It’s Time To Restructure Commercial Segments, Radio…

Friday, February, 26, 2010 by Mel Phillips.

(Remembering Gene Chenault in my Commentary)

(Weekend Edition)

There is too much station switching going on with radio listeners, especially with listeners who prefer music. According to Media Monitors president/CEO Philippe Generali, 4% to 5% of music radio listeners are switching in any given five-minute period. I would think that figure is on the conservative side. Station switching is higher at specific times of the day: 8 - 9am, lunchtime and from 2:30 - 5:00pm. Programming consultant Jaye Albright of Albright & O’Malley says stations can minimize switching by “placing drivers of listening occasions during those peak switching hours”. In plain English, put your music sweeps where the other guy is running his spots. Television doesn’t get it, it’s time for radio to be the smarter medium. If you’ve been watching one of your favorite shows and switching to the Olympics for an update, good luck. You left your show because they were into a commercial cluster only to find another commercial cluster. I know, I know, the obvious answer is to tape the Olympics but who has time to fast-forward through 4 hours of Bob Costas? It’s time for radio to be smarter than that…

In recent Arbitron programming sessions, two stop-sets an hour, each placed at adjacent quarter hours has been proposed. What this does is maximize average-quarter-hour performance - the bread and butter of radio shares. Placing commercial breaks at the top and bottom of the hour or at :15 and :45 would minimize temporary listener switching and reduce missed quarter hours. The theory is the average station could increase its AQH performance by 35% by getting credit for all the quarter hours in which listeners heard the station…

Simply put, find out where you can take advantage of your competition. Put your music sweeps where they’re running their spot marathon. Use your ears and then your head - in that order. It’s called counter-programming…

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1854] Having a grand old time: The Republican Party is organized in Ripon (WI) when fifty opponents of slavery start the new political party (2/28)… 
2. 1930] Go at the green - not in between: New York City installs traffic lights. Prior to that New Yorkers start what’s commonly known as ‘flipping the bird’ (2/26)…
3. 1955] The ‘45′ rules: Billboard Magazine reports that the 45 rpm single is outselling 78’s for the first time (2/26)…
4. 1962] What should we call it?: WMGM in New York changes calls to WHN (2/28)…
5. 1982] Guilty as charged: Wayne B. Williams is found guilty of murdering 2 of the 28 bodies found in the Atlanta area in a two-year period (2/27)…1990] The Exxon Corp. and Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts in reference to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (2/27)…
6. 1983] M*A*S*Hing the competition: The final episode of “M*A*S*H” draws a household rating of 60.2% (2/28). Seen in over 50 million homes it was the highest rated show of all-time for nearly 27 years until Super Bowl XLIV drew a TV audience of 106.5 million on February 7, 2010. ”M*A*S*H” started in September, 1972…
7. 1991] Saddam backs down: Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein orders his troops to withdraw from Kuwait (2/26)…
8. 1993] The first WTC bombing: Six are killed and more than one thousand injured when a van explodes in the World Trade Center parking garage. An act of terrorism by Islamic extremists and a precursor to something far worse in 2001 (2/26)…
9. 1993] Wacko in Waco: U.S. Federal agents raid the compound of the Branch Davidians, lead by David Koresh in Waco (TX). The fifty-one day standoff will result in the killing of 4 agents and 6 Davidians, including Koresh (2/28)…
10.  2008] “Happy Trails“: Mike Smith, lead singer of the Dave Clark Five dies at 64 from pneumonia (2/28), a complication from an earlier fall…2008] “Voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers” Myron Cope passes away from respiratory failure at 79 (2/27)…2008] Conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley Jr. is found slumped at his desk. His death at 82 is attributed to the results of emphysema and diabetes (2/27)…2009] Paul Harvey, one of the greatest communicators and commentators in radio history, passed away at 90 of natural causes (2/28)…

Commentary:

Gene Chenault was the scholarly, soft-spoken half of the Drake-Chenault team that revolutionized top 40 radio in the 60s. Chenault was all business and left the programming part of Drake-Chenault Enterprises to Bill Drake. The rest as they say, is history. This was radio’s odd-couple. I remember meeting Gene when he and Drake visited WRKO Boston in 1967 shortly after they had signed their consultancy deal with RKO General. I was the soon-to-be named program director and a stop along the meet-and-greet tour that Drake-Chenault made to assess what they had just inherited. What I remember most about Gene Chenault was that he hardly spoke above a whisper and how smart he was on the business end of things. The odd-couple teaming started in the early 60s at KYNO and had early success in Fresno before attacking and capturing KHJ Los Angeles in 1965. There was no other radio programming team as successful before or since. On Tuesday, February 23rd, Gene Chenault passed away shortly after being diagnosed with lymphoma at the age of 90…  

Music Memories:

• 1956] Released on this date: “Slippin’ and Slidin’ - Little Richard (2/27)…1966] “19th Nervous Breakdown” - Rolling Stones (2/26)…1977] “Hotel California” - Eagles (2/26)…
• 1967] Number One on this date: “Ruby Tuesday” - Rolling Stones (2/28). The “B” side was the controversial “Let’s Spend The Night Together“, banned by most stations except WRKO-FM in Boston. Our AM wouldn’t sign on until March 13th…1974] “Seasons In The Sun” - Terry Jacks (2/28)… 
• 1980] Grammy Gold: “What A Fool Believes” - Doobie Brothers (2/27)…1984] Michael Jackson wins a record 8 Grammy Awards for the LP “Thriller” (2/28)…2002] Alicia Keys win 5 Grammy Awards for her debut LP, “Songs In A Minor” (2/27)…1985] Grammy Gold: Chuck Berry receives a ‘Lifetime Achievement” Grammy (2/26)…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“: (2/26) James Brady (26), Michael Vettor (52), Michael Bolton (57), Sandie Shaw (63), Mitch Ryder (65), Fats Domino (82), Ariel Sharon (82) and TV game show host Tom Kennedy (83)…(2/27) Josh Groban (29), Chelsea Clinton (30), Howard Hesseman (70), Ralph (”I’m running”) Nader (76), Raymond Berry (77), Elizabeth Taylor (78) and Joanne Woodward (80)…(2/28) Ali Larter (34), Robert Sean Leonard (41), John Turturro (53), Gilbert Gottfried (55), Bernadette Peters (62), Joe South (70), Mario Andretti (70), Tommy Tune (71), Dean Smith (79), Gavin MacLeod (79) and Charles Durning (87)…

Timeline Countdown: 16 days until Daylight Savings time, 22 days until spring, 31 days until Passover, 37 days until Easter and 37 days until opening day (Red Sox & Yankees from Fenway)…

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