Is your station FUN? A B C D F

I’ll be writing more blogs about FUN being memorable and the factors that help to make radio stations big successful brands. It’s difficult to win the Indy 500 with a car with several mechanical problems. Also tough to win when the driver isn’t tested, trained, rested and distraction free.

It takes personalites, connection to the marketplace, doing things that captivate the marketplace to breath life into radio.

Step One build a good strong house.

Step Two, decorate it with shutters, landscaping, welcome mat, art on the wall and vase with fresh flowers on the table. Perhaps a “Home Sweet Home” stitching are what’s for.

IF you radio station was a house is it correctly decorated?

Need Help? Get Your Music Right! Get Everything Right!

Call Keith Hill 252-453-8888

CUTTING GOLF BALLS ON A BAND SAW

Music Library / tagged best, consultant, country radio consultant, fun, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Keith Hill, library, muisc logs, music, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, radio station remotes, stop sets, tomato gate, unconsultant / June 29, 2018 / by Keith Hill

Grunge … and I don’t mean the rock style from Seattle!

I’ve spent all of my adult life trying to get folks to listen longer to radio stations.

That involves lots of things. Improving music scheduling, morning shows, promotions, jingles, liners, commercials, the name of the station, the images of the station and more.

There is one thing I want to pontificate about because lots of radio stations do such a poor job with audio.

Lots of our general managers came from sales. So, they are often at a big loss when the chief engineer comes into his or her office. When that engineer says anything from “b minus voltage supply” to “lossless 16 bit stereo” they hear “ooga-booga”

Back in the 70’s when we actually played phonograph records on the air our audio was pretty good. That’s what we call “analog” audio.

The first quality automation systems used mp2 technology for the audio. It is a digital method of storing and playback of audio. It’s also known as a “lossy” format. Some of the information is lost when creating the playback audio.

Along the way other parts of the audio chain in radio stations have become digital. Who wouldn’t want a digital stl (studio to transmitter link) to improve the audio?

Here’s the problem. If the entire pipeline of that audio isn’t the same digital scheme the audio gets changed in some very bad ways.

I heard lots of analogies from engineers to explain this. I’ve heard meat grinders, train wrecks and buildings after earthquakes used to describe the resulting audio.

My favorite was from an engineer who explained it this way. Imagine two pitchers where one is empty and one is full of water.

Pour that water back and forth all day. There are losses but that’s analog. Now imagine those same two pitchers but this time one is full of golf balls. When you use the same digital compression scheme all the way thru its like pouring golf balls back and forth. It’s a perfect transfer.

However, many radio stations have a mix of mp2, uncompressed wav files, and some mp3s! Now imagine taking those golf balls and cutting them on a band saw. Then dump all of those pieces on the floor. Now try to glue those pieces back together to be whole golf balls again. There is loss because of the sawing of the band saw. There are odd cuts. Golf balls are reassembled haphazardly and very few are even close to perfect.

The resulting audio is gritty, grungy, edgy, and quite frankly unpleasant.

Yes, lots of listening takes place on small speakers on low quality radios but that’s not an excuse to make that audio even worse!

When our value is based on how many quarter hours of listening we get anything that degrades that is a serious mistake. The audio on your station is a twenty four hour a day issue!

God forbid you need a new heart value. You want a faulty one? It’s cheaper!

You go for the correct and more expensive fix because your heart is a 24/7 thing that your life depends on. Treat your radio stations audio the same way!

I hear lots of radio stations that have gone digital on some portion of their audio chain. Then I hear a song that is truly grungy. Often I can tell it’s an mp3.

Years ago there was a reason to have those mp2s. Hard drives were expensive back when we put those mp2s on the air.

Now those hard drives are very inexpensive.

Step one is to make sure every song is an uncompressed wav file. Make sure every step in that audio chain is the same bit rate. Your audio will be wonderfully clean and your time spent listening will instantly go up.

Ask your PD and Chief Engineer to check every song!

Then make sure you have great music scheduling that tricks folks into listening even longer!

Optimize time spent listening. Your ratings will be higher. The same advertising schedules will reach more folks with even more impressions. Your advertisers will get better results and higher ROI. Advertisers will re-buy. You can drive your rates!

Uh… More Demand = Higher Rates!

This isn’t a problem limited to small markets. I’ve heard the worst audio in top 15 markets. In fact there’s even one very poorly named country station in a Top 15 market I specifically make fun of and give my “worst audio in a major market award.”

Want help with better audio? Better Music Scheduling?

Do you need better time spent listening or average time spent exposed?

Call someone who can fix it!

Keith Hill 252-453-8888

CORE ARTISTS! (THE BIGGIES!)

Music Library / tagged consultant, country radio consultant, fun factor, fun factor in radio, higher ratings, Keith Hill, library, music logs, music logs for radio, music scheduling, Musicmaster, Nielsen ratings, radio consultant, radio consulting, radio programming, tomato gate, unconsultant / June 27, 2018 / by Keith Hill

CORE ARTISTS

Here’s a fun game you can play. Grab a piece of paper and write down in order the most important core artist on your station. Rank them.

Now if you have research you can either have data from respondents to rank or give a 1 to 10 score of importance that artist has to them. A one being not very important, and a ten being I want to hear them the most.

Then go to your music software and look at the spins of these artists over the last 30, 60 or 90s days. Are they the same?

There are ways to adjust them up or down to match what the research tells you are the desires and expectations.

These things effect not only the impression or images that the station holds in the mind of the listeners but help drive TSL / ATSE.

If an artist is playing too much give that artist a higher Artist Separation. Or platoon rest a few titles. You could consider packeting a few of the lesser titles or perhaps packets of the slow tempo titles.

If an artist isn’t playing enough consider reducing the artist separation.

Make sure there are enough titles by that artist to get the job done. And if all else fails advantage the songs by that artist. In some software its called percentage back and you put 75 in percentage back and when the song plays it doesn’t go all the way to the back of the stack order. It goes three quarters of the way back. Or 50% back would mean it will be half way back meaning it wont sit out a whole turn of the stack order.

In Musicmaster the field to use is Rotation Weight. Musicmaster’s rotation weight is far superior to just percentage back limited to 100 or less. In Musicmaster’s rotation weight it supports up to 999. The number 200 would mean that a song would be twice the distance back in the stack, thus sitting out a lap of the race so to speak, and that 999 well that’s missing ten laps. Perhaps that would be a good thing to do with a novelty song.

Tuning a music database for a radio station is akin to getting your blood just right. When you go to the doctor they take sample and you get a report on your good cholesterol, bad cholesterol, and a bunch of other things they hassle me about.

The blood analogy is a good one I think because your blood goes everywhere. Blood travels to every organ of your body. If your music isn’t quite right then your ratings will likely suffer in mornings, middays, afternoons, evenings, overnights and yes even on weekends and holidays. Not Good.

There is literally a “panel” of things I look at when I tune up the music for a radio station to go win the Gold Medal in the Nielsen Olympics. What medal does your station get?